I’m not talking about the just completed series. I don’t know if I would go so far as to say that a five game sweep, even with this lineup and this pitching staff, was an inevitability, but it certainly wasn’t all that surprising. TC might recall my thought from last week that the drama of this series had been reduced and that now it was about creating separation going into September.
No, I’m talking about the moves made (and not made) at the trading deadline, the development of the pitchers in the bullpen and the three from the farm, and the fact that this team is better than any (and not just the Yankees) I can remember since 1998 (I never dreamed I would be saying that even as recently as one month ago . . . and Matsui, Sheffield and Pavano are still on the DL and still may return this year).
I’m not sure who deserves the credit for the deadline moves, Cashman, the “Ghosts” or our evil overlords at Fox who need the polarizing force of nature that is the New York Yankees to return to the World Series and rescue their bottom line after the anticlimactic and then just plain dull endings to the last couple of years. I’m not sure whether there is any credit to be distributed for the development of Proctor and Villone or if that development was just luck. I’m not sure whether the guys from the farm have grown into the players they have because of the developmental guys in the organization, because the scouts picked gems out of the rough or just luck again.
What I do know though is that everything seems to be coming together, that this team right now doesn’t have any holes and that it appears to be on the verge of getting even better.
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I'd say all the credit for the deadline moves goes directly to Cashman. If the evil Tampa Mafia was involved, they would have given up good young kids to land someone like Abreu instead of picking up him, Lidle and RhoidBoy's nightmare for basically nothing but Abreu's money.
Epstein, by not even managing to get a decent catcher to fill the hole created when Varitek went down, combined with the insane decision to not have a single lefty in his bullpen, puts to the rest that "Boy Genius" crap.
As for Proctor and Villone suddenly getting their acts together? Two words: Guidry; Kerrigan.
And the three DL residents you mentioned? Pavano has to come back and be immediately productive or he's going straight into the bullpen. Sheff and Matsui or going to have to really, really get good with the idea that they are not going straight into the lineup once they get reactivated, unless the Yanks have a fat lead in the division and Uncle Joe is willing to burn a couple of games to get them some swings and time in the field. But lordy, the pinch hitters the Yanks are gonna have at their disposal if those two come back with their swings intact!
And the farm kids are not luck; I've been watching the Single A Staten Island Yanks since their inception and watched them when they were green kids and everyone would be blown away and we all prayed "Please God? Don't let them trade these guys!" The Baby Bombers have a couple of the same types on this year's squad. All the conventional wisdom that the Yankee farm system is unable to develop players is bunk, and has been for at least the last four years.
No ifs, ands or buts. We got our asses handed to us. The ONLY thing that we can take out of that series is that Wells looked pretty damn good yesterday.
Congrats on another East pennant.
seriously, to use a common argument, look at the payroll/allstars that NY puts on the field very night. when Shefsui come back, you have more allstars than you can put on the field! no other team has the luxury to buy allstar replacements at the deadline. you can say so and so owner has the money to do it, but thats not the nature of running a business right. NY really should be winning every year. BTW- when Georgie boy croaks, will the new owner be willing to pump so much of his own money into the team at a personal loss? please God, give me a salary cap so we can end this ungodly era of MFY fan arrogance!
Hey Ric? Blow it out your ass. The difference in payroll means nothing, and you know it. The Marlins and White Sox threw that excuse under the bus, as do this year's Tigers and Twins.
Boston is a major market team, with an amazingly healthy revenue stream, almost on a par with Boss George's. The hard truth is they are not willing, beyond a pre-determined point, to pull it out of their pocket, while Boss George is willing to take his money and churns it right back into the team in the hopes of winning another ring.
You think his son (or son-in-law, I can't remember which) is gonna mess with that formula after the team invested $800 million (plus the inevitable cost overruns) to build a new stadium, with a resurgent bunch of Mutts (with their own new digs), who've shown they are willing to spend (see: Martinez, Pedro), competing against him?
Yes, if there is an All-Star on the market they'll chase the guy, but it doesn't automatically translate into a ring. What it does is translate into a team that can compete for a ring... which all you whiny bastards know the Yankees haven't actually won since 2000. But every year they're in the hunt.
Look what your boy Epstein has in centerfield now, because he and Lucchino wern't willing to budge when negotiating with Damon: Coco Crisp. Same with Abreu; they wouldn't accept the payout taking on his contract involved and took a pass. Henry could bloody well have afforded both, but he didn't want to pull his wallet out of his pocket.
And look at what the Yankees did when "Sheffsui" went down; they replaced one with a home grown kid and (until the Abreu deal) basically a combination of Bernie (who is far further "over the hill" than the Sox trust would ever consider re-signing) and Bubba Crosby, and remained in contention. You guys lost Varitek and Trot Nixon and the writing was on the wall.
Beyond the money, Epstein keeps defending his unwillingness to make trades because he doesn't want to "mortgage the future," but show me one sonofabitch on the Sox roster who started his association with the Sox playing for the Lowell Spinners, a team that the Staten Island Yankees have regularly topped in the NY-Penn league, and has delivered Wang, Cabrera and Cano to the Big Team, where they have all made an impact.
What stud kids has he been so enamored with the past few years that he couldn't possibly trade them currently play for his team? Any of them among the merry-go-round he called up from Pawtucket last weekend? Where's the beff?
The Yanks spend the dough and grow their own, so they are always in the chase. You--and the teams getting handed all the luxury tax bucks the Yanks gotta cough up yet refuse to spend it on the field--whine that it's unfair that the Yankees try to "buy" the World Series.
Bite me.
i saw that coming... well, fine, i see what you're saying. any team could win it all at any time. i understand that. and im not comparing the Yanks to the Sox. thats not my argument...but i'm curious to see how the Yanks would do with a payroll that is not 70% higher than the second highest team is my point. fair enough right?
you CANNOT deny that 1.) that is like a rich kids advantage for future success and 2.)the main reason other cities have contempt for the Yanks
also-many have suggested the Guiliani's goodbye sweetheart stadium deal with the Yanks for the new stadium is not illegal, it is close...
Waaaaa......
Guiliani wanted the Yanks to put the new Stadium in Manhattan (o did Boss George) and the citizenry told them to shove it. That's why Bloomberg and the city machers were able to get the deal done; fuck Boss George's midtown lust, they are the Bronx Bombers and if he don't like it he could move to fucking Jersey!
As to those other cities: Fuck 'em. If they put their asses in the seats in appreciable numbers, so that they'd sell out games besides when the Yanks AREN'T in town, I'd offer some lip-service sympathy. But they don't, so I won't.
For the same reasons I love baseball I hate football: salary cap. The f'in' revenue sharing is bad enough. Put a quality team on the field and you won't have to whine.
Oh, the Yanks' payroll "70%" higher than the second highest?
1 New York Yankees $194,663,079
2 Boston Red Sox $120,099,824
That's $74 million, skippy, not 70%... more like (math in head...math in head...) 61.5?
/end wiseacre mockery
Look, if Henry would stop concentrating on the real estate surrounding Fenway and concentrate inside it's walls....
Ric? If The Chief agrees with me, you are naked ("ew") on the street.
Anyone else notice that Trumpet starts this shit, then goes "Puff" and leaves us to slog it out?
thats b.s.- if every team were spending $200 million in salary, baseball would be even more out of control than it is! you want to spend $200 to go to a game and drink $20 beers? how else do you thiunk they pay the players? salary is getting out of control. In 2005, average salary was $2,476,589. put on a cap on this shit... players union don't like it? let the players get real job like every one else. salary cap is completey different from revenue sharing (which i don't like). without a salary cap, you've got retarded owners like George driving up players prices so bums like Jaret Wright are making almost $8 million!
Talk about b.s.
The Yankees didn't set the market and never do. You mentioned Wright so I'll just briefly run through the circumstances of his signing. If you recall, the Yankees didn't pick up Lieber's option figuring that they could pick him up for less, then the Red Sox established the market with their brilliant signing of the incomparable Matt Clement (paying the bargain price of $9.8 this year alone for a half year of sub par performance). The Mets signed Benson for was it $21 for three (I think) and Lieber went to the Phillies for $21 for three. The Yankees were left with the opportunity to get Wright (who has turned out to be better than Lieber and Clement, at least for five when healthy and avoiding missiles) at or a little below the market price, a market price that had been set by others.
The same has gone on for years, the Rangers signed ARod for his lengthy and pricey contract establishing that market and only after that did the Yankees with Jeter (and the Red Sox with Manny) follow suit.
Not since Mattingly at $5 per have the Yankees had the highest paid player in the majors (ARod doesn't count since the Rangers are still paying a large portion of his salary).
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