Alfredo Aceves Seems to Be Forgotten
By Mike Silva ~ December 22nd, 2010. Filed under: Mike Silva, New York Yankees.
Earlier this offseason the Yankees non-tendered starter/long man Alfredo Aceves. This shouldn’t be a surprise as he missed most of the season with back pain (disks) and then fractured his left clavicle in November in a bicycle accident.
According to Bloomberg, Aceves will be ready for spring training despite his recent surgery. With all the talk of Freddy Garcia and Jeff Francis, why not bring in Aceves to compete for a spot in the rotation? Even if he doesn’t cut it as a starter he surely can be good as a long man in the bullpen, or depth at Triple-A Scranton.
I sometimes think Aceves gets overlooked despite having success in the big leagues. Even though he was struggling with back problems he still put up a decent ERA (3.00) in twelve innings of work. He was a valuable member of the 2009 team, as he pitched 84 innings, mostly out of the bullpen, and produced a 3.54 ERA and over seven strikeouts per nine. He won’t strikeout as many in the rotation, but I believe he could easily compete with the likes of Ivan Nova, Sergio Mitre, and Mark Prior. Back problems aren’t good news, but is he any more risky than a Chris Young or Jeff Francis? Can’t he produce “Freddy Garcia numbers” for the league minimum?
As of last week there was no word on whether Aceves will be back. Chad Jennings was working on the assumption that he won’t in a December 17th post to the LoHud Blog. I think it would be a mistake, assuming his medicals are decent, to not bring him to Spring Training for a look.
