In an effort to continue this ridiculous tradition, I've decided as a jilted Yankee fan (who is teetering on the edge of over-reacting) to look at some possible Plan B's and C's since it's only imperative that we get our rotation into fighting AL East shape... right?

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Last month I decided to take a look at the DBacks bullpen and speculate on some possible moves after Kevin Towers was named General Manager.  With the offseason in full force, I wanted to expand upon another area of the need: the starting rotation.

Here is where the DBacks rotation stood at the end of the 2010 season (in no particular order):

• LHP Joe Saunders
• RHP Dan Hudson
• RHP Ian Kennedy
• RHP Rodrigo Lopez
• RHP Barry Enright

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Recently, these pages have reported well on the hiring the Kevin Towers as the D-back GM and some possible ramifications here.  Also, I would like to point our readers to a very thorough article at The Hardball Times by Steven Booth which gives us some further history on Towers' strengths and weaknesses (although I would ignore the mention made about Brandon Webb returning... anything can happen but that's very doubtful).

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To be honest, I was a bit ambivalent about all the news yesterday of Cliff Lee possibly going to the Yankees.  The key piece of that trade would have been Jesus Montero and it’s a near-lock his bat will be special but with scouts predicting a move to 1B in his future.  Montero is essentially a man without a position on the Yankees.

The other piece of that near-trade was 2B David Adams, another prospect essentially blocked as Robinson Cano figures to be a Yankee at least until 2013 as club options will be surely exercised. 

Honestly, to acquire a pitcher of Lee’s caliber moving Montero would have been a necessity.  As we move forward this season with Aceves out, Hughes approaching his innings limit and Mitre going back and forth on the DL, having another capable starter will be a major need as we move into late August and onward.

Since Lee is out of the picture, I’ve decided to post a few other options that the Yankees should look into along with the reality of acquiring of them:

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Looking over this article of recent Red Sox bullpen transaction as inspiration, I’ve decided to look over a majority of each MLB team and see if I could spot any bullpen bargains.

Of course, relievers like Kyle McClellan, Daniel Bard and Ryan Perry are attractive and come with a lot of upside it's safe to assume they would be too expensive to acquire (unless packaged in a deal for one of our top trade chips).  Instead I decided to list a few pitchers that could both benefit us and be had in a fairly minor deal.

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After being named to replace A.J. Hinch as manager for the remainder of the 2010 season, Kirk Gibson has made all the necessary statements about reigniting this team and finding ways to win, etc.  Obviously this bullpen has been “historically bad” and most talk centering on the Dback struggles have fallen into this territory.  Gibson did list a number of things he finds wrong with the team and one item of business was for he and his staff to “sort out the bullpen.”

In 219 IP, the D-back bullpen is almost dead last in most important stats.  They are in the bottom five in K/9 (6.68) and second from the bottom in walks allowed (4.83 BB/9).  However, despite bad showings in stats dependant on luck (second from the bottom in BABIP .341 and lowest in strand rate 62.5%), the team seems to have far too many problems to dramatically improve their league worst ERA of 6.88 as their FIP and xFIP stands at 5.48 and 5.08, respectively.

Since the final thankless task of sorting and figuring out who stays and who goes rests on the shoulders of Gibson and DiPoto (and a few others, it seems).  I decided to not editorialize too much and just list each pitcher along with a few basic positives and negatives for each.

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Since Derrick Hall and Josh Byrnes signed longterm deals before the 2008 season.  We were told that a "plan" would be put into place and would bear fruit before their deals expired after the 2015.  It's been two and a half seasons and we all knew something was going to give after the D-Backs poor start; I'm just surprised it happened before the All-Star break.

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I don't understand this trade from the Diamondback's perspective. I blogged about the Dbacks' needs for 2010 on a my site a few days ago and I did agree that pitching must be their main focus... yet

Arizona is giving up Max Scherzer,a valuable and relatively inexpensive piece of their rotation that is under contract until 2014, for Edwin Jackson who did post excellent numbers last season but is due for a major pay raise (last season he made 2.2M and is expected to recieve 5.5M after arbitration and is arb eligible again in his final year) and goes up for free agency after 2011.

I understand the Dbacks needed to shore up their pitching but I figured it would involve finding an innings eater to shore up the #4 spot since I believe Billy Buckner could hold down the #5 spot (and if not Buckner then Mulvey or Augenstein, although that would require them to pitch in the pros to a level somewhat similar to the success they've had in the minors; something that has alluded them.  However, I do hold a bit of hope for Augenstein since he's 23 and does toss quite a few GB's when hit).

To me swapping out a young strikeout machine for one who succeeds more in terms of finding his control (Jackson who came up with the Dodgers as a young fireballer who seemed to walk everything has now found his nitch by harnessing his command in which this trend has fallen from a BB/9 4.92 in '07 to 3.78 in '08 to 2.94 last season.  Of course, Edwin Jackson will fit fine as the #3 starter on Arizona - I just don't understand giving up a very good one and one who projects to be cheaper over the next few seasons in return.  I know Detroit is in financial trouble but last I checked Arizona is also facing financial pressure and needs to discern where their projected payroll is heading.

The other piece of this trade headed to AZ is Ian Kennedy.  I've always liked Kennedy and figured the Bronx wasn't a good match for him.  Kennedy did undergo a major non-baseball related surgery to his pitching which seemed to cause no ill effects (in fact his velocity did go up a tick after waddling between 88-90 mph in previous seasons), Kennedy is a flyball pitcher which could get him in trouble at Chase Field but he has posted very good K/BB rates in both the minors and his brief stint in the AFL a few months ago. 

I guess by giving up Scherzer they needed another rotation possibility; however, I can't help but think the D-backs are in the same position they were a few days ago... solid options from #1-3 but question marks as to who will be their #4 and #5 pitchers; this is the same situation however with a slightly higher payroll... I know we are only talking a few million here but outside of NY and LA (maybe LA isn't a good example given the McCourt divorce that seems pending) I would think a team like AZ would have to maximize their resources and look to utilize whatever limited money they have on improving this team overall.  It just seems odd to me.

BTW: keep an eye on the two "prospects" that are reqiured to be shipped to the Yankees.  I know they probably won't be major high-upside guys but AZ did give Ross Ohlendorf away as part of the let-us-take-him-off-your-hands Randy Johnson trade.  Just thought I'd pitch that in.

Arizona Diamondbacks:

2009 Record: 70-92

General Manager: Josh Byrnes

Manager: A.J. Hinch


Organizational Philosophy: Since promoting the Director of Player Development to field Manager, GM Josh Byrnes has put even more importance on the necessity of acquiring and developing young players into an established mix of key veterans. During the past few seasons this philosophy was sidetracked with the departure of former Scouting Director (and current GM of the Washington Nationals) Mike Rizzo along with trades involving pitching prospects Brett Anderson and Ross Ohlendorf and outfield prospects like Carlos Quentin and Carlos Gonzalez. In 2009 the Diamondbacks posted as one of the worst defensive teams in major league baseball which along with a few key injuries took this once up and coming team from playoff participants to last place in the NL West in two short years.

Before the 2008 season, Derrick Hall succeeded Jeff Moorad as President and CEO. Both he and GM Josh Byrnes signed a long term deal that is set to expire after the 2015 season. The first two years of this “plan” has been rocky and a lot of regression has occurred in terms of overall team advancement.

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Los Angeles Dodgers:

2009 record: 95-67

General Manager: Ned Colletti (2010 mutual option)

Manager: Joe Torre


Organizational Philosophy: Lots of talk that GM Ned Colletti will resign during the off season, to the casual fan this may look like a major loss since the Dodgers have been the team to beat for the past two seasons in this division. The Ned Colletti era could still be seen as successful if the Dodgers win the world series but looking over his resume a lot of money has been spent on marginal talent while productive prospects have been shipped off with little in return. Colletti, it can be argued, is the perfect GM for Manager Joe Torre since both share a philosophy that doesn’t preach long term investment.

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I promised I wouldn't do it... get all caught up into this ridiculous speculation that the Jays were just going to dump Roy Halladay into our roster if we gave them Melky and Ian and maybe Aceves and, I don't know, Hughes or (but not both) AJax if they asked nice enough.

But I feel I must and inspired by bforce3000 and others let's take a deep and honest look into this...

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With Tony Pena effectively shipped off to the Chicago White Sox, most DBack fans seem to be pleased with the Brandon Allen swap.  Looking closely at Pena’s peripherals it is confusing as to why he always seems to be perpetually struggling.

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With Alfredo Aveces SP performance pretty much in the books and a stat line a little less than awe-aspiring:  3.1 IP 4 H 4 R (3 ER) 1 BB 2 K and 1 HR allowed. It’s expected that the powers that be will be mulling over who’ll be the next Yankee starter after the All-Star Break.

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