Last year, the Dodgers finished fourth (behind the Padres) in the NL West. The Yankees finished with 94 wins in the AL East, second only to the eventual World Series Champions.
As of right now, the Yankees still have one of the most potent offenses in all of baseball, and what should be one of the premier pitching rotations. That being said, they are currently last in their division, while the Dodgers are second in theirs—behind only the best team in baseball.
So, what's changed?
Well, I do recall Joe Torre turning down a ludicrous offer and setting up shop in LA. Then, at around the same time, Hank Steinbrenner started opening his mouth—more often than he already did—the Yankees hired skipper Joe Girardi instead of Donnie Baseball, who was the absolute perfect fit.
Honestly, Joe Girardi has done a terrible job with the Yankees thus far, while Mr. Torre has done a fine job with a less talented club.
But the real problem is Hank Steinbrenner. His father knew what to say and when to say it (for the most part), and I'd like to think he knew what he was doing most of the time, since he had such a successful career.
But it looks like Hank will always be just distraction. He's already lost any credibility he had from having a successful father. And he never has anything positive, let alone insightful, to say. His job consists mostly of calling people out in public and destroying the Yankees' morale.
I love it. I love it. I love it.
And yes, the Yankees have had injuries, but so has every other team. They also have the players and money to fill in what they need. There's no excuse for being in last place, even this early in the season.
Also, someone commented on my other Hank Steinbrenner article before I had it deleted and re-published. He was saying I couldn't call Hank ignorant because the Yankees have won 26 World Series.
Well, first of all, that's totally irrelevant. And second, what exactly did Hank have to do with those championships? And what have the Yankees done since he's had any power whatsoever?
If you somehow have any other response other than nothing, please post it below.
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4 months ago
"As of right now, the Yankees still have one of the most potent offensives in all of baseball, and what should be one of the premier pitching rotations."
Are you talking about this year's NYY?!?! You've got to be shitting me man. Aside from Wang, they are lacking depth in the starting rotation. Hughes is a rookie, Pettite is back from the DL and Pavano isn't that great. Leaves us with Mussina who is turning 40 later this year. They are in need of a good, reliable starter to help Wang out badly.
Offensively they are decent, but need to get A-Rod back in full health to protect the batting order.
4 months ago
Yes, I'm talking about this year's NYY; and no, I'm not shitting you, man. First of all, Hughes is not a rookie. He pitched in over 13 games, compiling over 72 innings last year which makes him...not a rookie. And you guys very well could have had Johan Santana instead of Phil Hughes if Hank had any idea what he was doing. Second, I've already discussed injuries. And Lastly, Pavano has pitched in 2 games since 2005. He had Tommy John surgery. Where have you been?
And you are right, offensively they are decent. But they should be much better. They also have a well above average lineup without A-Rod, although his presence obviously wouldn't hurt.
4 months ago
especially in recent years, George Steinbrenner seemed to pick and choose when to say something - and it appeared to at times work. but hank just has a bulletin-board type comment every time he is interviewed, and what happens to someone like that is he just becomes irrelevant - the players and coaches, and i think even the media, eventually will just tune him out if he doesn't change. the thing too is he isn't even always wrong or in the wrong, but not everything needs to be said publicly.
i don't think it would matter who the manager is with the yankees - i'm not counting them out at all, far too early for that - but so far, they just are not a very good team. with arod and posada coming back, the offense can change quickly and make things a little easier on the pitching staff. but until that happens, and assuming both are back to normal quickly upon their returns, i think new york will continue to struggle.
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