What does a Soriano absence do to the roster?

By Matt Imbrogno On May 17, 2011 · 3 Comments · In Roster Decisions

After last night’s game, we learned that plans to see the Yankee team doctor about his elbow. The hits just keep on coming, don’t they Yankee fans? So, what does Soriano’s likely trip to the disabled list do for the Yankees and the bullpen

First and foremost, I think we’ll see the eighth inning look like we thought it would before the Soriano trade: Joba Joba Joba. When Soriano hasn’t been available, Joe Girardi has gone to for the set up role and I don’t think that’s going to change much. He and will continue to get the bulk of the high leverage innings/situations.

will obviously continue to occupy the LOOGY role while does the mop up stuff. Hopefully, the Yankees remember that Hector Noesi exists and he shifts into the long man role. If Soriano does indeed hit the disabled list, the team could opt to call up another reliever, such as Ryan Pope since he’s already on the 40-man roster, but that would leave the team with just a three man bench, which is undesirable. I could see them having Pope and switch places and have someone like , , or come up. That situation could play out depending on how the Yankees handle the /DH situation in the coming days.

If I’m in charge, I probably do the latter option: strengthen the bench and keep the pitching staff at 12 men. The likelihood of utilizing a fourth bench player is higher than the likelihood of utilizing another minor league arm. Even in blowouts, the Yankees could just ride someone like Ayala into the ground and cut him loose when he’s served his purpose.

2011 is starting to look like a big disappointment for Rafael Soriano, who hasn’t performed all that well to this point. Now, he’s going to miss even more time. This year is quickly heading down the proverbial tubes for him. Luckily, the bullpen has still performed well (best relief FIP in the AL going into last night, most RP fWAR) without Soriano’s best efforts. His loss will tax the relievers in terms of workload, though, and that’s the biggest issue. Hopefully, they can weather the storm with some stronger starting pitching and a few blowout wins.

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3 Responses to What does a Soriano absence do to the roster?

  1. Duh, Innings! says:
    May 17, 2011 at 11:23 am

    Before the last three games including last night, the Yankees were getting sub 3 ERA pitching from their starters, the Yankee bats have wasted it. You could argue 5/14-16 is merely the starters finally doing bad jobs. I don’t want to read shit about Burnett when he’s given up only TEN earned runs in the five starts before last night and should’ve been pulled when it was 5-4 Yankees. Girardi left him in for too long.

    Hopefully Soriano will still think he’s a closer and opt out after this season, the Yankees will trade him to a team who’s willing to risk a midlevel prospect or two for renting him for a few months in 2011 before he opts out, unless he stays with that team, or he’s traded in the offseason. Another brilliant signing by Cashman and yeah, it is a Cashman signing as much as he likes to run his mouth that he was against it.

    Cashman has fucked up big time with the Soriano and Feliciano signings and he’ll pay for it i.e. be fired if the 2011 Yankees fail to make the postseason which is more and more looking like a possibility.

    I would swap Soriano for Jason Isringhausen straight up only cuz it’s a salary dump and “Izzy” is just a rest of 2011 proposition who could be useful in 2012. The Mets get their 2012-13 closer for very little, assuming they trade or cut K-Rod before his vesting option kicks in.

    [Reply]

    Matt Imbrogno Reply:
    May 17th, 2011 at 11:31 am

    Yeah, the Mets, who already have a reliever-with-an-option problem are going to trade for Rafael Soriano…another reliever with an option, who now has a balky elbow.

    [Reply]

    Joe G Reply:
    May 17th, 2011 at 11:43 am

    How is it a Cashman signing when senior management went over his head and negotiated the deal with Boras themselves? And you can’t fire a guy who doesn’t have a contract, which Cashman won’t hav when the season ends. It’s more likely that he’ll choose to walk away from some of the messy situations Randy Levine has left on his plate (soriano, Jeter).

    “I would swap Soriano for Jason Isringhausen straight up only cuz it’s a salary dump and “Izzy” is just a rest of 2011 proposition who could be useful in 2012.”

    - why, why, why would the mets do this, especially if Soriano is now dealing with eblow trouble.

    [Reply]

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