Looking at the Pitching Staff

The Yankees currently have the following pitchers on the active roster.

CC Sabathia
Andy Pettitte
Phil Hughes
Joba Chamberlain
AJ Burnett

Mariano Rivera
Phil Coke
Alfredo Aceves
Chien Ming Wang
David Robertson (Replaces Bruney who is headed to the DL, again).
Jose Veras
Brett Tomko


In Wang's only outing since he returned from the DL he came out of the 'pen to throw 3 innings, allowing two earned runs on six hits, a walk, and a strikeout. Not great, but hey its better than what he had been doing earlier this season. I personally like leaving Wang in the 'pen for another week or so, or until Hughes has another dreadful outing. In the 'pen we can bring him out in a mop-up role which A. Has him pitch in a no pressure situation so we don't have him in with a game on the line B. Lets the rest of the 'pen rest. C. Keeps Hughsie in the rotation after his great outing today.

With the rest of the 'pen we'll obviously keep Mo (duh), Aceves (1.84 ERA, 0.95 WHIP), and Coke (he's lefty and opposing batters are batting .217 against him plus he has a 1.14 WHIP).
Robertson should stay for a while. He was just called up, and he was earning his keep at Triple A with a 1.84 ERA, a 1.13 WHIP, and 25 strikeouts in 14.2 innings.

Brett Tomko and Jose Veras, well let's just say I haven't been real pleased.

Veras has "great stuff" I know that, I hear Suzyn Waldman say that everyday. But, he also has a 5.59 ERA, and 13 walks in 19.1 innings. That's crazy bad. Oh, he also sports a WHIP of 1.45. And we don't want someone to take him away from us? Veras is out of options, so the Yanks are scared that if they send him to Scranton someone will claim him when he's put on waivers. I don't know how big of a problem his departure would be for this team. He's just not reliable at all. I get the same shiver in my spine when he takes the mound that I used to when the human white flag, Felix Heredia, used to pitch. He has been very unconvincing this season, but please, by all means Jose, prove me wrong...

Tomko, he doesn't have "great stuff." He's really just not that great. I mean we can give him a few more outings, but I don't see him as a real reliable reliever either. He has a 4.15 ERA through 4.1 innings, but what's worse is that opposing batters are hitting .313 against him.

In triple A though....we have Mark Melancon, who sports a 2.30 ERA in 15.2 innings. In that span he has 21 K's and has only walked 4. We also have Zach Kroenke, who has a 1.45 ERA with 10 K's in 18.2 innings. They're better than Veras and Tomko. Let's make the switch already.