Friday, June 5, 2009

Nady Could DH

From Peter Abraham:
Xavier Nady, who is coming back from a torn elbow ligament, played catch for the third time at the team facility in Tampa and took batting practice.

While Nady is prepared to start playing games as a designated hitter, the Yankees want him able to play in the outfield before he is activated.

I know they have several DH's already, but even if he can't play the field, wouldn't Nady's bat be more valuable right now coming off the bench instead of Angel Berroa?

8 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Anything is better than Angel Berroa. Plus, having Nady seeing some major league pitching earlier than later cant hurt as well.

-G

Anonymous said...

I think that infield depth would suffer if they replaced Berroa with Nady. That's a lot of responsibility for Pena to backup 3 positions. Besides, who would Nady pinch hit for? Would the Yanks sit Matsui Damon or Posade to give Nady AB's from the DH spot? Gardner, Cerveli and Pena seem to be the only ones he'd PH for. But then whouldn't whoever replaced those 2 in the field already be as good as or better PH than Nady? Jeter, A-Rod, Cano, Damon, Swisher, Posada, Melky & Tex.

Greg Cohen said...

But how is Berroa helping now? He's had three at-bats since May 4.

If Berroa was actually playing, I'd agree with you, but he's not. He's just wasting a roster spot right now.

Jamal G. said...

I've argued this point over at RAB as well: Angel Berroa is a necessity on this team because the Yankees and ARod are not at he point where they feel comfortable letting the latter play 3B every single day. He is going to DH some games, and when he does you need to be able to PH for Ramiro Pena. You can't execute that move if you have no backup IF to take over for Pena at 3B when he is PH for.

That's Berroa's role, and in my opinion, it's a valuable one for the 25th man on the roster.

Anonymous said...

Its a valid point that two DHs take up too much space on a roster. However Greg has a point that Berroa barely plays and they could prob find a way around having to use him to field.

Anonymous said...

Why not release the garbage that is Berroa and put Duncon on the 24 man roster. Get your outfielder and a bat off the bench(swisher)Send Veras down and bring up any infielder has to be better than Berroa.

Greg Cohen said...

That's a good point Jamal, but they never use the guy, and on the rare occasions that A-Rod is the DH I really don't mind giving Pena four at-bats.

Anonymous said...

This team does not need 2 utility infielders. I cant believe people are arguing that they need Berroa.