Thursday, August 6, 2009

Yankees Acquire Chad Gaudin....Is That it for Sergio Mitre?

Here is the press release from the Yankees:

The New York Yankees tonight announced they have acquired right-handed pitcher Chad Gaudin from the San Diego Padres in exchange for a player to be named later.

Gaudin (pronounced Go-DAN), 26, was 4-10 with a 5.13 ERA (105.1 IP, 60 ER), 105 strikeouts and 56 walks in 20 games (19 starts) with the San Diego Padres this season. He held his opponents to three earned runs or less in 12 of his 19 starts, including five straight from July 8-31, and earned National League "co-Player of the Week" honors (with Florida's Hanley Ramirez) for the period ending June 28, after going 2-0 with a 1.20 ERA and striking out 20 batters in 15.0 innings pitched.

He owns a 32-35 career record with two saves and a 4.58 ERA in 205 games (69 starts) over parts of seven seasons with Tampa Bay (2003-04), Toronto (2005), Oakland (2006-08), Chicago-NL (2008) and San Diego (2009). In 69 career starts, Gaudin is 20-28 with a 4.85 ERA, striking out 306 batters in 378.2 innings pitched with a .276 opponent's batting average. He is 12-7 with a 4.00 ERA in 136 relief appearances, striking out 125 batters in 175.2 innings pitched with a .260 opponent's average.

In addition, Gaudin made three scoreless relief appearances for the Athletics in the 2006 American League Championship Series against Detroit (3.1 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 1 K). Born in New Orleans, La., he was originally selected by Tampa Bay in the 34th round of the 2001 First-Year Player Draft.

*************************************************************************************

Personally, I love this move for the Yankees. It allows them to use Gaudin as a fifth starter, if neccessary, and adds pressure to Sergio Mitre to step it up a notch. Of course, Gaudin could be used out of the MLB rotation immediately as a fifth-starter, or they can take the opposite approach and start him out in the bullpen. Either way, this move adds depth and you can never have too much depth!

No comments: