April 28 update
I’ve been pretty quiet this month. The main reason is because I rarely put much stock in April stats. Good hitters often start out slow – do you really think Robinson Cano is going to be hitting 150 when September rolls around. I also think pitchers can look really good or really bad. Young pitchers tend to look decent because there isn’t much info on them for hitters to work with, and most pitchers like the warmer weather. Anyway, I don’t usually get too excited or worried until mid May. But with that said, a couple of thoughts.
First, I never brought up how classy the Yankees visit to Virginia Tech was this past March. I know it would have been nice for any team to do it, but Steinbrenner agreed to go there right after the tragic shootings last year. And no other team carries the weight or resume like the Yankees. Maybe the Red Sox, maybe Baltimore because they are close by, but the Yankees have such an impressive history and place in the sports world that it was a great thing.
Second, the stupid Ortiz jersey being buried in Yankee stadium was a joke. MY old Yankees would have laughed it off and said the Red Sox could bury a hundred jerseys and it wouldn’t make a difference. Instead they bring in union workers on a Sunday to dig it up. The only good thing about the entire episode is it raised some serious money for the Jimmy Fund.
Ok, so now on to the teams.
Yankees – Losing Posada is going to hurt, but I’m not sure by how much. Molina is a decent back up and I wonder if other offensive studs, like Giambi, will start to pick up the pieces. Posada is a great, GREAT offensive power and a good catcher, but this line up should hold their own while he is out. The area that hurts the most is Posada’s leadership. As a catcher, he is sort of the QB of that team and is truly one of their leaders.
The pitching has started to show some life lately. I am still not a fan of Mussina this year, but I really hope Kennedy and Hughes get better, because those two guys are the future of my beloved Yankees. Hell, Hughe’s ERA is like 7 or something. Not good. And Kennedy is WORSE. But Wang looked unbelievable yesterday in the 1-0 win.
Not much else to say about the team. Relief pitching is fine. Mo looks awesome but tell me what a 37 year old closer will look like in September. The lineup looks good. Overall, there was a period where the Yankees were finding creative ways to lose. But again, its only April so lets see what the summer brings. Plus they are on a terrible road trip.
Red Sox – So they lost a few games in a row. The flu thing killed them. When you have as many players go down as they did, and with some real injuries (Lowell, Beckett’s neck, Casey), what can they do? Seriously. No matter how good a team is, no one can survive the loss of so many players at once. But I think it’s a bug they got from the Japan trip. For a while, they were winning and all of the local yahoos and sycophants were talking about how the trip did nothing to them. Bullshit, that kind of trip overseas is going to hurt any team, even the mighty mighty Red Sox. Ugh, I freakin hate them so much. Just thinking about it gets me sick to my stomach, when they won those Cleveland games in the late innings. And I swear to G*d I can’t listen to Dennis and Callahan anymore. They are so mean spirited and hateful it’s like watching a Democratic debate. I like Callahan’s politics, but I think they spent a total of 3 hours bashing Clemens this morning. I turn it on and I hear something like this
“That fat loser cheating dirtbag is whoring around with some country singer he…”
so I turn it off and turn it back on about half hour later to hear this
“…he is going to jail and he deserves to fry I hope they have a federal death penalty he did this to himself…”
so I turn if off and leave it off. I can’t stand the vitriolic nature of their program anymore. And it’s so one sided. When I talk to my friend Jay I expect him to be one side. But I expect local radio guys to be a little more objective.
So anyway, the Red Sox are beat up but will get better. Their success will not hinge on Ortiz, he may be seriously hurt and not just in a slump, but on Manny. I still think he will have a monster year and Boras has done something to him to make him more normal, or as normal as that guy can be. Starting pitching looks good for April, but let’s see how things look in August and September.
Oh, one other thing. People are saying this is a rebuilding year for the Yankees. Or a down year. Whatever. For Yankee fans, its not a bad year for it. They have some high priced players coming off of contract after this season, so will have some money to retool in the off season. Players that I know are coming off are
Giambi. 24 million. Holy crap what a bad decision that was. And this being said by a guy who is a Giambi fan. But he never lived up to his contract. And to think they could have gotten Vladimir Guerror instead. I think that is who was also a free agent at the time.
Mussina. 11 million seems kind of high, and as much as I don’t like him, his leadership with young pitchers could be helpful this year. But next, good bye.
Damon. I am one of the few who actually think they got their money’s worth with Damon. Yeah, I know 13 million is a lot, but he is a very good player, can hit, can run, used to be a decent fielder. I like him and think he is a good clubhouse presence. I wonder what kind of contract he will get next year as a free agent.
Pavano. Train wreck will finally be cleared off the tracks. 11 million a year thrown down the drain.
Farnsworth. Granted, he’s only making 6 mil or so, but with a nickname like Farnsey, he has to go. Most relief guys will have a great season, a bad season, a great season, a bad season. Farnsey had a bad season, a bad season, a bad season. But he says Giardi has confidence in him that Torre didn’t, so we’ll see what he does this year.