Fixing the Pitching

Coming into the year the Yankees were supposed to have one of the best five man rotations in the league. It hasn't worked out that way at all though. Sabathia has been very good and an innings eater but not truly the ace that the Yankees were looking for, Pettitte is showing his age and has been up and down, Wang was awful and as soon as he started to figure things out he got hurt, and Joba Chamberlain has gone through the struggles we should have expected from a 24 year old. Really, only Burnett has lived up to our Spring Training hopes. The good news is that the staff is littered with second half pitchers and that they've been improving as the season moves along but their are some concerns that need to be worked out. Right now this is what they have:

1) Sabathia
2) Burnett
3) Pettitte
4) Chamberlain

I think Aceves was a very temporary solution and I'd prefer to treat him as another candidate for a rotation spot, so we really don't have a fifth starter. Pettitte and Chamberlain also have insecure holds on their rotation spots but for now I think they're safe. Here are the candidates I see as realistic possibilities for the rotation:

1) Sergio Mitre- I've been beating the Mitre drum for a while now. I liked the signing back when we first heard about it in the off season and Mitre has dominated the minor leagues since getting back. In Scranton this year he has an ERA of 2.40 in 45 innings pitched. His FIP is a bit higher but 3.04 is still dominant. He's an extreme GB pitcher, however, his K/BB in AAA this year is up to 7.00. Mitre is red hot right now and just won the International League Pitcher of the Week award. I'd have to say he's the most likely candidate for the job. Even if he doesn't get the starting spot. He should at least take Tomko's spot in the 'pen.

2) Phil Hughes- So much has been written about this guy that it feels redundant to do say anything about him at all. The pros and cons about him are obvious. In the rotation this year he was solid, outside of the one awful start against Baltimore he was more than that. Since moving to the bullpen though, he's been nothing short of dominating. Phil's become the eighth inning guy and when you have a good mix working in the bullpen you don't want to shake things up to much. Hughes will be fine in the rotation next year but until then I think you just let him continue to mow down hitters in the bullpen where he can throw that mid 90's fastball without tiring.

3) Alfredo Aceves- Ace shot up through the Yankees minor league system last year all the way from being an afterthought from the Mexican league in A ball to turning in a couple, very nice, starts for the ML club late in the year. Still, he was never considered a top prospect and nobody sees him as having the potential to be more than a middle of the rotation guy. So, Girardi put him in the bullpen to start the year and since then has become a critical piece of the mix there in a role similar to Ramiro Mendoza's. As with Hughes, taking him out of the 'pen destroys the mix they've found there. If I were to move a reliever I'd move Hughes and I don't even really think that makes sense.

4) Ivan Nova- A long shot candidate. He has been seen as a disappointing prospect who only had a hot Rookie Ball season in 2006 to go on. After a very mediocre 2007 he dropped down a lot of prospect lists but still got a promotion to Tampa. The next year his conventional numbers were bad but stats like FIP and K/BB showed he was a lot better than his W/L or ERA would indicate. I assume this was why he got another promotion, to AA ball this time. Finally, this year he gained back the faith of a lot of prospect watchers. He tore through AA and recently got called up to Scranton. In his brief time in Scranton he has been excellent. The Yankees may decide they like him enough to let him see some ML time but I doubt they want to rush him anymore than they have.

I know some people think Brett Tomko and Kei Igawa are options and there's probably somebody out there beating a drum for Phil Coke, but realistically, I'd be shocked if one of those three got the call. I think the obvious choice is Mitre. He's been as dominant as you can be and they lose nothing by calling him up. Besides this he should be in his peak years at age 28 and has ML experience. Hughes and Aceves have become key cogs in the bullpen and I don't think you should mess with that unless you absolutely have to. Hughes can get the innings he needs in winter ball. If they need to replace another guy then you reassess things. Ivan Nova is intriguing as well but I think the Yankees have already rushed him a bit and I wouldn't want them to ruin his future by bringing him up to fast. Again, if another hole opens up, say Joba continues to struggle and they want to demote him, then you need to think things over again but for now, no thanks.

Thoughts?