New Year, Same Old Yankee Pinstripes

If you're a New York Yankees fan, there is good cause for concern. The 2006 Yankees squad is eerily similar to the 2005 and 2004 teams, who both boasted tons of offensive firepower, yet were undone each year by a lack of pitching.

True, the Bronx Bombers can put crooked numbers on the board with the best of teams. And Johnny Damon's presence only elongates an already deep murderers row. There are holes, though.

Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, and Robinson Cano are still potential playoff liabilities. They strike out a lot and are not the savviest of baserunners, and their speed is below average, at best.

Granted, there shouldn't be a need for the bottom of the order to ever produce with the Yankees' first six hitters. But come October, when the pitching gets better and Alex Rodriguez's gaudy stats take their traditional postseason plunge, it becomes extraordinarily important for everyone in the lineup to contribute.

As for their pitching, it seems to be the same as last year. Randy Johnson has now been afforded one more year to re-adjust to the American League, but based on the fact that he will be 43 in September makes one believe one more year is more detrimental than beneficial. He will probably never become the lights-out lefty the Yankees so desperately sought when they obtained him from Arizona more than one year ago.

The rest of the rotation is also older/more inconsistent/still terrible. Mike Mussina continues to show his growing age, Shawn Chacon and Chien-Ming Wang are having a tough time duplicating their success from a season ago, and Jaret Wright is still ... well, terrible. The worst signing in Yankees history continues to make everyone think, “I can't believe they chose this guy instead of Andy Pettitte and Jon Lieber.”

Aaron Small and Carl Pavano will have every chance to prove their value once they are healthy enough, but if they follow the trend set by Yankees starters this year, Small will come back down to reality, and Pavano will be as disappointing as Jaret Wright. (Although, in fairness to Jaret Wright, for him to be disappointing means that someone must have expected something from him.)

Lastly, the bullpen is as atrocious as it was last year. Mariano Rivera better be well-rested for the playoff run because Joe Torre will be relying on him heavily in the postseason, if they get there.

Kyle Farnsworth has consistently proven that he is incapable of being trusted with anything of value (like last year when he blew a five-run eighth inning lead to the Astros in Game 4 of the NLDS), but Jaret Wright proved to be equally worthless in Atlanta, as well, and since the Yankee brass was so impressed with Wright's pitching last season, they figured why not reward another Braves pitcher incapable of dealing with pressure situations with an over-inflated contract.

Remember, the Yankees have traveled down this road before, being burned every time along the way (see former Atlanta pitchers Steve Karsay and Chris Hammond). But apparently all is better because Brian Cashman has more control now, and his first priority is to always overspend on Braves pitching and not his own.

And since Farnsworth will be yet another high-priced middle reliever that Torre cannot trust, and since the Yankees seem incapable of producing another pitcher that even comes close to resembling the best relief pitcher over the past decade, they will continue to place an enormous burden on the Sandman.

Ron Villone, Mike Myers, Tanyon Sturtze, and Scott Proctor make up the rest of the totally unreliable 'pen, and Octavio Dotel will have a chance to at some point to be the impact middle reliever. That's what it comes down to for the Yankees, hope that Octavio Dotel is the answer to their prayers.

I think they'll probably win the division, because over 162 games, it's tough to matchup with this team on a day-to-day basis, but come October, it won't surprise me if the Yankees are once again on the outside looking in when the World Series commences.