Kuzul

Just to clarify:

Yes, I know that Adam Wainwright is in St. Louis.

And yes, I know that the Yankees are in no way directly related to him.

Yet, Adam Wainwright’s injury could spell bad news for the Yankees as they begin their long climb back to the top.

We all know of the Yankees’ rotation woes. It’s been well-documented through every single form of media available to the masses. Nos. 1 through 3 are a lock, and that’s not saying much as Hughes and Burnett are question marks, and Nos. 4 and 5 are up for grabs.

The Yankees have plenty of options for those last two spots, but none that they are absolutely in love with. Freddy Garcia, Bartolo Colon, Ivan Nova, Sergio Mitre, Andrew Brackman, Hector Noesi and David Phelps are all in competition for those last spots, and each one is just as inconsistent as the last.

There are a few intriguing free agents left, such as veteran Kevin Millwood, the oft-injured Jeremy Bonderman, left-hander Doug Davis and even the injury magnet himself, Ben Sheets.

The Yankees would prefer to offer any free-agent starter a minor league deal, this way, there’s no guarantee that they’ll crack the rotation. They would rather have a competition this spring, and rightly so.

Now, even if they wanted to sign any of the aforementioned free agents, they’ll have very stiff competition from the Cardinals.

The Cardinals can, and probably will, offer a major league contract to any free-agent pitcher they chase after, and, of course, a major league contract versus a minor league contract is a joke. 

The Yankees already attempted to entice Millwood with a minor league deal, but to no avail. He has chosen to hold out for a major league contract, and he may get one in St. Louis.

Having Millwood could really help the Bombers. An innings eater his entire career, Millwood has the potential to give the Yanks 180-190 solid innings. For argument’s sake, let’s just say that Sergio Mitre occupies the spot that Millwood doesn’t.

The only time that Mitre has cracked the 100-inning plateau was in 2007 when he threw 149 innings for the Marlins. He was 5-8 with a 4.65 ERA. In my personal opinion, keeping Mitre out of the rotation is incentive enough to sign Millwood.

Remember that Chris Carpenter to the Yankees rumor?

Well, you can forget about that one now.

I’m not sure how reliable that rumor was, but it’s moot now. The Cardinals will be extremely reluctant to trade their ace now that his co-ace has gone down for the season. 

Adam Wainwright’s injury affects more than just the Cardinals.  The Yankees will have to fight even harder to attract some of the remaining free agent arms.  If not, the Yankees are going to have to catch lightning in a bottle in 2011 and hope that Hughes, Burnett and the fourth and fifth starters will produce.

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After an embarrassing ALCS loss to the Rangers, their inability to sign key players and losing both Kerry Wood and the heart of the New York Yankees, Andy Pettitte, the Yankees have had an offseason filled with both disappointment and discouragement.

With questionable pitchers (A.J. Burnett) and players (Derek Jeter) not playing up to par, the Yankees are in need of an aid to their troubling situation.

Unless the Yankees can magically sign an ace pitcher with the caliber of CC Sabathia or postseason Pettitte, the Yankees will need some type of change to ensure a successful season. That success can all come down to both the starting lineup and rotation.

Here is a projection of both the starting lineup and rotation for the 2011 season.

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Most pitching coaches and baseball aficionados would agree that it takes a few years for a starting pitcher to learn what it takes to be a successful big league pitcher. As Tom Glavine explained to John Feinstein in Living on the Black, “Young pitchers know how to throw hard, but very few know how to pitch”.

When looking for a young pitcher to target late in fantasy drafts, owners should identify players who have yet to produce top level fantasy stats despite having gifted arms and a collection of filthy pitches. 

Take for example Clayton Kershaw, a 23-year-old southpaw for the Los Angeles Dodgers. In his first year in the majors, Kershaw was 5-5 with a 4.26 ERA and a WHIP of 1.49. Although he had excellent stuff, including a mid 90’s fastball and a knee-buckling curve, Kershaw was young and needed to learn how to pitch, and not just throw hard. 

In his third year with the Dodgers, Kershaw struck out 212 batters while posting a sub-three ERA. After taking the typical few years to learn how to be a pitcher, Kershaw is now the team’s top pitcher and is poised for a CY Young caliber season. 

Here is a list of 10 young pitchers who are poised to have a breakout season. Some of these pitchers may still be a year or two away from learning their craft; however, all of them have excellent skills and could become stars in 2011.

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Spring training is a great opportunity to get a sense of how a player’s offseason went, and what to expect in terms of improvement or regression. How a player performs during spring training often helps scouts see how players are recovering from injury or whether or not to expect a player who disappointed the previous season to bounce back.

An example of a player’s spring training being indicative of a player’s regular season performance is Chris Johnson. In 2010, his spring training stat line was: .323/8/22 in just 63 at-bats. While he did not continue this 65-75 home run pace, he did have a strong season. The same idea goes for Jose Bautista, who had a phenomenal spring training.

Spring training is not always accurate, however, it is the best way to get an idea of a player before the season starts. So, in this article, I will examine the 15 most important players to watch this spring training in the American League East.

This list includes prospects, bounce back candidates, new acquisitions and more. The rank is based on a combination of how important the player’s return is to his respective team and how controversial the player’s 2011 projections are. 

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After finishing in second place last season and not adding another world championship to their collection, the popular thought was that the Yankees would reload over the offseason. All signs pointed toward yes during their pursuit of Cliff Lee, but as it turns out, money really ISN’T everything to some people.

The challenge the Yankees will face this year will be their rotation. While CC Sabathia is a solid ace, once you get past him there are a lot of question marks. Phil Hughes looks like a solid starter, maybe not a No. 2 which is most likely where he will fall in the rotation this year, but solid.

AJ Burnett is looking to bounce back from a down year which seemed more related to his mental approach than his stuff. Joba Chamberlain, we’re being told, won’t be a starter and Andy Pettitte has decided to retire. The recent signing of Freddy Garcia at least moves either Ivan Nova or Sergio Mitre out of the rotation, thankfully for all those Yankee fans.

If Cashman can find another arm, Burnett find his way back into form and Hughes continues to develop, they could have a very good staff; if all those things don’t happen, it will be below average. Unless of course you’re holding out hope for Bartolo Colon to round into form.

Notable Losses: Javier Vazquez, Lance Berkman, Marcus Thames 

Notable Pick-Ups: Freddy Garcia, Rafael Soriano, Andruw Jones, Russell Martin, Pedro Feliciano

While overall I still see a 90-plus win team here, the concern is not that the Yankees have declined, but how much the Red Sox have improved. On paper I would see the Yanks finishing in second once again, but this year it will be behind the Sox. Of course, that’s just on paper and there’s a reason they still play the games.

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Often, it is not the most talented player who ends up being the most valuable player for his respective team. A player making $1 million can be much more valuable than a player making $10 million if they produce similar results

A great example of this is Adrian Gonzalez of 2010. With the Padres, he was playing for a very low sum of money despite being among the league’s best first basemen. While Albert Pujols may have out-produced Gonzalez in 2010, he was far more costly. Thus, Gonzalez was more valuable to his team than Pujols.

Every team has at least one player who they know they are underpaying. In this article, I will examine the most underpaid player on each team. 

One important note is that players who are not yet arbitration eligible, i.e. Buster Posey, Evan Longoria, will not be included in this list. Also, I will be using the player’s 2011 salary, not the aggregate of his current contract. For example, Adrian Gonzalez will still be considered cheap, despite the fact that he will receive his fair share of money when the Red Sox release his contract. With that, let us begin. 

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If you’re looking for a scapegoat as you stare at the Yankees‘ funny-if-it-weren’t-so-sad starting rotation, you might as well go with Joba Chamberlain. The man’s already a human punching bag at this point, so I doubt he’ll mind.

Had Chamberlain developed as the team expected, the departure of Andy Pettitte wouldn’t feel like such a cataclysmic event.

In an ideal world, the Yankees would have entered 2011 with Chamberlain and Hughes already entrenched as established talents to pair with CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett.

The only issue—other than getting Burnett back on the grid, of course—would be finding a fifth starter, a problem they’d share with approximately 85 percent of the teams in baseball.

Hughes has held up his end of the bargain, an 18-game winner in 2010 who appears on his way to a productive career.

But Chamberlain’s struggles have become emblematic of the organization’s failure as a whole when it comes to developing starting rotation talent.

Think about it. Between the time Pettitte arrived on the scene in 1995 and now, how many productive starters has the minor league system churned out besides Hughes?

(I’ll give you a minute … or two … or three.)

Here’s what I came up with:

• Ted Lilly was a young lefty with talent dealt away in exchange for Jeff Weaver in 2002. (Obviously, an awesome decision.)
• Chien-Ming Wang wasn’t exactly homegrown (he was an amateur free-agent signing in 2000), but he developed into a legitimate front-line starter before injuries derailed his career and wiped out the team’s Taiwanese fan base.
• Chase Wright was pretty great, if you define great as an ability to give up four consecutive homers at Fenway Park, then drop off the face of the planet like Ray Finkle.
• Ian Kennedy was a promising right-hander with attitude issues who was shipped out of town as part of the Curtis Granderson deal.

And then there’s this sobering bit of perspective: My buddy Howie pointed out that when Hughes won his sixth career game, he set the club record for victories by a first-round pick.

How is that possible?

As history and World Series flags indicate, this obviously hasn’t hurt the franchise all that much. But the business of the game has changed in recent years.

Teams now put a far greater emphasis on homegrown pitching talent, and they’re less apt to let a young ace get to the open market. Ten years ago, the Yankees would have been licking their chops as Felix Hernandez entered his walk season.

Now they’d probably have to give up Jesus Montero, Granderson and a Derek Jeter DNA sample just to get the Mariners in the same room.

The fact that the Yankees were able to get their hands on Sabathia was an anomaly in that respect. And the whiff on Cliff Lee hurts double, since those opportunities simply don’t come around as often as they once did.

This isn’t to say the Yankees have no way of acquiring premium pitching from an outside source, but we’re learning you’ll probably have to pay outrageously for it.

Remember when the Yankees acquired David Cone from the Blue Jays for a bag of baseballs and a signed Alanis Morissette CD? Those days are over.

The Yankees seem to have 400 catchers ready for the Bronx, but it’s unclear what kind of pitching talent they have in the pipeline.

Potential No. 5 starter Ivan Nova is a mid-level prospect at best. Andrew Brackman, their 2007 first-round pick, is 25 and yet to make any impact.

Manuel Banuelos and Dellin Betances are raw prospects with potential, but neither are likely to make a big-league contribution until 2012 at the earliest.

So why haven’t the Yankees been able to develop their own starting pitching…and what needs to be done to change that?

These are questions best directed toward Damon Oppenheimer and Mark Newman, the brains behind the Yankees’ draft and farm strategies.

Whoever is in charge, it needs to be fixed, or the Yankees are about to become dinosaurs in more ways than one.

Dan Hanzus writes three columns a week on his New York Yankees site, River & Sunset. He can be reached at dhanzus@gmail.com. Follow Dan on Twitter @danhanzus.

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One of the biggest parts of MLB Spring Training is determining who will be the starters. As usual, there are a lot of tough position battles this year.

A lot of high-profile moves were made this offseason. There’s a lot of anticipation to see who will win those battles.

Here are the top 11 players who have the most to lose in their position battles this year.

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You will never see it on CNN or Fox News.

It will never appear on the front page of any newspaper across the globe.

You will never see it in a documentary on Discovery or the History Channel.

It will never be spoken of in any church on any given Sunday.

Yet according to many Yankee fans and sports media alike,  Andy Pettitte seemingly walks on water.  He is apparently the Yankees own personal second coming and the only one that can salvage their upcoming season.

Andy Pettitte, all by himself at the ripe old age of 38 and coming off his best statistical season cut short by injury, can save the entire Yankee season single-handedly.  

Apparently.

Andy Pettitte, the man that left the pinstripes for the uniform of the Houston Astros (for whatever reason you want to believe), can single-handedly save the season for Derek Jeter and company just by showing up it seems.  It was apparently because he left that the Yankees never won during his absence and only when he came back did they win again.  Yes, I get it. Right.

Apparently his mojo went on strike last season.

Andy Pettitte, the man who puts everyone through the same “will he or won’t he” dance every off season—the one who needs to decide every off season if he wants to play for the team that put him on the map—has, and he alone, the mojo that can fix what’s wrong with the Yankees of 2011.

Oh YES! Testify my brother!

Imagine that—Andy. Pettitte. Is. A. Super.Hero.

Newsflash.  If the Yankees landed Cliff Lee, you know the other dude that apparently walks on water, the Yankees would not be calling Pettitte and the fans would not be clamoring for his return so much.

If WE GOT LEEEE!!!!!, it would be nice to have Andy too.

Now—WE DID NOT GET #%&^$ LEE!!! WE NEED #^z*(^&$ PETTITTE!

If the Yankees landed Lee, Pettitte would be playing because the pressure would be off.  Without Lee, Pettitte knows he will be looked upon to be a savior.  It’s not a role he wants, never has.

Who the heck wants to come back for the grind with a sketchy back at age 38 if you are expected to hoist the team on it?

Andy Pettitte is many things but stupid is not one of them.

As a Yankee fan, Andy Pettitte will always hold a special place in my heart—but Andy was the one Yankee that taught me to not get used to Yankees staying Yankees.

The Yankees “Desperately Need” Andy Pettitte?

He would be nice to have, he surely could help, but “Desperately Needed”?

Sorry but this Yankee fan refuses to drink the Kool-aid so many of you are apparently drunk on.

One can argue that Andy Pettitte is a borderline Hall of Fame pitcher right now but we know he won’t get in. He is a Yankee and well there is that lil’ PED thing.  No one can argue that he is now, and will always be a legendary Yankee.  No one can argue (except the BBWA and the Elitist Brethren of the H.O.F), that he has been one of the best left handed pitchers in the history of the game.

However, and with all due respect to the many columnist out there including some of my fellow Bleacher Report columnists, stating that the ‘Yankees Desperately Need Andy Pettitte” is quite frankly a joke.

Could they use him?  Absolutely.

Could he help them?  Sure if he stays healthy.

Will he all by his awsome-ness save the season?  Umm…no.

Listen folks, I have been a Yankee fan since 1976.  Andy Pettitte is one of my all-time favorite Yankees, but he is neither the saving grace or nail in the coffin of this team.

It’s time to get real.

Yes I get the fact that he not only knows how to pitch in New York, but he knows how to win in New York.  I get that.

Yes I get that he is a big game pitcher and his presence on the mound motivates the players behind him.

I also understand that he is but one man.  He is 38 years old.  He is prone to injury.  His heart is not 100 percent committed to the game or the team.

Did you get that last part? His heart is not 100 percent committed to pitching.  I don’t think that when he came back from injury last year he was fully committed either.  I think the injury was a wake up call that he just did not want or need to do this anymore—or at least for a whole season.  I think before the season was over last year he knew that was it—or that was it for an entire season.

See where I am going? (Hint…repeated references to “entire season”…hint, hint).

The Yankees missed out on Cliff Lee, whom by the way also does not walk on water despite what the media and some fans believe, and all the sudden the Yankee Universe is coming to an end and Andy Pettitte is the only one with pinstripe tights and cape?

Shoot, why even play the season, just hand the trophy to Philly for the next five years and send everyone on vacation.

There is a reason the games are played on the field and not paper.

Come on people, this is nothing new in the world of the Yankees.  Pettitte would be nice to have but the Yankees are hardly desperate here.

Let’s look at this realistically.  How many games do the starters need to win the East or the Wild card and make it to the playoffs?

In a very strong East and in an improved American League in general, the Yankees, or any team for that matter, will not get into the post with anything less than 90 wins, in my opinion of course.

With a very good staff, okay we will use the Philadelphia Phillies dammit—a team can only hope for 63-65 wins max (18, 15, 12, 10, 8= 63) and that is really pushing the envelope.  Most team only get 40-48 wins per starting rotation but most teams don’t make the playoffs.  A good chance to dance requires a minimum of 55 wins out of the rotation with a decent bullpen backing it up.

The Yankees have, arguably, one of the best pens in the game (on paper). So what about the starters?

What can we expect given the rotation New York is fielding this year WITHOUT Pettitte?

The 2010 San Francisco “World Champions” top three starters won 43 games. They had a rotation of six and their “regular” top five starters won a total of 58 games.

More relative, if slightly less recent, we can look to the 2009 World Champion Yankees who went with a 4 man rotation most of the year and their 4 starters won a total of 55 games. 

Sabathia won 19, Pettitte won 14, Burnett, yes that guy, won 13 and Joba Chamberlain (I just threw up a little in my mouth), won nine.

C.C is still around.  Anyone think he can’t win, oh say 18 games in 2011?

Hughes chipped in eight wins in relief that championship season and turned in 18 wins a year later despite stamina problems the second half which should be corrected come this season.  He may not win 18 games again this year but is anyone doubting he cannot win oh say 14, like Pettitte did in 2009?

Can anyone on the Yankees current Staff win 12?  Yes, A.J Burnett, who averages 12 wins per season, and won 13 in 2009 when the Yankees won it all.  Yes he is coming off a poor season of 10 wins but they Yankees pitching staff is focusing heavily on his mechanics and I believe he can win 12 games this season, simply because he won 13 for New York in 2009.

That’s 44 wins among three starters right there people.

 “Desperate”?

How many wins will Ivan Nova notch?  No one ones but I would not be scared to bet the house on eight wins.

Freddy Garcia has a decent chance to make the Roster.  He rebounded last year and won 12 games for Chicago. I am not fool, so I am not expecting that so let’s be reasonable and give him eight.

Okay.  Of those five starters, if that is how it falls (and who the heck knows), without Pettitte the Yankees starting rotation would notch 60 wins…

“Desperate”?

Garcia does not make it and Sergio Mitre is there? Okay—five wins for him, that’s still 57 wins by starters.

That is still two more than the 2009 World Champion Yankees and one less than the pretenders to the throne last season.

Hell, Sabathia could go down on injury in his first game and everyone else wins less than 10 games and the Yankees finish last.  What would Andy’s presence do then?

There is a reason they play the game one out and one inning at a time people.  No team wins games in the off season.  Calm your doom engine down.

The 2011 Yankee Bull pen, on paper, is a lot stronger than the 2009 version so excuse me if I actually seem hopeful. 

Pettitte, at best, would contribute maybe 14 wins, his yearly average, if healthy and playing a full season which it appears he won’t do.  At age 38,  the chances he works the entire season anyway given his health issues is a huge risk without enough reward for him, his family or the club.

Even if he returned and won 11 games, it is possible that Nova or Garcia can equal that total.

STOP before you go there—no way shape or form am I suggesting Ivan Nova and Freddy Garcia are equal to Andy Pettitte.  I am using realistic reasoning here (hopeful is another word), to get everyone off the “we need Andy or Armageddon is a coming’” bandwagon of doom.

Oh and btw, before you start on the “Andy is a big game pitcher and we will need him for the playoffs!”  He is.  I cannot argue with that however, no one knew when he pitched his first post season game that he would be the post season stud he has become.  Another in pinstripes can be born this season, who knows.

Andy Pettitte is a big game pitcher.  Andy Pettitte is one of the greatest Yankees and left handed pitchers in the history of the game.

Andy Pettitte is also one man, aged 38, coming off a great season that fell far short due to injury.

Andy Pettitte is not the answer folks.  He is a cog in the machine—he is not the machine itself.

However, have faith though my friends, all is not totally lost.

Andy Pettitte is also a business man and a smart one at that.  He learned something of value from Roger Clemens, his former mentor.  No, I am not talking about using PEDs.

Pettitte has learned to earn a full season’s salary for half a season of work so if the Yankees are somehow still in the show at the half way mark, rest assured the call to Deer Park Texas will be made and Pettitte will once again don the pinstripes in yet another quest for Glory.

However, it would only happen under certain conditions.

The rotation the Yankees have, as rag tag as it is, is not far off from the cluster mess that showed up in 2008.  If each performs up to expectations or level of talent, the Yankees will be in position to make that call for Mr. Big Game at the mid mark.

Before he answers the call, it must be right for Pettitte. 

In order for that to happen the Yankees must be healthy.  They need Sabathia at his ultimate Cy Young best, Hughes to live up to his hype, Burnett to get his head from out his backside and just pitch and Nova, Garcia or someone else to step up and do the unexpected .

Pettitte will be back for the stretch run is there is one and if and only if it’s almost a certainty they will get in.  Andy wants to be along for the ride.

He just does not want to drive the bus.

Like I said earlier—the man is not stupid.

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As always, the Yankees have a chance to be really good this year.

Except for the minor problem that their No. 2 starter has only one year of starting experience in the majors, their No. 3 starter is probably the single most maddening starter in baseball, their No. 4 starter has seven major league starts to his credit and their No. 5 starter is either a guy who has never pitched in the majors or a guy who couldn’t hold the starting spot when it was handed to him last summer. 

Suffice it to say that if the Yankees win the World Series, it will defeat the adage that pitching wins championships.

CC Sabathia is where it all starts, and thankfully for the Yanks, this guy is awesome.  One of baseball’s most consistent pitchers, he hasn’t won fewer than 17 games since 2006 (and even then he had 3.22 ERA and 1.17 WHIP), strikes out a ton of guys, keeps his WHIP super low and he never gets hurt.  For my money, he’s in the top 3 or starters in baseball. 

I don’t believe in picking pitchers in the first round, but he’s a guy to target very high.

Phil Hughes is the aforementioned No. 2 starter with a year’s worth of full-time starting under his belt.

He’s got filthy stuff and throws as hard as anyone around, but I am definitely concerned about his 2010 trajectory.  

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