Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
October 26, 2003
Disaster?

Jim Caple's piece wrapping up the World Series is titled "Disaster Strikes Yankees."


Hmmm. So how do you imagine George Steinbrenner feels about this revelry?

"I know he doesn't like this," first baseman Derrek Lee said. "I know he doesn't like this. But this is sweet. Dancing on the field at Yankee Stadium? That's sweet."

Sweet? It would have killed lab rats. But as wonderful as it was to see another team celebrate on "sacred" Yankee Stadium soil, many heads are going to roll for this.

To lose the World Series is bad enough when Furious George signs your checks. To lose to the Marlins, a team with a payroll $128 million lower than the Yankees? We're lucky George didn't light Brian Cashman on fire and toss him onto the subway tracks. I'm also surprised he didn't immediately offer Loria $100 million for the trophy and Beckett.


Actually, there is a report that George did offer to buy the trophy. :-)

But seriously, what is Caple basing his "heads will roll" mantra on? Cashman and Torre had lost two years in a row before this defeat. Why is this year different? Steinbrenner fired Dick Howser and Buck Showalter after their teams made the playoffs and lost. Torre has now lost in the playoffs four times. Cashman has put a great team on the field every year. If they were going to go, they would have been gone after the Arizona debacle.

The coaching staff? Fine. This is a coaching staff that can't teach Alfonso Soriano how to take a pitch. This is a coaching staff that can't teach middle infielders how to play defense. This is a coaching staff that is old and complacent. But if Torre stays on as manager, I bet a lot of them stay on, too.

And Steinbrenner says Torre is staying:


Owner George Steinbrenner has promised that Joe Torre will be his manager in 2004, the final year of his contract.

"Joe is the highest-paid manager in the history of baseball and he has the highest payroll in the history of baseball," Steinbrenner said. "I've given him everything he has asked for because I like him and he's the manager."


The Yankees have any number of problems that need to be addressed, from replacing the rotation to fixing the defense in the middle of the field to finding hitters for the bottom of the order who have some batting strength. It will be a different team next year, but my guess is Torre and Cashman will still be making the moves.


Posted by David Pinto at 09:33 AM | World Series | TrackBack (0)