Joe Orange chimed in with this doozy:
2009 in a nutshell: You're gonna have 86 Million dollars off the table. Let's put it to use. This team got real old, real fast.
Let's start with the rotation: Aside from this season, Wang has been durable. Moose, too (to a lesser degree...although he's gonna be forty this season). Ponson isn't a viable candidate for the rotation. Neither is Giese as he was never intended to be.
#1 Go after Sabathia. Dude is a stud. As much as I didn't think it would be a good idea this season, he has proven me wrong.
#2 Go after Teixiera. We'll have the dough to do it. He can field the position, even if he turns into Giambi with the bat.
#3 Re-sign Moose. Another two year deal. He's shown he's durable andknows how to win. Two years is probably the end of his rope. He stands a chance of getting to 300 as a Yankee.
#4 Deal Cano. Too enigmatic. I want more defense.
#5 I'd love to see the OF cleared out, outside of Nady....maybe Abreu. No reclamation projects like Andruw Jones.... Maybe Austin Jackson?
#6 (warning....blaspheming coming up) I want to see a defensive replacement for Jeter, late innings. Remember '98? not everybody on that team were stars. We need Scott Brosius back.....Guys that understood their role and did it.
Guys that can go: Pettitte, Ponsoon, Giambi, Sexson, Pavano (HA!), Pudge, Betemit.
I make a call to Oakland and see if they're willing to deal Street. I'll just bet that Eiland can work with him.
I also give a shot to Melancon in the bullpen....sixth, seventh inning guy.
Give a shot to Humberto (Dirty) Sanchez and monitor progress on Brackman.
We had an awful lot of injuries this season. I say Girardi did a good job, all things considered.
Posts
7 comments:
Once you wax nostalgic about Scott Brosius, you should be barred from discussing sports at all.
His lineup is:
?
Jeter (taken out late in games)
Tex
Arod
?
Nady
?
Jackson
?
Also, what is a sixth-inning-reliever?
And good luck dealing with Beane to get Street intraleague. He has a big name and no stuff to back it up lately.
Like I mentioned, Brian, he's a nostalgic sort. His affection for Moose and anyone on the mid/late 90's teams is pretty strong.
I will also agree with you, Brian, that his plan is incomplete. He'll have to come after school to bang erasers.
Brian,
Joe Orange replied:
I must admit, I had to laugh about the Brosius comment. Ya got me there.
Soooooooooooo, based on the Street comment, the Indians should have sent Cliff Lee packing, right? I guess nobody ever gets it back?
AND, even under the worst circumstances, nobody EVER completely rehauls the whole team. Even the Nats still have SOME guys left over.
SS Jeter
RF Abreu
3B A-Rod
1B Tex
LF Nady
2B Cano/ whoever?
C Posada
DH Matsui
CF Jackson
Street can get it back. Throw him in the mix with Veras, Marte, and co.
I say keep the entire team together...these players are aging like fine wine. You guys are too close and too emotional to be objective, the team is WAY better than its record indicates. Keep 'em all together for at least three more years.
Honestly, save yourselves some heartache on Tex. We had him this year, and by the time the middle of the season rolls around, he hasn't hit yet. The media might eat him up for that especially when he makes $20 million and is supposed to save the team. He had motivation this year but maybe not next.
Wowsers...that's an interesting proposal. I've re-read it a couple of times and it's still not really working for me, though...here's a couple of counterpoints, using your original numbers:
#1 - Sabathia is certainly PDG, but one has to question his longevity, what with that gargantuan body that he throws around with such wild abandon. And in today's market, his agent would hear "Yankees!" and $$$'s would light up his eyes...he'd demand 7 years and a gazillion dollars. Not worth that, he isn't.
#2 - No. Just plain NO. He has certainly been good over the past few years, but there are very disturbing things in his make-up. He doesn't seem to have the right mentality to be a Yankee. All you haters will roll your eyes at that 'elitism', but the fact is that while you are a superstar on other teams, you are 'just another player' on the Yankees. Besides, he's a Boras client, right? Ugh. Funny how many of them have ego issues, isn't it?
#3 - I agree with bringing Moose back. He's not super expensive and he is worth the money anyway. He's a good veteran to have, since he has that calm leadership quality that serves as a great example to the young'uns. And if he sucks, use him for long relief. If we retain Pettitte, this one would be open for discussion...in the choice between the two, I'll take Andy every time (nothing personal Moose).
#4 - Hmmm....well...can't say I haven't occasionally thought this, but he is just too damned good. His head is the problem. The past few years we had Bowa to act as his coach and therapist (maybe hook him up with ARod's soon-to-be-ex?). I say you practice tough love and sit him a game every time he loafs, on the field or basepaths. Oh, and bring Bowa back...
#5 - While it is a bit of a traffic jam in the outfield, we have a couple of good guys there. Nady was a great pickup, and gives us a nice foundation there in left or right field. I fluctuate on Abreu, too. Disappointed in Melky, but some of his woes might be because Cano is having issues (they are a little too close, it seems). I'd like to see Jackson a little bit, maybe give Gardner more exposure (unless Christian is up...they seem somewhat interchangeable, we need ONE of them for that Homer Bush speed).
#6 - Ha! Yeah, right, whatever. I think Jeet has another season or two at the 6th position. We don't need to worry about it immediately.
Betemit isn't bad as a backup infielder, especially considering his switch hitting and ability to hit to get on base OR hit for power. I wouldn't use him at 1st quite so much, though. Giambi might be good if he will come cheap enough ($5m max). Andy should come back if he can still do it. Pudge is done.
I'm not interested in Street, nor do I suspect Brian Cashman to be, either. Mo can still close, but they need to use him in the right situations.
You didn't mention catcher...you really think Jorge has it in him to be the everyday catcher any more? Some people have been saying that this injury means he is done as a catcher, except in limited use. He's too slow to be anything other than a DH or 1st baseman, and he's already said he doesn't like 1st, so... Maybe one season with him and Molina sharing the catcher role (bring back CHAD!!!), but they NEED to start looking for a catcher.
I'll be posting my own plan, I'll save other comments for in there!
Hopefully by 2009 the rotation will be led by CC/Joba/Wang followed up by two of: Hughes/Sheets (dreaming)/Mussina/Aceves/Burnett (if he opts out).
CC and Tex are no-brainers. I was hoping Adam Dunn would go unappreciated but apparently he's looking for 100M. Always tempting to put Manny at DH.
I love AJax but he's more realistically a 2010 player.
There's a difference between retaining a starter who hovered around mediocrity and losing prospects for a reliever who can't keep guys off the bases. Ks have gone down, HRs and BBs have gone up.
Also, our bullpen is great and is only going to get better with Cox, Melancon, and company on the way.
We've seen flashes of what Cano can do when he's on. It's easy to oversimplify what's going on and say that it's because of Melky or Bowa but the only information we know about these people is what we get from beat writers who, themselves, love to oversimplify. And it's easy to forget how young he is. He's exactly the kind of player we need to keep at all costs because he could easily breakout and his upside is huge.
Post a Comment