Offseason thoughts from a disappointed yankees fan.
by Thurman Munson on Oct 27, 2010 11:08 PM EDT
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PrintPeople say a lot of bad things about the new york yankees and their fans; they say that we are fickle, they say that we are front runners, they say that our franchise and the way it is run is bad for baseball. I disagree with all of this. HOWEVER, I have to admit that I was pretty disappointed with our fan base on Wednesday October 20th 2010.
On that day Game 5 of the ALCS was to be played... in our home park... with C.C. Sabathia going... and tickets were going on STUBHUB for literally $15.00 a piece the day of the game. $15.00 FOR A PLAYOFF TICKET!!! Are you kidding me??? Where are all the fans? This is an elimination ALCS PLAYOFF game and the stadium looked about as packed as it would be for a day game against the Royals in May. It sounded that way too. I took advantage of the seriously low tickets, cut class that day and got to enjoy my first playoff game & playoff win for less than $25.00. RIDICULOUS! Where were you guys?
As for the offseason, I am a huge proponent of signing Cliff Lee. We need another shutdown starter behind CC and Cliff Lee IS that guy. To me the rotation next season should be Sabathia, Lee, Hughes, Pettitte, & Burnett. If anybody gets injured, Nova steps in. I am also a huge proponent of signing Scott Downs for the bullpen. He is a shutdown arm in the bullpen and I think he's even better than Wood and he should come cheaper. As for our lineup, I think WITHOUT A DOUBT, Hideki Matsui Part 2 should commence. If there is anything our lineup was missing this season it was high contact bats like Matsui and Damon. Cashman should right his wrong and bring Matsui back to DH. I would not be opposed to signing him to a 2 year deal if it had to get done. The guy can still hit and he would be a huge addition to our lineup.
To me the keys to the offseason are signing Lee, Downs, and Matsui. Re-signing Mo, Jeter, and Pettitte are givens. Will this be expensive? Of course. But we are the yankees and this is what Cashman should do to bring us back to the promised land next season.
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I also would not be opposed to bringing back Chien-Ming Wang and Melky Cabrera
if they are both SUPER cheap.
Wang would be a low-risk high-reward and Melky would just be a nice 4th OF to have as he obviously plays best wearing pinstripes… and hey maybe he’ll learn something from a matured Cano. You never know.
Last year we had a bunch of re-treads in Nick Johnson & Javier Vazquez and obviously (other than Thames) they DID NOT WORK OUT.
Why not bring back guys that had great careers in NY, that are fan-favorites, that can be had for cheap, and that are not yet over the hill?
I see no reason not to.
by Thurman Munson on Oct 27, 2010 11:16 PM EDT reply actions
At some point you have to move on
Yeah, I thought replacing Matsui with Nick Johnson was pure insanity as well, and I thought not bringing Johnny Damon back on a one-year deal late in the offseason was equally ill-conceived. Still all those guys have done since they left is get a year older. Cashman might have cut ties with them a year too early in 2010, but bringing them back in 2011 might be doing so a year too late. We already have a lot of age on this roster.
As for Melky, a big reason why the Yankees dangled him so often in trades and finally traded him in the Vazquez deal was that they felt he was a distraction to Cano. I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but those who believed that got a big boost from the non-Melky season Cano had in 2010. I don’t think there’s any chance of Melky part II.
If the Yankees decide to hold an open-competition for the 5th spot next year, signing Wang to a minor league deal wouldn’t be a bad idea at all. From his end, though, he might prefer to stay with the Nationals where there’d be a greater opportunity for him to crack the rotation.
by Let's Talk About Tex Baby on Oct 28, 2010 2:11 PM EDT up reply actions
I defintely wouldn't bring back Melky.
This year he was batting .255 with 4 HRs and 42 RBIs. Not very good. I also think that Melky might have been a little bit of a distraction for Cano. Maybe if he actually did well, but Melky was bad to to say the least this year. His defense was also pretty bad. Just because he was a fan favorite does not mean you should bring him back. This is coming from me.
A penny for your thoughts; $20 to act them out.
You're mad for bringing back "retreads"
Yet you advocate bringing back Melky Cabrera. Logical consistency FTL!
Strikeouts are boring- Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.
I never said I was mad for bringing back re-treads...
I just said that hey if Cashman was willing to do it last year, why not do it this year with better players IMO.
by Thurman Munson on Oct 28, 2010 12:18 AM EDT reply actions
Melky was the worst player in the league this year...
an injured nick johnson brought more value than a full year of melky
I'm all for Chien Ming Wang and Mat
And I’ve felt like that for almost a year now. I know I am in the minority, but whatevs (I’m in the minority around here for basically everything). They’re Yankees. Seeing Mat in red just.was.not.right. And, I still am of the feeling that CMW can come back healthy and be our No. 2. He was our ace before CC, in case anyone forgot.
I mean…it’s just an idea.
Bringing Absurdity to New Heights!
You're always disappointed when your team comes close but doesn't win.
Pirates fans don’t have quite the same feeling.
I think the chance of seeing Matsui, who at this point is the left- handed Thames, is close to zero. We could always take a flyer on Wang because he won’t cost much.
I don’t see the logic behind re-signing Melky. Is our theory that he’s just one of those guys who can’t handle the National League? Even at his best 2009, he was a league average outfielder.
Scott Downs is or soon will be 35. Lee is 32. The problem with either of these two is that they are patches, not real solutions. The Yankees spent the entire 1980s patching like this, trading prospects, and got nothing from it.
by designatedquitter on Oct 28, 2010 10:49 AM EDT reply actions
Let me clarify something, I'm moreso disappointed with the fact that a large amount of fans decided to give up on the team
before the series was over.
I get that the game was played at 4 in the afternoon in the middle of the week but there’s over 8 million people living in new york city alone… and it’s no excuse that half of the people that had tickets for the game (who are mostly all season ticket holders) were selling their tickets for basically face value or below face value.
Also, I’m really over this whole age thing. Cliff Lee is 32 and he’s a top 5 pitcher in all of baseball. He’s a control pitcher so please don’t give me that garbage about age. It’s not like he’s 50 years old. Scott Downs is a shutdown bullpen arm. Who cares if he’s 35. It’s not like were going to sign him to a long term deal anyway. Last time I checked, Mariano was pretty old too. Does that mean we shouldn’t resign him either? The thing is; Lee, Downs, and Matsui are not patches. They are missing pieces to the puzzle. They are what would put us over the top in 2011. You can say that the Yanks spent the entire 1980’s trading prospects and getting nothing from it, but we AREN’T trading anyone to get these guys! They are free agents. I’m sorry but your logic makes no sense.
PS: Matsui is a totally different hitter than Thames and you know it. C’mon now, let’s be serious here.
by Thurman Munson on Oct 28, 2010 12:22 PM EDT up reply actions
Worse than game 5...
I bought tickets on Stubhub for game 5 the night before the game for less than face value. As it turned out I should have waited because the price went down even more. But I have a bigger complaint about Yankee fans this year than that…
I was at game 4. We were down 4 runs in the 8th inning and the place EMPTIED OUT. I don’t even think there were 10,000 people left in the 8TH INNING of a PLAYOFF GAME which we trailed by 4 RUNS. Of course we ended up losing by more than that after Girardi brought Mitre in to pitch the top of the 9th, but the fans were gone before that debacle occurred. I we have to just accept that passionate and knowledgeable crowds were demolished along with the old stadium.
by Let's Talk About Tex Baby on Oct 28, 2010 2:05 PM EDT up reply actions
This is a MUCH more reasonable problem
The fact that the stadium empties out EVER is a problem… let alone in the playoffs.
"Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing. Breathing first, winning next." -George Michael Steinbrenner III
by Chris McKeown on Oct 28, 2010 3:56 PM EDT up reply actions
You make my point when you say these players wouldn't be signed to long term contracts anyway.
That’s what I mean by ‘patches’. The problem with patches is that you’re always filling holes when you sign players who will only give you a year or two. If Lee is signed, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he is, he will get a contract that will take him out to age 38 or even 40. He might be Mike Mussina-like, or he might be an anchor dragging down the whole rotation in 3 or 4 years. Control pitchers don’t lose velocity when they age out, they lose command. Lee minus command = Igawa.
Thames and Matsui are completely different hitters, but their production is similar (.250s batting average, similar power), and neither can play the outfield. We let Matsui go because of his knees and age- now he’s even older.
As far as Mariano goes, his strikeouts were down this year, his ERA was up, and he spent a lot of the season nursing injuries. He’s still very good, but he’s not getting better either. The dynasty- type Yankee teams featured players in their primes together for a longer period of time, not the 2001- 2007 mish-mash of Rondell White- types. That’s my point.
My suggestion is that you shouldn’t be over the age thing. I think we just disagree here. No disrespect intended.
by designatedquitter on Oct 29, 2010 9:40 AM EDT up reply actions
I don’t know if I agree with what you said about command pitchers losing their command as they age. I think it gets to the point where even with great command, their velocity might be so low that they can still be hit even when they locate, and when they miss and leave something over the plate they really get hurt. But yeah, could you provide some info to back that statement up?
*** FREE FreeBradshaw ***
Where was I?
Middle of Pennsylvania… about 3.5 hours from the city with no car. The game was played at 4 in the afternoon during the middle of the week you know… people DO have jobs.
"Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing. Breathing first, winning next." -George Michael Steinbrenner III
Javi should be gone, Burnett is way too inconsistent, Sergio Mitre is absolute garbage, and our bullpen could not pick up our starters at all. Our offense worked well but our pitching did not do well enough. We have a decent starting rotation but it could be much better!
Burnett should be our 5th starter next season.
CC, Lee, Pettitte, Hughes, Burnett
done and done.
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