All of a sudden the Yankees may have too much pitching. Of course you can never have too much pitching, but the Bronx depth chart looks a whole lot better after Sunday?s dramatic announcement. Starters Chien-Ming Wang Andy Pettitte Roger Clemens Mike Mussina Darrell Rasner, Kei Igawa, Phil Hughes In terms of statistics and ultimately games won, the difference is not worth the record $28 million contract (earned on a prorated basis) that Clemens will receive. But when you already have almost $200 million invested in your ball club, another $20-something million is very valuable for peace of mind. The Yankees are 5-1 during the month of May and with the exception of their embarrassing 11-15 loss to Seattle on Friday, have been receiving good outings from their starters. Both Hughes and Wang took no-hitters late into their starts, while Rasner looked outright dominant on Sunday before getting upstaged by Clemens. While Clemens is certainly not the late 80?s version of himself and isn?t even the turn of the millennium version that was set to retire following the 2003 World Series, it is safe to assume Joe Torre and Ron Guidry can pencil in 6-7 innings and 2-3 runs when they ink his name into the scorecard on every fifth day. The value of having starters you can rely on to pitch into the second half of games has become a rare luxury for the Yankees, a far cry from when it was commonplace during the late 90?s for three starters to have over 200 innings pitched with a fourth bordering that plateau. The Yankees have reached the postseason every single season since 1995 and even though they are only one game under .500, Clemens will be needed merely to arrive in October. The AL Central once again appears desperate to send two teams to the playoffs, with the Indians and Tigers out to huge starts, with the Twins and White Sox hanging around the .500 mark. Boston, meanwhile, has the best record in the American League and their pitching staff apparently doesn?t feel that they would ultimately need Clemens to take their mound. Even though it is assumed they will be playing into October, George Steinbrenner gets that month free in the contracts of his players and Clemens? resume in the playoffs (12-8, 3.66) may not be as legendary as his regular season one (348-178, 3.10), but he has proven himself in high-pressure games in a Yankees uniform; something nobody could say about Randy Johnson?s two-year tenure even though his pre-Yankee postseason statistics were obviously spectacular. Grading The Deal: A- The Yankees undoubtedly overpaid for Clemens, but Brian Cashman was able to keep him away from Boston, which would have been the end of the AL East and a huge psychological defeat and it also lightens the pressure on young pitchers like Hughes, Rasner and Igawa. They were also reportedly evaluating Carlos Zambrano, who will be a free agent this winter. He has been horribly inconsistent and would have cost them at least two prospects in that sub-Hughes echelon. With Clemens on board, the gaping hole in a flawed pricey team was fixed at a pricey rate, but if 27 does come this season, it will be well worth it.