Mariners Analysis

Monday, October 09, 2006

Yankees next steps

While many fans hate all the attention the Yankees receive, the fact is they have a huge affect on teams free agent plans. They often set the price for top talent, and depending on what George wants, many teams find themselves altering their plans based on Yankee decisions.

If, for example, you had your heart set on a certain Japanese pitcher this offseason, the fact the Yankee pitching failed is probably the worst thing to happen. If you, for example, thought Barry Zito was going to look good in a Mariner uniform, you can forget it. Zito will wind up in NY, either for the Mets or Yankees, and there is little you can do about it.

So the fact the Yankees lost the way they did will indeed have an impact on the Mariners offseason. We of course don't know what the Yankee FO is going to do, but we can rest assured it will have an impact. With the M's having only 2 starters penciled in for next season, the Yankees collapse just made their job that much more difficult. Boston will be chasing pitching. The Mets will be chasing pitching. If only we had a left arm that could throw 90 mph this winter- the dollars are going to be insanse.

The other soap opera from the Yankees collapse involve Torre and A-Rod. It was quite clear in game four that Torre has no love for his MVP of last season. Consider:
* A-Rod finds out he's batting 8th (!) by looking at the lineup card. Torre feels batting clean up in game three, and then 8th in game four is not worthy of even a 1-minute conversation. While I don't like to coddle baseball players, given their egos and the money involved, this was a poor way to handle things by Torre.
* Torre sitting on his hands when Ivan Rodriguez slides in to third base. Normally a player is out on that play 95% of the time in baseball. The throw beats the runner, and a tag is made. Yet the play is called safe, while A-Rod jumps up and down clearly showing he felt he was out. Did Torre support his player? No. Did Captain Jeter rush over and plead his case? No. The entire team never said a word, while they proceeded to sleepwalk through a critical game.

Personally I think Torre should be fired and replaced by someone who can motive his players. I think Lou would be terrible as a manager in NY, so of course I secretly hope they do hire him, but I think someone like Girardi makes more sense. We'll see what happens, but I don't think Torre and A-Rod should be playing together next year.

Tigers-Mets world series. Should be fun.