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Via Newsday -
Brian Cashman said the solutions to the Yankees’ problems, particularly with their starting rotation, may not lie elsewhere.
The general manager said he didn’t have a sense of the trade market yet, with six weeks before the July 31 non-waiver deadline, but he said Sunday that the return of Brian Bruney from the disabled list Tuesday, plus the hoped-for revival of Chien-Ming Wang, would alleviate most of his concerns.
“If we fix ourselves,” Cashman said, “there might not be anything we need to do.”
He said he would run any proposals by general partner Hal Steinbrenner if it meant adding payroll.
Cashman said Wang’s start Wednesday against the Nationals would be a big factor in determining what happens next.
“We need Chien-Ming Wang,” Cashman said. “This is an important step. We know what he’s capable of. The velocity and the sink are there. Maybe his confidence isn’t there.”
To quote Bill Parcells, “You can’t dream up confidence. Confidence is born of demonstrated ability.” And, Wang has made 100 starts in the big leagues and owns a lifetime winning percentage of .692 in those starts. To me, that’s demonstrated ability. So, if he has a confidence issue, what caused it? His injury in 2008?
If true, why wasn’t he a mess in Spring Training? For the record, Wang threw 21.6 IP this spring with an ERA of 4.15, a WHIP of 1.34 and a GO/AO ratio of 2.11 – numbers that are not terrible by Spring Training measures. How do you go from “that” to allowing 23 earned runs in your first 6 innings pitched this season?
Something is up…and if it’s confidence, I’d love to know how Wang lost it and so quickly…
What stands out the most in my mind, this past week, is that the Yankees went 3-4 and that doesn’t tell the whole story of this seven day period. Three of those four losses came in a sweep at Fenway Park. And, the other one came against the Mets…who also gave the Yanks a gift win on June 12th. So, in reality, the Yankees “played” like a 2-5 team this week. Further, they started out the week in first place, up by a half-game, and ended the week in second place – two games back of first. All told, this may just have been the Yankees worst week of the season to date.
It will be interesting to see where New York goes from here. They do get to fatten up with three against the Nats, in the Bronx, to start Week 11. And, Washington is a team in crisis right now. Just watch, with the Yankees luck, the Nationals will axe their manager the day before the Yankees series and then Washington will be all fired up, under a new skipper, when they play in New York.
After that three game set with the Nationals, the Yankees have a funky nine-game road-trip against N.L. East teams…the Marins, Braves and Mets…three teams who have been playing about .500 ball this season…but there are some good pitchers on those teams who the Yanks may have to face…like Josh Johnson, Chris Volstad, Jair Jurrjens, Derek Lowe, and Johan Santana.
Come June 30th, where will the Yankees be in the A.L. East standings? Will the next two weeks be “fun time” for New York? Or, will it be a huge let-down? Or, will it just be another period in the schedule where the Yankees play .500 ball? Time will tell…
Saw the 1974 version of this one, tonight, on Channel 11. Man, it’s been something like 25 years since I’ve last watched it. Classic flick. (Just ask Quentin Tarantino.) It’s a great N.Y.C. early to mid-70′s period piece. And, the cast is a “Who’s Who” of New Yorker character actors. If you’ve never seen it, and intend on going to see the new version, you might want to check it out the original.
Via George King -
According to industry sources the Yankees “have a very good chance” of signing Gary Sanchez, a highly regarded Dominican catcher who isn’t eligible to sign until July 2.
“He has been in their camp a lot in the Dominican Republic and is an advanced catcher with big power who can really throw,” a scout said of the 6-foot-2, 185-pounder who is projected to be 6-3, 205 pounds.
The buzz is that Sanchez could command in the area of a $3 million signing bonus.
Seeing this, it reminded me about all the buzz over then 16-year-old Dominican catcher Francisco Pena, three years ago. He’s still trying to hit his way out of A-Ball…
This is why Pete Rose was an idiot.
The way the Yankees have been playing this week, going 2-4 in their last 6 games with one of those being a gift win…and the way that A.J. Burnett has been pitching lately, allowing an opponent’s OBA of .373 over his last 6 starts prior to this one…and the fact that Johan Santana, with an ERA of 2.39 is his 12 starts this season prior to this one, was pitching for the Mets…who would have ever predicted that the Yankees would win this game, 15-0?
Really, would you have bet on this outcome prior to this game being played?
Joaquin Andujar was right: “There is one word in America that says it all, and that one word is, ‘You never know.’ ” And, it’s never more true than when it comes to baseball…
Big game for the Yankees to win. Can you imagine the off-day tomorrow if the Yanks were coming off getting swept by the Red Sox and then losing two of three to the Mets where their one win was a gift from Luis Castillo? That would have been rough. As it is now, the Yankees, and their fans, can walk around town tomorrow with their heads up, chins out, and with a big smile. At the least, the Yankees have taken round one of the Subway Series. And, while that’s just good for bragging rights…at this junction, that’s not so bad.
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Yes, the story continues…
About 5 minutes ago, I just saw, on BPTV on YES, that Francisco Rodriguez went after Brian Bruney during batting practice today and that K-Rod got right into Bruney’s face and was then held back. From the clip, it did not appear that Bruney moved at all.
Somebody, at this point, should tell Rodriguez to save the drama for his mama and chill. Betcha someone said something like that, to him, today…perhaps in a harsher tone.
On May 29th, we were told that Andy Pettitte had a bad back. I think it happened before that date. Check out these stats:
Pettitte’s first 7 starts of this season:
45.0 IP, 4.00 ERA, Opp BA/OBA/SLG of .272/.328/.416 (facing 190 batters)
Pettitte’s last 6 starts of this season:
34.6 IP, 5.19 ERA, Opp BA/OBA/SLG of .326/.405/.472 (facing 164 batters)
Something must have happened to Andy Pettitte (and his back?) either during or just prior to his start of May 18th. But, just like last season, rather than go on the disabled list, it seems that Pettitte is intent on taking a regular turn in the Yankees rotation.
Now, some may say that this is just Andy trying to make some money this season because he gets paid more for playing than sitting. But, I don’t see it that way. More so, Pettitte knows that Worm Killer Wang is in rough shape and that A.J. Burnett and Joba Chamberlain have not been giving the Yankees innings, consistently, in their starts. And, Andy is just trying to help the team.
So, it might be trendy to try and rip into Pettitte these days – based on his stats of late. But, at least he’s giving the Yankees five or six innings each time he takes the mound. And, that’s a lot more than you can say about most of the Yankees starters this year not named CC Sabathia.
Via Marc Carig:
Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain pinned his problems during Friday night’s 9-8 victory over the Mets on his lack of rhythm on the mound.
Perhaps there was an easy explanation, as Chamberlain and catcher Jorge Posada spent a good portion of the game crossed up. On several occasions, Chamberlain shook off signs from Posada and the catcher had to come to the mound to clear things up.
The miscommunication was enough to catch the eye of manager Joe Girardi, who Saturday said he intends to address the issue with the pitcher and catcher, who clearly weren’t on the same page.
“It seemed at times they were not,” Girardi said. “It seemed that Joba was out of sync. It always seems when you’re throwing strikes, pitchers work faster. But it did seem at times they had some difficulty, and that will be discussed.”
Though they acknowledged their difficulties, Posada and Chamberlain played down the issue.
“There’s not much to say,” Chamberlain said. “We all know what went on. It’s not like I’m mad at him and he’s mad at me or anything. It’s just one of those things that happened.”
Chamberlain said the disagreements were over “a little bit of everything,” although most of them centered around pitch selection. The decisions in question were often whether to throw a fastball or a slider.
Saturday, Chamberlain said he lamented not throwing more fastballs. Still, he said wasn’t comfortable throwing pitches that he wasn’t fully on board with.
“You look at it as you want one thing, he wants another,” Chamberlain said. “But like I said, you have to throw it with conviction. That’s kind of the battle. He may see something. But even if he sees it, that doesn’t necessarily mean you want to throw it. That may be the right pitch but you may not feel comfortable with it that day, or so on and so forth.”
This is not the first time that a Yankees pitcher and Jorge Posada have banged heads on pitching calling.
In The Fielding Bible — Volume II, there was an essay on how and why the Yankees pitchers liked to throw to Jose Molina. And, it included a study on “Earned Runs Saved By Catcher.” The findings there was that Posada was costing the Yankees pitchers runs – albeit based on 2008 data and Jorge did not catch a lot last season. It will be interesting to see the same study run on the 2009 Yankees catchers, when the season is cover.
Some “this and that” stuff that may interest you…
On June 16th, Derek Jeter is scheduled to appear in UpperDeckU’s Kids Virtual World.
On June 17th, Jane Heller is signing books at Stan’s Bar across from the old Yankee Stadium.
And, if you haven’t see it yet, you might want to check out Graham Kates’ weekly Yankees columns for the Bronx News Network blog – “Pinstripe Politics”, a weekly roundup of news pertaining to the Yankees as an organization, and “The Yankees, Unobstructed,” an opinion column.
Brian Bruney and Francisco Rodriguez are not playing nice in the Subway Series sandbox.
They funny thing is, in my opinion, is that they’re both right. K-Rod’s act is tired. And, Bruney is a wannabe, at best. That said, this is a case where two rights make a wrong…since they both should have taken the high road and kept their mouths shut. Then again, for guys like Brian Bruney and Francisco Rodriguez, that seems very hard to do…
So, maybe this is just a matter of two-of-a-kind doing what they do?
Fernando Nieve?
Really?
Hey, I hate to say this…but…check out the Yankees last ten games:
Date Where Who RS RA June 3 Home Vs. TEX L 2 4 June 4 Home Vs. TEX W 8 6 June 6 Home Vs. TBR L 7 9 June 7 Home Vs. TBR W 4 3 June 8 Home Vs. TBR W 5 3 June 9 Road Vs. BOS L 0 7 June 10 Road Vs. BOS L 5 6 June 11 Road Vs. BOS L 3 4 June 12 Home Vs. NYM W 9 8 June 13 Home Vs. NYM L 2 6
In their last ten games, the Yankees are 4-6. And, that’s not good baseball. However, it’s actually worse than that. How? Simple. The Yankees wins on June 7th and June 12th were gift wins thanks to errors by Willy Aybar and Luis Castillo. So, if not for those extremely lucky wins, right now, the Yankees would be 2-8 in their last ten games (instead of 4-6). That’s really not good baseball.
O.K., yeah, I know, as many of my readers like to remind me “There are no such things as lucky wins – or wins that should be discounted.” Personally, I think that’s hard to say, if you really watched those games on June 7th and 12th, and saw those errors by Aybar and Castillo. But, fine, if you want to say “a win is a win, no matter how you got it,” then, check this out:
Since the Yankees had that nice run where their record got fat against the Orioles, Twins and Blue Jays – going 11-2 from May 8th through May 21st – New York has now gone 11-10 in their last 21 games (including the gift wins from Aybar and Castillo). That’s just one game over .500 over their last three weeks. Not very impressive play there, is it?
And, they get to face Johan Santana tomorrow. Oh, boy…
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Two weeks ago, I shared that Joba Chamberlain, as a starting pitcher, is somewhat pedestrian with normal (4 days) rest , great with an extra day’s rest, and so-so with too much rest.
Well, Joba’s made some more starts since then – including one last night against the Mets on “normal” rest. Related, to date, here is how Chamberlain now appears, in terms of his effectiveness against batters, with 4, 5 and 6+ days rest between starts:
2008 Split G PA AB R HR BB SO SO/BB BA OBP SLG 4 Days 6 143 131 17 4 11 32 2.91 .267 .324 .382 5 Days 5 106 92 5 0 13 34 2.62 .207 .311 .239 6+ Days 1 25 22 1 0 1 8 8.00 .273 .320 .318 2009 Split G PA AB R HR BB SO SO/BB BA OBP SLG 4 Days 6 120 94 14 3 19 24 1.26 .266 .403 .404 5 Days 4 103 91 11 3 9 27 3.00 .198 .282 .308 6+ Days 2 53 45 5 1 5 7 1.40 .289 .396 .489 Career thru 06/13/09: Split G PA AB R HR BB SO SO/BB BA OBP SLG 4 Days 12 263 225 31 7 30 56 1.87 .267 .360 .391 5 Days 9 209 183 16 3 22 61 2.77 .202 .297 .273 6+ Days 3 78 67 6 1 6 15 2.50 .284 .372 .433
Stats via: Baseball-Reference.com
Note the difference, this season, when Chamberlain has normal (4 days) rest in terms of OBP allowed compared to when he has 5 days rest between starts: .403 vs. .282
Of course, yes, this is still a small sample size. But, if the trend continues, I have to go back to what I said two weeks ago:
…if Joba, on normal rest, is going to pitch less like an ace and more like a “an above-average (but not awesome) starting pitcher,” then he would provide the Yankees with equal value if he were to be used in the bullpen and he could perform like “a stellar set-up man.”
I wonder if Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi are thinking the same thing?
Muchas gracias Señor Luis Castillo!
All of a sudden, Joba’s command, Tomko being Tomko, Swisher butchering another fly ball, A-Rod’s weak whiff in the 7th, and Mo not holding the tie…well…they just don’t seem important at this moment.
This one has to go down in Subway Series history.
Stunning. Just absolutely freaking stunning. And, on an Alex Rodriguez pop-up, on a 3-1 pitch with two out, no less? Awesome.
Via the AP -
Mark Teixeira isn’t bitter about Boston’s little Twitter.
Just after the Red Sox beat the Yankees 4-3 Thursday night to improve to 8-0 against New York this season, Boston owner John Henry wrote on Twitter: “The MT curse?”
“I laughed. It’s just silly. It really is,” Teixeira said Friday. “We talked to probably 10 or 12 teams this offseason. If 11 owners want to take their shots at me, that’s fine. They can say whatever they want. but there’s no reason for me to, you know, get into any war of words with a 70-some-year-old man. it doesn’t make any sense.”
Henry, who turns 60 in September, said Friday the posting was “purely entertainment.”
Teixeira joked about getting tweaked on Twitter, saying “everyone that I want to talk to, I have their phone number.”
“It doesn’t matter to me,” he said. “I love playing this game. You know, if I’ve offended anybody from the time I was 18 years old to now, I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say. I think it’s a little silly. It’s actually very silly.”
Attaboy Tex!
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Via the AP -
Remember that tell-all book about A-Rod?
Published in early May by HarperCollins with an announced first printing of 150,000, “A-Rod” has sold just 16,000 copies so far, according to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks about 75 percent of industry sales. The book sold 11,000 in its first week, then quickly faded.
At the Rizzoli Bookstore in midtown Manhattan, “A-Rod” has sold two copies. Twenty-seven copies have sold at Posman Books, based in Grand Central Terminal, but none in the past two weeks.
Only 16,000 out of 150,000 copies have sold? Wow. That’s a batting average of .107 on sales.
In his last 44 ABs in ALDS play, A-Rod has hit better that that. Granted, he’s only hit .159 in those 44 ABs, but, that’s still better than .107.
I wonder if they boo Selena Roberts when she walks into the offices at HarperCollins?
To watch SNY.tv’s New York Baseball Today, which features a rotating panel of experts, click play below:
Via Chad Finn -
Jonathan Papelbon needs to pick up the pace. Not on the field, where he is tied for the American League lead with 16 saves. But in getting there.
According to report this morning by Maureen Mullen of the Lynn Daily Item, Papelbon was fined $1,000 by the league earlier this week for violating pace-of-game guidelines. His infractions have come while he is entering the game.
A source told Mullen that the time from the third out of one half-inning to the first pitch of the next half-inning is supposed to be 2 minutes 5 seconds for local TV games, 2:25 for national TV weeknight games, and 2:30 for TV games on the weekend. According to Mullen’s report, it took Papelbon 3:34 between the final out in the bottom of the eighth and the first pitch in the top of the ninth Wednesday night.
Papelbon, who was reprimanded last year for the same reason and has been warned this year, told Mullen before last night’s game that he understood the fine.
“The rules are the rules,” he said. “But, I’m trying to figure out ways to where I can not get fined. Obviously, I don’t want to get fined or slow the game down, or be a nuisance to slow the game down. The fans want to see games that are three hours or so. I’m trying to figure that out right now to not get those fines, for sure.”
Gee, the answer here seems simple. Give the umps a stop-watch and then cut the pitcher off, when he hits the time limit, no matter how many warm-up pitches that he’s thrown. And, if the pitcher only managed to get in four or five warm-up pitches, then it’s his fault.
Maybe the Yanks should protest this game since the Papelbon got extra time to warm-up? (Yes, I’m just kidding.)
Via Tyler Kepner -
Miguel Angel Sano, a top shortstop prospect, will work out for the Yankees at their academy in the Dominican Republic next Thursday, according to Sano’s agent, Rob Plummer. Sano, who turned 16 last month, is said to be drawing significant interest before the signing period for international players begins on July 2.
“I would say he has a Hanley Ramirez body and the possible upside of an Albert Pujols-type bat,” Plummer said. “He has a real short swing and hands that go right to the ball.”
Plummer said the Yankees had maintained steady interest in Sano, who is 6 feet 3 inches and bats right-handed. Sano has been linked to the Pittsburgh Pirates, and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote last month that he had already been offered more than $3 million. The record bonus for a Dominican player is $4.25 million, which Oakland gave pitcher Michael Inoa last summer.
More on this kid and his agent via ESPN back in March -
Miguel Angel Sano enjoys some downtime during a busy week. He has three workouts for pro scouts in three days, the next one in about an hour. Last night he pounded the ball out of Valerio Cabrera ballpark, a short drive from his home in San Pedro. Today he’ll do it again on the field next door. But right now he’s sitting in the dirt yard outside the 600-square-foot cinder-block house, off a narrow street, where he lives with his mother, stepfather and eight siblings. Miguel shows pictures of himself, one taken in midswing, just after contact. “Home run,” he says with a smile.
His family is terribly poor, but opportunity is in the air. Plummer, Miguel’s agent, is here, which means new spikes and batting gloves. There’s a photographer taking Miguel’s picture. On the TV, Barack Obama is being sworn in, and Miguel talks about how he’d someday like to meet the new U.S. president. Opportunity knocks for Sano because of his talent, true, but also because of his trainer, Moreno, dubbed Supermancito (Little Superman) thanks to his stocky build and short stature.
Come July, Sano will be a millionaire, dramatically changing the lives of all around him.
“We don’t know anything about baseball,” says Miguel’s mother, Melania Jean. “But we know Moreno. We trust him.” Moreno helped Miguel develop his swing and his arm and provided a sprint coach to reduce his 60-yard-dash time.
In turn, Moreno trusts Plummer to set up tryouts, gauge scouts’ interest and create a market. Plummer provides equipment and plugs financial holes, supplementing Moreno’s income and lending money to the family. The Sanos have agreed to give Moreno 25% of Miguel’s signing bonus and Plummer 5%. The payoff will come this summer, after more tryouts.
Impoverished families are part of the Dominican baseball landscape like palm trees and corruption, and Plummer has seen it all. The Philly-area native came out of law school at the University of Virginia in 1994 wanting to be “the Scott Boras of the Dominican.” He first traveled to the island in 1996, has been there nearly 70 times since and represented one of the first players to sign for $1 million, pitcher Ricardo Aramboles, in 1998.
Remember Ricardo Aramboles? The Yankees signed him when he was 16-years-old for a $1.2 million bonus in 1998. (He initially signed with the Marlins when he was 14 and that deal was voided when his age was disclosed.) If New York gets Sano, let’s hope that deal works out better than the Aramboles one did in the end…
Via Ken Rosenthal -
The Yankees, in dire need of a setup man, eventually will target the best available late-inning relievers — the Rockies’ Huston Street, Diamondbacks’ Chad Qualls and Astros’ Jose Valverde. In fact, they already have expressed interest in Street, according to major-league sources.
Each of those pursuits, however, would be complicated.
The Rockies, lacking an internal replacement for Street, do not plan to trade him until just before the July 31 non-waiver deadline, if they trade him at all. Don’t look now, but the Rockies’ eight-game winning streak has left the team only 4 1/2 games back in the wild-card race.
Qualls, meanwhile, recently missed time with forearm tightness. And Valverde has been on the disabled list since April 26 with a right calf strain. The last thing the Yankees would want is a health risk, so other relievers such as the Orioles’ Danys Baez also could appear on their wish list.
Street, Qualls and Valverde?
Hey, they’re the LaTroy Hawkins, Damaso Marte, Felix Heredia, Tanyon Sturtze, Scott Proctor, Gabe White, Felix Rodriguez, Alan Embree, Chris Britton, Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez, Juan Acevedo and Paul Quantrill of the Yankeeland future!
Speaking of “future,” what ever happened to Sean Henn, Steven White, J. B. Cox, Matt Smith, T.J. Beam and Steven Jackson?
Here’s a couple of different ways to look at bullpen performance, in the A.L., to date, with the stats via Baseball-Reference.com’s Play Index Pitching Game Finder.
First, games “lost” this season where the “L” was credited to a reliever:
Tm Year Games Link to Individual Games +---+----+-----+-------------------------+ LAA 2009 13 Ind. Games CLE 2009 12 Ind. Games SEA 2009 11 Ind. Games OAK 2009 11 Ind. Games KCR 2009 11 Ind. Games NYY 2009 10 Ind. Games MIN 2009 10 Ind. Games CHW 2009 9 Ind. Games BAL 2009 9 Ind. Games TOR 2009 8 Ind. Games TBR 2009 8 Ind. Games TEX 2009 7 Ind. Games DET 2009 7 Ind. Games BOS 2009 6 Ind. Games
Next, games where a team had a reliever allow four or more baserunners during his appearance:
Tm Year Games Link to Individual Games +---+----+-----+-------------------------+ OAK 2009 27 Ind. Games CLE 2009 27 Ind. Games TEX 2009 26 Ind. Games BAL 2009 26 Ind. Games DET 2009 25 Ind. Games LAA 2009 24 Ind. Games NYY 2009 21 Ind. Games TOR 2009 19 Ind. Games SEA 2009 19 Ind. Games KCR 2009 19 Ind. Games CHW 2009 19 Ind. Games TBR 2009 18 Ind. Games MIN 2009 15 Ind. Games BOS 2009 15 Ind. Games
Granted, these cuts are not the “end-all and be-all” measures of bullpen performance. Yet, if you believe the theory that the Boston Red Sox have a great bullpen, it’s interesting to see how well they register in these views – and how close the Yankees are to being the worst in the league (in this rankings).
Via Rob Bradford with a h/t to BBTF -
Following the Red Sox’ 4-3 win over the Yankees, Thursday night at Fenway Park — their eighth victory in as many meetings with New York this season — Sox majority owner John Henry posted on his Twitter account: “the MT Curse?” The ‘MT’ was assumed to be in reference to Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira, who signed with the Yankees instead of the Red Sox. But a few hours later, in an email to WEEI.com, Henry wrote: “Purely Entertainment. Nothing more. I don’t believe in curses.” Henry offered one more ‘Tweet’ before the night was over, writing, “At Stella finishing late dinner with friends. Journalists emailing about curses. Does anyone really believe in curses except Dan?”
I’m starting to think that something is going on…but, it’s got nothing to do with Mark Teixeira.
Back in November of 2005, I suggested the notion of the “50 First Dates Curse” – however that was somewhat tongue in cheek.
Nonetheless, a case can be made, that ever since Aaron Boone hit that homerun in the 2003 ALCS, a lot of negative things have happened for the Yankeees in terms of their post-season outcomes and some games against the Boston Red Sox.
It’s almost as if Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS was the last wish from the genie in the bottle, The Bambino, and ever since then the Yankees have been on their own to face the world without the benefit of any charms and spells.
Hey, it’s either that, or, well, I have to go back to something that I wrote in October of last year:
Brian Cashman became Yankees G.M. on February 28, 1998. And, yes, the Yankees did win rings in 1998, 1999 and 2000. However, when Cashman took over as the head man in charge, the following players were already on the team: Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera, Paul O’Neill, Derek Jeter, Tino Martinez, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Mike Stanton, David Cone, Ramiro Mendoza, David Wells, Joe Girardi, Jeff Nelson, Chad Curtis and Darryl Strawberry.
This group of Yankees was added to the team by Stick Michael and Bob Watson. It was they, and not Cashman, who built a powerhouse entity (via this cadre of players) who went on to win three rings from 1998 through 2000 – and which benefited Brian Cashman when he took over for Watson in 1998.
After 2001, when that the force that Michael and Watson created was nearly tapped out, is when the Yankees sincerely became “Brian Cashman’s team.” And, sure, from 2002 through 2008, under Cashman, the Yankees were marvelous in terms of their win totals and revenue. But, if not for Boston collapses in the 2003 ALCS and the regular seasons of 2005 and 2006, this seven-year period would not look as pretty for New York as it does on the average fan’s ledger.
On the whole, Brian Cashman took a team that was a three-peat World Champion and turned them into a team that would finish first and then lose in the LDS…and then into a team that would no longer finish first but would win a Wildcard (and lose in the LDS)…and then into a team that would not make the post-season at all. Notice the trend here?
The MT Curse? How about the Cashman Curse? Now, yes, I know what “The Royal Order of the Cashman Kool-Aid Brigade” is thinking now: “But, Cashman hasn’t had full control of the team until 2005.”
Hey, I recognize that that point. In fact, as recently as last December, I wrote:
Brian Cashman became Yankees G.M. on February 28, 1998. However, from 1998 through 2005, George Steinbrenner’s troops in his Tampa office (including but not limited to Bill Emslie, Billy Connors, Mark Newman and Damon Oppenheimer) had so much input on personnel moves that it was somewhat difficult to know what exactly what were Cashman’s decisions or not.
This all changed in October 2005 when Brian Cashman was given full autonomy on running the Yankees. As Cashman said at that time: “I’m the general manager, and everybody within the baseball operations department reports to me. That’s not how it has operated recently.” So, without question, we can look at the state of the New York Yankees over the last three seasons (2006, 2007 and 2008) as well as this off-season (of 2008-2009) and know that what you see is “All-Cashman.”
And, under “All-Cashman,” this is what we have in Yankeeland: A team in 2006 who gets body slammed in the first round of the playoffs, a team in 2007 that doesn’t finish first and who gets bounced in the first round of the playoffs, a team in 2008 that doesn’t even make the post-season, and a team in 2009 who cannot win one game in eight tries against the Boston Red Sox.
Curses, indeed.
Every time New York faces Boston this season, it’s a day at South Park and the Yankees are Kenny McCormick.
George Steinbrenner must be rolling over in his senility.
All things considered, this is the worst loss of the year, to date, for the Yankees.
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To watch SNY.tv’s New York Baseball Today, which features a rotating panel of experts, click play below:
Several readers of this blog have questioned my recent criticism of Nick Swisher’s play in the Yankees game of June 10, 2009 – where I said it was Nick Swisher who cost the Yankees the contest that evening. Many wanted to know why I was not willing blame Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, or Robinson Cano for not providing hits – or blame Worm Killer Wang for his poor pitching. The answer to this is simple.
There’s a huge difference between physical errors, failures, shortcomings that happen in the course of a baseball game and bad play that is the result of a lack of concentration and focus. Every baseball manager understands this matter. In fact, many times, the physical “stuff” is a matter of law of averages, the sun not shining on the same dog’s butt everyday, or, even, the result of a player trying too hard. In baseball, you have to learn to live with that. However, it’s inexcusable, when a player fails on the field because of a lack of hustle or they just don’t have their head in the game. This is the stuff that drives baseball managers – and some fans, like me – crazy.
When you allow yourself to fall asleep on the bases, and/or misplay a fly ball after tracking it and being in a position where it is inches from your glove, like Swisher did in this game (in question), it shows that you’re not giving the contest 100% concentration. And, such lack of attention during a critical game is indefensible – again, in my opinion. Hence, this is why Nick Swisher has garnered the bulk of my wrath about the loss of June 10th.
Save the bonehead act for the clubhouse and the media Nick. On the field, it’s important to play “hard” – in the sense of staying focused – all the time, not just most of the time.
Sweeny Murti, on yesterday on SNY’s WheelHouse, discusses many things Yankees. Here’s the video:
