As many Yankee sites have mentioned, the Yankees have a bullpen problem. With Joba Chamberlain in the starting rotation, the Yankees start with Mariano Rivera and Kyle Farnsworth. Even with a 50-year-old Rivera, this would be a huge drop-off.
Luis Vizcaino is a free agent. Yankees etc. tosses around all the probables, possibles, and minor-league starters who could be converted (Darrell Rasner, Chase Wright and Alan Horne among the "names" here with Tyler Clippard gone).
But the conclusion there is that Vizcaino, Damaso Marte or Ron Mahay need to sign(or re-up) with the Yanks to avoid a potentially ugly bullpen in the early going.
I can't disagree. I don't think the Yankees are ignoring the bullpen, but with all the re-signings done and the Johan Santana/Dan Haren talks died down for a moment, there should be a focus on getting a reliever, or two. There's a lot of trade bait in that minor league system that's not blue-chip at all but may be good enough to snare Damaso, for instance.
Viz is a tricky one. The team would know the state of his arm better than anyone, howver, so if they aren't showing interest (or haste, at least), maybe it's intentional. As for the rest of the field, I don't know enough. And manbe nobody does. Relievers are such a enigma.
I am not sure it is worth signing those guys. Middle relievers in this market seem very over priced for both free agents and via trade. I read some where that the asking price for Marte is Tabata. Remember that Marte was originally a Yankee and was traded away for Enrique Wilson in 2001.
I think the Yankees would be better off looking in there system to build a Pen. They have a lot of live arms and can find some one to plug the holes. I hate to have to rely on Farnsworth, but he is in his walk year, historically a good year to perform.
Giving a 36 year coming off a career year a 3 year contract seems foolish (Posada not included).
I agree with Dave. First, there's no way the Yankees should sign Mahay, especially for the three years he seems to be looking for.
Second, I've been a fan of Marte so I'd take him at the right price. Obviously not for Tabata.
Finally, I think building a pen through the farm system is the way to go. Most teams luck into having a solid bullpen so it's not something worth spending money on unless it's a sure thing and those pitchers are closers. Just look at the Red Sox last year. At the end of spring training the talk was of Paplebon and nobody else. They probably ended up with the best pen. Out of the pitchers I've seen, Ohlendorf and Veras showed positive signs at the end of the season as did Britton. Ramirez, Igawa and Henn stink, and Bruney is somewhat of an enigma. Rasner and Karstens (minus his injury plagued season last year) have turned in respectful outings in any role. Obviously I don't know what Horne, Marquez, White, ect. can add, but it doesn't look like they'll ever be able to break into the rotation so why not try them out? And who knows, maybe Sanchez, Cox and Melancon who are all returning from injury, can give them something late in the season. As for what Chashman should do now, I'd go with the stockpile route. I think more trades like the Clippard trade is his best bet. Remeber Girardi is the manager now. For as much as I loved Torre, I think we should all have more confidence in the new Joe finding the right bullpen pieces.