THE GLASS IS NEVER FULL
The one irritating thing about the Yankees' great run has been that Torre has been receiving credit for a phenomeneon he did his best to preclude. Pundits who were slow to come around to the realization that slow Joe is a train wreck in pinstripes are now expressing regret that they ever did. And those that stubbornly refused to see the evidencee in front of them now feel vindicated in their blindness. So, for the record, the Yankees have climbed back into this campaign despite, not because, of slow Joe. Let's look at their erstwhile problem areas.
Item 1: Defense We said all along the defense on this team is entirely too weak, especially given the nature of the starting pitching: contact specialists like Pettite, wang and Mussina. Johnny Damon comes down with multiple, chronic injuries and status quo Joe is forced to play Melky on an everyday basis, as we have been begging him to do since last year. The improvement of the defense in center, the fact that Melky actually throws people out, has made an immense difference. Secondly, Cashman went out and got Molina, who is a huge upgrade defensively as well as offensively over Nieves. If there is any reversal of opinion merited by this run, it is regarding Cashman. He remains a completely dreadful judge of pitching talent, a liability that has cost the Yankees--in wins, championships and treasure--but he is much better judging position players and unlike status quo Joe, he believes, as we do, that the kids are alwright.
Item 2 First Base Just as Damon's injuries brought in Melky, injuries to Giambi and Skanky Manky forced Torre to play Phillips, who like cabrera has combined fine defense with timely hitting, the other commodity in short supply earlier in the year. So Slow Joe has benefitted from a 25% change in his line-up, making it younger, more energetic, better defensively, more clutch--and he had nothing at all to do with it. Melky has been so great--and remember we wailed when they were set to trade him last year--that a lynch mob would form at the clubhouse door if Joe tried to sit him now.
Item 3 Youth /Speed Cashman brings up Duncan, who represents another huge infusion of youthful energy, and with the return of Melky, the long absence of Giambi, Damon resting every third game and usually only "playing" DH, this is a much faster team on the bases and in the field than it was in the spring.
Item 4 Bullpen Cashman trades Proctor and assigns the woeful Meyers, so that Joe will be forced to pitch the young flamethrower Joba. Proctor was never great, but Torre ruined him as a serviceable middle reliever. But Cashman probably figures Joe doesn't like to play rookies, so Chamberlain is probably safe from predatory arm abuse, for now. Meanwhile, the bullpen has experienced a huge upgrade, all at the expense of Torre's vision, not in alignment with it. Before we give Cashman too much credit on this one, however, one has to wonder, with respect to Meyers anyway, what took him so fucking long. But I guess better late (Cashman) than never (slow Joe). Even with the upgrade though, this bullpen is pretty thin, and it is partly Torre's fault. Vizcaino is the key figure in the 8th, and while he has been pitching well since late June, Torre has already overworked him, making future performance iffy. And other than Chamberlain, there is noone else to get them to Rivera. Torre, who has as many new ideas as the Bush administration, can't be counted on for a solution. Does Cashman have the backbone to designate Farnsworth (who Torre won't use now anyway because of the spat with Posada) and bring up Ohlendorf? With Karstens the long man and Villone the lefty/mop up guy, the position Farnsworth is occupying is too important to be left thus vacant.
Item 5 Starting Pitching Cashman options Igawa so that Torre has to bring Hughes back earlier than he wanted. Status quo Joe was talking end of August (which means September 10-15th in Joespeak) but once again Cashman forced his hand. Hughes is likely the third best starter on the staff right now (after Wang and Pettite) with a bullet. Cashman also of course signed Clemens, a move I didn't particualrly like; but one would have to concede that with Chamberlain playing a much needed role in the bullpen, Clemens is probably better than the available alternatives. Not 20+ million better, mind you, but then it's not our money.
Item 6 Situational Hitting/Small Ball This is the one area where I think you have to give the devil his due. Joe's inordinate fondness for old age can be a strength: it makes him far more patient with struggling veterans than most of us and I think in the case of Abreu in particular that patience has paid off. He has also shown some willingness to bunt, squeeze and hit and run, though not nearly enough in my view. The way they are mashing right now tends to consolidate his push-button tendencies, which could spell trouble when they cool off.
Item 7 The Bench Cashman deserves all the credit here. The trade for Betemit looks like a good one, the promotion of Duncan definitely looks good and acquiring Molina ranks right after the Texiera trade as the best pick-up by anyone at the deadline. I will say this for Torre; he hasn't forgotten how Giambi carried them in mid-summer last year and the year before.
The Yankees are playing better in large part because they are a different and better team than they were in the spring and in almost every case the improvements were made against Torre's express or enacted wishes. Right now, they are hitting well enough to mask all of the tactical deficiencies he continues to possess and to enhance his reputation as a clubhouse savant. But nothing has changed so far as Joda is concerned. And on this I agree with the pundits, though with a significant difference. their position is , See, he can still manage brilliantly and you shouldn't denigrate him just because of a losing streak. My position is, actually, he hasn't been a very good manager for a really long time, and you shouldn't canonize him just because of a winning streak.
A team, Bill Parcells correctly said, is its record. For very good reasons, he didn't say the same of its coach or manager.
Item 1: Defense We said all along the defense on this team is entirely too weak, especially given the nature of the starting pitching: contact specialists like Pettite, wang and Mussina. Johnny Damon comes down with multiple, chronic injuries and status quo Joe is forced to play Melky on an everyday basis, as we have been begging him to do since last year. The improvement of the defense in center, the fact that Melky actually throws people out, has made an immense difference. Secondly, Cashman went out and got Molina, who is a huge upgrade defensively as well as offensively over Nieves. If there is any reversal of opinion merited by this run, it is regarding Cashman. He remains a completely dreadful judge of pitching talent, a liability that has cost the Yankees--in wins, championships and treasure--but he is much better judging position players and unlike status quo Joe, he believes, as we do, that the kids are alwright.
Item 2 First Base Just as Damon's injuries brought in Melky, injuries to Giambi and Skanky Manky forced Torre to play Phillips, who like cabrera has combined fine defense with timely hitting, the other commodity in short supply earlier in the year. So Slow Joe has benefitted from a 25% change in his line-up, making it younger, more energetic, better defensively, more clutch--and he had nothing at all to do with it. Melky has been so great--and remember we wailed when they were set to trade him last year--that a lynch mob would form at the clubhouse door if Joe tried to sit him now.
Item 3 Youth /Speed Cashman brings up Duncan, who represents another huge infusion of youthful energy, and with the return of Melky, the long absence of Giambi, Damon resting every third game and usually only "playing" DH, this is a much faster team on the bases and in the field than it was in the spring.
Item 4 Bullpen Cashman trades Proctor and assigns the woeful Meyers, so that Joe will be forced to pitch the young flamethrower Joba. Proctor was never great, but Torre ruined him as a serviceable middle reliever. But Cashman probably figures Joe doesn't like to play rookies, so Chamberlain is probably safe from predatory arm abuse, for now. Meanwhile, the bullpen has experienced a huge upgrade, all at the expense of Torre's vision, not in alignment with it. Before we give Cashman too much credit on this one, however, one has to wonder, with respect to Meyers anyway, what took him so fucking long. But I guess better late (Cashman) than never (slow Joe). Even with the upgrade though, this bullpen is pretty thin, and it is partly Torre's fault. Vizcaino is the key figure in the 8th, and while he has been pitching well since late June, Torre has already overworked him, making future performance iffy. And other than Chamberlain, there is noone else to get them to Rivera. Torre, who has as many new ideas as the Bush administration, can't be counted on for a solution. Does Cashman have the backbone to designate Farnsworth (who Torre won't use now anyway because of the spat with Posada) and bring up Ohlendorf? With Karstens the long man and Villone the lefty/mop up guy, the position Farnsworth is occupying is too important to be left thus vacant.
Item 5 Starting Pitching Cashman options Igawa so that Torre has to bring Hughes back earlier than he wanted. Status quo Joe was talking end of August (which means September 10-15th in Joespeak) but once again Cashman forced his hand. Hughes is likely the third best starter on the staff right now (after Wang and Pettite) with a bullet. Cashman also of course signed Clemens, a move I didn't particualrly like; but one would have to concede that with Chamberlain playing a much needed role in the bullpen, Clemens is probably better than the available alternatives. Not 20+ million better, mind you, but then it's not our money.
Item 6 Situational Hitting/Small Ball This is the one area where I think you have to give the devil his due. Joe's inordinate fondness for old age can be a strength: it makes him far more patient with struggling veterans than most of us and I think in the case of Abreu in particular that patience has paid off. He has also shown some willingness to bunt, squeeze and hit and run, though not nearly enough in my view. The way they are mashing right now tends to consolidate his push-button tendencies, which could spell trouble when they cool off.
Item 7 The Bench Cashman deserves all the credit here. The trade for Betemit looks like a good one, the promotion of Duncan definitely looks good and acquiring Molina ranks right after the Texiera trade as the best pick-up by anyone at the deadline. I will say this for Torre; he hasn't forgotten how Giambi carried them in mid-summer last year and the year before.
The Yankees are playing better in large part because they are a different and better team than they were in the spring and in almost every case the improvements were made against Torre's express or enacted wishes. Right now, they are hitting well enough to mask all of the tactical deficiencies he continues to possess and to enhance his reputation as a clubhouse savant. But nothing has changed so far as Joda is concerned. And on this I agree with the pundits, though with a significant difference. their position is , See, he can still manage brilliantly and you shouldn't denigrate him just because of a losing streak. My position is, actually, he hasn't been a very good manager for a really long time, and you shouldn't canonize him just because of a winning streak.
A team, Bill Parcells correctly said, is its record. For very good reasons, he didn't say the same of its coach or manager.
posted by joe valente | 1:07 PM
2 Comments:
Here here--this post is a brilliant response to the kind of revisionist history about Torre now being peddled at ESPN.com and elsewhere.
Re: the state of the team right now: The situation with Farnsworth has now reached crisis proportion in my view. I've been calling for his dismissal for several months now, and am glad to see him not being used; BUT: as Joe V. points out, what the hell is he still doing out there? He's wasting a roster spot, and knowing his attitude and true colors as we all do at this point, he will only continue to poison the great attitude of the current roster if he is now the official mop up guy.
Speaking of the bullpen, Mo should never have been in the game last night after his laborious save Sunday. I know the hits off him were all bloops, but that's often how he gets tagged. This is another consequence of the problem of Wang now being a 6 inning pitcher. If he could have gone 7, as he reliably did in the season's first half, maybe Joba could have been asked to give a 2 inning save; or Villone the 8th and Joba the 9th. in any event, I think, crazy as this might sound, the Yanks should consider putting Wang on the DL, retroactive enough that he would miss just 2 starts. see what you get from Ian Kennedy in his place. There is clearly something wrong with a finger on Wang's pitching hand that no one on the team seems willing to acknowledge--just look at his last 4 or 5 starts and you'll see a decline in overall effectiveness and ability to go deep in games. give him some time to heal while the offense is hot so he'll be back for september and, we can only hope, October.
You basically stole my post for today. I couldn't believe that torre was running rivera out there last night after a 30 pitch save the day before. And at least part of that decision has to do with the complete worthless of the Big F..., and the fact that he continues to take up space in the bullpen.
You were on the Wang thing before anybody, and boy were you right. Only now the problem has gotten worse; it's not just that he fades in the middle innings. He has trouble getting people out period. And you know the yankees don't evenhavee to put him on the DL if they are hopeful for a quicker turnaround (say 1 start). They can just bring up Kennedy, designate Farnsworth, let Wang be more productively idly than that F....., and put Kennedy in the bullpen when Wang is ready to resume. Rivera, Vizcaino, Chamberlain, Kennedy...this bullpen, long a problem and still too thin, has the makings of the golden years of Stanton, Nelson, rivera and Wetteland, if someone had the guts to make the move.
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