ANALYZING BARTOLO COLON AND AJ BURNETT

OK..OK, so I was curious.  The Yankees have had a few problems this season, yet, they are still managing to win here and there. I like that, but I want more...and I want wins to be consistent!  Yes, we have a terrific bullpen and the offense could be better, but leading the charge is none other than Derek Jeter, our Captain and he's having hte year of his life.  The issue? Starting pitching...but I don't have to tell you that. Some like CC Sabathia and Ivan Nova have been real good, but the others have shit the bed and to be honest, it’s surprising and disappointing.  Poor Freddy Garcia. What the hell happened to this guy?  His nickname can no longer be  “The Chief”, it should probably be “the Queef.”  What the Hell Freddy…you pitched yourself out of a job! 

So I became curious, I had to review… Just how are the guys we passed on doing?  Remember all the talk about trade talks between the Pirates and the Yankees over AJ Burnett?  Man, it seems like yesterday, but it finally happened and suddenly he fell off the face of the earth.  So, I went to Baseball Reference.com and I clicked, here is AJ Burnett’s line this season:

 Burnett: 1-2 / 6.08 ERA / 3 G / 15.2 IP / 27 K / 6 BB / 1.44 WHIP

OK, well, there you go, not great...now are you smiling? Looking at him and then looking at the guys that replaced him, Michael Pineda, who’s on the Disabled list for the year and Hiroki Kuroda, who's either lights out of horrendous, It's a tough choice...I kid, I kid. Check out Kuroda's line this year:

Kuroda: 2-4 / 3.75 ERA / 6 G / 36 IP / 22 K / 12 BB / 1.389 WHIP

At this very moment, we have a better pitcher...but how much better really? I mean a loss is a loss, you know what I mean? Look, I guess it’s too early to tell, but it’s something to think about.

Then, it killed me, but I had to look deeper, so I went to Baseball-Reference.com again and checked out Bartolo Colon.  I mean, this was the guy who the Yankee passed on because he literally broke down last season for us in the second half. I mean, I understood why the Yankees passed and why they chose Freddy instead, but I had to look at his stats. Damn... why did I do that.  Bartolo's line looks like this:

Colon: 3-2 / 2.83 ERA / 7 G / 47.2 IP / 28 K / 8 BB / 1.049 WHIP

Here is Freddy Garcia’s line, just to put things in perspective:

Garcia: 0-2 / 9.68 ERA / 6 G / 17.2 IP / 12 K / 7 BB / 1.925 WHIP

I just threw up in my mouth alittle. Disgraceful.  

Now, look, anything can happen this season.  I wasn’t doing this to tick you off, I was just showing you the numbers and suggesting, sometimes you don’t always get what you wish for. Sometimes things look better on paper than they really are.  If I had to say anything looking right now, Kuroda was probably the better choice over a Burnett.  But clearly Colon is better than all these guys... RIGHT NOW. Remember, he broke down last season and I expect the same thing this season.  As for Pineda, well, we know what happened to him and we'll try again next season. But you have to admit... you were curious like me...I know you were...admit it.

Whatever the case, this exercise was done for one reason, it was done to make you think, but more importantly understand that things are out of our control and no matter what we have, we need to reach back, and suck it up and win, no matter what.  Why? Because we’re the New York Yankees and we fight through it no matter who we have. We’ll be OK, I swear...we have to be.

ORDER A BYB SHIRT NOW, DROB WEARS ONE! Also, Please comment, we have DISQUS, it's easier than ever. Let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.