Espn.com reports that Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher A.J. Burnett and the New York Yankees have reached an agreement that will send Burnett to New York with a five-year, $82.5 million deal.
With this deal seemingly finished (Burnett still has to take his physical), I figured I'd take a look at the Yankees' projected starting rotation for the 2009 season, taking these two huge free agents, Burnett and C.C. Sabathia, under account.
As of now, I'll predict that the rotation will include Sabathia, Burnett, Chien-Ming Wang, Joba Chamberlain. I'll leave the fifth-spot open, unsure of whether it may go to Andy Pettitte, Phil Hughes, or, if Brian Cashman and the Yankees continue plowing through the winter meetings at full speed, a guy like Ben Sheets.
Of the first four rotation spots, which we can now consider guarantees barring some catastophe, the average age at season's start will be about 27.5. Compare that to the average ages of the starting staff over the past four seasons: of Yankees pitchers that started 15 games or more, the average age was 32.2 in 2008, 36.0 in 2007, 33.75 in 2006, and 33.4 in 2005.
Although the Yankees will be putting purchased free agents on the field next year rather than homegrown prospects, the rotation, at least, will have a new look in terms of age. Time will tell if that will help the Yankees compete with teams like the Tampa Bay Rays (average rotation age of 24.6 in 2008), the Boston Red Sox (28.6 in 2008), and the LA Angels (26.8 in 2008).
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