Agreed...This wouldn't surprise me...He has all this talent the past six years and hasn't done squat with it...I can't see Shef being there and Mussina, as old as he is getting that kind of money...A-rod, IMO, will still be there and he should...
I love this move. Pinella is like the crazy high school football coach who tries to run over the players in his car if theyr'e not hustling. Def. will wake up some players who aren't going all out.
I don't blame Torre for the Yank's recent failures, but it's still time for him to go. He should have been fired a couple of years ago. A manager can hang on only so long and still be effective. When it came out that Giambi told Torre to stop coddling A-Rod, that told me it was all or nothing this year. I believe Torre is overrated as a manager but he was perfectly suited for a long run with the Yankees. I guarantee you Pinella won't last more than 2-3 years unless they win the World Series a couple of times. Now I want the Cards or Padres to beat the Mets.
I second rrj_gamz's opinion. AND you forgot Phil I-only-coach-teams-with-superstars-in-them Jackson. I think he's in that group, rocketfat. Nicely worded, btw.
With the Yankees and their resources, anything short of a World Series championship is failure. Just ask Steinbrenner or any Yankee fan over the last 6 years. If a $200MM payroll doesn't buy you the World Series, yes, the season is a failure. For those of us who dislike the Yankees, I couldn't care less how many games they win in the regular season, as long as they don't win 11 more in the real season (you know, the one that Yankee fans care about).
Ditto. Torre, Jeter, Posada, Williams, Pettite, Clemens, Wells, Rivera, Tino, Oneil, Brocious--I hate when they won, but had to respect how well they play and love to compete. They started going downhill when they loaded the me with me-1st offensive stars instead. Not just Alison Rodriguez, but Giambi, Sheffied, Knobluach, Mondese, Ventura, etc. Thankfully they haven't spent their money on pitching and an allround players that fit around their core.
Knoblauch was on 3 of the last 4 Yankees WS championship teams. I agree that they shouldn't have gotten Sheffield, and I wanted them to go after Guerrero instead. Mondesi and Ventura each played less than 2 seasons with the Yankees, so their impact was minimal. Their decline actually began with losing El Duque. The first year he was off the team was the first time in 4 trips that they lost the WS, and they have not won it since, and only went back once. El Duque was to starters as Rivera was to closers in the postseason. I actually think that Cashman is a decent-good gm. There have been plenty of solid moves under his watch, most recently the deal for Abreu. Not to mention getting ARod while having the Rangers pay a ton of his huge salary. I know there has been a lot of hating on ARod, but he is 1 year removed from winning the MVP, and he had a seson this year that almost anyone would take from their third baseman (not counting his playoff suckitude). I was against the Randy Johnson move, especially the number of years they gave him. The dude is just too old. Damon is not a bad pickup, though he is getting on in years too, which is bad for a CF. I would like them to try to get less power guys, more on base percentage type guys, and more/younger pitching, but it isn't easy to put together a championship team. Going to the playoffs 10 consecutive seasons and winning 4 world series only gets called a failure if you are the Yankees though. Cano looks like a good second baseman on both sides of the ball, and I like Melki Cabrera as a young outfielder. The pitching problem was not about not spending money, but rather spending money on Randy Johnson, Kevin Brown, and Carl Pavano, etc. At least they have Wang to build a rotation around though. Really they need 2 good young pitchers to be title contenders again.
I didn't realize he was on 3 of 4, I guess they won despite him, because I remember him not playing well in NY. Petite was a big loss too. Not overwhelming stuff, but a playoff cog who was usually effective. Clemens was another loss. These guys had a lot of games left, as we saw last year. Alison Rodriguez isn't taking much heat for his regular season performance, just like Joe Torre and the Yankee's are not taking heat for their regular season performance. Heck the Yankees only lead the tougher league in record, and tied for the best record in baseball. It is Alison's post season performance that is the problem. People also seem to forget they lost their own home grown guy, Alfonso Soriano, in that deal. I agree. I also like the Matsui pick-up. These are very effective team players. Agreed. Torre has 4 rings. He rolled his opposition, at times beating other teams I thought were better (e.g., Braves). They have how many divisional wins in his era. I think he is the wrong target. Since 2002 the Yankees have had very mediocre pitching. Very mediocre the last 3 years. As great as Rivera is, they havn't been getting the ball to him enough the last 3 years in the playoffs. It is no secret, the starters and bullpen have been mediocre overall in the AL, and pretty poor among playoff teams. Had that $ gone from Alison Rod, Giambi, Sheff, etc. to the best starters and setup men possible for Rivera that offseason (say some of Petite, Clemens, Schilling, Garcia, Contreras, Beckett--yes I know he didn't work out yet for Bos, Lowe, Glavine, Timlin, Todd Jones, etc.) and cheaper but decent everyday players, who knows. But I don't think Torre is responsible for their lack of building an elite pitching staff.
If Rivera'd been able to hold a lead in Game 4 (and to a lesser extent, Game 5) in '04, would Yankeefan & the mediots be going apoplectic right now?
ESPN this morning said that Stienbrenner called Torrie and told him hes still with the organization, atleast for next year.
Yeah, he isn't perfect, but is about as close as it gets in closing. Him making only 3 appearences in the last 2 years in the playoffs is not a good sign for the Yanks.
