Money In Banks Makes No Sense

[Max Power]

The Yankees signed righthanded pitcher Willie Banks to a minor-league contract.

Why?

He would be the 9th man on the Newark Bears pitching staff.

Why this guy keeps geting jobs is beyond me. Does anyone know the reason?

[gyb13]

actually, he was quite efficient with the sox last yr (3.23 era and 5 rsaa in 39 innings), so it's not like he's terry mulholland

maybe you just have bad memories of his 97-98 tour in pinstripes...

[Max Power]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/player...4716&year=2002

Looking closer at the stats, you'll see that he made what small numbers he had, living off the likes of the O's, Tigers, and D-Rays.

[SmedIndy]

Why not? He's a cheap pickup and could eat innings in a mop-up role.

I'd rather have him than some overpriced noodle-arm like Turk Wendell.

[gyb13]

Originally posted by Max Power
Looking closer at the stats, you'll see that he made what small numbers he had, living off the likes of the O's, Tigers, and D-Rays.

well, we are fortunate to play the o's and d'rays quite a bit, so why not have someone cheap and efficient that can beat the scrubs?

[Max Power]

Trust me, if you ever saw this guy "pitch" would would feel more comfortable having an 86 year old woman lobbing it up there underhanded.

[RichG]

The Yankees have so few pitching prospects in triple A they might as well give the Columbus fans someone with name recognition. Who would he be taking time away from?

If the major league pen smells it up in the last spot I would guess Torre would be comfortable with someone with major league experience than bringing someone up from double A

[LeGrandOrange]

It could be worse. Do they have Fabregas signed to a contract?

[JamesI]

Originally posted by Max Power
Trust me, if you ever saw this guy "pitch" would would feel more comfortable having an 86 year old woman lobbing it up there underhanded.

Hmm...Someone sign the 86 year old quick before the Yanks grab her.

[LeGrandOrange]

But if the Yanks grab her, she can sue for quite a bit of money.

[TimmyB]

Maybe this is Steinbrenner's token jesture at leveling the playing field.

[Max Power]

Tim - that's good.

[Golden Bear]

Banks is a local boy -- Jersey City. He was a high school phenom in the late '80s. (Can't remember which H.S. just now.)

Maybe that entered in somehow; the name still has a little cache to locals (or maybe just to George).

I knew him a little; we had some mutual friends. I always have rooted for him. He never reached the promise he seemed to have at the time; there were hopes he could be the next Doc Gooden.

(This was of course before Gooden lost complete control of his career and his life, circa 1987 or so.)

[Bruce Markusen]

From what I've been able to gather from watching Yankee telecasts and reading the local newspaper reports, the Yankees signed Willie Banks and Mike Thurman to fill out their pitching staff at Triple-A Columbus. With both Karsay and Rivera on the disabled list to start the season, there's a possibility that hard-throwing righty reliever Jason Anderson will make the Opening Day staff. At the beginning of the spring, Anderson was given almost no chance at making the team and was considered a lock for Columbus.

According to today's New York Post, it's between Anderson and Randy Choate for the last spot on the staff. Also, if Hitchcock is traded, then both Anderson and Choate will be on the big league roster, which would deprive Columbus of both pitchers.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Originally posted by RichG
The Yankees have so few pitching prospects in triple A they might as well give the Columbus fans someone with name recognition. Who would he be taking time away from?

This is as good a justification for giving Banks a minor league contract as anything else. It is a way of supporting the AAA team, which, after all, needs to draw fans, and has a better chance of doing so with some recognizable names.

In very limited action, Banks has a 0.84 and 3.23 ERA in 2001 and 2002. Even if this is mop up work against the D-Rays, Tigers, et al, it's better than someone who posts a 10.28 ERA in the same amount of limited innings. Banks has shown some success in a limited role over the last two years. That's as good a reason as any to give him a chance this year.

Pitchers aren't position players; their career progression isn't the predictable thing that the career progression of a position player's is. Banks may have learned a new pitch, or may have stopped throwing a pitch he didn't have control of. He's not likely to ever hit the level of achievement once predicted for him, but he pitched 3.23 ERA ball in 39 innings last year. There are a whole lot of guys in the bigs who can't say as much.