The Yankees released their playoff roster and set their rotation for the first 3 games of the ALDS this morning, and there were no real surprises. Let’s take a quick look at the roster, courtesy of Sam Borden:
Pitchers: Sabathia, Pettitte, Hughes, Burnett, Mitre, Moseley, Logan, Robertson, Chamberlain, Wood, Rivera
Catchers: Posada, Cervelli
Infielders: Teixeira, Cano, Jeter, Rodriguez, Berkman, Pena
Outfielders: Swisher, Granderson, Gardner, Thames, Kearns, Golson
I predicted 23 of these 25 yesterday, with Ramiro Pena replacing Eduardo Nunez and Dustin Moseley in for Ivan Nova. The final roster makes it clear that Girardi used the last two games against Boston to audition guys like Nova, Ring, Moseley, and Sergio Mitre, with players such as Chad Gaudin and Javier Vazquez having already failed their auditions earlier in the week. I am quite glad Joe resisted the allure of taking Ring, as I would greatly prefer a decent righty to an awful lefty, particularly because the lefty might actually get used in fairly important spots.
As for the rotation, the Yankees announced that CC Sabathia will start Game 1, Andy Pettitte Game 2, and Phil Hughes Game 3. This leaves AJ Burnett out in the cold, and sets up CC to pitch Game 4 on 3 days rest and Andy Pettitte for a pivotal Game 5. There was a strong argument for having Hughes pitch Game 2, as he has great road numbers and the Twins large new park could help marginalize his flyball tendencies. However, if the Yankees believe that Andy is healthy, he is ultimately the better pitcher and allows the Yankees to start lefties against the Twins’ lefty-powered lineup in 4 of 5 games. Both arguments are valid and Joe could not have gone wrong with either position. Setting up Andy Pettitte for a potential Game 5 is a perfectly reasonable decision.
Would you have constructed the roster and/or the rotation differently?
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14 Responses to Yankees Announce Playoff Roster, Rotation
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Muttsley and kearns, where is the toilet bowl.. mitre i knew was a lock, he has those pictures of girardi,so no way he was not going.. with AJ in the pen why do we need those other bums…Moshe now that is triple redundant. if that isn’t a yogism.
Mitre has had a solid year, he earned the spot. ERA close to 2 over last 2 months. But I agree, I think Moseley is redundant. Then again, who do you take instead? Bad lefty? A 3rd pinch runner?
if ring is a bad lefty then cashman and girardi did a real bad job not getting a lefty all year long, i would take the bad lefty to face a lefty early in the game if needed so not to burn out logan.. and stat wise you are right mitre’s era shows better, but in blow outs, i believe not in tough spots..thats when he has been shaky..from my memory..in a 5 game series Moshe i rather have more position players..nova and ring .if not..AJ now is the long man or mop up guy.. if we need more than one type of those guys, we go home..
If moseley ,AJ and mitre pitch more than one time each , over the rest of the guys we have in the pen ..we are in big trouble..you would not pitch these guys unless the rest of the pen failed. in a game leading scenario i don’t know how these guys would even warm up.
I think you’re right. If the issue is whether to bring in Mosely or Nova, or even Ring, then the game is probably lost anyway, so it really doesn’t matter all that much. It’s hard to actually use 25 players in a 5 game American League series.
Hello Damian..I think it is you that I owe 25 push ups to, is that correct?
I don’t know what you’re referring to about the 25 push ups. Do tell.
Picking Ring and actually using him in key situations would have been a huge risk. Mitre earned his spot. I wouldn’t have picked Moseley over Nova, especially given how many pitches Moseley threw on Sunday. Would he even be available before Game 3? That said, it’s not really an important decision. Neither is a great option and if either were to see much work, its not a good sign for how the series is going. I could see Nunez offering a little more value based on his greater speed. If Girardi were to pinch run for A-Rod late in the game though, I’d rather see Pena in the game on defense than Nunez. Not a really important decision again and I imagine Pena got the call on seniority as much as anything else. Starting Pettitte over Hughes in Game 2 is the most important decision. It’s hard to argue with but we need him to pitch much better than he has the last two times out.
Hi bg..mitre or ring vs kubal in a big spot , you think the left on left would have the same effect or result?
They’re not using Mitre in a big spot unless it goes to extra innnings. If not Logan, it would be Wood, Robertson or Joba. The only reason to take Ring would be to use him as a second lefty in potentially big spots and I don’t think he did anything to earn the trust to be used in high leverage opportunities. One of the YES guys (Curry I think) made a good point that if they really wanted to consider taking Ring they should have brought him up immediately when the rosters expanded to 40. He didn’t have much success in his brief audition but even if he had been more successful, there would have been a big sample size issue. So I think the question is flawed, but to answer it anyway, I’d probably trust Mitre more in that matchup.
thats why i feel cashman and girardi made a hugh mistake not getting a lefty early in the year..fuentes for what ever he is worth, and we will soon see was a yankee move,
We only recently learned that Marte was done for the year so I’m not going to be too critical. I can’t think of a lot of teams that have more than one good lefty. Robertson is effective against lefties. I trust Wood against anyone. I’m not a big fan of overdoing the matchups anyway. The more relievers you use, the more likely you are to bring one in who just doesn’t have his best stuff that day. With the quality of guys in the Yankees pen, there is an argument to be made for just leaving a guy in if he’s getting guys out. I mostly trust all of the big names — Mo, Wood, Robertson, Joba and Logan — against both rightys and leftys.
VS’s rays ,if we get that far.we will need two lefties.. no doubt.. put ring on now, lets see what he can do.we have a great pen..look at coke and marte last year..they knew well in advance marte was not coming back..we have all the means to go get a guy any time we want.. but this round maybe we get away with one,
I agree with, and called for the pitching rotation Joe went with. While Hughes on the road sounds better, you want the veteran for a potential game 5 (plus the added unintended benefit of keeping his innings down).
I would have taken Nova over Mosely and I guess it is redudant with AJ and Mitre in the pen, but that far down the pen shouldnt decide the series and shouldnt matter. Maybe a third catcher makes more sense in the WS, but with a 7 games series they probably want the 11 arms.