Article:Pinstripe Pulse: The Yankees are in deep sh.....

For the first time in many a season, Yankee fans could look forward to finally having a young, homegrown pitching staff. No more Carl Pavano. No more Jaret Wright. No more Randy Johnson. We could finally take a peek at the Columbus roster of a few years ago, or last season's in Scranton-Wilkes Barre and realize our guys are finally ready. Philip Hughes, Ian Kennedy, Joba Chamberlain, Alan Horne, Jeff Karstens have all had minor league success, and in some cases, varying levels of, albeit brief, Major League success.

THUD!, CRASH!, BANG!. No, that's not the sound of your cat knocking your boombox off the nightstand, or your car being broken into. It's the sound of the Yankees pitching staff falling on its collective asses. The questions are, WTF happened?

Following his stellar, 3 2/3 IP, 8 hit, 6 ER outing tonight, Phil Hughes' season ERA is 9.00. Kennedy's is 8.53. These guys make Mike Mussina's 4.73 ERA look like a Cy Young contender. But at least Kennedy and Hughes are pitching. Horne left his second start of the season in the second inning, and was placed on the DL with a strained forearm. Karstens, fresh off an outstanding off-season where he was a standout both in the Arizona Fall League and with Team USA in the World Cup, was placed on the 15 day DL on March 28th with a strained groin, where he remains. Thankfully, Chien-Ming Wang has been solid so far, going 5-0, 3.23. Take away Wang's record, the Yankees would be 9-13 and in last place in the AL East.

Chamberlain has pitched well, although he has shown signs of being hittable. Let's not forget also the wise signing of the Colorado Rockies batting practice pitcher from last season, LaTroy Hawkins, to fill the spot left by our own BP specialist, Luis Vizcaino. Hawkins enters tonight with an 8.56 ERA and 17 hits allowed in 13 2/3 innings. Not that it matters much, because he sucks too, Vizcaino has pitched just an inning and a third so far for the Rockies, with a 27.00 ERA.

I'm not going to second guess the Yankees not pulling the trigger on the Johan Santana deal, after all, one totally facking ridiculous contract is enough for one team. Except, the Yankees have more than one. Which is why they likely won't be able to make any moves until after the season, and, we all know that will be too late. Andy Pettitte, 16 million. Bobby Abreu, 14 million. Jason Giambi, 16 million. The same Giambi who is hitting a buck 64. At least Giambi doesn't have to buy the postgame beer though, because Robinson Cano is hitting .160. The same Robinson Cano who the Yankees signed to a 4 year, 28 million dollar deal this off-season. Good luck trying to move that contract next year. And we haven't even mentioned yet the 4 year, 52 million dollar deal they gave to their 36 year old catcher, who a month after signing it is on the disabled list for the first time in his career, and who likely needs reconstructive shoulder surgery.

How bad are the Yankees going right now? Alex Rodriguez has a strained quad and appears heading for the DL. Their leading homer hitter couldn't start in Pittsburgh, or too many other teams for that matter. With Posada injured, the catching corps consists of Jose Molina, an admittedly solid defensive catcher ideally suited to be a backup, and Chris Stewart, who has a whopping 45 career at bats. And that's not even counting Chad Moeller, who the Yankees sent down a couple of days before Posada went on the DL. The Yankees wanted to recall Moeller but can't because he has to wait the mandatory 10 days, to recall him sooner would subject him to waivers. From their 40 man roster, the Yankees currently have eight players on the DL, six of them pitchers. The Yanks petitioned the Commissioner's office for an emergency call-up waiver, which was denied, they already knew Posada was hurt. When it rains it pours.

I don't want this to turn into a management bashing, as they don't actually play. Management does impact what happens on the field however, and as someone pointed] out prior to the season starting, Joe Girardi is not the right man for the manager's job. Maybe the rumors are true, Joe Torre lost interest, got tired of listening to The Boss in his face all the time, can't manage young pitchers any longer. So, Girardi was brought in specifically to handle the young pitchers? Well, not doing such a good job, so far, is he?

The schedule works in the Yankees favor. They are one day away from completing their longest stretch of road games this season, (18 of the first 23). Following the day's play on May 11th, the Yanks will be finished with both Cleveland and Detroit...for the season. But if on May 11th their four or five games under .500 and ten games out, it won't matter much.

The first month has been a frustrating one to watch, and it hasn't been so for just one reason. And my crystal ball isn't giving me too many positive signs for the foreseeable future either. Panicking, and putting one young pitcher (Chamberlain) into the rotation to replace another, (Hughes or Kennedy) isn't the right thing to do at this point. Mortgaging their future to pick up an Adam Dunn or Joe Blanton isn't the right thing to do either. But something has to be done, and quickly, or this season will be over almost as soon as it started.

It could be worse, though, they could have this stiff.


 * Kelsdad covers the Yankees Beat for ArmchairGM