This is a couple of days old, but I’ve been busy watching the World Baseball Classic.
Ian O’Connor, the honor today is yours.
The Yankees have no interest in devaluing an asset like Rodriguez, not when they have nine years to go on a contract worth more than $300 million. So they’re not about to declare themselves a better, happier team with A-Rod on the bench.
But facts are facts: The Yankees haven’t reached the World Series in Rodriguez’s five seasons, and they reached six in the eight seasons before he arrived.
Coincidence, or guilty as charged?
Here are the Yankees rotations in four selected years, pitchers are in order of how many games they started for the team:
| 1999 | 2003 | 2005 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orlando Hernandez (214IP, 115ERA+) |
Roger Clemens (211IP, 112ERA+) |
Randy Johnson (225IP, 112ERA+) |
Mike Mussina (200IP, 132ERA+) |
| David Cone (193IP, 137ERA+) |
Andy Pettitte (208IP, 109ERA+) |
Mike Mussina (179IP, 96ERA+) |
Andy Pettitte (204IP, 98ERA+) |
| Andy Pettitte 191IP, 101ERA+) |
Mike Mussina (214IP, 129ERA+) |
Carl Pavano 100IP, 89ERA+) |
Darrell Rasner (113IP, 82ERA+) |
| Roger Clemens (186IP, 103ERA+) |
David Wells (213IP, 106ERA+) |
Chien-Ming Wang (116IP, 105ERA+) |
Sidney Ponson (80IP, 76ERA+) |
| Hideki Irabu (169IP, 98ERA+) |
Jeff Weaver (159IP, 73ERA+) |
Jaret Wright (63IP, 70ERA+) |
Chien-Ming Wang (95IP, 109ERA+) |
Hmmm, what’s the difference?
