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Yankee Dogs Now $18

The Yankees excess is hard at work again, this time (over)spending on warm bodies to set up Mariano Rivera. Tom Gordon signed a two-year deal yesterday worth $7.2 million, and Ontario's own Paul Quantrill signed a similar two-year pact worth $6.8 million. Add to that the soon-to-be deals for Felix "Don't Call me Gil" Heredia (two years, $3.6 million) and Gabe White (two years, $6 million), plus the $10 million they owe Steve Karsay through 2005 and the $2.4 million Chris Hammond will make in 2004, and the Anskys will have $36 million tied up in middle relief over the next couple of seasons. That's more than half of what the Brewers will spend on their entire roster over the same span.


                      2001               2002               2003

                 K/9  K/BB  HR/9    K/9  K/BB  HR/9    K/9  K/BB  HR/9
Tom Gordon      13.30 4.19  0.79   10.13 3.00  0.63   11.07 2.94  0.49
Paul Quantrill   6.29 4.83  0.65    6.22 2.12  0.12    5.12 2.93  0.23
Gabe White       6.25 1.81  2.39    6.79 4.10  0.50    5.59 3.63  1.35
Felix Heredia    7.20 1.75  1.54    5.33 1.19  0.86    4.66 1.36  1.03

The first thing that immediately jumps out at me is Flash Gordon's strikeout rates. He was seventh in the majors this season in K/9 with 11.07 (among pitchers with at least 40 ip). That's better than Billy Wagner (10.99), John Smoltz (10.21), and Octavio Dotel (10.03). He had Tommy John surgery four years ago, and has missed a good deal of playing time over the past five seasons, including much of 1999 and all of 2000. If he stays healthy, he'll give the Yankee bullpen the power arm (aside from M-Riv) they've sorely missed during the past few seasons of incomprehensible failure.

Paul Quantrill, while no doubt aided by the friendly confines of Dodger Stadium (park factors of 93 and 91 the past two seasons), should provide some much-needed relief, and will offer a change of pace from Gordon's hard stuff. He has very good control and, while he doesn't strike out a ton of hitters, gives up a ridiculously low number of homeruns. Last season he gave up one longball for approximately every 36 innings he pitched. While astounding, it was put to shame by his 2002 rate of one every 72 innings. That would be like a starting pitcher giving up one homerun for every 12 six-inning starts he makes. He is an extreme groundball pitcher, giving up almost twice as many groundballs as flyballs over the last three years. While this helps keep the ball in the yard, it may not be the best complement to the Yankees infield defense.

Gabe White and Felix Heredia are probably league-average relievers. They both pitched pretty well for the Yankees last season, which apparently was enough for Boss George to pay them like they were replacement-level middle-infielders.

Quite frankly, the Yankee bullpen was s*** last season. With Heredia and White effectively replacing the 2003 versions of themselves, Paul Quantrill and Tom Gordon (when he plays), will be a huge upgrade over the jigsaw puzzle suckfest that has dominated the middle innings at the Stadium of late.