Your 4th & 5th Starters.... Part II

Freddy Garcia was name the 5^th starter out of spring training after he beat out Colon for the job, and Mitre was traded to the Brewers.  At the time it made sense as Colon who had looked sharp in spring training had a innings with the amount of innings he can pitch this season.  Garcia didn’t actually get an opportunity to pitch a game as a starter until April 16, but since then has started 6 games.

In those 6 games he started he is 2-3 with a 3.22 ERA.  Not too shabby for a 5^th starter.  So far he has thrown 36 innings and struck out 30 batters.  Unfortunately he has allowed nearly as many hits as innings pitched, with 34.  He still manages to have a 1.31 WHIP though, and has a 7.4k/9ip ratio.  His last start against the Red Sox looked like he was throwing batting practice and he allowed 5 runs over 5 innings.  Prior to his last start, Garcia’s ERA was an above average 2.40.

By no means is Garcia an Ace but he is battling through his starts.  Even if he can’t throw over 90 MPH any longer, he is still a viable pitcher who was stretched out to 157 innings last year and should be able to throw for the full season this year.  Garcia will keep the Yankees in the game for most of his starts and as long as the Yankees offense can get out of this funk, they have a solid 5^th starter.

If the Yankees 4^th and 5^th starters have a 3.16 and 3.22 ERA’s respectively, I think we should be happy.  The league ERA average is 3.82.  Both the 4^th and 5^th starters have better than average ERA, and that is more than enough to keep this team going through the season.