What’s the Yankees’ Most Prudent Move? Don’t Panic

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

If we can’t listen to the wisdom of rapper Big Daddy Kane,we can listen to no one. He taught us to dream of a world where fresh Gucci wear is only $5.99; he taught us that it’s hard being the Kane. And the great man proved that had he not gone into the hip-hop game he could have run a baseball team when he said, “Don’t do it to yourself, don’t do it. Yo, you better not do it, you better not.” If there’s anyone who needs to heed this wise counsel, it’s Yankees general manager Brian Cashman.

It’s July, and so things are not going well for the Yankees, who are trodding through their usual midsummer crisis; rarely can a six-day stretch taking in three games against the woeful Devil Rays and a three-day break have been more welcome.

The entire starting outfield is injured,the second baseman is on the disabled list, and the no. 3 pitcher is about to be released.The team is three games out of first place, for the first time in many years will actually have to finish with the best record in the AL East to make the playoffs, and has been reduced to reconstructing the roster of the 2003 Kansas City Royals in its attempts to keep pace with the Red Sox. Things are not looking good — surely the team needs a master plan for the second half, no? No.

As they are right now, the Yankees aren’t a half bad team. There are worse hearts of the order than Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez, and Jorge Posada; worse fifth bananas than Andy Phillips, who, with regular playing time, has done exactly what his minor league performance suggested he’d do; worse emergency stopgaps than Melky Cabrera, who’s young, has potential, and hasn’t embarrassed himself.

There are worse rotation fronts than Mike Mussina, Chien-Ming Wang, Randy Johnson, and Jaret Wright. For a team with some good relievers and good hitters, it’s actually not bad at all to be able to run out an ace and three guys who will generally keep you in the game. Twenty nine other teams wouldn’t mind having Mariano Rivera. This team, as it stands right this moment, has more than enough talent to win.

More than that, their situation is hardly dire.The Yankees are all of three games behind the Red Sox, who are having as much go right as the Yankees have had go wrong. Maybe Jonathan Papelbon really is Eric Gagne at his peak and Kevin Youkilis John Olerud in his; maybe Mark Loretta and Mike Lowell and Tim Wakefield will continue to play like it’s 2003; maybe Trot Nixon and Curt Schilling will remain healthy. The odds would seem to be against all of this happening, and any bad Boston luck combined with a bit of good New York luck would flip the standings right around.

Still past that, the Yankees have reinforcements coming. Robinson Cano and Johnny Damon should be back after the All-Star break, and hard-throwing reliever Octavio Dotel will be ready soon,or so the story goes. There’s also top prospect Phillip Hughes, who may be only 20 but is exactly the sort of hard-throwing pitcher with good command of good secondary stuff who probably won’t need much, if any, time at Triple-A. (The Tigers are doing alright with Jeremy Bonderman and Justin Verlander, two pitchers who had quite similar profiles at similar stages in their development.) The Sox don’t have anything like that artillery in reserve.

I’ve often preached in this space about how the Yankees need to not make foolish and short-sighted trades because of their long-term interests, but the case this year is different: Making any but the most minor sort of trade this year would harm the team’s short-term interests, too. No one in the system other than Hughes is going to bring anything substantial to the team, and Hughes is not only untouchable for his long-term potential, but because he’s likelier to make an impact on the pennant race than anyone the Yankees could actually get for him. He might be the team’s third-best starter right now.

Disorganized as things might seem, there just aren’t that many spots where the Yanks can make a big improvement. Phillips, so long as he’s not yanked out of the lineup every time he looks like a bum, is a perfectly adequate first baseman. Cabrera is worth investing in until Hideki Matsui returns from his broken wrist. No pitchers on the market would displace anyone in any spot but the fifth in the rotation, and Hughes would be a better choice there anyway.

The team can use a middle reliever, but who can’t? All you’re left with is right field, where someone who can field a bit and hit right-handers a bit would be nice to have as a complement to Bernie Williams. Newcomer Aaron Gueil fits the bill in theory.The team is fine; there’s nothing to fix. Short of a piano falling on someone’s head or the like, the only damage that can be done is damage the Yankees do themselves.

tmarchman@nysun.com


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