And the Team is not that good either

BGW comments that I failed to mention the part defensive lapses, particularly on the part of Posada, played in last night's "pathetic" loss. Duly noted. I think Posada is just a miserable defensive catcher. Anybody can fail tot hrow out runners (see Mike Piazza), but his refusal to block the plate is galling. The strictures on the Yanks's defense remind me that to say this is an immensely talented team badly coached is not the same as saying it is a great or even a good team badly coached. As Bill Parcells says, after all the excuses you are what your record says you are, and the Yankees record says what they are at this point an utterly mediocre team. Teams that can't play much defense and can't hit when it counts will be mediocre whatever their pitching and batting statistics say overall.

BGW goes on to argue that the Yankees have only one player on the entire team that is above average defensively, Arod, while as we all know Giambi, Cano, Posada, Sheffield, Matsui and Williams are below to well below average. I would only disagree on 2 counts. One, Bubba is clearly an above average fielder who they need to be playing on a platoon basis. Two, I think BGW's position that Jeter is merely average owing to his limited range is a little harsh. Jeter is quite dependable on the routine plays; he is one of the best shortstops in baseball at making the double play pivot; he throws well from the hole; he is, to my mind, the single best relay man in baseball, regardless of position; he is also, to my mind, the best infielder in baseball, regardless of position, at making plays on balls in the air; finally he is a great all around defensive ballplayer in the clutch. And he has limited range on groundballs. I don't know if on balance this means he should have won either or both of his gold gloves--I don't know how they judge those things anyway--but I do think it makes him a plainly above average shortstop.