Yankees: Why A Six-Man Rotation Makes Perfect Sense

The Yankees began the year with a starting rotation that can best be described as “shaky.” For the most part, it’s still that way. But lurking in the background is an idea that could solve a myriad of problems for the team.

The Yankees took the first step today towards revamping their starting rotation when they presented Jordan Montgomery, who is only three years removed from college baseball at South Carolina, an opportunity to start yesterday’s game before a full house at Yankee Stadium.

As he has with the every test the team has assigned to him over the past six weeks or so, Montgomery passed the test, and there’s no reason to believe he won’t awarded another start in a few days.

At the same time, the Yankees will turn the ball over to Luis Severino today as the team seeks a sweep of the Rays and their fourth consecutive win. Hopefully, Severino knows that he is fighting for his baseball life with the Yankees, but with him you never know.

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His partner in crime (felony inconsistency with intent), Michael Pineda, received a reprieve when he turned in an outstanding effort against the same Rays, causing some to wonder where he has been all these years.

But for those of us who have watched him over the years, we know that Pineda goes out there with the same nasty “put you away” stuff every time he starts a game. The only difference this past time was that he exercised command of his pitches and at least appeared to have an idea of why he was throwing a particular pitch and where it was going.

Having said all of that, it would seem that the next step in the process of fortifying their rotation would be to add a sixth man, something the Yankees have never done (to my knowledge) because here’s what it would accomplish:

Tanaka Returns To Normalcy

Perhaps the biggest adjustment Masahiro Tanaka had to make when he left Japan to join the Yankees was adapting to pitching every fifth day with four days of rest in between. In Japan, he excelled by pitching every sixth day.

Tanaka, the supreme professional, did what had to do and for the most part has grown accustomed to the “American Way” baseball is played at this level.

Already though, the Yankees seem to be accommodating him more this season, especially after two starts that raised more than just concern. And it’s one of the reasons why Montgomery was called up before the scheduled date of April 16 when a fifth starter would first be needed, allowing Tanaka that extra day of rest.

A six-man rotation returns Tanaka to a schedule he is more used to and one he is certainly more comfortable with.

The Old Man Gets An Extra Day

CC Sabathia has been the glue holding the rotation together the first week and a half of the season. And he’s the kind of guy who’ll go out there every third day if the team asks him to.

But he’s going to turn 37 soon, and he’s already logged more than 3,000 innings facing more than 13,000 hitters in his career, and maybe he needs a blow more often than not.

The Yankees are fortunate to have him on the team this season, not only for what he can do on the mound but for what he contributes in the clubhouse on a daily basis, whether he’s pitching or not.

It would be wise to preserve that natural resource, and one way of doing it is to give the man an extra day rest in between starts.

Later, if the need arises, you can always slide him in there to make a start in a must game scenario on shorter rest.

Pineda And Severino Pitch Less, Not More

These two pitchers and I use that term loosely, are enough to give any manager a headache. He doesn’t trust either of them because they have a proven tendency to be consistently inconsistent.

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Severino’s likely to go out there today, and pitch lights out, just as Pineda did in his last outing, but he’s just as like to throw 100 pitches in less than five innings while giving up five runs and three walks, forcing another taxing day on the bullpen.

A six-man rotation means both will pitch less rather than more over the course of the season, and that alone has to be a plus for the team.

And who knows, having that extra day could benefit either or both of them as it would allow them to refine their game in the bullpen between starts under the tutelage of Rothschild and the mentoring that can come from Sabathia.

Again, with both of them it appears to be a question of what’s between the ears, but at least it’s worth a try.

Okay, So Who’s The Sixth Starter?

This one is wide open, and there are plenty of choices available for Girardi and Brian Cashman to make a selection. The most obvious one would be to take Bryan Mitchell and move him into the role he is more accustomed to and capable of handling as a starter.

But that could be negated if Girardi likes the formula he has going in the bullpen with Mitchell serving as either a long reliever, together with Adam Warren or a middle of the game one or two inning guy as he did yesterday in the Yankees win.

From there, the choices expand to someone like Chad Green who, until Montgomery was chosen over him, was in the running as the team’s fifth starter. Much like Montgomery too, Green has been at least adequate in every role the Yankees have placed him in, even going back to last season when he made eight starts for the team.

Yankees: Girardi’s “Curiosity” Sends Montgomery To Yankee Stadium

Yankees manager, Joe Girardi, said in Spring Training that he was "curious" about Jordan Montgomery. That curiosity gets the rookie a start tomorrow.

Sleepers would include someone like Justus Sheffield who, much like Jordan Montgomery, has yet to fail at any level he’s pitched in, including Spring Training when he caught the eye of the team. With a pitcher like Sheffield though, the team is not likely to rush him until he’s tagged as “ready.”

And notice, there are no trades involved here because they aren’t necessary. And therefore, neither is Jose Quintana.

Bottom line? There are guys currently on the roster who can more than adequately fill the role as a sixth starter. It’s just a matter of whether or not the team wants to move in that direction.

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