River Avenue Blues

River Ave. Blues ยป Freddy Guzman

Let’s Remember Some Guys from the RAB Era

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Dramatic photo for Dustin Moseley. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

There are five days remaining in the RAB era. We’ve been at this — I’ve been at this — more than 12 years now and it’s time to move on to something else. RAB started as a passion project and the passion is not there anymore. It’s become a burden. It sucks, and I am bummed about it, but it is time.

Since RAB launched in February 2007, the Yankees have played over 2,000 meaningful games, and 319 different players have worn pinstripes. The leader in plate appearances during the RAB era? Brett Gardner. He has roughly 600 more plate appearances than second place Derek Jeter. CC Sabathia of course leads in innings. He’s thrown nearly twice as many innings as second place Andy Pettitte.

We’ve been fortunate enough to watch some all-time great players these last 12 years. Jeter, Sabathia, Pettitte, Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, Mark Teixeira, Aaron Judge, on and on it goes. We’ve also seen an army of bit players and up-and-down guys. Most don’t contribute much. Everyone once in a while one of those guys does something memorable though.

Since we’re closing up shop soon, I figured it would be fun to go back through the years and Remember Some Guys. I scrolled through 12 seasons worth of rosters, picked out some names that stood out for one reason or another, and now we’ll pay homage to the random players who suited up for the Yankees. Come with me, won’t you?

Anthony Claggett

Y’all remember the first series at the new Yankee Stadium? The Yankees lost two of three to the Indians and got clobbered in the series finale. The final score: 22-4. Only the fourth time in franchise history the Yankees allowed 20+ runs. It is still the only time the Yankees have allowed more than 15 runs in a regular season game at the new Yankee Stadium. I remember that series for the collective shock at how small the ballpark played. Pretty funny thinking about it now.

Claggett came over in the Gary Sheffield trade with the Tigers and he made his MLB debut in that 22-4 loss. It did not go well:

Zoinks. Claggett made only two more appearances in his big league career (one with the Yankees and one with the Pirates) and he finished with eleven runs allowed in 3.2 innings. The highest ERAs in baseball history (min. 3 IP):

  1. Lewis: 60.00 ERA (20 earned runs in three innings)
  2. Dave Davidson: 30.00 ERA (ten earned runs in three innings)
  3. Steve Dixon: 28.80 ERA (16 earned runs in five innings)
  4. Jim Brady: 28.42 ERA (20 earned runs in 6.1 innings)
  5. Anthony Claggett: 27.00 ERA (eleven earned runs in 3.2 innings)

It is literally just Lewis. He’s some guy who pitched for the 1890 Buffalo Bisons. Not the best company for Claggett.

Colin Curtis

I think you might remember the first and only home run of Curtis’ career. In July 2010, he replaced Brett Gardner after Gardner was ejected for arguing balls and strikes in the middle of an at-bat. Curtis inherited an 0-2 count and whacked a home run. Check it out:

Curtis only played 17 more games in his big league career and went 4-for-32 (.125) in those 17 games. Pinch-hit home run as a Yankee in 2010, out of baseball by 2013. Rough. As far as random Yankees homers go, Curtis is right near the top during the RAB era.

Matt DeSalvo

Longtime RAB and DotF readers will remember Mighty Matt DeSalvo. The Yankees signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2003 and he worked his way into their top prospect mix during the farm system’s lean years from 2003-05. From 2003-06, DeSalvo pitched to a 3.63 ERA in 439.1 minor league innings and that was during the peak of the box score scouting era. The numbers were good and therefore he was a good prospect.

DeSalvo was the guy everyone wanted the Yankees to call up, and they eventually called him up in 2007, and in his first start he held the Mariners to one run in seven innings. Next time out: Two runs in 6.2 innings against those same Mariners. Things went downhill after that (17 runs in 14 innings) but hell yeah Mighty Matt. Those 27.2 innings in 2007 represent his only stint with the Yankees (he also threw two innings with the Braves in 2008).

Before hanging up his spikes in 2016, DeSalvo pitched everywhere from the Bronx to Atlanta to China to various Caribbean countries to independent leagues. Twelve seasons in professional baseball with some big league time is a hell of a career for an undrafted free agent.

Freddy Guzman

That is World Series Champion Freddy Guzman to you. Guzman was on the postseason roster for the entire 2009 World Series run as the designated pinch-runner. He pinch-ran twice during the ALCS, neither stole a base nor scored a run, and that was it. No appearances in the ALDS or World Series. Hey, it’s good work if you can get it. Guzman last played in Mexico in 2017.

Darnell McDonald

Man did McDonald get hosed. The Yankees claimed him off waivers from the Red Sox in July 2012 specifically so they could use his righty bat against Boston’s lefty starters in an upcoming series at Fenway Park. He went 0-for-4 in the three-game series before being dropped from the roster. McDonald had to cut his dreads, which his daughter loved and he’d been growing for more than two years, to get four at-bats with the Yankees. The hair policy is just ridiculous.

Juan Miranda

It was a big deal when the Yankees signed Miranda. They gave him a four-year deal worth $2M in December 2006, though he wound up spending the next few years as an up-and-down depth guy. Miranda never hit much in the big leagues, but I do remember him hitting this moonshot:

Miranda also drew a walk-off walk against the Red Sox in 2009. He hasn’t played in the big leagues since 2011 but he was active as recently as 2017 in the Mexican League.

Dustin Moseley

I remember Moseley for two things. One, the photo at the top of the post. Very cool and dramatic photo for … Dustin Moseley. And two, Game One of the 2010 ALCS. The Rangers scored five runs in four innings against CC Sabathia, then Moseley struck out four in two scoreless innings out of the bullpen, giving the offense enough time to claw back and take the lead. He earned the win for that.

Moseley threw 65.1 swingman innings with a 4.96 ERA for the Yankees in 2010. He spent a few years in the big leagues with the Angels and Padres in addition to the Yankees, so he wasn’t some random player who only made like four MLB appearances. I assume Moseley is pro-DH. He wrecked his shoulder taking a swing while with San Diego and basically never recovered.

Rico Noel

Run run Rico. Noel was the designated pinch-runner in September 2015 and he actually had an impact. He pinch-ran 12 times, stole five bases, and scored five runs. That’s a lot of action for the late-season pinch-runner. Their impact is often very overstated. Noel was on the AL Wild Card Game roster that year as well, though he was not used.

As the story goes, Noel talked the Yankees into signing him to serve as the designated September pinch-runner after getting released by the Padres. Joe Girardi made sure to give Noel some at-bats in the final regular season series too. He went 1-for-5 with an infield single. September 2015 was Noel’s first and so far only big league stint. He spent the last two seasons in independent leagues. He may not have gotten a ring out of it, but Rico had more of an impact on the field than Guzman.

Chris Parmelee

I spent a good 15 minutes looking and I can’t find it, but somewhere on the internet is a video of skinny and baby-faced Dellin Betances facing Parmelee in a high school showcase event prior to the 2006 draft. I remember coming across it a few times back in the day. Can’t find it now though. Alas.

Anyway, at one point in 2016 the Yankees used four different starting first basemen in a 12-game span, and roster moves were involved each time. Mark Teixeira to Rob Refsnyder to Chris Parmelee to Ike Davis. Teixeira got hurt, Refsnyder wasn’t very good, then Parmelee got hurt. Parmelee went 4-for-8 with a double and two homers in his brief time in pinstripes. Remember this game?

The next day — literally the very next day — Parmelee blew out his hamstring stretching for a throw at first base. Even though they didn’t make the postseason, the 2016 season was a very important one for the Yankees given their trade deadline moves and late-season call-ups. First base was a total mess that season though. Teixeira was hurt and unproductive much of the year, and Parmelee was one of several short-term fill-ins.

Scott Patterson

Patterson was the bullpen version of DeSalvo. An undrafted free agent (technically an independent league signing) who put up shiny numbers and was supposed to be the next bullpen savior. From 2006-07, Patterson threw 116 minor league innings with a 1.44 ERA and 136 strikeouts. The Yankees called him up 2008, he made his MLB debut as an almost 29-year-old, and he allowed one run in 1.1 innings at the Metrodome in Minnesota.

And that was it. Patterson was lost on waivers to the Padres soon thereafter. He appeared in four games with San Diego before settling in as a Triple-A journeyman. Patterson was last active in 2016, when he split the season between the Italian Baseball League and an independent league. Patterson and Colter Bean were the poster boys for the “he has great numbers call him up the bullpen needs him!” era.

Gregorio Petit

Petit was the infield version of Mike Tauchman of 2015. The Yankees got him in a minor trade right at the end of Spring Training and he made the Opening Day roster because Brendan Ryan was dealing with a calf injury. Petit went 7-for-42 (.167) with the Yankees and drove in five runs, including three on this swing:

Petit, Luis Cruz, Brent Lillibridge, Cody Ransom, Dean Anna, Cole Figueroa … we’ve seen plenty of random short-term utility infielders over the years. At least Petit is still playing. He spent some time in the big leagues with the Twins last year.

Brett Tomko

No Tomkos! Tomko is definitely the most accomplished player in our Remember Some Guys post. Dude spent 14 seasons in the big leagues, including a few weeks with the Yankees in 2009. He allowed 12 runs in 20.2 relief innings that season. I could be remembering incorrectly, but it felt like Tomko was always being mentioned as a possible spot starter while the Yankees cycled through Sergio Mitre and Chad Gaudin types. I remember him most for his post-meltdown painting sessions.

About pinch running for A-Rod last night…

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…Dave Cameron at FanGraphs thinks Joe Girardi’s crazy. He says that Girardi took A-Rod “out of a game that could have easily gone to extra innings for something like a one percent improvement in his odds of scoring,” but bases that on raw stolen base numbers (among some other things). A-Rod’s a smart baserunner with good speed despite his hip issue, but Freddy Guzman is way, way faster. He’s Gardner fast. He’d smoke A-Rod in a foot race, and at that point in the game, that’s what it’s all about.

Considering the situation, the focus has to be getting that run across. That’s it, nothing else. There’s already two outs in the ninth, so there’s zero margin of error. There’s no point in worrying about the 10th or 11th or 15th inning when you’re not in a position to get there. If Fast Freddy scores on a Matsui double or a wild pitch when Swisher was up, then no one has a problem with the move. That was one of those rare times in a baseball game when you have to put all your eggs in one basket, and getting that run across is by far the most important thing to do at that point. I can’t believe people are upset about this.

Yanks add Guzman to ALCS roster

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Chad Jennings has the news: Fast Freddy Guzman has been added to the Championship Series roster in place of Eric Hinske. Hinske has gotten just 15 plate appearances in the last month, and most of those came as the Yanks were resting players down the stretch. Guzman at least gives the Yankees another pinch running threat. I assume Hinske will head to Tampa to stay sharp, because his bat could be extremely valuable off the bench if the Yanks make it to the World Series.

In case you’re wondering, Hinske was not only left off Tampa’s ALCS roster last year, he was also left off their World Series roster. He wasn’t added to the WS roster until prior to Game Four, when Cliff Floyd hurt his shoulder.

A little bit about Freddy Guzman

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There’s a new member of the New York Yankees, so let’s introduce him. Before yesterday’s game, the Yankees added OF Freddy Guzman to the 40-man roster and summoned him to the majors. The 28-year-old switch-hitter hadn’t appeared in a major league game since September 30, 2007, before he pinch ran for Jorge Posada in the eighth inning last night. Now, according to the Yankees, he’s in consideration for a postseason roster spot.

It’s been a long journey for Guzman, not just throughout his nine-year pro career, but also this season alone. The Bronx is his fifth stop in 2009 after stints with AAA teams in four organizations. He’s stayed employed through the years because of his speed, which, to paraphrase Mike, can be rated as “really fast” on the 20-80 scale. He got on base at a decent clip in the minors for a guy with no pop, but he’s not expected to maintain that in the majors. If he was, another team would have given him a longer look.

(I also found out, just after publishing this, that Guzman had at one point falsified his identification. He was previously known as Pedro De Los Santos, and had listed his birth date as August 8, 1983. His actual birthday is January 20, 1981 — the day Reagan was inaugurated.)

The Padres signed Guzman as an undrafted free agent in 2000, but apparently held him back from playing that year. The first recorded stats I see for him are with short-season Idaho Falls, San Diego’s rookie-level team, in 2001. He performed quite well in a small sample at that level, putting up a .866 OPS while playing against guys mostly younger than him. It’s tough to project under those circumstances, but success is success. For him to fail at that level might have derailed his career early.

Guzman hit three levels in 2002, starting at low-A ball and moving up to short-season and advanced-A. He posted a .341 OBP with low-A, but markedly dropped off as he faced tougher competition. Still, it was enough to earn him the No. 3 spot on San Diego’s prospect list, according to Baseball America. He started 2004 off with a bang, posting a .375 OBP at advanced-A and earning himself a promotion to AA. There he tallied a .368 OBP in 205 plate appearances. It was enough for the Padres to give him a shot, and he made his major league debut on August 17.

Things didn’t go so well for Guzman, who saw less and less playing time in September, though he did get two hits in each of the Padres final two games. Unfortunately, it would be more than a year until Guzman would play in a game that counted, at any level. He suffered an elbow injury which kept him out for the entire 2005 season.

After success in his brief return, to the tune of a .348 OBP, the Padres traded him to the Rangers in what amounted to a nothing deal. Cesar Rojas went with him, and the Padres received John Hudgins and Vince Sinisi in return. None of those players have been of any consequence. Guzman took to his new environment, hitting .282/.375/.345 Oklahoma, Texas’s AAA affiliate in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He was rewarded with eight plate appearances at the end of the season for the Rangers.

Another decent season followed in Oklahoma, .269/.358/.363. The Rangers again rewarded him with a call-up, this time involving six plate appearances. At this point it was clear what kind of production you could expect from Guzman: not much. He had only 98 major league plate appearances, but Guzman’s type has floated around pro baseball for ages. He has seductive speed, but not enough power. Without power he has trouble drawing walks at the major league level, which depress his OBP. Guys with speed don’t do much good unless they’re getting on base.

In December of 2007, the Rangers dished Guzman to the Tigers for 1B Chris Shelton, who is most famous for hitting 10 home runs in April 2005 and doing nothing much since. After deciding he’d not make the Opening Day roster, the Tigers placed him on outright waivers, but no one claimed him. The Tigers put him in AA. After tearing up Erie of the Eastern League (.281/.362/.446), Detroit moved him up to AAA Toldeo, where he fell back into line with expectations, .270/.329/.378.

After the season Guzman became a minor league free agent and signed with the Mariners. His 2009 journey began with Tacoma of the PCL, but after disastrous results — .214/.244/.310 in 45 PA — the Mariners released him in early May. The Red Sox snapped him up later that month, but the results were similar with AAA Pawtucket. From there was onto Norfolk, Baltimore’s AAA team, where he experienced even worse results. The Orioles, obviously having no use for the outfielder, dished him to the Yanks on August 31 for cash and a player to be named later.

Strangely, after releasing Guzman, the Red Sox acquired Joey Gathright. The latter might have more major league experience than Guzman, but it’s difficult to discern a difference between the two speedsters. Yet it’s their speed, and their speed alone, which might earn them postseason roster spots. That’s what Joe Girardi said yesterday. The Yankees, needing only 11 pitchers on the postseason roster (probably using 10 tops), could add a second speed threat to the bench with their extra spot.

A speed threat on the bench is a luxury in October, and one the Yankees can certainly afford. But can they spare two spots to speedsters? It seems as though Melky Cabrera is the starting center fielder, with Gardner coming in every once in a while, rather than any kind of set platoon. He’s one guy who can pinch run in close and late situations. Do the Yankees need another?

Right now, the odds are against Guzman making the roster, but things can change between now and October 7. If Melky starts to falter and Gardner starts more in center, perhaps the Yankees will think it worthy to have a speeders for whom they can pick spots. If Gardner’s starting, the Yanks obviously can’t use him to pinch run for Posada or Matsui in a difficult spot. The presence of Guzman would afford them that luxury. I guess it will come down to how the team plays down the stretch, and how the Yankees think they can best use their extra position player.

Photo 1 credit: Lauren Long / The Post-Standard

Photo 2 credit: Robin Buckson / The Detroit News