Bullpen Help?

Bullpen Help?

There are reports that the Yanks and Pirates are talking about a deal for Pirate lefty reliever Damaso Marte; now this is a move I like.

First, Marte is a luxury the perpetually rebuilding Pirates can ill-afford. A well-paid lefty out of the pen is pretty low on the Pirates list of needs. He is rather affordable (he made $2.45mm in '07, and is set to make $2mm in '08. There is a $6mm team option for '09 with $250k buyout) and should not cost the Yanks a bundle in terms of prospects.

Marte would make for an excellent lefty bridge to Mo after posting a 2.38 ERA allowing 32 hits in 45 innings and 51 ks. As he made 65 appearances for those 45 innings he was obviously used as a situational lefty last year. In the past, however, Marte had workhorse years with the White Sox throwing 79 and 73 innings in 2003 and 2004. Always around a 2:1 k/bb ratio and over 9k's per 9ip his internals look good as well.

If we can pick him up for a couple of Eric Duncan types this would be an excellent addition to the '08 pen.