Yankees Editorial: New York Yankees Need to be Concerned With Pitching Health

Coming into spring the New York Yankees biggest concern is the health of their starting pitchers. CC Sabathia is coming off knee surgery and Mashahiro Tanaka coming off a slight tear in the right UCL. They have both come into camp, and have had no set backs so far in camp. Unfortunately for the Yankees, Chris Capuano has found himself injured.

Around baseball other teams have lost their own pitchers during spring training. Yu Darvish of the Texas Rangers is going to get a second opinion on his elbow, and looks like he will end up getting Tommy John Surgery. Cliff Lee of the Philadelphia Phillies has a strained flexor tendon and will try and pitch through it.

These two stories are a cautionary tale for all of baseball, but especially for the Yankees. Last year the pitching staff was held with duck tape. At one point last year four out of the five starters from the opening day roster were all hurt at the same time.

The Yankees do not start spring training with Ivan Nova as he is still recovering from Tommy John surgery he had last spring. With CC it is more with his overall health, and just his elbow, for Tanaka however the Yankees need to keep a close eye on him. Tanaka last year chose to rehab his elbow, and not go for the Tommy John surgery.Tanaka is the ace of the team this year, and needs to be ready to carry a heavy work load for any chance of the Yankees to be playing in October.

The Yankees cannot survive another year of a duck tape rotation.  We all know CC is not the ace of the staff that he was in 2009, but we need CC to give quality innings, and still be the leader of the staff. The Yankees have built a solid bullpen that can help relive some stress, however you do not want the bullpen to be worn out by August, because the pitching staff could not give quality innings.

These two pitchers should be the main focus of spring training, besides that other player who is making a come back after a year suspension.

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