Mets wrong to publicly criticize Johan Santana

I know the New York Mets have to do something to keep people interested, but picking a fight with the team’s ace seems like a pretty bad move.

Johan Santana, once again the ace of the Mets pitching staff after RA Dickey was traded to Toronto, came into spring training still trying to fully recover from the shoulder surgery that caused him to miss most of the last two seasons. I’m sure Santana didn’t expect to be criticized by his general manager Sandy Alderson for supposedly coming into camp out of shape. If Alderson had any problems with the way Santana handled his offseason training, or lack thereof, he should have taken it up with Santana and his agent privately rather than igniting a media controversy that pissed off his ace.

Sometimes managers, general managers or baseball owners will criticize players in the media as a way of motivating them. New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was a master at this as proven by his “fat toad” comment about a hefty Hideki Irabu or his condemnation of the relatively vanilla Derek Jeter for his supposed late-night partying. It’s unclear if Alderson was trying to pull a Steinbrenner to motivate Santana, a guy the Mets will need to pitch well if they have any chance of contending. If that’s the case, the criticism clearly had the desired short-term effect of getting Santana back up on the mound.

But I think public criticisms of baseball players tend to have a negative effect on the long-term relationships between ballclubs and players. Do you think there’s any chance Jeter has forgiven or forgotten the remarks by his general manager Brian Cashman during the negotiations for his last contract? If Jeter has another big season this year and declines his 2014 option, rest assured the Yankees won’t be getting the hometown discount that they’ll be looking for.

At least the Yankees don’t demand that their players play hurt. Unlike the Mets, the Yankees tendency is to hold a player back for his own good as they are now doing with Phil Hughes and his injured back. The Mets, for some reason, do just the opposite. They would rather a player go out and risk further injury rather than letting him take time to heal (they better hope Santana didn’t injury himself trying to prove his general manager wrong). The Mets would prefer to publicly criticize players who do not succumb to their demands. At least this time, Alderson put his name to the criticisms rather than engaging in an anonymous smear campaign. But it still seems like the wrong approach.

Random Yankees thoughts: spring training sequel

Despite what Joel Sherman says, I don’t think the New York Yankees are tired of Joba Chamberlain. I think Sherman is tired of Joba Chamberlain. The New York Post columnist launched a bizarre public attack criticizing Joba for acting childlike, which is a silly argument to me considering these guys are playing a game for a living. So what if Joba is loud in the clubhouse or expresses his preference to start or close baseball games? He is well within his right to express his opinions, just like the Yankees are well within their rights to ignore them, just as Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi did.

Sherman is a columnist these days, but it still seems strange that he would take such a personal shot at a baseball player he has to cover. It’s more of an attack on his character, not his pitching, and for no other reason than Sherman doesn’t like want he perceives as Joba’s act. Opposing players have never liked Joba’s antics on the mound, but I haven’t heard any of his teammates or bosses complain so I’m going to disregard Sherman’s criticisms, as should Joba.

·         Alex Rodriguez is a constant magnet for criticism so it was no surprise to see all the coverage of the Boston Globe report that listed him as one of the professional athletes whose charity didn’t give as much money away as it should. These types of stories gain traction simply because people hate ARod, but some things are just unfair. Granted, his charity was not as efficient as it should be, but it’s not like he was pocketing the money for himself. And when he realized it wasn’t working out, he shut down the charity and gave millions directly to good organizations such as the Boys and Girls Club. He should get credit for realizing that running his own charity wasn’t the right path for him and finding other ways to give back to the community.

 
·         Derek Jeter is spending a lot of his time this spring training trying to reassure the world that he is healthy and will be ready for Opening Day. He was a guest on the Mike Francesa show this week and the very first question he got from MF was about his health. The Yankees Captain said he immediately knew the injury was bad and the ankle was broken last October. But he quickly moved on to reassuring all of Yankee land that he will ready to man shortstop come April 1. Jeter has an extreme tolerance for pain and supreme confidence in his own abilities so I’m going to take him at his word that he will be ready to go.

 

Steinbrenner breaks silence on latest ARod drama

I was wondering when Hal Steinbrenner would finally come out of hiding to address the latest scandal linking Alex Rodriguez to performance-enhancing drugs.

Up until this point, Brian Cashman and ARod’s New York Yankees teammates have been left to do the heavy lifting in terms of feeding the hungry media beast with comments about ARod’s latest PED controversy. But since it was the Steinbrenners who re-signed ARod, it was their responsibility to answer some questions. Of course, Hal didn’t say much about the situation other than the team is cooperating with Major League Baseball, that the situation is concerning but out of the Yankees hands and that he doesn’t know much more about the situation than the rest of us (yeah, right).

But what Steinbrenner didn’t say was also noteworthy. He didn’t offer any show of support for his embattled third baseman, probably because the Yankees are working furiously behind the scenes to figure out a way to use this latest scandal to get rid of ARod once and for all. I can’t help but wonder if Steinbrenner’s apparent willingness to break tradition and sign Robinson Cano to an expensive, long-term deal this offseason is any indication that the Yankees think they can get out from under ARod’s onerous contract (probably wishful thinking on my part, but dare to dream).

There are a lot of people like Curt Schilling who believe ARod will never play another day with the New York Yankees, either because the team will void or settle his contract or because his injuries have diminished him to the point of retirement. I can’t see ARod just walking away from New York because his ego is too large to allow himself to be run out of town and the Yankees chances of getting out of that contract seem slim to none. Steinbrenner may simply have to adjust to the reality that he will be answering questions about ARod for a long time to come.   

Cashman forced to navigate latest ARod drama

Brian Cashman would love to stop talking about Alex Rodriguez as much as I would love to stop writing about him. Unfortunately, ARod has made that impossible.

The latest twist in the ARod saga came via the Daily News, which reported that ARod is worried that the New York Yankees or Major League Baseball are conspiring against him following the Miami New Times report on his alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs. It’s not paranoia if they are really out to get you. It seems clear that the Yankees are looking for any possible loopholes to rid themselves of ARod once and for all and I’m sure Bud Selig & Co wouldn’t mind seeing him disappear from the game forever. But ARod isn’t helped by this report, which continues to add fuel to a fire that is burning out of control.

Now Cashman is no saint either, having exposed the Yankees and his family to scandal through his affair with a woman accused of stalking him. But Cashman shouldn’t have to shoulder the responsibility of answering questions about the latest PED accusations against ARod because it wasn’t his decision to rehire ARod after the Yankees third baseman opted out of his contract in 2007. That decision was made by his bosses, the Steinbrenner brothers, so they should be the ones with the cameras and recorders in their faces trying to explain the situation.

Unfortunately, the responsibility for answering these very legitimate questions has fallen on Cashman because he is the Yankees general manager. He has to walk a very fine line in providing enough information to feed the hungry press – a near impossible task because it’s clear the Yankees do not have all the facts – but not providing answers that could be seen as interfering with an ongoing investigation.

I bet Cashman wishes he was the general manager of any other Major League Baseball team right now. Except maybe the Mets.

Here it goes again for ARod in PED story

Not this again!

A Miami man connected to Alex Rodriguez and other baseball players is apparently under investigation for illegally distributing, you guessed it, performance-enhancing drugs.

I just don’t understand why the New York Yankees third baseman has so much trouble staying away from these questionable characters. How a man with so many resources, which could be used to pay for the best public relations advisors and lawyers, consistently finds himself connected to shady characters is beyond me. ARod invites the scorn and ridicule he receives on a regular basis with his sketchy associations. But more importantly, he invites the question about whether he is cheating again. And if he is doing so now, he is doing it under the more rigorous microscope of Major League Baseball, which apparently is aware of the situation and cooperating with authorities.  

The news comes just days after Yankees general manager Brian Cashman left open the possibility that ARod could miss the 2013 baseball season completely. While it seems unlikely, the fact that it’s even possible speaks to ARod’s precarious physical state, which many observers attribute to his PED usage. If he misses an entire season because of this injury, it’s something that ARod is probably not going to recover from in New York, not when he’s making more than $30 million a year to play baseball and so many people are struggling to pay their everyday bills.

ARod could be completely innocent in this matter, but he won’t get the benefit of the doubt because of his previous history with PEDs. The man really isn’t doing himself any favors.

Healthy Jeter will prove haters wrong again

Derek Jeter is getting healthier by the day and that’s good because the haters are already starting to come down on him.

The New York Yankees captain is out of the walking boot that protected his surgically repaired ankle for months and is already performing some light exercises, according to general manager Brian Cashman. Both Jeter and Cashman swear the shortstop is on track for Opening Day 2013 following the painful injury that put a premature end to his (and the Yankees) quest for another baseball title in 2012.

But ahead of the start of spring training, the haters, I mean the stat geeks, are already talking about what kind of year Jeter is going to put up in 2013. Not surprisingly, many of them are predicting that Jeter’s numbers, beginning with his batting average, will fall significantly. Despite the captain’s many accomplishments, these stat geeks continue to use their models to make the case that A) Jeter is not a good defensive player and B) Jeter will struggle offensively. And even though he proved them wrong last year, they will come back with a vengeance to try to discredit the performance of baseball’s top ambassador.

Jeter and the people who know him best have no doubt he will return to his 2012 form after a successful rehab. But the haters will keep spewing out their negative predictions, just waiting for Jeter to back and again prove them wrong.

Soriano still a man without a team

It’s the New Year and Rafael Soriano still finds himself without a new team.

I can’t help but wonder if his agent Scott Boras seriously misplayed his hand in encouraging Soriano to opt out of his contract with the New York Yankees and then reject a qualifying offer that would have guaranteed him another year in the Bronx. It’s been generally assumed that a team like the Detroit Tigers would swoop in and hand Soriano a rich deal to close baseball games. But with spring training quickly approaching, I’m starting to seriously doubt Soriano is going to get anything close to what Boras likely promised him.

Soriano was great for the Yankees in 2012 and he really stepped up his game when Hall of Fame-bound closer Mariano Rivera went down on that Kansas City warning track. But with Mo saying that his knee is 95% healthy and promising he will be ready for Opening Day, I don’t expect the Yankees to swoop in with a generous, late offer to save Soriano’s free agency, as they did the last time. With Mo on the mend and a very limited budget, Brian Cashman & Co simply have other pressing priorities, meaning Soriano could find himself on the outside looking in for quite some time.

Yankees losing the money race to LA teams

It’s official: the New York Yankees are no longer baseball’s freest spenders.

In what appeared to be a contracting market, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim swooped in to sweep Josh Hamilton off his feet with a 5-year, $125 million deal. I’m sure it’s a lot less than Hamilton thought he deserved, but it’s still a fantastic deal for someone with his injury and addiction history. The Angels have spent money like crazy over the past two years, signing Albert Pujols and Yankee reject CJ Wilson to long, rich deals. They went after Hamilton despite, or perhaps because of, missing out of the baseball playoffs in 2012, in an effort to re-establish themselves in the American League West by stealing their main rival’s best player.

 

The Hamilton signing follows the six-year, $147 million mega-deal that Zack Greinke, the only ace-type pitcher available on the free agent market, got from the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are also spending like they don’t have a care in the world. Greinke’s market was thought to be limited, perhaps not as limited as Hamilton’s, because of his mental issues and his apparent disdain for big cities. But in a “pitiful” free-agent market, as described by Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, Greinke was going to be well compensated. And the Dodgers, who bailed out the Boston Red Sox by taking several crushing, long-term deals and petulant players off their hands, were more than eager to accommodate Greinke in their battle for the hearts and minds of Los Angelenos.

 

In previous years, I would have believed that Hamilton or Greinke (or perhaps both) would have been viable candidates to become New York Yankees. But I barely paid attention to speculation surrounding their free agent status because I knew this year would be different, despite the embarrassing sweep the Yankees suffered at the hands of the Detroit Tigers in the American League Championship Series, because I knew there was virtually no chance either one of them would end up in the Bronx.

 

For the Yankees, there is a different sheriff in town in Hal Steinbrenner, who apparently cares nothing about making a big splash. His father George Steinbrenner would have overlooked both players’ personal demons and spent whatever he had to spend to convince them to come to New York. Hal Steinbrenner simply does not think that way. It’s a healthy strategy when you are dealing with guys like Hamilton and Greinke, who probably were not the best fit for New York anyway. But what happens the next time a great free agent who could be the perfect solution to a baseball problem in the Bronx becomes available? Is Hal Steinbrenner going to spend what it takes to get the guy or watch as another free-spending team like the Angels or the Dodgers snatches him up? To be determined.

 

Thanks to Mikejames 19 via Wikipedia for the Hamilton photo.   

 

Yankees turned off by pitiful free agent class

Brian Cashman is as candid as can be for a baseball general manager. But even I was startled by his honest assessment of this year’s free agent class, which has so far kept him on the sidelines.

“This is not a good strong, free agent class,” he said. “It’s actually a pitiful one to be quite honest.”

Cashman is blaming the lack of aggressiveness on the part of the New York Yankees on a weak slate of free agent options. And he’s right. When the best free agent available is an injury prone, drug addict in Josh Hamilton, there aren’t many good options. In previous years, that hardly would have mattered to George Steinbrenner, who always wanted to make a splash and show the world that he only cares about winning. He would have spent whatever was necessary to put Hamilton in pinstripes. But with the Boss long gone, these are different times for the Yankees and fiscal discipline will prevail over the desire to win the back page.  

The Yankees general manager is being cautious in signing players because he does not want to make the same mistake that he and the Yankees have made in the past in throwing tons of dough at a baseball player, only to find out that player wasn’t cut out for the New York spotlight. Strange as it may sound, he simply can’t afford to make those mistakes anymore due to Hal Steinbrenner’s payroll mandate. Rather than throwing his limited funds at a player he can’t be sure can perform under the intense pressure in New York, Cashman has focused on re-signing players he knows who can: Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and Hiroki Kuroda. It’s a wise approach and one that should serve the Yankees well, even in future years when the free agent choices get better.

Pettitte and Yankees back together again

Well, that was easy!


Less than a day after Andy Pettitte informed the New York Yankees that he has another year of baseball in him, the two sides reached a fair deal that will bring the lefty back to the Bronx.

The deal was easy to negotiate because both sides really wanted each other. Pettitte could have decided to call it quits with no regrets after his comeback this year (he had a good year that was unfortunately interrupted by that freak ankle injury). But when he decided he wanted to keep pitching, the Yankees were the only option for him, especially with Brian Cashman reaching out early in the offseason to make sure Pettitte knew how wide the door was open for a return to the Bronx.

The Yankees desperately needed Pettitte to round out their rotation again. With Pettitte and Hiroki Kuroda back in the mix, the Yankees have a solid 1-4 starting rotation and will roll the dice that one of their internal candidates can win the 5^th man job. But without Pettitte, the Yankees would have had a gaping hole in the middle of their rotation that would have been costly to fill at a time when they are really trying to stick to a budget.

With the Yankees expected to reach a relatively painless agreement with Mariano Rivera soon, the Key Three (Pettitte, Rivera and Derek Jeter) will be back in the pinstripes together for at least one more year. And that’s critical if the Yankees hope for success in 2013. For all the talk about the Yankees trying to get younger and all the attention Alex Rodriguez and other players receive, the Yankees rely on their core, home-grown veterans more than ever.

Shocker! Trout, Harper Rookies of the Year

Congratulations to Mike Trout and Bryce Harper, two young players who brought a lot of excitement back to the game of baseball, for their Rookie of the Year victories.

I had the pleasure of watching Harper play in his hometown when I went to a game at the Nationals ballpark in Washington, DC during the last week of the regular season (more from that visit later). What was really cool was the way the crowd embraced their players, especially Harper. There was a noticeable jump in energy every time he stepped up to the plate, even though he didn’t have a great game.

The New York Yankees don’t have the equivalent of a Harper or Trout, that very young exciting baseball player that completely energizes the crowd. They haven’t had that since a young Derek Jeter came on to the scene to take over the shortstop gig in 1996, becoming a unanimous Rookie of the Year winner himself in the process. Jeter is now a legendary veteran and a future Hall of Famer and while his importance to the Yankees cannot be overstated, he naturally doesn’t generate the same surge of excitement as he did when he first came on the scene.

Robinson Cano is a great talent, but his manner of play doesn’t elicit tremendous enthusiasm from the Yankees faithful, some of whom view him as lazy or just too laid back. And it’s not even clear if the Yankees will be able to hold on to Cano when he becomes a free agent next year, given what we’re hearing about his agent Scott Boras’ demands and the Yankees hard line on payroll. Of course, this is all early posturing, but it does not bode well for the possibility of a contract deal both sides can live with.

Brian Cashman has said he will not de-age his roster just for the sake of doing so, meaning that older veterans will likely continue to be the norm for the Yankees (not that they have a lot of choice given the contracts they are locked into). That’s a shame because young blood like Trout and Harper can do a lot to energize an aging team and their fans.

Sigh of relief as Mo will return to Yankees

I’m breathing a huge sigh of relief now that Mariano Rivera has decided he will return to the New York Yankees for at least one more year.

In my heart, I know that the day will come when Mo decides to hang up his spikes and go home to his family for good. But I’m not quite ready for that so I anxiously awaited word about whether Mariano would call it quits or come back to close games for the only team he has ever played for.

All Brian Cashman was waiting for was Mo’s decision. Now that Mo has made that choice, Cashman has indicated that he and Mariano’s agent will move quickly to finalize a new deal for the Yankees legendary closer. Mo’s return from his devastating injury does not appear to be a major obstacle as Joe Girardi & Co were pleased with the progress Mariano was making in his rehab. Mo’s last contract negotiations also went so smoothly, they were over before you could even blink, namely because Mariano, probably generous to a fault, had no desire to squeeze every last dollar from the Yankees, even though he had so much leverage over his team (including competing interest from the Boston Red Sox).

Mo’s return warms my heart, but Scott Boras probably didn’t have the same feelings of joy when he heard the news. Boras would have had tremendous leverage to negotiate a rich, multi-year deal for his client Rafael Soriano had Mariano decided to retire. But the chances of Soriano staying with the Yankees took a significant hit once Mo decided to come back. Hal Steinbrenner seems determined to get to that $189 million payroll threshold, which means he will not be able to pay both Rivera and Soriano $14-$15 million each. He’s going to have to choose one and Cashman’s public eagerness to work up a new deal for Mo tells me the Yankees have already made their choice.

Not that there’s much of a choice to be made. Soriano filled in nicely and I wish him well, but there is only one Mariano Rivera and he will be back where he belongs next year, on a mound for the New York Yankees. 

Game on for Yankees and Rafael Soriano

Rafael Soriano officially opted out of his contract with the New York Yankees yesterday. That means the chess game between his camp and the Evil Empire (I’ve always loved that nickname) starts now.

I can’t blame Soriano for wanting a richer deal after the year he had, seamlessly stepping into Mariano Rivera’s legendary shoes to help the Yankees clinch the American League East title. But unlike during his last free agency, Soriano and his agent Scott Boras should not expect a last-minute lucrative offer from the Yankees to bail them out.

When Hal Steinbrenner signed Soriano, he did so over the objections of general manager Brian Cashman, who thought it was a mistake to lose a draft pick to sign Soriano as a set-up man and openly said so. I doubt Steinbrenner is going to overrule Cashman this time around, especially if he expects the general manager to meet his mandate to cut payroll to that $189 million threshold and avoid the penalties that would come due under the new collective bargaining agreement. The Yankees don’t have a lot of payroll flexibility and letting Soriano walk away would help reduce their salary commitments.

But Soriano and Boras do have the leverage of uncertainty surrounding Mariano Rivera, both on his desire to pitch for another year and his recovery from a devastating knee injury. It’s still unclear what Mo’s plans are and while I hope he returns to the Yankees, Cashman & Co might be worried about not having a closer if he ultimately decides to retire and may give in to Boras demands.

These negotiations will be fascinating. Let the battle begin!

Yankees absence from World Series depressing

The World Series will start tonight without the New York Yankees, which is pretty depressing.

I will watch some of the World Series and root for the San Francisco Giants to win it all, but I do not harbor much ill will toward the Detroit Tigers. It was not their fault that the Yankee hitters decided to sleep walk through the postseason. I like Detroit’s chances with Justin Verlander leading their rotation and their sluggers Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder. But I can’t help but wonder if they are really that good of a team or if the ALCS sweep was mostly the result of the Yankees stinking up the joints in the Bronx and Motown.

So instead of preparing to represent the American League in baseball’s final showdown, manager Joe Girardi and general manager Brian Cashman were busy the last few days sharing their thoughts on the state of the Yankees and their season with the media. We didn’t get much in the way of insight, but I suspect there will be some major changes this offseason.

However, despite how badly I and other Yankee fans want to get rid of Alex Rodriguez, I have serious doubts that Cashman can pull off a trade, even if ARod changes his mind about playing in New York, which he should. ARod is a small fraction of the player that he was once and other baseball officials would have to be blind to have missed that. I really believe that the only way the Yankees will be able to trade ARod is if they agree to pay all but a few million dollars a year on his remaining contract, which means that deal will continue to strangle the Yankees for years to come, even if ARod experiences an AJ Burnett-like resurgence somewhere else.  

But Cashman and Girardi will have plenty of time to ponder how to make things work with ARod at third base next year while they watch the Tigers battle for the World Series championship they could have had with a little more effort from the offense. Completely depressing, indeed.  

Joba Chamberlain a sight for sore Yankee eyes

Joba Chamberlain was a sight for sore eyes.

Watching Joba standing on the Yankee Stadium mound yesterday warmed my heart. He didn’t pitch particularly well, which was to be expected given his long pitching layoff and the jumble of emotions he must have been feeling. Not that it really mattered how he pitched. Just seeing him on the mound was a testament to his perseverance.

His manager Joe Girardi talked about how he never had any doubt that Joba, a famously quick healer who didn’t even feel his elbow coming apart before his Tommy John surgery, would pitch again this year, even after the grotesque ankle injury. I genuinely believed Girardi when he said that, not always the case to be honest. I had been following Joba’s recovery as closely as possible and his determination to return to the pitching mound and prove all the doubters who said his career was over wrong was evident. Not only did he heal more quickly than expected, he was lighting up the radar gun during his rehab assignments and I have no doubt that he will be lighting up the Yankee Stadium gun once he gets comfortable again.

Despite his rough first outing, the New York Yankees are confident that he can solidify the bullpen, much as he had done last year before his unexpected and unfortunate elbow injury. They are so confident in Joba that Brian Cashman felt comfortable trading away Chad Qualls for some bench help before Tuesday’s deadline. The Yankees, overly cautious in their handling of Joba at times, were so sure that he was healthy that they called him back up to the big club rather than sending him to Trenton for a scheduled rehab assignment, no doubt disappointing a lot of New Jersey-based Yankee fans hoping for a glimpse of Joba.

But it was a thrill watching him pitch in a big-league game again, something a lot of people suspected he would never do, even if Joba himself never doubted it for a second. 

Yankees right not to panic at trade deadline

I was afraid the New York Yankees would panic and make an unnecessary trade after Mark Teixeira’s injury but luckily that was not the case.

The Yankees made a minor move to shore up their bench ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline, trading away Chad Qualls (bye, Chad, we hardly knew you!) for Casey McGehee. I suspect such a small move for a platoon player happened only because the MRI test for Tex came back negative. If the Yankees were to lose him for an extended period of time, Brian Cashman could have been forced to make a bigger move. You can’t go two months without your big guns at first and third base and we already know we likely won’t see Alex Rodriguez until mid to late September.

But as Cashman mentioned, the price was high for any player of value (more so for the Yankees, who have some strong prospects in the minor leagues) and aside from the Philadelphia Phillies, they weren’t that many sellers in the market this year with the expansion of the wild cards. So I think he was smart not to overreact to the team’s recent poor play and the loss of ARod and Andy Pettitte.

To be honest, the Yankees had already made their big move with the trade for Ichiro Suzuki after their rough weekend in Oakland. Giving up a couple of kids for an aging, but future Hall of Famer is just want the old Yankees, led by George Steinbrenner, would do. But I don’t consider it a bad move in the sense that the Yankees didn’t give up much to get Ichiro.

The Yankees are simply going through a tough spell right now, but they will right the ship and I have every confidence that they will survive it and take the American League East division title. There’s no need to panic, folks. Luckily, Brian Cashman didn't.     

Ichiro trade, Tex feud keep things interesting for Yanks

Geez, I can’t go on vacation for one week, happily leaving my laptop behind and my Blackberry on silent mode, without the New York Yankees making headlines.

Even on a day dominated by news of the crippling, but well-deserved sanctions against Penn State, the Yankees managed to sneak into the news cycle with news of their trade for Ichiro Suzuki (yes, I did watch SportsCenter while on vacation). For the record, the trade for Ichiro feels like a panic move from the old Yankee years, when it was common for them to go after aging stars to fill a perceived hole on their team. It felt a lot like something George Steinbrenner would do (I read a terrific Steinbrenner biography while on vacation—more on that in another blog post), something that could have been incredibly disruptive to a team that was jelling despite a rough West Coast trip. I’m not sure that Ichiro is much better than who the Yankees already had on their roster, but at least Brian Cashman didn’t give up much to get him.

Fast forward to this weekend with Ichiro and his new teammates taking on the archrival Boston Red Sox, who continue to flounder in last place despite getting some of their injured stars back. Who would have thought that Phil Hughes would put the Red Sox down with a bigger performance than CC Sabathia? Well, I would have, but I have a lot of faith in the kid and CC has not pitched like an ace this year while Hughes has definitely found himself once again. But the Yankees still need Sabathia to be the guy he has been the first three years of his Yankee career if they are going to get very far in the baseball playoffs.

I thought Bobby Valentine was going to be the one to revive the dormant Yankees-Red Sox rivalry. I never anticipated that unassuming Mark Teixeira would be the one to shake things up with his ongoing feud with headhunting Saux pitcher Vicente Padilla. I don’t like anyone styling after a home run, but I can’t say I blame Tex given Padilla’s rather strange comments after their last battle up at Fenway Park. But Tex better duck the next time he faces Padilla.

I’m heading to the game tonight, where I will welcome Ichiro with open arms, even if I’m not convinced we needed him, and hoping to see the Yankees put the Saux out of their misery for good. Yes, there’s still two months left in the baseball season, but Boston looks and is playing like a deflated team and I can’t see them turning it around. 

Thanks to Googie man via en.Wikipedia for the Ichiro photo. 

Talk of Mariano Rivera return warms my heart

The mere possibility that Mariano Rivera could come back from his horrific knee injury this season has got my blood flowing.

After watching Mo writhe in pain on the Kansas City warning track (I’m really starting to develop a hatred for that stadium after Mo’s injury and the fans’ vicious treatment of Robinson Cano at the All-Star game), I had no expectation that we would see him on a mound again in the 2012 baseball season. I was resigned to the fact that the New York Yankees would have to try for another World Series championship without their killer closer. But not so fast, according to Mo, who would not rule out a return to the Yankees this year.

Mo is a man of unshakeable faith and a fierce competitor so it could be just his competitive fire talking. Brian Cashman firmly dismissed the possibility of a Rivera return this year and he is not going to let Mo take chances with his health, especially not with the Yankees running away with the American League East. But with Mo (and his doctor) confirming that his knee is healing faster than expected (no great surprise given that Mo is the very definition of good health even at his age) and Mo apparently past the scary blood clot situation that delayed his surgery, it seems very possible that Mo could come back sometime in September to get himself ready for a long playoff run. Perhaps as with Andy Pettitte’s injury, Mo’s freak accident could ultimately be seen as a blessing in disguise in that the two older, clutch Yankees could return to the mound incredibly fresh for October.

Like Mariano, I don’t want to get my hopes up that we will see him on a mound again this year, but just the talk of a possible return warms my heart. Can you imagine the boost he would give to the Yankees and their fan base if he defies all expectations and returns this year to help the Yankees win championship #28? It would just add to the legend that is Mariano Rivera and provide another storybook chapter in a Hall of Fame-bound career.  

As fantastic as Rafael Soriano has been in the two months since he took over the closer’s job, there is no one I trust in a big game situation more than Mariano Rivera to protect a Yankees lead. The Yankees have lived and died with him on the mound in critical games during their championship years. And that is the way it should be.  

Bad break for Pettitte means trouble for Yankees

Has a first-place team ever experienced such bad luck?

Out of an abundance of caution, the New York Yankees put ace lefthander CC Sabathia on the disabled list due to a groin injury. Out of necessity, the Yankees announced his #2 Andy Pettitte would join him on the disabled list just hours later. So the team with the best record in baseball suddenly looks like it could be in a lot of trouble.

I wasn’t terribly concerned about Sabathia’s injury, which appears to be relatively minor. Heading into the All-Star break, I thought it was absolutely the right move to be cautious and not let Sabathia risk worsening the injury by trying to pitch through it. But the Yankees had to be exasperated by the misfortune of Pettitte getting hit with a comebacker that broke his fibula, forcing him off the mound for at least the next six weeks.

I feel really bad for Pettitte. Despite my personal feelings over his actions during the Roger Clemens trial, Pettitte had stepped up to help right what had been a struggling Yankees rotation both by pitching extremely well and serving as counsel and mentor to guys like Phil Hughes. I admire Pettitte’s bulldog mentality in trying to stay in yesterday’s game, but I cringed after he threw that first pitch after getting hit with that comebacker because it was obvious that he was in an extreme amount of pain. The silver lining of this injury, as Brian Cashman noted, is that the 40-year-old Pettitte will be really fresh when the Yankees truly need him in September and October.

So for the time being, the Yankees rotation will comprise of Hiroki Kuroda, Ivan Nova and Hughes, with some help from Freddy Garcia and a couple of Yankee minor leaguers. Kuroda, Nova and Hughes have all pitched well of late, but I do worry that they might put too much pressure on themselves to try to make up for not having Sabathia or Pettitte. As for Garcia, this is a great opportunity for him to show that he still has something left in the tank and should not be relegated to mop-up duty.

It’s going to be a challenge, but I think the Yankees can survive the next two weeks without their star lefties. But it’s going to take a lot of luck, something that doesn’t seem to be on the Yankees side right now. 

Yankees play it safe with ace CC Sabathia

I knew things were going too well for the New York Yankees.

The good vibes from a terrific performance by Phil Hughes extending the Yankees winning ways and the controversy over the catch that wasn’t a catch have been quickly cast aside by news that CC Sabathia is heading to the disabled list. It appears to be a relatively minor injury, but the Yankees, cautious by nature, are nottaking any chances with their ace, putting him on the DL instead of just skipping his turn in the rotation in the hope of a quick recovery. Can’t say I blame them.

CC being injured explains a lot about his inability to hold a four-run lead against the New York Mets last weekend. Yes, his defense failed him miserably, but he usually pitches around errors. And perhaps my expectations for CC are unfairly high (though he has mostly lived up to and surpassed them in his Yankee years). But the fact that he allowed that game to be tied by the Mets really took me by surprise. It’s not like the CC we know and love to blow that kind of a lead and the injury may explain why (although Sabathia would never use it as an excuse because he is a no excuses kind of guy).

Joe Girardi didn’t seem too pleased by Sabathia’s failure to inform the team of the injury he first felt on Sunday night. But he can’t really be surprised either. His ace is a bulldog who always wants the ball. He wanted to only miss a start rather than go on the DL with what he probably sees as a nuisance injury rather than a serious one. But CC lost that argument to Brian Cashman and Girardi, who know it’s more important to have their ace on the mound in September than late June, particularly with the Yankees on such a winning streak.

With the Yankees going so well, they can afford to be without their ace for two weeks, particularly with the All-Star break coming up. But it can’t be for much longer than that or the Yankees could find themselves in trouble.