Burnett And Vazquez Torpedo Yankees’ Starting Rotation

With the end of the season it is time to hand out the final report cards for the New York Yankees for 2010. The Yankees reached the halfway point with the best record in baseball but with much promise to even improve in the second half. But some key injuries and some inconsistency with the starting pitchers dragged this team down a few notches. They qualified as a wild card but to defend their 2009 title they will have to dig deep. Here are the grades:


STARTING PITCHERS

CC Sabathia (21-7, 3.18 ERA)
Phil Hughes (18-8, 4.19 ERA)
Andy Pettitte (11-3, 3.28 ERA)
A.J. Burnett (10-15, 5.26 ERA)
Javier Vazquez (10-10, 5.32 ERA)

Other starters: Dustin Moseley, Ivan Nova and Sergio Mitre

At the midway point I proclaimed the Yankees starting pitching the best in baseball. It shows you what I know.
To be fair to me, though, the Yankees’ starting five was the best at the halfway point. They were a combined 48-21 with a 3.86 ERA. They also were averaging just over 6 1/3 innings per start.
Sabathia, Pettitte and Hughes had 11 or more wins and they were the first trio to do that since the 1999 Houston Astros starters Shane Reynolds, Jose Lima and Mike Hampton. All three were named to the American League All-Star team although Sabathia was ineligible to pitch because he started on the Sunday before the Tuesday game.
So what happened to the best starting five in baseball?
Well, three key things brought this staff crashing to Earth:
  • On July 18 Andy Pettitte was pitching in the third inning at Yankee Stadium in a game against the Tampa Bay Rays when he felt pain in his left groin. Pettitte left the game and ended up on the disabled list through Sept. 10. Pettitte was arguably pitching the best baseball of his career and the Yankees lost their second-best pitcher.
  • A.J. Burnett always has been an enigma — good one start and awful the next. But even he could not have predicted the dreadful month of August he would have. In his five starts, Burnett was 0-4 with a 7.80 ERA. In addition, Burnett never really rebounded. He was 1-3 with a 5.60 ERA the rest of the way. With Pettitte out, Burnett was expected to step up and help the Yankees overcome it. Instead, he pitched worse than he ever has with the Yankees and he is not expected to start a game in the first round of the playoffs.
  • Javier Vazquez looked like he had put his early season problems behind him. He was 7-7 with a 4.45 ERA at the midpoint after starting the season 1-3 with a 9.78 ERA. But he slumped miserably in August, going 1-2 with a 8.10 ERA through Aug. 21, when he was pulled from the rotation in favor of rookie Ivan Nova. Vazquez made only three more starts the rest of the season and they all were dreadful. As a result, Vazquez, who finished fourth in the National League Cy Young Award voting last season, was left off the playoff roster.
With Pettitte on the shelf and Burnett and Vazquez giving up more runs than a cheap pair of stockings, Sabathia and Hughes were saddled with having to carry the rotation most of the second half.
Sabathia was up to the task. He was 9-4 with a 3.29 ERA and he managed to win 20 games for the first time in his career. His 21-7 record makes him a front-runner for the Cy Young Award. It would be his second.
Hughes, on the other hand, struggled a bit but still won because the Yankees honored him by giving the most run support of any starter in baseball. Hughes was 7-6 with a 4.90 ERA. Hughes seemed to wear down a bit under the weight of an upcoming innings limit, which forced the Yankees to skip his turn on occasion.
Nonetheless, Hughes can consider an 18-8 record as the team’s No. 5 starter in his first full season in the rotation at age 24 a pretty good season no matter what the struggles were down the stretch.
Moseley made seven starts in place of Pettitte at the end of July and throughout August. He was 4-2 with a 5.03 ERA. He was credited with three quality starts. But after being hammered for four runs on five hits and four walks against Oakland on Aug. 30, Moseley only made two more starts the rest of the season.
He was 0-2 with a 6.17 ERA in those starts. So, needless to say, he was not much of a replacement for Pettitte.
The Yankees recalled 23-year-old rookie right-hander Nova from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Aug. 23. He made seven starts in late August and September in place of Vazquez and was 1-1 with a 4.91 ERA 
Although Nova showed great promise for future success at the major-league level with his assortment of pitches and his poise, he struggled the second time through lineups and could not limit his pitch counts.
For the first half the starting five received the following grades:
Sabathia A-
Burnett C
Pettitte A+
Vazquez C
Hughes A+
Their second-half grades are as follows:
Sabathia A+
Burnett D
Pettitte I (Incomplete)
Vazquez F
Hughes C
Their 2010 overall grades are as follows:
Sabathia A+
Burnett D+
Pettitte A-
Vazquez D-
Hughes B+
OVERALL STARTING PITCHER GRADE: C+

The overall record of 50-18 by Sabathia, Pettitte and Hughes more than makes up for the horrible 20-25 record posted by Burnett and Vazquez. 
Still, the inability of Moseley or Nova to really step up and pitch well late in the season really doomed the Yankees to their September swoon that cost them the best record in baseball and first place in the American League East.
The Yankees are going to have to make some tough decisions on what to do with Burnett and Vazquez next season. Both are under contract and both are owed a lot of money. Trading either or both would be difficult unless the Yankees picked up a portion of the contracts.
It is n
o secret the Yankees covet Cliff Lee. They nearly had him at the trade deadline until the Mariners stabbed the Yankees in the back and made a deal with the Rangers instead. But Lee will be a free agent and his buddy Sabathia likely can convince him to sign if the money is right.
The Yankees also may have a potential young starter in Nova. If he continues to develop, he could be of great help as a starter in 2011.
In the meantime, the Yankees’ hopes for a 28th championship once again ride on just three starters: Sabathia, Pettitte and Hughes. The Yankees have Burnett on the roster for the first series but he is not scheduled to start a game.
The Yankees likely will have to use him if the Yankees make the AL Championship Series and the World Series. What they get from him is a big mystery. 
It is troubling to think of what could have been if Burnett and Vazquez had just pitched adequately this season. If the Yankees do not repeat as champions it is obvious who the fans are going to blame.

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