THE GRASS ISN'T ALWAYS GREENER: PART 2

I recently wrote an article titled THE GRASS ISN'T ALWAYS GREENER regarding the Yankees’ - as well as some of their fans - habit of looking at what other teams have as being better.  My argument was that we have some in-house proven talent that can fit the holes we are looking to shore up if just given the chance.

Greg Bird, Luis Severino, Rob Refsnyder, and Slade Heathcott were examples of that last season.  To some extent, so was the recently departed (traded) John Ryan Murphy.  All came up through our organization and all were successful not only in the spring, but when given their opportunities in the Bronx; either via injury or just plain necessity.

It could be argued that only Severino was a planned introduction to the big leagues.

Those who do read my articles know my opinion of GM Brian Cashman’s idea on how to build a winning team.  He employs a strategy similar to that of the 1980’s George Steinbrenner; acquire once-proven veterans either via free agency or through trade – using the minor league system stars as bartering chips.

(In Photo: Jack Clark)
As I watch Cashman every off-season exercise a worn business model that yields 85 – 87 wins per season and only teases us with memories of players never to again see their peak, I can’t help but remember names like Jack Clark (signed in 1988 at age 32, hit .242 and was traded to Padres at end of season), Rick Rhoden (acquired in trade from Pittsburgh in 1987 at age 35 – for 24 year old Doug Drabek who would go on to win a Cy Young in 1990.

(In Photo: Doug Drabek)
Rhoden would go 28 – 22 with a 4.09 ERA and allow 42 HR in 2 seasons with Yankees), or Rafael Santana (30 year old shortstop acquired in trade from Mets, hit .240 in 1988 and then released the next season).  While only a small representative sample, they characterized Yankee clubs that averaged a little more than 82 wins per season and never finished above 4th place in the A.L. East.

(In Photo: Derek Jeter, 1996)
It wasn’t until young, home-grown players like Don Mattingly and Bernie Williams came onto the scene – to be followed by Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte – that the Bombers emerged from that “dark period” of their history.

Cashman’s line of thinking has only worked once over the past 15 seasons – in 2009 – and the club has played just one playoff game (last season’s loss to the Astros in the Wild card game) over the past three.  At what point does the recent success of the Royals and Giants - teams laden with young, home-grown stars given their chance on an everyday basis – finally sink in?

Lately, there have persistent rumblings about opportunities to fill second base (yet again) with either a position-transplant from another team (Castro of the Cubs – bumped from his starting spot at shortstop by Addison Russell, or a 30-something veteran (Kinsler from the Tigers).  These rumors persist seemingly oblivious to what the Yankees had in the Ackley / Refsnyder combo over the final crucial weeks of 2015.

 As I wrote in my first THE GRASS ISN'T ALWAYS GREENER article:

“Only, what they seem to overlook is that once Drew was out of the picture, the team’s forced reliance upon Dustin Ackley and Rob Refsnyder created a productive combo at second.  From September 16th (when Drew stopped playing on regular basis) until the end of the season, the two “replacements” for WHSBIYH (Worst Hitting Second Baseman In Yankees History) hit a combined .303 with 4 HR, 11 RBI and 6 runs scored.”

The Yankees went from ranking dead last at second base to top 5 at the position simply by going with what they had on hand to replace Drew.

My point of all of this is that, sure Kinsler might be an upgrade at second base, but not a significant one and he is an older player with a much larger contract to eat.  Castro is young, but he isn’t a natural second baseman (Refsnyder, long criticized regarding his fielding, actually had a higher fielding percentage at the position and had no errors down the stretch when the Yankees needed him the most), and he has a large contract to boot (8 year contract through 2019, $60 million).  We have more pressing issues at other positions (starting pitching in particular) than to worry about second base (now that the stiff Drew is gone).

My esteemed colleague, and BYB Founder, Robert Casey wrote articles about both Castro and Kinsler that are well worth their read (you can get them Here and Here).  Along with what I’ve said above, he makes the point that – in the words of Lloyd Dobler from the iconic movie “Say Anything” - “You…Must…Chill! “.  Look at what we already have and relax.

Stephen Drew can’t burn us anymore (unless “Dimwit” brings him back again, which I am certain he doesn’t want to bring that upon himself for another season) and we have capable hands already under contract to adequately represent the position. Let’s let Ackley and Refsnyder grow at second base.  They’ve given us a pretty nice glimpse into what they are capable of providing.  After all, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side – or in this case – with the other options.


    

--Steve Skinner, BYB Senior Writer
Twitter: @oswegos1


    

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WHY MARIANO IS THE BEST

So Bleeding Yankee Blue readers have spoken and hands down, Mariano Rivera is your favorite Yankees pitcher ever....EVER! In it’s rich history, Mo is the man you chose. You know what? I tend to agree with that. He’s electric. Without a doubt I still go back to the old school guy choosing Ron Guidry myself, but let's face it, it's a personal choice when choosing from our poll this time. Picking Mariano is not a wrong answer. In fact there was no wrong answer. So let’s analyze the poll. Here are the results:

Out of 127 people that voted, Mariano Rivera received 44 votes. That was followed by Andy Pettitte with 24 and in third place was Ron Guidry with 19. It’s good to see that my fluff piece on my love for Gator didn’t sway you, Read WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE PITCHER OF ALL TIME? I'm not going to lie, I was surprised that someone like Whitey Ford only received 15 votes and someone like CC Sabathia, or Waite Hoyt or Red Ruffing received less than 3 votes. I mean Ruffing was a terrific pitcher back in the day and Whitey was one of the greatest. Sabathia is pitching now and clearly in everyone’s view every 5th day and he's awesome to see perform, plus he numbers reflect that. It’s interesting and the only thing I can think of is maybe because of the Yankees incredible run since 1996, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte just stick in our minds as being part of some of the greatest Yankee teams ever in the modern era, am I right? Even someone like David Wells received 4 votes and Mike Mussina received 7 too, so clearly these guys may be more popular because of their recent history. I get it, I'm just saying...

Now I chose 15 pitchers for you to vote from, and yes, there are plenty of guys I left out and they were write-in votes and they should have been...people like Orlando Hernandez were mentioned on Twitter and Tommy John was suggested in our comments section of the poll post. Again, no pitcher is the wrong answer, it's a personal choice. I could have made the list 40 guys, but then it just gets out of hand. I wanted to keep it to 15 and when that happens, guys don’t make the cut. It wasn’t a slight, it was just the way I conducted the poll. Hell, someone may have thought Rick Rhoden was their favorite, but he wasn’t on the list, see what I mean?

So yeah, hands down Mariano is the greatest, even without the poll I think it’s safe to say coming off a season where he became the All-time Saves leader, he’s truly the man, but it was just shocking to me that guys that were part of the Yankees rich history didn’t get too many votes. Goose Gossage only received 2 votes... I expected more. Lefty Gomez received 1, I expected at least as many as Whitey, and Roger Clemens received 3. Oh yeah...Allie Reynolds only received 2. Very interesting.

In the end, I hope you had fun with this poll and we’ll be conducting more very similarly to this one soon. Look for it and thanks for participating.

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WHY YOUNG YANKEE FANS KNOW NOTHING ABOUT "REAL" LOSING

(In Photo: Al Leiter, left, and Mike Pagliarulo)
Not too long ago, at my day job, I was having a conversation with an intern. She was about 20 years old and somehow the conversation turned to music. In the course of this conversation it came out that she had never heard of Kurt Cobain or Nirvana. Immediately, 2 things popped in
my mind:

1. I feel old.
   
2. I’ve turned into my parents for saying things like “back in my day…” or “you kids these days….”

But I digress; this conversation got me thinking back to the late 80's and early ‘90s of Yankee baseball. In those days, the Yankees were AWFUL. I remember going to games with my dad, buying an $8 upper deck ticket and moving to the 3rd base boxes in the 2nd inning because the Stadium was empty. Watch Yankeeography or YouTube Don Mattingly clips – check out all the empty seats.Now, you kids who grew up becoming fans of the Yankees in 1994, 1995 and 1996... that's when the Yankees started getting good...you definitely missed the dark day. I’m sure some of your first memories were making the playoffs in ‘95, or winning the World Series in ‘96. Your biggest disappointments are watching the 2001 team lose Game 7 of the World Series to the Diamondbacks or choking to the Red Sox in 2004... I still have nightmares about that one.

Me? I remember some pretty horrendous years before 1996. How about watching George Steinbrenner trade away all of our young prospects in the late 80’s for over-the-hill veterans? Anyone remember Mariners star Jay Buhner? He was a Yankee; traded for Ken Phelps. How’d that work out?(In Photo: Doug Drabek)
Doug Drabek had a decent career with the Pirates but he had potential with the Yankees before that. That's OK, we traded him away for Pat Clements, Cecilio Guante, and Rick Rhoden. Terrific move that turned out to be.

This one was my favorite from the early 80's: Fred McGriff for Dale Murray. McGriff who went on to be a 5 time All-Star and Murray was 3-6 over his 3 year stint with the Yanks. This went on year after year.

When the Yanks were bounced from the playoffs last year, I heard many complaining and deciding that change was needed. You kids don’t know about change and losing. Try being a Pirates fan, or read about the Yankees when they finished in 5th place in 1988 or 7th place in 1990...and change happened... that's losing.

Finally, my message is this: Enjoy these good times, but don’t forget the bad times. Take heed when taking shots at Mets fans. Why? Because you never know when the dark days may return...let's hope they never do.

--Lem Allen, BYB Contributor

Email me at:bybcurmudgeon@gmail.com

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