BOSTON — The plan was for Ivan Nova to start Thursday in Chicago and be demoted yesterday so the Yankees could bolster their short-handed bench against the Red Sox.
But then Nova dominated the White Sox and as general manager Brian Cashman said of that eight-inning effort: “It is hard to send out a guy who strikes out 10 and walks none.”
So he didn’t. Instead, the bench stayed at just three reserves while Nova’s work has moved the Yankees toward a six-man rotation “because for our purposes, it works right now,” pitching coach Larry Rothschild said.
Phil Hughes is available in relief for this weekend series, but Cashman stressed that neither Nova nor Hughes was a full-time bullpen candidate. Instead, the Yankees will navigate what Rothschild called the “crossword puzzle” of making a six-man rotation work and, if they can’t, they likely will again make Nova the most overqualified starter in Triple-A; staying stretched out in case emergency strikes.
“We’re going to continue to evaluate the situation,” manager Joe Girardi said.
For now, Hughes is scheduled to start Tuesday against the Angels followed by A.J. Burnett. After that, Girardi and Cashman were publicly non-committal.
But beginning Tuesday the Yankees have 30 games in 30 days, owing to just one off-day in that stretch and an Aug. 27 doubleheader. And because of two makeup dates, the Yankees have just one off-day from Sept. 9 to the end of the season.
That crowded schedule plays into Yankees concerns about Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia, who are on pace for their largest workloads in six and five seasons, respectively. Colon, in fact, lost command and belief in his slider in the fifth inning last night, and was hooked by Girardi with two outs. Girardi insisted the fatigue was due to the patient Red Sox forcing Colon to expend 94 pitches to get 14 outs.
Still, it is a looming worry that Colon, in particular, does not have a season’s worth of bullets to fire, and the Yankees are trying to preserve him with October in mind. So, for example, one scenario the Yankees are contemplating would be to skip Colon one time through the rotation, then do the same for Garcia and then maybe just use all six starters to provide each extra rest.
“We are considering stuff like that, but you are never sure if that actually works,” Rothschild said. “We will keep working on the details.”
For now, however, the rotation demise that was supposed to occur without Cliff Lee, Andy Pettitte or a July 31 upgrade has yet to materialize. Instead, with a 3-2 win last night, the Yankees moved into first in the AL East, in part because their starters have been surprisingly better than Boston’s.
Yet even now — after 111 games — the rotation still feels like the area that can most undermine the Yankees. Everything behind CC Sabathia remains suspect in health or ability or both. The Yankees have an ace, but do they have someone you start in Division Series Game 2, for example, and feel good about?
The farfetched hope had been that A.J. Burnett would seize that slot. But if anything, Burnett is trending toward not even making a postseason roster. In fact, if this were a meritocracy, you can make a case that he should be the odd-man out now.
Both Girardi and Cashman defended Burnett, and said he has pitched well this year. Cashman said the decision to keep Burnett in the rotation has nothing to do with his $82.5 million contract. Girardi and Cashman each noted Burnett has outpitched Hughes on the season. And that is true.
But this season is beginning to feel like too many Burnett starts: In that when events start to work against him, Burnett lacks the savvy or pitching IQ or fortitude to stop the negativity. He is 0-3 with a 6.00 ERA in his last six starts and giving a whiff of last year, when he became untrustworthy and retained a rotation spot only because Javier Vazquez was more undependable.
This year the Yankees appear deeper; especially if Hughes’ positive last start was a bellwether of the future and not a blip.
It is a fluid situation as the Yankees try to determine what to do with six starters. But while Nova is forcing his way into the rotation, is it possible Burnett is slowly falling out?