The all 2002-2008 Yankees pitching staff: The worst pitchers of the drought years

Torre catches some sleep while
watching the 2002-2008 Yanks.

This is part two of a two part series, looking back on the drought years of 2002-2008. Today we look at the pitchers that the Yanks sent to the mound during eight year drought. If you want to see the entire team, check out yesterdays post. 

The Yankees were always spenders, but after the 2004 collapse against the Boston Red Sox, the Yanks went crazy signing Jaret Wright and Carl Pavano, and then trading for Randy Johnson. All three of those players are of the list, lets see who else is.

Starting rotation:

Randy Johnson- The Randy Johnson era got off to a bad start when he pushed a camera man on his way to get his physical. It never got much better, he was always grumpy with reporters and refused to pitch to Jorge Posada. In all fairness the season before Johnson was insane out in Arizona and Yankee fans expected much of the same in 2005, but the league change was too much too handle. In 2006 Johnson was down right awful, with an ERA over five, but thanks to the bombers offense he still ended up with 17 wins.

Jaret Wright- I hated this signing from the start, Wright had always been injury prone, but in 2004 he went to the Braves and had a 15 win season. The Yankees foolishly jumped to sign Wright, a move that looked even worse when after Wright got hurt not even two months into the season. Wright would return to pitch in September, but was left off the postseason roster. In 2006 Wright was better but only threw 140 innings, never giving the Yankees depth in games. His Yankees career would end when the Yankees traded him for Chris Britton. Over two seasons Wright threw just under 200 innings.

Carl Pavano- Do I really need to explain myself on this one? Pavano is the poster child for this era of Yankee futility. It began with one of his first starts when he got hit in the head with a batted ball, it was down hill from their. The Yankees clubhouse hated his guts, thinking he was a wimp for not being able to pitch thru the injuries. He missed all of 2006 and lied to the Yankees once he crashed his car in Florida and broke a rib. He tried to make it back in 2007 and was named the opening day starter, but after two starts once again got hurt. In 2008 he made it back for just 7 starts, ending his Yankees career. In his four seasons in pinstripes he made just 26 starts but was paid close to $40 million during that time. Just pathetic..

Jeff Weaver- The Yanks got the worst of this deal, in 2002 the Tigers, A's and Yanks were involved in a 3 way trade. The Tigers got Jeremy Bonderman, the A's got Ted Lilly and the Yankees got Jeff Weaver. Looking at the trade the Yankees were the big losers in the deal. Weaver struggled through his tenure as a Yankee and often was seen sulking on the bench after a rough start. That was a major issue of his was his body language always showed what type of day he was going to have. To this day Yankee fans wonder why Joe Torre left him in to face Alex Gonzalez in the 2003 World Series. Weaver would eventually be shipped off for Kevin Brown, another guy of this list.

Jose Contreras- The best part of Contreras in pinstripes was that the Yankees were renamed "the evil empire". Contreras struggled in 2003, and then began to pitch better in 2004 but was traded for Estaban Loiza. Sadly Loiza was awful while Contreras had a nice stretch over the next few seasons.

Kevin Brown- Last season the Yankee fans booed Javier Vazquez for his part in the 2004 collapse. I never really bought into that. The man I blame is Kevin Brown, he was awful during that game and his entire Yankee career. Another surly guy in the clubhouse, Brown began the 2004 season off hot but soon would spend time on the DL with an intestinal parasite. Once he came back he punched a wall like an idiot with his pitching hand. Then in 2005 he hurt his back and was never heard from again. All I can say is good riddance.

If you think the Yankees starting rotation was bad, the bullpen was not much better.

Bullpen:

Kei Igawa- Someone needs to be the long man in this bullpen. I must admit I feel bad putting Igawa on this list after the disaster in Japan, but he pitched so poor while he was here. The best part of Igawa's stint was when he came in from the bullpen in 2007 and pitched well against the Red Sox. Other then that he has spent much of the last three seasons in Scranton.

Latroy Hawkins- You steal Paul O'Neill's number expect to be booed. That's what happened in 2008 for Hawkins. Hawkins stunk and had to switch his number, but was shipped out to Houston before he was able to turn his season around. So much for being the set up guy for Mo.

Felix Rodriguez- This one might not be completely fair. Rodriguez did not come over with high expectations but got hurt in the strangest way in 2005, hurting his knee while slipping in the shower. He was never heard from again, no really he was never heard or seen.

Kyle Farnsworth- When Farnsy came into the game it was a guarantee he would give up at least one run. He never gained the trust of Joe Torre in his first two years, sadly my best Yankee memory was when he almost gave up a homer to Manny Ramirez but Melky Cabrera was able to rob him.

Steve Karsay- Who could deny a New York kid? Well the Yanks signed him to an insane four year contract prior to the 2002 season. In 2002 Karsay did a great job, but once again was over worked. Karsay would miss the entire 2003 season needing Tommy John surgery, he would make a few appearances in 2004 and 2005 before being released.

Paul Quantrill- QuanGorMo was the three headed monster in the first half of the 2004 season. But Quantrill fell of the tracks in the second half of 2004, probably from over use. In 2005 the Yanks would finally cut him half way through the season. He was just that bad.

Felix Heredia- Heredia the horriable as I called him. Heredia wasn't that bad when the Yankees got him in 2003 pitching to a 1.20 ERA in 12 games. Heredia was always wild walking lots of guys and that caught up to him in 2004. He was so bad pitching to an ERA over six. The Yanks would trade him to the Mets (suckers!) after the 2004 season for Mike Stanton. Heredia would throw just 2.2 innings for the Mets before injuring his shoulder and testing positive for a steroid test.