OFFICIAL YANKEES 2005 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS OR BUST THREAD - Page 26

Dead · #**251** 05-06-2005, 06:57 PM

You must feel deprived, not being able to listen to John Sterling on Yankees radio. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

voltron. · #**252** 05-06-2005, 06:58 PM

obviously half of that is me just pissed off, on baseball tilt. but there have been some huge mistakes in terms of contracts and aquisitions. i also thought this year would be much better than it has been, and will still be a good year. but look at our pitching staff: 1,2,3 are good, 4 and 5 are a complete and utter (20 million dollar) mess. And our bullpen is terrible. terrible. it seems to be like a poorly built team. we have no depth off the bench (sierra is great, but who else?), and absolutely no bullpen. meanwhile we pass up lieber's relatively cheap option to go for a young perpetually injured pitcher with one good year. especially after the postseason leiber had. and our bullpen sucks. i still have faith in mariano, i still think he will be great but in terms of gordon, rodriguez, quantrill... i have no faith. It just seems like an incomplete team, we have 5 great sluggers, 3 good pitchers, and a closer.

2 awful pitchers, no 6th starter (maybe tanyon), and no 6-8th inning pitching.

Huskiez · #**253** 05-06-2005, 06:58 PM

Realistically, the Yankees should win the first two games. I don't think they have a chance at Game 3, where Harden faces Brown. Brown has been awful, and Harden has been on fire.

There are three players on the Yankees I have no confidence in, and who I wouldn't mind being benched for the rest of the season: Brown, Wright, and Giambi. Bad things happen when these guys play.

Dead · #**254** 05-06-2005, 07:02 PM

Wright is injured. When he's not injured, he is a decent pitcher. See last year, and his early years in Cleveland.

But Wright isn't coming back till at least July, anyway.

Sturtze will probably he shifted into the spot starter role when he returns.

Huskiez · #**255** 05-06-2005, 07:03 PM

[ QUOTE ]
But there is no question that our pitching was better last year. Maybe not on paper, but the results proved it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Way too early to say this.

In the postseason, I think the most important thing is the quality of your top pitchers. I am a lot more confident in Randy, Moose, and Pavano than I am in Moose, Lieber, and Vazquez. I just hope Brown and Wright see very limited to no action.

I know I'm getting way ahead of myself here. First we have to get there, and a good first step is to win this series against Oakland.

Dead · #**256** 05-06-2005, 07:04 PM

There is no question that this team is built for the postseason, just like the 2003 Yankees were.

Laugh now, Yankee haters, but if the Yankees make it into the playoffs regardless of whether we win the AL East or limp in as the wildcard, they WILL WIN!

Phoenix1010 · #**257** 05-06-2005, 07:08 PM

I understand what you're saying now. I think the problems in this team run a bit further back than this year. I thought that this offseason was a good one for us, but the mistakes of our past (mostly Kevin Brown and Jason Giambi, who both looked like great acquisitions at the time, though since they didn't work out, everyone wants to bash Cashman) are hard to get away from. It's going to be really hard to dump Brown, and thus we're going to have some weak links in our rotation for years to come. I do think the bullpen should have been boosted a bit over the offseason though. No one could predict what has happened to Mariano however, so he should not be included in the discussion. As far as hitting goes, we had the same kind of hitting last year and did fine, although I think Miguel Cairo should have been kept. However, given what has happened to everyone else on the team, with our luck last year would have been his last good year.

Huskiez · #**258** 05-06-2005, 07:08 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Wright is injured.

[/ QUOTE ]

When is this not the case?

[ QUOTE ]
When he's not injured, he is a decent pitcher. See last year, and his early years in Cleveland.

[/ QUOTE ]

I remember him being good in Cleveland, but not anything fantastic. He had some promise, and he definitely has not lived up to that. He did well in Atlanta last year, but they have an amazing pitching coach and are in the NL.

I think Wright was by far the worst signing by any team this offseason. They should have gotten Clement or resigned Lieber.

[ QUOTE ]
But Wright isn't coming back till at least July, anyway.

[/ QUOTE ]

At least we won't be a lock to lose every fifth game then.

[ QUOTE ]
Sturtze will probably he shifted into the spot starter role when he returns.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm fine with this. I think Sturtze is a solid option.

Dead · #**259** 05-06-2005, 07:13 PM

Shoulda woulda coulda though. We can't change the past, man. We have to work with what we have now.

I agree with most of what you said above, and I've said that to other people in other threads.

Right now, let me go through some problems that the Yankees face:

Bad starting pitching from the two minor league starters and from Brown. This will change somewhat when Sturtze returns, and we can send Henn back down.

Inconsistent relief pitching. F-Rod has trouble throwing strikes and it seems that Gordon gives up the long ball whenever he enters the game in the late innings. He's not the same pitcher that he was last year.

Center field. This is a defensive black hole. We need a good defensive center fielder(Mike Cameron would be nice)- hitting is not a priority, because Bernie wasn't hitting well anyway, so almost any center fielder is an improvement over him. I have to believe that we can find a better one that Matsui. Matsui belongs in LF or RF, not CF.

Bottom of the lineup- these guys have to start hitting more. The guys at the top are swinging for the fences because they have little confidence that the guys at the bottom will drive them in if they get on base.

So yeah. Fix these things. Easier said than done. But I think that most of it will get done, and you'll see the Yankees get into the playoffs somehow.

voltron. · #**260** 05-06-2005, 07:15 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I understand what you're saying now. I think the problems in this team run a bit further back than this year. I thought that this offseason was a good one for us, but the mistakes of our past (mostly Kevin Brown and Jason Giambi, who both looked like great acquisitions at the time, though since they didn't work out, everyone wants to bash Cashman) are hard to get away from. It's going to be really hard to dump Brown, and thus we're going to have some weak links in our rotation for years to come. I do think the bullpen should have been boosted a bit over the offseason though. No one could predict what has happened to Mariano however, so he should not be included in the discussion. As far as hitting goes, we had the same kind of hitting last year and did fine, although I think Ruben Sierra should have been kept. However, given what has happened to everyone else on the team, with our luck last year would have been his last good year.

[/ QUOTE ]

i think our lineup is good. it is not the problem. it's inconsistency is, but i think that will be sorted out as the season goes on and as we pick up momentum. we still have sierra, he's just injured right now. having a 123 good 45 guarnateed loss rotation will kill a baseball team. it is why we haven't won three games in a row yet.