I'll Show You Overpaid...

I'm going to single Joel Sherman out here, but he is just stating a general sentiment that I've heard in several other places the most unequivocally (emphasis mine):

But, at this moment, Peavy has a foot injury and Rios is one of the most overpaid players in the majors. The risk is huge -- and fascinating.

"At this moment"? Alex Rios is making $5.9M in salary in 2009, which pro-rated for 112 games equates to $4.3M, and has already been worth $4.9 to the Blue Jays. He's actually slightly overpaid. And in general, saying a player who makes $6M is "one of the most overpaid players in the majors" is like ripping someone for driving a Jeep for getting bad gas mileage. Is it great? No, but let's look at the supercharged H1 Hummer parked directly next door.

Even if you are talking about Rios' value going forward, you could do a lot worse than paying a guy capable of playing a strong center field with a career OPS of .786 who steals about 20 bases per year an average of $11.75M over the next 5 seasons. For instance you could be giving $18M to Vernon Wells who can't play center and is putting up a .717 OPS to Rios' .744 this year, under the exact same circumstances.

It's not Rios' fault that the Blue Jays left him in right field because Wells and his reprehensible contract were blocking him in center, where he could have created the most value. Wells, by the way has been worth negative $3.6M to the Blue Jays this year according to FanGraphs, while making $18M.

Using this methodology, I've compiled a short, non-comprehensive list of MLB position players who, like Wells and unlike Rios actually are overpaid:

[values are extrapolated to a full season to match annual salaries,

all #'s via Cot's MLB Contracts and FanGraphs are in millions]

The guys with negative value get screwed by the extrapolation, because it multiplies their negative value, but you get the idea. Vernon Wells is the most overpaid position player in the MLB and it's only close because Jose Guillen (who actually apologized for sucking so badly) is even worse. Apparently the stank of his contract is rubbing off on the man to his left on defense.

This isn't to say that the Blue Jays handled Rios' contract well, even if he is currently appropriately valued. As Keith Law points out, they made a mistake with Alex Rios, whether it was overpaying for him initally or giving him away for free yesterday.

Hitting The Power Switch

I came across this post at The Yankee Universe this morning about the rarest feats in baseball and started perusing the list or accomplishments.

One of these feats was hitting a home run from both sides of the plate in the same game, which has happened 246 times in the history of the game. Not as rare as a no-hitter or a cycle, but certainly uncommon. I seemed to remember Melky Cabrera doing it fairly recently and it turns out it was back on April 22nd, and I had actually written a post about his performance in that game in which he ended a 14 inning showdown with a walk-off HR (from the left side).

Another thing I did not realize was how laden with Yankees the American League side of that list is. There have been four occurrences of a switch hitter hitting a home run as both a righty and a lefty this year and all four were by Yankees (Melky, Swisher and Teixeira twice). In fact, all of the last six and 10 of the past 12 were accomplished by current members of the Yankees' normal starting line up. The top three on the active career list (aside from Tony Clark who is technically "active" but not currently on a team) all play for the Yanks: Posada (8), Swisher (8), and Teixeira (7). Had they signed Carlos Beltran (6) when they had the chance, they would have the next in line as well.

Admittedly, this stat can be a little flukey but the Yanks have 72 HRs by switch hitters this year, tops in the MLB. That is far more than the Angels with 41 and twice as many as the next team, the Rays with 36.

The presence of switch hitters with power on the Yankee roster undoubtedly makes it difficult on opposing managers. On any given day the Yanks can plug in 4 guys who can go deep from either side of the plate, making a pitching change aimed at them much less effective and pinch hitting for them virtually unnecessary.

We have been spoiled in this respect since we rarely have to sit through National League-style move/counter-moves in the late innings of games. Perhaps part of the reason I loathe to see Joe Girardi make two out pitching changes based solely on the side of the plate the batter digs in on is that opposing managers have the option to do it to the Yankees far less frequently.

In any event, the Yanks seem to have the market cornered on switch hitters with power via the additions of Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira this past offseason. And it's one of the many reasons they are on pace to score about 900 runs this year, up from only 789 in 2008.

Youk Knows We Exist... I Think

[Read from the bottom up]

So last night, I was in the process of writing the recap and saw the bottom update pop up on my TweetDeck. One of the cool things about Twitter is that you are only one degree of separation away from people you would never otherwise talk to directly.

After seeing Youk's tweet, I figured I had to respond with something. How else could an asshole like myself interact with the guy I named this blog after hating? I would have nothing to say to anyone else on the Red Sox, but I've been curious to know what he would think of the name of the site and the fact it does exist.

Interestingly, he did respond, but it's tough to tell if he actually took any time to process what he wrote and who he said it to. The guy responds to everyone. Surely he would have known the Yankees lost almost immediately after finishing the game at Fenway, so the question mark after "you lost" doesn't make a whole lot of sense if he knew we were Yankees fans. But he's a baseball player, not a writer. That was the extent of the conversation because he bowed out shortly thereafter, so I'm not sure what to make of it.

Have we been acknowledged?

Jays Jettison Rios

Since the Jays are in town and this move effects both the White Sox' playoff chances this year and the direction of the Blue Jays going forward, I figured I would take some time to examine the decision to acquire Yankee Killer Alex Rios off the waiver wire by the White Sox.

Coupled with the Jake Peavy trade, ChiSox GM Kenny Williams has taken on roughly $115M in future salary over the past two weeks. The Sox are one game over .500, so they don't figure to factor into the Wild Card mix, but are still just 3 games in back of the Tigers in the AL Central. Peavy is still on the disabled list and won't make his first minor league start until later this week at the earliest so he probably won't make more than 4 or 5 starts for the Big League club before the end of the regular season.

Rios', on the other hand, will make an immediate impact if used optimally. In his career with the Jays, Rios has primarily held down RF while Vernon Wells played CF. Jermaine Dye and Carlos Quentin are holding down the starting corner outfield jobs for the Sox, which would be a problem were it not for the fact that Rios is a more than capable CF as well. He's much better than Wells, actually. In 106 games in CF, Rios has a UZR/150 of 12.8 whereas Wells' is -6.8. The Sox started Ken Griffey, Jr. in CF for 32 games last year, so they obviously aren't too concerned with shifting someone from a corner spot to center.

Considering the meager production the Sox are getting out of their current center fielders (.224/.281/.313), Rios' line of .264/.338/.383 is a significant upgrade, even before you consider the boost he'll be getting from playing at US Cellular Field. He's also a base stealing threat with 32 last year and 19 already this season.

Despite being in his physical prime at 28 years old, Rios is having a down year, which is the major reason the Blue Jays decided to let the White Sox walk away with him for nothing more than the required $20,000 transfer fee. The two teams engaged in negotiations before the trade deadline, meaning the Sox would have actually had to give up something at that point, but they waited it out, were the only team to make a waiver claim and got him for essentially nothing.

From the Blue Jays' perspective, they shed a major chunk of salary (not the one they really wanted to, though), but also parted with Rios at his lowest value thus far in his career. Even still, he will come close to equaling his contract value this year and has far exceeded even the $12.5M he is due in 2014 in both 2007 and 2008 according to FanGraphs. And those numbers calculate his value mostly as a RF, not a CF.

Does this move foreshadow a Roy Halladay trade this offseason? Dumping a productive player with a long term deal like Rios for salary reasons and getting nothing in return doesn't exactly signal the desire to compete now. This is a step beyond the Scott Rolen move. By dealing Halladay, they could save themselves a significant amount of money and net some good prospects in return, if they are indeed moving towards rebuilding. I'd be willing to be that the Jays would have tried harder to find a place for Halladay if they knew they could dump Rios after the deadline.

It's possible that Rios' offensive production will continue to decline and the Jays are thrilled with their decision in a few years, but I think it's more likely that they watch him become a solid contributor for the White Sox and regret the fact that it made financial sense at the time to get rid of him. If Rios were to hit the free agent market this offseason, he almost surely wouldn't get the kind of contract he is signed to, but the way that the baseball economy moves from here through 2014 could make the deal look very shrewd or very foolish on either side.

This Just In: You Can't Win Them All

[Photos via]

Well, it happened. The Yanks lost, but it wasn't because they came out flat, or played sloppily or couldn't score runs. The one person to blame for tonight's loss, and I know that there are a lot of people who were involved, was Sergio Mitre, and he played no part in the Red Sox series.

The starting rotation's weakest link actually started out remarkably well, striking out six of the first 7 batters he faced. In his previous four starts Mitre had only struck out 9. Derek Jeter gave him a small cushion to work with by leading off the bottom of the first with a home run, but Mitre gave it back in the 3rd on a homer by Aaron Hill that bounced off the top of the wall in front of the opposing bullpen. Jeter scored again in the home half of the 3rd on a sac fly by Swisher to give the Yankees the lead, but Mitre once again faltered.

The turning point of the game came in the top of the 4th. After Lyle Overbay walked and Vernon Wells singled, Jose Bautista came to the plate with men on first and second. He hit a sharp bouncer back to Mitre, who made a beautiful snare and looked to be in position to turn a double play. Instead, he hesitated for a moment, took a few steps up the mound and fired a throw towards Robinson Cano standing at second. The throw started tailing towards first base and with the runner bearing down and perhaps with the double play in mind, Cano briefly took his eye off the ball. It glanced off his glove and rolled past, allowing Overbay to score and Wells to move to third.

Instead of having at least one and possibly two outs, the Yanks now had no one out, one run in with runners on the corners. The error was initially charged to Robinson Cano but then transferred to Mitre. The Jays brought Wells and Bautista around to score before the inning was over and took the lead 4-1.

As was the signature of the series with the Red Sox, the Yankees responded to the Jays immediately, as they had done in the 3rd. Robinson Cano led off the inning with a blast to right center which was followed by Jerry Hairston's first round tripper as a Yankee. Marc Rzcepczynski lasted on 3 1/3 innings and gave up four runs, but was never on the hook for the loss due to Mitre's shortcomings.

Lyle Overbay hit a two out solo shot in the fifth inning that would prove to be the difference in the game. With the count full, Mitre left a sinker in the fat part of the plate and Overbay pummeled it, just short of the right field bleachers.

The Yanks led off the 6th and 7th with hits, but just couldn't seem to level the score. To begin the 8th inning, Jorge Posada engaged with a 12 pitch battle with Jesse Carlson, which ended on Posada swinging through a slider the third time in a row Carlson had thrown it. Hideki Matsui singled in the 9th but that was the end of the Yanks' offense for the night.

While the Jays cycled through four relievers to close out the game without allowing another run, the Yanks needed only one. Blog favorite Alfredo Aceves notched only one strikeout in the four innings but he allowed just two hits and didn't walk anyone. According to ESPN radio after the game, Joe Girardi said that Mitre will make his next start, which may or may not prevent the speculation that Aceves was being stretched out to start.

A loss is always bad, especially when the Red Sox win, but tonight wasn't especially brutal. The Yanks had some chances but didn't capitalize against the Jays' pen. With the Yanks' relievers having been so lights out recently, it was only a matter of time before the tables were turned on them.

Game 112: Don't Let It Bring You Down

The concept of a "letdown game" or a "trap game" is not specific to baseball. If you're skeptical of the conventional wisdom/pop psychology that is so wildly prevalent in sports, then you won't be surprised by the fact that research into this phenomenon has actually shown that in the past 10 years in the NFL at least, there is no such effect.

Anecdotally, you can point to the 2003 World Series and say the Yankees were burned out after going 7 games against the Red Sox, but you could just as easily have said that about the Sox in 2004 except they swept the Cardinals in the Fall Classic and made it look easy. The same was true in 2007 when the ALCS went 7 games and the World Series ended in a sweep as well. Looking back to the "Boston Massacre" of 2006, the Yanks went on to lose 4 of their next 5, so should we be concerned that the Yanks might hit a rough patch coming out of the Sox series this time around? Yes, but it has nothing to do with the concept of a "letdown game".

First and most importantly, the Yanks are trotting out Sergio Mitre to a team that saw him only 5 days ago. Luckily, the Yanks escaped with a victory, but Mitre was shaky at best, allowing 3 runs on 8 hits in 4 1/3 IP while throwing 92 pitches. That outing actually brought his ERA down to 7.50 and he still has yet to have a start this year where he contributed a positive WPA to the team's chances. With Chad Gaudin now waiting in the wings and likely to have a chance to audition in long relief today, Mitre may be on the verge of getting bounced out of the rotation if he can't come up with a decent performance.

The Yanks are going to get another crack at Marc Rzepczynski as well, but the lefty was significantly better against the Yanks than Mitre against the Jays, even if his final pitching line doesn't tell that story. rZep struck out 7 in six innings and allowed only 6 baserunners, although four of them came around to score and only 3 did when he was on the mound. The 23 year old has pitched 33 2/3 innings this year to a 3.74 ERA. He might be a rookie but he's not a pushover, and the Yanks are going to have to have a strong showing at the plate to get to him.

A-Rod is back at 3rd tonight, Posada will be DHing and Jerry Hairston will be spelling Johnny Damon in left, as Hairston has better numbers against lefties than Damon this year, to say nothing of the upgrade in the field. Defense will be a significant factor tonight as Mitre tends to allow a lot of balls to be put in play. The downside of this arrangement is that Nick Swisher moves in to the two hole and the bottom three in the order are Hairston, Melky and Molina.

Another game against the Blue Jays brings another tune by the best Canadian songwriter I can think of. The Yanks are 7-2 against the boys from Toronto this season, 31 of their last 41 overall, have won 7 in a row and are hopefully ready to weather a start by Sergio Mitre and run the winning streak up to 8.

Don't let it bring you down,
It's only castles burning,
Find someone who's turning,
And you will come around.

Monday Afternoon Linkdown

Okay, we're all working our way through a rough Monday, so here are some links just in case you need any more excuses to put off doing work.

-----

I don't care if the Yankees have never blown a 6 game lead in the division in the history of the franchise. The Mets did it in 17 games two years ago and if recent memory serves me correctly, the Red Sox did something else historically unprecedented and terrible to the Yankees a few years before that. You know what they say about chickens and hatching.

Awww, poor Youk. Need a nap, buddy? “The bottom line is that everything is blown out of proportion when we play the Yankees. To be honest with you, it’s very tiresome.”

Check out the questions PeteAbe got Yogi Berra to sit down for. Does anyone not love Yogi?

Lisa Swan from Subway Squawkers spends some time knocking down the myth that A-Rod isn't clutch over at The Faster Times. She also reminds us of when "the MT curse" almost made a modicum of sense.

Mark Teixeira for President MVP!

"...when I have to talk, I’m not good at that. You all know that.” Guess who said it...

Crazy Yankee Chick is auctioning off one of her paintings of Yankee Stadium and donating the proceeds to the American Cancer Society.

No Maas has an update on this year's first round pick and subject of some older posts on our site, Slade Heathcott.

Here are some assorted sources of Soxenfreude.

Craig from Shysterball/Circling the Bases pulls together some thoughts on the fuzzy realm of sports psychology.

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Be back a little later with the preview.

Not Going To Lie...

When I saw Chad Gaudin warming up last night, I thought to myself, "That's Chad Gaudin?"

It turns out that everytime someone said something about Gaudin, I was actually picturing Gustavo Chacin. Coincidentally, the two were teammates with the Blue Jays back in 2005 and once appeared in the same game, with Gaudin coming on in relief of Chacin. I probably should have known that Gaudin was the guy with the terrible beard/goatee who looks like Mose Schrute and Chacin was the lefthanded weirdo with the Rec Specs. But if you reverse one of their initals, their last names are pretty similar and... yeah, I'm an idiot.

Out Of Left Field

(AP/ESPN)

Thus says our muse:

"You're being a little critical. What do you want me to tell you? You want me to tell you I took a bad route to the ball on the second one? OK, I took a bad route. I don't know what to tell you ... I'm not an outfielder. I'm an infielder." (source)

Yes Youk, you did take a bad route. But hey, at least it wasn't an E7 like the first one.

Kevin Youkilis' UZR/150 for LF in 2009: -81.7

Kevin Youkilis' UZR/150 for LF for his career: -21.9

Saturday might be the last time we see the Youkstah in the OF.

Sweeping Up After The Weekend

I know this is Matt's line, but since he's in New Hampshire this morning... Good morning, Fackers. And it's a good morning, indeed.

Going into this series, we said that Yankees vs. Red Sox games are different, said that all indications were that the Yankees had the advantage and predicted that the Stadium would finally come alive. We were lucky enough to be right on all three counts and anyone, well any Yankees fan, who watched the entire series was treated to a satisfying performance in which the Bombers looked like what their record says they are: The best team in baseball.

Over the long haul, you have to look at numbers like run differential to even out the ups and downs of the season, but over a short series against a heated rival, it's hard not notice that the Yankees seemingly ripped the momentum away from the Red Sox at every juncture possible. When the Sox jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 3rd inning on Thursday, the Yanks immediately tied it up on a homer by Johnny Damon. When the Sox back back with two more in the 4th, the Bombers responded with 8. They finsihed out the series by allowing two runs over the next 32 innings, both of which were quickly erased by back to back jacks from Damon and Teixeira.

We try not to talk a whole lot about "momentum" and "clutch" and other fluffy intangibles which evade statistical verification of their existence in the long run on this site, but this weekend the Yankees made it impossible not to do so. A-Rod found two incredibly high leverage situations to hit two home runs, as did Johnny Damon. The bullpen allowed only 4 runs in 14 1/3 IP, while the only runs allowed by a Yankees starter were the 5 Joba Chamberlain gave up Thursday night. In short, the Yankees stepped up to the plate and made this a turning point in the season.

Taking four games from the Red Sox all but deletes the memory of the first eight they lost. The Yanks had already overcome those in the overall standings and all that was left was the notion that the Red Sox had their number, which Nick Swisher responded to by saying "but we changed cell-phone providers".

It's been a long time since the Yankees and their fans have had reason to be riding this high. Not since 2006, when they swept the Sox in a 5 game series which also put them 6.5 games ahead, perhaps. Big Papi got one hit all series and Dustin Pedroia unfortunately had to break the news that he is in fact not magical.

The Yanks have won 31 of their last 41 games and are on pace for 100 wins. They are 27 games above .500, which is pretty incredible since they were actually below that mark 33 games into the season. How quickly we forget.

Who knows, maybe they will suffer a let down when they welcome Toronto to the Stadium tonight and Sergio Mitre takes the hill. But let's enjoy this feeling while it lasts.

"You Got No Wins Here, So Better Luck Next Time"

Victor Martinez probably thought he was going to be the hero of last night's game. You could tell by the way he watched his two run homer run off Phil Coke soar into the left field seats in the eighth inning. It was understandable. He was 1-14 in the series to that point, the Red Sox had been trailing 1-0 and were mired in a 31 inning, 116 plate appearance scoreless drought. The difference between 4.5 games back and 6.5 is increasingly significant at this point in the season considering there are only 6 head to head match ups remaining. Instead of saving the Red Sox from a brutal four game sweep, Martinez's shot was more of a last stand; a heroic effort that only temporarily stemmed the tide.

The game started as another pitcher's duel up. Andy Pettitte distributed seven baserunners over 7 innings while striking four without allowing a run. Jon Lester was almost as good, with the only run he allowed in 7 frames coming on a solo shot to A-Rod in the bottom of the seventh inning to break the scoreless tie.

Daniel Bard came on in the bottom of the 8th and looked as if he was about to hand the lead over to Jonathan Papelbon after Hideki Matsui and Derek Jeter both grounded out after a barrage of 97 and 98MPH fastballs. However, Johnny Damon scorched the next one of those he saw into the Yankee bullpen. For the third time in the series, the Red Sox had taken the lead and the Yankees responded by scoring in the next half inning. But they weren't done there.

With Mark Teixeira at the plate, Bard went away from his fastball and instead threw two breaking pitches. In stark contrast to Damon's bullet before, Teix turned on the second one and lofted a sky high shot down the right field line and followed it towards first base with his bat lofted triumphantly in the air. It hung in the air interminably, allowing the crowd noise to swell even louder before landing in the second deck. Teix stole Victor Martinez's thunder and then took a curtain call to top it off. Bard had faced 138 hitters in his major league career to that point and allowed just one home run. Make that that 140 and 3.

Bard allowed the inning to continue by walking A-Rod and was lifted in favor of Hideki Okijima. The lefty allowed three consecutive base hits, a double to Jorge Posada and singles to Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher, which pushed the Yankee lead to 5-2. In all, they sent six runners to plate with two outs in the 8th.

The Sox brought the tying run to plate in the top of the ninth after Mariano Rivera walked David Ortiz, but Jacoby Ellsbury grounded out to first base to end the game.

The Sox are now reeling, having lost 6 straight and fallen into a tie with the Rangers for the Wild Card with the Rays lurking only a game and a half behind them. The Yanks have won seven straight and have the best record in baseball.

I know we don't usually drop songs in our game recaps, but this one is too good to pass up.

Straight like that, straight out the gate,
Cause it's never too late, to set this fuckin' record straight.

But it is too late, for you and your crew, son,
You had the audacity to come against me, the gifted one?
And Primo with the tracks, to inspire my next line,
You've got no wins here, so better luck next time.

You thought you brought your best lines,
But they couldn't touch mine,
I rocked you in your knot,
Hope you have better luck next time.

Game 111: Built To Last

The Yanks look to put a cherry on top of this weekend's ice cream sundae, and not even the inane idiocy of Joe Morgan on tonight's ESPN telecast will spoil the collective high of the Yankee fan base right now.

Andy Pettitte gets the ball for the Yanks, and he's been on fire since the All-Star break: 2.36 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 29:7 K:BB, in 26.2 IP. He's 16-9 with a 3.76 ERA in 196.2 career IP against the Sox, but is 0-1 this year and has a bit of a score to settle with them. Pettitte outdueled the AL's best pitcher last time out, and his draw doesn't get much easier this time.

Jon Lester will try to salvage the series finale for the reeling Red Sox. Along with Josh Beckett, Lester is one of only two reliable starters the Sox have right now. After squandering Beckett's masterful performance Friday night, the Sox really need to capitalize on having Lester go tonight. He's 3-0 with a 3.43 ERA in six career starts against the Yankees, with one of those victories coming on April 24th this year. I look at those numbers and prefer to think that he's due for a loss rather than think that he dominates the Yanks.

In roster news, as expected, Josh Towers has been DFA'd to make room on the 40 and 25 man rosters for Chad Gaudin. Unlike douche bag Brett Tomko, Towers is handling his exit gracefully, saying he's happy the Yanks chose to call him up and that he's eager to get back to Scranton.

For the second time in three days, I'm choosing to go with the Grateful Dead. As I mentioned earlier in the week, last Saturday would have been Jerry Garcia's birthday. Today marks the 14th anniversary of his death. As such, it's been Jerry Week on Sirius XM's Grateful Dead Channel, and seeing as I've already logged close to a thousand miles behind the wheel this week, I've been listening to a lot of Dead.

The Yankees are playing with house money tonight. They've already won the series. They have a 5.5 game lead in the AL East, the largest lead they've had since the end of the 2006 season. They will wake up tomorrow morning up at least 4.5 games up with more than two thirds of the season in their rear view mirror. Things are looking a bit dire for the Sox right now, but only a foolish heart would be booking flights and hotels for October just yet. The tables sure have turned from when these teams last met in early June. The Yankees carried a one game lead into that series before getting swept. Things are looking much better right now. I just hope that this lead is built to last.



Don't waste your breath to save your face
When you have done your best
And even more is asked of you
Fate will decide the rest

All the stars are gone but one
Morning breaks here comes the sun
Cross the sky now sinking fast
Show me something built to last

Roster Move

The Yanks made a roster move just before yesterday's game, adding Josh Towers to the bullpen. To make room for Towers on the 40 man roster, Damaso Marte (remember him?) was transferred to the 60 day DL. Mark Melancon was option to Scranton to make room on the 25 man roster.

Presumably, the move was made to get a fresh arm in the bullpen following Friday night's marathon. That's all well and good, except the pitcher that was optioned out to make room, Melancon, was one of two relievers not to pitch Friday - so I'm not sure how much sense the move actually made.

Thanks to CC's brilliant performance, Towers wasn't needed yesterday. He'll likely come off the roster today, as Chad Gaudin, acquired Thursday night, is due to arrive. I doubt Towers has options left, so he'll likey be DFA'd, thereby making room for Gaudin on the 40 man as well. I'm hopeful Towers winds up back in Scranton; they can certainly use the arms right now. Had Towers not been added yesterday Melancon likely would have been optioned today to make room for Gaudin.

As for Marte, I believe moving him to the 60 day DL was just a formality to open up a 40 man spot. I'm not 100% certain, but I don't think transferring him resets his DL stay, and he'd already be on the 15 day DL for far more than 60 days. His rehab assignment is due to expire within two weeks, so another roster move will be needed to get him back on the 40 and 25 man rosters. Unless something major changes, I would imagine that will spell the end of Sergio Mitre's stay with the big club.