The New York Yankees.

Is it just me, or have they reached the pinacle of destroying pitcher careers?

The list is astounding.

- Randy Johnson (highest ERA (coming into last night's win) since 1989!... < 1 K/IP for first time since 1990 (no other years were even as close to this bad (much better even in his most down years of 1998 (9-10, 1.33) and 2003 (6-8, 1.09)), most home runs since 1999 (2 more makes it the most of his career)

- Carl Pavano (the young guys see the worst of the destruction, as there are quite a few pitchers who are just establishing themselves before finding oblivion in New York... highest ERA and WHIP since moving to Florida in 2002, gave up more HR than last year in 122.1 less innings (two less than the 2003 season which had 101 less innings) (he only pitched 100 this year)

- Jamey Wright (definitely not the quality pitcher that the others on this list are, but turned a great year last year into a horrible thing this year. Maybe the Yankees should've noticed vomitous numbers in 1999 (8-10, 6.06 ERA, 1.65 WHIP), 2001 (2-2, 6.52, 2.00), and 2003 (2-5, 7.38, 1.91) (though his 2-3 record with a 15.71 ERA and 3.22 WHIP has to be one of the most revolting I've ever seen in 8 games in Cleveland in 2002))

- Keith Brown (though he has fought back problems for many years now, and had some up and done years, this year is by far the worst (worst win percentage since 1994) (4 wins in 13 games = 30.7% versus 44.3% average for his career), worst WHIP since Reagan was president (1.76 in only 23.1 innings in 1988), and by far the worst ERA of his career (6.50 versus career 3.28)))

That's just this year's crowd. You can't say that the Yankees catch pitchers when their careers are declining either, as many have slowly built back into their potential before Yankee-dom.

- Javier Vazquez (One of my favorite young pitchers, last season really saddened me. His worst WHIP and ERA since 2000. Even though he still managed 14-10 last season (his second best career win-loss %), and is only 10-13 this year, the numbers are very deceptive. His ERA (4.59 this year, 4.91 last) and WHIP (1.24 this, 1.29 last) are only slightly better... but it's his other numbers that tell what an aberation last season was. He averages almost 2 1/2 complete games a year... but had none in 04 and his K-BB ratio was only 2.5 in 04, versus a career 3.23 (it's 4.28 this year!). I think he still has a great career ahead!)

- Jeff Weaver (One of the most horrific disasters ever to happen to a pitcher. Came from hapless Detroit to New York at the deadline in 2002 for peanuts. Had a 45-59 record coming (pretty darn good considering the team), and a career 4.33 ERA, 1.37 WHIP. In New York went 12-12, 5.35 ERA, 1.54 WHIP. Almost immediately found himself as a middle reliever after being the ace for Detroit. ERA has declined each season since he left, and he turned in a 13-13 year last year before what will be best season yet, currently at 12-8. His career is slowly but surely getting legs oncemore, even as he's battled some lingering injuries.)


- Roger Clemens (The ultimate evidence. Had one good year in New York (01), but also turned in 4 of his highest 8 ERAs of his 22 year career (including two of his three highest), 3 of his highest 6 WHIPs (including his highest ever in 1999), 2 shutouts (compared to 46 lifetime), and a 2.58 K-BB ratio (versus 4.38 career). And we've all seen his return to dominance since. His ERA has dropped almost a full point a year the last two years (4.35 in 2002 in NY, 3.91 in 03 in NY, 2.91 in 04 in Hou, 1.56 this year in Hou). His K/IP (1.30) the past two seasons blows his efficiency in NY (0.94) out of the water. And he is 29-10 verus 30-15 in his final two seasons in New York. His HOF career is back to cruise control... though he's not paying any attention to that!)

And don't forget David Cone, Jason Giambi, and Chuck Knoblauch (those just off the top of my head) whose careers flopped in New York to some degree or another. Let this be a lesson to Georgy and all sports enthusiasts. I spend a while listening to my dad complain that a player for his D1 soccer club in England (the Bournemouth Cherries) had jumped to a higher league at the offer of a better contract. He was very pessimistic that our business sports was reaching so deep these days in the UK (and, yes, soccer fans, between my dad's background and Chad's interest in England soccer, you'll hear some about that too!). He described it as another example of a program with more money buying the better players. I don't quite see the parallels here, but that doesn't matter. The point is the Yankees are buying players without any thought to how they may struggle to adjust. I believe this goes to show that when you call upon pitchers to perform in foreign roles (like setup man and spot starter), you are asking too much. This also has to call into question the managerial skills in New York. But the fact is you can only do so much to keep a team together when it has more turnovers than the 2004 University of Central Florida. Athletes develop under a consistant system and build upon fan loyalty. Going after players who had one home in their careers (Weaver, Vazquez (and I'm also considering Pavano, who's only played at two spots)) and trying to throw them into the ace role (or the setup role) just doesn't work. It's the true representation of what happens when you take on that win-only mentality. You lose. When you take on that mentality, instead of enjoying a World Series crown, you are always looking ahead to the next one. Can I point out that the lowly Florida Marlins have won 2 world series in the past 8 seasons, the Yankees only 3. The Yankees try to bend the rules of sports and indeed life itself by buying championships. But just as you can't truly buy love or loyalty, you can't buy championships.