Larry Mahnken and SG's

Replacement Level Yankees Weblog

"Hey, it's free!"


The Replacement Level Yankees Weblog has moved!  Our new home is:
http://www.replacementlevel.com

Featuring:
Larry Mahnken
SG
sjohnny
TVerik
Sean McNally
Fabian McNally
John Brattain


This is an awesome FREE site, where you can win money and gift certificates with no skill involved! If you're bored, I HIGHLY recommend checking it out!



Web
yankeefan.blogspot.com

Disclaimer: If you think this is the official website of the New York Yankees, you're an idiot. Go away.


October 10, 2006


What Happened?
by SG

I have to admit that the Yankees getting dominated by Detroit kind of stunned me. It's not that I didn't think Detroit was a good team, it just seemed like the Yankees were stacked on offense. To see the way a lineup that some were considering the greatest lineup ever got shut down by Kenny Rogers and then Jeremy Bonderman was surreal. Here's the team's offensive performance.



The "greatest lineup ever" hit a collective .246/.303/.388. As much as I find the piling on on Alex Rodriguez to be a little unfair in general, he flat out sucked in this series. So did Gary Sheffield. Honestly, aside from Posada and Jeter and to a lesser extent Bobby Abreu, everyone sucked.



The pitching wasn't much better. Only Chien-Ming Wang pitched a quality start. I like Mike Mussina a lot, but I like him less after he blew a 3-1 lead when the team had the opportunity to take a commanding 2-0 series lead in Game 2. Randy Johnson may think he pitched decently, but he was awful, and when you've built a team that ends up in a situation that leads to Jaret Wright pitching in a game where you could be eliminated, that speaks for itself.



Ah yes, the defense. They were even worse than the offense and pitching.

As much as I wouldn't mind seeing Joe Torre being fired, if it is to bring in Lou Piniella I'd rather not do anything. I think he's too hot-headed and too careless about pitchers, and if there's a worse bullpen manager than Torre it may be him.

As the off-season moves forward we'll have plenty of time to think about what changes the Yankees should make. Wholesale changes aren't needed to have the Yankees in the playoffs again, but I think that Brian Cashman should consider making some significant moves, if he can make the team younger and better defensively.

And all credit to the Tigers, who outplayed the Yankees in every manner possible.