The Unfolding Yankee Season

Caveat

That's Matt DeSalvo pitching in his debut for the Yankees.

A while back I got an e-mail from somebody who said he really hates this blog because I sometimes write about baseball. The truth is, I don't write about baseball, I write about what I think about in response to the box scores. Anyway, if I lost a reader because I occasionally choose to talk about the things that interest me, so be it. Lord knows there are plenty of blogs out there that don't discuss baseball; and my last entry on anything sporting was about Brian Lara retiring, so go figure.
In the mean time, this entry is going to be all about the Yankee season so far.

Yankee Thought No. 1 - 2005 Redux (Or Is It Reflux?)

Well, here we are again with a re-run of 2005. The Yankees have stumbled out the gate as there have been a rash of injuries that has devastated the rotation. Well, some are even citing the stat that the Yankees have started 4 rookies this year for the first time since a Philadelphia team that no longer exists did so in 1890. What's not surprising is that three of those rookies are from the Yankee's own farm system and the other, Kei Igawa, is only a rookie by semantics - he was the Ace of the Hanshin Tigers for 4 years and so is hardly a babe in the woods. Of the 4, Matt DeSalvo and Darrell Rasner have done well; Philip 'The Franchise' Hughes looked sensational in his second outing as he took a no-hitter into the Seventh and promptly got injured; and Chase Wright had one good outing before the red Sox squashed him like a bug. It's not a bad outcome given who was out: Wang, Moose and Pavano.

More on Pavano in a moment... In 2005, of course they slotted in the likes of Tim Redding, Shawn Chacon and Aaron Small but since then Brian Cashman has stocked the farm system so that he hasn't had to reach for the waiver wires and reject bins. As a wise man once said you only get Shawn Chacon once in your life and well, Cashman had Chacon AND Aaron Small that year, so while the injuries have been annoying to the max, he's done a great job of allowing these young fellows to be in a position to be available to the club.
As crises go, having 4 rookies start, isn't that bad.

Yankee Thought No.2 - TINSTAAPP!

Roger Clemens is coming back. Hooray. TINSTAAPP as you may know, stands for 'There Is No Such Thing As A Pitching Prospect"
When you sign a 44 y.o. former Cy Young winner, you could fairly be accused of holding to that philosphy. I hesitate to think what a 45 y.o. Rocket can deliver when a 41-43 y.o. Big Unit was a big disappointment on the standing on the shoulder of even larger disappointments; but what the hey. He only has to beat what Kei Igawa is going to deliver because the front 4 are already Wang, Pettite, Moose and Phil Franchise. Some have estimated this to be about 3 wins. However, that's 3 wins extra the Red Sox won't be getting, so Roger NOT going to the Bosox might be the bigger story than him actually turning up for the Yanks. Either way, it doesn't show the Yankees are suddenly all frugal and penny-pinching. They just know when to open their purses.
One thing I don't get. Will he come back next year if they win the World Series?

Yankee Thought No. 3 - Pavanova
I actually bought the Brian Cashman line and picked up Carl Pavano for 1 start in my Fantasy League. Then, I quickly ditched him for Boof Bonser, who I ditched for Zack Greinke who I ditched for Oliver Perez, who I ditched for Igawa and now Gil Meche. As a result I didn't pick up that one win. I know how Cashman feels. If only the fucker could stay healthy long enough for league average, he would've been great trade bait by now. As it is, he's insisting he needs Tommy John surgery. Aiyah. I don't even care if he's faking it or if he genuinely is the injury-fairy. As Yankee fans like to say,"He's dead to me!"

Yankee Thought No.4 - On The BoSux
As of this writing, the Yankees are 6 games behind the Bosox and 1 game under .500. It's May. I just don't think the Red Sox can really run away with the division. I can always be proven wrong, but they're not as good as they've been playing; and the Yanks certainly not as bad as their record shows. The 2-6 record on 1-run games is a bit of a culprit as Mo has blown 3 saves, but really, it's not going to stay this way. When you see the A's sitting on top of the AL West with a 16-15 record, the fact that there are two 20-win teams in the AL Central just doesn't scare me. I think the Yankees will just inch back and take the division like they have in the previous years.

Yankee Thought No.5 - Phil Franchise

In all of this chaos, Phil Hughes arrived and promptly got injured. This is perhaps the most awful news in all of ths confluence. (Fortunately I picked himup just for the good start, but now he's going to live on the DL for 4-6 weeks and it's killing me). I think it's the first time in living memory that the Yankees have brought up a No.1 Prospect that was a pitcher - TINSTAAPP or not. I'm really rooting for the kid who has been dubbed 'Phil Franchise'.

Yankee Thought No.6 - A-God
I'm delighted at A-Rod's sizzling start. I'm glad the fans have finally embraced him. About time too. At one point he was slugging over 1.000, but since then he's cooled back down to slugging .740. Talk about on fire - he was like the sun itself. He may yet exercise his option and opt out of his contract at the end of the year, but until he does, he's a god. I'm enjoying what the Yankees are getting from him right now. It's great entertainment, and let's be blunt: on some levels, it's all about the entertainment.

Yankee Thought No. 7
It's turning out so far that the returns on the Randy and Sheff trades have not been great. Humberto Sanchez went and got himself Tommy John surgery, which is bad. Russ Ohlendorf hasn't exactly lit up AAA Scranton WB. At the moment the trades are looking a bit Mike-Lowell-for-Ed-Yarnall+2.