The Wright Stuff?

When Joe Torre announced his rotation today, Jaret Wright became the odd man out. As the fifth starter, Wright won't get to start until April 14, nearly two weeks after his last Spring Training start.

The Yankees' official site had more info:

Because of the three off days during the first 10 days of the season, Torre and pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre opted to skip Wright the first time through, preventing any of the other pitchers from getting any more than one extra day of rest.

In addition to the quirks found in the scheduling of the first few weeks of the season, Torre and Stottlemyre opted to use Wright as the fifth starter and Brown as the fourth starter because they thought Brown had better stuff during the spring. The stats, meanwhile, illustrate a more complicated situation.

So far, Brown has pitched more innings than any other Yankee pitcher down in Tampa. In 22 innings, he's struck out 21 men while walking 8. At the same time, he's given up 29 hits, 15 earned runs, and four home runs. That WHIP of 1.63 is not too pretty. Wright has made only three starts due to his wife's giving birth. In those three start, he has thrown 17 innings, surrendering 12 hits and just two earned runs. At the same time, he's walked just five but has only struck out six. The low strike out rate from a former power pitcher may be a bit disturbing. But Wright's gotten the outs.

I personally haven't seen either of them pitch yet. Friends of mine who watched the Phillies and the Yankees on TV last week said Wright's stuff looked flat. Maybe Torre and Stottlemyre liked Brown's power pitching a bit better. Those runs could after all just be a matter of working out pitches. If Wright can keep that ERA down and Brown stops giving up hits, the Yanks will have a great back end of the rotation. But if Brown's WHIP stays around 1.60 and Jaret Wright's K-to-BB ratio hovers around 1.00, it will be a long season for the fourth and fifth starters in the Bronx.