According to Ed Price, the Yankees have placed Chad Gaudin on waivers. This means that another club could claim him and take on his entire 3M dollar salary, he could clear waivers and go to AAA, or he could clear and reject the assignment and become a free agent. This move comes after Gaudin moved to 0-3 with an 8.38 ERA on the spring, while his primary competition for a roster spot, Sergio Mitre, continued to impress. However, Gaudin pitched just 9.1 innings, and Mike Axisa at RAB wonders, did the Yankees make this decision based on a tiny sample size?:
In over 460 career innings in the American League, Gaudin has been the definition of league average. His 4.25 ERA equals a 101 ERA+, his .271 batting average against isn’t much worse than the .265-ish league average (basically one extra hit every 142 at-bats), and his 6.5 K/9 is right around the 6.8-ish average as well (one fewer strikeout every 30 IP). His walk rate (4.2 BB/9) is definitely high (~3.4 league average), but he mitigates it somewhat with a strong groundball rate (43.7%). There’s nothing sexy about league average, but it’s very valuable in the role he’s expected to fill.
Mitre, on the other hand, has never been league average at much of anything, even before having Tommy John surgery. Even in his best season (2007), he put up a 4.65 ERA (93 ERA+) and a 4.8 K/9, both below average by any measure. And that came in the NL, in a pitcher’s park. His groundball rate (59.7% career) is spectacular, but missing bats and avoiding contact is the name of the game in the AL East. Oh, and Gaudin’s more than two full years younger.
On the face of it, this seems to be a poor decision based on spring training stats. However, as Mike touched upon earlier in his post and a number of readers on Twitter noted, this may be the best way for the Yankees to keep all of their pitching depth in the organization. If they had waived Mitre, his low salary and strong spring performance make it likely that he would have been picked up by another team. Conversely, Gaudin costs 3 million dollars and has had a poor spring, such that there is a reasonable chance that he makes it through waivers and is available to the Yankees should they need him later in the season. Considering that the role that they are fighting for on the Opening Day Roster is that of mop-up reliever, it is not a huge deal if the lesser pitcher makes the club. While it seems counterintuitive, the Yankees probably made the right move.
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8 Responses to Did The Yankees Fall For The Small Sample On Gaudin?
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TIQ IQ
I think the move is very easily explainable: Sergio Mitre looks good enough for the role, and this is their opportunity to save a bunch of money on Chad Gaudin. They didn’t fall for the small sample size, they just saw Mitre meet their threshold.
Then why tender Gaudin a contract in the first place? It seems like they thought they needed Gaudin, and then 9 innings later, changed their minds. However, I think the explanation I gave in the post is feasible.
My guess is they tendered him for the competition. Mitre proved he can be average or slightly below average. It was only last year that Mike at RAB was saying how Mitre could have something in the tank left over from the Marlins. He is now two years out from TJ surgery… One aspect I think people are not thinking about is the Yankee budget. Last year at the deadline Cashman couldn’t get approval for Mike Cameron to come over. Even if the Yankees pay 750-some-odd grand to send him away, they save 2.25 million or so. If Cash feels that he can get the same production from Mitre that he did from Gaudin, that 2.25 million could be very valuable to Cashman come the deadline. It could be the difference between a Hairston addition or a Cameron addition (not that Jerry Hairston was a bad pick up at all, but the defense of Cameron probably would have been more valuable).
And worst case scenario is a guy like Gaudin is always available in the summer.
What if someone got hurt? What if someone showed up in camp totally out of shape like Johnny Damon in 2006? It’s not just about numbers, you have to consider all sorts of scenarios when dealing with roster issues.
He’s run of the mill.
No loss and he makes room for a young guy with upside like maybe a Melancon in the pen.
That money might be useful later on also for a needed part..
Aceves is the long man, Mitre the 6th starter ( I think he has pictures of Girardi with a Transvestite or something) and Joba or Hughes in the pen with Mariano, Marte and David Robinson.
Mitre’s had a big spring, Girardi really likes him, and he costs (-2 mil?) less. Put it all together, and Gaudin gets the axe.
Lets say good bye to chad, sergio, alba, off the 25 man roster… we go with MO.. joba.. robertson.. melancon..aceves…marte.. logan or park..maybe we get lucky and see Zack up before the allstar break..
Well, Moishe, I think you are right. $3 million seems like a high price tag for Chad, without a whole lotta recent success. More likely somebody trades value to the Yanks for Mitre, then Chad comes back, maybe.