The Battle Begins

Since the Yanks were unable to land Cliff Lee and Andy Pettite retired, there seems to be two vacancies in the starting rotation.  The battle for the fourth and fifth spots is pretty wide open at this point in spring training.  Every candidate really must prove to the Yankees they deserve the spot. 

There are four names who really stand out as potential candidates:  Freddy Garcia, Ivan Nova, Sergio Mitre & Bartolo Colon.  Betances, Brackman, & Baneulos are starting the season in Double – A, and may make some appearances later this summer, but none are considered a starting pitcher option at this point.  It seems like the favorites are Freddy Garcia and Ivan Nova. 

I think Mitre will play a big role with the Yankees since he is versatile and can be used as a middle reliever or long man, or even starter if they need him.  Mitre ‘s ability to adapt to the role he is needed throughout the last two seasons, has been very impressive.  The Yankees will likely have him start a game sometime throughout the next week too.  But, ultimately I think the Yankees want to continue working with Nova and Garcia to get the last two spots and keep Mitre in the bullpen.

After slowly recovering from shoulder surgery a few years back, Freddy Garcia is coming off a strong year with the White Sox in 2010.  This was his first full season back since 2007 and he went 12-6 with a 4.64 ERA.  He pitched yesterday against the Rays and looked good with his fastball getting into the 89-90 mph range.

Ivan Nova had a decent debut with the Yankees last season.  He went 1-2 in 7 starts with an ERA of .450.  His major problem was getting through the fourth and fifth innings.  He was lights-out in the majority of his starts within the first three or four innings, then would fall apart.  The Yankees were impressed with him as there seems to be some real potential if he can get over the fifth-inning hump.  The team is aware of this issue and will be spending time teaching him to pace himself and get through longer outings.  He was the first starter who was stretched out to pitch 3 innings yesterday and he looked dominant.

I think it’s highly doubtful that Bartolo Colon will actually make this team.  He is totally out of shape and came into camp at 275 lbs.  It was a joke last year when the Red Sox picked him up and it’s a bigger joke this year that the Yankees gave him a try.  He had a good outing in tonight’s game against the Red Sox, but I wouldn’t take that to mean anything, since they didn’t bring their good lineup. 

There is always a chance that AJ is terrible again this season and we could be talking about looking for a #3, 4 & 5 starter, but let’s just pray that’s not the case!