As we collectively shake off the rust from a three day weekend and the unofficial start of summer, several Yankees are now shaking off the rust down in Tampa.
Jorge Posada, Jose Molina, Xavier Nady, and Cody Ransom all went to Tampa Sunday to continue their injury rehab.
The AP reports that Posada could be in Extended Spring Training games this week, Nady could DH in minor league games in the next couple days, and Molina may be ready by week's end.
The return of either catcher will help the Yankees, allowing them to DFA the worthless Kevin Cash, who despite having a three hit day yesterday is still batting just .182. Getting rid of Cash will open up a 40 man roster spot as well and the Yankees would be wise to add Shelley Duncan, Todd Linden, or John Rodriguez so they that they have another bat at their disposal on the 40 man. Cash will assuredly clear waivers and will likely wind up back with Scranton.
Posada was having a tremendous season before injuring his hamtstring, hitting .312/.402/.584 and his return will deepen the line-up and make the bottom third of the order slightly less of a black hole.
Nady's return will create an interesting roster situation as both he and Matsui will be relegated to designated and pinch hitting duty. The original plan was to hold Matsui out of the field until the Yankees visit an NL park, but his surgically repaired knees have given him trouble this year. Matsui has grown progressively worse in the field over the past several years and probably shouldn't see the outfield in anything other than an emergency situation. Still, having one or two bats of that quality available on the bench will be a luxury the Yankees have not enjoyed this year.
Ransom is on the 60 day DL and not eligible to return for another month. Given his poor play prior to his injury and the emergence of Ramiro Pena as a viable infield option I'm not so sure we'll see Cody Ransom in pinstripes again.
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I'd like to see Nady over Matsui at DH. As steady and consistent as Matsui has been over the years, Nady's a right-handed power bat the Yankees could use to help balance the line-up.
ReplyDeletethey've got plenty of switch-hitting and left-handed batters, but other than A-Rod they have no pop from the right side, particarly at the bottom 3rd of the lineup.
We should probably thank our lucky stars that Cervelli has been able to post an BA & OBP above .300 during this stretch. His offensive numbers aren't all that different than Molina's and he's been behind the dish for Sabathia's dominant run.
ReplyDeleteAs for the DH spot, I'd like to see the hot hand, or the platoon advantage. The line-up is a bit left handed, but the switch hitters help to even that out. Either way, having one of those two bats coming off the bench will a weapon that Yankee teams have lacked for some time.
ReplyDeleteI think Cervelli's done better than anyone expected, and I expect that he won't be able to keep that up over the long haul. Still, he offers some good qualities, it'll be interesting to see him next year.
Jose Molina is one of the worst hitters in recent baseball history, so Cervelli would be hard pressed to do that bad. He's had a good walk rate through the minors, so even if he can hit .250 or .260 as a back-up catcher he should offer some value.
Let's face it, it would be really helpful to have both Nady and Matsui, but who goes if they decide to keep both of them? Has to be Gardner, since they can't seem to function without 13 pitchers, and if they send Berroa down they have only one backup infielder. In my mind, you send the 13th pitcher down. With Nady and Matsui, you can play the righty-lefty thing more often on offense, even though you may have a few situations where you'd want to make pitching changes that you can't with one less pitcher.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. They have to keep Gardner because he's the only other OFer they have.
ReplyDeleteThey've been playing most of this year with 12 pitchers, and as much as I don't like it, I don't foresee that changing any time soon.
Berroa has to go. How he's even managed to stay on this long is beyond me. They say they want to be convinced that A-Rod is healthy, yet they've played the guy every single day since he's been back. He's healthy. Cut the dead weight. Berroa hasn't had a PA since May 4th and has only seen the field in mop up duty.
With A-Rod, Jeter, and Cano, one back up IFer is plenty.
Keep Gardner, dump Berroa. As Matt said, Gardner is the only one who can play the OF--I don't know how effective Nady will be with his elbow--plus he can pinch-run.
ReplyDelete