Is the sky really falling?

With baseball, or any sport in this regard, fans tend to overreact and the media tends to exaggerate.  You really can’t fault either side for their knee jerk reactions, because fans become emotionally and to a degree financially involved in their team, while the media has to create an interesting story for the reader so they can sell newspapers.  However since as a blogger I don’t have to sell anything, and as a fan I try to stay level headed, I can observe these two groups and laugh when they declare the sky is falling.

No one can dispute that the 2008 season has been a disappointment for the New York Yankees, but I have seen fans and the media take it to the extreme by calling the 2008 Yankees a “colossal disappointment” or a “massive failure”.   I find this comical because they are really exaggerating, because with a few lucky breaks and fewer injuries, the 2008 Yankees could have been a playoff team.  Currently with 12 games remaining in the season, the Yankees sit at 80-70, which leaves them 9 games out of the wild card & first place in the AL East.  Compared to this point during the 2007 season the Yankees were 85-64, which put them in possession of the wild card, and only 4 games behind the Boston Redsox for 1st place in the AL East.

Does the difference of 6 games take a team from being a World Series contender to being a mammoth failure?  I mean it’s true that certain players on the Yankees have underperformed this year.  People love to point the finger at A-Rod for not putting up the same numbers he did last year, but is that really fair?  I mean how often does anyone in the majors replicate the offensive production he put up last year?  If anything they should cut him some slack because his back must still be hurting from carrying this team into October in 2007.

Then take into account Jeter’s slight drop in production (OPS+ of 121 to 108), the artist formerly known as Robinson Cano, the season ending injury to Chien-Ming Wang, the loss of Matsui for 3 months and zero wins from 2/5th’s of the opening day starting rotation and I’m sure you can find your 6 fewer wins. 

I don’t mean for this to sound like I’m making excuses, because I’m not.   Over a 162 game season all teams suffer injuries and setbacks, but I just want to make the point for whomever is reading this that they shouldn’t get caught up in all the anger and hatred of the 2008 season being a failure of epic proportions talk because there isn’t much at all that separates the 2007 Yankees and the 2008 Yankees.  The offense may be worse but the pitching has actually been better, believe it or not (runs scored vs. allowed in ‘07: 871-710 & in ‘08: 723-688).

The main difference however comes from the other AL East teams, mainly the Tampa Bay Rays.  The Rays won 66 games last season, this year they’ve already won 88.  Toronto will pass last years total of 83 wins while Baltimore will also pass their 69 wins from 2007.  Bottom line is the AL East is much improved, which is making life far more difficult for the evil empire.  If the Yankees won’t to return to the playoffs in 2009 and beyond, they will need to upgrade their offense and keep their pitchers healthy going forward.  Also they need to continue to develop young players from their minor league system instead of throwing money (which they haven’t done as much lately) at the big ticket free agents.  Because in my opinion the main reason the American League in general has become more competitive is because the small market teams have been able to put more money into their scounting and development programs, money that has come directly from George Steinbrenner’s pocket thanks to the luxury tax and revenue sharing.  So I say let’s not loose our heads here.  The 2008 season has been disappointing for the Yankees, but the franchise is not folding out of embarrassment anytime soon either.  They will be back and competitive in 2009, the question is will they improve enough to make up the 6+ wins they lost from 2007 to 2008?

Minor League News

- Congratulations to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees and the Trenton Thunder, both of whom captured their respective league championships earlier this week.  Managers Dave Miley of Scranton and Tony Franklin of Trenton both did an excellent job steering their teams towards a championship (especially Franklin, as this makes back to back championships for him with Trenton) despite having to consistently juggle their rotations and lineups due to trades and mid-season call-ups.  There isn’t a lot of glory in managing a minor league team, but both should be able to hold their heads up high today.  And for Yankee prospect followers out there, you’ll be happy to hear that CF Prospect Austin Jackson was named the Eastern League Finals MVP.

Scranton’s season is not finished however, as they will participate in a one game showdown with the Pacific Coast League’s champion the Sacramento Rivercats (Oakland’s AAA team) tonight @ 7:05 pm on ESPN2.  The game will take place at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City and is known as the Bricktown Showdown to determine the best team in AAA.  It would be especially sweet to see the Yankees win this game since the game’s best player is presented with the Baseball America Bobby Murcer MVP Award.  My money is on Shelley Duncan, although the Rivercats will be extremely tough to beat since their outfield consist of former major leaguers Carlos Gonzalez, Travis Buck and Chris Denorfia.  And as if Yankee fans needed any more incentive to watch, Ian Kennedy will be the starting pitcher for Scranton.  So be sure to catch some of this as you flip between the Yankee game in hopes of seeing Jeter pass Lou Gehrig for most hits ever at Yankee Stadium.

In other News:

- Congratulations also to Jorge Posada, who apparently received his MD while rehabbing over the past few months.  If you haven’t heard by now, Posada stated yesterday during the taping of his episode on YES’s Centerstage (WITH MICHAEL KAY!) that Joba should stay in the bullpen because he’ll get hurt as a starter.  It’s nice to know that Posada is a shoulder specialist and can foresee future injuries, perhaps now the Yankees can configure their 2009 rotation without any worries. 

Seriously though I’m really tired of talking about this, and hopefully the players keep quiet and allow management to make their decision on what to do with Joba (*cough* STARTER *cough*).  And before you give me the whole “players know what’s going on” speech, let me remind you that the players know whats going on with themselves and thats it.  These are the same players that felt Jason Varitek and Joe Crede were worthy of All-Star spots this year.  I love you Jorge but pipe down and worry about yourself coming back at 100% next spring.  And if you don’t want to listen to what I say, just ask Joba how he feels.  This is courtesy of Peter Abraham at lohud.com:

Chatted a bit informally after the game with Joba Chamberlain. He’s really sick and tired of the whole debate over his role. To Joba, it’s pretty simple. He has been a starter all his life until last July. You know why he’s a good reliever? Because he’s a good starter. He wants to start, period.  The Yankees might have to finagle this a bit next season. But if they put him in the bullpen, he’s not going to be happy.

- Amusing fact of the day: Robinson Cano’s father, Jose Cano’s (who played 6 games in the majors for the Houston Astros in 1989) actual name is Joselito (”José”) Canó Soriano.  Am I the only one that finds it amusing that both Robinson Cano and Alfonso Soriano were both seen as untouchable Yankee second basemen for their first 3 seasons in NY, before the fans wanted them traded because they were viewed as lazy and refused to take a walk.  Maybe on second though we should hold on to Cano for a little while longer, unless of course Cashman can pull off another miracle and trade him for Albert Pujols.

Okay that’s it from me today’s, enjoy the last two weeks of the season which should provide us with a few close races.  Thoughts and comments can be sent to jvg019@yahoo.com.  Later.

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