Monday, August 16, 2010

Here's the best take on yesterday's game I've come across. Personally, I still foolishly believe that the Yanks are a lock for the play-offs. What I no longer foolishly believe is that they are a lock for the World Series. They just haven't shown the dominance/fight that last year's team had.

If you needed more proof that all athletes are douche bags, let me introduce you to one Stephen Strasburg. Stephen had some strong words for the Nationals' first round pick, Bryce Harper, because Harper has yet to sign a deal with the team. Never mind that Strasburg himself refused to sign until the last possible second in order to get the most possible money; Harper's refusal to sign so far is apparently evidence of his lack of desire to play on the Nationals. What a douche.

With Javy now throwing in the mid 80s, Cashman's failure to land a starter at the trade deadline is looming ever larger. I can understand not wanting to meet the price on Dan Haren, but they messed up on Cliff Lee. It doesn't matter that Cash went to bed thinking he had a deal in place. There is no deal in place until it's in place. It's as simple as this, "Hey, Zduriencick. If by chance you get another trade offer between now and tomorrow morning, call me and we'll see what we can do." If Javy can't get over his dead arm (he didn't in 2004) and Burnett can't find consistency, we're going to need MLB to reschedule the playoffs so that we don't need a fourth starter again.

6 comments:

Uncle Mike said...

Even before yesterday's game, I was thinking, Last season I had the same feeling I had in 1998 and 1999 and 2000, that this team was unstoppable.

But this season, I thought next, doesn't have that same feel. It feels more like 1997, or 2002, or 2006, really good seasons but not seasons in which we were destined to go all the way. Something's not quite right.

Maybe we can straighten it out. A team in the position the Yankees are in, clearly, doesn't have a lot to straight out. But those things you don't get straightened out before you start the postseason tend to go on to bite you during the postseason.

Anonymous said...

It is frustrating to see them play so poorly with so much talent.

Dylan said...

I don't understand why Harper wouldn't want to play for them. Maybe they're not a contender at the moment, but they are relatively up and coming. Plus, he's not reaching the majors for a while, so he might not even make it to the Nationals at all. If there's anything the MLB draft teaches us, it's that there are no guarantees.

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

I feel exactly the same way, Uncle Mike. You just had a feeling of inevitability with those teams that is not there at all this year.

Harper will definitely sign, but he'll hold out to get as much money as possible, just like Strasburg did; which is why Strasburg should STFU about it, since he did the exact same thing and now he's trying to sound like he's all about the team. Spare me.

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

Here's a question inspired by some articles/columns I just read.

Do we now regret not finding a way to come to terms with Damon?

Does the recent hyper-effectiveness of our bullpen ease some of our postseason concerns?

Rich Mahogany said...

Pettitte coming back healthy is the key to the playoffs. We can win it all with a healthy Pettitte as long as we get a few Good AJ sightings and Vazquez isn't utterly putrid.

One reason for that is the pen is looking very good. There will be a few games where the pen collapses before the season ends, but overall the talent is there. Joba and D-Rob have come around, Logan is actually becoming a true lefty specialist, and Wood, Mitre and Gaudin are good enough as the other spare parts. Rivera is having one of the best seasons of his career, somehow.

The lineup isn't an issue. There are holes, but it's still the toughest lineup in baseball. The Swisher-Teixeira-ARod-Cano-Posada stretch is just deadly. So what if they lose embarrassing games to pitchers they haven't faced before. They beat the hell out of just about everyone else.

I don't regret the loss of Damon. We got a better LF in Gardner at 5% of the price.