It's a Start

I think there are a couple of things we do…

1.) Keep watching Edwar Ramirez and Jose Veras. They’ve both pitched well this year, and their peripherals (K/9, K/BB) support their low ERAs. If they can keep it up for the rest of the year, you’ll have two dependable setup men going into next year as a bridge to Rivera. That’s something we haven’t had in years.

2.) Watch Joba Chamberlain every 5th day. Right now he’s a good 5-6 innings pitcher. If he can reduce the walks and just throw a few less pitches each inning he can become a 6-7 inning pitcher quickly.

3.) Start hoping that Andy Pettitte decides to play for the Yankees next year. The HGH mess has been a non-issue, he’s pitched well this year, so there’s no reason to think he wouldn’t want to come back.

4.) Hughes/Kennedy/McCutchen – let’s get these guys back in the bigs ASAP, pitching meaningful innings. If playoffs are unlikely, then it’s good that Wang went down, opening up two rotation spots for these guys (assuming Rasner and Fat Sid don’t start pitching like vintage Pedro Martinez). We need at least 1 more starter for next year.

5.) Start thinking about next year’s outfield. Melky can’t be a starting center fielder with his current batting line, and we’ll need to replace Abreu (not terribly difficult at this point). Let’s see if Gardner/Christian are up to the task.

6.) Dump LaTroy. Call up somebody, anybody from AA or AAA and let’s see what they might be able to give us in the future.

7.) Watch CC in Milwaukee. We need to go after him hard this offseason. He will not cost prospects, luxury tax, and he’s entering his best years.

If everything goes well, our rotation for next year looks like this:

CC Sabatthia
Chien-Ming Wang
Andy Pettitte
Joba Chamberlain
Kennedy/Hughes/McCutchen/?

And we’ve got three good pieces to the bullpen.

Agree/Disagree?