The LoHud Yankees Blog

9 Responses to “Today in The Journal News”

1. Al from BK(Calvin Pace doesn't just end drives, he ends careers.) September 8th, 2008 at 3:50 am

   A-Rod knows hes in for a huge 09 its his career trend, mediocre year followed by a tremendous year. Look for A-Rod to shoot HR’s out of that new ballpark at a record pace.

2. Doreen September 8th, 2008 at 8:19 am

   Regarding Girardi’s optimism. A line from one of my favorite musicals, “The Music Man,” came to mind this morning.

   “I always think there’s a band, kid.”

   So, Girardi thinks they’re still in a pennant race – or, more likely, still clings to the rapidly fading hope that his team can inject itself into a race that’s leaving them behind.

   I can’t blame him for his public statements. What’s a manager with this particular team to do? On paper, they had the horses. They made the deadline deals. They’ve fallen short anyway. It’s an extremely disappointing year, and I am certain Girardi is the most disappointed of us all.

   It may validate our feelings for him to come out and say they don’t have a snowball’s chance in, well, Haiti, but it wouldn’t help the situation. He believes his guys are working hard, and you don’t get down on people who are working hard. I’m not there, and I don’t see the preparation, etc., so I’m not in a position to say they’re not working hard, not trying. They certainly aren’t getting the results.

   So, there are 19 games left for them to not finish in fourth place. But it sure don’t look good, does it?

3. fuhgoobagaz September 8th, 2008 at 8:50 am

   They didn’t make the deal that might have helped them more… they didn’t get a SP which was the biggest problem they had. Instead they went with Ponson and Rasner.

4. Doreen September 8th, 2008 at 9:08 am

   fuhgoobagaz -

   Joba went down after the trade deadline. I given them a bit of a pass for two reasons. With Joba, Pettitte and Mussina they had a good front three who gave them reasonable expectations to win 3 out of every 5 games. Ponson at the time had given them some good starts (with a lot of luck, I’ll admit, but not all luck) with Rasner being very so-so.

   I think if Seattle had stayed reasonable, the Yankees definitely would have gotten Washburn, but they didn’t, and that was that.

   They were not going to go after CC in trade. Especially since it’s been made fairly clear that CC was going to test the FA waters. Who wants to take the chance of giving up some really, really good prospects and then not have CC next season to show for it? Well, not the Yankees, anyway.

   And regarding Boston and Byrd, I didn’t expect Byrd to do that well.

   What’s hurt the Yankees the last couple of years has been their desire to not clog the roster with players in whom they had no long-term interest, but who would have required contracts with longer terms than the Yankees were willing to commit. It’s the transition – trying to become younger and more athletic as well as more flexible has meant they’ve had to pass on some players that would have helped short-term, but would have gotten in the way long-term.

   They’re definitely thinking big picture. The problem is the guys they had this year didn’t do their part – they didn’t “play to the backs of their baseball cards.” Add in the almost constant barrage of injuries, plus the season-ending injuries to Wang and Posada, well, you have a recipe for fourth place, with a hair of hope for third.

5. fuhgoobagaz September 8th, 2008 at 10:16 am

   What has hurt the Yankees for nearly a decade now is that their starting pitching isn’t good enough.

   Cashman doesn’t do a very good job at evaluating pitching and it has bitten him every year.

   I think its why he overloads on pitching during the draft, and has no real position players coming up in the near future. We’ve seen his “best” position players. Melky, Gardner, Ransom, Christian.

   Yes there were injuries. Good teams over come them. Torre’s teams had injuries. Others stepped up. Girardi’s team has injuries and Pollyanna G. talks about how there are many games left.

6. Joey's Poodle September 8th, 2008 at 11:01 am

   Doreen,

   I’ll never be able to see Girardi’s obliviously chirpy comments in the same light again now that you’ve brought up the Music Man quote “I always think there’s a band”.

   From now on I’ll see the big band pouring through town while 110 cornets blaze away.

   A terrific image to keep with me for the remains of this moribund season.

   Thanks. I know there’s a band playing someplace, and I think maybe that place is the new Stadium…

7. bigjf September 8th, 2008 at 1:09 pm

   Al from BK, I’d kill to have a career full of A-Rod’s “mediocre” seasons. I’d be in the Hall of Fame if I could do that.

8. 86w183 September 8th, 2008 at 2:26 pm

   It’s amazing how good Alex’s “bad” years are isn’t it.

   It’s fine to blame Cashman for every shortcoming but many if most things are not under his complete control. He’s had three drafts where the guy making the selections answered to him, that’s all.

   This transition from an older to a younger roster will not be easy, but it is better for long term stability than shelling out big $$$ for other people’s FA every year. With a ton of $$$ coming off the books and FA possibilities significantly younger than Giambi, Mussina, Pavano and Pettite this will be Cashman’s most important off-season.

   If they are battling for third place at this time next year’s I’ll join the chorus of those singing for his ouster, but for now he’s earned the right to see this process through.

9. Foriegn Exchange September 15th, 2008 at 11:28 am

   I’m not sure I got it