Today in The Journal News
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Aug 12, 2008 
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Joe Girardi sat down his best hitter and the Yankees lost to the Twins 4-0.
Lack of clutch hitting has been a problem all season. The answer> Nobody seems to know.
Joba wants to start throwing. Not so fast, says the manager. This notebook also has updates on Hideki Matsui, Phil Hughes and a draft signing.
It’s official – we stink!
we’ve got more old parts than Madonna’s anatomy.
The only good part about goin’ to the game is that every day is ole timers day.
I swear, Abe simpson and mccain are in the toothless line-up.
Season’s over.
Does anyone really want to see them win the wild card and lose to the Angels again anyway?
Id rather see them make the playoffs than not anything can happen when your in there
I am so sorry to waste several hours every day to watch these unqualified losers played so many poor games that always can not score before 2 outs and runner in 3rd base.
The main problem is the coward Joe who always had no any strategy of offense and just stand over there and seems to cry.
I am not surprise at all.
Joe Girardi often made wrong decisions.
If Yankees doesn’t enter into the poseseason this year,he must be the main reason.
Wow, every year for the last 3 when this team is down and 85% of you downers say the season is over, I always try to stay positive. This may be the year the Yanks finally miss the playoffs. Which I would not be upset about if Kennedy and Hughes advanced and could really be counted on next year. But the worst part is that those 2 will be no more ready to contribute than this year.
And yeah, Wang will be healthy, but you can’t expect Moose to do this again.
But how can you get off calling this team a bunch of losers? This is basically the same team as last year, a team that wins 90+ games and gets in the playoffs.
I’m almost kind of glad to see this playoff streak end. I’m only 21 but I never took that streak for granted. Hopefully all you fools who thought the Yankees were granted playoff status every year and didn’t earn it like every other team will realize you should just shut up.
Because besides the Yankees 12 year streak of making the playoffs, who has the longest run? Yeah, that would be 8 teams tied at 1!!
Wow, every year for the last 3 when this team is down and 85% of you downers say the season is over, I always try to stay positive. This may be the year the Yanks finally miss the playoffs. Which I would not be upset about if Kennedy and Hughes advanced and could really be counted on next year. But the worst part is that those 2 will be no more ready to contribute than this year.
And yeah, Wang will be healthy, but you can’t expect Moose to do this again.
But how can you get off calling this team a bunch of losers? This is basically the same team as last year, a team that wins 90+ games and gets in the playoffs.
I’m almost kind of glad to see this playoff streak end. I’m only 21 but I never took that streak for granted. Hopefully all you fools who thought the Yankees were granted playoff status every year and didn’t earn it like every other team will realize you should just shut up.
Because besides the Yankees 12 year streak of making the playoffs, who has the longest run? Yeah, that would be 7 teams tied at 1!!
You know what would light a fire under this team…firing Girardi right now and putting Pena in charge. That I’d like to see.
Girardi is a joke…I actually think he’s a Cashman puppet. While we’re at it Cashman should go as well. Get Billy Beane next year.
Next game line-up suggestion
YANKEES (63-56)
Jeter SS
Damon CF
Nady LF
Abreu RF
A. Rodriguez 3B
Giambi DH
Betemitt 1B
Cano 2B
Molina C
Mussina RHP
Mr. Exceptional, Firing Joe doesn’t get you into the playoffs so stop it. This on the players and the injuries that we have suffer from this season.
Now I’m really starting to think Girardi should not get all the credit for his Marlin team in ’06 staying in contention all year (look at this years team) but to fire him now? What would be the point of that? What fire would that light?
If you have a veteran team and it’s the middle of August and they’re not playing up to their potential, they might just be getting a little bit old and not as good as you thought they were. They’re still a pretty solid club capable of going on prolonged runs and looking like they can be an elite team again, but just maybe they are a good but not great team.
Gene-
not to be a downer, but it’s over.
No patience, swing at the first pitch. An opposing pitcher’s dream come true.
So i think we should tank the rest of the season and go for the better draft pick
WPA/BRAA/CLUTCH
OTHER TEAMS
Manny Ramirez:4.77/34.56/0.98
Matt Holliday:4.21/44.25/0.36
Josh Hamilton:4.04/39.84/1.25
Miguel Cabrera:2.64/2.63/0.67
Mark Teixeira:2.6/37.76/-0.03
Matt Kemp:0.77/17.2/-0.4
YANKEES TEAM
Alex Rodriguez:0.76/23.14/-2.29
Derek Jeter:-0.6/3.53/-0.37
Jason Giambi:2.18/16.59/-0.3
Johnny Damon:1.66/27.89/0.39
Bobby Abreu:1.00/18.75/0.27
Xavier Nady:2.71/18.62/0.66
COMPARE(SAME SALARY)
Kevin Youkilis:1.17/25.09/-0.69
Robinson Cano:-1.62/-20.43/-0.36
Dustin Pedroia:1.82/4.79/0.98
Melky Cabrera:-1.92/-22.33/-0.24
Gene,
Yeah, but in past years, we were working with Torre not nincompoop.
And I like the idea of putting Pena in charge — why not? At least he’d know not to sit our best players — especially when they’re hot.
Get rid of Joe. Fast.
It’s a good sign that he starts to be a little unpolite to a journalist who asks why Damon sits. That means he’s close to the end.
This of course is not on the players. This season is on the manager. It’s obvious. Do I have to go into details?
Even if firing Joe does not get the Yankees in (which is still possible), it’s a good sign for next season.
@Gene – Playoffs are never granted, but this team should just make the postseason since the owners pay enough for it. When they don’t, some people obviously make mistakes.
The Yankees should be a World Series contender every year, that’s just the bottom line.
This lack of clutch hitting and this pool of pitchers :
.
Moose
Andy
Ponson
Giese
Rasner
Joba on the DL
Wang on the DL
Hughes on the DL
IPK totally innefective and back in AAA
.
The fact that they still have a shot at the playoffs in incredible, with Matsui gone and possibly out for the season and Posada out for the year ???….With Cano being mr. inconsistent and melky flat out STINKING at the plate ?…incredible !…..But as anyone knows, if you are in the playoffs, anything can happen….So until the Angels or some other team hands us our lunch again in the 1st or 2nd round….I am going to keep on keepin’ on the faith….GO YANKEES !
This team is a flat out embarrassment to, not only to all Yankee fans, but to the great game of baseball in general…You couldn’t find their heart with an EKG and a stethoscope…And if I have to sit through one more season of watching A-wrong fail to come up with that “clutch” hit that George so dearly pays him for, I do believe I’m gonna lose it..Just to see him walk back to the dugout, with is gum hanging out, looking back at the field so he doesn’t have to face the hissing fans in the stands after yet another strikeout at the most crucial time is making me nuts!..I know all of you A-wrong apologists will say, “But just look at his numbers.” Forget his numbers! It doesn’t tell the story! He gets them when they least need them. When are people going to learn this about this guy?..I know he’s not the only problem, but do you remember how Reggie was the “Straw” that stirred the drink? Well, this guy is the “Disease” that stirs the petrie dish!
Fire Giradi.
He is weak and dose not have the experience to manage a vetern yankees squad.
He was a horrible pick to follow Torre.
hey pete theres nothing in that notebook about a draft signing. Id imagine ur referring to dj mitchell out of Clemson tho.
Note to Girardi….
Your Team is Flat and really does stink….
You are a horrible Manager……
Note to Hank and Hal….
Yeah…It was all Joe Torre’s fault….
Firing Girardi isn’t going to make this team younger, healthier or more athletic. I have been critical of his sendentary coaching style including last night when Melky should not have been in the lineup — but since he was he should have squeezed after Pudge popped up.
I want to get out from under the expensive mid-thirtes (and older) position players which means bye-bye Giambi, Abreu, Pudge and Sexson just for openers. Next year could be more of the same as this transition continues because a decade of incompetence in player development (’96-’05) can’t be eras in two or three years.
Girardi is not going anywhere and he is not going to be fired. Am I thrilled with him right now? No. Has he been absolutely perfect this year? No.
But give me a break those of you calling for his head.
Girardi can’t throw in the towel, but he’s actions speak volumes. It’s over. Damon hit the wall the other day, and probably bruised something so he sat him out as a precaution. As for Girardi, let’s see what he can do with a healthy team next season. Believe me, this season he’ll get a pass, and he knows it. Next year he’ll be on the firing line.
Torre must be loving this – watching the brothers stein twist in the wind.
Those of you wanting to fire Joe, look at the roster and see what Jeter has done. Every day after game he says we have to do better offensively. What has he contributed this season. More often than not he kills rallies. he can not even hit singles these days. Yeah, he contributed a lot in the past. But this year, he stinks. Sit him a couple of games and see how the team does.
I am still not giving up on the team. It will make the playoffs. After this trun in the rotation, the pitching will start getting better and the team will do better.
I’m at a loss, Joe G played Melky against righties because he hit’s btter from the left side. Yet last night he benched Damon and Melky batted from the right side?
Then in Melky’s 1st at bat, 1st pitch grounded into DP.
His 2nd at bat he attempts to bunt?????????
This team needs to get back to basic baseball fundamental’s, sacrifice and move runner’s or at least take some pitches and give them an opportunity to steal..
I’m baffled as to how, Pro-Zillionare’s cannot figure out how to move runner’s, it’s just not that complicated.
Try a squeeze play, come on we are talking basic fundamental baseball…..
Also, let’s be realistic. Look at our rotation. Moose was written off earlier in the year, and surprised everyone with his comeback. Andy was good in the first half, and has gotten hit around the past few starts. Rasner has gone from serviceable to dreadful, Ponson has been a surprise, but is still Ponson. For the Young starters, Wang is out, Joba is on the DL, Hughes is rehabbing, Kennedy got shellacked again, and is in the minors retooling his attitude. This is not a championship pitching staff.
The pitching has been fine, the offense is truely OFFENSIVE!
“Torre must be loving this – watching the brothers stein twist in the wind.”
Let Dodgers make the playoffs first, inspite of Manny.
The irony is – The Yankees have a better record than the Dodgers, but are sitting 9 games out of first, while the Dodgers are sitting at .500 and is only one game back.
Stop with all the excuse’s, every team has some health issue’s.
The fundamentals on this team stink, jogging out of the batter’s box, not diving to stop baseball’s going thru the infield, batter in front of you walks, then you swing at the 1st pitch?, not bunting to move a runner….
This team can’t hit it’s way out of a brown paper Shop-Rite grocery bag.
I can’t believe people are on Ponson, yeah I know he isn’t Nolan Ryan, but he new this was a 2nd chance for him, guess what he has been the Aaron Small this year, without his 7 wins. We are 16 games out of division race and 12 back in the WC………..
“Stop with all the excuse’s, every team has some health issue’s.”
this team has lost its #1 starter, and got zero wins from its projected #4 in the rotation, in some part to ineffectiveness, but mostly because of injury (Hughes).
they lost a top 3 offensive catcher in the league for the season, and their everyday LF/DH who normally sits 5th in the lineup.
on top of that, throw in the injury DL time for ARod and Damon, and the play of Derek Jeter, who we all know suffered from some sort of hand injury for a while after being hit by that pitch early in the season.
tell me another team who’s gone thru that, and is still in playoff contention.
i know, to people who want to see the yankees, joe girardi, hank steinbrenner (or whoever their goat in the organization may be) fail, these are just excuses. but its a reality. you lose Matsui and Posada for basically the season, ARod for a long period of time, and your #1 pitcher for the season, and you cant survive.
now the rest of the team has remained inconsistent, and Girardi has made mistakes as manager. the bullpen has been up and down this season, and i would say relatively speaking, considering the circumstances, the starting rotation has done what you have expected them to do.
but it just doesnt seem like their year.
and whats amazing is that up to right now, they are still in Wild Card contention.
I don’t know why Torre would be happy. Its not like he’s done a great job in LA.
Girardi isn’t getting fired and this team isn’t going to the playoffs. To go to the playoffs, you actually have to win games and win series. This team does neither now.
Its a team that will be broken up in the off-season and they will have to get younger and more athletic.
If you took the uniforms off them and replaced them with another teams uniforms, you would look at them objectively and see its not a very good team.
Lots of names but, little or no production.
They can’t hit with RISP. They are the worst situational hitting team in the league. They don’t even grind AB’s anymore. They show up, cash in, and leave. That’s it.
Two hours and 14 minutes to play a 9 inning game in the AL. Against a team that is battling with for a playoff spot. A team I might add, that doesn’t possess half the talent the Yankees have, even in their banged up state. If that doesn’t tell you this team has packed it in, nothing will.
Its not Girardi’s fault, Jeter’s fault, Cashman’s fault, etc. Its EVERYBODY’S fault. Nobody skates in the blame game on this one. Everybody has a share in this.
You win and you lose as a team. Its not one guy or one lineup or one situation that has caused this. Its everything.
Has Joe made all the right decisions this year? NO. Is he the reason that they may not make the post season? NO. Lack of hitting, the injuries. Those are the reasons. I do not recall a game all year when the hitting just took over and killed the other pitcher.
” can’t believe people are on Ponson, yeah I know he isn’t Nolan Ryan, but he new this was a 2nd chance for him, guess what he has been the Aaron Small this year, without his 7 wins.”
yeah, there really is no reason to be down on Ponson right now. he’s done everything the Yankees have needed him to do.
like some guy called up WFAN this morning to rant about how he lost a bet on the Yankees gaem last night, and called Ponson a big, fat loser.
really? look, he’s not flashy, and he’s got personal issues off the field, and on other teams, has had issues with teammates and clubhouses… but he’s kept the yankees in just about every game he’s pitched, and given them a chance to win.
GO BIG BLUE !!!!
The G-Men offer the hope not seen in the Bronx.
Let’s go Yankees, cure your ills. One team is not enough.
i hope someone kicks kevin long in the nuts. at least i am happy becuase I know he wont be a MLB hitting coach next season. he will be unemployed, which is where a stiff like him belongs. maybe he can get a job bagging groceries, but he probably cant do that well either.
turntwo that guy is a moron. Your team actually has to score runs to win.
TurnTwo:
I understand about the injuries, but it’s a tiring excuse, and with all the pitching woe’s, their offense and lack of baseball fundamentals have cost them………..
SJ:
I agree. This is a team issue not 1 man……….
I don’t see the draft signing update in Pete’s article. Did I miss it?
This is the most depressing team since the 80′s..
Best thing we have now is fans that show up to all the Games..
I thank yall on this last season at the big house in the BRONX
Kevin Long signed a 3 year contract with the Yankees in the off-season. He’s not getting fired.
Its not his fault the team doesn’t hit. Last I checked, he doesn’t step into the box.
I don’t understand the Long stuff. He was the same hitting coach for a team that scored 968 runs last year. Did you want him fired last year? Did he all of a sudden get dumb and forget how to teach hitting? Of course not.
If there was a magic potion he could give to these guys to hit, ‘ya think he would have done it already?
Firing the hitting coach because the team hasn’t hit is really dumb. Especially if the guy has had results in the past, which he has.
Perhaps he just has a team of old, over the hill players, who listen to nobody, with a few career minor league players mixed in. I would say that’s more the problem with the team.
You want to blame somebody for not hitting? Blame the players. They are the one’s stepping into the box every night.
The Mariners fired their hitting in mid-season. How did that work out? The Mets fired their hitting coach in mid-season last year. How did that work out? The Blue Jays fired their hitting coach in June. Are they mashing the ball?
Wanting the hitting coach fired, and then believing that will “do the trick”, is just fan babble. Its not rooted in any logic.
Yes injuries are a tiring excuse. Beside Wang, the injury that hurt this team the most was Jorge Posada. Don’t discount what he meant to the pitching staff and in that clubhouse. He is the leader of the team.
yeah, agreed, jennifer.
i wasnt necessarily responding to him as much as just getting that off my chest.
like i said, it seems like for people who have an agenda, who want to blame Girardi, or call Cashman a moron, or think Hank is a clown, and want to see the Yankees fall to end the season, injuries are just an excuse, and every team has injuries.
but you take a step back, and see how injuries decimated the team this year… to those able to look objectively at the situation can see how the injuries had a profound effect on the overall performance.
yeah, their inability to get hits with runners in scoring position is frustrating, and why Girardi makes decisions like last night to automatically sit Damon and Giambi because a LHP is on the hill is nonsensical to most…
but if you had another 2 productive bats in this lineup, and your ace on the hill for the last 2 months, i have a feeling you’d be looking at a totally different team.
damon (CF), jeter, abreu, arod, matsui (DH), nady, giambi (1B), posada, cano… thats sick.
anybody notice arod’s beautiful hit in his first at-bat last night? it was a thing of beauty, got a pitch up and away and didnt try to do too much with it, he just put a nice level stroke on it and lifted in into right center!
where the hell is that swing when the bases are loaded in a tie game? or when we need baserunners and we’re behind late (like his last ab last night when he whiffed)?
$300000000 talent, 10 cent head…
Season is over.
Fire Girardi and get new, experienced manager.
Bring Teixeira and CC next year.
Girardi is an IDIOT.
I’ll probably try and follow Phil Hughes start tonight rather than the Yankees.
At least following Phil might be more enjoyable.
Anyone gonna see him pitch tonight? I think the game is in Pawtucket,
The summary of the 2008 season :
A collective team of aging, underachieving players with no heart or passion and it’s clearly seen on all faces.
A roster turnover to secure players with athleticism, and flexabilty is sorely needed.
The remaining players of this year’s team will need to re-dedicate themselves showing fire and passion in a new season. They will have to commit toward showing the way.
The flaws of the new manager will be examined and he’ll need to make adjustments particularly in the area of a media corps that he seriously underestimated. He’ll also need to reexamine how he manages a daily lineup.
last night shows Melky must be platooned and must bat only from the left side. He should have squeezed Cano in from third. Instead gdip!
We traded Gonzalez and therefore don’t have a ML quality SS to spell Jeter= a man who has lost his edge.
It has been a hot august and a lousy road trip. Players do have to be rested occasionally. Why not rest Damon against a lefty. It was just too bad that Christian was fed to the lions in his place.
I would continue the A rod Nady X-perament a few days.
I am cool with Giambi riding the pines.
Cano took a four pitch walk last night. Were the papers notified?
Do we have any young position players in the high minors who can play baseball?
If this lack of offense keeps up, I would shut Joba down for the year, scope his shoulder -if necessary -and maximize our 1st round draft pick. Hopefully it won’t turn out to be a brother of Ian Kennedy
i cant make it to scranton to see phil pitch, but i’m near trenton, so i can either…
go watch pavano pitch or:
wait and go tomorrow for ian kennedy bobblehead night…
(i hear this particular model has an especially big head…)
We better start dealing now ,with the fact ,the Yankees
are done for this year. They will probably win 80-5 games and that’s that.We are stuck with Arod and all his for 9 more years.He, and all his personal drama’s . What I hope is when they decide to retool this team,they dump this crazy salary and get serious about winning.
Cashman made a big mistake not getting Santana. I personally hope Cashman moves on from the Yankees.He’s lost his edge,and the Yankees need a GM that’s hungry and has a sharp eye for seeing talent.Cashman has cost the Yankees a lot,from bad players moves,and money tied up i. e. Igawa,pavano,et al. It’s time he moves on.
When a team quits like this,you point to coaching and mgmt.Joe has lost this team this yr.They aren’t responding to him.
This yrs Yankees are a joke!
you guy do realize that if you shut joba down now, he will be limited to 130 innings again next season right?
You can talk about injuries until your blue in the face, and speculate on what might have been.
This team doesn’t play fundamental baseball, and it’s killing them. We have gotten 3 quality starts in a row, the offense has been the let down.
I agree that we could use Jorge in the dug-out.
When a whole team is under-performing, you look for root causes. Despite the injuries, there is a lack of hitting throughout the lineup. A great manager brings out the best in his team, regardless of the set backs. We are not seeing anything like that from this team.
Look at the Mets. Willie Randolph was fired and there was a difference in that team. Coaching was fired. It made a difference. It wasn’t like that team was given all new players to come in and make a difference.
Girardi’s answer to everything is change the lineup. Meachump doesn’t seem to have a clue on how to coach 3rd base. The batters went from a powerhouse to wimps, yet it isn’t the batting coach? It isn’t Girardi’s approach to the games?
Yes, there are times when the pitching has blown games. That happens. The lack of anything like the approach at the plate is the largest striking difference in this team.
I am also sick of hearing how well Girardi managed his bullpen. Yeah, they did real well in LA, didn’t they?
Girardi is over his head. His in game decisions are poor, his lineup changes, have led to 10 or 11 losses. That is worse than Torre ever had by this point of the season. Last year Torre blew about 8 games total.
Girardi needs to go. No team is going to excell under him. A true leader would have turned things around, we are seeing the results of poor leadership, and the top leader of the team is Girardi.
Injuries aren’t an “excuse”. They are a fact.
Unfortunately, yes even for the Yankees, certain injuries are too tough to overcome because they have a trickle down effect on the entire team.
Two years ago, injuries ruined the Red Sox season. They had so many, they couldn’t overcome them. It happens to teams some years. Its happened to the Yankees in the past.
There is not this never ending reservior of good players. Every team only has so many of them.
You lose Wang, you don’t just lose your best starter. You lose a guy that gives you innings. That keeps the bullpen fresh, aside from helping you win low scoring games when the bats aren’t going well. That has a trickle down effect on an entire pitching staff.
You lose Posada, you don’t just lose a catcher, you lose a leader who was the second best hitter on the team last year. Again, a trickle down effect on the entire lineup. It shortens the lineup. Now, if a few players are slumping the entire lineup is down. That’s what happens when you lose bats like Posada’s and Matsui’s. It makes it easier to pitch to the other guys.
You now lose Joba, a guy who can stop losing streaks.
You lose Matsui, who is probably the best clutch hitter on the team. Again, a huge loss.
You aren’t just losing a guy for a month or two. These are long term or season ending injuries. They are killers.
Yes, every team suffers injuries. That doesn’t minimize the impact on what the injuries can do to your team.
You can only overcome so much with “spirit” and “fight”. At some point, you have to have the horses. Unfortunately, the Yankees don’t have the horses right now.
Look at 3/5th’s of the starting rotation and the bottom of the batting order most nights and tell me if they are “playoff worthy” lineups. You can’t because they aren’t.
Can they play better? Perhaps. Its just as likely they got everything they could get out of the majority of these players for this season. They may simply not have enough in the tank to finish strong.
damon
irod
nady
abreu
astats
cano
jeter
giambi
sexson
I’d be interested in your reactions to this quote:
You have to be relaxed,” Abreu said. “Just relax and hit your pitch. This team is tight a lot of the times.”
Seems to me that Abreu is onto something. I think the number one example of this is Arod.
One more point: I would keep Abreu for another 2-3 years. He is still a professional hitter, and can play the outfield. I would let the others whose contracts are up walk. Do you think Mussina will want to pitch next year?
Look at the Mets. Willie Randolph was fired and there was a difference in that team. Coaching was fired. It made a difference. It wasn’t like that team was given all new players to come in and make a difference.
Honestly, I think the Mets would be performing the same even if Willie wasn’t fired. How much of a difference has Manuel really made? Has he been able to stop their bullpen from imploding? Oh yeah, that’s right. No.
Girardi is not going anywhere. Deal with it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08.....2pins.html
SJ44, PLEASE STOP with the Long doesn’t step into the batters box. If the batters are all having struggles then it means there is a problem with a root cause. Its either Long or Girardi. No, they don’t step in the batters box physically, but they have their affect on the batters otherwise the game would be played without them. The team wouldn’t have a batting coach and a manager if they didn’t matter.
You know what I did last night after the 2nd inning when we didnt score. I turned the channel to NBC and watched the Olympics.
Although I love the Yankees and I love baseball it was a very nice refreshing mental health day and you know what I have a completely different perspective.
Unfortunately I then turned to ESPN2 and watched the PHillies get beat by the Dodgers so the mental break was good while it lasted.
Perhaps some of you should do the same and your perspective and in game comments will change as well.
IMO Cashman is not the blame he has made some good moves, and some that haven’t worked out, that is not his fault.
Joe G, I thought he would be more fundamentally fit, some of the decision’s contradict, some of his other decision’s..
I really knew this would be a transition year, yet we stayed in this race, to see the status quo play is fustrating…
BREAKING NEWS!!!
JETER HAS LOST HIS EDGE!!!
it was apparently stolen from the yankees travel lot sometime late last week. reposts indicate that the theives probably broke in through the panoramic vista roof.
anyone with information is asked to call the authorities.
Went to all three games in California. Kennedy was awful, The bullpen blew up the second game, and the third game? tough luck and Betemit
I thought they did what they could against the best team in baseball.
Last night, sorry to say this but its Girardi again over managing, trying to prove to everyone how smart he is, trying to make the “big adjustment” and sitting Damon. NOBODY in a pennant race, thats behind no less, sits there best offensive player when they are having trouble scoring. He sat him, and to make it worse, he replaces him, not with a veteran hitter, but a AAAA player. Awful move, and then he leads him off to boot.
Sexson for Giambi?? I understand it, but since they were not facing a high level lefty, and the Yanks need to score, and he gave Giambi a day off in California I would have had Giambi in there.
Girardi talks about urgency of winning with 40 or so games left, but he doesnt manage that way at times.
I will say this, under the circumstances of all the pitching issues injuries etc the pitching has been pretty solid. Ponson pitched well enough to win last night.
Last point by me, I cant believe people are bashing pudge. I hope they hold onto him next year, he has a lot of knowledge and experience and is valuable to the younger pitchers
The Red Sox lost David Ortiz for two months, and he hasn’t been himself all year. So what happened? The oft-ridiculed, overpaid J.D. Drew stepped up and carried the team. He’s hitting about .280, but has more big hits that A-Rod and Jeter combined. Last night he doubled in a crucial spot. The RS have gamers. The Yankees have Johnny Damon and a bunch of prima donnas. Individually, the Yankees should be the better team, especially with Manny gone. Collectively, it’s another story.
my ideal lineup for tonight.
Damon
Jeter
Bobby
Arod
Nady
Giambi
Cano
Jose
Justin
You don’t have any idea of what a hitting coach does with a team and you want me to stop?
I’ve cited examples to you at how firing the hitting coach doesn’t change anything.
I know some of you are desperate to have somebody fired. Under the mistaken belief that it will magically vault this team to the heights you seem to think it should reach.
Unfortunately for you, that’s not going to happen. They aren’t firing Girardi and they aren’t firing Kevin Long. Mainly because, they aren’t the reason the team isn’t playing well.
The Mets haven’t done much better under Manuel than they did under Randolph. They still can’t close games out and they still will most likely miss the playoffs.
Firing people in season provides fans with their piece of raw meat and little else. It rarely solves problems.
We play today, we lose today.
SJ44:
Yes injuries are a fact, just stop using them as an excuse.
If Wang would have givin us 8 solid innings last night, he still would have LOST….
“He’s (drew) hitting about .280, but has more big hits that A-Rod and Jeter combined.”
dennard span has more big hits than arod and jeter combined!
jennifer:
I like that line-up for tonight, but I bet Melky play’s because it’s a righty pitcher.
sj
werent you the one who was saying yesterday that girardi has no say whatsoever about when joba pitches next?
maybe you should back off throwing your expertise about coache’s roles around.
“No, they don’t step in the batters box physically, but they have their affect on the batters otherwise the game would be played without them. The team wouldn’t have a batting coach and a manager if they didn’t matter.”
Kevin Long can throw BP with these guys until he’s blue in the face, go over game plans and pitching scouting reports, watch game tape, establish hitting patterns, talk about form and weight distribution and balance while up at the
plate, and drive home the point of working pitch counts and taking walks, etc…
but then your planning goes right out the windown when someone like Robby goes up there and swings at a first pitch fastball up at his eyes, and jogs back to the dugout.
yup, all Kevin Long’s fault.
blaming the hitting coach is just stupid.
Exactly, re: the gamers comment. That’s the one thing this team is lacking. Gamers.
Its why its mystifying to me he sat Damon yesterday. Damon is one of the few gamers on the team. You can’t sit him at this point in the season. That was a bad move and I’m sure Girardi knows it. That’s why he was so short with Kim Jones last night.
Its a soft team and that has to change in the off-season.
Put the stat sheets away and find BASEBALL PLAYERS. Guys who grind everyday. They may not light up the stat sheets everyday but, they help you win games. They come to play every night. That is lacking with this group.
Too many guys take too many games off.
Say what you will about Arod’s performances at times but, he comes to play everyday. Can’t say the same about many of his teammates.
This team is lacking in gamers this year and when times are tough (like right now) you really see how much it hurts not having enough of them on the team.
Girardi doesn’t have a say when Joba pitches next.
Putting off playing catch for a day or two doesn’t determine when he pitches next in a game.
That won’t be his call. That’s up to the Yankees and the medical staff.
“Say what you will about Arod’s performances at times but, he comes to play everyday.”
yeah, he comes to play everyday and tries to hit a homer EVERY FREAKING TIME UP! he is exactly the big stats-no game awareness type we need to replace with gamers who know what to do in what situation, not grip the bat tighter when the pressure’s on and whiff in every important situation.
sj
you were referring to moving joba’s playing catch back to friday when you made your point that girardi has nothing to do with it.
IF THE HITTING COACH IS MEANINGLESS, THEN WHY DO THEY HAVE THE JOB IN THE FIRST PLACE?
Every team has a hitting coach. EVERY TEAM. Why, if its so meaningless? They aren’t union workers who are being given a job for nothing.
SJ, sometimes you have great posts, but enough with the condesending crap about what people know and don’t know. You don’t know everything.
When fundamental things change with a team as a whole, then there is an underlying cause. You see it in business, you see it in sports. If coaches and managers were meaningless, as you keep implying, then why the heck are they even hired?
I don’t expect Girardi to be fired, but he should never have been hired to begin with. He has been out managed in a number of games. His approach to everything is poor. He has lost the clubhouse and THAT is exactly the reason why Willie was fired. Willie should have been fired last year.
There are only so many things you can do when you lose the clubhouse. Fire the manager and coaches or fire the team.
Despite the BS that surrounded Girardi, he is a poor manager. Yes, the players have to perform, but if you have a manager who keeps making poor decisions, then the results are what you are seeing.
Torre had his faults, as we are all well aware, but he never lost the clubhouse. The players are directionless under Girardi. Every one of the better players are pressing because of it. A leader will get the team moving together. A loser, like Girardi isn’t getting it done.
Its too late for this season. I am also sure that next season we will have to continue seeing Girardi manage to mediocrity.
Too many big money guys. When you rebuild this team next year, forget the teixiera’s. Find above average fairly young players who hit for average and get on base. The last thing we need is more money-men. (I still think A-Rod is the hardest worker in the game).
No. I said Girardi won’t determine when Joba pitches again in a game. He wanted to see Joba throw for himself. That’s fine. However, he’s not going to make the call when Joba pitches again (or if he does) this season.
That’s up to the Yankees and the medical staff. Its always been that way, even under Torre.
The manager doesn’t make the calls on when an injured player can play again.
This team is a JOKE and as I said yesterday, it starts with Jerkoff Joe. He’s getting roasted in the papers and on the blogs about sitting Damon and Giambi. And just his overall attitude with the reporters. He snapped at Kim Jones of the YES Network after she started to ask him a question about his sitting Johnny Damon. But before she could finish, he cut her off. “Justin Christian has had a lot of success off of left-handers for us and has played very well,†he said. “That is why Justin Christian played.â€
Kim then asked Girardi whether he thought the team looked flat. “No, I didn’t think so,†he said. Really, Clueless Joe? We had one hit over the last seven innings and the game lasted 2 hours and 14 minutes. It was the shortest game of the season. We advanced only two runners to third base, none after the second inning.
Did our gutless players all have dinner dates last night? 2 hours and 14 minutes?? Way to grind out those at-bats. Lineup is 12-for-62 (.194) in the clutch across the last eight games. Kevin Long needs to sit in the dugout with a brown paper bag over his head.
This bunch is a DISGRACE to this uniform and it starts with the manager.
No Long doesn’t bat for them, but I have to question the caliber of “coaching” when Cano rarely walks, Cabrera continues to hack at the first strike every time, when Jeter is the only batter who goes the other way consistently (of course it’s all HE does) and when no one seems to shorten his stroke in two-strike situations.
Either he’s not emphasizing the right things, he’s not addressing situational shortcomings at all or they just don’t listen to him. Whichever it is, it’s not producing very good results. I don’t blame him for the older guys, but the lack of progress with younger hitters does fall in his lap as far as I’m concerned.
I don’t believe you are making “excuses” every time you discuss injuries. This team has been ravaged by them as well documented in this thread. Just losing Wang, for example, weakened the rotation, taxed the bullpen and put more pressure on the offense. Older, less athletic teams are more susceptable to such things, which is why I keep pounding the drumbeat to get younger and more athletic.
“IF THE HITTING COACH IS MEANINGLESS, THEN WHY DO THEY HAVE THE JOB IN THE FIRST PLACE?
Every team has a hitting coach. EVERY TEAM. Why, if its so meaningless? They aren’t union workers who are being given a job for nothing.”
like i said before.
“Kevin Long can throw BP with these guys until he’s blue in the face, go over game plans and pitching scouting reports, watch game tape, establish hitting patterns, talk about form and weight distribution and balance while up at the plate, and drive home the point of working pitch counts and taking walks, etc…”
the hitting coach looks at every player, his swing tendencies, evaluates strengths and weaknesses, and works to give the hitter the best possible chance to succeed in every AB.
but the hitter is still the one with the bat in his hands, not Kevin Long.
I never said a manager or coach were meaningless on a staff. I said they aren’t the cause of the hitting woes.
Guys can be doing their jobs and the results just aren’t there. That’s the case with Long. Its not like he is telling these guys not to hit.
Why don’t we just agree to disagree.
Every manager has faults. The Yankees failures this year have more to do with the players than they do the manager.
The “root” cause of it? Its an old team, with many of the guys underperforming and are on the downside of their careers. How do you fix that? By getting younger.
Not a whole lot you can do when the guys you have on the roster at this point aren’t getting the job done.
I’m not saying Girardi is perfect. He isn’t. He also isn’t a loser. Far from it.
Injuries can’t be used as an excuse. Well put together teams have players that can step up their games at least for the short haul to overcome injuries.
True enough Wang is sorely missed as a stopper and top of the rotation pitcher, Posada is missed for his leadership and lineup presense, and Matsui for his clutch bat but with the exception of scattered games, where were the others ? Where has Cano, Carbrera, Giambi, Betemit, and yes even Jeter and A-Rod been ?
“I don’t blame him for the older guys, but the lack of progress with younger hitters does fall in his lap as far as I’m concerned.”
perhaps the young guys just arent as good as we all think they are?
we know Cano can hit, but he’s never been particularly patient. you can tell a guy to take pitches and work counts as much as you want, but if they dont have the eye to discern good pitches from bad, or simply have the tendency to swing early in the count because thats what they grew up doing, you arent going to change that hitter’s philosophy just because you tell him to. that change has to come from the individual.
Yeah lets cut loose everyone and fill the team with “gritty gamers” who get their uniform dirty. I want 9 David Eckstiens on this team, we would be a lock for the world series!
Yeah lets forget stats and just get guys who play hard. The Red Sox have a team full of guys who play hard but guess what, they fill the stat sheets too.
Melky Cabrera plays his butt off but he has very little hitting talent. No matter how hard he tries at the plate he isn’t going to help much.
understand that the twins used a pitcher that 99.9 % of the blog thinks is as bad as bad gets and with that pitcher went 14-9 in games started by him. and they replace him at exactly the right time with a hungry liriano who may be better the rest of the year than any yankee pitcher.
how did they do that? dumb luck. according to the blog consensus that couldn’t happen except by luck.
the problem is that the twins consistently get wins out of lineups and pitchers who on paper shouldn’t win, and they do it on 25% of the payroll.
the yankees underachieve , and the twins over achieve. anyone with any baseball curiosity at all should be looking to see what the intangibles are that the twins do that the yankees don’t.
because those intangibles are real and they are a major reason why the yankees and twins spiraling in opposite directions as the season goes on.
Who was the draft signing?
is arod even on this roadtrip?
No Patrick, that’s not what I’m saying.
I’m saying the team is too unbalanced between gritty tough guys who can play the game, and soft, style guys who roll form game to game regardless of performance.
That doesn’t mean you have full of Eckstein. It means you have a team with fewer guys that give away AB’s and just don’t seem to be all that bothered by losing.
The Yankees have a lot of names and stat hanger guys on the team. Why can’t they win? Why do they always seem to be a step behind when they play good teams?
Stats have their place in the game. So do gamers. The good teams have a balance between the two.
The teams that just compile names, such as the Yankees and Tigers, always seem to be “missing” something.
The “injuries” have nothing at all to do with last night’s performance.
The “injuries” have nothing to do with not playing fundamental baseball.
Even with all the “injuries” we are in this race, why would we be talking about “If’s”……If Hideki was here, If Wang could of, What If Jorge was …they are not in this race..
Damon to CF, bench Melky who is probably below replacement level right now. Giambi plays everyday. Enough of the BS – we have 40 games left – play the established vets until they drop and maybe we can get the WC.
CF Damon L
SS Jeter R
RF Abreu L
3B Arod R
1B Giambi L
LF Nady R
2B Cano L
C IRod R
DH Sexson vs LHP, Betemit vs RHP
Whats so freaking hard about this? It aint rocket science or sports journalism Girardi
I believe the signing was Brett Marshall, 10th rounder (high school) out of Texas. RHP who sits 94-96 and elevated his stock with a very good senior year.
Looks unlikely that we’ll sign Scott Bittle out of Mississippi, but according to various reports (Including Pete’s) signings of Cole and Bleich look to be coming soon.
roadtrip, i’m not even sure arod came back from the asb!
Blaming the hitting coach is stupid. His job is to research pitchers, deliver advice and info. I doubt many of these guys (making 20 X`s what Long makes) listen if they dont agree with his approach. These are major leaguers, they know what they need to do.
Mattlingly, who was one of the greatest hitter of all time had trouble reaching guys too.
Its the individual players, their mentallity, their approach.
Man, this is depressing – it definitely seems like the Fat Lady is doing her sound check.
Bummer is that I just spent $600 on tickets to the Yankees/Sox series. My one game a year ( I live in LA). Wish it was going to mean something.
“Yeah lets forget stats and just get guys who play hard. The Red Sox have a team full of guys who play hard but guess what, they fill the stat sheets too.”
I read this blog fairly regularly and I don’t think there are two Sox players who are hated more by Yankee fans than Pedroia and Youkilis. And I can understand to a degree.
But I honestly don’t think those two players are filling the stat sheets. They are about doing whatever it takes to win.
I am not a complete Red Sox homer. I know the Sox have some significant weaknesses and I am not counting the Yankees out yet this year.
YankeesTech
August 12th, 2008 at 4:18 am
Mr. Exceptional, Firing Joe doesn’t get you into the playoffs so stop it. This on the players and the injuries that we have suffer from this season.
Don’t blame this on the injuries. RedSox and other teams have injuries as well but they are still competitive. Heck, they lost Manny and they still r playing better than the Yanks. What pisses me off is that this year’s is better than last year’s but the way this team is managed is awful. Don’t blame the injuries we lost Matsui & Posada. But look who replaced them Nady & Pudge. They actually upgraded at both those positions.
SJ,
I am wondering if you can answer this for me? Can a team like the Yankees with Giambi, Abreu and Pudge put into there contracts that they can’t accept arbitration when offered? With Pudge the Yankees don’t make the deal unless he agrees not to accept? With Abreu could the Yankees last season when they picked up his option made it contingent upon him not accepting arbitration after this season if offered? Did the Yankees have the forsight to put into Giambi’s contract that if the team didn’t pick up his option and paid him the 5 million that he couldn’t accept arbitration if offered?
I am wondering if it’s within the rules for the team to put a clause like this into a player’s contract?
WeMIssPaulie:
Don’t worry Sux games always mean something.
Yeah I know SJ, I was exaggerating. My general point was that the Red Sox have guys who play hard every day but also compile stats. Pedroia, Lowell, Youkilis, Ortiz, etc. You can have “gamers” but its good if they are actually good at playing baseball.
Who do you think are the players on the Yankees that only care about money/stats?
Dan,
That’s an issue that would be covered under the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Not knowing for sure but, I think that is something that can be put into contracts.
When I have some time, let me research it and see if that’s the case.
ray, that was meant as a compliment to Youkilis and Pedroia. Those two guys play their butts off but they are good players so they have very good stats. Their goal is to win games but a secondary result is that they are having allstar seasons.
On the other hand there are guys like Giambi and Abreu who seem more like they care about filling the stat sheets first rather than getting wins.
Recent quote from Pedroia who went 0-4 last night to end his 29-game hitting streak:
“To be honest,I don’t really care. I’ll take an 0-for-4 any day to get a win, especially now. There’s only 43 games left in the season.—
Doesn’t really sound like he is filling the stat sheets. Maybe the Yanks should lay down some sacrifice bunts instead of trying to drive it out of the park at every AB. Watching A-Rod go up there and take that huge swing kills me every time.
By the way ray, Youkilis has the best stats of any 1B in the AL except for possibly Teixeira and Pedroia is top 3 in the AL.
Patrick,
I can appreciate what you were saying. In spite of Jeter not performing to his usual levels this year I have always thought he played hard to win and wasn’t concerned about his own personal stats.
I would take Pedroia on my team in a minute, he play’s hard and is fundamentally sound.
SJ always look forward to reading your posts. You tell it like it is, good and bad. I appreciate that. In your opinion…was it just the hand injury that Jeter suffered early this season that’s got his numbers down, or are actually watching him decline in front of our eyes?
I would take Pedroia for lazy Cano straight up in a trade right now. Obviously, this would never happen because the Red Sox would never make the deal. My point is exactly what Jill has said. Nobody bunts, hits behind the runners, etc. And it starts with Girardi. How can he say this team is not flat. What is he watching??? Enough of the protecting these overpaid underachievers. He needs to say, “Yes, we look flat and I’m very angry at our approach at the plate. We need to improve NOW” End of story. The part that pisses me off more than anything is the fact that WE, all of us, the fans that bleed pinstripes, care more than these GUTLESS LOSERS do.
did anybody catch this on pti last night from rick reilly:
“i hate the yankees, if the yanks play north korea, i’d be up there with a big poster of kim jong-il.”
thats what makes it great to be a yankees fan!
To me, it seems this team was holding it together as best as it could all year long until… Joba got hurt.
Since then, they seemed to have thrown in the towel. Somebody (I’m looking at you , mon Capitan) needed to go a little nuts on these guys. Kick’em in their asses.
One other thing…
Last night I heard Francessa say that basically Joba getting hurt is all the Yankees fault because some guys aren’t “built to be starters”. See, this is what a mindless idiot he is, does he not know Joba was ALWAYS a a starter until they put him in the pen last summer?!?!
I wonder if Posada was around all year, if this team would be playing lifeless games on a routine basis. IMO, he is the vocal on-the-field leader that will get in some guys faces when it needs to be done.
I know this maybe a crazy idea, but a guy like Manny with a chip on his shoulder, may warrant a three year deal to DH.
This season has been such a disappointment. I can’t even look at the numbers with RISP nor can I remember the last time I saw this team play with less passion.
However, as much I would like to, injuries cannot be blamed for this. For gods sake the BoSox have had a number of injuries but someone always seems to step up over there. Papi goes down for two months and JD Drew transforms into a hitting machine. When Dice-K was out for a month, rookie Masterson came up. Even their SS Lowrie (another rookie) is doing his part to help his team.
Oh, and all you idiots saying we should tank the rest of the year to get better draft position, why so we can give it to the Brewers or the Angels or some other team when we sign CC, Sheets, Tex or some other FA?
Yeah, THAT’S a good plan, brainiac.
Everyday for the rest of the season, this should be the lineup NO MATTER WHAT!!!!!
Damon
Jeter
Abreu
A-Rod
Giambi
Nady
Cano
Molina
Cabrera/CF
This should be it no matter who is pitching or what situation. Vs. Lefties, Vs Righties, vs. Midgets, whatever. When Matsui is back, nady in left, damon in center (bad arm or not), and matsui as dh. BEst hitting team since hitting is the problem right now.
I said this last night and ill say it again. Go find O’Neill, Bernie and Tino, throw some cash at them and get them back on the field. Three guys who play with heart. Let these guys see what heart looks like, or show them the last 3 innings of any red sox game.
I believe the first 15 picks in the draft are protected so if Sabathia was signed Yankees get to keep their pick. That’s if they are in the top 15.
Patrick,
Cano, Abreu, Giambi, and Cabrera right out of the gate.
Cano and Cabrera because they are young and most young guys look for stats so they can get paid. Its especially troubling in Cano because he’s gotten paid.
Abreu and Giambi because its the last year of their deals and they are looking for new deals. Its not like those guys are going to make “productive outs” to advance runners in certain situations because its a salary drive year for them.
You have to be able to do the little things to win games. Especially when you are struggling. This team doesn’t do that because their lineup is not built for it.
Even Jeter, who for years made his mark doing the little things, has gotten away from it.
How many times this year has Damon led off an inning with a double or a walk/hit and a steal of second base and Jeter doesn’t advance him? Doesn’t hit the ball the other way, just rolls over a pitch and ground to SS. Its happened all season.
One of the most insightful interviews I heard all year was with Donnie Baseball on XM earlier this season. He was asked about the Tigers and their “all star” lineup and why they weren’t hitting. The answer he gave basically talked about his entire time with the Yankees.
He talked about how tough it is to communicate to veteran hitters, who have had success in the past, about having to now make adjustments because of age. He talked about how tough it is to tell guys to go the other way, do the little things, etc. Mainly because you get paid on doing big things.
He talked about the difficulties in having an “all star at every position” team and how that translates into poor play.
He is a believer, as am I, into having a balanced lineup. Guys who know their roles and play to them.
He was talking about the Tigers. However, it was clear that he was really talking about his time in NY.
I heard from a few people that know him pretty well how frustrated he was with dealing with certain guys on the team when it came to hitting. Like a lot of players in his generation and before, they are just shocked at how so many of these guys refuse to listen to anybody. They just do their own thing. Some, wouldn’t even work with him.
At first blush you say, “How do you not want to work with Donnie Baseball”? But, that’s how players roll these days.
Its not just with the Yankees. Its everywhere. You want to be a fly on the wall in clubhouses like Detroit and Boston (when Manny was going nuts) this year?
I’ll one better. The KC Royals. I know guys on that staff. They are amazed at how the players won’t even listen to them when they talk to them about game situations, hitting, etc.
Its the Royals. How do those guys refuse to listen to their manager and coaches? Unfortunately, its the prevailing attitude around the game these days.
Its why its as important to acquire guys who have the ability to listen, work hard, and apply what they have learned as much as it is to get talent on your roster.
Its just something that goes on in the game these days.
doesnt anybody get that damon-jeter-abreu-arod ISNT GETTING IT DONE?
damon, irod, nady, abreu, arod, cano, jeter, giambi, sexson
“I know this maybe a crazy idea, but a guy like Manny with a chip on his shoulder, may warrant a three year deal to DH.”
Vader, I will not trash Manny. He is one of the best hitters in baseball. With that being said Manny has a history of playing hard only if he feels like playing hard.
“Gamers” don’t sit out of the first game of an important Sox/Yankees series. He is playing hard right now for the Dodgers because he is doing damage control to his reputation in hopes of getting that big contract again.
Don’t lump Johnny Damon in with that list. Damon is a gamer. He will play hurt if he has to and play hard. Of the 9 in the lineup, i worry about him least. He looked so beaten on the bench last night. I believe he will demand a trade this offseason, when in fact he is one of the ones we need there, leading off, seeing pitches and getting on base.
SJ44:
This team can win, they need to get back to fundamental baseball, use situational hitting and hustle every play.
They still in spite of all the horrible play the last 4 days, could win the WC.
Some have said, do you really want this team in the play-off’s for a 1st round exit.
Yes I want them to make the play-off’s. I still believe we have a run in us, but the window of opportunity is closing quickly……
Fundamental baseball will get them back on track, and yes fundamental baseball starts with the Manager and Coach’s, they call the play’s…….
“doesnt anybody get that damon-jeter-abreu-arod ISNT GETTING IT DONE?”
and dont you get that the lineup isnt going to change?
That is the point Ray, I would only want Manny with a chip on his shoulder, and hope it would last the three years.
However, when push comes to shove, he gets the job done when needed…and he do it for the Sawx. Two in four years is pretty good and he did have something to do with that.
ray –
I think you are dead-on with respect to Manny.
After he signs his next deal, which will probably be his last deal, what on earth is going to motivate him to perform?
He is a tremendously talented offensive player, but if money is the sole reason he performs – and he has exhibited no evidence of professional pride – then I would pity the team that writes Manny the next big check.
(and it had better not be the Yanks!)
Why would we fire Girardi? You guys are crazy. Do not listen to Pete – he does not like Girardi b/c he withholds information from reporters.
I am very impressed with Girardi so far. He has made mistakes, but who doesn’t? You can pick apart any manager. Girardi was protecting Damon from Damon last night. The guy is a gamer who will end up hurt if he is not protected. Would you rather Damon rest when Ponson is pitching or Moose? We have a much better chance of winning win Moose pitches so I would rather him in there. Damon doesn’t score 5 runs and give us the win last night.
Bottom line with Girardi is that he is prepared, knows what is going on with his players, and is building a new culture. Torre was wonderful, but he did some damage he last few years (IMO) by letting players do what they want, and clearly favoring certain players.
Our pitching staff has been crushed with injuries, Kennedy has been pathetic, Posada (the other captain) has been out for the year, Matsui has been gone most of the year, A Rod was out a month, Damon was on the DL, and Joba made a transition from the bullpen to the rotation. DESPITE this we are still in contention! I think that is a great job keeping this team together.
I said this last night and ill say it again. Go find O’Neill, Bernie and Tino, throw some cash at them and get them back on the field. Three guys who play with heart.
I love all 3 of those guys but you forgot no ST, no working out for all 3 of them, they all can’t run anymore and it wouldn’t help us at all defensively.
if the yankees pick up manny, im going to seriously have to reconsider being a yankees fan
What happened to the team that won 8 straight games after the break?
with last nights shut out, the 2008 yankees have now been shut out more times this season than they have in the past 11 seasons combined. This team is very hard to watch these days. Its really nauseating watching a professional team not be able to get a run in with a man on 3rd and no outs day in and day out. This team is a joke, I dont know what the probelm is, but something has to give.
Oh come on TK, where is your spirit of adventure? Maybe the Yankees would hire you to be Manny’s personal motivator.
IMO blaming Long for this impotent offense is unwarranted. Unless he follows Cabrera or Jeter out to the batters box and physically restrains them from swinging at the first pitch, what else can he do ? He offers input and analysis, it is up to the players to implement his advice. I think some individuals overemphasize his role.
SJ
Thanks for looking into that for me! But only if you have time an are curious about the answer.
If I recall when JD Drew opted out of his Dodgers contract the Dodgers couldn’t offer arbitration. I just checked Baseball-Reference to see if the Dodgers got picks for him and they didn’t. So if player can put it in a contract then what’s good for them should be good for the team lol but you never know!
About Jeter not doing the little things anymore and the message it sends do you think it’s time to trade him if possible? I honestly don’t think this team will win again with him on it. I think Jeter’s become to wrapped up in off the field stuff to be the player he used to be. If your supposed leader doesn’t do the little things how do you expect others to as well?
bdog375:
Damon needs to be in the line-up everyday, the experiment last night was truely a bad move in the middle of a pennant race. Christian should play but he should have been hitting 9th, Melky on the pine.
ray –
LOL – Manny is either very shallow or very deep – Either way I don’t want to step into that quagmire. Call Dr. Phil
Thankfully – I think we have learned from your mistakes with respect to Manny (not too bad a mistake since it brought 2 WS rings with it) $7M payoff to the Dodgers? You guys got off pretty darn well.
Before we talk about how the Red Sox have managed to stay in the wild card lead despite injuries, we ought to remember that they haven’t had quite the number of injuries the Yankees have had. When they did have a comparable number of injuries back in 2006, they completely collapsed and got blown out of Fenway five straight games by the Yankees.
Trade Jeter, that will never happen……………
will the yankees finish the season above 500?
Does Jason Giambi have short-term memory loss? Did he forget that stretch of season where he was spraying the ball to all fields, hitting for power, driving in runs? How is it that he can’t do that anymore this year? If, like some people on this thread have said, he’s a guy out there playing for his next job, wouldn’t he realize that he’d get a better deal if he swung the bat like the guy who almost played his way onto the All-Star team with great months of May and June?
If he were productive and hitting with people on base, the offense might look different. I think him waking up and starting to drive in runs in any way possible would go a long way towards helping the offense–takes some heat off A-Rod, gives them a legit #5 hitter again, also takes pressure off the guys behind him who don’t come up having to constantly bail out the guys before them. Maybe it’s unfair to single out one guy, but the offense looked a lot better when Giambi was swinging the bat better. It’s unfathomable that he could be near the Mendoza line with RISP. It’s also unfathomable that his average while hitting in the #5 spot in the order, for the year, is .205.
Tim –
I agree – but isn’t that what they said about Nomar?
Timothy Clougher – you are wrong. Damon is having a tremendous season this year b/c he is actually getting rest. He has said himself that the rest he gets for his legs has been huge this year. How does Damon make the Yankees score five runs?
Lets look at last night, ground ball toward right side of 2nd, Cano did not leave his feet, base hit(he could have got that ball), same inning ground ball toward the hole Jeter spreads out get’s the ball and throw’s the runner out from his knee’s……..Jeter’s need’s plate discipline, as do many other’s, but trade him….I totally disagree with that move………..
“Trade Jeter, that will never happen……………”
nor should it.
I still would like to see Joe mix up the lineup a bit to send a message that he is trying to do something. I personally like this one:
Jeter (stays out of DP or if he makes last out, Damon leads off)
Damon
Nady (Paul O’Neill’s old spot until proven otherwise)
Abreu (decent protection for Nady)
A Rod (ground ball RBI’s)
Giambi (has to bat somewhere)
I Rod (need a catcher)
Cano
Melky
C’mon Joe give it a shot!
It’s like Girardi’s own hitting skills have rubbed off on the whole team!
Joe Torre’s career hitting average is .297! Girardi’s is .267!
I’m a huge Girardi supporter, but don’t you wish we were staring at Torre, Bowa, and Mattingly in the dugout right now?
IMO blaming Long for this impotent offense is unwarranted.He offers input and analysis, it is up to the players to implement his advice. I think some individuals overemphasize his role.
We’ll be saying this for the next 3 yrs.
“but don’t you wish we were staring at Torre, Bowa, and Mattingly in the dugout right now?”
no.
bdog375:
Damon is by far the best situational hitter in the Yankee line-up, he could have DH’d………..That was a bone-head move by Joe G, leading the rookie off. I’m not for firing him, but that was a bad move. That would be a great move Sept 8, if you are mathematically eliminated from post-season. Nady should have been in LF, Christian in CF, Melky on the pine, last week Joe G said Melky doesn’t hit lefties and struggles from the right side of the plate, so who’s wrong??
Torre knew that this team was sliding fast because of age and makeup. He only wanted to move on in a better fashion. I’m sure he was happy to move on for a number of reasons the most important one – he couldn;t get anymore out of this team.
Was a change needed? Ofcourse all around for that matter. Girardi is caught between a rock and a hard place. He needs to be himself but is caught between being the zen of Torre and the fire of Billy Martin. I mean thats why they hired him right?
One thing I like about Girardi – he protects his players to a fault and a player likes that. I’m also sure behind the doors – he is ripping the player. But we can’t see that ofcourse and so it seems a little silly at times.
For all his critics – he got handed a bees nest with the injuries, expectations and lack of performance. WE Yankees fans are so spoiled because the Yanks can go out and get replacements whether in house or outside – Not saying they were perfect solutions – but other teams would have folded a long time ago.
THis ofcourse does not explain, excuse the performance. THe numbers speak for themselves folks and you can’t run from them.
Give Joe another year to get settled in – the guy is replacing an icon the likes of a Leo Dourucher(however spelled)
I think if the Yanks brass doesn’t panic next offseason this team should do alright with the rookies doing better the 2nd time around. THe press,the fans, the media make it so damn tough to play here especially for rookies.
I look forward to next season – I just hope they don’t go crazy signing guys that have no record of performing in tight situation and that are not “team” players.
Because they have assembled slow pitch softball teams and very good pitching gets them all the time in the playoffs.
Sign players not stat collectors – and for God and Pete’s sake they really need to improve the athleticism of this team. Its funny in most sports teams of the past can’t compare to today’s ball players but I’d bet the 70′s REDs and the late 70′s yanks are better than today’s Yankees.
WE need to move forward and with patience. The farm system is really good – we just need to be patient and understand early success doesn’t mean perfect performance – today’s players adjust and then it is for the rookies and coaching to re adjust – and that takes patience.
THis could be a dynasty in the making with the young guys but it will take probably another 2 years for the next championship to really become possible. Can you wait?
I can
“We’ll be saying this for the next 3 yrs.”
yeah, i guess just like we said it last year, right?
TKinDC:
I really don’t think Nomar, could carry Jeter’s gym bag but I would never trade him, no way…….
I just like posting Cano’s numbers to keep the record straight on his performance this year.
AB H RBI BA
m/a 106 16 7 151
may 95 28 12 295
june 101 29 14 287
july 101 33 17 327
Melky needs to SIT. If we are going to suffer with him in the lineup, we might as well bring Gardner back and plug him in. Damon would have had a very good rest if he was the DH last night.
And as for the MORONS that say trade Jeter, I think you’re brain has gone soft from smoking the same stuff Cano is.
TKinDC:
Jeter is the face of the Yanks………..and rightfully so..
AS I pointed out even Jeter has become(A SJ 44 term) a style play.. JEter again gave himself up the other day agaisnt the rangers instead of battling on a caught stealing that Young dropped.
Thanks for clarifying for me SJ. This team is almost all style players except Damon, Matsui(pro), and Posada..
cano is the ultimate style player, abreu is near him in that mode.. I hate youkilis and pedroia but those a holes battle.. I cannot believe if knuckleheads like us can see that the players will not adjust so they win..
I think Girardi has been a B grade manager so far.Peters article on hitting with RISP this year today was pretty bleak.
Again I asked yesterday who on this team is getting 100 RBI’s and the answer may be 1 guy with a max of 3 that is scary bad… IF for 43 games the Yanks play hard, smart, and get Matsui and Hughes back they have a chance for the WC not because they are very good but because all these teams suck..
Giambi, arod, abreu, cano, and others all talk endlessly about they want to win a championship but that is lip service BS, they are not even willing to do the little things that help you win.. They are not smart enough to even see that. Minny’s lineup last night was still worse then the Yanks and all they did is go out and play…
Yeah kevin Long a nice guy I am sure can get thru to these delusional stars, he can get thru there posses and hanger ons who tell them how great they are on a daily basis yeah right. As I also stated previously the Yanks play like they follow the Marquess of Quennsberry rules for baseball, nice baseball, don’t get dirty baseball, and that wins jack..Cano and betemit watching a 8 hopper get thru or Jeter nicely running into 2nd, it is ugly they are not giving us a full smart effort and that is the saddest thing of all. The Mets have an excuse the relief pitchers just stink and are trying but just implode Giambi 204 with RISP, Arod more or less the nsame, they are not using there noggin and therfore it makes it worse…
I have noticed just in 2 weeks that I rod has lost serious bat speed and if I can see it so can every scout in the AL, he must adjust…
More words of wisdom to follow..
If one looks for “more athletic players” and “gamers” – and I am one who thinks that hard-to-define player is what the Yanks don’t have enough of – then be ready to say goodbye to Giambi and Abreu, possibly Robbie Cano – after this season.
The more I think about it, and the more I see Robbie disappoint, the more I think a change of scenery might do him good. Maybe the Yanks had thoughts along those lines last off-season, when they gave him that contract, and made him “cost-controlled”.
Damon, though aging, and you don’t know if this is his last good year, is a “gamer”. Not a bad guy to have around.
I’m a huge Girardi supporter, but don’t you wish we were staring at Torre, Bowa, and Mattingly in the dugout right now?
Nope. Mattingly as the batting coach maybe but Torre would be on back pages on how he stayed 1 yr. too many. This was going to happen reguardless, think this our pitching has held the fort, there is no way that happens w/ Torre. Farnsy would have been a bum all season, Edwar would never see the baseball, Veras would be in AAA, Robertson would never be up here. Bruney would have been burnt out. In a way if you are a fan of Torre you better be thanking god that he left, there is no way this pitching would respond under his watch, the BP wouldn’t be a strength and this team would be trying to slug thier way through games like they did in 07′, they already were showing signs of decline.
Trade Jeter! Are you kidding me. Jeter can have 2 more bad seasons and I wouldn’t condone trading the man. He is the Yankees, the Captain. You sit here blaming Jeter, but what about the superstar that is Mr. Madonna himself A-Rod? Why not explore that avenue if the Yankees are willing to eat 50+million on his contract. Next you would have to get him to waive his no trade and he will if they express that they no longer want him and it’s in his better interests to go break every record somewhere else as Yankee fans want championships and not solo records. Trade his ass to the Dodgers or San Fran or even Florida and eat 75 million of that contract. Do that before you trade the captain. We haven’t one diddley since we traded and resigned A-Rod and the way it is going we will not win with his inability to carry the lineup. He may be the best talent in baseball but I would take Bernie Williams or el Capitan’ Derek Jeter in the clutch any day over him.
When is Hillbilly Hank going to wake-up and rip this team???
I would also be willing to trade Cano, maybe to the Dodgers and get Kemp or Claython Kershaw back. I would not trade Cano if we are trading him low, and we are now trading him low. So we keep him and ride it out or force the hands of the Dodgers who really want him!
who would have thought that come august, Mike Mussolini and Sid Ponson would be the yankees best starters…..and the said thing is, pitching is not the reason the team is a joke, its the offense. who would have thought….this has been such a disasterous season…I wish it were over already.
Timothy Clougher, I agree – Damon IS one of our best clutch/situational hitters. He was obviously available as a pinch hitter. Again, DHing Damon would not have won that game. If the team actually scored some runs (though), then he could have pinch hit Damon if someone like Melky was in a key spot, or Sexson was going against a right handed reliever (an almost gaurunteed K). We are hitting the panic button, but Girardi is not – there is still plenty of time. We have two series left against Boston.
So to sum up, basically everyone on the Yankees suck. Or at least that is what I gather from the baord this morning.
Realistically, what are we looking at as a potential lineup next year? I leave off the pitching, because I think the rotation can be good to great with CC, Pettite, Joba, Wang, Hughes (and serious reinforcements 1-2 years away). The bullpen can be good to great with Mo, Melancon, Ramirez, Veras, +/- Marte, Robertson (and some other reinforcements on the way).
Who is coming back:
C – Posada/Molina – maybe Pudge
1b – Who knows – maybe Miranda and platoon
2b – Cano – although there are arguments to trade him
ss – Jeter
3b – Rodriguez
CF – don’t know
RF/LF – Nady – who knows about Abreu/Damon/Matsui
DH – Posada, Damon, Matsui, Giambi etc etc
So, can we change enough, or get enough guys to return from injury (Posada and Matsui) to right the ship. What is a realistic, but likely lineup?
I-Rod was having good swings last night but was just a little late…he also hit two dome-high pop ups (one at a terrible time with 1st and 3rd nobody out, obviously). I am not trying to make excuses for him, but it actually seems like he’s close to coming around at the plate. That’s more than can be said for others in the lineup (Giambi and Melky being the key examples).
As for Abreu, for me this year my biggest knock on him is his terrible defensive play. At the plate and running the bases and in the dugout, he looks like he DOES compete, though–he has long at-bats, he fouls pitches off, he’s been the best hitter on the team with RISP. The reason why it’s easy to say that he is a “style” player and doesn’t really care about winning is that he gets called out on strikes too often in big spots late in games when he should be more aggressive but still has his 4th inning mentality, and he smiles and jokes and doesn’t portray “panicked focus”.
That said, though, I don’t want to lump Abreu in with the disappointment crew of Jeter, Giambi, Cano and to a lesser extent A-Rod.
enough with the trade jeter, they can win with a less productive Jeter…
But I am dissapointed with Jeters conversion to a style play, and not a day in and day out gamer…
Can we ban santana trade crap, trade jeter crap, fire girardi crap, and talk about how to fix this wreck, why the stars have failed with RISP all year, and issues like that????
Did guys look at the Tampabay Rays schedule. It is BRUTAL. Absolutely brutal. They have Only one off-day after August 25th. Only one off day(Aug 11th). And they play 19 games in 18 days to end the season. Anf 17 of the 27 games in september are on the Road. Add to that they have Crawford and Langoria are on the DL. If they survive all this and win AL East then that will be an amazin accomplishment.
I doubt very much the Yanks will part with A-rod. He actually does try to do the little things, just he picked a bad time to try to steel 3rd.
My biggest disappointment this year is that none of the young studs have done anything with the one exception being Joba who was also as close to a sure thing as you can get.
Hughes and Kennedy so far nothing
Cano and Melky have regressed
Duncan and Gardner were handed jobs and failed miserably
I can accept veterans declining but our young guys didn’t step up this year
I feel we still have a real chance, we played the Halo’s tough, 1 blow out but 2 that could have gone either way.
We need to grind out at bat’s, if the guy in front of you walks on 5 pitch’s, take the 1st pitch….this is fundamentals..If Damon gets on give him a chance to steal or SAC……..We can right this ship, but it has to be now time is running out.
He may be the best talent in baseball but I would take Bernie Williams or el Capitan’ Derek Jeter in the clutch any day over him.
Are you blind or just this plainly stupid ? Derek Jeter has been horrible, when is the last time he’s turned on a good fastball and driven it to the LF gap ? Say what you want about ARod he’s in his prime while Mr. Panaramic vista roof is hitting GIDP at a rapid rate near 19 already w/ 47 games to go, bat speed clearly slowing down. I’m not saying I would trade him but you got to be stupid to trade 1 one of the bats that actually can still turn on pitches and be a 5 tool player.
There are 3 Yankees that can turn on a fastball
Arod
Nady
Abreu
That’s all.
Trading 1 of those 3 does not help us longterm at all.
I know Tampa has a rough schedule, but it won’t matter if we don’t win.
I would add Cano too, but his style of hitting stinks right now.
“when is the last time he’s turned on a good fastball and driven it to the LF gap ? Say what you want about ARod he’s in his prime while Mr. Panaramic vista roof is hitting GIDP at a rapid rate near 19 already w/ 47 games to go, bat speed clearly slowing down.”
It looked like he was starting to turn in that direction in the last 2 games in Texas, he drove some balls into the gaps, went deep, things of that nature. He’s slowed down and reverted back to his ground ball-happy swing since then, though. It’s hard to tell if it’s just pure bat speed, or his swing just changing in a bad way and him chopping down on the ball too much. Either way, though, he hasn’t been able to figure it out in almost a full year’s time so I don’t know how it will change between now and the end of the season.
I also vote for Mr. Panoramic Vista Roof to be his nickname for the foreseeable future.
Lineup:
Damon
Cano- half of the reason Cano’s average is so low is because he bats infront of melky
Nady
Arod
Abreu
Giambi
Pudge
Jeter
Melky/Christian
Lineup:
Damon
Cano
Nady
Arod
Abreu
Giambi
Pudge
Jeter
Melky/Christian
Vito touched on a good point above.
The 2008 Yankees have 3 problems.
1. Young players didn’t step up. Hughes, IPK, Cano, and Melky have been major disappointments and haven’t taken the ‘next step’.
2. Injuries. Some can discount them, but be honest, they’ve lost Posada, Wang, Matsui, Hughes, Damon, Joba, and Arod to DL this year. Plus Jeter has clearly been affected since hand injury in June.
3. Age. Part is present in the injuries, others in the lack of ability to grind, hit w/ RISP, get the last out in a tough situation.
This was a transitional year, the thing is they are good enough to win through transition. I think the effort right now is reflective of a beaten team. If they were close to whole it might be a different story.
That said, you can’t blame Girardi or Long or Eiland any more then the Red Sox could blame Tito when Tek and Manny and Ortiz and Schilling and Papelbon got hurt in 2006.
It looked like he was starting to turn in that direction in the last 2 games in Texas, he drove some balls into the gaps, went deep, things of that nature. He’s slowed down and reverted back to his ground ball-happy swing since then, though. It’s hard to tell if it’s just pure bat speed, or his swing just changing in a bad way and him chopping down on the ball too much. Either way, though, he hasn’t been able to figure it out in almost a full year’s time so I don’t know how it will change between now and the end of the season.
He went against a bum pitcher in Texas, even when he squared the pitch he couldn’t turn on it, those pitches he drove were mistakes thrown down the middle and we finally saw the Jeterian swing.
I also vote for Mr. Panoramic Vista Roof to be his nickname for the foreseeable future.
I concur.
Brandon –
Jete’s homer over the weekend was to left-center.
He has an inside out swing – you can’t say his bat is slowing down just b/c he is hitting into DP’s. He is having an awful year – but I don’t think it is because of physical decline.
Generally his defense has been much better this year imo.
Abreu and Giambi because its the last year of their deals and they are looking for new deals. Its not like those guys are going to make “productive outs†to advance runners in certain situations because its a salary drive year for them.
This reminds me of a very telling moment earlier on this season.
I can’t rmemeber the exact game, it was early on, but the camera caught a shot of Abreu looking to Meachem for a sign and giving him a disgusted look back. I said to myself, he must have put the hit and run on, and sure enough he did. That moment has stuck with me all season and says alot about what Abreu’s motivation is.
Somehow the “Myth” and the “Image” of the Yankees has outgrown the players and the way they play the game. A leading example of this is Robinson Cano. Cano the Yankee somehow became more significant than Cano the player. As a result he often looks very smooth and casual all while vastly under-performing. Many of the players are too involved in keeping up their on-field persona alive that their play becomes an almost secondary function. It is as if they believe that all they need to do is to keep up the appearance of their former success and the rest will take care of itself.
The success of the franchise is another impediment to the current teams psychological approach. Many of the players may be in denial as they somehow believe that the team simply has to make the postseason because it is the Yankee legacy to do so. As a result they have the young players who look to the veterans to right the ship and the vets who look to the young to serve as the catalysts they no longer are.
Unfortunately this team has not yet shown any signs that it is aware that they are in this type of cycle and management does not have the experience to help the players adjust. Ironicly, it can be said that the only member of senior management that could possibly help the team in dealing with this type of “culture of sport” is the one person who no longer possesses the ability to do so. Of course that’s old George himself who is the only remaining member of the organization to have experienced the normal wave cycle of successs and failure.
It looks like this “tragedy” will indeed play itself out and in many cases it may be the only way some of the players gain the mental maturity needed to overcome this brand of down-spiraling play. Just as it is in life, we often don’t pick up on the hints of our own irrelevance until we are completely out of the picture. And like an old punch-drunk boxer who denies that his career is over, this organization will need a punishing knock-out blow to realize that their anachronistic ways and their history will not result in success within the modern version of MLB.
Forget Mattingly, Bowa, Torre etc.
We should have hired Tony Pena as manager
I can’t believe all the psycho-babble about Cano – he doesn’t have to be General Patton out there. See the ball, hit the ball.
And his numbers have improved over the course of the season as well as his productivity.
““““AB “““`H “`RBI “““`BA
m/a 106 16 7 151
‘may 95 28 12 295
june 101 29 14 287
july 101 33 17 327
I hope Girardi makes tonight’s lineup by having Jeter pick 9 players’ names out of a hat.
TK it was on a 89 mph lollipop pitch he turned on, that’s not exactly what I meant.
If I see Cabrera bat anymore I think I will throw up. Can we have an offical DH batter for him?
” See the ball, hit the ball “.
Try telling Cano about that. He’d prefer to make each at bat a mystery and keep fans wondering if he’ll ever be able to put 2 halves of a baseball season together.
I’d be in favor of benching Melky for the rest of the season. Christian/Gardner aren’t much better, but Melk has just been godawful this season.
Ego’s have to be checked at the door now. Drop Jeter down in the line up.
I’d be in favor of benching Melky for the rest of the season.
I’m in favor of locking Melky in a broom closet in the Metrodome when they leave town.
He’s got to go.
The more I think about the move of having him bat righty last night and Damon ride the pine the more dumbfounded I become.
“TK it was on a 89 mph lollipop pitch he turned on, that’s not exactly what I meant.”
Really, though, it’s not like many Yankees have been turning on any big-time pitcher’s best fastballs this year. Also while Jeter is historically a fastball hitter, it’s not like he made a rep for turning around high-90s heat and punishing it. His power throughout his career has always emerged by turning around mistakes, either fat fastballs or hanging breaking balls. So I’m not going to use him only hitting HRs and doubles that way as a means of proving that he’ll never be a good offensive player again.
Why do hitting coaches ever get fired? If they don’t swing the bat why do they lose their job? Why do pitching coaches lose their jobs? They never actually throw the pitches?
Because like every other teachers, if their students arn’t “learning” what they are teaching then they need to be fired.
Right now it looks like Kevin Long’s students are tuning him out.
HIRE RUDY JARAMILLO
BigV:
I agree with your post and the answer to your question; “Can you wait?” is: Do we have a choice?
Its amazing what sports fanaticism does to some peoples IQ. Its even more amazing that they’ll use an online forum to demonstrate just how low it can go… anonymously of course.
Ricky Henderson as hitting coach?
I did not expect that we would be this bad, but it is a transitional year, and we are injury riddled, so I can tolerate this. I actually hope that we keep going bad (And have one of the WORST 15 records), so we can sign a Texieria or Sabbathia, without surrendering a first round pick in next year’s draft. In addition, Oppenheimer and Co will pick earlier in the draft, and based on the results of the past several years, we should be able to improve the farm system even more.
We also get to clean out lots of dead wood from the organization (Giambi and Pavano come to mind (Maybe Petitte and Abreu also)). I hope we can find a way to send IPK packing as well (He needs a jolt back to reality (Maybe playing in Pittsburgh or Washington MIGHT do it)).
juan miranda is hitting .313 with RISP in scranton
“Ricky Henderson as hitting coach?”
yeah. his presence in the clubhouse really did wonders for the Mets last year.
hehe
Derek Jeter? He’s got an edge baby!!!.
How racist is that commericial? The black guy in the barber shop says..”he’s got an edge baby!” Might as well have had him say “Derek Jeter? Dat mother f&^%$% gots an edge ni@^#
SJ -
I’ve heard of it happening in football a lot more often, and definitely basketball (see the Knicks) but not so much in baseball. It being changing the coach to change the message.
If the hitters are not listening to Long then it does not matter if he has more hitting knowledge than Ted Williams. Find someone they will listen to.
Or, change the hitters who aren’t listening.
During the season the only thing that can reasonably be done is to change the coach since expecting Cashman to trade Giambi, Cano, Melky, etc…in season is unrealistic. We still have to field a team and many of these guys have little or no trade market.
During the offseason however, something needs to give. If Long is not going then the hitters need to change.
We need to either change the message and messenger so that the current players hear and listen to it or we need to change the players so they listen to our current message and messenger. We cannot go into 2009 with much the same roster. It’d be suicide.
juan miranda is hitting .313 with RISP in scranton
He’s a platoon LHB right now. Next year in ST he will be interesting to follow.
Both Cano and his buddy Cabrera will have to play day in and day out red hot baseball for the remainder of the season to avoid themselves of being trade rumors every day before Christmas.
i plan on starting a ‘bring back torre’ chat next time i visit the stadium
Derek Jeter? He’s got an edge baby!!!.
How racist is that commericial? The black guy in the barber shop says..â€he’s got an edge baby!†Might as well have had him say “Derek Jeter? Dat mother f&^%$% gots an edge ni@^#
It’s not a racist commercial it’s just a run on annoying one.
“How racist is that commericial? The black guy in the barber shop says..â€he’s got an edge baby!†Might as well have had him say “Derek Jeter? Dat mother f&^%$% gots an edge ni@^#”
did they use the same black guy twice in that commercial? or are they just similar looking?
I say FIRE GIRARDI NOW! He’s clueless. GO HANK!
“Are you blind or just this plainly stupid ? Derek Jeter has been horrible, when is the last time he’s turned on a good fastball and driven it to the LF gap ? Say what you want about ARod he’s in his prime while Mr. Panaramic vista roof is hitting GIDP at a rapid rate near 19 already w/ 47 games to go, bat speed clearly slowing down. I’m not saying I would trade him but you got to be stupid to trade 1 one of the bats that actually can still turn on pitches and be a 5 tool player.”
Hey Brandon, first of all you jerk off, calling me stupid and than stating that you would rather have A-Rod in his prime over Jeter who has slowed down is more of an idiotic statement that the other guy who keeps suggesting to trade Jeter. So Jeter has had one, ONE off year in how many? 15! He is the captain and has won 4! 4 World Championships! He has always come through in the clutch in the playoffs, ALWAYS! Compare that to your 5 tool player and tell me who I have more loyalty to and who I would rather have on my team if I was forced to trade one of them. If you want A-Rod as the face of this team you must be 10 years old and way too young to have witnessed the past 4 championships, if that is the case I am sorry for calling you a jerk off. Rather you are just naive and young to know what you are talking about. I agree Jeter is not having a Jeter year, but I’m not one of your fans that bases what Jeter is doing this year as a criteria to dump him. If that was the case I would have dumped A-Rod each year for time and time again failing to produce in big spots. If you want to argue this point your not watching the same game I am or for that matter Ken singleton and Michael Kay! Give it a rest with your Jeter bashing, he has more heart than A-Rod will ever have! I do not want to trade A-Rod but the fact is the guy is not a winner! He cares more about his individual stats than the team. If that wasn’t clear last post season when the Yankees were about to get eliminated by the Indians in the 8th inning he hit a meaningless HR and he was the only asswhole smiling on the bench. Jeter would never do that! I can only hope that A-Rod learns from Jeter and Posada.
“Ricky Henderson as hitting coach?â€
Yeah sure, and Hank Steinbrenner will spend thousands to make sure Ricky has a fresh deck of cards in the clubhouse at all times opposed to going over video of hitters.
He can bring along Bobby Bonilla to help him shuffle cards while running coach Vince Coleman is conducting fireworks shows in front of the Yankee dugout.
August is the middle of horse-breeding season… as a result, Hank is nowhere to be found. Otherwise, you figure he would have said SOMETHING by now.
sorry, Jeter has 13 years of service, I added 2 more years.
Everyone who is quick to point the finger of blame to Girardi needs to get a clue.
Chien-Ming Wang, Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, Joba Chamberlain, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Jorge Posada, Wilson Betemit, Jonathan Albaladejo, Brian Bruney and others have all been on the D.L. this year.
The Yankees have been without Wang, Hughes, Matsui, and Posada for the majority of the year, and even when Hughes and Posada were playing, they didn’t do very well.
Wang and Posada won’t be back this year, and at best, Matsui might make a small appearance down the stretch.
I don’t want to blame the injuries for our struggles this year, but for people to 100% blame Girardi for the current mess the Yankees are in is idiotic.
i plan on starting a ‘bring back torre’ chat next time i visit the stadium
You’ll be the only one cheering then. Girardi has been a heads over heel better manager then Torre, the only difference is he has only 3 players in thier prime Arod, Nady and Cano and Cano is the one slacking.
Is Tino interested in being a hitting coach?
Do you fire Joe G people actually think this team would be a better position with Joe T? I mean really?! This team has already won more 1 run games than the Yankees won all of last season. Yes it is cause they aren’t hitting, but it is also becuase the pen is doing well. This team has lost two games when leading after 6! So grow up.
BillyBall you done w/ that Panaramic vista rant ?
Derek Jeter? He’s got an edge baby!!!.
How racist is that commericial? The black guy in the barber shop says..â€he’s got an edge baby!†Might as well have had him say “Derek Jeter? Dat mother f&^%$% gots an edge ni@^#
I don’t think it’s racist at all. Apparently the addition of “baby” makes it racist? C’mon. People are too quick to jump to racism. Would you rather see him in a tuxedo speaking very prim and proper?
“He has always come through in the clutch in the playoffs, ALWAYS!”
Not lately he hasn’t, BillyBall. He hit into some pretty bad rally-killing double plays in last year’s Division Series. So if you’re going to bring that up as a way to rip A-Rod for hitting a meaningless HR, you can’t spare Derek because he didn’t do much to help the team win games in that series, or in the Detroit series the year before.
Also, I don’t think Brandon is trying to disregard everything that Jeter has done; he’s just ripping him for what he’s doing these days, which isn’t really that much to help the Yankees win games. That’s where all this is coming from, not from uneducated naivete among fans who have already forgotten what Jeter did. However, it’s been almost 10 years since those glory days. The reputation only goes so far when the fans want to win.
Billyball,
“Jerk off”? Really? You’re a classy guy. Grow up.
The minute they didn’t trade for Santana, Girardi was let off the hook this year.
Not making that trade made it conspicuous that 2008 was not a must-win season and they had their sight sets on 09. They were not going to go all out to make the playoffs and were ok with it as long we they didn’t trade their kids.
Since the expectations from management were lessened from the start, why should Girardi take the heat? It is not like he is underachieving… our team is not as talented as the Rays, Sox, Angels, Twins, or Chi Sox. You could say we are playing up to our capabilities and this is what we are.
It is incumbent upon Cashman to put a real team out on the field next year. The best FA class in sometime is here, we have $80 million off the books, and have a booming farm to make trades. Give Girardi a better team next year and see how he does.
“The best FA class in sometime is here,”
Where? The best FA class is certainly not this offseason. Who makes this the best FA class? Texeira? CC? That’s not a lot…and Texeira, arguably, is overrated.
Also, I don’t think Brandon is trying to disregard everything that Jeter has done; he’s just ripping him for what he’s doing these days, which isn’t really that much to help the Yankees win games. That’s where all this is coming from, not from uneducated naivete among fans who have already forgotten what Jeter did. However, it’s been almost 10 years since those glory days. The reputation only goes so far when the fans want to win.
It’s that so hard to realize, everyone acts as if I hate the guy no it’s actually quite the opposite, but him and his GIDPs in big innings, his constant lack of range at SS, his rehearsed postgame lines and the way not one reporter other than Joel Sherman has the sack to question his season (and I hate Joel Sherman but he’s the only one who had the balls to challenge this pathetic season from Jetes)
Heck there are some fans after Arod got his 10 yr. deal (Micheal Kay, Mike FAtcessa, NY blind homers) that think Jetes is going to get a 20+ million dollar deal and a 6-7 yr. extension. For what ? Yeh that’s smart, I mean we’re watching him decline infront of our eyes, it’s sad but we can’t stop father time, each ST he saids he feels old, this year he’s been playing old. I’m sorry if some fans don’t like me taking shots a Jeter (when he clearly deserves it) but hey that’s how it is, screw you if you don’t understand that. I saw Donnie Baseball in his last years, I saw Tony Fernandez, O’neill when he first got here, Bernie when he was being picked on (which at the time I knew nothing about and found out later in my teen years). I call it like I see it.
“The best FA class in sometime is here, we have $80 million off the books, and have a booming farm to make trades. ”
You mean, the best FA class in years that only features 2 bigtime, near “sure-thing” players? You mean, the best FA class that’s two bigger names are perennial DL mainstays Rich Harden and Ben Sheets? You mean the best FA class that has no depth available, whatsoever?
A few trades for young position players to fill the departing 1B and OF roles is where the team would improve, so your “booming” endorsement of the farm system is on point at least. The free agent market in ’08, though, is from the top down, unimpressive.
This is a Yankee blog, every fan deserves the right to voice there opinion whether we agree or not there is no reason to call each other names.
Jeter comes up big in big games, yes maybe not much recently, but when he did the cast of team mates that surrounded him also did there part and knew there roles. They played fundamental baseball.
Plenty of teams would love to have Jeter even in his so called down year.
Isin’t CC the entire class himself?
“Derek Jeter? He’s got an edge baby!!!.”
I swear the first time I saw that commercial I thought it was going to have some inspiring message at the end possibly I believed it was a promotional spot for MLB. What a farce!
Jeter is such a sell out.
I have not memorized the free ageent class but it is not that impressive to me.. Many high risk players. CC and Texx are high risk because there market value will be so high that they will get insane contracts.
Harden when healthy is very good and so is sheets but they are serious injury risks.
Kemp up to 28 SB’ and about 300 avg. Cano for Kemp may be a long shot unless the Yanks add to the package. If Kemp has figured things out he MAY become superstar….
jeers,
are you saying you would have told ford to stick thier millions of dollars where the sun dont shine if you were dereck jeter?
ever seen a mr coffee commercial?
This off season is Cashman’s real test, plenty loot of the books, let’s see what moves he makes.
I believe he want Vlad, but George wanted Sheff…let’s just see what Cash does.
After we win the WC, who would you keep for next year..
kemp is dumb as a box of rocks.
The following are the Yankees player’s offense numbers since the ASB. BA/OBP/Slug/OPS. Using only what your eyes tell you, which numbers belong to which player?
.344/.411/.583/.944
.339/.403/.679/1.082
.337/.372/.551/.923
.333/.413/.420/.833
.326/.438/.651/1.089
.282/.300/.410/.710
.273/.304/.364/.668
.269/.394/.423/.817
.268/.336/.392/.728
.250/.425/.464/.889
.250/.278/.303/.581
.245/.327/.327/.654
.238/.273/.381/.654
not that there’s anything wrong with being dumb…it seems to work for our president….
wow! not getting Santana for those 3 stinkers will really come back to haunt us! 1)kennedy – he wont see the major for a very long time after his stupid comments 2)melkey – not even a good hitter in a minor leage team 3) any other minor leager- like chase wright or tabada that has no good future!
assessing the lineup in terms of what we normally get and what we are getting this year:
c – below average (molina, pudge just got here)
1b – average (giambi)
2b – below average (cano)
ss – below average (jeter)
3b – below average (arod)
lf – above average (damon)
cf – below average (melky)
rf – average (abreu)
dh – below average (rotation)
so we are really having 1 slot in the lineup producing better than his norm and that’s damon. and we are getting below average from 6 spots in the lineup. posada and matsui’s injuries could not be overcome.
moving forward, which of those 6 slots can we expect to improve without acquiring new players? i see two slots, 3b and 2b. arod will return to mvp form b/c he’s an mvp player. and i think cano bounces back to the .300 level. but jeter will now be 35 next year. melky? i’m not so sure as his plate discipline is terrible. and people want to dump abreu but that’s alot easier said than done b/c he is still an above .290 hitter with 20+ homers and 100 rbi’s.
changes need to be made to improve the lineup. hopefully a healthy matsui and posada, along with xman from the start helps next year. but that’s next year. the rest of this season requires a switch to turn on…
What could we get for Joba in the trade market?
its funny how kim jones asked nady on 3 separate occasions how it feels to finally not play in meaningless games in august anymore, yet are on the brink of doing just that. lol
So Joel Sherman has called for Melky to be sent to the minors in his blog today. Not quite sure I get that other than it would send a message to the rest of the team that no one is safe? The reason I dont get it is who replaces him and what does that person add. There is no one on the team right now that can replace him and have better numbers yes?? Unless they go out and make a waiver deal.
We can agree that he is having a horrible offensive year and any progress that we saw early on has faded away a longtime ago but Brett Gardner didnt show anything any better in fact he was worse and Christian thus far hasnt showed anything great on a consistent basis.
If this team continues to show no energy or desire to win ball games, what makes you think players like CC and/or Teixeira would want to come here in the first place?
Sending Melky down for Gardner is just re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. It serves no real purpose other than finding a “fall guy” for the team’s struggles.
This isn’t brain surgery. If the core guys can’t hit, the bottom of the order guys aren’t going to be able to carry the team.
You can send Melky down for Gardner but, that’s not going to make Jeter, Arod, Abreu, Giambi, Cano, etc, dynamic hitters the rest of the way.
Like calling for Long’s firing, sending Melky down is just a cosmetic move. It doesn’t solve any problemsd.
The Yankees have decided to intentionally tank the rest of the season, as evidenced by completing a game in just over 2 hours last night. Why? Well, if they finish with one of the 15 worst records in baseball, then they don’t have to lose their first round draft pick when they sign CC! It all makes sense now… you didn’t REALLY think a team could be this terrible at hitting with RISP, did you? This has all been part of the Yankees elaborate plot for world domintation.
gayle, i think i could see that happening if matsui came back. i think i’d keep christian over melky, if that happened.
Don’t mistake how the season ends for what free agents will do in the winter.
Free agents go where the money is. That’s their #1 priority.
Players understand every team, yes even the Yankees, can have a bad year.
They know if they sign with the Yankees, unlike other places, they will be given a chance to win every year.
I just caution those who think the Yankees are just going to spend the off-season signing every free agent under the sun. I think you will be disappointed when that doesn’t happen.
Just signing a bunch of guys to long term deals isn’t going to fix what’s broken. Its one of the reasons why things are broken in the first place.
“Why? Well, if they finish with one of the 15 worst records in baseball, then they don’t have to lose their first round draft pick when they sign CC!”
haha… you know, i know its nonsense, but this is a pretty fair point. and even if CC signs elsewhere, they get a better draft pick, and maybe get more of a mlb-close position player of the Matt LaPorta-type like what the Brewers did.
“1b – average (giambi)”
Not sure I agree with this. I expect more from Giambi than a .250 BA and .200 with RISP.
Can someone explain the Giambi situation for next year. I know that there is a buyout amount something like 4 million dollars and alarger option that the team will never pick up.
However can we offer arbitration to him and if he turns it down do we get a compensation pick in the draft ie I would think (and of course could be wrong) that he would be a type B free agent??
Same thing with Abreu I dont think there is any kind of option but would he also be offered arbitration if not re-signed and might he be a Type A??
Did not read Sherman but sounds like ashrewd move.. You want to send a message bench Cano or Giambi or another star.. But take a meally woosie move and send down Melky!!!
Tell ABreu if he does not pick up the D he will sit, those are real moves that will make the players look at.
I have a even less painful idea; CHANGE THE DAMN LINEUP.
MOVE JETER OUT OF THE 2 SLOT, MOVE GIAMBI OUT OF THE 5 SLOT, PUT NADY 32 AND PUT CANO OR HOPEFULLY MATSUI #5.
stack the top of the order with all the best hitters, hell with the lefty righty crap..
here is my insane order assuming Matsui is not back if he comes back he hits either 3,4, or 5…
damon, nady, arod, abreu, giambi or cano, jeter, melky and either molina or Ivan rodriguez. WHy abreu is actually good with risp, and if they walk arod he can help. nady is a fly ball hitter less GIDP. WHy cano not at the bottom he is talented and they need him to pick it up and theoretically he should be ble to pick it up.
this team is on pace to score less runs then every yankee team since 1992…SINCE 1992 THAI IS SCARY.
gayle Giambi is gone forget about him…
Skeptic,
I dont mind it when you see an old player who probably didn’t make that much cash or a Joba whose career could end before the big payday to sell their image off to sell some crap product. But Jeter obvously does not need the Ford money. He’s been selling himself for eons. A stinkin perfume, credit cards, peanut butter, watches, shoes or basiclly anybody or any product to fatten his already bloated wealth. Everybody talks about how classy he is. Pleeaease, he’s about as classy as a dishrag.
On the field I don’t have any issues with him except he needs to hit a little better. And he’s a lame captain.
http://olympics.blogs.nytimes......of-racism/
A-rod is the one that has been declining. The year after he signs his 10 year deal his production is cut in half. Read all you want about how much A-rod wants to win, he does not give a damn. All he cares about is the HR record, and his precious money. For 10 years $250+ million this guy should be leading us, the burden should not fall on guys like Cano or Melky. A-rod needs to Man UP for once and stop making excuses for once in his life.
3. The Mets had no interest in Adam Dunn, who was traded Monday from Cincinnati to Arizona. The Mets like how rookie Daniel Murphy is playing and believe Ryan Church will soon rejoin the team. Besides the Mets, internally, had the same feeling about Dunn that many organizations have: That he has some overt skills, namely power and the ability to draw a walk, but that he is a poor defender, strikes out a ton, and they wonder about his passion to play and drive to be a championship player.
LOL
And here is my other thought of the day.There has been lots of talk about how the banning of greenies has affected players this year. Is it my imagination but werent they also banned last year so this is the 2nd year they have not been allowed?
If this is in fact the 1st year I think it would adversely affect an older team like the Yankees and maybe why they have looed so ragged the opening nights of series where they have had late travel or bad travel??
Of course the loss of Matsui and Posada is killing them but trying to find another reason for this terrible downfall on the offensive side and it is NOT Kevin Long lol.
you wanna send a message, bat jeter 9th!
Stuart I know he is gone the question is can we offer him arbitration and if he declines get something in return ie a compensatory draft pick.
If this team is truely in a ‘transition’ and it is effecting the team chemistry and preventing them from winning ball games then maybe some of the free agents we already already assume will be playing for us next year may decide they will be better off on a more ‘established’ team.
I realize that many players will follow the money no matter what. But what if we have to enter a bidding war because a particular player is having second thoughts about the transitional period of the Yankees?
I think it was important for the Yankees to stay together as a team during this phase.
Jonathan
What do you base your 50% production loss from A-Rod on? 2007 numbers or career numbers?
Johnathan what ? he’s played 99 games and has 26 HR and 70 RBI batting .315/.403/.597 What decline
Unfortunately, Melky has taken two huge steps back this year.
It hurts but, it hurts less knowing the Yankees have a kid in Austin Jackson who has a bigger upside than both Melky and Brett Gardner.
Cano has also taken steps back this year. Those two guys doing so makes it tougher for the team to bust out of teamwide hitting slumps.
Overall though, the Yankees have more functioning parts for 2009 than dysfunctional parts. Like all teams, they have holes. Unlike most teams, they have the means to fill them.
They just have to make smart decisions in the off-season. Personally, I think they need to sign CC and bring back both Pettitte and Moose. That gives them 4 guys who can give them solid performances AND innings.
They can’t go into next season believing young pitching will hold up over the course of the year. If they do? That’s a bonus. Depending on it? Gotta learn from making that mistake this year.
Want a good bullpen? Give me 4 starters who go 6+ almost every start. That keeps a ‘pen fresh. I think their bullpen, with the addition of Melancon, will be dynamic next year.
They also have to get younger and more athletic with their everyday lineup. That may mean bringing in some guys who are simply baseball players and not fantasy baseball superstars.
It also means they will need to say goodbye to some players who may still be able to play a bit but, not well enough to help this team win.
I don’t think it will be as difficult to re-build this team as others do. I believe though, they have to figure out what style of ball they want to play.
If you want to have a younger, more athletic, and more flexible lineup, with better fundamental hitters etc, then you have to have the personnel to do it.
They don’t right now. They will have the opportunity to have it if they do their jobs in the off-season.
gayle,
here’s what i know from reading this blog re: giambi and arbitration.
in arbitration the yankees must offer him 80% of his former salary, so that means somewhere around $15-$17M/yr, so there is basically no way giambi would turn it down.
if you dont offer arbitration, you dont get the pics.
so you aint getting those picks either way.
“Like calling for Long’s firing, sending Melky down is just a cosmetic move. It doesn’t solve any problemsd.”
How is it a cosmetic move to demote a player that has not performed anywhere close to his expected level for 90% of the season? I don’t think it is the type of move that would be expected to jump-start a rejuvenation of the entire offense, but how long does Melky get to flail at the plate before he’s replaced?
It shouldn’t seem like Melky is being made to be the fall guy, and I don’t think it makes sense to try and connect demoting Melky with “sending a message to the team”. Demoting Melky should happen on performance alone. It would be a (long overdue, in my opinion) move to try and get him straightened out at the plate. He also would inevitably be back in 2 weeks when rosters expanded, if he were actually demoted.
I don’t really buy into this whole business of trying to straighten out those “wayward fans” who complain about Melky Cabrera too much and lose sight of the “big” problems with the team, the core guys not performing. If you are watching the games, both things have been clear all year: the core guys are not performing, and Melky is doing nothing at the plate in the bigs. So why is fixing one of those two things easily dismissed as not seeing the forest for the trees? Who bats 9th and plays CF isn’t changing the big picture of the season, but why continue to run someone out there that has not added anything save for defense all year?
Shoot this is all Arods fault, If only he hadn’t predicted an mvp type of season for jeter. No body wants to step up and challenge Jetes mvp type season. Not condemning Jeter here, I think his hand is still a problem.
I’m almost certain there was a clubhouse meeting urging each player to laydown and allow jetes to shine through and carry them to the playoffs and secure his spot as an mvp.
Sliding back into reality. I honestly don’t like the way G. manages the everyday lineup. I know what he hopes he is doing, I’m not satisfied it works. Resting players may and maynot be a good thing. Interupting streaks unnecessarily unless they’re a bad streak,not sure thats good. I think there is something to be said for preparation in knowing you are starting everyday. There is likely something beneficail in resting giambi,molina. Melky just needs to be benched till he earns his way back. He is better than he is playing. I don’t feel like joe g puts the best playing players on the field consistenly enough. I have always thought you name starters, then you start them, until they play their way off the list, ala Melky.
Why Girardi refuses to move hitters up or down still mystifies me. Players should earn their spot based on their recent performances, not on a 12 year sample. The lineup shouldn’t change any more than necessary, the hitting spots maybe should.
AS it is now, the mangment of this team is approaching the definition of insanity. Name your starters and start them until someone doesn’t deserve to start. I somehow don’t believe inconsistency breeds consistency. Consistency this year anyway seems to be a foreign word to this team.
All in all with the injuries considered Girardi probably has done a good job. I’m just not a fan of his method of everday play. Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke, this team has been mostly broken since day 1, Girardi is not getting what we and he and the players seem to feel they should deliver.
What is the answer? Can we get a do over?
Y’s Guy-
Thank you very much that is the information I was asking about. Does the same hold true for Abreu that we have to offer 80 per cent of his salary which I would assume he would turn down as he could get more on the market in order to get a pick?
SJ 44 I agree with most of what you said but a rotation of cc, wang, joba, hughes, and pettitte or Moose not both is more then good…You are talking about a 5th starter in either moose or pettitte, Moose at 40 scares me to death…
Again hughes end of year performance is critical for next year decisions…
Man Matsui is missed a lot, his pro AB’s are non existent on this team…
gayle your on 6th ave right? Did you see what happened? They shut down 6th from 34th to 42. Construction material fell off a building.
Yeah, that Arod, he’s in a real “decline”.
Geez, where do folks come up with this stuff?
In a “bad” year, he’s still among the league leaders in hitting, OBP, HR’s and leads the league in slugging %.
Damn him, he has to be better than that!
Of all the things that went wrong with the Yankees this year, Arod ain’t in the Top 10.
Has he been unbelievable this year? No. Has he been awful? Absolutely not.
If you think he has, how do you feel about Abreu, Giambi, Cano, Jeter and Cabrera? Their numbers are off the page compared to their past performances.
I know Arod is a lightening rod and everybody wants to blame him for everything. But, if 2 other guys in the lineup approached his numbers this year, the offense wouldn’t be so offensive.
damon cant play cf every day
some teams will run crazy if you dont have melky in cf
you cant send melky down, its ridiculous
you can bench him in favor of christian, gardner or damon whenever you like, but you still need him on this team.
What hurts me most as a fan of this team is that the guys are playing like dogs.
Tampa Bay is going to struggle the rest of the way with no Crawford and Longoria and the Yankees are already making reservations in their mind for the Delano in Miami in October.
At this point in the season it’s critical mass time. They can’t lose anymore.
It’s time to make mass changes to the team and use what’s in Scranton.
Here’s my thoughts — DFA Sexson and bring up Miranda or Broussard to play 1b most of the time.
Send down Melky or Christian for Gardner and let him play full time in CF. My rationale on that is if Melky isn’t going to hit, I’d rather have Gardner’s speed since he can bunt and beat out an infield single, not to mention steal a bag every single time he’s on base.
I’m not saying Gardner is all that, but Melky is awful and I think his approach and his slumping attitude are part of what is draining this team.
I’d also bring up one of the Basak, Ransom types and let them play 2b for a few games. Cano is shot. Unless his career is threatened by another player in pinstripes, the dog in him will never leave. He has his money, he has NY and he has his buddy Melky to commisserate with.
Getting Melky and Cano out of the lineup for career minor leaguer guys who are playing for that one last shot might help. Sometimes those kind of guys just want their shot and want to prove they belong.
Melky and Cano don’t want to prove anything. They just want this season to end.
I know the minor league retreads I’m bringing up aren’t exactly tearing up AAA, but our regulars suck. They really suck.
I’d rather some guys who are late in their careers looking for that one last shot than the primadonna’s who walk out on the field every single day for this team.
The blood needs to change in the clubhouse and it needs to change now.
We can’t make trades, but we can make demotions and bench ineffective stupid lazy players.
If Girardi and Cashman keep this team as is (which is what they will do) we’re toast.
With the Tampa injuries there is a chance they fall and lose to us and Boston head to head the rest of the way.
I just wish the dogs in the Yankee clubhouse thought as optimistically as me.
And for the record, they are not all dogs. We’re talking the usual suspects here which is most of the positional players.
I’m impressed with Ponson, Giese and a lot of the pitchers. I don’t think the pitchers have quit on us like the lineup has.
Get some guys from AAA who want desperately to be in the show and let them be the complementary players to Arod, Jeter, etc. instead of some of these other mental midgets.
Right now they are playing and acting like the season is over — so there is nothing to lose by doing a big shakeup.
Enough with the playoff discussions, its not happening. I’d be more confident sending a team of guys from the Y out every night than this pack of turds. We can no longer risk young arms (Joba,Phil,Melancon) in order to “save” the season. This team has made it very apparent that they want to start golfing as soon as possible, last night was a real statement game they stated that they had given up. If they have why shouldn’t we at least they’re getting paid for this ineptitude.
56 HRs 156 RBIs last year 26 HRs 70 RBIs this year. That looks like a decline to me. Coincidence? Doubt it, last year was a contract year, he was playing for his $$$. Now he has his $$$$ what does he have to worry about, Madonna¿
theres a higher chance that abreu would turn down arbitration but the 80% rule still applies. however in his case, he may see this as his last chance to sign a multi year contract and decline it.
or he may just accept it b/c he’s comfortable in ny.
could go either way imo
“you can bench him in favor of christian, gardner or damon whenever you like, but you still need him on this team.”
yeah, he’s been such a huge asset to the team. where would the ’08 Yankees be w/o him on the roster the last month of the season?
i agree though in the sense that its just a cosmetic move, and doesnt solve any problems, so just keep him around (unless you are worried about him not getting regular ABs the rest of the year).
Jennifer I am on 49th and 7th.But I saw that as I was driving in on 8th avenue and they had shut down the right turn onto 42nd
SJ, hasn’t Arod missed about 20 games as well this year? The Arod hate is amusing.
56 HRs 156 RBIs last year 26 HRs 70 RBIs this year. That looks like a decline to me. Coincidence? Doubt it, last year was a contract year, he was playing for his $$$. Now he has his $$$$ what does he have to worry about, Madonna¿
He’s hitting for AVG this year and doing it w/ lesser games. He has 99 games played this season out of 118. Where are you getting this stuff.
melky is the only real cf on the team. do you really want to see damon or gardner in cf late in a game with a 1 run lead and runners on base? lets not forget the run-like-crazy-on-noodle-arm thing that got melky the cf job in the first place. we at least need him for late innings.
Its a cosmetic move because you aren’t replacing Melky with somebody better. Did you forget how overmatched Brett Gardner looked in the majors?
I have no problems going with Damon in CF, Nady in LF, and Abreu in RF the rest of the way and see if they can hold up and they can win some games. I’m not advocating keeping Melky in the lineup at all costs.
Having a Brett Gardner/Justin Christian platoon may be nice for minor league fantasy players. But, to have them as the CF’s for the final 40 games of the year for the Yankees? That makes no sense to me. Neither one of those guys can or will hit better than Melky playing everyday.
At some point, you have to stop with having a minor league tryout camp during the season. Especially when you have veteran players to plug into the spot.
Stuart,
No question, Moose at 40 (or Andy for that matter) could be risky. However, that’s where Joba, Hughes, and perhaps another young arm that emerges, come in.
If the vets need a rest, or a quick DL stint to stay fresh, you can fill in a guy from within.
Hell, with the way he is pitching, why not bring back Ponson next year and see if he can help again? At least he gives you a chance to win in his starts and he’s not expensive to carry on the roster.
I just don’t want to depend on 2 young guys in the rotation next year. First off, their innings limits won’t allow it. Secondly, it didn’t work this year so, why try it again?
I’d gamble more on Austin Jackson getting AB’s at the ML level in 2009 before I would go the route of giving two spots in the rotation to young guys again.
There is a need to go young in some areas. There is also a need to have veteran pitchers who can give you innings, know how to solve problems out there, and can also pitch when they aren’t feeling all that great.
The way teams baby their young arms today, you have to have some veterans on the staff to pick up the slack.
I think both Andy and Moose would be willing to go year to year on contracts with the Yankees. If that’s the case, I see no reason why you don’t bring both back.
Jonathan
2007 158 games
2008 99 games
These idiots comparing Arod stats. You’re comparing a full season with one that has 42 games left. Also, last year for Arod was probably the best offensive season by a Yank in decades. The Arod haters were quiet all last year and then showed up during the playoffs and now they’re back again. It’s always his fault.
So far I’ve heard people say: fire Girardi, trade Jeter, trade Cano, A-Rod is the reason for the team’s abysmal play, etc.
Sometimes I just don’t get it.
SJ44, what if Matsui returns healthy? Who would you send back of Melky or Christian?
Francessa killing Melky
Y’s,
I see your point on Melky. Damon can’t play everyday in CF if the season had 130 games remaining. With only about 40 games remaining, he can play CF.
Just use Melky as a late inning defensive replacement if you have the lead. You slide Damon to LF, or make other moves depending the late game situation.
they need to start the fire sale now, throw the guys on waivers and see if someone picks them up
Matsui isn’t going to return healthy. If he comes back at all, he’s still on a knee that needs surgery at the end of the year.
That would make him more of a DH than LF, if he comes back this season.
“Its a cosmetic move because you aren’t replacing Melky with somebody better. Did you forget how overmatched Brett Gardner looked in the majors?
I have no problems going with Damon in CF, Nady in LF, and Abreu in RF the rest of the way and see if they can hold up and they can win some games. I’m not advocating keeping Melky in the lineup at all costs.
Having a Brett Gardner/Justin Christian platoon may be nice for minor league fantasy players. But, to have them as the CF’s for the final 40 games of the year for the Yankees? That makes no sense to me. Neither one of those guys can or will hit better than Melky playing everyday.”
I am in no way advocating a Brett Gardner/Justin Christian platoon for the stretch run. I am, however, saying that sending Melky down lets him play every day out of the spotlight, and you figure out CF as best you can on a day-by-day basis, which probably means mostly Damon in center, with Christian spotting him in the field (but not taking him out of the lineup altogether) against lefties. It might make the major league team better offensively but hurt them defensively, but how much is slightly inferior CF defense going to impact the outcome of the season? If it makes the lineup at all better, then go for it.
Also, it might help Melky get his head right and start swinging the bat a little bit again. I will not buy it as a cosmetic move because it might actually help all parties involved.
I would sign on for bringing Ponson back right now.
I think he’s done his job in a way that Kennedy failed miserably at and Sidney has good stuff and seems comfortable in the Yankees clubhouse.
He’s doing exactly what you want a 4-5 starter to do this season.
And SJ, I agree I’d rather Girardi just come out and say the OF is Nady, Damon, Abreu for the rest of the season and Melky is the late inning replacement.
Personally though, I think a big shakeup like sending Melky to Scranton until Sept. 1 could be the kind of move that wakes up Cano.
There needs to be a shock sent to the clubhouse. Cashman has to break out the defibrillator and try to get the heart pumping one last time since it appears this team is seconds away from the death rattle.
I’d even sign on for a DFA of Giambi at this point. I like the guy, but he is a void in the 5 spot.
“So far I’ve heard people say: fire Girardi, trade Jeter, trade Cano, A-Rod is the reason for the team’s abysmal play, etc.”
Girardi has done a pretty bad job but his job shouldn’t be in jeopardy, yet. Obviously people who think that anyone would want Jeter’s horrible contract when he has already started to play like an old man is an idiot. Cano should be traded but only for Kemp or a stud pitcher. A-Rod has been un-clutch but hey who hasn’t its the Yankees baby where un-clutch lives.
Given some of the problems Boston and Tampa are now having with injuries there’s still an outside chance the yanks can make the wild card. But the way they are playing now is just dismal. They would have to reinvent themselves as a team on the fly and they haven’t shown much to indicate they have that capacity.
That said, I think these are some of the critical decisions the team faces in the off season on free agents:
1. Which free agents on the team to bring back?
Abreu has picked it up recently and is having a better year than what it looked like he would do in the first half of the year.
They need to resist any temptation to bring him back next year. Abreu’s play now makes it more likely he’ll be a Type A free agent and trading him for first round/ supplemental picks will be selling relatively high on him.
He just cannot defend anymore at all. His hitting could precipitously decline as well.
Giambi – not coming back. Unfortunately I don’t think they get any picks for him as I don’t think they can take the chance of him accepting arbitration if they offerred it. So be it.
I think they should bring back Mussina and Pettite. Both would accept 1 year deals. We’ve seen this year how it’s impossible to have too much pitching. They can’t take the risk next year of projecting guys into the rotation.
If they are to win next year it’ll be because they’ve assembled a strong rotation.
Pudge – have to let him go, IMO, unless you’re fairly confident posada can’t resume playing catcher.
Posada at first base isn’t nearly as valuable a player. Keeping Pudge and playing Posada at first just makes this team even older.
Marte – I’d pick up his option to avoid it being Mo and a bunch of young arms in the pen. Marte used as strictly a one inning guy/ lefty reliever will be a valuable weapon.
2. New Free agents to sign?
I was a bit hesitant on CC earlier in the year because prior to this year he’s only had two truly outstanding seasons. I wanted to see how he did this year and he’s had a terrific season.
I don’t like the idea of a 7 year deal (which is what I think it will ultimately take to sign him) but the Yankees now have little choice.
Their best hope of winning in the near future is to assemble an absolutely dominant staff. They have the makings of it right now – add CC in their and it arguably becomes the best staff in baseball.
CC/ Wang/ Joba/ Moose/ Pettite with Hughes as backup depth to go with a pen of Mo, Marte, Veras, Ramirez, Melancon, Giese, and Phile Coke or Dave Robertson could be the best combined rotation and bull pen in the league.
That’s the direction this team needs to go in – accelerate even faster the move towards dominant pitching.
For years the offense had to cover up / make up for the deficits in pitching. For the next couple of seasons it may have to be the reverse – the pitching making up for an aging roster.
IT is always A-rods fault. We can throw the stats out the window. Bottom Line he does not know how to win at all cost, that’s what irks most Yankee fans. You need your best player to have that mentality otherwise the rest of the players will not have that attitude.
The FA class is not the “best in a long time”, but it is pretty deep.
Starters – Sabathia, Mussina, Pettitte, Sheets, Harden (option), Garland, Brad Penny (option), Brunett (option), Lowe, Oliver Perez, Dempster,
Hitters – Teixeria, Manny, Frucal, Blake, Dunn, Burrell, Bradley, Delgado, Giambi, Orlando Hudson, Abreu, Crede
Relievers – Krod, Farnsworth, Marte (option), Fuentes, Lyon, Hoffman, Cruz, Wheeler
Doesn’t Bradley have a team option for 2009?
Gotta think the Cubs will pick up the option on Harden. They didn’t give up what they gave up for him just to let him walk after the season.
Orlando Hudson’s wrist injury is going to cost him a lot of money. A shame because he can play.
Crede’s back acting up again is also going to cost him some significant dollars.
Another likely FA this fall is AJ Burnett. I figure the Yankees can improve by eight games in the standings just by signing Burnett and Oliver Perez — two guys they can’t beat — and Kevin Millar, a guy they can’t get out!!!
I posted about Long relative to the decline of young hitters. To me, progress of young hitters is the truest measure of a hitting coach and by any measure Melky and Cano are going backwards.
Teixiera overrated? Based on what? Pujols is the only superior all around first baseman in the game… I’d say Tex and Lance Berkman are # 2 or # 3 with Derek Lee # 4.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… No Giambi, No Pudge, No Abreu, No Sexson, Pettite or Mussina but not both. It may take another year to get out from under an aging, one dimensional overpaid ballclub.
as tough it is to say it as a yankee fan, i think there done
“Starters – Sabathia, Mussina, Pettitte, Sheets, Harden (option), Garland, Brad Penny (option), Brunett (option), Lowe, Oliver Perez, Dempster,
Hitters – Teixeria, Manny, Frucal, Blake, Dunn, Burrell, Bradley, Delgado, Giambi, Orlando Hudson, Abreu, Crede
Relievers – Krod, Farnsworth, Marte (option), Fuentes, Lyon, Hoffman, Cruz, Wheeler”
How is that depth? Guys like Sheets, Harden, Burnett, Penny, Dunn and Burrell are going to get deals way bigger than they deserve which will probably end up being viewed as mistakes halfway through. The Yankees aren’t going to sign a reliever to a big contract after the great luck they’ve had with that in recent years (Chris Hammond, Steve Karsay, Kyle Farnsworth), so you can forget about that group. Furcal and Hudson are coming off major surgeries, and the rest of the names are littered with older guys (the ex-Yankees on the list, plus Delgado and Manny) and enigmas (Ollie Perez,
The only guys I’d take in pinstripes are Casey Blake and Derek Lowe, but I don’t think Blake’s played 1B which is where he’d fit with the Yankees. Also, I’m not sure he can live without having a beard. As for Lowe, I don’t know if he would translate back to the AL East after spending a while out in the minor league-level NL West.
how bout k-rod setting up rivera next and becoming the eventual successor
a few parting shots:
melky can be on the bench but he needs to be on the team
remember you’re not replacing melky with damon, you’re replacing him with sexson or betamit
burnett=pavano
Any good power hitters in the ’09 draft? We need to get at least 1 first baseman and a corner OFer with all those compensatory picks.
a23
krod is leaving anehiem or los hollywood because he wants to be paid more than rivera.
you think he’s gonna sign to be mo’s 2nd fiddle?
“how bout k-rod setting up rivera next and becoming the eventual successor”
KRod is asking for more money than Mo. Don’t know if the Yankees would pay a reliever more than Mo.
CB, I disagree with you on Hughes. If he comes back up here pretty soon and looks good, he’s going to be in the rotation next year.
Jonathan -
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/.....ree-a.html
really liked bumping into this post