Another offensive clinic put on by the Yanks last night. AJ Burnett continued to baffle hitters as he has done for over a month now (where did that 2 seamer come from?). That's 10 of 11 for the Bombers now and something outrageous like 23 of 29 I think.
The Yankees are built to win a Championship. We say this every year but this is the strongest and most balanced they've looked in quite a few years. That being said I feel they need to add a pitcher, an innings eater with some major league experience under his belt. NOT Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee. They need a back end of the rotation type of guy that can eat up some innings and run out there every 5th day and give the juggernaut of an offense behind him a chance to win. 6 innings 3 runs: that type of guy. I've heard Bronson Arroyo talks. Perfect. Arroyo makes enough money to scare away other teams with better B level prospects to get involved and the Yankees still get to keep Jackson, Montero and the other top shelf guys. Thankfully Brian Cashman sees things this way as well.
I've read a few of the beat reporters suggesting they add a bullpen arm. This seems ludacris to me. Phil cy young Hughes has been the best 8th inning guy in the league since he's got there. It's not even close. He has been incredibly dominant, mirroring Mariano Rivera's numbers almost identically. Al Aceves has pitched very well from the pen as well and even Brian Bruney got a huge K in his last outing and has shown signs of recovery back to his old self.
So here is my proposal: Joba has this ridiculous innings limit approaching at 140-160 innings, lets call it 150. He's at 102 right now so in theory if he goes 7 innings from now on he only has 7 starts left with about 14 starts remaining. This is a problem. Especially if we want him to pitch in the Playoffs, which they do. So lets say he has about 4 starts left. I propose we piggy back Hughes with Joba to stretch him out, it is said by baseball people who know this that 2-3 starts is plenty to get Hughes to 100 pitches. Once we are ready to plug Hughes into the rotation we move Joba to the bullpen. This seems like we lose nothing in either spot to me. Joba has proven he's a freak in the pen and Hughes has gained incredible confidence in the bullpen. Hughes is throwing pitches for strikes and daring hitters to swing. He has a repertoire of pitches that can vary as he gets deeper into games.
In my opinion this gets the Yankees through the regular season without taking a hit in either their pen or rotation, and gets both Hughes and Joba to their maximum amount of innings so they can both throw 200 next year (that's a whole different post that I'll get to). Once the playoffs roll around we have a rotation of Sabathia, Burnett and Pettite with Joba, Hughes, Bruney, Aceves and Mariano in the pen. I'm very troubled to find any flaws in this. Please show me one if you do.
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Saw Atmosphere at Webster Hall last night. Great show, especially impressed with Eyedeas and Abilities, a label mate of Atmosphere's. Check them out.
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