Red Sox Outsmarting Yankees This Offseason: New York Needs a Backup Plan

In 2008 the Yankees trotted out 13 starting pitchers, and had to endure 20 starts from Darrell Rasner (5-10, 5.40 ERA) and 15 starts from Sidney Ponson (4-4, 5.85).

Obviously the easiest formula for success is to have all five starting pitchers stay healthy throughout the year. There is no better example of this than the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays, who got at least 27 starts by everyone in their rotation and cruised to 97 wins and a division title even though none of those five starters received a single Cy Young vote.

It is rarely that simple, though, so every team needs a contingency plan. For the 2009 Yankees, it is hard to see what that is.

Going into the season, the Yankees' rotation as it currently stands is Sabathia, Burnett, Wang, Chamberlain, and Hughes, with Alfredo Aceves and Ian Kennedy waiting in the wings. On paper this looks great, especially with the top four, but there are a number of question marks.

Although Burnett stayed healthy last year, he has missed an alarming amount of starts throughout his career and has only won 15 games or more once.

Wang has been a 19-game winner twice, and should be fully healed from his foot injury, but he needs to prove once again that he can stay healthy and win games for the team.

Chamberlain had a great nine-start stretch in the rotation last season, when he posted an ERA of 2.04 and the team was 8-1. However, he is operating under an innings limit employed by the team and has never had a full season as a starter.

Finally there is Hughes, who despite all of the hype has only won five games in the Major Leagues, with a career ERA of 5.15 and two lengthy stints on the disabled list.

If any one of these starters goes down, the Yankees have almost nobody that they can confidently send out to hold down the fort.

This lack of depth extends beyond the pitching staff, as New York's bench is alarmingly thin. Beyond Jose Molina, who is a very good backup catcher, there is almost nobody who jumps out as being a quality bench player.

When Teixeira was signed and became the everyday first baseman, the Yankees deemed that they had a surplus of corner outfield/DH types, and decided that they want to trade Xavier Nady or Nick Swisher. 

Either one of these players could fit in as the team's starting right fielder. Swisher is the better fielder and power hitter, but Nady is the more solid average hitter and run producer.

If the Yankees do swing either of these two in a deal, however, they will once again put themselves into a hole when it comes to the team's depth.

The Yankees want to hold a spring training battle between Brett Gardner and Melky Cabrera for the center field spot, but both struggled greatly last year and it's possible that neither is full-time Major League outfielder material. The loser of that competition would serve as the fourth outfielder, not exactly a promising situation for the Yankees.

While all of this has been going on, the Red Sox have once again been making a number of savvy, low-risk moves in order to bolster their own bench.

The team signed Rocco Baldelli from the Rays, and he can play all three outfield positions and is a solid all-around player. Boston then brought back Mark Kotsay, who can help out in the outfield as well as first base.

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