The Yankees really thought they could depend on A.J. Burnett and Javier Vazquez in the starting rotation this year but they were wrong. Burnett has started 25 games for the Yankees this year and he is 9-11 with a 4.80 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP. He has given up 158 hits (19 homers) and he has walked 60 batters in only 148 innings this year. A guy with the stuff that Burnett has shouldn’t be putting up numbers like he does, period. Javier Vazquez has pitched in 24 games (23 starts) for the Yanks this year and he is 9-9 with a 5.05 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP. He has given up 130 hits (26 homers) and he has walked 53 batters in 130 innings for the Yankees this year. The Yankees are going to skip Vazquez’ next start giving it to rookie Ivan Nova instead. It’s amazing to me that the Yankees are 77-48 with Burnett & Vazquez starting 40% of the games for them so far this year.

37-year old righty reliever Chan Ho Park has been awful so far this year for the Yankees. He has pitched in 12 games (0 starts) for the Yankees this year and he is 1-1 with a 6.46 ERA and a 1.63 WHIP. Park has given up 21 hits (5 homers) in only 15 1/3 innings this season for the Yankees. The Yankees had hoped that he would give them some good innings in middle relief but he’s quickly turning into a glorified mop up man.

Javier Vazquez was awful in his season debut for the Yankees last Friday Night. He was the losing pitcher working 5 2/3 innings in which he gave up 8 hits (2 homers), walked 3 batters and whiffed 5. I didn’t like the trade for Vazquez over the winter because he was awful in his first time around with the Yankees. In 2004, he started 32 games and was 14-10 with a 4.91 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. He gave up a stunning 33 homers that season and the new Yankee Stadium is a launching pad.

The Yankees have designated 25-year old righty pitcher Anthony Claggett for assignment. Claggett pitched in 2 games (0 starts) for the Yankees this season and he is 0-0 with a 33.75 ERA and a 5.62 WHIP. Claggett has allowed a stunning 11 hits, 2 homers and he has walked 4 batters in only 2 2/3 innings. This guy is simply not a major league pitcher and the Yankees should release him if he clears waivers.

UPDATE: The Pirates have claimed Claggett off waivers.

If the Yankees are going to baby 23-year old righty starting pitcher Joba Chamberlain then they should just return him to the bullpen where he pitched much, much better. Chamberlain has started 25 games this season for the Yanks and he is 8-4 with a 4.38 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. Chamberlain has been very hittable as a starting pitcher as he has allowed 136 hits in 133 2/3 innings this season while walking 65 batters and that’s way too many. His strikeouts are also way down as he has 115 this season (7.7 per 9 innings). Coming into this season Chamberlain pitched in 61 games (12 starts) for the Yankees and he was 6-3 with 1 save, a 2.17 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. He only allowed 99 hits in 124 1/3 innings while whiffing 152 batters (11.0 per 9 innings). Chamberlain is better as a reliever and that’s not hard to see. The Yanks have more than enough cash to buy a starting rotation and end the game with Hughes, Chamberlain and Rivera and that’s what they should do next season.