The Yankees signed Kevin Millwood to a minor league contract, the team announced. The deal is contingent on the right-hander passing a physical. Wallace Matthews of ESPNNewYork reports that the contract is for a pro-rated $1.5MM with incentives and that Millwood has to be on the 25-man roster by May 1st or the deal is void.
Freddy Garcia or Bartolo Colon will still start the season as the Yankees' No. 5 starter behind C.C. Sabathia, Phil Hughes, A.J. Burnett and, it seems certain, Ivan Nova. Agent Scott Boras represents Millwood.
Millwood turned down a minor league offer from the Yankees in February and they made him another minor league offer last week. He was looking for a guaranteed contract in the $4MM range, but the Yankees offered a contract in the low seven-figure range.
Millwood allowed 30 homers last year and posted a 5.10 ERA with 6.2 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9. Despite the ERA, homers allowed and career-high fly ball rate, the 36-year-old started 31 games and logged 190 2/3 innings. He has averaged 31 starts per season since 1998, though reaching those marks will be particularly challenging this year given his late deal.
Jon Heyman of SI.com first reported the deal (on Twitter).
Midseason: Sabathia, Hughes, Burnett, Millwood, Nova…
Oh, you guys….
THIS is a great move!!!
…for the RED SOX and the rest of the AL East.
It’s a minor league deal, he might not even make the team.
obviously you are a Red Sox fan. i think you better stop thumping your chest. You already have the Red Sox crowned as WS Champs. It is a lon————ggg season and many thing happen
Couldn’t hurt I suppose.
Couldn’t really help either.
Couldn’t really help either.
I dont think they needed him really, i mean they were better off with a mid season trade. I think they couldve hotten Carlos Silva for almost nothing and that wouldve been better.
Um…why would signing Millwood to a MINOR LEAGUE deal stop them from making a mid season trade? One has zero to to with the other.
There is never a downside to a minor league deal.
Haven’t you read the Kevin Millwood standard form contract? The team can’t make midseason deals, can’t make any substitutions in the bottom of the 7th inning, and can’t rearrange the batting order more than once a week.
I think by having Millwood , Colon and Garcia that the Yankees ensure that the rotation is strong throughout the year. Nova is unproven and either one of those 3 veterans could burn out. But chances are one or two could stay consistent throughout the year. Bartolo Colon actually has looked the most impressive and if he could get back to the old Bartolo it would be a huge boost to the Yanks.
Kevin Millwood ensures their rotation is “strong”? Don’t get ahead of yourself…
190 innings 5.10 ERA is great for a 7th starter, ha.
Millwood is amazingly underrated at this point in his career. I was totally surprised some pitching starved bottom dweller didnt give him a major league contract.
fWAR – 2.3 average over last three years. Although brWAR hasn’t been as kind, he is still one season removed from 198 inning 3.67 ERA campaign. 8 outta 9 years with over 168 innings pitched.
Damn good insurance policy. I hate the yankees. They might just escape this season despite a major achilles heal.
Merely adding depth, but man, 30 homers last year. Lefties are going to feast on this guy at Yankee Stadium.
I was left to wonder if there wasn’t some way for them to call him up before a road trip and then send him back down at the start of each home stand. (Kidding.)
That would be awesome!
Ortiz and Gonzales are drooling at the prospect.
another dumb statement by a Red Sox fan. Stop your chest thumping
Says Captain Jeter, how is that chest thumping? and could is sound any wussier?
Some people makes a big deal about this as if they signed Millwood to a gigantic contract to pitch as the #2 starter. Hes only there to provide some depth and possibly someone to crunch up all those innings when someone flames out (Colon comes to mind).
Youre right they didnt but they did sign Burnett to a gigantic contract to be a #2…and we know how thats going.
And you guys did the same thing with the extension for Beckett to be your #1/#2 and we know how thats going.
Actually we have no idea how that’s going, since it hasn’t even started yet (unless you really care about spring training stats).
That’s right, I thought he was given the contract in 09. Not last year. Mistake by me.
On the plus side for Burnett, he gave us a WS ring (and I’m sure there’s a good the chance the Red Sox should get at least 1)
Very true although in both cases, I don’t think the ring(s) will be / were because of Beckett or Burnett either. They’re both about average pitchers who are overpaid by big market teams who could afford to overpay based on upside.
Classic example(s) of why teams should pay players for they CAN do, not what they HAVE done.
Yeah but Burnett had a three good years, including a very good 2008, before they signed him. When he was signed the greatest concern with AJ was that he was a major health risk. In those 3 years with the Jays, in a hitter friendly park, he had a 3.82 FIP, 9 K/9, a 51% GB rate and threw, on average, a 94.7 FB, second to only King Felix. There were only 8 other AL pitchers that better FIP’s than AJ over that 3 year span with the Jays.
So while he was a major injury risk he had proven to be a very good pitcher in the AL East when healthy. They based their decision on what he did in 2008 as well as 2006 & 2007 so it wasn’t like they signed him based off of what he had done 5 years ago.
I don’t think anyone that, if healthy, AJ would’ve been this bad as he was in 2010.
burnett’s ceiling is still that of an ace. he’s just obscenely volatile
AJ Burnett is a head case and cant pitch in NY……..like Javier Vasquez. He sucks and will get shelled once again along with everyone else in the “Has Been” Yankee Rotation. With the exception of Sabathia……who will be opting out at the end of the year.
Troll alert
neither josh beckett nor a.j. burnett are average pitchers. please
if justin verlander has a bad year in 2011, will he then be an average pitcher? because he’s currently the 6th most valuable pitcher in baseball over the last three years. which is exactly what beckett was from 2007-2009, before his poor 2010
And I dont disagree but people talk as if my comment was irrelevant, at least I’m talking about the same team…lol
And that has what to do with the Milwood deal?
Because he said they didnt sign Millwood to be their number 2? I just pointed out that the guy they signed to be their number 2 isnt working out…
It helped win a World Series in year one?
Which has nothing to do with this Millwood signing, just saying.
“flames out…colon”
subliminal messaging for Crohn’s Disease?
Millwood, Colon and Garcia? Would someone tell Cashman it’s not 2005 anymore?
Would someone please tell “adam” that they were all signed to minor lge deals to compete for the #5 spot or be stashed in AAA?
YFS78…All of them have clauses that if they’re not on the ML roster by a certain date (Colon is the 31st, Garcia is the 30th I believe, and Millwood is May 1) that their deals are voided. Not tryin to go against ya, you know I got nothing but love for ya. As for the Sucks… why is it that Yankee fans had to hear for YEARS that we “bought our championships” but all the Sox fans are psyched about this year when they did the same thing?! HYPOCRITES! Adam….check your facts before you open your mouth.
And so is everyone unemployed male that can throw a baseball, were all competing for the #5 spot or be stashed in AAA!…i hope bartolo doesn’t eat me
You know you’re in trouble when you have to resort to signing a baltimore orioles pitching cast-off!
It’s a minor league deal. SWB should be dominant this year, with a rotation featuring Millwood and Igawa.
For all the wrong reasons, Igawa probably won’t be with the AAA team at all. I think he went back to Japan if I read correctly.
I like this deal. He is a 4th or 5th starter at best, and can eat up innings mid season if needed. Really, the Yankees are just waiting for the right time to bring up Betances or Banuelos, because those guys are the real deal. Hey, if they can be as good as Phil Hughes, I’d take that in a heartbeat.
So Millwood can keep the seat warm.
And who knows what Nova will turn out to be. Maybe he’ll be pretty good and win 10-12 games this year. I’d take that too.
I’d be more worried if I was a red sox fan. You have to be concerned about Beckett, And the Bucholz thing is pretty scary. But when you have a rotation that depends on Lackey (who is pretty much a 14-12 pitcher who can give you innings but not much more than that) and Dice-BB (who will wind up walking the ball park this year), your hopes for dominating the division are less of a reality today than it was in, say, December. And with your 17th rank farm system, I can’t see anything happening by mid season.
So yeah, we’ll see what happens in a month or two. By Memorial Day I see NY up by 3 games on the sox.
Somebody is in fantasy land. this is a post worth saving for memorial day and rehashing.
One should remember that 3 of the Sox top 10 prospects were dealt in the Gonzalez deal, including 2 of the top 3 before knocking the system also.
I really am not in a rush to see either Betances or Banuelos pitch in the rotation this year. No need to rush them. If anything, maybe a Sept callup.
Why bother bringing up the Sox though? The upside of their rotation is better than ours right now?
In the words of Captain Jeter and his limp wrist at the plate, quit your chest thumping.
Look at it like this.. he is better than a rancid insurance policy Boston signed to a minor league deal and will have stash FAR away at Pawtucket.. Brandon Duckworth with a “do not break glass except in case of emergency” tag written all over him and Millwood is just a hair better than Duckworth. neither is worth much of anything, except throw garbage time innings and save the bullpen.
Wow, those two names bring back some bad memories. In 2003, that was 2/5th of my Phils’ starting roatation.
The dark days of The Vet…
Should be decent depth.
Its a good thing he signed in the AL. This way his team doesn’t have to worry about finding him a stool to sit on in the batter’s box.
Millwood’s xFIP last year was better than Mark Buehrle, Randy Wolf and Barry Zito… and he pitched to AL East hitters all year long. I wouldn’t say he’s done yet.
good thing yankee stadium isn’t a HR park eh ol boy
correct me if i’m wrong, but I thought camden yards and the ballpark at arlington played well for power hitters as well.
dey do. but xFIP would be more encouraging if millwood were headed to a more pitcher-friendly environment
in the last 6 full seasons, millwood’s HR/FB% has gone 10 10 10 9 10 10.6 11.6. i’m not sure we can call his last season unlucky. and i’m very not sure that he’ll see that number drop much in yankee stadium
for the first time in his career last year, millwood had 0 plus pitches (in terms of runs above average). he missed bats at an all-time low (5.9%), but that low was perfectly in stride with the downward trend over the last few years
also trending to a new low was his overall strike %, overall swing-rates, and contact rates both in and out of the zone
if he isn’t done yet, he’s very very close
that’s a fair analysis. he’s definitely aged into more of a “crafty” (and i use the term loosely) fly-ball pitcher without any real plus-pitches. However, I think he’s got at least one more (or one half of a) useful season left. Yankee stadium isn’t a much better pitcher’s park than Camden, but the Yankees OF defense is considerably better than the O’s. Also, he won’t have to face the Yankee lineup anymore, which would help just about any pitcher… especially when you replace it with the O’s lineup.
no doubt. and it’s not like he’s being asked to come in and throw shutouts. if he can keep them in the game through the sixth inning most of the time, that’ll do as a 5th starter. i don’t think it’s a bad signing; i was just nitpicking
i agree… the job is like being bruce willis’ hairstylist. there’s a lot of pressure to get it right, but you don’t really have to do that much.
hahaha lmao: desperation at its finest! GO JAYS!
Not really? It’s a depth move.
yes it is a “depth move” – you do realize they are grasping at straws and are desperate?
And please remind me of the last time the Jays were relevant?….. And no, finally getting someone to take Vernon Wells contract doesn’t count.
Don’t throw stones if you live in a glass house.
Millwood and Burnett had nearly identical numbers last year (as well as their careers). Just goes to show how much money you can get with strikeouts, even with a ton of walks.
This the worst shape I’ve seen the Yankees in since ’95
Get a grip. Everyone’s crying and moaning and groaning. WHY? AJ will bounce back. The lineup is still one of the best in the league. Russell Martin will be a sleeper this year, and everything else will fall into place. HAVE FAITH!
*sigh* i love yankee fans that delude themselves.
they looked pretty bad in ’09… i think they managed to win only one world series that year.
It’s nice to see Millwood finally coming to his senses and realizing he wasn’t getting a guaranteed major league, $4 million deal. I’m not getting all bothered about the Colon/Garcia/Millwood signing. These guys are just keeping the seat warm for the Killer B’s. Maybe the Yankees take a step back this year. They did in 2008, and look what happened the next year. The Red Sox did in 2006, same thing. The Sox took a step back in 2010, and now they’re in prime position to make a World Series run.