We have heard so much about the Big Three -- Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes -- but what about Kei Igawa? Can the Yankees find anything to do with him? Will he have a shot at the rotation? -- Kyle A., Bronx, N.Y. You had your first tell-tale indication that Igawa is not in the Yankees' early 2008 plans last week, when manager Joe Girardi -- on a conference call with reporters to name his coaching staff -- rattled off the names of the pitchers who he'd have in his rotation if the season started now. Girardi said that he envisioned starting Chien-Ming Wang, Mike Mussina, Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy -- not necessarily in that order -- and Igawa was nowhere to be found. On the day the Yankees announced their signing of Igawa, general manager Brian Cashman sat on a folding chair in the auxiliary clubhouse at Yankee Stadium and cautioned that they were looking at Igawa as a long-term project. Part of this was to stave off comparisons to Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka, who signed at just about the same time, but as Igawa showed, it will take a little longer for him to reliably get Major League hitters out. Heading to Class A Tampa and working with pitching guru Gil Patterson for a time last season seemed to help slightly, but Igawa seems to have trouble keeping his adjustments steady and his physical form consistent -- remember the little wooden stick he carried in the dugout to help him mimic his ideal delivery between innings? In short, the Yankees have a lot invested in Igawa -- four more years under contract -- and would surely like to see some return on it. He has strikeout ability but needs to adapt to the slicker MLB baseball and learn that pitching up in the zone will hurt him far more often than it did in Japan. A role in long relief is not out of the question; he did pitch those six innings of two-hit, shutout relief on April 28 against Boston when Jeff Karstens broke his leg in the first inning. 官網新聞 好久沒有在官網上面看到阿宅的消息了 -- 我的小懶熊，是個鄉民，是個阿宅，是個腐女， 是個喜歡鬧我的可愛女友，是個 99% 由水組成的女人 她可以三秒鐘飆淚，也可以三秒鐘飆汗，更可以三秒鐘飆醋 --

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