Submitted by Adam, Apr 18, 2007 12:41

I'm not sure how important this actually is, but it occurs to me that in the scenario of the three starters being completely removed from play, the bullpen will also be much more taxed. So that may result in the effect spreading beyond just the innings allotted to the replacement starters, and perhaps affect some high-leverage relief situations. If this accounts for an additional 2-3 wins and the Yankees were a 97-98 win team to begin with as opposed to 100 (are they really much better than last year when they won 97?), then I think the 89-90 win scenario does become problematic.

Of course, Wang et al are not out for the season, but it is not unreasonable to say that losing all three of them for the rest of the year may endanger the Yanks' playoff hopes.

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