Bruney Likely Out For Season

From MLB.com:

Yankees right-handed reliever Brian Bruney could miss the remainder of the season with an injury to the Lisfranc joint of his right foot that is likely to require surgery.

Bruney slipped and fell while attempting to cover first base in the seventh inning of the Yankees' 9-5 victory over the White Sox on Tuesday. The results of an MRI taken in Chicago were sent to physicians in New York, who have recommended that the reliever have surgery. Bruney was examined by Dr. William Hamilton at Roosevelt Hospital in New York on Friday.

In a remarkable run of bad luck, Bruney also had a family member hospitalized in Oregon due to a heart attack on Thursday. That same day, the 18-wheeler hauling his personal truck to New York was involved in an accident, damaging Bruney's car badly.

Albaladejo Con Queso.

Jonathon Albaladejo may be the exception to the rule. The rule? Coming to camp in peak physical condition. [See: Bruney, Brian] The former Washington Nationals relief prospect who came to the Yankees in exchange for Tyler Clippard has looked pedestrian thus far in Spring training, allowing critics to overemphasize his weight.

From the Stamford Advocate article:

Much has been made of the Yankees' improved fitness, and many players are in better shape (Bobby Abreu, Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon, Brian Bruney, to name a few). One player who apparently didn't get the memo is reliever Jonathan Albaladejo, whom the Yankees got from Washington for Tyler Clippard. Albaladejo is listed at 6-5, 260 pounds but has what generously can be called a lumpy body. GM Brian Cashman, though, said Albaladejo is not out of shape as far as he's concerned (appearances notwithstanding, apparently). "That's the way he was when he came over from Washington," Cashman said. "He's a big boy."

It is a bit disconcerting when even this guy shed some LBs over the Winter.

Arbitration: Wang, Cano, Bruney

Yesteday afternoon, Chien-Ming Wang, Robinson Cano and Brian Bruney all exchanged contract figures with the New York Yankees.

The requests filed by representatives for Cano and Wang, two of the Yankees' prized younger components, were separated by $50,000. Cano filed for $4.55 million and was offered $3.2 million by the club, while Wang requested $4.6 million and was offered $4 million.

Bruney, who will be 26 in February, was 3-2 with a 4.68 ERA in 58 appearances across two stints with the Yankees in 2007. He requested $845,000 and was offered $640,000.

Wang will receive close if not exactly what he requested while Cano and the Yankees appear to be much further apart. Considering Cano's past two seasons have seen him knock in 97 runs and hit .342, the second baseman has a gripe. There is certainly the possibility that a neutral arbiter awards Robinson with the $4.55 mill he asked for.

Meanwhile, Bruney will make well over half a million bucks. Spend some of that money wisely and file a restraining order against Kyle Farnsworth and his worthless disregard approach for pitching.

Torre + Bullpen = Trouble

Alex Rodriguez hit his 53rd homer of the year in style, bashing a grand slam that raised his RBI total to 151. Kei Igawa fought tooth and nail through five scoreless innings, walking five and throwing 87 pitches.

Unfortunately, the 5-0 lead Igawa handed the bullpen would be blown the very next inning with Edwar Ramirez and Brian Bruney doing the heavy lifting. The assist goes to Torre, who after seeing Edwar walk two batters decided to go to the man who could walk a dead dog. That of course, is Bruney, whose pitch arsenal includes a 93 mph fastball, a 94 mph fastball and a 95 mph fastball. All of which are straight.

He followed Edwar's example by walking two of his own, including one with the bases juiced, and then served up a grand salami to a career minor leaguer. If you TIVOed the game, go back and watch Bruney's appearance. He didn't thrown one off-speed pitch. Just grooved fastball after fastball, graduating from Kyle Farnsworth U. and securing his unconditional release.

And just like that, a night of celebrating a playoff berth became an absurd loss. Maybe the playoff auditions should wait until after the playoffs have become a certainty, Joe. Maybe tossing a reliever out onto the mound who can throw strikes would help the team escape a pitching jam.

After only 87 pitches, Igawa probably could have gone another inning, and if Torre was that hellbent on getting him out of the game, he could have gone batter-to-batter with him. I first guessed on this one, thinking Torre went to his bullpen too early...again. I also first-guessed that Bruney would walk as many batters as Edwar did, and throw nothing but fastballs. It was a bad time to be right.

Torre also could have used Ross Ohlendorf in that spot. His uncanny ability to throw strikes and induce groundballs would have been a better answer than Bri and Eddie. And before you say that Ohlendorf pitched on Monday afternoon, remember that Jose Veras threw just as many pitches on Monday (22), but still managed to pitch Tuesday night. Before Monday's appearance, Ohlendorf only faced one batter on Saturday, meaning he was more than capable of tossing an inning last night.

Sure, Ohlendorf's future is more important to the Yankees than a guy like Veras, but an innings cap is far from necessary. After throwing 180+ innings for the Diamondbacks farm system in 2006, he's been limited to under 100 innings in 2007, due largely in part to several minor back injuries.

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Any dreams of a divisional crown have fallen by the wayside, and because Detroit won last night, New York's magic number remains at 1