18 -23 at home this season. 17-18 against the AL East this season. 6-9 against all 4 AL East opponents in most recent 15 games against division foes, not winning a single series. 4 of the 6 wins came in the first four games. 5 for 37 with RISP in their last 5 games. 1-5 at home against Tampa Bay. The numbers look bleak for the New York Yankees and while there are still 80 games to go, this team just doesn't look like it has the ability to turn this thing around.
Poor Joe Girardi. You really have to feel for the guy. He's like a fantasy baseball manager, filling out his daily lineup card with all these stars yet he continues to lose. However, unlike the fantasy baseball manager, he didn't select these players. Girardi knows what it takes to win. He was part of the glory years from 1996 - 2000. Those teams never quit and found a way to win, they found a way to snap losing streaks. It seems like Girardi knows that the 2014 edition of the Yankees may not be that resourceful because why else would he bring up that his team hasn't quit.
The fact is that when you bring in a bunch of mercenaries, they don't have any fire in the belly. They got their big payday and now its time to play and if we win great and if we don't, well I'm getting paid. I've seen this act before in the mid to late 80's. It was a frustrating act then and it's even more frustrating now because at least back then you knew that right, wrong or indifferent, The Boss would make changes. To prove my point about mercenaries, how does big free agent signing Jacoby Ellsbury decide yesterday that he needed a day off. Your team is mired in a slump, you are one of the few players who are hitting (though not for the money he is getting paid) and you decide that you need a day off!! Could you see Bernie Williams or Derek Jeter asking for a day off?
When Girardi was asked yesterday if changes were needed to shake up this team his response was "that's not my decision to make."http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/madden-yankees-home-woes-hard-understand-girardi-article-1.1852976. That decision belongs to Brian Cashman. Cashman says that he is ready to "rock and roll" as far as trying to make a trade to get another starting pitcher. The problem however is deeper than acquiring another starting pitcher. In order to get a starter he is going to have to give up a prospect or two and the question becomes, do they have any prospects that another team would want. Moreover, if you move prospects, don't you continue to weaken what already is a shallow farm system.
While another starting pitcher is important, the lineup is pathetic both offensively and defensively. But for Jeter, Ellsbury and Brett Gardner, the Yankee bats must be made out of toothpicks. I'm tired of hearing how all these guys need to do is hit to the backs of their baseball cards. If memory serves me correctly, the back of a baseball card also shows the players age and that is the problem. It takes longer for older players to heal from injury (Teixiera, Beltran) and to bounce back day after day during a 162 game schedule. It's looking more like these guys have had it.
Defensively and on the base paths, this team is probably one of the worst Yankee teams since the early 90's. Fundamental baseball is what I'm talking about and this collection of older players seem to have forgotten how to run the bases and play defense. It's a lack of concentration or worse yet, not giving a damn and mailing it in.
If this team were a collection of young 20-somethings who were 1 or 2 years in the big leagues and were losing, you wouldn't hear a peep out of me. In fact, I would be excited as I could see players growing into hopefully being a good major league ball player. There would be hope for a new "Core Four". But that's not the case right now and unless the international players that the Yankees have signed come in and perform like Hideki Matsui and not Kei Igawa, it may be a long while before we see another "Core Four".
It's rather depressing that many Yankee fans are willing to accept this mediocrity that Cashman & Company have put together. During the recent series against the Rays, Michael Kay told Yankeeland that if you look at the team's run differential (it's minus something) they should be well below .500. It was like this should be something that we should all be thankful for. Really Kay?? Really? That's just like I'm sick of hearing that we can sneak in as a wild card team. Wow, the Yankees have become the Kansas City Royals.
Something needs to happen. Cashman has created a bad situation. His team is old and there are few options in the farm system. Whatever kids are of value he will send away to help prop up this aging collection of players which will only continue to send this franchise back into the state it was 30 years ago. If anyone thinks that Brian Cashman is a good general manager think again. The glory year teams of 1996 through 2000 were built by Gene Michael. If it weren't for Steinbrenner money, his team wouldn't have won in 2009. The only star position player that has come up from the farm was Robinson Cano and he let him go to sign the aging Carlos Beltran, Jacoby Ellsbury and Brian McCann. In order for the Yankees to get back to winning, there needs to be a house cleaning and I'm not talking about Girardi. That decision will have to be made by Hal Steinbrenner but I'm not sure Hal has the chops to do it.
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