Should the Yankees Keep Gaudin and Mitre?

Written by Greg Fertel | 19 March 2010

Right now, the bullpen shapes up like this:

Mariano Rivera

Joba Chamberlain/Phil Hughes*

Alfredo Aceves*

David Robertson*

Damaso Marte

Chan Ho Park

Chad Gaudin/Sergio Mitre

*Has options remaining

So if the Yankees want to keep both Chad Gaudin and Sergio Mitre, it means that Boone Logan is probably gone, and one of Joba, Hughes, Aceves, or Robertson starts the season in Triple-A.

Those three relievers are definitely more valuable than either Gaudin and Mitre, so it wouldn't necessarily make sense to start one of those guys in the minors to keep Gaudin and Mitre.

The other option is that the Yankees can start the season with their fifth starter(Hughes or Joba) in the minors, because it looks like they don't necessarily need a fifth starter until April 24th.

If the Yankees opt to go this path, and send their fifth starter to Triple-A to stay warmed up, it would make sense to keep both of these pitchers. It would give them an extra long man and more of an opportunity to decide which one of the two pitchers they want to trade.

Plus, it would give the team extra flexibility in case a pitcher does go down with an injury. Basically, it would give the team an extra twenty days to make a decision. While I said the other day that the loser of the fifth starter battle shouldn't start the season in Triple-A, maybe the winner should.