Zell's Pinstriped Blog, A New York Yankees Fan Blog

OK, forgive a little hyperbole. But it almost feels that way. All over the Yankee Universe, people are cheering the arrival of Ivan Nova to the big club. Nova, the club’s best pitcher at AAA, is scheduled to make his first start tonight against the Blue Jays. The question now is: whose spot in the rotation will Nova take: Javier Vazquez or AJ Burnett? Nova is starting in what would ordinarily be Burnett’s turn; perhaps most telling, both Vazquez and Burnett are being skipped for the entire Blue Jays series. Combined with a scheduled off-day on Thursday and CC Sabathia certain to get his normal turn on Friday, that means the earliest either could pitch is Saturday.

And for good reason: both have been atrocious for the past month. Their stat lines over their past seven respective starts have read more like a horror movie than anything else:

About the only good thing you can say about it is the Yankees have somehow managed to go 7-7 in these 14 starts, thus pointing to improved offense and bullpen work. Both are definitely needed when giving either of these two knuckleheads the ball.

My guess is Vazquez is going to be the odd man out, permanently. His fastball has been in serious decline for the past month – and as his fastball has steadily gotten worse, his ERA has climbed. That 6.69 ERA over the past month isn’t a mind trick. Take a look at these charts:

There are other reasons to put Vazquez in the bullpen – and then forget about him, until he demonstrates that he can either pitch with a mid-80’s fastball or regains something in the 90mph range. The Yankees have quite a bit invested in Burnett and he is proving to be something of a headcase. While not approaching Carlos Zambrano levels of psychiatric need, the Yankees can’t permanently damage the psyche of a pitcher with 3+ years and $50 million left on his contract by relegating him to the pen for the rest of the season. Further, Phil Hughes’ innings limit is fast approaching, with perhaps 30 innings or so left after his Wednesday start. Assuming Andy Pettite is able to come back next week, keeping Nova in the 5 spot in the rotation allows Hughes to move to the bullpen for the final 2-3 weeks of the season, keeping him fresh for October. Finally, Nova likely doesn’t have a long-term future in the Bronx, not with Dellin Betances and Andrew Brackman on the way and Cliff Lee certain to be a target in the offseason. But this is a chance for Nova – and the Yankees – to showcase him over the next 5 weeks, at the ML level and against some quality competition in preparation for a potential deal.

What do you think? Have we seen the last of Javier Vazquez as New York Yankee?