Monday, January 13, 2014

Gummie-gate?

Just when you didn't think things with A-Rod could become any more ludicrous...bring on the Gummie-roids? After last nights grand performance on 60 minutes by Tony Bosch, we all learned a little more about how someone whom fears needles takes steroids. Although, in ARods defense, this guy looks about as trustworthy as the cook on "Two Broke Girls".

However, one thing was made crystal clear this weekend, it's time to move on at third base.

With the current in house options being a bit underwhelming (Nunez, Johnson, Sizemore..etc.) I find it hard to accept that a deal or signing isn't imminent before pitchers and catchers report. I read this morning that the Yankees have stopped talking to San Diego about Chase Headley, but he makes a ton of sense. Also, now that the suspension is official, Tweets have been popping up of the possibility  of Michael Young coming to the Bronx. Compile that with Jeters return to short and Brian Roberts maning 2nd, our infield has an average age of 89!? (Alright, maybe I forgot to carry the 2, but you get the jist)

Well, no matter how you look at it, with the ARod saga all but over, you have to wonder who will be manning the hot corner. Lets just hope a deal gets done and we aren't hearing references of "The Golden Girls" and "Depends" all season long.

13 comments:

  1. I might be off here a bit on my math but we offered Cano lets say $175 Million and we ended up signing Beltran for I believe $43 million give or take a few million which means we would have a savings on not signing Cano at about $132 Million and this clown know as Cashman is dumpster diving again. He now has $25 more million coming off the books and you're telling me the best we can do is Reynolds, Young and our in house players? I know we have no trade chips from this farm system yet we keep our farms system entourage intact. We get out drafted and again please don't tell me it is because we draft so low in the first round because the last I looked and I believe I have posted this before and if so I apologize but every pitcher the Rays have in their rotation not named Price was drafted in the rounds after rd 1 which means we had every opportunity to draft them including in Rd1 for us. Yes we are talking about third base and I got off on a little tangent but my point is that we wouldn't be in this mess had we had a better GM and especially a better head of our farm system yet the mess continues and Hal you need to stop with this $189 BS because our infield is not only old it is riddled with injury plagued players. Time to step up Hal and put a team that will be competitive and by the way you need to sign Balfour to close because Robertson doesn't have the mental makeup to close. He gets ahead 0-2 or 1-2 and ends up walking the hitter as he tries to throw the perfect pitch.

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    1. Very good Ken H...
      I can agree with that! You did a bang-up job...again!
      Cashman, is in his contract year, so we may see him go (quit) after this year. He told George he wanted to have full control, and he got it...until, the Tampa Cabal took over after The Kings demise.
      Things will keep getting interesting in this coming year, that is for sure! Cashman was the guy in charge so it is his fault...with a little help from the bookkeepers in Tampa.

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    2. Just because they were going to give Cano $175 million doesn't mean they are okay spending that much on others. Going over $189 million would make sense for somebody the caliber of Robinson Cano, or as we may see... Masahiro Tanaka.

      BTW, if the Yankees did re-sign Cano, then there's a good chance we wouldn't have Jacoby Ellsbury or Carlos Beltran, which would make our outfield weaker.

      Also, the free agent market is weak for third baseman, and there has been no talk of third baseman being available in a trade. For all we know, Cashman has something in mind or has been working the phones since the day after the World Series ended.

      I do agree that something needs to be done about the farm system, which starts with better talent scouts. But I think you're off base blaming Cashman, especially when he gets overruled again and again by ownership (see the last ARod contract as an example).

      Oh, and I disagree about Robertson. There is no other Mariano Rivera, and putting those expectations on anybody else is incredibly unfair.

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  2. Brian I totally disagree with your comments as they had McCann locked up and Ellsbury locked up yet they still offered Cano the $175 Million which means they had the money to spend. I have posted before that Hal thinks he is a numbers geek, yet the boy Genius spent $25 million in luxury tax and lost well over $50 million for people not showing up to the stadium and canceling their season ticket packages like me. Yes network revenue was way off as less viewers were watching which means the commercials which companies pay for were not paying premium dollars to have their commercials run so that in turn is less revenue in Hal's pocket. The projected numbers were to be in the $75 million and up loss for putting that pathetic team on the field last year. By the way the Yankees are worth I believe 3.3 Billion dollars and I find it hard to believe that the brand name along with merchandising money wasn't off as well. So Hal saves money by being under the luxury tax at $189 this year with a decent team and then he loses more for not spending it. That is why his dad was a genius. Bought the team for 10 Million dollars and made it into a 3.3 Billion dollar machine and we are worrying about $25 million in tax savings. You don't have to be a genius to see his math doesn't work.

    Now let's look at Robertson's magic acts of getting himself out of trouble all the time, look at his performances in his closing opportunities. I am not making this stuff up this is factual and you are right there is no other Mariano but Robertson doesn't have the mental makeup to get the job done. If you listen to any of his interviews he tells you that he knows he throws to many pitches so tell me how is he going to cut down his amount of walks as well as his constant 0-2 to 1-2 to ball four? And by the way he got overruled on Soriano and two years ago he was lights out when Mo went down. He should've been given closer money again and setup and closed last year and then he would've been the closer for the next two years at least. I don't think your boy Cashman got overruled when he signed Carl Pavano, and Javy Vasquez and then traded for him again after he busted the first time here, or his signings of Igawa and Jared Wright and Jose Feliciano and the trades of Kevin Brown and Jeff Weaver.

    I have been watching the Yankees since 1967 and there is one thing I know for sure and that is Cashman is a terrible talent evaluator and he had an open check book by George to buy his Championships and that the farm system was setup by Stick Michael and Bob Watson. Name one 20 game winner that Cashman has drafted or stud pitcher for that matter? He drafted Brackman in the first round knowing he needed TJ surgery and the kid never made it back. And for anyone that says Oppenheimer runs the minor league drafts and the scouts remember this...Cashman is the GM and he is their boss so if they aren't getting it done it is a reflection on him because the buck stops with him

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  3. I have been watching the Yankees games ...and sliding in the back gate...since 1944! I have seen the best of them up close and personnel, back in the day. At one time the so called "Kitchen Trash" kids were on the field a 1/2 hour before practice began talking with some of the players...except Joe "D".
    I have seen the worse and the best of teams put on the field.
    King George was suspended by baseball and had "Stick" take over as The Boss with Watson as GM. Watson had this young guy as his assistant, very good at organization and a good head for dealing with agents etc. Stick took care of the scouting along with Watson, and they had Cashman re-organize the Farm System. When they passed the rains to Cashman he was instructed to keep the farm going.
    Trouble with that was...King George!
    The King saw a player he wanted Cashman got him for the Boss...at a huge cost to the farm! Between George and the Tampa Cabal, Cashman was over ruled time and again.
    No one of any talent in scouting wanted to work for the Boss, so you got what you got.
    Cashman at his last contract said he wanted FULL control over players and his day to day operations, all the way down the line. George gave it to him...even though he was why A-Rod came to the Yankees!
    After Dumb, dumber and dumbest took over, it became a war with Cashman not able to make a move without their say so.
    This is why, I think he will not come back next year. he can run the organization but, as with MOST GMs, he is not an evaluator of talent and has never said he was. He goes by what his people tall him...that is what they are there for. If the best won't work for your organization...one does the best one can with what one is given.
    This is all from the memory of a very old guy...hopefully it is accurate as it was back in the day!

    Damn, another dissertation!

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  4. KR I enjoyed reading your article as I can only go back to the mid sixties and I pray that day comes when Cashman leaves because to me he isn't a top flight GM. Take Billy Beane for example on a shoe string budget and see what he develops or Friedman down in Tampa. Time has come for Cashman to repel down someone else's building

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    1. KH, you are a very fine Yankee fan that uses his head. Thank you for the rebuttal.
      I have no problem with getting someone new...if one can be found...but, will the really talented ones want to work in NY with the hassle of interference they would have to put up with?
      Those you named as good GMs have a good staff working with them, something Cashman has not been able to put together....for a sundry of reasons.
      The buck stops at the top, he is the top man...his responsibility!

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  5. Rocket, Ken, and Daniel.....nice to see the talented writers flexing their muscles. Nice work.
    My take on David Robertson...nice guy, but he is not the one.
    He has never convinced me, that he can be a Yankee closer.
    Get a Balfour type now, and if Robertson can win the job in spring camp...I will apologize.

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    1. Let's hope fans such as KH, BVD, JN, USYF and that guy, what's his name? Oh, Daniel something!
      Visit us more often, it's nice to have intelligent commentators show up. If they always agreed with us it wouldn't be fun.
      You, Patrick can go jump in the water...when is that anyhow?
      Good dreams young fellow!

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  6. I think Robertson would be fine if he were to be given the closers job. Sure he did not do too well his first shot at it but that was two years ago. Robertson has had all offseason to prepare both mentally and physically and I think he would be fine. To agree with Mr. Hans though you can go ahead and sign Balfour, he has agreed to pitch the 8th inning.

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    1. Daniel...what has Robertson shown you ? In a closers role ?
      You just can not appoint someone to be the Yankee closer.

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    2. Now Patrick, play nice...
      Hay, they made me into a 2nd baseman/closer in college...but my fast ball was way better than his, I topped out at a remarkable 88 once, I think! LOL
      Joking aside, it takes a different mind set to be a closer, things sometime were unpleasant in my old homestead. A guy with a bat in his hands was something to get up set about...not a chance.
      Robertson needs the kind of mental toughness that comes to people like Mo, he was dirt poor, and nothing was easy for him coming up. D-Rob has the tools, now he needs to learn how to be tough, like mo! And have the ego of Mo...he knew how good he was and it showed everytime out there on his little part of kingdom turf! With that sort of ego (the good kind) one can't have any doubts at all...KNOW thy self, first!
      He should have the chance to prove it to himself, then to the powers that be.

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    3. If a reliever can be terrible and the next year or two years later figure it all out and be elite, why can't an already really good pitcher figure out that he can close in 2 seasons? Especially, like I said, when he has all offseason to mentally prepare for it. Instead of last time when it was like okay I'm gonna pitch the 8th inning tonight oh shit Mariano Rivera tore his ACL and I'm the closer.

      Robertson did just fine last year in games that Mo was unavailable in closing out games. He threw too many pitches but I think thats just him. SO he wont be able to go 3+ innings in a ALCS game, so what? NO ONE will be Mo. DRob can be good though.

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)