Major League Baseball

Yankees attack pitching with bullpen

Published Jan. 20, 2011 12:00 a.m. ET

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The New York Yankees are working backward.

They couldn’t land the top-of-the-line starting pitcher they wanted this offseason, so ownership, not used to being rejected, decided to build up the back end of the bullpen.

With closer Mariano Rivera re-signed to a deal that will pay him $15 million this year, general manager Brian Cashman was overruled by his bosses and the Yankees signed Rafael Soriano, who will be paid $10 million.

And the Yankees fully intend to keep Joba Chamberlain, according to sources close to the situation, despite speculation he will be dealt in an effort to acquire a starting pitcher.

A feeling of frustration came upon Yankees ownership after Cliff Lee became the first free agent since Greg Maddux in 1992 to reject a better offer from New York and sign elsewhere.

How desperate were the Yankees?

Desperate enough to make a run at Carl Pavano, who struggled during four years in the Bronx. Pavano ultimately re-signed with Minnesota.

So the thought process became strengthening the bullpen to take the workload off the untested rotation. So there’s Rivera to work the ninth, Soriano the eighth and, now, Chamberlain now assumes the seventh-inning role.

Chamberlain reportedly is miffed by what transpired. The challenge for him is to embrace the task and pitch well enough in the seventh that he forces himself into a more vital part of the game.

Chamberlain, after all, shouldn’t be completely surprised by the idea his stature is fading with the Yankees. The Yankees did, after all, acquire Kerry Wood for the stretch drive last year to replace Chamberlain as the setup man for Rivera.

FEELING A DRAFT

It’s been an offseason of roster reshaping in Tampa Bay.

The future, however, remains bright for the Rays.

They do, after all, have a scouting and player development department that has proved to be among the best in baseball. It’s how they built the team that, despite having less than one-fourth the Yankees' payroll, was able to hold its own in the AL East the past couple of years.

And it’s how the Rays will rebuild, in a hurry.

Aside from the offseason trades of starting pitcher Matt Garza and shortstop Jason Bartlett, the Rays witnessed a free-agent migration that resulted in the losses of outfielders Carl Crawford and Brad Hawpe, closer Soriano, relievers Chad Qualls, Grant Balfour, Randy Choate and Joaquin Benoit and first baseman Carlos Pena.

The residual?

The Rays have 10 of the first 79 selections in the June draft — their own, which will be No. 32 overall, and nine compensation picks. The team's other picks include Boston’s first-round selection (24th overall) for Crawford, seven sandwich picks and Oakland’s second-round pick (No. 79) for Balfour.

Toss in their own first-round pick, and the Rays will have 10 of the first 93 selections.

Given the astute efforts of scouting director R.J. Harrison’s staff, that gives the Rays reason to look forward to the future — although it will be a pricey adventure.

The 10 players selected in the same spots of the 2010 draft received $11,014,500 in signing bonuses. Factor in inflation, and the Rays could spend more in signing players out of the first two rounds of the 2011 draft than any team has ever spent on an entire draft.

Only five times has a team exceeded $11 million in total signing bonuses, including Washington in 2010 ($11,927,200) and 2009 ($11,511,500). The Nats signed the No. 1 pick overall in both years — catcher Bryce Harper in 2010 and right-handed starter Stephen Strasburg in 2009.

A year ago, Pittsburgh ($11,900,460) and Toronto ($11,594,400) passed the $11 million signing bonus threshold, and Kansas City did it in 2008 ($11,148,000).

I SAID WHAT?

Pirates president Frank Coonelly was commissioner Bud Selig’s draft enforcer before moving to Pittsburgh. He would spend most of his time trying to keep clubs from overspending on bonuses for players in the draft.

Now that Coonelly is on the other side, he has become the biggest spender on the draft. The Pirates have spent more money signing draft choices the past three years ($30,599,800) than any other team in baseball, according to figures compiled by Baseball America.

The first two picks last June shattered the slot money recommended to teams. Right-handed pitcher Jameson Taillon, selected No. 2 overall, received $6.5 million (double the recommended bonus), and second-round pick Stetson Allie — also a right-handed pitcher — received $2.25 million (more than three times the slot figure of $694,800).

MAKING A PITCH

Ryan Harvey, the Chicago Cubs' first-round pick in 2003 and sixth player taken overall, was an outfield prospect with big-time power potential that he never fulfilled.

In eight minor league seasons — none above the Double-A level — Harvey hit .244 with 711 strikeouts, 158 walks and 2,372 at-bats.

Baseball, however, has a lure for Harvey so he is going to start over in 2011, signing with Boston as a pitcher. He worked out on the mound for Double-A Tulsa in the Texas system in 2010 but never appeared in a game.

The Red Sox also are taking a flyer on lefty Andrew Miller, whose contract demands resulted in him slipping to the sixth pick overall in 2004 and signing a four-year deal with Detroit.

Dealt to Florida in the Miguel Cabrera/Dontrelle Willis trade, Miller was released at the end of the 2010 season.

The University of North Carolina product is 15-26 with a 5.84 earned-run average in 79 big-league games, 54 starts. He is 7-16 with a 3.96 ERA in 52 minor league games, 45 starts.

The Yankees, meanwhile, finally landed Mark Prior. The Cubs took Prior as the second player in the 2002 draft, three years after the Yankees took him in the second round and he opted instead to attend college.

Prior was in the big leagues in 2002, but his career has been sidetracked by recurring arm problems. After sitting out 2007-09, Prior appeared in nine games with the Orange County (Calif.) entry in the independent Golden State League last year, then made one appearance for Texas’ Triple-A Oklahoma City affiliate.

WAITING GAME

There’s speculation, again, that Tony La Russa will eventually finish his managerial career where he began — with the Chicago White Sox. There are signs that current White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen will wind up managing the Florida Marlins when they move into their new stadium in 2012, which will open the door for the return of La Russa to the Windy City. La Russa and Sox managing general partner Jerry Reinsdorf remain close friends.

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