Reviewing the Yankees Starting Pitching To Date

It's almost the trade deadline and the Yankees are out there looking for a starter. So let's look at the guys who they went into the season thinking would be their top 5 starters:

• A.J. Burnett - 20 starts, 10-4, 3.53 ERA, 127.1 IP, 109 hits, 15 HR, 63 BB, 113 K, 1.351 WHIP, 8.0 SO/9, 124 ERA+
• AJ is having one of the most statistically odd seasons out there. He leads the league in walks and wild pitches and is third in hits by pitch. His K rate is down, his walk rate is up, and he's on pace to give up more homeruns than he's ever given up. Yet he's also on pace for one of the best seasons of his career.
• One of the reasons this has occurred is that he's bared down when he's gotten runners on base. With a runner on third and less than two outs, he's held them to scoring only 38% of the time which would be a career low and way below the MLB average of 52%. 
• He also has totally turned his season around after a slow start. I was at the Fenway start in which he couldn't protect a 6-0 lead. It was embarrassing and he said as much himself. He's responded by going 6-1 with a 1.67 ERA in his last 8 starts and looked like the ace of the staff. The team is 14-6 in his 20 starts which is the best mark on the team.
• Sports Illustrated says that no player has been more vital to the Yanks burst past the Red Sox than Burnett. Mark Feinsand of the Daily News says that Burnett set the tone for the road trip with his start on Monday night vs. Tampa (and also has a funny quote from Johnny Damon)
• CC Sabathia - 22 starts, 10-7, 3.83 ERA, 148.0 IP, 133 hits, 12 HR, 43 BB, 109 K, 1.189 WHIP, 6.6 SO/9, 115 ERA+
• CC has been good and he's been durable and he's gone long...but he hasn't really impressed or dominated yet. Maybe this is the curse of the big hurler coming to the Yankees in the first season (see: Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, et al), or maybe it's his incredible workload the past few seasons (he's thrown more innings than anyone the past few years). His SO/9 are down and his SO/BB are down. And he hasn't been good against Boston and Tampa Bay, the two teams he was brought in to beat. That's even before October comes along where he sports a 7.92 career ERA.
• Mark Feinsand points out what a strange season CC has had:

Yet a look at the Yankees’ record with each pitcher on the mound reveals something very strange...

Burnett: 14-6 in 20 starts
Chamberlain: 13-6 in 19 starts
Pettitte: 13-7 in 20 starts
Sabathia: 11-11 in 22 starts

How are the Yankees a .500 team with their $161 million ace on the hill? Sabathia has thrown seven innings or more in 14 of his 22 starts, and he’s given up three earned runs or less in 13 starts. Throw in four more starts in which he allowed four earned runs and he’s done enough to give the Yankees a chance to win in 17 of his 22 starts...

He’s also left eight of his starts with his team losing, so he deserves some of the blame. Is it telling that he’s 0-2 with a 6.10 ERA in three starts against Boston and Tampa Bay?

• SNY's Bronx Cheer says that his drop-off is going unnoticed and asks if people should worry. Steven Goldman is worried. We pointed out yesterday this Baseball Prospectus article that says that CC Sabathia is not finishing off hitters.
• Joba Chamberlain - 19 starts, 6-2 3.86 ERA, 102.2 IP, 102 hits, 13 HR, 48 BB, 92 K, 1.461 WHIP, 8.1 SO/9, 114 ERA+
• Joba has shown flashes of brilliance since the All-Star break allowing only 2 runs in 13.2 innings while striking out 14 and going late into games. This start tonight against the Rays is a big one for him as if he can string 3 of these in a row together, it will look mighty impressive. Joba's problem has been pretty easy to figure out: he just hasn't gone after hitters. His SO/BB rate is 1.92. He's hit a league-leading 11 batters. He has been great on the road (3.26 ERA) but has struggled at home (4.37 ERA) in the new ballpark. The other issue to worry about is his innings limit which he's going to get close to this season.
• Joba's biggest problem is just getting ahead and retiring guys. The leadoff hitter of an inning has a .333/.426/.538 line against Joba. That means he's letting a leadoff runner on once every four innings which is unacceptable. He needs to trust his stuff and go after guys. Giving up a solo home run is fine. Walking a guy you had an 0-2 count on to force in a run is definitely not.
• We mentioned on the blog that Joba was missing his fist pump because now that it's back he's been pitching great. Behind The Moat agrees with me. I don't give a shit what the "purists" think. If you want Joba to pitch with any emotion on the mound, let him show some emotion on the mound. Give him his snarl back. I don't mean he should show up every guy he strikes out a la Carlos Perez, but he should get excited after a big K and upset when he sucks it up. Oh...and the guy is really, really young and developing. Should be interesting to watch in the second half...if he's not traded by Friday for Roy Halladay.
• Andy Pettitte - 20 starts, 8-6, 4.67 ERA, 121.1 IP, 132 hits, 16 HR, 47 BB, 85 K, 1.475 WHIP, 6.3 SO/9, 94 ERA+
• Andy has been less than dandy, but has been serviceable. Well, as a 5th starter he would be serviceable, but he's been thrust into the 4th starter role and I'm not sure he holds up here. His second half last year was brutal and he's on pace to throw just as many innings. His hits/9 are actually the lowest he's had in the AL since 2002 but his HR/9 is the highest ever, his BB/9 are up, and his SO/BB ratio has fallen to the lowest since 2000. He's always been a guy to give up a lot of hits, but he used to get out of it with GIDPs. Not so much anymore. He went from 29 GIDPs in 2007 to 15 last year to only 8 so far this year. Worse, with a runner on 3rd and less than two outs, that runner has scored 63% of the time.
• Andy has only had a quality start in 45% of his starts. Most of the problem, though has been his home and away splits. Even as a lefty, he's struggled in the New Yankee Stadium. At home, he has a 5.28 ERA, a .819 OPS against and has given up 13 home runs. On the road, he has a 3.69 ERA, a .697 OPS against and has given up 3 home runs. That's a huge difference.
• Pettitte has actually pitched better so far in the second half, though, and gives some hope for a bounce back. He's only made two starts, but has a 3.29 ERA, 1.024 WHIP, and .584 OPS against vs. his first half numbers of 4.85 ERA, 1.523 WHIP, and .795 OPS against. He's never had great WHIPs over his career, but he needs to control the baserunners because he's having a harder time getting them out once they get on the base paths.
• Chien-Ming Wang - 9 starts (12 games) 1-6, 9.64 ERA, 42 IP, 66 hits, 7 HR, 19 BB, 29 K, 2.024 WHIP, 6.2 SO/9, 46 ERA+
• There's not much more to be said about Wang. He was awful, was shut down, was awful again, was shut down and now is out for the season. When he was in there, he just didn't seem to have the same feel he had last year before his foot surgery. Baseball-Reference writes about his nightmare season (though, if it's any comfort for him, Roy Halladay was once MUCH worse)
• Both Tyler Kepner and Peter Abraham wrote how that one step in Pittsburgh changed everything for Wang. I really feel bad for the guy. Seemed like a good guy who never complained and went about his job. He did it really, really well, too until this year. Now he's probably a non-tender candidate. Some team will pick him up and try to resurrect the guy who was a perennial 19-game winner (maybe Los Angeles with Joe Torre?). I will miss the Wanger too who not only threw the quickest games out of any Yankees starter, but also inspired the most jokes with that last name. Let's hope he has a quick recovery and the Yankees find a way to bring him back.

So there you have it, the Yankees 5 opening day starters. Sergio Mitre is now in for Wang which is why there is urgency in getting a starter for the Yankees. Will they by the deadline? Maybe not. But it won't mean that the Yankees won't acquire one after during the non-waiver deadline. Also, if they decide to trade Joba for Halladay, they won't be filling a starter hole; they'll just be replacing one starter with another. Although Halladay won't have the same innings limits and has a better track record, I still think the Yankees would rather keep Joba and fill the 5th starter slot with someone else.