Now Joe Torre’s staying….

Just a quick note to George Steinbrenner: let Joe Torre do what he’s best at: managing. And do what you’re best at: giving the team money. 
Let’s face it Yankee fans, it was nice that you got into the postseason, but with a $200mn team, no-one’s going to be jumping up and down about winning the AL East over and over again if the World Series trophy doesn’t come back to where it has come 26 times before: New York City.

Here are some things that the Yankees need if they are going to get a Championship sometime soon:

1)    Get some pitching

On the downside: The Yanks simply can’t bank on their old and injury-ridden pitching staff to be as great as their career numbers have should have been.
Jaret Wright is one example. Of course we know he pitched like crap before getting hurt, but when he made his long-awaited comeback, he was great for a game or two, and then was hit in the face by a comebacker. On top of that, Carl Pavano was hurt for a majority of the season, Randy Johnson had a bad back, and Mike Mussina got hurt, too. Add to that a bullpen that was giving it up more than Heidi Fleiss’ harem, and it was a little bit of a miracle that the Yankees were even in AL East contention by September. Mariano Rivera was nothing short of brilliant last September, and Tom Gordon was pretty darn good, too. Now Tom Gordon wants to go back to closing, the Yankees have got a huge hole to fill at set-up man.

On the upside: Chien Mien-Wang, Shawon Chacon, and Aaron Small were all brilliant in the rotation this year. I didn’t like to say this- but I felt safer when any of these three were on the mound then I ever did when Randy Johnson, Mussina, Wright and Brown ever threw out there. Oh, and Kevin Brown’s leaving. Yaay!

2)    Get a centerfielder

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved Bernie Williams for as long as he’s been a Yankee. Before this year, he was a great hitter with good defensive capabilities. This year, he’s sucked. His batting was inconsistent to say the least, and the arm was, as we Britons say, “simply bloody awful.” I have never witnessed a player who makes more wrong steps in centrefield- if it killed my best friend in church softball when centerfielders didn’t read the ball properly, you can be darned sure that it killed Joe Torre & Co when the ball went over Bernie’s head again, and again, and again. We know that Bubba Crosby’s got a heck of a lot to learn, but his horrible crash with Gary Sheffield in the ALDS aside, he was a much better defensive option than Williams, or even Sheffield himself.  

Andruw Jones is an ideal replacement for Bernie, but Johnny Damon possibly making the move to Yankee Nation? With the amount of money that George Steinbrenner can throw around, don’t bet against it.

3)    Make sure that King George stays out of Joe Torre’s affairs.

As we all know, the chances of George Steinbrenner keeping his trap shut for a season is a near impossibility. If there’s anyone who can run his mouth off more than the boys on ESPN’s PTI, it’s King George. Steinbrenner drove Mel Stottelmyre out of a job as the Yankee’s pitching coach, and he nearly drove out his four-time Series-winning manager, too. Steinbrenner needs to stop second-guessing what his manager did. For every Gary Sheffield that George brought in, he’s also brought in free agents like Kevin Brown, that have, quite simply sucked.

Don’t get me wrong, Yankee fans love the passion that Steinbrenner has for the team, and of course, they love his wallet. But they all must be praying for him to keep his trap shut- or it’s another year of heartbreak for the Boys from the Bronx.