February 15th, 2022: Latest on the CBA, Fallen Prospects

Lockout, Day 76: Jayson Stark and Ken Rosenthal (subs. req’d) have a great look at what awaits on the other side of the lockout. There are over 600 unsigned free agents (including minor league free agents), nearly 200 unsigned arbitration-eligible players, dozens who need a visa, and then there will be “what do you mean you tore your hamstring wrestling alligators and had surgery four weeks ago?!?” injury revelations. Sometimes guys get hurt during offseason workouts, and right now teams are in the dark because they can’t talk to their players. The first few days and weeks after the lockout ends are going to be chaos. I’m looking forward to it. Let’s get to today’s post.

1. The latest on the CBA. Last week could – could – have been a big week for moving toward a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, but instead it was more of the same. Rob Manfred held a press conference and said missing games would be a “disastrous outcome,” then MLB made an economic proposal that doesn’t even keep up with inflation. So, status quo.

The owners held their quarterly meetings in Orlando last week and the players held meetings in Arizona and Florida. Gerrit Cole, a member of the MLBPA’s executive subcommittee, was at the Arizona meeting. Aaron Judge, Luis Severino, Gleyber Torres, Gio Urshela, and Luke Voit were among the Yankees at the Florida meeting in Tampa, according to Kristie Ackert.

“Great meeting. Great unity. A lot more guys showed up than I expected, which is great,” Judge said (video link). “Turned out great and just looking forward to getting this thing done. I think we’re all ready (for Spring Training). We’re in shape and I think we’re all ready.”

Spring Training camps were supposed to open this week. The next “milestone” is exhibition games, which are supposed to begin next Saturday, Feb. 26th. MLB will have to say something official before then because people bought tickets for games that aren’t going to be played. I imagine MLB and the MLBPA will meet again before that happens.

Manfred said he thinks players will need four weeks to get ready for the season (whether the MLBPA agrees is another matter), giving the two sides about two weeks to hammer out a deal before Opening Day is in jeopardy. I’m not optimistic because the owners don’t seem to be taking things all that seriously, but a lot can change in two weeks. We’ll see.

Anyway, there were a few things in MLB’s proposal – their second official proposal of the lockout! – that are worth discussing. Here’s the latest and what it all means for the Yankees.

Universal DH

The universal DH is coming. Manfred said so in his press conference, so even though it won’t be official until the new CBA is ratified, it’s coming. Luis Severino will go down as the last Yankees pitcher with a hit (single vs. Mets on Aug. 17th, 2017), and Lindy McDaniel will go down as the last Yankees pitcher with a home run. He took Tigers lefty Mickey Lolich deep on Sept. 28th, 1972.

The universal DH means two things for the Yankees. First, they no longer have to worry about playing a man short when they visit a National League park, either during the regular season or in the World Series. That’s nice. Research has shown American League teams are hurt more by losing the DH in an NL park than NL teams are helped by adding the DH in an AL park.

And second, the universal DH opens more trade possibilities in the short-term. Miguel Andujar and Luke Voit are obvious trade candidates and they fit best at DH. Thanks to the universal DH, there are now 15 more teams that could have interest in them (some NL teams are already set at DH, but you know what I mean). This also applies to defensively-challenged prospects like Austin Wells and Anthony Garcia.

The rebuilding Pirates have no one in particular at first base and DH, and could roll the dice on buy-low candidate like Andujar (I assume Voit is out of their salary range). The Brewers badly need a power bat and don’t have an in-house DH. Voit would make sense for them. Lots of NL teams will need a DH before Opening Day. The Yankees should give them a call.

Free agent compensation

Also at his press conference, Manfred confirmed the owners have agreed to eliminate free agent compensation. Teams will no longer surrender draft picks and international bonus money to sign a top free agent, though the team that loses the free agent will still receive an extra draft pick. The punishment is gone. The reward stays.

The full details are unknown but it sounds like MLB proposed doing away with the qualifying offer and instead awarding compensation draft picks based on the contract the free agent signs. Ron Blum says MLB’s proposal includes different compensation at these contract levels:

• $25M total guarantee or $18M per year
• $55M total guarantee or $23M per year
• $100M total guarantee or $30M per year
• $150M total guarantee or $40M per year

(Blum’s article says the second tier starts at $55M, though I wonder if that’s a mistake and it starts at $50M.)

Similar to the qualifying offer system, the player must have been with the team the entire season to bring back draft pick compensation, and the exact compensation is tied to the team’s revenue sharing and luxury tax status. Sounds needlessly complicated. Whatever.

On one hand, teams routinely use compensation as an excuse to not sign a free agent (we don’t want to give up a draft pick, etc.), and getting rid of that is good. On the other hand, they also use compensation as an excuse to let their free agents walk, and that’s less good. It’s not bad, player movement is exciting, but I’d like to give teams fewer excuses to let their stars walk, you know? They shouldn't get off easy.

Anyway, the proposed free agent compensation system means two things for the Yankees. First, they would no longer have to surrender draft picks and international bonus pool money to sign a free agent! That’s great. They can have their cake and eat it too. They get to sign everyone else’s stars without sacrificing the ability to potentially grow their own stars.

And second, the Yankees have a ton of players scheduled to hit free agency next offseason. The full list: Zack Britton, Aroldis Chapman, Joey Gallo, Chad Green, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Jameson Taillon, and Luis Severino if his club option is declined. Gallo and Judge would be the only no-doubt qualifying offer candidates. Chapman, Sanchez, and Taillon would need big years to get one.

If the new compensation system works the way I think it does – a player who spends the entire season with you brings back compensation as long as he signs a deal worth at least $25M total or $18M annually – the Yankees could clean up. Green would never get a qualifying offer, but he could get, say, three years and $27M (Adam Ottavino’s contract), which equals compensation.

Maybe the draft pick compensation is negligible when you pay luxury tax (like the Yankees will in 2022) and the player only signs a contract in the first compensation tier. Maybe you only get an extra tenth rounder or something. Who knows. But that’s better than the nothing the Yankees would otherwise get for Green, et al under the current qualifying offer system.

The MLBPA has pushed to get rid of surrendering draft picks and international bonus pool money to sign free agents, and MLB has agreed. That’s gone and it’s good for the Yankees. There will still be a mechanism in place to net the player’s former team compensation. If it were up to me, I’d get rid of compensation entirely. No punishment, no reward (“reward” for losing a good player). This is the next best thing.

Option limits

MLB proposed limiting the number of times a player can be optioned to the minors in a season to five. The union countered with four. The goal is cutting down on bullpen shuttles and the constant roster shuffling. Maybe we should call this the Albert Abreu rule? He was optioned 11 times – 11 times! – last year. (That wasn’t even the most in MLB! The Rays optioned poor Louis Head 12 times.)

Evan Drellich says MLB’s options limit proposal comes attached to a few other things, and given what they’ve presented to date, I’m guessing those other things are unreasonable. They probably want to cut pensions or something. I’m not sure limiting options within a season is the best way to do it (this seems ripe for unintended consequences), but I am anti-bullpen shuttle. Glad to hear the two sides are at least open to something that would cut down on them.

The return of draft and follows?

This is cool: Jesse Rogers says MLB proposed bringing back the old draft and follow system. They of course put a bonus cap on it ($225,000), and I guess you need something to regulate those bonuses in the bonus pool era, but they’re open to bringing back draft and follows. The old draft and follow system went away when MLB adopted a draft signing deadline in 2007.

The draft and follow system (or DFE for draft, follow, and evaluate) allows teams to retain the rights of a drafted player for one year if he goes to a junior college. So you draft a high school kid who isn’t quite ready for pro ball, see how he fares in junior college, then decide whether to sign him the following year. The player doesn’t have to sign. He could re-enter the draft instead.

Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada were DFEs. Pettitte was the Yankees’ 22nd round pick out of high school in 1990, and they signed him after a year in junior college*. Posada was the team’s 24th round pick that same year. He was already in junior college at the time, so he went back for a second year, then signed the year after that. The rest is history.

* Pettitte signed for $80,000 a few hours before the Yankees would have lost his rights, and he could have re-entered the draft. He was seen as a potential first round pick in 1991, and at the time the average first round bonus was $300,000 or so. Pettitte later told Joel Sherman he was mad at himself for not asking for more. I’d say he made out okay.

Some DFEs landed significant bonuses back in the day (Adam Loewen got a $4.02M Major League contract as a DFE), though the proposed bonus cap would limit the upside, and the bonus pool could create other complications. How would that work, exactly? Does the $225,000 count against your bonus pool and you just have to set that aside in case the player takes it? I dunno.

The bonus cap takes the starch out of the DFE process, but generally speaking, this would be a good and fun thing to bring back. Fans get more prospects to follow (in a new and interesting way), the team gets more time to evaluate the player, and the player gets another option. He could either sign with the team that drafted him last year, or re-enter the draft. Right now he can only do the latter if he decides he’s not ready for pro ball and wants to go to junior college.

2. Off the Top 30. Last week I posted my annual Top 30 Prospects List (and Not Top 30 Prospects), and there was a good deal of turnover this year. 12 of the 30 were not on last year’s list and eight of those 12 were in the organization last year (the other four were acquired within the last eight months). Always fun to drop new names into these things.

12 new players in the top 30 means 12 others dropped off last year’s list. Only one prospect graduated (RHP Mike King) to the big leagues. Seven others were traded (OF Kevin Alcantara, OF Antonio Cabello, 2B Ezequiel Duran, 2B/OF Trevor Hauver, RHP Nick Nelson, SS Josh Smith, RHP Alex Vizcaino). I explained where those seven would have slotted into the top 30 at the bottom of the top 30.

That leaves four players who dropped out of the top 30 because their prospect stock took a hit in 2021. Let’s review the four and where it went wrong last year, and what they have to do to make it back into the top 30 again next year.

LHP T.J. Sikkema (No. 21 in 2021)

Date of Birth: July 25th, 1998 (age 23)
Acquired: 2019 Competitive Balance Round A, No. 38 overall ($1.9498M bonus)
2021 Stats: N/A (did not pitch)
Projected 2022 Level: High-A, I guess?

What went wrong? An injury. A shoulder/lat injury, specifically. Sikkema, who was drafted with the pick that came over in the Sonny Gray trade with the Reds, spent the pandemic season at home and lost last season to the injury, so he hasn’t been on a mound in a game since 2019. Here’s part of what I wrote about Sikkema in last year’s top 30:

Sikkema generally sits in the low-90s with his fastball and will occasionally drop down to give hitters a different look, at which point the heater will come in around 88-90 mph. His slider is a very high spin pitch and he knows how to manipulate the break, so he’ll sweep it across the plate to lefties and back foot it to righties. Sikkema also has a useful changeup … The changeup needs refinement to become a reliable third pitch, and it would be nice to see him settle into the low-to-mid-90s consistently rather than waver between 88 mph and 95 mph in a start. The total package is really interesting but there is reliever risk.

Does that still apply? Beats me! The track record of pitchers coming back from two straight 0 IP seasons is pretty terrible, though that’s usually because they’re coming back from one significant injury or a series of injuries. Sikkema really only lost one season to injury, so maybe that gives him a better chance at a successful return than most guys in his situation? I hope so.

Can he return to the top 30? Sure. He just needs to stay healthy and show some semblance of his former self in 2022, which is an admittedly big ask after two lost seasons. I don’t spend too much time lining up players outside the top 30, though I had Sikkema in early versions of the top 30, so he was essentially No. 31. A healthy Sikkema is a top 30 prospect.

RHP Matt Sauer (No. 22 in 2021)

Date of Birth: Jan. 21st, 1999 (age 23)
Acquired: 2017 second round, No. 54 overall ($2.4975M bonus)
2021 Stats: 4.69 ERA (4.59 FIP), 25.9 K%, 9.6 BB%, 1.05 HR/9 (111.1 IP in A-, A+)
Projected 2022 Level: High-A

What went wrong? Sauer had Tommy John surgery early in 2019 and would have returned in the middle of 2020 had the season been played. When he returned last year, he was just okay. The results were below average and the stuff didn’t stand out. Here’s the basic pitch data from Low-A, where Sauer threw 66.1 of his 111.1 innings in 2021:

• Four-seamer: 93.2 mph average (96.1 mph max) and 2,229 rpm
• Slider: 85.3 mph average (91.0 mph max) and 2,548 rpm

The velocity is good but the spin isn’t, and Sauer threw only 18 changeups in those 66.1 innings, so he was essentially a two-pitch pitcher. Sauer reportedly held his stuff all season and his control did get better as he got further away from elbow reconstruction (13.5% walk rate in his first 10 starts and a 7.2% walk rate in his final 23 starts) and he stayed healthy, which is noteworthy too.

Ultimately, Sauer was pretty ordinary in 2021, and ordinary usually doesn’t land you on a prospects list. JP Sears, my No. 28 prospect, isn’t lighting up Statcast with his stuff, though he managed a 32.8% strikeout rate at the upper levels and has three distinct pitches. He makes it work. Strip away the past prospect pedigree and 2021 Sauer doesn’t get much attention.

Can he return to the top 30? Yes, assuming he doesn’t stick with some other team as a Rule 5 Draft pick all year. Sauer is Rule 5 Draft eligible and the Yankees left him exposed, and asking him to jump from High-A to MLB is a lot. The Yankees have a thing for improving stuff, and if Sauer can do that as he gets further away from Tommy John surgery, then sure. I don’t see why he wouldn’t be a top 30 candidate in the future.

C Anthony Seigler (No. 26 in 2021)

Date of Birth: June 20, 1999 (age 22)
Acquired: 2018 first round, No. 23 overall ($2.8159M bonus)
2021 Stats: .219/.324/.391 (95 wRC+), 4 HR, 13.1 BB%, 26.1 K% (176 PA in A+)
Projected 2022 Level: High-A and maybe Double-A

What went wrong? It’s more like what continues to go wrong. Seigler had his best offensive season in 2021 and set a new career high in plate appearances, but that isn’t saying much. He again missed most of the season with injuries, this time with concussion symptoms (after a foul tip to the mask) and a cyst in his knee (not sure if it was the same knee he fractured in 2019).

When he did play, Seigler didn’t impress either at the plate or behind it. He’s a switch-hitter who doesn’t drive the ball from either side of the plate, and the injuries have sapped his mobility and overall defense some. Seigler has played only 95 games in three and a half years since being drafted (obviously part of that is the pandemic) and that just isn’t enough for a developing catcher.

Can he return to the top 30? I’m not optimistic. By all accounts Seigler is a hard worker and a good athlete, plus there are more late bloomers at catcher than any other non-pitcher position, so maybe it works out eventually. That said, the reviews have been overwhelmingly negative since his draft year. Even if he does stay healthy, it would take a huge developmental breakthrough to put Seigler back on the prospect map.

(If you want to play the hindsight game, the Yankees should have taken Red Sox infield prospect Triston Casas (No. 26 overall) or Rays lefty Shane McClanahan (No. 31 overall) with the No. 23 pick instead of Seigler. McClanahan had a ton of injury concerns in college though, plus no one is seen as a slam dunk anything late in the first round.)

OF Raimfer Salinas (No. 29 in 2021)

Date of Birth: Dec. 31st, 2000 (age 21)
Acquired: Signed Dec. 2017 out of Venezuela ($1.85M bonus)
2021 Stats: .250/.335/.461 (108 wRC+), 6 HR, 7.4 BB%, 24.1 K% (176 PA in Rk)
Projected 2022 Level: Low-A

What went wrong? Salinas hit last year! He was repeating the level though (he played in the Gulf Coast League in 2019 and the Florida Complex League in 2021, so same difference), and he remains so very raw more than four years after the Yankees signed him with a portion of the international bonus pool money they had earmarked for Shohei Ohtani.

Salinas still has premium tools in his bat speed and throwing arm, though he doesn’t square the ball up often enough, and he’s slowed down considerably since signing. Also, his outfield play is said to be hilariously bad. Poor reads, poor routes, throws to the wrong base, etc. Salinas has good athleticism and bat speed, and basically zero usable baseball skills.

Can he return to the top 30? Yeah, sure, why not? The Yankees brought Oswaldo Cabrera, Diego Castillo, and Hoy Jun Park back from the prospect dead last season. Maybe they can do the same with Salinas, who isn’t even Rule 5 Draft eligible yet. Going from No. 29 one year to out of the top 30 the next isn’t that big a drop, you know?

3. Remembering a random Yankee: Jeff Weaver. This week’s random Yankee is a request and is probably too well known to be considered random, but we’ll roll with it. Here’s the random Yankee archive. You can find links back to everyone we've covered there.

Weaver grew up in Simi Valley and attended Fresno State, Aaron Judge’s alma mater. He was part of the 1996 Olympic team that won bronze in Atlanta, and the Tigers selected him with the No. 14 pick in the 1998 draft. Weaver was drafted six picks before CC Sabathia. Baseball America (subs. req’d) ranked him the game’s No. 51 prospect going into 1999.

Just 10 months after being drafted, Weaver made his MLB debut in April 1999, and pitched to a 5.55 ERA (88 ERA+) in 163.2 innings for a 92-loss team as a rookie. The next year went better (4.32 ERA and 108 ERA+ in 200 innings) and earned Weaver the Opening Day start in 2001. He posted a 4.08 ERA (104 ERA+) in 229.1 innings for a team that lost 96 games that season.

In the days leading up to Spring Training 2002, the Tigers signed Weaver to a four-year extension worth $22M. The contract bought out his three arbitration years and one free agent year. Weaver pitched very well for Detroit that season (3.18 ERA and 134 ERA+ in 121.2 innings), though the club was on its way to 106 losses, and the brain trust wanted to start a rebuild.

On July 5th, 2002, less than six months after signing that extension, the Tigers traded Weaver to the Yankees in a seven-player, three-team deal with the Athletics. The full trade:

• Yankees get: RHP Jeff Weaver
• Tigers get: RHP Jeremy Bonderman, RHP Franklyn German, 1B Carlos Pena
• Athletics get: RHP Jason Arnold, OF John-Ford Griffin, LHP Ted Lilly, and cash

It was a true three-team trade in which the Yankees sent players to the A’s, the A’s sent players to the Tigers, and the Tigers sent Weaver to the Yankees. It wasn’t a mix-and-match deal where the Yankees sent some players to the A’s and some to the Tigers. (Bonderman was included in the trade as a player to be named.)

"We had to seize the moment and acquire one of the best young starters in baseball," Brian Cashman told the Associated Press after the trade. "We're a pitching-oriented organization. Pitching is what's going to make or break us. We had one opportunity to acquire Weaver, who I have been interested in since Spring Training. He's signed through 2005 to a deal that fits well into our budget. It's a very affordable deal.”

The Yankees had an entire rotation of 30-somethings in 2002: Roger Clemens (39), David Wells (39), Orlando Hernandez (36), Mike Mussina (33), and Andy Pettitte (30). Clemens, Wells, and El Duque all missed starts with nagging injuries in the first half, and at age 25, Weaver was supposed to be a young building rotation block moving forward.

“I think everyone heard the rumors,” Weaver told the Associated Press after the trade. "The opportunity to go from last to first in a day is quite interesting in itself."

Weaver replaced Clemens in the rotation (Clemens had a groin injury) and made his Yankees debut on July 7th, against the Blue Jays at home. It was a disaster. The first four batters Weaver faced as a Yankee went double, fly out, single, three-run homer. He gave up a second three-run homer later in the game, and on his way off the mound, he took his frustration out on his glove:

Weaver was charged with six runs on six hits and a walk in seven innings, but the offense put 10 runs on the board, and Weaver got the win. “All I've got to do is stay in the game and I get a 'W' here? It's a whole different ballgame, for sure. I haven't seen 10 runs all year,” Weaver told Tyler Kepner after the game. (Weaver wasn’t joking either. The Tigers scored 10 runs in a game once that season and it was after the trade.)

Nine days later Weaver made his second start with the Yankees, allowing four runs in six innings in Toronto. Five days after that it was eight runs in seven innings against the Red Sox, and six days after that it was six runs in seven innings against the (Devil) Rays. In his first four starts as a Yankee, Weaver allowed 24 runs in 27 innings, including nine (!) homers.

The thing is, the 2002 Yankees were so damn good that they won three of Weaver’s first four starts anyway, including the Red Sox start. He allowed five homers that game, tying a franchise record. Weaver became the first Yankee to allow five dingers in a game since Ron Guidry in 1985. Only six Yankees have ever done it. Here’s the list.

“If you struggle and your team pulls you through, that's what it's all about,” Weaver told Jack Curry after the Red Sox game about the offense continually bailing him out. “That's the best three games I've seen in professional baseball, no doubt about it.”

The Yankees may have been winning his starts, but Weaver was pitching horribly, so when Clemens returned in August, Weaver was moved to the bullpen. “You try to tell him as positive as possible, and I also told him, 'I don't ask you to like this, and if somebody asks you, tell them the way you feel. Don't worry about hurting our feelings.' I understand this is a big change from what he's used to,” manager Joe Torre told Kepner about Weaver’s demotion.

“Obviously it's a situation that had to be handled,” Weaver told Kepner. “Nobody felt there was a benefit to keeping six starters. All five guys in there have been here and proven themselves as the men they are. I figured if it came down to it, I'd be moved to the bullpen. Now it's just a matter of dealing with it.”

Weaver pitched in mostly long relief and blowout situations – he allowed two runs in 6.1 innings against the A’s on Aug. 9th, after El Duque exited with an injury after one inning – and made a few spot starts late in the season. Following the demotion, he allowed 12 runs in 44 innings and held opponents to a .240/.274/.328 line. Weaver finished with a 5.99 ERA (74 ERA+) in 78 innings with the Yankees in 2002, and a 3.52 ERA (123 ERA+) in 199.2 innings overall.

"I've gotten better with getting ready out there, especially since a week and a half ago they let me know they wanted me to be ready for that situation, possibly in the middle of an inning,” Weaver told Kepner heading into the ALDS against the Angels. “I feel good about where I'm at, to help in those situations.”

The Yankees lost the ALDS to the eventual World Series champion Angels in four games and Weaver pitched twice in the series. He allowed an insurance run on two singles and a double in the ninth inning of Game 2, then allowed a sacrifice fly that got the Angels to within a run in the sixth inning of Game 4. Weaver was brought in with runners on second and third and one out. The Yankees won Game 1, then lost three straight to end their season.

“We all expected to play a couple more weeks,” Weaver told Kepner following the ALDS. “That's what's the weirdest part: all of a sudden, it's done. You were looking forward to playing more rounds, and as far as this year, it wasn't meant to be. Everybody, I think, feels a little stomach ache over this. But we're looking forward to next year and not letting this happen again.”

The Yankees gave up a good package to get Weaver – Lilly was beginning to emerge as a solid innings guy that year and Griffin and Arnold were their top two picks in the previous year’s draft (Arnold never reached the big leagues and Griffin played 13 games in the show) – so they weren’t about to give up on him. Hernandez was traded away that offseason, Clemens returned, and the newly signed Jose Contreras began 2003 in the bullpen.

Weaver opened 2003 as the No. 5 starter behind Clemens, Pettitte, Mussina, and Wells. He started the year well enough, allowing only 10 runs in his first four starts and 27.2 innings. The wheels came off after that. The Rangers tagged Weaver for nine runs in four innings on April 27th, and he allowed at least five runs in six of his next 11 starts.

“It's not clicking,” Weaver told Curry after allowing three runs in six innings against the Tigers, his former team, on May 31st. “One way or another, it seems to fall apart somewhere in the game, whether it's the pitching side, the offensive side, or the defensive side. I feel bad that the team doesn't play well when I'm out there.”

Weaver was finally pulled from the rotation in mid August, following a stretch in which he allowed 31 runs in six starts and 33.2 innings. He had a 5.80 ERA in 144.1 innings on the season and opponents were hitting .316/.368/.463 against him. That is essentially 2021 Michael Brantley with more power (Brantley hit .311/.362/.437 last season). Weaver was bad.

“I've been in a back-and-forth battle all year, but I'm taking it all as a learning experience,” Weaver told Kepner about moving to the bullpen (there was also talk about sending him to Triple-A). “This is the hand I've been dealt and I'm not going to shy away from it or back down or dwell on it. This is what I have to do, continue to work, and maybe the short stints will help me out for later on.”

The move to the bullpen didn’t help much – Weaver allowed 13 runs in 25 innings following the demotion – and Weaver finished the season with a 5.99 ERA (74 ERA+) in 159.1 innings. Despite that, the Yankees carried Weaver on their postseason roster, opting to go with 11 pitchers and leaving infielder (and random Yankee) Erick Almonte off the roster.

“Probably,” Torre told Kepner about sticking with 11 pitchers all postseason. “Unless we see something in the first round that makes us want to change our minds. Until you find that other player that is going to make more of an impact on you, then it's just a safety valve. I think 11 just makes sense for us, even though we've never done it before.”

(The Yankees cut down to 10 pitchers in the ALCS, though random Yankee Chris Hammond was dropped in favor of Almonte. Weaver remained on the roster.)

Weaver was on the postseason roster but didn’t pitch at all in ALDS against the Twins or in the ALCS against the Red Sox. The ALCS was an absolute gauntlet, it was peak Yankees-Red Sox chaosball, and every pitcher on the roster appeared at least twice in the series except Weaver, who did not pitch even once. I’m not even sure he ever even warmed up.

(Contreras was warming up when Aaron Boone hit his series-clinching home run. Weaver, Gabe White, and Game 6 starter Andy Pettitte were the only other Yankees pitchers who’d yet to appear in Game 7.)

The ALCS wreaked havoc on the rotation (Clemens started Game 7 and both Mussina and Wells came out of the bullpen) so Weaver was considered for the Game 1 start in the World Series. Ultimately, the Yankees went with Wells in Game 1 (he threw only six pitches in Game 7 of the ALCS) and Pettitte on short rest in Game 2.

“I've been blessed with a rubber arm,” Wells told Kepner about starting Game 1, which would be his third appearance in five days. “I've been around long enough. If I wasn't able to, I'd tell Joe that my arm's sore, something like that. You just get fired up for these types of things. You just want to answer the call and be ready.”

Weaver did not pitch in the Game 1 loss, nor did he pitch in Games 2 and 3, which the Yankees won by identical 6-1 scores. Pettitte and Mussina threw 15.2 of the 18 innings in those two games and Mariano Rivera threw the other 2.1 innings, so yeah. Weaver wasn’t needed. Thanks to Ruben Sierra’s game-tying two-run ninth inning triple (!), Game 4 went to extra innings.

Torre went to Contreras in the ninth even though Rivera was available. Contreras pitched a scoreless ninth and a scoreless tenth, then Weaver was brought in for the 11th. It was his first game action in 28 days. Weaver threw a 1-2-3 11th inning on only eight pitches. That part gets forgotten. But then Weaver went out for the 12th, and Alex Gonzalez led off with a wall-scraper walk-off homer to knot the series up 2-2 (video). Rivera never appeared in the game.

“It's nice to get off the chair and get up and do something and trying to contribute. It was my first time in the World Series,” Weaver told Curry and Dave Caldwell after Game 4. “... (Gonzalez) did what he was supposed to do, I guess. After not throwing to live hitters for a while, it was nice to get in there. I feel like I was making good pitches. One just got away.”

“If he's not in the game there, he shouldn't be on the roster,” Torre told Caldwell about using Weaver over Rivera. Torre added the plan was to use Weaver in the bottom of the 12th, pinch-hit for him in the top of the 13th (Weaver was due up third), then go to Rivera. Alas.

The Yankees lost Games 5 and 6 and the series. A back issue infamously forced Wells out of Game 5 after one inning and that was probably the time to go to Weaver. It was certainly a lower stakes situation than his Game 4 appearance (i.e. one run doesn’t lose the game), but Torre went to Contreras, who gave up four runs in three innings and got the loss. (Did you know Contreras pitched in as many 2003 postseason games as Rivera? True story.)

“We're not giving up on him,” Cashman told Caldwell about Weaver. “Yes, New York is different. I think Jason Giambi said it best: you can go from zero to hero back to zero again just like that. I think the fans in New York react well to people who fight through issues. Jeff's begun to show he can fight through things.”

Despite Cashman’s words, the Yankees gave up on Weaver. They gave up on him even though Clemens said he was retiring (but later signed with the Astros) and Wells and Pettitte became free agents. Wells eventually signed with his hometown Padres and Pettitte with his hometown Astros. Just like that, the veteran rotation core was gone.

Weaver had two years remaining on his contract and was only 27. Keeping him would’ve been justifiable the same way keeping Sonny Gray in 2019 would have been justifiable, but like Gray, everyone knew Weaver was a goner. It wasn’t working out. In a season and a half with the Yankees, Weaver posted a 5.35 ERA (83 ERA+) in 237.1 innings. Rough.

“This is where I want to be,” Weaver told Dom Amore after the World Series. “I would be disappointed if (I get traded). I got to know myself better this year. I think I understand now what it's going to take to make myself more consistent and have the kind of season next year that I'd hoped to put together this year. This is the stage you want to perform on.”

On Dec. 13th, 2003, the Yankees pulled the plug on Weaver and sent him to the Dodgers along with prospects Yhency Brazoban and Brandon Weeden (yes the former NFL quarterback) for veteran righty Kevin Brown. Brown was awesome in 2003 (2.39 ERA and 169 ERA+ with a 62.5% ground ball rate in 211 innings) and I remember being thrilled about the trade. I thought it was a slam dunk win. So much for that, eh?

“I was hoping for big things but it didn’t work out,” Weaver told Ross Newhan and Jason Reid after the trade. “I get to start fresh in LA with the team that I grew up watching, so it’s kind of mind-boggling. The stuff I went through in New York is only going to make me that much better for the seasons to come.”

Brown was part of a rebuilt Yankees rotation that included fellow offseason trade addition Javy Vazquez, holdovers Mussina and Contreras, and random Yankee Jon Lieber, who was coming back from Tommy John surgery. That rotation was … not good. Brown and Vazquez worked out about as poorly as possible. Contreras too. He was gone by the 2004 trade deadline.

As for Weaver, he spent two seasons with the Dodgers, pitching to a 4.11 ERA (100 ERA+) in 444 innings. He signed with the Angels as a free agent in Feb. 2006, was traded to the Cardinals that July, and became a postseason hero in St. Louis. He made five starts with a 2.43 ERA that postseason, including eight innings of two-run ball in the World Series clincher (video).

“It stays with you for a little while, but I just looked at it as an experience,” Weaver told Kepner about his World Series experience with the Yankees helping him with the Cardinals in 2006. “That was my first time to see what it was all about to pitch in the World Series. I think a lot of people forget that I went through that first inning three up, three down, and I hadn't thrown for (28 days). Everybody remembers the home run, but to me, that experience, good or bad, had helped me have some success this postseason."

Weaver spent 2007 with the Mariners and battled a shoulder issue. He spent 2008 in the minors with the Brewers and Cleveland, then made cameos with the Dodgers in 2009 and 2010 before calling it a career. Weaver retired with a 104-119 record and a 4.71 ERA (93 ERA+) in 1,838 big league innings. It works out to +14.2 WAR. He signed just over $40M in player contracts.

"I understand that a lot of people in New York, when crucial times come around and they don't come through, it's more a fan vote than maybe a baseball vote," Weaver told Kepner about being traded away. “They traded me to a place that was very comfortable. But I also would have looked forward to the chance to come back the following year and make things look good.”

4. Rapid fire thoughts. Actual baseball news! First, Jameson Taillon has started throwing off a mound. He posted a video of himself throwing at Adam Ottavino’s Harlem pitching lab (Mike King was there too). Taillon had ankle surgery after last season. He said he’s about a month behind his usual offseason routine and these days pitchers report to Spring Training with a few weeks of bullpens under their belt. Assuming that was one of Taillon’s first times throwing off a mound post-ankle surgery, then yeah, he’s about a month behind. But he’s taken the next step in his rehab work and is progressing. That’s good news. And second, Luis Severino told Andy Martino he has been throwing bullpen sessions and preparing for the season as a starting pitcher. That last part isn’t surprising, but the first part confirms Severino is healthy, which is not nothing after his last few seasons. Spring Training was supposed to start this week, so Severino is right where he needs to be for this part of the calendar. Wouldn’t it be something if Severino is finally healthy again, but the stupid lockout shortens the season to 60 games or whatever?

(Send your requests for Tuesday's random Yankee series and questions for Friday's mailbag to RABmailbag at gmail dot com.)