A Good Pitcher is the answer to every team's problem.

"It didn't take long for to turn all of Brian Cashman's proclamations about not looking for another starting pitcher before the July 31 trade deadline into sheer folly.

Hughes has been fantastic for much of this All-Star season. But he was far from stellar in the opening game of a two-game series against the Angels, giving up six runs in five-plus innings in a 10-2 loss at the Stadium Tuesday night."

If Hughes had pitched a Perfect Game and struck out 27 batters last night, I fail to see how that would have altered Cashman's strategy regarding the other pitchers in the Yankees' starting rotation.

The Yankees will likely add inconsequential pitching depth and inconsequential bench depth before the trade deadline.

Unless you're talking about someone who's better than Mitre -- someone who might supplant Burnett/Vazquez in the playoff rotation -- then it's really inconsequential.


"Burnett, Pettitte and now a rare bad start by Hughes don't make the Yankees look like the juggernaut they appeared to be before the All-Star break."

The Yankees have only played four games after the All-Star break.

During that time, the Yankees took two out of three from Tampa, which was fairly juggernauty.


"No need to push the panic button. It's not the Mets' rotation of Johan Santana followed by a wing and a prayer, but the Yankees need to add some insurance to the rotation if they want to maintain their lead in the AL East."

No need to push the panic button, so I'm going to push the panic button.


"With Hughes' innings limitations, the Pettitte injury and Burnett's inconsistency, it would be very prudent for Cashman to start working the phones harder to land another starter before the trading deadline."

Okay: Before Pettitte's injury and before Hughes's bad start on Tuesday, Cashman almost pulled off a deal for Cliff Lee.

"Working the phones even harder" means what? Trading Cano for Oswalt? Trading Jeter for Halladay? Trading Thames and Cervelli for Westbrook?


Every team could always use more starting pitching depth. Also, more bench depth, bullpen depth, infield depth, outfield depth, or maybe an extra pinch runner.

Without a cost-benefit analysis or even a proposed trade, it's just a useless idea.