The Futility Infielder

I'm of two minds about Saturday's Yankee loss to the Chicago Cubs, in which Roger Clemens left the ballgame with a 1-0 lead en route to what would hopefully be his 300th win. Should the Yankees hang Juan Acevedo in retribution of all of pitches he's hung to opposing hitters? Or should they choke him for all of the times he's choked after coming into a game?

In a Wrigley Field pitchers duel with Kerry Wood that had lived up to the one in the catalog, Clemens pitched a magnficent ballgame through six innings. Slowed by a respiratory infection, he began to tire in the seventh and was removed after having thrown only 85 pitches. It took just one pitch from Acevedo to undo all of Clemens' good work. One pitch which the undead Eric Karros swatted for a three-run homer. One pitch that had me perilously close to throwing a solid object through my TV screen as I unleashed a string of curse words that had mothers covering their children's ears within a five-block radius.

One pitch that ought to seal the fate of Juan Acevedo. There is simply no reason for a team fighting for its spot atop a division to show any allegiance to a journeyman reliever with a 7+ ERA and complaints about his role. Acevedo is "only" making $900,000, but the Yanks have nothing invested in him beyond that. They're destined to take on more salary as they reinforce themselves, so exactly what the hell they're waiting for with Acevedo is beyond me; they should have released him when they added Ruben Sierra to the roster (another eye-roller) rather than optioning Jason Anderson to the minors. The only way Torre's use of Acevedo on Saturday can be justified is as a white flag to Brian Cashman, similar to the way he used Enrique Wilson in rightfield last summer in order to key a trade which netted the Yanks Raul Mondesi.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. A reliever with an ERA that can be confused with the make of a Boeing jet is no relief at all.