New Coach, Old Problems

Dave Eiland was one of the top pitching prospects in the Yankee chain in the late 80's and early 90's. He never panned out as a major league starter, but maybe his clamed to fame could come as the Yankee pitching coach. Dave Eiland has worked his way up the system as a coach, and last year was the Yankees Triple A pitching coach at Scranton.

The front office liked the work he did with the teams top three pitching prospects: Phil Hughes Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy. In a perfect world the rotation would be:

1 Andy Pettitte
2 Chien-Ming Wang
3 Phil Hughes
4 Mike Mussina
5 Ian Kennedy

with Joba Chamberlain in the pen setting up Mariano. If it's anything like last year it wont be that easy. This year the team has 25 pitchers in camp with a lot of jobs to be won or lost. If one of the starters goes down the team does not have too many choices from within. Kei Igawa who was a bust in first year in America plus Jeff Karstens who pitched well in the Pan Am game this winter.

Watch out for Alan Horne a 25 year old righthander who jumped threw the system and dominated in Trenton with 11 wins. As the pitchers and catchers get ready for another day of work outs, Eiland can only hope everyone stays healthy and some of the youngsters really come forward. If not Dave Eiland will have a lot of sleepless nights and maybe the minors did not look that bad. Who do feel would be the Yankees top rotation?