eh..they played better than us..so you have to hand it to them..im a die hard yankee fan..but i hate it when people throw the "we have 26 championships, and you have 0"..especially when we havn't won in seven years.
Yank fan here also. However, I'm getting sick of the constant Yankee bashing all around: people need to look what the Yanks have accomplished...
The best part is the argument 'you just buy the best players with your $200M payroll'. I wonder if those people realize that the money the yanks are spending is coming back to the 'smaller' clubs?
i really dont think this team will go aywhere unless they get rid of old guys and the young ones who are terrible
giambi needs to go..karstens needs to go..bruney..clemens..rasner..igawa..villone..pavano..farnsworth..mussina..they also need to get rid of guidry as pitching coach and bring back stottlemyre
unfortunately giambi has a no trade clause..so he'll probably be back...
and stienbrenner needs to keep torre.
I agree about the above... But Torre has to go. This piece from the NY Daily New are exactly my thoughts:
I know that Bud Selig frowns upon teams making managerial decisions during the postseason, but the Yankees really need to end the Joe Torre era as quickly as possible. And if they don't do so, Torre should speak up and step aside, for the good of the team. It's best for the future of the Yanks that the Yanks get a new manager, and do so soon.
Look, how many times have we heard, from George Steinbrenner to Derek Jeter to Brian Cashman, that the season is not a success unless the Yankees win the World Series? Isn't "World Series or bust" the supposed mandate of the manager? But if that's the case, then why should Torre get to keep his job when he hasn't won a World Series in six years, and hasn't even gotten his team past the first round of the playoffs in three years?
And don't forget that Torre had the worst collapse of all time on his watch. No other manager but Torre could have survived losing to the Red Sox in 2004. Joe has had three years to right the ship after that disaster, and he has been unable to do so. Exactly how long do the Yankees need to keep him on as manager in order to show sufficient gratitude for the four rings?
True, the players like Torre. And even Alex Rodriguez had nice things to say about him this month. But, as Daily News writer
Filip Bondy notes in his column today:
It got to the point around the Yankees, unfortunately, where the players may have come to think of Torre a lot like the two soft, black, leather couches that sit in the clubhouse. He was always there, and he was extremely comfortable. The players will miss Torre when he's no longer around, but probably need to be reawakened by the will and voice of somebody else. They shouldn't be quite so content.
Squawker readers know, of course, that I've wanted Torre gone for a long time. But I'm also aware that a significant portion of Yankee fans want him to stay. Why do they still want to see Joe manage? Squawker reader Don tries to answer that question:
For all the sad fans wanting Joe to stay - I wonder how much of that is the romantic feeling that when Joe goes - so will the managerial link to those championship teams? There will always be fondness for those years - but as Derek Jeter always says every year - these aren't the same teams!
I think Don is onto something here. But these indeed aren't the same teams - that dynasty ended in Arizona in November 2001. It is long past time for this organization to have turned the page on that era. It's not 1998 anymore, and keeping Torre isn't going to bring back those glory days.
Don also notes:
Torre's effect on the way the team plays works both ways too. If the players absolve Torre of any blame in the way they play - how can he get credit also for the past years when they won championships? Why pay a manager 7 MILLION a year if he has little effect on the way the team plays?
Good point. I've also heard a lot over the past few weeks about how winning in the playoffs is just a matter of luck. If that's the case, then Joe just got lucky for four of his first five seasons, and has now had "seven years of bad luck," as Stevie Wonder sang in "Superstition."
Given that the Yankees have a $200 million payroll each season, is it too much to ask for the team to do more than be the Atlanta Braves North? Heck, given that the Yanks only won the wild card this year, you can't even credit Joe with the consecutive division titles anymore.
I've said it before and I'll say it again - Casey Stengel, the greatest Yankee manager of all time, lost his job after going two years without a World Series title, even though he brought the Yanks seven rings. Joe (Four Rings) Torre has gotten to keep his job after going seven years without a World Series title, three years without making it out of the first round of the playoffs, and four years without getting to the World Series. Again, how long is Joe going to get a pass for failing at his job description time and time again? Retire his number, give him a plaque in Monument Park, and turn the page on the Torre Era.
