This is big for the Yankees as they need a guy in their bullpen that can actually get guys out and hand the ball to Mariano. A return and strong performance by Bruney will hopefully end the Jobber in the bullpen nonsense, even though I know Mike Francesa will never give up on it.
Bruney and I (excuse the fact I look like crap) at a charity thing in Albany. He signed a ball for a little guy I tutored.
7 comments:
Good post!
Hopefully Bruney comes back soon. The Yankees need him. Unfortunately, the Yankees are often stuck in a situation where they leave their starter in too long due to not being able to trust the pen.
Overall, the Yankees are still ok. It seems apparent that the Yankees and Red Sox are the AL's best two teams. The standings say the same also. Yankees have their work cut it, but a few of the games were winnable games that they lost.
Right now Boston is clearly a better team, but I don't believe they are that far ahead of the Yankees. Maybe by August, we'll see Wang improve, AJ improve, and the pen better. Then Boston sees a different team.
Also, great pic!
@ Kyle, the Red Sox are the best team in baseball...PERIOD! And this is coming from a Jays fan. Can you imagine how good they will be when Smoltz jumps on board? They will be sick. Their bullpen has been lockdown and they don't make the mistakes that the Yankees make. Swisher's running blunders were horrific. Can someone teach him to run the bases?!! I thought that the 0-9 BLue Jays road trip was mortifying...this is horrific beyond belief. I do think that the Yankee team is flawed in its construction BTW and that Burnett was a bad addition to the team, so I'm not surprised that they haven't done well against Boston, but this badly? Right now, the so-called Boston-NY rivalry is like that of the hammer and the nail, except now the hammer is Boston and the nail is now the NYYS! If you told me that back in the 90s I would have laughed at you BUT Theo, Bill James and company have outsmarted Cash Man with much less money. Also will Wang improve? He's a mental mess, so I really don't know. BUT Burnett? I saw him play for the Jays for 3 years and this is the skinny on him: Toronto is a low pressure hockeytown. AJ had it easy there and still acted like an ahole! In addition, he was dominant against two teams:the Yanks and REd Sox and had a more than 5 ERA when pitching against everyone else. As far as I know, he pitches for the Yanks and was terrible against the REd Sox. He also stunk against Toronto. AJ will be a bitter dissapointment for an organization who has a terrible knack for evaluating pitching: examples include Igawa, Pavano, Wright, Weaver, Vazquez etc so on............. Kyle, also if you look at the standings the Jays are only a game behind the Yanks ,if we use your logic then the Jays are right there. I think the Jays are a good team BUT not a great one. It would be fun to see them finally make the playoffs as impossible as that might seem,it's been 16 years since the Jays made it to the playoffs and the Jays faithful would go nuts if they made it. If Ricciardi, gets a hitter like Nick Johnson or someone else who can hit well enough to make a difference and /or get a Byrd or a Pedro to the starting staff THEN a miracle might happen. BUT judging from the standings, the Jays can't be taken lightly. Even Francesa recently mentioned that they can't be discounted totally......
@ Christina, I agree on Joba the Hot BTW. Cool picture,too. Don't be hard on the way you look. You look fine, though Bruney needs to shave his head again! He looked cooler like Telly Savalas.....Your sweater kinda matches the Brunester's jacket ,no?
Bruno, I agree that the Red Sox are a better ran organization. No question. I could probably write a thesis on the Yankees front office people detailing the mistakes they have made. (LOL I'd rather not, but my point is the Yankees have done so many things poorly) They have a large budget and that helps cover up errors to some extent. Otherwise, they have done a lousy job.
It starts from the top. Red Sox draft better, evaluate players better, they don't allow players to force them into a huge contract, and they have better trainers.
The Yankees had some trainer (who hadn't worked in baseball in over a decade) back in 2007 that told the players not to run. As a result lots of player had hamstring injuries.
Now they have trainers that might even be worse. A-Rod hurt his hip last summer but they did nothing about it til Spring training. Wang broke his foot last year. The Yankees decided not to check up on him over the winter. They misdiagnosed him in April and then called him up too soon in May.
The pitching for the Yankees does have issues. I did not want AJ Burnett. If I was running things, they wouldn't have Igawa either. Lilly would have been a Yankee back then. Probably Santana too, but even just Lilly means they save money they wasted on Igawa and Burnett.
Also, I have zero trust in the Yankees ability to develop or evaluate pitchers.
That's not to say every move the Yankees do is bad. When you sign everyone you will make some good moves. Still, they have not been efficient with this organization. The front office has been awful, but the coaches and manager will take the blame if this Yankees team underachieves.
Right now the Red Sox are essentially what the Yankees were in the late 90s. Boston has no fear of the Yankees. This goes with head to head games and in the offseason. All Boston has to do is express interest (sincere or not) in a big time free agent. Then, you instantly see the Yankees make a panic move. While Boston goes along and makes a move that more times than not will work for them. This is due to extreme due diligence, great scouting, and superb statistical analysis.
As a Yankee fan, I root for the Yankees to win the World Series every year. That said, right now the Yankees do not look like a WS team. They look like a team that can get into the playoffs, but not go deep due to their pitching. The offense is inconsistent, but that's baseball. That's why consistent pitching is so important. There is a lot of time left and the Yankees by no means are a bad team... they just have some flaws and they are not on the Red Sox level at the moment.
@ Kyle, good job, good analysis of the Yankee woes. You mnetioned Lilly. Can you believe that some dopey Yankee Zombies STILL defend signing Igawa over Lilly!!?? Lilly actually pitched well for them, so they knew he could pitch in the rough NYC market. Then they trade him (3 way with As/Oakland/NYYS) for Weaver, who pitched in the ultimate pitcher's park in the AL, Comerica and had zero pressure. Then Lilly pitches well for Toronto for a few years. When he becomes a free agent Ricciardi made a competitive offer BUT he wanted to go to the Cubs. He did have that fist fight with Gibbons so that had something to do with it. The Yankee brass in their infinite stupidity passed him up in favor of Igawa! Lilly pitched for something like 8 years in the MLB, pitched for the Yankees AND pitched in the AL East for a divison rival too. what more could you ask for? Instead they react to Boston and go for the number 2 Japanese pitcher on the market. Sheer idiocy, Lilly was a sure thing and Cashman goes for Igawa...and people say that the Castillo signing with the Mets was terrible.
Kyle, the big difference 'tween the Bosox and the Yanks is that the Bosox are more of a team, rather than the Yanks who are more of a collection of individuals. Don't ask me about the Jays right now,because I might cry..LOL! The Jays are also more of a team than the Yanks, but don't have the power/OBP/clutch numbers that the NYYS do. In terms of pitching, the Jays have Doc and the Interns!Bosox and NYYS have pitchers like Beckett, lester, CC, Pettitte so that gives them an edge. If by sheer grit and determination, I hope the Jays can do some damage. I know ,it's wishful thinking BUT c'mon throw them a bone, it's been 15 years since the playoffs!
Bruno, the Jays will make the playoffs this year ...
Christina,
You look great in the picture!
Good to see Bruney coming back soon. Hope he will kick some butt!!!
@Eyebleaf, from your lips to God's ears, I say mate......
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