As I watched a lot of terrible pitching by big names last night in Boston, I wondered why these teams were somehow better than the Yankees this year.
And, so, looking at the 2007 Yankees, as usual, I like to look at what the glaring questions were last year and see how they were addressed. The problems that crop up during the year aren't as important, I think, because they can't always be anticipated.
At the end of 2006, the Yankees had, in my mind, the following problems:
1. A superstar who wasn't quite at that level and was a distraction.
2. A manager who didn't trust that superstar and couldn't decide between the players who got him there and those higher-paid players coming off of injury.
3. A so-called ace who was a huge, unreliable liability. Because of that, the team had no ace.
4. Three decent to very good starters and nothing at all after that.
5. Not enough bullpen help to get to Mariano.
6. Weak or abysmal options at backup catcher and first base, as well as no reliable utility infielder.
Did the team fix these problems?
1. Absolutely. A-Rod was still a distraction at times, but without him, the team doesn't make the playoffs and probably makes a couple of rash deals at the trade deadline to dump talent/prospects. Simply put, he had the most dominant American League season since Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle.
2. No. Torre still didn't trust A-Rod, throwing him under the bus on that "Ha!" yell in Toronto (meanwhile, Gary Sheffield says everything and anything, and Jim Leyland says, hey, I let my players speak). He also spent much of the year playing Johnny Damon and Jason Giambi when they were terrible and not playing them when they could have helped. According to NoMaas.org, he lost at least eight games for them.
If Detroit doesn't tank in August, the Yanks don't make the postseason, and it's Joe Torre's fault.
It's time to make a change.
3. No. While dumping Randy Johnson was a great idea (especially since he really didn't help Arizona), signing Roger Clemens was a mistake (and a preseason one, since the Yankees seemed to bank on his comeback all along). Andy Pettitte has never truly been an ace, and Chien-Ming Wang, as I've stated to no end, isn't either. There wasn't a lot of availability, so I'm not sure what Brian Cashman could have done about this.
4. Yes, sort of. The Yankees of 2007 knew going in that they would have a good Pettitte, a very good Wang, and between Phil Hughes, Mike Mussina and Roger Clemens, at least one good third starter. Beyond that, though there were problems. Carl Pavano should never have been penciled in and Kei Igawa was a desperation signing. To be fair, it was unexpected that Moose, Hughes and Clemens would all be unreliable. To be honest, though, Hughes and Clemens were never going to be on the Opening Day roster, and so April and May suffered for that lack of foresight.
5. Yes, at times. The Yankees never had a set bullpen plan, but through most of the year, they had at least one hot hand. Torre was smart enough to go with that hot hand, even if he often reacted late and then burnt out that hot hand (paging Luis Vizcaino, Scott Proctor). Cashman doesn't deserve a ton of credit on this for his preseason planning, but he did make the necessary adjustments throughout. It could not have been forecast that Rivera would be a question mark.
6. Far too late. Wil Nieves might be the worst-hitting catcher ever, and Josh Phelps is like Jose Cruz Jr. without the potential. Dougie M. actually wasn't a terrible pickup, but it came with the assumption that Jason Giambi would be healthy and productive, which is something that should never be assumed again. Wilson Betemit and Jose Molina were good additions, but players of their caliber should have been present from day one.
If we examine this list, the Yankees spent the 2006 offseason failing to truly address every problem that was under the team's control (A-Rod's psyche not being one of them). While Brian Cashman may have saved his job with his handling of the minor-league system and adaptability throughout the 2007 season, he failed miserably to prepare this team.
He should be on a short leash when 2008 starts. If the team gets off to another terrible start, it'll likely be because the team again failed to fix its problems from the year before. If that happens, he shouldn't get a chance to make another midseason correction.
