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*** OFFICIAL Yankees 2008 Thread*** (2 Viewers)

Reaper said:
shadyridr said:
Tremendous Upside said:
Who do you root for smackdown?
Hes a Mets fan
Oh Please.....Didn't last year teach them a lesson in humility. All year Met fans called WFAN and 1050 pointing fingers at the Yankees and laughing and then they were all like :angry: to finish off the year Vs National league dregs...... :rolleyes: The Met fans are excited again in May - what else is new?
Ah yes - the painful and epic choke still stings.I'm just getting excited for a pitching duel on Friday night - Santana vs Rasner.
 
DiceK is better than Wang. Sorry fellow Yankee fans...he just is.
He has better stuff and will probably end up being better but to say right now that a guy in his 2nd year is better than Wang who already has 2 19 win seasons under his belt and is having another great year is hard to justify IMO.
That's fair. If we're talking about who has the better MLB career thus far, Wang clearly gets the nod.But, if you're asking me who I'd rather have as a pitcher out of all of the Japanese imports ever...I'd take Dice-K over Wang. Wouldn't even be close.In Wang's defense, he's been a trusted, steady commodity, no doubt. Quality through and through.
Wouldn't be close? Comments like that make you lose credibility. The guy who has more wins in baseball than ANY other pitcher over his first 2 full years in the league? Sure wins are helped by your team scoring runs, but he has been durable and solid. I even disagree with the moving forward comment. They are about the same age, but Wang pitches deeper into games than Dice k and even this year has a better WHIP than Dice K. I would not trade Wang for Dice K and I think you would find a hard time getting many GM's to do so either. Dice has more stuff from a generic standpoint, but you are missing the great movement than Wang has on his fastball that Dice K just doesn't have. Sure Dice has more other pitches, Wang is worth more than Dice K IMO.
Wins is a terribly overrated and mis-used statistic. That said, Wang is a very effective pitcher. I'll retract the "close" statement, but I'd still take Dice-K over him.
Fair enough and I don't disagree about wins, but it does show durability and consistency (to go along with run support).People look at how poorly Wang did last year in the playoffs and they dismiss how hard it is to center his 93 MPH pitch. he is now using a slider and an occasional changeup to mix it up. He is better than people are giving him credit for.
 
Another abortion of a gameIf Molina can't throw out Jonny Gomes trying to steal when he gets a perfect pitch to handle, he's really of no ####### use at all with his robust .203 average
LOL, I said the same exact thing. If Molina can't play good defense he is worthless with his horrible OBP and swinging at the first pitch (you too Jeter). BTW, Jeter could have tried to make the tag instead of just swiping upward. If Cano was on that bad throw I bet Gomes is out 60% of the time. the throw was BAD, but Jeter did nothing to help it as he was too far in front of the bad and even after lifting his glove over his head came down and almost caught GomesTo Shady's point, Posada and ARod are the two most irreplaceable parts on the Yankees offense and the rest of the team is not stepping up, including their backups who have been AWFUL in their place.Is the batting coach in trouble?
 
I think its time to say bye bye to Cashman. It seems EVERY pitching move hes made in the last 5 years has been a disaster.
FixedJaret Wright

Carl Pavano

Kevin Brown

Randy Johnson

Jon Lieber

Javiar Vazquez

Kei Igawa

I'm sure I'm missing another dozen or so.
Yeah his pitching moves have been disasterous. Dont forget Weaver, Farnsworth, among others. But the he hasnt developed a top hitting prospect outside of Cano, Giambi was a disaster, and Damon sucked too.
You keep getting on Giambi but he is 4th on our team in OPS right now...
 
I think its time to say bye bye to Cashman. It seems EVERY pitching move hes made in the last 5 years has been a disaster.
FixedJaret Wright

Carl Pavano

Kevin Brown

Randy Johnson

Jon Lieber

Javiar Vazquez

Kei Igawa

I'm sure I'm missing another dozen or so.
Yeah his pitching moves have been disasterous. Dont forget Weaver, Farnsworth, among others. But the he hasnt developed a top hitting prospect outside of Cano, Giambi was a disaster, and Damon sucked too.
You keep getting on Giambi but he is 4th on our team in OPS right now...
Im talking about the whole contract not just this year. That being said, you really using Giambi as 4th on the team in OPS when the team is scoring 1 run a game and their 2 best hitters are hurt as proof?
 
Reaper said:
shadyridr said:
Tremendous Upside said:
Who do you root for smackdown?
Hes a Mets fan
Oh Please.....Didn't last year teach them a lesson in humility. All year Met fans called WFAN and 1050 pointing fingers at the Yankees and laughing and then they were all like :no: to finish off the year Vs National league dregs...... :hifive: The Met fans are excited again in May - what else is new?
Ah yes - the painful and epic choke still stings.I'm just getting excited for a pitching duel on Friday night - Santana vs Rasner.
How about all the Met fans calling WFAN and SCREAMING how the Mets will never win because they are not willing to go out and spend money and get guys like Zito. There must have been 50 calls saying the same thing over and over; it was comical.The Mets are a very good team
 
I think its time to say bye bye to Cashman. It seems EVERY pitching move hes made in the last 5 years has been a disaster.
FixedJaret Wright

Carl Pavano

Kevin Brown

Randy Johnson

Jon Lieber

Javiar Vazquez

Kei Igawa

I'm sure I'm missing another dozen or so.
Yeah his pitching moves have been disasterous. Dont forget Weaver, Farnsworth, among others. But the he hasnt developed a top hitting prospect outside of Cano, Giambi was a disaster, and Damon sucked too.
You keep getting on Giambi but he is 4th on our team in OPS right now...
Im talking about the whole contract not just this year. That being said, you really using Giambi as 4th on the team in OPS when the team is scoring 1 run a game and their 2 best hitters are hurt as proof?
The point is that it is not Giambis fault. ARod is one of the 3 ahead of him BTW. The blame needs to go on Cano, Ensberg and even Molina who is never good is even worse than normal. After that, Jeter has been fairly weak, although coming on. I also think Giambi was an excellent hitter for most of his contract. he had two years where he had less than 300 AB's where he was injured that averaged about a .750 OPS (so that was not good), but every other year he was studly. Overall, including this year Giambi has had an OPS of .916! That is pretty solid...

 
One nice thing about this is we are getting a good look at the young talent we'll cherry pick from the TB roster.
I'm sure you're trying to be cute here, but Longoria just signed a 9-year deal last month, Pena and Shields went long-term this off-season and word is CC and BJ are talking extensions.So in other words, enjoy the long-term benefits of Shelley Duncan. :confused:
And Kazmir got his extension today.Darth :bye:
 
One nice thing about this is we are getting a good look at the young talent we'll cherry pick from the TB roster.
I'm sure you're trying to be cute here, but Longoria just signed a 9-year deal last month, Pena and Shields went long-term this off-season and word is CC and BJ are talking extensions.So in other words, enjoy the long-term benefits of Shelley Duncan. :confused:
And Kazmir got his extension today.Darth :bye:
That's great for you guys CappyI love to see teams lock up their young talent, it's just good for the gameReally like watching this TB team play....Glad I'll get the chance to see them keep and develop these young guys and really develop a strong rivalry with the Yanks...
 
Edwin Jackson = LIGHTS OUT !LOLLooking forward to seeing the mighty Rasner take on Santana Friday night.Suuuuuuure they didn't need Johan.
Team hasnt been hitting. Johan wouldnt have helped much. If they had Santana and DIDNT make the playoffs anyway it wouldve been a disaster.
Worrying about a disaster of not making the playoffs this year is not good GM strategy for holding onto inferior players and passing on a future HOFer who isn't even 30, yet. We've been through this before, and I understand the man-crushes you have on our young pitching. Bad thing for Yanks fans that the management brass shared this sentiment.
 
One nice thing about this is we are getting a good look at the young talent we'll cherry pick from the TB roster.
I'm sure you're trying to be cute here, but Longoria just signed a 9-year deal last month, Pena and Shields went long-term this off-season and word is CC and BJ are talking extensions.So in other words, enjoy the long-term benefits of Shelley Duncan. :ptts:
And Kazmir got his extension today.Darth :bye:
That's great for you guys CappyI love to see teams lock up their young talent, it's just good for the gameReally like watching this TB team play....Glad I'll get the chance to see them keep and develop these young guys and really develop a strong rivalry with the Yanks...
:shrug: :thumbup:
 
One nice thing about this is we are getting a good look at the young talent we'll cherry pick from the TB roster.
I'm sure you're trying to be cute here, but Longoria just signed a 9-year deal last month, Pena and Shields went long-term this off-season and word is CC and BJ are talking extensions.So in other words, enjoy the long-term benefits of Shelley Duncan. :banned:
And Kazmir got his extension today.Darth :bye:
Perfect, when the team moves to North Jersey, it'll REALLY be ready!
 
Reaper said:
Clifton said:
We got'em tonight boys :banned:
:hifive: :suds:
Was that Mattingly at 1st base yesterday?Man, Joba was throwing some darts yesterday. his control is not where it needs to be, but he just blew TB away.Good to see Rivera get right back on the horse, even though the outing was not bad.Anybody want to take back their comments about Mussina yet? I know that Shady and I defended him when others laughed (some others might have as well), but even this is a little more than I expected. My expectation was an ERA of about 4.5 with some occasional BAD outings. I still see that happening, but if he can give us 6 innings allowing 3 runs I would be all over that once we get our offense back. He now sits with an ERA of 3.99. hats off to Mussina who has turned himself into a crafty righty.Cano - 4 hits (the last two singles were lucky, but...)Only 3.5 back with how we have played is not horrible. Of course there are a lot of teams to jump over which makes it a lot harder, but I just don't see Baltimore as any threat at all and I see them struggling soon. TB is a pesky team, but they just don't have the horses to stay in the race all year IMO.I am still sticking to my predictions of Cleveland, LA , the Yanks and Boston making the playoffs.
 
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Seriously... can someone PLEASE take Mussina out back and put a bullet in his head?I am so ####### frustrated watching this PoS continue to steal money.At this point, bring up a kid who has a live arm from AA. At least I won't throw up watching the games.
Seriously... can someone PLEASE take Mussina out back and put a bullet in his head?I am so ####### frustrated watching this PoS continue to steal money.At this point, bring up a kid who has a live arm from AA. At least I won't throw up watching the games.
Nothing wrong with keeping him on to toss batting practice before the games. The #### he throws now could really help struggling Yankee bats get hot again.
Hopefully we can get 6 solid innings out of Mussina today. We hit the ball good last night and that needs to continue against Beckett.
:thumbdown:moose is done. have fun with those 25+ starts.
 
Anybody want to take back their comments about Mussina yet? I know that Shady and I defended him when others laughed (some others might have as well), but even this is a little more than I expected. My expectation was an ERA of about 4.5 with some occasional BAD outings. I still see that happening, but if he can give us 6 innings allowing 3 runs I would be all over that once we get our offense back. He now sits with an ERA of 3.99. hats off to Mussina who has turned himself into a craft righty.
I didnt jump all over the guy and I defended Mussina but I too thought he was done.
 
Anybody want to take back their comments about Mussina yet? I know that Shady and I defended him when others laughed (some others might have as well), but even this is a little more than I expected. My expectation was an ERA of about 4.5 with some occasional BAD outings. I still see that happening, but if he can give us 6 innings allowing 3 runs I would be all over that once we get our offense back. He now sits with an ERA of 3.99. hats off to Mussina who has turned himself into a craft righty.
I didnt jump all over the guy and I defended Mussina but I too thought he was done.
:lmao: Thanks for your honesty, I thought you thought he deserved to continue, but in looking back you were defending his career more than keeping him pitching. Either way, if he can give us a 4.5 the rest of the way that is valuable to this team when their offense starts to play closer to their expected production.
 
lolKennedy
Obviously not the results you'd like, but certainly more encouraging than his other games when he looked like he didn't even belong on the same field as other major leaguers. Made one very bad mistake to Riggans, though I thought he showed some early mettle by bearing down after the Iwamura HR. Also nice job of giving up only 1 run to Crawford/Upton/Pena after loading the bases with nobody out.But this is what's going to happen with young pitching. It's not going to be consistent (Edinson Volquez aside) and you've just got to hope that Hank doesn't cut off the long-term goals before they can begin.Can Cashman go already by the way? I'm not going to get on him about trusting in the young guys or not pulling the trigger on Johan, because I was on board with both of those.I'm talking about the complete and utter lack of depth this team has. How is it that Bob Watson had guys like Strawberry, Fielder, Chili, Boggs, and Raines coming off the bench for him when they were still very productive yet Cashman runs out crap like Ensberg and Molina?!? This is a disgrace that a team can spend $200 million and have zero protection from injuries.
 
lolKennedy
Can Cashman go already by the way? I'm not going to get on him about trusting in the young guys or not pulling the trigger on Johan, because I was on board with both of those.
I think it's logical and set up for Cashman to take the fall after this season..... There's going to be a lot of money to spend after this year and a new stadium to open -Cashman hasn't proven that he's the guy who should be buying the groceries.....Have there been any discussions of potential new GM's?
 
Only 3.5 back with how we have played is not horrible. Of course there are a lot of teams to jump over which makes it a lot harder, but I just don't see Baltimore as any threat at all and I see them struggling soon. TB is a pesky team, but they just don't have the horses to stay in the race all year IMO.

I am still sticking to my predictions of Cleveland, LA , the Yanks and Boston making the playoffs.
IMO there are simply several better teams in the AL. And what does "pesky" mean? It must mean "they do everything better than the Yankees except hit for power"? We all know about the injuries and early-season issues of the Yanks...but don't think you are the only team underperforming in certain areas. The Rays have a LOT of room to improve offensively for instance.

 
Reaper said:
Michael Brown said:
wilked said:
lolKennedy
Can Cashman go already by the way? I'm not going to get on him about trusting in the young guys or not pulling the trigger on Johan, because I was on board with both of those.
I think it's logical and set up for Cashman to take the fall after this season..... There's going to be a lot of money to spend after this year and a new stadium to open -Cashman hasn't proven that he's the guy who should be buying the groceries.....Have there been any discussions of potential new GM's?
Man, its really distressing to see this tide turning against Cash. He's far from perfect and certainly not flawless, but he's spearheaded the emphasis on agressive drafting and using some of the financial muscle to draft better. So far since 2006 we've seen Joba, which if he was all that draft churned out would be a pretty good one, but there are B prospects and up littered through that draft. I want Cashman to continue to get to build that. As for Cashman, he takes the credit and the fall for what goes on in theory, sure. But this is the guy that wanted Vlad over Sheffield for basically the same money. Because Sheff is from Tampa, he was a Yankee, and how different a complexion would this team have had since 94 with Vlad on it? By all accounts he didn't want Igawa, but he was a decision from international scouting in reaction to Dice K. Now thinking Jaret Wright and Pavano were worth that sort of cake, as well as Farns, well, bad moves, but he's been here for 12 years, I don't think you'll do much better. If Sabean is out there, who's also had a flawed few years, I'd be ok with him, otherwise, Cashman has earned the shot.
 
Michael Brown said:
wilked said:
lolKennedy
Obviously not the results you'd like, but certainly more encouraging than his other games when he looked like he didn't even belong on the same field as other major leaguers. Made one very bad mistake to Riggans, though I thought he showed some early mettle by bearing down after the Iwamura HR. Also nice job of giving up only 1 run to Crawford/Upton/Pena after loading the bases with nobody out.But this is what's going to happen with young pitching. It's not going to be consistent (Edinson Volquez aside) and you've just got to hope that Hank doesn't cut off the long-term goals before they can begin.Can Cashman go already by the way? I'm not going to get on him about trusting in the young guys or not pulling the trigger on Johan, because I was on board with both of those.I'm talking about the complete and utter lack of depth this team has. How is it that Bob Watson had guys like Strawberry, Fielder, Chili, Boggs, and Raines coming off the bench for him when they were still very productive yet Cashman runs out crap like Ensberg and Molina?!? This is a disgrace that a team can spend $200 million and have zero protection from injuries.
How about the same issue that plagued them in the postseason last year...a lefty in the pen. The Yankees are the perfect example of a team that gets killed by lefty specialists all the time. Giambi, Damon, Abreu (even Melky) all up in big spots and in comes one of at least 2 lefties in the pen. This, along with getting a lefty crushing bat were my 2 priorities this offseason and neither was addressed. We make the opposing managers job very easy when he never has to worry about a lefty coming in. It is absurd with such a big payroll. Part of the reason we are so bad with RISP is when a big spot comes up we have bad matchups. The TEAM OPS against lefties is .615!!!!! This is mind boggling PUTRID! For perspective, Moeller, our journeyman 3rd string catcher who is known as a guy who can't hit, has a career OPS of .634 and this TEAM has an OPS of .615 against lefties??? WOW.
 
:confused: TB is a better team than the Yanks right now. Its a lefthanded compliment to call them pesky.
The Yanks have a higher OPS than TB (.731-.718), but TB has scored 13 more runs the Yankees. I consider that to be doing the little things right, thus pesky.Well, yes they are a better team than the Yankees right now, but it is hard to compare a team without their two most indispensable offensive players.To Gump, I agree that TB actually has some upside in offense on their team, but the discrepancy is not close to the Yanks. I also think your pitching is doing a little better than expected.The Yankee will get it going...and while I am disappointed with Cashman and some of his moves I am not ready to throw him out yet. I will wait until the end of the year to judge.
 
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Michael Brown said:
wilked said:
lolKennedy
Obviously not the results you'd like, but certainly more encouraging than his other games when he looked like he didn't even belong on the same field as other major leaguers. Made one very bad mistake to Riggans, though I thought he showed some early mettle by bearing down after the Iwamura HR. Also nice job of giving up only 1 run to Crawford/Upton/Pena after loading the bases with nobody out.But this is what's going to happen with young pitching. It's not going to be consistent (Edinson Volquez aside) and you've just got to hope that Hank doesn't cut off the long-term goals before they can begin.

Can Cashman go already by the way? I'm not going to get on him about trusting in the young guys or not pulling the trigger on Johan, because I was on board with both of those.

I'm talking about the complete and utter lack of depth this team has. How is it that Bob Watson had guys like Strawberry, Fielder, Chili, Boggs, and Raines coming off the bench for him when they were still very productive yet Cashman runs out crap like Ensberg and Molina?!? This is a disgrace that a team can spend $200 million and have zero protection from injuries.
How about the same issue that plagued them in the postseason last year...a lefty in the pen. The Yankees are the perfect example of a team that gets killed by lefty specialists all the time. Giambi, Damon, Abreu (even Melky) all up in big spots and in comes one of at least 2 lefties in the pen. This, along with getting a lefty crushing bat were my 2 priorities this offseason and neither was addressed. We make the opposing managers job very easy when he never has to worry about a lefty coming in. It is absurd with such a big payroll. Part of the reason we are so bad with RISP is when a big spot comes up we have bad matchups.The TEAM OPS against lefties is .615!!!!! This is mind boggling PUTRID! For perspective, Moeller, our journeyman 3rd string catcher who is known as a guy who can't hit, has a career OPS of .634 and this TEAM has an OPS of .615 against lefties??? WOW.
Sammy Sosa's still available. And a lot of that is revisionist history. They signed Ensberg and already had Duncan and Betemit. Who else would you have wanted. I mean really with 14 roster spots there isn't any room for anyone else. That's not on Cashman's head either since the Steinbrenner's wanted him to cut down on payroll.
 
cobalt_27 said:
wilked said:
lolKennedy
I'm reminded of just how happy we should be that we chose him over Johan Santana.
From Peter Abraham:
* It’s easy to say that Phil Hughes is hurt, Ian Kennedy stinks, so the Yankees screwed up by not trading for Johan Santana. But that would be missing the point. It has nothing to do with the players Minnesota wanted. The Yankees did not want to give a starting pitcher six years, $138 million and a no-trade clause.Barry Zito, Mike Hampton, Carl Pavano, the list goes on and on. Long-term deals for FA starters aren’t good business and historically have not worked out. The best method is to develop your own pitchers. Whether it’s Hughes, Kennedy, Horne, McCutchen or anybody else, the Yankees have to draft and develop their own starters.Sure, Santana looks pretty good now. Can you guarantee his health and success in 2009, 2010, 2011, etc? You can’t look at a baseball team by who is pitching tomorrow. You have to have some sort of plan and the Yankees have one.
 
cobalt_27 said:
wilked said:
lolKennedy
I'm reminded of just how happy we should be that we chose him over Johan Santana.
From Peter Abraham:
* It’s easy to say that Phil Hughes is hurt, Ian Kennedy stinks, so the Yankees screwed up by not trading for Johan Santana. But that would be missing the point. It has nothing to do with the players Minnesota wanted. The Yankees did not want to give a starting pitcher six years, $138 million and a no-trade clause.Barry Zito, Mike Hampton, Carl Pavano, the list goes on and on. Long-term deals for FA starters aren’t good business and historically have not worked out. The best method is to develop your own pitchers. Whether it’s Hughes, Kennedy, Horne, McCutchen or anybody else, the Yankees have to draft and develop their own starters.Sure, Santana looks pretty good now. Can you guarantee his health and success in 2009, 2010, 2011, etc? You can’t look at a baseball team by who is pitching tomorrow. You have to have some sort of plan and the Yankees have one.
:goodposting: I still wanted Cashman out years ago though. He has saved Theo Epstein from so many potentially horrible decisions that it's become laughable. And don't tell me that it's always the Steinbrenners that are pulling the strings while letting Cash be the fall guy.So when a decision works out, Cash is a genius but if it doesn't work out it's because George and Hank were forcing the issue? I find that a bit difficult to believe. Besides part of the job as Yankee GM is to be able to convince the boss that you know better than he does for what's right for the team.
 
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cobalt_27 said:
wilked said:
lolKennedy
I'm reminded of just how happy we should be that we chose him over Johan Santana.
From Peter Abraham:
* It’s easy to say that Phil Hughes is hurt, Ian Kennedy stinks, so the Yankees screwed up by not trading for Johan Santana. But that would be missing the point. It has nothing to do with the players Minnesota wanted. The Yankees did not want to give a starting pitcher six years, $138 million and a no-trade clause.Barry Zito, Mike Hampton, Carl Pavano, the list goes on and on. Long-term deals for FA starters aren’t good business and historically have not worked out. The best method is to develop your own pitchers. Whether it’s Hughes, Kennedy, Horne, McCutchen or anybody else, the Yankees have to draft and develop their own starters.Sure, Santana looks pretty good now. Can you guarantee his health and success in 2009, 2010, 2011, etc? You can’t look at a baseball team by who is pitching tomorrow. You have to have some sort of plan and the Yankees have one.
:cry: I still wanted Cashman out years ago though. He has saved Theo Epstein from so many potentially horrible decisions that it's become laughable. And don't tell me that it's always the Steinbrenners that are pulling the strings while letting Cash be the fall guy.So when a decision works out, Cash is a genius but if it doesn't work out it's because George and Hank were forcing the issue? I find that a bit difficult to believe. Besides part of the job as Yankee GM is to be able to convince the boss that you know better than he does for what's right for the team.
:thumbup: You can site bad luck all you want. After a while someone has to be held accountable for all these mistakes.
 
The Yankees shouldn't have traded for Santana because they're hesitant to spend lots of money on players?

:cry:

 
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Torre got out just in time. Too bad Cashman couldn't as well. I'm sure the Yankees will finish with a record better than .500 but how much better is quickly becoming the question.

 
cobalt_27 said:
wilked said:
lolKennedy
I'm reminded of just how happy we should be that we chose him over Johan Santana.
From Peter Abraham:
* It’s easy to say that Phil Hughes is hurt, Ian Kennedy stinks, so the Yankees screwed up by not trading for Johan Santana. But that would be missing the point. It has nothing to do with the players Minnesota wanted. The Yankees did not want to give a starting pitcher six years, $138 million and a no-trade clause.Barry Zito, Mike Hampton, Carl Pavano, the list goes on and on. Long-term deals for FA starters aren’t good business and historically have not worked out. The best method is to develop your own pitchers. Whether it’s Hughes, Kennedy, Horne, McCutchen or anybody else, the Yankees have to draft and develop their own starters.Sure, Santana looks pretty good now. Can you guarantee his health and success in 2009, 2010, 2011, etc? You can’t look at a baseball team by who is pitching tomorrow. You have to have some sort of plan and the Yankees have one.
That's a Load of Garbage right there....The Yankees ARE going to spend HUGE on a big time pitcher eventually...I think the choice was Santana now and Trade Kennedy, Hughes and Cabrera OR try to sign someone next year and Keep those guys...I think they rolled the dice to see if they can have their cake and eat it too....And with the injuries and such, I'm not sold on if they made the wrong move just yet, depends on how this plays out this year and how they spend their money next year... In addition to the development of Kennedy and Hughes. I don't see Santana being ENOUGH OF a difference maker this season so far for the Yankees.
 
lolKennedy
Obviously not the results you'd like, but certainly more encouraging than his other games when he looked like he didn't even belong on the same field as other major leaguers. Made one very bad mistake to Riggans, though I thought he showed some early mettle by bearing down after the Iwamura HR. Also nice job of giving up only 1 run to Crawford/Upton/Pena after loading the bases with nobody out.But this is what's going to happen with young pitching. It's not going to be consistent (Edinson Volquez aside) and you've just got to hope that Hank doesn't cut off the long-term goals before they can begin.

Can Cashman go already by the way? I'm not going to get on him about trusting in the young guys or not pulling the trigger on Johan, because I was on board with both of those.

I'm talking about the complete and utter lack of depth this team has. How is it that Bob Watson had guys like Strawberry, Fielder, Chili, Boggs, and Raines coming off the bench for him when they were still very productive yet Cashman runs out crap like Ensberg and Molina?!? This is a disgrace that a team can spend $200 million and have zero protection from injuries.
How about the same issue that plagued them in the postseason last year...a lefty in the pen. The Yankees are the perfect example of a team that gets killed by lefty specialists all the time. Giambi, Damon, Abreu (even Melky) all up in big spots and in comes one of at least 2 lefties in the pen. This, along with getting a lefty crushing bat were my 2 priorities this offseason and neither was addressed. We make the opposing managers job very easy when he never has to worry about a lefty coming in. It is absurd with such a big payroll. Part of the reason we are so bad with RISP is when a big spot comes up we have bad matchups.The TEAM OPS against lefties is .615!!!!! This is mind boggling PUTRID! For perspective, Moeller, our journeyman 3rd string catcher who is known as a guy who can't hit, has a career OPS of .634 and this TEAM has an OPS of .615 against lefties??? WOW.
Sammy Sosa's still available. And a lot of that is revisionist history. They signed Ensberg and already had Duncan and Betemit. Who else would you have wanted. I mean really with 14 roster spots there isn't any room for anyone else. That's not on Cashman's head either since the Steinbrenner's wanted him to cut down on payroll.
How is it revisionist if it is stated in advance??? Duncan was hot last year and hits lefties OK, but he is a lifetime minor leaguer with many gaps in his swing. Can he be OK against lefties, yes, but he is not an answer. I think Betemit is a guy I could see develop into a nice player but he has a much better swing from the left side and is not a good hitter from the right side. Ensberg was a guy who he tried in that spot and I admit I looked at his excellent numbers against lefties over the past 3 years and was happy to see a cheap signing that I thought would help this exact situation. I have never really watched Ensberg play and last year he wasn't real good so maybe he is losing it a little? He is only 32 and he absolutely will do better, but he has been horrific so far. It would be poor if he only had a .750 OPS against lefties, but right now that would be a blessing.

As for reducing payroll I don;t know where you got that from as SB wanted Santana so that would have added a lot to the payroll.

My take is that the Yankees have so many star players that you rarely pinch hit for them, so the Yankees should have situational type players to augment what they have. You get a right handed batter that crushes lefties, you get a blazing fast guy to pinch run and then you have your guy who can cover all your backup positions.

As for the lefty out of the pen, this was not addressed and if I were the Yanks GM I would overpay for a guy like Sherill (now in Baltimore) so that the competition couldn't use him on your own lefty dominated lineup AND he helps your own situation. In fact, I would get 2 of those guys to increase that effect.

 
lolKennedy
I'm reminded of just how happy we should be that we chose him over Johan Santana.
From Peter Abraham:
* It’s easy to say that Phil Hughes is hurt, Ian Kennedy stinks, so the Yankees screwed up by not trading for Johan Santana. But that would be missing the point. It has nothing to do with the players Minnesota wanted. The Yankees did not want to give a starting pitcher six years, $138 million and a no-trade clause.

Barry Zito, Mike Hampton, Carl Pavano, the list goes on and on. Long-term deals for FA starters aren’t good business and historically have not worked out. The best method is to develop your own pitchers. Whether it’s Hughes, Kennedy, Horne, McCutchen or anybody else, the Yankees have to draft and develop their own starters.

Sure, Santana looks pretty good now. Can you guarantee his health and success in 2009, 2010, 2011, etc? You can’t look at a baseball team by who is pitching tomorrow. You have to have some sort of plan and the Yankees have one.
I don't agree with this analysis. To say the players have "nothing to do with the players Minnesota wanted", is simply someone who is clueless. He is basically saying that if Santana were a free agent the Yankees wouldn't have paid Santana that money??? Please don;t insult all of us with that BS. he then compares pitchers who are not in Santana's league to him...Mussina is on part with hose guys and he has worked out very well. Beckett was a trade and then a deal that is working out well for Boston. Now I am not dismissing the amount of money spent on a pitcher may not be a good statistical move (for the most part they have not worked out), but an elite pitcher (a clear top 3 guy in the league without question) like Santana is RARELY available. It is MUCH better than paying $8 mil a year on 3 mediocre pitchers, especially if you are the Yankees.

 
lolKennedy
I'm reminded of just how happy we should be that we chose him over Johan Santana.
From Peter Abraham:
* It’s easy to say that Phil Hughes is hurt, Ian Kennedy stinks, so the Yankees screwed up by not trading for Johan Santana. But that would be missing the point. It has nothing to do with the players Minnesota wanted. The Yankees did not want to give a starting pitcher six years, $138 million and a no-trade clause.Barry Zito, Mike Hampton, Carl Pavano, the list goes on and on. Long-term deals for FA starters aren’t good business and historically have not worked out. The best method is to develop your own pitchers. Whether it’s Hughes, Kennedy, Horne, McCutchen or anybody else, the Yankees have to draft and develop their own starters.Sure, Santana looks pretty good now. Can you guarantee his health and success in 2009, 2010, 2011, etc? You can’t look at a baseball team by who is pitching tomorrow. You have to have some sort of plan and the Yankees have one.
That's a Load of Garbage right there....The Yankees ARE going to spend HUGE on a big time pitcher eventually...I think the choice was Santana now and Trade Kennedy, Hughes and Cabrera OR try to sign someone next year and Keep those guys...I think they rolled the dice to see if they can have their cake and eat it too....And with the injuries and such, I'm not sold on if they made the wrong move just yet, depends on how this plays out this year and how they spend their money next year... In addition to the development of Kennedy and Hughes. I don't see Santana being ENOUGH OF a difference maker this season so far for the Yankees.
:lmao: My stance remains that while I would have pulled the trigger, but the answer to whether it was the right move is at least a year away (and possibly more). Cashman is not wrong yet. While Hughes and Kennedy have stunk the main issue is the lack of offense as nobody expected it to be this bad. I do blame Cahsman for not getting a lefty in the pen for 2 years in a row.
 
Weird day, tip your hat to the Mets, but the wind seemed crazy. Some days in May you get one like this in the Bronx, I remember a game against the Twinks when everything that got in the air between right and center field went out. 7 home runs or something, Dion James hit 2, maybe one in the black, 4 in one inning for the Twins. Reminded me of that, because of the paths most of these guys took to the ball seemed to think you'd be under it and they ran out of room. Ditto the muffed pops by AlGon and Jeter. Mets got the bounces today, good job out of them.

However, even though he got the win, I feel much better having sat and watched a full game from Johan. My criticisms are tempered because its the first half and that wind was at play in this one, but I think Giambi's and Jeters shots are out in a hurricane and Damon was safe at the plate. He got the job done, but I'm almost to the point now where I think the Yanks made a good deal if Hughes and Kennedy never throw another pitch in the bigs. I'll give him the full season, he's always been a second half guy, but the trouble is, he had a down second half last year. He's still an all star caliber ace, but I think this deal will look bad, and come the 2010 Subway Series, whether he's here or not, Cash will be vindicated because that contract will be an albatross.

 

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