The New Rotation
I was just looking at who were the true “aces” of the Yankees starting staffs (in terms of best stats) since 1995:
1995 – Jack McDowell
1996 – Andy Pettitte
1997 – Andy Pettitte
1998 – (tie) David Wells & David Cone
1999 – David Cone
2000 – Roger Clemens
2001 – Mike Mussina
2002 – David Wells
2003 – Mike Mussina
2004 – Jon Lieber
2005 – (so far) Mike Mussina
That’s seven different men over the last 11 years – and five of them are still active – but only one of the five is still with the Yankees (Mussina).
Some might think: Imagine if this Yankees team had a rotation of Clemens, Pettitte, Mussina, Wells and Lieber?
But, I’m not sure that I would say that now. Given the way that Wright is throwing, and the way that Shawn Chacón has performed, and if Chien-Ming Wang can come back in a week or two, then Mussina, Johnson, Wright, Chacón and Wang might just be fine over the last part of this season.
Heck, if all goes as planned, the Yankees’ biggest problem might be choosing which one of the five is not used in the post-season rotation.
And then there’s the question of who pitches when. It’d be nice to say Unit & Moose are 1 & 2, but the way they’re pitching. . .
Maybe they go with all five? Unit gets Game 1, Moose Game 2, Wright 3, Chacón 4, Wang 5 – and that sets up Unit and Moose for 6 and 7?
But, in a five game set, I think you’ll see: Unit, Moose, Wright, Chacón and the Unit again.
Just another reason why Johnson needs to turn it around.
I wouldn’t want this Yankees team to have Wells.
I wouldn’t want this Yankees team to have Wells.
——————-
Why not? After all he’s done?