WHAT'S A YANKEE "ACE" THESE DAYS?

What is an ace? An ace is generally considered a premier starting pitcher, one who is expected to win every game that they pitch. They are considered to be the #1 pitcher on their respective staff, the guy that is sent to the mound when you are in a must-win situation. They are the ones that pitch Game 7 of an LDS or the World Series. They are the ones that set the team on a winning path when the team is struggling. The Yankees need to win in the worst way, and they need to win now! The Yankees ace, if you believe the press, is CC Sabathia, and he took the mound last night. On a night when his team needed him, he did NOT pitch like an ace.

It concerns me and I'm not sure what to make of it, because if CC Sabathia can't handle the ace role, who do we have? Hiroki Kuroda? Casey here at Bleeding Yankee Blue is concerned too.  His theory is simple, he believes Sabathia is grinding through it because he wants the ball every 5th day and yes, he may be not feeling 100%. He wrote last night in  TEIXEIRA ROBBED IN BALTIMORE; LEAVES YANKEELAND REELING: 

" CC Sabathia is not healthy.  That's what I'm thinking... there's no other explanation for him not being able to hold teams down in his last 3 starts as well as something Fangraphs brought up and that's CC's fastball numbers... they're down to 92 mph from 93 mph last season.  

Kind of weird, something's up.  Tonight CC went 6.1 IP, allowed 8 H, 5 R and only struck out 5.  He also gave up 3 home runs which is totally not like CC.  I'm telling you, CC wants to be out there pitching because he's a gamer, but I have a strange suspicion that something  is not right.  He may be hurt, he may be grinding through it because that's what we expect or maybe he's just putting that extra pressure on himself because he wants the team to win, who knows? But guess what, we'll never know, because CC's tough as nails and he wants to be on the mound every 5th day."

Sabathia cruised through the first inning last night, but then he ended up giving up 3 homers.  He looked like he was laboring. He didn't look like our ace.  But there's more, I am worried about the post season, if we get there at all with the pitching staff we currently have.  It's true, lately our offense is coming back to life. 

It's clear Alex Rodriguez was needed and so far he's delivered.  Mark Teixeira  was missed and clearly it's great to have him back too. Hopefully they will provide runs just in case our pitching can't hold down the opponent's offense, but I have to tell you, the pitching rotation right now is a black hole. Think about it; If CC Sabathia can't provide stability from an "Ace" standpoint and Hiroki Kuroda, who's been great, starts to tire, who's left?

Phil Hughes has his good days and bad days.  Freddy Garcia looks like he can't handle more than 4 innings an outing, he's done.  David Phelps is not stretched out and can't do much more than Garcia some days and Ivan Nova and Andy Pettitte are still on the mend. 

Look, it's September 9th, we have games coming up with several teams with losing records and that starts with the Red Sox Tuesday.  The only 2 teams with winning records are the Rays and A's.  If the Yankees can piece it together, and win every series coming up, we got this. It's that way and that way only that we have a chance. But there's no doubt the word "Ace" needs to be removed from our Yankee vocabulary these days...  "A stable starter"? At this point, that's all I want.

--Ike Dimitriadis, BYB Writer
Twitter: @KingAgamemnon

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