Blog poll: Who is to blame?
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Sep 24, 2008 
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If Girardi said he accepts responsibility, Did you ask him when he will be resigning because of this disgrace?
If not, can you?
Please?
No one is to blame. This is a great team that simply did not complete its task this season. It did however, move and entertain. The Yanks are addictive, and Pete, your blog has some of the same great qualities.
Barry
When in doubt, blame A-Rod.
All joking aside, everyone’s a little at fault, including freak accidents.
However, I do think the front office has to take a lot of the blame. It wasn’t that they didn’t have a good plan coming into the season but that they didn’t have any sort of tangible back up plan, and when they *did* figure out what to do, they waited too long to do it.
since the day Wang went down, Cashman should had went to acquire a pitcher who is able to fill Wang’s shoes and not acquiring Ponson to fill his shoes. Ponson and Rasner should have been DFAed once they failed. No I’m not blaming Cashman for this. Even the batters should done better with RISP and not just left them on base.
I will always blame Cashman and to some extent the Steinbrenners for this season.
Anyone claiming that Johan Santana wouldn’t have made a difference and given this team a talent/confidence boost in the off season is insane.
Now, the Yankees are hoping CC will take more money than Johan would have cost and we can’t trade IPK and Melky for Luis Ayala.
The mere idea that 2 rookie pitchers on innings limits were ready to be in a major league rotation was so stupid, it literally came back to bite the organization in the arse.
Combine that with giving Cano guaranteed money, not signing legit bench players, not signing at least one veteran starter just in case Hughes and IPK spit the bit….
This season was lost in the winter last year.
Yes, this team underperformed. But when you go out every night with Rasner, Kennedy and Ponson it’s hard to get up for the game.
Go out with Johan on the mound and there’s an air of confidence or dare I say swagger.
We only saw a glimpse of that when Joba was starting.
Add in the disaster of player development this season and the god awful draft and the front office really sunk the team.
I give them tremendous credit for trying with the Nady/Marte/Pudge deals. That bought them some respect back from me and showed me they wanted to win.
That said, the players have no excuse for their continual trend of treating April/May/June as if it doesn’t count.
I hope there’s some big turnover this season and we get some players that realize every damn game counts — not just the Red Sox games.
Ed: The Yankees used Joba to fill in for Wang, which was working just fine until Joba got hurt.
From Alpha to Omega, all three parts share a responsibility in this season failer
When in doubt blame A-Rod, i say
I agree with what Rebecca said.
1) Steinbrenners… it’s clear that about 1% of what they do now is baseball. They are in the TV, food, and construction businesses, and these little comments where they act like joe blow baseball fan are fully enabled by the TV business… Anyone who knows baseball knows that injuries are a big part of the game. If you had a payroll that was two-six time the size of others, wouldn’t you want to protect yourself against injuries? particularly with the pitching staff? There is no excuse for a 200 dollar payroll that isn’t prepared for injuries.
2) Girardi… this guy really has no idea what he is doing. again, why are the yankees spending 200 million on payroll and then hiring an amateur manager who in no way has the experience or the talent to take them to the playoffs?
3) Cashman–why the hell Girardi????
Rebecch: With Joba on the rotation, it was Mussina, Pettitte, Joba, Ponson, Rasner, and sometimes Giese. Giese was okay and did his job though. With the likes of Ponson and Rasner, it’s just not enough. We all knew Ponson and Rasner would fail miserably in the rotation.
We’ll see what the records are at the end of the season, but when you aren’t eliminated until the last week in a 3 horse race, you weren’t far off.
I put it on the players. Yes, that’s unfair. They felt pressure to produce when guys went down.
But look at all those men left on base. Look at that avg. with RISP.
And don’t tell me about the bottom third of the order. Who’s been starting the rallies lately? Who failed to knock guys in earlier in the season? That’s right. The heart of the order. Yes, the averages are nice, but the timely hitting wasn’t there.
You could probably find 7 games in the season where a base knock wins the game.
Heck, you could probably find 5 games Mo lost for us, but it’s a team sport so that would be unfair to point at one person.
The players know the deal. Girardi put them in the position to win and they failed a few too many times.
There are some good things that we can talk about later, but I’ll just mention that Molina did a great job in Posada’s absence. The pitchers seem to love him (Moose, we have Jose for another year!) I was wrong, I was wrong, I was wrong about the Moose. My sincerest apologies to Mike.
Rebecca*, sorry for misspelling your name. =X
I blame Joe Torre
I was wrong, I was wrong, I was wrong about the Moose. My sincerest apologies to Mike.
I concur. I thought he would have a repeat of last year but he did shut me up this season.
G. Love: I think sitting home in October will do a lot for most of the team that doesn’t remember the last time they weren’t in the postseason.
With the young guys especially I think it will be a wake up call–an excrutiating, painful one, but those tend to be the most effective.
Anyway, if you’re down, just consider the success of Scranton and, more importantly in the long run, Trenton.
We’re not nearly in as bad of shape as say Detroit, who not only had a horrible year but has nothing in house remotely close to being ready to help the team.
When it comes down to it, we were not that far off.
A win here, a win there, games we didn’t get the right hit at the right time…and we’re in the playoffs.
I don’t think you need to blow up the team. I think you let Giambi go, you sign a starter and find a first baseman…but I don’t think there will be grand sweeping overhauls.
I think the first base situation is complicated because we don’t know how much longer Posada can catch, and the market this year for nearly any position is pretty thin.
But, honestly? If we were healthy this year, and had that one or two more wins from Wang and Jorge’s bat, we’re in the playoffs.
Yeah it hurts, yeah it stings, but it’s not as though we’ve ruined the team for decades to come
mel and ed: Moose proved us all wrong.
I don’t think anyone thought we’d get this from Moose. Hell, even Girardi had an incentive to get Moose to ten wins!
I blame god, The players usually thank god when they win I say let’s blame him when we loose
Rebecca,
I said a long while back that missing the postseason could be a good thing.
Pete positively jumped all over that, but sometimes you don’t appreciate things until they’re gone.
Any chance these guys won’t be motivated?
Maybe next year Mariano will speak up before it’s too late.
I still want to know who said the players quitted.
Rebecca,
I don’t think the team is ruined for decades to come. I just think we’ve seen a trend with these players who treat the opening months of the season as a scrimmage.
They literally think they can turn it on in July and squeak in.
I can’t believe this team has started thinking like that.
Maybe Torre had something to do with that thinking. Maybe he told the guys “don’t kill yourselves to win the division, just make the post season”.
Who knows…but that attitude must change.
You really think Abreu, Cano and even Arod to some extent really are going to be torn up all off season that this team didn’t make the post season?
I don’t.
Letting Giambi walk is one thing — but as awesome a story as Scranton is, there are no positional prospects from that team (outside of gardner) who will take on big roles next season.
I just want to see a team that’s less concerned about looking cool and more concerned about beating the opposition’s brains in.
Maybe missing the post season might spark that in some of them, but I won’t believe for a second that Cano will come back with an ounce of fire in his belly.
It’s not all on him, but if he just showed up this season and replicated what he did last year, I think we’re in the post season. Same goes for Arod.
I blame the state of Texas.
Seriously, think about it….
Okay,
The slow start, strong finish thing is a holdover from the past. Combine that with a new manager trying to find his bearings in the beginning of the season (which he should be allowed to) and you have disappointment at the end of the season.
It’ll definitely be different next season, you don’t experience the depths of despair and not learn from it.
Besides, the players will be playing for a new win-loss record at the stadium. That’ll be fun to watch.
BBB: THANK YOU! SOMEONE ELSE BLAMES TEXAS BESIDES ME!
G Love: Indeed, I agree that they have to have a different attitude come April and May.
I guess I might be more optimistic, as per Canò, but I can dream, right?
I agree Scranton doesn’t have a lot of prospects, which is why I said Trenton was more important–apparently AA is the new AAA!
But my basic point is that even though we’re missing the postseason this year, I don’t think we’re in as horrible of shape as some people would be making us out to be.
And to be completley honest, I think it kills A-Rod not to have a World Series. I realize I might be in a minority but I think the problem Alex had this year was that he always tried to be the hero and hit a home run when a walk or base hit would have been just fine. He puts much too much pressure on himself.
It was a collective effort or failure….how ever you want to label it. Bad seasons, bad coaching, bad hitting, bad pitching, bad scouting, bad front office decisions on player personnel, bad luck, injuries. A season in which everything went wrong.
As always, it’s all Melky’s fault.
The idea that the bench was bad, keep in mind that it was the bench that was playing a majority of the season. The bench would have been just fine had they not had to play as much. If the bench plays that much (and, this includes backup starters) the team in’t going to win.
There’s no scapegoat for the Yankees missing the playoffs b/c you can blame the players (all of them, you can not just say ARod), season ending injuries to Wang & Posada, the GM picking up starting pitching at a yard sale instead of going to store (i.e., Ponson & Rasner vs. Wolf & Byrd).
It sucks that the Yankees didn’t make the playoffs, but, they weren’t going to make any noise with their rotation and old and aging veterans. You hope Cashman makes some changes to the lineup and the rotation that will make the team and younger and stronger (Sabathia & Holliday / Tiexerra)
GB7,
Betemit was a nice spark off the bench towards the end, huh?
No way they sign Teixeira. No chance.
GB what happened to the hair dresser? He disappeared.
all right it’s 2 AM and I got a lot of stuff to do tomorrow so I’m out.
If you’re thinking about ledge jumping, please, don’t.
The cool thing about baseball is that you get to play it again in the spring.
Mel, Betemit isn’t as bad as some like to claim. He actually had a very good season as a pinch hitter. It has been a long time since the Yankees have had a pinch hitter getting almost 30 at bats in a season. He’s no Gold Glover, but, he not exactly a butcher. Ransom did a pretty decent job, lately, too. Hard to believe that Nady has gone in the tank in September, though. He’s hitting 2.00 and in danger of slipping under .300 for the year, as is Jeter and Rodriguez. Hoping they finish strong and at least salvage those targets, along with Mussina, Pettitte and Rivera reaching theirs.
Blame Peter Abraham.
He’s as good a target as any.
You have to blame Hughes and Kennedy, we counted on them and they were terrible.
Miggs (All in for Moose’s quest for 20)
September 24th, 2008 at 1:49 am
GB what happened to the hair dresser? He disappeared.
____________________________________________
He showed up earlier, giving everyone his sage insight. What a baseball wizard he is. He’s right there with Stuart Little as the the board dalai lamas.
I wonder what it would take to trade for Victor Martinez to play 1B? His contract ends after the 2009 season, and he could be a salary dump. Garko is handling 1B pretty well and Shoppach has emerged as an everyday catcher. V-Mart could be a nice protection for A-Rod as well and he’s a switch hitter too.
Ed: Not while Posada’s still on the payroll.
all right, for real, I’m out. Night all.
Posada’s injury.
That’s a few wins with the bat plus a few handling the arms.
cashman is to blame for EVERYTHING. he wanted majority power and now he takes responsibility for his failures.
Posada’s contract: 4 years, 52.4 million dollars
Martinez’s contract: 4 years, 15.5 million dollars with an option year
Giambi’s contact: 7 years, 120 million dollars with an option year
————
Yeah, I prefer V-Mart’s contract and pick up his option until our “1b prospects” are ready to take over.
Not dumping on Alex, but he doesn’t need protection. Pitchers are giving him lots of good pitches…to guess at. They’re playing him straight up and IBB’ing guys behind him.
There was a time last season, when Alex was in the zone, he was in that ‘see ball, hit ball’ mode.
Who is to blame?
Ans:must be Cashman,Kevin Long,Giradi,pitching coaches
THE WORST MANAGEMENT LEAD TO FAIL.
There was a time last season, when Alex was in the zone, he was in that ’see ball, hit ball’ mode.
sadly, it only happens every other year. funny how it happens only the odd years.
maybe its his steroid cycle… every other year
“Posada’s contract: 4 years, 52.4 million dollars”
It’s a no brain deal.
BB,
Sorry, don’t understand.
Worst management leads to failure
or
Worst management fails to lead
Finding fault? Fault to put the blame?
Totally unnecessary. It accomplishes nothing.
Searching for an excuse? You won’t find any from Derek.
So what’s the reason? It may not be an option in your poll.
For starters, entering tonight they had a .493 winning percentage on the road, no team since 1996 had a home/road split under .500. The worst they had done in those years on the road was 42-39, twice (’05 & ’07). Currently, they’re 38-38, and they’ll most likely finish one game above/below .500 on the road…
Fun fact: Two more wins will total the number of total wins by the Division, Pennant, and World Series champions of the 2000 Yankees during the regular season.
Who is to blame for what exactly? failing to squeak into the playoffs and lose in the first round? They are close enough to the wildcard that there are many you could blame for that. Once Joba went down after Wang was already lost, there wasn’t enough starting pitching to have any hopes of actually doing well in the playoffs and the goal shouldn’t be to squeak into the playoffs and get killed in the first round. Even if they had acquired Santana (which I was a proponent of) or had traded for CC mid season, there wouldn’t have been enough starting pitching to do well in the playoffs after Joba went down. Pettite is pitching pretty awful right now.
YOU KNOW SUZYN… if the Yankees had only hit a little more, played better defense and not assumed that two unproven rookie pitchers were going to be all-stars, they really could’ve made a run at it this year! The question is, where do we go from here?
Suzyn : ROGAH CLEMMENNZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111111111 :O
Hah! God I hate working with you.
“IT IS HIGH! IT IS FAR! IT IS…. THONG!!!”
Almost everybody underachieved at the plate this year.
I can write a short list consisting of pitchers who didn’t perform well enough to keep the Yanks in the game. But then again, I can write a scroll consisting of many games where these pitchers didn’t receive any run support. Moose would have 20 wins already.
The players are ultimately to blame. It’s mostly a soft group that doesnt handle adversity well.
I’m not sure how the Steinbrenners are at fault, other than by listening to Brian Cashman.
Cashman did nothing to improve the team last winter. Nothing. Not one thing. He put blind faith in 2 rookie pitchers that have yet to prove they are ready for the major leagues. Ian Kennedy may never be ready. He overvalued many other prospects and froze himself out of the trade market. It’s too early to make a final decision, but passing on Santana so far has proven to be a mistake.
Cashman then blew the amateur draft. The Yankees, in a period where they are touting their farm system, failed to sign their 2 top picks.That’s inexcusable.
The Yankees were only a Chien-Ming Wang away from making the playoffs.
I think you have to blame injuries. you lose your ace, and your starting catcher you cant expect to do much with jose molina and sidney ponson
Injuries were huge, but I think Cashman (and his Steinbrenner backers) is the most responsible. He failed to pull teh trigger on the Santana trade, and now Santana is leading the NL in ERA while Melky may be done as a starting CF in the majors. Hughes may be great some day, but I don’t think you keep an unknown when you can trade them for a proven dominant pitcher.
I also think that the Yankees were silly not to offer more for Daisuke Matsuzaka, who leads MLB in win % and is second in the AL in ERA. Think of a rotation with Santana and Matsuzaka. Those two would probably be, together, 30 games over .500. Add Mussina to that and you almost certainly have a 100 win team. Now we wait to see if the Yankees overpay for CC…
I have seen Santana many times this season. For most of the year he was a six inning pitcher. He is a fly ball pitcher playing half his games in a large park and is in a league where the 8 and 9 spots are weak. For instruction on the difference look a CC pre and post trade.
The national league was a good career move for Santana. Put him in the AL east and he would struggle. Seven expensive years plus giving up Wang, Kennedy and Melkie appeared unacceptable. It still doest.
I have been a fan during the period 1965-1975. This doesn’t seem like that. The AL East will be a dogfight the next few years.
I like the idea of pursuing V. Martinez either by trade or via free agency in 2010. A switch hitting first baseman who can catch in a pinch is appealing. Unlike Texiera he might want to play here.
Seasons end, Rosters change, buildings crumble, the Yankees endure
Besides all the injuries……pudge curse, we were close until he almost took jobas head off with an unecessary 2nd base throw.. Yanks were 3 out at that point,… And collapsed after that
There’s enough blame to accomodate everybody top to bottom but there were at least 12 games that could have been won but were given away.
Add 10 wins and subject 10 losses and where would the team be today ?
Injuries happen to every team but lack of run production in 2008 glares the most.
I do think that Girardi was overmatched this season, but as the year went on he learned a lot of valuable lessons. It is a shame that the Yanks had to suffer from him learning on the job, but hey, we knew going into this season that there were a lot of question marks.
Boston missed the playoffs a couple of years ago and won the whole thing the next year. Yanks can do it, but it won’t be handed to them in the toughest division in baseball.
Just goes to show you how special it is when they do win and how you can’t take anything for granted.
Everyone keep in mind that while this year Santana has been great, the MEts signed him to a long term contract and gave up prospects. For one season he looks good, but what if in year three he finally breaks down completely? DOn’t use one years worth of data to determine if a trade was a succes.
You can’t just give up top prospects AND $100+ million dollar contracts for pitchers.
To me this season comes down to five crucial events.
1. The decision not to deal for Santana — Everyone knew this was a bad decision short term. Time will tell what kind of long term decision it turns out to be.
2. Posada’s Injury — It matters not who is called the Captain, it is Jorge who sets the competitive tone on this team and his absence was devastating offensively and psychologically
3. Wang’s Injury — Everyone has injuries, but no one else lost their best starting pitcher and their most irreplaceable position player. Wang’s starts went to Sydney Ponson, ’nuff said.
4. A’Rod’s Split — the Yankees’ best player was distracted and pressing for much of the summer. No one in the lineup relaxes when he’s in one of his funks and the whole team’s RISP suffered. I’m no blaming him personally, but his issues affected/infected the entire team.
5. Joba’s Shut Down — Even with all the other issues, had Chamnberlain remained in the rotation they just might have pulled it together. Once he left the Yanks had three duds in the rotation instead of two.
That’s where the season went awry.
First, the Yankess as they stand right now would be winning one division easily, within 2 games of two more, and be in the mix for the NL wild card. The AL East features 4 of the top 10 teams in baseball, and only 2 can go to the playoffs.
Second, the single biggest problem with the team this year was the loss of Posada. The dropoff from him to Molina is enormous, and I don’t care how many more guys Molina throws out, his bat creates a huge hole at the bottom of the lineup.
After Posada, Cano is a pretty close second. He was supposed to get better this year, but he went hard in reverse. Losing Wang hurt, but thanks to a much improved bullpen (which Torre would never have used correctly), the pitching wasn’t as big of a problem as most people seem to think.
Finally to all The Arod haters: get over it. For whatever supposed flaws he has, he’s one of the best in the game, and without him the Yankee playoff run probably ends three years ago.
1) Cashman
A) Did not react to the injuries on the team-Wang=Ponson I dont think so. No real replacement for Posada or Matsui–Richie Sexon???
B) Didnt react to a plan gone bad. Kennedy and Hughes didnt wortk out but he had no “Plan B”
C) Wouldnt “rent” a player for two monthes to make the playoffs. No CC or Harden. Look how the rental on Manny makes Torre look like a genius when before Manny came his team was going nowhere
D) and of course no Santana
2) Girardi
Tried to be too much like old Joe–should have been in Cano’s grill in April not in September. Made many wierd decisions like benching Damon in Minny and not bunting in many games that made no sense. Became a Yankee appoligist
3) Players
At the end of the day they still have a zillion “allstars” on the team that just didnt perform in the clutch. “Stat Rod” and the rest didnt get it done. Its embarssing to see a team like Tampa win when we have all of this talent on our team that just never steeped up
Who is to blame? A season gone awry?
This team is going to finish 15-20 games over .500 and have the same or better record that 3 division winners and the NL wild card winner.
They play in the toughest division in baseball, had the worst luck with injuries, were breaking kids into the rotation, dealing with new clubhouse chemistry, muddling through with an on again/off again bullpen and relying on Rasner and Ponson since mid-July.
I’ve seem posts regarding unquantifiable ‘ifs’ (Johan Santana), then I’ll throw in that ‘if’ the Rays hadn’t come of age this season, the Yankees would be in the playoffs again with this same failure of a team.
We would be celebrating another post-season for the Yankees and praising the organization for doing a great job, working through the injuries, dealing with a patchwork rotation, overcoming the struggles of bullpen and warming up to a new manager.
Instead we need finger pointing for a failed season? Why, because the Yankee fan playoff or bust birthright wasn’t fulfilled this year?
Sometimes I can understand why fans in Pittsburgh and Kansas City hate Yankee fans.
Forget blaming the Yankees or their FO. Here are the things that are really to blame:
1. Interleague play, and by extension, the entire National League, whose rules were clearly designed to result in a season-ending lisfranc sprain to our best pitcher.
In all seriousness, the loss of Wang to a completely unforseeable injury was catastrophic to the team’s chances. Those saying that Cashman relied on a rotation comprised of Rasner and Ponson are not being fair. Our rotation going into the stretch should have been Wang-Joba-Mussina-Pettitte, and Rasner or Ponson would be back-end filler. And that’s based on the reality that neither Hughes nor Kennedy worked out.
It’s also unfair to criticize Cashman for “relying” on Hughes and Kennedy. Playoff-bound teams put young, unproven starters in their rotations all the time. No one could say they were going to flame out so spectacularly.
Also we got a bad performance from Pettitte down the stretch, which few saw coming.
The only thing that really went right with the rotation was Mussina. And yet we would still be in the playoff hunt if it wasn’t for those meddling Rays.
2. The Rays, who have no business leading the division.
Again, just kidding. I hope the Rays remain a strong team for years to come, because I think it’s good for the sport. But if the Rays are their normal last-place selves, the Yankees are going to the playoffs as the Wild Card this season. They probably would have a better record, too.
I think it’s safe to say that when a last place team suddenly becomes one of the best teams in the league, there will be a shift in the balance of power in that team’s division. BOTH THE RED SOX AND THE YANKEES SUFFERED due to that shift.
People are reacting to the Yankees’ elimination like it’s the sinking of the Lusitania. Yes, it sucks, but it’s not an atrocity. It’s a season where almost nothing went the team’s way and the worst team in their division became the best team in their division. These things happen – rarely, but they happen (like winning 4 championships in 5 seasons). As the Steinbrenners seem to understand, you don’t fire everyone because of crappy luck.
Paulie,
You know nothing about baseball.
“A) Did not react to the injuries on the team-Wang=Ponson I dont think so.”
Cashman moved Joba into the rotation despite the protests of virtually everyone in the sports media and more than a few fans. Joba was the replacement for Wang.
Ponson was the replacement for four pitchers who either got injured or couldn’t remain in the rotation. He was not a replacement for Wang.
“No real replacement for Posada or Matsui–Richie Sexon???”
Enlighten me as to who could have replaced Posada (who we lost due to a non-age-related injury, by the way). How about Pudge Rodriguez? Oh yeah, Cashman stole him for a reliever we didn’t need. Who else should we have acquired?
Cashman got an outfielder to replace Matsui. His name is Xavier Nady.
“B) Didnt react to a plan gone bad. Kennedy and Hughes didnt wortk out but he had no “Plan B—
Joba was Plan B. How many plans do you need?
“C) Wouldnt “rent†a player for two monthes to make the playoffs. No CC or Harden. Look how the rental on Manny makes Torre look like a genius when before Manny came his team was going nowhere”
It would have made no sense for the Yankees to sell low on their prospects for a rental when they can sign free agents like CC without losing any prospects. Contrary to what you appear to believe, making trades calculated solely to get into the playoffs every year is destructive and has contributed to the team not making the playoffs this season.
And how, for the love of God, does LA’s acquisition of Manny make Torre look like a genius? By the way, LA is one of the worst-run franchises in baseball. Look at their signings over the last few years.
“The players know the deal. Girardi put them in the position to win and they failed a few too many times.”
I can’t agree with this statement mainly because Girardi put the weakest lineups/ defense together for Kennedy and Hughes’ starts in the beginning of the year.
Girardi didn’t put them in position to win at least 15 games this year. 15! Last season Torre was blamed for losing 8 games total. You should expect that from any manager. When they get above that number is when there is concern.
Girardi showed some signs of getting a better handle on how to manage, but it was too late in the season.
When a manager makes moves which lead to a loss too frequently, it removes confidence from the team. That takes quite a bit of work to make up. While the team talks about how they (for the most part) are behind Girardi, I don’t think that was true for a majority of the season.
Cashman had fault for not getting a SP better than Ponson and Rasner. He was stupid to pick up Sexson who many here were saying he kills lefties, yeah right. Ensburg, Betemit, Gardner, Melky, Cano, Molina, Sexson, Giambi, Gonzales, Duncan, Christian. All of them stunk at the plate, and they covered a good chunk of plate appearances, you don’t make that up with the top of the order.
When you have that kind of lack of offense in the bottom of the order the top of the order is going to press more in an effort to make up for the lack. That is going to kill the offense.
Betemit is poor at defense and can’t bat from the right side. Ensburg was poor at defense and poor at the plate. Gonzales was good defensively but couldn’t hit to save his life. Gardner is fast and good with his glove but can’t hit. Sexson was out and out terrible and shouldn’t have been acquired. It was a wasted roster spot and a stupid move.
When Cashman took in guys who were let go by poor teams it sent a bad message to the team as well.
Unless you think that anyone on the Yankees team thought Ponson and Sexson were going to give that big push they needed.
Really the difference in the season right now. Is what the yankees are 6 games back in the wild card. If wang were pitching there are your six extra wins at least.
Then theres losing posada all year.
Arod for three weeks
Damond DL stint
Matsui a good chunk of the year
Joba
Cano had an off year
Jeter started slow
Things just did not go right from the beginning. I think it would have been a big stretch for this team to make it to the post season. No one is really at fault. But if I had to pick from your poll I’d say.
Players
This is a must read. It may be ‘old news’, but documents the point and drives it home. It also addresses this 2008 offseason.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....id=3589629
I don’t think people realize that even with some mistakes, Cashman has saved this franchise. If George et al had been at the helm for the last 3 years, we would really be in a deep hole.
And on the ‘List of 10′, check out the top 3. Pretty sad.
I blame George Bush.
I wouldn’t use blame, but this season tanked when Jorge Posada went out for the year. On the day he decided to have the surgery, the Yankees were 3 back of Tampa for the Division. After that, it all came apart.
That and the lousy hitting with RISP.
“Cashman moved Joba into the rotation despite the protests of virtually everyone in the sports media and more than a few fans. Joba was the replacement for Wang.”
Untrue. Sorry, Jeremy, but Joba was moved into the rotation to replace Kennedy/ Hughes and it was planned that he was going to be in there.
He ended up being more of a replacement for Wang, but that was by default and not plan. When Wang went down it changed the whole rotation. So, yes, Ponson and Rasner ultimately were the answers that Cashman gave to take Wang’s slot.
He had the opportunity to upgrade slightly to Washburn (though that wasn’t talking much) or Byrd. Byrd would have been an upgrade to Ponson, to Rasner, to Geise.
Why is it necessary to blame anyone. They had a tough year, under the circumstances they did great. Whether anyone wants to admit it, they played hard and courageous some with injuries. Just enjoy the run and look forward to next year. Baseball is a game of many intangibles. You know this if you have played it. I just enjoy the game.
From Buster Olney’s ESPN piece:
“They will likely pursue CC Sabathia, and if they fail to sign him, Hank Steinbrenner already has mentioned the name of A.J. Burnett as a possible offseason target. They could also go after first baseman Mark Teixeira.
If they take that approach, of course, there will, again, be a high-end cost. They probably will lose their first-round draft pick, and their second-round draft pick, and further retard their player development system that was, in the early ’90s, the best in the major leagues.”
Yes indeed, Buster. Or, they could re-sign Brian Cashman and watch him blow those very same picks like he did this year.
To blame the Yankees draft picks on George Steinbrenner is inaccurate at best. For one thing, the Yanks’ success meant that they were continually drafting towards the bottom. Also, Steinbrenner invested a lot of money in scouting. Those scouts and the people he hired to organize the draft let him down.
Interleague play- costing us our best pitcher who would’ve saved the bullpen and putt less pressure on other starters. Less starts for bums like Ponson.
I blame everyone for this season. When the team wins the whole organization takes credit and when the team loses the whole organization should take the blame.
Actually its the squirrels fault. He/she spent way to much time hanging around town with celebrities. Like the Steinys more time at the stadium would have at least raised moral on the blog. Then of course there is fate.
I wonder if Wang had not been injuried and performed as well as he did for the past two years, would the Yankees make the playoffs this year? It has been a tough season for the Yankees because of the injuries.
I blame Carl Pavano
Actually, if they play their cards right, they can do both. If they offer arbitration to Abreu, pettite and Mussina, and those guys leave, they will get com picks. Abreau and Mussina should be Type A, while Pettite is a Type B. it is not out of the question that Pettite would consider a return to Houston, his hometown if the Yanks don’t bring him back. So while they would lose a 1st and 2nd rounder by signing the likes of Burnett or CC or Tex, they could also gain someone else’s 1st and 2nd rounders as well as comp picks.
Actually, if they play their cards right, they can do both. If they offer arbitration to Abreu, pettite and Mussina, and those guys leave, they will get com picks. Abreau and Mussina should be Type A, while Pettite is a Type B. it is not out of the question that Pettite would consider a return to Houston, his hometown if the Yanks don’t bring him back. So while they would lose a 1st and 2nd rounder by signing the likes of Burnett or CC or Tex, they could also gain someone else’s 1st and 2nd rounders as well as comp picks.
Sexson had a .992 OPS against lefties this year. Can anyone find his stats against lefties as a Yankee this year? I’m pretty confident he did what he was supposed to do as a Yankee.
Booby A has his own race taking place as he struggles to make his numbers.(.300, 20, 100 ). If he does, the season, by Abreu objectives, will be a success, as he seeks his 3 year deal. Not making the playoffs? Oh, yeah, that would have been nice too, but making the numbers, that’s where it’s at. Not exactly like the grinders of 96 thru 01, but hey, the world has changed.
“Untrue. Sorry, Jeremy, but Joba was moved into the rotation to replace Kennedy/ Hughes and it was planned that he was going to be in there.
He ended up being more of a replacement for Wang, but that was by default and not plan.”
No one could plan on replacing Wang, the best pitcher on the team. Maybe supplementing the rotation with Santana, but not replacing Wang. But I think we’re just debating semantics. When your no. 1 starter is lost for the year, you’re in trouble unless you have an unbelievable rotation.
As you say, there wasn’t much out there in terms of starting pitching. The Yankees were smart to pass on Washburn, whose hot streak predictably ended. Byrd would not have made up a five-game difference singlehandedly.
The real question is whether the Yankees should have gone for Santana. This will be the question for years. Santana might have made the difference if he had been in the rotation all season, if it’s true that Minnesota would have taken truly expendable players in return.
What I’m 100% happy about is that the Yankees did not sink money into a long contract for a mediocrity like Silva or scatter prospects for a bad bet like Bedard. I think the ultimate plan was a rotation of Wang-Joba-Mussina-Pettitte-either Hughes or Kennedy. If we don’t lose Wang and Joba, AND both Hughes and Kennedy don’t flame out, AND the offense doesn’t take a gigantic dive from 2007, AND Tampa Bay doesn’t undergo one of the greatest turnarounds in division history, we are in the playoffs. That’s a lot that needed to go wrong for us to miss the playoffs. Like I wrote before, it happens. It’s not anyone’s fault.
It was a collective inability to get everything together at the right moment. Every time there was a golden opportunity to get a rally going, way too many players showed their expertise at hitting into inning/game-ending double plays.
Cashman continued to show his ineptness at obtaining the wrong players whose contributions had been pretty much negligible. Nagy was one of the better acquisitions.
I cut Girardi some slack because it’s his first year as skipper, but he made several consecutive boneheaded moves. Like bringing in Mo in with a tie game, only to see that tie gone and the game eventually lost.
Lets start with free agents. Let Gaimbi, Pavano, Abreau, all walk. Next try and sign either CC or Burnett. It’s likely that either will sign with the Yankees. Sign Texeira.
Next is trade Cano for Matt Kemp and put Kemp in LF. Trade Kennedy and Aceves for Nate Mclouth. Play Mclouth in CF. Play Nady in RF. Trade A-Bomb to the Giants with money for Lincecum and a prospect. Trade Matsui to Seattle for Beltre. Play Beltre at 3b. Move Jeter over to 2nd base. Trade Damon for Orlando Cabrera of the white sox. Play Cabrera at SS. Play Texiera at 1st. Posada catching. Sign Manny for 2 years. The bench would be Molina, Gardner, Ransom, and either shelly Duncan, eric Duncan, or Miranda. Whom ever plays better in spring.
The pitching would be:
CC or Burnett
Wang
Joba
Linceucm
Petite or Moose
with Hughes waiting in the wings honing his skills ready to strike.
Relief:
The Great Mariano
Marte
Coke
Melancon
Robertson
Geise
Veras
Bruney or Humberto Sancez, or Ramirez to top out the 25
Wow what a lineup and staff but what a better bullpen
lineup:
Mclouth
Jeter
Texiera
Manny
Nady
Posada
Beltre
Kemp
Cabrera
much better than this years collection, plus defense will be much improved. Kemp is 5 tool player with speed and good arm. CF is improved with Gardner coming into games late. Nady mans Pauly O’S spot.
The injury excuse gets too much mention. The Sox lost Schilling for the year, Wakefield and Beckett for stretches, Ortiz for a third of the season, Drew and Lowell for chunks of time … not to mention the forced trading or arguably the best hitter in the game. Yet they scraped together enough parts to win the wild card. All these people saying “If we’d had Wang” or “If we’d had Posada” need to keep that in mind. Kazmir missed the first third of the season for Tampa, and they lost Longoria and Crawford down the stretch. Imagine if they’d had those guys on the field.
Bottom line is key guys underperformed. The Sox got huge contributions from Youkilis and Pedroia while the Yanks got little from Cano and Melky. There’s your six-game swing right there.
The players need to be held accountable. That’s what made the Yankee teams from 1996-2001 so great. They played as a team and held each other accountable. I didn’t get that feeling from this year’s team at all, and haven’t in years.
If Posada doesn’t get hurt, the Yankees probably make the playoffs.
If Cano doesn’t take the year off, the Yankees probably make the playoffs.
If Jeter has a Jeter year, the Yankees probably make the playoffs.
If A-Rod plays like a God (2007) instead of merely an MVP candidate, the Yankees probably make the playoffs.
If Matsui doesn’t get hurt, the Yankees probably make the playoffs.
If Melky plays like a league-average CF, the Yankees probably make the playoffs.
If Wang doesn’t get hurt, the Yankees probably make the playoffs.
If Hughes doesn’t get hurt, the Yankees probably make the playoffs.
If Kennedy could have given them anything at all, the Yankees probably make the playoffs.
If Joba doesn’t get hurt, the Yankees probably make the playoffs.
Luck. Bad luck is to blame. You can try counter the problem, but that was the problem. Dragging the carcasses of Ivan Rodriguez, Darrell Rasner, and Sidney Ponson, they STILL were in contention. You can’t take that lightly.
**Cano, Melky and Kennedy don’t fall into the “luck” category. The others do. Give me two of those things changing and the Yankees are in the playoffs.
(Ifs, buts, candy, nuts, etc.)
A-Rod too. That’s wishful thinking. My kingdom for an “Edit” button.
“The Sox got huge contributions from Youkilis and Pedroia while the Yanks got little from Cano and Melky. There’s your six-game swing right there.”
This is absolutely correct. The difference between Cano and Pedroia alone might have cost us the playoffs. Cano was that bad and Pedroia was that good.
Echoing someone’s thoughts earlier…when in doubt, blame AROD!
Ok, maybe not, but people have devoted entire sites to doing such…
http://www.itsallarodsfault.com/
http://respectjetersgangster.b.....e-rod.html
Thank you Scott for one of my favorite comments of the year.
I blame the injuries a need to address this in spring training. We all know for weeks at a time Jeter, A-Rod, Pasada, Wang, Matsui, not to mention the pitchers were not available and that’s your starting lineup. So being the manager I would not push the guys so hard in spring training. It did seem to help Giambi but so many injuries from early in the season. There has to be a better way. I think if the players are put through to much too early next season it may look the same as this one. But…any other team probably would not have the record they do considering.
The one suggestion, of the many posted (including mine), that makes sense and is doable, is the acqusition of Nate McLouth. It may take more than a bag of peanuts, but given Pittsburgh’s situation, a couple of pre-arb prospects, should do.
injuries fall under “the players” i think, so i picked that.
really surprised more people picked Joe Girardi than Brian Cashman. The media is clearly pulling your strings.
I think everyone has to share in the blame game this year. The owners, the players and the GM are all at fault but can we honestly expect to make the playoffs every single year. Sure I’m disappointed in them missing the postseason but I think them being on the outside looking in this season will make the guys hungrier next year to take the next step. And they have to address the starting pitching and the OF. We need another slugger to take the heat off of A-Rod. If Giambi and Abreu are gone we need to replace them with a player with some power. Address the OF, address the starting pitching and move forward.
I’m sure there’s plenty of blame to go around, but the biggest factor in my mind and absent from the options in this poll is injuries. Look at the names that have missed significant playing time: Posada, Matsui, and Wang to name three. You can’t tell me having those three healthy all year isn’t worth enough games to catch Boston and maybe even Tampa.
The reason the Yanks couldn’t rebound from their injuries is lack of depth on the roster. They have no bench, and after Joba was taken out of the pen, the bridge to Mariano was shaky. The rotation was also a mess this year. Andy pitched lousy the second half, and Joba went down. Ponson was a decent for about half his starts, and Rasner was allowed to stink for three months. You can’t win with one reliable starter, in Moose. Cashman did a bad job assembling the rotation this year. Even if he didn’t land Santana, he should have been working on getting a suitable starter to step in for Rasner.
If Hughes and Kennedy had been able to combine for a mere five wins, the final season series would have meaning. And that is with all the injuries and sub-par performances. I find the team more exciting with Gardner in the lineup.
I wonder why Damon is always smiling?
Posada has proved his value by being hurt.
It was great to see “Muddywaters” explain to “Jeremy” that he really doesnt know “dick” about the Yankees. Joba was always going into the rotation which is something that even the most casual Yankee fan woiuld know. Not that we liked it but we did know it, before Pittsburgh. Cashman also took the Yankess into the 2008 season with 40% of his rotation unproven rookies. This is the Yankees we’re talking about not Kansas City. He also did not react when he lost Wang, Kennedy and Hughes unless you call Ponson and Rasner reacting. All I was trying to say was in the past the Yankees would get a reliable starting picher to address these losses. Cashmna never did. I dont mean getting CC or Burnett but maybe a Arroyo or some other “innings eater” to give the offense a chance to win some games.Then when its too late he trades away two of his prized pitching prospects plus a past cant miss former phenom for a relief picher and an outfielder. Why was that OK but not OK to make a move earlier with some of the minor league talent for a reliable starter. Remeber inspite of aall the problems we had this year we didnt miss the playoffs by 20 games so a “front end” starter back in June might have mmade a big impact
Booby A has his own race taking place as he struggles to make his numbers.(.300, 20, 100 ). If he does, the season, by Abreu objectives, will be a success, as he seeks his 3 year deal. Not making the playoffs? Oh, yeah, that would have been nice too, but making the numbers, that’s where it’s at. Not exactly like the grinders of 96 thru 01, but hey, the world has changed.
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Why attack Abreu? The guy has been a rock all year, easily our most consistant player. Nobody plays harder than Abreu. Sure he wants to get his personal numbers but to imply he doesn’t really care about making the play-offs is ridiculous, particulary after all those non play-off years with the Phillies
bring new blood, time to say good bye to giambi,melky,betemit,marte,abreu,pavano,ponson,rassner,pudge,edward ramirez. next year there is no time to play or try outs with players bring the new blood it doesnt matter if it’s teixeira,sabathia,sheets,burnett or manny bring the guys to fix this thing, bring the guys to bust anaheim angels and the red sox i’m so tiered losing against them, fix this thing in the offseason.
Most people have good reasons here.
I cannot find my previous post for this topic. I guess that my previous post was deleted for some reason?? I gave some really good reasons why the Yankees didn’t make it to the playoffs this year and what they should do IF they want to make it to the World Series again…..Thanks.
Injuries, Cano, Jeter, Kennedy, in that order.
Sometimes it just doesn’t work out. Guys get hurt and don’t play up to their potential. Some players exceeded expectations too, just not enough to make up for the injuries and/or poor performances of other key players.
Yankee fans got spoiled over the last 13 years.
I once heard a quote, I think about Rivera – something like “you know you’re truly great when people are shocked when you fail.”
Stop looking for someone to blame. There’s too much luck in this game for that.
Hey guess what, Joe Torre is again in the post season.