October 2006
Various Ramblings
Yankees winning awards:
On October 24th, Mariano Rivera was named the DHL Delivery Man of The Year for the 2nd consecutive year. Congratulations Mariano. For more on this story you can go to See: Rivera is DHL Delivery man of The Year
Today, October 25th, Derek Jeter was named the AL Hank Aaron Award winner. So Congratulations to Derek and hopefully, we will be saying Congrats again on November 21st when the AL MVP is announced. See: Jeter Adds Aaron Award to honors
Yankee News:
ESPN is reporting A-Rods agent Scott Boras was informed by Brian Cashment there is no intention to trade A-Rod during the off season Boras: Cashman says Yankees won’t trade A-Rod. This is good news in my opinion. I know this is not the popular view among Yankee fans, but lets face it, A-Rods off year is still a career year for a majority of big leaguers. I guess 2006 really only proved one thing… A-Rod is actually human after all. Give the guy a break folks. Were not going to find a better third baseman out there anywhere unless somehow Steinbrenner discovered out how to clone human beings.
Whew! No tension in the Yankee clubhouse. The Associated Press published an article that in my opinion is only meant to try and stir things up for the Yankees offseason Jeter: No tension lingers in Yankee Clubhouse For as much as A-Rod is getting nailed in the press, Jeter is being peppered just as much concerning why he dosen’t speak out more for A-Rod. Folks, this is going to be a long winter if we have to listen to this over and over again. A-Rod had a down year, Jeter is the captain who from what I understand isn’t suppose to be a special cheerleader for A-Rod, not that A-Rod needs one. This seems to be me more of a media wish to create tension than actual tension existing.
Check out ESPN’s rumor central MLB RUMOR CENTRAL (access required) It was reported the Yanks might actually pick up Sheffields extension and then trade him off to one of several teams needing a power hitting outfielder. Supposedly Cashman wants to get something for Sheffield rather than just letting him walk, which I can understand. But, the extension is for $13 million in 2007. Do we really think were going to get equal value for an aging OF who missing most of 2006?
Another interesting rumor coming out of ESPN is the possibility of Freddy Garcia coming to the Yankees. Naturally, this story should have been given a couple of question marks because in an article immediately following, you learn A-Rod would most likely be part of any deal, which I would be really suprised. Think about it. Why get Garcia when you can potentially get guys like Zito and Schmidt off the FA market. Secondly, why on earth would you trade one of the greatest players of all time to a team you would most likely battle in the playoffs and who already have a very potent offense. A trade like this just dosen’t make sense to me.
From CBS Sportsline website, the rumor mill indicates the possibility of Joe Girardi coming back to the Yankees in order to be Joe Torre’s bench coach. Naturally, the suggestion goes further and explains the intent would be to have Girardi take over managing once Torre leaves. But, if that were the case, what would you do with Don Mattingly? Read about it here Rumor Mill
The offseason injury report for the Yankees is a little scary Yankee Notes First off we all know Jason Giambi had surgery on the wrist that was bothering him at the end of the season. (What’s with it with the Yankees and wrist injuries this year)? Andy Phillips a player who I have always like has arthroscopic surgery on his knee. Randy Johnson is having back surgery tomorrow and Scott Proctor will be getting his elbow examined after he heard a clicking sound. I suppose if something is wrong, all were going to hear is about how Joe Torre abused his arm. Never mind the fact that as short as when the Goose was playing he threw on average over 100 innings a year. Still sitting on the DL is Carl Pavano and who know when he will ever come back and Tanyon Sturtze who we could use back.
Btw here is a list of Yankee Free Agents and whether or not if I had the power, would try to sign or let go…
Gary Sheffield – would sign if less than 8 million (extension for $13 mil is on the table
Mike Mussina – extension for $17 million is on the table would like to settle for $12.
Jaret Wright – extension is available, would exercise and turn him into a long reliever/spot starter
Sal Fasano – Bye, time to give the kids a shot, like Wil Nieves, though he’s not a kid exactly.
Miguel Cairo – Bye, can’t hit a lick
Octavio Dotel – Sign, big arm and should be better in 2007
Tanyon Sturtze – Sign, keep price low add more incentives
Ron Villone – Sign, did a great job, just ran out of gas
Nick Green – Sign, good bench player and better infielder than Cairo anyway
Bernie Williams – Sign as player/coach, league min.
Craig Wilson – Sit tight and see if a 1B is availble, if not then Sign, if yes wait until last possible moment.
Note: about the previous article there was a comment, a rather rude one to say the least, pointing out the fact I mentioned Ponson becoming a hot pitcher for the Cards. I meant to say Suppan, but Ponson seem to just pop into my thoughts instead, so the error in names was mine, but the intent is still present. As for the comment, I know a lot of Cardinal fans and most act with respect, its one thing to point out and error, but to do so in the negative tone the complainer had is pretty much pointless. Like A-Rod, I am human even if some might disagree. Either way, I have no problems admiting to an error that I make and for all those who I may have confused by using Ponson instead of Suppan I apologize for the mistake. As we all know Ponson was a bust for the Cards and the Yankees this year. Great talent, series issues. Hopefully, he can figure it out before its too late. Oh and for the complainer… WHATEVER!!! lol
World Series – Who Wins?
Ah, its the month of October, College Football is in full swing and the baseball playoffs are at the pinnicle of their season. Typically, we should be sitting back watching our beloved Yankees winning another championship. Unfortunately, it is not the case this year and hurts the pre-season prediction of a Yankees vs Cards World Series.
However, the Cards did make it and are facing off against a tough bunch of youngsters from Detroit. In looking round at the "experts" predictions Detroit should simply walk away with the series. Take a look:
WhatIfSports.com St. Louis 4 – 1 (computer simulation)
FOX Ken Rosenthal St. Louis 4 – 3
FOX Dayn Perry Detroit
FOX Kevin Kennedy Detroit 4 – 2
SI.Com John Donovan Detroit 4 – 2
CBS Scott Miller Detroit 4 – 0
CBS Charlie McCarthy Detroit 4 – 1
CBS Adriane Rosen Detroit 4 – 1
CBS Eric Mack Detroit 4 – 2
ESPN Steve Phillips Detroit 4 – 1
ESPN Buster Olney Detroit 4 – 1
ESPN Jim Caple Detroit 4 – 1
ESPN Jerry Crasnick Detroit 4 – 2
ESPN Keith Law Detroit 4 – 1
SPORTING NEWS Stan McNeal St. Louis 4 – 2
SPORTING NEWS Tom Gatto Detroit 4 – 1
SPORTING NEWS Chris Bahr Detroit 4 – 3
SPORTING NEWS Kyle Veltrop Detroit 4 – 2
SPORTING NEWS Ryan Fagan St. Louis 4 – 3
SPORTING NEWS Erin Farrell St. Louis 4 – 2
MLB.COM Mike Bauman Detroit 4 – 2
MSNBC.COM Tony DeMarco Detroit 4 –2
USA TODAY Bob Nightengale Detroit 4 – 0
AP News Detroit 4 -2
Basically it came down to this
Detroit wins in 5 – predicted by 7
Detroit wins in 6 – predicted by 7
St. Louis wins in 6 – predicted by 2
St. Louis wins in 7 – predicted by 2
Detroit wins in 4 – predicted by 2
St. Louis wins in 5 – predicted by 1
Detroit wins in 7 – predicted by 1
St. Louis wins in 4 – predicted by nobody
Essentially, Detroit was predicted to win by 18 "experts" with St. Louis getting the call only five times, one of which was a computer simulation. And its not hard to pick on those "experts" who selected Detroit to win. First, they took out our vaunted offense of our Yankees 3 games to 1. They then mowed down Oakland in four straight games. The Tigers were also one of the hottest teams of the year, minus September.
St. Louis on the other hand did a pretty good job manhandling a tough San Diego group and then took out the NL’s best team in a life or death cage match against the Mets. The Cardinals were lucky to even be in the playoffs let alone the World Series. Lucky for them they play in the worst division in baseball. Their pitching outside of Carpenter was something you’d see out of a Texas Chainsaw movie and yet, they found a way to sneak into the World Series.
So when making my prediction, who do I go with. The majority of the experts or streak along my own path? Before the playoffs I often said the AL wins the series reguardless because the NL just cannot compete. This pretty much stuck in my mind right up until the Cards knocked out the Mets. It was then something happened. I am not sure what it was, but for some reason, it just seemed like the winds shifted. **** might have gotten quite a bit colder and a blue moon must have appeared, because for the first time during this entire season, I have to side with the NL and those pesky "shouldn’t be there" Cards.
I have five good reasons to justify why.
1. The Tigers are coming of a 7-day vacation. I know everybody will say the Tigers will be well rested and their young pitchers would benefit the most from the time off. I say, it ruins a perfectly good momentum swing. Simply, its too much time. Maybe they should have let the A’s win a couple instead of embarrasing them.
2. The Cards have Albert Pujols, a superstar in the middle of his prime and who could very well win his second MVP in a row this year. The Tigers have some good players, but nobody of a Pujols caliber. Players like Pujols shine on the big stage and often times are the key ingredient to winning a championship. Just like Derek Jeter for the Yankees. These players carry a special something.
3. The Cards actually have pitching outside of Carpenter. Who would have thought that trouble make Ponson and former Yankee mud flop Weaver would seem to find their game just at the right time. These two have been actually better than Carpenter who lost both of his games against the Mets. Where was this Weaver back during the Boston series? Then, you’d think the cards would be hurting when their All-Star closer goes down for the season and yet Wainwright seems to be the next big thing. Go figure! The fact is, while the Tigers have that amazing staff, the Cards pitchers seem to be a roll and momentum is a key in October.
4. Tigers offense was not really all that special to begin with. Sure they started out fast, but you know they hit a wall when they decided to trade for Sean Casey and send Chris Shelton down to AAA. Its about this time, the Tigers decided to try and survive on the homerun ball rather than driving up pitch counts and getting players on base. They were lucky the Yankees bats seem to dissappear during the first round, because there was no way the Tiger bats would have been able to keep up. The Tiger bats were quiet against the A’s who we all know have no bats outside of the Big Hurt. The fact is, the Cards offense is better than the Tigers and when Ponson and Weaver decided to become the big time pitchers everybody talked about at the beginning of their careers, the Tigers were finished.
5. Tony LaRussa. Yeah I know the Tigers have that other old guy, but lets face it, LaRussa is still the better Mgr. of the two. The fact he kept the Cards from imploding at about 162 different points during the season is amazing. Sure they won only 83 games and they played in a horrible division, but what counts is in the playoffs and the Cards were ready and that means their fearless Skipper got them ready.
So with my five reasons, I must admit this will be a close series. Then again either team is capable of a sweep. But, I think in the end the Cards have all the planets lined up just right and as a result they will take out the Tigers in a very wild 7-game series.
Suggestions for 2007
Okay, so were at home watching the Tigers take out the A’s. Maybe the Tigers were for real? I guess we won’t know for a little while longer, but while were watching teams other than our Yankees, I thought it might be time to address some key questions the Yankees should address during the off season, heading into the winter meetings and spring training. And boy do we have some questions to answer.
First and foremost the issue of Joe Torre has already been resolved. George Steinbrenner cooled his jets and will give Torre one more year. I think this is a fair response and given the abundency of issues Torre has had to face the past couple of years, he has earned one more year. While I have already talked about this issue in my previous post, I think this is clearly a good sign of how things have changed during the past few years and the "right" direction the Yankees as an organization are moving forward.
Like I said, there are some key issues to deal with. Some of the suggestions may be fairly realistic, some may be considered a nice wish list. The point in either case is to offer up some ideas in the hopes this time next year we will be cheering the Yankees onto their 27th world championship. So without further delay…
Suggestions for 2007
Starting Rotation
First and foremost the Yankees must address the pitching, both the starting rotation and the bullpen. The past couple of years, the importance of having a solid starting rotation and bullpen has been quite clear. The Yankees seems to have had half the picture in place with the other half being a horror show waiting to happen. This year, Wang has clearly demonstrated even though he dosen’t have the over powering, blow you away fastball, he is clearly a winner going 19-6 with a 3.63 era. After two years in the bigs, Wang has an impressive record of 27-11 and a 3.77 era pitching 334.1 innings. After Wang, Mussina clearly showed he deserves to have his contract extension picked up. His record of 15-7 with a 3.51 era was impressive and when given a little rest, can still be quite effective. Mussina could also be considered the elder statesman of the team.
After Wang and Mussina, things get a little fuzzy. Sure Johnson won 17 games this year and flirted with a no hitter on several occasions. However, Johnson also sported a hefty 5.00 era which is the highest of his career since 1989 with the Expos. Johnson has also been one of my favorite pitchers, but in 2007 he will be approaching 44 years of age, no knees and a bad back that has now been reported to need surgery. Sure he can be effective… at times. But, he also ineffective nearly half the time. If I were the Yankees, it would be time to sit down with Johnson and talk about retirement.
Except we still have three openings in the rotation after Wang and Mussina and Johnsons retirement. Cory Lidle should be the 5th starter in the rotation. His numbers have never been impressive, but he can put in a good game and eat up innings. Though, he should be warned if his numbers dont improve, we have another option (discussed in a moment). The next suggestion is to go after Barry Zito who is a free agent when the A’s finish their season. This year Zito went 16-10 with a 3.83 era. More importantly Zito’s career record is 102-63 and an era of just 3.55. He also has pitched over 200 innings since 2001. He has never missed a start and will only be turning 29 next year and is in his prime. Zito is as about as sure as you can get now days.
After Zito, its time to bring the Yankees number prospect up and into the bigs full time. Of course were talking Phillip Hughes. He has dominated at every level in the minors, sports amazing control and three strong pitches. With the Yankees scoring behind him Hughes should have a pretty strong rookie year. Its time. So the starting rotation would look like this:
Zito
Mussina
Wang
Hughes
Lidle
What about Pavano? He hasn’t played in over 18 months and sports more injuries than a punching bag. Pavano, lets face it has been a major bust of prolific portions. Who knows if he will be back next year, I wouldn’t count on it. Dotel who had Tommy John surgery can back faster than Pavano. The other suggestions is to work Steve White and Tyler Clippard into the rotation here and there. These two have done nearly as well as Hughes in the minors with Clippard even throwing a no-hitter. Its time to get their feet wet.
Bullpen
Ah, the bullpen. Rivera is good as gold, but he is getting a little older and could use a little more rest now days. The problem has been having somebody strong enough to get through the 8th without having to bring Rivera in to clean up the mess. Farnsworth is a hit or miss guy and this year he was 3-6 with 6 saves and sported a not to clean 4.36 era. Though, I think Farnsworth and Dotel splitting time working the 8th inning would be a fairly good option. Don’t look at Dotel’s numbers this year and frown, he was just coming back from Tommy John surgery and it takes time to get your groove back, plus I got the feeling the Yankees were being very cautious this year in the games he did appear in.
Scott Proctor a starter turned reliever is a great 6th/7th inning guy who can also come in the 8th if Farnsworth is giving up too many homeruns. Proctor this year went 6-4 with one save and an era of 3.52 while pitching 102.1 innings. I have always liked Proctor and I think he is an essential key for the Yankees in the future in the RP role. I would also think about keeping Villone who peformed well most of the season, but worn down along with Brian Bruney who I think suprised some people this year and has a lot of great potential. Now here is the kicker, Jaret Wright should be a long relief pitcher. He was lucky to get through 5 innings this year and has been inconsistant. I don’t believe he is starter quality any longer, but would be a nice innings eater if one of the starters leave early or if you need a spot start here and there. The next thing I would do is bring up and keep on the roster Sean Henn has a long reliever and JB Cox who should start working towards being the setup man for Rivera with the thought that one day he takes over the closer role.
Defense, First Base and Sheffield
Heres the thing. How much offense does one need? It was clear despite having an all-star line-up in the playoffs, you still may not hit. One of the painful issues affecting the Yankees over the past 3-4 seasons has been defense and errors. Lets face it, Giambi can’t play 1B effectively any longer, but I like his bat. This would make him a great full-time DH canidate. So who plays 1B? Sheffield is the name people have brought up because of the Abreu trade. Sure having Sheffs bat is nice, but he is over 38 now and at $13 million would be an expensive 1B who may not be too strong in the field. Unless Sheff is willing to accept a much lower salary, I think the Yankees should let him go and work on finding a strong defensive canditate. Personally, I wouild hand the job over to Andy Phillips. He has earned it and can hit, even if he dosent match Sheffields numbers, the Yankees don’t need him too. His role will be a defensive one. The point here is, don’t worry about the offense when the defense is what is lacking right now.
The Outf
ield and Bernie
Ironically, one nice problem the Yankees have is too many outfielders. Let’s be blunt, unless an unfortunate injury occurs, the starting outfield will be Mastui, Damon and Abreu. This leaves Cabrera, possibly Williams and possibly Sheffield. As I stated its time to cut the string with Sheffield. Williams is a Yankee and he was a tremendous asset for the Yankees this year. But, unfortunately years of hard playing and injuries have taken a toll on his OF abilites making him more of a liabiity than anything else. With the DH spot going to Giambi, where does Williams fit in? I say offer him another year, min salary and turn him into a player/coach. He is a great role model/teacher for Cabrera, Cano and other youngsters. Williams can spot DH and spot the OF position when needed, but his biggest role will be the coaching part.
With that I think Cabrera is your 4th outfielder who should play on a daily basis rotating between Matsui, Damon and Abreu giving them each rest. Cabrera really came through this year and has earned a full-time spot, unfortunately, their are some very talented veterens ahead of him, but that dosen’t mean his role should be dimished any. After Cabrera its time to give Kevin Thompson some time in the OF. In only 19 games, Thomson hit .300 and pulled out a HR. Another young kid who I believe has earned his shot with the big boys.
The Bench Players
The bench is nearly as important has any other position. Where the bench needs to be addressed is the infield now. I believe five players could fit this role of infield and even some of backups. Youngsters Andy Cannizaro and Nick Green both performed well when given the shot, Aaron Guiel who seem to find himself once he put on the pinstripes, Craig Wilson who can play both 1B and OF and Will Nieves at catcher. I know some will wonder about Miguel Cairo, but Miguel has never been an offensive threat and actually cost the Yankees more runs than help. I don’t believe there will be any real FA’s worth paying the money they will want who would be any better than the ones I have mentioned.
When its all said and done
I don’t think the Yankees need to rewrite the books on having a successful 2007. In fact, there are many positives from the past two years to show we are headed in the right direction. The Yankees have a lot of the right pieces to complete the championship puzzle. Primarily, the focus should be on getting younger by cutting the old weight, improving the defensive and sticking with the youngsters. If they do these simple things, the Yankees should have a great 2007 and that elusive 27th championship is all but guarenteed.
Joe Torre – Too Keep or Not To Keep
Joe Torre is coming under fire as a result of the latest heartbreaking punch to the Yankee gut by the Detroit Tigers. Of course, managing the Yankees sort of always keeps you under fire and somehow Torre seems to have survived under owner George Steinbrenner since 1996. Which is something concidering how often Steinbrenner likes to go through coaches. In Fact Since Steinbrenner purchased the Yankees, the following have all coached under Steinbrenner…
Ralph Houk – Bill Virdon – Billy Martin (several occasions) – **** Howser (two occasions) – Bob Lemon (three occasions) – Gene Michael – Clyde King – Yogi Berra – Lou Piniella – Dallas Green – Bucky Dent – Stump Merrill – Buck Showalter – Joe Torre
Joe somehow has lasted 11 years or typically 2-4 different managers under normal Steinbrenner’s standards. But, the question now after another failed post season is whether or not Joe should go. There is no doubt George is fuming as we all are and the target of our wrath is always the manager. The question is, now we have had a few days to recover from defeat, whether or not its time for Joe to go.
Do I have the answer? No, I am torn between the yes and the no. So, instead I have decided to look at both the reasons why Joe Torre should be fired and the reasons why not.
Reasons Why Joe Torre Should be Fired
1. For the third straight year the Yankees appeard to be flat. Let’s face it, with the except of a certain Derek Jeter and maybe a couple of other players, the Yankees seem to have been asleep at the wheel for the past three post seasons. How on earth does the most dangerous line-up the game has seen, not score any runs, let alone get people on base. The managers job is to light a fire under the players if they are sleeping and for whatever reason Torre, who is a players coach, seems to have lost that ability to get under the players nails and light a stick of dynamite to spark some assemblence of life.
2. Joe Torre has made some highly questionable decisions in the playoffs for the past couple of seasons. This year, in game four he moved A-Rod to 8th in the line-up. Sure A-Rod was stinking up the place, but to move him to 8th is a massive slap in the face to quite possibly the greatest player who has ever played. Torre would have been better off to bench A-Rod to make a point, not put him 8th on the list. Pitching Wright in game four is another questionable decision. Wright has been lucky to get past the 5 inning this year, Lidle hasn’t done much better. Torre would have been better off to throw Wang in on short rest or at least Karstens who has proven himself over the past month and a half. Using Sheffield at 1B would be a questionable move and while Sheffield gives the line-up another bat, its a painful excuse for defensive purposes.
3. Joe Torre is mis-used the relief staff for the past couple of years. This may be a pretty good debate about the over use of the relief staff. Proctor this year logged in just over 100 innings pitched, which is a lot for this day in age. Villone was beginning to show signs of slowing down after a great start and we can’t forget the over use of Small and Sturtze in 2005 which lead to their injuries this year. Rivera is getting older and was still being asked to pitched two innings several times throughout the season, which may or may not have caused the elbow pain. Then again, much of this over use could be blamed on the ancient pitching staff and the struggles the old timers have had. Either way, Torre still makes the final decision on the bullpen and some believe he has blown out a few arms over the years through over use.
4. Torre who did so well managing the Yankees during the 96-2000 season, has struggled with the high profile and quite expensive players since. The whole A-Rod issue this year is a sort of microcosom of the problems Torre has had with a $200 million dollar salary. While we don’t know the whole story of what went on behind the scenes, Torre’s job is to fix it, one way or another on the field. And as I stated in reason number one, the players don’t seem to be "with it" during the post season. Granted, Torre is limited by how much he can do. You can’t bench $150 million in players for youngsters with more fire in them, but at the same time, something needed to be done to wake this team up. Compared to the Tigers or A’s, the Yankees seemed to be very oh hum about the entire playoff approach.
5. Simply its time for a change. 11 years is 3 lifetimes worth managing in a Yankees uniform. Torre has done a great job for the Yankees and brought us 4 championships and 9 straight division crowns. However, much like the old college football coach, there comes a time where the effectiveness wears off and a change is needed to respark the desire and winning spirit. Thank Torre for a great job and move on.
Reason Why Joe Torre Should Keep His Job
1. Okay, the man has one over 1000 games in 11 years, including four seaons with over 100 wins. He has guided the Yankees to five world series, winning four of them. I can think of 29 other teams who wouldn’t mind a manager with this kind of record. Success stands for itself and given the issues this year with injuries and what not, the fact the Yankees even made the playoffs is demonstrative of Torre’s ability to keep things rolling. Look at Baker with the Cubs. He loses a couple of players and they become the worst team in the NL, I mean, come on… worse than the Pirates? Joe loses nearly every player at some point and yet still carries the team to 97 wins. That is impressive.
2. Joe Torre isn’t paid $20 million plus to throw a ball and hit it once in a while. The players are. At some point, the players on the Yankees need to be held accountable for forgetting what got them to the playoffs in the first place. This year, it seemed only Jeter remembered and proceeded to hit .500 during the series with Detroit. Giambi, A-Rod, Sheffield, Damon, Matsui, Cano and Abreu all forgot basic hitting concepts and the fact this was suppose to be a patient line-up who could drive up pitch counts. In game four against Bonderman, after 5 innings of work Bonderman has thrown less than 50 pitches. The bullpen seemed to prefer giving up runs rather than stopping them and nobody seem to have any fire. As they say in football, 3 up, three down and that was the Yankees in games 2 – 4. With the exception of a very small group of players, these are well-versed veterans who should know better and blame should not be placed on Torre for their inaction.
3. Steinbrenner should take some heat for making some bad decisions, tying Torre’s hands from having the kid of players he would prefer. Sure, its great having an all-star lineup, but they still have to field the ball. Remember Scott Brosius a tremendous defensive player, but not exactly a top of the line hitter. Which, didn’t matter, the Yankees still had Jeter, Williams, O’Neill, Strawberry, Martinez and Posada in the line-up. Brosius didn’t make errors and got the job done in the field. Pitching has been in shambles since the Yankees let Pettitte and Clemens go. Torre has somehow had to find one replacement start after another to put together some sort of patchwork rotation in order to win games. Its hard to blame Torre when the the weak rotation dosen’t peform in the playoffs along with the other "all-stars".
4. Like it or not, Torre is a great buffer between Stei
nbrenner and the players. Half the problems during the 80′s was a direct result of hiring managers who were just as worked up as Steinbrenner. Torre is cool, calm and collected under fire. The players respect Torre because he is a staple of collected strength to get the job done. Torre has worked with what he has been given and after trading away some great talent for over priced and aging vets, one cannot really blame Torre when the owner over rides solid baseball decisions. Torre deserves another year to work in some more of the young talent while shedding some of the dead weight picked up in the past few years. The players love him, the fans love him and he has earned the right for at least one more chance.
5. Is there anybody who can really step in and do a better job? A major component of the Yankees problems the past few years stems from too many aging, high priced super stars who’s production is going down. The fact is, the Yankees are in transition to refocusing on youth again and 2006 clearly demonstrated why. When you have a team of grandfathers, they are not going to have the same spirit a team full of youth will have. This isn’t something Torre can control. What he does control is the maintaining inflated egos and weathly millionaires from exploding into a segment from The View. The issue here is the fact that you need somebody who has the respect of the players, who can remain calm and understands the environment everybody is working in. Sure you can bring in a fire starter like Sweet Lou, but how would a Sheffield deal with Lou telling him he needs to kick it into second gear? Or how about a now fragile Johnson who is giving up homeruns in bunches that he needs to miss a start because his body is actually old? Lets face it, million dollar egos don’t handle fire breathing managers very well and this is why Joe Torre is the perfect man for the job until at the very least some young blood is brought in.
Bernie Williams The Post Season Master
Bernie Williams has had a great carear playing with the Yankees. We have been lucky to have a player like Bernie with the team, year after year. In the modern era of massive egos, media darlings and drama queens, Bernie goes about his business, quietly, without drawing attention to himself and simply doing what he does best. Play baseball.
Now at the twilight of his carear, the talk about HOF credentials fills the minds of most sports writers and broadcasters. If you hear them talk, they will say plenty of great things about Bernie. He is a great team player, a quiet leader, talented, has some great years both in the field and at the plate. Then, comes the, "but".
But, his carear number are simply not HOF numbers. In a time with HR’s and RBI’s dominate everybody’s discussion, Bernie doesn’t stand a chance. If players like the Goose, Jim Rice, Tommy John, Lee Smith, Andre Dawsom and of course Don Mattingly can’t get in, Williams dosen’t stand a chance. Which is unfortunate. The way the HOF voting has been lately, you are better off trying to break into Fort Knox for some gold than trying to get voted into the HOF.
I will argue, while Bernies carear numbers wont blow you away, he has put together a pretty impressive carear and let us not forget, many of the years Bernie was trying to play through two bad shoulders and knees. Like a trooper, however, he kept plugging away. Where would the Yankees be if Bernie wasn’t there all these years?
Where would they be indeed. Going into this post season, I decided to take a little look at some numbers. We all know about the great history of the Yankees, 26 rings with at least one in each decade since the 1920′s. We know the stories, the history and all the tremendous memories. We even know about those other players not on the Yankees who have had some great post season efforts to go with a pretty solid carear.
All this is nice, but when it comes to the post season, Bernie’s production blows everybody away. Name any great, the Babe, Joe, Lou, Reggie, Jeter and Bernie tops them all in sure performance. I always knew Bernie was one of the clutch "go to" guys we’ve had throughout his carear. Except, his post season tallies are downright astonishing. 
Just look at what hey has done. Going into the 2006 post season Bernie Williams is:
# 1 in games played at 120
#1 in number of at-bats with Jeter at 462
#1 in number of runs scored at 83
#2 in the number of hits at 128 (Jeter is #1 with 142)
#1 in total bases at 223
#1 in the number of doubles at 29
#1 in the number of HR’s at 22
#1 in the number of RBI’s at 80
#2 in the total number of walks at 71
#2 in the total number of singles at 77 (jeter is off the charts in this category)
#1 in extra base hits at 51
#1 in times on base at 202
What is impressive is these rankings are all-time for every player and team ever to play in the post season. To think about all the greats who have played this game and yet Bernie trumps them all. Sure you can argue he has played in more games, he does rank number one in the category. But, he not only plays but produces when he does play. Some of the Yankee greats have been to many a world series and Bernie trumps even them with his numbers.
Bernie ranks number one in nine categories and number two in four more. Name another player who can say the same thing. Ironically, Williams closest competitor in post season performance is his very own teamate and a sure lock on the HOF, Derek Jeter. And with Jeter only being 31, he will most likely pass Williams in many of the categories mentioned above. This shouldn’t diminish William’s impressive standing right now and we all know Jeter is down right alien in talent, espicially in the post season.
So people can say all they want about HOF credentials. Given some of the players who are qualified and yet waste away on one ballot after another, Williams most likely will not get a nod from the ignorant voters. The fact is, when a team needs a player the most, which is the post season, Bernie is in a class all by himself. Maybe people would think differently if he took on a more prima donna persona we see so often now days. Then again, it just wouldn’t be Bernie. The quiet leader who continues to drive opponents bonkers year after year after year. In my opinion Bernie deserves the HOF just for his post season numbers alone because if we include his regular season stats, the vote would be a slam dunk in the affirmative.
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