Yankees Free Agent Relievers: Viewer Discretion Advised

by 3460kuri on Apr 17, 2011 11:00 AM EDT in New York Yankees Analysis

Pedro Feliciano's season-ending (and possibly career-ending) injury is just the latest in a string of free-agent reliever burnouts and blowups that have plagued the Yankees for a decade. It's not surprising; relief pitchers are fickle and usually don't last long. Paying them a lot changes nothing other than raising expectations to unrealistic levels, which only makes it worse when they do fail.

Talk about an ugly list:

Steve Karsay - 4 years/$22.5 million prior to 2002 - 101 IP, 2.3 WAR

Chris Hammond - 2 years/$4.6 million prior to 2003 - 63 IP, 1.5 WAR, traded prior to 2004 season.

Tom Gordon - 2 years/$7.25 million prior to 2004 - 170.1 IP, 6.5 WAR

Paul Quantrill - 2 years/$6 million prior to 2004 - 127.1 IP, 0 WAR

Felix Rodriguez - 1 year/$3.15 million prior to 2005 - 32.1 IP, .1 WAR

Ron Villone - 1 year/$2.25 million prior to 2006 - 80.1 IP, -.1 WAR

Mike Myers - 2 years/$2.4 million prior to 2006 - 70.1 IP, 1 WAR

Kyle Farnsworth - 3 years/$17 million prior to 2006 - 170.1 IP, 1 WAR

Latroy Hawkins - 1 year/$3.75 million prior to 2008 - 41 IP, -.2 WAR

Damaso Marte - 3 years/$12 million prior to 2009 - 31 IP, -.5 WAR

Chan Ho Park - 1 year/$1.2 million prior to 2010 - 35.1 IP, -.5 WAR

If you're counting at home, that's $79.8 million for 11.1 WAR, a ghastly $7.2 million per WAR.

It gets worse. Tom Gordon was responsible for more than half the WAR output (before his arm fell off, of course); remove him from the mix, and the Yankees paid about $15.8 million per WAR.

If Brian Cashman and the Yankees brass were first graders, their teacher would make them write I WILL NOT SIGN FREE AGENT RELIEVERS 1,000 times, have their parents sign it, and turn it in on Monday.

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I think we can rule out CHOP on this one.

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by Kevin L on Apr 17, 2011 11:31 AM EDT reply actions

Flash

I was gonna say gordon was pretty good as the 8th inning guy. But the rest of this list is pathetic

by dyanks10 on Apr 17, 2011 11:40 AM EDT reply actions

I have such permission form if needed Cashman

Is it too late to start up the Fire Girardi bus?

by McDaniel on Apr 17, 2011 11:42 AM EDT reply actions

You know it’s only gonna get worse with the Soriano deal. Even if he excels, they’ll have paid a crapton of money for maybe a WAR of 3.5 tops (and that’s a great season for a setup man). Yikes. I remember every reliever on this list and they were all (other than maybe Gordon) not even close to being worth what they paid for.

Unless you're a pitcher or Gustavo Molina, kindly SWING THE BAT and ignore the Binder's bunt signal.

by Andrew GM on Apr 17, 2011 11:51 AM EDT reply actions

His highest WAR was in 2.0 in 2009. It’ll be tough for him to top that this year. Another reason to hope that Papelbon sucks more this year so that there are more teams that will be vying for Soriano’s services come this offseason.

by Scooby Snacks on Apr 17, 2011 12:02 PM EDT up reply actions

If he opts out and signs with another team this offseason

Do the Yankees get any kind of compensatory pick?

Or is his leaving its own reward?

by waw on Apr 17, 2011 12:45 PM EDT up reply actions

They can offer him arb so yeah we could get a pick

COMB YO BEARD!

by Briceratops on Apr 17, 2011 1:32 PM EDT up reply actions

I like your signature.

"We play today, we win today. Das it!"

by Chris McKeown on Apr 17, 2011 2:13 PM EDT up reply actions

haha thanks. Joe Morgan’s not working anymore so I thought it was time for a change.

Unless you're a pitcher or Gustavo Molina, kindly SWING THE BAT and ignore the Binder's bunt signal.

by Andrew GM on Apr 17, 2011 8:22 PM EDT up reply actions

Gordon was very good for the Yankees

Unfortunately he gets remembered for the 2004 ALCS and the report that he was “throwing up” in the bullpen. He gets treated unfairly because of that. While he was poor in the postseason everywhere he went, the 04 implosion could also have had to do with Torre abusing him all season. As for the throwing up – maybe he was just sick.

by Let's Talk About Tex Baby on Apr 17, 2011 3:43 PM EDT up reply actions

I must've caught what he had

I recall not feeling too well around that time, myself.

Usqueadbaugham! Anam muck an dhoul ! Did ye drink me doornail?

by Q-TDSK on Apr 17, 2011 3:55 PM EDT up reply actions

The Yankees overpaying for WAR doesn't bother me so much

It might even work to their advantage in the somewhat perverse way of driving up the prices of less valuable parts to other teams. Look at how much was spent on set-up men throughout the league this offseason (which Ii’m not attributing entirely to Soriano, but I have to think that had something to do with it.)

A better metric for rating Yankee signings would be something like contract flexibility per WAR. Something like guaranteed years per WAR would be a start. Contract value would also play a role, but only insofar as it limits flexibility. Take CHOP’s contract, for instance. Cost/WAR is worse than infinite for him (i.e. they paid him to lose games.) But he was being paid a small enough amount for a very limited time that it wasn’t a problem for the Yankees to cut him and their losses. I’d rate Farnsworth’s deal as the worse one, even though he actually had a finite Cost/WAR.

Usqueadbaugham! Anam muck an dhoul ! Did ye drink me doornail?

by Q-TDSK on Apr 17, 2011 12:57 PM EDT reply actions

Remember Mike Meyers?

would have been better with Austin Powers

by DukBudr on Apr 17, 2011 1:28 PM EDT reply actions

The only thing I remember about Myers was when he let up a grand slam to Crawford back in ’06 or ’07 in Tampa and completely blew that ballgame. It was one of the more dreadful memories I have of a relief pitcher. “Lefty specialist”.. yeah, right.

"We play today, we win today. Das it!"

by Chris McKeown on Apr 17, 2011 2:13 PM EDT up reply actions

I remember seeing him pitch in a game I went to in Baltimore when the O's were up something like 19-7

by MichaelGGBGrabow on Apr 22, 2011 8:43 PM EDT up reply actions

I also remember him giving up an absolute monster home run to David Ortiz during a game at Fenway where the wind was blowing WAY in, and Ortiz hit it to dead center. Jesus.

Unless you're a pitcher or Gustavo Molina, kindly SWING THE BAT and ignore the Binder's bunt signal.

by Andrew GM on Apr 17, 2011 8:23 PM EDT up reply actions

Don't argue with the power of the juice

And Ortiz was doing some seriously good juice in that time frame.

by D1andonlyDman on Apr 18, 2011 1:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Ugh Karsay

He was the appetizer of the Carl Pavano dining experience.

"Here, if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw. There it is, that's a straw, you see? You watching?. And my straw reaches acroooooooss the room, and starts to drink your milkshake... I... drink... your... milkshake!"-Daniel Plainview

by yankee come lately on Apr 17, 2011 1:32 PM EDT reply actions