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The Yankees beat Tampa Bay 6-2 Monday Night, but that was only a prelude to the real story; the complete shake up of the current team. Reliever, Steve Karsay, was designated for assignment and Bernie Williams has been made a designated hitter because of a sore elbow. Second baseman, Tony Womack will now be the new leftfielder with Hideki Matsui taking over in center and rookie, Robinson Cano, will now start at second. Last, but not least, Randy Johnson will miss his start on Wednesday.
Everyone who follows the Yankees could see that a shakeup was coming. The team looked lifeless for most of the season and Bernie Williams could simply not throw the baseball anymore, but this is a bigger shakeup than anyone foresaw. Moving Womack to left is a huge gamble, as he has never played there. Matsui in center should be an improvement, but his arm is nothing to write home about. Getting rid of Karsay is a case of addition by subtraction, but the Yankees still have too many relievers. One can only assume that General Manager, Brian Cashman, surveyed the trade market and didn’t find anything to his liking, so he employed the Yankees’ greatest weapon, money.
The Yankees are now spending twenty-six million dollars on their designated hitter spot (Giambi and Williams) and paying Steve Karsay six million to play somewhere else. No one knows how far they will go to improve this team, but this should send a message to Felix Rodriguez (3 million), Paul Quantrill (3 million) and Mike Stanton (4 million) that they had better improve or else.
Photo by AP/Ed Betz via Yahoo
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too late. this should have been done in november. bernie williams is a hero, and i and all yankee fans are grateful for his service in 'stripes, but he is well past done. that giant fork has been sticking out of his back for at least the last two seasons. i understand joe's loyalty but the team should come first. this season is done. this will be the first year since 97 they dont make the playoffs. so sad. hopefully this will be a good motivation for the yankee upper management to change their short sighted philosophy and build a strong team for the future, one that can be dominant for years to come, instead of withering under the weight of large contacts, and aging superstars.
i can't imagine that they don't make the playoffs, but obviously if they keep playing like this, they won't.
it will be odd to have a baseball-less october in nyc.
hard to imagine, yes, but the numbers dont look good. i dont even like jayson stark, but for once this isnt about his yankee-hating opinion, just historical precedent and statistical fact. lets just put it this way, they could still make the playoffs, but it is highly unlikely, given the amount of things that are wrong with this team, and how improved teams like the White Sox and the Orioles are.
That's assuming the Orioles stay where they are. History is also littered with teams that had hot springs and were never heard from again (speaking of which, are the Royals still in operation?).
I do agree, though, that the Bernie move was long overdue. The most chilling sight of all in that April from hell was BJ Surhoff (!) tagging from second to third off Bernie. I mean, oy!
As as he fades further into the sunset, look for Giambi to be gone soon, too, whatever it costs.
This all just shuffling of deck chairs on the Titanic. Putting Womack in left, where he has never played a single big-league game, is a joke. Johnson is probably bound for the DL (and if you think groin injuries aren't serious, ask Nomar Garciaparra). The Yankees are in horrific shape, and no amount of fantasizing about trades is going to change that. Who are they going to trade? Wang? Cano? Those are the only marketable commodities in the farm system, and they are now on the ML roster. The Yankees are nothing short of a disaster.
agreed. they have all but acknowledged that the season is over really. all but the boss of course. i am sure womack will be back at 2nd base by the end of may or early june when they trade a combination of Wang, Phillips, Crosby and or Cano for another "veteran" outfielder. even though i agree that this is "just shuffling of deck chairs on the Titanic" as far as this season goes, it was long past due for bernie to give up the center field position. we now have a glut of DH's, but I bet that bernie will hit better than giambi. bernie and sierra will be the everyday DH's while giambi will have to find a corner to go hide in i guess. he's the real problem as far as flexibility with the roster now.