I’m not a big basketball fan, either. Just a fan of any team facing any Boston team.

I agree - I hope Gene Michael was right about the veteran-ness being the reason for the slow start. In a way it made sense, at least the way he said it, which was, more or less, there isn’t the urgency that the younger guys have, because they know it’s a long, long season.

One of the things he said last night that especially piqued my interest was that he said he was there to “value” players - Yankees players and other players. I got the feeling he meant for trade, but I’m not sure that’s what he meant. But if they are, indeed, a little backed up with pitching prospects, it would be nice if he could make some recommendations on which one(s) could bring a nice return for some help this season. Sounds like he has a great job.

The Yankees are giving nothing away with regard to their plans for Joba. And I suspect it will have a lot to do with whether their ship rights itself in the next 3 weeks or so. (Clemens didn’t come on board until, what, mid to late June, last year?) If they’re winning and Joba is needed at the back end, I suspect they’ll keep him there longer than initially planned; if they’ve still got problems with their starters, or if Pettitte’s situation worsens, or if they still can’t score runs, then I think Joba moves to the starting rotation sooner. Mainly because if they’re not winning, Joba’s not going to get anywhere near the number of innings he needs to be a starter from day one next season.

I think here’s the thing with Garcia. If Garcia was a guy you were counting on as an organization - you’d be in a lot of trouble.

The talent has been there. But so have the injuries.

However, for the yanks Garcia is just a luxury. He’s not a guy they are counting on at all at this point.

That’s what depth allows you to do. Pitchers are always going to get hurt.

Those injuries become devastating when it happens to guys you are depending on.

As of right now the yankees are really only counting on two guys long term - Joba and Hughes (in addition to Wang). Even Kennedy is only expected to fill in the back end of the rotation. Ideally, the some of the higher end arms pan out and they move past kennedy.

That’s why they can wait and take risks on a Garcia, Brackman and Betances.

They have a core of young pitchers in place and a large number of high potential pieces to surround them with. If a couple of them pan out then the rotation is going to be in very good shape for years.

And they are going to need it because the AL East is going to be filled with great young pitching for the near term future.

His ERA is now 4.67!