Darrell Rasner and Edwar Ramirez can now be considered 2008 Yankees trash.
The fact that Rasner is pitching meaningful games for a $200+ million team is a flat-out embarrassment. While no one could have predicted the problems of Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy this season, the Yankees do not have viable replacements.
Signing a top-flight starting pitcher like CC Sabathia for next season should be the No. 1 priority for whomever is in charge.
Regarding Ramirez: it's hard to fool batters with a mediocre fastball.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Add Darrell Rasner and Edwar Ramirez to the "garbage" list
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5 comments:
You think Edwar is trash? Man, you must read Peter Abraham's blog too much since that guy unfairly bashes Edwar every time he gives up a run.
Edwar has contributed almost 50 innings of a 1.09 WHIP and a 3.66 ERA. Sure, he is homer-prone, but his contribution to this team has still been very valuable. How the heck can you call that "trash"? Seriously.
And also, Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez have nearly identical rates of homeruns allowed this year. So you do you think Veras is garbage too?
The performance of some of the young guys in the bullpen has been one of the few bright spots as far as performance at the MLB level is concerned. Would you rather the Yankees fill the bullpen with more veteran crap like Hawkins or Vizcaino or Farnsworth again?
If you want to say Rasner sucks, that's cool. If you are disgusted by the fact that Ponson is currently the 3rd best starter on the team, I totally agree. If you are disappointed in the offense's numbers with RISP, that's justified as well.
But getting the on the case of the relievers is pretty ridiculous.
I don't think Edwar Ramirez is reliable and I don't trust him in big spots. His changeup/fastball combination is very hit or miss.
Their performance earlier in the season was nice and refreshing to watch. But as the team has gone south, so has their performance. Hopefully they'll prove me wrong.
What Yankee reliever over the last 5 or 6 years did you actually "trust" in a big spot? The only one I can think of is Joba from the 2nd half of last season, and Tom Gordon was really good as well, 2004 ALCS aside. And the 2006 Scott Proctor was very good. That's about it. So using a criteria of "I don't trust him in a big spot" to judge a Yankee reliever isn't all that meaningful since the Yankees rarely have guys that you would probably trust in a big spot outside of Mariano.
The bottom line is that Edwar's performance has been above average compared to all relievers in baseball. That has value. That has a lot of value. Yankee fans have been spoiled by Mariano over the years. So maybe Edwar's performance this year doesn't strike you as being good, but he has been better than a league average pitcher, and it is hard to understand how you can't see the value in that, which you clearly don't.
I'm not saying this guy is the best non-closer in baseball this year or he deserves to have the 8th inning role to setup Mariano. But what I am saying is that he has made a solid contribution to this team, and his performance has been anything but "garbage".
Fair points, Anonymous. Maybe I was somewhat reactionary in my post, but it's been a frustrating team to watch of late.
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