Yankees have questions at end of rotation

The first week of Spring Training has passed us by, and we are a little over a week away from actual exhibition games getting underway. Yes I am legitimately excited for Spring Training games to begin, if you think that's scary then well maybe you have more of a life then me.

Interesting article by John Perotto from Baseball Prospectus on his news & notes around training camp http://www.baseballprospectus.com/

I find it interesting that the Yankees are so insistent on putting Joba Chamberlain in the bullpen. I totally agree with the philosophy of protecting a young pitcher from putting too much stress on his arm, but unless the Yankees want to suffer through another April and May of Kei Igawa they will be forced to use Ian Kennedy or another retread at that spot.

Kennedy is as young as Chamberlain, and doesn't have the MLB experience of Chamberlain, which granted is only 23 innings, but that's just the point. The club can still use one or both of these kids, especially if Mussina struggles like he did during the 2nd half of last season. As Perotto mentions Joe Girardi had experience with young arms in Florida, and unfortunately may have damaged two of the organizations best young arms in Josh Johnson and Annibal Sanchez. Girardi's history makes me think Brian Cashman may be whispering in Girardi's ear and telling him to limit the strain on Chamberlain especially. Cashman is right, the Yankees future is dependant on the young arms of Chamberlain, Hughes and Kennedy. However his job is on the line, and other organizations have had plenty of success using young arms on the way to a World Series, in 2006 the Detroit Tigers rode Justin Verlander, and Joel Zumaya to the Series.

This will be an interesting develop out of Spring Training as the Yankees are expected to be in a tight race with the Red Sox in the AL East, and will also be in a competitive wild card race should they fall short to the Sox. Their chances of success could very well come down to who they select to take the mound with the 5th spot in the pitching rotation out of Spring Training.