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UPDATED Baseball Courtroom Week 2: Debate Positions & Jury Decisions

Here before the jump is the positions.

Wraithpks Position

The Yankees should not make a move to add another pitcher right now. Let's deal with free agents first. Is there anyone still available who would honestly be much better than a rookie? The only guys left are pretty much locks for a 5-6 ERA, best case scenario. So, I think we can all agree that free agency is not an option right now.

How about making a trade? First of all, a potential trade partner is not going to part with a good pitcher if they are still in competition for a division, so I wouldn't put much hope in landing one of the White Sox young pitchers since they look to be a good team who could win the Central. If you look at the list of free agents for 2012 (aka, guys likely to be moved by the deadline), the only guy on a probable non-contender who is interesting at all is Wandy Rodriguez. Siera predicts his 2011 ERA to be 3.6, but you know that would balloon against the heavier lineups in the AL East. He would likely be somewhere in the 4s.

So let's assume that Wandy is the only attractive trade option. You know they are going to ask for Jesus. They won't get him, but they would likely get one of the B's and Romine, with possibly some more players. I don't like trading a prospect who could possibly be better than Wandy, along with a legit starting catcher. I feel like whatever we trade will be a regret in a couple years, like the Vazquez trade ended up being.

It comes down to this: pitching can be a crapshoot. Look at some of the trades for "established" starters we've made recently: Kevin Brown, Randy Johnson, Javier Vazquez twice, Jared Wright, etc. In fact, I can't think of a trade for a starter in the last decade that had really worked out well.

So, why is a young guy a better option? First, let's get this out of the way: I believe we will make the playoffs either way. Our fifth starter won't start games in the playoffs, so we're essentially swapping Ivan Nova for whoever we would trade for. Personally, I don't mind having Nova as our fourth starter. Most teams don't have a solid pitcher in their fourth rotation spot, and Nova could potentially be solid.

The great thing about trying kids, though, is that if one sticks, we now have a good young pitcher who is cost controlled for six years. Imagine if they gave the fifth spot to Brackman and he hit his ceiling, we could have a right handed Randy Johnson (the Mariners and Dbacks version) under a cheap contract for six years. This lets us spend money at other areas of need. Imagine where we would be right now if we hadn't given Phil Hughes a chance?

In conclusion, it would be great to acquire an ace from another team, but there just isn't one available. Any pitcher we get will be a middle of the rotation guy at best. Why not use one of our own farm hands, who probably won't be much worse but could set us up for years if they succeed? What's better than trading for a Zack Greinke? Growing your own Zack Greinke (minus teh crazy).

KingLous Position

Hello member's of the jury. As you know I am here to debate why the Yankees should sign/trade for a starter.
Let me start off by saying we don't need a superstar, we just need a solid pitcher. A Kevin Millwood an innings eater. Would it hurt to get a 15-20 game winner? No it wouldn't. Should we part ways with Jesus Montero or the Killer B's? If the player is young and is a 15-20 game winner.

Now onto the 2011 season and how we will fair with the current Rotation. Now we can expect CC to still be a 20 game winner with an ERA of 3.30-3.95 and Hughes to possibly have another season similar to the 2010 season. But, the big question marks are Aj and the 4th and 5th spot in the rotation. Burnett is unpredictable, at some points he looks like he could be a 30 game winner if he wanted to at other points he looks like a rookie who just got called up. Now onto the 4th and 5th seed. We all know the Nova and Brackman are going to compete for starting spot in the rotation. And I believe Nova will win it due to him having more experience in the Bigs. Brackman is most likely either going to be sent down or will be in the bullpen. Now the 5th spot is rumored to go to Mitre if the Yankees don't get a pitcher. All I can say is expect to see Yankees lose games by 5-10 runs. He started 3 times last year for the bombers. In those three starts he allowed a total of 8 runs or 8.2 innings pitched. When he wasn't starting he allowed 12 runs over around 46 innings pitched. If we are to use Mitre it must be from the bullpen.

Now here are some options for the Yankees.

1. Kevin Millwood: The last time this guy had an injury season was in 2004 for the Phillies. Where he pitched 25 games and 141 innings pitched. In all of his seasons he averaged around 195 innings pitched. He also has a career ERA of 4.11. Now we don't need to pay him much around 2.5 million will do so that is perfect.

2. Gavin Floyd: We heard rumors of this guy coming to us since late November. Now as you know he didn't have a career year last year. Which means we can get him for cheap. Maybe Brackman and a draft pick. Another upside is he is young, he is 27. He also is like a younger Kevin Millwood, over his last 3 season he averaged 192 innings pitched.

3. Carlos Zambrano: AS@#$OLE! Enuff said. But, out of all of the guys I just listed he is the best option. Over his career he averaged an ERA of 3.50. He also has 116 career wins with 74 loses. Now the biggest problem with Big Z is that he has anger problems. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW_HvOgzseE Also that huge contract he has. If the Yankees do get Z they will need to have the Cubs pay the majority of his contract.

4. Justin Duchscherer: Injury prone but, can pitch. Small contract=win win situation.

Well there is my argument and all I can say is hope you agree with me. GO YANKEES!!!!!!

Now for the jury decisions:

YankeesJets

After some deliberation, I have reached a verdict. Before I give my decision, please note that this decision is made with the knowledge that as of right now, Andy Pettitte is not a member of the rotation. While Wraithpk was correct in pointing out that the free agent market is pretty bare, the Yankees simply cannot enter 2011 with only three proven starters. CC is pretty much the only one of the three that we can bank on. AJ and Hughes have a history of injury problems which could lead to even more problems. The thought of Andrew Brackman turning into Randy Johnson is a reach and is wishful thinking at best.

I went with KingLou because he made some sense. I feel safer with a vet at the back end of the rotation to go along with Nova. While I don't think Floyd and Zambrano will be available, I think Millwood could be an innings eater and Dush has big upside. This would at least buy the Yanks some time until the trade deadline when teams are out of it and willing to trade something better.

In closing, I must bring up the Pettitte situation. If Andy comes back, I then would have to side with Wraithpk. I would not see the need for adding another pitcher unless it was just for organizational depth.

Lolmoarpl0x

I think KingLou won. While I like both arguments, Lou's supporting facts were better in presenting his opinion. Wraith said that FA and trade options are barren which does have some truth in it. However the Yankees can go the cheap redemption route a la Justin Dushcherer or Harden. He also went to say that Wandy should be avoided comparing him to other trades when Wandy is younger than all of his examples. While I agree with skepticism an AL Wandy is better than nova and Mitre who aren't referenced much in his argument. His FIP is around his ERA too which is adjusted for leagues.

Lou's argument that we need a above average innings eater is more compelling in my opinion. He has strong supporting details such as the fact Mitre isn't a "kid" and he just flat out sucks. No advanced stats are needed for that. He gave viable options that I liked as well to further his position.

TCuz

Here is my vote and explantion:

"Wraithpk gets my vote here. KingLou’s argument focused more on some random projections he seemed to make up (such as Kevin Millwood’s projected salary, the fact that he figured Gavin Floyd was available(there was a post here in PSA just acouple weeks ago showing why he’s not a real possibility), or the fact that he stated that with Mitre starting we would lose every game by 5-10 runs). Not only that, but KingLou didn’t focus at all on how those trade/Free Agency options are better than the kids in the farm, which was the point of the argument. Wraithpk’s argument was solid, but he mostly gets my vote by default. "

Brandon C.

I chose Wraithpk over King Lou because Wraithpk uses stats and facts, while King Lou uses mainly personal opinions and projected stats.

Cup Noodles

I'm going to go with KingLou. It makes sense to sign a Millwood or a Duchsherer for cheap. I think they're more reliable right now than Brackman, or Mitre (ahhhh!)

Not a blowout like last week, but this time the majority of the jury disagreed with the voters. Congrats to KingLou. Thanks to everyone who participated this week!

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