Yanks Could Finish Below Jays Now

At this point in the season, CoolStandings.com is predicting the Yankees to finish with 85.6 wins this season - and for the Blue Jays to finish with 85.2 wins. Basically, they’re saying that it’s now a toss-up between New York and Toronto as to who finishes in 4th place (in the A.L. East) this year.

Ken Rosenthal, back in January, warned this could happen.

When has the last time the Yankees didn’t finish in 3rd place, or higher, in the final standings? That would be 1992 - which was also the last season of a four-year period which has a strong claim towards being the worse run in the Yankees’ timeline – in terms of the team’s relative and collective shortcomings.

Just how is this possible when you have a payroll in excess of $200 million? Sure, injuries played a part of it. But, there’s also an element in play here that falls under the heading “bad planning.” And, you would not be flogged - at least by me - if you suggested that there’s a lack of inspired play by certain members of this team.

It will be very interesting to see what the Brothers Stein do to address these situations. Right now, based on what we read and hear, it doesn’t sound like much will happen - in terms of changes. So, don’t be shocked if the Yankees, next season, repeat this horror show in the first year of the new Yankee Stadium.

September 6, 2008 | Filed Under The Airing of Grievances

Comments

7 Responses to “Yanks Could Finish Below Jays Now”

antone on September 6th, 2008 10:49 am

It really doesn’t matter to me what place they finish in. They play in the best division in baseball and will end up with my wins than the first place team in the NL West, so what place they finish in is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is that they would be out of the playoffs. At this point, I just would like to see them finish strong.
Tresh Fan on September 6th, 2008 1:51 pm

A couple of points:

1.) The payroll is irrelevant. Ten years ago (1998) the Baltimore Orioles had the highest payroll in baseball. They finished in 4th place, 79-83. Why? Because their roster was made up mostly of players that were either enterring or well into the declining years of their careers. Is there some lesson here?

2.) Let’s forget about October ‘09 as well. If the Yankee brass treats this season as an aberration of injuries and off years (as they did in ‘65) we will be in for worse. But even if they recognize the myriad problems this ball club has there is no “quick fix” to remedy them. It’s time to start looking beyond this year and next and to start getting serious about rebuilding. As the Yankees currently have only a few decent players that are 28 or younger (Wang, Chamberlain, Cano) this becomes all the more imperative.
butchie22 on September 6th, 2008 1:54 pm

In some regards the teams are very similar, their RISP is terrible( the Jys are worse than the Yanks in this regard), their pitching staffs have been very good despite injuries(Toronto’s better), both teams hit into GIDPS like it’s going out of style and they are both fighting for third. The major difference is 110 million in payroll!In addition, The Jays have no master hitters that scare you but the Yanks have a ton of them. This is the crazier thing about Toronto and the Yanks being neck and neck. The Jays didn’t trade for help at the deadline BUT they got rid of players like Eckstein and Stairs that were eating up money. So in essence, the Yankees “upgraded” with Nady, Marte, and Pudge. Toronto did less than nothing because they got rid of people on the 25 man roster. The Jays are a team that couldn’t make the Marte/Nady/Pudge trades because of money constraints. On the other hands, the Yanks have seeming limitless resources and still can’t get it done. There is something wrong with this picture. Cashman and Co spends tons of money on scouting ,bonus babies, payroll but can only muster a maybe fourth place spot?

Look, Ricciardi is not a great GM by any means BUT he is an idiot savant when it comes to pitching.When Burnett leaves, they have Accardo, Janssen ,Cecil and Purcey to replace him. Of the Yanks and Jays making a play at the wild card at this point, I would go with Toronto. That reason is their pitching. With that pitching, they could go on a crazy run but the Yanks? When you have Ras and Sir Sidney starting things get dicey.

The Toronto offense has improved with the return of Cito Gaston and his old coaching staff. They added a couple of kids like Lind and Snider and they are playing well of late. I say to myself, why can’t the Yanks bring up kids like this? Oh well, even though the Jays look better right now their offense as an aggregate is a disaster for the season.
butchie22 on September 6th, 2008 2:02 pm

Tresh Fan, I disagree with you about your example of the Os.In ten years, many things have changed including the fact that the Yanks’ payroll has ballooned beyond reason. The Yanks are spending nearly 80 million dollars more than the next team. Baltimore was not as obscene as that when it came to payroll differential. The Yanks spend tons of money on bonus babies, scouting and absorbing flops. One example is Kei Igawa, what other organization could bury a 50 million dollar investment? Not even the Red Sox could do that with a flop like that. NO other team can do what the Yanks do fiscally.

MY solution: let Cashman go. Epstein has so much less money to fool around witha nd is creating a dynasty.The organization needs someone who will go the homegrown route BUT choose wisely in regard to free agent signing /trades.
Don on September 6th, 2008 2:48 pm

But hey! Nine more years to go with the A-Freud Circus. There’s something to look forward to.
Don on September 6th, 2008 2:52 pm

Don’t forget that the Yankees probably lost some top Latin prospects because two of their Latin scouting/development guys were taking kickbacks from the players. Took the organization a while to figure that one out.

But in this new era of *good feelings*, no higher-ups get blamed and fired. Saint Brian.
potusmike6453 on September 6th, 2008 3:48 pm

At this point, they aren’t making the playoffs. I hope they finish with one of the 15 worst records in baseball so they can get a protected first round pick.