If you have pitching experience -- Little League, American Legion, backyard wiffle ball -- please contact New York Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman immediately.
After Friday night's putrid start by Sergio Mitre, and considering the 7.90 ERA he has in three starts, I'm sure nobody wants to see him start another game. But, right now the Yankees might be stuck with him
Peter Abraham summarized the situation nicely.
Sergio Mitre to date:
3 starts
13.2 innings
24 hits
13 runs
12 earned runs
3 walks
6 strikeoutsThat looks like a one-way ticket back to Scranton. But the Yankees have Kei Igawa, Josh Towers, Jason Hirsh, Romulo Sanchez and young Ivan Nova in Scranton. When the K-Man is your ace, that’s trouble.
"I’m not sure that we have a lot of options at this point," Joe Girardi said, quite correctly. "(Mitre) has got to get it done for us."
Thing is, after three less than inspiring starts, it's pretty obvious Mitre can't get it done. So, if you can pitch -- even a little -- get those resumes to Cashman ASAP.
Here are a few other stories floating Around the Yankee Universe today.
- ESPN's Jayson Stark puts the Yankees firmly in the 'loser' category when assessing the trade deadline.
If everything in life comes down to Yankees-Red Sox, then any deadline when the Red Sox pull off a major coups and the Yankees trade for a utility guy (Jerry Hairston Jr.) has to dump the Yankees in the old "losers" column, even though they're obviously not exactly a team in need of a major overhaul.
"The one thing you have to say in their defense," one AL exec said, "is they're rolling. It's hard to find their fault right now." But if this is a team without a hole, how come the Yankees made a run at Jarrod Washburn and Kansas City's Brian Bannister? Because they know themselves that they're one rotation injury from a potentially serious pitching crisis. If they can unearth a little pitching depth in August, we'll call off the Trouble Watch.
But for now, any Deadline Day that passes without a significant Yankees move will be considered by the proper authorities to be an official "loss."
- Interestingly, Gordon Edes of Yahoo! Sports has the Yankees in the 'winners' column. Here is his reasoning.
Why do they get a "W" when all they did was pick up utilityman Jerry Hairston Jr.? Because their big moves in the offseason have left them in a position where they didn’t have to do more than that.
- NY Baseball Digest thinks that Friday may turn out to be an important day for the Yankees -- for 2009 and beyond.
The Red Sox closed the gap last night on and off the field. They beat the Orioles and acquired Victor Martinez. Jim Duquette told us Thursday that the Yankees are one of the team’s best positioned to win now and in the future.
We will see, starting August 6th, if "winning now" includes beating the Boston Red Sox. If not, all the Yankees can hope for is that they continue to hit the jackpot with their deep farm system. July 31st might become the day that the 2009 season, and how business is conducted in the future, changed for the New York Yankees.
- After Friday's trade deadline passed, Mark Teixeira expressed confidence that the Yankees were fine without a major pitching acquisition.
"I don't think anyone can complain about bringing in CC (Sabathia), A.J. (Burnett) and myself," Teixeira said. "Guys are stepping up for us this year. Joba (Chamberlain) is stepping up, Phil (Hughes) is stepping up. We've got everything we need here."
My take: I had no real issue with Cashman refusing to part with top prospects. Something has to get done, though, because the Yankees can't keep sending Mitre out there.