Alot to catch up on…Baseball Playoffs thoughts & what to do with the Yankees

Hello fellow bloggers:

 

It has been quite a while…sorry for the layoff. I didnt see many comments and was not sure people were enjoying the blogs. However i missed it so I (Rick) is back. Now very quickly the Yankees faded down the stretch and quite honestly did not put up much of a fight for the playoffs. This team needs to be blown up and start over from scratch.  Pitching is a huge issue but not certainly not the biggest. The issue with the Yankees is the team has, quite simply, become statues out there. Looking at some of the other teams across the league it is apparent the the rest of the league just blew right past the Yankees and didnt even stop to wave good bye leaving many of the “powers that be” scratching heads.

One rumor has Mike Mussina leaning towards retiring. I am not sure how some one is ready to retire after finally reaching his elusive 20 win season.  I was one of the believers in the Phil Hughes experiment, not so much the Ian Kennedy diaster.  I felt that the upside of having Joba/Hughes 1-2 for the next 10 years was too good to pass up for an aging Johan Satana. This is not to say Johan is in the decline; but to say that 137 million dollars plus Hughes/Kennedy/ Melky/ and another prospect was a bit much. The 3 stumbled along the way but Hughes started to look like he has potential down the stretch. Ian Kennedy seemed to think he  was better than everyone else can see

Ian Kennedy did not help himself with some of his comments this summer

. Melky just lost his way.Johan is one of the biggest game pitchers many of us will ever see. How many of our great readers tell me how great Johan will be in year 6 of that deal? As great as Pedro is in the 3rd year? Now Pedro’s signing added some star power and finally some credibility to the “Little Brothers of the Bronx” and led to Beltran signing and Delgado’s trade and putting some meat in the seats and bought them one strike away from the world series( Why doesnt Beltran have to deal with that? If that was A-Rod he would be force to play 3rd base with a bag over his head) The 2009 Yankee rotation should contain Wang, Joba, Hughes, Moose( if he does not retire), and then Yankees can go out and sign either C.C. Sabathia or Burnett or Derek Lowe. Now all these pitchers come with +/-. Sabathia is an absolute monster…on the negative he is an absolute monster. Sabathia looks like he should be playing Defensive tackle not pitching, and how will the workload of 4 straight games on 3 days rest affect him coming into this season after pitching about 241 innings the year before. Sabathia will also command “Johan money” so with all the money coming off the Yankee books will they want to throw it right back on payroll with Sabathia. Not sure. Then again the well documented rumors have him with a west coast bias. Burnett well… Burnett has always pitched against the Yankees extremely well, but the reputation for always being hurt is a reputation that is easy to ignore. This isnt a reputation of someone being a sloppy eater, its a little hard to contribute if a pitcher is not on the mound. If i was the Yankees i’d be really hesistant to break the bank on him either. Some ny papers have him still being close to soon to be ex-yankee Carl Pavano. The belief is that Burnett will not be remaking “New York, New York.” Some reports had the Jays already offering him an extension making 1-2 punch of him and Halladay something to deal with until some one’s arm falls off. Scary thought in itself. Derek Lowe is getting up there in age and has been known to ” get around” in towns of Boston and LA. Is it wise to take a party boy who is getting older and put him in the great city of NY? I only hope Cashman has some contigency plans, i hope its not Ollie Perez.

There is no way Johnny Damon should be the opening day center fielder. He has become a Left fielder, and not even a good one. It is obvious Johnny Damon’s best days were in Boston and are long gone. Johnny Damon stays one more year and then they let him go. Brett Gardner/Melky Cabrera are the exact same player: Fast, Good Defensively, with little or no bat. Melky was sent down to Triple A after being in the bigs for 3 years, thats never good. Im not sure Brett Garder getting his batting average .228 is really what you call respectable. He did come on later in the season but I dont know if he can become a slap hitter such as a Juan Pierre type. Those type of players that can make a triple out of anything but eventually they slow down.

There are rumors about a Cano for Beltran deal. Now it would be nice to have a good centerfielder but at what cost? As previously mentioned this team is getting older so why give a young cog for an older piece likely to break down with in the next couple of years? Not sure if this deal makes sense for both parties. It does not for me.

Bobby Abreu is also another interesting case because many people do like his numbers but at his price of 16 million a year hes not the right fielder for me.  There are not many options so they might have to stick this one out with Abreu unless you play Nady/Damon/ Garder or Melky. Looks like it could be rough year in the production department from the outfielders.

Jason Giambi- 99% out the door. Thanks for the memories, some clutch homeruns, and making the Yankees look the the only juicers in the MLB. Giambi was a good player but he looked like he was finished as a 1st basement when he came in 2002. 

Jason Giambi and his mustache were loved..but it looks like the ride is over

The rumors of texiera are dying as people say that he may be in the Sabathia/Burnett ” I Dont <3 NY” campaign. I also saw something on cnnsi truth and rumors section stating that a team mate questioned whether or not Texiera was some one who made everyone around him better. So we need 2 A- Rods? I dont know. Is it possible to have someone to hit in the clutch. I wonder what Tino is doing right now?

Robbie Cano- Ahhh the most talented and frustrating one. We have seen him hit .341 and .250. How is that possible? Giradi benching was good, but way to late. I say he should have been benched for a weekend that should wake him up. He’s a grown man that needs a foot somewhere. These are professionals. Play the game and produce or go home.

Derek Jeter- What can be said about the fearless leader? Absolutley nothing. He is the face of the franchise no matter what. Looking at Jeter its hard not to see Jeter pump his fist and make people think of glory days that were only 10 years ago. Is he getting older? sure. Has he lost a step? Probably. Then again there is no one else that just restores faith in his team like number 2.

Time for A-Rod to make it count this year

A-Rod: Well A-Rod needs to stop playing for contracts and start playing like he’s the best player in the game. No one knows whether or not if his run ins with Madonna and C-Rod saying C-Ya really affected him. It probably did but i doubt thats the whole season. His numbers of .300 and 35 hrs and 100 Rbis are probably the most hollow numbers ive seen in a long time. A-Rod should turn on TBS at some point and watch some kid that has put his team on his back and currently has his team only 1 game away from the world series. Some where A-Rod was also one game away till he went into invisable mode and the rest was history. Another 9 years of A-Rod maybe around year 4- 6 he might do what he gets paid for. For the record, i love a-rod. Come on a-rod you’re better than that.

Jorge- He is your catcher. It was dumb to sign him to such a big deal but he was such a big part of the offense. So when the yanks lost him they lost a big part of the production. I still have faith in having him behind the plate. I hate tryin to convert regular players to 1st base. It just doesnt look right. It didnt look right for Mickey Mantle and it does not look right for Jorge Posada.  Keep molina as the back up because he was probably could have won a gold glove this year.

How can the Red sox have players like Lester, Elsberry, Lowrie that are contributing and the Rays have upton and Longoria and young ball players and the Yankees have the immovable objects in the field? They need to get younger. The statues need to go and the A-Rods and Jeters need to lead by producing and the young ones need to put up or shut up.

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Anyone thinking with Manny…The Red Sox series is entirely different? Yea me too.

It was only a year ago. But to Boston fans it seems even longer. Manny being Manny also meant being clutch

How could people really think the Matt Stairs homerun think it was Joe Torre’s fault? Broxton had not allowed a homerun in Dodger Stadium close to 2 years!

I am not agreeing with having Kazmir pitch game 5. They should go for the kill with James Shields. Maybe Joe Maddon hasnt been around long enough to realize this but if you let the Red Sox breathe they usually come back and haunt you. Ask Tom Gordon.

No matter what happens I am backin Torre. The dodgers were supposed to get the doors blown off by the cubs and they took it to them.  Go get ‘em Joe!

Joe Torre the rock for happier days in Yankeeland

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I will write my football review in a couple of hours. I just needed to get the first post out of my system.

 

Feel free to contact me and we can discuss it.