Yankees Waiver on Waivers: Drop Laffey and Miss Pena
With the season winding down the New York Yankees are doing everything they can to secure a playoff spot. Lately, however, the moves they’ve been making haven’t exactly panned out the way they wanted them to.
The first move they made was acquiring reliever Aaron Laffey after the Seattle Mariners put him on waivers. The 26 year-old left hander had a 4.01 ERA in 36 games with the Mariners this season.
The Yankees figured that Laffey wasn’t producing up to his potential, being a left-handed specialist in a bullpen that was not winning many games, and not getting in as many games as he should. The Yankees thought that Laffey would be a perfect fit for the their bullpen, who needed another lefty to compliment Boone Logan.
Unfortunately the Yankees were wrong; in his first game with the team, Laffey gave up five hits and two runs in three innings. Laffey was optioned down to the AAA Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees, and has not been back up since.
The Yankees also wanted to go after another big bat before they headed into September. They hoped they could use another hitter off the bench or even as their designated hitter from time to time.
So, they went after Chicago Cubs’ first baseman Carlos Pena, who was placed on waivers by the team. Pena, batting .226 with 23 homeruns and 67 runs batted in, was just what the Yankees were looking for.
But this also turned out to be a bust for the Yankees, as the Chicago Cubs pulled Pena off of the waiver market after the Yankees made their claim to him. With a late August trade not looking good, it appears that the Yankees have missed their opportunity to pick up another hitter.
The Yankees were trying to fill in the small gaps that were in their team, but were unable to do so. With a relief pitcher that ended up being a bust, and a power hitter literally taken away from them by his current team, the Yankees head into September with the same team they had in the beginning of August, which should be nothing to complain about.
