A.L. East Standings Today
Posted by Steve L. on May 17th, 2011 · Comments (32)
I know it’s only May 17th, but, it’s upsetting to look at the standings this morning and see the Yankees closer to last place (1.5 games out) than they are to first place (3 games out).
The Yankees front office, manager, and coaching staff is lucky that Hal/Hank/Randy/Lonn are calling the shots these days and not Big Stein.
Very lucky; Big Stein probably would’ve done something stupid to shake up the team, a move for the sake of a move.
I was just reading in the O’Connor Jeter book that Big Stein took back Cashman’s bonus of $50K for winning the World Series in 1999 after Cashman lost the arb. hearings for Jeter and Rivera that spring. Cold and F’ed up? Yes. But, say this about George: He didn’t give any passes for screwing up. Maybe the Yankees miss that? Too many screwed up moves and bad performance is just shrugged off these days in Yankeeland.
Raf wrote:
Which is why the Yankees are better off now that he’s gone.
Steve Lombardi wrote:
Sure he did. He screwed up all the time and never held himself accountable.
Steve Lombardi wrote:
The Yankees miss misdirected anger, petty jealousy, and owner-generated dysfunction? If you’re complaining about the entire organization needing to be “douched” over L’Affaire Posada, why do you think it would be better if a spiteful, loudmouthed blowhard was still alive and running things? Things would be much worse today.
One shouldn’t confuse Steinbrenner’s yelling, screaming and token firings as examples of productivity.
Steve Lombardi wrote:
No they aren’t.
MJ Recanati wrote:
But it looks “productive,” and you know people in general will prefer someone who looks like they’re doing something over someone who actually is.
Raf wrote:
Of course. That’s what the masses are asses…
MJ Recanati wrote:
*why
Maybe I’m alone here?
But, to me, Hal/Hank/Randy/Lonn/Cashman seem to care more about making money, protecting rep, and job security whereas George just cared about his ego and winning. Granted, the former was annoying. But, the latter was a driving force for him – and the organization.
I’m not sure his sons and their lackeys have that same drive/will, etc.
Steve Lombardi wrote:
George cared about making money. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have been angling for a new stadium going back to his idle threats about moving the team to Jersey, he wouldn’t have taken his games off WPIX and onto MSG and he wouldn’t have laid the groundwork for the YES Network.
George was all about making money. That’s not a bad thing at all, just that we shouldn’t change the story post mortem. George was a business man.
Steve we all know that winning is what makes fans come out to the ballpark and what makes a team successful with revenue so I’m sure the current ownership wants to win so they can make money and the like. I think its just that the sons are going to go about it differently then George did but you never know. Soriano was their signing and that is totally something George would of done on his own if he wanted. We shall see but its clear this team needs a swift kick in the behind to get going. I just don’t think Girardi is the guy to do it.
Also let me ask you this. Do you think if Mattingly was coach that Posada would of done what he did to him? I think not because the players especially the star players respect Donny where they clearly don’t respect Girardi
EHawk wrote:
This has nothing to do with respect, or lack thereof, for Joe Girardi. This is Jorge Posada acting out of frustration. He would’ve blown up on anyone because his beef isn’t personal with any one individual.
EHawk wrote:
What makes you say that? I haven’t heard a single star on the team make any complaints about Girardi and I certainly haven’t seen any players show him a lack of respect.
MJ Recanati wrote:
There’s a story in the O’Connor book about the Yankees clubhouse. It says it was a time begging for the manager to flip the buffet table because the team was loafing. Instead, in front of the whole team, Girardi ran around the table, several times, fast, in a cartoon manner, and then said to the whole team “That’s how you hustle!” Reportedly, the vets on the team thought Girardi was an idiot for such a display in a major league clubhouse.
@ EHawk: I do think there’s an element of Giradi having played with Jeter and Posada, and him not being a star, that does not allow him to control them like Torre controlled them – esp. since they grew up with him. Not sure if Mattingly would have had that same magic? But, because he was a star and a legend, maybe he would?
Steve Lombardi wrote:
Popping off to the press, randomly hiring and firing people and meddling in day to day affairs doesn’t necessarily equate to winning. If anything, with recent events, this is more like the soap opera Yankees I grew up with. Taken to the nth degree because of the increased media outlets. Didn’t miss it at all.
During the 80′s, do you think if George listened to his baseball people that the Yanks would’ve done better than they did? If he had left (pick one) Howser, Piniella, Martin, Berra, Lemon, Michael, etc alone that the Yanks would’ve done better than they did? Would they have made as many dumb trades? Would they have attracted better caliber free agents (despite the collusion that was happening at the time)?
Steve Lombardi wrote:
Flipping over a buffet table is just as big a display of idiocy.
Steve Lombardi wrote:
Probably not, given Mattingly’s personality. Then again, there have been managers of all types of temperament that have succeeded and failed in MLB, so who knows?
@ MJ Recanati sez: “This has nothing to do with respect, or lack thereof, for Joe Girardi. This is Jorge Posada acting out of frustration. He would’ve blown up on anyone because his beef isn’t personal with any one individual.”
I disagree. Would he have done it with Joe Torre? I doubt it.
The funny thing is, that Posada apparently has displaced anger towards Girardi for him not getting to start for so long. But his anger ought to be at Joe Torre, not Girardi, for that.
Truth is they should have started cutting down on Posada’s starts behind the plate years ago. But between Posada’s ego, Torre’s reluctance to step on toes and not having a viable alternative to catch 60-70 games, this came to an abrupt halt rather than a gradual transition.
77yankees wrote:
Posada wasn’t that bad defensively years ago…it’s pretty apparent that the concussions (or age or something) slowed his reaction times down behind the plate. The last year, year and a half he was horrible though. But before that, he wasn’t the worst.
lisaswan wrote:
So you’re saying this is personal between Girardi and Posada? I don’t buy that for one minute. Posada is upset that his career is coming to a screeching halt. I don’t see anything else at play here.
As to if Posada would’ve thrown his tantrum with Torre, who knows. The more apt question is if Torre would’ve had the balls to bench one of “his guys” who clearly doesn’t deserve to play any longer. Knowing Torre, probably not.
Corey Italiano wrote:
He’s been a bad defensive catcher since the start of the 2009 season. Perhaps all of the injuries from 2008 caught up to him in ’09 but, at the very least, Posada was atrocious defensively in the ’09 season (to say nothing of last year).
@ MJ Recanati:
Sorry, I think of years in terms of baseball seasons…year and a half to me is around the same time.
Don’t really care about the reaction of the bosses. The Yanks are in a bad slump; there are two possibilities:
1) They continue to hit like this, in which case, the Dynasty run is over.
2) They hit back to the back of their baseball cards, in which case, they’ll stay in the race.
When the entire division is within 4 1/2 games, and everyone’s withing 2 games of .500 or better, being 3 games out instead of 1 isn’t a big deal. The trend is the problem, not the current state.
MJ Recanati wrote:
I would say it has been before that, but it has really gotten bad recently.
MJ Recanati wrote:
Torre would probably be batting Posada 5th right now and “catching,” with A-Rod in the 8-hole.
MJ Recanati wrote:
So you’re saying this is personal between Girardi and Posada? I don’t buy that for one minute. Posada is upset that his career is coming to a screeching halt. I don’t see anything else at play here.
As to if Posada would’ve thrown his tantrum with Torre, who knows. The more apt question is if Torre would’ve had the balls to bench one of “his guys” who clearly doesn’t deserve to play any longer. Knowing Torre, probably not.
There have been a lot of stories over the years — and especially over the past few days — about how the two don’t get along. Most of the stories say that Posada resents Girardi for being the No. 1 catcher. If you may remember, when Cashman told Posada he was no longer catcher, it was said that he broke the news because of the Girardi issue.
We agree on Torre.
@ lisaswan:
Supposing this is entirely a personal issue between the veteran and his manager and supposing this is evidence of a lack of respect for the manager…so what? An earlier commenter suggested that the lack of respect was team-wide. I see no evidence of that.
If Posada has been this insubordinate then he should be benched until further notice. If he doesn’t like it, he can retire. Or die. Either one. Fuck him and his shitty attitude.
@ MJ Recanati:
Tell us how you really feel.
Looks to be a combination of many things that are coming to the surface (from home and work), but if this blowup helps Posada to be more productive, then I’m all for it. Guess he had some stuff he wanted to get off his chest.
The NYDN is really pushing the Posada-Girardi rift angle (which apparently dates back to 2005, according to them) hard though.
@ Raf:
I’ve been losing patience with Posada for years, this is the last straw for me.
His departure from the team this coming winter will be a breath of fresh air. I find his red-ass attitude to be played out.
Raf wrote:
I don’t read the NYDN but I saw on another MSM site that the issue goes back to when Girardi was the bench coach?
Makes Posada look terrible if he’s harboring grudges against some coaching he received back in 2005. Then again, I’m not surprised. Posada seems like the petty type.
@ MJ Recanati:
Yeah, that’s the angle they’re pushing, that the beef goes back to when Girardi was a bench coach. Supposedly Girardi doesn’t or didn’t like they way Posada calls a game, goes over the scouting reports or handles a pitching staff. Couldn’t wait to get him from behind the plate or something like that.
Petty nonsense, I guess. The problem with those staffs weren’t Posada or the way he called a game, it was the talent (or lack thereof) that the staffs had.
Raf wrote:
Agreed, to an extent. The lack of overall pitching talent on those teams had an impact on the team and certainly weren’t the fault of Posada.
Having said that, if coaches want a player to do X and that player insists upon doing Y, that does represent a problem and is a justifiable criticism of that player. It may not turn chicken shit — the 2005 pitching staff — into chicken salad but it’s certainly possible that some adjustments or open-mindedness on Posada’s part could’ve helped too. I mean, it’s not impossible to believe that Girardi might’ve had some good suggestions, right?