Often people complain about how the Yankees never stop getting better. Certainly, the $200 million payroll helps. And attracting players with the promise of winning, money, and tradition is no difficult task. The Yankees strive for excellence unlike any team in sports. They exist in a time where they can't just buy a bunch of players and expect them to fit together and win (remember the years of a rotation featuring Carl Pavano, Jaret Wright, Kevin Brown, as well as the oldest and slowest lineup in the majors?).
But they've gotten smarter, and better, and have a new commitment to winning. The Yankees capped off a World Series win by trying to get both younger and better. They've added Curtis Granderson and Javier Vasquez, replacing the departed Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui.
Now are these moves perfect? No. Curtis Granderson certainly has his drawbacks as a hitter, and Javier Vasquez is possibly one of the most maddeningly inconsistent pitchers maybe ever. But if they work perfectly, it can be expected that the Yankees might be ever better in 2010.
But when a pitcher with a sub 3 ERA and a high K rate is traded for a defense-first centerfielder who isn't even that talented of a defender, no one has any right to complain. Teams aren't even figuratively handing the Yankees wins when they do things like this, they are now literally doing it! Javier Vasquez had much more value than Melky Cabrera, no matter how one looks at it (the prospect dealt along with Melky Cabrera is supposedly nothing special either).
If teams want to stop the Yankees, block their moves, offer more money, be more aggressive. The offseason is a game of simple competitive economics, and it's time everyone started playing it.
Oh, and if anyone things the Yankees are starting next year with Brett Gardner as their starting leftfielder, they are sadly mistaken. The Yankees aren't done yet.
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2 comments:
ed you might want to remember granderson is power hitter ... 30 home runs in a place its damn near impossible to hit hrs ... hes a charsmatic leader ... carrer avg of .272, slugging .484 ... heck he hit over 300 just 2 yrs aggo and had legendary 20-20-20-20 season ... 2b,3b,hr,sb ... hes sick
not debating he's not a great player Andy, but to say he's without faults as a player is not fair.
And while the 20-20-20-20 season is very cool, it's more novelty than anything else.
and as a lefty in that stadium, some of his 2B's should turn into homers.
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