Gothamist: Last Night's Action: Yankees Succumb To The Monster

devil's advocate

Tue, 23 May 2006 13:56:50 -0500

Wang and Cano came from our farm system. Once Melky stops looking so scared out there in the field, people will notice that he is a serious hitter (doesn't drive the ball that much, but he'll hit for very high average).

J

Tue, 23 May 2006 12:27:32 -0500

Case in point... 2006 Detroit Tigers as of May 23rd (30-14)

Toby

Tue, 23 May 2006 10:54:47 -0500

The majority of the great Yankees of the past came from a very deep and rich farm system. Getting free agents may be good for the here and now, but leaves the problem of a weak pool of talent to draw from in case of injury. What Steinbrenner needs to do is let all the big name players contracts expire and build a team the old fashioned way - through a good farm system and some strategic veteran player procurement. There may be a few losing seasons, but the future would be better.

famdoc

Tue, 23 May 2006 10:29:03 -0500

I agree that Steinbrenner's version of Moneyball is to throw as much money at aging stars as they will demand, but... the baseball season is long and, as we see every season, "anything can happen." The Yankees, hopefully, have gotten their injuries out of the way early. By July, with a healthy Sheffield, we can expect their bats to wake up (you hear me ARod, the world's most overpaid "clutch" hitter?). The only question that remains is the pitching. Every indication is that Randy Johnson has the yips. As a professional, he should be able to find his strike zone again. Unless he is playing with some as yet undiagnosed injury. The season is equally long for the Red Sox and Blue Jays, who will have their share of woes. A three-way tie for first at the All-Star break? Don't rule it out.

J

Tue, 23 May 2006 08:56:13 -0500

Cheers to that..! You gotta have depth, and for a number of years the Yankees have been a thrown together bunch of all stars. You need some scrappy players in there to do the little things as well. Jeter can't do it all any more..

David Caspian

Tue, 23 May 2006 04:24:35 -0500

It's still mostly the same first place Yankees team from last year, plus one Johnny Damon. Some ESPN writers, when listing their season predictions, didn't even have the Red Sox making the playoffs. I agree with Mr. Trinkle. The Yankees have NO farm system, which is what brought them Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, and Mariano Rivera. They overpay for aging players - Johnson, Pavano - or they overpay in general. (A-Rod.) As sad as it is, it probably won't change. This is the way Steinbrenner runs a ball club. Torre hates it, Cashman hates it, but that's how it goes. I'm hoping Steinbrenner's son-in-law handles things differently.

EmsGuy

Tue, 23 May 2006 01:11:16 -0500

There is no great mystery. This year's Yankee team is simply a 2nd place team. They just aren't as good as the Sox. No contraversial view here, just boiling this down to a basic view.