Yahoo expert. That actually made me laugh out loud.

Regarding Yankee development of young pitching:

" 'I feel we're having a lot of success,' he said. 'We have produced pitching. Phil Hughes, a 16-to-18-game winner two of the last three years. Ivan Nova. David Robertson. Joba Chamberlain. Last year was David Phelps. This year is it Adam Warren?' "

Agreed.


"It might be. Warren made one start for the Yankees last season and returned to Triple-A with a 23.14 ERA. He is, these days, what passes for a Yankees pitching prospect."

That's why there a question mark next to his name.


"Over the last half-decade, the Yankees have developed pitching depth almost as poorly as any team in the major leagues."

Pettitte, Rivera, then a whole bunch of first-place finishes which hurt their draft position.

That's why it's nice to see the emergence of Hughes, Nova, Phelps, and Robertson.


"For this study, we tallied the pitchers who debuted between 2008 and 2012 and tied them to the team with which they arrived. Then we compiled their Wins Above Replacement, via Baseball-Reference, with that first team only. By this measure, actually, the Yankees actually are one of the better teams in baseball, with 16.4 WAR, more than three-quarters of which come from reliever David Robertson, since-jettisoned Alfredo Aceves and Nova, who will compete for the fifth-starter job with Phelps."

... one of the better teams in baseball ...

After you said almost as poorly as any team in the league.


"Still, it puts in perspective the Yankees' stated philosophy – develop pitching, especially starters – and the inability to do so that prompted them to pursue Hiroki Kuroda and Andy Pettitte for the last two seasons in free agency. The average starts from homegrown pitchers over the last five years among the 30 major league teams is 197.9. The Yankees have 82."

Right. The Yankees envy the teams that got 198 starts from a whole bunch of bad pitchers.

Also, Andy Pettitte is homegrown from a Yankee perspective.


"The draft handicapped them. The best chance at finding an impact pitcher comes at the top of the draft. Four of the top five pitchers who arrived in the last five years were top 10 picks. So landing an ace -- a pitcher who changes the climate of an organization -- from the bottom third of the first round is trying."

Exactly.

There simply aren't very many good pitchers.


"Kennedy, dealt in the Granderson trade, has 9.5 WAR for the Diamondbacks, while Coke has grown into a lockdown left-handed reliever for Detroit. Tyler Clippard, who also debuted in that '07 rookie class, was sent to Washington for Jonathan Albaladejo in one of the worst trades of Cashman's career. He has 6.5 WAR for the Nats."

Phil Coke was easily replaceable. Kennedy and Clippard probably couldn't do anything extraordinary in the AL East.


"The Yankees hit with Robertson. The rest are Whammies dancing across the screen, sticking their tongues out at Cashman and blowing raspberries.

'Even though our development gets overshadowed by the CC Sabathias and Andy Pettittes of the world, at the end of the day, I think it's something we're very good at,' Cashman said, and maybe it's true.

Just not the last five years."

Then there's a chart showing the Yankees as the 7th-best in baseball over the last five years.