"A Wasted Year"
Leave it to Jeter to sum up the 2008 Yankees perfectly. He is of course referring to the fact that the Yankees are missing the playoffs for the first time in his career, but it goes deeper than that. New York entered 2008 looking to rebulid on the fly. Young pitchers were put in the rotation with the hope that they would grow into their roles while the team competed for the division title. It was a spectacular failure and it didn't end with the pitchers. If you look at all the young players on the roster, almost everyone of the them took a step back instead of forward.
Think about it, Cano came into the season as a budding superstar. Cabrera was a decent outfield prospect. Hughes and Kennedy were going to be rotation mainstays for the forseeable future. Every one of them failed and badly. Joba looked like a great starter, but now there are injury questions hanging over him. And that is the bottom line with this season. If they missed the playoffs, but had injected a wave of youth into the team you could live with it. But, the Yankees didn't do that and now they have a very tricky offseason coming up.
Step 1 is figuring out who the GM is. Cashman says he is going to decide next week if he wants to return. We have to hope he does because I shudder to think who will run the club if he doesn't. Now we wait and enjoy one last start from Sidney Ponson today. <sigh>
Comments
I take it that Coke, Sanchez, Aceves, Ramirez, Veras, D-Rob and Gardner don't count in your wave of youth? :P Some of those guys took big steps forward last season and I think every one of them has a legitimate shot at making the big club out of ST. They dont have the star power of Gen Tre, but I would wager that the most valuable pieces this farm system produces aren't going to have a hype name before their rookie season.
Posted by: ian![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://yankeesredsox.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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September 28, 2008 10:15 AM
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I agree with you Ian -- there are a lot of good young players. I'd like to see the Yankees play these kids and see what happens.
Now, the depressing thing is that the most likely result of such a strategy is that the young players don't develop. It's no accident that the Royals and (until this year) the Rays have been in the tank so long. They have lots of good looking players too. Usually they fail; sometimes they succeed spectacularly. In the end, you have to endure the pain of rebuilding to get a truly great team. That means accepting the risk of failure in a more mature fashion that the Steinbrenners are willing to tolerate.
What I hate is that the Yankees always seem to feel they have to guarantee a competitive team. That's the only thing a $200 million budget does -- it guarantees a good team. However bad they played this year, the 2008 team was a pretty good team.
I'd rather hold off on the veterans and play the young guys. If you can get a core of great players together, then take out the checkbook.
Posted by: Corey | September 28, 2008 12:26 PM |
Ian-
They count, but I am not prepared to give any of them spots automatically next year. Coke looks great, but in very few innings. Gardner is much better his second time around, but again sample size. Aceves ditto. Ramirez I don't trust in a big spot and Veras has been awful the last few months.
That being said, I agree with Corey that I would rather see rookies than veterans. I will talk more about that at tomorrow.
Posted by: Peter![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://yankeesredsox.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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September 28, 2008 01:51 PM
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I didn't say they should all automatically get roster spots, I said they all have a legit shot at earning a spot, and they do. That's a win in and of itself; its been a while since there has been that much internal competition among talented young players at spring training.
Posted by: ian![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://yankeesredsox.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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September 29, 2008 10:09 AM
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That's a good point.
Posted by: Peter![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://yankeesredsox.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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September 29, 2008 12:50 PM
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