Friday, August 15, 2008

Rage Against The Dying of the Light

The Yankees are freakin' out:

Coming off a 3-7 road trip and with 41 games to go in the season, the Yankees
are desperate to get back in the playoff hunt. That desperation has apparently
led them to demote struggling centerfielder Melky Cabrera to the minors and
waive first baseman Richie Sexson.

Both Cabrera and Sexson are dead weight at the moment, but it's not liking getting rid of them is going to turn anything around either. Yeah, it's hindsight, but the real move to have made with Melky would have been to package him with Kennedy months ago to get Johan Santana, and the real move to get some kind of production at first base/DH would have been to try and nab Adam Dunn, or an inanimate carbon rod, or something that would have been better than Richie Sexson.
But hey, let's give the Yankees credit for not going gentle into that good night.

13 comments:

tadthebad said...

Hahahahaha!

Sorry, Jason.

If the Yanks miss the postseason, would it mark the first year of Jeter's career that he hasn't been in the playoffs?

Craig Calcaterra said...

Yes it would, Tad. Jeter came up in 1995 and the Yankees won the wild card that year, making the playoffs for the first time since 1981. Wild cards again in 1997 and 2007, and the division or more every other year.

Jason @ IIATMS said...

Hindsight being what it is is just fine, but six more years at $20+M of Santana will be critized more than anything else.

And I am totally supportive of the demotion of Melky and the waiving of Sexson.

So what I am feeling is you guys are amused that the Yanks didn't act like, you know, the Yanks. IF they had overspent on Johan, that'd be OK. But that they chose to hold onto their kids and that didn't pay off this year was a mistake?

I'm OK with the Yanks missing the playoffs. Not HAPPY about it, but OK with it. It's about what I expected this year. There are times when you need to step back to resume a path forward. Sox fans, remember 2006?

Anonymous said...

I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords.

Daniel said...

In rod we trust!

Anonymous said...

APBA Guy-

Waiving Sexson is a good move. The guy just stopped caring about being a professional athlete. I think $ 60M career earnings might do that to some people.

And Melky can always be recalled, but he is not really more than a 4th OF, a Coco Crisp for the Yankees. Expecting him to be Bernie Williams II or even close to that is like expecting to pay your debts by winning the lottery. Hope is one thing. Expectation is another.

Anonymous said...

APBA Guy-

Waiving Sexson is a good move. The guy just stopped caring about being a professional athlete. I think $ 60M career earnings might do that to some people.

And Melky can always be recalled, but he is not really more than a 4th OF, a Coco Crisp for the Yankees. Expecting him to be Bernie Williams II or even close to that is like expecting to pay your debts by winning the lottery. Hope is one thing. Expectation is another.

Anonymous said...

The Sexson move is a bit puzzling. He costs them nothing, so the only reason to move him is to free up a roster spot, and it doesn't look like they're bringing up anyone better to take his place.

He's either the worst clubhouse cancer in history, or the Yankees are a bit more worried about Jeter's foot than they let on.

tadthebad said...

Jason,
It's not that I'm amused by the Yankees not spending/trading young talent as they have in the past, I'm amused by the likelihood that they'll miss the postseason...for the first time in, what, 15 years? They made the right decisions relative to winning this year vs. future years.

tHeMARksMiTh said...

Jason,

It's the same with any move. Every GM has his moves looked on with hindsight, but no one ever puts themselves back in that time. Who expected Hughes and Kennedy to be so bad? They should've been the next key cogs in the rotation. Now, it looks stupid, but then, it didn't. Maybe they'll figure it out next year. Maybe.

Unknown said...

If the Yankees could have had Santana for Kennedy and Cabrera, they made a huge mistake.

1 year of Santana + 2 draft picks > "exciting" low OBP OF, 2 low-ceiling prospects, and a lottery ticket

1 year of Santana + 2 draft picks > Kennedy, Cabrera, and scraps

Pushing the extension aside, the Mets came out of this smelling like roses.

tadthebad said...

Peter,
I'm not certain you CAN push the extension aside, but if you do, it still might have been too much for the Yanks to give up for one year of Johan...it will be interesting to see how the deal looks when Johan is 34 and getting paid like he's 28. Even with Buchholtz' struggles (and considering Lester's rise), I'm glad the Sox didn't give up so much to get Santana.

Unknown said...

Peter...add Phil Hughes AND one other good prospect to the two you listed and you have what the Twins were demanding for Santana. THAT is too expensive, way too expensive.

Then again, it's astounding that anyone in the MSM is actually writing/talking about the Yankees...must be the only members of the press not covering Phelps, or cameras not permanently trained on Women's Beach Volleyball (THAT is an Olympic sport, really? SPEED WALKING is an Olympic sport?).

Speaking of which...I just discovered the most, um, interesting juxtaposition of TV channel content in my TV watching life...NBC has our scantily clad women's beach volleyballers on, whilst CNBC is showing women's weightlifting 'clean and jerk'. Yowsers, you can add Misty and Kerri together and STILL not equal one Victoria Mavridou (who is super cute but huge and she just cleared 150+ kilos, yikes). Not that I follow the Olympics for girl-watching or anything like that..