The State of the Yankees

As usual, watching today's Yankees game on FOX and thus having to listen to Tim McCarver is enough to make me want to shoot myself.  Mainly because "In My Opinion" likes to hear himself talk without lending anything of actual substance to the broadcast.  Last week, they went on for two innings about that poor beer vendor who dropped his entire tray of beer onto the field.  It was funny, but you started to feel bad for the poor guy after they kept going on and on about it.  And did I really need to know that both Tim AND Ken Rosenthal were stadium vendors in their past lives?  Today's insight?  That the conversations at first base between the first baseman and the baserunner are all pure nonsense.  So is your commentary, Tim.

Anyway, I could go on for days about how bad Tim McCarver is, but what really got me going today was his attempt to dissect the current state of the Yankees.  He's said at least six times today that "they have to find a way to turn six starters into four" (among other brilliant pieces of insight).  As our friends at FOX see it, the Yankees have three "problems" they need to address before the postseason: the rotation, finding a left-handed DH, and "straightening out" Mariano Rivera.

I'm going to tackle these one at a time, starting with the most ridiculous.  They need to "straighten out" Mariano Rivera?  Really?  Mariano didn't have a good week.  On Sunday, he blew a save in Boston.  Then he took the loss against the Angels on Tuesday and gave up a home run to Russell Branyan (before still getting the save) on Thursday.  He threw one bad pitch during that entire outing against the Red Sux.  It just so happened, it resulted in a leadoff double by Marco Scutaro.  The next guy up was Jacoby Ellsbury, and he dropped down a not very good bunt.  Mariano fielded and had plenty of time to get Scutaro at third...except third baseman Eduardo Nunez was standing right next to him, so he had to go to first.  Runner on third, one out, the Boston lineup's probably going to get the run in. 

Let's move on to Thursday.  It was 6-2 going into the ninth, so Cory Wade started the inning.  Mariano only came in after he put two runners on.  Russell Branyan was up next, and all he does is hit home runs at Yankee Stadium.  The home run made it 6-5, but Mariano shut the door from there and got the save.  Mariano only gave up one of those runs, and he wouldn't have even been in the game if Wade hadn't put two runners on.  Nothing's "wrong" with Mariano.  He had a bad week.  Big deal.  He's still the greatest closer ever.  And I'd still much rather have him pitching the ninth inning than any other closer out there.  It's the rest of the bullpen that you've got to worry about.

Now it's time for this whole left-handed DH thing.  I'm going to try hard not to make this entirely about Jorge Posada, but I can't go without mentioning how ridiculously poorly the Yankees have treated him this year.  The Yankees have never been very good at firing players (face it, that's what they're trying to do here), but this is really getting messy.  If he's not going to DH against lefties and he's not going to DH against righties, why is he still on the team?  This obsession to carry 13 pitchers means you're playing with a three-man bench anyway.  If you're telling Jorge that he's not needed, that means your bench consists of Cervelli and whichever of the Chavez/Nunez/Jones trimuverate isn't in the lineup.

We all know this is it for Jorge Posada on the New York Yankees.  Do him (and us) a favor and let him go out gracefully.  Or at the very least, show him some class.  Don't forget, this guy's won four World Championships with the organization.  Anyway, Jorge was in the lineup on Saturday for the first time in a week and proceeded to start off the game 3-for-3 with a grand slam and six RBIs.  Maybe he'll respond to this benching the same way he did the first time, when he went on a six-week hot streak and looked like the player of old.  There are even questions as to whether or not Jorge will be on the playoff roster.  I'm not sure where I stand on that, but if you're not going to use him in the playoffs, don't put him on the roster.

One final note about Posada before I move on to A.J. Burnett.  Don't do the stupid thing and call up Jesus Montero.  If this guy's as good as you say he is, don't call him up and waste Major League service time just because you don't want to use Posada anymore.

And now for the rotation.  Everybody's worried about Mariano, but how about the fact that CC is 0-4 against the Red Sux this season?  Or the fact that he gave up five home runs on Friday?  I think that's a bit of a problem.  Especially since he'd pitch against them twice in a potential ALCS, and I'm sure the Yankees would count on a victory every time Sabathia takes the mound.  But CC has carried this rotation on his back for two-and-a-half years.  It's time for the other guys to pick him up.  Nevertheless, the question of who to put behind CC in the postseason isn't a hard one.  It's just figuring out the order.  Going on performance, it's easy: Freddy Garcia, Ivan Nova and Bartolo Colon.

They're dropping the six-man rotation on Monday, which means either A.J. Burnett or Phil Hughes is headed to the bullpen.  I think that's an easy choice, as well.  Phil Hughes was great out of the bullpen in 2009.  A.J. Burnett has never pitched out of the bullpen.  He wouldn't be happy about it, but Hughes would be a lot more effective in that role than A.J. would.  And as for A.J., Michael Kay made a very good point during the game the other night.  Why is Jorge under such a microscope, but not A.J.?  Brian Cashman said that some of the criticism towards him isn't warranted, and, for the most part, he's pitched better than his record.  While I agree with that (on Tuesday against the Angels, he had one bad inning), there are still some stats that can't be ignored.  Burnett has NEVER won a game in August for the Yankees, and earlier this month against the White Sox, he didn't get the win because he couldn't get through five innings despite having a 13-1 lead!  I  honestly believe he's still capable of being the pitcher that received that ridiculous contract.  But Burnett has to start contributing something positive other than the walk-off shaving cream pies.