Earlier today the Yankees traded Brian Bruney for the potential of maybe having a player (the Washington Nationals first overall pick in the Rule 5 draft). It’s the end of a not-very exciting career in pinstripes, and honestly I’m glad to see him go as I was hoping he had pitched himself into non-tender territory anyway.
Guys like Bruney, I’ve learned, will always break your heart. The cycle works something like this:
- Guy has great stuff! It’s hard to find guys with raw stuff like this!
- Guy does not throw strikes very often, misses his spots by two feet so lots of the strikes manage to be meatballs. It becomes painful to watch him “pitch”.
- Amazing month-long period where stuff and strikes come together to make outs without runners on base. Could it be real??
- All the strikes have gone away again.
- But he’s got stuff! It’s hard to find guys with raw stuff like this!
Eventually it happens enough that the player in question is outrighted, shipped off to another team mesmerized by his stuff or his contract expires and is not renewed.
And so today Brian Bruney has gone the way of many like him, and I wish him the best. Maybe he’ll be one of those guys who finally finds it and doesn’t lose it at some point in late July. But he broke my heart and I’ll never forgive him for that.
