Yankees Daily

Sometimes those are the names that Yankee fans want on the team next year. Would I be excited if that happens? Yes and no. Yes because it would make up for the DUMB mistakes that Cashman made like Curtis Granderson. No because it’s starting to get like a video game where you get to put any one on the team you want. It’s kind of unfair and definitely not fun. I don’t find it fun having the best players at every single position because they were “bought.”

I have to look at it from the Yankees position though. They have a lot of money. When they show that they are willing to spend it and bring “stars” to their team, more fans come to the big, bad newer stadium which in turn will bring them even more money. They don’t even have to win to make money. They could just bring stars to the ball park and fans will get excited. Winning is the icing on the cake.

All in all I wish there was a salary cap. I doubt it will ever happen.

The New York Yankees have signed Randy Winn.

The Yankees have signed three of the biggest free agents this offseason in C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira.

CC and A.J. were supposed to fill in major holes in the rotation and Tex was supposed to fill in the hole at first. Are you satisfied? Through the first month of the season, I’m not that satisfied but I see better things ahead.

CC has given up four earned runs at least four times and hasn’t had a game with double digit strike outs yet.

Last year at this same point, C.C Sabathia has given up four earned runs at least four times so there’s a pattern of him starting slow. Maybe we could fast forward to June because last year he had three double digit strike out games in that month and had eight double digit strike out games for the season.

This season, 22 percent of his pitches have been out and over the plate to left-handed batters and 19 percent of his pitches have been out and over the plate to right-handed batters. The number two batter in the order gives him the most problems and they’re batting .304 against him. The seventh batter has the second most success against him and is batting .294.

CC Sabathia didn’t have great velocity on his fast ball for the first month but it’s now reaching in the high 90′s. I see CC dominating from here on out.

I wasn’t jumping up and down when the Yankees signed A.J. Burnett. He wasn’t a difference maker when the Yankees signed him. They just signed some one who had a lot of strike outs with a high era. 19 percent of his pitches are out and over the plate to right-handed batters and 26 percent of his pitches are down and out of the zone for balls. This could be a reason for his high era this year which stands at 5.36.

The amazing thing about Burnett is that the sixth batter in the lineup is dominating him with a .550 batting average and they have three home runs and nine RBI against him. Maybe he should just walk the sixth batter from here on out.

I don’t know what to make of Burnett. Maybe he won’t handle the New York pressure or maybe he will be but he’s been a very unimpressive 16 million dollar pitcher thus far.

Mark Teixeira is known for slow starts but this year he’s really gotten off to a slow start. He’s batting .202 but at least the home runs are there. He has seven.

Mark is a switch hitter and the toughest pitch for him is the slider against right-handed pitchers. He’s only batting .172 when a right-handed pitcher throws a slider and Mark is batting left-handed. When Mark is batting lefty, he favorite pitch to hit the high fastball over the middle of the plate.

The toughest pitch for him to hit when he’s batting right-handed is the slider as well and Mark is batting .216 against left-handed pitchers.

Mark’s favorite pitch to hit when he’s batting right-handed is right down the middle of the plate. He’s batting .492 when he sees a pitch down the middle.

Mark’s best count when he is up at bat is the 1-1 count. When it’s 1-1 on him, he’s batting .400 with three home runs and 5 RBI.

On May 2nd, Mark was batting .182 and he’s now batting .202. 200 percentage points is a big jump in 11 days so I expect Mark to hit much better as the season wears on.

Will the Yankees be better off with these free agents they signed for the future? Possibly but overall, I feel the Yankees overpaid for the three free agents. CC might of been a good gamble but there are a lot of players with the same stats as A.J. and Tex that I’m sure the Yankee could of found on the free agent market or even from their farm system to put up the same type of stats.

World series title for the Yankees in 2009?

I’ve read at nydailynews.com that Hal is the official owner and I’ve also read in the same article that George Steinbrenner’s health has declined because of a pair of falls.

I think I’m headed in the same direction. I fell straight backwards and hit my head against the hard ground and everything on the inside is messed up from my head to my torso and to my legs. Let’s move on.

I like Hal as the official owner more than I would like Hank because it seems that Hank acts irrational at times.

This year, it doesn’t matter who is owner because I’m still not going to like the moves the Yankees make. They are trying to buy a championship again and it’s not going to work. How do I know it’s not going to work? Do I need a sample size or some sort of proof that it’s not going to work? Ok, look at 2001 to 2008. The Yankees brought in the biggest free agents from this time and it got them zero. Nothing. Zilch. Nada.

What makes you think that this year will be any different?

Some Yankee fans, like my father and brother, think that Sabathia is the answer. I don’t. The Yankees might make the playoffs but Sabathia is not a big game pitcher. He gets absolutely rocked in the playoffs. I can only imagine what would happen when he pitches for the Yankees in the playoffs with the New York pressure.

Can’t Yankee fans see that 2009 is doomed for failure? Do you actually feel the Yankees will win the world series?

I don’t feel it. I’ll never feel it as long as the Steinbrenner family keep buying free agents.

I thought that Hank was going to bring in young players from the farm. He tried it one year and didn’t follow through.  It was only one year. You can’t expect to win with young players in the first year. Younger players need more seasoning.

The Yankees are going to go after A.J. Burnett and Derek Lowe. Burnett had a 4.07 era last year. He is not the answer.

Derek Lowe pitched pretty well last year but it was in the National League. The Yankees brought in too many pitchers in the past similar to him and it never worked. Lowe will be mediocre at best.

I feel the Yankees will be better off if Sabathia declines their offer and signs with another team. The Yankees have to build from within, not from outside like they’ve been doing since 2001. Remember, the Yankees had no world series titles since the year 2000. Who knows when the Yankees will win the world series again but it won’t be any time soon if they keep constructing their team with free agents.

Stop being silly Yankee fans

I read a lot of Yankee fan message boards. A lot. I’ve been going to these boards a little more recently to get a good idea of what is on Yankee fans’ minds and on each message board, there is always at least one, “get Manny Ramirez in pinstripes next year” thread. Manny has dominated since being traded to the Dodgers but I don’t want him on the Yankees no way no how. I don’t want him walking to first base after he hits a ground out and I don’t want him in the outfield letting a ball pop on top of his head and into the stands. He’s the epitome of laziness. The Yankees don’t need him rubbing off his laziness on the rest of the young players. I mean, we have Robinson Cano for that.

Curt Schilling said this about Manny, “The guy got to dress in a locker away from the team for seven years,” said Schilling. “And then [when] he’s on this crusade to get out of here, all of a sudden he’s in the locker room every day, voicing his displeasure without even having to play the game that night.” “There were times when you had players who were on like fire duty, ‘Show up tomorrow, I’m not sure if you’re playing or not, we’ve gotta find out what [Manny] wants to do.’ That’s not fair to anybody.” – Boston Globe. I usually find Curt Schilling right in things he says to the press and the Manny situation is no different. Manny is a cancer and I hope Yankee fans realize that. The Red Sox are in the playoffs and they are the defending champs. They are one of the best organizations in baseball so that must mean something for them to trade away Manny. The Yankees aren’t getting Manny so my message to Yankee fans is this, stop being silly.

Mussina over Pettitte

After watching every single Yankees game this year, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Yankees should resign Mike Mussina and not resign Andy Pettitte. Mussina will be 40 by the start of next year and Pettitte will be 36.

Mike Mussina is the type of pitcher that could pitch until he is 45. He has great movement on his fast ball and a great knuckle curve. He also has incentive to pitch well because 300 wins is within his grasp. He needs 32 more wins. That would be 15 wins per year and if the Yankees sign him to a 3 year contract, he would only have to average 10 wins per year. He always pitches with confidence. I believe that every team needs a veteran pitcher on their team and Mussina is the crafty veteran they need.

The negative of signing Mussina would be his age

Andy Pettitte is 36 and will be 36 when the season starts in the Spring and that’s not that old. He developed a nice cutter and also pitches with confidence. He’s a lefty and the Yankees will need a lefty for their short right field porch in the new stadium. They’ll most likely sign CC. The thing that worries me about Pettite is him taking HGH. Who knows how long Pettitte was really taking and HGH what HGH does to your body. He could break down at any time and then the Yankees would of wasted money which they don’t mind wasting anyway. The reason why I feel the Yankees should sign Mussina over Pettitte is simple. I like the movement on his Mussina’s fast ball.

(Scroll down for the minor league reports for the 16th of August)

The Anti Steinbrenner Philosophy

The Jimmy Johnson Philosophy or the anti George Steinbrenner philosophy. Jimmy who? I know this might sound weird, but the person I’m talking about is Jimmy Johnson, the coach of the Dallas Cowboys who was the architect of the 1992, 1993 and to a certain extent, the 1995 Dallas Cowboy’s Super Bowl championship teams. You might want to know how his philosophy relates to baseball but it does in every way. His philosophy is this, when you “buy” or “bring” in free agents to your team, they do things, “their” way. When you draft rookies and play rookies or younger players on your team, they know no other way, except, “your” way.

So when a player is up at bat, and he’s a veteran before Joe Girardi got here, he might swing for the fence every time. He might not run out that grounder that looks like it’s an automatic out when the fielder could make an error. He might give up when the Yankees are losing 5-2 and two outs in the 9th and this will rub off on the rest of the team and then the rest of the team will quit. When the team starts to lose, he might adapt that loser mentality and quit on the season when there’s still hope. He might get upset that he was dropped in the order and not play as well because his feelings might get hurt.

These are just some of the reasons why the Yankees have been losing in my opinion since 2001. The Yankees would buy free agents and these free agents would play like the ways I described. When you have younger players on your team, they adapt and play the coaches way. They listen to their coach and play like the coach tells them to play because they know no other way of playing.

This is why you see a lot of new coaches and managers bring in players from other teams that played with them before because they know the coaches way and the coach or manager wants them to show the rest of the team, “their” way. It happens in football all the time. You saw Bill Parcells bring in players to new his team that played with Parcells that were only average players but they did things “his” way and he wants this player to show the rest of the team, Parcells’ way. They’re called Parcells’ guys.

In time, you’ll see players like Brett Gardner, Justin Christian, Edwar Ramirez, David Robertson and possibly Austin Jackson and Jesus Montero all become “Girardi” guys. This is why it was important to bring in a new coach for the Yankees because they have a lot of young players and they’re going to do things, “Girardi’s” way. This is a healthy way of running a team and it’s good to bring in young players when you have a good coach like Girardi.

If the Yankees go out and get C.C Sabathia and Mark Teixeira next year, the Yankees won’t win until the younger players have adapted to their roles set by Girardi. Hank Steinbrenner knows something about the Jimmy Johnson philosophy and this is why you won’t see him buying every free agent like his father did.

The Mad Dog is gone

According to Newsday.com, Chris Russo won’t be hosting the Mike and the Mad Dog Show anymore. I always looked forward to his, “AHHHHHHHHHHHH, GOOD afternoon everyBAHTY!” every time the show started. I felt at home when he did that. I even got my disgraceful player of the game from him because he’s alway calling people a disgrace. I hear he might move to Sirius radio. That would be the only thing that would make me buy Sirius radio. He was someone you loved to hate. His bashing of the Yankees turned off a lot of Yankee viewers and listeners but I always enjoyed his commentary. I even watched all of his videos on nbc.com because he was so entertaining. I watched a real funny video on nbc.com where he tears apart the owner of the horse Big Brown and loves the fact that Big Brown lost. “I rooted for Secretariat to lose!” says Russo. I hope he finds a home soon. I’m not sure how Mike will do by himself because it’s hard without a side kick but we shall see. I’m saddened by the Mad Dog leaving but life must go on. Either way, I wish Chris “The Mad Dog” Russo the best.

• Chris “Mad Dog” Russo has left WFAN - Neil Best – Newsday
  June 9: Chris Russo loved every second of Big Brown’s bomb at the Belmont.
• Big Brown is a ‘disgrace’ - Mad Dog Minute – NBC Sports Video
• A-Rod, what are you doing with Madonna?? Pay, ATTENTION! - Mad Dog Minute – NBC Sports Video
  

Baseball advice

Ken Davidoff of Newsday gives the Yankees some free advice on free agents, trade discussions and 2009 projections. He believes the Yankees should get Jorge Posada in the operating room, think pitching in trade discussions, look inside the farm instead of outside, bring back Mussina for 2009 and make peace with Bernie Williams before moving to the new stadium.

• Hey Yankees, I got some free advice for you guys - Ken Davidoff – Newsday

Yankees might trade for a catcher

This is the question that writer Frank Della Femina asked today at NJ.com. The Yankee brass is getting together today in Tampa Florida to discuss a trade for a catcher. I don’t see the point. The Yankees have Jose Molina who is great defensively and they have Austin Romine in Charleston who’s pretty good defensively who could possibly be a replacement in the near future.

• Do the Yankees need to trade for a catcher? - Frank Della Femina/NJ.com