We all know the names of the big guns: CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte and now, deja vu all over again, Javier Vazquez. With Joba Chamberlain or Phil Hughes competing for the last spot in the rotation with the loser serving as the bridge to Mariano Rivera the Yankees have one of the deepest pitching staffs in baseball, and one of the team’s deepest since the glory days of the late 90s.
But the depth doesn’t stop there. Going back to the halcyon days of Ramiro Mendoza, the Yankees right now have not one, but two, extra starters entering 2010: Chad Gaudin, and Sergio Mitre. With Left Field still a question mark, does this make sense?
Gaudin is the more valuable of the two. He turns 27 next year, and has shown signs of being a potentially good pitcher. He started 34 games for Oakland in 2007, and put up an ERA+ of 96. His WHIP of 1.53 that season wasn’t pretty, but the overall production from a young pitcher is encouraging.
Gaudin improved slightly in 2008, but purely as a reliever. He put up an ERA+ of 97 and an improved WHIP of 1.32. In 2009 Gaudin was unimpressive with the Padres, but he performed well with the Yankees. He started six games and put up an ERA+ of 125. That’s the classic case of a small sample size, but its pretty good as far as auditions go.
Sergio Mitre, on the other hand, is not a good pitcher. He’s older than Gaudin. He has been called upon almost exclusively as a starter. And that performance has been ugly. His career ERA+ is 78, which is probably below replacement level. He’s never cracked an ERA+ of 100. The closest he came was 93 in 2007 with the Marlins. In 6 starts with the Yankees Mitre posted an ERA+ of 63 last season, which is bad. Oh, and he was banned 50 games for failing a drug test. Mitre proclaims his innocence, but the failed test doesn’t add glitter to an already underwhelming resume.
The Yankees avoided salary arbitration with Mitre, signing him to a one year $850,000 deal. It probably makes more sense to keep him on the team, especially at that price, than to let him walk in free-agency. There really is no such thing as too much pitching.
But do the Yankees need 7 starters heading into 2010 with Brett Gardner set to start in left field? Given that Joba and Hughes are going to be training as starters this preseason, it seems excessive to keep both Gaudin and Mitre on the roster when one could potentially fetch a left fielder in trade. Of the two, everyone involved in baseball would prefer Gaudin, but that has to include the Yankees. Its not clear Mitre is worth enough to get a decent left field option – platoon or otherwise. If the Yankees could receive a left fielder in return, would it be worth it to part ways the promising Gaudin?
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5 Responses to Pitching Depth
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TIQ IQ
This is a tough call. Its always pretty hard to find a decent pitcher, but don't the Yankees lose Gaudin anyway if he doesn't make the 25 man roster? Guess they can make him the long reliever by default… you figure the Yankees want Hugues or Chamberlin to win the 5th spot so they can continue to develop as a starter at the big league level. Without knowing who the Yankees could get back for LF, its hard to let a decent starting pither go.
Al Aceves called. He wants to be mentioned in your post on pitching depth, too.
I was unaware that the Yanks would risk losing Gaudin. I would be surprised if he didn't make the roster though. He's certainly better than Mitre.
I considered including Aceves, but decided against it since he's not likely to be considered a starter. He seems very well suited to his current role as the long relief man, and another reason the Yankees pen should be solid this season.
It's amazing that guys like Mitre can still get a job in this league.
They say the easiest way to make a major league roster is to pitch or catch.