I Can't Define "Real Yankee"
but I know it when I see it. It looks alot like, no it looks exactly like, Andy Pettitte. Back in the day, long before this blog was even thought of, me and one Z. used to argue the merits of Pettitte as a big time star pitcher. Z. was dubious for some reason; I thought Pettitte was simply the man. Not David Cone, perhaps, I mean who is, but the next best thing when it comes to moxie, durability and a nice variation of out pitches. I think Pettitte was the best pitcher out there for the Yankees to get. Better than Schmidt who gets hurt alot, whose record over the past three years is not as good as Pettitte's, and whoi has never pitched DH baseball, let alone in NY. Better than Zito, who no longer is willing to throww his sub-90 fasball for strikes and so relies entirely on his curve. If that pitch isn't on, he's gone in the first theree innings, leaving your bullpen to get ravaged. Better than Clemens, who will probably only go half a season, and don't even get me started with Lilly and Meche. Pettitte did not have a great overall season last year, but 2005 may have been the best of his career (look at that ERA!) and the second half of 2006 was if anything evne better. Over his last 10 starts, he lowered his ERA by 2/3 of a run, and this in a season when he pitched over 200 innings. I can't believe we let this guy get away so we could pursue Kevin Brown!
Suddenly the Yankees look to be pitching rich! Slotting Wang in at # 1, Pettite at #2 (though it could turn out the other way round), Mussina in at #3, Igawa/Johnson #'s 4 and 5, you still have Karstens and Pavano competing for spots in the Spring, Humberto Sanchez and Phillip Hughes available by mid-season, and Tyler Clippard ready for September call-up. I've left Rasner off this list, because he's really struggled in the Arizona league, but it is still quite the plethora. What could be really great about this unprecedented depth at starting pitcher is that it could help shore up the bullpen. Sanchez could well go north with the team in a relieving role, as could Jeff Karstens. Karstens could start until Johnson is ready and if he does well, Igewa could get moved to the bullpen. In addition, since this is an older rotation, the added depth ensures quality pitching in the entirely likely event that someone goes down (I mean someone other than Pavano who just is down.
Speaking of Pavano, The Rockies have expressed interest, though they want the Yankees to pick up more than half of his booty..er salary. No reason to treat with them on that score unless of course they'd be willing to p[art with Todd Helton, who would solve in a manner far more satisfactory than Andy Phillips or the egregious Craig Wilson the Yankees last piece of the puzzle. Helton is a deadly professional Mattingly-like hitter, who would transform an offensively potent line-up into the 21st century equivalent of the Big Red machine. Which only goes to show you can dream big once you've got pitching.
Suddenly the Yankees look to be pitching rich! Slotting Wang in at # 1, Pettite at #2 (though it could turn out the other way round), Mussina in at #3, Igawa/Johnson #'s 4 and 5, you still have Karstens and Pavano competing for spots in the Spring, Humberto Sanchez and Phillip Hughes available by mid-season, and Tyler Clippard ready for September call-up. I've left Rasner off this list, because he's really struggled in the Arizona league, but it is still quite the plethora. What could be really great about this unprecedented depth at starting pitcher is that it could help shore up the bullpen. Sanchez could well go north with the team in a relieving role, as could Jeff Karstens. Karstens could start until Johnson is ready and if he does well, Igewa could get moved to the bullpen. In addition, since this is an older rotation, the added depth ensures quality pitching in the entirely likely event that someone goes down (I mean someone other than Pavano who just is down.
Speaking of Pavano, The Rockies have expressed interest, though they want the Yankees to pick up more than half of his booty..er salary. No reason to treat with them on that score unless of course they'd be willing to p[art with Todd Helton, who would solve in a manner far more satisfactory than Andy Phillips or the egregious Craig Wilson the Yankees last piece of the puzzle. Helton is a deadly professional Mattingly-like hitter, who would transform an offensively potent line-up into the 21st century equivalent of the Big Red machine. Which only goes to show you can dream big once you've got pitching.
posted by joe valente | 11:33 AM
1 Comments:
My feeling is that brian Cashman is playing a double game with all the love he is showering on AROD. On the one hand, he is making it clear to other clubs that they shouldn't come shopping if they don't have a whole lot to bring to the table. The Yankees are not interested in putting AROD up on e-bay to see what they can get. What's more they don't want to be seen as entertaining offers that they are not ultimately going to take. So he wants to make it clear, "if you aren't going to wow me, don't bother approaching at all. But on the other hand, I think Cashman and the Yankees view the debacle in Detroit as an opportunity to rehabilitate AROD. While he was the one taking the heat as the series proceeded, by the end everybody was seen to have wilted on the big stage: Abreu, Giambi, Mussina, Damon. None more so than Sheffield, who looked awful both at bat and in the field, and Jared Wright who was, well, Jared Wright. They conveniently dumped those two as the worst of the October worst, and proceed with the rest, all of whom contributed to the disappointed. Under the circumstances of mutually shared culpapbility, extending to Torre himself, I think the yankees hope everyone will have to forgive AROD along with the rest, and that when they do, aided by Cashman's own sentiments, AROD, like the south, will rise again. Will that actually happen? I don't know. But this much is probably true: the better your pitching, the less runs you need to score; the less you need to score, the less pressure there is on the big bats; the less pressure AROD feels, the better he performs; the better he performs, the easier it becomes to forgive the past and believe in the future; the more the fans believe in AROD, the more pressure he feels and the worse he performs. So it's complicated.
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