“We’ve talked about importance of winning Game 3 [against the Twins] so we could set up our rotation the way we want to,” Girardi said. “Not getting him [Sabathia] to 250 innings in the regular season allows us to consider that [pitching him three games].”Here's some quotes on the topic, via Mark Hale:
He said the topic has been broached with Sabathia, but not in depth.
“We’ve talked a little bit about what we might do,” Girardi said. “But we’ve told him to concentrate on Game 1, that’s the most important game, and we’ll go from there."
Good, this is how they should set things up. The fact that he's publicly stating that he's considering it is basically like saying, "yea, we're going with a three-man rotation." With a three-man staff, not only do you avoid having to start a pitcher like Chad Gaudin, but now if a pitcher does get bombed the Yanks have two long men in the pen so they can use either Gaudin or Alfredo Aceves for as long as they need."I think it's something you go into the series with a plan in mind," Girardi said. "Obviously weather can always change a lot of different things, depending on how we are this weekend, Friday and Saturday.
"So that could change things. But we are definitely considering possibly going to a three-man rotation in this round. But we will have to take a look at it and see how it goes."
