From
George A. King III:
Three of them pitched into November after six months of regular season work. The newcomer logged 219 1/3 innings for Atlanta.
So, manager Joe Girardi and pitching coach Dave Eiland formed a plan early in the offseason that will reduce the spring training workload for CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte and former Brave Javier Vazquez.
"We want to make sure all these guys are absolutely physically prepared," Girardi said of the Yankees' top four starters. "The only difference is maybe one side session for each of them that they are going to miss. I started thinking about this in the offseason and I talked to Dave. All these guys come in and they all throw the first day you start.
"CC is going to start the first spring training game [March 3] so why are the other guys throwing extra bullpens?"
...
The fact that Girardi thought about February early in the offseason is a strong indication the extra work -- which resulted in a World Series title -- is a concern.
"In the back of your mind you think about it," Girardi said. "That's why we are trying to take some measures so they are where we want them to be physically all year. It is something of a concern or we probably wouldn't have changed it."
Clearly this is the correct thing to do in this situation. None of these guys need the innings, they just need their stuff to be regular season ready. Last season Girardi was able to keep most of the team healthy throughout the year and it appears that he's getting off to a good start in 2010 to repeat that.
