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It Rains For Too Long

I sincerely hope that Cashman - if he is extended - gives us a much different look next year. It's an expensive, creaky old team with too many players in their career's twilight. And Giradi needs to find himself also.

We're not the most injury riddled team so that's not "the reason" - the reasons are that we're not swinging the bat well, we're not mentally focused on every play, we're shuttling pitchers back and forth from Scranton or the DL. Some of these things you can't control - but some you can. Yep, I'm thinking about 2009. A fresh start in a new ballpark.

Pavano? Yeah, right.

Giambi? All done please.

Abreu? No belly fire.

Melky? Great 4th OF.

Matsui? DH.

Damon? No arm whatsoever and "how are the legs today?" Hmmm ...

Jeter? Time to drop the ironman personna and admit when you're injuries are a liability. Would be a decent 1B man if we can't land Texeira - which is a must. If Mark plays 1B, does the captain report to SS again? Probably.

Cano? Will the real player please report to the ballpark immediately?

Posada/Pudge/Molina? Honestly Molina handles the pitchers best but his bat kills us. This is another juggling contest for Cashman.

Ike, Phil, Joba? Can anyone stick for a complete season? Can the first two deliver on even part of their hype?

Andy and the Moose? Just how long can these guys be effective?

Bullpen? Oddly enough, I think it's a present and future strength.

Sure, we gonna keep talking about 2008, but we're pretty much done and don't have the talent or energy to make it through the post season if we pull off a 41 game miracle run.

Here's to 2009 ...

Mitchell, I get why you feel the way you do. I wonder though, if the Ike,Phil,Joba had put up numbers half of the hype would the Yankees be close to, or in my opinion, be in first place in the division?

The hitting has been questionable but the starting pitching is why the Yankees are below expectation.

With some big contracts (and relatively unproductive) players departing this offseason, I have every fear that the Yankees will re-tool and be fine.

As a Sox fan, the question I have for Yankee fans is whether the makeup from Hank to Cashman to Giradi to the players themselves the right mix?

The fear of the Yankees during their run in the late 90's and early this decade was not about Bernie's talent or O'Neils abilities or Brosius' skills or whomever I could name...it was that they functioned well as a team, extremely well. I know they had very good pitching as the backbone but it seems as soon as the "me" type players began showing up, players like Soriano, Ventura, Mondesi, Sheffield, Giambi that the "team" lost something.

Hope you don't mind my going on and on about that but as the Yankees look to spend their money this offseason, I wonder if the stats will dictate the decisions completely.

This weekend the Red Sox will see Halladay, Marcum and Burnett while the Yankees are in KC.

A good weekend and all this doom and gloom talk is gone. A bad one and its time to break the glass.

I agree, Abreu and Giambi have to go. Not worth the money, too old, too much same old, same old, and yeah, Melky is a 4th OF. Jeter. Sigh. Don't know what to do with the Captain. Pudge has been a disappointment. The pitchers appear more comfortable with Molina.

I still think Cano needs Bowa breathing down his neck to keep him focused.

Perhaps the most frustrating part of this season has been the utter lack of any contribution whatsoever by Kennedy and Hughes. And next year, we have go through the same tortured calculations again regarding inning limits for the season etc. There has been zero learning or growth for these two. Not sure that Kennedy is cut out for New York.

I really don't think that throwing tons of stupid money at Teixera or Sabathia is an answer, let alone the answer. Better to spend the money on sustainable player development.

Who's Pavano?

BL,

The expectations on Ike,Phil,Joba were unrealistic. How many times in the history of baseball have three young pitchers simultaneously blossomed in the way that these three were expected to? And in this extreme era of absurdly intense media coverage, no less? While it may be true that had they met expectations (heck, even half of their astronomical expectations, as you suggest), the Yankees might very well be in first place, were these expectations in any way realistic? I think any reasonable person would have to say no. As has been chronicled on this very site, Buchholz, who had similar expectations, has not had a good season either. These are human beings, not machines. So I find that line of reasoning pointless. Why hypothesize on the unrealistic?

I have to disagree that the hitting has been questionable and the starting pitching is why the Yankees are below expectation. Mussina has been a huge surprise, Pettite has given us more or less what could have been reasonably expected, and Rasner and Ponson have, on the whole, given us a hell of a lot more than anyone had any right to expect. Given the injuries, I'd have to say the starting pitching has provided us more than we had any right to expect. No, I have to lay the blame primarily on the offense. The Yankees are amongst MLB's leaders in number of games held to 2 runs or less. Their hitting in the clutch has been abysmal. They leave men on base constantly. This team was designed to score runs in droves, to give their pitchers the cushion necessary to allow them to make mistakes, and learn and develop, and still win games. The expectation was that they would be amongst MLB's offensive juggernauts, scoring 900+ runs. They won't even make 800. With that fundamental assumption having been proven wrong, the whole plan collapsed under its own weight. I have to say that the offense has been the single biggest disappointment.

I find part of your argument contradictory. On the one hand, I completely agree with your observation that the Yankees of the late 1990s and early 2000s functioned so well as a team. Looking back, how many of those Yankees, other than Rivera, were viewed then (or are viewed now, in retrospect) as having been the best (or at least amongst the very best) at their position? Jeter? Martinez (for a couple of those years)? They were not a collection of former/present All-Stars. But collectively, the whole was so much greater than the sum of its parts. They were a cohesive unit, they got the job done, and they found a way to win. But, as Steinbrenner re-asserted control, he reverted to his old ways, and tried to go for the big, splashy free-agent signing: Mussina, Giambi, Sheffield, Matsui. In so doing, he changed the team into a collection of individuals who happened to all be wearing the same uniform. Oh sure, these individuals had very impressive resumes. But something fundamental, in the core, was missing. Over the years, they've lost their toughness. They don't grind out victories any more. They used to wait for their opponents to make mistakes, and then they'd go for the jugular. If they had a lead after the 6th inning, the game was pretty much over. All that is gone. They have slowly evolved into something that is not so much a team as a collection of individuals. That's why I have to wonder if spending tons of money on Teixera or Sabathia makes sense. How many times have these big free-agent signings really panned out, not just for the Yankees, but for any team? I'd argue that the failures greatly outnumber the successes. And now we propose to just do more of the same? Isn't that the mentality that got us into this mess? It is not possible to fix all their flaws merely by bringing in a couple of pricey free agents. When there is a strong core, a prudent free agent signing can add the finishing touches. But building a team on top-tier blue-ribbon free agents has not worked (and not just in baseball). Athletes are not factory-produced parts that can be used interchangeably. The whole philosophy is, I'd argue, wrong. It's not the right way to construct a team.

On the other hand, you state that your fears that the Yankees will re-tool and be fine. Firstly, I don't share your optimism (well, my optimism is your pessimism). Second, I think this fear contradicts your rational analysis of the "team" as a collection of "me"-based individuals. Help me to understand how there isn't a contradiction there.

To answer your question, I'd say no, the "mix" isn't right. The Yankees won six World Series titles with George, they can win with Hank. Besides, don't be fooled -- Hank is all bluster, no substance. He doesn't even bother to show up to the ballpark. Hal controls the purse strings. For me, the jury is still out on Girardi. I think he handled the bullpen better than Torre would have. Overall, I'm not sold on him yet. I wonder if he might be a better fit for a team of younger, less experienced guys, like the Marlins were a couple of years back. Cashman is . . . learning. Historically, I think he has done a poor job of providing the Yankees with a usable bench. But overall, I'm comfortable with him and his commitment to the organization.

Oh, and just to be clear, although I mentioned Mussina, above, amongst the big, splashy free-agent signings, I'd count his signing as one of the Yankees best ones.

BLMEANIE - I think that if "the kids" had played up to (even near) their hype, we'd be in the thick of things, not looking up, needing binoculars. This team is flailing at the plate, and that happens when you're playing "scared of losing". The confidence, the swagger, is gone. They will surely spend some money this winter, but hopefully they will be able to shed a more than a few dollars off their gross payroll numbers. Many of these guys are aging and naturally declining. Age extinguishes the belly fire (read testosterone) - like it or not. This is a classic transition year - hopefully next year will not be another one.

Ian - these guys are simply not as deep or as talented as their competition. We really going to win it all with our top two pitchers being Andy and the Moose? With our RISP numbers? Doubtful.

Greg - my bet is that we make a very hard run at getting two of the top 3 targets - CC, Texeira, Sheets. Losing Abreu and Pavano frees up $26MM. Giambi is, what, another $21MM. Andy is $16MM. Moose is $11MM. That's $74MM. Yeah, there is some buyout money to be paid out, but that's still a big number. Jeter will not go quietly, nor will he be moved off SS easily, but it's time to at least start thinking about it.

Sorry, BLMEANIE, I failed to comment on your Team comments. I think this team hangs together well now. I don't see or sense or hear about any sort of friction. I think that the age spread is a bit of a hindrance at times, but I think they've done a good job of supporting each other.

Girardi? I'm not yet impressed, He leaves me scratching ny head sometimes with his play calling. Hankenstein? They are who they are, feeling their ways forward, trying to step out from the shadow of their dad, who was a real monster (I mean that negatively) more often than he should have been.

This all seems to be Cashman's show right now, so we'll see how it plays out.

Mitchell - thanks for being honest about the Boss and his shortcomings.

It amazes me how people that have pasts that should haunt them get almost idolized as they get older and removed from the past.

Who was the GM in the 70's that put together that team? I don't remember the GM ever getting any credit for what that team was.

As for the team in the 90's, wasn't that Bob Watson that was the architect of that team?

Cashman essentially inherited the team didn't he?

I did not assume Pettite and Mussina would not be on the team next year, can't really afford to have them ride off in the sunset yet can they?

BL- The GM never got credit in the 70's, 80's, 90's or even now. I wrote about the Boss and the idolization back in March and you wrote a comment about getting old and getting sick and how that changes people's perception and I think it is absolutely right.

Gene Michael deserves the credit for the 90's teams in my mind since he took over when Steinbrenner was suspended, but Cashman definitely made the deals that secured the 2000 title. Without those trades, they wouldn't have won.

BL and Peter:

Gabe Paul was the GM for much of the '70s. He is in many ways the unsung hero. He made many critically important trades: Randolph (and others) for Doc Medich, Rivers and Figueroa for Bobby Bonds, Mike Torrez for Dock Ellis, Bucky Dent for Oscar Gamble (and others). Without Randolph, Rivers, Figueroa, those Yankees might have won nothing. Torrez was an important part of the '77 team, winning two WS games against the Dodgers. They might not have made the playoffs without him, as the Red Sox and Orioles finished right behind them. Dent not only hit his famous homer in the '78 playoff game with the Red Sox, he had a huge WS that year. And he was a big upgrade over Fred Stanley. Finally, he didn't trade away Guidry. In 1976, Martin and Steinbrenner were both down on him. No Guidry, no playoffs in '77 and '78.

Bob Watson and Gene Michael (and Buck Showalter) deserve the credit for building the dynasty in the '90s.

I completely agree with you, there's something perverse about all this idolization for a man (Steinbrenner) who was in many ways a horrible person. I sure as hell wouldn't have wanted to work for him. He grabs all credit for himself, deflects all blame towards others, and treats all his employees as if he were the pimp and they were the hookers. He broke the law (something to do with Richard Nixon -- birds of a feather!). He was suspended from baseball twice. And now he's a hero? Disgusting.

Mitchell:

I agree with you, I expect they'll go hard after CC and Tex. I'm just asking if this is wise. I'm saying this is more of the same, and it hasn't worked. Why should we believe that Tex is a savior? Giambi was going to be a savior, too. Free agent signings cannot and should not be a substitute for sustainable player development. How many championship-caliber position players do they have in the pipeline? Not many, from what I gather. And I think they have no choice but to bring back Moose and Pettite -- at high cost, of course.

The Jeter problem is potentially a looming crisis. It probably won't help to have Hankenstein fanning the flames in the press.

Greg-

Good point on Gabe Paul, he deserves a lot of credit.

I think signing Tex is a big mistake. Yes, his bat looks good now, but as you point out, Giambi is a great example of what can happen. Plus, I would bet almost anything that Posada isn't a full time catcher in 2010 at the latest. That means he needs a place to play and first is the best choice.

Peter - I guess you are factoring in that Posada is already under contract in choosing him at first of Tex?

That is the only reason thinkable, while I think Tex is too soft for the NY market he will hit close to .300 and hit 30-35 HR.

The next few years of Posada, your worries last year before they signed him appear to be true. He likely will decline and fast. Wear and tear on catchers isn't kind or fair unfortunately.

BL- Totally agree on Tex's numbers, but the Yankees need to keep first open for Posada and probably Jeter to play there the next couple of seasons.