Still Hanging Around
Applies to both myself and the team I obsess over.
I have returned from travels that took me away from Internet access (boy that spam really piles up) but not from my daily dose of Yankee watching. Before the Yankees recent winning spell, they apparently had a meeting where they specifically discussed not trying to hit home runs, suggesting that they had finally committed to the injury-coerced reinvention prescribed for them here about two mon ths ago. And the results have been impressive, largely because the streategies solicits heroism from every player in the lineup instead of relying on the usual suspects, at least one of whom usually fails.
Still, the injuries have been more relentless than envisioned. We knew we'd be without the corner ofs but who thought that Cano would follow Pavano and Dotel onto a milk carton. Having already exceeded his expected time out of the line-up, he's still not even facing live pitching let alone contemplating a rehab assignment. At this rate hideki might beat him back to the lineup. And while the small ball approach has effectively indemnified the Yanks for their lost sluggers, Cano was supposed to play a crucial role in that strategy, so that his loss may well wind up being the biggest of all. The injuries have made the Yankees a good but not great offensive team with thin pitching and porous defense. (To his credit, slow Joe has made a lot more defensive minded decisions lately, though he doesn't seem to understand that Williams has no place in the field in any inning whatsoever.)
The problem the Yankees face is the variousness of their problems, which makes them vulnerable toa potentially season ending losing streak. If offensive weakness causes them to lose a game RJ pitches (3-2 against Seattle) or defensive miscues costs them one of Moose's starts (5-4 Toronto), or the bullpen costs them one of Wang's ( Farnsworth has gotten better; but Proctor still stinks and Dotel is gone for the season), then the backside of the rotation (wright and ponson) is prone to turn setback into disaster by pitching them out of two games in the first couple of innings. There is no silver bullet for this vulnerability on the trade market. Soriano an exciting player who would only make the Yankees that much worse defensively, whether he plays 2nd, where he's an incompetent, plays left, displacing Melky to right, where he has not fared well, or DH's. putting Giambi at first. From watching the Phillies, I can tell you Abreu is the anti-Paul O'Neill, a player who njever tries that hard, doesn't come through in the clutch, and seems to care only about his OBP. Carlos Lee may be worse than Soriano in the OF and, once again can only play Melky's position. The pitching on the market is dreadful. I mean people are interested in Cory Lidle, a sober, slimmed down version of Ponson. The answer? Follow through on the youth movement begun with Cano, continued with Cabrera. Bring up Phillip Hughes. Bring him up now. What is there to lose--the games Ponson would have lost anyway? Across town Pelfrey has shown it can be done. Hughes's success would make a fairly respectable no. 5 out of wright, instead of the poor no. 4 he is now. More importantly it has the possibility of combining the magic of anticipated potential with the magic of the unforeseen realization. Think Andy Pettite in 1996, Mel Stottlemyre in 1964 or (to change teams) Johnny Podres in 1955.
I have not spoken about Err-Rod (a coinage of mine that procededed E-Rod by about three weeks) but I'll save him for a post of his own.
I have returned from travels that took me away from Internet access (boy that spam really piles up) but not from my daily dose of Yankee watching. Before the Yankees recent winning spell, they apparently had a meeting where they specifically discussed not trying to hit home runs, suggesting that they had finally committed to the injury-coerced reinvention prescribed for them here about two mon ths ago. And the results have been impressive, largely because the streategies solicits heroism from every player in the lineup instead of relying on the usual suspects, at least one of whom usually fails.
Still, the injuries have been more relentless than envisioned. We knew we'd be without the corner ofs but who thought that Cano would follow Pavano and Dotel onto a milk carton. Having already exceeded his expected time out of the line-up, he's still not even facing live pitching let alone contemplating a rehab assignment. At this rate hideki might beat him back to the lineup. And while the small ball approach has effectively indemnified the Yanks for their lost sluggers, Cano was supposed to play a crucial role in that strategy, so that his loss may well wind up being the biggest of all. The injuries have made the Yankees a good but not great offensive team with thin pitching and porous defense. (To his credit, slow Joe has made a lot more defensive minded decisions lately, though he doesn't seem to understand that Williams has no place in the field in any inning whatsoever.)
The problem the Yankees face is the variousness of their problems, which makes them vulnerable toa potentially season ending losing streak. If offensive weakness causes them to lose a game RJ pitches (3-2 against Seattle) or defensive miscues costs them one of Moose's starts (5-4 Toronto), or the bullpen costs them one of Wang's ( Farnsworth has gotten better; but Proctor still stinks and Dotel is gone for the season), then the backside of the rotation (wright and ponson) is prone to turn setback into disaster by pitching them out of two games in the first couple of innings. There is no silver bullet for this vulnerability on the trade market. Soriano an exciting player who would only make the Yankees that much worse defensively, whether he plays 2nd, where he's an incompetent, plays left, displacing Melky to right, where he has not fared well, or DH's. putting Giambi at first. From watching the Phillies, I can tell you Abreu is the anti-Paul O'Neill, a player who njever tries that hard, doesn't come through in the clutch, and seems to care only about his OBP. Carlos Lee may be worse than Soriano in the OF and, once again can only play Melky's position. The pitching on the market is dreadful. I mean people are interested in Cory Lidle, a sober, slimmed down version of Ponson. The answer? Follow through on the youth movement begun with Cano, continued with Cabrera. Bring up Phillip Hughes. Bring him up now. What is there to lose--the games Ponson would have lost anyway? Across town Pelfrey has shown it can be done. Hughes's success would make a fairly respectable no. 5 out of wright, instead of the poor no. 4 he is now. More importantly it has the possibility of combining the magic of anticipated potential with the magic of the unforeseen realization. Think Andy Pettite in 1996, Mel Stottlemyre in 1964 or (to change teams) Johnny Podres in 1955.
I have not spoken about Err-Rod (a coinage of mine that procededed E-Rod by about three weeks) but I'll save him for a post of his own.
posted by joe valente | 11:40 PM
2 Comments:
I disagree about Proctor. Ever since the all-star break he has pitched a total of 7 innings. All scoreless.
You know, you're right. Still stinks was probably too harsh just now. But Procter's ERA, which hovered around 2 in May, has climbed to 4, continuing a pattern he set last year. The Yankees acquired Dotel because they wanted to push Sturtze down to no. 4 reliever and Proctor to no. 5. Now they're stuck with Procter as their pre-setup man. And, recent success notwithstanding, I don't think anyone is real haoppy about htat.
Post a Comment
<< Home