Blasts from the Past: Could These Former Yankees' Starters Help the Bombers Now?

Based on their recent flurry of acquisitions, it’s clear the Yankees are loading up on backup starting pitching…and rightfully so. Joba Chamberlain, the No. 4 starter, is rapidly approaching his innings limit. While no one outside the organization is sure exactly what it is – most have it pegged between 140 and 160 – what is known is that heading through Thursday, Joba has pitched 115 2/3 innings so far this year. Averaging six innings a start, he’ll hit his cap anywhere between four and seven starts from now, which puts him in the rotation until mid-September at best. The ideal situation would be to work the rotation so that he’s skipped as much as possible…but that’s just not feasible, because the current No. 5, Sergio Mitre, has been less than stellar. Quite frankly, he’s been mediocre – and there’s a reason the rotation was reshuffled around an off day so that he pitched Wednesday night in Toronto instead of o...