Posted by tkf:
Guys, the make up of this team has gotten us a first round exit 3 straight years. time to change, there are no Tino's and Oneals or Brosius on this team and it shows.... We don't need a team full of HR hitters. when we won 4 rings in 5 years from 96-2000, do you know how many 30+ home run hitters were on that team? none from what I recall. The year tino hit 40+homers in 2007 we lost to cleveland in the playoffs...
what we did have were guys who were in their prime, hungry and wanted to battle and win, we also had big game pitchers..
Now we know Hughes and Joba can handle the big lights as can melky and cano who did well. so we go from there. Keep pettite, and wang, Jeter will be back, Keep A-rod and resign posada, and hope Damon is healthy and can return as a table setter..
From there the rest is subject to change... i would not mind seeing us go after the devil rays rocco baldeli, although he seems to get injured a lot, he can play left field, is a good hitter and can run, a gritty player.
i agree w/all you said, but to be fair we had a balance of young, prime aged & older veteran talent on all those teams that won championships too... Right now, I don't think we're that far off from fielding a championship calibre team... back during the dynasty years, we had a nice balance of young, prime aged & older veteran talent on all those teams that won championships together & pulled for each other... they had older vets like Wade Boggs, Cecil Fielder, Chili Davis, Roger Clemens, etc. that served as mentors to the up & coming young kids, the same as we have now.
i think what's missing is the fiery personalities like Paulie, Leyritz, Boomer & Tino who weren't afraid to kick a few watercoolers & throw a few bats & helmets around when the team was playing flat... we don't have anyone on this team that's willing to do that anymore... they've all taken on the personality of Joe Torre over the years & now everyone is so damn even keeled & passionless, it's hard to know when they're on a 10 game winning streak or a 10 game losing streak... that perfect balance of personalities is sorta missing that element now IMO.
other than that aspect, we need to address the obvious points of need:
1 - starting pitching (will Andy be back? what to do w/Mouse? do we make a play for Johan or D-Train?)
2 - bullpen help (Will the kids in the farm system be ready to be main setup men next season? Sanchez, Jackson, Ohlendorff, Veras, Ramirez, etc. - or do we sign a FA setup man? who's out there?)
3 - getting Mo, Jorge & Andy to come back for next season
4 - bid for ARod or split that money to fill more needs (Lowell, Hunter/Rowand, etc.?)
5 - Will Joe Torre be back? Who will his successor be? are Tony LaRussa or Joe Girardi better options?
[Edited by - TMS on 10-09-2007 2:46 PM]
After 7 years & 40K+ posts, banned by martin for calling Nalod a 'moron'. Awesome.