January 26th, 2021: Ottavino, Minor League Signings, Hall of Fame

Only two weeks and six days until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training, people. Keep your fingers crossed and hope the pandemic cooperates. Here’s what I wrote about the Jameson Taillon trade and here are today’s thoughts.

1. Ottavino traded. To the Red Sox?!? Can’t say I saw that coming. It is the first Yankees-Red Sox trade since the Kelly Johnson-for-Stephen Drew trade in 2014 and the second Yanks-Sox trade since the Mike Stanley trade in 1997. Both teams announced the trade, so it’s a done deal. The details:

• Red Sox get: RHP Adam Ottavino, RHP Frank German, and $850,000
• Yankees get: Cash considerations or a player to be named later

It’s a straight salary dump. Don’t get your hopes up about the player to be named later. The Yankees will probably take the cash anyway, whatever amount that ends up being. The Red Sox bought a prospect (plus whatever they get from Ottavino, including potentially flipping him at the trade deadline) and the Yankees cleared most of Ottavino’s salary.

Lots to say about this trade. First and foremost, What a sad, pathetic moment for the Yankees. They salary dumped a good player on their historic rival to adhere to a nonexistent salary cap. This is the second time in four years the Yankees are chopping approximately $50M off payroll to get under the luxury tax threshold. In the middle of a championship window, no less.

The fact the Yankees will have a $210M-ish payroll in the middle of a pandemic this coming season, even after Hal Steinbrenner said they "sustained significant losses (in 2020), more so than any other team in baseball," confirms getting under the $197M threshold in 2018 was completely unnecessary. It didn’t allow the Yankees to spend on Gerrit Cole or DJ LeMahieu or whoever down the line. They were always going to be able to do that. All resetting the tax rate did was redirect money from the players to ownership at the cost of the best possible roster, full stop.

Let’s do the math quick. Assume the Yankees spend up to the $210M threshold this year. Retaining Ottavino would’ve pushed them up to $219M. As a third time luxury tax offender, the Yankees would’ve paid a 50% tax on the overage, or $4.5M. They also would have given up an extra fifth round pick and $500,000 in international bonus money had they signed a qualified free agent next winter, but they just traded a recent fourth round pick (German) to get under the threshold, so that point is kinda moot. This is all about money. Infuriating.

(On the flip side, the Red Sox eating money to help the Yankees do other stuff to improve their roster is a giant middle finger to their fan base, so that’s pretty funny. Imagine salary dumping Mookie Betts so you can sign Matt Andriese, Enrique Hernandez, Garrett Richards, and take an out-of-favor reliever off the Yankees’ hands.)

Alright, now that that’s out of my system, let’s get to the baseball aspect of this trade. One, the chances this backfires on the Yankees are extremely high. Ottavino is talented and smart, and I think it’s very likely he gets himself back on track after last season, which wasn’t as bad as everyone remembers. The Yankees were a reliever short after Tommy Kahnle got hurt last year. They’ve yet to replace him, and now Ottavino’s gone too.

Two, the Yankees and their very righty heavy lineup will play 19 games against the Red Sox this year, and they just gave Boston a reliever who struck out 31.1% of the righty batters he faced last year, and 36.7% the last three years. Just gave him to them. Threw in a prospect too, as a treat. And to make it worse, the chances Aaron Boone brain pretzels his way into pinch-hitting Tyler Wade and Mike Tauchman for Gio Urshela and Clint Frazier to get a lefty bat in there against Ottavino are annoyingly high. I dislike this. I dislike everything about it.

Three, the Yankees are moving Ottavino for money reasons, first and foremost, and also because Boone clearly does not trust him. It’s been obvious the last two postseasons -- Ottavino pitched once last postseason despite the lack of off-days and full five-game ALDS -- and his platoon splits are a significant issue. The last two years:

• vs. RHB: .200/.297/.312 (.272 wOBA) with 34.8 K% and 11.3 BB%
• vs. LHB: .250/.380/.385 (.328 wOBA) with 22.3 K% and 17.4 BB%

Using Ottavino against the Rays is damn near impossible because they’re so platoon and pinch-hit happy. In the three-batter minimum era, Ottavino’s weakness against lefties is easily exposed. Between that and Boone’s apparent lack of faith, Ottavino became an easy guy to move to clear out salary. I get it. I don’t like it, but I get it.

Four, I had the Yankees at $4.5M under the $210M luxury tax threshold following the Jameson Taillon trade. Eating $850,000 of Ottavino’s salary means the Yankees are subtracting $8.15M of his $9M luxury tax hit. So, remove Ottavino from the luxury tax payroll and replace him with a placeholder pre-arbitration-eligible player, and the Yankees are roughly $12.025M under the threshold. Call it $12M, though some of that will have to be set aside for in-season call-ups. That’s a decent chunk of change.

Five, salary dumping Ottavino is an obvious precursor to something else. Jack Curry reported yesterday that the Yankees rekindled talks with Brett Gardner in recent days, which is the least surprising thing ever. Gardner still hits righties and plays fine defense in left and center fields. He fits as the fourth outfielder. Using Ottavino’s money to re-sign Gardner and bring in a cheaper reliever is the most likely outcome, I think. I seriously doubt this leads to a Masahiro Tanaka reunion. He’d still have to take a massive discount.

Six, the market for Ottavino must've been rough to trade him to the Red Sox. I'm guessing the Yankees checked in with every team in the other five divisions plus the Orioles before sending him to Boston (I doubt they pursued a deal with the Blue Jays and lol at the Rays taking on a $9M a year reliever). If a similar trade was available outside the AL East, the Yankees would've taken it. Sending Ottavino to Boston was likely a last resort. The only way to unload his contract while giving up that caliber a prospect (i.e. not top tier).

Seven, German did not make my 2020 preseason top 30 prospects and he was outside the 2021 top 30 I am putting together, though I’m nowhere near finalizing that list, so it’s possible he could have moved into into 25-30 range. Baseball America (subs. req’d) did not have German in their midseason top 30 Yankees prospects list and MLB.com ranked him the No. 24 prospect in the system before the trade. A snippet of their scouting report:

After working with a 90-95 mph fastball with the Ospreys, German has operated at 94-96 and peaked at 98 with running action as a pro. He also has made progress with his changeup, which has the makings of a solid pitch with some fade and sink but can get too firm at times. He'll need to tighten up his breaking ball to remain a starter and have more success against right-handed hitters … He has sound mechanics and a history of repeating them well, so the hope is that he regains his former control, improves his slider and develops into a rotation option. If not, he'll have to make it as a fastball-oriented reliever.

German missed about a month with a sore shoulder in 2019 and had a 3.79 ERA (4.19 FIP) with 25.3% strikeouts and 10.8% walks in 76 High-A innings that year. He then spent last season at home. A good prospect, but not a great one, and trading a 23-year-old coming off a lost season who has yet to pitch above High-A is an easy decision. In a vacuum, trading German is not worth any angst. Get mad about the salary dump aspect, if anything.

Eight, Brian Cashman is a wizard at these salary dumps. In June 2015, the Diamondbacks gave up Touki Toussaint (No. 16 pick in 2014 draft) to get the Braves to take on the $10M they owed Bronson Arroyo. In Dec. 2019, the Angels gave up Will Wilson (No. 15 pick in 2019 draft) to get the Giants to take on the $12.2M they owed Zack Cozart. To unload a combined $23.15M owed to Ottavino and Chase Headley, the Yankees gave up German and Bryan Mitchell. The Yankees salary dumping players is dumb, but at least Cashman can do it without sacrificing the farm system.

Nine and finally, the Yankees now have two open 40-man roster spots, so the DJ LeMahieu and Corey Kluber signings figure to become official any day now. The Yankees will need to open spots for Gardner and whoever else they bring in (if anyone). Once Spring Training begins, they can put Luis Severino on the 60-day injured list to clear a spot. Wouldn’t surprise me if the Yankees wait out the bullpen market and see who’s looking for work after camp opens. I bet a Gardner re-signing happens soon. Anything after that is unclear.

2. Minor league signings. The Yankees have made a series of minor league signings the last few weeks and they just now popped up on the official site. Some are familiar names, some are legitimate depth pieces, some are minor league lottery tickets. Here are the new players and where they fit into the organization (the players are listed alphabetically).

C Rob Brantly

Brantly, 31, rejoins the Yankees after finishing last season at the alternate site. They got him in a cash trade with the Giants last August because Chris Iannetta retired, Kyle Higashioka was hurt, and Erik Kratz could have elected free agency or been lost on waivers had he been designated for assignment at some point. Didn’t happen and Brantly never saw time in the Bronx.

The Yankees did, however, include Brantly on their 12-man postseason taxi squad. He was the fourth catcher behind Higashioka, Kratz, and Gary Sanchez. He has some familiarity with the pitching staff and carrying him on the postseason taxi squad indicates the Yankees trust him at least a little bit, you know? Safe to assume he’ll be in Spring Training as a non-roster invitee.

Brantly has MLB experience -- he was on San Francisco’s Opening Day roster last year because Buster Posey opted out in Summer Camp -- but not much. 128 games and 432 plate appearances total, only including 29 games and 76 plate appearances since 2014. In 2013, his only extended MLB stint, Brantly hit .211/.263/.265 (42 wRC+) in 67 games with the Marlins.

The Yankees need a good third catcher and I don’t think Brantly is that guy, or at least I hope the Yankees don’t see him as that guy. Ideally he would be fourth on the catching depth chart and backing up whoever at Triple-A Scranton. Big league experience, reputation as a good defender, lefty hitter. You can do worse with your (hopefully) fourth option behind the plate.

C Kellin Deglan

Another player returning to the Yankees. They originally signed Deglan as a minor league depth catcher three years ago and he spent 2018 and 2019 bouncing between the four full season affiliates. He went wherever a catcher was needed, basically, and appeared in only 107 games those two years. The epitome of an organizational catcher.

Deglan, 28, is a former first round pick (22nd overall in 2010) and he’s a career .228/.303/.388 (94 wRC+) hitter in over 2,600 minor league plate appearances. The Yankees didn’t send him to the alternate site last year, so he’s far down the depth chart. Deglan might be in Spring Training as a non-roster guy to catch bullpens, but he’s nothing more than an emergency MLB option.

RHP Luis Garcia

A new player! Garcia, 33, spent 2013-18 with the Phillies before bouncing to the Angels and the Rangers the last two years. He owns a career 4.26 ERA (4.32 FIP) in 315 MLB innings and he had his best year in 2017: 2.65 ERA (3.12 FIP) with 20.4% strikeouts, 8.8% walks, and 56.3% grounders. Garcia is a career reliever, though he did make four “opens” from 2019-20.

Garcia is a sinker/slider guy who occasionally throws a splitter. He throws very hard -- Garcia averaged 97.1 mph last year and hit 100 mph as recently as 2019 -- and the sinker has helped him post an above-average ground ball rate (55.1%) but only an average-ish strikeout rate (20.7%) in his career. The slider has its moments though (video link):

As is often the case with sinker/slider pitchers, Garcia has a sizable platoon split. He has held righties to a .236/.332/.366 (.309 wOBA) line in his career while lefties have gotten to him for a .288/.377/.427 (.344 wOBA) line. The stuff is firm though, and every once in a while you run into 50 good innings with a guy like this (kinda like Garcia’s 2017).

Garcia will undoubtedly be in Spring Training as a non-roster invitee. Four bullpen spots will go to Zack Britton, Luis Cessa, Aroldis Chapman, and Chad Green, and I'd say Jonathan Loaisiga is a safe bet for a fifth spot. Candidates for the other bullpen spots include Albert Abreu, Ben Heller, Mike King, Brooks Kriske, and Nick Nelson. It’s not impossible Garcia pitches himself into that mix in camp.

OF Ryan LaMarre

For some reason I thought LaMarre was with the Yankees previously, but nope. He bounced from the Reds to the Red Sox to the Athletics to the Twins to the White Sox to back to the Twins from 2015-19. LaMarre started 2020 with the Rays and finished it with the Cubs. He spent the year at the alternate site and is a career .236/.286/.338 (68 wRC+) hitter in 120 MLB games.

LaMarre, 32, is a speed and defense type who has never hit more than 10 homers in a season but has stolen 20+ bases multiple times. You may remember him giving up a home run to Tyler Austin a few years ago (video). If nothing else, LaMarre is another piece of center field depth. The Yankees have really attacked that area this offseason. The center field pecking order:

• Starter: Aaron Hicks
• Backups: Greg Allen, Mike Tauchman
• Depth: LaMarre, Socrates Brito, Andrew Velazquez (maybe Estevan Florial too)

LaMarre figures to be a non-roster invitee to Spring Training and I think he’s ticketed for Triple-A to begin the regular season. The Yankees would have to suffer multiple injuries to get him to the Bronx, even if they don’t figure out a way to bring back Brett Gardner. The RailRiders need outfielders too, so here you go.

LHP Lucas Luetge

Huh, didn’t realize Luetge is still around. He broke in with the Mariners as a decent enough lefty matchup up guy in 2012, but he hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2015 and has spent the last few years bouncing from the Mariners to the Reds to the Orioles to the Diamondbacks to the Athletics. Luetge spent 2020 at the A’s alternate site.

Luetge, 33, is a fastball/slider guy who sat around 90 mph when he was last in the show, and his platoon split is huge. He’s held lefties to a .209/.286/.281 (.256 wOBA) line while righties have tagged him for .299/.403/.463 (.371 wOBA). Yikes! In Triple-A from 2013-19, Luetge had a 4.22 ERA (4.27 FIP) with 24.0% strikeouts in 272.2 innings. Not terrible, not great, just meh.

The Yankees have signed three lefties to minor league deals this winter (Luetge, Nestor Cortes, Tyler Lyons) and that is the extent of their lefty bullpen depth behind Britton and Chapman. I’d bet on Luetge being in Spring Training as a non-roster invitee, but unless the Yankees have an adjustment or two in mind, his usefulness is limited in the three-batter minimum era.

OF Thomas Milone

The Yankees like something about Milone. They signed him early last offseason (early by minor league free agent standards) and are bringing him back again this year. He was in camp as a non-roster invitee last spring but wasn’t sent to the alternate site. Whatever he did at home last summer was enough to get him another spot in the organization in 2021.

Milone turns 26 today and the Rays drafted him in the third round once upon a time (97th overall in 2013). He put up a .309/.370/.485 (151 wRC+) line with three home runs and 12 steals in 55 High-A games in 2019, the last time he actually played. It’s been a while since Milone was last ranked as a prospect. From Baseball America (subs. req’d) in 2017:

Some evaluators see him as a double-plus defender in center field. He has extremely quick feet and has made progress with his reads off the bat … He shows flashes of bat speed but remains prone to quality offspeed pitching, and he is still catching up to the speed of the pro game. Milone is a plus runner who needs to polish his basestealing skills.

When you’re looking to add an organizational outfielder, there are worse gambles to take than a former third round pick who had a strong season the last time he played. I know Milone was in camp as a non-roster player last Spring Training, but I don’t think it’s set in stone he’ll be there again this year given the delayed Double-A and Single-A seasons.

RHP Stephen Ridings

The upside play. Ridings, 25, is a former eighth round pick and he’s never pitched above short season ball. The Cubs drafted him in 2016, sent him to the Royals in a minor trade in April 2019, and Kansas City released him this past November. Ridings owns a career 5.02 ERA (4.42 FIP) with 31.5% strikeouts and 12.8% walks in 113 minor league innings.

Ridings is a big boy (listed at 6-foot-8 and 220 lbs.) and at the time of the 2016 draft, Baseball America (subs. req’d) wrote “(his) fastball works in the low 90s and some scouts saw him get up to 93 mph,” which is about all the information I can find on the kid. Suggest whatever tweaks, send him to Low-A Tampa, see what happens. Not much more to it.

RHP Asher Wojciechowski

The Yankees signed a big name pitcher! And by big name I mean 13 letters. If Wojciechowski plays for the Yankees, he’ll tie Bill Knickerbocker for the longest last name in franchise history. Obscure history is still history! Bob Nightengale says Wojciechowski will be in Spring Training as a non-roster invitee and will make $750,000 at the big league level in 2021.

Wojciechowski, 32, spent the last two seasons with the Orioles. He threw 10.2 innings against the Yankees those two years and surrendered 16 runs and eight homers. Lordy. Wojciechowski was much better in 2019 (4.92 ERA and 5.30 FIP) than in 2020 (6.81 ERA and 6.68 FIP), but was pretty bad both years. In 190 MLB innings, he owns a 5.95 ERA and 5.42 FIP. Yeesh.

Nothing about Wojciechowski stands out. He throws the standard issue four-pitch mix (fastball, curveball, slider, changeup) with league average velocity and spin rates. The Orioles had him go heavy on breaking balls the last two years -- Wojciechowski threw 45.3% breaking balls and 51.4% fastballs the last two seasons, so nearly a 50/50 split -- to no real benefit.

This strikes me as a “we can’t sign David Hale (because the Phillies didn’t non-tender him) so let’s sign a guy almost exactly like David Hale” signing. The Yankees helped Hale add a little velocity and got 50 good innings out of him from 2018-20, and maybe they can do the same with Wojciechowski. Most likely, he’ll chew up innings for Triple-A Scranton in 2021.

3. Hall of Fame announcement. The 2021 Hall of Fame class will be announced later today (6pm ET on MLB Network). As I write this Monday evening, approximately 46% of the ballots have been made public and only one player is over the 75% threshold needed for induction. Here’s the tracker and here are the top vote getters as of this writing:

1. Curt Schilling: 75.3%
2. Barry Bonds: 72.5%
3. Roger Clemens: 72.0%
4. Scott Rolen: 62.1%
5. Todd Helton: 50.5%

The non-public ballots typically drag down the player’s voting percentage and that has been true with Schilling the last few years. He appeared on 73.7% of public ballots last year and finished with a 70.0% final voting percentage. The year before it was 64.7% and 60.9%. The year before that it was 57.5% and 51.2%. So on and so forth.

Because of that, there’s a good chance no one is getting into the Hall of Fame this year. Support for Bonds and Clemens has stagnated and their voting percentage always gets dragged down by the non-public ballots. Rolen needs to appear on roughly 86% of the non-public ballots to get in at this point, so forget that. Helton would have to appear on 96%, so forget that too.

The last time the BBWAA did not vote anyone into the Hall of Fame was 2013 (the Veterans Committee voted in Hank O’Day, Jacob Ruppert, and Deacon White that year), though there were nine (!) players on the ballot that year who were later voted in. Schilling will be on the ballot for the final time next year. I think he’ll get in eventually, either through the BBWAA or one of the Eras Committees that replaced the Veterans Committee.

Bonds and Clemens will also be on the ballot for the final time next year and, historically, there’s a bump in support in a player’s final year of eligibility, and I suppose some voters could be withholding votes from those two until their final year as a means of punishing them. It sounds dumb, and it is, but reader, I assure you baseball writers are self-righteous enough to do something like that. Rolen, Helton, and Andruw Jones have all made big gains this year, so that’s cool. Rolen in particular looks like he’ll get in eventually.

I am still a few years away from a Hall of Fame vote and I haven’t spent much time thinking about my hypothetical ballot this year just because there’s so much other crap going on in the world right now. At a quick glance, I think I’d vote for Bonds, Clemens, Helton, Rolen, Jones, Bobby Abreu, Manny Ramirez, Gary Sheffield, Sammy Sosa, and Billy Wagner.

I’m not an anti-PED guy, and although I’m not strongly in favor of Abreu, Helton, and Jones, I’m willing to throw them a vote to make sure they get the 5% to stay on the ballot so we can continue to discuss their candidacy in the future (I wouldn’t leave someone off to put them on, they’re filling what would be empty spots on my ballot). Sheffield was an absolute monster and on the short list of the best hitters of his generation. He’s in for me.

I’ve flipped from a no to a yes on Wagner. The career workload is a little light (only 903 innings), but if he’d have hung around another two years as a league average-ish reliever and gotten to 1,000 innings, would it matter? Not to me. Who cares about some arbitrary round number innings total? Wagner built a very strong case in those 903 innings and his relatively low innings total is a function of his era, not his personal shortcomings.

In the Expansion Era (1961-present), 759 pitchers have thrown at least 900 innings, and Wagner has by far the highest career strikeout rate …

1. Billy Wagner: 33.2%
2. Chris Sale: 30.7%
3. Yu Darvish: 29.9%
4. Jacob deGrom: 29.2%
5. Max Scherzer: 29.1%

… and by far the highest adjusted strikeout rate …

1. Billy Wagner: 190 K%+ (so 90% better than league average at the time)
2. Nolan Ryan: 183 K%+
3. Randy Johnson: 176 K%+
4. Sandy Koufax: 176 K%+
5. Pedro Martinez: 168 K%+

… and he did that while allowing fewer baserunners than innings pitched (career 0.998 WHIP) and while pitching in high-leverage situations. Opponents hit .187/.262/.289 against Wagner in those 903 innings. That’s the lowest AVG (by 13 points), the lowest OBP (by three points), and the second lowest SLG (behind Hoyt Wilhelm) among those 759 pitchers. Insane.

Look at the elite relievers of this generation. Craig Kimbrel was done as a top closer after about 500 innings. Kenley Jansen after about 600 innings. Aroldis Chapman is still going strong at 547.1 innings, so he’s what, six years behind Wagner’s career innings total? What are the odds he’s elite in six years? Not good. Wagner was dominating right to the end (1.43 ERA and 2.10 FIP with 38.8% strikeouts in his final season). He didn’t limp to the finish.

I used to be in the “Wagner was great but not Hall of Fame great” camp and now I’m firmly in the “Wagner is a Hall of Famer” camp. He was undeniably among the best at his position during his career and we should consider players relative to their era. It’s not Wagner’s fault he was a one-inning closer and not a 2-3 inning guy like Goose Gossage. Baseball evolves and so should our Hall of Fame standards. Wagner meets my Hall of Fame standard for a reliever.

Anyway, it’s looking like the BBWAA will not vote anyone into the Hall of Fame this year. There will still be an induction ceremony, however. Last year’s ceremony was canceled because of the pandemic, so those players will be inducted this summer, Derek Jeter among them. Ted Simmons, Larry Walker, and the late Marvin Miller are going in this year as well. Then next year, when Alex Rodriguez joins the ballot, all hell will break loose.

4. Remembering a random Yankee: Shawn Chacon. This week’s random Yankee comes by request and was a member of the fly-by-night rotations the Yankees cobbled together in the mid-2000s. Here's the random Yankee archive. You can find links back to everyone we've covered there.

Chacon was something of a hometown product when he broke into the big leagues with the Rockies in 2001. He was born in Alaska but grew up not far outside Denver, and he passed up a chance to play at Arizona State to join the Rockies as their third round pick in 1996. Five years later, he was a top 100 prospect and in MLB.

Coors Field is unkind to all pitchers and especially young pitchers. Chacon pitched to a 5.10 ERA (5.26 FIP) in 416.1 innings from 2001-03, but thanks to ballpark adjustments, that worked out to a 99 ERA+. Essentially league average. Chacon was an All-Star in 2003 -- he was not Colorado’s token All-Star either (the Rockies had three All-Stars that year) -- but the Rockies moved him to the bullpen full-time the next year.

In 2004, Chacon had one of the most amazingly terrible seasons in recent memory. He saved 35 games, a not insignificant total, but everything else was just horrible: 7.11 ERA (6.57 FIP) with 52 walks and 52 strikeouts in 63.1 innings. He gave up a dozen homers and put nearly two runners on base for every inning pitched. Imagine watching that guy in the ninth inning? Lordy.

The Rockies moved Chacon back into the rotation the next year because apparently that’s what they do with terrible relievers, and it worked out. Chacon had a 4.09 ERA (5.02 FIP) in 12 starts and 72.2 innings. Colorado was going nowhere fast that year though (they finished 67-95), and Chacon was starting to get expensive through arbitration, so on the trade block he went.

The Yankees, meanwhile, were beyond desperate for pitching in 2005. Injuries (Kevin Brown, Carl Pavano, Jaret Wright) and poor performance (Randy Johnson) forced them to call up Chien-Ming Wang and give starts to guys like Al Leiter, Darrell May, Aaron Small, Tanyon Sturtze, and random Yankee Tim Redding.

On the morning of July 28th, the Yankees were 53-46 and two games back in the AL East. Later that day they acquired Chacon in a three-player trade with the Rockies. Pitching prospects Eduardo Sierra and Ramon Ramirez went to Colorado. July 28th was a Thursday and Brian Cashman admitted he made the trade because the Yankees did not have a starter for that coming Saturday’s game against the Angels.

"I didn't have a starter for (Saturday) and I do now," Cashman told Roberto Gonzalez after the trade. "This whole transaction comes down to that. Shawn has got experience and he is going to give us a chance to compete and, hopefully, stabilize the back of our rotation. I thought the transaction would make sense."

"It's kind of bittersweet. That's where I was raised. I have more of a support group back there,” Chacon told Gonzalez. “But at the same time I'm getting a golden opportunity here. On a personal level, there is a little bit of hard feelings, but on a business and professional level, there is not a better place to be."

Chacon’s Yankees debut went well. He held a good Angels team to one unearned run in six innings, and the Yankees eventually won on a Hideki Matsui two-run walk-off double. Five days later Chacon held Cleveland to two runs in six innings. Five days after that, it was seven innings of one-run ball against the White Sox. Three starts in, Chacon allowed four runs in 19 innings.

The Yankees were so desperate for pitching at the time that on Aug. 12th, three days after the White Sox start, they had to use Chacon out of the bullpen. He threw a scoreless eighth inning in a win over the Rangers. “I felt like it was an emergency. I didn't think I was going to get in. I kind of had some flashbacks (to my bullpen days),” Chacon told the Associated Press.

Two days later Chacon started against Texas and allowed three runs in five innings. After that, he was close to untouchable. In his final eight starts he pitched to a 3.04 ERA and held hitters to a .205/.305/.333 batting line in 53.1 innings. He did that despite nearly as many walks (22) as strikeouts (23), and in one of those eight starts he was tagged for eight runs. Three times in those eight starts Chacon threw eight scoreless innings.

“We’re lucky. We really are,” then-manager Joe Torre told Michael Morrissey about Chacon that August. “You know at the time you were doing it, we needed someone to fill the slot. We’re pretty fortunate to have him.”

Chacon, then 27, pitched to a 2.85 ERA (4.53 FIP) in 79 innings after the trade. The strikeout rate (12.1%) was not good, the walk rate was not good (9.1%), and the ground ball rate was not good (43.1%). Chacon, a soft-tosser who rarely cracked 90 mph with his fastball, survived thanks to an minuscule .239 BABIP and an inflated 82.4% strand rate.

The Yankees went on a rampage in the second half (44-22 in their final 66 games) and won the AL East with a 95-67 record. They drew the Angels, another 95-win division winner, in the ALDS. The Yankees won Game 1 behind Mike Mussina, but dropped Games 2 and 3. Johnson and Wang started and combined to allow nine runs in 9.2 innings in those two games.

With the season on the line, Chacon got the ball in Game 4. It was his first game action in 10 days and he was very good. He held the Angels to two runs in 6.1 innings, striking out five. Chacon exited with the Yankees down 2-1, but they rallied in the seventh inning, took a 3-2 lead, and Mariano Rivera finished the game with a six-out save to force a decisive Game 5.

"He's cool. He's having a good time. He just really told people a lot more with this last start than we learned since he came over from Colorado,” Torre told Mike Fitzpatrick. “Obviously, we needed every bit of it. Now we can reunite with Moose again because we haven't seen him in about five days."

Mussina got roughed up in Game 5 (five runs in 2.2 innings) and the season came to an end, but it wasn’t Chacon’s fault. Ugly underlying numbers aside, he solidified the rotation in the second half and helped save the season in Game 4. That earned him a rotation spot going into 2006 (and also a $3.6M salary through arbitration) and I remember being nervous as hell. There wasn’t much reason to believe what he was doing was sustainable.

Sure enough, Chacon crashed back to Earth in 2006 and hard. He took a 5.68 ERA into July -- that included a four-start stretch in April and May in which Chacon allowed four runs in 24.1 innings (but with 14 walks and 13 strikeouts) -- allowed seven runs in 1.1 innings on July 4th, then was demoted to the bullpen. 63 innings into the season, he owned a 7.00 ERA (6.26 FIP).

The Yankees finally cut bait at the 2006 trade deadline. Chacon was sent to the Pirates in a 1-for-1 trade for Craig Wilson, who was equally useless. Chacon finished his Yankees career with a 4.69 ERA (5.29 FIP) in 142 innings, which worked out to +2.2 WAR. He’ll always have that ALDS Game 4 start (the only postseason appearance of his career).

Chacon allowed 32 runs in 46 innings with Pittsburgh after the trade, then had a 3.94 ERA (4.53 FIP) in 96 innings as a swingman in 2007. He became a free agent after the season, signed with the Astros, and allowed 52 runs in 84.2 innings. Chacon’s MLB career came to an end on June 25th, 2008, when he was suspended following a physical altercation with Astros GM Ed Wade. Here is the Associated Press with the details:

Chacon, upset after getting demoted to the bullpen over the weekend, told the Houston Chronicle this problem began when Wade saw him in the dining room before the game against Texas. Wade wanted to meet with Chacon in manager Cecil Cooper's office, the pitcher said.

"I sat down to eat and Ed Wade came to me and very sternly said, 'You need to come with me to the office,'" Chacon said. "I said, 'For what?' I said, 'I don't want to go to the office with you and Cooper.' And I said, 'You can tell me whatever you got to tell me right here.' He's like, 'Oh, you want me to tell you right here?' And I said, 'Yeah.' I'm not yelling. I'm calm."

...

Chacon said that after Wade told him he needed to "look in the mirror," it got worse.

"So at that point I lost my cool and I grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the ground. I jumped on top of him," he said. "Words were exchanged."

Chacon’s contract was terminated for cause and he forfeited nearly $1M in salary. He spent 2009 in Triple-A with the Athletics and 2010 with the independent Newark Bears, and has been out of baseball since. As for the two prospects the Yankees traded to get Chacon, Sierra topped out at Triple-A while Ramirez had a nice little nine-year career as a journeyman reliever (3.42 ERA and +6.5 WAR in 434.2 innings). Got himself a World Series ring with the 2010 Giants.

5. Rapid fire thoughts. Jon Heyman reports the MLBPA has officially rejected MLB’s proposal seeking an expanded postseason in exchange for the universal DH. That would have made the Chris Archer trade look fair. The universal DH isn’t that valuable a bargaining chip -- we’re talking about 15 low value jobs with no additional roster spots or anything -- and an expanded postseason equals a massive windfall for the owners. The MLBPA reportedly has concerns about an expanded postseason hurting competitive balance (why invest more in your roster when there’s no incentive to go from 88 wins to 95 wins?), and also, they should be able to extract a major concession for an expanded postseason. I don’t know what, exactly, but something more valuable than the universal DH. MLB already sold the broadcast rights to the Wild Card Series, remember. The MLBPA has serious leverage … According to Joel Sherman and Buster Olney (subs. req’d), the Yankees spoke to the Pirates about a Joe Musgrove/Jameson Taillon package deal earlier this offseason, but Pittsburgh decided to trade them separately to maximize their return. Considering they turned those two into nine prospects, including six top 30 prospects, I’d say they made the right call. Anyway, the Yankees pursued Musgrove alone after that, but the Padres beat them to the punch, so they then moved on to Taillon and got a deal done. I’m happy the Yankees made a run at Musgrove first. I would have preferred him to Taillon because he’s a better bet to stay healthy and I think they have similar upside. That isn’t to say I’m unhappy with Taillon. I just would have preferred Musgrove. I’m glad the Yankees exhausted that option first … Free agent rumor that doesn’t pass the sniff test: Hector Gomez says the Yankees are among the teams with interest in Marcell Ozuna. What? Ozuna fits the Yankees’ usual profile as an exit velocity monster …

… but there’s no way to sign him and stay under the $210M luxury tax threshold (maybe not even the $230M second threshold), and the Yankees need neither a DH nor a left fielder. They could trade Clint Frazier and open an outfield spot that way. We’ve been saying that for about three years though and it’s yet to happen. Methinks Ozuna’s agent is using the Yankees as leverage, or maybe the Yankees showed interest early in the offseason (because they check in on everyone) and his camp is running with it. Doesn’t make sense otherwise … Last but certainly not least, the great Henry Aaron passed away last week. He was 86. It’s hard to wrap your head around how great a hitter he was. Aaron has 722 more total bases than anyone else in history -- the gap between No. 1 and No. 2 on the all-time list is larger than the gap between No. 2 and No. 10 -- and he didn’t really have a peak. With most players you can pick out a 5-7 year stretch when he was at the height of his powers, or maybe 8-10 years for a Hall of Famer, but Aaron’s career was just one long peak. 18 seasons with at least a 140 OPS+ (the most ever) and 16 seasons with at least +6 WAR (also the most ever), and even if he never hit a single home run, he’d still be in the 3,000 hit club. Incredible. Aaron did all that while receiving death threats, and he used his platform to help others through civil rights activism. An icon and an American legend, through and through. I highly recommend Howard Bryant’s column on Aaron’s life and Zach Kram’s look at Aaron’s insane stats. (Now change your name to the Atlanta Hammers, Braves.)

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