J.K. Rolling undervalued Yankees

Author: Jeff Klein

Ok everyone, I am a Yankees fan. But this is an objective statement: the New York Yankees are not in trouble.

Yes, I understand that as I am typing this the team is sitting on a 9-13 record, good for last place in the American League East.

This might be the latest into a season the Yanks have ever been looking up at the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the standings.

The pitching staff has been a mess. With injuries to Carl Pavano, Mike Mussina and Chien-Ming Wang the team has been forced to pitch guys with shaky track records.

The Yankees even had to call up prized prospect Philip Hughes to pitch last week, blatantly contradicting General Manager Brian Cashman's assertion that he would not call him up until the pitcher was absolutely ready for the big leagues.

Hughes was not exactly dazzling in his Major League debut, surrendering four runs and seven hits in four and one-third innings, as the Yankees got blanked by the Blue Jays, 6-0.

So why am I not worried?

Right now, the Yankees have actually scored the second-most runs in the league with 127. Despite being four games under .500, they also have a positive run differential, meaning they've scored more runs this season than they've given up.

If the Yankees were a stock, they would be extremely undervalued at this point. They're not doing well now, but there are strong indicators that they'll improve as time goes on.

From a historical standpoint, we can just look at what's happened over the past decade. The Yankees have won the American League East every year since 1997.

But it's not just that the team has won the division title for nine straight years, it's how they've won it and against whom. The Yankees have battled adversity before, yet always come out on top by the end of September.

Remember last year, when the team was similarly decimated by injuries in the middle of the season and it looked as if the Red Sox were going to run away with the division?

Nobody panicked, players came back and suddenly the Yankees could not be stopped while Boston went into a tailspin. So don't discount the power of Yankees mystique, as well as the team's mastery of the Red Sox (excluding the 2004 ALCS, of course).

While I fully expect the Yankees to win the division again, I am concerned about the postseason, as every Yankees fan should be. Simply put, the Yankees need better pitching to win a World Series.

Look what happened last season, when the supposed experience of the Yanks proved useless against the upstart Detroit Tigers, a team that featured an array of young and powerful arms that completely shut down the Yankees' bats.

The Yankees' pitching staff has been old for quite some time, and while the possible addition of Roger Clemens later in the season would undoubtedly bolster the staff, I don't think more age is the best answer for the Yanks.

But, come on, why am I actually worried? The Yankees have A-Rod, who has, with his production, suddenly become every Yankee fan's favorite player.

Who would have thought?