Monday, May 18, 2015

Most Popular Article of the Week: Dear Chase And Jorge, The Yankees Come First

By: Bryan Van Dusen



First it was Jorge Posada, lashing out against Joe Girardi about his playing time and spot in the lineup. I was going to write about how ridiculous his comments were, and how angry it made me that he actually refused to play because he didn't like the fact he was penciled into the 9-hole in the lineup, but Andrew Mearns at Pinstripe Alley did an excellent job on that already.

And then comes Chase Whitley. While I'd never get upset with a player because he got injured, I will most definitely get mad at them for hiding an injury. Doing so hurt the team two ways...


  1. That injury certainly contributed to him giving up 8 runs over his past 7.1 innings pitched, both of which ended up with losses for the Yankees. We don't know if the player that would have started those games instead would do any better, but I'd bet on a healthy pitcher over somebody with an injury to his throwing elbow.
  2. The Yanks not only have to figure out what to do with his rotation spot (thankfully, that's not difficult), but they could be without Whitley's services for longer than if they were able to address his elbow earlier. It's never a good idea to let an injury linger without treatment. 


Does anybody think about the team first? Athletes always say something like "I'm here to help the team win", but then you hear about a player that refuses to accept that he's no longer the player he used to be, and then we hear about another player that hid an injury from his team so that he could keep pitching. It's selfish, and as a Yankees fan, it ticks me off.

I love that the Yankees don't have player names on their jerseys, as that is the greatest symbol that the team is the most important thing. The Yankees are not about Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth, Don Mattingly, or Derek Jeter. The Yankees are about them all. The Yankees are about pride and pinstripes. The players, the championships, the stadium, the iconic "NY" logo, THE FANS... that is what the Yankees are about. The Yankees are not about Jorge Posada's ego, and the Yankees are not about Chase Whitley's elbow.

If you're not here for the team... for the fans... then you don't belong here. And if you attack one of us, you attack all of us.

No comments:

Post a Comment

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