What to Expect from New York Yankees' Phil Coke

Last season Phil Coke arrived in the Bronx as a lefty reliever, but in 2009 it appeared he would start the season at triple-A in the same role he has been in for most of his career, a starter.

We thought this because before they re-signed Andy Pettitte general manager Brian Cashman said that Coke would be in the mix, along with a few other pitchers, to become the team’s fifth starter. After Pettitte was signed everyone assumed that he would still start the season in triple-A as a starter. Until Peter Abraham ran into manager Joe Girardi.

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I stopped Joe Girardi in the clubhouse today as I wanted to get some clarification on how they plan to use Phil Coke.

The verdict is…reliever.

“He’s a guy we see being able to pitch multiple innings out of the bullpen. That’s how we’re going to try and develop him,” Girardi said. “Right now, he’s not a starter.”

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It made sense, with five starting pitchers in the fold, four of them under contract for a few years, and guys like Phil Hughes, Alfredo Aceves, and Ian Kennedy in front of him there really was no room on the Yankees as a starter. Yet this still did go against what the Yankees had been saying all winter long so Chad Jennings did a little investigating.

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Still trying to find out whether this holds true if he’s assigned to Triple-A, but for now it appears Phil Coke is back to working as a reliever. That’s more or less the only spot for him in New York, but Mark Newman and Nardi Contreras have each said Coke will likely work as a starter if he’s sent back to the minor leagues. I’m not sure Joe Girardi’s announcement changes that plan.

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What he found out wasn’t much:

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I sent Nardi Contreras an email this afternoon. He responded quickly and briefly.

I asked about Phil Coke (right) working out of the bullpen in big league camp. Specifically, I asked if that applied to the minor leagues. Is Coke still in the rotation mix for Triple-A? The response was exactly what I expected.

“Do not know those answers,” Contreras wrote.

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This all probably means that Coke’s days as a starter are over. The Yankees major league organization feels like there is no room for him as a starter, so why would he go back to that role in the minors?

Also, if he doesn’t make the major league roster out of spring training he will likely be one of the last guys cut and after working all spring as a reliever he won’t be stretched out enough to go back to being a starter so quickly.

That’s just as well because under Girardi the Yankees plan on carrying seven relievers including a long man. Coke could be suited fairly well in that role and even if he gets shifted to the one-batter lefty reliever role he could join Damaso Marte in a tandem like the Yankees used to have in Grame Lloyd and Mike Stanton. It could make for a very strong bullpen.