The Weakest Links

By far the weakest link for the Yankees this year looks to be the bullpen. Sure, we have Mo. He makes it an 8-inning game. The problem is our rotation is only going to give us 6 maybe 7, which means we now have to come up with another two innings out of our pen. Everyone has their ideas about how to patch up the bullpen, but here’s my two cents:

· Keep Joba in the rotation. Couple of reasons:

1. He spent Spring Training preparing to be a starter, don’t throw off his rhythm by banishing him to the bullpen. If anybody should get the hook this early in the year, it should be Chien, but that’s another story.
2. Joba has too much stuff to be a closer; it would almost be wasting him. Sure, Joba in ‘07 was eerily similar to Rivera in ‘96. But Mo only has one pitch, a 99 mph cutter. It’s arguably one of the greatest pitches ever thrown, as evidenced by Mo’s dominance. But imagine him as a starter. He looks incredible for the first couple of innings w/ a high 90s cutter, but then everyone’s had a good look at him by the 4th. And as the game progresses and Mo’s arm gets tired, 99 mph becomes 88-90. Suddenly, Mo’s cutter, no matter how devastating that late break is, becomes hittable. 5th and 6th innings roll around and Mo’s getting shelled a la Kyle Farnsworth. Joba doesn’t have that problem. He can go toe to toe with a good major league lineup and beat them over 7 innings. Don’t believe me? Look at this box score: "http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2008/B07250BOS2008.htm "> ‘nuff said.

· Cashman’s gotta come through in the clutch: Find a set-up man at the trade deadline. Somebody, anybody, find some crummy team and steal their closer a la Putz and the Mets. Give up Kennedy and another middle-tier prospect. Kennedy’s the next Jamie Moyer once if he finds a breaking ball who’ll never really get a shot here now that we have CC, Burnett, Wang (who’ll be here in the long run), Joba, and even Phil Hughes. Ian’s gotta be worth something along the lines of a reliable set-up guy. Either way, if we get at least one reliable arm in the pen, we’ll be in business.

· Find a long reliever now. Ramiro Mendoza was so valuable to late ‘90s teams as a long reliever/spot starter. We need a Ramiro Mendoza now. Call up Brett Tomko; the guy pitched well in Spring Training so he probably deserves a shot. Hell, maybe Phil Hughes might be a solid addition to the pen. He’ll have no pressure coming in for mop-up duty, and the kid might be able to get a few outs there, too.

· Edwar should be sent to Scranton to put on 20 pounds, maybe that’ll help get his velocity up so he’s not throwing that Bugs Bunny change every pitch. Everyone else not named Rivera (duh), Bruney (cause he hasn’t fucked up yet), and Marte (cause he’s a pretty solid lefty specialist) should be put on fair warning. One more fuck up, and you’re back to the minors.

· Girardi needs to manage the bullpen competently. This pen sucks; and there’s not much room for error with this bullpen. Donald Trump can afford a new car if he crashes his sports car into the center median, but the guy making minimum wage at Wendy’s can’t afford to replace his ‘95 Honda Civic. Torre looked like a genius by bringing in Mo then Wetteland, and later Nelly, Stanton and then Mo. Torre had the Ferrari bullpen from ‘96 to 2000; Girardi has the Honda Civic. Girardi therefore can’t afford to go by lefty/righty matchups in big situations when it comes to his bullpen. If Kansas City beat up on our bullpen, what’ll ya think the Angels/Rays/Sox will do?

· And finally, The Voice is having a sub par year this year, with his performance last night being equally as bad as Chien-Ming Wang’s. First he lowballs Swisher’s home run call. No “It is High! It is Far! It is Gooooooooone!” Incredibly disappointing. Then the much-anticipated nickname for our most consistent hitter this year: Jolly Ol’ St. Nick. Jolly Ol’ St. Nick? Horrendous. To top it all off, the guy then calls Nady’s ball a home run even though Upton made the play. And he didn’t give this blog a shout out on the air. Terrible, terrible performance this year. He needs to step his game up more than the pen.