Yardbarker: Brian Bruney

Rumors: Beltran on the block........

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 20:38:17 -0500

The rumors have been flying after Mike Silva's NY Baseball Digest show Wed night. Frank Russo from The Deadball Era said that his sources have said that Mets are listening to Carlos Beltran offers (Inquiries) and one rumor scenario has him going to the Yankees for Robinson Cano, Ian Kennedy, Brian Bruney and/or Jose Veres, and another low level prospect. He also said that this would free up money for the Mets to go after K-Rod.....

The problem with that is the Mets will be left without a center fielder, and one that displays plus defensive skills and can hit with his power. Let's face it, he is one of the best center fielders in both leagues...

It will also leave us with Robinson Cano, who can hit but can't field his position. The Mets need better defense at that spot. Orlando Hudson is much better to fill that void. Who is Ian Kennedy? The next savior for the Mets.... I do not believe he will solve anything for the Mets... If thats the case put Jon Niese in the rotation.

Brian Bruney and Jose Veres will not be great additions, the Mets need to get something better than that... If the Yankees can give Prospect Outfielder Austin Jackson in the deal, you might not shake your head at it.. But that not going to happen..

So basically the Mets will get Beltran for Cano and a cast of players the Yankees would love to unload.

If the Mets are shopping Beltran, I would shop him for Roy Halladay and Alex Rios. The Mets would have to give up something else, who I would include is Aaron Heilman and some other prospect.......The Blue Jays have Adam Lind and Travis Snider to go along with Vernon Wells in the outfield.

The Salaries would be close about $4 Million apart. Beltran makes $18 Million, Halladay makes roughly $10 Million and Rios Makes $4.85 Million. Rios would serve as a viable replacement in center field, who is young and has some pop. Plus you get one of the best starters in the AL who will take pressure off the bullpen because he can eat up innings.... I can live with that!

All this is a rumor, but what do you think? Make Comments.

Commenting on the stupidest trade proposal ever

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:43:48 -0500

Honestly, who concocts these miserable trade ideas? The latest "rumor" out on the web has the Mets trading away Carlos Beltran to the Yankees in return for Robinson Cano, Brian Bruney or Jose Veras, Ian Kennedy, and another prospect or two and some cash.

Let the Trade Rumors Begin

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:20:59 -0500

According to Peter Abraham and Rob Neyer, the Yankees and Mets have discussed a blockbuster trade. This trade would send centerfielder Carlos Beltran to the Yankees and move second baseman Robinson Cano, reliever Jose Veras (or Brian Bruney), starting pitcher Ian Kennedy, and another Yankees' prospect to the Mets. Although this would be a great trade for the Yankees (with the exception of having to find a second baseman), I do not see this one happening, as the Mets would be giving up an all-star centerfielder for some players that can hopefully live up to their potential. Don't forget to check out the blog at pinstripespublished.blogspot.com

Beltran for Cano...?

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:29:16 -0500

Omar Minaya said that he was going to be creative this year in building a team that could make it over the hump and into the playoffs. Could that plan include moving Carlos Beltran, according to Frank Russo the Mets are shopping Beltran and might even be looking to the Yanks for a deal.

It just doesn't make sense to me, the Mets don't have a legitimate replacement and would have to make another move. In-house they could put weak hitting Endy Chavez or lose some range with Ryan Church but one would down grade the offense while the other isn't gold glove caliber in center. The most appealing free agent center fielder would be Rocco Baldelli but he needs a lot of rest due to his illness.

Beltran isn't perfect he can drive you nuts with his percentages of healthiness and his streaky hitting along with not being a vocal leader. But he is clutch and this year I thought took great strides with his leadership and grittiness. I'm not a big untouchables guy but I can't see downgrading such a significant part of the team.......

Frank Russo, on New York Baseball Digest Radio's Yankee Special, mentioned that his connections have shared that the Mets are accepting inquiries for Carlos Beltran. And, further, according to Russo, his sources have also shared that there's a rumor of a possible deal between the Mets and Yankees which would breakdown as follows:
Carlos Beltran from the Mets to the Yankees in exchange for Robinson Cano (with the Yankees taking on most of Cano's contract), either Jose Veras or Brian Bruney, Ian Kennedy, and another prospect from the Yankees system. source Was watching
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Are injuries a valid excuse for the '08 Yankees?

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:08:23 -0500

I know many say that injuries aren't an excuse for a team, because other teams get injuries as well. I have a different view on this though. Yes…many team have injuries, but not all have the same type of players get injured. Some have superstars get injured, while others don't. Let's first go over what Yankees were on the DL this season. Chien-Ming Wang, Phil Hughes, Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada, Jonathan Albaladejo, Joba Chamberlain, Brian Bruney, Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon, Andy Pettitte, Humberto Sanchez, Dan Giese, Ian Kennedy, Chris Britton, Wilson Betemit, Jeff Karstens, Sean Henn, Andrew Brackman. That's right. About 7 All-Star caliber players were injured at some point this season. Some of them were even injured for extended periods of time. That list includes: the best player in the game today, a 19 game winner in '06 & '07, best offensive catcher in the game today, and two all-star outfielders. It also includes many rookies, such as Phil Hughes who were set back in dvelopment because of these freak injuries. We all understand that injuries are part of the game, but when your team is hit with such injuries..especially to your best players, it definitely takes away from your postseason chances. Chien-Ming Wang only made 15 starts this season. He pitched a little less than half a season. When you lose a CY Young type pitcher like that…your team won't be winning as much. It's as simple as that. A-Rod, who is arguably the best player in the game today has only played in 136 games this season. He was out of action from April 28th up until May 20th. He missed 19 games. It's just crazy to think about all of these injuries. Check out the downgrades..it really shows what kind of effect it had on the team. Posada- Molina A-Rod- Betemit Damon- Christian Hughes, Chamberlain, Kennedy- Ponson, Pavano, Rasner.. The 2008 Yankees didn't miss the postseason only because of injuries, but it was definitely a major factor. They lost many of their best players for extended periods of time. They lost their ace (Wang)……and Joba, who was pitching like an ace in the few starts he made. The best player in the game was out a month..and they had Betemit take his place who hits .260, and strikes out every 4 at-bats. Posada was replaced by Jose Molina who can't hit a lick. Posada is a 5 time silver slugger, and they replace him with Molina who hits .219 and had 3HR's on the season. It was a frustrating season. I think next year can only get better. These were freak injuries, and it would be hard to believe that it will happen again.

Pavano picks up 4th win of the season. Enter Sandman. Game overa??

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:30:03 -0500

Carl Pavano pitched better than I expected today. Actually, I thought this game would be much different. Also, Radhames Liz pitched well..kind of a shocker. Pavano went 5.0IP 6H 2R 2ER 1BB 2K. Liz put up this line: 6.1IP 8H 3R 3ER 3BB 1K. Both of them pitched good enough to keep their team in the game. The Yankees bullpen was brilliant today, and as good as they will ever be. Coke, Bruney, and Marte pitched 2/3 of an inning each. None of them allowed a hit. Joba pitched an inning and struck out the side. Mariano got it in the 9th as usual..and notched his 37th save of the year. In fact, after the 5th inning..only two hits were given up, and they were both let up by Mo. The bullpen combined for: 4.0IP 2H 0R 0ER 1BB 7K. The Yankees didn't hit up Liz like I expected them to, but in the end they won..so no complaints. The Yankees picked up a total of 9 hits on the game, and drew 5 walks. Both Giambi and Damon had two hits on the game. Robbie Cano has suddenly caught fire since getting benched by Girardi. Tonight..Cano hit his 14th HR of the season off of Liz in the 3rd inning. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Baltimore 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 8 0 NY Yankees 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 X 3 9 1 NY Yankees AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG Damon, DH 4 1 2 0 0 1 1 .310 Jeter, SS 4 0 1 0 0 0 2 .305 Abreu, RF 2 0 0 0 2 0 2 .298 Rodriguez, A, 3B 3 0 0 0 1 0 4 .302 Giambi, 1B 3 0 2 0 1 0 2 .251 1-Cabrera, PR-LF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .243 Nady, LF 4 0 1 0 0 0 2 .310 Ransom, 1B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 Cano, 2B 4 1 1 1 0 0 3 .264 Rodriguez, I, C 3 1 1 0 1 0 1 .279 Gardner, CF 4 0 1 1 0 0 2 .190 Totals 31 3 9 2 5 1 19 BASERUNNING SB: Rodriguez, I (10, 2nd base off Liz/Hernandez, R), Damon (29, 2nd base off Liz/Hernandez, R). NY Yankees IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Pavano (W, 4-1) 5.0 6 2 2 1 2 0 4.99 Coke (H, 2) 0.2 0 0 0 1 2 0 0.00 Bruney (H, 10) 0.2 0 0 0 0 2 0 1.99 Marte (H, 25) 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.94 Chamberlain (H, 17) 1.0 0 0 0 0 3 0 2.51 Rivera (S, 37) 1.0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1.49 Final Score: 3-2 Yankees

Now Warming Up: The Fat Lady

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:06:36 -0500

Yeah, I'm thinking the season is pretty much over. I've thought this for a while but the Yankees always seem to find a way to keep me hanging on to some hope. The winning streak after the All-Star break. Sweeping Baltimore. Coming into today I was feeling pretty good. I know sweeping the Red

Toronto Series Recap

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:22:21 -0500

Only one word can describe the Toronto series: disgusting. It was just not good baseball. Tuesday's game was a good game. The Yanks didn't have much going on for them offensively. Rasner pitched a great game. It was a shame that two

No bugs, just bats, as Tribe tops Yanks in ALDS rematch

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:32:33 -0500

Yankee fans and the reporters who follow their team have a long memory, and a strong penchant for whining. You probably won't be surprised to note that the folks here in the Big Apple are still worried about midges. A couple of blasts - by Jhonny Peralta and Franklin Gutierrez - keyed the Tribe to a 6-4 win over Andy Pettitte and the Yanks tonight, but midges were very much on the sports writers' minds. In tonight's game story in The New York Times, the bug references came out in the very first graph. In fact, the first reference was there in the very first phrase of the very first sentence of the very first graph. Jhonny Peralta got compared to the midges in tonght's game story in the Daily News. As I write this there was no mention of last year's "bug game" in the New York Post, because tonight's game story wasn't up yet- just a quick blurb with the key details. Of course the Post mentioned the bugs right up top in this morning's story previewing the the four-game series at Progressive Field this weekend. It took the Yankee TV crew of David Cone and Michael Kay a full 7 minutes before mentioning bugs. My next door neighbor kiddingly brought it up this week as well, and there were a number comments about my buggy home town this week at my office in Jersey City, N.J. , itself not exactly a top-100 destination for any purpose. All of which tells me that six months later, Yankee fans are still trying to rationalize just how it was that their God-given right to go deep into the post-season was taken away. But enough about the past. How about that game tonight! It wasn't his best outing but Paul Byrd managed to sweat it out long enough for his mates to give him a lead and a win. The bullpen was outstanding, as Raffie Left finally found his groove and looked like the wicked stick man we were used to seeing out there on the mound with the game on the line last year. Raffie Right, in his new closer role, is getting better by the outing and appears to finally be throwing as well now as he was last year. And although the injury to closer Joe Borowski makes the pen feel a little bit short, there's a different feel in the pit of the stomach when the Tribe is nursing a one- or two-run lead in the final two or three innings. Last year the feeling was "ya, they may hang on but we're going to have to go through another Borowski outing to get to the promised land." In the past few games, with Borowski on the shelf, there's a bit more of a confident feeling as things get late. Still, just like last year, Eric Wedge has been reluctant to go beyond two or three guys when the games are close. That's a good way to have arms hanging by July. He's going to have to suck it up and try Jorge Julio and Masa Kobayashi more often in situations where he'd rather not roll those dice. But the Yanks came into this series with serious bullpen problems, both short- and long-term. Brian Bruney, who to me always seemed to have everything he needed to be a late inning guy, except the confidence of former skipper Joe Torre, was off to a great start this year but has a torn ligament in his foot that, in all likelihood, will sideline him for the year. Kyle Farnsworth, another pitcher on Torre's shit list year year who was used and abused by the former Yankee skipper, hurt his elbow the other night. He thought he might be ready to go for the start of the Tribe series tonight, but he obviously wasn't as the Yankees went to the newly recalled Jonathan Albaladejo late in the game. The Yanks were also forced to call up Chris Britton to work middle relief in a bullpen that has already worn thin by late April. Bruney and Farnsworth were the links to Joba Chamberlain and, ultimately Mariano Rivera, and now Bruney is out and Farnsworth remains questionable short-term. And what about the great Joba - the man who clearly would have shut down the Tribe and evened the ALDS at 1-1 last year if not for the attack of those killer bugs? He's under a bit of pressure here. Hank Steinbrenner - who's running the team a lot like George did in his early days -wants Joba in the rotation. Yankee GM Hank Cashman does not. With his 100 mph fastball, the fans here are expecting miracles out of the youngster no matter when he pitches, as is evidenced by this back page (which is actually the front sports page in the tabloidian world of New York newspapers) photo and headline Friday morning, the morning after Chamberlain recorded his first MLB loss Thursday night. The great Joba didn't make an appearance in tonight's game, as the Yanks appear ready to use him only when the team is ahead and not to keep a close deficit from widening. On Saturday Ian Kennedy, another youngster with a big chunk of the Yankee season on his shoulders, comes into his start at 0-2 with a 9.64 ERA. Kennedy will go against Jeremy Sowers, another youngster with much to prove. Chien-Ming Wang goes for the Yanks against CC on Sunday. In the series finale Monday, Aaron Laffey, a Tribe youngster with a strong early track record, faces Mike Mussina. Mussina has pitched 27 1/3 innings in five starts, an average of fewer than six innings per outing. His ERA is at 4.94, so the Tribe may be able to get him out early enough to get to the Yankees' depleted pen. With one in the bag, and the pitching matchups about even, 3 out of 4 against the team I hate the most is not out of the question. And that makes for a damned good weekend if you ask me.

Brian Bruney out for the year, complicates Joba situation

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:13:16 -0500

The feud between the Yankees hierarchy as to the role of Joba Chamberlain might have just taken care of itself. The only other setup man that manager Joe Girardi has confidence in, Brian Bruney, is reportedly out for the season after tearing a ligament in his right foot covering first base on Thursday night in Chicago.

Bruney Starts In Yankees Loss

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:02:52 -0500

So Bruney starts because of the rain. They didn't want to waste a start by Ian Kennedy. He pitched well, but they should have brought Kennedy in before going to Farnsworth, who sucks. I like this strategy.

Proctor and Farnsworth on the Market

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 14:39:34 -0500

With the Yankees recent charge they are looking at their options available for upgrading the team. The most glaring need is in the bullpen where Kyle Farnsworth, Scott Proctor, and Brian Bruney have all been erratic at best. The new idea the organization has is to look to deal these relievers to upgrade the offense. They would then look to upgrade the bullpen from within by calling up Sean Henn and Chris Britton. The deal the Yankees are paying most attention to now would be for utility man Wilson Betemit. Last year they failed to get Betemit from the Atlanta Braves at the deadline and they are still interested in him now. The Dodgers have a need for bullpen help since Chad Billingsley has moved to the rotation. Though they apparently are not too impressed with what the Yankees are offering.

Yankees Player by Player Recap

Thu, 10 May 2007 16:16:03 -0500

It's one month+ into the season and the Yanks finally have reached .500, so here's a recap and rankings of all of their position players, starters and relief pitchers. Any chance Pavano is ranked lowest among starters?

2007 Yankee Preview & Projections

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 06:32:15 -0500

A close look at the 2007 Yankees as they may take form following Spring training as well as some possibly moves made by the time we turn the calendar to July. With some creative maneuvering, Cashman may reassemble one hell of an array of talent. Both starting pitching and bullpen depth could be extremely exciting if not dominant. This would back an already juggernaut of a lineup.