cr1 wrote:

Having ownership that is willing to invest the profits of this very lucrative business enterprise in personnel is a great advantage, and we should all sympathize with fans of teams whose even richer owners won’t do it. But it’s no guarantee — judgment does enter into how the money gets spent. I think some good judgment as well as a boatload of dollars went into making our off-season a success.

Are all the people who wanted Cashman to go with Derek Lowe appropriately humbled by now?

Agree with the 1st part. I wanted A.J. over Lowe myself, on the basis of the mediocre/poor Yankees’ defense and A.J. being the strikeout guy.

But I’m not ready to declare victory on A.J. until he passes the post-season and (relative) durability tests.

Yanks had about $66 million in payroll come off the books: Mussina, Giambi, Abreu, Pavano, Farnsworth.

Did anyone think they wouldn’t find a place to spend it. In this case the Yanks went for the top of the market at positions that desperately needed restocking.

As much as any of these “transactions” are praise-worthy, in signing Sabathia, Burnett and Teixiera, the Yanks

1. Filled their needs…
2. With high quality players that stand a semi-decent chance of justifying their contracts…
3. And gave their farmhands time to develop, while reducing the pressure and load that guys like Chamberlain and Hughes and Gardner would’ve otherwise had to bear, allowing to finish their development in a logical and thoughtful way….
4. And did all this without spending more coming in than they had going out the door (Sabathia, Burnett, Teixiera, Swisher and Marte add up to $60 million this year, and $71 million next year, and $75 million in 2011).

So Steve, I’d say that yes, so far, the plan has worked.

The main problem I see coming is that the schedule gets much, much tougher after Sunday. I don’t know that they can stop the freight train that is Bret Anderson, but if they can, they might even go 10-0 on this homestand.

And they might just need all 10 before this year is over.

Steve Lombardi wrote:

Raf wrote:
NYY Pitching r/g
08: 4.49 (ERA+ 104)
09: 4.76 (ERA+ 100)
NYY Hitting r/g
08: 4.87 (OPS+ 101)
09: 5.52 (OPS+ 116)
08: Old Yankee Stadium
09: New Launching Pad Yankee Stadium

2009 OPS
H: .844 (5.53 r/g)
R: .809 (5.5 r/g)

2008 OPS
H: .789 (5.08 r/g)
R: .749 (4.65 r/g)

You blaming “New Launching Pad Yankee Stadium” still doesn’t explain the performance of the pitching.

Compare the difference between the offensive and pitching stats within each year, not across them. The margin in 2008 was .38 (4.87-4.49); this year it is .76 (5.52-4.76). Perhaps that is the measure of team improvement suggested by these data.

Raf wrote:

NYY Pitching r/g
08: 4.49 (ERA+ 104)
09: 4.76 (ERA+ 100)
NYY Hitting r/g
08: 4.87 (OPS+ 101)
09: 5.52 (OPS+ 116)

08: Old Yankee Stadium
09: New Launching Pad Yankee Stadium

NYY Pitching r/g
08: 4.49 (ERA+ 104)
09: 4.76 (ERA+ 100)

NYY Hitting r/g
08: 4.87 (OPS+ 101)
09: 5.52 (OPS+ 116)

Having ownership that is willing to invest the profits of this very lucrative business enterprise in personnel is a great advantage, and we should all sympathize with fans of teams whose even richer owners won’t do it. But it’s no guarantee — judgment does enter into how the money gets spent. I think some good judgment as well as a boatload of dollars went into making our off-season a success.

Are all the people who wanted Cashman to go with Derek Lowe appropriately humbled by now?

Maybe the Yankees team T-Shirt slogan this year should be “Best $423.5 million spent…ever!”
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Yep. Had nothing to do with Posada missing time, Jeter, Cano’s, & Caberea’s down time.

This time last year, they had 3-4 automatic outs in the lineup. This year, they don’t.

And I think the last line on the t-shirt should read:

“27th World Championship…priceless!”

Maybe the Yankees team T-Shirt slogan this year should be “Best $423.5 million spent…ever!”
———-
Gotta love it when Steve can find a way to slap a backhanded compliment on Cashman even after the Yanks have won 7 in a row and opened up a 2.5 game lead on their biggest rival heading into the final week of July.

This blog has an amazing capacity for bitterness sometimes.