New York Yankees News and Notes - 9/16/2011

This is one of the most uneventful Septembers around the majors that I can remember. There aren't any real pennant races left, the Cy Young/MVP candidates are pretty clearly identified, and we don't even have the "who will be the Wild Card" drama coming out of the AL East. So, in the absence of real news, we have fake news, like who the Yankees #2 starter will be once the postseason starts. Fangraphs does a pretty good job of making the case here and I can't say I really disagree with much of it. 

It's really nice to have a bunch of studs in your rotation, but I think the Yankees are in significantly better shape heading into this year's postseason compared to last year, where it Sabathia and Hughes followed by questions about Andy Pettitte's health and A.J. Burnett's ability to avoid football score blowouts. Say what you will about Bartolo Colon's durability, Freddy Garcia's smoke and mirrors act, or Ivan Nova's ups and downs, but any of them are likely to give the Yankees about six innings while limiting the damage on offense, which is as much as any of the other AL teams can say about their no. 2-4 playoff starters.

RAB gives their take on the not-so-suprising news about Pedro Feliciano with the perfect analysis: repeating mistakes. When will teams learn that signing free agent relievers is kind of like putting your mortgage payment down on scratch-off tickets? Sure, you'll win some of your money back but you're virtually guaranteed a pretty sizable disappointment. I guess Brian Cashman forgot this, this, this, and this.

Then again, it could be even worse.....

This stuff scares me, especially as the postseason nears:

As the Yankees figure out what to do with their pitching staff in the postseason, it’s easy to consider (A.J.) Burnett to be the most obvious odd man out (one solid start in Boston and three terrific innings in Seattle don’t carry a ton of weight). But if he does this twice more in the next two weeks — against significantly better lineups — would that be enough to convince Girardi and the Yankees that Burnett’s become the hot hand, one they should ride into October?

It's pretty clear to me that A.J. Burnett has permanently morphed into Jeff Weaver II, and that should tell you where he belongs in October (hint, it's not here).