Well, Wigginton plays 1B, 2B, 3B, and OF... so he'd basically be replacing Cairo. That's a HUGE upgrade, and a guy with some pop off the bench is exactly what the Yanks need. Duncan can provide that pop right now, but the report on him is that he strikes out a ton, and defensively, he plays 1B, 1B only, and doesn't play it very well at all. So when Giambi comes back, Duncan would be on the bench except on days to rest Giambi. And a lot of K's aren't what you're looking for in a pinch hitter. With Wigginton, he could spell a lot of different players without giving up much (if anything) in the way of defense... he's not a fantastic hitter, but he's a better option than anything the Yanks currently have. Proctor, as much as I like him, is a league average reliever. Throws hard... gets wild occasionally. For all that Torre uses the shit out of him, I think the Yanks have better options in their pen. If I had my way (including Britton in the minors), Proctor would be fifth on the pen depth chart (Mo > Vizcaino > Britton > Bruney).
I just don't think the Yankees have enough in the bullpen right now to afford to give up one of their more reliable relievers for a guy with good power who doesn't get on base and is a sub-par defender. I absolutely love Wigginton, he's one of my favorite players, but he's just not worth it for the Yankees to further strain their weakest spot, IMO.
Well, if you replace Proctor with Britton, I think you're actually UPGRADING the bullpen, while also acquiring Wigginton. That's win/win if you ask me.
That is no upgrade at all. Not to mention he will never play 2B, 3B or OF unless somebody is hurt in which case we have no chance at all and need him even less. He's nothing more then a 3rd or 4th first baseman when people are healthy.
Yankees make a nice little move and trade for catcher Jose Molina for pitcher Jeff Kennard (AA). Kennard is 26. Poor Nieves in the field watching his Yankees tenure wide down
Thank goodness Nieves is done here. Why this move was made is beyond me though. There are better places to "fix" than the spot where one of the best in the league plays. (Posada, not Nieves.) On the Wiggington front, I'm not in favor. Not that Proctor is blowing away the competition, but he's there every day. No matter how much he's called on, he gives 110%. When he's on, he's damn good too. Helluva game tonight. This is what this team needs to be doing. Blowing out the lowest tier teams is critical. ----------------------- BTW: Cappy, your last response to me was one of the best posts I've ever read. There's stuff I could argue with, but given that I really respect you as a poster already, I'll just let the argument slide. You were good enough to at least accept that I have my own POV different from yours, and for me, that's all I really care about.
When you can make a deal to improve your team giving up pretty much nothing I think you do it. You dont approach trades with the mindset of were going to improve this team in order from most pressing need to least.
That's fair enough. I just don't see the reasoning behind it. Does it really improve the team? I guess time will tell. The one positive is that it no longer gives Moose his own personal catcher. It wasn't doing squat for him anyway. I actually wonder if this was just a token show by Cashman to show the team he was willing to make a deal. He did say a few weeks ago that he refused to conduct any trades until this team showed they'd make an effort to make a run for it all. It wasn't a damaging trade, so whatever. As long as we don't truly deplete the farm pursuing something that may or may not be, I'm fine with it. Plus, I'm far from a Nieves fan, so this doesn't bother me. ------------------ BTW: I was happy to see Damon in LF tonight. Defensively, he's an upgrade over Matsui, and it allowed Melky to stay in center, while having all three bats in the lineup. Good job there tonight Joe. (Look junc, another time I'm giving credit to Torre! And you think I can't possibly give him any credit. :wink
I like it b/c I think Molina is a better backup and reliable catcher. Hopefully now we can rest Posada more often
Who would have thought we would win both games started by Igawa and DeSalvo. Igawa really didn't pitch all that badly either. He got into trouble but managed to get out of it too. In any event he probably has only one more start before Hughes or Karstens starts anyway. I wonder who the other pitcher will be that goes down to make room for both of them. Maybe that's why there is talk of a trade from the pen. At least we can still win this series.
Coming up this week is a pivotal series between the red sox and indians. IF we just win against the royals we will games games. Hopefully one team takes 3 out of 4 or possible sweeps instead of a 2-2 split. I mean four against KC can we just frickin sweep.
Amazingly we have won Igawa's last 3 starts and 4 of his last 5 starts. He's terrible but I kind of feel we have a better chance when he pitches than Moose. We've only won 2 of Moose's last 12 starts.
You don't think Wigginton would be an upgrade over Cairo off the bench? hmy: Let's say it's the seventh inning of a day game and there's a lefty pitching... Cano is due up (with his putrid sub-.200 BA in day games) and has struggled all day. Do you pinch hit for Cano with Cairo? Hell no. But with Wigginton, that's a move I'd feel compelled to make. Or even to give Cano the entire day off. It's a long season. It's nice to be able to give players days off now and again. This is part of why I really like the Molina move. With Nieves, his bat was SO bad (he had a NEGATIVE OPS+) that Posada rarely got a full day off. At least with Molina, there's a chance he'll get a hit, and Torre won't feel quite as much pressure to pinch hit with Posada. Nieves was probably the worst backup catcher in the league. Molina is middling to fair. Being able to rest Posada and keep him fresh and effective down the stretch is key if the Yanks plan on making it to October.
