Since we began this blog twenty years ago, we have taken the 25 days leading up to Spring Training to preview the Yankees expected 25 man roster. Normally my brother handles this task, as I'm usually too busy coming up with fake assignments to give Selena Roberts, but this year he decided to buy a house instead. As there are now only 20 days until Spring Training, and it just occurred to me that we hadn't begun our roster preview, some shortcuts will be necessary. Thus, today we will preview the entire starting rotation, which kills 5 birds with 1 post.
Starting Rotation:
Currently, our known starters are CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, Andy Pettitte and Javy Vazquez. For the purpose of this post, I am going to assume that Phil Hughes will be the number 5 starter. This is not a commentary on Joba, it's just a guess that the Yankees will prefer to keep Joba in the 'pen.
The Yankees probably have the strongest 1 through 4 in Baseball. The BoSox certainly threaten for that title, but all their starters have as yet undiagnosed shoulder issues, which is going to be a big problem for them.
The Yankees, led by these five, can expect to win a little over 100 games.
Sabathia is your ace, taking the ball every fifth day and often giving the bullpen the night off. He's the point, the one expected to set the tone and lead the team. Burnett is the wild card. Will he throw towards home? Towards the backstop? You never know, and that's what makes him deadly. Pettitte is the grizzled veteran. He's seen it all, doesn't get flustered, and spends most of his time divying out words of wisdom to his younger compadres. Hughes is the rook. Very green, but he's got skills. The question is, will he be able to harness the raw talent or will his unrestrained cockiness put the whole mission in danger?
My Fearless Prediction:
The Yankees starting five will rescue the hostages, and not leave a single man behind.
Little Known Starting Rotation Fact:
One time, the Yankees starting rotation was stranded in a South American jungle. The Predator showed up, but he just asked for an autograph. Then, the rotation beat up Arnold Schwarzneggar, Carl Weathers, and Jesse the Body. It was awesome!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
I'd love to see Hughes or Joba become good starting pitchers. I was reading some message board and it was one of those places where they have baseball simulators when you can make your own dynasty... and Joba had one season for the Reds where he was 23-5 with a 1.56 ERA and an 0.93 WHIP. Thanks, fictional Joba. Thanks. (The Yankees had also traded Mariano to the Diamondbacks for Aaron Boone in mid-2001 in this simulation. And Derek Jeter had left the Yankees after 2000 for the Rockies. Buhh whaaa? Oh, but the YANKEES were the ones to come back from an 0-3 ALCS hole in 2002 against Tampa Bay! That was kind of cool)
Also, poor Javy, if he does anything other than pitch a complete game shutout in his first home game, he's gonna get booed.
yeah, he'll have to wait some of those hard feelings out, but he'll be alright. It'll help that he's the number four guy, but there is still definitely some bitterness out there. The truth, though, is that Javy should not bear the brunt for 2004. Kevin Brown started that game, what did he do? We had chances to put away game four and five and didn't get it done. The pitching (relief and starting) failed us that year after game 3. But Javy is a small piece of that, despite the grand slam.
I totally agree with everything you said. When we traded for Javy there was a lot of "wahhhh he caused the worst moment of my life I don't want him back," which is just dumb. The guy threw a strike with the bases loaded and Damon sent it out of the park. It happens. The worst moment of my life that had to do with sports was the end of the 2001 World Series... and I'm glad we kept the guy who blew that.
Also LOL @ people pointing out Ozzie Guillen calling him not a big-game pitcher as if this proves something. I love Ozzie, but he's just completely insane. He hates mostly everyone. I'm pretty sure he said something, when he was managing the 2006 All-Star Game, like, "I wish I had a daughter so Derek Jeter could f-ck her." That is both awesome and horrifying. And he got rid of Swisher for a bag of peanuts because he didn't get along with him. Yeah.
Like someone else much smarter than me said, we definitely forgave the guy who freakin' HIT the grand slam! Plus, before last year, Yankee fans were whining about not getting Manny and getting AJ over Derek Lowe. I'm not crazy about AJ, but Derek Lowe wouldn't have been even close to his level. I guess we can only NEVAHHH FORGIVE EVAHHHH Yankees that screw up.
Also, I wonder, if we hadn't just won a World Series, would everyone be so "NOOOO HOW COULD YOU EVER LET JOHNNY DAMON GO SIGN HIM FOR 4 YEARS/$48 M RIGHT THIS MINUTE!!!!" or would they be a lot more understanding of the fact that Boras and Damon completely misread the market for Damon and the Yankees aren't willing to pay what he's asking for?
Word verification: "tootles"
That's a good question. It's possible there would have been more clamor to keep Damon, tho there would've been a lot of people saying that the Yankees are too old and need to get younger. Either way, I don't think Cash would have acted differently, but I think fans would've largely been divided between those two camps.
Damon's missing out because of how badly Boras managed this negotiation. At the beginning he could have gotten 2 years $20 million, but he was seeking 3 years $39 million. Then he could have taken 2 years $16 million, but he wanted 2 years $20 million. Now he'll be lucky to get 1 year $5 million from any team out there. Boras has played many a GM for suckers in his day, but that appears to be over.
I had blocked his part in that GS out of my head. Vaguely in there I knew Johnny had caused me much pain with one swing of the bat, but everything else, who threw the pitch, who was on, who was on deck, the color of the grass, faded from my mind. I keep it locked back in there. If I want to feel bad about sports I turn to the Jets, not the Yankees.
This year's rotation looks good. I like Hughes in better at 5. I know Joba has the stuff, but he just seemed to thrive at the end of the game. That was damn fun to watch. Seeing him throw 75 pitches in the first inning isn't.
But at least Joba throws 75 pitches EVERY first inning, so he has consistency going for him.
Also, "a little over" 100 games? Psht, those 1998 Yankees are gonna look like the 1991 Yankees by the time the 2010 Yankees are done. ;) +11 in the playoffs too, of course...
^?
I thought the same thing Jon.
Now I'm out of the loop.
It was an ad.
Post a Comment