By Alex Fitzsimmons
Fresh off a massacre that left all of New York battered and bruised, the most lucrative and thriving sports franchise in all of sports history desperately needs to be rebuilt. As I sat in my living room watching ESPN while simultaneously listening to sports talk shows, the latest buzz seems to be that Houston outfielder Carlos Beltran is the missing piece the Yankees need. People just don’t seem to get the drift–if the Yankees sign Beltran, next season will be a mirror image of this one, a season marked by defeat.It seems pretty blatant: the Yankees’ team isn’t as dominant as they were in the 90s. And it also appears that “the boss” has lost his authoritative persona that he possessed decades ago. In fact, nobody was as dominant as the Yankees in the 90’s and no single person was as overpowering as George Steinbrunner. All that is gone now, and unless the Yankees act quickly, it may be gone forever.
First off, its not GM Brian Cashman’s fault that the Yankees had a disappointing season. Cashman has modest authority when money hungry Steinbrunner is stealing all his power. When you have to kiss up to “the boss”, he is never wrong and you can never be right. Cashman is a dependable GM and he deserves his spot in the Yankees front office next season and in years to come.
This season proved once and for all that money cant buy Championships in Major League Baseball. Steinbrunner’s attempt to dilute the losses of three Hall of Fame caliber pitchers was a great move, what made the move moronic was when he decided to get hitters and not pitchers.
I don’t quite get this part: the Yankees lose Roger Clemens, Andy Pettite and David Wells, and instead of assessing that issue by purchasing quality starters, Steinbrunner scampers off and throws multi-million dollar deals at two of the best hitters in baseball, Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield.
Under normal circumstances, a job well done, but under these circumstances, what a horrible move. You already have a great lineup Steinbrunner, but you still insist on adding more unneeded bats. Steinbrunner needs to start worrying more about the team and less about public publicity.
What the Yankees desperately need is quality starting pitching and a left-handed relief pitcher. Carl Pavano of the Florida Marlins won 18 games on a team that didn’t make the playoffs. His ERA was a solid 3.00 and he threw over 200 innings. Don’t worry about inexperience either; Pavano has eight big league seasons under his belt at only 28 years of age.
Russ Ortiz of the Atlanta Braves is another quality starting pitcher that won’t melt under the spotlight of pitching in Yankee Stadium. Ortiz was 15-9 last season with a 4.19 ERA and a career 4.00 ERA–still more productive than most of the Yankee starters were last season.
The Yankees should try and take advantage of players on struggling teams looking to leave, and Joel Pineiro of the Seattle Mariners would be a perfect fit. Though Pineiro struggled in 2004 with a 6-11 record, his career record is 43-31 and his career ERA is only 3.66.
Did someone forget to sign the lefty? Mariano Rivera, Tom Gordon and Paul Quantrill are good, but where is the lefty Steinbrunner? The Yankees desperately need a reliable left-handed pitcher in the bullpen, and one logical choice, Steve Kline of the St. Louis Cardinals. Kline’s an experienced pitcher at age 32, he’s coming off a career season with the Cardinals where his ERA was a minute 1.79, he’s a lefty and he’s pitching in the World Series. What more could you want from a reliever?
After obvious pitching woes, the next item on Steinbrunner’s agenda should be defense. A-Rod may have been the best defensive shortstop in baseball but at third, he’s a work in progress. The outfield was atrocious last year lacking speed and arm strength with the exception of Sheffield, who has a great arm. Sticking Bernie Williams, Kenny Lofton, Hideki Matsui and Ruben Sierra in the outfield is recipe for defensive disaster. None of the above mentioned have great arms and all of them are either slow to begin with or have lost a step due to old age.
Second base has been a problem for the Yankees ever since the loss of Alfonso Soriano. Not to say Soriano was an exceptional defensive second baseman, but Miguel Cairo doesn’t cut it.
Whoever the Yankees acquire to aid defensively, they had better be good, or we Yankee fans could be looking at another long season in New York.
How about base stealers? That’s right, guys who can actually run the base paths or lay down a bunt if called upon. The Yankees lacked the ability to steal bases consistently with only two players who stole 20 or more bases. Next to pitching and defense, the Yankees could use a base stealer or bunter.
Don’t look now New York, but I think that’s the rest of the league catching up to us. Contrary to years past when the Yankees had little or no competition in the American League, teams are beginning to emerge from the woodwork as legitimate Yankee killers. The most obvious being the Boston Red Sox who were only three games out of the East this season. Other clubs such as the Anaheim Angels who won the West, the Texas Rangers who are drastically improved, the Minnesota Twins who can finally compete with the Yankees in post-season play and maybe even the Tampa Bay Devil Rays who have a great core of young developing players, should provide formidable opponents to the Yankees next season, unless, that is, the Yankees counter by acquiring the key components they need to regain elite status.
The Yanks are down but not out just yet. Steinbrunner has one last chance to make up for his mistakes, and if he doesn’t, tunes of repulsive Boston chants could ring solemnly throughout all of New York for years to come.
4 replies on “Yankees’ success hinges on crucial revisions”
Response Alex- You’re right that Beltran alone won’t cut it for the Yankees, which is why anytime Beltran is mentioned, good analyists will also mention Pavano. You’re also right that other than Pavano, the Yankees need to go out and get another starter if they want to win. However, your argument becomes far-fetched when you talk about the Yankees’ defense.
After watching A-Rod all year, I can honestly say that he deserves a Gold Glove at third, he has been fantastic. The outfield woes are troubling, however, Beltran in centerfield will change everything. First, Bernie and his hanging arm will be DHing, and second, Beltran will cover more balls in the gap, which means that Sheffield and Matsui won’t have to cover as much territory. I know the Yankees are rich, but they can’t go out and get a superior second baseman, as well as Beltran, Pavano, another starter, and a lefty reliever. I understand your point in that they don’t need any more offense, and they need a solid second baseman, but I think Cairo is fine at second.
As to stealing and bunting, that has never been the Yankees’ forte. There were only a few seasons in the 1996-1999 stretch where they were a decent base-stealing team, and they have never been able to bunt well (other than Jeter). I disagree with the Moneyball-philosophy that has infiltrated the Yankee dugout that bunting isn’t worth it–when you’re in the ALCS, and you have 1st and 2nd, 0 out, in a tie ballgame with Tony Clark up, he HAS to bunt.
I found one glaring ommission in your argument: 1st base. Will Giambi be back next year? If so, will he able to hit? If not, who will they sign? Olerud would be a great starter (great defensively, adequate offensively, not a nuisance in the clubhouse, team guy, etc.), but I think he will want to get the big bucks somewhere else. However, Torre did love Olerud during the playoff run, and he might push Steinbrenner to bring him back.
You’re right in that teams are beginning to catch up with the Yankees–but that’s because teams are finally willing to spend as much money as the Yankees. The Red Sox kept Nomar and Manny, and signed Foulke and Schilling last season, and that was considered a letdown because they should have gotten A-Rod. The Texas point is valid though, they have set a strong foundation with their young infield, I’m just not convinced with their pitching staff yet.
Overall, decent job. I agree with your main point the Yankees needed pitching after Pettite, Wells, and Clemens left (I was screaming last year about this), but some of your other points are shaky.
Fair enough… …difference in opinion is ok, thanks for your comments.
The main point i was trying to touch upon was pitching, and i did. The other points are lesser worries and i made certain to consider them lesser worries by not worrying about them as much.
The was i organized my thoughts: pitching was most important, second defense because although they have a good left side, cairo is ok, clark and olreud are solid (not amazing) and posada is above average but not great. So pretty much on the infield, in my opinion, its pretty average.
the outfiled is a whole differnt story i wont het into now.
And stealing and bunting is a key factor to the game that COULD help the yanks. Notice i put stealing and buniting near the bottom, thats because its less of an issue.
I think there was confusion as to which of the points i thought were the most important because to me, it seemed as though i made it clear which were more important than others.
Again, thanks for the comments.
great job great article.
Front Page quality.
I too disagree somewhat, but you almost convinced me with your arguments. I HATE that you asked them to go after Pavano because I don’t want to see that (even though I think he either will be great or below average next year; I don’t know if he really just became good or reality will sink back in).
But great job organizing it. I (somehow) found no factual errors which almost drove me beserk. Your numbers were right on.
I did not like how you understated the Marlins as not being in the playoffs, because they were a brink team until a collapse with 1 1/2 weeks to go. But hey, it is true.
Very great job. Keep at it. I think this was only the second time I voted front page for a story, as I am very frugal about that (none of my articles would have received a front-page vote from me if I had one…).
Thanks… …for your kind comments about my article, i appreciate it.