Reaffirming My Position On the Rotation

By On March 16, 2011 · 9 Comments · In Player Analysis

Mark Feinsand had an article last week about Ivan Nova and his confidence about making the Yankee rotation out of Spring Training. Nova was nothing if not confident in the piece:

“I’m going to win,” Nova said. “I don’t worry about if they’re pitching tomorrow or what’s going to happen with them. I worry about me.”

That’s awesome to read. It shows us that Nova is focused on himself and is greatly confident. Obviously, confidence doesn’t give you a better out pitch or make you get through a lineup more than twice, but it’s heartening. Despite this encouraging sentiment, I’m not changing my stance on the early season rotation and the idea of starting Nova in AAA.

Freddy Garcia pitched enough innings last year that he’s ready to take on innings in 2011. Bartolo Colon has been injured a lot, but he hasn’t embarrassed himself in Spring Training. That’s enough to take him north. Ivan Nova has more upside than the two of them combined and will likely end up with as many innings as both of them, but they should still start him in AAA Scranton.

I know what you’re saying: Yeah, you told us this already–depth and what not–but with the injury to Sergio Mitre, shouldn’t that improve Nova’s chances of making the team? It should, but in my eyes, it doesn’t. Even if Mitre is hurt badly enough to start the season on the DL, Nova should still start in the minors. What should they do instead?

Give Romulo Sanchez one last shot. He’s out of options and has been attracting attention so why not burn through him while keeping Nova as depth? Sanchez can at least throw hard and has shown the ability to go multiple innings, so he could easily fill the long man role while Mitre is (hypothetically) out. When Mitre returns, the Yankees can, again reevaluate the situation.

Perhaps Sanchez will be effective enough that they can cut bait with Mitre and send him to the waiver wire. If Sanchez pitches poorly, they can cut him and let some other team deal with him while slotting Mitre back into the long man’s spot. Meanwhile, Nova is still in Scranton building up innings for the eventual demise of either Garcia or Colon due to injury, ineffectiveness, or both.

Again, leaving Nova off of the team to begin the year may be disappointing to his supporters. I don’t have much faith in either Garcia or Colon, but I’d rather the Yankees stick with the depth plan until it completely runs its course. I know very well that the plan could derail within the first month of the season. If it does, so be it. That’s the point of having depth in the system. That’s why Ivan Nova should start the season in Scranton.

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9 Responses to Reaffirming My Position On the Rotation

  1. Steve Karsay says:
    March 16, 2011 at 11:22 am

    There’s much to be learned at the major league level and there’s more depth down on the farm after Nova…

    Reply
  2. David Mierzwa says:
    March 16, 2011 at 12:11 pm

    Great piece. I agree 100%. Indeed, Sanchez has been getting some looks, and god only knows he is better than Mitre. I don’t know why we are even considering keeping him around.

    Reply
  3. UYF1950 says:
    March 16, 2011 at 12:12 pm

    Well it looks like Sanchez may very well get his opportunity without having to send Nova down to the minors as has been suggested. The news out of Florida on Joba at the very least indicates he will not head north when the team breaks spring training. That should be enough for the Yankees to take a look at Sanchez (if they ever had any intent on doing so).

    Reply
  4. Larry Koestler says:
    March 16, 2011 at 12:47 pm

    Good stuff Matt; I completely agree. May as well see what, if anything, the team can get out of Garcia and Colon, and if one or both flop, you could do worse than having Nova waiting in the wings.

    Reply
  5. William J. says:
    March 16, 2011 at 1:29 pm

    I guess you could try to catch lightning in a bottle with Colon or Garcia, but I’d much rather turn the ball over to Ivan Nova, who has no restrictions and no reason to return to triple-A. These are players, not fungible commodities, so you have to consider whether Nova’s demotion would retard his progress. It’s easy to say he should just go back to the minors and bide his time, but if he earns a spot and doesn’t get it, I could fully understand his additional time in the minors being less than productive.

    In my perfect world, the fourth slot would belong to Nova and Colon and Garcia would battle for the fifth.

    Reply
  6. William J. says:
    March 16, 2011 at 1:30 pm

    I guess you could try to catch lightning in a bottle with Colon or Garcia, but I’d much rather turn the ball over to Ivan Nova, who has no restrictions and no reason to return to triple-A. These are players, not fungible commodities, so you have to consider whether Nova’s demotion would retard his progress. It’s easy to say he should just go back to the minors and bide his time, but if he earns and spot and doesn’t get it, I could fully understand his additional time in the minor being less than productive.

    In my perfect world, the fourth slot would belong to Nova and Colon and Garcia would battle for the fifth.

    Reply
  7. Scout says:
    March 16, 2011 at 1:36 pm

    I think it possible that both Chamberlain and Mitre begin the season on the DL. That would leave an opening for both Sanchez, who isn’t likely to stick for very long, and Nova, who is. Whether Nova gets a starting role right out of the gate remains to be seen. Long relief is an option for Colon, too.

    Reply
    • T.O. Chris says:
      March 16, 2011 at 9:07 pm

      If we keep Colon and Garcia I’d rather have Joba and Mitre on the DL with Nova 4, Garcia 5 and Colon and Sanchez in the pen. Sanchez has something to offer with that kind of fastball so you might as well see what it is and if Garcia is a dud you have Colon as the long man to take his place, Romulo takes Robertson’s 6th inning and David takes the 7th and then when Mitre and Joba return evaluate the talent.

      Reply
  8. Reaffirming My Position On the Rotation | New York Yankees blog … | Yankees News Source says:
    March 16, 2011 at 3:13 pm

    [...] original post here: Reaffirming My Position On the Rotation | New York Yankees blog … AKPC_IDS += "10481,"; AKPC_IDS += [...]

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