The Hated Yankees

There are many baseball fans who hate the New York Yankees. I am not one of them, but I consider myself informed and enlightened enough to understand why the Yankees could be hated. However, while many people who watch baseball may hate the Yankees, the Yankees do have one undeniable trait going for them. This trait is something that they throw into every baseball fan’s (casual or die-hard) face. Not greatness, not victory, but tradition. However, while the Yankees call it tradition, it’s pretty plain to see that with their recent heyday all but gone, they’re hiding behind this “tradition”. They’re using tradition to hide their arrogance, and it’s getting pretty annoying, even as a Yankee fan.


If baseball was a game of paper and stats and not a game of performance, the Yankees would win the World Series every year. That’s what a team with a 200 million dollar payroll is supposed to do. When you have the highest payroll in professional baseball (and, in an uninformed guess, professional sports) you can afford to buy the best players and put them on the field and let them play. The reason why the Yankees don’t win the World Series every year is simple. The Yankees think they’re smarter than everyone else. They have a plan and they’re going to stick to it whether it hurts the team or not. Case in point is the Joba debate.


Bullpen or rotation? Two words that will always be associated with Joba Chamberlain for as long as he throws a ball in the major leagues. When he broke in back in ’07, he was utilized as Rivera’s setup man. He was a 22 year old boy blowing a way first ballot Hall of Famers such as Frank Thomas (He stuck out The Big Hurt in his first MLB appearance). While his duty was limited in 2007, he compiled a .038 ERA. He gave up one earned run in 24 innings, and it was a solo dinger off the bat of Mike Lowell. That was it. He blew away bona fide major leaguers. The kid was unhittable. Last years stats don’t count to me, because his first few starts were baby starts, where they yanked him in the second or third to stretch him out and get him used to pitching more than one inning. 2009 is his first full year as a starter, and in my eyes it’s not successful. He’s a strikeout pitcher. The kid seems like he’s afraid of contact and is addicted to the swing and miss. He’ll blow 2 fastballs by you, and then waste 4 sliders in a row trying to get you to swing over them and then next thing he knows he’s walked two guys and gives up a hit. This jacks up his pitch count and he gets pulled in the fifth or sixth inning. That’s not a quality start. He has no endurance. In an effort to save his arm and prepare for a longer night, he throws only about 91 or 92, when he broke in and made a name for himself by throwing 98 mph, occasionally touching triple digits. This is all in addition to the biggest factor of all in my mind. There’s no doubt this kid is and will be a great pitcher for a while. But he’s not a starter. How many times does he have to go 6 innings, hand the ball to a reliever who’s not named Joba Chamberlain and watch helplessly from the bench while this bum blows his lead because he isn’t as good a reliever as Joba is? This has happened once already. How many more times before Cashman realizes he’s not utilizing this kid’s potential correctly. It’s not like there’s no precedent.


This kid has closer written all over him. In 1996, a starter named Mariano Rivera was relegated to the bullpen after poor starting performance. After learning his signature devastating cutter in an effort to stay relevant in baseball, he made the Yankee brass notice him. Their “aha!” moment came and they had him setting up for John Wetteland, and eventually took over and became the most dominant relief pitcher in baseball history. This kid is the first and only clear heir apparent to the Mariano throne in over a decade. Now, there is only one Rivera, and nobody will ever come close to how great he is, but Joba would be a nice replacement. Rivera is almost 40, and still pitching like he’s in his prime. But there will come a time when Metallica will be silenced in Yankee Stadium and the Sandman will hang up his cutter and will need a replacement. If the Yankees choose anyone other than Joba Chamberlain they obviously don’t watch baseball.


The reasons and proof are there. Joba should be a setup man and an eventual closer. But the front office is so bent on him being a starter that they’re determined to prove the fans wrong at any cost, even if it hurts the team by giving the ball to someone who can’t hold the lead. Now, this is just one aspect of the Yankees’ belief that they are smarter than everyone else. In this world driven by money and big contracts, buying the best players just doesn’t get it done anymore. The Rays made it to the World Series last year with a bunch of rookie kids more or less. To me, it seemed they tried harder because they wanted to stay around. A-Rod, Jeter, Posada, Giambi, they’re all making between 15 and 25 million dollars a year. They know they aren’t going anywhere, why try so hard? Giambi aside they are all great players, but they lack the will to win in my opinion, no matter what Derek Jeter wants you to believe. The great Yankee teams of the 90’s and early 2000s were not successful because they had the best players. Absolutely not. Chuck Knoblauch was a bum, and Brosius struggled to hit .300. But they had will and spirit, which is something this overpaid Yankee team doesn’t have. The last dynasty was not about a bunch of superstars, it was about teamwork. Putting nine of the best players in the game on the same field does not guarantee a great team. It guarantees ego-driven squabbles that kills the function of the team as a unit. But of course, even I must admit, you pay me 20 million dollars to play a game, I’d say screw teamwork too.


That is all.