What I am about to write is in no way a negative criticism on New York Yankees manager Joe Torre. Over the years, Torre has been very loyal to his veteran players, which is a big reason why so many of his players like him as their manager so much. Coming out of spring training this year Torre has made three uncharacteristic roster moves that I was very surprised he made. Instead of going with the experienced veterans, he chose youth and new faces for the locker room.
The three roster moves I am referring to are Sean Henn over Ron Villone, Josh Phelps over Andy Phillips, and Wil Nieves over Todd Pratt. The most surprising of the three is choosing Wil Nieves over Todd Pratt. The reason for this is that in years past Torre has chosen older veteran backup catchers, that are very good at managing the pitching staff, as well as excellent club house guys. Using a young guy who has not seen much time in the majors goes in the opposite direction that Torre usually goes. It does not ensure that on off days for Jorge Posada the pitching staff which he manages so well, will be in the hands of someone who can come close to matching it. It will however give great experience to a young Yankee who could develop into a nice player. It can be debated whether the catcher position is a good position to try to infuse youth into, but it goes with the organizations overall effort to get younger. He did outperform Pratt in spring training, and it is showing signs of confidence from the manager to Wil and the rest of the youth in the organization.
The next move Torre made was to put Sean Henn on the roster over Ron Villone. I like Villone, but he is old and the Yankees do need some younger arms for the future. Also did you see Henn pitch? His stuff looked electric and after Villone's final debacle of an outing, Torre needed to give Henn a chance to show what he can do in the big leagues. Joe favors a few relievers each year, and each year he greatly over works them. It was evident by Villone's awful end to last year that his arm was just dead come the end of the season. The youth of Henn could allow him to stay strong throughout the season, if in fact Torre keeps with his precedent of using certain relievers for the majority of relief innings.
The third out of character move was to put Josh Phelps on the roster over Andy Phillips. Both players are young (Phelps is younger by about a year) so this was not a move to infuse more youth on the roster. This was very surprising because Joe Torre is incredibly loyal to his players, and Phillips has worked very hard for Torre over the last few seasons. This is especially surprising because Phillips missed a few weeks of spring training to deal with his mother who got in a very serious accident. While Joe said that would not affect his decision, Phillips could not have been playing at his potential due to missed time as well as the natural instinct to care about a loved ones health. I am not saying he made the wrong decision, just the opposite, however in years past Torre might have leaned toward a player who has played under him before, rather than a new one. Even more surprising in the decision is that Phillips can no longer be optioned to the minors without clearing waivers first, which makes it an almost certainty with his defensive talent that he will no longer be a Yankee.
I believe that the above mentioned roster moves that Joe Torre made were the correct ones. It went against what he has shown to be his usual instincts, and has put in place three players that have a legitimate shot of helping the 2007 New York Yankees win baseball games.
