Cashman must figure out next move

Hey, Brian Cashman, what's your next move?

Andy Pettitte's official retirement leaves a gaping hole in the starting rotation of the New York Yankees. Cashman was hoping against hope that Pettitte would see the size of that hole and decide to save his team from falling into it. Although Pettitte strongly felt the pull of his team, he just couldn't bring himself to ignore the fact that he didn't have the fire in him to play baseball anymore.

With no Andy Pettitte, Cashman has to figure out what to do next. And no, collecting has-been guys such as Mark Prior, Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia doesn’t count as a solution, even if they are low-risk moves. None of those guys can hold a candle to Andy Pettitte and his big-game rep so they can’t be expected to replace him. The first time one of those guys blows a game against the Boston Red Sox, fans are going to be calling for someone’s head.

The Yankees are praying that AJ Burnett can turn things around, can finally figure out a way to harness his immense talent and stay out of his own head long enough to find success on the pitching mound. But Burnett couldn’t do that even after the emergence of Phil Hughes helped the talented youngster zoom past the erratic Burnett in the Yankee rotation and in the eyes of the organization and its fans. There’s no real reason to think he can do it now with the added extreme pressure of having to step up without Pettitte around for the Yankees to lean on. So hoping that Burnett can shake off the ugliness of his 2010 season doesn’t count as a plan.

In the post-Pettitte Yankees universe, Cashman has to figure out what to do next. In truth, I have no idea what his next move should be. But I’m not the Yankees general manager. That guy better come up with something good.