The 10 most disappointing, underperforming Yankees teams
By Ryan Morik
Yankees disappointment No. 2: 2004
This is easily the most heartbreaking season, for obvious reasons, but in terms of Opening Day expectations, it’s not number one, primarily due to this putrid starting rotation.
Yes, they picked up Alex Rodriguez. It was one of the biggest sports stories ever. They also brought in Gary Sheffield.
But Yankee starters that year combined for an ERA of 4.82, which ranked 18th in all of baseball. Opponents hit .274 off of Yankee starters, the 11th-worst mark in the majors that season.
Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez posted a 3.30 ERA, but had just 15 outings. Their rotation mainly consisted of Javier Vazquez (4.91), Jon Jieber (4.33), Mike Mussina (4.59), Kevin Brown (4.09), and Jose Contreras (5.64).
They relied on the offense heavily. And rightfully so. A-Rod, Jason Giambi, Hideki Matsui, Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, Sheffield. Not bad.
Even as the Yankees won the first three games of that ALCS, they allowed seven, three, and eight runs. Their pitching just was not good. And as the Yankees’ offense came down to earth in the final four games, scoring just 13 runs in that span, the pitching staff couldn’t do the job.
So while the 2004 season is the one that Yankee fans hate the most, that rotation saves it from being the biggest underperformance, despite acquiring A-Rod and Sheffield.