en-us Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:11:43 GMT 15 By Louis Oprisa
    It might be reiterated time and time again for the Yankees that pitching is the key to success. However, heading into the 2009 season, the focus on pitching cannot be stressed enough. With an aging and declining roster, the powerhouse team that fans have become accustomed to will not be there. This team will score runs, sure, but not at the rate they did when they had mashers like Gary Sheffield, Jason Giambi, and a healthy Hideki Matsui in their lineup. With Joe Girardi inexplicably awarding the right field job to Xavier Nady, who is a fourth outfielder/platoon man at heart, A-Rod out until May, Damon almost certain to regress, and Matsui a question mark because of his cranky knees, it would be difficult for one to assert that this team will score a boatload of runs.     Fortunately for the Bombers, the projected five starting pitchers opening this season look much more solid than the dubious staffs assembled in recent years past. The Yankees have two bona-fide aces at the front of their rotation with the free agent signings of CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett, a No. 2 quality starter in Chien Ming Wang, a potential future ace in Joba Chamberlain, and a solid No. 4 man in Andy Pettitte. In a perfect Bronx world, this staff could be dominant.      Unfortunately, for the Steinbrenner’s, who spend millions of dollars, if the world we lived in was indeed a perfect world, nothing would be interesting about it. Therefore, one cannot assume that all of these starters will make every single one of their scheduled starts. Thankfully, due to the resourcefulness of general manager Brian Cashman, there are numerous options waiting in the wings at Triple A. Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy have a rough year split between the majors and minors under their belt, hopefully the experience will be for their benefit. Brett Tomko is a backup option, albeit one the Yankees hope they don't have to call upon. And if something catastrophic happens, there's always Kei Igawa. Or not.      The bottom line is, despite the addition of Mark Teixeira to the lineup, this team will be reliant on its pitching, which on paper is very strong. Whether CC and AJ live up to the hype or not, a new storyline is waiting to be written in a new ballpark in 2009. Around the League - Sidney Ponson and Horacio Ramirez have been announced as the winners of the final two spots in the Kansas City Royals' rotation. Nothing to gawk at here, two unspectacular pitchers just making a pit stop, look for Luke Hochevar to state his case as the season progresses. - Someway, somehow, Andruw Jones managed to find his way onto some poor team's roster. And all at the expense of poor Frank Catalanotto, who is by far a better player than Jones is at this point in time. Methinks this is primarily a PR move. - Gary Sheffield was released by the Tigers, a surprisingly good move from them. For a player with a mouth as big as his, sometimes it's nice to see players like him get the boot from a tired organization. ]]> Sun, 05 Apr 2009 18:54:38 GMT