TAMPA — Start making your list of most valuable Yankees in 2015. You had Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira, Didi Gregorius and Brett Gardner.
When might you get to Adam Warren? Because, really, you should get to him.
“His role is not looked at as important from the outside,” Joe Girardi said. “But inside it sure is.”
This is not criticism of the Yankees’ trade for Starlin Castro. The Yankees refused to give up Gardner to the Cubs and ultimately relented on Warren because they believed their need for a young, middle-of-the-diamond everyday player was more pressing than having a Swiss Army Knife pitcher.
Castro is going to be replaced as the Cubs’ second baseman by Ben Zobrist, which is a good name because I think Warren is the Zobrist of pitchers. A stat such as Wins Above Replacement does not fully appreciate the value Warren brings via his versatility in helping a team win.
He led Yankees starters in OPS against (.666) and also excelled in both long and short relief. Thus, he saved roster spots with his versatility and did not force the Yankees to learn if they actually had a replacement-level player or better to, say, make the 17 starts Warren did to a 3.66 ERA.
Ramiro Mendoza filled this role on the dynasty Yankees — swing man, long man, short man. Girardi — a catcher on those teams — called Mendoza “indispensable.”
“It is a real important role for a championship team and real important if you don’t have starters who go deep,” Girardi said.
That would define the Yankees, who have so many injury concerns in their rotation. Which is why Girardi has emphasized that finding the non-Betances/Miller/Aroldis Chapman portion of the pen is so vital. There are going to be huge innings to fill in the chasm between starters and late-game pen, plenty of close games after five innings when a starter is spent. Girardi is not going to want to begin the procession of using his big three all in one game.
Perhaps Ivan Nova can be Warren-esque, especially as a valuable long man and emergency starter. There also are hopes Bryan Mitchell could be the new Warren.
But it is no easy job to be available at the first batter or the sixth inning, to face one hitter or go three innings. To accept the role. Warm up quickly. Do well at all of it.
Warren’s absence and the difficulty of replacing him stood out to me in the nine days I just spent with the Yankees. Before I left, here are some other things that jumped out:
- A lot has been made (including by me) of the Yankees’ lack of a true backup third baseman. I think a case could be made for first base, too. The Yanks want it to be Dustin Ackley, particularly because they think he has a chance to blossom into a good hitter. But his time at the position has been sparse and not particularly pretty on defense.
Mark Teixeira has not played more than 123 games since 2011, and Greg Bird could miss the year after shoulder surgery. In 2014, the Yankees played a bunch of guys out of position when Teixeira was injured such as Kelly Johnson, Brian McCann and Chase Headley. None particularly liked it. And the team suffered in the absence of a true backup first baseman.
- The Yankees have a tough decision with Gary Sanchez. They think his righty bat is ready to help the team now. But with McCann as the regular and Alex Rodriguez as the DH, can Sanchez get enough plate appearances to stay sharp or is he better off playing regularly at Triple-A? Carlos Corporan has a contractual out near the end of spring training, and Austin Romine can elect free agency if the Yanks try to send him to Triple-A. So the Yankees could be hurting for catching depth if they go with Sanchez in the majors and find out he cannot handle the reserve role.
- Sentiment repeated a lot early in this camp: Jorge Mateo is going to be more than a slap hitter. Mateo has a tool shed that moved Baseball America to name him the Yankees’ top prospect. But the feeling is he has to find steadiness at shortstop to capitalize on his big range, and that he has the bat speed and burgeoning strength to begin to drive the ball more effectively.
- Sentiment repeated a lot early in this camp II: James Kaprielian is on the fast track after being the Yankees’ top draft pick last June. The Yanks are not ruling Kaprielian jumping all the way to the majors at some point later this year. They already knew he had advanced maturity and a good repertoire, but his fastball really played up in Instructional League and his time in big league camp is only fortifying pleasant projections.
The Yankees vow not to rush the righty. But their organizational depth is worrisome. Nova and Mitchell are available. But they will have no clear-cut guys at Triple-A, only hope that guys like Brady Lail and the return for Justin Wilson — Luis Cessa and Chad Green — can provide a 2016 security blanket.
- There is a cult of Rob Refsnyder that feels the Yankees have not given the righty hitter enough of an opportunity to establish himself. But is it possible in their actions, the Yankees are saying one thing (they believe in Refsnyder) and doing another (not believing in him)? After all, these have not been your father’s Yankees.
They have been trying to get younger and less expensive and in doing that have been way more open to giving inexperienced players an opportunity. That they haven’t done that fully with Refsnyder suggests they do not think he can defend well enough or hit with enough power to hold a regular job. His minor league numbers are good, and his stats in a major league cameo were excellent. But still the Yankees obtained a young second baseman (Castro) under control until 2020. After hesitation, the Yanks say they will look at Refsnyder at third. He played the outfield in college. More and more, I believe his future is as a multi-position asset and/or as a trade chip.