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Oct 7, 2011 -- 10:46AM, kingj wrote:

Dear Mr. Cashman,

  I promise this letter is not going to be a mindless rant pointing out the obvious and all your perceived missteps, laden with hyperbole and ire.  I recognize your job is hard, and that we, as fans, have little idea of what your position actually entails.  Allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Joe Clifford.  I go by the handle "KingJ" on the YES message boards.  I am a writer.  My work can be found at joecliffordcandyandcigarettes.blogspot.c... and www.joeclifford.com/, if you're of the literary bent.  There are some musings on the Yankees there, but mostly I write about girls who broke my heart.  The reason I write is I'd like to offer my services to you and the Yankees.  What are my credentials?  I've been a fan since 1976, die hard, rarely miss a game, been through the "dark age" '80s, enjoyed the highs, endured the recent...frustrations.  Basically, Mr. Cashman, I am a man of the people.  Sometimes, when you are too close to the mountain, you lack the requisite perspective, or maybe simply an outside POV could be beneficial.  Either way, it won't cost you much, as I am independently financially sufficient and wouldn't require much by way of a salary.  We have the say goal, Mr. Cashman: to ensure the Yankees are perennial winners.  Here are my humble suggestions/observations as we head into the offseason.

1. The Arod/Tex/Swish black hole is killing us in the postseason.  While it is true good pitching shuts down good hitting, it is my contention that these three feast even more than most on mistakes and middling pitching, which you see less and less of in the playoffs.  At the very least, batting all three one after the other is not prudent, and I wonder why Joe Girardi didn't think to break them up, as he surely saw the same thing we saw.  I'd recommend getting rid of Swisher, since Tex is still solid with the glove, and both he and ARod are owed about a bazillion dollars.  Look at the numbers.  There has to be a better option in right than Nick.  I like the guy, but am sick of his October disappearing act (o - 28 with RISP in the playoffs).  In the future, I also suggest not bidding against yourself as you (Hank/Hal) did with ARod.  You could've gotten him for less, IMO.  Which would've freed you up to do a lot of things.  Now we are stuck with a 3rd baseman/DH with diminishing returns for a very long time.  

2.  I applaud your unwillingness to mortgage the the farm for the Jiminezes of the world.  I truly hope the Killer Bs are all you envision, and that Montero fulfills his promise to the be the second coming of Piazza/E. Martinez with more power.  You need to be right.  Because if this crop turns out to be a slightly above average as Kennedy/Joba/Hughes, we are in trouble, Kennedy winning 20 games, true, but not here.  It's tough to have patience in the Bronx, I know, with its "win now" mentality.  But you seem to have a game plan.  Godspeed sticking with it, because we are all getting sick of these early round exits (and for Yankee fans, an "early round exit" is anything less than a World Championship.)

3.  I think you see that at a star at every position guarantees nothing.  I'd rather have Scott Brosius at 3B than ARod (or Chavez, for that matter, at least for a game in this past series), despite the lack of statistical acumen.  This is the hardest thing to do, I realize.  But it is the most vital part of being a GM.  Finding the right fit.  You did very well with Martin this year, despite his ##%#%% in the playoffs, and your scrap heap finds of Garcia and Colon served us well in the regular season.

4. Which brings us to the crux of my piece.  You need to start constructing a team that works equally well in the postseason.  You need a bona fide #1 and #2.  Not a #1.5 and #2.5.  True Texas is advancing without that, but the pressure is always greater on the Yankees.  This offseason, you need to find a way to make this happen.  How?  I don't know.  It is not my job.  It is your job.  I know Fister was with Seattle, and their GM is a @#$#, but I'm not sure we ever made a play for him, and I could see when he faced up in the summer with the Mariners (despite a loss) that he was worth a shot.  You have an entire team of scouts at your disposal, the best money can buy, endless resources. I have to believe you can find bargains hidden gems.  Like you did with Colon and Garcia.  Of course, it wasn't the pitching that did us in this time.  The Tigers only batted .228.  But having a Game 5 starter who didn't give up two early HRs might've chanced the outcome.

5. Last, and this is important, there has to be an organizational change in the offensive approach. Game 5 was a microcosm of the Yankees' flaws: the inability to scratch out runs.  You can't always bludgeon your opposition into submission in October.  Twice we had the bases loaded with less than 2 outs, and both times the batter failed.  Obviously, you can't do anything about actually hitting the ball.  But I feel it is indicative of a larger problem.  You can't sit back and wait for the 3-run homer.  The Tigers' insurance run in the 5th, which ultimately proved the difference, is the perfect example.  A double, get the runner over with a ground ball to the right side, key 2 out hit.  This is sound fundamental baseball.  You've got to squeak out runs like this.  Some time one run makes all the difference.  It certainly did last night.  I'd like to see more of an emphasis placed on manufacturing runs.  How?  That's for you to figure out.

Thanks for a great year, despite losing to what I feel is an inferior Detroit team.  The real work starts now.  Anyone can throw piles of money; I have faith you can do more.  (Ask Stick Michael if you're stuck).  I am here if you have any questions.

Thanks for your time.

Sincerely,
Joe Clifford (AKA KingJ) 

Yep... He'll get right on that, I'm sure.

To start, you need to learn a bit more about pitching.  CC is not a "1.5".  They just need a manage him a bit more conservatively and have him lose some weight.

As for manufacturing runs, you state the obvious.  It's all in the approach.  These guys refuse to change their approach. 

It's very nice of you to write an "open letter"... however, don't think for a second that Brian Cashman, of all people, doesn't recognize any of this.

You would have been better served to write a thank-you letter to Jorge...  Cashman doesn't need our help.

Pretty good season all things given IMO. Only one team wins the WS each year, so somebody has to lose in the playoffs. And CC not a #1 starter??? I don't get that comment. He's one of the the top 10 pitchers in baseball.

Oct 7, 2011 -- 11:11AM, Celerino Sanchez wrote:

Exactly the Yankees weren't favored to win, especially opening the season with two question marks in their starting rotation.

Yup, and credit has to be given to Girardi for winning with what he had. So, overall some darn good things came out of this year.

I think my statement on CC lacked clarity.  I apologize for that.  I should've been more explict.  Given his second half dip, was what I intended.  Also, without a doubt, we went farther than one could expect with retreads like Colon and Garcia lifted off the scrap heap.  Kudos to Cashman.  But, again, though terrific over 162 games where the vaunted offense can implict damage almost at will against inferior pitching, this staff was never going far in October.  

Oct 7, 2011 -- 12:02PM, qwik3457bb wrote:

People were screaming all year to drop Tex down to #5. Now we see the drawback in that idea.

Right, because the best idea would have been to drop this ME player to #8 in the lineup. If i'm Cashman, i'm shopping his sorry as# out of town, as he still has value, and not playing in the toy alley(new YS, that is) will get him back to hitting near .300 once again. He's a GG to go with it and still in his prime.

Eat say 1/3 of his salary(which would be about $8million) for the next 5 yrs, and get him out of NY. I'm tired of his act, Arod's act, Swisher's act. If i owned this team, all 3 would somehow go..even if i ate up $25 million each yr(17 for Arod and 8 for Tex), and i'd build my core around Cano and Granderson and the kids.