Mar 30, 2007

Roster set!

Some good choices by the Cash-Tor duo. RPs Brian Bruney and Sean Henn are in the pen - Ron Villone will either pitch in AAA or become a free agent. Back-up-catcher Wil Nieves made the team (mostly for defensive reasons) over Todd Pratt, Ben Davis or Raul Chavez. And best of all, 1B Josh Phelps will be the righty platoon over Andy Phillips.

ST stats -
Bullpen
Villone, 5 ip, 14.40 era, 5 k, 4 bb
Henn, 9 ip, 3.00 era, 6 k, 6 bb
Bruney, 7 ip, 3.86 era, 14 k, 2 bb
Makes sense.

RH First-base
Phillips, 22 ab, .182/.182.182
Phelps, 35 ab, .400/.436/.686
Makes even more sense.

Back-up-catcher
Pratt, 21 ab, 143/.182/.190
Davis, 10, .200/.200/.500
R. Chavez, 18 ab, .278/.263/.444
Nieves, 20 ab, .150/.150/.150
Hmmm... I'm not quite sure why Nieves made the team. He was the worst hitting catcher in ST, and Pratt's defense was superior (from what I saw). I would've liked to see Davis get some more abs. Cash-Tor must be hoping Nieves' hitting is a victim of SSS (small sample size). His career minor league hitting is much better: 3368 ab, .288/.334/.398.

In past years, Torre almost certainly wold have gone with Villone, Pratt and Phillips for their 'veteraness.'

The complete Opening Day roster.
SP: Pettitte, Mussina, Igawa, Pavano, Rasner (with Wang and Karstens both about to be placed on the DL)
RP: Mo, Farns, Proctor, Vizcaino, Myers, Bruney, Henn
OF: Matsui, Damon, Abreu, Melky
IF: Arod, Jeter, Cano, Giambi, Dmint, Phelps, Cairo
C: Posada, Nieves


PS - My wife just scored two tickets to Opening Day!

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