Chad Gaudin Traded To Yankees

I know this isn’t the big trade the Yankee fans wanted by much like the Jerry Hariston and Erik Hinske trades it will prove to be another solid under the radar addition for the Yankees.

To the untrained eye Gaudin doesn’t look very appealing. He’s 4-10 with a 5.13 ERA and plays in the pitchers paradise that is PETCO park. However, Guadins FIP (fiedling independent pitching) which is scaled like ERA is 3.68. Of course Gaudin right now has a 6% HR/FB ratio which is going to be unsustainable at Yankee stadium. Xfip is probably a better statiscal measure because it normalizes HR/FB rate to about 12% (league average.) Gaudins Xfip is 4.23. Gaudin also has a .338 BABIP which combined with FIP shows that Gaudin has been unluckly this season. Gaudin has also struck out 105 in 105.1 innings which is important considering the difference betwen Yankee Stadium and PETCO Park.

Gaudins role with the Yankees is unclear at the moment. It’s likely he’ll begin in long relief while Sergio Mitre will at least get one more start.

An interesting thing about Gaudin is his career splits, brought to my attetion by the excellent FanGraphs.com

Vs RHB: 8.3% BB%, 23.8% K%
Vs LHB: 13.2% BB%, 10.8% K%

Again if nothing else Gaudin is a big upgrade over what Brett Tomko had given the Yankees. The Yanks bullpenn has been heavily used and having another guy who can go multiple innings while being capable as a starter can only help. When the plaoyffs come around a 5th starter won’t matter anyway and as Gaudins splits will show you he can be an effective guy getting out right handed batters.

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