Question: What do you think of Joe Torre’s tell-all The Yankee Years? Will you read it?
Answer: What do I think of Torre’s tell-all? I don’t think of Torre’s tell-all, really. I don’t have anything against the idea of a current manager putting together a book of experiences from a previous team, but isn’t this just the sports version of People magazine? Tom Verducci is a great writer (Torre’s “co-author,” a euphemism for “Joe talked about some stuff and Verducci wrote the thing”) and there will be fantastic research that he’s done to uncover really interesting quotations and comments from current and former players. But so what? What in the world could be in that book that is of any sports value or would tell us anything we didn’t know? What that guys did steroids? David Wells was a jackass? Shocker!
Here’s my guess? The biggest news in the book is that Torre isn’t the super duper nice, calm guy that he always played when managing the Yankees. There’s a great anecdote about two rival football coaches who screamed about each other before a big game and then called each other out in angry terms in interviews after the game. The feud was huge news. Of course, the coaches were then spotted by a reporter at the bar later that night, drinking beers together. When the sports writer looked at them, surprised, they both laughed. “It’s only a movie,” one of them is reported to have said.
That’s my analogy for what I figure will really come from this book -- all that we saw and heard, all the denials and feigned ignorance of Cool Joe Torre circa 1996-2008 -- it was all just a movie. And now he’s pissed and he’s not above exacting some revenge. Just because it’s reality TV doesn’t mean it isn’t still just TV. And so Torre’s pulling back some of the curtain for any gawkers who want a peek. Me, I don’t have a moral opposition to reading the juicy details or anything, I just have other important things I have to do.
In Boston, it seems like we get excited every April about the demise of the Yankees. For the past few seasons, they have had more injuries and struggles in April and May than most other contending teams. But several things have come together in the Bronx this spring that, since the advent of the recent Yankee domination (which began in 1996,), we’ve never seen.
Don’t get me wrong, I fully understand that it’s still extremely early (despite Alex Rodriguez’s power numbers, which could imply it’s already early June.) In previous years, the Yankees have righted their ship during the course of the long season and come out on top of the division by October 1 every single time since the late 1990′s. So, it’s no wonder that Yankees fans, while somewhat annoyed, are not the slightest bit panicked and maintain their infuriating cockiness that everything will be just fine come fall. And I can’t argue the track record. So, there’s no gloating at this time of year, believe me. The Red Sox witnessed firsthand last August how quickly a $125 million plus roster can implode and “ruin our Summah!” But, in terms of the shear volume of issues dogging the Evil Empire this spring, there are more than a few Boston talk radio callers already screaming “I told you so” about the 2007 Yankees.
In New York, they say the Red Sox fans take the rivalry between the two teams more seriously than they do. Me, I think that’s just posturing. I’ve seen what gets written in the New York papers the day after a loss to the Sox. Of course, it adds some merit to their argument that one of my favorite things to do after a Yankee loss is to read the scathing articles in the New York Post. My favorite line of this week, in a Monday morning column was, “No matter how bad your Monday is, Brian Cashman’s (Yankees general manager) will be worse.” And there’s little doubt about that. The Red Sox swept three games from the Yankees this past weekend after trailing in each of the three games, which hasn’t happened in more than 20 years. The New Yorkers followed that up by losing two straight to the Devil Rays, and have now lost 5 games in a row, taking hold of sole possession of last place in the AL East with an 8-11 record going into Wednesday night. While that in itself is remarkable for a team with a $185 million payroll and Alex Rodriguez’s 34 RBI in 19 games (they are 2 A-Rod walk-off home runs from being 6-13,) it’s how they’ve gotten here that is simply amazing.
It starts with the off-season construction of the pitching staff. While they traded away a couple pitching busts (Randy Johnson and Jaret Wright) for young talent, they didn’t bother replacing the arms in the rotation. After falling more than $20 million short in their bid for Japanese import Daisuke Matsuzaka, they decided to bid about the same amount for Kei Igawa, thought by most to be dramatically less of a talent (they bid $30 million for the rights to Dice-K and $26 million for Igawa.) And instead of targeting any other young free agent pitchers, they decided to bring back Andy Pettitte (is Darryl Strawberry next?) and rely on Carl Pavano to finally remain healthy after 2 years and $20 million of injuries.
But now, of course, Pavano is back where’s he’s most comfortable, on the disabled list, after recording a single victory. And Mike Mussina is taking his turn on the shelf with a hamstring injury (notoriously pesky,) which is not surprising at his age and with his recent injury history. Though he’s slated to return next week. But, the injuries have piled up well beyond the obvious. Chien-Ming Wang went down in spring training with a hamstring injury of his own. He returned Tuesday night for his season debut and was mediocre, taking the loss to Tampa Bay. Hideki Matsui, until a broken hand last season, a real Iron Man, was felled by injury for two weeks, returning only Tuesday night himself. Johnny Damon is banged up and missing some time, as is Jorge Posada, the productive Yankee catcher that everyone seems to forget is also 35-years-old while they scream that number from the rafters when discussing Jason Varitek. The Yanks have been forced to start Wil Nieves behind the plate, Kevin Thompson in the outfield, and Darrell Rasner on the mound. And we also got a brief glimpse of starting pitcher Chase Wright, up from the minors for 2 starts, who is now forever known as the answer to the trivia question, “In 2007, who gave up 4 consecutive home runs to the Red Sox in the span of 10 pitches, the first time the Sox had ever hit 4 in a row in team history?”
But the real desperation shows beyond the impressive list of injuries. There is genuine panic about the heretofore lights-out closer. Mariano Rivera has blown 2 relatively easy saves in recent days, once by allowing a walk-off home run to the Oakland A’s Marco Scutaro (actually a pretty good clutch hitter, though you may never have heard of him) and once by surrendering a 6-3 8th inning lead to the Red Sox. The fact that he entered the game in the 8th in Boston was a bad enough sign that Joe Torre is struggling to manage his roster. The same can be said for the two relief appearances by Andy Pettitte between starts. While that may have been more common 30 years ago, it’s practically unheard of today, least of all in April instead of October. And now, the latest is the sudden big league debut of 20 year old pitching phenom Phil Hughes, scheduled for Thursday night. While nearly everyone agrees that Hughes is destined for stardom, Brian Cashman repeatedly assured the world that the Yankees simply would not rush Hughes and there was no chance we’d see him in the majors before the all-star break. Hughes may thrive and it may turn out to be the perfect move, adding a young power arm to the rotation just as the rest of the veterans slowly return to health to join him. We don’t know yet, but the fact that all of this is happening so early speaks to a level of desperation in April that is rarely shown by those permanently even-keeled owners of 26 World Championships, of which we are so often reminded. And if young Phil gets knocked around this week, I’m guessing we might hear from Big Stein, boss George Steinbrenner, for the first time in this young season.
More Notes from the Cheap Seats
Phil Hughes could very well turn out to be the latest Chien-Ming Wang. Wang was also brought to the show earlier than anticipated due to injury and has quickly developed into the staff ace. But, beware the rush job. Sox fans know what can happen when a hot young pitcher is rushed. We all thought 2005 #1 draft pick Craig Hansen would be the team’s closer by last spring. He has struggled mightily and is back in the minor leagues this year. And that has devastated the Red Sox who had a lot of hope tied up in their closer of the future. Wait a second…Jonathan Papelbon is now arguably the best closer in the game and wouldn’t have gotten the shot if Hansen had performed even adequately. So…never mind.
Though a lot of people scoffed at the Yankees bringing Andy Pettitte back to the Bronx at $16 million (with a likely 2nd year coming in the deal at the same price) after a subpar 2006 season with the Houston Astros, he has performed very well so far. Those who pointed to the 2006 stats conveniently discounted the possibility that he had a single off-year and that in 2005 he won 17 games logging an impressive (even in the National League) 2.39 ERA. Many have talked about elbow problems and refer to his age, but he’s only 34 (35 in June) and many pitchers of his ilk have thrived well into their late 30′s. However, the concerns may pick up steam if he continues to pitch in relief on his throwing days between starts. After his rookie season of 1995, he appeared out of the bullpen exactly 3 times from 1996-2006, only once since 1998. He has done it twice already in less than a month of 2007. Throwing a side session in the bullpen and pitching the 6th inning against the Red Sox are simply not the same thing. Joe Torre may not try it anymore as his pitching staff heals, but if he does, you never know when that extra game-level stress on a tired arm could cause a serious injury.
Signing Johnny Damon after 2005 looked brilliant this past winter, when Johnny was coming off a strong first season as the catalyst of the Yankee lineup, and with remarkable inflation in free agent salaries. But, one of the items that kept the Red Sox from offering him as much money as their rivals was their fear that Johnny was heading for injuries and breakdowns. Notwithstanding the Red Sox subsequent decision to invest in Coco Crisp (though much less expensive, so far Coco has shown flashes of promise, especially defensively, but has not lived up to expectations, the fans’ or his own), they may be proven right this year. As with Pedro Martinez, where the Sox made the right decision (Martinez had a poor year last year in the second year of the contract and will miss at least half of 2007 after surgery,) Damon is slow out of the gate in the second year of his contract, hitting a mere .250 and is nursing both back and calf injuries, neither of which is the type that tends to heal fully without extended rest. If Damon isn’t the spark plug he was last season, the production of the powerhouse Yankee lineup may be somewhat dampened.
Thank You is Implied
The Annotated Smart ReMarx
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