All good things must eventually come to an end. The Bosox finally defeated my beloved Yankees in a postseason series. I'm clear that this loss was particularly painful, as the Yanks lost four straight. In fact, they were only 3 outs from making their 7th World Series appearance in the last 10 years.
What should Steinbrenner do during the off season ?
Here are my suggestions:
1) Eat Kevin Brown's contract - He was pathetic in the ALCS.
2) Go out and find some quality lefties to strenghthen the starting rotation and the bullpen. Quantrill and Gordon saved their worst performances for the postseason.
3) Develop the farm system again.
4) Begin to understand that the, eventual Hall of Famer, Mariano Rivera has at best two more good seasons left. Start grooming another quality closer. He has earned his pinstripes.
Despite the lack of production in the last four games of the ALCS, the Yankee offense is a Murderous Row. Very potent indeed.
I hate to think that they choked, but I have no other explanation. Certainly, a historic defeat and I'll forced to tune out miserable Sox fans for the next couple of weeks.
GREAT GAME!!!
I'm glad that Boston won!!!!! and you are right, the Yankees did choke BIG TIME!!!!
GO BOSTON!!!!!!!!
In addition to the offseason suggestions AG posted, I'd post a few more:
1. If Giambi and Olerud are healthy at the beginning of next year, shop Tony Clark around. He played good defense, but had a few chances to swing the bat and didn't produce. (It should be noted that one of the unlucky things happening to the Yanks here was when T.C. hit the ground rule double in the top of the 9th. Sierra did not score, whereas if the ball had stayed in play he would have. We might be talking about the downfall of the BoSox again)
2. Was it me, or were the Yankees hitters all swinging for the fences after Game 4? It also appeared that the BoSox watched film in between games while the Yankees didn't. As a result, their pitching seemed to improve and stifle the Bronx Bombers' bats. But they started whacking the hell out of our pitching. If this is the case, then we have a coaching issue. I know that Donnie Baseball hasn't won a World Series. I hope he wasn't encouraging his guys to go swing for downtown Bronx or Landsdowne, wherever they were playing.
3. Keep Lieber and Moose as the two returning starters. Like AG said, send Kevin Brown to Detroit or somewhere for some left handed prospects. Try to land one starter - Santana out of Minnesota would help. Sell Vasquez if you have to - he's shown no stamina through a full season, but might be worth something to another team down the road. Quantrill and Gordon can go packing - you're right. Keep Sturtze in the bullpen, along with Loaiza. I was more impressed with Loaiza as a bullpen pitcher than a starter.
4. What to do with Kenny Lofton... well the YES network web page posts someone saying he should have played more. Once it was apparent that Boston had figured out Sierra, then yes he should have DH'ed more than he did. Rube is a powerful hitter, but he became a liability when they stopped trying to get fastballs and hanging sliders by him.
5. Matsui is almost there... he seems to get pressured to swing at bad pitches like he did last year. But he hammers the good ones. He showed a lot more emotion this year and is beginning to know what it means to be a Yankee. He will be ready to work hard to come back next year. Good things to come from Godzilla...
6. A-Rod now knows he has to work hard - I hope he does in the offseason. Sheffield has his ring - we'll see if he works hard to get another one. I thought he hurt the team by screwing himself in the ground on each swing, even though I know that's the only way he knows how to swing, and it served him well in the regular season. If Giambi comes back, we'll rebuild a murderer's row in the lineup again.
Well those are my lengthy thoughts. Good luck to the BoSox - you've had plenty so far. Must be that Ted Williams' ghost started messing with our ghosts and kept them at bay this year.
==Adrian
AB:
Your analysis is on point. I'm certain that Donnie didn't instruct those guys to swing for the fences. You may recall that Donnie was a career contact hitter. Rest assured that there will be some changes in the off-season.
I understand that the Marlins right-hander, Pavano is also available in the off-season too. He is a young prospect and throws very hard.
I read that Steve Karsay is supposed to be back next year, too. Bar none, they need a strong lefty presence in that bullpen, and make sure those guys don't get hurt.
I saw a fan who said the Yankees just got cocky and thought they were unbeatable. I saw another that said they need guys who want to play in Yankee pinstripes and knows what it means to be a Yankee baseball player. I think Bubba Crosby knew what it meant - recall that he gave those guys a boost when he was first brought up from AAA. He didn't play much, but he deserved to be on the roster.
Who stays or who goes? Here's my picks:
Gone before spring training:
Kevin Brown
Tony Clark (if Giambi gets healthy)
Javier Vasquez (trade bait for a good lefty)
Kenny Lofton (trade bait with Clark or a prospect for Beltran)
Enrique Wilson (why keep around when Cairo wants to play and you didn't see him at all in the series)
Bubba Crosby (!) (also trade bait for Beltran, but would be sad to see him go)
Tom Gordon (back to the 'Sox so the Yanks can pound him next year)
Paul Quantrill (worth it if we get a solid lefty starter or Carl Pavano. Too bad Dontrelle Willis isn't available)
Starters next year if Beltran is a Yankee:
SS - Jeter
3B - A-Rod
RF - Sheffield
LF - Matsui
DH - Williams
1B - Giambi
C - Posada/Flaherty
CF - Beltran
2B - Cairo
Without Beltran it becomes:
1. Jeter
2. A-Rod
3. Sheffield
4. Matsui
5. Williams CF
6. Giambi 1B/DH
7. Posada/Flaherty
8. Olerud 1B/DH or Sierra DH
9. Cairo
I don't think they quite get rid of Ruben Sierra yet. He came alive this year and had a couple of clutch hits prior to the last 4 games of the season.
Starting rotation next year:
1. Moose
2. Lieber
3.
4.
5. El Duque
Now who out here cares if the Sox win it all? Part of me wants to see them finally reverse that 1918 curse. But the Yankee in me wants them to fail miserably. Edmonds, Rolen, Pujols... they ain't gonna choke.
Not all of my comments came out ok.
In my projected starting rotation, I put:
3. A hard throwing lefty
4. A new hard throwing righty - perhaps Carl Pavano.
I forgot to mention that Minnesota's hard throwing left-hander, Santana could also be had next year. We also have a few prospects in our farms system (Proctor). Definitely, need to develop our own.
T:
I see that you're a bandwagon Sox fan of the worst kind. I'm thinking aobut deleting your comment ;) Understand that if the Sox don't win it all, there 'one' postseason series victory against the Yanks will be all but forgotten. Except maybe in Boston.