The Yanks Starting Pitching

All of these injuries are creating havoc on the Yankee rotation. Fortunately most of the injuries won't be long term. The timing just stinks with two series against the Sox in the next two weeks. Wang should be back next week, with Mussina not too far behind. In the mean time we got to take a look at a potential contributor to the 2009 Yankee rotation. Chase Wright had a successful major league debut. Granted, the Yankee offense put him in a situation where 3 runs in 5 innings was good enough for a win. Still, Wright pitched pretty well for a guy that has only 2 weeks of AA experience under his belt. This start was a nice reward for a pitcher that was off to a monster start at Trenton. In his two starts there this year he pitched 14 shutout innings allowing on 4 hits, 1 walk and struck out 19. At this rate, he might even be ready next year.

Finally the future looks bright for the Yankee rotation. Along with Wright we have Phillip Hughes and Ross Ohlendorf getting some seasoning at AAA. Neither one is having a great April, but both showed signs of being contributors down the road during their grapefruit league outings. Humberto Sanchez is another minor league arm to keep an eye out for, although he is on the DL right now.

The big questions now are:
1. Can the Yanks hang in there and not let the Sox or Jays build up a big lead while they heal (although the Jays have injury problems of their own)?
2. What will the rotation look like in a couple of weeks when people are healthy?

I would like to see Wang, Mussina, Pettitte, Igawa and Karstens be their long term rotation once they are healthy. We must know by now that Pavano can't be counted on. As long as the Yanks don't start falling too far behind in the AL East, The Boss should be able to be held off in acquiring Roger Clemens. I don't know if Clemens is an American League quality pitcher any longer. He has had success in the NL, but he is a 5-6 inning pitcher at this point.

Thankfully, the bullpen has been much improved so far this year. I like the way that things have played out in the pen. Regardless of Mariano Rivera's last outing against Oakland, he is still one of the top closers in baseball. Farnsworth has had his issues since becoming a Yankee, but he throws hard and is not the 8th inning type setup guy any more. That role is being earned by Luis Vizcaino. Bruney and Proctor are both worthy of stepping into that role if Vizcaino needs a day off. Myers is certainly a good lefty matchup reliever and Sean Henn has made the transition from starter to the bullpen nicely. This is the best bullpen that the Yanks have had in quite a while.