Wednesday, July 28, 2004

Unit unnecessary and not evil.

How can Heyman try to get away with this?:

"If the playoffs start today, their ace is gopher-ball-prone Javier Vazquez, the No. 2 starter a toss-up between Jon Lieber and Jose Contreras."
 
The playoffs don't start today.  The playoffs start in October.  Plenty of time to get Brown and Mussina back in the rotation and maybe send Contreras back to Havana in exchange for a few boxes of cigars.

Why can the Yankees afford such a luxury?  Because the lead in the AL East is a whopping 8 games.  Which is why all those boring wins against Baltimore mean something in the long run.

Yes, of course, if Brown and Mussina are still on the DL when the playoffs start, the Yankees are in big trouble.  But nobody knows who will be on the DL when the playoffs start.  Maybe Randy Johnson will be on the DL.  Maybe Curt Schilling will be on the DL.  Maybe Andy Pettitte will require major surgery and suddenly bear a striking resemblance to Jim Abbott.

If the playoffs start the day after Mariano Rivera, Tom Gordon, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada, and Miguel Cairo are all hit by a bus, then the Yankees playoff hopes would really be in trouble.

How about this?  Since we're playing "if the playoffs start today"?  How about the playoffs start today, but I get to pick two starting pitchers from every other playoff team and magically put them on the DL?  Then, the Yankees might actually be in good shape in this theoretical battle of AAA call ups and #5 starters.

Without Schilling and Pedro, the Red Sox might be in trouble.  If the playoffs started today.  So they better get Unit.

 

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