Byrds and the Bees

At the bottom of a mailbag by Pete Abraham's great Yankee blog, he metions Paul Byrd making perfect sense for the Yankees. I kind of laughed at first, then looked at the numbers and didn't necessarily stop giggling but realized maybe it makes sense. Byrd's kind of the definition of mediocre with a career ERA+ of 104, and slightly under that the last few years. However, Byrd will be cheap and will only require a one year deal. The Yankees are intent on signing Sabathia and one of (or even two of in some rumors) Lowe and Burnett. They need a 5th starter because they learned their lesson on not giving young inexperienced pitchers (Hughes, Kennedy) a job without proving it. Mike Mussina will make his decision soon whether or not he wants to come back, but if it means a shot for 300, who wants to give Moose a 2-3 year deal? Andy Pettitte is also rumored for a last pitching spot, but unless he takes a huge pay cut, like 75% less than what he got last year (1 year $16m), Byrd probably makes more sense. The Redsox acquired Byrd last year, so you know he can't be terrible. In baseball league averaging pitching isn't a given, there is value to pitching mediocre and at 1 year for $2m Byrd is worth a shot to give them some innings or hold the fort until Hughes deserves a shot, and then give more innings after he gets hurt.