Thank You Kenny Williams and Wayne Krivsky

The Yankees bullpen got a major lift last week, when relief pitcher Scott Linebrink signed a four year, $19 million contract with the Chicago White Sox. Linebrink was rumored to be on Brian Cashman’s wish list this off season and while the Yankees bullpen could use an upgrade, Linebrink was not the answer. Even if he is only 31 years old, Linebrink’s best days appear to be behind him. Their was a day when he was one of the best setup men in baseball, especially in 2005 when he posted a 1.83 ERA but things have not gone as well since then. Linebrink’s ERA leaped to 3.57 in 2006 and he was traded mid season in 2007 and finished the season with a 3.71 ERA. Linebrink may be wearing down from his heavy workloads, as he’s appeared in 73 games the past three seasons and pitched 92.1 innings the season prior to that. Basically, he’s become the Scott Proctor of the National League and if he had come to the Yankees he seemed likely to end up as another Kyle Farnsworth. To a lesser extent, the Cincinnati Reds General Manger Wayne Krivsky should be thanked for spending an inordinate amount of money on Francisco Cordero, another potential target of Brian Cashman’s this winter. Cordero is a decent pitcher, but he’s not worth a four year, $46 million contract. It’s true that the bullpen needs a face lift, but the free agent relievers are not the answer. The only ones Cashman should consider signing are Luis Vizcaino and Ron Mahay, Vizcaino because he’s proved he can be a moderately effective pitcher in New York, and Mahay to finally have a reliable lefty. Since bringing in veteran relievers can be very unpredictable, Cashman might be better off just relying on the young pitchers to piece together a bullpen. A combination of Edwar Ramirez, Chris Britton, Scott Paterson, Ross Ohlendorf, and later in the season of Humberto Sanchez, JB Cox, and Kevan Whelan will likely be enough to form a stable bullpen, assuming some of them step up their game. The only problem is that unless one of them takes a huge step up, the Yankees will still lack a dominant setup man like Joba Chamberlain was at the end of the 2007 season. Still, its better then giving Scott Linebrink a four year deal to turn into a mop up man.