Some naysayers in the city of not-so brotherly love (aka New York), have been saying that maybe George Steinbrunner made a mistake getting the Big Unit instead of Big Carlos.
Sportscolumn’s Alex Ferguson argues his case for the mulleted one… Despite what the wonderful people at ESPN.com might say, taking Randy Johnson instead of Carlos Beltran was not a bad choice for the New York Yankees.
Why? The Yankees weren’t hurt by how they batted last year (unless you count the last couple of games in the ALCS). Sure, they didn’t have the world’s best offensive year last year (you can blame cancer, steroids, and bad shoulders for that), but they still led the AL in home runs.
So what was the problem? To (misquote) famous political strategist James Carville, “It was the pitching, stupid.” The Yankees, despite the new additions of Kevin Brown and Javier Vasquez, saw their combined ERA jump to an inexcusable 4.69 from 2003’s barely excusable 4.03. And Jeff Weaver didn’t even pitch in. They needed pitching bad. And, with Randy Johnson, they got it, scary mustache, mullet, and 98 mph fastball `n’ all.
If 2004 wasn’t Randy Johnson’s best year, then it would be frightening to see how well he could do with a run support that could get him over 3 runs a game. In a season where he went 16-14 (I’ll give him an excuse for that later), he also threw a perfect game in Atlanta, and had an ERA of 2.60, bettering Cy Young winner Roger Clemens in that category by 0.89….and he started two more games. Oh, and his post All-Star Break numbers (when pitchers are meant to be tired), was 2.17.
“But that doesn’t take away from the fact that he still went 16-14 last year”, you might say.
Let me ask you a question: If you were a major league pitcher, you would expect your hitters to score 3+ runs a game for you on more than 18 occasions in your 35 starts, wouldn’t you?
Yes, if you’re pitching for the Yankees. Evidently not, if you’re an Arizona Diamondback, who’s hitters simply stunk up the place last year, scoring two or fewer runs for their best pitcher in 17 of his 35 starts last year. When the nine Mendozas actually hit the ball (and scored more than three for him), he went 13-2. Think what he could do with the likes of A-Rod, Jeter, Matsui, Sheffield, Posada, Williams, Tino Martinez/Reuben Sierra and a fit-again Jason Giambi backing him up.
Who’s saying that George Steinbrunner’s decision sucks now?
3 replies on “Randy Johnson over Carlos Beltran: Any Place- Any Time”
Good but… …i liked the writing part of it, even though it was a little short.
But as far as content, ok, im a yankee fan, but wanting a 40+ year old pitcher over a 20 somtin year old hitter is just crazy. Johnson pitches once every five games, Beltran plays every game.
No compasrion man, Beltran is more valuable a player, any place, any time.
Carlos over Randy Agreed….
Tough Comparison It’s tough to compare an over the hill hall of fame starter to one of, if not the best all around player in the game right now. There is no mistaking that the Yankees could have made their line-up better by getting Beltran but the argument for Johnson is regarding the short term plans for the Yankees.
If the Yankees had Randy Johnson, a big game pitcher, there is no way they lose four games straight causing them to miss the World Series. I think we all can agree that Beltran is the better player overall but in terms of answering the needs of the Yankees, Johnson was the right decision for the short term which is all Steinbrenner cares about especially when they didn’t win it all last year.
The Yankees continually make player personnel decisions solely with the short term in mind since all they and there fans care about is winning it this year. That is why every year they go after the best players available, even if they are old over the hill pitchers like Johnson.