When you break it down like this, you realize that the Yankees pretty much haven’t underperformed in most areas – and offensively at least, they have over-performed in many spots. Some of that is the effect of their ballpark; but some of it is because the Yankees have older hitters who up until now are refusing to decline.

Obviously, they need a similar performance out of Burnett (I think he is capable, if he stays healthy), a better performance out of CC (he’s always capable of that), and they need Joba to turn things around and stabilize the middle of this rotation. Pettitte cannot be asked to be that guy. A healthy Wang I think would have done that, but you can’t count on that anymore. Nobody in the minors is going to be able to jump in and stabilize the middle.
SO it’s either Joba or someone they acquire. If it’s neither, than they are going to go into 3 out of every 5 games with, at most, an even pitching matchup. That’s a risk, though the lineup DOES help.