Randy to the Pen

Alright, I’ve had enough.  I can’t stand to watch Randy Johnson pitch.  It’s not going to get better.  It’s time to move him to the bullpen.  He’s already walked 31 batters (as compared to only 47 for all of last season in 225 innings).  In six starts this season, he’s given up 5 or more earned runs.  He’s gone less than 5 innings in only 3 of his starts, but he’s had 4 others where he went exactly 5 innings.  In three of those 5 inning starts, he’s given up 5+ runs, so you know that Torre was just using him for innings.  This crap needs to stop.  Jaret Wright hasn’t been this bad.  When you have a guy in the rotation that makes you go “Crap, we’re gonna lose this one”, you need to get him out.

You’re probably asking yourself, “If Randy’s that bad, and there’s no hope for him, why put him in the bullpen?”  For one, they can’t trade him.  Nobody in they’re right mind, or even Rangers owner Tom Hicks, would take his contract.  Second, what I’m actually hoping is that he’ll retire.  You give him the option of working out of the pen or he can retire.  If he decides to retire, that frees up a truckload of money to go after someone else (can you say Barry Zito or Dontrelle Willis?).  If not, he can still probably be effective in short doses, so long as he doesn’t start giving up homers.

I hate the fact that I’m even saying this about Randy, but for Yankees fans like me, it’s just become too painful to watch games he pitches.  You’re just waiting for him to blow up.  So I’m encouraging Brian Cashman to work with Torre to stop creating this stress in our lives and turn Randy into a setup guy for Mariano.  Please.