Sad Yankee

Yesterday afternoon to early evening was a death knell for myself with other Yankee fans Im sure.

Another October, another early exit from the playoffs with a team roster of overpaid billionares and a manager who's long overdue to take off that uniform.

I know there's a lot of attention to Mr Moneybags A-HOL....ahem...I mean A-ROD, and I will get to THAT later....

Like I said last October when the Angels gave the Yanks a kick in the Ass out the door that - although I love Torre, I just think his time has come to hand the reins over to someone else. I just think he looks tired and has lost not only his effectiveness to his players but his passion for the game.

These Yankees of the new century require a bit of old school. They need a manager who isnt going to sleepily reply to any kind of adversity. They need someone in the dugout whos going to punch a water cooler and then kick said water cooler around on the ground 5 or six times. That was the one thing that the Yankees teams from 96-00 had: They had Paul O'Neill. That dude wore his heart on his sleeve and his passion for winning spread to his teammates. The current roster of millionares and overpaid superstars do not have that. Giambi comes close, but I imagine his reserves himself from explosive dugout antics because it may appear to someone else a good excuse of hanging a "roid rage" moniker on the guy. Jeter is awesome and his composure and how he plays on the field earned him his captian status - and I certainly do not disupte that.

So this leaves that task to the manager. One sign that Joe is no longer cut out to be that guy is evident in the big SI story that among its other clubhouse revelations it gave us - is when Giamibi HAD to tell Torre to stop coddling AROD.

This brings me down to my point....Since their outster from last year's playoffs I said they should have brought in the one guy that has been there before: PINELLA. His fire comes straight from old school where he learned under the tutlage of one of the games greats: Billy Martin.

Pinella is the one guy who knows how to handle A-ROD and others and is the one guy who will get the Yankee ship righted. It is an absolute f-ing shame with over 200 Mil worth of so called talent, they cant f-ing win!!!

So many mistakes out of the manager in this years ALDS blunder. From the line ups to the rotation.

Lets start with the rotation. Yankee pitching outside of Wang was equally as bad as the offense. Torre' biggest problem over the last 4 years has been his reluctance to pull his starter before they blew up on the mound and put the team in too large of a hole in which to dig out. This year, it was leaving Moose in Gm 2 for as long as he did, when Moose clearly didnt have it. It also seems that Moose is another player like AROD who fails to show up in October. He was the guy who couldnt hold a lead against the Angels last year, and it was Boston the year before. And I am not gonna re-hash the Boston thing like all the stupid stories you hear when the Yanks lose and which will be repeated a thousand times over the winter while this years offseason will be over talked about.

Let talk about Johnson. The mistake was even letting this guy pitch when it came to light last week that his back was blown out. Did Torre not learn his lesson with Boomer in 2003 (or was it 2004?) Same injury to an aging pitcher. He should have NEVER even considered throwing Johnson out there. He should have been a limited bullpen option IF even that. Torre should have just shut him down and put Lidle in and hope for the best. Hell, Lidle couldnt have done much WORSE!

Look at ballclub across town who is still playing in October. With not one but TWO major pitchers in their rotation and Willie was even smart enough to shut em down and not put hope on any player who has to be at the top of his game at this point of the year who is a question mark of health. They went with lesser talented options and have gotten wins. I really want to see Wille's boys go all the way this year. Hell, I dare say Willie should have been given a shot at the Yanks. Looks like another sharp manager who also benefited from ol Billy's ways.....

So with the season on the line, who does he throw out there to pitch? Mr postseason choke himself....Jared Wright. I have NEVER like Wright. Dude totally sucks!

This offseason, in addition to Pinella becoming manager, I also would like to have another item placed on my Xmas list: OVERHAUL THE ENTIRE ROTATION! Keep Wang, dont renew Moose (he just concluded another muliyear deal didnt he?) or Wright (also just finished his deal) Option Pavano, hopefully Johnson will retire because of his back...if not just let him go...

With all that salary dump, and so what if they have to eat someones last year - they can afford it.... and go out and find good YOUNG talent. If you have to do a deal with the Angels or Dodgers for A-Rod for good young arms I hope you at LEAST get Jared Weaver out of it. Or least get something GOOD.

Ok....since I just crossed the threshold of AROD...here is my thoughts on the offense....

Rebuild it. Let AROD go. Although I love Matsui, I just think he is a liability on defense. I like Cabrrea's potential better than I like Matsui there. Im sorry I said it. The rest of the outfield is locked up with Damon and Abreu. Now for the infield...Obviously Jeter, Cano and Posada arent going anywhere...so that leaves the corners....

I think the best thing would be to send Giambi and AROD on their way. Giambi gets hurt often at the wrong times. Although he did have a HR in his first game but it always seems like he is not really seen. If we keep him, it should be a full time DH. Otherwise trade him for good young talent. Im sure the Marlins would listen to a good 2 year rental on Giambi to trade with CASH to get D-Train. That would be a start.

Now lets talk about AROD. If the Yanks were to get Pinella on the bench, MAYBE he gets through to this guy, and maybe he doesnt......I think the best option is to get him to waive his no trade option (he has done it two times before, dispite his public proclaims of wanting to stay) and get good young pitching talent for him. Rangers are still footing the bill for a large chunk of his salary so why couldnt you get a hella deal for him? With a change of scenery where his is not one of many superstars where he can once again shine with his numbers will do him good. Would probably come back and bite the Yankees in the ass over the first couple of years (his new team would probably oust the Yanks out of Rd 1 too.) But after that it would likely pay dividens.....

Which with AROD out, you could keep Sheffield and put him on 3rd. He done 3rd before and if he played 1st why wouldnt he go to 3rd? Sheff is one guy I really think deserves to stay. I really think they have kind of done him wrong and you know he probably wouldnt come back unless this kind of scenario could play out....his bat is too powerful and respected to let him go......

Oh well.....many questions....hopefully some of these will play out well over the offseason....I just hope that they finally make a change at the helm its sadly overdue.....I love ya Joe, but ya gotta go!!!!