Gaudin Released After Clearing Waivers
Apparently, the Yankees fifth starter isn’t going to be Chad Gaudin. The Yankees officially released the 27-year-old starter on Monday, as Gaudin’s $2.95MM contract wasn’t claimed and he passed through waivers.
Gaudin shouldn’t have any trouble finding a job. He’s clearly a major-league quality pitcher, as he’s posted 4.5 wins above replacement in three seasons and 369.2 innings as a starter and 67 more as a reliever. CHONE has him projected at a 4.58 FIP, which is just above league average. Even after adjusting for his time as a reliever, Gaudin’s projected FIP doesn’t change that much, and he could be worth over 2 wins in 160 innings of starting pitching.
Gaudin was expendable for the Yankees if you assume that one of the Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes duo takes the 5th starting spot. If the Yankees are giving up Gaudin in order to put Sergio Mitre or Dustin Moseley or anybody else on the mound with any sort of regularity, this move is certainly a mistake, as Gaudin is certainly better than the scraps of the Yankees pitching depth. It’s possible that the Yankees are reacting to Gaudin’s awful spring, in which he’s allowed a 8.68 ERA and 16 H in just over 9 innings.
[UPDATE: It looks like Phil Hughes will start the season as the Yankees 5th starter, and Chamberlain will go the bullpen, possibly for the 8th inning role.]
It is shocking that nobody claimed Gaudin’s contract, as he has the potential to be worth more than double his $2.95MM salary. One would think that there would be a fight at the top of the waiver order to claim him, but he somehow slipped through the cracks. Gaudin could be a fit for the Mariners if Cliff Lee is forced to miss time, as, unlike Jarrod Washburn, Gaudin has been in camp the whole spring and could probably step in on opening day. Other contending teams that could have slots for Gaudin include the Dodgers and the Cardinals, but really, there aren’t many teams out there that wouldn’t improve with him on the roster.
Jack Moore's work can be seen at VICE Sports and anywhere else you're willing to pay him to write. Buy his e-book.
There’s a chance that the Yankees sign him to a minor league deal…who knows. The move didn’t make sense to me, because Gaudin’s at least elite against RHH and could be a useful cog in the bullpen and maybe as a spot starter.
I don’t think the Yankees are going to offer Gaudin a minor league deal; pretty sure they still have to pay somewhere around 25% of his salary even after they release him, so i cant imagine they’re going to give him additional money to keep Kei Igawa company
It seemed to me that the move was based on salary. Girardi has a thing for Mitre, apparently. With Park, Robertson, Marte and Chamberlain presumably getting mid-late inning work (high leverage or otherwise), I can understand why they’d let Gaudin go.
Gaudin became a goner the day Park signed! He has no consistent out pitch against lefties.
I truly mystifying transaction. Oh, well, hopefully Gaudin will post a 2+ WAR season for someone else, so we can thumb our noses at Yankee-town.
Not that big of a deal, it was the battle for the long man out of the bullpen. Mitre or Gaudin were only going to come in if the SP got knocked out early due to performance or injury.
With Mo, Joba, DRob, Marte, Ace, and Park- Gaudin was never going to see significant action. So why pay him 3m when Mitre is getting paid 900k and overall the performance probably would be similiar (obviously the FO has confidence in Mitre after 2years away from TJS).
I love how you use these nicknames – as if you’re assuming everyone in America knows every player in the Yankee bullpen.
Which one of these names is the most confusing? If anyone out there doesn’t know who Mo is, he/she should start watching soccer. The other nickname is DRob hmm I wonder who that could be. The only possible confusion could come from Ace short for Aceves. The rest are first or last names e.g. Joba, Park, Marte
Gaudin will easily find a job; nobody picked him up on the waiver wire because they know they can sign him for less than that $2.95 million figure.
but he’s “worth” twice that!
Wait, you mean market prices are set by WAR??
I agree I think he could be an excellent fit in Seattle, especially with the King and Lee at the top. Solid 5th starter.
Before I got past the first paragraph, I was thinking he’d be a good fit for the Mariners. Definitely more reliable/predictable than Vargas or Olson, or whoever is going to end up there. Bonus points if they convinced him to sign a Minor League deal.
Brewers should definitely go after Gaudin, too. He’s at least as good as Doug Davis, and probably an upgrade over Suppan and Parra, and he can’t be that expensive if no one was willing to pick up his $2.95 million off waivers.
2-2.5 WAR might make the difference from the Brewers winning the wild card and being completely out of it.
Gaudin is nasty against RHH, that slider is sick, his problem is LHH tee off on him. Surprised they didn’t have Mo try to teach him a cutter because if he could be average against LHH he’d easily be a serviceable 4th starter on most teams. Like him way better than Mitre, but Mitre is one of Girardi’s “guys”, so this was surely a matter of clubhouse politics.
Like him way better than Mitre, but Mitre is one of Girardi’s “guys”, so this was surely a matter of clubhouse politics.
OR…like the dozen or so previous posters pointed out, it was a “surely” a matter of money. $3M for a ROOGY isn’t exactly a great allocation of resources.
Eh. An FIP of 4.58 would have him just in the bottom 20 of starters with 150+ innings last year. Bottom. Twenty. That’s pretty useless.
It’s just too bad that this site doesn’t provide a composite measure of a player’s contribution towards his team’s win total.
You mean WAR? I think WAR is too flawed to take too seriously. I’d rather look at the raw data, which is all WAR is composed of anyway: raw data modified by whatever manipulations / weights the guy who invented the stat felt was right to him.
When (and NOT if) Oliver Perez implodes, Gaudin could provide the Mets some quality innings. Now the Mets actually being willing to spend money on players that represent upgrades rather than sh*t, thats unlikely.
I agree. Not to mention Pelfrey, Maine, and Niese all have the potential to put up major suckage and uselessness. It’s possible he’d be slightly less useless than at least one or four people in their rotation.
I don’t understand why so many are down on Mitre. At 29, he is still relatively young, and his peripherals were a lot better than his ERA would suggest. He put up a solid 2.46 K/BB and 2.41 GB/FB all in his first year back from Tommy John. Furthermore, a quick look at some of his other stats suggests a healthy regression to the mean- 21.7% of his fly balls went for homeruns, .349 BABIP, and a 57.5 strand rate. I think Mitre is a guy a lot of people are overlooking, and I think he will comfortably outperform Gaudin.
Young for the Earth, not the diamond.