Originally posted by Irishman12: [quote]Originally posted by Double-J: [b] And don't worry, I12...I'm sure I'll enjoy it. Hopefully we'll get past the first round this time, and our players will want to win.
I've been hearing a TON of rumors about this upcoming offseason. I'm hearing Sheffield won't be resigned, Wright and Unit might get their contracts bought out, they might be trying to shop Giambi and A-Rod, and they might not resign Moose [/b][/quote]I'd be in support of every single one of those moves.
With Wang as the ace, Hughes coming up and hopefully Matsuzaka acquired from Seibu, that gives the Yankees three solid starters. Re-sign Mussina as the #4 pitcher (15-7 for your fourth starter would be pretty damn good). If they could get Dontrelle Willis (surely a stretch, just like the Pujols rumors), it would be an insane rotation.
Quote:
Originally posted by Don Cardi: Yes a manager needs to get his team ready. And a manager needs to be a motivator at times. But I look at that Yankee bench and see a bunch of guys just sitting there watching a ballgame. Where were the Bernies and the Jeters talking to the other players trying to motivate them? You loo at the Mets dugout and all you see are the Julio Francos and the Carlos Delgados talking and motivating the other players. That's what I was talking about JJ.
One thing that Torre maybe should have done was to go out in that 3rd or 4th game and argue with an ump and make a scene and get booted which mayh have incited the rest of the team to step up a bit and get excited.
There was absolutely no excitment whatsoever on that Yankee bench.
Perhaps Torre was not as animated as he should have been. Perhaps he should have been a little more aggresive in his managing style as far as manufacturing runs and trying to make things happen on the bases. But there is no way that you can convince me that he was to blame and that he should be fired. No way.
Spolied, spoiled, spoiled. That's what you are! :p
Don Cardi
The blame does fall on the manager because it isn't the players responsibility to get other players ready to go. That is the managers job - even without the fire, it looked like half of the team had been out partying late the night before and hadn't practiced. That's not Jeter's or Bernie's problem, because we know their respective work ethics. But the manager has to a.) sit-on the prima donnas like Sheffield and Giambi, slap the shit out of them if necessary, and light them up and b.) get the team organized, use a variety of strategies, and not just sit there and watch the team go 1-2-3 up and down for 9 innings.
That is absolutely Torre's fault, and I can't see how that this isn't bigger issue to some people here. Again, in the past I've expressed my fondness for Torre and my belief that he is one of the greatest managers of all time, but the Yankees came in naked. Now, granted, his pitching rotation, with the exception of Wang, was suspect. But with that batting lineup, there should have been some more runs on the board than the pathetic, paltry outings in games 3 and 4.
Furthermore, at the press conference yesterday, what did Torre say the Yankees needed to improve on next year?
Starting pitching?
Better defense?
No. The bullpen.
Sorry Joe, but I cannot fathom how you can blame the bullpen for the Yankees problems. If anything, Proctor, Villone Inc. were solid this season, Bruney came in as a breath of fresh air, Myers was the best lefty specialist in baseball, and Farnsworth was decent. And Rivera is Rivera. Don't tell me that the bullpen is the problem - by the time they came into the game, it was mop-up duty.
Maybe with some on-field personnel changes for 2007, Joe Torre can coach the Yankees to another World Series. Maybe if they get a new third-baseman who can play decent defense, and who can bat deep into the lineup. Maybe if they get a defensive first baseman. Maybe if they don't have so many injuries. Maybe if they have starting pitching.
Maybe, most of all, if the manager can get the team to want the World Series more than anybody else.
