Breaking Down the Non-Roster Invitees: New York Yankees

The Yankees have one of the more interesting collections of NRIs, largely featuring an array of back-of-the-rotation candidates and top prospects.

It’s an interesting mix of retreads trying to catch a break and youngsters trying to break in. The high stakes of New York’s perennial championship chase, combined with some of the uncertainty surrounding the roster spots, makes this one of the most diverse and interesting groups of NRIs. As always, I won’t look at all of them, but highlight most of the important ones.

RHP Brian Anderson—The converted outfielder just started pitching in 2010, but in very limited exposure, he showed good velocity and control, prompting the Yankees to bring him to camp and claim he has a legitimate shot to claim a bullpen job. It’ll be interesting to see how far he’s come with his pitching.

RHP Luis Ayala—The former Nationals mainstay is trying to get back to the majors after pitching in the minors (rather poorly) in 2010. Still just 33, the sinker/slider pitcher is little more than a generic relief arm at this point, but stranger things have happened than a guy like this getting an extended second chance in the majors.

LHP Manny Banuelos–The #6 prospect on my Top 100, Banuelos is an extremely polished lefty who hasn’t even turned 20 yet and already has some Double-A experience. With a lights-out changeup, solid curve, low-90’s fastball, effortless mechanics, and exceptional command, the little lefty is the real deal. Some claim he could be a dark horse for the fifth starter’s job; while that’s extremely unlikely, it’ll be interesting to see if big league hitters can handle the changeup or if Banuelos needs more polish.

2B Ronnie Belliard—Belliard’s offense fell off a cliff in 2010, as he hit .216/.295/.327 for the Dodgers while posting the highest strikeout rate of his career. He can still play a decent second, and the .260 BABIP should snap back some, but Belliard will be 36 a week after Opening Day and isn’t likely to do too much more in the bigs. Then again, Ramiro Pena‘s been given a bunch of time for the Yanks as a backup infielder, and this is the same organization that kept Enrique Wilson around for four years. So…Belliard’s got a shot here.

3B Eric Chavez—Who knows if Chavez can stay healthy? And who knows if he’s anything close to a major league player when healthy at this point? He hit .234/.276/.333 for the A’s early last year before having his umpteenth season-ending injury, and hasn’t played in 100 games since 2006. Remarkably, he’s just 33, but Chavez is almost certainly done, although there’s obviously an extremely small chance that he gets healthy and snaps into some sort of vague pre-injury form. As an A’s fan, I’m long past the point of believing that’s even possible.

RHP Bartolo Colon—Colon’s supposedly in shape, which is interesting in itself. Given his fastball-heavy approach, he’ll need to show much-improved velocity to be worth a shot, particularly as a flyball pitcher in Yankee Stadium. He’s an interesting story anyway as a 37-year-old former Cy Young winner giving it one last go.

LHP Neal Cotts—Now on the wrong side of 30, Cotts continues to bounce around hoping to figure out how to not walk people. He’ll always have the 2005 season to be proud of, but he didn’t pitch in affiliated ball in 2010, and the last time Cotts was in the majors, he was terrible. He still is left-handed with a good slider, though, so the Yankees are taking a look; like Chavez, Cotts has worn out his welcome for too long for me to have much optimism here.

RHP Freddy Garcia—Firmly in the “traveling changeup artist” portion of his career, the 35-year-old knows the end is near, and decided to give it a shot with the team with the quickest path to the World Series. Problem is, Garcia probably isn’t good enough to make that team, as he basically throws a variety of junk in the strike zone and hopes for the best. That limits walks, but leads to few strikeouts and lots of homers, not the best recipe for success against top AL East teams in Yankee Stadium. But Garcia is clearly motivated, so maybe he shows up with an extra tick or two on the heater. That would go a long way.

C Jesus Montero—The top prospect will be in camp after a full season of Triple-A. We’ll get to see if his bat in major-league ready yet, but perhaps more importantly, we could get a final decision on if Montero will move out from catcher–if his bat forces him to the bigs in April, will the Yankees let him catch?

OF Jordan Parraz—Dropped from the 40-man for the indomitable Justin Maxwell, Parraz nevertheless has the potential to be a solid backup outfielder, with an all-out mentality and broad-based offensive skillset. Every now and then, one of these guys catches a manager’s eye and grabs a job.

RHP David Phelps—Phelps needs to be New York’s fourth starter. Seriously.

RHP Mark Prior—Yep, he’s still trying to come back. Still just 30, Prior pitched in independent ball last year before getting in all of one inning with the Rangers’ AAA affiliate (where he struck out two batters). Competing for a last-man-in-the-‘pen sort of job, Prior will be a fascinating story as he attempts to salvage something of a career after a horrifically unfortunate string of injuries.

C Austin Romine—Overshadowed by Montero, Romine still gets talked about a fair amount, although he didn’t help his case by hitting a “meh” .268/.324/.402 in Double-A last year. Still just 22, Romine gets much more positive defensive reviews than Montero, but he’ll have to hit to stave off top catching prospect Gary Sanchez even if Montero gets moved.

LHP Andy Sisco—Remember him? Once compared to Randy Johnson, Sisco is now little more than an erstwhile lefty who hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2007. He spent 2010 in Double-A, of all places. Somehow still just 28, Sisco still doesn’t throw strikes (4.86 BB/9 in Double-A last year), but the explosive fastball/slider combination is still there, as he whiffed 75 batters in 66 1/3 last year. With any luck, he at least gets to spend 2011 in Triple-A. You never know, though–with his size and stuff, perhaps Sisco catches Joe Girardi’s eye.

RHP Adam Warren—Like Phelps, Warren is overshadowed by the Banuelos types in the system, but is a solid prospect in his own right. He made ten excellent starts in Double-A last year, and while that’s not enough upper-minors experience to put Warren in serious competition for a rotation spot given the Yanks’ ultra-conservative promotion schedules, a good spring could put him near the front of the line, and perhaps ahead of Banuelos, for a callup if injury strikes, or if whoever does win the fourth and fifth jobs struggles.