Steve,
best of luck on the job front. and thank you for this blog. I don’t always agree with you but love the exchange ideas.

and this one of those cases where I can’t agree. I can understand the desire to make sure that the pitching failures this year don’t get ignored in the resounding condemnation of the offense. but your consistent rant on how its really the pitching that deserves the principle blame this year is hard to fathom. when you then use this as a platform for criticizing cashman it rings even more hollow. You support this case with increasingly selective subsets of stats.

One of Winston Churchill’s greatest quotes: “he uses statistics like a drunk uses a lampost – for support rather than illumination.” Anyone can find a slice of stats to “support” almost any position. I find many of the stats that appear on these pages illuminating. Less actually lend genuine support to an argument.

If the question is “pitching vs. hitting, which is more responsible for the drop in yankee wins this year” this is the least productive Yankee offense in 16 years. It is not the worst pitching staff we have had in 1 year. Let’s put this to bed.

As for whether the GM could have done a better job assembling a pitching staff for this season, that is a wide open question. bring on the illuminating stats.

But when your run total drops 20 percent in a year, its hard to imagine any off season pitching moves overcoming that.

Raf, point well taken about the Jays and As. The Jays have a similar RISP problem as the Yankees, where in quite a few of these 1 run games they do lose, they leave a small army on base. Up in Toronto, it is a big deal about the Angels not being a better team in all around hitting AND pitching. One major difference, the Angels get the hits when they count(great situational hitting). The As have lost a lot of their pitchers so they are currently in a rebuilding/AAAA mode right now. The As were contenders but are now in the back of the pack. Please no smart remarks about the Yanks being in the back of the pack either!

Good luck, Steve! Hope everything works out.

Take a lot at the Angels offense. Pretty bad, huh? But, don’t they have the best record in the league?

Pitching, pitching, and more pitching…that’s what it’s all about. And, as always, Cashman cannot build a pitching staff.
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How ’bout them Jays & A’s? They have better pitching than the Angels, but don’t seem to be doing as well. Why is that?

I don’t understand this argument. If the time at which you hit is so important, then why should we value pitching statistics that don’t tell us the time at which those innings were pitched. By your logic, the only ERA’s that would be pertinent are the ERA’s of our pitchers in innings that started with us within 2 runs of our opponent. That’s kind of ridiculous.

It’s been both pitching and hitting. But we came into this season relying more on our hitting because we knew we didn’t have an all-star staff mostly hitting. They’re on pace to score the fewest runs they’ve scored since 1992. Say what you like about the general stat lines or the stat lines w/ RISP, but runs are the most fundamental measure of offense. You try to maximize the number of runs you score. It’s been a strength for a very long time and this year the Yanks are merely average at scoring runs.

And you can say Cash can’t build a pitching staff, but what decisions would you have made differently? Our most reliable pitcher missing more than half the season isn’t his fault. Nor is one of the top pitching prospects in baseball unknowingly pitching much of his first month with a broken rib. Pettitte is also having one his worst seasons of his career, but it was more reasonable to bring him back for one year than go sign some overpriced mediocre start from the free agents.

The Johann deal is just about all that could’ve been differently. And if we do that, we have a pitcher who we’re locked into insane amounts of money for for 7 years, a pitcher who was already showing decline last year and who has shown to be very good, but not spectacular, in the inferior national league this year.

Instead we have Hughes, who’s back to hitting mid-90′s on his fastball, is still only 22, and looks like he will be a very good pitcher for a long time and at a much more reasonable salary than Johann.

And you can write off Ian Kennedy too, but the guy is 23 and still has the potential to be a solid, long-term back of the rotation guy at a reasonable price, which is extremely valuable in a time when a guy like Carlos Silva can get a 4 year, $48 million contract.

Sorry to get off topic, but, I felt I should mention this somewhere…where at least some could see it…without having to make a “grand announcement.”

As some of you may know, my job was eliminated 16 weeks ago. I’ve been home during this time, looking for a new job. And, it’s been a slow process – to say the least – hence the passing of 16 weeks.

It’s now reached the point where I need to consider some additional options. To that end, I’m looking into some new career training…to run with that while I also look for a job that was in line with what I did before…

But, that’s going to mean I need additional time to work on that training, etc.

I do not expect this need to eat into my time spent writing this blog. But, it will eat into my time spent answering comments, etc. So, I will not be posting comments as often as I do now…starting today.

Note, I stress AS OFTEN. It’s not like I will never address comments – it’s just that I cannot answer as many as I do now.

Sorry, I only have so much time in the day and this other stuff means being able to feed my family and keep a roof over our heads.

Feel free to dicuss, agree, or disagree with the things that I post here…that’s great. But, just don’t take in personal if I ignore your challenge for debate, etc.

I’m not ignoring you for the sake of ignoring you, I’m ignoring you because I have serious things to attend to now.

Of course, if I manage to find a job soon, this all will likely change. But, I cannot count on that…if the last 16 weeks have shown me anything.

Sorry, team totals in offense, albeit RCAA or Runs Scored, mean nothing to me. It’s all about run differential – if you pitched better, you don’t need a ton of runs to overpower your opponent and offset your weak pitching.

Take a lot at the Angels offense. Pretty bad, huh? But, don’t they have the best record in the league?

Pitching, pitching, and more pitching…that’s what it’s all about. And, as always, Cashman cannot build a pitching staff.

Does anyone seriously believe that Derek Jeter, the captain, the modern-day Mr. Yankee, on his way toward 3000 hits, will be shown the door after two more seasons??
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I certainly hope so. Frankly, I’d pay someone to take him.

Jeter has gotten old – fast. I’m not so sure he’s a lock for 3000 hits any more. 2010 is looking more and more like his last season for, gulp, $21 million.
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Does anyone seriously believe that Derek Jeter, the captain, the modern-day Mr. Yankee, on his way toward 3000 hits, will be shown the door after two more seasons??

Like Posada and Mariano and A-Rod, Derek will extort as much money as he desires and the Steinbrenners will never think twice about paying it.

Be prepared to enjoy Jeter’s decline phase – all of it, from start to finish. He will never play in another uniform.

Jeter has gotten old – fast. I’m not so sure he’s a lock for 3000 hits any more. 2010 is looking more and more like his last season for, gulp, $21 million. His defense has been worse too.