Enough Already

Here's a few lines from Bill Madden's recent column on the strength of the BoSox's pitching:

Indeed, the fact that Francona is boasting about a five-strong rotation of Josh Beckett, John Lackey, Jon Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Clay Buchholz, with 43-year-old Tim Wakefield, a first-half All-Star last year before he sustained back problems that required surgery, in reserve, should come as unsettling news to Yankee legions watching Joe Girardi conduct endless tryouts for the fifth spot in his rotation.

Of course we should be scared about the lack of stability in the five spot, since we needed a whole three starters to win the World Series last year. Further, while Francona may feel that he's "got six proven starting pitchers that I like" (from same column), one of those pitchers is older than Francona and needed back surgery last year. Another one of those pitchers is Dice-K, who was hardly durable last year, and has yet to throw a single session this Spring. That leaves four starting pitchers, one of whom is Clay Buchholz, who is about as proven as the Large Hadron Collider, except that he may actually be a black hole in that rotation. So, to make a long story short, enough already with the 'Sox rotation is the strongest ever' nonsense that has been so prevalent since they signed John Lackey. Not Cliff Lee. Not Halladay. Lackey. They signed Lackey. A pitcher so dominant he led his team to the couch where they could comfortably watch a three man rotation defeat the Phillies in the World Series. The Sox have clearly improved with the addition of Lackey, no question. But the Yanks are hardly shaking in their boots, particularly since they beat out both the Sox and Lackey last year with only three proven starters. Now they have four.