Imaginary Diamond

New year, new manager, same pitching struggles for the New York Yankees. Young guns Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy have both exited the rotation - Hughes with a rib cage injury and Kennedy with a demotion to Triple-A Scranton - which leaves New York searching for some answers. They’re hoping to find them in a familiar face (and huge question mark) as 28-year old lefty Kei Igawa will likely be called up from Scranton this week.

Igawa is expected to start in Kennedy’s place either Friday or Saturday, according to the New York Daily News Yankees Blog. Darrell Rasner already took Hughes’ place in the rotation and proceeded to finish the Yankees’ sweep of the Seattle Mariners with six effective innings on Sunday.

Igawa has been surprisingly steady at Scranton, going 3-3 with a 3.86 ERA, 40 strikeouts and just 12 walks in 39.2 innings. Even so, his arrival in the Bronx will still scare the daylights out of Yankees fans. Igawa may have gone through a hundred corrective measures with his mechanics, but it’s highly unlikely that he made much progress in the mental game. Unfortunately for the Yankees, there’s no way of knowing until he stands in front of 50,000 screaming fans.

The Yankees do have one saving grace in this process. Igawa can’t be any less effective than Hughes or Kennedy … or can he?

Kennedy is being sent to Scranton to re-gain his confidence and command, both of which were shaken after starting the year with an 0-2 record and 8.37 ERA in five starts. Meanwhile, Hughes was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Thursday with a stress fracture in his ribs. The optimistic timetable for his return would be July. The realistic timetable for his being healthy and effective would be sometime in August.

Depending on your take on the Yankees and their supersized payroll, you can interpret their place in the American League East standings (17-16, 4th place) as either a miracle or the direct result of George Steinbrenner’s big spending. Either way, you have to admire a club that has dealt with so much injury and ineffectiveness and still managed to post a winning record.

Among the high profile players to suffer injuries in 2008: Alex Rodriguez (quad) and Jorge Posada (shoulder), who are both on the DL; Derek Jeter (quad); Hughes; Brian Bruney (foot); and Wilson Betemit (conjunctivitis).

The competitiveness of the new AL East has also factored into the equation. Division leader Boston is 8-9 against the East, 12-4 against the rest of the American League, and just three games ahead of the Rays, Orioles and scuffling Yankees.

More thoughts …
The Bronx Stop sees Dodgers right-hander Derek Lowe as a good fit for the Yankees.

Bleacher Report points out the new Joba rules — not rushing the right-hander’s conversion from reliever to starter.

The Bronx Cheer wonders how Ivonne Fernandez, the New Hampshire woman who hit and killed a Red Sox fan with her car, will be greeted at Yankee Stadium.

Yankees 2000 thinks all Steinbrenners deserve answers for the Yanks’ slow start.

Dustin Hockensmith is editor of ImaginaryDiamond.com. He can be contacted at dhockensmith[at]fantasysports101.net.