We’ve been having a great time up here in Boston. Our basketball team, the Boston Celtics (perhaps you’ve heard of them) just won the NBA championship last night by tearing the Lakers of Los Angeles limb from limb, burning their villages and abducting their women, who, let’s face it, were only too happy to be saved from their unsatisfying unions with the Tinseltown hoopsters. Earlier this year, our football team, the New England Patriots, made a bid for NFL history, winning an unprecedented 18 games in one season before appearing in the Super Bowl for the fourth time since 2001. (Somehow, I can’t quite remember what happened in the Super Bowl itself. Let’s just move on.) And of course, back in the fall, our major league baseball team, the Boston Red Sox, won its second World Series of the past four seasons. Boston these days is naught but trilling laughter, babbling waterfalls, and frolicking unicorns. (And gloating.)

Alas, our good friends to the south have not been so lucky. New York once had a basketball team. This was replaced some months ago by a sexual harassment boondoggle, and the Knickerbockers (as I believe they were called) have not been heard from since. Their football teams have had mixed success. One team, the Jets, has a fixation with videotaping rivaled only by Paris Hilton’s. The other team, the Giants, has fared better—but again, I’m suddenly drawing a blank about what actually happened with them last season. Strange. And finally, their two baseball teams have also left something to be desired. The Metropolitans recently suffered an embarassing front-office meltdown after suffering a humiliating sub-.500 start after suffering a truly mortifying collapse at the end of last season. And the Yankees—oh, the Yankees. Long looked to as the balm to soothe the frighted souls of tortured New York sports fans, the Yankees are currently only adding to the angst along the Hudson. Is there any hope that the Yankees will turn things around in time to save their city? Let’s take a look.

Their starting pitching has been bad, ranking towards the middle-bottom of the league in nearly every statistical category. Their defensive efficiency is in the bottom third of MLB. They’ve been beset by injuries. All of these were entirely predictable, but what has surprised so far is that their offense, while still one of the top five offenses in the AL, has not been enough this year to get them out of third place behind the Red Sox and the Rays.

So what do they need?

The obvious place to start is with their starting pitching, which has been inconsistent and injury-ravaged. Now, with ace Chien Ming Wang on crutches for the next six weeks, Yankees fans are anticipating a trade. At Yankees Chick, Maureen has an open letter to CC Sabathia. At River Ave Blues, Mike has a rundown of some other possibilities, acknowledging that the price for CC may be too high. Certainly, acquiring a durable, dominant starter would give the Yankees a huge boost and would set them for the postseason, where having a one-two punch in one’s pitching rotation is de rigeur.

But they may want to take a more conservative approach. After all, Mike Mussina is having a very good year. Andy Pettitte has actually been pitching better than you think he’s been pitching, thanks to a lousy BABIP. Joba Chamberlain’s transition to the starting rotation has been very promising. And Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy certainly have time to come off the DL and contribute. In fact, the Yankees are still so convinced of Hughes’ enormous potential, he’s still considered “untouchtable” in any trade deal.

Finally, and I can’t believe I’m going to say this, Carl Pavano is set to return in August. Now, no one in New York wants to count on Carl Pavano. And I freely admit that the concept of hanging your postseason hopes on a man with scarcely more than 100 innings of work since 2005—the man who once went on the DL with a bruised ass, for crying out loud—does have an air of the ridiculous about it. But it’s not like he’s Matt Clement. If the Yankees do decide they simply must acquire a starter, it might be a better move just to go for a relatively cheap innings-eater than spend a lot of prospects on a mid-season replacement for Wang.

Because while acquiring a Sabathia-level starting pitcher would certainly be an enormous boost to the team’s outlook, the Yankees still have a good shot at getting to the playoffs without making any moves at all (advancing is anther story). Keep in mind that their offensive attack has also been blunted by injuries. There was an uncharacteristic stint on the DL for Alex Rodriguez, an all-too-predictable injury to aging catcher Jorge Posada, and day-to-day aches and pains for Derek Jeter. Jason Giambi was, for much of the start of the season, mired in a terrible slump. Johnny Damon also began rather anemically. All of this combined for a slow start by the vaunted Yankee offense—emphasis on “slow.” The Bombers have never been known for their speed, and so far this year Yankee baserunners have been even slower than usual. (Cashman really ought to pick up a few defensively-minded speedsters to come off the bench.)

However, the Yankee offense is clicking on all cylinders at the moment, pounding their foes with 29 runs over their last three games. Have they turned a corner? Perhaps.

But I’m not entirely convinced. Because so far this season, despite scoring a lot of runs and hitting a lot of extra-base hits, the Yankees rank 9th in the AL in walks, tied with the Indians and just above the Baltimore Orioles. The four teams below them include notoriously free-swinging teams such as the Angels and Royals. Last year, the Yankees finished third in the league in walks. So for New York’s offensive outburst to stick, their hitters are going to need, in the immortal words of Axl Rose, just a little paaaaatience, yeeaaaaaaahhhh.

And that might not be such a bad attitude where their pitching situation is concerned, if the only option is a half-season rental that ends up costing them key prospects. Indeed, patience could be just the ticket, given that New York can unload a number of contracts at the end of this season if they so choose, including those of the aforementioned Mssrs Pavano, Giambi, Pettitte, and Abreu.

-What They Need Index-

This year, the Cy Young debate is hardly a debate at all. It seems like a forgone conclusion that Jake Peavy will take home the hardware for the NL, while C.C. Sabathia will be the AL pitcher clearing off his mantel. I suppose I can agree with that. Thus, this post will be dedicated to acknowledging this year’s also-rans.

In the NL, Peavy’s 19-6 record, 223.1 IP, 240 K’s, and 2.54 ERA are hot indeed. But Brandon Webb of the Diamondbacks made the same number of starts (34) and pitched more innings (236.1) leading to a few more decisions (18-10). Of course, his ERA is higher (3.01) and his strikeouts were fewer (194). I feel I also ought to mention Brad Penny of the Dodgers and John Smoltz of the Braves. Neither was good enough to be the NL Cy this year, of course, but they still put up good numbers. In fact, their numbers were eerily similar to one another’s. Except, of course, for Smoltz’s better strikeout rate. And we throw a tiny scrap in the direction of Aaron Harang of Cincinnati, for being the Chien-Ming Wang of the NL. Only, because he doesn’t pitch for the Yankees, his name hasn’t been bandied about at all. I’m sure he feels, if not harangued (ha) then at least a bit forlorn.

In the AL, Cleveland’s Sabathia has been a beast. 241 innings pitched! 34 starts! 209 strikeouts! Only 37 walks! And his 3.21 ERA ain’t too shabby either. Plus, I’m sure Cleveland is very happy with the 19-7 record. And he seems determined to single-handedly revive the lost art of the complete game. Of course, he wasn’t exactly masterful against the Yankees in Game 1 of the ALDS, but he was good enough to get by. But our sympathies should really extend to Fausto Carmona. If he hadn’t been so overshadowed by the No. 1 starter on his own team, we might be talking about him for the Cy. His ERA is an even better 3.06, and though he pitched fewer innings (215 in 32 starts) and didn’t strike out nearly as many (137) or walk so few (61), his record is nearly identical at 19-8. Then there’s Josh Beckett of the Red Sox, the only 20-game winner during the regular season. No sign of fatigue, either, as he threw a complete-game shutout against the Angels in Game 1 of the ALDS. His 194 K’s and 40 walks in 200.2 innings (in 30 starts) aren’t anything to sneeze at, and his ERA of 3.27 is perfectly decent. But even the nice, round number of 20 wins isn’t quite enough to dislodge C.C. from his throne. Finally, John Lackey has barely gotten a mention, even though he has the best ERA in the league (3.01) and a comparable record (19-9). His 224 IP in 33 starts are better than the other also-rans, and his 179 K’s and 52 walks are certainly comparable. Yet his candidacy barely got any airtime. No, people wanted to talk about Chien-Ming Wang instead. While Wang’s season was impressive, his numbers definitely put him at the bottom of the pack (see Aaron Harang, above). And we curtly nod in the direction of Scott Kazmir, who was the AL strikeout leader this season, but walked 89 batters and who couldn’t do better than 13-9 because of Tampa Bay’s atrocious bullpen. We also acknowledge Eric Bedard, whose monstrous 10.93 K/9 rate would surely have gotten him better than a 13-5 record were he not toiling away for the Orioles.

Remember, also-rans: there’s always next year.

I read an article on MLB.com last night that suggested that Yankees pitcher Chien-Ming Wang was this year’s clear choice for AL Cy Young.

The article was written by Tom Singer. I just pray this guy doesn’t have an actual Cy Young vote. Because he doesn’t get it.

Singer thinks Wang will win because voters will give him credit for last season.

From mlb.com:

If Cy Young balloting were like some cell phone plans, Wang would be a shoo-in thanks to rollover votes. He didn’t receive a single first-place vote last year, even though he matched winner Johan Santana’s 19-6 record. So now he is producing a carbon copy, with no one even close to his two-year record of 37-12 (Santana is 34-17, Justin Verlander 33-14, Roy Halladay 30-12). But what makes Wang truly stand out is his responsibility for the Yankees’ contention, through his remarkable consistency. He has not made it to at least the sixth inning only twice in 27 starts.

Let’s ignore Singer’s obvious problems with syntax and talk about everything that is wrong with his argument. First, Cy Young voting isn’t like some cell phone plans. You don’t get credit for what you did in previous seasons.

Second, while Wang has been the only truly consistent member of the 2007 Yankee pitching staff, he hasn’t been lights out. But guess what? When you pitch for the Yankees, you don’t need to be. You just need to keep your team in the game and let the Yankees offense pile up runs behind you.

Singer seems to think Wang should get extra credit because the rest of the Yankee staff is so bad. Likewise, he thinks pitchers like Josh Beckett and C.C. Sabathia should be penalized for being part of fairly competant staffs.

Here’s what he says about Beckett:

Beckett has raised his victory total and has become a smart pitcher, not just a hothead thrower. Leading evidence of that is having more than halved both his walks (74 to 36) and homer yields (36 to 14). But he doesn’t stand out on his staff as Wang does on his; not even close.

I don’t know what to say to that. He “doesn’t stand out on his staff”? Have Curt Schilling and Tim Wakefield been helping Beckett pitch somehow? Does just standing in proximity to other successful pitchers make Beckett more successful?

I think what must have happened here is that Tom Singer probably went ice fishing. Or mountain climbing. Probably sometime during the 1980s, before Bill James really got popular and before Moneyball was published. And he probably got caught in an ice storm and was frozen alive and wasn’t discovered and thawed out until very recently. Because that’s the only way to account for a guy who gets paid to write about baseball being this out of touch with how we value pitching.

Speaking of James, he and ESPN.com writer Rob Neyer have devised a method, called the Cy Young Predictor. You can check it out on ESPN.com’s baseball statistics page. It’s a complicated formula that the two devised while working together on a book. It looks like this:

Cy Young Points (CYP) = ((5*IP/9)-ER) + (SO/12) + (SV*2.5) + Shutouts + ((W*6)-(L*2)) + VB

VB= victory bonus, a 12-point bonus awarded for leading your team to the division champsionship.

According to the formula, C.C. Sabathia is the leading Cy Young candidate in the AL this year. That makes a lot of sense. Sabathia has a lower ERA than both Wang and Beckett. He has a lower WHIP. He has more strikeouts. And he’s been a total workhorse, pitching 15 more innings than the second hardest working pitcher, John Lackey.

In short, Sabathia has been a better pitcher this year than anyone else in the AL. Unless you factor in things like last year’s wins, or proximity to other talented pitchers. Then you’ve got to give it to Wang.

As the NYTimes reports, Pavano is the Yankees’ only choice.

TAMPA, Fla., March 24 — The side effect of Chien-Ming Wang’s hamstring injury, which will land him on the disabled list to start the season, is an idea so preposterous it seems hard to fathom: Carl Pavano could be the Yankees’ opening day starter April 2.

[...]

“It’s opening day, but there’s 161 other games,” Torre said at Legends Field, after the Yankees played to a 4-4 tie with the Toronto Blue Jays. “It certainly is an important game, but so are the other ones.”

Torre doesn’t want to alter the schedule for Mussina, and the other two possibilities are not necessarily better choices than Pavano. Andy Pettitte hasn’t started in a few weeks after complaining of neck spasms (that’s what happens when you max out on the bench, Andy).

The other option, Kei Igawa, has never pitched in the majors. But wait, what about the Fifth starter? Don’t the Yankees have one? Well, it just so happens that their schedule allows Joe Torre to have a four-man rotation for the first 17 games.

So who else but Pavano, who, as the Irony-laden Times’ report reminds us, would be pitching on 643 days’ rest.

It sure speaks volumes of what this disgruntled pitcher has have to endure that the Yankee-loving NYTimes, smelling the irony of it all, plasters it all over the lede of the story.

Then again, it might be the shot Pavano needs to make nice with NY fans and media. I’ll tell you what, he’ll have our support, lest we post some more bad news about him here and get the usual dump-load of filthy comments that accompany those posts. It’s becoming a nasty umpbump tradition.

Oh and another side effect to Wang’s injury? Proof of my total incompetence in pulling a successful fantasy baseball draft.