Today is the day we have been waiting for since October. The first day of spring.
I was all primed to open camp with a post on starting pitching, or maybe on the shortstop battle. I am also finalizing a personal Fan-ifesto that I am going to live by during the 2012 campaign.
But I am going to set all that aside. The baseball writing makes more sense after Andrew and Joe sit with the press today in Port Charlotte, and I can come back to the list of guys in the best shape of their career. Consider me distracted by Brian Cashman’s comments yesterday that the Yankees “conceded” the AL East in 2010 in an effort to line up for the playoffs.
Lets first dispose of the absurdity of the statement. To say the Yankees “conceded” the division is akin to saying they intentionally lost it. I know the talking heads love to evaluate who is trying to win and who isn’t. But, that is just filler. In my experience, you only get a locker in a big league clubhouse if you try to win every night. There is simply not a player or a manager anywhere in the big leagues that isn’t trying to win every pitch. To say the contrary is a brazen excuse for failure.
Take it a step further. Imagine Brian Cashman, coming in a 4’6″ and a whopping 100 lbs, standing in Joe Girardi’s office and telling him ‘Joe, listen, lay this one down. It’s just a t-shirt. Besides, we don’t want to play Texas in the first round because you can’t beat Texas. Let Tampa Bay have those guys.’ Would Cashman still be capable of speaking two years later? Probably not.
Also, let’s put aside the idea that the Yankees don’t care about division titles or wild card titles. (a comment every Yankee fan loves to make — ‘the only thing that matters in New York is a World Series title.’). I don’t even have to write on this point:
Nice T-shirts fellas. But what’s with the champagne? Your GM says the division title is just a t-shirt. Wait, I get it. The 2010 AL East title is just a t-shirt. But, 2011? Now that is a reason to celebrate. My bad.
Putting aside the silly logic undermining Cash’s point, there is a larger issue to consider here. Why is Cash talking about us? Is 2010 really the best example he has of the way the Wild Card rules would effect MLB? Or, is he trying to hide his obvious worry? Look, New York has a good team. Boston has a great team. But everyone is picking us. That is both exciting and terrifying. But maybe Cash looks at his offseason, looks at his starting rotation, and, before heading back out to the corner to beg someone to take AJ Burnett, realizes that his worry about what is developing in Tampa Bay is showing.
So, what does he do to hide his worry? He reverts to middle school Cashman. I don’t know Cashman from Adam but, I think we can all agree that plenty of girls said no when a young Cashman was looking for a date to the school dance. Right? Can’t you hear 13-year-old Cash telling his buddies buddy local librarian ‘yeah, I don’t really want to go to the dance anyway. I basically conceded that when I bought Star Wars on VHS and planned a movie night.’
Sorry Cash. I don’t buy it. If the division title is such a small deal, then announce right now that you are conceding it and setting yourself up for the postseason. What’s that? You’ll see how it goes in 2012 before announcing your concession? That’s what I thought.
Thanks for this. I was unable to form a clear thought as I was seeing red. You nailed it.
Conceders.
Thanks. I was initially mad. Now I just think it is sort of silly.
Holy cow Mark, this was a pretty awesome offering. I haven’t seen you write something that impassioned since I started following you here.
Is impassioned a word? Oh well. It was badass. That’s a word.
I think impassioned is a word. And thanks. I try to shake off the cold-calculating lawyer deal every now and again. You know?
This is a “don’t let your lying eyes deceive you” article.
Of course the Yankees “conceded” the tailend of the last few seasons, if “conceded” means “resting up your regular veteran players to have them fresher for the playoffs.” They did it 2009, 2010 and 2011. In 2009 and 2011, they had the division clinched, in 2010, they had the wild card clinched. It was obvious at the time that they did so, just look at the box scores for the lineups, substitutions and pitchers. The point Cashman was making was winning the division gives a team little real advantage in the postseason, which is true. What Cashman didn’t say was that the Yankees pretty much dragged themselves to the finish line in 2010 and 2011, so they needed the extra rest, not that it did them much good.
“Conceding” a division and “resting players” are similar but different actions. To concede the division, you’d have to believe that the Yankees used less talented players to intentionally lose. Or, you’d have to believe the players the Yankees used while their stars were “resting” intentionally lost. Both are absurd. Also, Cashman uses two explanations for the “concession.” He says that the Yankees regulars needed rest. AND he says that the Yankees wanted to play Minnesota in the first round, not Texas. The latter explanation is totally unrelated to rest. This is just a post-hac justification. More likely, the Yankees played less talented players because they thought it wouldn’t matter and that they could win the division without their stars.
If you read what Cashman said, it’s clear he equates “conceding” with “not trying to win the division” by “resting guys and lining them up.” He did NOT say that the Yankees wanted to play Minnesota in the first round; he just said the Yankees ended up sweeping them. Given the Yankees hex over Minnesota, I don’t doubt they preferred playing the Twins, but there’s a difference between holding back and deliberately losing.
Maybe this comes from being in the playoffs almost every year for the last fifteen years, but it was very clear in New York at that time in 2010 that the Yankees didn’t much care if they won or lost the division since it didn’t matter very much and they certainly weren’t going to kill themselves trying to win, just like they didn’t kill themselves trying to win the last series against the Rays in 2011 after they had clinched the division. In both cases, the Rays didn’t look at the gift horse in the mouth, they still had to win, and they did.
I can almost see your point in 2010…but there’s NO WAY that’s true for 2011. I was at every game of the last series, and the regulars were in the starting line-ups for the Yankees and they were pitching to win.
There is no way to look at this any other way than Cashman being scared of the Rays.
Surely you jest. I’m looking at the box scores for the three games, and a minimum of one, and usually more of the regular starters got the day off, and a few each night usually got an early night off. It’s the pitching that really illustrates this, though. Two of the three Yankee starters were starting their first (Betances) or second (Noesi) MLB game. The last game had just about everyone coming in for a few outs, but no David Robertson in the eighth and especially no Mariano Rivera in the ninth with the score 7-6. If one or both come in, 90% of the time, Yankees wins, Red Sox make the playoffs (and no doubt lose to the Rangers, too).
Look, as your manager said about Cashman’s statement today, “The banner’s up there.” And Cashman’s point was that neither the Yankees nor anyone else will have the luxury of taking it easy like 2010 under the new wild card system.
Just so I’m clear, the fact that a starter or two got a day off, on a team as ancient (read: old and tired) as the Yankees, is an unusual thing now? I’m pretty sure that every game, especially after the ASB, there was a starter or two missing from the line-up at least once a week from the Yankees…and most teams for that matter that aren’t in a hunt.
Resting starters is not the same as this “conceding” business either. Conceding is throwing in the towel. “But the Yankees used no-name pitchers blah, blah, blah…” And guess what, that rookie starter held the Rays to ZERO runs, so that kinda ruins your argument that Girardi was throwing out the trash against the Rays.
Of course Mo isn’t closing on the last game of the season, but don’t go thinking he’s untouchable. He’s a legend and the best closer in the business, but he’s hardly untouchable. So to assume the Rays couldn’t have won against him is absurd. It’s a petty argument, frankly.
Damn yankees….Good post, John!!!!!
John?
settle down over there Tampa boy. he has nothing but respect for the Rays and the rest of the AL East. he had a poor word choice. just go back to hitting rusty in the face with a whiffle ball and drop the napoleonic complex. it’s the first day of spring. we’re all 0-0.
Leave it to a Yankees fan to refer to a baseball analyst as “Tampa boy”. Nothing he said bordered on Napoleonic either. You see, to be a Napoleonic complex would insinuate the Mark feels the Rays have an inferior quality which he would be overly zealous about to make up for it. At no point did the article touch on anything of this nature. I’m pretty sure that the Rays are considered by many this season to be the better team. Those that don’t feel they are, could not make a logical argument that they are drastically behind is talent and potential. If you want to talk about everyone being 0-0 then just talk about the beginning of spring training and your thoughts of how things will play out. No need to call grown men boys and make wild assumptions of how someone feels.
I wouldn’t take this too personally. DBo’s “bellly” and I go back to the days the rest of DBo was pitching at Middle Tennessee State. He is just trying to get my goat. But thanks for defending me.
I think this is my favorite read since finding the Ray Area Mark. I agree in 2011 the Yankees were not 100% once they clinched the division, but to suggest that the 2010 Yankees squad tanked to get a better playoff matchup is a joke. Conceding is what politicians do when it has become painfully clear that the game is over, they go make nice and pump their opponents tires to borrow an expression from Mr. Luongo of the NHL. It is not what the New York Yankees did to the Rays in 2010. Every team wants to win the world series, and they want to do it as division champions. 2 banners > 1 banner, it’s a basic math problem. Ask every professional baseball player if they want to win their division and the answer will be yes 100% of the time. None of them is going to defer saying, well I’d rather do whatever provides me a favorable matchup in the first round. That’s all I have to say about that.
I’m more excited to discuss the actual teams in play here than the politics of their talking heads. On paper, I believe the Rays are the better team this year. It’s only the second time I’ve felt that way in the pre-season, 2010 being the other occasion. Pitching, they have the better ace, but from 2 down I’d take our guys. Plus we have a 6th starter that is a number 3 on most teams, I don’t think any other team can claim that kind of depth. Offense, they have us there, but not by as much as they have in recent years. We have a great combination of power and speed this season. This is the kind of team Maddon can make music with, there is versatility everywhere. I think the Yankees have the better bullpen. I think that all things being considered, our starters are dominant enough to overcome our deficits in other areas. Should make for a great dog fight for the division, I can’t wait to watch it play out.
I’m right with you on this Travis. I know Pena struck out quite a bit, but I think having him back will be a big advantage in the locker room for us.
It’s like you got an advance copy of today’s Times Dan!
I have to admit. I am a little surprised that this post hit such a nerve for everyone. I wasn’t even that angry when I wrote it.
I suppose this can only mean two things: 1) Baseball season has begun; 2) New York is worried.
1)Yes; 2)YES
I echo Travis:
1)Yes; 2)YES