NY Times' Murray Chass on Junkees' Shoddy Rotation

I'd like to think of this as a companion piece to the one I posted:

It's Money for Nothing as Yanks' Starters Labor
By MURRAY CHASS
WHEN the season began, the Yankees' starting rotation was a $64 million unit. The 2005 salaries of the five pitchers exceeded the entire payrolls of 14 teams. The pitchers, however, have vividly demonstrated the adage that you don't always get what you pay for.
The question the Yankees have to ask themselves is whether they paid for the right pitchers; in other words, did they spend their money wisely?
Throughout the Yankees' World Series championship seasons, which are fading in George Steinbrenner's memory, Manager Joe Torre credited their pitching with being the team's foundation. Last year, Torre and others said poor pitching undermined the Yankees' effort. Starting pitching, then, became the No. 1 priority last winter.
At the start of the season, Torre was convinced that the front office had done a good job and achieved its quest. "Coming out of spring training, it was the best I've ever had," he said earlier this week.
But look at the best now. Before last night's games, 123 major league pitchers had made a minimum of 10 starts. Ranked by earned run average, Randy Johnson (3.51) was 33rd, Mike Mussina (3.82) 45th, Carl Pavano (4.53) 76th and Kevin Brown (5.48) 104th. Jaret Wright has been on the disabled list for two months with a 9.15 E.R.A. in four starts. Johnson got knocked around last night by the Devil Rays, but the Yankees' bats bailed him out.
Earned run average doesn't tell the whole story, but the bigger the numbers, the more difficult task a team's hitters have in winning games.
The rotation could have had a different look, but the Yankees made their choices and are stuck with them.
"We had eight guys we were looking at and settled on Wright and Pavano," General Manager Brian Cashman said. "Pavano was the one guy we definitely wanted. The other was who we could get a deal with."
Pavano has also been the biggest disappointment, looking too often like those pitchers the Yankees chewed up and spit out - Jeff Weaver, Javier Vazquez, José Contreras.
"Pavano isn't throwing like he threw in our league," Dusty Baker, the Chicago Cubs' manager, said after the Cubs battered him for six runs in five and a third innings last week.
Torre acknowledged that Pavano did not throw well against the Cubs.
"Pavano has given us good and not so good," Torre said. "He's probably been the least consistent. The other day he wasn't good. The two previous starts he was.
"It gets to the point where he overstrides and pushes the ball, and his velocity suffers. He's healthy. It's a matter of getting him as comfortable as we can get him."
Pavano, who has a 4-5 record, was also pursued last winter by the Boston Red Sox. They lost him to the Yankees, but they turned out to be the winners (again) because they turned around and signed Matt Clement, who has an 8-1 record and a 3.48 E.R.A. The Yankees originally had mild interest in Clement, but they had none at all after they signed Pavano to a four-year, $39.5 million contract.
David Wells offered his services for a third term with the Yankees, but they rejected him. Eric Milton ignored their three-year, $18 million offer, which turned out to be beneficial for the Yankees; he has a 7.82 E.R.A., tied for last in baseball.
The Yankees offered Wright $21 million for three years, and he grabbed it. The two sides did not sign a contract immediately because the Yankees were concerned about his medical exam. Wright became concerned that the Yankees would withdraw their offer. They would have been better off if they had withdrawn it, because Wright went down with a shoulder ailment after only four starts.
The injury should not have surprised the Yankees. They signed the 29-year-old Wright off his impressive season with Atlanta last year (15-8), but it was the first season since 1998 - his first full season in the majors - in which he started 32 games.
A disabled-list player waiting to happen, Wright is only now in the early stages of a comeback. Yet the Yankees had high hopes for him. "Jaret Wright had the best spring of anybody," Torre said. "It's unfortunate that he broke down."
Should they have anticipated the injury possibility? "Yes," Cashman said. "The organization was willing to take that chance."
In signing Wright and Pavano and desperately trading for Johnson, the Yankees shed two free-agent pitchers, Jon Lieber and Orlando Hernández, who between them won 22 games and lost only 10 last season.
The Yankees wanted to re-sign Lieber, on whom they held an $8 million option, but they badly miscalculated in their attempt.
"We didn't think that he was worth $8 million," Cashman said. "Our plan was to not exercise the option and re-sign him to what we hoped would be a two-year deal at $6 million a year. It didn't work out at all. The market exploded."
Cashman acknowledged that he still could have signed Lieber for the same contract Philadelphia gave him, three years and $21 million, "But we chose not to."
The Yankees also chose not to give Hernández the two-year contract he received from the White Sox. "I talked to him about one year with a vesting option for a second based on health, but he was looking to get at least a two-year guaranteed deal, so we turned another way," Cashman said.
Lieber has an 8-6 record with the Phillies. Hernández has a 7-2 record with the White Sox and is on the disabled list.
Of the starters the Yankees have, Cashman said, "We need more from all these guys." Then he added, "It's a work in progress."
For $64 million, it should be a finished and highly polished product.