The Yankees' postseason rotation, Kevin Towers and the Twins- and there's a live chat today

Plenty to talk about when you show up at noon today: The Yankees' playoff plans, the Mets' offseason plans, maple bats. Come to think of it, I'd better study up on this stuff. And you'd better be ready, if you hope to win the coveted Live Chat MVP.

Just a lightning round this morning:

--Off the Yankees game, I wrote about good signs for the Yankees and bad signs for the other AL playoff teams. Phil Hughes had an up-and-down outing, but since it ended up, he could speak enthusiastically about it afterward.

Most interestingly, I thought, Hughes spoke about how pleased he was that the Yankees limited his innings by occasionally skipping him in the starting rotation, rather than trying to repeat last year's "Start, pitch a few innings and leave" fiasco with Joba Chamberlain. Not a shocker; rather, it affirmed what we already knew. It's clearly the way to go, moving forward, when this issue arises.

So, with what we know about the Yankees' starting pitchers, what would you do about the team's starting rotation?

Here's how I would lay out the first round, regardless of the opponent:

Game 1: CC Sabathia

Game 2: Andy Pettitte

Game 3: A.J. Burnett

Game 4: If the Yankees are up, 2-1, then Hughes. If the Yankees are trailing, 2-1, then Sabathia, on three days' rest, with Hughes leading the cavalry in the bullpen (if he wasn't already used to bail out Burnett in Game 3).

Game 5: If he didn't start Game 4, Sabathia. If Sabathia started Game 4, Pettitte.

My thinking is, while Burnett and Hughes are both trending upward, there's still a significant reliability gap between Sabathia/Pettitte and Burnett/Hughes. Forget about splitting the lefties, or saving Pettitte for Game 3 because Game 3 is supposedly more important than Game 2. I understand why Joe Torre always said that, but it's easy to say that when you have three reliable starters. In this instance, I'd want to go with my two best starters the most.

If the Yankees are trailing the series, 2-1, then you don't want to end your season with Sabathia sitting there, ready to go. And because there's a travel day between Games 4 and 5 (in addition to the travel day between Games 2 and 3), Pettitte would be set for Game 5 on his normal four days' rest if needed.

Moving forward, I wouldn't try to go with a three-man rotation for the ALCS and World Series. That's too much of a strain, and you simply have to show some faith in Burnett and Hughes, with the understanding that you have a deep bullpen and long relievers like Ivan Nova and perhaps Dustin Moseley and/or Javier Vazquez.

--USA Today's Bob Nightengale first reported that Kevin Towers is set to become Arizona's new general manager. Good hire for Arizona, and a tough - if not at all unexpected - loss for the Yankees, who enjoyed a few months from Towers as a consultant.

And for the Mets, Towers' departure from the market eliminates the most obvious, "veteran, accomplished GM" from the board, at a time when the team isn't yet technically look for a GM. If the Mets really want to bring in someone who has a positive track record as a major-league GM, they're going to have to think out of the box and convince someone who hasn't been doing this for a while to jump back in.

The good news for the Mets, if you're desperately looking for some, is they very well might not have any other competition to hire someone. There have been rumblings surrounding Jack Zduriencik's job security in Seattle's and Neal Huntington's in Pittsburgh, yet the safe bets call for both men to keep their respective jobs.

--Congratulations to the Twins for being the first team to clinch a playoff spot. Minnesota now has six AL Central titles in the last nine years, and let's keep it real: If the Twins played in the AL East, they'd probably have zero playoff appearances. But they've dominated the division in which they were placed, utilizing a decidedly old-school methodology that emphasizes scouting over statistical analysis. They are a lot of fun to watch, both on the field and in the front office. 

--Interesting column on Joe Torre by T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times. If Torre seriously thinks that he wasn't lobbying for the Mets' managing job, then maybe he really is losing his edge.

--Good piece on Jonathan Papelbon by Scott Lauber of The Boston Herald. If the Red Sox don't trade Papelbon, their salary negotiations for 2011 should be fascinating, because they will have zero motivation to keep it nice for an actual arbitration hearing. They can trash Papelbon knowing that 1) they have little reason to promote good will, since they have minimal interest in retaining him past 2011; and 2) Papelbon will be motivated to pitch well regardless of any bad blood because he'll be a free agent after '11.

--See you at noon, and then I'll check in from the Stadium later.