There's a problem with the timing
There's a problem with the groove
There's an overwhelming lethargy
Nothing can improve
You can sense defeat get closer
Every time they add a move...
A lot of things are going right for the Yankees. They acquired a Molina brother (how many of them are there, anyway?) to replace Wil Nieves, who is now back in Scranton. Andy Phillips is proving himself an upgrade, offensively and defensively, over Minky and Phelps. Melky Cabrera, who was hitting below the Mendoza line for awhile this year, is en fuego this month (though he's still not as good on defense as Bubba). A-Rod is about to hit his 500th home run. The Bombers are winning more games than they were. The division is probably out of reach, but the wild card is not.
And yet...there's just a sense of impending doom over this team. Last year, and the year before, I never thought the Yankees were out of it, ever. This year...I'm finding it hard to believe they can make the post-season.
Thus, I wasn't exactly astonished that they lost the series to the very bad Baltimore Orioles. (Bubba's onetime roommate, Brian Roberts, was a real thorn in the Yankees' side. The kind of speedy, scrappy little guy that gives them fits.) They really can't afford to lose to teams like Baltimore...but they did.
The trade deadline is tomorrow at 4pm. A lot of fans love trades, but I'm always a little apprehensive. I guess I'm leery of change, even change that's supposedly for the better.
I remember when Bubba was traded to the Yankees minutes before the deadline. I wasn't happy. I liked Robin Ventura. Of course, it turned out to be a great trade for the Yanks.
Then there was last year, when Cashman made what looked like two great deadline trades. But they sealed Bubba's fate, since with Abreu and Wilson joining the roster, they didn't have room for him any more. Though they seemed like terrific trades at the time, they didn't really help the Yanks. They didn't win any more games than they already were. And it didn't really set them up for this year, either. Lidle died in a plane crash shortly after the Yankees' season ended. Craig Wilson never played well in NY. He struggled to find a new team, was signed by the Braves at the last minute, then was released. He landed with the Charlotte Knights. (But he's not playing for them tonight. Like Bubba, he ended up getting shoulder surgery, and will likely be out for the season. The bad shoulder might explain why his batting fell off so precipitously this year.)
Bobby Abreu is the only player from those trades still with the Yankees, and he hasn't been all that great. He hasn't hit all that well, and even his on base percentage has fallen off. And his defense is pretty awful. He won't dive for balls, he still shies away from the walls, and he has four errors so far this year. That's really astonishing, since outfielders don't get many errors. (Bubba has two errors in his entire big league career.) IMO, we'd have been much better off with Sheff, bad attitude and all.
So, will the Yanks make any moves before the deadline? Maybe, but already a couple of the players they were likely coveting have been traded elsewhere. Jarrod Saltalamacchia, the Braves' young stud catcher, has been traded to Texas for Mark Texeira, probably the only first baseman the Yanks were seriously interested in. My guess is that if Cashman does make a move, it will be for relief pitching. It's what most needs improvement, and it's really the only area where they have any kind of flexibility.
Labels: Yankees
