Yankees Pitching: Just How Bad Is It?

Yankee fans are understandably distressed by the state of the team's pitching staff. But is it really that bad or is it simply bad by Yankee standards (i.e., bad for a team with a $200+ million payroll)? The numbers suggest it really IS that bad. The staff ERA ranks 10th out of 14 AL teams at 4.62. The last time the Yanks finished that low in ERA was 1992.

Last night, Scott Proctor became the 14th pitcher to start a game for the Yankees this season -- the highest total in the majors this season and the most for the franchise since 1989 ... and there are still 49 games to go.

In case you were wondering, here are the starters for both teams (in descending order based on number of starts):

1989 Andy Hawkins Dave LaPoint Clay Parker Greg Cadaret Walt Terrell Chuck Cary Tommy John Richard Dotson Eric Plunk John Candelaria Dave Eiland Jimmy Jones Al Leiter Kevin Mmahat Don Schulze Lance McCullers	2005 Randy Johnson Mike Mussina Carl Pavano Kevin Brown Chien-Ming Wang Al Leiter Aaron Small Jaret Wright Shawn Chacón Sean Henn Darrell May Scott Proctor Tim Redding Tanyon Sturtze

Note: Al Leiter makes an appearance on both lists.

The 1989 Yankees finished in fifth place in the AL East with a 74-87 record. The 2005 Yankees are currently 61-52 but are in danger of missing the post-season for the first time since 1994. If they do end up watching the playoffs on TV, it's already clear what the problem was ...