At It Again
Are the Yankees actually desperate enough to not only take a page out of the Red Sox book, but also take it and run with it? Apparently they are? I’m talking about the signing of Mark Bellhorn, which should be officially announced later today, on the heals of the Alan Embree signing.
Back in 2002, the Sox were going to get the best of the Yankees by signing one of their castoffs, Ramiro Mendoza. Mendoza was having arm problems and the Yankees knew it, so they let him go. He then went on to become one of the few busts put into a Red Sox uniform by Theo. He was signed for 2 years at 6 million and spent half that time on the DL while not pitching very effectively for the other half. He did manage to give us a few decent innings down the stretch in “04”, but overall he was not a good investment.
I remember at the time of the signing thinking how great it would be to have Mendoza helping us defeat the archenemy. I thought it was a pretty good move at the time. Now we know that the Yankees knew what they were doing and again they had the last laugh.
Now, although not quite the same as it didn’t cost them nearly as much, it seems the shoe may be on the other foot. Back at the end of July, the Yankees were so desperate for bullpen help that they signed Sox castoff Alan Embree, despite the fact that he was ineffective for us this year and had an ERA around seven. I laughed about it at the time.
Did they really think they were going to get him over there and turn him back into an effective pitcher? He had been showing signs of this even last year. He’s made 14 appearances since then, pitching 9 2/3 innings, giving up 10 hits, 2 walks, and 7 runs (6 earned). Admittedly he’s pitched much better lately, but he’s still not a guy I would trust with the ball in a key situation.
Now they are going to give it another try with the signing of Bellhorn. Their rookie second baseman Robinson Cano has been slumping badly after coming up and filling in admirably for free agent bust Tony Womack. Womack is still somehow managing to get playing time in the outfield for them while posting an OBP of .271, although I suspect that will end with the acquisition of Matt Lawton.
So now they are going to turn to a guy who batted .216 in the majors this year with 109 K’s in 283 at-bats. He showed absolutely no signs of putting it back together during his minor league rehab assignment batting .176 with 24 K’s in 68 at-bats. It’s not clear what kind of playing time he’ll get over there, whether he will actually take over for Cano, or just be a backup infielder, but I think it’s safe to say that it’s not likely that either of these guys will have any kind of impact on their pennant chances, at least not a positive impact.
I will say this though, although I’m not at all concerned with these 2 being there, I do admit I’m a little annoyed by it. I don’t blame them, they were cut lose by a Major League ball club and were given the chance to continue playing in the majors. You can’t blame a guy for wanting to continue playing in the majors and taking the opportunity that’s presented to them. I don’t blame the Yankees either, they had voids to fill and decided to fill them by taking chances on players with decent big league track records. And I don’t blame the Sox, both of these guys were clearly not working out for us this season and we really had no other choice but to do what we did.
It’s just that, both of these guys were integral parts of our World Series Championship. Although understandable that we let them go, it still stinks that it had to happen, and it’s even worse that they had to go to the Yankees. I didn’t like losing any of our players from last year (well, watching Pedro walk out of here didn’t bother me much), but I knew it was a necessary evil and it was easier to take knowing that they were just going to other baseball teams. Watching a couple of World Champions walk out of here and cross over enemy lines is a much more bitter pill to swallow.
Back in 2002, the Sox were going to get the best of the Yankees by signing one of their castoffs, Ramiro Mendoza. Mendoza was having arm problems and the Yankees knew it, so they let him go. He then went on to become one of the few busts put into a Red Sox uniform by Theo. He was signed for 2 years at 6 million and spent half that time on the DL while not pitching very effectively for the other half. He did manage to give us a few decent innings down the stretch in “04”, but overall he was not a good investment.
I remember at the time of the signing thinking how great it would be to have Mendoza helping us defeat the archenemy. I thought it was a pretty good move at the time. Now we know that the Yankees knew what they were doing and again they had the last laugh.
Now, although not quite the same as it didn’t cost them nearly as much, it seems the shoe may be on the other foot. Back at the end of July, the Yankees were so desperate for bullpen help that they signed Sox castoff Alan Embree, despite the fact that he was ineffective for us this year and had an ERA around seven. I laughed about it at the time.
Did they really think they were going to get him over there and turn him back into an effective pitcher? He had been showing signs of this even last year. He’s made 14 appearances since then, pitching 9 2/3 innings, giving up 10 hits, 2 walks, and 7 runs (6 earned). Admittedly he’s pitched much better lately, but he’s still not a guy I would trust with the ball in a key situation.
Now they are going to give it another try with the signing of Bellhorn. Their rookie second baseman Robinson Cano has been slumping badly after coming up and filling in admirably for free agent bust Tony Womack. Womack is still somehow managing to get playing time in the outfield for them while posting an OBP of .271, although I suspect that will end with the acquisition of Matt Lawton.
So now they are going to turn to a guy who batted .216 in the majors this year with 109 K’s in 283 at-bats. He showed absolutely no signs of putting it back together during his minor league rehab assignment batting .176 with 24 K’s in 68 at-bats. It’s not clear what kind of playing time he’ll get over there, whether he will actually take over for Cano, or just be a backup infielder, but I think it’s safe to say that it’s not likely that either of these guys will have any kind of impact on their pennant chances, at least not a positive impact.
I will say this though, although I’m not at all concerned with these 2 being there, I do admit I’m a little annoyed by it. I don’t blame them, they were cut lose by a Major League ball club and were given the chance to continue playing in the majors. You can’t blame a guy for wanting to continue playing in the majors and taking the opportunity that’s presented to them. I don’t blame the Yankees either, they had voids to fill and decided to fill them by taking chances on players with decent big league track records. And I don’t blame the Sox, both of these guys were clearly not working out for us this season and we really had no other choice but to do what we did.
It’s just that, both of these guys were integral parts of our World Series Championship. Although understandable that we let them go, it still stinks that it had to happen, and it’s even worse that they had to go to the Yankees. I didn’t like losing any of our players from last year (well, watching Pedro walk out of here didn’t bother me much), but I knew it was a necessary evil and it was easier to take knowing that they were just going to other baseball teams. Watching a couple of World Champions walk out of here and cross over enemy lines is a much more bitter pill to swallow.
posted by Bob at 8/30/2005 09:07:00 AM
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