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The Hot Stove has been, for lack of a better pun, quite cold this winter. Bloggers and baseball analysts have weighed in on where they think players will end up, but in the end, it just ends up as speculation with little concrete information to back any bold statement up. While most teams wait for the market on free agents to come down, the New York Mets have gotten the most bang for their megabucks - as they always do. Just like every New York Met fan, I'm thrilled, excited, eager, and above-all-else, boastful.
The Mets always get their man. Johan. Carlos. It goes beyond All-Stars. The Yankees, the last few years, have settled for second, third or twelfth best. While the Mets often feel like they don't have enough and need more, the Yankees are a franchise that always hold out hope everything on paper will translate to the field and figure problems will work themselves out. While the Metsies sign marquee players in their prime, the Yankees do the same, only past their prime. Look at any or all of the following Yankees signings/acquisitions over the past few years: Carl Pavano, Jaret Wright, Sidney Ponson, Kevin Brown, Tony Clark, Raul Mondesi, John Olerud.
I could go on and name drop pre-90's signings and trades but why insult Ken Phelps, Fran Healy, and Steve Balboni? They knew they were past their prime. The Yankees just didn't. While there are moments of greatness, the franchise always seems to do the wrong thing or handle situations poorly. Look at past lousy trades they've made...paging Dale Murray - are you there Dale Murray? Look at how they handled the Yankee Stadium closing ceremony last year. Why have it after a season where they didn't even make the playoffs? I could even take them to task for overcharging for Yankee memorabilia. I could go on... the way they treated Dwight Gooden, the way they ran Joe Torre out of town, and the way they traded Scott McGregor and Rick Dempsey for a bag of balls. I could go on, and will.
This off-season was crucial for General Manager Brian Cashman to make an impact. The team is moving to a state-of-the-art ballpark and are coming off of eight seasons which ended in collapses. 2007 in particular saw the team get blown out by the Indians in the first round. 2008's answer? Giving Darrell Rasner and Sidney Ponson 35 starts between them. It didn't work. A surprise to nobody.
Cashman started off strong for the 2009 campaign by signing CC and Teixeira. But, the GM has been virtually M.I.A. ever since - doing as he always does in trying to find lightning in a bottle by signing low-risk has-been or never-been players. It's worked in the past, but that doesn't mean it's always going to work. Today's Nick Swisher is tomorrow's Kevin Maas.
To get to the point of all this, the New York Yankees are a team I love. They just don't love me back. Lately, they are being run like The Montreal Expos version 2.0. I'd be OK with this if their Queens neighbors didn't get all the good players or if the Yankees couldn't afford to land players like Derek Lowe and Manny Ramirez. But, they can.
Devil's advocate you can say Ramirez is a liability all around, and that'd agreed. Still, there's no doubt he'd add some character to this team. Why wait for the market to go down? The Red Sox have already got stronger. The Rays have gotten stronger.
Maybe Bernard Madoff is the real reason the Steinbrenners are standing pat this off-season. Maybe Hideki Matsui can repeat his performance last year like Cashman preaches. Maybe Robinson Cano can keep his head-on straight.
Or maybe, just maybe, it's the same Yankees. Being a Yankees fan is like being in an abusive relationship. When things are going good, you can't believe how well they're going. When things are bad, however, they're really bad...like Jason Giambi trying to play first base bad.
Here's hoping the Yankees break character, and pick up a quality starting pitcher who can help solidify the rotation; a young veteran outfielder whose proven he can stay healthy, and a few capable bats for the bench. A one-way ticket out of town for Johnny Damon is also in order.
Let's hope the team gets some swagger, and we, as fans, and they, as an organization, stop milking 2000 accomplishments. Not to take anything away from that year, because it was simply amazing and I still get choked up by highlights from it, but we need new highlights.
It'd be easier to accept being a fan of the other New York baseball team if the organization didn't continually remind us that they're second in town. The average fan knows how to run this team. They have for years. It's time the owners figure it out, too. If they do, I'll be watching and buying tickets. If they don't, I'll be watching and buying tickets. Loyal as always. Don't think they don't know that.
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