The NY Yankees Black hole at Third- Wrap up Time!

 

The NY Yankees Black hole at Third - Wrap up Time!

by Dan Salem and Todd Salem (1-18-13)

[Part One from Monday]

TODD:

The Yankees' corner man situation won't be pretty. As I tweeted the other day, @sportspinata, the Yankees have turned into an owner in a fantasy auction draft. They had a plan and didn't want to go over budget on certain guys, rightfully so. But, instead of waiting out the other players for a bargain, they waited too long and are left with nothing but scrub options. Sometimes, in these auction drafts, you look back and wish you had gone four to five dollars more on that guy who can actually walk and chew gum.

As for Youkilis, why the vitriol? Why do you care who he used to play for? I never understood this argument from other fans or even analysts. I have never met any of these MLB players, know nothing about who they are and really couldn't care. If they are wearing a Yankees uniform, I will root for them to succeed! Fans get all bent out of shape about the lack of loyalty in professional sports. Here's an idea, stop being so loyal to people you don't know, have never met, will never meet and will never be friends with! You root for a team; that should be enough.

If Youkilis the Yankee bats over .280 I will welcome him with open arms. If he is confirmed as washed up, I will root for his exit, which has nothing to do with who he used to play for.

DAN: 

Completely love the auction draft guy analogy. I've been that guy. I've also been the guy who pays the extra five bucks only to see said player hit IR within a week. Fantasy!!

You've opened a can of worms with the fan debate. I whole heartily agree that as a fan of a team you root for your team and the guys on it to succeed. I don't think I'd care much for Santonio Holmes if he wasn't a Jet, considering he's a demon in the locker room.  But here's where you've got it all wrong.  We root for a team as a fan, but we love our teams because of the guys on it. And we love it even more because of our team's enemies. As a Jets fan I'm grateful to hold the Patriots as an enemy, and as a Yankees fan we have the Red Sox to some extent. Considering the Red Sox have been a vastly inferior product for much of my life, I never really 'hated' them, but as a fan I did come to hate some of their players over the years. Particularly my years living in Boston.

Back to third base and Kevin Youkilis.  It’s not that I hate having him on my team; I’m thrilled to root for whoever is playing third for the Yankees, but I despise him a little. I hold some vitriol for the Red Sox and their players from the successful seasons of 2003 through 2008, a five year stretch in which I spent the first three living in Boston. I do not care for those players, except maybe Johnny Damon who I was thrilled to have as a Yankee. He seemed anti Red Sox by the end of things. Loved it.

As fans we love and hate irrationally and that's what makes it fun! To not hold loyalty to any player is to hold loyalty to a logo which is just color and design on fabric. I'm human and I like to connect with other humans. I want another Derek Jeter!

TODD: 

This is where my irrational love of statistics and my ice cold heart come into play. I could not care less if Derek Jeter played for the Minnesota Twins tomorrow as long as the Yankees had someone to take his place (Hey there Eduardo!). I really have no loyalty to any players of any kind in any sport. I don't know how this developed really. When I was a little kid my favorite players (Ken Griffey Jr. in baseball) were never on my favorite teams. And now that I have no favorite players, I strictly root for fantasy success and the Yankees, end of story.

Columnists always wax poetic about how sports are a business and fans need to see that in the decisions teams make. I actually don't think teams go far enough sometimes. Let's use Jeter as another example. Everyone was fine with this past contract the Yankees gave him because he had earned it with everything he did previously. How idiotic is that!? Would an owner of Home Depot pay an old man who cannot mix paint anymore just because he used to be the best paint mixer in town? Sports seem to show MORE loyalty than regular jobs, not less; and it is because no one roots for or pays to watch that old man mix paint. Teams would be much better off in most situations if they took their hearts out of decisions.

Just know that my heart is cold and black when it comes to professional athletes. Most people think they care about certain players, but they're just too stubborn to admit otherwise. How many of those Yankees fans rooted for Jeter's head when he got off to a terrible start a few seasons back; and how many diehards will yell and scream in favor of Kevin freakin' Youkilis the first time he goes four for five in a game?

DAN: 

Even though I root for players, I'd fire the elderly paint mixer.  I'm forced to agree as both a realist and a big picture guy. I love having players to root for and I've loved rooting for Derek Jeter over the years. But the Yankees should have given him a one year deal and seen how it went. He played great, so give him another year. But signing any old guy long term is dumb. Good franchises don't fall into this trap more often than not, and bad franchises never have this trap to worry about in the first place.

Speaking of a bad team, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I've actually enjoyed rooting for Mark Sanchez over the three seasons prior to this current one as a Jet. Living in Los Angeles I got to see him kick ass on the USC Trojans and then get drafted by my favorite team. Win, win! However, I'm not blind. He has to go. So it doesn’t have to be as cut and dry as you make it. You can root, root, root for your guys until they are no longer valuable to your team. As for the Yankees and Youkilis, he is an excellent one year stop gap at 3B, 1B, DH etc. Great pick up. At least that's what I keep telling myself.  I'll find it in my heart to root for him. It’s not cold and black like yours.

[If you missed Part One from Monday]

The NY Yankees Black hole at Third

The NY Yankees Black hole at Third

by Dan Salem and Todd Salem (1-14-13)


DAN:
Alex Rodriguez is once again getting surgery and the Yankees are left with a hole in their team for at least the first third of the 2013 season. Some might say the hole was there whether he was healthy or not, but I'm not one of those haters.

How do the Yankees, our team, fix this? I really like Eduardo Nunez, but he was Jeter's backup and not a consistent enough hitter as of yet to be relied upon every day. Does he convert to a shortstop / third base hybrid? They signed Youkilis, but can we really rely on him at this point in his career? I don't know farm systems enough to propose a trade, but something needs to happen now!

TODD: 

So many directions to go here; I'll tackle each one like they were shot with a bullet... but something less dangerous and foreboding. This deserves tranquilizer points!

--> Alex Rodriguez is out for six months, give or take 65 days on either end. This creates a huge hole in the Yankees' lineup. I am with you up to this point. However, I am one of those "haters" of the belief that A-Rod is on his last legs. I feel like a mandatory benching for surgery is actually beneficial here. The Yankees will be able to sit him without the backlash and story surrounding. A man more skeptical than myself may even suggest Yankees brass "encouraged" A-Rod to get another surgery.

--> I too like Eduardo Nunez. He runs, puts the bat on the ball and adds some energy to a sluggish lineup. He is not a third baseman though. He struggled with the glove during his time at third last season, and had a very hard time sliding around the diamond defensively. I think his best use will be to DH when added speed is needed, spell Jeter at short and to play sparingly elsewhere. Unless the glove progresses, Nunez won't be effective as an everyday third baseman.

--> There was no hope at all in the free agent pool and we signed the top available corner infielder in Kevin Youkilis. Down the road, moving around a current Yankee to open up a different spot seems like a long shot. Could Cano move to third with his arm strength? Yeah, probably, but that does not seem like something Girardi or Brian Cashman would want to do.

--> The Yankees farm system is worse than it was a year ago. Many of the top pitching prospects had poor or injury-riddled seasons in 2012. The young catchers are not quite ready and things are shallow everywhere else. It also seems against corporate policy for the Yankees to ever make a trade FOR a young prospect, although being able to deal for a young 3B here would be rather intriguing.

--> What does that leave New York with? The answer is simple and discouraging. Kevin Youkilis is a stop gap player for at least six weeks as the season begins. If he is competent, he’ll remain until A-Rod's return. If he is gruesome, other options will be explored. Welcome to a world where Ryan Roberts is the starting third baseman of the New York Yankees!

DAN: 

I don't care for the 'options' you mentioned and who is this Ryan Roberts you speak of? I don't want to know! Back to players I know of and most notably A-Rod and the Youk. Your idea that the Yankees brass encouraged A-Rod to get surgery is intriguing and I'd even consider it if we had even one good option to fill in. Seeing as there's none, even with Youkilis, I respectfully disagree.

As for the Youk, I'm all for irony and poetic justice and that crap, but if Kevin Youkilis fills in for Alex Rodriguez and plays really well then I may just cry. We won’t want A-Rod back at all and Youkilis might actually replace Alex entirely. I enjoyed when Johnny Damon joined the Yankees. Loved it actually as a haha moment. But I don't like Youkilis. I actually dislike him. He is the quintessential image of the chicken and beer fiasco in my mind. And now he is a Yankee? Our guy! No way. Keep out! Do not enter. I'd rather field "insert name of random Marlins player here" than him. Unfortunately that isn’t happening. Give me a few weeks in April and I’m sure I’ll come around.

[Part Two]