Bay Area Baseball

Despite what many have said about the Yankees vast improvements, it’s still possible that the team is only the third best team in the American League East. Its staff, a glaring weakness in 2008, added CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett. It loses ace Mike Mussina and returns Chien Ming Wang, Joba Chamberlain and Andy Pettitte.

On the surface the Sabathia signing appears to be a huge upgrade. It isn’t. While Sabathia is a great pitcher who had a great 2008, even he didn’t win the 20 games that Mussina won. While his exploits were more publicized because of the NL Wild Card race – he simply is not going to bring an upgrade at the #1 starter spot when it comes to wins.

Pettitte, who was downright terrible last year, resigned with New York after coming to the realization that nobody wanted him. His ERA last season was over 5 and there are no signs that he should improve. Burnett is as inconsistent as they come, having missed a number of starts over the past few years. When healthy he is an electric #2 or #3 starter, but ultimately he can only be looked at as a question mark. The same is true for Chamberlain and to a lesser extent Wang – who is coming off an injury.

Chamberlain would be most valuable as a starter – there is no question about that. He maintained an ERA below 3.00 last season as a starter and has three plus pitches including a fastball that sits in the high 90’s. If Joba, Wang and Burnett all have 30 starts New York should play into October. If only two of the three or one of the three do, make room on the couch for them.