Yanks Players Confused & Thinking .500?
Via Bob Klapisch -
“You can just see, everyone here is trying to figure out what the [heck] is going on,” is what one of the clubhouse elders was saying. The words weren’t meant as criticism, just an observation about a franchise that’s suddenly lost its compass. Everyone’s veered off course, including Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, the wound-too-tightly Joe Girardi and general manager Brian Cashman, whose decision to lean on the kid pitchers might cost him his job after the ’08 season.
But the Yankees were similarly depending on Hughes, who’s now out for at least two months with a mysterious cracked rib and Kennedy, who got smoked again, this time by the Tigers en route to an 8-4 loss. Together, the rookie pitchers are 0-7 and have managed to downgrade the Yankees’ win projection from 88-91 to 85-88, and even that might be generous. Another veteran said, “Without [Hughes and Kennedy] pitching the way we expected, you’re talking about .500, tops.”
Make no mistake: There’s a deepening sense of crisis around the Yankees, even if Cashman insisted, “this is something every team goes through if they want to make it to the promised land.”
The GM talked tough, but you expected that. After all, it was Cashman’s power move to hang onto Kennedy and Hughes and keep Hank Steinbrenner from trading for Johan Santana. It was Cashman’s decision to hire Girardi, who has none of the communication skills of his predecessor, Joe Torre, and treats every transaction as evasively as if he was guarding troop movements in Iraq. And, remember, it was Girardi who choreographed the killer conditioning program in spring training, which announced to everyone there was a new sheriff in town. But did it really help?
“You look at everyone hurt, and now you wonder,” is what one Yankee was asking before the game.
You can just see, everyone here is trying to figure out what the [heck] is going on…
Without [Hughes and Kennedy] pitching the way we expected, you’re talking about .500, tops…
You look at everyone hurt, and now you wonder…
Yikes. Not exactly the quotes that you’d want to hear coming out of your clubhouse on May 1st, right?
I was just thinking about this but since it’s harder to warm up in the cold and get loose, wouldn’t that make the Yankees more likely to have leg injuries by pulling something?
The last two seasons we have seen alot of those types of injuries and this isn’t a young team so you would think it would be even more likely to happen.
Both Hughes and Kennedy have been disappointing and that comes from someone who was only expecting 5-6 innings out of them a game.
Hopefully, Rasner will be able to provide innings at the very least. I do think it’s funny that people were asking how the Yankees are going to replace Hughes. Um, it shouldn’t be too hard to replace a pitcher who can’t pitch more than 4 or 5 innings. I mean that’s about as bad as it gets. I would imagine that if Rasner can throw strikes he will be good for 5 innings minimum.
The only positive thing I can say is that I can’t see it getting much worse than this. The offense has to get better. A-Rod will come back soon, then Jorge. Rasner and possibly Igawa can’t be any worse than Hughes and Kennedy have been.
My sense is they will make a move for a decent starting pitcher who can eat innings (like Kevin Millwood or Bronson Arroyo). They’ll give up prospects and swallow a lot of someone’s contract.
“Without [Hughes and Kennedy] pitching the way we expected, you’re talking about .500, tops…”
Maybe I’m just a little tired this morning, but I have no idea what this quote is supposed to mean. They ARE a .500 club now (ok, 2 games under because they have lost the last two, but they basically ARE a .500 club after their first month of play). If Hughes and Kennedy had pitched closer to expectations, they might be a .600 club, even with the offense’s inability to score runs. So, I have no idea what this quote is trying to say, unless Klapisch left something out.
What exactly are we supposed to be wondering? If it hadn’t been for better conditioning in spring training, the same players wouldn’t be hurt now?
The Yankees didn’t exactly set the world on fire during the early part of last season, having to rely such pitchers as Igawa, Rasner, Karstens, Wright, DeSalvo, etc.
Early in Torre’s tenure, he feuded with Michael Kay, among others. Later in Torre’s tenure, he accused Kim Jones of being fed questions by YES/Yankee higher ups, even though the questions she asked were eminently reasonable.
My guess is that Klapisch’s source is Damon. As Y76 pointed out, the biggest problem with this team is the impotent offense. Some of these veterans need to have their butts moved out of town if they won’t be accountable.