I said that there were exceptions, and I'm speaking primarily here of rookies coming up to the majors and predicting their Major League performance based on their Minor League stats, not veterans who are sent down for rehab assignments.

Wright and Pavano are different cases, anyway. They Yankees have a huge financial investment in those two, and they're not about to allow themselves to have egg all over their faces by not using them.

They will be in the rotation until they prove absolutely and without a doubt that they can no longer pitch on the major league level.

I happen to agree with you, BTW, and think that the jobs should be awarded on merit and performance, not on the size of a contract, but we both know that that's not the way Steinbrenner and the Yankees work.

As far as Henn goes, there was nothing remarkable or special about his performance in AAA last year before being called up.

5-5 in 16 starts, with a 3.23 E.R.A.

(That's Triple A. His double A stats were better, but I'm not claiming that AA stats are a reliable indicator of future ML performance. The lower you go in the minors, the less reliable those stats are as an indicator.)

Not bad, and certainly you would think that should translate to maybe a half a run or so higher at the Major League level, but his Triple A stats were nothing remarkable, either, or at least nothing to make one think that he was a "can't miss" prospect.

I can name several pitchers who were called up in mid-season last year who had much better stats in the minors than Henn did, and who were terrific after their call-up.