Yankees starting pitching

The Yankees have recently implemented a six-man starting pitching rotation -- CC, AJ, Hughes, Colon, Garcia, and Nova.  Some have questioned this decision, worried perhaps that our best pitchers will decline in quality if they can't pitch every fifth game.  While this concern might be legitimate, I think it's worth it (and worth noting that CC has been promised every fifth game no matter what).  By every postseason, the Yankees' five-man rotation ends up a three- or four-man rotation.  Sometimes we do well despite that, as in 2009, but it's a suboptimal situation to be in when it matters most.  If we start with six, maybe we might actually have five by the postseason!  And the way AJ is going (again), does he even really count?  Isn't he just a "rest day" for our real five-man lineup?  (Honestly, the Yankees treat him like a tenured professor -- no matter how much he screws up they won't send him down.  Why???)

Another argument against a six-man rotation is that the roster space would be better used for a strong hitter.  The Yankees, however, have a roster full of strong hitters already.  If they were going to use a roster spot for anything besides a starter, it should probably be a bullpen slot, which might be the Yankees' weakest area (again, not counting AJ).  Maybe that would be a better choice for Girardi, but with the uncertainty of Hughes' future performance (despite a great one last time around) after his injury and Nova's relative inexperience, it behooves the Yankees to give them both time to show their stuff.  And if one or the other proves much better, the other can be sent down or even given a chance in the bullpen -- we know that worked for Hughes in 2009, so why not now?

The Yankees are playing great ball.  They can worry about going down to five starters in September -- for now, let's make use of the talent we have and see how far it can take us.