River Avenue Blues

River Ave. Blues ยป Aaron Laffey

Kiss ‘Em Goodbye: Laffey, Proctor, Valdes

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The Yankees announced today that Scott Proctor, Raul Valdes, and Aaron Laffey have all been outrighted off the 40-man roster. Proctor and Valdes elected free agency rather than accept the assignment to the minors while Laffey was claimed off waivers by the Royals. The trio combined for 5.40 ERA in 28.1 IP late in the year, but that’s almost entirely due to Proctor.

The moves clear three 40-man spots, but as Joe explained earlier, there’s seven players due to come off the 60-day DL after the season.

Yankees designate Aaron Laffey for assignment

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Remember yesterday, when the Yankees optioned Aaron Laffey to make room for Alex Rodriguez on the 25-man roster? It turns out that they didn’t option him. Instead, reports The Star-Ledger’s Marc Carig, they designated him for assignment. The idea, I’m guessing, is that since he made it all the way to the Yankees on waivers the first time through that he could clear waivers and head to AAA for the Yanks. We’ll see if any NL team puts in a claim this time around, or whether the Yanks were the only team really interested last time around.

This does open a spot on the 40-man roster, so speculate as you will.

Yankees activate A-Rod, send down Laffey

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After 44 days away from the team because of a knee injury, Alex Rodriguez is back. The Yankees activated their cleanup hitter and third baseman before Sunday’s game, sending Aaron Laffey to Triple-A Scranton to make room on the roster. A-Rod is in the lineup this afternoon, and he’s … batting cleanup and playing third base. How about that?

Two thoughts on the recent transactions

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Ewww, a former Met. (Photo from Flickr user slgckgc via Creative Commons license)

Despite being the payroll champions of baseball, the Yankees have turned to the waiver wire for a pair of pickups in the last week. First they claimed lefty reliever Raul Valdes off waivers from the Cardinals, then they claimed fellow lefty reliever Aaron Laffey off waivers from the Mariners. Two minor moves, certainly, but I think they tell us something about the team’s plans for next month.

The additions mean …

… that Manny Banuelos will not be called up September. A call-up was never really a sure thing to start with, especially given Brian Cashman’s comments earlier this week. Cashman told Jack Curry yesterday that Laffey will join the big league team today and that Valdes will come up in September to be a third lefty, giving Joe Girardi some “inventory” for matchups in the season’s final month. Banuelos is already at 116 IP on the season (a career high) and doesn’t figure to go much beyond 130-140 IP on the year, so he’d have to work out of the bullpen for the big league team if they were planning to call him up after the season ends. It’s possible they still might, but adding the two southpaws this week makes it seem less likely.

Gus Molina’s DFA’ing means …

… that Jesus Montero will be a September call-up. Molina was the team’s third catcher, the only viable alternative to Montero if the Yankees wanted an extra backstop. Third catchers are a rite of September, they’re always among the first guys called up. It’s very likely that Molina will clear waivers and return to the Yankees, so yeah they probably would still be able to call him up for September, but it seems very unlikely given the way they just took him off the 40-man roster. Rumors of an imminent Montero promotion have been circulating for weeks, and sacrificing Gus’ 40-man spot seems like another indication that the team’s top prospect will be with the big league club in a little less than two weeks.

Yankees claim Aaron Laffey, DFA Gus Molina

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Via Mark Feinsand, the Yankees have claimed lefty Aaron Laffey off waivers from the Mariners. Gustavo Molina has been designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster. Laffey will join the team in Minnesota tomorrow, which is kinda interesting.

I wrote about Laffey yesterday, suggesting the Yankees should claim him off waivers so he can be the second lefty out of the pen. He won’t be a shutdown southpaw, but he’s a better backup option than Raul Valdes or Steve Garrison. As an added bonus, Laffey is under team control through 2014 and has a minor league option remaining for next year. Solid move, improving on the margins.

Talkin’ about Aaron Laffey

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(Photo Credit: Flickr user BGSU86 via Creative Commons license)

Stop me if you’re heard this before, but the Yankees are looking for a veteran lefty reliever. I know, shocking, but that’s what Jayson Stark reported yesterday. The Yankees dumped J.C. Romero from their Triple-A squad last week (he’s since hooked on with the Rockies) and claimed Raul Valdes off waivers earlier in the week, but he’s a veteran in terms of age (33) only (just 64 IP in the bigs). Another veteran(-ish) southpaw hit the market yesterday when the Mariners cut ties with Aaron Laffey (a former Indian, hence the picture), so let’s see if he’s a guy that makes sense for the Bombers.

The Pros

  • Well, he’s left-handed, and that’s always a plus. Laffey’s got a classic LOOGY repertoire, which means a fastball in the high-80’s and a sweepy slider in the low-80’s that helps generate a ground ball 51.5% of the time. He’ll also mix in the occasional low-80’s changeup and high-70’s curveball, but very rarely.
  • Laffey came into the season with one minor league option remaining, and although he was sent to the minors on July 30th, he was recalled two days later due to an injury. Because it’s already August 18th, any team that acquires him could stick him in Triple-A until September 1st and not burn that option because he will not have spent the required 20 days in the minors. Long story short, he has an option for next year.
  • He’s under team control for three more years after this one, and won’t make much money in his first trip through the arbitration process this winter. Something in the high six-figures is the most likely salary for next year.

The Cons

  • He may be left-handed, but Laffey has never been all that good against same side batters in his big league career. Lefties have tagged him for a .250/.321/.431 batting line (10 K, 7 BB) in 81 PA this year and .271/.339/.388 (77 K, 37 BB) in 488 PA for his career.
  • Laffey’s peripheral stats are terrible. His career overall numbers are an eyesore (4.44 K/9 and 3.42 uIBB/9), and against lefties they’re merely mediocre: 6.15 K/9 and 2.88 BB/9 with a 47% ground ball rate. That hardly screams “valuable reliever in the AL East.”
  • Uh … well he’s not really that much of a veteran, which is what the Yankees are reportedly looking for.

By no means is Laffey great, but we have to remember what we’re talking about here: a potential second lefty reliever. Not the number one guy that will get the big outs in the seventh and eighth innings, just a spare arm for some miscellaneous matchup work. I do like Laffey for that role, or perhaps I should say I like him more than the current in-house options (Valdes and … Steve Garrison?). That’s a better way to put it. That fact the team will be able to send him the minors next year without a problem is great, just because it’s an added level of flexibility and bullpens thrive on that. I wouldn’t give up anything of value to acquire Laffey, I don’t like him that much, but there’s nothing wrong with making a waiver claim and rolling the dice on a young (26), cost-controlled, and optionable southpaw for the rest of the season and next.