MLBTR's Top Ten Minor League Deals of the Year

MLB Trade Rumors came out with their list of the top ten minor league deals of the season. Between the top ten and honorable mentions, five Yankees signings made the list.

1. Bartolo Colon, Yankees. He didn't pitch at all in the Majors in 2010, but this year Colon has a 3.33 SIERA in 152 innings. He's been a major cog in the Yankees' rotation. Some of his success may be owed to offseason stem cell treatments, which Yankees GM Brian Cashman was not aware of at the time of the signing.

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4. Freddy Garcia, Yankees. Colon and Garcia have provided the Yankees 280 innings of 3.63 ball. Baseball's biggest spenders got a ton of bang for their buck on minor league deals this year.

Eric Chavez, Cory Wade and Luis Ayala made the honorable mention list. I've written about this before, but it's worth mentioning again that Cashman has always been great at landing some major impact players on small and/or minor league deals. This year, maybe more than any in the past, these small moves are one of the main reasons why the Yankees are 4 games up right now.

Cashman Says Yanks Will Look To Replace Joba From Within

From Chad Jennings:

The Yankees will find out for certain in a few days, but right now it seems likely that they’ll be without Joba Chamberlain for the rest of this season and part of next season.

“It’s a big blow,” Brian Cashman said. “Obviously, it’s a tough thing. We’ll look from within first. We made some moves yesterday, and we’ll continue to evaluate the options we have in-house and shuffle the deck.”

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“It’s my job to figure that out and make sure Joe has weapons to match up with late in games,” Cashman said. “Whether that comes from promotions or acquisitions remains to be seen, but that’s my responsibility.”

As for who those internal options may be Jennings mentions Kevin Whelan, Adam Warren, Luis Ayala, and even Phil Hughes. Of the four, I'd probably prefer Hughes, since he was A) So awful as a starter this year, and B) He turned the bullpen around in 2009. ALso, with Nova, Garcia and Colon they don't really need a starter at this point, and if they do they can always let Noesi get a chance.

When I first saw these quotes from Cash I assumed it was because the reliever market was thin, but according to Buster Olney, that may not be the case. Here are the names his listed yesterday at potential teams looking to trade for a reliever:

Grant Balfour, Oakland Athletics -- The 33-year-old right-hander is having a decent season, with a 2.81 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP. He's under contract for this season and next, for $3.75 million this year and $4 million next year.

Mike Adams, San Diego Padres -- On one hand, San Diego could look to him to be their closer if Heath Bell is traded (and the industrywide expectation is that Bell will move soon). On the other hand, rival executives wonder whether now would be the best time to trade 32-year-old Adams to take advantage of his value -- and he would have a lot because he is arbitration-eligible and would be under team control through 2012 and because his stuff is excellent. "He's nasty right now," a scout said this week.

Luke Gregerson, Padres -- The same scout said he has seen some regression in Gregerson's stuff this year, an observation reflected in the fact that, for the first time in his career, Gregerson is allowing more than a hit an inning -- 31 hits in 27.1 innings, after surrendering 47 hits in 78.1 innings last season. His strikeout rate has gone from 10.2 per nine innings last year to 4.6 this year.

But he is experienced, and right-handed batters have a .290 on-base percentage against him.

Kerry Wood, Chicago Cubs -- The fact that he makes only $1.5 million will make him extremely attractive to a number of teams, but remember, he controls this process; it's up to him whether to accept a trade to another team, and he gave the Cubs the discount because he wanted to go back to Chicago. Time will tell on whether he would rather finish this season on a contender or would rather stay with the Cubs. Presumably, other clubs will call Chicago to find out.

Michael Wuertz, Oakland Athletics -- He's experienced, and he's usually effective when healthy; right-handed hitters are 4-for-35 against him this year, with a .413 OPS.

Any names on Jennings' (internal options) or Olney's (external options) lists pop out to you? Personally, at this point I'd take a chance on any of them because they're better than nobody, which is the current setup man on this team.

Ayala Completes The Pen

Via Mark Feinsand:

Luis Ayala will be the final man on the Yankees' pitching staff to open the season, as the Bombers chose the veteran righthander over young lefty Steve Garrison.

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Ayala, who came to camp as a non-roster invite, did not fly to New York with the team on Tuesday, but was headed north on a flight Wednesday morning.

In 8.2 innings this spring, Ayala posted a 1.08 ERA while striking out 8 and not walking a batter.

Yanks Sign Luis Ayala

From John Paul Morosi:

The New York Yankees have reached agreement in principle on a minor-league contract with right-handed reliever Luis Ayala, sources told FOXSports.com this morning.

Ayala, 33, has received an invitation to the team’s major-league spring training, which begins next week, sources said.

The Yankees hope Ayala can continue the success he enjoyed while pitching in his native Mexico during the winter season. Including the Caribbean Series, which Mexico won, Ayala had a 1.99 ERA and 14 saves in 37 appearances.

He struck out 25 batters, against seven walks, in 40 2/3 innings this winter.

Ayala is coming off a regular season in which he had a 6.42 ERA in 36 outings at Class AAA affiliates of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies.

Nothing too major here, just another "let's hope we get lucky" kind of move. Oh well, it can't hurt.