Friday, May 27, 2011

Off Days Lead to Reflections, Reflections Lead to Anger

When the Yankees have an off day, the fans have a lot of time on their hands to reflect on all things important in life. Inevitably, this reflection leads to the Yankees bullpen, which leads to Rafael Soriano. It was recently reported that Soriano has an inflammed ligament in his elbow and he will be out 6-8 weeks. This takes me back to the winter when Soriano was available on the market and everyone with a reasonable mind was saying that the Yankees should not get him. He'd be a classic example of buying high, he has a history of injury, he'll demand closer money, and as a type A free agent we'll lose our first round draft pick. Clearly, the Yankees would not be stupid enough to sign this guy to pitch the 8th inning right? Right Hal? Well now, he's out for 2 months in his first year of a 3-year $35 million contract. We indeed paid closer money on a pitcher coming off his best season (buying high), and what have we gotten? Thus far a 5.40 ERA, and more blown holds than a $35 million pitcher should have. I'm not mad at Soriano, because if I were in his shoes, I'd sign that contract every time. The Yankees front office takes this one. I may not agree with how Cashman handled the Posada situation, but the front office needed to listen to him on that. So far, the only reason the Yankees are even in contention is because of the thrift store shopping Cashman pulled off this off season, and Cashman was clear that he did not want to sign Soriano. Where would this team be without Russel Martin, Bartolo Colon, and Freddy Garcia? And lets not forget the Granderson trade from last season. The front office should learn to just sign the checks, and let their general manager find the players to give them to.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm very impressed with Martin. Bartolo is just a miracle, and Freddy is doing a great job. Bronny did well indeed. However, I'm getting scared with how Boston is doing likely. They are not just winning; they are scoring in double digits. My question is: do we have a chance against them this year?

Uncle Mike said...

Of course we have a chance against them this year. In case you haven't noticed, we are the Yankees. Like the old song goes: "See You In September."

Rich Mahogany said...

Which is a worse example of the FO going over Cashman's head?

1. The Soriano contract, for all the reasons you say, or

2. The ARod contract, which committed $275-300 million over 10 years to a supposedly "clean" player who would break Bonds' HR record, who turned out to be a PED user with an ailing hip. The Steinbrenners signed ARod after Cashman stated he would not negotiate with ARod if he opted out.

Without ARod, we probably don't win the 2009 WS, and he is far more valuable to the team than Soriano was and likely ever will be. But that contract is way too big.

Roberto E. Alejandro said...

Yeah, but the contract is too big to fail, so the Yanks can expect a government bailout if A-Rod stops performing.

Steve said...

Soriano was quoted as saying, "No one is buying my Yankee shirt, maybe RJG will cross out Pavono's name and put my name on the t-shirts.They have more fans than the Yankees do"

Anonymous said...

ARod is ARod. He might be doing terribly likely, but I love to watch how pitchers react to him when he comes to the plate. Except last night for some reason.