Replacement Level Yankees Weblog

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by Larry Mahnken

I really hate Blogger. If I had the money to buy some webspace, I'd switch to something else, but I'm going to be late with my rent as it is, and this blog, while I enjoy doing it, isn't that important yet. Now, if you buy some books, maybe...

So, earlier this week, I couldn't log into Blogger to make an entry, because they were updating the software. I haven't noticed much difference yet, but it's only been a couple of days.

Last night, though, I spent two hours typing an entry. I posted...and poof! It's all gone. Gahrgh! Having to work today, I said to hell with it, left it as is, and waited until now to fix it. But I ain't retyping all that. I'll just go at the deleted topic again later this season.

Today, I worked and went to my cousin Chris's graduation party, so I didn't catch much of either game. I heard Matsui's Grand Slam on the radio, and I turned on the second game just after Giambi's Home Run, though I didn't really get to watch any of the game until the eighth. My timing is exsquisite.

One of the things I wrote last night was that it was probably a bad thing that Dan Miceli got a save last night, because it might encourage Joe Torre to use him too often in high leverage situations, and might cause them to send Jason Anderson to Columbus yet again. Miceli is an acceptable stopgap in the back of the pen, but he's not going to be a stopper, and nobody should mistake him for one.

Today's game showed two things: the Yankees' future, and the reason they might waste that future. Brandon Claussen was everything that was advertised, going 6.1 innings, striking out five, walking one, and giving up only one earned run. Any calls to leave him in the majors are out of line, he's good, but he still needs time to fully recover from T.J. surgery, but it's good to know that if they need a starter again, Claussen is capable of getting the job done.

And then they went to the bullpen. I think I read a Steven King novel about the Yankees' bullpen once. They did their thing, and they had to bring Mo in for two innings.

So instead of looking at Claussen as their ace of the future, the Yankees might be preparing to send him to Texas for Ugie, or the Mets for Benitez, or the Padres for Witasick. It would have almost been better if he had gotten bombed, because then maybe nobody would want him. Keeping Claussen would be a smart move, because the guy they trade him for will likely be not worth giving him up for, and he's got the potential to be an ace in the coming years. Unfortunately, the corportate mentality of Yankees' management leads to "safe" decisions. The safe decision is to give up a prospect for a proven player, who may not have a high ceiling, but you know what you're going to get, which is more than you can say for the prospect, who might end up being nothing. The Yankees' retention of Bernie, Jeter and Pettitte was very much a result of Gene Michael's strong leadership in the mid-nineties, as he was able to keep the Yankees from trading away their top prospects for anything less than good players. In recent year's they've tended to pass up on the prospect or undervalued AAA player for the mediocre veteran (*COUGH*ZEILE*COUGH*).

The Game Chatter streak is up to six, so we'll see you tomorrow night here, and not the posted Chatter. Leiter vs. Weaver... all good things must pass away.

Okay, Weaver might get some luck this time around. Keep the faith. DIPS taketh away, DIPS giveth.

--posted at 12:48 AM by Larry Mahnken / |

Larry Mahnken and SG's
	Replacement Level Yankees Weblog
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