Latroy Hawkins was signed to a one year deal worth 3.75 million. This move would scare me a lot more if Joe Torre was managing the team instead of Joe Girardi. Torre would ALWAYS pick experience over talent and upside. So if he was still around, you could envision a senario where Hawkins and Farnsworth would take turns giving up big home runs to David Ortiz. However, since General Joe Giradi is now at the helm I like the idea of getting a cheap experienced reliever to take some of the pressure off the kids. Also, I believe strongly that relief pitchers(except for closers) fluctuate so much from year to year that they are never worth a long term deal. To build a strong bullpen grab a whole lot of power arms and see who sticks.
That beling said lets take a look at some things that should scare you about Latroy Hawkins;
- Career era vs. Boston is 5.79
- Career era @ Fenway is 7.00
- The top search term on Google for Latroy(other then his name) is "Latroy Hawkins sucks"
- Career whip is 1.465
- And the last bit of concern comes from the NY Post -"Another baseball executive likened Hawkins to Kyle Farnsworth, in terms of his fastball.
"He doesn't throw quite as hard, but like Farnsworth, when it's not located it's very hittable because it's straight," said the executive. "Movement is what gets good hitters out, not speed. That's why guys like them have never become dominant."
So some things should scare you but sprinkling in some experience at a low cost to the bullpen is not a bad move. If this doesn't work out the Yankees can always eat the contract and let Latroy go, the same can't be said of signing The Viz to a three year deal.
