Sadly, injuries happen in sports and happen in baseball as well. As players get older, there are aches and pains and we have seen it happen to some of the greatest athletes alive. The latest Yankee casualty is CC Sabathia. Sure, the Yankees think he’ll be ready in July, but I’m pessimistic. I never believe the Yankees. That doesn’t mean I hate them or anything. All it means is that I know how they operate. They don’t want to cause panic, they want to assure the fan base that all will be fine. The words are chosen wisely when they speak to the media, and when the player is ready, or not, we will all know. But for now, the Yankees are buying time with CC and when they break it to the base, we’ll either throw our arms up as if the say, “Dammit CC”, like he did it on purpose or something. Or, we just grin and take it for what it is… an injury.
In the mean time, the Yankees need a replacement. I was thinking about all the Cliff Lee chatter that happened yesterday. There was an article claiming that Cliff Lee will be the Yankees big target at the deadline, read the Boston Globe HERE, Nick Cafardo saying:
"Owner Hal Steinbrenner said last week that the Yankees could buy pitching before the trade deadline, given they’ve already lost three starters to injuries. Michael Pineda (lat) and CC Sabathia (knee) are expected back, but for the Yankees to compete over the long haul they must add a significant arm.
Baseball executives think they’ll have their eyes on Cliff Lee if the Phillies fall out of the race. Of course, that’s a big if.
The Yankees would have plenty of competition for Lee."
What does it mean? Not much. I mean Cafardo throws a ton of names out there every week, rarely do any of his insinuations or predictions come to life, but the reality is, the Yankees need an arm, he's right about that and there is no question need to make a move for a big gun.
But the Lee talk... I mean, we’ve done this already, haven’t we? We do this every season around this time. But this time, it could be the real thing. What would happen logically is, if the Yankees can get a “big gun”, then the blow of "No Sabathia" isn’t as bad. CC then disappears until next Spring and comes back in 2015 fully healthy. Without a “big gun”, Yankee fans get angry and keep asking “What now?”
It’s funny, I received quite a few of those questions yesterday. I simply say this to you all; I am flattered you are asking me for inside baseball, but I am giving you my opinion, and that’s all I can do… CC will most likely be back by the end of the season, or not at all this year. I also am 80% positive we will have a new pitcher soon, be it now or by the All-Star break. Truth be told, we can’t wait, we need to act. But this is the baseball factory we know and love, and it appears that every time the Yankees get on some type of roll, the pitching seems to vanish.
We saw it many years ago when they thought they would strike lightening in a bottle with the likes of Darrell May and Tim Redding. That proved to be a disaster.
We tried Sidney Ponson, not once, but twice and that wasn't very good. We checked out Brian Gordon, who then went to Korea, but is now back in our minor league system. We even brought back Chien-Ming Wang for a minute last year, only to not use him and he eventually left.
Oh, and remember Aaron Small and Shawn Chacon? That was a fun year, but even they eventually ran out of gas. It's the baseball factory, and it's all about pitching and if you're hot, you're in. If you're not, you're out, and sometimes, if you're just "there" you're in. But there is no question this year, the Yankees can't take chances on budget basement pitchers, they need to go big to secure a playoff spot. After last season, not making it to the playoffs, they spent big, even though they probably shouldn't have. But the did it, because the fan base was restless. Plus, we're the New York Yankees... we aren't supposed to ever miss the playoffs.
Look, the Yankees are down. We lost CC, Ivan Nova and Michael Pineda. That means we have Masahiro Tanaka, David Phelps, Vidal Nuno, Hiroki Kuroda and Chase Whitley. I mean... really? It ain't happening... the Yankees will sign someone big... they have to.
In the end, we will be fine, but it's getting there, it's the uncertainty that I hate. We need stability in the pitching department and I believe we're going to trade for a big gun.
Lord knows we need to... but who will it be? Stay tuned...
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