Off Topic · Yankees Talk thread (page 43)

From the genius that is Frank Isola:

If you want to blame anybody for the Yankees failure to win a World Series over the past seven years look no further than the Knicks. Starting in 2001, the Knicks have yet to produce a playoff series win. During that the same stretch, the Yankees have fallen short of winning a title.
Instead of pointing the finger of blame at Joe Torre, Brian Cashman, Jeter, A-Rod, Clemens or Mo, I'm blaming Jeff Van Gundy, Don Chaney, Lenny Wilkens, Larry Brown, Isiah Thomas, Scott Layden, Stephon Marbury and Eddy Curry.
When the Yankees won in 1996, the Knicks were playing an exhibition game in San Antonio as the final out of the series was being made. Afterwards, every player was genuinely excited about having a championship team in New York. I always remember Charles Oakley saying, "We owe New York a title. The Yankees won and now it's our turn."

Vdesai, the Knicks shouldn't feel obligated to give us any title. Just as long as Curry gets his 22 points and 19 buckets and Stephon gives up 13 dimes and 5 assists, then we should be satisfied.

i think this can officially become unstickied...

... and done.

i refuse to let this thread diminish into the dark mire of the OT forums... *bump*

Bonn, i think if ARod stays, then Lowell will be back w/the Sox... we can probably get at least 25 HR's out of Betemit/Andy/Duncan/Giambi next year anyway... probably won't come close to Lowell's RBI totals, but you have to remember his career highs in BA & OBP may have been inflated because of that Green Monster as well... but if he'd agree to moving to 1B i'd be fine with bringing him back too... but then what do you do w/Andy Phillips? he earned a shot at competing for a starting spot after how he played this season before he got injured, as did Duncan... & you know Giambi's going to see AB's next season as well... i don't think we can fit 5 1B on the roster, or even need that for that matter.

Posted by TMS:

Posted by tkf:

Posted by TMS:

tkf, i like Eric Byrnes a lot, but he's very happy in ARI & just signed an extension... no way we're getting Rollins in any deal unless we give up Cano & 1 of our young pitchers, which ain't happening.

let's just say for argument's sake that ARod opts out & the Yankees decide to pass on bidding for him... what do u think of this:

- sign Mike Lowell (gold glove 3B w/solid righty bat & hardnosed player)
- sign best setup man available
- trade for PIT's Damaso Marte (lefty reliever - 2-0, 2.38 ERA w/51 K's/18 BB in 65 G/45.1 IP - we already had talks earlier this past season but they fell through)
- decline Abreu's option
- sign Aaron Rowand (gold glove CF w/solid righty bat & hardnosed player)
- move Melky to RF
- Matsui becomes fulltime DH
- Damon becomes fulltime LF
- hire Joe Girardi to manage this team (fresh new outlook of young MGR w/past Yankee ties that most of the veterans here are all familiar with)
- re-sign Jorge, Mariano & Jose Molina & convince Andy P to come back

Best idea I have heard so far. I was just mentioning byrnes and rollins moreso for their style of play, I was aware burns was signed and rollins is going nowhere of course, but your post is on the money. One thing tho. isn't rowand signed through 2008? if not, I would not mind rowand. he melky and damon in the outfield is great. Since we are stuck with matsui Dh him.. I hate to lose bobby but at 16 mil we can do better and rowand could probably give you 16 homers in a season I am sure... Not bad at all.. Not bad..... good post..

as far as i'm aware, Rowand is a FA this offseason... he'd probably look to sign a 3-4 yr deal at about $9-10 mil per i'm guessing... the one bad thing about my lineup above is there's much less team speed w/ARod & Abreu gone & replacing them w/Lowell & Rowand, plus the obvious loss of a big bopper bat in the heart of the lineup... i don't have any expectation for Giambi to ever return to form, but he's gonna be here regardless next year so you'd have to hope for the best... maybe we oughta send a shipment of HGH over to his place over the winter so he can get an early start on his offseason conditioning?

LOL.. I hate the fact that we have giambi here and are stuck with him. He is a rememnant of the horrible spending we did after 2001.. anyway, I thought rowand was a speedy guy, but you are right, with abreu and A-rod gone, we lose a lot of speed and thump with A-rod. Mike lowell had a great year, but he is getting up there in Age, I don't see him duplicating last year... Tough calls comming up..

so who do you guys feel should be Torre's successor if they decide not to re-up his contract?

personally, i don't like the idea of Donnie managing... he seems very unsure of how to handle the media questions, & i don't know how his presence will translate to managing these guys as opposed to playing alongside them or coaching them... on the flip side though, i've heard numerous reports from Michael Kay that the players all feel that he is 1 of the most prepared & thorough coaches they've ever played under, so that's a plus in his favor.

i don't like the idea of Tony LaRussa either, though he's probably got a better chance than i originally thought considering his resume.

i think Joe Girardi is the best & most logical option for now since most of the vets are familiar w/him & he's also used to dealing w/young kids from his year managing in FLA... he's also very media savvy just like Torre, so handling NY won't be as much of a problem for him from that aspect.

my IDEAL choices would be Mike Scioscia or Bobby Valentine... i happen to think both those guys are superb game strategists & get the absolute most out of the talent that they manage (as long as Bobby promised not to wear those silly glasses & mustache disguises during games that is)

Posted by TMS:

so who do you guys feel should be Torre's successor if they decide not to re-up his contract?

I hope it's not Isiah!

Posted by TMS:

so who do you guys feel should be Torre's successor if they decide not to re-up his contract?

personally, i don't like the idea of Donnie managing... he seems very unsure of how to handle the media questions, & i don't know how his presence will translate to managing these guys as opposed to playing alongside them or coaching them... on the flip side though, i've heard numerous reports from Michael Kay that the players all feel that he is 1 of the most prepared & thorough coaches they've ever played under, so that's a plus in his favor.

i don't like the idea of Tony LaRussa either, though he's probably got a better chance than i originally thought considering his resume.

i think Joe Girardi is the best & most logical option for now since most of the vets are familiar w/him & he's also used to dealing w/young kids from his year managing in FLA... he's also very media savvy just like Torre, so handling NY won't be as much of a problem for him from that aspect.

my IDEAL choices would be Mike Scioscia or Bobby Valentine... i happen to think both those guys are superb game strategists & get the absolute most out of the talent that they manage (as long as Bobby promised not to wear those silly glasses & mustache disguises during games that is)

My only concern is whether or not Girardi can handle the aging talent and former all-stars. Florida was a whole different ball-game as was his career.

Where Donnie was the icon here during the late 80's and early 90's. He's felt that pressure and I would think could deal with those personalities a bit easier. He's got major clout in this organization and the players know/respect that. Couldn't say that translates into wins or losses, but it certainly doesn't hurt.

If it's Donnie, then so be it. I don't think LaRussa would work out at all tho. It doesn't seem like he's able to build very close bonds w/the players he's managed in the past (other than maybe Mark McGwire maybe). I don't hear many ex players of his praising him much in the press after they've left, & he can't even get along well w/Scott Rolen for crying out loud. He's not exactly Milton Bradley or Jose Guillen.

Btw, don't you just love how every top story on every sports show these days is about the future of Joe Torre, ARod, Mariano, Jorge, etc. & absolutely nothing at all about the boring LCS series matchups about to begin this weekend? Just goes to show that love the Yankees or hate them, baseball ain't nothing w/o the Yankees.

You guys remember back in the 80's, when Goose went off on George and called him the 'fat man upstairs'? Well I found the recording. I never heard what he actually said, and it's pretty brutal. WARNING! It contains very foul language. This is probably what kept Goose out of the hall. This is the way George used to turn people into. George is better for it, but poor Goose. He was one of my favorites.

Gator's 1 of my alltime favorite Yankees, but as a pitching coach I'm not convinced that he's the best man for the job. Leo Mazzone, while he did have some problems with Daniel Cabrera & some other pitchers in BAL, is still widely recognized as the best pitching coach in the business.

Do you guys think the Yankees should fire Gator & bring in Mazzone? :hmm:

Posted by TMS:

Gator's 1 of my alltime favorite Yankees,

He's my all time favorite. That's were I get my name '4949'!

Remember' he was #49?

yeah, he was awesome back in the day... i got an autographed ball from him sitting on top of my computer case... but as a coach, i haven't seen him do much to help out the guys on this staff... Hughes was struggling w/his consistency until Sept. when Dave Eiland came up from AAA to help work w/the kids Joba, Kennedy & Hughes... seeing as though all 3 of those kids will be members of our rotation next year, it might make sense to hire Eiland also.

Gammons reports that Gator is likely gone as pitching coach & Dave Eiland is the likely successor

Joe Torre rejects the Yankees contract offer!!!

Posted by TMS:

Gammons reports that Gator is likely gone as pitching coach & Dave Eiland is the likely successor

That's too bad. To have two greats in Guid & Matty on the same team was very cool. That will be too bad if that's the case. LOL 'LIghtening.'

i think Eiland is the logical choice... he did a great job w/all 3 of our top kids in the farm system.

Posted by VDesai:

Joe Torre rejects the Yankees contract offer!!!

All this crying in the media about the Yankees making him a lowball offer is ridiculous... $5 mil w/$3 mil in incentives is not an insult to anyone... that's still much more than any other MGR makes... w/all the crap ARod gets for the amount of money he makes in comparison to any other player in the game, i wonder how much more he'd get if he was making double what the next highest paid player was? hey, we might see it next season. can't wait to hear the crying then.

Joe did a great job for us over the years. Best of luck to Joe in whatever he decides to do. The Yankees will survive, as they always do.

Andy P: "I'll only play for the Yankees"

Hey ARod, are you listening???

http://www.newsday.com/sports/ny-spandy1101,0,7597234.story

Pettitte nixed the idea that he might play elsewhere next year, in an interview with Houston's FOX 26 Sports (KRIV). The story was posted on the TV station's Web site. He told KRIV that he will either play for the Yankees next year or not at all.

"The New York Yankees committed an awful lot of money to me and put it in my hands, gave me a player option and trusted me with that option," Pettitte told KRIV Tuesday. "It probably wouldn't be real honorable for me not to do anything other than if I shut it down, shut it down or go back and play for the New York Yankees."

gotta love Andy Pettitte.