Byrd to the Yanks? • The Yankees would probably be thrilled if Chien-Ming Wang pitched again this y...

Byrd to the Yanks?

• The Yankees would probably be thrilled if Chien-Ming Wang pitched again this year, leaving them to look around for a starting pitcher. I still don't think they will trade for C.C. Sabathia, partly because it may be some time before the Indians are ready to blow up their own season, and partly because the Yankees resolutely rejected making a similar deal last winter for Johan Santana. They're more likely to swap for a B-lister such as Paul Byrd, who may soon be made available.

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3 months ago westbrook Comment 24 comments 0 recs |

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speculation, speculation….yeah I know. But how do we trade Byrd with Westbrook and Adam Miller out (oh yeah does anyone know how long Adam Miller is out? and what’s going on with in general?). Carmona would have to be back from injury, Sowers would become the fifth starter, and we’d have who exactly as our depth starter? Huff? Unless we recieve a depth starter in return (not that far fetched of an idea though) I don’t see us trading any of our starting pitching away no matter how hard the east coast media tries to tell me otherwise

by hans on Jun 17, 2008 4:49 PM EDT 0 recs

but hans, the yankees resolutely rejected something.

by Brick. on Jun 17, 2008 5:01 PM EDT up 0 recs

If we could get something valuable for Byrd, Shapiro would do it in a second.

by Roger Dorn on Jun 17, 2008 5:05 PM EDT up 0 recs

If it’s a sell-off year, you put Elarton and/or Slocum and/or Stanford in the rotation, and nobody really cares.

by Jay on Jun 17, 2008 5:23 PM EDT up 0 recs

We have Stanford still? Where have I been.

by mjschaefer on Jun 17, 2008 5:27 PM EDT up 0 recs

We got him back. He got DFA’ed by some other team, don’t really care who, and signed with Buffalo.

by Jay on Jun 18, 2008 12:35 AM EDT up 0 recs

I don’t care that you don’t care. I’m pretty sure it was the Pirates.

by NickFantana on Jun 18, 2008 8:46 AM EDT up 0 recs

I don’t care how sure you are, and I don’t care if it was the Pirates. In that order.

by Jay on Jun 19, 2008 11:56 PM EDT up 0 recs

Can anyone make a case that Byrd would bring us a compensatory draft pick this off-season (and would necessitate that any trade this year be at least as valuable as a sandwich pick)? Based on USA Today’s ranking for last year (link below), Byrd was a type B FA, which would have netted us a sandwich pick. Considering Byrd’s performance so far this year, his age and expected decline, I’m assuming that he will not warrant any kind of compensation, but wanted to throw the idea out there at least.

I’m also including a link to a BP article on draft pick compensation, which I found informative.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/al/2007-10-31-elias-rankings-complete_N.htm

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=6911

by millionairesrow on Jun 17, 2008 5:52 PM EDT 0 recs

This is me speaking without any research, but I venture to say that the Indians stand a better chance to find a useful (future) Major League return for Paul Byrd by trading him than by taking a whirl at a draft pick. And, like you suggested, Byrd might not even reach Type “B” status.

The whole Elias system is a joke, but that’s a different story.

by xrickx on Jun 17, 2008 6:18 PM EDT up 0 recs

You’re assuming that his age will correspond to a further decline this year, right? Not that the rankings care about age or predicted decline?

So far, his 2008 isn’t that far off his 2006 in terms of ERA (though the league is better), his Ks are down. Obviously, IP is pretty important. It is hard to predict, but if there is no greater weight given to the most recent year, he may still be a B.

Rick is correct here, of course.

by dgcambridge on Jun 17, 2008 7:28 PM EDT up 0 recs

I don’t know if the Elias formula takes age into the consideration. That would be good to know. If it’s not, and my reading of the system works correctly, if Byrd puts up 2006-esque numbers, I think you could make a reasonable case that we’d be looking at a compensatory pick if Byrd were to leave.

by millionairesrow on Jun 17, 2008 9:14 PM EDT up 0 recs

Only if he gets signed and we offer him arbitration.

There’s a pretty good case for offering him arbitration anyway, as the worst that could happen is that he accepts, and we pay him $8 million on a one-year deal.

by Jay on Jun 18, 2008 12:37 AM EDT up 0 recs

If I could trust Elarton or Sowers to fill the void, it really wouldn’t bother me if we were to trade Byrd. At this point, Elarton is closer to the Circle of Trust than Sowers in my book.

What’s the over-under on when Cliff Lee trade rumors start to pop up on ESPN? I’ll give it a week or three straight losses by either Cleveland or NY; whichever comes first.

by Pronk33 on Jun 17, 2008 9:14 PM EDT 0 recs

Elarton is closer to the Circle of Trust than Sowers in my book.

What book is that? Elarton is a terrible idea as a starter, and Sowers in time will turn his Triple-A dominance into something solid in the majors.

by Jay on Jun 18, 2008 12:38 AM EDT up 0 recs

well he’s right in the sense that the COT refers to the bullpen – and elarton is in the bullpen and sowers is not – so he’s much closer to the COT.

by Brick. on Jun 18, 2008 10:21 AM EDT up 0 recs

Scott Elarton : Circle of Trust :: Parker Lewis : Losing

by fleerdon on Jun 18, 2008 11:56 AM EDT up 3 recs

Best ACT question ever.

Steel Nick

by nickjs21 on Jun 18, 2008 12:30 PM EDT up 0 recs

Elarton can’t be trusted.

by jhon on Jun 18, 2008 2:53 PM EDT up 0 recs

+1 very good.

by KevinV on Jun 18, 2008 3:30 PM EDT up 0 recs

I suppose if either of them were to receive a full-time starting gig then some major changes would have already happened, so yeah, starting a shaky journeyman over a historically awesome AAA pitcher is a pretty terrible idea.

I was kind of thinking if we needed to fill in a spot in the rotation for an extended period of time, would Elarton or Sowers be more likely to succeed right now. While trading Byrd doesn’t scream “rebuilding mode,” it’s pretty close considering the state of the rest of the team, so I guess Sowers would be the much smarter choice to plug in there.

I think I’m batting .217 in good vs. bad ideas this week, maybe I should be demoted to the indians.com forum to work on my mechanics.

by Pronk33 on Jun 18, 2008 6:37 PM EDT up 0 recs