How many more times are we going to have to suffer through Tanyon Sturtze coming out of the bullpen? This is a guy who couldn’t cut it as a Devil Ray and now the Yankees view him as a key member of their bullpen? Since he became a Yankee in 2004, he has had two months where his ERA has been below 4, yet they keep trotting him out there, it’s infuriating.
Yesterday, Sturtze came in to protect a five-run lead. After walking the leadoff batter, he made a terrible play on a ground ball to put two men on with nobody out. He promptly walked the next batter before Joe Torre finally regained consciousness and pulled him. Scott Proctor came in and pitched brilliantly to shut down Texas and help the Yankees preserve their 8-5 victory.
While determining the use of the bullpen is important, the most pressing issue facing the Yankees right now is the health of Gary Sheffield. Sheffield was injured a week ago in a nasty collision and his wrist is apparently not getting better. The Red Sox come to town tomorrow and it looks like New York will be without their rightfielder for the series. A MRI is being run today to determine if Sheffield needs to go on the DL.
