Saturday, February 6, 2010

Spring Preview: Bullpen

Alfredo Aceves

2009 Stats: 10-1, 3.54

Alfredo Aceves, or "Ace" as he is known by his teammates, has been one of the more reliable Yankees relievers of the past decade not named Mo. The fact that he's only been on the team for two years, makes that all the more depressing. Ace has established himself as the go to long relief guy in the bullpen. His willingness to throw strikes, challenge hitters, trust his stuff, and make ballsy pitch selections are the main reasons he is the antithesis of Joba Chamberlain any time Joba has to face more than three people.

2010 Prediction:

Ace will continue to be a reliable middle inning reliever, long reliever, and spot starter. That will come in handy if I'm right about Hughes landing in the rotation, since Hughes will be subject to an innings limit.

Little Known Ace Fact:

Ace's first language is Esperanto, and he considers himself a man of the universe.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Alfredo Aceves, or "Ace" as he is known by his teammates, has been one of the more reliable Yankees relievers of the past decade not named Mo. The fact that he's only been on the team for two years, makes that all the more depressing."
Hahahaha I hate that this is true. :( Other than that Mariano guy, the Yankee bullpen in the 2000s was often a scary, scary place.

Acey seemed to struggle in the postseason which made me all sad, but eh, at least part of that was Girardi's fault for putting him in during Game 3 of the ALCS when Robertson was absolutely mowing 'em down. Also, the 15-inning scoreless game against the Sox was on a few days ago on YES, and damn, Aceves was like "DENIED" to the Red Sox for like three or four innings during that game. Awesome. I really like him.

My mom brought up an interesting thought: can you IMAGINE a one-game playoff between the Yankees and the Red Sox, winner goes to the playoffs, loser goes home, today, like the Bucky Dent game in 1978? It'd go 45 innings!!!

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

Even if it went nine innings it would still take 8 hours. That would be a crazy event though.

Ace did struggle a bit in the ALCS, but he pitched two scoreless innings in the WS, allowing only one hit in a losing game, so I don't know if it's remembered as much. Hopefully, he can have some efforts like that in next year's post season in some winning efforts.

Anonymous said...

Actually, I guess it'd be a lot like... the Aaron Boone game. Which actually WAS a win-or-go-home game between the Yankees and the Red Sox. *mind blown*