TAMPA — Nine games and two rainouts into the exhibition season, none of the five pitchers competing for the fifth spot in the Yankees’ rotation has copped a lead.
That means the headliners — Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain — are tied with long shots Sergio Mitre, Chad Gaudin and Alfredo Aceves.
“As of right now, if we had to pick one we couldn’t really pick one,” pitching coach Dave Eiland said yesterday after a game against the Nationals in Viera, Fla., was rained out. “The sample is not big enough.”
PETTITTE PITCHES SIMULATED GAME
Eventually the sample will be large enough for manager Joe Girardi and Eiland to decide who falls in behind CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte and Javier Vazquez.
Each of the five contenders has worked two games, and Girardi said the real evaluation process will begin this week with their third outings.
Today, when the Yankees play the Orioles and Pirates, Aceves, Gaudin and Mitre will pitch for the third time. Hughes is scheduled to go Tuesday behind A.J. Burnett and Chamberlain is slated to follow Pettitte on Wednesday.
Girardi said he isn’t married to a plan. Both Hughes and Chamberlain could end up in the bullpen, an idea some players endorse. Or one could be the fifth starter with the other in the pen setting up Mariano Rivera. Aceves, so valuable in the pen last year, would like to start and many believe he would be in the rotation on any other big league club. Gaudin has experience as a starter and reliever and Mitre appears to be stronger than he was a year ago when he was coming back from Tommy John surgery.
Though Girardi and Eiland said the competition won’t be decided by numbers, Chamberlain clearly needs a solid outing — if only for his confidence — after posting a 27.00 ERA so far this spring.
Yet, Eiland is looking behind the statistics, focusing on what the club is asking pitchers to develop.
“If a pitcher is working on something and it hurts him, we have to understand that,” Eiland said.
A big emphasis for Hughes this spring has been redeveloping his changeup. The Yankees want Chamberlain to get ahead in the count and be more economical with his pitches. They want to see sinking action on Mitre’s fastball, resulting in ground balls.
“It’s not just numbers, it’s the quality of each pitch, pitching ahead in the count, first pitch strikes and stuff,” Eiland said. “Are the outs hit hard? You can give up lasers that get caught and not give up any runs.”
The Yankees spent a lot of time and took more criticism for the way they limited Chamberlain’s innings in the second half of last season. Their answer was they were protecting Chamberlain’s arm for the long haul, when he would be counted on as a starter.
For Hughes, the emphasis on his changeup this spring was made to give him the third pitch every starter needs.
From the moment camp opened, it figured to be a two-arm race: Hughes and Chamberlain. Now, Eiland is saying that isn’t the case. Now, everything is in play.
However, it’s not likely all five pitchers can make the team. At the start of camp, the man thought most likely to be left off the 12-man staff was Mitre, who has allowed two hits in five innings and has held hitters to a .118 batting average.
With five starters and seven relievers, there didn’t appear room for Mitre. But if he grabs the fifth starter’s spot, that’s going to change the landscape of Girardi’s staff.
Based on Eiland’s words, Mitre, Gaudin and Aceves, have as good a shot as Hughes and Chamberlain to be the fifth starter, which probably isn’t the way anybody figured it to be — even this early.