DJ, nice pitching lineups but do you feel comfortable with the bullpen? Other than Sturtze & Mo, I think all these other guys are new. They gonna be able to "cut it" as they say in the Big Apple? I [b]really wish they would have resigned Tom Gordon and that he could accept his role as a setup man. No offense Tom, but the Phillies aren't going anywhere this year and then we'll have another Tejada one our hands. A guy who goes to a bad team for the money and than b*tches about "well how come we never win?" [/b]
I don't know if Gordon would bitch, after all, he played for the mediocre White Sox for all those years. If anything, he could bitch about leaving them for the Yanks and then they win the World Series 3 years later...
As far as the bullpen, there is no way I can truthfully say that I am comfortable with the 'pen because I haven't seen most of these new guys in action. Even the guys we've had for a couple of years (Proctor, Henn) aren't players I'd have on my roster, let alone as "reliable" (though Proctor has shown promise with that fastball).
However, like I said with Sturtze, Ron "Gator" Guidry is going to make a huge difference in this team, imho. He brings a fresh approach that has been lacking with Mel, who I miss for sentimental reasons but I think might have lost his touch. It is a good thing to see someone new take over the duties to see if we can bring this unit together.
Actually, what I'm most surprised (and a bit perturbed) about is that Aaron Small isn't listed as one of the starting pitchers. Sorry, but fuck Jason Wright. He should have to earn his spot in the rotation. Small did a spectacular job last year, defying ANY expectations (who actually had heard of Aaron Small unless you played with the Clippers or the Thunder in MVP Baseball :p ).
From what it sounds like, Johnson has finally figured out what he was missing - he said he wasn't getting enough proper rotation/alignment with is throwing arm...its on Yankees.com.
If I were managing the Yanks, this is what my rotation would look like:
Johnson Mussina Wang Chacon Small
Pavano and Wright, until they prove themselves, would be spot starters. In reserve starting duties would be Sturtze, Leiter, and yes, Hideo Nomo (if we've still got him :p ).
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