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What Went Wrong: Chad Ho Moseley

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Every team has a few of them every single season; replacement level relievers, or worse. Most of the time these guys are buried in the back of the bullpen, throwing low-leverage innings once or twice a week when his team had a big lead or a big deficit. The Yankees were (un)lucky enough to have three guys like that this year, and they even came with a cheesy nickname: Chad Ho Moseley. Let’s review…

(AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams)

Chad Gaudin

After a solid job as the Yankees’ makeshift fifth starter down the stretch last season, Gaudin was rewarded by being released in Spring Training. He ended up back in his old stomping grounds in Oakland, at least until they released him after 17.1 innings of 5.91 FIP pitching. The Yanks brought him back in late-May for the pro-rated portion of the league minimum and stuck him in their bullpen as a mop-up guy.

That’s pretty much exactly what Gaudin was, because opponents mopped the floor with him during his second tenure in pinstripes. He was somehow even worse with the Yanks than he was with the A’s (6.25 FIP), and a late season audition for a playoff spot which featured the Yanks forcing him into some high-leverage spot went predictably awful. All told, Gaudin put a -0.8 fWAR in 48 IP just with the Bombers in 2010 (-1.1 overall). Yuck.

Chan Ho Park

(AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Park was a late addition in the offseason, signing a low-risk one-year, $1.2M contract after pitchers and catchers had already reported in February. His relief stint with the Phillies in 2009 was excellent (53-15 K/uIBB ratio and 0 HR in exactly 50 IP), good enough that even with normal age-related decline (he was 36 when they signed him, after all) and the AL-to-NL transition that there were still reasons to expect him to be a serviceable relief arm.

As it turned out, CHoP was anything but serviceable. He made three appearances in April, taking the loss in the first game of the season, before hitting the disabled list for a month with a bad hamstring. That bought him some more time. CHoP returned in mid-May and allowed at least one run in four straight outings and in five of six, earning himself a demotion to mop-up duty. After five scoreless outings in June, CHoP pretty much fell apart. He was designated for assignment after the Yanks acquired Kerry Wood at the trade deadline, finishing his Yankee career with a 5.60 ERA and more than one homer allowed for every 16 outs recorded.

It was a worthwhile gamble that completely blew up in the Yankees’ faces; Park was worth -0.2 fWAR in pinstripes. That the Pirates claimed him off waivers and saved New York the final $400,000 of his salary was nothing more than a minor miracle.

Dustin Moseley

The Yanks brought in the former Reds’ first round pick on a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training, and he pitched well enough in Triple-A (3.67 FIP in a dozen starts) that he forced the Yankees’ hand when his opt-out clause kicked in in late-June. Pitching in a mop-up role initially, Moseley moved into the rotation once Andy Pettitte’s groin landed him on the disabled list.

(AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

Moseley wasn’t terrible at first, giving the team two quality starts in his first three outings. It all kinda went downhill from there (6.41 ERA, .932 OPS against) as his inability to miss bats (13 BB, 11 K) manifested itself in his next four starts. Somehow the Yankees still managed to win three of those games, but Moseley found himself back in the bullpen with rookie Ivan Nova usurping him in the rotation.

In the end, the 28-year-old righty finished the season with with a 5.99 FIP and -0.4 fWAR in 65.1 innings for the big league team. He slightly redeemed himself with two scoreless innings in Game One of the ALCS, paving the way for the eighth inning comeback, but meh. Dustin’s effort was admirable, yet completely forgettable.

* * *

It’s unfair to toss Sergio Mitre into this mix because at least he managed to be replacement level this season (exactly 0.0 fWAR), but we have to mention him somewhere. He allowed just seven runs in his final 24.2 innings (2.55 ERA), so unlikely the Chad Ho Moseley monster he at least finished strong.

A trio of sub-replacement level long relievers (total damage: -1.4 fWAR, 148.2 IP, or 10.3% of the team’s total innings) didn’t sink the Yankees season by any means, but it sure was painful to watch.

Pirates claim CHoP off waivers

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Chan Ho Park has been claimed off of waivers by the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Yankees announced this afternoon. The right-hander had been DFA’d on Saturday to make room on the roster for Kerry Wood. Signed to a $1.2 million deal this winter after a strong season with the Phillies, Park went 2-1 with a 5.60 ERA for the Yanks. In 35.1 innings, he allowed 40 hits — seven of them home runs — while walking 12 and striking out 29. Fans grew to dread his appearances, but he’ll always be remembered for one early-season TMI press conference in Boston. The Pirates are now on the hook for the remaining portion of CHoP’s salary or approximately $400,000. I, for one, am glad to see the Pirates are still willing to take on Yankee has-beens.

Chan Ho Park designated for assignment

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Via Marc Carig, Chan Ho Park has been designated for assignment to clear room on the roster for Kerry Wood. Al Aceves was moved to the 60-day DL to free up a 40-man roster spot for Austin Kearns.

I was definitely a fan of the CHoP pick up at the time, but it obviously didn’t work out. Despite peripherals similar to last year, he became incredibly homer prone and just generally unreliable. He did give us this, however, and for that we will be eternally grateful.

Stark: Yankees trying to trade Chan Ho Park

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Via Jayson Stark, the Yankees are trying to unload the disappointing Chan Ho Park on some unsuspecting team desperate for relief help. CHoP has been on the chopping block (pun intended) for basically the entire season, but I suppose it’s possible that GM Brian Cashman has been getting a few trade inquiries, buying Park some time before what seems like an inevitable DFA. The Yankees aren’t going to get much in return, obviously, but a fringe prospect plus some salary relief is better than nothing.

CHoP and the 2nd Inning

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Photo credit: Charles Krupa/ AP

A lot of folks have pondered Girardi’s decision to continue to use Chan Ho Park in multiple inning situations, if use him at all. They point to his pitch count numbers as evidence of his struggles.In pitches 1-25 Park is kinda-almost-somewhat tolerable as a pitcher, hoisting up a .308/.341/.500 line. That’s basically Ryan Howard’s triple slash for the season (plus or minus a few points on average and OBP). On pitches 26-50, it becomes hide-the-children bad. Park has been tagged for a line of .368/.429/.842(!). If the first line is Ryan Howard, the second is Barry Bonds hitting batting practice in 2004. There’s been absolutely no question that the Korean native has struggled tremendously in his first (and likely last) season in pinstripes. But has he really epically collapsed in the second frame of every game he jumps in?

Yes and no. I’ve already looked at this at my own site, so take let’s look appearance-by-appearance.

*On April 7th, game 2, Park went three innings against the Red Sox. Although I recall there being quite a few deep flies, he gave up but one hit, in his 3rd inning. No runs were scored in total.

*April 13th versus Angels: Breezed through the first inning of work but gave up a monstrous shot to Kendry Morales in the 8th. No runs in his first inning. One run in his second inning.

*On May 20th, the Yanks took on the Rays. Struggling 1B Carlos Pena took Park deep in his first inning pitched. This is after he was almost burned by a deep line drive to RF by Ben Zobrist, which Swisher caught. Not a good first inning. His second inning against 7-8-9 batters went much more smoothly – he gave up a single to “Did You Know He Was An All-Star?” Dioner Navarro, but that was all. To recap, one run in his first inning. Zero runs in subsequent inning.

*On May 22nd, Park replaced Phil Hughes with after Alex Cora knocked him out of the game (?!). Park immediately gave up a single and then got a groundout to end the inning. Not terrible, but not a shutdown either. His next inning saw him give up a single and a double to score a run. No runs in first inning, one run in his second.

*Park faced the Indians on May 31st. His first inning started with a strikeout and ended with two weak groundouts. Nice, not bad! The second inning though featured 2 hits and a walk, which led to run. No runs in first inning, one run in second.

Ok, we may be on to something here. In three of his five early season multiple-inning games, Park has given up a run in the second inning. Of course, when looking more critically through the first innings of these outings, it’s not like Park was brilliant, either. He had some good fortune (and was hit around a bit in Tampa) and then it appears the hitters took note of Park and knocked him around his second frame. Let’s see if it becomes a pattern.

*In an extra-innings game at Skydome The Rogers Centre on June 5th, Park came in and issued one walk but also struck one out and received two weak groundball outs in his first IP. The second inning featured two strikeouts, a single and one walk. No runs issued.

*Of course, in last week’s game in Arizona CHoP got lit up. He came into the game in the 7th and did fairly well. It was surprisingly tranquil. Then, in the 9th, he gave up two singles and then a monster home run to Justin Upton. No runs in his first inning. 3 runs in his second inning.

*Last night looked to be the same old story. Park came in and pitched a quick 6th inning (one walk, one groundout, one fly out). Girardi sent him out for the 7th. His performance sealed the game for the Dodgers. Two singles and a double by Matt Kemp finally put the Yankees in the outhouse. Zero runs score in his first inning, two trot around in his second.

So if we add up our tally here, in his first inning of multiple-inning games, Park has given up one run in his first inning pitched and 8 in his second frame. That’s a drastic difference.

So now you’re thinking, “Damn, CHoP’s done pretty well in just the first inning, all things considered. Maybe we can salvage him if Girardi stops throwing him back out there for multiple innings,” right?

Not so fast.

Why? Well, more sobering statistics: in games he’s only pitched one total inning or less, he’s given up 10 runs in 6 2/3rds innings. Park may be significantly worse in the second inning of his appearances, but he’s not an effective pitcher to begin with. Remember, the average hitter facing Park in the first inning is still Ryan Howard.

Should he be given a shot? (Photo credit: Nick Laham/Getty)

I’ve backed Chan Ho this whole year. Constantly I’ve said, “Don’t worry, he’ll turn it around. He has good stuff, this is just a rough patch.” No longer. We’re on the cusp of July and Park has been worth -2.5 runs below replacement. All the while, some pitchers in AAA are turning in good results and could certainly better Park’s performance on the year. At this point, I see no reason to not spell Chan Ho Park “DFA” and bring up a Romulo, Albaladejo, Nova or Melancon. The experiment didn’t work. It’s time to scrap it and call it a sunk cost.

Personally, I’d prefer to keep Nova in AAA to stay stretched out in the event we need a starting pitcher to come up. It would be nice to have a guy that can go multiple innings if need be, considering that right now, with injuries, it’s just Chad Gaudin. This probably means no Albie. So we’re left with Melancon or Romulo Sanchez. I like Romulo’s stuff and the fact that he can spot start or at the very least go multiple innings one way or another. But I worry that his control will be erratic considering that he’s thrown 5 or more walks in three of his last eight starts.

This means —at least in my world— Mark Melancon is my de-facto choice to replace Chan Ho should he be DFA’d. Melancon likely has the biggest upside of the pitchers in AAA, has been in The Show before, can go multiple innings and has been just curtains for opponents lately. He hasn’t given up a run since June 6th, though I’d prefer a better K/BB ratio in that time (2:1).

One way or another, something has to change. Simply put, if the team is not going to DFA Park, Girardi needs to put him in situations where his impact on a game is minimal. This means mop-up work in one frame or less.

All’s well that ends well

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Photo credit: Peter Morgan/AP

That title comes courtesy of Matt from Fack Youk, whom I met with before the game. Along with Mike and Ben, Moshe from The Yankee U joined us as well. It was a nice little pre-game get together. I can only imagine if we had sat together all game.

This isn’t going to be a traditional recap. I had the thing written in my head in the bottom of the eighth. I’m going to include most of that — just because they won doesn’t mean there it was a blunder-free game. Still, we’ll lead with the most important stuff.

That straight fastball isn’t what it used to be

Photo credit: Peter Morgan/AP

Jonathan Papelbon did work in a few splitters during the ninth, but for the most part stuck with his fastball. It has some zip, hitting 94 to 96, but it doesn’t move all that much. When he spots it, he can be effective Thankfully, tonight he didn’t quite have everything.

The book on A-Rod is to pitch him inside so he can’t get his arms extended. That’s where he generates his power, so keeping pitches under his hands can neutralize him to an extent. He’ll adjust, as all great hitters do, but he might not do as much damage. Papelbon went inside with his first fastball to him, but also left it waist high. As soon as the ball took off the entire Stadium went nuts. This was no false alarm. We knew the game was tied before the ball landed in the visitor’s bullpen.

Papelbon actually went back to the splitter against Cano, twice actually, getting him to swing and miss on the second one. Cano was looking for a fastball in his wheelhouse and just didn’t get it. Once Papelbon got that first inside fastball across for a strike he didn’t come back in for the rest of the at-bat. He did go back inside to Cervelli, figuring, I guess, that Frankie couldn’t hit the inside heat. The second one, though, was a bit too inside.

Then came Thames, who was sitting dead red and got one belt high inside. There it went, game over, Yanks come back off Papelbon to win a game they should have had in the bag much earlier.

Which brings us to…

Bad pitchers, bad management

After their efforts over the weekend, both David Robertson and Joba Chamberlain were not available last night. With Sergio Mitre also not available, that limited Girardi’s options. Further limiting Girardi’s options was Phil Hughes, who couldn’t pitch past the fifth inning. Hughes, however, is a topic for another post. The bullpen, however, is a topic ripe for immediate discussion.

Again, Hughes didn’t make this easy. He did, however, leave with a lead, and the Yanks tacked one on in the bottom of the fifth to give them two. Problem is, without Robertson ready for the sixth and Joba for a later inning, there was no real easy call there. He could have gone to Park, but then would have had to put together two more relievers to cover the next two frames before going to Mo in the ninth.

Girardi’s choice, unfortunately, was Boone Logan. The image to the right describes exactly how I, and many others, feel about Logan’s presence on the team. He’s a lefty who has gotten crushed by same-handed hitters this year. He does not throw strikes. In fact, it was his inability to throw strikes that cost the Yankees a run last night. He threw Victor Martinez, who has crushed lefties this year, three straight pitches out of the zone. After coming back with a gimme 3-0 strike, he delivered one middle-in, and Martinez was all over it. It looked like he was guessing all the way, and it paid off.

Logan did take care of the rest of the inning. Only Logan, though, could allow David Ortiz to hit a grounder to the one spot where the infielders weren’t standing. A double play took care of that, and then he finally took care of the lefty Jeremy Hermida. In any case, the Yanks could probably use a reliever tomorrow, and there should be no hesitation to call Melancon’s number and tell Logan to go have fun in Scranton. There’s just no place for him in a contender’s bullpen.

Chan Ho Park, fresh off the DL, then came out for the seventh, which seemed like the logical move. He probably would have come out for the seventh even if Joba had been available. Again, that worked out well. He killed a leadoff single with a sweet double play. My seats gave me a great vantage point of Jeter leading Cano with the throw, allowing him to flip to first while getting out of Darnell McDonald’s way. All’s good, right?

When Chan Ho came out for the eighth, I thought little of it. He’s a guy who can go multiple innings. Problem was, he hadn’t pitched multiple innings since April 13, which was the last time he appeared in a game before hitting the DL. He had a short rehab stint, in which he pitched a single inning. Girardi obviously wanted to go as far as he could with the relievers he had, but Park just wasn’t up to the task. A single and back-to-back homers later, and he had coughed up the lead and put the Sox in a good position to win. It was the second day in a row that the Yanks had blown a game in the eighth inning.

Damaso Marte might have been up to the task. He came in essentially with a blank slate, bases empty and none out, and put down the Sox 1-2-3. I’m not sure why Girardi didn’t call Marte’s number, especially with Drew leading off. I guess he’s still thinking of him as a LOOGY. In a game like last night’s though, I think he has to think a bit more deeply about it.

When Javy Vazquez entered in the ninth, it was clear that Girardi was just trying to get into the ninth with the two-run deficit. I’m sure he didn’t want to use Vazquez, that he was a option of last resort. He would have been a better option in the eighth, though, than Park. But, again, he was probably a break glass in case of emergency reliever. His four pitches will not affect his status as Friday’s starter.

A win’s a win, and last night’s was pretty sweet.

WPA Graph and boxscore

Wheeeeeeeeeeeee

More at FanGraphs. Here’s the boxscore.

Up Next

They say it’s going to rain, but if it holds up we have CC vs. Beckett tomorrow night.

Park activated, Nova sent down

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Via Bryan Hoch, the Yankees have activated Chan Ho Park from the 15-day DL after he battled a bum hamstring for the last month. Ivan Nova has been sent to Triple-A Scranton to make room on the roster. Getting CHoP back is big right now, given the unreliably of the middle relievers beyond Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera (yesterday notwithstanding). Furthermore, David Robertson and Joba respectively threw 30 and 23 high stress pitches yesterday, so they might not even be available tonight. Park might get thrown right into the fire.