Hi! My Name Is: Mike Mussina (SP)

Each day, "Piss and Wynegar" will present Yankees "player previews" for the coming 2008 season. In what can only be referred to as a "revelatory" strategy, we will use statistics, as well as opinion, to further our analysis.

He's like Ian Kennedy!

See how I brought it full circle there?

Mike Mussina is freaking old, and like any old person he's going to have good days and bad days, but we won't know which is which until they actually occur.

Mussina has the dubious honor of being the official "question mark target" of the New York media this year, which is to say every good outing will be met with remarks about his "veteran wiliness," or "withered gamerness," or whatever meaningless phrase about his age / ability they can come up with. On the flipside, each bad outing will be written about as the beginning of the end; that it's time for Moose to retire to his crossword puzzles because he's hurting his team.

Based on last year's performance, it appears that the latter will be in print more often than the former. The reason? Mussina sucked last year to the tune of a much-maligned 5.15 ERA. While ERA is not at all the greatest measure of a pitcher's effectiveness, it was high enough to prove how inconsistent and ineffective he was (it was his career-worst by over one-half a run). Mix in 188 hits in a paltry 152 innings, and you have yourself the makings of a god-awful season.

That said, Mussina's importance to this team cannot be denied. With Hughes and Kennedy gigantic question marks and Pettitte already experiencing creaky injuries, Mussina might actually have to anchor this staff in the middle of the rotation. And that is a scary thought. A lot is riding on what is, surely, Moose's last year. For one, he'll need to eat more innings, especially with Hughes, Kennedy, and Joba all on ridiculously strict innings counts. He'll need to stay healthy also, as it appears Pettitte has that market cornered. And, frankly, he'll have to swallow his pride and learn how to pitch as a 39 year old with no more fastball.

In other words, [insert name of long relief man] is already warming up in the 'pen.

To read earlier "Hi! My Name Is" entries, click here.