Thursday, April 15, 2010

Soft Vazquez does not fit in New York


So Javier Vazquez thinks it's unfair for New York Yankees fans to boo him after a second bad outing to start the season. Well, I think it's unfair that Vazquez was forced on us for a second tour of duty. But Brian Cashman didn't ask Yankee fans for our opinions when deciding to trade for the righty again so both the general manager and pitcher are going to have to deal with the ramifications. And yes, that involves lots of booing when he doesn't do well.

This latest comment by Vazquez proves that he is a soft player. Yankee fans have booed almost everyone who has worn pinstripes at one point or another, including, shockingly enough, Derek Jeter when he was in the midst of a 0-32 slump during the 2004 season. If Captain Jeter can be booed, Vazquez is fair game. Someone might want to mention that to him.

But it also shows that Vazquez doesn't get how painful that 2004 American League Championship Series loss is for Yankee fans. For me, the 2001 World Series loss hurt because the Yankees were so close, but the 2004 ALCS defeat was much worse because it came against the hated Red Sox. For Vazquez to dismiss it because it happened a long time ago shows that he is completely clueless about the magnitude of the loss and feels no obligation to try to make things right for the part he played in it.

I wrote a post a few days ago about how Cashman will have to answer for his offseason baseball moves. If I were Cashman, the Vazquez trade would be the one keeping me up at night. It's only two starts, but not only has he not pitched well, he's created a controversy with the media and fans.

Some players are just too soft for New York. Yankee fans knew that about Vazquez the first time around. Too bad Cashman & Co. didn't see it themselves.

Thanks to chrisjnelson via en.Wikipedia for the photo.

No comments:

Post a Comment