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It has been reported that New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman has been shopping around relief pitcher Chan Ho Park.

My question is, what teams are interested in Park, and what does he bring to a team?

The 37-year-old right-handed pitcher doesn’t offer much promise to any team he joins. This season, in 32 innings pitched, Park has given up seven home runs, 37 hits, waked nine, and surprisingly struck out 26 batters total.

Park’s 5.57 ERA is not ideal, but what makes Yankee fans cringe is Park gives up big hits in important situations. This obviously resonates more in fans’ heads.

It is so uncomfortable when Park comes running out from the bullpen and the Yankees have given him plenty of chances to prove himself.

Park also holds the No. 32 spot on the all-time hit batsmen list, with 135 to date.

Joba Chamberlain, who is even less reliable, joins Park in adding to the mess. Joba gets more leeway because his struggles are partially the organization’s fault for the way they have selfishly handled the youngster.

Unlike Joba from 2007, the 2010 version cannot locate his pitches. Joba’s velocity is still in the mid to high 90s and his command is not terrible.

It seems to be that Joba’s fastball lands right over a batter’s sweet spot, which is why his walk-rate might seem down. Hitters are actually taking the pitches and making contact successfully.

Joba can be fixed once he gets his confidence back, which might take some time. The Yankees have to continue to take responsibility for this situation because they babied him too much.

That is why the Yankees need to grab bullpen help, more than adding another starting pitcher.

This Saturday, July 31, marks trade deadline and you can be sure the Yankees will be shopping. My pick is Houston Astros hurler Brett Meyers, who can also pitch in long relief, which is great until starting pitcher Andy Pettitte returns to the rotation.

Pettitte’s replacement, Sergio Mitre, is not the long-term answer or the short-term, but Girardi continuously uses Mitre any chance he can get.

Mitre’s success is co-dependent on a strong bullpen with the idea of getting the ball to Mariano Rivera. This cannot work with Park hogging a spot or being anywhere near a pitching mound.

Finding a team who will take Park must include the Yankees eating all $1.2 million owed to him this season. I would even pay the other team just to get Park out of the Bronx, pronto.

This won’t pose a problem, as the Yankees cannot win without a change in the bullpen—someone to complement Phil Hughes down the stretch, as Hughes has a 165-170 innings limit, but he can’t take it all on himself.

These next four days will show what teams have up their sleeve. I would be shocked if the Yankees just sat back and watched the 2010 season slip away.

The general consensus is getting rid of Chan Ho-Park needs to be done, even if the Yankees give him away.

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The Yankees have been forced to shuffle around their roster due to injuries this season. Their bullpen and designated hitter spot in their lineup.  Players like Al Aceves, Sergio Mitre, Nick Johnson and Marcus Thames, who, while not bona fide stars, all do play a particular role on the 2010 Yankees.

The Yankees have had to make do with parts from other team’s scrap heap as well as from their own farm system. Players like Kevin Russo, Chad Huffman, Colin Curtis and Chad Gaudin have all come in some capacity to fill the voids.

But with most guys on the mend, the Yankees should look to make a few temporary changes before welcoming back all of their injured troops.

With the return of Marcus Thames and minor injuries to guys like Brett Gardner and Curtis Granderson, Kevin Russo has become expendable in New York. He’s had only one at-bat since June 20. It would be much more beneficial for the Yankees to option him back to Triple-A Scranton for regular at-bats and time at multiple positions to develop his skills as a utility player.

The Yankees could then call up Juan Miranda to take his place as the left-handed half of a DH platoon with Marcus Thames while they wait on Nick Johnson to recover from wrist surgery. Miranda has nothing left to prove at the Triple-A level and has demonstrated an ability to hit Major League pitching.

In regards to the bullpen, which apart from Mariano Rivera has been a glaring weakness for the Yankees, they now are carrying two longmen with the call-up of journeyman Dustin Moseley. His presence on the team enables the Yankees to part ways with Chad Gaudin for the second time this season and promote Jon Albaladejo from Scranton.

Gaudin has been underwhelming since his return to the Bronx, pitching to an ERA near 5.00 in 16 innings. While we’ve seen the Jon Albaladejo in the majors before, he seems to have transformed himself this past year, moving away from his traditional two-seamer and relying more on a mid-90s four seamer with more offspeed pitches.

With Mark Melancon hitting a rough patch in Scranton, Albaladejo is a good choice to replace Gaudin. Albaladejo might be sent down when Sergio Mitre (who began a rehab assignment a few days ago) returns. If her performs well, the Yankees could opt to keep Albaladejo and part ways with the free agent dud Chan Ho Park instead.

Albaladejo could even stick around after Aceves returns. If the Yankees feel they have enough length in the bullpen with Aceves and Mitre and cut Moseley instead.

For the most part, the Yankees have avoided major injuries to key players this season. These are a few minor roster moves the Yankees could make to further improve what has been baseball’s best team over the first half of the season.

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It’s a good thing the New York Yankees starting pitchers have been able to go deep into ballgames most of the season. It is, however, a long season, and the bullpen will need to step up and win some games for this club.

Do you feel confident they can? I sure don’t. Outside of Mariano Rivera , who is having yet another excellent season, the Yankees bullpen is full of question marks.

Rivera holds own the ninth inning. That’s not a problem. The veteran is 0-1 this season with a 1.11 ERA in 24.1 innings. He has converted 16 of 17 save chances while giving up just nine hits all year to this point.

The problem is, if a starter only goes five or six innings, how do we get to Rivera. Sure Joba Chamberlain is out there for the eighth, but can you even trust him anymore?

Chamberlain is the guy many believe is being groomed to replace Rivera whenever baseball’s greatest closer finally decides to retire. However, at 1-3 and a 5.34 ERA, I’m not sure he is ready for that. Chamberlain has lost something. He has lost his fire, his dominance. Sure he has struck out 35 batters in 30.1 innings, but he has also given up 32 hits and 18 earned runs.

David Robertson was a guy expected to carry the load in the bullpen. Last season he was dominant at times, and the Yankees hoped he could carry that over into this season. He has pitched a little better of late, but still not the Robertson we saw last season.

This year, Robertson is 0-2 with a 5.64 ERA. In 22.1 innings, he has given up 29 hits and 11 walks. Not the numbers of someone you can count on to win games out of the bullpen.

Sergio Mitre   and Alfredo Aceves are two pitchers the Yankees need to get healthy. These two guys could be the answers, but coming back from injury is never a sure thing.

Chan Ho Park   and Chad Gaudin   need to go. Just get rid of these two guys, Park is a disaster. After a great season for the Phillies last year, the Yankees thought they were getting a solid bullpen guy. NOT!

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There is an old saying that goes something like this: “Some days you get the bear, some days the bear gets you, and some days it doesn’t pay to go into the woods.”

Those words could be used to describe all of the pitchers in this article. Most of these guys are not bums or “tomato cans”. Most are decent pitchers while some are even very good.

When things go badly, they tend to bundle up on you. Ask any of these men and I am sure they will concur.

Not all of them completed the inning. They do have much in common however. They all surrendered at least eight hits, at least six earned runs, and they all faced at least 10 batters.

In some instances the “inning” consists of three outs, not necessarily in the same frame. However, that is what history reflects, one inning (or less).

With that as a background let us look at the 10 worst innings by active pitchers.

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