Pedro Felici-OW-no

Another Yankee LOOGY is down. Pedro Feliciano, who has yet to pitch for the Yankees after signing a 2 year, $8 million this past offseason has been diagnosed with a torn shoulder capsule according to Ben Shpigel on Twitter. This could mean season ending (did it even begin) shoulder surgery. I believe this is the same injury that Chien Ming Wang suffered from only a couple of years ago and he still has yet to make it all the way back. If he does have a torn shoulder capsule then Feliciano will likely never suit up for the Yankees during this current contract.

Much has been made between Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi taking potshots at the Mets for "abusing" Feliciano. My reply to them, you gave him the two year deal. Maybe the Mets knew something when they only offered Feliciano, who has led the majors in appearances the last three seasons, a one year deal. Last season, Feliciano appeared in 92 games! 92! Granted, he only threw 62.2 innings but he appeared in over half of the Mets games last season. That is not good for anyone's shoulder or elbow. The fact of the matter is Feliciano is another reliever that Brian Cashman has swung and missed on. Nothing about Feliciano really popped out. He was good against left-handed batters, holding them to a .214 career average against but $4 million per is grossly overpaying for a couple of outs every other day. Now, they won't even get that.

Personally, I am not a fan of LOOGY's. They severely limit the flexibility of a bullpen because they can only get one type of hitter out and can tax the rest of a bullpen because they can only face one to two hitters a game. I am a believer in maximum roster flexibility. There is only one specialist in a bullpen and that should be the closer who only pitches when you have a lead. Granted, certain situations allow for a LOOGY, but I wouldn't be paying $4 million per year for one.

Brian Cashman has yet to learn his lesson when it comes to paying big bucks to relievers. He gets a pass for Rafael Soriano because it was the Steinbrenner's and their braintrust that pushed for him. However, Kyle Farnsworth, Steve Karsay, Damaso Marte (another LOOGY on the Yankee DL), Antonio Osuna, Juan Acevedo, Felix Heredia, Paul Quantrill, etc. Relievers are volatile. You are better off developing your own relief corps through a deep farm system than you are paying big dollars for a bullpen arm. The only thing big contracts given to relievers does to your team is handicap it. Sure, once in a while you get a viable arm like a Chris Hammond was for a year. The Yankees have, for some reason, been hesitant to give their own relievers a chance and like to import used up arms for more money. The Yankees need to learn the lesson, and quickly.

Perhaps Brian Cashman forgot the lesson of Scott Proctor and how using a reliever every other day isn't good for them. Or maybe, the Red Sox getting two excellent left-handed hitters in Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez scared him into thinking he had to counter that. Whatever the case, consider this Mets 1, Brian Cashman 0.