Tag: New York Yankees

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Posada Snit

Wow– here it is, in the flesh: you fans paying $100 a pop to watch the Yankees play– you won’t mind if we trot out some washed up old-timer to take a few hacks during a real game do you? Just so Jim Bowden can feel good about himself.

Jorge Posada is batting .165. Jorge Posada is batting .165. Jorge Posada is batting .165.

30 strikeouts in 109 at bats.

.165.

Furthermore, he makes about $15 million this year. Batting .165.

He does have 6 home runs. So let’s be fair– six home runs in 109 at bats is not totally, ridiculously shabby. That would prorate out to about 36 for the year– not shabby. However, the 30 strikeouts don’t look good. And the .165. That means you give up a ridiculous number of outs for those 36 home runs.

No matter– that’s not the point. The point is that Jorge Posada took a careful look in the mirror, and at those shabby stats, and decided, yup, still good enough to play for the Yankees. Those promising young kids in AAA ball? Suck it up. I deserve respect! I am owed respect! Don’t disrespect me. You don’t just play your best player. You owe it to the fans to lose a few games here and there just so you can trot out those old familiar names: Jeter, Rodriguez, Posada….

So when Girardi put Posada 9th in the batting order, in order to minimize the damage he does to the team’s chances of winning every night, Mr. Posada had a royal snit and took himself out of the line up.

If you are not familiar with baseball, especially with Yankee baseball, no one takes himself out of the line up one hour before game time.

As a Blue Jays fan, however, I must respond differently. There is a possibility that the Yankees might actually cast off those venerable veterans like Jeter and Posada, the way they cast poor Johnny Damon aside. I urge the Yankees to keep Posada and Jeter in the line-up every day! They are entitled to months and months and years and years to prove that their current slumps are an aberration! Give them another chance! And another. And another! They’ll show you.

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The New Yankee Stadium

Here is a picture of the New Yankee Stadium, from behind home plate.

I know the Yankees used to think of themselves as being the “class” of professional sports franchises. They refused to allow advertising along the board behind home plate because that would be tacky, like hockey.

Well, here we are:

Now you might think this is the triumph of commercial considerations over artistic considerations. I say it isn’t. I say it’s the triumph of stupidity over wisdom– the commercial advantages will be short-lived because the damage to the Yankee brand will be long-term. Think of the impression children — future baseball fans– will have of this stadium. Think of the impression they would have had if there had been no advertising visible in the above shot. Think of how that plays on the imagination year after year after year– until a franchise has a clearly defined luster.

Not any more. What is the new Yankee Stadium? A bunch of billboards with people in front of them and grass in front of the people. That’s all. You’re uglier than Susan Boyle.  You’re tackier than roller derby.  You’re cheaper looking than professional wrestling.

Thank you and good bye.

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Joe Torre Leaves

Before everyone gets their thongs tied in a knot over the departure of Joe Torre from the Yankees, we all should take a bit of a sober look at his real accomplishments. The number 1 fact to consider when assessing his skills as a manager is this: The New York Yankees have had the highest payroll in baseball every year for the 12 years Torre managed them. In that period of time, Torre won four world series.

From one point of view, that might be considered a fair accomplishment. You had the best players money could buy and you won the championship 33% of the time. From another point of view, Torre’s “success” is unremarkable. A small lump of coal, given charge of the highest paid team in baseball, might have done the same.

Given that, Torre was a decent manager for the Yankees. The role of a player is to actually do things: throw, bat, pitch, steal bases. The role of the manager is to put the right players on the field at the right time and let them do their jobs.

The most important skill of a manager is his judgment of a player’s performance and endurance at specific stages of the game and the season. Grady Little is infamous for leaving Pedro Martinez in too long in game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. Torre rarely makes a mistake like that, though I thought he should have given the start in game 4 this year to Mussina..

Nor, however, has Torre been able to get the Yankees out of the first round of the playoffs for the past four years. That is partly– maybe largely– due to the fact that he is stuck with a group of aging, over-rated veterans like Damon and Giambi and Clemens and Sheffield. It may be partly due to the fact that Derek Jeter is a great hitter but a merely average shortstop, and Alex Rodriguez can’t seem to rise to the occasion in the playoffs.

It also may be partly due to the fact that Torre is not quite the genius many baseball writers think he is.

It is absolutely disgraceful to check out the ESPN website the day after the critical game 6 in the Cleveland-Boston ALCS only to find more than half of the articles are about Joe Torre. Just how Yankee-centric is the baseball universe? Well, consider these facts that the average fan could be forgiven for being unaware of: Derek Jeter is not the best shortstop in the league. He is a good hitter, but, defensively, he is, at best, sixth or seventh.

Roger Clemens has been washed up for about a year now.

Johnny Damon is just about the worst centre-fielder in baseball today. Torre’s not dumb- by the end of the season, Damon was in left field.

It takes more than just a few hot months before anyone knows if any other young pitcher is going to have a great career. It takes a Yankee rookie– apparently— about one inning.

I just read that Torre is now expected to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Good luck– we may now get the opportunity to see how well managerial “genius” actually translates into success on the field.