The Starting Pitching Crisis

Hello all you crazy Yankee Fans. Well I could not have been more wrong this week. Ughhh The bats finaly did wake up thou a bit to late as we droped 2 of 3 to the Mets. The Good News is we are hiting again so lets hope that the trend continues.

Things are a bit crazy for me this week so Im giving you all a guest bloger. He is a member of The Yankees Club over on yahoo a groups that i am proud to be a part owner of. His internet handel is draciron and he is one of the smartest baseball people i have yet to meet. So with out furth to do i give you draciron.

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There was a time nearly every team had a star pitcher. A team ace. It was the #2 through #5 spots that troubled some teams. Most teams had at least the 2-4 spot covered by somebody who would at least eat innings for them and not hurt the team too badly on most days. They also usually had a long relief guy, normally a starter who couldn't make it all the way through the season in the rotation any more but who could step in for short term injuries and come in if the starter got blasted early.

In 80s a pitching crisis started. Teams started finding it harder and harder to fill rotation spots. Few teams had 5 starters they could count on and many teams had not a single starter they felt confident in. By the 90s this had reached a crisis stage. There was talk of raising the mound again and widening the strike zone. None of this was done as the offensive surge that corresponded with the loss in pitching was considered good for the game. For a time in the late 90s and early 00s pitching surged back. Several developing starters found their stuff. A wave of new young starters appeared and some balance returned to the game. By 2004 most teams were in about the same shape pitching wise as they were in the 80s.

A wave of retirements threatens to return Baseball back to the starting pitching crisis. Injuries have taken many of the young starters who shined in the late 90s and early 00s. Aging starters like Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling and Roger Clemens are close to retirement with no new crop of ancients to replace them. The generation that came after them has already fallen or is on the precipice and as close as they are too retirement. Of the following starters only one or two will ever have a full effective season after 08. Unlikely any will still be full time starters in 2009.

Glavine, Maddux, Pedro Martinez, Olando Hernandez, David Wells, Roger Clemens, Carl Pavano, Chris Carpenter, Steve Traschel, Jaret Wright, Schilling, Tim Wakefield, Matt Clement, Mussina, Pettitte, Paul Byrd, Kenny Rogers, Ramon Ortiz, Ponsen, Jose Contraras, Miguel Batista, Jeff Weaver, Mike Hampton, Park, Jon Lieber, Mark Prior, Kerry Woods, Woody Williams, Wade Miller, livan Hernandez, Jason Schmidt, Bret Tomko and Russ Ortiz.

The mass retirement from the names above combined with normal attrition among starting pitchers who are easily the most likely to get hurt among baseball players leaves a wide open door to new young pitchers. The only problem is there are so few to go around and so many are going to be pressed into service at early ages as an emergency measure. Over the next 2 to 3 years many more well known pitchers besides those listed above will wind up no longer being a significant part of a rotation. Pitchers will burn out as Jarrod Weaver appears to be at high risk of doing so and as Llarano appears to have done. Verlander has all the hallmarks of the Prior/Woods here I am too bad it didn't last syndrome. Far too few teams are developing more sustainable pitching. The Tigers have done an excellent job in developing Bonderman and Robertson. Few teams would have stuck with either given their early struggles. The O's have Bedard, Cabrera and Loewen. The Jays who provided many of todays starters is not having much luck with Chacin or Zambrano both of whom are starting to look like could have beens at this point. Lester with the Redsox is a big question mark at this point. The Yankees have a whole slew of potential starting pitchers but for some reason refuse to give them a chance to pitch. The Royals have Grienke, Bannister and De la Rosa but Grienke is the only one of that group that has top of the rotation potential so far. Bonser is making some noise with the Twins. Danks with the Whitesox, Ervin Santana with the Angels are two more with promise. The A's as usual have a whole crop. Harden, Haren, Blanton and Guadin are this years batch. If the A's keep producing starters at this rate there won't be many teams in the majors that doesn't have an ex A stater in their rotation.

The Rangers surprisingly have a few. McCarthy, Tejeda and Loe. Chuck James and Kyle Davies is all the normally pitching rich Braves have coming up. Neither are looking strong at this point. D-Train Willis is showing signs of early burn out. Declining stats and a deep slump starting in 06 are not good signs of longevity for him. Sanchez and Olsen show some promise. Maine with the Mets has the re-incarnation of Seaver written all over him. Hamels in Philly is kicking up the dust. The Astros are betting the farm on Rodriguez, Sampson and Albers. The Cards have Wainwright, Rich Hill with the Cubs. The Pirates have gone with all prospects. Duke, Snell lead the way. Maholm and Gorzelanny finish out the rotation. Cain with the Giants is having a break out year. Lowery is showing good promise. The Padres have Peavy. Francis and Hirsh are this years Rockies sacrifice to the gods of slugging.

That's about it for pitchers under 27 who've established themselves. Out of that group at least half over the next few years will flop, get hurt or otherwise wind up out of the rotation. Considering the current star pitchers such as Webb, Oswalt, Santana, Halladay and such are in their prime or the tail end of their prime and that many will see noticeable declines over the next few years it leaves a sizable void again in rotations. A little bad luck and this could be even worse than the early 90s starting pitching crisis. Especially with the majority of most teams rotations hitting the red zone for starting pitchers. That is the 30-34 age range that sees most pitchers blow out their arms, a drop in velocity that normally accompanies an inability to get hitters out any more.

This means that an ERA over 5 will again be considered acceptable and even considered good for bottom of the rotation starters. Starters will start making debuts at younger ages. The value of starting pitching will go up noticeably. Teams that have deep rotations will be rare and will dominate the leagues they play in.

Why for over a hundred years was there plenty of starting pitchers and suddenly a shortage? In the 60s and 70s it was hitting that was in trouble rather than pitching. Rules changes helped spark offense. So too did many parks bringing in the fences. The DH was introduced to increase offense in the AL and strike zones were narrowed for the same reason. It worked, better than they'd hoped. Though the rule changes were only a minor part of the offensive surge. Many people attribute it to just plain better hitting. There are many more factors involved however.

Defense is a major part of why offensive numbers have surged. The core of this is the decline in official scorers. What was an error in the 70s is a basehit in the 90s. Today to get an error you almost have to intentionally drop the ball. Before the 80s if the ball touched glove and it did not take heroic efforts to get a glove on the ball it was ruled an error. If a player missed a play because they got turned around or started the wrong way then got close it was ruled an error. Today players mishandle what are almost routine plays and see it scored as a hit instead of an error. This is the result of how games are scored. Once incentive based contracts started hitting the market players started making quite a bit of noise about errors as it directly affected their pocketbook. Before the incentive based contracts they did not care as much. In an effort to jump start offense scorers are also more lenient, especially with home town players. The big problem is that these are sports writers with no real training. They live and die by interviews and scoring an error can cost them the ability to get an interview. Can lead to their not scoring future games.

The net effect is that players today look like better defensive players than they really are. Fielding percentages are much higher. As such players who can hit well but have poor defensive skills don't look as bad and are used more often. This leads to a major drop in defense which hurts pitching. Especially non strike out pitchers. In the past what was important for middle infielders, catchers and center fielders was their glove. If they could also hit that was a plus. Today many middle infielders are defensive liabilities but they do hit well. A double whammy on pitchers who neither get the break in the lineup they once got by facing weak hitting middle infielders and by having that much poorer defense backing them up.

Promotion by the radar gun is another factor that is badly damaging starting pitching today. Until the 80s teams generally had 2 to 4 junk ball pitchers on the roster. Today most teams have zero. Maddux and Wakefield are two of the few surviving junkball pitchers left. Wakefield is the last knuckleball pitcher left in Baseball. This affects pitching in several ways. First if you see a steady diet of low and mid 90s fastballs it makes them seem slow. It also makes hitting high 90s fastballs all the easier. In the past you saw wicked junk from pitchers that often rarely topped out in the mid 80s. Then the next day you see a fastball in the 90s and it seemed really fast. That kind of balance is no longer in the game. A second aspect is that control more than speed is important to a pitcher but seems to be a forgotten element when scouting today. So many good control pitchers are ignored while guys who could not hit a battleship with a continent are promoted in their place just because they throw fast. If Maddux for example came up today he'd never get to AAA much less the majors. Maddux's fastball is too slow. A third aspect is junk ball pitchers are more durable. Especially knuckleballers. Having a couple junk ball pitchers in the rotation gives you long term starters. Guys far less likely to get hurt and pitchers far more likely to pitch into their mid 30s. So rotations are more brittle. More heavily harmed by injuries today than in the past and there is more flux in the rotation. This is aggravated by the fact that a pitcher that cannot throw strikes cannot succeed in the majors. Doesn't matter how fast they can throw the ball. Walks are eventually lethal to any pitcher that keeps giving them up in large numbers. So many of the prospects brought up at the expense of better but slower throwing pitchers are flops while the better prospects rot in the lower levels of the minors.

Not only were fences pulled in, new parks built since 1980 are often built with smaller fences and hitter friendly design. This has made the job tougher and tougher on starting pitchers

Steroids and other performance enhancing substances have been a major bane to pitchers in general. The extra strength doesn't just generate extra power. It produces stronger muscles which improves reaction time which is not just a factor of nerves but in the ability to get that bat around on a pitch, which is much a matter of strength and the size of the bat relative to that strength. It is also a factor of eyesight. The sooner the pitch is picked up on the the sooner the swing can start.

This crisis can be averted however. To fix the pitching problems these things should happen.

Add one to the umpiring crew. Make that umpire the official scorer. By giving a more realistic fielding percentage teams have better tools to evaluate defense and you'll never hear good glove mentioned in the same breath with the likes of Royce Clayton again. In a couple years teams will shore up defense up the middle and the resulting improvements in defense will benefit pitchers by giving them some easier outs in the inning and by reducing the numbers of cheap base hits by the opposing team.

Bring back junk ball pitchers. Every staff should have at least one. Most staffs should carry a good knuckballer. You can throw a knuckle ball pitcher out there for 300-400 innings and they will ask for more. That takes a huge strain off the rest of the staff. Junk ball pitchers with the added durability will stabilize rotations and make the other pitchers in the rotation seem better.

Pull back the fences. There are too many HRs. They have become boring. Fans don't want to watch a softball game. Guys with real power are still going to hit the ball out. We don't need light hitting infielders hitting 20 HRs a season.

Get serious about steroids and Human growth formula. Clean up the game while there is still a game to clean up.

Use computer assisted ball and strike counts. This will standardize the strike zone, enlarge it and give the umps one less thing to worry about. Leave the umps room to overrule the computer and a special set of glasses to review the pitch. This will provide higher quality strike zones and allow junk ballers to better nibble the corners and get creative with pitches. It'll also reduce the odd stances used by players to manipulate the strike zone.

Promote pitchers on control not velocity. Just by having a guy in there throwing strikes the game goes faster and scoring is reduced. Faster games mean less wear and tear on the staff and fewer relievers needed.

Force pitchers to have at least 3 out pitches in their arsenal. The quickest way to watch a pitcher go from great to quite hittable is to know what they are coming with and be ready for it. If they have at least 3 pitches they can effectively use and one or two others they can set a hitter up with then they become quite effective.

Teach young pitchers to change speeds. Cone and Whitey Ford were masters at this. Neither of them if they didn't change speed makes it out of AAA. By changing velocity it keeps hitters off balance and leaves the top fastball effective when they really need a KO to get out of a jam. Few pitchers today even know what changing speed is much less use it.

If Baseball does this it averts a crisis in pitching.

Slow Start To Season

You know Yankee fans this season has just not started off all that well now has it?? Nope the first few weeks of the season we could not get a starter to throw more then 5 inning whether they wanted them to or Captain Hook Torre himself would allow them to or not. Regardless off that now the starting pitching is starting to perform, in the last 13games they have given up 3 runs or LESS, and believe it or not the Yankees are starting to put things together. I know I know after the loss today 1-2 to the M's that's kind of hard to believe but things are looking up for the Yankees. The starting pitching has done a very good job, truth is Wang's one bad outing and Iggy's ugly start are the only two poor starts from a Yankee pitcher this month. The rest of the month has been strong start after strong start. The BP has actually settled down even thou Vizcaino seems to be inventing new ways to blow ball games for us it seems the rest of the guys are settling in. Time will tell over the next few weeks but I honestly see the Yankees getting ready to go on a major tear to be honest. Here are some Key reasons why I think so and a few Key things that need to happen along the way.

BASE HITS WIN GAMES (Hell I'll settle for some hitting PERIOD) Truth be told the month of May has been pretty hard on most of the Yankee bats. A-Rod after a scorching start to the 2007 season has cooled of BIG TIME with only 1 HR and a .286 BA for the month. Giambi is not hitting any better .188 BA with 1 HR himself. Matsui is hitting .304 for the Month but in his last 10 games only .264, Robbie Cano has struggled the worst with his hitting .186 with 11 K's and then there's Bobby Abreu who looked just lost at the plate the last few days is hitting .222 in May. If the Yankees are going to take advantage of the great pitching their getting right now they have got to start hitting again. It's one thing when a few guys start slumping but right now only Jeter and Posada seem to be getting hits consistently or can be counted on to drive in runs. In the end thou we all know this won't last. A-Rod despite slumping is still hitting well above .300 and was bound to cool off from his amazing April. Giambi well he can be counted on to hit below his own weight average wise but he is likely going to pop a few HR's here and there as well, and he does get on base via the walk so he should improve as well. Matsui is slumping just a bit now but he had a good game today he will likely turn things around as well. That brings us to Bobby and Robbie both seem to be slow starters Robbie last year did not have a good first few months at the plate and Abrue always seem to be a late bloomer as well. Although Robbie seems like he may take a few more weeks to come out of it. Abrue on the other hand is hitting second or third in this lineup and is bound to break out at any time. What’s also important here is that the bats are slumping NOW much like the struggles with the Pitching and the Injuries I'd prefer a team wide slump NOW in May then in August and September. Remember its base ball folks it's a Marathon not a sprint.

The Pitching has to continue to do what it has done; Andy today threw a great game and got the bums rap loss because the offense let him down. Moose has had two very good outings Wang nearly threw a perfect game and YEA he had an ugly start the other day. I'm betting that his next time out he is one tough SOB to hit much less score on. I have a lot of confidence that over the next two months Moose, Andy and Wang are going to be VERY VERY GOOD for the Yankees. So the key falls on 2 guys and how well they pitch. First Rasner who has been nothing short of fantastic for the Yankees. You can't blame him for the average of 5 innings a start. Truth is Captain Hook Torre is terrified of him on the mound and will not give this kid a real chance. They constantly pull him in the 6 Th when he could very well work out of trouble. How good has Rasner been?? Take a look over 5 starts, Rasner has a 3.28 ERA which is DAM GOOD if you ask me. DeSalvo has been BRILLIANT for us in two outings and he should honestly be 2-0 right now. Truth is Wild Kyle, a Blind Ump and Mo cost him that game (Hell that sound like the start of a really bad joke don't' it??). If DeSalvo can keep pitching like this over the next few weeks the Yankees are going to be in VERY good Shape.

Next is what will happen when Hughes and then the Rocket join the ball club. Right now as things stand Rasner and DeSalvo are taking Roster spots that will belong to both Clemens and Hughes by the end of the month. Truth is thou the Yankees desperately need a long relief man to come in and eat innings when guys can't get out of the 5 Th and 6th innings. Truth is games like that happen and with a Bull Pen full of short relievers the pen is going to get over worked when this happens. Moose and Clemens are likely to have quite a few games where they simply run out of gas and we need a reliever to come in and give us a few innings to get to the 8 th or 9th. If I’m the Yankees right now DeSalvo and Rasner are auditioning for that very roll. So who gets the quick trip to the minors or out the door?? Vizcaino has not been all that good. Wild Kyle I honestly have no faith in, after that I'm not sure. What it comes down to thou is we need somebody that can eat these innings for us. Clemens who I have a TON of respect for I just don't see pitching all that great in the AL. Don't' get me wrong folks the Rocket still has gas in the tank but there is a reason he did so well in the NL. There is no DH and if you watched his starts he generally pitched 5 maybe 6 innings before being pulled from the game. What that translates to in the Al is a very overworked BP with out a long man. Hughes?? I love this kid and he looks like he is going to be amazing for the Yankees but he has been on a very strict pitch count from day one and although the injury helps control that some the Yankees are still going to be vary careful with him and how many innings they let him throw. With that in mind I can see quite a few games where Hughes will be pulled after the 6 Th which means we need a long reliever. Regardless of this Clemens to his credit will be a help to the Yankees he may not be as good as advertised but I'm willing to bet he will be good enough to win and should be better then Randy Johnson was last year with his 5 something ERA and 18 wins. Hughes is hard to call; I know he is going to be VERY good just how good is hard to say. Time will tell.

Ok folks so hear is what I'm thinking the next week or so is going to go for us. Starting this week we get the White Sox for Three Games in Chicago, The Yankees with Moose on the mound will take game one and Wang will pitch a gem on Weds day to take game two. Rasner will pitch well on Thursday but the Yankees will likely fall short and loose on Thursday. Then the BIG weekend series in NY against the Mets. We have DeSalvo, Pettitte and Moose going for us REMBER NL RULES so I'm seeing a three game SWEEP of the Mets as DeSalvo shows us he is the real deal, Andy and Moose tie up the Mets hitters and the Yankees FEAST on Mets pitching. This series will be HUGE because I see a lot of the bats coming alive in this series and starting to hit again which is important because we invite the Sucks into Yankee stadium that Monday Tuesday and Weds and by the way the Yankees will be on such a roll I'm calling for yet another three game sweep. So from now till Next Weds the Yankees if you ask me are only going to loose one game the bats are going to wake up and the Yankees are going to be on a roll. Call me Crazy if you want but this is how I see things. It will be interesting to see if I'm right. Hey I'm man enough to say I was wrong but I don't have to be all that wrong to still be right about the Yankees getting on a roll. So what do you guys think how will the next week pan out for the Yankees??

Till Next Week

The Yankee Fan

Youth or Free Agents??

So I have to apologize for being MIA the last few weeks. Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Insanity is to blame or in a nut shell real life got the better of me. Yea, Yea I know I post this thing once a week how hard can that be. Well considering that I can only post a blog once a week that should tell you how busy I am on a normal week, so when things get busy or crazy it’s just dam near impossible. The good news is that I have made some arrangements to avoid not being able to post a blog and over the summer when this happens to me again I should be able to introduce you my readers to some very dedicated and very talented Yankee fans who will be guest blogging for me. This week thou I’m quite ready to write so your stuck with me for now.

**UPDATED** Mind you I have been working on this Blog the last few days. As many of you know Roger "The Rocket" Clemens was signed buy the Yankees and at todays game Roger adressed the yankee fathful ala King Henery Style. Althou I'm not a big fan of the Yankees signing Clemens this is proably a good move buy the Yankees. Considering the injurys we keep facing and that Clemens in the rotation will help take some presuer off the rookies like Iggy, Rasner and others. The way i see it buy Mid June or sooner the Yankee rotation will be Wang, Pettitte, Musena, Clemens, and Hughs when he can come back Iggy till then. Honestly i think Clemens is going to struggle in the AL East and his efectivness will not be what it was in the NL the past two years. I could how ever be vary wrong. Eather way this is a bost for the Yankees rotation and good news for now. Welcome back Rocket and I REALY hope you can help.

In the last two weeks I have noticed that there is an interesting debate over the direction the Yankees have taken, this being the Youth movement or Free Agent signings of Veteran players. Now in a perfect world a team should be able to do both but unfortunately these days Free Agent pitchers are expecting long term deals and fat paychecks. Many Yankee fans have shown frustration over not signing Bary Zito a guy I my self was hoping would be a Yankee this year but frankly I’m glad the Yankees passed on him. Ted Lilly, Jef Supan, Gill Mech, and Jason Schmidt are also among others that fans are currently lamenting over because Cashmen passed them up. Others like my self applaud Cashmen’s effort in this winters Free Agent market, and see that he has given the Yankees an improved Farm system and has provided the talent for this team to win this year and many years to come. So the Debate is simple Youth or Veterans who are more valuable??

For Years the Yankees have been a Free Agent, and blockbuster trade type of team. They have traded young talent for current and established ball players, these players after these trades have been sigend to large contract extentions. In the Free Agent market they have never broken any single player records in terms of Pay but have signed many long term deals some as short as 4 years and some as long as 7 years. For the most part these deals have worked out for the Yankees Mike Musena has been a very good and serviceable pitcher for the Yankees. He has however had his ups and downs thou as he has gotten older, he has lead some to wonder if signing him to a 5 year deal was the right thing to do. Jason Giambi not one of my favorite players was signed to a 7 year deal and although his bat has been some what effective at times, his injury prone body and his inability to actually play first base has become a serious problem. Carol Pavano was the best pitcher on the Free Agent market at the time we signed him to a 5 year 20 million something contract. In his time as a Yankee he has racked up 5 wins and spent most of the time finding new and inventive ways to be injured. It’s likely he is going to be out for the rest of the season and if the Yankees are smart they will cut their losses by cutting Pavano loose at some point in the season. The Yankees acquired A-rod in exchanged for our up and coming second baseman Alfanso Soriano. Due to Soris inability to settle in at second and his inability to not swing at everything thrown to him is what helped spank the deal. A-Rod for his part has served the Yankees well even with the so called off year last year and he has started this season red hot at the plate. With A-rod came, his long term deal and in terms of money 14 to 16 million, in terms of years (so long as Alex does not Opt out this year which I don’t believe he will do) the Yankees have him for at least three more seasons. This is a deal that has worked out well for the Yankees despite A-Rods rumbles last season. He can field at third base, and his bat is invaluable in the lineup. Also at his age he is likely not to slow down production wise over the next three years. Other then the A-Rod deal most of these deals present problems for the Yankees. With Moose as much as I like him on the mound his last few seasons have been riddled with injuries and inconsistencies at times. If the Yankees wanted to move Moose to make room for a young pitcher they couldn’t do it because of Moo’s contract terms of length. The same can be said about Giambi, when you weigh the injury factor along with his inability to play the field well, then throw in the amount of money and time left on his contract moving Giambi in a trade becomes next to impossible. Randy Johnson whom the Yankees acquired from the D-backs just two seasons ago was traded back for a handful of young prospects. Part of the reason this deal got done was because Johnson’s contract only had one year left on it and the D-backs were willing to work out some sort of extension that only added a second year to that. Money wise Johnson was making less then what some of these guys on the Free Agent market were signing for. He was a short term investment for the D-backs and to them a smart move. Because of how his contract was structured in terms of length which is why Cashmen was able to move him.

Now before I move on lets take a look at where the Yankee’s farm system is in terms of talent. Over the last three seasons we have seen Robinson Canoe, Chen Ming Wang, Melky Cabrea, Scot Proctor, Sean Hen, Darel Rasner, Jeff Karastan, and finally Philip Hughs come up form the minors and have a real impact on this team. Obviously Melky, Cano, Proctor, and Wang have made major impacts to this team and Rasner, Karastan, Hen, and Hughs are just starting to make there presence known. What I don’t get is that many of the "experts" have called the Yankee farm system baron and used up. How is this so if we have managed to bring up players that have made major impacts on the team?? Truth is the Yankees farm system is weak but it’s not with out resources either. Wang, Melky and Cano were all strong prospects coming into the majors and its not surprising they have produced so well. Last season Karastan and Rasner were brought up to fill rotation spots for the Yankees and performed quite well in their short time on the team. The problem was there was no room at the time to see what they could really do for us. Why?? Well Johnson, Wright and Moose were all taking up spots on the roster. So when Cash goes into the off season he looks at all this young pitching we have just waiting for a chance to get on the mound in NY and he realizes he needs to make room for them. With the way the Free agent market is, how can you make room for those young pitchers?? If you sign Zito to seven years your Rotation is now crowded with Johnson and Wright. Plus you lock into Zito for 7 years which means he is not going anywhere any time soon. Ted Lily would have been the same only over 5 years. Cashmen traded Johnson and Wright retaining some very good prospects in return. He also moved Shef to gain another pitching prospect although in Sanchez case he may be the injury of the month sort of guy-Time will tell. So now we have Wang and Pavano in the rotation for this season and that’s about it. Considering what we know about Pavano it’s safe to say Cash knew he needed to grab another Vet or two to solidify this rotation. Some argue Zito was the guy to get. Maybe he was but remember if we sign him we are stuck with him for 7 years. I liked Zito personally but the last thing I wanted was to see the Yankees stuck with another Moose like contract where the pitcher is obviously aging and loosing his ability to be productive for a full season yet we are still paying him like he is. So the decision was made to sign Anddy Pettitte, at the age of 34 for 2 years. A much shorter term contract and talent wise on the same level as Zito. Then Cash resigned Moose, a move I’m still scratching my head over. Granted we only have Moose for a season possibly two if we pick up his option. My problem is Moose as good as he has been for us, he is still 38 and I think he is just not the guy he was when we first signed him. In the long run this may be a smart move considering Lilly, Mech, Supan and others were signing 4 year deals. With Moose we have him for this season only and have the option to keep him for a second or possibly do what we did with Shef and pick up the option, then trade him or simply let him go. What does this do for the Yankees?? Well remember we have Hughs who has recently proven he is ready for the majors, Karastan who despite his poor first start of the season is better then that, Rasner who has shown he can start for the Yankees when needed and be effective, Chris Wright who will be a very good young pitcher for the Yankees in a few years, Tyler Cliperd who is DOMINATING Triple A right now, and many other young prospects just waiting for there chance. Now granted having all this young pitching is great but they’re not all going to become great pitchers. Some we may trade for some help in the Catching department where we have nobody to take over for Posada when he eventually retires from the game, or perhaps a first basmen where the Yankees currently have NOBODY who can both hit and Field. What we have is one guy that hits home runs and barely hits his own weight over a season plus should probably be fielding first with a spatula. Then we have a guy that can field first base EXTEREMLY well but could not hit a ball if you put him on a little League T-Ball team. So having a lot of young pitching talent currently in the minors should allow the Yankees to grab somebody that can fill those two holes. But what about the guys that don’t’ get traded like Hughes, Olendorf and Kliperd?? Remember next year depending on how things fall Zambrano and Santana amoung others will be on the Free Agent market. Both are young and both would be good long term investments for the Yankees. Also the D-train will be available from the fish at some point and we all know it's going to happen. He would make an excellent pick up as well. CC Sabath will also be a Free agent. I personally would avoid him because his injury record is very much like Pavano the only diference is CC WANTS to be out there pitching. Now if the Yankees grab one of these guys to go with Wang next year, then throw Hughes in the Mix we have 3 strong pitchers. Now if Andy sticks around next season You have a starting rotation of Wang, Andy, (Free Agent Trade acquisition) Hughes, and there is still room for Rasner, Karastan, Klipered, Wright or another young rookie. The following season if Andy leaves the Yankees we have Wang Hughs and who ever we grabbed the season before again, three strong starters and YOUNG to boot. Kliperd is likely ready for the Majors so he comes up and we either sign trade or depending on some of the other young pitching simply stay where we are with what we have. The point here is letting the young crop of talent take the time to develop and more importantly give Cashmen room to make moves and changes that we never had the chance of making before. Because of the moves Cash made in the off season he should be able to make a deal to bring us a decent young catcher to take over for Posada in the next year or two. We should eventually get a decent playing first basemen that can both hit and field the ball. We could also make a trade for a starter if it comes down to that. We also should be able to bring up pitchers that can get the job done as starters with out having to sign guys that we are hoping will pitch well after basically stinking all season OR not have to trade away our budding young talent in the farm system for a guy that may pitch well now or may simply be mediocre at best. FELXIBLITY! The Yankees now have flexibility and it will play a key roll in their ability to win this season.

Do we trade away all this young talent and get our selves the big name big dollar players. Do we hold them up in the minors and con’t to sign big long term contracts?? Or are you like me and would rather see short term contracts signed and the young talent in the minors given a chance to help. The truth is with the amount of talent we have in Triple A finding a starter isn’t going to be to much of a problem. With the lineup the Yankees have scoring runs will not be a problem. Truth is we have the time and we have the offense to back up these young pitchers why not give them a chance and see what they can give us??

So I leave this question to you my readers what do we do?? Youth or Free agents? We can’t have both not in the world of baseball today with the long term big money contracts that are being signed. You can finagle it to some degree but the emphases, has to be one way or the other. What is the right direction for the Yankees Youth or Free Agents??

Till next week

The Yankee Fan