A league-average starter has a 4.50 ERA. That’s also the ERA of the average “#3 starter”. Would I be happy if Mike Mussina pitched like a #3 out of the #5 position? Hell yeah.

You know the Yankees’ team ERA last year? 4.50. And they won 94 games. With that offense, league-average pitching is just fine. But they’ll be better than average with Wang, Pettitte, Joba, Kennedy, and Hughes in the mix. Having your worst starter post a league-average ERA is fantastic.

Yes, there’s context to consider. But Mussina getting 27 starts could mean that Joba dominated in the bullpen. That’s not my first choice, but it’s not a bad combination of roles.

Bashing Mussina never gets old, it seems. The guy accepted his age and stuff and went to the bullpen without a single negative word — even suggesting (after his “who are they going to replace me with?” bit) that it was a good idea — and STILL we have this crock of shit about Mike being a whiny little bitch who pouts and sucks his thumb. Mike is continually pointed out by his teammates as someone who helps the young kids and his teammates game plan for upcoming opponents. Shawn Chacon credited him with his fine year in the Bronx.

I don’t know if this stems from that fat load Michael Kay repeatedly mentioning Mike being upset about the trip to Japan — which EVERYONE was upset about — or Mike (like most pitchers) preferring to maintain a four days’ rest spot in the rotation, but the portrayal of Mike by Yankee fans, and the lack of respect he receives, is galling. Like it or not, but this team wouldn’t have been nearly as good had he not been here since 2001.

Mussina doesn’t have Rocket’s rings, but it’s amazing to me how much more he’s done for this team within that time frame and how much Rocket is loved and Mussina is hated. I guess all Mike had to do was pick up a few free rings and he’d be golden. And P.S., I am a huge Clemens fan and this is not about his worth or lack of worth. But comparatively, Mussina was better than Rocket was. He never won a ring because he was never on a team as good as Roger was. He did, however, get within a game of the World Series with a pitching staff behind him that was a joke.

With Mussina it’s never about the final stats, it’s about the journey we have to endure in *reaching* those final stats.

The slow starts, the bitching about missing his turn, the letdowns in the big games – and on and on and on.

Raf – who would you recommend? The FA market is terrible.
===============
I understand the FA market is terrible, but I would give Kris Benson, Jon Lieber, Steve Trachsel a look.

Give them a look in spring training, I’m not asking to sign them to long term deals or anything (not that they’d get it; all 3 missed time with injuries).

Then again, so did 1/2 of the Yank pitching staff last year.

Raf – who would you recommend? The FA market is terrible. Fact is that the in-house options the Yankees have are already better – and cheaper – than the ones on the open market. Can you remember a year where the Yankees didn’t go balls-out after a starting pitcher? This is improvement.

The more I look at the depth, the more I wonder if Cashman should sign or look at acquiring more arms. The pitching staff has imploded 3 years in a row due to injury and ineffectiveness.

I mean, when was the last time the Yanks had 5 starters that made it through the season in one piece? 2003?

Guess I won’t worry until opening day 2008.

Raf – last year, the Yankees had Kei Igawa and Carl Pavano in their rotation at the beginning of the year. Aside from Kennedy (who replaced him), Mussina was the 5th-best starter on the Yankees last year, behind Wang, Pettitte, Hughes and Clemens. That’s why he got 27 starts. If Mussina is the 5th-best starter again with those numbers, and gets a significant number of starts, it means that one of the kids sucked, or got injured. It also means that any minor league replacement would not have been good enough to post numbers better than 4.60 ERA. That would be bad.

Mussina getting 27 starts means that he took starts in place of one of the better starters. So no, I wouldn’t be happy with that.
=============
Not necessarily; last year he made 28 starts despite varying levels of effectiveness.

There’s no guarantees this year that the Yanks won’t run through as many starters as they did last year.

Off the 40 man roster, you have

Pettitte, Wang, Mussina, Hughes, Chamberlain, Kennedy, Igawa, Karstens, Chase Wright, White, & Marquez.

I don’t have the NRI list (I believe Rasner’s on it), but I don’t think you want to rely on a pitchers on that list, not to mention that they probably aren’t much better than what’s already on the roster.

There hasn’t been much movement on the FA/trade front (not that there’s much out there), which would lead me to believe either that this is the staff the Yanks are going with, or there will be a flurry of moves come spring training.

One word – Yes. I would be happy with that. Mussina will have a bounce back year IMO. I think there were signs last year that he realized he had no life left on his fastball. Look for a new and improved MM in 2008 where he changes speeds much more than he did the previous two years.

Mussina getting 27 starts means that he took starts in place of one of the better starters. So no, I wouldn’t be happy with that.