World Series Roster Update

Yesterday, the Yankees announced their World Series roster. Eric Hinske and blog favorite Brian Bruney have been added at the expense of Freddy Guzman and Francisco Cervelli.

The first swap was obvious. With the need for a pinch hitter in the National League park, Hinske became necessary and Guzman, functioning solely as a pinch runner, was the most expendable part. With Hideki Matsui coming off the bench in Philly as well, Hinkse will be the second best pinch hitting option, but still should see some action.

The absence of Guzman probably means that Brett Gardner won't be getting his first postseason start this series as Girardi will most likely keep him on the bench as a pinch running option. Jerry Hairston Jr. is a viable candidate for that role but is hardly a stolen base threat (only 7 for 11 this year) and therefore not much of a weapon.

Given the elimination of Cervelli, we can almost certainly infer that Jorge Posada will be catching A.J. Burnett in Game 2 (and presumably again if necessary), thus making having a third catcher on the roster superfluous. I was in favor of having Molina catch Burnett at the outset of the postseason, but it seems like the right move to let Posada catch him now. Burnett blew up with Molina behind the dish in Game 5 of the ALCS and worked well with Posada after he entered the game as a pinch hitter.

Bruney pitched in the instructional league down in Tampa during the ALDS but hasn't faced Major League hitting since October 2nd. The only frightening aspect of this move is that Girardi might try to use him for a fraction of an inning when it counts instead of relegating him strictly to mop-up duty. With Chad Gaudin unavailable for Games 1 & 2 after throwing an extended bullpen session yesterday, it seems likely that Bruney would be the last man out of the 'pen.

The Phillies made a move and an announcement of their own. Consummate gentleman and class act Brett Myers has been added to the roster - after recovering from a strained lat muscle - at the expense of utility man and former Yankee Miguel Cairo - a move Joe Torre is certainly frowning upon from afar for a couple of reasons. Charlie Manuel also declared that Pedro Martinez will be starting Game 2 at Yankee Stadium.

Pedro was chosen over Cole Hamels, who had an average season at best and has been shaky in 3 postseason starts (14.2 IP, 6.75 ERA). Pedro has pitched once since September 30th, was brilliant against the Dodgers in Game 2 of the NLCS, allowing two hits and no walks in 7 innings. But that was in Southern California in a pitcher's park against a National League line-up.

It will make for a quite the interesting dynamic. I wouldn't be surprised if Pedro was excellent or if he got bounced in the third inning. One way or another the familiar refrain offered by the Yankee Stadium faithful will be chanted ad nauseum when he's on the mound. Should be good theater either way.

Thanks, But That Would Be A Complete Waste Of A Roster Spot...

Good morning, Fackers. Last night, a suddenly contrite and shockingly self-actualized Joba Chamberlain told reporters that he would "fold towels" if that's what it took to win with the Yankees during the postseason.

Aside from the towel quote that Sam Borden transcribed in his post, here is another exchange that caught my ear from the audio he provided.

Joba: You know, I didn't have fastball command at all. It could have been a lot worse than it was but it was just lack of fastball command from the get-go... Mechanics-wise, I wasn't great. My delivery wasn't great and the delivery affects your command in every aspect.

Kim Jones: You were so good your last time out. How do you explain the inconsistency?

Joba: If I had an explanation, I could probably fix, you know, quicker than things go. That's part of this game and that's why people go in and do bullpen work and look at watch video and figure out what you can do better.

So he did have a bad outing because the players on the other team were "great hitters" or "a couple pitches" that went wrong as he claimed in the past.

Perhaps this is only because the Royals are astoundingly bad at hitting, but more likely it's that someone with the Yankees organization finally explained to Mr. Chamberlain how the media works. They aren't your parents trying to get you to admit your shortcomings as a way to make you take responsibility for them. Reporters need to pair your performance with a reaction so they can write a story about it that conveys what happened to the fans and get the fuck out of there. That process doesn't work when you give up 7 runs and say everything is fine and dandy.

It turns out that Joba wasn't just a delusional headcase, unable to acknowledge his mistakes. He was a kid from Nebraska being forced to come to terms with his failures in front of cameras and reporters with microphones and was getting a little defensive.

Joba mostly dodged questions about about his place on the postseason roster but made clear with his offer to do the work of a clubhouse attendant that he's not going to pout about being used out of the bullpen. I personally think that he is still enough of an asset to warrant occupying a spot on the postseason roster. I'd prefer a hypothetical ALCS Game 4 start to be made by Chad Gaudin and backed by Alfredo Aceves but Joba is still a better option to pitch an inning or two out of the bullpen than Brian Bruney. Maybe this is wishful thinking, but Joba seems to find his stroke when the pressure builds; Bruney just walks a lot of guys.

Since today is an off day, it's conceivable that Girardi uses Chamberlain sometime during the last two games of the Tampa Bay series to get him an inning or two out of the 'pen if indeed they plan on bringing him along for the ALDS. It would give him 3 or 4 days of rest which should be enough to free him up for a limited number of pitches.

I'm a lot less worried about Chamberlain's role in the postseason than I was a week or two ago, though. He's going to be one the the least important players not named Eric Hinske on the postseason roster if he is even ultimately included on it. The Yanks have won 102 games this year in spite of Joba, not because of him.

They're Not Saying "Bruuuuuuuuuu-ney"

Did you ever play on a youth sports team where the coach would play their child outside of the order of merit? The kid might have been a shitty goalie or quarterback or shortstop, but the coach kept running him out there hoping against hope that they would succeed.

That's how I feel every time Joe Girardi calls for Brian Bruney out of the bullpen. Everyone else in the 'pen seems to have the innings they work determined by their performance in recent outings. Except Brian Bruney.

As Matt mentioned in the recap, Bruney has been pulled from his last 8 outings in the middle of an inning. It's not becase Girardi is getting all match up happy and using him as a ROOGY, either. Bruney has allowed at least one baserunner in 7 of those outings including six walks. Ten of the 22 batters he's faced have reached base. He's thrown just 50% of his pitches for strikes and only 4 of the outs he's recorded over that time have come either on the ground or via strikeout.

But for some reason, Girardi keeps trotting him out there in big spots, four of the eight times with a lead of two runs or fewer, in the 8th inning or later.

In a way, it makes sense that Girardi is giving him every chance to succeed by putting him into tight games, hoping that he'll come around. At the same time though, by pulling him mid-inning every time, it's clear that Girardi isn't giving him a chance to really fail, either. That saftey net is okay when the rosters are expanded, but when they contract back to 25 for the postseason, you can't afford to have someone that unreliable pitching in any sort of important situation if you are going to keep him on such a short leash.

It seems that Joe G's goal in running Bruney out again and again is trying to prep him for the playoffs regardless of the results. Nevermind that if David Roberston or Damaso Marte had a stretch anything like this, they would have been relegated to mop of duty and been an afterthought when October rolled around.

So what is it with Girardi and Bruney? I guess it's the fact that Bruney had a 1.83 ERA in 34 1/3 IP last year for him. That's fantastic, but that was a year ago, he still walked a batter every other inning and he didn't pitch at any point between April and August. That's not a very big sample size.

This year he has one 12 1/3 inning stretch in April when he only gave up 2 runs and walked 4 while striking out 16. He briefly appeared to back on track in the middle of August. But he also misled the team in regards to the severity of the injury he suffered back in April only to go back on the DL after one inning in the middle of May. His ERA this year is 4.36 and FIP is 5.33. He's just not very good.

The unfortunate reality of Brian Bruney is that the good stretches he's had are the anomalies. He's a pitcher who has walked 6.4/9IP and with an 4.35 ERA throughout his career, which is almost exactly what he's done this year. He's only 27 years old, so perhaps he could improve down the line, and I'm not suggesting they give up on him completely.

I just don't want to see the guy on the postseason roster, barring an injury to someone else. He's no better than 12th on my pitching depth chart at the moment.

1. Sabathia
2. Burnett
3. Pettitte
4. Chamberlain
5. Rivera
6. Hughes
7. Aceves
8. Coke
9. Marte
10. Robertson
11. Gaudin
12. Bruney

Any objections?