Jeter could be shifted to the leadoff spot, but he has been a #2 hitter his entire career.
—–
Jeter has plenty of experience leading off

A lot will factor into a signing of Holliday or Bay and remaking the outfield. If we retain Nady for the entire 2009 season a good performance could cause the Yankees to want to resign him, but we have to see how he performs and what he gives us for a whole year. So that means not knowing until the end of the 2009 season and resigning him would probably mean having to give him a 4 or 5 year deal. With Damon coming off the books we need a new leadoff hitter. If Gardner takes the CF job and shows he can hit, get on base, and steal bags then the job is his, but that remains to be seen. If that’s not the case with Gardner, then there’s a good chance the Yankees resign Damon to play left and leadoff. Jeter could be shifted to the leadoff spot, but he has been a #2 hitter his entire career. For those that think Jeter will never go to the outfield, the time will come sooner than you think. When his range decreases to the point that he is too much of a liability at shortstop Jeter will have to be moved and 1B isn’t an option now.

Ultimately I’d love to see Gardner, Cabrera, or both show they can perform well. Cabrera has a canon of an arm and could play well in center or right field. There’s something special about having home grown talent that can play well on the team.

o Butchie’s point that Mo is deified and “still pretty good”, I can just laugh. He’s more than “pretty good” he’s dominant. Look at the numbers. He’s still practically unhittable. Deified? Yes, and for very good reason. No one is perfect and no one in baseball history has ever been perfect. But Rivera is about as close as you can get to absolutely peerless at his job.
—-

Fully agree. Moose is entitled to his opinion and we don’t know exactly what he means by it, but…come on, Mariano is about as dominant a player anybody has been at their respected position. He is still amazing, and there is no statistical data to show that he hasn’t been as dominant post-2001 than he is now or has been the past seven seasons. Nobody will make every save, but it just so happens Mo makes most of them.

Here’s a question, an sorry to bring up Torre’s book again.

The quote from Mike Mussina in the book, where he (supposedly) said that Mariano Rivera is not the same reliever ever since he blew the 2001 World Series. Can a statistical case even be made to support that, or do you chalk this up to, maybe, he just isn’t viewed around baseball as completely unhittable anymore? Before then he had only really made one postseason mistake, the home run he gave up in the 97 playoffs. I find it hard to make either connection though.

What do you guys think?
————-
I am not sure what Moose is referring to but I’d say the stats certainly don’t back that up. In fact, he’s posted some of his most dominant years over the past couple seasons.

Now, I certainly can’t speak to how he’s perceived within baseball but I’d venture to say that he’s still feared/respected at about the same level as pre-2001. Furthermore, if anything really would’ve made Mo feel less invincible, it would’ve been the 2004 season when Boston, for a short window of time, seemed to have totally figured him out.

I won’t knock Moose if that’s his opinion but I personally don’t see it.

To Butchie’s point that Mo is deified and “still pretty good”, I can just laugh. He’s more than “pretty good” he’s dominant. Look at the numbers. He’s still practically unhittable. Deified? Yes, and for very good reason. No one is perfect and no one in baseball history has ever been perfect. But Rivera is about as close as you can get to absolutely peerless at his job.

maybe Jeter moves to LF
————-
Not gonna happen.

You think having to do a dance with Boras over those guys will make it worth a return shot to NY? …I agree that a return is a possibility, but looking at it now is it something we’d really want? Johnny from ages 35-37 or 38?
————-
Depends on what the parameters of the deal are. If we’re talking about a 1-2 year deal, sure, I’d take Johnny Damon back assuming that his 2009 season isn’t bad. Obviously you never know if he would accept a shorter deal like that but it never hurts to ask.

I agree on all that, but I mean, nobody is gonna be perfect. It just happens that MO has been in alot of big games. He cant save them all. Currently I would still want him out there in a big spot.

Crank, I agree with Moose 125 percent. Mo is someone who has been deified beyond belief AND I am so happy that someone has the courage or might we say the gall to say that. Mo is the greatest of the specialist closers(new skool one inning/ninth inning closers that is) BUT he blew that game in the 97 playoffs, the 7th game in the 2001, and those two games against Boston that helped reverse the curse. That sticks in my craw especially 2004 in that Foulke was nearly flawless in the plyoffs whereas MO wasn’t and the curse was reserved.

MO was not the only cog that blew those games since Moose was there BUT those were painful losses. As great as he is, who thought that Mo would blow the 9th inning of a game that they really should have had in the bag? When Soriano got to Schill the Shrill, I thought game over Yankees win number 27. Instead, we know that outcome….. By the time of the Boston series in 2004,the Sox started to have his number so that was that.

Mo was great last year and he is not the monster that he was BUT he is still pretty good. The big but are those playoff games that he blew, where he showed that there was a chink in the proverbial armor so to speak.

Here’s a question, an sorry to bring up Torre’s book again.

The quote from Mike Mussina in the book, where he (supposedly) said that Mariano Rivera is not the same reliever ever since he blew the 2001 World Series. Can a statistical case even be made to support that, or do you chalk this up to, maybe, he just isn’t viewed around baseball as completely unhittable anymore? Before then he had only really made one postseason mistake, the home run he gave up in the 97 playoffs. I find it hard to make either connection though.

What do you guys think?

WRT Holliday, a lot can happen between now and then; maybe an OF is acquired via trade, maybe Damon/Nady is resigned, maybe an OF is acquired via trade, maybe Jeter moves to LF, maybe Melky & Gardner carry their weight with a starting role…