Yankee's Building Pitching Staff

Kei Igawa has a potential to surprise next season because he is a strikeout left hander with the kind of sneaky stuff that bothers major league hitters. Most hitters got their $ millions by turning around fastballs with their reflexes and eye-hand coordination. They swing hard, miss often, but sometimes drive the ball somewhere far away. Igawa is like Paul Byrd or Jake Westbrook putting the ball where hitters can't drive it and getting swings and misses by taking velocity off of his pitches. Igawa should start the year as the #6 starter behind Johnson, Mussina, Wang, (free agent), and Trade/free Agent). The Yankees are still looking for two starters and Gil Meche and Miguel Batista could be the two. Batista in particular because he could slide to the long relief role that the Yankees need. The guy who takes over on Johnson's frequent bad days and (about ten last season) and for Wang and Mussina (about 10 combined last season) that would be 20 games and about 50 innings plus another 10-15 innings to stay sharp. Meche would be the #5 guy and a good one. Igawa would start at six but once he adjusted he could be a #3-4-5. Igawa is a good risk and the total contract might not exceed $50m for four years including the posting fee. The Yankees have Sanchez,Karstens, and Rasner standing by--this is so different for them like "94- '96 they had good young arms (Pettitte, Rivera, Westbrook) and unlike Jeremy Bonderman--they are keeping them for their own use.