The Yankees discussed ways of strengthening their pitching staff this offseason, but now that we're just weeks away from Opening Day, the team is no longer exploring potential deals. GM Brian Cashman told Marc Carig of the Star- Ledger that "there's nothing hot. I've got nothing going on. Zero" (Twitter links).
That's not particularly surprising since the challengers for the two jobs at the back of the club's rotation have been progressing well. Cashman declared that no pitchers were available late last month and the market figures to remain barren for months (you can forget about Felix Hernandez and Francisco Liriano for now).
Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon, two of the pitchers in competition for the available rotation spots, have clauses in their contracts that allow them to opt out at the end of the spring. However, Colon is willing to pitch in long relief, according to Carig.
So “there’s nothing hot. I’ve got nothing going on. Zero” equates to them “not exploring [the] trade market for pitchers?”
this is okay with me the 4 guys competitng for the spots have been doin great, and have really calmed my nerves about the season
Yeah, Spring Training numbers always put me at ease too. FAIL
More at ease than if they were getting destroyed ala Sonnanstine or Duke I assume. Even then, the sample size is worthlessly small.
Colon’s really opened some eyes. Mine included.
I still hate him though…
The guy couldn’t lead the 2008 PawSox to a Governor’s Cup. Do you think almost 3 years has made him better?
It’s way early to expect anything out of Colon. He’s started against the Pirates and a Sox team that did not have a single anticipated starter in it. He’s basically been pitching to AA/AAA lineups so far. We’ll see how he does when he actually faces a batter with a career OPS over .825 (Andrew McCutchen is the best batter he’s faced so far).
A lot of “no’s” coming out of Cashman’s mouth these days
Funny part is the Twins dangles Slowey for the Yanks to bite and when the phone rang they were probably like, “good evening Mr. Cashman lets have a look at…Oh Hello Mr Anthropolous, Uhhh yeah he is available, uh huh, ok….”
Yankees need a front of rotation pitcher. Why spend prospects on a pitcher akin to what they have in the back of the rotation anyway? I’d rather keep the prospects and let Colon or Garcia give me the same 4.50 era and 1.30 whip that Slowey would. Good call, Cashman.
not too mention Slowey’s FB% would not go over well in Yankee stadium
a 2.2 WAR and 1.7 BB/9 for a 26 year old arent too bad alot more than Garcia, Nova and Colon will probably give
that 2.2 WAR did not come from pitching in a homerun park
Yankees have been fortunate thus far, Colon and Garcia have relied on their experience and have pitched well in their two outtings so far. Mitre and Nova have pitched nicely as have the ‘Killer B’s’, Brackman, Betances and Banuelos.
It’s still early, but already the talk is that the Killer B’s along with Nova could be sent down and the Yanks could open the season with Garcia as the #4 and Colon/ Mitre #5 and the ‘loser’ goes into long relief. If any of the initial starters falter, one of the kids could be brought up to fill the spot
Sounds nice and easy, and it does make sense, but lets play some more games, first.
The youngsters have looked impressive, but at this point in the spring, the batters are still going up to the plate just trying to square up the ball and make solid contact.We’ll see in a couple of weeks how these pitchers will fare when the hitters start to turn it up for real. That goes double for Garcia and Colon, who for now have silenced this winter’s detractors.
Banuelos has pitched well, Brackman hasn’t pitched enough, and Betance hasn’t pitched well. Even when he struck out the side his first time out he didn’t hit his spots, he was constantly up in the zone and he threw I think one breaking ball for a strike. I want to start seeing him with his fastball hit the corner low and away consistently. 5 base on balls in 4 innings. Hit your spots Dellin.
Can we go ONE day without a story about the yankees pitching?
I agree. I was thinking a more fitting headline would be “Yankees dominate news again”.
Possibly Charlie Sheen would be interesting to you.
He can pitch.
No he cannot pitch. What he can do is take big hits.
Besides would you really trust him not to snort the foul lines between innings?
2 words:
WILD THING!
Pitcher and SS in high school. lol
Well, the guy does have Tiger blood and Adonis dna.
Ooohh!
No. What do you think pays the bills?
Simple. skip the thread.
When you are constantly bombarded with the same thing you can only duck it for so long before succumbing and posting. And I read the headlines of everything, and this is just redonkulous.
hey did you hear the sox are working on a trade for adrian gonzalez?
Maybe my friend YFS78 can shed some light on this… but I wonder if there’s a chance Brackman cracks the team this year…? The other two killer Bs can still use the minor league innings, but Brackman is older, and I think more mature in his development.
Firstoff, I feel honored that you would think I have some insight on the matter. It therefore embarasses me tosay…ehh…I don’t know?
I certainly think he will start in the minors and if he is completely dominant and the Yanks need someone then maybe? However, Phelps and Nova have dominated AA and AAA over the last two years and have nothing more to prove and Warren and Noesi are following in their footsteps too. I think Brackman will be the first of the Killer B’s to hit the majors though.
Cashman: We’ve talked to everyone in both leagues and they all want something in return for their top pitcher. So forget it.