Jacko, my feelings about the Yankee ro are what I see out of them. Yeah, Schilling is a year older, but I think he will be right in line with what Mussina does this year.
Like it or not, Pettite's shoulder is a question mark. He needs to prove he can be an ALE pitcher again before I can pencil him in for 200 innings and a high 3/low 4 ERA, which is what you seem to be projecting for him.
As for Wang, how many times must it be said that his peripheral numbers aren't as good as last year would indicate? Much like Melky Cabrera's "plate discipline", it needs to happen longer than one year before you can call it a trend. If he's got such a plus pitch, why doesn't he miss more bats? If he's got the ability to strike guys out, why doesn't he? I'm not saying he can't be a "new breed" of contact pitcher, but until he does it for more than one year could we hold off on the praises a little bit? He WAS the luckiest pitcher in baseball, after all. Compare him to Brandon Webb, who struck out 178 batters in 235 innings (Wang struck out 76 in 218), and it just doesn't make any sense.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Igawa's potential was to be a #4 starter, correct? You and a lot of other Yankee fans have said it, and that is the transition from Japan to the MLB can be a very difficult one. Igawa doesn't have Matsuzaka's pedigree. Matsuzaka projects to be the best Japanese MLB pitcher ever. Calling for 200 innings from a guy who projects to be a #4 and doesn't have a real plus pitch is a bit of a stretch. 200 innings in Japan is not the same as 200 in the MLB.
And as for the 5 spot in their rotation, you better hope its Clemens.
Oh and by the way, who in the back end of the Yankee pen (other than Mo) strikes fear in the hearts of MLB batters? Chris Britton? Brian Bruney? teh pr0FF3ss0r?