Fair Or Not, In October, It Will Be All About A-Rod
I’m a little late to the party on this, but, this is what Bill Madden wrote in the Daily News last Saturday:
After a two-year decline in the standings, from a first-place team to an out-of-the-money third-place team, coinciding with an escalating out-of-control payroll, nobody had to tell Brian Cashman this past winter he needed to get it right.
Look back at those championship Yankee teams under Joe Torre and a few things stood out: They were pitching-driven and Derek Jeter-led.
But how to get that back?
The erosion of the Yankees’ championship mantra could be explained by their big acquisitions since their World Series appearance in 2001: Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez, Randy Johnson, Carl Pavano, Jared Wright, Kevin Brown. In the cases of Giambi and A-Rod, though both MVPs, neither had been to a World Series, and when they became Yankees they became the center of attention for all the wrong reasons. As for the pitchers, all came bearing hefty salaries and, most significantly, from the National League.
This winter, with an even more urgent need for top-of-the-rotation pitching, Cashman did some more big spending, but in CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett he went for pitchers who had proven success in the American League.
At the same time, Cashman’s signing of Mark Teixeira to replace Jason Giambi did more than boost the offense and defense. It provided relief for A-Rod in the middle of the lineup. And with A-Rod no longer the main attraction, usually for all the wrong reasons, it is once again Jeter’s team, which means it’s a team team, which was the whole idea during Torre’s glory years.
I get the part about championship teams being “pitching-driven.” There’s nothing new there. The “Derek Jeter-led” part? Man, I dunno about that one. I want to say those 1996-2001 Yankees were more “Paul O’Neill/Tino Martinez/David Cone-led” than they were “Jeter-led.” And, the part about not making A-Rod the “main attraction”? Well, for sure, especially over the last seven or eight weeks, Alex Rodriguez has been able to not have the weight of the world on his shoulders – and he’s been hitting incredibly well during this time.
But, come October, betcha bottom dollar, all eyes will not be on Jeter, Sabathia, Burnett and Teixeira. Rather, the spotlight will be Alex Rodriguez. And, should A-Rod perform this October like he did in the 2005, 2006, and 2007 ALDS, then that will be the story in Yankeeland.
Fair? No, of course not. But, who said life is fair?
And, should A-Rod perform this October like he did in the 2005, 2006, and 2007 ALDS, then that will be the story in Yankeeland.
Fair? No, of course not. But, who said life is fair?
———
We control our own opinions. Just because Bill Madden and dipshits like him say that’s the story, doesn’t mean he’s right. He can try like hell to make it the story but intelligent people will not only have the right to a differing view but can drown out “the story” entirely with thoughtful, well-reasoned and factual arguments on the internet which, much to the chagrin of the newspaper industry, is increasingly the media source of record at this point.
The Yanks win as a team and they lose as a team. Or should Mariano Rivera be outed as the goat of the 2001 World Series and the 2004 ALCS?
If we fail again this year, it will be down to the pitching yet again.
@ MJ:
he was the goat in ’97
clintfsu813 wrote:
Well said, and on the point. If the Yankees go out in the first round, second round or WS it will be because our pitching wasn’t good enough. I sincerely doubt that if all of our pitchers hold the other teams to 3 runs or less every game, we’ll be outed.
Of course pitching counts but Arod can’t fail in the clutch as he has every year. He’s the clean-up hitter. Going 0′fer w/ men on base AGAIN is totally unacceptable to me.
The thing that I see in this year’s team that was a product of those 96-00 squads is the belief that it took 27 outs to bury the Yankees. They had an unshakable belief in their ability to come back late in a game. Seems like everyone on those teams could win a game for you – Leyritz and Brosius come to mind immediately – but Mr. November seemed to epitomize that attitude. The free agents signed after 2001 didn’t really have that instinct, it seems.
But the 2009 Yankees seem to be getting the mojo back. Last night’s game is a perfect example of what I’m talking about – two bench player coming through in the clutch and winning a game, yet again. I totally agree with the other comments about pitching being the key to winning, but I don’t think the Yankees have had that killer instinct and swagger since 2004. Aaron Boone’s homer was the last postseason “clutch” moment in the Yankees’ history, if I recall correctly.
nettles wrote:
I know what you’re saying but I think it’s all a matter of perspective. One could argue that Shawn Chacon’s Game 4 performance in the 2005 ALDS was “clutch.” One could say the same thing about Phil Hughes’s performance in Game 3 of the 2007 ALDS. “Clutch” comes in all forms, yet only seems to stand out when the team wins which only makes partial sense to me.
Having said that, Nettles, I think you’re right that this team has much more of a resilient aspect to it. 14 walk-off wins may not be empirical evidence of anything “clutch” (since walk-offs are essentially the by-product of home wins as opposed to road wins) but as long as a team believes it can’t lose then that can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I am haunted by butchie’s pre-season skepticism about the unproven-in-postseason nature of our pitching staff. I hear it at random times throughout the day and night.
The premise of the article is just silly. The Yanks are arguably less Jeter’s team, leadershipwise, than ever before with all the new, strong-personality guys, and without Torre giving the evil eye to anybody who didn’t act like a robot. It’s not that Jeter isn’t respected; it’s that other guys have stepped up to lead as well. And, as Steve notes, the dynasty teams had more group leadership than just Jeter as well.
And the other flaw to the argument is this – how did the Yankees do without the distraction of A-Rod in the picture? They went 13-15.
Re: the thread topic.
On the contrary. If A-Rod has even a mediocre post-season, but the starting pitchers struggle as many expect, then the expensive free agent pitchers become the post-season story.
@ Evan3457: I hear ya, but it’s always about A-Rod. Jeter and Posada (and Clemens) were all terrible in the 2007 playoffs, while A-Rod was merely mediocre then, but A-Rod still got the blame – again.