Alternate Yankees Reality

I was all set to step up and make a post about what I thought Cashman needed to do to make 2008 a success. My thoughts, at the time, were to hire Mattingly as the manager and definitely re-sign the money grubbing, selfish, arrogant, in then end I only care about myself - A-Rod. But that part of my thinking is long (about 48 hours old) out the window.

So now I feel like I've been tranported into some knind of strange alternate Yankees reality:

1) Boston Red Sox win 2nd World Series in 3 years. This organization could not win one in the prior 86 years and all of a sudden they have 2. Somebody shoot me...please.

2) Joe Torre is no longer manager and Donnie baseball gets passed over. Better yet they both land a nice job in LA with the Dodger...at least we'll have a national league team to root for.

3) A-Rod opts out. The homeless hall of famer can kiss his monument good-bye. Not that he really wanted it anyway. All he wants is to have more money than God. But answer me this...Who is going to give him more than $30M a year?

4) Mike Lowell (World Series MVP) could end up as a Yankee. Wouldn't it be ironic if Mike Lowell comes back to the Yankees to play 3rd base and A-Rod ends up in Boston? I say we give Lowell 4 years/$60M (or $15M/year), about half of what A-Rod would have gotten. We'd be getting a guy that came off a year with .314/21/120. (not a huge production loss) Yes he was playing above his head but I'll take that at half the price. And let's face it...The guy can play in October!!!

5) Mo and Po could still leave. Cashman needs to back up a dumptruck full of money to both these guys' houses and dump them on their lawns. Personally I think we need to make these guys Yankees for Life.

A Lot of Work to do

I've been a bit lax in keeping up with my blog. It was a busy weekend. A lot has already been said about Torre, A-Rod, Posada, Mariano and the manager position.

First off, Mr. Torre. The front office screwed him. They are acting like a bunch of politicians that think the fans and the public are not sophisticated enough to know what they did. Their smarter than thou attitude may just cost this team and the fans more than if they lost A-Rod. I say that because we all know how the players feel about Mr. Torre and that goes a long way in improving moral and leading the troops. And if the players' moral is up they play better.

I've already stated that I was a backer of Mr. Torre. Since that fell through the next logical choice is Mattingly. I think he's the guy that will have the best relationship with the players. He also gives us the best chance at getting Pettitte, Mo, Po and A-Rod back. I happen to think Girardi would be an excellent manager but I'm not sure he can be the catalyst that would help get the players back.

Some other business that needs to be done. Get rid of Giambi and Farnsworth. Giambi hasn't helped the club in 3 years. Giam-gimpy can't hit, run or field. He's worthless. Give the money to Abreu. I can't say enough bad things about Farnsworth. He might do well in a smaller market but he is not a good fit in NY. Other guys that can go...most of the bullpen. I would keep Vizcaino. He showed a lot of promise in the middle to late part of the season. I also like Ramirez and Ohlendorf. They are young arms that can grow into their roles. And with tutelage from the likes of Mo and Pettitte they will grow.

I would even agree with some that Damon is expendable. Unfortunately, his limited trade clause can only send him to teams that can't afford him.

In my next post I'm going to talk about Cashman and what I think he needs to do to make 2008 a success.

Torre in Tampa

I was going to try not to put "headlines" or breaking news in my blog but how could I not follow up on this...

>Torre Lands in Tampa

Thanks to the NY Post for this.

Could a deal be in the works?

The Great A-Rod Debate

Yesterday, I was thinking about the situation the Yankees Brass finds themselves in with A-Rod and his opt-out clause.

Brian Cashman (GM of the Yankees) has stated repeatedly that the Yanks will not persue A-Rod if he chooses to opt-out. It's obvious that the Yankees don't want to lose the $30M that the Rangers are picking up. It's free money to them and would pay A-Rod's salary for about 1 year assuming the Yankess renegotiate his salary to $30-$32 million dollars. That's like getting A-Rod for free for a year!!!

The Yankees also know that there are very few teams that could even afford A-Rod and Scott Boras (A-Rod's agent) knows this too. The team list is short: Angels, Cubs, Mets, Red Sox, White Sox and Dogers. And even those teams would have a hard time parting with $30M/year on one player because of other commitments they have. It looks like, from this analysis that $32M is probably the cap that A-Rod would be offered ($32M would be a 30% increase in his current salary). If that's true, he should not opt-out, take the money and become a Yankees legend with all the props (can anyone say retire #13 and put a plaque in Monument Park?) that go with it. Otherwise he turns into Barry Bonds (with out the astriks on the ball when he breaks the home runs record.) - Thaks for the home runs...have a nice life.

Let's take a look at this from Scott Boras's point of view. He's in it for the money. He has no perspective on what a player like A-Rod means to baseball. Boras knows he's the greatest player of this generation. He'll likely break the 1,000 home runs barrier. He's clean. And he's a draw at the gate and on TV. However, if A-Rod ends up somewhere other than with the Yankees, he loses the greatest stage in baseball. A-Rod becomes a footnote (Barry Bonds*) rather than a legend (Ruth, Mantle, DiMaggio, Jackson). He'll become part of the Pantheon of Yankee greats. I don't think this is lost on A-Rod. I don't think he's worried about the money...I think he's looking at a legendary legacy and his mark on baseball history.

Choosing the Pope

I had a thought earlier today about the Steinbrenner watch. If anyone remembers in 2005 after Pope John Paul II past away, everyone was on the Papal watch. I kind of feel like this situation with Torre has the same sort air about it. Are we going to see black smoke or gray smoke? Do we have a new manager or not?

Aparently the news for the night is that we don't have a manager. I have a feeling this might take a few days...if just for the drama of it.

The Torre Story

As far back as I can remember, I'm not that old but I can remember Billy Martin as manager, there has always been a love/hate relationship between the Boss and the manager. It seems to be part of the Yankee lore and something that we live with as fans.

I'm a supporter of Joe Torre. There, I said it. I want Joe back for at least one more year. The reason I want him back is very simple. I think he's the best one for the job. I don't have any emotional attachment or sentimental reason. I just think he's the right man for the job.

His record speaks for itself. 4 championships in 12 years. Bringing the team back from 21-29 to make the playoffs and almost catching the Red Sox this past season. Winning 114 games in one season. Making the playoff every single season as manager. That in and of itself puts the team in contention for the World Series EVERY YEAR. The guy has been a consistent winner since he came to the Bronx. And don't underestimate for one minute the way he handles the press.

To those of you out there that want a new manager, I want you to tell me who and why. Don't give me reasons why Joe should go. Give me reasons why someone else would do a better job. Tell me how, if your standard for a manager is one who will win the World Series every year, your manager is going to be better than Joe.

I think I can safely say that there has not been a better, more consistent manager over the last 12 years with a better track record of putting his teams in a position to win it all.

Don't get me wrong, Joe's made some bonehead moves from the dugout but no one is perfect.

I want Joe Torre back...

Just my Take

As you probably know, there are many, many Yankees blogs out there. And this is another one. However, I hope this will be different. I want it to be different in a few ways:

First I will not be giving you "Headlines" or "Breaking News". There's plenty of places to get that and you know where it is. I'm not a reporter. I don't have an inside track to anyone in the Yankees organization.

Second, I will be giving you my opinion. And it will be just that. I have a lot of thoughts regarding staffing, coaching, the players and the play itself (Jeter was a bust in the playoffs this year.)

Third, I hope this will be interactive. Give me your thoughts in the comments section. Help me promote the blog with links or by networking with me. By all of the blogs working together we give the readers a better view of the Yankees landscape.

Finally, please add the blog feed to your RSS reader so you can quickly get my posts.

I'm really looking forward to covering what's going on this winger and into the spring. Hopefully the brass will make good decisions and give us what we all want...a 27th championship.