TUESDAY, March 21, 2006 ABRUPT CHANGE OF PLANS The topic of today's column was going to be the grand showing by Yankees pitchers of late, but the Mike Mussina Show derailed what would have been a buoyantly optimistic opening about how the pitchers were rounding into shape and all was right with the world. Then it became Moose season — not the drunkenly lustful Moose mating season you read so much about, where Vermont motorists must be on their guard against hormone-drunk furry humvees with antlers stumbling into their cars. In that scenario, the moose does the damage. This time, the car got the Moose.
Mussina won't always be this bad, but as we've discussed in the past, age and injuries have taken just the slightest edge off of his very fine control. Now it's Very Fine Control Minus. That difference accounts for a lack of Mooseish consistency from start to start. Some days he's the old semi-Cy Young candidate. On others, he gets undressed like Charlie Brown pitching to the 1927 Yankees.
So Mussina's a buzzkill, because in the previous days even creaky old Randy Johnson had looked more like creaky young Randy Johnson. Pitching remains this club's weakness, because Johnson and Mussina have aged past consistency, Chacon and Wang might be one-hit wonders, and Pavano and Wright might already have registered for membership in that category. As for the bullpen in front of Mariano Rivera, who knows? Designing a bullpen on paper is a bit like designing the Freedom Tower. The conceptual work is easy, but in reality, the end product may prove to be unlike your expectations.
Fortunately, help exists. The scout-heads consider Matt DeSalvo — love to be the sign of an unorthodox fool, and PECOTA doesn't like the right-hander either. Yet, let us joust with this particular windmill, for it may yet prove to be a giant. (Note: Let's not oversell. Call him a serviceable giant.)
The first step for any pitcher to achieve Yankees success is to not cheese off Joe Torre, as Sean Henn did last year with his rookie jitters. Though he's been sent out for more seasoning (paprika and a roll in an Iron Chef-style lattice of pig fat), DeSalvo made a good impression, as Torre revealed to intrepid YESNetwork.com correspondent Jon "Don't call me Lois" Lane yesterday:
"DeSalvo is very close. We heard about him last year and what we saw this spring, we were impressed with him. From the people who know him more than we do, they are pretty comfortable with his insides. It's going to have to be a first time, some time."
By that last statement, Torre seems to mean that at some point the Yankees will have to trust a young pitcher and endure his virgin start, rather than giving that honor to, say, the Cleveland Indians and then trading for him after another club has gotten him over his nerves, his youth, his low-salary years, and his health. At least, that is what the Torre Kremlinologists are saying today. Torre could actually have been talking about something else entirely — channeling a Yogi Berra-ish point of philosophy, thinking wistfully back to his series of sandwich commercials with Willie Randolph, or to his desire to try something new for bedtime reading, moving beyond the same old Zane Grey novels.
Torre Kremlinologists suggest that the Henn version of this same statement is, "Over my dead body."
COX (A WORD YOU CAN LEARN IN THE ROB LOWE CLASSIC "OXFORD BLUES") Torre may also be feeling bullish on last year's relief draftee J. Brent Cox — never to be confused with "Too Close for Comfort" co-star Jm J. Bullock, legendary financier/damaged nose case J. Pierpont Morgan, or Spider-Man nemesis J. Jonah Jameson. Like DeSalvo, Cox has been farmed but not planted. Interrogated by Jon "Penny" Lane, Torre remained positive and non-Hennish, being especially approving of Cox's ability to retire left-handed hitters:
"It's based on his stuff. He's got a live fastball. He doesn't throw 90-95, but he has tremendous movement and he has a good breaking ball. And he's got some fire in his belly. He fights himself right now, which is understandable for youth, but the last couple of outings, he got it together and did well for us."
Cox is another pitcher on whom the scouting jury remains hung. That same lack of pure stuff to which Torre referred is always a strike against a young pitcher, a sign that he's not to be used in late relief but might be more suited for the middle innings. Yet, outs are outs, and if a pitcher can get 'em it doesn't matter when they pitch.
WILY AND THE ROADRUNNER Theo Epstein swung another good deal on Monday, snagging slugging outfielder Wily Mo Peña (Yankees ex-officio) with fourth/fifth-ish starter Bronson Arroyo. The Red Sox were heading for a difficult spot at the end of the year when Trot Nixon's contract expired. Nixon is a decent player, but not someone the Red Sox would have been wise to renew for a period of years. He's too delicate and has too many flaws. Peña is only 24 and is signed through 2008. He's young enough to improve on his miserable on-base percentages while maintaining his power. It's not likely, but it's a worthwhile gamble. Outfield depth was going to be a real weakness for the Red Sox this year. Now when the inevitable ouchies set in they can substitute without falling to replacement level.
No doubt there will be the usual in-house gnashing of teeth at Yankee Stadium for every home run Penña hits against the Yankees, but the trade of Peña was inevitable given the contractual leverage he had to force the Yankees to carry him on the big league roster. That just wasn't going to happen, nor should it have, given that the Yankees, unlike the Reds, are playing to win every year. If your team is going to have a tread water for a season or two, it can devote a roster spot to on-the-job training. The Yankees, thankfully, don't have that luxury.
Even with their abundance of starting pitchers, the Red Sox did gamble in dealing the redoubtable Arroyo. Curt Schilling and David Wells may prove to be finished, Josh Beckett is likely to miss a start or 10, Jon Papelbon may not be a starter. All of these things rolling up at once would leave the Sox only with Tim Wakefield, the Rock of Plymouth ("Look at Wakefield, standing there like a stone, um, rock! Rally 'round him, boys! No bullet can harm you if you maintain a positive attitude!") and prospect John Lester.
On the other hand, one can't be so devoted to contingency planning no risks are taken, leaving needed improvements in some other part of the operation ignored. If Sox starting pitching blows up in the way described here, they could have two Arroyos and still not win.
