C.C. may be underappreciated by the casual fan, but a lot of casual fans would take Randy Johnson over John Lackey.

Guys like Sabathia, Bonderman, Lackey and Myers are overlooked, but all of them are legit aces in my book. Bonderman is the one who is most in need of showing that he can turn his peripherals into a good "popular stats" season (ERA, W-L, etc.), but he's solid all around the board in every other wya.

I'm with Steve. I think it's kind of strange to call for a break-out for CC when he already broke-out the second half of 2005 and all of last year. He's already a star and already one of the 10 best pitchers in the world.

Cain a Cy Young candidate in 2007? He still needs to experience a large improvement in command and control to be a Cy Young Candidate. Unlike Sabathia's 2nd half of 2005, Cain's 2nd half of 2006 is overrated if he's being mentioned in Cy Young circles.

-I think there may be a little bit more than all that regarding the perception of Sabathia (not that I don't agree with the comments here, I'm just pointing out what the "other" side of the arguement might say). I think a lot of people look at him like they do Bartolo Colon...somewhat inconsistent, and always one more cheese steak away from eating himself out the league. Whether that really means anything or not, it is there.

-What makes you think Pettitte has received so little attention? As far as I could tell, he got plenty of attention AND was regarded as a tremendous pickup. The fact is that NY should have never let him leave, and everyone's nodding their heads now that he's back where he, quite honestly, belongs. I think the only reason the attention might have died down is because there's nothing more to say...we know what Pettitte can do, he's a NY expert, and we all expect him to be very good, as long as he avoids injury.

-Before we get too excited about Meredith, one reason to take pause: dominant statistical setup men are a dime a dozen in SD (something also seen in Atlanta). While I don't doubt that he is a very good pitcher, how much of his "stardom" his own ability, and how much is the place he plays in, I wonder?

the Yanks might have made the low-cost (relatively speaking) deal of the off-season.

Kinda think it was the other starter they signed, but I hope they both look very smart.

All fair points guys. A reasonable fan could put together one of these lists with their favorites and there could be no overlap whatsoever with mine.

Its just something fun to slap together while looking over 2nd half splits. These are the guys that stuck out to me and are being overlooked by the broader public from my vantage point.

Pettitte's 35. He's moving from one of the worst hitting divisions in baseball to one of the best. I don't seem any reason not to assume that he's going to give the Yankees exactly what you would expect from a 35 year old guy in those circumstances. I think it's a little loony to project some sort of surprise from such a player based on 93 IP after the ASB. I also think it's a little disrespectful to readers to put something like this together as analysis (after all, the site is Baseball Analysts) and then throw out the comment that it was "something fun to slap together".

Whoa, that sure strikes me as an unnecessary low blow. What's wrong with this article? Just because it doesn't use sabermetric adjustments and the like doesn't mean it isn't valid or worthwhile! Come on now...I'm sure there are plenty of casual visitors to this site who appreciate having the names of guys who performed very well after the ASB rolled into a single, simple article.

I think he was only pointing out that it's a nice thing to have, despite not being tremendously difficult to produce. He still did his research and made some choices...it sure satisfied me. Let's not turn up our noses at efforts like this...why should "knowlegeble" fans get all uppity because they know the limitations of articles like this? Get off your high horse!

What's wrong with the article is that I find it a little disrespectful to your readers to present your work as having value and have them read your work and then respond to their comments and questions by saying this is just something "fun to slap together". I'm not sure why you think saying something is a little disrespectful is such a low blow. It's not like I tore him a new one.

I do think that at a site like this that usually presents pretty solid analysis, expectations are higher than just slapping things together. Anyone can get that on any half-baked fantasy board.

the Yankees signed the guy that may very well have been the best pitcher in baseball over the last few months of 2006

Johan Santana, post ASB:

IP: 102.2
ERA: 2.54
K/BB: 4.65
K/9: 9.42
Pitchers faced: 0

Pettitte was very good, but "may very well have been the best pitcher in baseball"? Puh-leeze.

Pettitte seems to have a history of better second half performances. With Houston in 05, he was better than Clemens in the second half. He also had the same tendency the first time around with NY..his career pre-ASB ERA is 4.12 and his career post-ASB ERA is 3.50. My point is that the 06 second half performance may not signal anything about "continuing" that level of performance into the first half of 07; that second half performance was just a continuation of a normal pattern for him. His 2nd half performance in 06 may be helpful in showing that he can continue to pitch through elbow problems, though.