Zell's Pinstripe Blog

Recently, Ken Davidoff tweeted that Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, Alfredo Aceves, Chad Gaudin and Sergio Mitre will compete for 5th starter’s slot in spring training. Out of the gate, it is obvious Hughes and Joba are likely going to get the role while the other is relegated to being Mariano’s bridge. However, we don’t want to speak badly and make you think the other pitchers don’t have a chance, so we are going to break down the likelihood of each pitcher to fall into the great role of Yankees 5th starter.

Joba Chamberlain

Despite being yanked around last year near the end of the season, Joba has had the most experience in the past year starting than all of his other counterparts. He had a record of 9-6 in 31 games started with 133 K’s and 76 BB’s in 156 innings. One would argue that if he wasn’t jerked around for 3 innings every 5 days at the end of the season he would have done better. After being removed from the rotation for the playoffs and inserted into the bullpen, Joba struck out 11 in 10 innings, but had a WHIP of 1.6. In his time as a reliever in the postseason in comparison to Phil Hughes, Joba was head and shoulders above Phil. At this point in time, Joba is my hands on favorite to win the role as the 5th starter due to his experience the last year.

Phil Hughes

Phil, unlike Joba, enjoyed success in 2009, but mainly out of the bullpen. With Phil being the bridge to Mariano, it solidified what would be the best bullpen in baseball. However, in the postseason, Hughes was abysmal in the postseason with a 9+ ERA over 12 innings with a 1.5 WHIP. Before Hughes was bridging the gap to Mariano, Hughes was 3-2 in 7 games started, with the last being May 31. He also had a 5.45 ERA with 31 K’s in 34.2 innings in the games he started. However, if Phil were to win the 5th slot, rumor has it, he would be restricted to 190 innings this year, or as some people call it, The Hughes Rules. If Joba stumbles during Spring Training, Hughes has a good chance to over take him as the 5th starter.

Chad Gaudin

Gaudin was acquired via waiver wire from San Diego in August of 2009 and in his time with San Diego he was 4-10 with a 5.13 ERA, 105 K’s in 105.1 innings and a 1.5 WHIP. After the trade to New York, Gaudin had a 3.19 ERA in 6 games started with the Yankees. However, in those 6 games he pitched more than 5 innings only 3 times. Out of the remaining three contestants after Joba and Hughes, we judge that Gaudin is the most likely candidate to win the 5th slot.

Sergio Mitre

With Sergio pitching for the Yankees in 2009, the casual fan would say ‘Oh, he’s coming off of Tommy John Surgery, he should be better as time goes on’ and unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. In 9 games started he was 3-3 and lasted 5 or more innings in 6 of the starts. However, his track record as a pitcher isn’t that great. He has an ERA of 5.56 in 360+ career innings. At this point, if Mitre hasn’t fully developed and corralled the ERA of his, it is unlikely he will in 2010. However, his record of being a starting pitcher in the Major Leagues precludes him from being the least likely solution.

Alfredo Aceves

Aceves was an integral part of the Yankees bullpen in 2009 and he performed a variety of roles. He started one game in 2009 and pitched every inning from 1-9 for the Yankees for various reasons. However, he only started one game for the Yankees and lasted 3.1 innings and allowed 4 runs to cross the plate. As much as Yankees fans would like to see Aceves excel in the starting role, he is best suited for the ‘Jack of All Trades’ role in the bullpen and Girardi likely knows that as well.