To be fair, I think Joe Torre is an amazing manager, and deserves the eventual hall of fame nod he'll receive once he has retired.

But there have been plenty of occasions where I've had to scratch my head - keeping Mariano Rivera on the bench in the 8th when he claimed he was worried he'd been overworked, yet Rivera hadn't pitched in nearly a week (and his overall amount of duty this year has been comparably small to his previous seasons). His batting order/benching/non-benching of players is pretty drab and non-effectual. He hasn't been able to work with and motivate some players (Abreu, Cano, etc.) and has been too fond of going with "favorites" over the past few years (see Sturtze/Quantrill, last year Villone/Proctor, now again) by refusing to bring up performing minor league talent for the bullpen and the batting order. They've had to give starters a try, because of injury. But as I've posted before, we have a handful of players who are excelling at Triple-A, and we keep guys like Abreu in the lineup rather than benching them until they wake the fuck up.

I like Torre a lot, but after this season, I would not be against a wholesale change if someone like Girardi (or gasp, Bobby Valentine?) would come into the managers role.

And again, to be fair, he is dealing with a situation that was created by both a lack of forethought on the part of the front office and bad luck (signing Sheffield over Guerrerro a few years ago, Damon over Beltran, in general not moving the team in a youthful direction). I love what Cashman has done with the minor leagues - building up a nice set of prospects - but at the same time, the team has finally jumped the shark.

Klydon is right - a lot of ground can be made up in half a season. A-Rod, Jeter, and Posada need to keep playing like the all-stars they are. Matsui needs to find his swing, which he's been looking for since his injury last year. Abreu needs to find himself, wherever he is. Last I heard he was lurking somewhere back in mid-May. Cano needs to have someone teach him plate discipline (where is Kevin Long?). Damon needs to go on the DL. Melky needs to step up. Mienkeiwicz needs to return. Trades need to be made.

It could be a long, depressing summer. Or one that makes for must-see TV. We'll see...