Rough start in the Bronx

The debate on the radio this morning is whether the last-place Yankees can dig themselves out of the early hole they've dug for themselves.

The general feeling is that certain players, especially pitchers, will get healthy and give New York the needed boost to win its usual division title.

But as ESPN's Jayson Stark pointed out, who exactly is going to do the job? Mike Mussina is 38 years old. Carl Pavano is perpetually injured. There's the possibility they can land Roger Clemens for half a season. But he'll be 45 in August. Perhaps the can go the rent-a-player route and acquire a pitcher who's in the last year of his contract. Stark mentioned the possibility of the Cubs' Carlos Zambrano, who's off to a very disappointing start. But Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has expressed the notion that the team wants to hang onto its younger prospects, rather than trade them for older, expensive players.

Speaking of getting older, Yankees closer Mariano Rivera might be headed toward Cooperstown one day, but he's not looking like a Hall of Famer so far this season. In seven games, he is 1-2 with a 7.11 earned run average and 0 saves. He's 37 years old.

But although the situation might not look the rosiest for New York at the moment, it's certainly not time to panic yet, what with about 85 percent of the season to go. When the Yankees are beating up the Devil Rays in August and September, that means a lot more than losing a few games to them in April.