KENNEDY: NO RULES, 20 WINS

There was a time when Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy were the future of the Yankees pitching staff and the Yankees had a plan to make sure that these young pitchers would be brought along slowly in order to prevent injuries down the road.

This plan included "rules" that centered on pitch counts and innings limits. I predicted back in January of 2008 that this would fail, and it has.

In the 3 way trade with Arizona and Detroit that brought Curtis Granderson to the Yankees, Ian Kennedy was sent to Arizona.

Now free of the pitch count rule and innings limits rule, The Diamondbacks gave Kennedy one simple instruction: GO PITCH.

So while the Hughes and Chamberlain have suffered with injuries and inconsistency due to Hughes Rules and Joba Rules, Kennedy has become a 20 game winner with 216 innings pitched.

It will be interesting to see what the Yankees do with prized prospects Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances. Will they be allowed to pitch freely or will the have rules that will set them up for failure?

Oh yea, I never heard of "Nova Rules" and he's won 15 games.