Yankees Bag a Big Moose

The addition of Mike Mussina to a New York Yankee rotation of Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Orlando Hernandez obviously makes the rich even richer. As Mussina put it Thursday after agreeing to a six-year, $88.5-million contract, "We might get to the playoffs next year and I might not even get a chance to pitch. That's how good these guys are."

The Yankees, of course, have won three consecutive World Series and four of the last five and now may have the best rotation in their storied history.

If that's open to argument, this isn't: The Yankees now boast three--Mussina, Clemens and Pettitte--of the five active starting pitchers with winning marks of 64.5% or better. Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez are the two non-Yankees.

Although that doesn't automatically translate to another World Series title, it figures to put the Yankees close.

"This is the type of move that gets your adrenaline pumping, and it's only November," Clemens said in a statement released by the Yankees.

It may also be the type of move that gets the market moving. Mussina is the first major free agent to sign, possibly freeing the logjam.

The Yankees, with an industry-high payroll of $112 million last year, are in their own economic sphere, of course, and clubs like the pitching-hungry Angels and Dodgers will be eager to learn how the signing of Mussina to a contract averaging $14.75 million a year affects the demands of a group of less-credentialed pitchers that includes Darren Dreifort, Andy Ashby, Rick Reed, Denny Neagle and Kevin Appier.

Baseball's salary structure is like a constantly moving fault line, one signing elevating another, but Dodger General Manager Kevin Malone and Angel counterpart Bill Stoneman think Mussina and Mike Hampton are in their own class among current free-agent pitchers and that there will be no connection between their contracts and the demands of others.

Wishful thinking?

"I think the agents especially are always looking to build a case, but Mussina is at the top of this market by a long stretch," Malone said. "He's a unique entity, a legitimate No. 1, the same as a Kevin Brown, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson. You know what you're getting, and I don't think you can draw a link between a guy who's a No. 1 and a guy who's a No. 2, 3, 4 or 5."

Said Stoneman: "The pitchers who we hope are affordable to a club like ours shouldn't be affected by what Mike Mussina gets. A pitcher is worth what he's worth, and just because Mussina gets X amount doesn't mean another pitcher should get more than he's worth."