Pavano Named Opening Day Starter

May God have mercy on us all.

Nieves Makes Team

Wil Nieves has earned a spot on the roster, besting Todd Pratt. This was hardly a difficult decision. Pratt was in the same boat as Ron Villone. Todd had a very effective career as a backup catcher. There was a time when he was an extremely productive hitter for a backup backstop. However, he has declined consistently since 2004. Last season he was completely unproductive at the plate. That did not figure to change considering how high the odometer is for forty year old catchers. The Yanks tried to catch lightning in a bottle. Pratt did not give it so the team had little recourse but to turn to Nieves, who will not hit much but at least gives good defense and has developed a rapport with the pitching staff in Spring Training.

The fact that Nieves was the best option underscores how Brian Cashman failed to adequately address this position in the offseason, one of his few failures. Jorge Posada will be thirty-six in August. The team needs somebody who can take at least part of the load from him, an adequate hitter so that Jorge does not need to pinch hit and catch at the end of alleged days off. At some point he is going to wear down. Just because he has bucked the trend of catchers not aging gracefully thus far does not mean things will always stay that way. If Cashman missed out on any of those guys, he should have brought back Sal Fasano, another good defender with much more experience. The Yankees have plenty of trade chips. If a young catcher becomes available, the Yanks need to pounce. Heck, if a decent catcher of any kind becomes available, the Yanks need to pounce. Right now New York does not appear to have learned from Bernie Williams. As stars age, they decline. It is a really good idea to have somebody on the roster to help carry the load when this happens. If there is nobody, the results can be catastrophic (Tony Womack in the outfield). Nieves might be the best guy right now, but he is not going to cut it.

Henn Makes Team

Sean Henn has earned a roster spot over Ron Villone and Chris Britton after an impressive Spring Training. Henn beat the others out more by default than anything else. Britton and Villone were both terrible.

Britton will be sent to AAA so that he can work out his problems. He is a good reliever who just needs to get back onto the right track. In the long run, he will likely be a more viable roster option than Henn. The Yankees do not really need two lefties because Luis Vizcaino’s success against lefty hitters makes him a de facto lefty. Once he straightens himself out, he should find his way to the Bronx.

Villone had an abysmal finish to 2006. He had to prove that he was not finished in Spring Training. Ron did just the opposite, putting up a 14.40 ERA. Villone has had a nice career and is a good guy. He genuinely enjoyed being a Yankee. However, there was no justifiable excuse for putting him onto the team over a better and cheaper player.

Henn gets another chance in the Bronx. He was nothing short of terrible as a starter for the team in 2005, when injuries forced the team to rush him up and had a cup of coffee last year. Sean has a good fastball and pedestrian secondary stuff, suggesting that he is better suited as a reliever. His stuff was not his problem in 2005, though. He was afraid to put the ball over the plate. He walked too many hitters and got himself into counts where batters could tee off against him. If he has learned to trust his stuff, he should be pretty effective. If he still is afraid to put it near the plate, the Bronx will be a short detour on his trip to Scranton. Either way, he has earned this shot. As of now, he is the best option the team has.

Cox Goes Under Knife

Minor league reliever J. Brent Cox has undergone elbow surgery and will miss most of the 2007 season. The good news is that he did not need Tommy John surgery as originally reported by some outlets. While the ailment is not catastrophic, it is serious. This is a tough break for Cox. He had an excellent 2006 in AA and was poised to make an impact in New York at some point this season. Now the Yanks should not push Cox. The team has too much pitching depth, and Cox has too much of his career in front of him to risk anything. The aim should be getting him ready for 2008 with a cautious rehab this season. This is yet another all too common lesson that a team can never have too much pitching depth.

Steinbrenner’s Daughter to Divorce Swindal

Steve Swindal and George Steinbrenner’s daughter, Jennifer, are ending their twenty-three year marriage. Jennifer filed for divorce yesterday in Florida, citing irreconcilable differences. This is obviously tragic as a family is breaking up. On a much less important note, this is also bad news for the Yankees.

Steinbrenner named Swindal as his heir back in 2005. Due to this divorce, that probably has changed. Swindal was a voice of reason within the organization. George Steinbrenner has only thought in the short term since he took over the team. He has favored headline-grabbing acquisitions and ignoring building a balanced and deep team. Swindal had a lot of influence with his father-in-law and used it to get Brian Cashman more say. Cashman has done a great job building a deep club and farm system that is more cost-effective. Steve Swindal would have been a great owner. He understood that the best teams are built by trusting competent baseball men to make sound personnel moves, not by building a rotisserie team. Now the future of the franchise is unclear. The team might go to one of Steinbrenner’s sons, who reportedly are a lot like him in philosophy. The team also could be sold in which case it is impossible to tell who could end up with the team. One shudders when considering the ways in which a family like the Dolans would run this franchise into the ground now that they have completed that task with the Knicks and Rangers.

Karstens Hurt

Jeff Karstens left his start on Sunday complaining of stiffness in his elbow. He was in the midst of being roughed up by Tigers. MRI results came back negative, which was the best thing he could have hoped. Karstens was set to take Chien-Ming Wang’s spot in the rotation. Now that is up in the air. Darrell Rasner would take Karstens’ roster spot if he is sent to the DL.

At this point, the best thing might be to shut Karstens down for a bit to make sure the problem does not get worse. Jeff can play a role in the success of the 2007 team. It sure is a good thing that Brian Cashman has done such a good job in restocking the organizational pitching depth because now the team needs it. In the past, the Yanks might have been tempted to rush Jeff back or have to make a despiration move. Pitchers have been dropping like flies during Spring Training.

Phelps Beats Out Phillips for Roster Spot

The Star-Ledger reports that Josh Phelps will win a contested roster spot over Andy Phillips.

The Yankees have told at least one other team they intend to keep Josh Phelps as the right-handed half of their first-base platoon. Phelps and Andy Phillips came to camp competing for a roster spot. Both went 0-for-1 yesterday, leaving Phelps with a .444 spring average (eight RBI in 27 at-bats) and Phillips with a .267 mark.

This is an interesting decision. Phelps clearly had a better Spring Training, but the bigger consideration should be roster needs. This is a good move if it means that Doug Mientkiewicz is going to play every day at first base. Phelps then becomes strictly a bench player. He would be a better option since he has more pop in his bat than Phillips, although that is not saying much. Mientkiewicz should be up to being a regular player. His career numbers against lefty pitching are similar to his stats against righty pitching.

This move makes little sense if the team is planning on platooning Phelps with Mientkiewicz. The Yankees have plenty of offense. There is no evidence that Phelps is a better hitter than Mientkiewicz at this point. Doug was signed because the Yankees wanted to put an emphasis on defense at first base. Phelps is abysmal with the glove. He might not be as bad as Jason Giambi, but he is closer to Jason’s horrific fielding than he is to Doug’s terrific glove. The Yankees would be better off sticking Giambi at first, making Hideki Matsui the DH, and playing Melky Cabrera in left field. Melky is a better hitter than Phelps. The team would lose little defensively going from Phelps to Giambi but would gain a lot upgrading from Matsui to Cabrera in left.

Phelps is a decent hitter. That is all. Players like him can be found on the open market. Last season the Yankees brought in Erubiel Durazo, Aaron Guiel, and Carlos Pena to name three. He is a marginal Major Leaguer. He is probably a little bit better than Phillips but is not clearly a better fit for his role. I’ll drop the case for Bernie Williams and say that Kevin Thompson would be a better fit for the roster spot. His offense will at worst be in the neighborhood of what Phelps brings, his speed can be used off the bench as a pinch runner, and he would add more depth and give Joe Torre more flexibility with an aging outfield.

Here’s hoping Andy Phillips finds a new home and sticks somewhere as a Major Leaguer. Given his age and his track record, he probably will never become much of a player, but as long as he is still around the game, there is hope. Everybody associated with the Yankees says that he is genuinely one of the nicest people in baseball. He has had some tough luck over the past year with his wife’s cancer, his mother’s car accident, and now this. Maybe at some point he will catch a break.

Wang to Start on DL

Chien-Ming Wang will begin 2007 on the disabled list due to a pulled hamstring. As was the case with Andy Pettitte’s back spasms, this is not cause to hit the panic button. This is a relatively minor injury. The most important thing is that it is not an arm ailment. Wang has the entire season in front of him. He just needs to rest up and fully heal. If he did not, he would risk greater injury to both his hamstring and his arm since he might overcompensate for his hamstring and do something to mess up his mechanics. The only bad news is that due to the current pitching schedule, that probably leaves Carl Pavano to make the Opening Day start. There is no pitcher less worthy of the honor that comes with pitching at the storied ballpark in the Bronx on the first day of the season, not that it will really affect the team that much. Starting on Opening Day is ceremonial. It is just one of the five days in which a starter might take the mound.

Melanie Lidle Gets Nod

Newsday reports Cory Lidle’s widow will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at Opening Day. This was an interesting choice. If Bobby Murcer was up to it, he should have been the first choice. He has given the franchise so much for decades, and the outpouring of love he would get would make for an incredibly emotional scene. This is still a nice touch by the team, though. Lidle might have only been a Yankee for a few months, but his death as a member of the team means that he will sadly always be a part of franchise lore. Remembering a fallen comrade will be plenty emotional.

Pettitte Has Back Spasms

Andy Pettitte will miss his next scheduled start due to back spasms. Although this is clearly not great news, Joe Torre states it is no reason for panic.

“I don’t anticipate it being a major problem. He just got a little tightness. It seems to be pretty straightforward.”

Given that the team is not sending Andy for an MRI, Torre’s lack of concern seems genuine. This appears to be a minor ailment that can be cured with a few days of rest. Pettitte has plenty of time to heal up. Even if he had to miss a start or two in the regular season, which would be a long shot at this point, it would not be that big of a deal. He should be ready to go for the bulk of the season.