I'm Sick of it

by BenSheridan on Oct 1, 2008 10:02 PM EDT

A personal pet peeve of mine is when Yankee fans determine that we owe our young and inexperienced players playing time, even through rough patches. Nothing made me happy like reading the headline in the Times:

Yankees Change the Roster, but Not the Result

Followed by a short and sweet article explaining the transactions made after a crushing defeat to the Royals. Melky demoted; Sexon waived; Ben crying in exuberance! Even after a stunning grab at the wall against a Manny Ramirez "sure" Home Run and his "got melky?" t-shirts, I was not sold on the second chico (as Kay refers to him). I believe Yankee fans were just feeling an injection of what our team has needed for so long, a substance known as youth. Don't be fooled though, even though all experience youth, few pair youth with talent. This combination was one that Melky Cabrera did not offer. Quite frankly as of late, I'm growing positive Brett Gardner lacks this combination as well. So sure, as you get off you seat when Melky throws his body at a wall, cheer, go nuts, but remember, the Yankees owe him nothing. Fan's owe him nothing. Melky's lifetime .269 BA and .329 OBP may be enough to start on YOUR roster, but not on the Yankees, which should have the money and scouts to find the Bronx a much better player to patrol the hollow earth that Mantle and Dimaggio once roamed. Likewise, Hughes and Kennedy have done nothing to gain my respect. Sure Hughes has tossed a few nice games, Shelly Duncan hit a few Home Runs, bottom line is if your going to pitch well 3 out of 6 games, your still a .500 pitcher and not quite good enough. I love my Yankees as much as the next fan over, but lets not forget Matt Howard, 1996 Yankee's call-up, who unlike his fellow, Jeter, Bernie, Jorge, Pettite, and Mo, didn't quite end up Hall of Fame bound, and who the Boss had no qualm at all giving the pink slip, after batting .204. I would love to see Cano, Hughes, Kennedy, Chamberlain, Melky, Miranda, Garnder and the rest of the peanut gallery, that we call our September Call-ups, be successful and rebuild our dynasty, but over-exuberance, and Yankee rookie zealotism and repression shouldnt allow us to force 1996 again.

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The problem is that it's hard to tell

what a player is coming out of AAA. Do you have a dud or a stud? (or an average big leaguer)

Wanting a stud, needing a stud, makes you inclined to see a stud. The old Yankee MO of trading prospects for estabished players was partially based on your insight. Most of the prospects didn’t amount to a hill of beans.

I have been making the point that a balanced approach is needed. We should be ruthless in our talent evaluation as well as our needs evaluation. We should try to develop players where we have prospects and needs (First, CF, pitching, utility). We should also be willing to trade prospects the fill current needs or trade for prospects to groom for future needs. (Someday we’ll need a shortstop and a catcher, who knows when?)

Reggie Jackson, Graig Nettles, Wade Boggs, Tino Martinez, Paul O’Neil, Chris Chamblis etc. etc. all came to us as estabished major leaguers and were excellent Yankees. They are the other side of the Posada, Jeter, Rivera coin.

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)

by Cbeck3 on Oct 2, 2008 12:01 PM EDT 0 recs

yes

but the recent acquisitions of ‘established’ players has proven fruitless: RJ, Pavano, Sheff, Arod, Giambi, Vazquez, etc.
we’ve acquired those guys each of the last six years yet have gotten progressively worse each year.

by Travis G on Oct 2, 2008 4:02 PM EDT up 0 recs

Don't be dumb

Arod, Giambi, Abreu, Nady , Pettitte have done all we had any right to expect from them.

If you don’t make that kind of move you’ll have a team like Cleveland or Tampa, and be good for a few years every other decade.

The Yanks this year were not bad, just not quite good enough. The injuries to Posada and CMW tipped the scales along with non-career years from Jeter, Cano , Melky and Arod. So, we missed the playoffs, Don’t slash your wrists.

Let’s upgrade the starters.

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)

by Cbeck3 on Oct 2, 2008 4:22 PM EDT up 0 recs

dont be dense

i never said we shouldn’t sign the right FA/trade. ‘right’ is the operative word. there HAVE been some good FAs/trades (Abreu, Moose), but it STILL hasn’t helped us get any closer to #27. like i wrote, it’s been anything but. we’ve gone backwards since the signing sprees of 2003/4 and beyond.

CC should be the #1 priority. after that, go for offense. see, i do support acquiring some players, but the right players.

by Travis G on Oct 2, 2008 10:00 PM EDT up 0 recs

Ok

Please realise it’s a crap shoot. Particularly when the key element is health.

We stayed away from Vlad because of his history of back problems. We signed Pavano.

We were unlucky or stuipid. OK. Not stupid but not brilliant either.

WE need to sign free agents. They’re success rate will not be perfect.

And lighten up, the Yankees made the playoffs umpteen years in a row. A 3 of five series isn’t much easier to win than a coin toss. I did the stats on the blog last year and don’t want to do it again. I don’t know if it’s still in the archive. They win some playoff series soon.

Eight teams make the playoffs. Each has pretty close to a 1/4 chance of making the WS. And a 1/8 chance of winning it. It was a lot easier in Mantle’s day.

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)

by Cbeck3 on Oct 3, 2008 11:12 AM EDT up 0 recs

Mantle

had to have the best record in the entire AL, which wasn’t/isn’t easy.

there’s certainly an element of luck regarding FAs, which is why i haven’t turned on Cashman yet. everything we touched from 95-2003 worked: Cecil, Straw, Wells, Clemens, Justice, Tino, El Duque, Nelson, Stanton, Moose, Knoblauch, ONeill, but since then it’s like everything we touch turns to stone: Wright, Pavano, Brown, Sheff, Contreras, Farnsy, RJ, Weaver, Igawa, Vazquez, etc. (with a few exceptions of course).

by Travis G on Oct 3, 2008 3:30 PM EDT up 0 recs

So what are you saying?

If your telling me that you would rather have Juan Miranda playing first, than Mark Texiera, I’m going to have to question the validity of anything you write.

That being said, A-ROD has put up great numbers as a Yankee, and Giambi has been no slouch either. As many of these people who have failed, the Bombers have also brought many talented stars to the Big Apple.

Pitching wise, I understand any fan’s trust in Kennedy and Hughes, two guys who are exciting, and bounce back at all the right times! Who wouldn’t love it?… I don’t.
I want 5 workhorses, who will take me deep into a game throwing strikes. Guys like CC, Wang, Moose, Burnett. All four of whom I would like to see dawning pinstripes next season.

by BenSheridan on Oct 2, 2008 4:38 PM EDT up 0 recs

i’d MUCH rather have Miranda than Tex. :rolleyes:

Burnett is the ‘workhorse’ you want? the guy that’s only had 1 totally healthy year in his career, during a contract year, and has been placed on the DL 5 times? brilliant!

by Travis G on Oct 2, 2008 10:01 PM EDT up 0 recs

oh, forgot to mention

Burnett will be 32, and hence entering the downside of his career.

by Travis G on Oct 2, 2008 10:02 PM EDT up 0 recs

How old was Cone when we signed him?

How old was Catfish? I am in favor of signing 2 starters. I am willing for A. J. to be one of them. It’s also OK if he’s not. I’d really like CC and someone.

It’s possible that CMW, Joba Hughes or somebody will have nice years next year and we’ll be great. Maybe Moose won’t retire.

I still want 2 FA pitchers including one STUD.

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)

by Cbeck3 on Oct 3, 2008 11:16 AM EDT up 0 recs

Cone was 32

Catfish was 29. but Cone was a great pitcher when we got him. Burnett is merely good. his frigging career ERA+ is just 111, matching him with such immortals as Freddy Garcia and Aaron Cook.

Cone came to us after 3 straight seasons of 130 ERA+ or higher. Burnett has never had even one of those.

Catfish isn’t really a good comparison. he had just one great season in NY (and was only a slightly above avg pitcher for his career), then 3 more average or below years, so i dont think we’d want Burnett to follow that route.

by Travis G on Oct 3, 2008 3:39 PM EDT up 0 recs

The point is most pitchers who become FA

are going to be older. IT’s simple, they have to put in the years. Since some guys now make the bigs at 21,22 or 23 they can get there a little younger.

Free agency is a young mans game.

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)

by Cbeck3 on Oct 5, 2008 9:15 AM EDT up 0 recs

FYI- CC lost another post season game last night

i’m not saying don’t sign him- but if he does sign and if he doesn’t do well in the post season then we’ll all hear the bitching and moaning about the yankees signing another big time FA that can’t play in the post season.

A-Rod is still one of the best players in baseball, anyway you slice it, and still people boo and rant and cry. the endless bitching from some people here and elsewhere gets real old.

The Jayfiss Report ...one fan's rants

by NumberSeven on Oct 3, 2008 12:12 PM EDT 0 recs