Thursday, March 29, 2007
NJ.com - Yankees: Phelps’ chance has come, but Villone may go
TAMPA, Fla.—Josh Phelps has apparently won a spot on the Yankees roster. Andy Phillips, who had been competing with Phelps to platoon at first base with Doug Mientkiewicz, yesterday was placed on outright waivers. The move (which was revealed by a major-league official who asked not to be identified because waivers are confidential)
means that by tomorrow Phillips will be claimed by another team or sent to the minors by the Yankees. Meanwhile, lefty reliever Ron Villone might have clinched his fate last night by failing to retire any of the three men he faced in a 12-2 loss to the Houston Astros.
The roster is tightening up. While I’m happy to see Phelps make the team, I do feel for Andy Phillips. I hope Phillips does get claimed and gets a chance to play in the majors somewhere. I still think he may have a chance at being a productive player, but I don’t the Yankees are in the position to wait for it to happen.
Ron Villone looks shot. It would seem that Sean Henn’s going to get the spot that was supposed to go to Villone, and I think that’s a good move as well.
I’ll wrap up the looking ahead pieces with the bullpen tomorrow.
Comments
Has anyone heard whether Villone agreed to take the Scranton assignment. If he does, does the 2.5M still apply or would there be a new minor league salary or something. His numbers against lefties last season were great - he could turn out to be a better LOOGY than Myers. As for Henn, I’ll believe he’s good when he’s good at Yankee Stadium.
The 2.5M does not apply as far as I know. Last I read was that Villone was looking at his options.
I’m not sold on Henn either, but he has the stuff to be a good reliever. He’ll be a low leverage guy to start most likely, while Joe Torre sees what he has. If he does well, he’ll start to get more work in more crucial situations. If he ends up struggling, they still have an option on him so it shouldn’t be a big deal.
Thanks SG. Henn looked decent today. I’d say it was pretty high leverage, helped keep us in the game. It’ll be good for his confidence after the hell he went through last season at Yankee Stadium.
Yeah, Torre pretty much blew away my theory right away. I guess he’s going to use the sink or swim method instead.
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