George Steinbrenner will trade his best minor league prospects for a 41-year-old starter but he won’t resign a 38-year-old setup man. With an ERA of 2.39 over two years with the Yankees, their front office did not see fit to resign setup man/closer, Tom Gordon, and he was grabbed by the Philadelphia Phillies.Philadelphia inked Gordon to a three-year deal worth $18 million (pending a physical on Saturday) and speculation has it that New York was not willing to give a third year on a new contract. Another reason he was not eager to resign with New York was the fact that they would not give him the closing role and he had made it clear that closing was what he wanted to do. With the Phillies, Gordon will most likely take the role of closer as Billy Wagner has since departed for Flushing.
One of the nastiest curveballs in baseball lived in Yankee Stadium for two years and with it lived the hopes of hearing, “Exit light, enter night, take my hand, off to never never land.” His late game heroics made “Flash” Gordon one of the only consistencies in New York’s arsenal. His ability to go out and give the Yankees a strong eighth inning while bridging the gap to the best closing pitcher in baseball history, Mariano Rivera, was invaluable to a club that has struggled mightily with pitching over the last two seasons, particularly in 2005.
Their two studs signed in the offseason were Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright but injuries plagued the two throughout the season. Pavano went out for the season early in July with an arm injury and Wright bounced around but was never one-hundred percent for the season.
Another source of disappointment for the Yankees this season was Randy Johnson who was very shaky at times and had to be taken out before the end of the fifth inning in a number of games this season. Of course there is the legend that it “takes time to adjust in New York” but if that’s the case than why did Cashman trade Javier Vazquez for a pitcher nearing seniority?
The bullpen also struggled this year with Tanyon Sturtze’s inability to get hitters out consistently, this being his first year with the Yankees where he was only used as a relief pitcher instead of a spot starter. New York expected him to be able to log as many innings as he had the previous year but in very erratic bursts. Sturtze did end up matching his total innings in 2004 (78) but the way he was used to get those 78 made him fairly ineffective.
New York attempted to make up for the loss of Gordon by signing triple-digit hurler Kyle Farnsworth for three years, $17 million. There are questions about Farnsworth being able to pitch in pinstripes with all of the pressure that playing in New York brings, especially when the reliever has not been known to bear down in clutch situations.
Despite that debate, the fact is, Farnsworth can throw-and hard and striking out 87 batters while pitching just 70 innings in 2005 makes him a very intimidating pitcher. But will the burden of setting up the Sandman be too much for Farnsworth? After all, being a former Cub, Farnsworth knows the meaning of the word “choke.”
For more stories by Corey Durkin, check out sportshawks.com