Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Have The Yankees Been Patient?

Not wonderfully so, I'd say. Cashman has protected the arms in the minor leagues for a few years now. But from 2002-2006, the Yankees were still throwing around big bucks to sign big players at the deadlines to compete now. This year, they didn't make any massive move at the trade deadline. But it's not like they were rebuilding and looking towards next season. They believed the minor leaguers that everyone wanted could compete TODAY, right now. And darned if Hughes and Joba and Ramirez aren't making a big difference right now. The Yankees didn't resist pulling the trigger to build towards a strong future. They just refused to give away talent they were planning to call up today. How patient have they been this season? I suppose they didn't fire Cashman or Torre after the first half. But a more active Steinbrenner might have done just that, when you combine their performance with last year's post-season meltdown. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad Cashman has done what he's done and not brought in some aging veteran when we've got no room for them. But you gotta laugh at a team being described as patient just because they held off on imploding for a few weeks and didn't trade away pitchers they knew could compete for them right now.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's all relative. The Yankees being patient is much different than say...the Pirate being patient. 20 year rebuilding plans don't really fly around here (just ask the Knicks).

Michael in New York said...

Fair enough. But rebuilding for two months and expecting immediate results -- or rather being lauded for being patient when your team is in the thick of the pennant race -- just doesn't seem patient to me, even by Yankee standards.