Via Playboy, a Q&A with Scott Boras
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on May 05, 2009 
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A PR rep from Playboy magazine e-mailed me this Q&A they did with Scott Boras for the upcoming issue. It touches on the Yankees a little, so I thought I would pass it along.
(Full disclosure: In the interest of keeping my job, I edited out two salacious questions. If you’re that interested, buy the magazine.)
PLAYBOY: Fans say you’re greedy. Are they right?
BORAS: The last time I looked, fan was short for fanatic. Fans are fanatical about their favorite team. But athletes have choices. They don’t want to be 50 years old, saying, “I turned down $70?million. I could have done more for my family, my community, my church.” A player’s life span in the game is short; his agent is there to help him. In the end it’s not about the fans. I’m not here to win a popularity contest.
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PLAYBOY: You have three of baseball’s five best-paid players in your stable — Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and Manny Ramirez—all of whom make more than $20 million a year. Their multiyear contracts add up to half a billion dollars. With the economy tanking, have salaries topped out?
BORAS: I don’t see that. Baseball has had record revenues for years. I expect we’ll see a ballplayer making $35 million to $40?million a year in the next decade.
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PLAYBOY: Did you know A-Rod used steroids? If not, should you have known?
BORAS: I’m not answering questions like that. You need to ask the player.
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PLAYBOY: You and A-Rod almost split up in 2007 after he opted out of his Yankees contract, upstaging the World Series. What happened?
BORAS: The purpose of the opt out was to get the Yankees to say, “Wait a minute. Don’t opt out. Maybe we’ll increase his compensation.” But we didn’t want the public to know—that was clearly not in our best interests. As for upstaging the Series, what about Fox? If they thought it damaged the integrity of the game, they didn’t have to cut in with the news during a World Series game. In 1985 Major League Baseball announced its drug policy after Game Three, a move that was wholly intended to get attention during the Series. Still, I have to be accountable. I could have handled that better.
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PLAYBOY: Your former client Barry Bonds was indicted for perjury in a steroids case. Bonds still wants to play, but no team will sign him, even at the minimum salary of $390,000. Does that smack of collusion?
BORAS: There’s some potential litigation about that. I don’t have all the facts. I will say I was very surprised he wasn’t playing last year. Anybody with that much talent whose name isn’t Barry Bonds would have been offered a contract.
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PLAYBOY: We have to talk roids. How should the Hall of Fame deal with players of the steroids era?
BORAS: Look, the Hall of Fame is for players who distinguished themselves in their day. Each era has distinctive features—from equipment and rules to pharmacology, surgical advancements, labor agreements, federal and state laws—that impact performance. The game is always changing. The Hall’s scroll of admission must be drafted with a fluid and broad pen. Only then can it recognize excellence from every era.
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PLAYBOY: Manny Ramirez made himself such a distraction for the Red Sox last year that they traded him to L.A., where he led the Dodgers to the playoffs. Why did he want out of Boston?
BORAS: Manny enjoyed his Red Sox teammates and loved the organization, but he did not enjoy living in Boston. It wore him out. He wasn’t comfortable. It wasn’t like Cleveland.
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PLAYBOY: He wanted out because Boston isn’t like Cleveland?
BORAS: [Nodding] For Manny, environment is important. He had liked living in the Cleveland suburbs. I said, “Manny, I want you to play in L.A. They’ve got some really good young hitters, but they need a slugger, and Pasadena’s a lot like those Cleveland suburbs.” He had been to L.A. only three times in his life, but once we got him there he said, “This is the spot for me.”
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PLAYBOY: Do you advise young players to watch out for baseball groupies?
BORAS: That’s a huge issue because you have high school boys making millions. We have a booklet for young players that tells them about paternity suits. It says, “If a woman has your child, it can cost you $2 million over the course of 18 years to raise that child.” We talk about using protection and having safe sex.
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PLAYBOY: Rubbers for rookies?
BORAS: Players can also follow a ritual: If you meet a girl at the ballpark, ask her if she knows any players from last year’s team and from the year before that. A girl who hangs around the ballpark year after year may be looking for something other than what you’re looking for. She may see you as her ticket out of town. So we tell young players, “An interaction with the wrong type of girl can wreck your career.”
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PLAYBOY: You grew up on a farm near Sacramento, California. What were your chores?
BORAS: Milking cows, cleaning the barn. I wrecked a tractor, too. My dad didn’t tell me that listening to Giants games on the radio would distract me from my chores, so I got an oversize baseball cap and taped a transistor radio to the inside of it. I was driving the tractor, listening to a ball game, when one wheel went into a hole. The axle broke, the tractor tipped over, and I got knocked out. I remember waking up and hearing the radio—Russ Hodges and Lon
Simmons announcing the game. Then I saw my father, who had these big Mickey Mantle forearms, crushing my radio with his bare hands.
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PLAYBOY: You went to graduate school while playing minor league ball. How did you study?
BORAS: We had 14-hour bus rides in double-A ball. Most of the players were right out of high school, so they read comic books or adult material on the bus. If you read a textbook, it was not well received. I’d stick a pharmacology book inside a playboy so they’d think I was one of the guys.
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PLAYBOY: You hit well in the minors, but you quit and went to law school. Why?
BORAS: I had a knee operation. I was getting my knee drained every 10 days. I could hit .280, .290, but I really wanted to be the best at something, so I changed paths. Baseball can be heartbreaking. I never forgot my first spring training. On cut-down day at the minor league complex, they post a list. If your name is on it, you continue. Everybody crowded around the list, and I was on it. Phew. Then I saw guys who weren’t. First-round picks. They were done. I watched a guy go to a rusted-out van and tell his wife, “Honey, I’ve been released.” His kids were crying. I’d always thought of baseball as all good, but too many young men take a big risk to play pro ball and then go home with nothing. That’s why I think baseball should stop drafting high school kids. Other sports don’t do that. Maybe you let each team take one exceptional high school player a year and pay him a substantial bonus, but that’s all.
———–
PLAYBOY: Do you have a favorite minor league memory?
BORAS: I loved old George Kissell, the Cardinals’ coordinator of minor league development. George would give you the intel. He said fielding a grounder is like dating a girl: “You don’t go up and grab her. You gotta foster the ball.” Let it come to you. He’d knock on my door at 5:30 in the morning and say, “Boras, get up! Time for church!” I’d go, “Church? It’s Tuesday.” He said, “I saw ya play last night, and we got a lot to pray about.”
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PLAYBOY: How would you change the World Series?
BORAS: I’d modernize it, make it five out of nine games, with the first two in a neutral city. Announce the MVP and Cy Young awards at a gala held between the playoffs and a new World Series weekend. Move the home-run contest from the All-Star Game to that week, too. The gala and home-run derby would lead to game one of the Series on Saturday, with game two on Sunday. Then the Series would go on with the final seven games in the Series teams’ cities. This way, different places get part of the Series. I want the World Series in Pittsburgh, Texas, Seattle. Teams in those markets would sell more season tickets. World Series weekend would be a major stage for corporate events; it could advance the game to the next level.
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PLAYBOY: Have you ever taken less than top dollar for a player?
BORAS: Many times. Alex Fernandez had a big contract with Cleveland but wanted to play in Florida, his home state. We took less from the Marlins. Kyle Lohse liked St. Louis; he just re-signed without even becoming a free agent. Jason Varitek took a lot less to stay with the Red Sox in 2005. Jason said, “Get me a fair contract, but don’t negotiate with other teams. Just Boston.” I said, “That could cost you 20 percent of your value,” and he said fine. Greg Maddux loved pitching for the Cubs, but in 1993 he told me, “I want to play for a team that can win.” I said, “Greg, that won’t happen in Chicago.” We agreed that, with the Braves’ pitching and the prospects, Atlanta was a great destination. Later on Greg gave up about $30 million because he didn’t want to go to the Yankees. His pitching style suited the National League.
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PLAYBOY: What will happen on the field in 2009?
BORAS: The Yankees should win 95 games and make the playoffs. Teixeira, with his .400 on-base percentage and Gold Glove defense, was a huge signing for them. The National League races could be very different this year. The Mets probably would have won in 2008 with the bullpen they have now. The Marlins have an up-and-coming superstar in Hanley Ramirez. Manny’s in shape for a great season with the Dodgers, and I won’t be surprised if the Cubs have a great year.
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PLAYBOY: You’ve been heckled at ballparks. Does it hurt?
BORAS: Yeah, people come up to me and say, “You’re wrecking the game.” All I say is “I’m glad you’re a baseball fan.” Because the fans care. They love the game, and so do I. The difference is that my appreciation for the players’ skills is much higher than a fan’s because I know how hard the game is. I never wanted anything more than to play pro ball. Even the job I have, as much as I enjoy it, there’s no comparison. There is just nothing like waking up and thinking, I’m playin’ ball today.
I never did get the Boras hate.
He has a job. He does his job well. He does his job VERY well.
“Manny enjoyed his Red Sox teammates and loved the organization, but he did not enjoy living in Boston. It wore him out. He wasn’t comfortable. It wasn’t like Cleveland.”
Translation: Manny hates the RedSox fans, always did and always will!
Manny’s a lot smarter than people think.
i hate rain.
Worries, not worries :
(somehow I posted two threads ago by accident. sorry, I get a case of brain fade occasionally)
So did the over/under on the number of HBP’s in tonight’s Beckett/Chamberlain match up get bumped up after that ‘exchange’ last night? I’m a little worried someone might get hurt … Tony Canigliaro-style. That just ain’t right, even if Joba goes after Youkilis. I admit I like seeing Youk get scared, but I don’t want to see anything like that happen to anyone.
I’m not worried about the team. It’s early, we’re only 3 games out, and A-Rod hasn’t shown up yet.
I’m not worried about Teixeira. He’s a slow starter anyways, although I agree the Mendoza line is tough to be patient with for too long. By June he and A-Rod will be among the best (if not the best) mid-lineup duos in the game.
I’m not worried about Hughes. He has a 2.70 ERA. I don’t believe he’s really ready yet, but one good game and one average game isn’t bad.
I am worried about the bullpen. Who isn’t?
I’m absolutely NOT for moving Joba to the ‘pen for any reason other than if he ever shows durability concerns. The guy has the best ERA in the rotation. IMO, going back & forth between the rotation & bullpen will more likely cause arm problems that hinder or truncate his long term development as a starter. Sure, he’s probably limited to about 150 innings this year as a starter. Next year it’ll still be short of 200. But why limit him to about 70 innings per year if he can pitch 200+ by 2011? I know the bullpen is a mess right now. But find another way to help the bullpen.
I am worried about Posada’s hammy. Who isn’t? Glad we have a backup C as good as Molina. Let’s see who his backup will be, and how long we’ll need him.
I am worried about Nady’s elbow and the OF. Both go hand in hand. On a side note, It’s too bad both guys we got in the trade for Ross Ohlendorf turn out to get arm injuries. It was still a good trade for both teams a the time. But it appears they weren’t injured when we got ‘em … sometimes s—- just happens.
I’m not worried about Matsui’s hitting as long as his knees are good enough for him to hit with. He should turn out to be one of the better hitters on the team this year if they are. I am worried about his knees though.
When Selena Roberts book comes out (jeez – what a coincidence it’s coming out as A-Rod returns) it will become clear how badly she needed the hype to sell the book. I’m not worried. Why? See below.
Girardi’s not the only person who doesn’t understand why someone would want to write such a book – true or not. Count me in, although I believe she (and perhaps Canseco) has motives which may not be not so pure. I’m not worried about the public’s opinion, I just hope A-Rod isn’t either.
I’m not worried about A-Rod.
I’m not worried about Selena Roberts.
I’m not worried about what was in the ‘Dominican Milkshakes’ which David Ortiz and many others used to chug. I’m sure he ‘took’ something whether he knew it or not. He (And A-Rod, and Sheffield, and Bonds, and Canseco, and …. ) aren’t the only ones.
I’m not worried about the witch hunt, whether in the press or before congress. Truth be told or not. I wish there would be more hunting & lynching of the people responsible for our economy (well, those responsible in a criminal way) instead of baseball players who juiced.
Again, I’m not worried about Selena Roberts. Hear that Selena?
Lastly, I’m not worried about the Red Sox. They’ll stumble.
(Additionally, I’m not going to worry about game threads. I’ll just let the bridge jumpers have them. Changing diapers between innings is far more fun than reading their paranoid worries. Really it is. Yes I’m talking about you. Stop worrying so much.)
Good read, thanks, Pete. ‘Cause I’d never read in in Playboy.
“Full disclosure: In the interest of keeping my job, I edited out two salacious questions. If you’re that interested, buy the magazine.”
Spoilersport.
Posted this at the end of a thread a bit back, didn’t see the updates:
It’s the little things the Yanks don’t do that drive me crazy.
We have John Rodriguez in the minors. He’s not great, but he can hit lefties a little.
The Yanks have been playing with three bench players. Matsui was a bad matchup with Lester, so Joe started Jorge.
As a result, there was no one to back up Molina and he could not have been pinch hit for.
If John Rodriguez was up, at the cost of one of the 25 pitchers on the 40 man, or putting Nady on the 60 day DL, John Rodriguez could have DH’d last night, giving the Yanks flexibility at catcher.
In the eighth, with 2 outs and runners on first and third, sure enough Molina has to bat, and he made an out, which the odds heavily favored him to do against the righty. Had Jorge been on the bench, he could have pinch hit for Molina, and we might have scored a run and kept the inning going, maybe even won the game.
Little things. Why won’t the Yanks do them?
nice read, Manny hates Boston, that makes the morning a little better but I’m worried about Posada; one of the best offensive catchers in baseball, losing him again might be 2008 all over again
Good point about any possible beanball war tonight Ansky…That is the last thing this team needs…
They just need to get a win under their belt against Boston.
As he continues to hit over .300 I’m becoming less and less worried about Cano.
To a lesser degree, I feel the same way about Melky. Time will tell though.
If Cano continues to hit 320 – .330 – .340 – up there, he starts to look more like someone who you cluster with A-Rod and Teixeira in the middle of the lineup. Got to take walks though.
ANSKY -
I like your thinking.
Boras is one smart guy.
Seems to be slipping as of late, no?
ARod’s opt out and Varitek declining arbitration?
Snapshot of the Yankees season now highlighted by the Posada injury – bad contracts still exist, more were added in the off season, no money spent for a bench or bull pen. This season is teetering on getting rather ugly.
Think of the field day pete and his writers will have, not to mention Red Sox sports TV or ESPN, if the Yankees end up in 3rd, no playoffs. Yikes.
Little things have hurt this team for year Wave and it also drives me crazy.
They won championships using the entire 25 man roster.
Whether it was Homer Bush stealing a base. Or a Clay Bellinger in for defensive reasons. Or, having a veteran catcher (Girardi) tutor a young catcher (Posada).
The attention to detail, and maximizing every advantage, is what seperated the Yankees from other organizations.
Now? Not so much.
I thought the same thing last night when Molina came to the plate. If John Rodriquez is on the roster, they aren’t playing 2 catchers last night and they have some PH opportunities.
Again, folks get caught up in the name players. However, over the course of the season, the team that best maximizes its entire roster is usually the team that prevails.
Unfortunately, the Yankees haven’t done it for years and don’t seem very interested in doing it this year.
Meaning, one can’t be surprised at the results.
SJ mentioned that the Yankees have a habit of throwing money at players. That’s true – but until our young kids start coming through the system, that’s what we had/have to do. Joba and Huges are great starts – these are very young kids that have the potential to anchor our rotation for a long time. We have some other arms in the system – if even one of them can come through to be just solid, we should be ok. CC and AJ are not old – they ought to provide a good foundation for this staff. I think eventually Wang will be fine, too, but how long that takes? Who knows. The immediate problem now is that we have 2 kids in the rotation who are going to have their ups and downs.
I wonder if the Yankees went too far overboard on drafting pitching – they didn’t draft any position players and now we have to wait 3 or 4 years to see if maybe they develop them? That’s a problem.
“Later on Greg gave up about $30 million because he didn’t want to go to the Yankees. His pitching style suited the National League.”
WOW. A legendary pitcher that Maddux is… Anything to get a leg up into the Hall of Fame, right?
“The Yankees should win 95 games and make the playoffs. Teixeira, with his .400 on-base percentage and Gold Glove defense, was a huge signing for them.”
Boras really knows how to pump his clients.
Only way to stop Boras is to lower the demand for MLB. Then maybe concessions and tickets might be cheaper.
“Little things. Why won’t the Yanks do them?”
I agree with you WYH.
Whether it’s John Rodriguez or someone else, having 13 pitchers is absurd. Also I think we have exhausted the potential of Veras, Albaladejo and Ramirez. Those guys are expendable IMO.
If Joba hurts anybody today he would have to live with that for the rest of his life and his career would be over. If that is what he wants so be it.
Boras is a real ass but he does his job and does it better than most other’s in his position.
I’m a big Cash supporter, but was he always this poor with the roster?
Cashman isn’t responsible for any of the ticket pricing. Cashman isn’t responsible for the weather conditions.
Cashman isn’t reponsible for player injuries.
Cashman isn’t responsible for any controversies.
But ….. Cashman IS responsible for poor management of the 40-man roster and how it’s handled.
They don’t want to be 50 years old, saying, “I turned down $70?million. I could have done more for my family, my community, my church.”
I love this comment from boras. I am sure a ton of players are sitting around a few years post-retirement thinking, I should have tried to get that extra 10 mil added to my contract back in 93 so that I could give more to my church donation basket. Ohhhh boras. You know he is a greedy conniving little $%h! but you still have to love him for his ridiculous comments to defend himself. Its like trying to watch someone rationalize why its okay for them to steal a car. If you work hard enough at it, you can actually convince yourself that you are doing that auto owner a favor because the interest rates on loans and tx rebate offers for fuel efficient cars are great right now. Yea, ok, if only it were true. Its alright though because the owners are just the same type of rich money grubbing bastartds for the most part anyway who would probably pocket more money if scottie didnt try to over-charge the royals.
Wave Rodriguez is an option but I like the flexibility of a guy like Todd Linden. Gardner is a mess at the plate and should be at SWB to straighten himslef out. Linden can play center, has some power and is hitting well except for last night.
Right now the Yankees should send Albaladejo down and call up a guy like Rodriguez. Unfortunately we are stuck with Ramirez/Veras while Marte/Bruney are on the DL. I hope Marte’s injury isn’t serious (although I think it is) and I’m hoping Bruney comes back.
IF those two guys get back I’m looking at a bullpen of: Rivera, Bruney, Coke, Melancon, Marte, Robertson, Aceves.
When A-rod gets back send Berroa down which would leave us with a bench of J. Rodriguez, Pena, Gardner, Molina.
When Nady gets back send Rodriguez down so then we have a bench of Nady, Pena, Gardner, Molina.
When Wang gets back.. I have no clue.
The bottom line is, this team is really hurt by injuries but that’s no excuse to have wasted roster spots right now.
Billy-
If Todd Linden would fit better than John Rodriguez I wouldn’t object. I’m just not that familiar with Linden.
“I’m a big Cash supporter, but was he always this poor with the roster? ”
For the past few years he has struggled, IMO.
Last year our bench was absurd for the first few months of the season. Duncan, Ensberg, no utility IF
The starting pitching has to step up ASAP and start carrying this team until some of the injured players get back. Even without Wang we have a very strong starting 5 if they play to their potential. Sabathia and Burnett especially have to start pitching better.
If our starters can get into a groove we can survive the injuries to Posada, A-rod, Marte, Bruney, Nady, etc.
Anybody have any insight on how long Nady is likely to be out?
Even if he avoids surgery, it’s hard to believe he won’t miss at least two months, including rehab. If that’s so, he ought to be on the 60 day DL which would open a 40 man roster spot.
If he can be back sooner and be effective, I’m all for it, but how likely is that?
SJ mentioned that the Yankees have a habit of throwing money at players. That’s true – but until our young kids start coming through the system, that’s what we had/have to do.
Sorry Betsey, but you are whats wrong with this organization and it’s fan base.
How about, instead of throwing money at aging players in order to be “competitive”, we bite the bullet for 2-3 years and build a team to compete for 5-6 years a la 96-2000, instead of a team that CAN win it all if nobody goes down/everything goes right.
This organiztion is so fixated on short term accomplishments, they are indifferent to long term consequences.
In 3 years, This team will be one of the highest paid, most unathletic teams in baseball, all because we refuse to forgo a single season in order to get healthy, develop players, and make the right moves to put the right guys on the team
Instead, we do “what we have to do” and throw money at our aging stars, along with free agent big names.
How unfair is this?
Such an impressive performance was heightened when placed in stark contrast to the struggles of his mound counterpart, Phil Hughes. Both Lester, 25, and Hughes, 22, have been mentioned as two of the finest young pitchers in the game for some time, but Monday night was the latest evidence that only Lester is still deserving of such praise.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c.....index.html
**The guy makes it sound like Phil is a bust. Lester is one of the finest young pitchers in the game….I’m sorry that at age 22 Phil hasn’t contended for a Cy Young yet.
Give me a break, JoeyA – I don’t need to be lectured on why I am part of the problem, lol.
There is no valid reason why Veras, Ramirez, Berroa, and Gardner deserve a place on the 25 man roster.
A-Rod will take care of the Berroa situation but Veras should be DFA’d and Ramirez and Gardner sent to AAA and replaced with John Rodriquez and catcher Chris Stewart.
Cash is just incapable of the little moves that require some thought. He has no problem signing the biggest free agents by giving them more money than any other team is willing to offer but then, he must be spent afterwards because he finishes up the off season doing NOTHING except some vacation. Forget the bench, forget trying to upgrade the pen with another decent arm who isnt getting any offers and we can get on the cheap. Forget about signing another backup catcher who can actually hit and learning from the mistakes of 2008. Forget the fact that posada seems to be falling apart daily and that everyone and their mother realized how badly the yanks needed a better bat than molina in the lineup some nights.
For the first time in cash’s entire career i am pretty sure, he finally added on a player for depth rather than to fill a need at the moment in swisher and that was probably the smartest move cash has made in this decade because look at the crucial role swish has already played. I mean we know this team is marred with injuries every single season so why not try to prepare for it? Cash never did so before this year that I can recall and where would we be without swisher now?
If he picked up a decent hitting catcher, we may be saying the same thing about that player in a few months but cash failed to do so and we are screwed if posada leaves for any significant amount of time. Has cashman just not noticed how we need serious depth each year because we are hammered by injuries every single season. Its april and so far, arod, wang, marte, bruney, nady, swish and now posada have all sat out for some time with injury. Thats 7 players off the 40 man in a little more than a month time. And we all know damon and matsui are both making that trip at some point and AJ is also on that list when we started the year of most likely to hit the dl at some point. I dont know why we get killed with injuries every single season (prolly age) but i am not ignorant enough to be thinking in january or february that it wont happen this year but i know some fans are. Is cash that blind because it sure seems like he might be?
Playing the game last night was scary stupid.
Caught the game from the 5th inning on, but for the most part stayed away from the game thread. Was is that bad? Just noticed there were over 2100 comments. That’s some dedication there.
Good to see Tex kill the ball. Not good to see rallies die in the 8th & 9th innings against Papelbon.
Was the strike zone that wishy-washy?
And what was Girardi thinking, yelling at another coach? But I love that the Boston coach’s f’p bomb made it on the air. Such class.
Posada? Ugh. Hope he’s not out long.
Betsy,
Who cares what the media says about Phil Hughes?
Bottom line, he didn’t pitch well last night. Part of it was the poor job by Meals behind the plate and part of it was Hughes’ inability to throw strikes.
We’ll see how he does in Baltimore this weekend.
At some point, guys have to step up and take advantage of the opportunities given to them. If they do, they have spots on the roster. If not? Somebody else takes them.
Hughes has potential. Potential being the operative term.
The question, the answer of which none of us have is, can he realize it in NY? I hope so. But, the jury is out on that question.
May 5th, 2009 at 10:29 am
“Yet, they are pennywise and pound foolish.
Want to throw hundreds of millions of dollars at free agents? Great. How about DEVELOPING your own players at the same time?
If you want to do that, then you need to have a better system with regard to instructors and player acquisitions in the minors than you presently have.
The Yankees are one of the few franchises that can do both. Yet, they don’t. Why? No idea.”
for some reason , cashman has always made my skin crawl as far as being in charge of the yankees. maybe that’s not fair basing my judgement of the guy on my gut level feeling of him,but i simply do not see leadership qualities in cashman.
i see someone who is more the bureaucratic survivor who has survived the dysfunctional yankee universe under the steinbrenner reign. he does take care of himself. i will give him that he has made a nice life and a success out of himself.
good for him. however, i’m not so concerned as he is about brian cashman. i said all winter that cashman was in a do or die position and that he would not get another chance if the yankees do not make the playoffs.
we are seeing signs that they may not make the play offs. the lack of proactive injury prevention is one factor that seems to constantly bite the yankees. if it’s not one important player it’s another.
i said yesterday that there were probably two or three yankees that had developing problems that weren’t being looked for. posada already had hamstring weakness. didn’t it dawn on anyone how quickly he came back from the last scare. i know i i was surprised how quickly he came back to seeming full speed.
well , it turns out he still had hamstring problems. it was a cold rainy unpredictable night last night. if there was a head of injury prevention for the yankees whose only job was preventing injuries and measuring the health of yankee players, posada wouldn’t have played last night because there would have been a hamstring watch on posada because of his recent problems .
posada may be injury prone anyway because of his age and his position , so there is no foolproof way to keep him healthy, but little seems to be done to stack the odds in the yankees favor.
even youkillis a young healthy player tweaked his back because of not being warmed up properly for last nights game. no player who was a health risk should have played last night. posada clearly would be one of those players. he shouldn’t have played. with his fragility the yankees need a third catcher on the roster.
all in all, getting back to cashman, he simply doesn’t create probabilities that come out in the yankees favor.
it will be a real shame if it takes not making another playoffs for the yankees to see they need to make a change who is in charge of steering the yankee ship.
cashman has done some good things and he doesn’t have to be fired if he’s willing to work with a new dynamic leader. if he’s not and insists on putting his own interests ahead of the yankees he got to go.
the mediocrity can’t continue.
That’s cool Wave. I think we are in agreement that they need one of the SWB outfielders. I saw Linden play in Rochester and was impressed. He played a decent CF and saw a lot of pitches and had a lot of key hits. Rodriguez and Shelley are also hot.
“all in all, getting back to cashman, he simply doesn’t create probabilities that come out in the yankees favor.”
i should have said ” cashman simply doesn’t create enough probabilities that come out in the yankees favor.”
if you think about it the game to a large degree is a competition of who can create the most probabilities that come out in a team’s favor.
there are a myriad of things going on at all times. it’s a complex game. no one thing is going to put a team over the top. it’s everything. the yankees need someone who can make more things happen that increase the chance the yankees have of something going right.
it’s the accumulation of small edges that needs to be done better. i hate to say it ,but the red sox seem better at creating this accumulation of small edges though they are not without their problems.
I would get rid of Veras before Ramirez and Albie.
7 relievers is more than enough: Rivera, Bruney, Robertson, Melancon, Coke, Aceves and Marte i guess?
Get a bench, especially if hitters are going to not be available but not be on the DL. only have three to begin with.
I like the disclaimer on how you found out about the interview but most guys buy Playboy for the articles so it’s okay to admit it.
Rieber had no such worries about keeping his job, I presume.
You guys can cry all you want about bringing up another bat, so we can pinch hit for Molina or Pena. But Molina isn’t the reason we didn’t come back last night. Matsui, Damon, Texiera and Cano all had a chance in the 8th or 9th off Pap to get a big hit and none of them did it. Gardy and Melky were the only ones to get a hit. You guys can whine all you want about Gardy, but he fought off an 0-2 pitch and used his speed to get on base and Melky came through as well.
If Zach Greinke had been a Yankee, the fans would have had him DFA’d two years ago, saying he isn’t mentally tough enough, he’s a AAAA pitcher, etc. If he just goes 14-6 from now till the end of the season, he will likely win the Cy Young. Some players just need some development time. I am speaking primarily about Hughes, Kennedy, Gardner, and Melky. Not sure Veras will ever be anything, however.
This is an interesting quote from an article I read about Cashman.
Thoughts?
“Cashman managed to discover the one avenue through which limitless money and power under the current Major League Baseball rules can be a competitive disadvantage. He found that if you pack your roster from top to bottom with (expensive players ) aged 30 and up, you can more or less permanently block the development of the choice, hungry, 25- to 30-year-old talent group that serves as the core of virtually all winning baseball teams.”
Here’s my issue….
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Regardless of how much player turnover there is annually, several things happen every year to the Yankees:
1. They can’t hit with RISP.
2. Their pitching is woeful. As we speak today, May 5, they are last in the league in pitching. Cone read the numbers last night, particularly the batters reaching base stats (almost 3-1, runners reaching base per innings pitched) and that’s just awful. Awful.
3. Half the roster is hurt, some with significant injuries, by early May.
4. They get off to bad starts, dig a hole for themselves, and have to play uphill the rest of the year to catch up.
5. Little or no roster flexibility, both on the 25 and 40 man rosters.
These 5 things go on EVERY YEAR now. Are some “bad luck” situations? Yes.
Are ALL of them bad luck? No.
That’s my beef. Simple as that.
Here we sit today awaiting an MRI on Posada that, truth be told, may be the season for the Yankees.
If he is out for a long period of time, they are cooked.
It doesn’t matter what ARod does when he gets back. They can’t win with Molina and choose your scrub of the week, catching games. We saw that last year.
Its just amazing to me that the same stuff happens every year and nothing changes.
I said it a week ago. The culture has to change for real change to take place.
Sad thing is, this team battles. They really do. They gave themselves a chance to win last night. That’s not the issue.
The issue is, not utilizing all your assets to try and win.
That’s what is killing this team, has for years, and we just don’t see any end in sight. That’s very, very frustrating.
Meals was horrible behind the plate last night. It is so frustrating to see an inconsistent strike zone with many borderline pitches for Hughes being called balls.
Hughes did not have his best stuff, but a few breaks from the ump certainly would have helped.
Aceves pitched very well, but I suspect that he is not available for a few days after a long outing.
With Nady and Posada (likely) out, Cashman has to get some position player help. Catalanatto is on the back nine, but he would be better than Gardner and he has experience playing in the AL East.
If Catalanatto is not the answer, there has to be someone out there. The Yankees have a surplus of average middle relief guys who would have value to a National League team. Veras, for example, could be dominant in the National League.
The Yankees made a bad decision by moving ahead with the game last night. With Bruney, Marte, A-Rod and Nady on the DL, there was no reason to play last night. Why not wait until August or September when the team is at full strength?
Here is the problem with everything being said and the double edged sword.
Changes are needed but those changes and deficiencies will not be addressed if the team wins. To satisfy the fans and keep the traditional Yankee brass freak out mode calm the Yankees have to win. When they win, they take nostalgia instead of smart baseball needs and there is little turnover or attention to those deficiencies.
This entire organization needs an overhaul and people who understand baseball need to be brought in and put into the right positions. As long as there are ties to people like Levine, there is little forward progress that will happen short of spending more money and lucking out by winning another championship.
pc69 said,
Snapshot of the Yankees season now highlighted by the Posada injury – bad contracts still exist, more were added in the off season, no money spent for a bench or bull pen. This season is teetering on getting rather ugly.
we’ve had 7 injuries to deal with in 4 weeks of baseball. remember before they started dropping like flies our bench consisted of melky, swisher, molina, and ransom. that would have been solid, so it’s hard to say no thought went into building a bench for this team. also our two most seasoned relievers are on the shelf.
SJ, I’m just saying that it’s not fair to judge a 22 year old Hughes against Lester (or anyone else at this point). I’m not willing to give him these few starts he has while Wang is gone and then, if he doesn’t pitch well, give up on him. Patience is a virtue. We talk about trying to develop young players, but where is that patience when they don’t immediately succeed?
Relax SJ. You’re all over the place this season. The season is not over if Posada is gone for an extended period of time. Last year we had to run out Ponson, Rasner, etc. quite a bit. I’ll take my chances with CC, AJ, Andy, Joba, Phil and Wanger this season. Posado or no Posada. It’s May 5, chill out.
And your “men amongst boys” quote from last night was knee jerk and embarrassing for yourself.
The lack of pitching and the failure to hit in the clutch is what is dooming this team right now. You can’t just pin it on the injuries; every team has injuries. Our problem is that we aren’t equipped to deal with the injuries as well as some other teams can. That’s management’s fault. The fact that we don’t have a decent catcher to back up Posada and Molina is unacceptable for a team with a payroll as large as ours. Cashman needs to get off the pot and go get a catcher. Trade Veras for one. Hell, just trade Veras. I break out in hives whenever that guy pitches.
We have roster issues, but it’s mostly because of the severe injury hits.
No team can go 6 deep in the OF, 3 deep at catcher, replace a player of A-rod’s caliber, lose 2 (okay 1.5) 8th inning guys, and deal with losing a #2 SP.
The Yankees top to bottom are trying their best to deal with it.
Ineffectiveness compounds the issue, but there are no severe issues here. Issues? Yes, but not severe.
They can trade to plug holes, but which one do you plug? You got to try within the organization first. Unless this team totally falls apart, Girardi & Cashman still deserve our support.
Probably wouldn’t be an issue if the pitching didn’t suck so badly, and hitters could hit with RISP.
Cashman put together a good team, they’re just not delivering. You guys should direct more frustration at the players, not the front office. Cashman has done a better job than most at fielding a competitive team. Never once putting a team out there that was at a significant disadvantage to their rivals.
Sorry …I’m reposting again since I put this in one a few back …
I was at the game last night …a win would have made the LONG night that much better but at least they made it exciting at the end…just one hit away and didn’t go down without a fight. I am just catching up on the past few blog posts and I don’t know if I should laugh at Yankee fans, scratch my head over them or just plain cry. We have played a grand total of 25 games and people are tossing the season aside …a whopping 3 games out of first place on May 5th..WOW !!! I have to say that Yankee fans are the most fickled in the world …if we got a hit last night the same people moaning about the season would be declaring how we are all heart, how we are going to the World Series, how great this team is…the Red Sox usually have our number in the beginning of the season for some strange reason but then we win in the latter part..hopefully we keep true to form.
Give it a break folks …be a fan…get behind the team and stop with the whining after every single loss. Do you expect the to win EVERY game ?? It’s early in the season..not the final week.
Go Yankees 2009 !!
i particularly dont like that while everyone in the media makes it clear that the yankees is cashmans show now and hank and hal seem to be more about writing the checks than making personelle decisions these days but every time a signing gets negative media attention whether it be pavano or Igawa or wright or arod or Johnson or whoever, cashman NEVER EVER seems to bear the burden of responsibility according to whoever. Its always the brothers or the organization in general or further back, the tampa faction so its almost as if cash can do no wrong while he has not really been the GM during a single move that actually put the yanks in a better spot to win so far. They have just gotten worse and worse and worse and worse each year since he has gained more and more control over the decision-making. Last year, we didnt make the playoffs and cash didnt really seem to get much criticism at all around here.
I just dont like when people seem to be untouchable and do not take responsibility for anything that is their fault and clearly, cashman has so far added nothing to helping the yanks win it all in any year previous to this one. I think this is the strongest team in quite some time as I thought last years team was the weakest in quite some time but I still dont think that cash even has the capacity to make the brilliant trades and signings. A ton of god awful ones have been made with him as GM but on the other side of the spectra, very few really solid, smart baseball moves were made on his watch that were neither salary dumps midseason by a small market club (abreu/Nady and Marte) or big free agent signings in which cashman just offered them more than any other club did. I also dont like having one person make all the decisions for a franchise. I like when a small group or a few people put in their input and decide who would b best for the yanks to target, sign or trade.
My problem is never with Boras, who is just doing his job, but why cant MLB put some type of cap on individual players salaries? I know its because the union would go nuts and they dont want another strike but quite frankly no one is worth $30-$40 million a year for hitting a ball with a stick. Im not diminishing the dedication and talent it takes to play int he big leagues, its a real grind to play that often for so long, but these guys are getting paid to do what they love which is so much more than most of us can say.. that being said, no one is worth that much money.
“The Yankees made a bad decision by moving ahead with the game last night.”
You can’t just let these games go because they have to be made up at some point. You don’t want to use all of your scheduled days off playing makeup games. That will hurt the team more in the long run.
“Cashman put together a good team, they’re just not delivering. ”
I don’t blame Cashman for much. I think he did a great job over the off season. However, our bench is beyond bad and he has to take the hit for that.
Clarification:
The pitching is not bad, they’re pitching badly.
We’ve fielded the best team on paper for years. It’s on the players that they’re not living up to their potential. Theoretically, there’s enough talent on those teams to overcome their injury issues.
Amazing how many people on here know more then Brian Cashman….
Selena Roberts checking in with the 61st most sold book yesterday, congrats
“Selena Roberts situation with AROD is no different than Williams’ & Fainaru-Wada’s situation with Barry Bonds.”
The difference is that A-Rod is a Yankee and as Yankee fans, we want what’s best for the team so that they can win. These kinds of distractions are not best for the team.
As for Barry Bonds, the guy is a first class arrogant jerk. It’s easy to understand why people wouldn’t care what happens to him.
“Cashman has done a better job than most at fielding a competitive team. Never once putting a team out there that was at a significant disadvantage to their rivals.”
Mel, his handling of the 25 and 40 man rosters this year has been very poor. Certainly injuries have played a role in making his handling of the roster even worse, but when you have one of the oldest teams in the games, as the Yankees do, injuries are going to be part of the territory and he has to be prepared for it. The composition of the 40 man in particular has left him unprepared to a degree.
I can’t explain the poor hitting with RISP or the poor pitching.
If there was one thing I was pretty sure of going into the season, it was that the Yanks had pretty decent pitching, both in the rotation and the bullpen.
But last night’s game is a case in point about getting the edge and doing the little things..
I know there is momentum to play the scheduled game, and I’m sure it costs money to operate the Stadium for the makeup game. But last night’s game should not have been played at all. They had to wait until about 9:30PM to start it, the weather was miserable, it was damp, drizzly and cold all night, the outfield was wet (we were lucky Damon didn’t hurt himself sliding out there in the fourth or whenever it was).
On top of that, we were starting our inexperienced 6th pitcher against Lester, ARod was missing and our guys, being older, were more likely to suffer from the lousy conditions.
If we had postponed the game, we could have skipped Hughes, and had ARod for the make-up game. (That Posada would now be healthy would be a bonus, I won’t blame Cash for that). That’s getting an edge. I suspect the Sox, in our shoes, would have called the game.
That’s not second guessing. Every one of those points were made by me and others yesterday.
Johnny,
we’ve had 7 injuries to deal with in 4 weeks of baseball. remember before they started dropping like flies our bench consisted of melky, swisher, molina, and ransom. that would have been solid, so it’s hard to say no thought went into building a bench for this team. also our two most seasoned relievers are on the shelf.
I would argue that Ransom was not a great addition. The other three are good for either defensive and/or offensive reasons. But there are no alternatives to the injuries, which is what I meant and did not state properly. I believe it was SJ44 who said that the Yankees go into a season assuming their plan will work. They do not consider any margin of error such as the injuries that have plagued this team – which by the way, how many more years is this going to happen, they have to be the worst conditioned team in baseball.
And your point on relievers supports my argument that there are no alternatives in the bull pen. There are few in AAA but even if they are brought up, one bad outing and they are on the Girardi s— list and see few opportunities, short of a blowout.
This type of model is going to continue to kill the Yankees. They have zero development of talent, they certainly do not allow for that talent to develop, and thus are forced to spend extra money buying players to fill roles. The problem is that the role players they buy are DFA’s for a reason. So, yes, there is very little thought that goes into building a bench when it is consistently made up of other teams cast offs. Angel Berroa is the poster child for this decision.
People that argue about inconsistent umpires don’t know anything about baseball, let alone sports. Great players make adjustments based on how the umpires are calling a game.
Hughes just had poor control last night, simple as that. His pitches had a lot of life, he just needs to pound the zone and good things will happen. He was also squeezed in his first start but in that game he threw more quality pitches.
Inconsistent umpiring is like death and taxes. Pretty sure the umps don’t have a damn thing to do with the failure to hit hit with runners in scoring position.
Laura,
Of course the bench is an issue. It always is when your bench players are forced to start because of injuries. And sometimes your backup guys get injured, too.
The starters need to stop the bleeding. The offense is still producing.
I never did get the Boras hate.
He has a job. He does his job well. He does his job VERY well.
- Agreed, The Boras hate comes from jealousy and from teams with front offices that are ran by monkeys on typewriters (i.e nationals, orioles) He does do his job very well and is successful.
Sadly, a lot of people in our country cannot stand those who work hard and do well.
My guess is Posada will miss 1-2 months. I think Bruney and A-rod will be back in a week or less which should be a nice boost. I also predict that Wang will return in less than a month. I have no clue about Marte/Nady but both injuries sound serious.
With all of these injuries the burden falls on the starting rotation. These guys need to start pitching to their potential for the Yankees to win. That really is the key to the season. Sabathia, Burnett, Pettitte, Chamberlain and Hughes MUST pitch lights out.
I think the bullpen will get better as Bruney comes back, Coke continues to pitch well and hopefully Melancon/Robertson are given more of a chance. The lineup will score runs depending on who is healthy. The key is the starting pitching. Sabathia and Burnett especially have to live up to their reputation.
“For the first time in cash’s entire career i am pretty sure, he finally added on a player for depth rather than to fill a need at the moment in swisher and that was probably the smartest move cash has made in this decade because look at the crucial role swish has already played.”
Swisher was acquired to fill the need of the moment for a first baseman. Cashman didn’t know at the time that we would wind up getting Tex. If we had acquired Tex first, Cashman wouldn’t have taken on Swisher’s contract for depth.
What can be done about the hitting with RISP? Nothing – this just has to be taken as a fact of life. These are good hitters – it’s not like most of the Yankees lineup is filled with garbabe. How can you make your good/great hitters hit? You can’t – so this what it is.
CC/AJ/Andy will be fine. CC and AJ will eventually find their groove and Andy will be consistently decent. The Yankees now have two kids in the rotation- again, nothing can be done about that until Wang (hopefully) returns.
The pen is pretty hopeless now – but if CC and AJ get rolling, things will look brighter.
I do think the team fights – even if they don’t execute. I’m not going to pile on them for that. I just hope they hang in their long enough for their pen to bail them out. Aceves issued a body blow when he gave up those two runs after they scored 3.
again cashman at fault for a bench of ; swisher, pena, gardner, and molina!!!!!!!!!that is a good bench.. maybe 1 HR guy off the bench missing but minor nonsense.
the guys who make a lot of dinero need to play better; tex, CC, aj, to start……..
Molina for Jeff Kennard isn’t too bad either.
the league decides if they cancel a game not the home team…
posada could get hurt getting out of bed…
Bull-hit…
Steve B,
Of course we’re pitching heavy. The 40 man composition is an issue, but always subject to change. It’s not like we don’t have non-roster guys under our control that can’t help us. Okay, that’s a lot of negatives. We do have guys that can help us, just a matter of replacing guys on the 40 with them.
Stuff happens, and it’s happening to the Yankees right now. The only bummer is that we should be way ahead of the pack right now. There’s Toronto and Boston and everyone else. Seriously, everyone’s within distance.
“I do think the team fights – even if they don’t execute.”
I agree, Betsy. They are showing more fight this year than last year. Not sure if that’s due to the new guys that arrived or what, but it’s good to see.
If Posada misses 1-2 months making the playoffs will be about as likely as drawing to an inside straight. It could happen, but not likely.
The AL East is just too competitive to overlook misfortunes like playing having to play Molina full time for an extended period. Even if our pitching reverts to form and gives us everything we hoped for, it’s not likely to be enough.
I hope this game gets rained out. Last night just totally killed my spirits for some reason.
I dont know why but that was the worst loss of the season for me, even worse then MO giving up that bomb to Bay in Fenway and AJ coughing up his 6-run lead.
Last night was borderline soul-crushing.
stuart,
before the game the decision to cancel rests with the home team. Get your facts straight before you start using abbreviated vulgarities.
“How is that any different than Arod? His teammates don’t like him. The press doesn’t like him. The only people who do are the blind mice fans. I’ll take the side of people who hang around him in the club house, the press and the players, and say he is a first class arrogant jerk.”
That’s odd. I’ve heard a lot of things about Alex, but not once has anyone said that he’s an arrogant jerk. He’s been called socially awkward, a drama queen, high maintenance and a pretty boy. But arrogant jerk? Even Selena Roberts doesn’t say that. I’ve seen Alex’s press conferences and his interviews with reporters. I’ve also seen Barry Bonds. Bonds wins hands down in the jerk competition. In fact, it’s not even close.
Mel:
Don’t see any reason why they should be “way ahead of the pack”. They haven’t played well enough and definitely haven’t pitched well enough to make such claims. The “way ahead of the pack” is a paper notion that has not manifested itself where it matters. More often than not the last 5 years, the Yankees have had the best team “on paper”. On the field it’s been another story.
But as you suggest, there is plenty of time to turn it around.
“I dont know why but that was the worst loss of the season for me, even worse then MO giving up that bomb to Bay in Fenway and AJ coughing up his 6-run lead.”
I’d have to disagree with you here, Dr. To me, the game Mo blew with that bomb to Bay was the worst one. Probably because it reminded me of the 2004 series, which is always a painful experience for me.
the Sox just own the Yanks right now, it’s frustrating..hopefully the Yanks can ride the ship but my optimistic look on Posada is that he hurt it sliding not running so maybe it’s not as severe as we all fear
I hope you’re wrong WYH because hamstring pulls are pretty serious. I really hope I’m wrong in my prediction as well.
I still believe that our starting pitching can carry us through the season and into the playoffs. I also still believe that our bullpen can be a strength. Coke, Marte, Bruney, Melancon, Rivera are still quality pitchers. Unfortunately 2 of those are injured right now.
Cashman built a nice team this year (bench not withstanding) but the same problem exists – age. When the core consists of aging players like Jeter, Posada, Rodriguez, Matsui there will be injury concerns every year. The Yanks either have to get really lucky and avoid injuries or develop more young talented position players.
“I’d have to disagree with you here, Dr. To me, the game Mo blew with that bomb to Bay was the worst one. Probably because it reminded me of the 2004 series, which is always a painful experience for me.”
As a Yankee fan, per se, Laura, that loss was generally worse,I guess. But I can’t explain it about last night. It seriously got to me on a personal level and I was just upset.
Thats just my own opinion, of course. But last night was brutal.
SJ, my biggest problem with you is that I am never sure if it is the real SJ posting! You know that someone assumes your identity and so especially during games, we can never be sure if it is you or your admirer!
(*if you already heard the following, I apologize*)
Did you all hear the Bogar story? I think this is hysterical! I heard someone report it on the FAN this morning. Bogar was apparently trying to pick up signs. Who knows how successful he was since the Red Sox did manage to get quite a few base runners. Well anyway, Girardi apparently picked up on it and gave the word to Molina. When Youklis went to bat, they switched the sign and Molina first put his glove as if he was calling for one pitch but then moved it over after Hughes was in motion. Hughes knew what was going on so he pitched to where the glove ended up. They said Youklis went after the phatom pitch with a vengeance and that was supposedly the AB where he reinjured himself.
KARMA. I just love it!!!!
The supposition from the caller on the FAN is that when Girardi told Bogar to be careful because someone could get hurt, the HBP (was it Ellsbury, can’t remember) was the outcome.
I LOVE JOE GIRARDI!
Scumsucker umpire screwed us all night long and scumsucker 1B coach did his best to play the game dirty, and we still only lost by two runs.
I hate any game where an umpire has an extracurricular part in the win or loss. Always will. And it doesn’t ease my upset any to have posters come up and give the macho answer about the umpire is just an excuse.
When you have every network mention it, your manager tossed because of it, and your captain who wouldn’t say crap if he had a mouthful stand and jawbone with the umpire and then really emote to the press about it, you know it was more than just your “got jobbed on a few calls” night.
THAT is unfair. I do not want umpires deciding a game because of messed up calling behind the plate. And NO it was not done the same to both pitchers.
I hadn’t heard that Bolgar story!
“Thats just my own opinion, of course. But last night was brutal.”
I’m sure the weather probably contributed to that as well. Also, the fact that we haven’t won a game against them yet makes it worse.
I’m wondering about tonight though. I feel a bench clearing brawl brewing….
It looks like all the Posada haters have got their wish. You don’t have to worry about his catching ERA now as Molina gets over exposed yet again. It wasnt Molina’s fault last night that he was directly responsible for the first run and dropped to pop ups…no, because he calls such an excellent game. Molina single handedly makes Hughes pitches on the black because of his expert framing…..right.
*Bogar – whatever – definitely helps explain all the extra drama!
They’re all brutal and they all hurt.
Lose in a blowout? Have victory snatched from your hands? Lose a game in which you blew chance after chance after chance? Gave games away with errors and RISP fail?
They all hurt. The paaiiinn!
“I’d have to disagree with you here, Dr. To me, the game Mo blew with that bomb to Bay was the worst one. Probably because it reminded me of the 2004 series, which is always a painful experience for me.”
Since I tend to read posts from the most recent to least recent, I respond in the same fashion. So as far as this post goes, I am definitely on board with that sentiment. When the Yankees lose games, I am disappointed but usually don’t have a lot of trouble breathing or thinking. When Mo does something like that, both things seem to be in suspended animation.
“I hadn’t heard that Bolgar story!”
Then you should read Pete more. lol
trisha,
I noticed that pitch and it seemed odd to me that Youk swung considering it was so out of the zone. Now it makes sense that Molina switched up the sign! That’s so awesome, even better that Youk strained his back trying to crush it.
It was Drew that got HBP.
As much as I’ve criticized Girardi this year about his bullpen management, I gotta hand it to him, he did a great job last night (even though our Yanks lost).
uh, I heard about the argument, not about the changed sign and how Youk swung at a pitch that wasn’t – trust me, I read here plenty…
Want to hear the thing that is resonating with me the most out of last night? I keep playing back the ESPN discourse about how no team with a shortstop 34 years old ever won a world series. The obligatory “Of course I’m not saying it couldn’t happen” was thrown in for good measure, but then the conversation about how it had never been done was continued. And continued.
Bolgar, Bogar, who cares? Just call him Booger
Rish, because I am a catch-as-catch-can poster, I usually don’t have a pulse on everything that has been discussed. That’s why I will typically apologize if I hit on a subject that has already been talked about.
Here’s the facts.
Without Posada, we have a 5 lineup in Jeter, Damon, Tex, Swish and Cano.
Without Posada Matsui is the everyday DH with the only possibility for another DH is taking one of the top 5 and resting them and playing a player who can’t equal their output.
To have a 6 player lineup you need all of the above guys to stay healthy, play everyday and perform.
That’s not going to happen. The above 6 are going to need days off, they’re going to get banged up.
Matsui is still trying to prove he can be relied on every day.
This is a bad situation and Cashman has one ace in the hole in Arod, but who the heck knows which Arod we’re getting. Is the pressure and scrutiny going to make him thrive and make him wilt?
He needs to make deals now and he can’t even deal from a position of strength which means the only deals he can make are taking another teams salary dump and adding more payroll.
The good news is those kind of trades are Cashman’s forte. Taking another teams high salaried guy when the team just wants salary relief is what he’s most successful at in trades.
Don’t know who that guy is right now, but he needs to trade for another OF (preferably one who can play CF) and a catcher who can actually swing a bat a little.
Short of that, this team is going to struggle to score and create the runs. The bottom of the order with Molina, Melky and whichever guy is playing 3b is horrible and will be a delight to pitch against.
If he comes out and preaches patience for Nady (who may not be able to play or throw when he comes back) and Posada (who could be gone for a month or longer) he’s not serious about winning and neither are the owners.
The one thing I agree with is Cashman doesn’t really thrive at the creative solutions. He doesn’t know how to target a player in AAA who is being blocked and could help here.
He’s only good at buying and identifying brand names.
If he wants to save this season, he has to show he has more tricks in his bag than buying Coke and Pepsi.
This is desperate folks. A 5 man offensive lineup plus Matsui is going to be hard to win with.
Trisha:
Umping was bad for everybody.
Strike zone was inconsistent, but it hurt and/or helped both teams. Aceves got, by far, the most ridiculous (read: jumbo sized) strike zone of the night.
Yankees lost because they couldn’t cash in some pretty good opportunities late in the game, not because of umpiring.
do we think we’ll hear about the MRI today? or, is this going to be another one of these “we have to wait for the dr” MRI issues
“trisha,
I noticed that pitch and it seemed odd to me that Youk swung considering it was so out of the zone. Now it makes sense that Molina switched up the sign! That’s so awesome, even better that Youk strained his back trying to crush it.
It was Drew that got HBP.
As much as I’ve criticized Girardi this year about his bullpen management, I gotta hand it to him, he did a great job last night (even though our Yanks lost).”
Patrick, I wish you could see how broadly I am smiling reading this, first because it’s nice to be on the same page with you, and second because I feel so happy when another Yankee fan echoes cool things about our guys.
Seriously, how awesome is that. And yeah I don’t mind saying that it would make me nothing but joyful if Youk hurt himself on that particular pitch. Should we feel sorry for him for trying to job us too????
I don’t think so!
Seeing some guys suggesting 1-2 months on Posada. My read of the situation is they got him out of there as soon as he felt a tugging and before something really bad happened. I’d guess no DL at all before I’d guess 4-8 weeks out. Let’s see how it plays.
Joba’s Mom busted for selling Meth… Too bad.
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/s.....lling-meth
After this post I’m done talking about last night but it seemed to me that most of the Yankees were sleepwalking through the game before Girardi got tossed. It’s tough to win if the team only plays half a game.
Steve B., I hope you don’t mind if I disagree with you. We had the bases loaded with one of our best hitters up there and the umpire called strike two on a pitch out of the zone, forcing Robby to have to adjust to a phantom zone and try to figure out what to do with the next pitches. That’s crap.
That was one of the worst cases of umpiring I’ve seen. Hard to imagine he was as hard on Lester when Lester managed to get 10Ks, many of them on nonswings.
Last night was a travesty. Period. When you have NESN saying Hughes got jobbed, you know Hughes got jobbed. They didn’t say Lester got jobbed. They said Hughes got jobbed. And so he did.
ESPN said the same thing.
Sometimes you shouldn’t try to make excuses for the inexcusable. To me anyone giving the ump a bye and blaming the Yankees is doing just that. At least with last night’s game.
My opinion.
Patrick, I hope I’m wrong too.
My immediate answer is we need to change some of the minor league pitchers on the 40 man roster and/or some of the bullpen into position players who are major league ready or near-major league ready. IMO, the Yanks are too overbalanced towards pitching right now.
I’d do that even if it cost us major league quality relievers, because I think our bullpen will be good and doesn’t have to have the depth it now does given the quality of our starters (which I still believe will show soon).
The offensive talent we pick up doesn’t need to be future All-Star quality, just capable of making a solid contribution in the majors.
I know, that’s easier said than done. But that’s why Cashman gets the big bucks.
It’s not worth speculating on how long Po is gonna be out. I’ll remain optimistic about his return until told otherwise.
I’ll sign on the dotted line right now for just 1 stint on the 15 day.
Ok, I know I just kinda speculated. Sorry.
“If we had postponed the game, we could have skipped Hughes, and had ARod for the make-up game. (That Posada would now be healthy would be a bonus, I won’t blame Cash for that). That’s getting an edge. I suspect the Sox, in our shoes, would have called the game.”
the reason that no one can prove any a particular gm is either great or not so great is that it’s an accumulation of edges that determine the job the gm does. often it’s a series of 50/50 tosses. other times it’s doing something that gives a 1 game edge over a whole season.
as sj44 pointed out above , there is starting to be a reoccurring pattern of what’s wrong with the yankees. people that study stats and people who go by their eyes are seeing the same deficiencies.
cb a few days ago used the occam’s razor analogy to explain wang’s implosion being explained by the simplest of explanations- that being he was still injured.
using the logic of occam’s razor, the simplest of explanations of why the yankees have so much inexplicable bad luck is simply that cashman just isn’t good enough to be the yankee GM. he simply doesn’t trump the 112,728 edges the red sox have created by creating 112, 729 edges for the yankees.
no one thing will do the yankees in in 2009. the probabilities are just not in their favor. we, as yankee fans can feel it. the season’s not over but a serious intervention is in order.
I’m all for stealing signs, so long as the coaches aren’t the ones doing it. To me, gamesmanship needs to occur within the foul lines. And if this were 10+ years ago Joba would drill a guy in the ribs the next game… if you get caught stealing signs, that’s the penalty – can’t whine about it.
“I don’t think so!”
I would never wish an injury on another player but in this case I’ll make an exception. Stealing signs is a part of baseball but the opposition better be ready for the consequences when they try to do it. It’s poetic justice that Youk hurt himself trying to take advantage of us.
Steve B,
I hope I’m wrong but this is the same hamstring injury that kept Posada out of a game a few days ago. I don’t think it’s a minor thing, especially after seeing him grabbing his leg like he did. I hope he’s ok but I am expecting the worst.
I’m just glad that A-rod is coming back soon. With these nonstop injuries, his bat will be a huge help.
I don’t think much of Shelley’s chances but I think it’s worth a shot to catch lightning in a bottle. There’s not a hotter hitter on the farm. Reading CJ’s blog, it sounds like he’s putting together great at bats and making the pitchers work. Shelley, Rodriguez, or Linden all our bench options that have some power. With Posada out, they need it in addition to a catcher.
Are guys like Cattalanatto or Grudzleinak considered options at this point?…for the sake of depth?
This place has gotten way too manic.
They win and Swisher is MVP, who needs Alex we have Pena, Jeter is a top rated SS, Molina is better than Jorge and Melancon is the answer.
They lose and the Nady injury is huge, when is Alex coming back, Jeter is too old for the team to win a WS, Jorge’s injury and Molina’s bat is going to kill them and Bruney’s injury is killing them.
Some people need to follow a sport with a shorter season for their own sanity.
To those killing Cashman for the bad bench, I’m really not sure how it’s his fault that A-Rod and X are down with injuries. The bench looks a lot deeper if Nady is your lefty-masher instead of Angel Berroa.
Okay here’s my final thought for now. (Duty calls, dammit!)
I am disappointed in the way the Yankees have been playing, and I am disappointed in the injuries, and I am disappointed in the fact that starting pitching hasn’t gelled the way we need it to.
(I AM SO GRATEFUL THAT WE HAVE A LONG MAN. THANK YOU GOD.)
I have total faith in this team and absolutely believe that they will get it together and get on a roll in time for us to take the division. I mean that sincerely. But I won’t say that it doesn’t make me a little sad or disappoint me in the meantime.
I believe our guys are trying their best – probably trying to hard and pressing and that’s probably why Jorge is hurting right now – everyone wants to be the one to pick the team up and get the job done, and so they press.
My job is just to be as supportive a fan as I can and wait it out.
It’s all I can do.
Signed
Trisha the Yankee fan.
Later y’all.
Trisha:
Never mind disagreement. Helps make the world go ’round.
No doubt there were inconsistencies in the umpiring. Just saw it as affecting both teams. Just before Cano was given a questionable strike 2 in the 9th, Teixeira looked at one right down broadway that was called a ball. It happens. The ump was all over the place all night for both team IMO.
The big question tonight is how many innings Joba lasts. I’d like to think 6, but against this team that will be a stretch. Then we get to see the keystone cops do their thing.
I didn’t post last night in the game thread.
I’ve posted today.
Bottom line, if Posada is out for an extended period of time, this team is in deep trouble.
As GLove said, can’t win with a half lineup and a limited one at that.
As I said, my frustration is how they keep coming back to the same issues every year and seemingly never learn from their mistakes.
But, that’s how it goes. Let’s hope the news on Posada is positive.
i agree you cannot blame cashman. the only negative is the construct of the 40 man roster. need a couple more batters and a few less pitchers. with aceves up, we do not need 8 pitchers in the pen. We need a hitter especially if posada goes day to day, damon is sore, tex is sore, swish is sore, etc…
and there is no guarantee a-rod immediately starts mashing the ball upon arrival. i hope we give him more than 4 ABs before Booing.
trisha – click to see my bigger and better Opening Day photos
May 5th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Want to hear the thing that is resonating with me the most out of last night? I keep playing back the ESPN discourse about how no team with a shortstop 34 years old ever won a world series. The obligatory “Of course I’m not saying it couldn’t happen” was thrown in for good measure, but then the conversation about how it had never been done was continued. And continued.
The funny thing is, you can make statistics sound anyway you want them to……… first of all, how many teams actually have a SS over 34….. then, how many of them actually have a chance to win a WS. Imagine, the Giants didn’t win the World Series last year because of Omar Visquel. Who would have thought?
posada was blasted by the blog for not running out a double play ball the other night which turned out to happened because he had a sore hamstring.
i don’t know how many of you have ever had serious hamstring probems , but they don’t go away in a few days.
posada should not have been playing in a cold weather delayed game in the rain.
anyone who says he should have is just plain wrong.
i never expected that game to be played last night. let’s see, posada out. youkillis out.
yeah, that was a good decision to play that game.
If anyone sees Cash or Girardi next spring, can you please remind them to carry a long man. Thanks.
aceves was not ready and no way to know our starters would be so ineffective.
SJ
Was getting CC and AJ not learning from their mistakes?
Was having too many outfielders so therefore a stronger bench not learning from their mistakes?
Was improving the 1B position defensively not learning from their mistakes?
Resigning Giambi and Abreu and keeping Hughes and Kennedy in the rotation would have been not learning from their mistakes.
Similiar situations this year with the injuries and RISP but not the same mistakes.
I don’t think anyone is suggesting the Yankees aren’t trying their best.
I don’t think anyone is suggesting that Cashman, outside of the CF situation, didn’t assemble a good to great starting 9.
But now it’s May and the team is again decimated by injuries and the bench is exposed and he needs to address it.
This team needs another catcher with Posada heading for the DL. There is nothing in AAA unless Chris Stewart and Molina make you feel all warm and fuzzy.
He also needs more options in the OF and DH.
The problem with guys like Catalanatto and Edmonds is they had no spring training and would take a long time to get ready to play.
The team needs some guys to step in now.
I would bring up Miranda and give him a bench role that included some spot starts at DH and see what you have there.
I would also bring up another OF’er who can hit and give you come protection in case Swish or Damon need to come out of a game.
Right now the Jeter, Damon, Tex, Swish, Cano group can’t come out of a game or get injured.
There needs to be some roster changes and I hope if the answer isn’t in Scranton, Cashman finds pieces somewhere else.
I’m not talking about trading for all stars, but get some players here who can round out the bench and play when one of the top 5 in the order need a break.
He’s got some relievers he can potentially turn into pieces, although the way Veras has thrown this year I think every team in the league will wait Cashman out until he has to DFA him rather than trade for him.
“Bottom line, if Posada is out for an extended period of time, this team is in deep trouble.”
sj44-
that just goes without saying. his throwing and hitting was surprisingly good compared to what it could have been.
given the best of reports on posada his hamstring problem is not going to go away totally for at least 6 weeks. if it’s minor, he may only miss a few days, but the problem is that playing with a slightly damaged hamstring can turn into a big rip at any time if he’s out there. they wstiil would have to be careful how they use him.
am i crazy or wasn’t he already hurt before last night? why was he out there ?
Aceves pitched solidly overall. Now, of course, he’s lost to us for at least two days. What’s left truly scares me.
I think Randy nailed it on the head pretty good…
Posada should have never been in the lineup last night.
but what other choice did they have? Matsui and his aching knees against Lester?
The roster is completely “hamstrung” right now in terms of depth and flexibility.
Quite the conundrum.
“Thats just my own opinion, of course. But last night was brutal.”
I agree with Dr. Cox and Laura about how brutal both last night and the series opener in Boston were. However, in looking for a reason to be optimistic, I’m trying to remind myself that as poorly as the Yankees have played and despite the growing number of injuries, if Cano had come up with a big 9th inning hit instead of Jason Bay…the season series would be tied and the tone of today’s conversations would probably be far different.
Stealing signs is part of the game.
But, if you get caught, your guy is gonna get drilled.
I think Bogar was giving location to the hitters because, for some reason, Molina was setting up real early. He usually doesn’t do that but, he did it last night.
That’s probably what Girardi, a former catcher picked up, and why he challenged Bogar.
what don’t you idiots understand about the yanks have scored 1 less then the sux in 1 less game..the yanks have the 29th worse starting staff and 30th bullpen, that appears to be the issue, but what the heck don’t use your brains…
in other words morons there pitching is an issues so talk all you want about the yanks 7th thru 9th hitter it is all bull-hit.
BTW brain surgeons they get back there 3B on friday, so the lineup appears to get better…
http://www.hardballtimes.com/m.....artiality/
oh my god no aceves for 2 days.. the world is coming to an end..
OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
read the hysteria on these posts….have you ever watched or followed baseball…maybe if fatboy or tatoos brain could pitch a strong 7 innings on occasion the loss of the oh so valuable aceves for 2 days would not be an issue, just athought….
“Want to hear the thing that is resonating with me the most out of last night? I keep playing back the ESPN discourse about how no team with a shortstop 34 years old ever won a world series. The obligatory “Of course I’m not saying it couldn’t happen” was thrown in for good measure, but then the conversation about how it had never been done was continued. And continued.”
Well ESPN is wrong. Check out the age for the 1980 Philadelphia Phillies starting S.S.: Larry Bowa age 34. But if ESPN says it it must be true.
http://www.baseball-reference......1980.shtml
Stuart — what’s your point? The pitching has sucked, and everyone’s acknowledged that. Offense is spotty and can’t hit in the clutch, but the pitching is woeful. What are we missing?
Okay, Stuart, so you’re just a first-class idiot. My fault for responding to you.
on a side note , the red sox do not escape scott free from playing the yankees even when they sweep them. they tend to lose ground back to the yankees after playing them because they seem to expend so much energy in a yankee/red sox series.
the yankees seem to have trouble getting up to the energy energy levels it takes to beat the red sox, but they seem to move on better than the red sox do.
at the present time being so beat up, the yankees best bet for gaining on the red sox is not playing them and letting the rest of the league beat them. an example of the red sox going all out against the yankees is they pitcher papelbon for 5 outs last night. they hardly ever do that.
they’ll pay for it later if they overuse him in this series.
G. Love,
lol. Good post.
The players I think could help us? Pujols (he can DH) and Lowell (stick Alex in CF).
Laura – There’s nothing you have that I need, I can breathe!
May 5th, 2009 at 11:07 am
The lack of pitching and the failure to hit in the clutch is what is dooming this team right now.
===========
This is an oxymoron: dooming this team RIGHT NOW.
You cannot be doomed on May 5.
Check out the MLB standings.
We lost no ground yesterday on the division leader. Toronto has sizzled and we’re 3.5 games back. If we win our games in hand (3) we’d be 2 GB, and we get a shot at the Jays next week.
Relax.
Zman7777. my point is there offense is top of the league.
there pitching starting and pen needs to turn it around.
cc, aj, joba, etc. need to pitch better, they should.
the pen needs to be reconfigured, girardi needs to show less pateience with non contributors and weed them out.
if they can also reduce the # of pitchers by 1 it will help the bench either add a 3rd catcher or a big bat off the bench(yea a HR guy who also often strikes out such as shelly duncan). If I recall that option could have been used about 3 times so far.
but at the end of the day these pitchers should do better and must else all the rest of the talk is jsut noise and bull-hit……………
Pat,
25 pitchers on the 40 man. No C or OF they can bring up without making a move.
That’s all on Cashman.
We talk about the big (FA signings) all the time.
Often, the little moves are just as important.
Something that has not been his strength.
One only has to look at the roster right now.
13 pitchers? Makes no sense.
They don’t do a good job of utilizing their entire roster.
That’s why it’s a problem.
“girardi needs to show less pateience with non contributors and weed them out.”
And replace them with whom exactly?
SJ44 – name names. Who would you DFA? Who would you demote? Who would you call up?
Stuart—-
No one is claiming the lineup imbalance and goofy 40-man roster is the biggest concern, but what’s wrong with discussing ALL the shortcomings? Your pitching is better if you ar eplaying defense and it makes their life easier if you are scoring more runs.
The DO need to get back to a 12-man pitching staff and the sooner the better. They do need to purge the 40-man roster of 3 or 4 mediocre RHP from the group of Jackson, Claggett, Veras, Ramirez, Robertson, Aceves, Hacker and Albaladejo.
If Jorge goes on the DL they have to find a catcher somewhere, preferably someone who knows how to hit. The absence of another bat on the bench is a real problem as proven last night, though if Jorge doesn’t get hurt, Matsui hits for Molina and Jorge catches but that leaves them without a catcher or DH the rest of the game.
That’s why a 13th pitcher makes absolutely no sense.
lidstening to anything ESPN says is a joke.. buckholtz is a star in the making just ask espn.. these announcers have never even seen the guys they are talking about.
the yanks are the youngest they have been in years… pena is a very viable future SS, hughes, joba, melancon, coke, robertson, etc… they are young..
they whine about the yanks pen is retreads…..who is delcarmen, okajima, lopez, etc… they are upset the yanks did not spend 100 mill on there pen..
the great sux minor league… youkilis is 30 he is older then tex by 2 years…..they BS that comes out of there mouth is a joke..3 of the yanks normal starters are homegrown, add hughes and you get 4 of 6….
Melancon has a great pedigree to be a stud, we will see if he delivers..They are talking about all the sux issues and they are 16 and 11, really how would the sux do if there best player has not played yet????????
jeter, damon, tex, arod, matsui, swisher, posada, cano, melky, is a great lineup and even without posada for a while it is a great lineup..
they act like Cano is not a very good homegrown position player. They need to have gardner be more aggresive on the basepaths also.
ellsbury is fast but let’s remember his OBP is very very low…
ESPN can at least be remotely objective…….
“They do need to purge the 40-man roster of 3 or 4 mediocre RHP from the group of Jackson, Claggett, Veras, Ramirez, Robertson, Aceves, Hacker and Albaladejo.”
Ross Ohlendorf and Jeff Karstens were key pieces (not as key as Tabata, but key) of the Nady+Marte deal.
A lot of teams could use relievers. Even ‘mediocre’ ones. DFA-ing value is stupid.
DFA Veras!
Demote Albie
I still think Ramirez is the best of the Veras/Ablie/Edwar bunch.
Stick to the young guys: Coke, Robertson, Melancon, Bruney, Edwar, Aceves, Rivera. When Bruney is back, i guess send Melancon back to AAA for work, or Edwar.
I would suggest they should see if two or three of the guys I mentioned could get them an OF or C from Washington or another organization starved for arms. I would want to keep Robertson and Aceves above the others, but chances are another team would want those guys if they were offering up anything decent.
You cannot clear up the 40-man clutter without a couple of two-for-one or three-for-one trades where you move multiple RHP. You’d rather not release guys, but it came to that Claggett and Hacker would top my list.
if i had a tender hamstring i’d much rather catch than DH in a bad weather game because as a catcher, i’d be heated up the whole game. as a DH the legs would tend to get cold and stiff siting on the bench or even in the clubhouse.
“the simplest of explanations of why the yankees have so much inexplicable bad luck is simply that cashman just isn’t good enough to be the yankee GM.”
Occam’s razor for why the yankees have such “bad luck” is that they are an old team with an aging core and lack the depth in the minor leagues to make up for it.
That’s the simplest explanation for why they are having this endless run of “bad luck.”
Take ARod’s injury. It is literally do to the torque he generates with his swing. Each time he’s swung a bat it’s caused his hip joint to rub against his labrum.
In other words the injury is directly related to use which is directly related to time which is directly related to age. Not saying his age was the sole cause – clearly he had an underlying anatomic abnormality with the impingement – but it was time and his age which made this a problem. He never has that injury at the age of 28.
But the fundamental problem gets down to the lack of talent in the minor leagues. That’s it.
That’s the fundamental problem. And they haven’t been able to change it fast enough or effectively enough.
And that’s clearly on the GM, the front office and the rest of the talent evaluation staff.
They’ve been running the draft for 4 years now. Not enough results to date.
This is also why the discussions about moving Joba to the pen are completely non-productive because all that would do would be to worsen their problem with player development and utilizing young talent in an optimal way.
If Posada is out they are going to need dominant starting pitching to win. That’s the bottom line.
It’s not the bull pen. It has to come from the starting staff.
did espn call Ellsbury a dangerous hitter last night? He is batting something like .280 with a .320 obp. If that is dangerous, then Melky must be nuclear.
i get rid of veras and ramirez.. they walk way to many guys and I cut the chord on them…
my pen would be; mo, bruney(when come back), melancon, marte(when healthy), coke, robertson, and a long man.
bye bye to veras, ramirez, and I am not sure about abeledajo.. If they cannot throw strikes we cannot use them…
cc, aj, joba, pettitte, and hughes or wang should be a top 3 staff in all of baseball not the 29th best…..
Seriously? If we lose Posada our season is over? Really?
The 2009 Yankeed rely so much on Jorge Posada that if he is out for an extended period of time the season is over? This team relies that much on one player? BS.
Give me a break. Sure the team is better with Posada then Molina, but a Posada injury isn’t going to cost us this season. He’d be a huge loss, don’t get me wrong, but we can survive.
This lineup is better than most. Again with the “we need All-Stars at every position” crap. Now SJ is following in line. With our rotation, I think this lineup will be suffice. Nady will be back, too. Every lineup has holes, everyone.
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Tex 1b
Arod 3b
Matsui DH
Swiser RF
Cano 2B
Molina C
Melky/Gardy CF
Bench
Pena
Melky/Gardy
Other C
Miranda/Rodriguez/Duncan, S
stuart
May 5th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
lidstening to anything ESPN says is a joke.. buckholtz is a star in the making just ask espn.. these announcers have never even seen the guys they are talking about.
the yanks are the youngest they have been in years… pena is a very viable future SS, hughes, joba, melancon, coke, robertson, etc… they are young..
they whine about the yanks pen is retreads…..who is delcarmen, okajima, lopez, etc… they are upset the yanks did not spend 100 mill on there pen..
the great sux minor league… youkilis is 30 he is older then tex by 2 years…..they BS that comes out of there mouth is a joke..3 of the yanks normal starters are homegrown, add hughes and you get 4 of 6….
Melancon has a great pedigree to be a stud, we will see if he delivers..They are talking about all the sux issues and they are 16 and 11, really how would the sux do if there best player has not played yet????????
jeter, damon, tex, arod, matsui, swisher, posada, cano, melky, is a great lineup and even without posada for a while it is a great lineup..
they act like Cano is not a very good homegrown position player. They need to have gardner be more aggresive on the basepaths also.
ellsbury is fast but let’s remember his OBP is very very low…
ESPN can at least be remotely objective…….
=========
You really just have to laugh it off, Stuart.
As someone who attends MIL games, I have probably not only seen more NYY prospects than the bozos at ESPN, but more BRS prospects.
They have their book on things and they’re sticking to it. Don’t let it bother you. I’m actually happy that the conventional wisdom is always off – because it’s so much more fun when you succeed and make all those blowhards look like the myopic walking cliches they are.
SJ – Here is my problem with your rants of the last week and a half – you are judging Cashman and Co. based on today’s roster not on the moves made in the offseason. Any reasonable person would look at the team today and say there are significant holes, it is poor 25 and 40 man roster judgment, too old etc.
Well let’s review the offseason:
1) Problem – starting pitching sucked big time – signed the two best free agent pitchers available including one in CC who is theoretically entering the prime of his career. Removed youngsters Phil and Ian from rotation. Got Andy back at the Yankees price and adds stability and verteran presence.
2) Problem – 1st base – signed the best available (all-around) position player in Texeira. Improved defense immeasurably and got much younger. Removed a station to station limited player in Giambi.
3) Problem – Abreu and the wall – Gauged the arbitration market perfectly and let Abreu go. Replaced with Nady from trade last year. Younger and a better all around player.
4) Problem – Bench – very weak last year. Signed Swisher to be an excellent backup at several positions. Got younger, better OBP, better OPS, etc. Molina is the best back-up catcher in the league.
5) Problem – bullpen – Signed Marte whom they coveted for years. Added Coke homegrown to make an excellent two headed left-handed reliever. Got Bruney back. Thought that Veras and Ramirez would continue to develop. Had Melancon and Robertson as depth (also in the development category).
5) Problem – development – Hughes now becomes part of the pitching depth, as does Aceves, as does Kennedy. Their are other promising pitchers on the way.
6) Problem – Cano and Melky. Whatever they did both of these players are playing to their historical peaks rather than valleys.
They will likely let Damon and Matsui walk after this year making the team younger still.
SJ – You roundly applauded all of the moves in the offseason. Roundly applauded the tremendous depth of the bullpen and the youngsters on the way. You applauded the moves to upgrade the bench with Swisher.
The season has intervened. You cannot lose all of the players to injury, old age, underproduction and still field a perfect team.
This was BY FAR the best Yankee team on paper in years. If the team is together they are the best team (or right there Boston) in the league. Cashman deserves some blame but not for what you are blaming him for.
I’m not nearly the Robertson fan many people on the blog are. His short 33+ inning stint in MLB has been far from impressive. Yet, he would seem at 24, one guy amongst the suggested overflow of bullpenners who might have the most value to a team (I’m excluding Coke and Melancon).
Then as I asked before, did Cash and co. concentrate TOO much on drafting pitchers and not enough on position players since Cash has taken control? It seems that way.
The Yankees are sunk no matter what if their SP doesn’t come around, but I would expect it to. The top 3 have been up and down to varying degrees (not counting Wang), but it really is now time for them to step up.
If Posada’s hamstring is as bad as it seems, would be interesting to see if they turn to platelet therapy. Nady is using it now and it worked wonders for Saito. Just in a quick check, it looks like it has been using for hamstrings.
“i get rid of veras and ramirez.. they walk way to many guys and I cut the chord on them…
my pen would be; mo, bruney(when come back), melancon, marte(when healthy), coke, robertson, and a long man.
bye bye to veras, ramirez, and I am not sure about abeledajo.. If they cannot throw strikes we cannot use them…
cc, aj, joba, pettitte, and hughes or wang should be a top 3 staff in all of baseball not the 29th best…..”
Let me guess… you wanted to cut bait on Bruney the last couple of years, didn’t you?
I said it all offseason, going into this season with Molina as the backup was going to bite the Yanks in the butt.
They needed to get someone to split time at catcher who wasn’t arguably the worst hitter in MLB.
If Posada is out for an extended period, even getting A-Rod back is going to still leave us with a completely impotent bottom 3rd of the batting order.
It’ll be last year all over again.
“I said it all offseason, going into this season with Molina as the backup was going to bite the Yanks in the butt.
They needed to get someone to split time at catcher who wasn’t arguably the worst hitter in MLB.
If Posada is out for an extended period, even getting A-Rod back is going to still leave us with a completely impotent bottom 3rd of the batting order.
It’ll be last year all over again.”
So, they should have traded for Mauer to be Posada’s backup? Or what?
“Occam’s razor for why the yankees have such “bad luck” is that they are an old team with an aging core and lack the depth in the minor leagues to make up for it.
That’s the simplest explanation for why they are having this endless run of “bad luck.”
cb-
age isn’t just something that happens to players..
the 24/7 energy it takes to be a gm in the battle for the American League East may require getting a younger GM.
cashman may simply be too old and too burnt out at this point.
maybe the answer is as simple as bumping him up into an advisory role and having an energetic new era GM take over the reigns.
cashman may have taken the team as far as he can. he’s changed the direction of the team, but maybe it takes someone who isn’t in his mid 40′s with a family to take the team to the next level.
People throw around Hacker’s name without having ever seen him, except for an inning or two in the spring. He has great stuff but usually has one bad inning. I would try him in the bullpen and you will see a marked jump in velocity and he has decent offspeed stuff.
Oh, joy, and of course, randy has to pull the ‘I hate Cashman’ card. :rofl:
“Then as I asked before, did Cash and co. concentrate TOO much on drafting pitchers and not enough on position players since Cash has taken control? It seems that way”
Betsy, Cashman has generally taken the best player avialable to him with his 1st round picks, but because the Yankees are always drafting pretty low and high end position players are usually among the 1st to go in most drafts, the best available tends to be a pitcher.
Someone Else
May 5th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
So, they should have traded for Mauer to be Posada’s backup? Or what?
—————————
Be serious here.
Molina is a beyond awful bat. There were plenty of moves they could have made to get any number of catchers who are an improvement over him.
Gee the unbiased reporters at Every Sox Players Noteworthy are down on the Yankees. What a shocker
Three moves I make immediately,
Assuming Posada goes on the DL, depending on how long he is out, they have to go outside the organization and get a catcher.
That doesn’t mean trading some of their slop for Saltamacchia. It means, having to make a deal, overpay if possible, for a 25-30 year old guy who can not only help them now, but be in the mix to catch next year when Molina’s contract expires.
The Phillies have a kid, Lou Marson, 23 years old, who is blocked by some other guys in the organization. He’s in AAA right now. He’s a good prospect. Better than anybody the Yankees currently have above A Ball. The Rangers have Max Ramirez, a guy who is probably better than both Salty and Teegharden but isn’t highly thought of by managment.
If they don’t mind taking on some money, which they shouldn’t at this point, they can make a run a Torrealba.
There are moves that can be made if they need to get a catcher.
Other moves? I’d DFA Veras immediately. He serves no useful purpose on this team. Even at his best, he is a fringe guy. His occupation both on the roster and the 40 man is more hurtful to this team than anything he can do on the mound.
I’d DFA him and call up John Rodriquez to give them another bat on the bench.
I’d send down Edwar, another useless part of the bullpen, and call up Steven Jackson. He has more upside and you have to see if the can pitch because he is tying up 40 man roster space.
If the bullpen for the time being is: Jackson, Aceves, Melancon, Coke, Albie, Robertson and Rivera, while not great, you have to make due until Bruney and/or Marte come back.
You have another bat on the bench and in the OF to give Girardi a little more flexibility.
Catcher? Well, that may be a situation where they are going to have to part with some of the 1,500 RH pitchers in the organization to get a guy that can come in here and catch for the next month or two. The price you pay for not being proactive in the off-season.
Would he be dealing from strength? No.
However, its better he does that than try to sell that this 210 million dollar team is “rebuilding” and winning is not the focal point this year. That spin is dead in the water this year.
So, you either get aggressive to try and fix some of these problems or, sit back and hope for the best.
I’m one who believes the latter always comes back to bite you in the butt.
But, that’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.
Steve B. – I have no problem with that. However, then we can’t criticize the team for not having position players in their system.
Haven’t we gone over this? At the position the Yankees draft, in the early rounds paying overslot for high-potential pitching is better than getting mid-tier position players. The superstar position players are snapped up before we’re on the clock.
They have to start paying attention now because the vets are getting old, but Cashman’s done a pretty decent job of addressing the pitching. Which I hear wins championships. He’s done a good job with the farm system as well.
Why do any of you even watch ESPN?
If you are watching that over the MLB Network you are nuts.
I haven’t heard one word out of any of those ESPN clowns all season, with the exception of the Sunday Night games and it has been great.
we can hide Molina’s bat if posada is out for a long time…look at the lineup Scooter posted above…if Melky can hit consistantly, then we have 1 terrible hitter in the lineup…most teams would take that if they could. Molina will need breaks as well though, so a solid back-up back-up will be needed if posada is indeed out for a while. of course no one knows he will be at this point, so stay positive and chill for a bit. In spite of all this negativity, all i can think is how exciting it is (for me at least) that I happen to be going to Baltimore this weekend and will most likely get to see A-Rod back with the team!
“Be serious here.
Molina is a beyond awful bat. There were plenty of moves they could have made to get any number of catchers who are an improvement over him.”
Like who? The last time I checked there are not a whole lot of decent catchers with good bats. Teams that have depth at catcher hold on it.
Look at the Rangers. The Red Sox tried to pry away a catcher. They have a far superior farm system than us and the Rangers didn’t budge. The Rangers gave up Laird who was expendable. Molina is far superior defensively than him.
Sorry, this is the AL East we play in. You can not hide even one bat in your lineup and hope to contend. Especially when that bat is Jose Molina.
This team lost Posada last year and it was a hole they couldn’t patch.
Up and down the organization, to a man, he was the one guy they said they couldn’t replace.
Nothing against Molina but, he isn’t an everyday player.
If he has to play everyday again for a significant period of time, especially if the pitching continues to be this poor, they are cooked.
Same thing happened last year. What’s going to change it this year.
We just have to hope its a 2 week injury. If it isn’t, they have to go outside the organization to find a catcher.
I mean, they don’t HAVE to. They can just keep the status quo and end up the same way as last year.
For guys whose jobs are on the line this year, that wouldn’t be my recommended course of action.
CB
Excellent points. I would argue that this team (and any other championship caliber team) needs both dominant starting pitching AND a good bullpen to win consistantly. Our bullpen has not performed to the level it did last year. It just has not. Its all well and good that we have guys that can give us 6-7 dominant innings up front, but if we are just giving the lead right back late, how does that bode for the season? Our total Pitching issue has to be addressed even more so now with the Posada (and Bruney) injury and lack of depth in positional players at the minor league level. I’m holding out hope that we have enough depth for the bullpen to last. However if it does not shape up it puts tremendous pressure on the starters to be flawless, and that is unrealistic. Who can we honestly trust right now with a lead in the 7th and 8th? With all this said, this is exactly why the whole Joba thing will not die…the starters AND pen need to be effective, not one or the other IMHO.
What I want to know is when did Brandon Inge become such a good player? Didn’t he make a stink last season because he didn’t want to catch?
You can’t hide Molina’s bat because, to do so, you are making assumptions that are impossible to make right now.
What if Melky and/or Gardner don’t hit? That’s as likely as if they do, given their track records. That’s two black holes in the lineup.
Usually, you always have a guy, sometimes 2, who are cold in your lineup over the course of the season.
Meaning, if you have 3 guys in the lineup who aren’t offensive threats, you can pitch around guys.
For a team that needs all the runs it can muster due to its pitching problems, that doesn’t seem to me to be something you can bank on.
If Posada is out for a long period of time, its just about the worst case scenario for the Yankees.
It would mean their starting pitching would have to pitch to Top 3 levels in the league, something we have yet to see so far this season, for them to survive his absence.
Could it happen? Sure it could. Is it likely to happen? Probably not. At least not from what we have seen so far this year.
Bad Scooter-
What you miss is that the Red Sox and the Rays have good players too.
I never said the Yanks could not make the playoffs if Jorge was out for an extended period. I said I thought the probabilities didn’t favor our making the playoffs if he was.
Before the season, most mathematical models showed a tight race in the AL East between the Yanks, the Sox and the Rays. Replacing Posada with Molina for a third of the season could cost us around two games (at least if you believe the models, I know a lot of people don’t). On top of the loss of ARod, which has probably cost us about 1.5 wins so far (again, models), that moves us from about a 96 expected win team to a 92 or 93 win team. That number may not hack it.
Sure, real world results may vary, and we could make the playoffs. But the chances don’t seem as good to me if we lose Jorge.
“maybe the answer is as simple as bumping him up into an advisory role and having an energetic new era GM take over the reigns.”
Why did Girardi play Posda last night with the field in that condition when he knows that Jorge’s hammy was already bothering him?
There’s three possible reasons – he’s stupid, he willing to take uneccesary risks for small returns, or he felt desperate for a win against boston.
I’m guessing it’s the third – feeling something akin to desperation.
The season is in no way over at all. This pitching rotation is way too talented not to go on a big run.
That said the biggest issue for this ball club isn’t specifically Cashman. It’s the entire malaligned symbiosis of expectations between the ball club, the media, NY and the fanbase.
It’s created a culture where there is no room for long term thinking because seats cost $2600 a pop, Yankee fans will go nuts if they lose a game to Boston in May (just look at this board…), and the tabloid/ national media will have a field day.
All of these cultural issues were amplified a thousand fold by the dynasty of the late 1990′s.
Some of the fans who grew up with those teams have to be amongst the most unrealistic sports fans in the world.
Every factor that comes into play points towards short term, easy fix thinking.
The bull pen isn’t doing well now – fine, move Joba to the pen.
Alex opts out of his contract – throw a 10 year deal at him and we’ll monetize his value as he breaks the home run record and does so as a “clean” player.
Scott Borass demands a major league contract for Andrew Brackman when he’s drafted despite the fact that Brackman is completely raw and more than likely needs TJ surgery. Sure let’s do it – despite the impact such a major league contract will have on the 40 may roster for years to come if Brackman doesn’t break out quickly.
The team is 2 games above .500 in May and has lost 3 in a row to the sox on a night when it’s raining. Fine, play your 38 year old catcher with a bum hammy at DH because you MUST win this game.
And the thing is – if Girardi didn’t play Jorge last night the yankee fanbase would have been livid. So would the media.
And all of these things factor in.
Cashman to his credit has been the first person to try to change that culture and he’s done it to a certain degree.
They have far more young talent in the minor than they had for years.
But whether it’s enough is unclear right now.
And there’s a very good chance that if he is fired the next guy who comes in thinks to himself that you know what I need to win now so let me “do what it takes.”
The club is caught in an endless loop of absurd expectations from multiple fronts and short term thinking.
That’s the fundamental problem. There’s not enough patience. Not from the organization, not from the fanbase and not from the media to allow the organization to think enough long term.
here’s hoping there is no DL tint required – or that it’s minimal…all this cold/rainy weather is not helping
Read on twitter than Jorge was put on dl. no other source than that.
Brandon Inge was always a good player. The problem was, putting him behind the plate last year messed up his entire game.
As a fulltime third baseman, he was a very, very solid player.
Now, without the burden of catching, and an adjustment he made with his hands and his stance, recommended by their hitting coach, Lloyd McClendon, he is short and quick to the ball again and is playing very well.
http://twitter.com/koshersports
“There’s three possible reasons – he’s stupid, he willing to take uneccesary risks for small returns, or he felt desperate for a win against boston.
I’m guessing it’s the third – feeling something akin to desperation.”
If indeed this was the answer, then #1 and #2 apply as well.
Wave Your Hat
May 5th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Bad Scooter-
Sure, real world results may vary, and we could make the playoffs. But the chances don’t seem as good to me if we lose Jorge.
———————
If the YAnks lose Posada for an extended period of time and Cashmna does not make a move for a legit replacement, this team will not make the playoffs.
Not trying to be overreactive, it’s just a fact. This division is too good.
SJ,
Thanks for that. I knew he struggled for a bit and there was talk of trading him. But he’s bounced back big time.
The Yankees will be fine.
Hopefully Posada won’t miss too much time, but if he does, the Yankees should be able to get through it. I mean, with Rodriguez coming back you’re replacing Posada’s bat with him and then Pena’s bat with Molina. You also have to figure that Teixeira is going to get it going. The offense isn’t the problem.
The Yankees rotation needs to get going. Once that happens, this team will start rolling. The starters are what separate this team from the rest of the league.
i like using Inge as a catcher on my fantasy team. it almost feels like cheating. he played 3rd primarily a few years ago and i picked him up then, as well…
“If indeed this was the answer, then #1 and #2 apply as well.”
You’d think so. But unfortunately, that’s not the way things work in the world the yankees occupy.
The only reason you play posada last night is that on some level you feel it is a near “must win.”
Not that different from Tito pitching papelbon for a 5 out save I suppose except for one major factor.
Papelbon is 26 or 27 and Posada is 38.
Anyone listening to wfan? supposedly they said Jorge to dl. Can anyone confirm this?
i use him as a catcher too saucY–it has paid off quite well
Does he really think he’s doing a service to the game by getting all these overprices players even more money?
If he cares so much about the game and the fans then why would he do this when it just pushes the real fans away from the games and from buying tickets because they can’t afford it because the team has to pay 12 million to a guy like Carlos Silva..
Do players really need that extra 10 million after they have already gotten almost half a million in their career?
Do iron workers get 3 million dollars a year because they could get hurt and never work again next year?
He’s full of it..
Devil in a suit
As usual Steve Goldman hits the nail on the head.
http://pinstripedbible.mlblogs.com/
I’m so sick of the freakin injuries right now. It’s an absolute JOKE!
So let me get this straight:
We dont know when Wang is coming back.
Nady is on the DL.
Marte is on the Dl.
Bruney is the DL
NOW POSADA IS ON THE DL!!!!!!!!!
Arod is on the DL, we may have him friday, but we have to allow him to get acclimated AGAIN.
TEX is hitting 198.
The pitching has not hit its stride yet and we are 13-12. I’ll take it, but it can get brutal very quickly.
The only reason you play posada last night is that on some level you feel it is a near “must win.”
Even though Matsui hits lefties well, Girardi likely going w/the conventional wisdom of getting another RHB in lineup.
Losing Posada hurt last season; however, the seasons Cano and Melky had didn’t help either. Having a bottom 3rd of the lineup-Cano, Molina, and Melky- that was around replacement level killed them.
This year is diferent, Cano and Melky are playing with something to prove, and when Arod gets back, the line up should have 8 mlb quality hitters. No team can afford to “carry a bat”, so to speak, but as long as Cano and Melky keep hitting, the team should be O.K. Plus, Teixeira should start hitting soon, right?
CB,
Part of that problem is Cashman himself. For the entire off-season, he talked about getting, “Younger, more athletic, and reduce the payroll to add roster flexibility”.
He accomplished a couple of those feats at great, great cost, which eliminated his roster flexibility.
When you ramp up to a 210 million dollar payroll, and have a new stadium opening, you aren’t “rebuilding”. You just aren’t.
Fair? Perhaps not. However, he did have the option of going to Seattle and building that team from scratch. He chose to stay in NY and try to fix this team.
He’s done a LOT of good. He really has. He also has done some things that are the reason why they are so limited with their roster.
Like all GM’s, you take the good with the bad. Overall, he’s in the upper half of GM’s in the game.
Unfortunately for him, 3 of the better one’s (McPhail, Theo and Friedman) reside in his own division and each of those teams have more impact younger players on the horizon than the Yankees do. That’s a present and future problem.
That said, if this team doesn’t make the playoffs this year, he’s most likely going to lose his job.
So, if you are him, what do you do?
Do you say, “Well, the breaks didn’t go our way so, we are in rebuilding mode”?
Or…..Do you do what you have to do, within reason of course, to try and fix this team?
I don’t envy the guys position. Its a tough spot.
But, that’s what you sign up for when you run this team.
Its the good AND the bad.
Overall, its a much better place to work than it was when George was George.
However, its a results oriented position. If the results aren’t there, nobody is safe. Especially with the business pressures facing the Yankees these days.
Papelbon is 28 and will be 29 later this year.
posada should not have been playing in a cold weather delayed game in the rain.
anyone who says he should have is just plain wrong.
More than substantiates that the bench is far below average. On the other hand, Matsui is not a great choice either, at least off the bench.
SJ
I like the one about Max Ramirez with the Rangers org. A deal like this could be done. What would it take to get a player like this?
“For a team that needs all the runs it can muster due to its pitching problems, that doesn’t seem to me to be something you can bank on.
If Posada is out for a long period of time, its just about the worst case scenario for the Yankees.
It would mean their starting pitching would have to pitch to Top 3 levels in the league, something we have yet to see so far this season, for them to survive his absence.
Could it happen? Sure it could. Is it likely to happen? Probably not. At least not from what we have seen so far this year.”
You are overreacting.
Jeter, Damon, Tex, Rodriguez, Cano, Swisher, Matsui, Molina, and Melky is still one of the best lineups in baseball. And despite what they’ve shown in less than 5 starts each, the rotation is still one of the best in the league.
The Yankees haven’t even put Posada on the DL or anything. No reason to jump off of any bridges yet.
“Not that different from Tito pitching papelbon for a 5 out save”
Is it different, CB. Papelbon hadn’t pitched since 4/29. There was no risk there. Further, it’s almost 100% he won’t be available tonite in a save situation. Why? Because those guys don’t seem to put their health ahead of winning 1 of 162.
If Posada was even slightly hurt, using him in that situation is just bad management IMO.
“Girardi likely going w/the conventional wisdom of getting another RHB in lineup.”
But that’s the point. Is the positive additional value of going with coventional wisdom to get another RH bat in against lester worth the risk of Posada getting hurt on a wet field?
Only if you think the game means much more than 1 win or 1 loss.
It’s the epitome of the kind of short term, nothing is acceptable other than winning mind set that’s pervasive throughout the organization, city and media.
It’s always been that way but each year it’s only been heightened.
And on some level there a causal relationship between the fact that they are charging $2600 a pop for some seats in a newly opened $1.5B stadium and posada playing last night.
That’s the kind of thing that seeps into the unconscious of a decision maker.
Okay it is on wfan’s site. He is on the dl.
I agree Wave Your Hat, it won’t be easy without Jorge. I never said it would. I was just responding to SJ talking in absolutes regarding the injury to Jorge.
SJ said, “Here we sit today awaiting an MRI on Posada that, truth be told, may be the season for the Yankees.”
“If he is out for a long period of time, they are cooked.”
I personally think that’s a bit much. If the starters pitch like their supposed to and the hitters hit like their supposed to, they’ll be fine. With or without Posada for a few months.
BREAKING NEWS: The New York Yankees have placed catcher Jorge Posada on the 15-DL
http://www.wfan.com/
We can play the what if games what if Posada needed to pinch hit last night and did the same thing. This injury didn’t happen because he started as the DH, imo it just happened and could have happened at any point.
“Oh, joy, and of course, randy has to pull the ‘I hate Cashman’ card. :rofl: ”
there’s no hate involved.
he’s taken the yankees as far as he can.
time for fresh young blood who’s ahead of the curve for progressive baseball rather than someone who’s trying to catch up.
Now hopefully it is only a 15 day thing.
“The Yankees haven’t even put Posada on the DL or anything. No reason to jump off of any bridges yet.”
Unfortunately, hamstring injuries always seem to require a longer than expected DL stint.
Randy-
I don’t know if I’d trust Hal, Hank, or Randy Levine to hire somebody and give them full control of the baseball team.
I don’t think him DH last night was the reason he pulled it either. Probably was tender to begin with anyway. but players pull hamstrings. It happens. Nothing you can do about it.
Throwing a bunch of names of Yankee players out there and say what they will do isn’t really how it works, is it?
We had this conversation all last year when it came to the offense.
No matter how futile they were for long stretches, especially with RISP, all some of us got in return was a bunch of stats and were told, “they will hit”.
Guess what? They didn’t.
Well, they did but, that was in the last 3 weeks of the season when they were effectively out of the race. Until that time, they were among the lowest rated hitters with RISP, situational hitting spots and close and late spots in baseball.
A big reason for that was the loss of Posada.
Its a huge loss and if its for more than 15 days, in a competitive division like the AL East, its a big problem for the Yankees. Unless others step up, it may be THE problem for them not making the playoffs again.
There were a ton of catchers on the market this off-season. Cashman decided to sign Kevin Cash, a Non-Latin version of Jose Molina, and roll the dice Posada, coming off major surgery, would stay healthy.
As it turns out, that gamble was wrong. Now, he has to find a catcher. Not gonna be easy.
“However, its a results oriented position. If the results aren’t there, nobody is safe. Especially with the business pressures facing the Yankees these days.”
I agree. But the question is within the context of contemporary baseball what is the best way to get results?
And it is clear that the best way to do so is to have a young, flexible team.
And due to revenue sharing, etc. the only way to do that is to develop your own talent.
Why is Girardi not using Robertson and Melancon more?
Development isn’t only about the minors – it has to happen in the majors.
But that takes some ability to think about August rather than May.
As a whole it becomes harder and harder for the yankees to think about tomorrow.
It’s a systematic problem that the new stadium has only made worse.
So I’m not really sure what your question is.
Is your question related to what Brian Cashman WILL do given the pressure on his job – which is tantamount to saying what short term, easy fix solutions will he employ to keep his job this season (e.g. move joba to the pen…).
Or is the question what they SHOULD do in order to break this cycle of short term thinking?
Those are two very different questions. Too often it’s the first question which guides organizational decision making and the sentiment of the fanbase and media.
That cycle of short term thinking needs to be broken otherwise the “results” required by the “results oriented position” aren’t going to be there.
The Yankees are a microcosm of the country. They’re too often like so many of the tech companies or drug companies that have all but given up on research and development because it shrinks the margins people are expecting on the next quaterly earnings reports.
It’s a “results oriented business” after all.
Fantastic……..dumb to play Jorge, like it has been dumb to play Damon.
I may be mistaken, but I believe Paul LoDuca is still available as a FA catcher. Not a long term solution, but he can fill in while Po is out and hits better than Molina. If the NYY are going to re-think their roster, if they think injuries will continue to plague Po, they may want to look into getting a better hitting catcher without trading half the farm. This time of year it is very tough to trade without getting ripped off.
“If Posada was even slightly hurt, using him in that situation is just bad management IMO.”
we know he was slightly hurt , but i myself missed complaining about him playing last night before it happened.
in my own defense, i had moved on and thought there’d be no game. the red sox and yankees playing last night was very good for the upcoming opponents of both teams.
it was a bad decision to play that game.
bad decisions seem to be compounding on each other. the yankees are not going to drop out of the race for the playoffs because they have too many good players, but shooting themselves in the foot all the time just isn’t helping.
Is Mike paying attention? Hughes was not “whining”. Geez!
And for the record Phil Hughes last night strike zone wise was screwed. He was completely screwed by the ump last night. And Fatcessa isn’t making any sense on his defense of this ump. He’s calling the late inning K on Pedroia a this for that, how is it that an ump squeezing your zone making you have to throw pitches down the middle and pick your count from 10 – 28 pitches per inning, how doesn’t that effect your performance ?
Great Jorge gone
Expected the Yanks to place Posada on the DL. It’s a question of how long he stays on.
Meanwhile who is the back-up catcher that comes up? Cervelli is the only one on the 40 man roster.
Randy,
If they don’t make the playoffs, I’d give Billy Beane 5 million a year, full control, a piece of the team, and a court order preventing any of the Steinbrenner’s, Trost and Levine from even coming near the baseball operation, and this thing gets fixed in 2 years.
Set the payroll at 180 million and not a dime more. If that means you eat a contract or two, so be it.
You CAN fix it. But, the tonic to fix it may be painful to some.
I’m not Francesa fan but, he pretty much hit the nail on the head in his opening discussing the differences between the Yankees and the Red Sox at the present time.
Yankees are in Albany to fight a stadium subpoena
http://www.timesunion.com/AspS.....yID=797105
This link is also cited on my local paper- It is an interesting read. http://assembly.state.ny.us/me...../20081106/
That was 2008 SJ, this is 2009.
Remember a new season, a different attitude, a new Girardi, CC and AJ, Swish and Tex. That’s what YOU told us all at the beginning of the season.
Brandon – I may be way, way off base but I thought Hughes wasn’t bad last night. Last year he would have gone all “Wang” on us and given up a dozen or so runs. He needed to go deeper into the game, but 4 runs is not 12.
He was 94-95 and showed that good curve. Other than the homerun, there were some cheap hits and Molina missed catches that led to runs.
He needed better control. I blame this in part on the weather and in part on being afraid to go after the Sox inside the zone. He made Youkilis look bad several times.
Any idea who the call up is? We only have one other catcher on the 40. If they bring someone else up they’d need to make a move on the 40.
“Is Mike paying attention? Hughes was not “whining”. Geez!”
He has this I don’t care it’s 4-0 Red Sox, I understand that but last night we were screwed in the … w/ the strike calls. Even Robi’s last AB, IDK what was up but if I didn’t know any better I’d say that ump had money on the game.
Go out and sign Ben Sheets, then move Jobber or Hughes to the bullpen.
“Initially, Terry Francona, the Red Sox manager, spoke playfully about the incident by saying Girardi was asking about Bogar’s family and that Bogar said, “Everybody is O.K. at home.” But, when Francona was asked if Girardi had accused Bogar of tipping pitches, he turned serious.
“They could have,” Francona said. “I really don’t care.””
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05.....imessports
Cervelli makes Brett Gardner look like Manny
Jennifer, I’m guessing Cervelli.
why does it say my comment is awaiting moderation?
“Go out and sign Ben Sheets, then move Jobber or Hughes to the bullpen.”
This makes no sense whatsoever and I’m being nice here.
Can someone explain to me why everyone of the Yankee starters consistently walk people and throw 100+ pitches in 5 or 6 innings… ALL OF THEM
new post re: Posada
PC Dan May 5th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Go out and sign Ben Sheets, then move Jobber or Hughes to the bullpen.
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What? No
remember when we had dionner navarro?
CB,
Its a combination of the two. Cashman doesn’t give the roster the kind of flexibility it needs and Girardi, knowing he’s managing for his job, would rather go with his “knowns” than “unknowns”. Even though the “unknowns” may have more upside.
Its a vicious circle isn’t it?
The answer? Somebody, somehow has to break the cycle.
So far, Cashman and Girardi included, nobody breaks this cycle and the Yankees fall farther and farther behind.
Now, they are in a tough spot. Its only May 5 but, unless you have your head in the sand, its pretty clear this team is in big trouble.
Its literally falling apart with injuries and the new guys, truth be told, have yet to find their inner pinstripes.
Its a bad cycle and its going to take someone pretty darn strong to have the onions to change it.
When you do sacrifice a year to develop players? It should have been last year but, they missed that opportunity.
Its not supposed to be this year, given the money invested in the team.
Its a tough thing, no doubt. But, something has to change.
Last year losing Jorge definitely hurt but having a pitching staff that was literally decimated most likely was the biggest reason for losing…no?
Go Yankees 2009 !!!
Sure hope Youkilis is O.K. It would be a damn shame if had to miss some time.
not.
A great article in today’s WSJ about how NL players make a horrible transition to the AL. Sabathia was highlighted as a perfect example of not being able to replicate his NL era of 1.76. What a joke. We buy a pitcher that has been broken by the weaker NL.
“remember when we had dionner navarro?”
He was Cervelli.
He was around .250 as a hitter atleast Cisco has some more power.
One other thing, Sabathia had a 3 year opt out put into his contract for a reason. 60% odds imo that he will exercise it.
“Its a tough thing, no doubt. But, something has to change.”
The only thing left in my pockets after a NYY game is change. They will keep the circus going until the fans have had enough of it circa the 1980s.
Brandon quit whining about the strike zone. Inconsistent umpires are like death and taxes. Good players make adjustments.
Hughes’ control was not there last night. What about Aceves getting a lot of strikes that were out of the zone?
Billy go find a goat and hump it.
“I don’t know if I’d trust Hal, Hank, or Randy Levine to hire somebody and give them full control of the baseball team.”
tom in nj-
what about cashman himself hiring his successor? he knows what the job takes.
CB was just mentioning how on wall street corporations are making decisions on what looks best for the next quarter’s reports. what’s wrong with the yankees deepening their management team by keeping cashman at his present salary in a higher newly created position and overseeing the overall direction the team is taking while leaving the newly hired young energetic GM to do the heavy lifting of day to day operations.
do you really think cashman can be looking at anything long term this week with the fires he has to put out?
where was it said that Posada is on the DL???
“Throwing a bunch of names of Yankee players out there and say what they will do isn’t really how it works, is it?
We had this conversation all last year when it came to the offense.
No matter how futile they were for long stretches, especially with RISP, all some of us got in return was a bunch of stats and were told, “they will hit”.
Guess what? They didn’t.”
The Yankees are 2nd in the league in runs per game with Alex Rodriguez yet to play a game and Mark Teixeira hitting like Nick Green (who is actually hitting like Mark Teixeira).
If you want to argue about why the Yankees don’t hit with RISP you aren’t going to get anywhere. The bottom line is that the Yankees have been scoring runs as well as anyone in the league, and should get better at scoring runs with Rodriguez in the lineup and Teixeira hitting like he should. If you think that Teixeira isn’t going to get going, you are wrong.
They will hit.
Brandon, I will leave that to you buddy. I like the fact that Hughes has faced tough strike zones in his first two starts. Hopefully he can learn to make adjustments and keep his pitch count in check.
Olle Brandon, yo te conosco. Tu jangiavas en peligro?…..este es kiko yo juge para la washington.
Olle Brandon, yo te conosco. Tu jangiavas en peligro?…..este es kiko yo juge para la washington.
i usually hesitate before criticizing umpires. but even Pete said Meals was horrible, which is rare and says a lot.
i won’t criticize playing Jorge at DH either. I know it’s mostly guessing on my part, but I think this injury was inevitable and if they were extra cautious with him, they would just be delaying the injury another few days or a week or so…
Meals was equally terrible for both teams. Look at Aceves he was getting the calls that Hughes wasn’t getting. Meals didn’t stop use from coming through with RISP.
soxnation
May 5th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
our farm system rocks, bard, bowden, lars, buchholz, masterson, your not so much…….. ha ha go sox big papi owns u
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Hey !
When did Masterson get sent down ?
Wow, this thread went way off topic a long time ago!
I can’t stand Boras. Yes, the man is very good at his job, and his job is ruining baseball for the average fan. All these bloated salaries are paid for by the fan. I am NOT against players making money, but for cryin’ out loud a working fan can’t really afford to watch the game from good seats. Yes, I know about the $5 bleacher seats…if you want to see half the game with the obstructed view. The bottom line is that the players salaries are paid for by increased ticket prices, increased concession prices and outrageously priced merchandise. Scott Boras getting his client more money in an at-bat then some people make in an entire YEAR is partially responsible for this.
Also, his entirely DEPLORABLE idea about the World Series is a joke. The season already ends at Halloween or later, so a 9 game series would be well into November. I seriously hope that MLB sticks to the tradition of the 2 teams in the Series play in those 2 ballparks. Anything else is an affront to the teams that worked hard to win AND the fans that went to the ballpark to support their team all year. Boras IS an A$$ who fails to realize that the FANS are the ones who make the game great, and it’s the FANS who enable his clients to make their living playing a game. I, for one, would not ever shed a single tear if Boras dropped dead.
That being said, I will still be heading out the park a couple times this year and I will still support my team. It’s people like Boras that make me sick.
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