Former Yankees: Outfield Carousel and a former top Pitching prospect

by Meatface on May 24, 2011 2:35 AM EDT

The Yankees broke camp with the backup outfield pair of Marcus Thames and Randy Winn. Winn was brought in as security in case Gardner failed to make it as the primary Left Fielder and Thames came in as the primary Lefty smasher. Leaving spring training Thames was crap and most fans thought he would be gone by June at the latest, Winn was very unmemorable, but many thought he would quickly become the Left fielder.

I think that face says it all

Randy Winn was awful in pinstripes, he struck out about 1/4 times contributed just 8 RBI and was released on June 2nd batting just .213. His only contributing moment was his 3-run HR against the orioles in a 4-1 game. Winn signed with the Cardinals and contributed as a backup switch hitting outfielder. Coming into 2011 Winn failed to draw interest before accepting a minor league deal from the Orioles to compete for a backup Outfield job which he lost and after accepting his release he retired. At 36 I had written about how I hoped he would go play in Japan, but he may not have had any offers.

Marcus Thames had a very interesting season with the Yankees. As I said before he had an awful spring and his defense in the Outfield was absolutely abysmal, as a result he did not play much in the field especially not after Austin Kearns was acquired. That being said Thames had some absolutely huge hits for the Yankees, hitting 12 HR in just 212 AB. Biggest was likely his walk off HR against Papelbon on May 17th, but his go-ahead single in the 8th of Game 1 of the ALCS was big as well. Thames signed a 1 year deal with the Dodgers this off-season and they decided to play him regularly in the Outfield for some reason. He had a pair of Home Runs and a Triple(?) before going on the DL, he was only hitting .176 and when he gets back don't be surprised if he gets cut considering the Dodgers financial peril. Don't worry though with a bat like his he wont be unemployed long and at the very least someone like the Nationals would see him as a better pinch hitting option than Matt Stairs.

The Outfield carousel began before Winn was cut when Kevin Russo and Greg Golson both spent time on the Roster due to injuries in June, but these guys as well as later call-up Colin Curtis are still with the Yankees. Chad Huffman was another piece of the carousel of 1st time call-up backup Outfielders and the Houston native was able to get his first hit against the Astros at Yankee stadium. His only real moment if he never lays another inning in the majors was his help in the Yankees comeback in the 9th against the Dodgers with his solid 2 run single in front of the entire nation. That being said he never had another hit after that game and only 3 total and the Yankees released him in September and he was signed by the Indians and taken off the 40 man roster. Best of luck to you Chad.

The last ex-Yankee on the carosel is one that is an espchily bitter pill to swallow by the name of Austin Kearns. The Yankees wanted a backup outfielder and the AAA kids weren't proving to be very reliable, but why Golson didn't get more time i will never understand. Kearns had been hitting .272 with the Indians and the Yankees needed somebody to play against tough lefties, as Grandy was slumping badly, who was not a complete disaster in the outfield. Kearns was traded for a player to be named later and despite starting well he ended the season hitting .235 and did not get a single at bat in the post season. At the end of the season Kearns resigned with the Indians, got a DUI and is actually hitting even worse than with the Yankees.
What makes this trade unbearable for me is that the Player to be named later was none other than the guy who came into the season as the the Yankees top pitching prospect Zach McAllister. Zmac isn't technically a former Yankee as he has yet to play in the majors but this Rant is necessary. At the time McAllister had a 5+ERA in AAA and many scouts thought his stuff just wasn't good enough to compete at the AAA level and when McAllister went to the Indians that looked to be true as his ERA jumped to 6.88. However coming into this year McAllister has bounced back with a 2.42 ERA in 52 innings and overall just great numbers from a pitching prospect. This infuriates me because the Yankees could have given the Indians anything and instead they just gave up on McAllister and traded him to the Indians for a one year rental on a backup outfielder and McAllister had been great every year before last year. At least when we traded Michael Dunn and Arodys Vizcaino for Javy Vazquez we were supposed to get a decent return it just didnt work out. With McAllister there is no excuse as the Indians probably would have accepted Chad Huffman or CASH, hell we payed less for Kerry Wood. How good would you feel if ZMAC was tearing it up in Scranton like this? Such a waste.

Up Next we will feature some 2010 ex Yankee pitchers.

Read this and more on my blog: A True Yankee

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ummmmmmmmmm

WHO CARES!!!!!!!!!!!

looking forward to #28

by R. Lewis on May 24, 2011 4:30 AM EDT reply actions

+1, cuz' that really doesn't make a difference this year, and doesn't really catch my eye

by yanksrule on May 25, 2011 9:36 PM EDT up reply actions

Let's see McCallister actually excel at the major league level.

Until that happens, I won’t have any regrets because until he does anything at the major league level, he could just be another Jonathan Albaladejo. Even still, he would have to become a dominant relief pitcher for me to feel that bad about it. The move made sense at the time, no one expected Kearns to turn into a strikeout machine; he was supposed to be a good backup outfielder that could complement Thames because he could actually play defense a little (0.8 dWAR in just 34 games suggests he did a decent job).

I’m not much for mourning the loss of relief pitcher prospects because relievers are just too fickle, and it takes an exceptionally rare breed of player to become a consistently good relief pitcher for many years.

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

by Andrew GM on May 24, 2011 6:22 AM EDT reply actions

So the 2010 backup OFers were...I dunno what the point of this is

and a pitching prospect that was their top pitching spect maybe in 2008…wow.

You don’t know who would accept what either.

Last night, a comedian died in New York. Somebody knows why. Somebody knows

by Rorschach44 on May 24, 2011 8:56 AM EDT reply actions

McCallister is like Nova

which basically says he’s a 5th starter at best

by lololol on May 24, 2011 9:27 AM EDT reply actions

Nova can be better than a 5th starter, I think his ceiling is a solid 3rd starter. The stuff is there, and when his command is sharp, that’s when he has really good games, but when his command is off he runs into trouble.

I saw a guy in the subway holding a pamphlet that said Jesus was coming on May 21, 2011. I don't think it will be that early, he would still qualify as a super two, so they need to wait until June to delay his arbitration clock.

by Wraithpk on May 24, 2011 2:38 PM EDT up reply actions

I thought the point of this would be to compare last year's outfield bench with this year's.

So I was confused. The reason that a number of outfielders are being used this year is because Swisher isn’t hitting, and Girardi is trying to keep Andruw Jones active by platooning him with Gardner. Last year’s bench was a mess until Berkman and Thames settled in and the deadwood (don’t forget Kevin Russo) was cleared away.

Chris Dickerson seems to be a better player than any of the rookies brought in last year. Jones is a Thames substitute who hits a little less, fields more. If Nunez becomes comfortable in the outfield, Dickerson may be back in Scranton when Chavez returns. That’s a better problem to have than last year’s sorry mess.

by designatedquitter on May 24, 2011 9:52 AM EDT reply actions

If you think this post is useless check out my other post

its about the former 2010 Yankees pitchers now with other teams. Again its: A True Yankee

What about Zoidberg?

by Meatface on May 25, 2011 2:55 AM EDT reply actions

good selling point

by designatedquitter on May 25, 2011 9:41 AM EDT up reply actions

Hahaha +1

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by Lord Duggan on May 25, 2011 6:26 PM EDT up reply actions

You're missing out on part of the story here Meatface

Like you said, they gave up less for Kerry Wood.
Actually it was pretty much nothing for Wood. I forget exactly who but it was a low level filler middle infielder and I believe Cleveland already released him.
Even though officially the Kearns and Wood trades were seperate, unofficially the two deals were one. Essentially ZMac for both Clevelanders.
I really liked ZMac but in reality this was not a bad deal(s). Kearns helped some but Wood was instrumental in the Yanks getting within 2 W’s of the World Series. You do this deal everytime.
Also, ZMac has a similar skill set as Phelps, Noesi and Adam Warren to name a few. The Yanks decided ZMac was replaceable and losing him was a risk worth taking. It’s hard to criticize the logic.

by Peter Lacock on May 27, 2011 1:48 AM EDT up reply actions