TAMPA — It is a rite of the off season, and it begins with desperation.
There just is not enough starting pitching. You search and search, and eventually begin to look at the broken toys. There is a seduction based on name recognition and track records. There is a success now and then, like Brett Myers leaving hip surgery and the Phillies behind for consistent excellence in Houston.
That, too, becomes a seduction. Because every team has ego, wants to be the next to find and fix a broken toy, wants to believe the missing ingredients are its training staff and its pitching coach. Logic vanishes.
Heck, A’s GM Billy Beane had a best-selling book written about his rational brilliance and he ignored the low-success-rate of damaged-good starters to give $10 million to Ben Sheets after the 2009 season and $2 million to Justin Duchscherer. They combined to make 25 starts last year.
That did not stop the Orioles from signing Duchscherer this offseason or the Nationals and Mariners from re-signing Chien-Ming Wang and Erik Bedard, respectively, though neither pitched an inning last year while trying to rehab shoulder injuries. The Rangers (Brandon Webb), Tigers (Brad Penny) and Padres (Aaron Harang) each guaranteed at least $3 million believing they could turn back the odometer on a dented veteran starter.
But the home of the broken toys this year is New York. The Mets handed guaranteed contracts and the fourth and fifth starter jobs to Chris Capuano and Chris Young, a brittle duo that combined for just 45 starts over the past three seasons.
The Yankees did not give major-league deals to Bartolo Colon or Freddy Garcia. But they probably need at least one of them — maybe both — to provide a rotation stopgap until something better shows up from the minors or on the trade market.
Now, the Yankees would argue that presenting Colon and Garcia minor league pacts shows that they are not at the mercy of Colon or Garcia breaking down physically or in performance. Except that if you remove Colon and Garcia there is no competition for the fourth and fifth starter spots. They simply go to Ivan Nova and Sergio Mitre.
Maybe Nova is ready after a cameo last year in which he showed sparks of excellence but an inability to extract himself from trouble. As for Mitre, he is of the broken-toy variety, as well. Because of injuries or ineffectiveness, he has made 12 starts over the past three years. He was scratched from his start last night against the Red Sox with what the team described as a side injury.
Manuel Banuelos started in his place. And though the 20-year-old lefty has been the pitching prospect talk of Florida, general manager Brian Cashman reiterated yesterday that there is “zero” chance Banuelos will break camp in the rotation.
Instead, it is a four-man competition among Colon, Garcia, Nova and Mitre that manager Joe Girardi was still calling “neck and neck.” The impression, however, is that Mitre is the longest shot to fill one of the two rotation slots behind CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes and A.J. Burnett.
Colon and Garcia have pedigree on their side. But they also have a history of arm ailments that make planning beyond tomorrow with them difficult. Garcia had as many quality starts last year (18) as Cliff Lee, yet he could not get a major league contract this offseason. That is because shoulder woes limited him to 23 starts in the three seasons prior.
After a strong opening to camp, Garcia pitched poorly Sunday against Minnesota. He got ahead of 15 of 17 hitters, but nibbled his way into long counts. Pitching coach Larry Rothschild says Garcia’s fastball has climbed back enough (into the 88-90 mph range) that he can be more aggressive.
The fastball revelation, though, has been Colon. He does not reach the 98 mph of his pre-elbow-injury self. But he has topped out at 94 mph and thrown a very good sinker at 91-92. But for how long? He missed all of last season, and he has not been healthy and effective since his Cy Young Award-winning season of 2005. He throws in an intra-squad game today and — at the least — the Yankees are intrigued.
This is part of another rite of baseball in which logic is fleeting. Let’s call it March Madness: When the strong spring of a broken toy makes you forget his injured recent past and imagine a successful future.