Granderson, Johnson and Winn are not star players
My point is not that the Yankees should go out and get star players at every position, every year but that for you not to expect great things from Granderson, Johnson and Winn.
If you’re going to sign Nick Johnson, you might as well have signed Hideki Matsui. The Yankees weren’t sure about Matsui’s knees? Johnson has been hurt almost every year in his baseball career. If you’re going to have him as a DH, you might as well have Matsui.
Has Nick Johnson ever hit a big home run in his career? Matsui has. See 2009 World Series. He was the MVP.
What about Granderson and Winn? Have they ever had big hits in their career? Johnny Damon has. Remember the top of the ninth against the Phillies in game four? Damon got a base hit and then stole second and then that magical steal of third base that no one covered? He scored.
Damon is a table setter. Granderson, Winn and Gardner are not. Remember that Gardner will be asked to replace some of the production of Matsui and Damon.
When Matsui and Damon are slumping, they some times come out of their slumps with a big home run. I don’t see that happening with Winn or Gardner. In last year’s World Series, Damon and Matsui showed why they are stars. They got big hits. Will the players the Yankees just signed get those big hits when the Yankees need them? I’m going to say no.
It’s crazy to think that the Yankees care about their payroll. They don’t. Expect them to increase their payroll after they realize the mistakes they made by not signing Damon or Matsui.
Offensive wise, the team last year is better than the team this year. Will that hurt the Yankees? It won’t help.
Tags: curtis granderson, Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon, nick johnson, randy winn
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January 29th, 2010 at 3:08 PM
A lot of NJ injuries have been of the freak accident variety. Matsui’s knees are more like a ticking time bomb.
Also, what’s in the past is in the past. Arod never really hit big home runs in the playoffs before 2009. Should the Yankees have traded him a year ago?
January 29th, 2010 at 3:58 PM
I actually wanted the Yankees to trade A-Rod a year ago for that reason. I’m glad they didn’t because he did great in this past post-season.
I don’t feel the Yankees upgraded but downgraded their offense.
January 31st, 2010 at 12:31 PM
Did you see Matsui run last year? Ouch! He looked like my grandfather out there. And he was always getting his knees drained…he had enough liquid in there to water the outfield but too much to play in it.
The fact is that the team was extremely lucky that Matsui held up last year and one year older there is not much reason to think that the odds are improving.
Nick had an OBP of .426 for the year and an insane .477 for Florida after the mid-season trade. Just imagine putting that in front of Texiera and ARod and how many runs will be produced! By being a DH it is thought that his injuries will be limited. And his power numbers will likely improve in Yankee Stadium.
I obviously like the move a lot.
Damon apparently took a very hard line towards contract negotiations (see Buster Olney’s article) and I think that the Yankees could not cave in to him and Boras.
January 31st, 2010 at 6:36 PM
Matsui didn’t look good. You are right. Still, he came through when it mattered. There was a reason they called him, “Godzilla” in Japan.
He’s not getting younger but he could still DH just like Johnson is going to do.
Matsui is “known” to get big hits, Johnson is not.
I like Damon as a player and hopefully this will teach Boras a lesson.(Who am I kidding, Boras will never learn)
We’ll just have to wait and see what happens. I want the new guys to do good but I won’t be expecting them to.