The Futility Infielder

Anyone doubting the Yankees' sincerity about cutting salaries this offseason need look no further than Saturday's grim tally for proof. Faced with the deadline to offer arbitration to their free agents, the Yanks dropped the axe on two long-standing members of their bullpen, parting ways with Mike Stanton and Ramiro Mendoza.

The bullpen has been one of the more celebrated aspects of Joe Torre's tenure. It is perhaps fittingly ironic that the team's level of success and exposure made stars out of even its workaday relievers. Torre not taking Jeff Nelson to an All-Star Game created a flap that eventually cost him one of his trustiest setup men. Torre taking Mike Stanton to an All-Star Game may have cost him another. A bullpen full of celebrities, the Yankees have decided, is a luxury they can't afford.

Permit me to recap a drama I've been through before in greater detail. When Torre bypassed him for the AL All-Star team in 2000, Nelson threw a tantrum. He squawked and seethed for the rest of the season (during which he did plenty to help them win), and then left as a free agent for Seattle. The Yanks didn't adequately replace him in 2001; while Mendoza picked up a good deal of the slack, the Yanks had no depth, and Torre trusted only three relievers in the end (Mariano Rivera, Stanton, and Mendoza). That those three relievers were able to help bring the Yanks within one inning of their fourth straight World Championship says a lot for them.

Eager to finally rectify the loss of Nelson, the Yanks grossly overspent on his replacement last winter, signing Steve Karsay to a 4-year, $22.25 million contract. Karsay pitched like the one in the catalog, but that large contract looms as a prelude to this year's mayhem. Had the Yanks spent more sensibly, they may have been able to afford at least one of the departing duo; had they spent even more sensibly, they may have avoided creating a boom market for setup men.

Mike Stanton spent six seasons as the lefty half of whatever 1-2 setup punch the Yanks were throwing. During that tenure he averaged 71 appearances and a 3.67 ERA in the regular season, and set all-time marks for the lowest ERA by a lefty reliever in both World Series (1.54) and postseason (2.10) history. He's hasn't shied from that postseason either -- the man's been there EVERY SINGLE YEAR since 1991, the '94 strike excepted.

The story that's emerged about Stanton's departure is troubling. The Yanks apparently offered Stanton and two free-agent lefty relievers a take-it-or-leave-it 2-year/$4.6 million contract -- and gave each man 15 minutes to accept or reject it. What kind of way is that to do business? Bush-league bullshit like that wouldn't have seemed out of place during George Steinbrenner's more meddlesome pre-suspension days. Whatever his merits or faults as a reliever, Stanton was a model of integrity and accountability for the Yanks. He set a strong example by never shying from reporters in the face of his own letdowns, and by taking the Boss' tabloid criticism in stride. As the Yankee player representative, he spent all summer long defending Boss Steinbrenner and the Yankee payroll. His treatment by the Yankees in this matter is downight disgraceful.

For all of that, and for all of the good things that can be said about Stanton, his performance showed signs of slipping in 2002. His strikeout rate plummeted, from 8.74 per 9 innings in 2001 (and 8.87 for his first five years as a Yank) down to 5.08. During the second half of the season, he posted a 4.08 ERA (whopping, isn't it?) and struggled with his control (only a 1.08 K/W ratio). And despite his October resume, he's been touched over the past two postseasons for a 5.14 ERA in 14 innings. After making $2.6 million this past season and $7.35 over the past three, he was reportedly seeking a contract along the lines of Braves reliever Mike Remlinger's new contract with the Cubs: 3 years/$10.65 million. Hardly loose change, but still about 35 percent less than Karsay annually.

The Yanks' parting with Mendoza is puzzling as well, but then their handling of Mendoza has always been suspect. They never let him grow into the mid-rotation starter he'll likely become elsewhere (though his 4.94 ERA in that role should come as a warning), and they babied him in the bullpen, with Torre reluctant to use him two days in a row. They always seemed to be saving him for a rainy day that was two seasons away, when they might need him to assume the role of setup man, third starter, or the arm they could deal for a big bat. Instead, they get nothing for a jack-of-all-trades who could eat innings in middle relief, wriggle out of a jam with a one-pitch double-play, spot start or close.

The case against Mendoza starts with him being injury-prone; he's done stints on the DL in each of the last three seasons, missing a good portion of 2000. The word is that the Yanks think he could have worked harder on his conditioning. Seeing as how Stanton has been a vigorous adherent to Roger Clemens' strict workout regimen, and it didn't save his job, that particular beef about Mendoza strikes me as bull. More tangibly, while his control is generally good, his strikeout rate has never been all that high (5.99 last season, 5.34 for his career), and his extreme groundball tendencies (a 2-to-1 grounder to flyball ratio) put a lot of pressure on the shaky Yankee infield. It sure looked purdy when he got them double-plays, though...

The double-whammy of losing Stanton and Mendoza raises the question of just who the Yanks WILL have in the bullpen come 2003. I'm going to save that for my next installment, which should follow tomorrow.