Why is Pavano still a Yankee??

So another week of Spring Training baseball is behind us and there is a lot to talk about this week.

First and four most the A-rod story that broke early in the week; according to the article in I believe the NY Post A-rod believes the fans should love him or else. The reaction from Yankees fans was pretty swift for the most part as fans in chat rooms and discussion groups were tired of this subject to start with. Many felt A-rod was out of line, some felt he was justified for saying what he said, and some think he just needs to stop talking to the media all together. My self I actually agree with all of the above sentiments but not in the way you might be thinking. See the thing is A-rod never ACTUALY said the fans have to love me or else I’m going to Leave NY. What he said regarding the option to opt out of his contract after this season was that HE WANTS TO BE A YANKEE so that decision is not his to make, and it was up to the Yankees and the fans. Basically the only way Alex is going to leave NY is if we the fans WANT HIM TO GO or the Yankees ask him to. Why is this so hard for people to understand?? I just don’t get it. More importantly why the fans just don’t see how much the Media in general hates him being a Yankee?? It’s a fact; since we signed A-rod the media has been writing and reporting why he should NOT be a Yankee. They hate the fact that he is Yankee and are doing everything in their power to turn the fans against him. This is why I think A-Rod was justified in saying what he said. Basically he told the Media STOP ASKING ME. Mostly because he plans on staying with the Yankees unless otherwise told he is not wanted there. How else do you explain that?? Truth is there really is no other way to say it, and this leads me to my next point. Alex really needs to simply avoid the media for the rest of the season. These vultures are out for blood this year, because they see a way to get what they want, which is to have A-rod leave the Yankees. So the media takes anything he says twist it in such a manner that it gives the fans the wrong message. The truth is Alex simply needs two words for the Press the rest of the season. NO COMMENT. After that let his bat and his glove do the talking for him. With No Comment the media has no words to twist into ammo to shot. He wants to be a Yankee but the media hates the fact that he is. If A-rod wants to stay a Yankee he needs to let his bat and glove make the point for him. And leave the media with nothing else to write about.

Other topics this week would be Carl “I’ve fallen and can’t Pitch today” Pavano. To be fair he did make two starts this week, one against the Red Sucks where he threw 3 innings giving up 2 runs and striking out 2 along the way. Not a great outing for the most part but not a terrible outing either. Then in his last outing this week he pitched in relief of Andy Pettit who was shutting out the Phillies for 5 innings. Then Pavano came into the game and promptly gave up 3 runs over 3 innings and generally sunk up the joint. What’s really scary is that there are actually teams out there that are interested in him. From What I have read the Rockies and Cardinals have shown some interest, supposedly the Dodgers and Braves have kicked his tires and according to some rumors that I have heard the Mets and D-rays may have interest in him as well. Now if ANY of this is true why he is still in a Yankee uniform completely boggles the mind. He has been nothing but a pain in the ass for the last two years. Constantly injured and were not talking about your normally every day run of the mill shoulder injury a pitcher gets. Not this Putz he bruises his Ass and goes on the DL. Gets into a car wreck while rehabbing another injury NEVER REPORTS IT to the Yankees and it turns out he has broken Ribs. It’s insane that he is still wearing a Yankee uniform and for the Love of all that is good in baseball I can only pray that Brian Cashmen will move quickly to trade him. But who would replace him in the rotation you might be asking. Well…

In three spring games Jeff Karstens is 3-0 and hasn't allowed any earned runs. Opposing batters are hitting .161 against him, and Karstens hasn't issued a walk in nine innings of work, BUT has managed to strike out 9 batters. He is having and exceptional spring and its fair to say that he is not just knocking on the door of the Major League roster but bulldozing it down with a sledgehammer. The truth is the Yankees have to notice how well he has been doing and as much as they want to tell us that he is starting the season in Triple A you have to hope at the very least that their trying desperately to find a way to keep this kid on the roster. One way would be to trade away Carl “What’s the next Injury I’ll get” Pavano. I have to ask you my fellow Yankees fans WHATS THE BIG DIFERENCE?!?! If we trade away Pavano and Karstens has a 12 win season he will have accomplished about as much as Pavano will likely do if he stays. He could however win closer to 15 games or more if he keeps pitching as well as he is now, and honestly that’s very possible. In the worst case scenario he can’t handle pitching in the bigs and the Yankees send him back down. In this case the Yankees have a surplus of young pitchers to bring up and give the chance to pitch on the Roster. Sanchez, Hughes, Rasner just to name a few. Even if all of those options fall through, we have the July trade deadline and the Yankees having a surplus of young pitching to work with picking up a strong back end of the rotation starter for the stretch run and the playoffs are not overly far fetched. The thing is if we stay with Pavano the Yankees run more risk. He could go down with another obscure injury and never be seen again, and then what do we have to show for the money we have dumped into him over the last three years. If the Yankees trade Pavano they FINALY get something back for the contract he signed most likely in the form of young position player prospects that they badly need (Most notably at Catcher). Secondly by freeing up Pavano’s roster space they open the door for the log jam of young pitchers that currently are sitting in the Minors just waiting for a chance to prove them selves. Last year the Yankees were missing the heart and fire of the young rookies we used to get us there. Once Matsui, Shef, and others came back guys like Melky, Reese, Tompson, Rasner, and Karastan were shuffled off the roster and along with them the passion these young kids play with. All you had to do was watch that young Tigers team celebrate after beating us in the playoffs to know what the Yankees were missing HEART.

Last but not least there is the first base debate. Right now as things stand Jason “Look at my chemically enhanced biceps” Giambi is slated to be the every day DH. This is part of the reason the Yankees picked up Doug Mientkiewic, the problem is he is a left handed hitter and the Yankees lineup is very lefty heavy. The Yankees want a right handed hitter to add to the lineup for when we face lefty pitchers. This opened the door for Andy Philips who had a great first half last year but fell to pieces once the second half of the season began. Because of this the Yankees also picked up Josh Phelps and it was decided that one of them would make the team based on spring training. The problem is right now as things stand Phelps is the hands down winner because Andy Philips had to leave the team for personal reason (his mother’s car accident). Regardless of Phelps fantastic spring Andy has not been given the chance to win the last roster spot, so to declare Phelps the winner is honestly not fair to Andy. This is at least how Joe Tore seems to be thinking which means Philips probably is the odds on favorite even thou he has yet to play any spring ball. What I have to wonder is why should, any of this matter. I feel for Andy and understand that he had to leave the team but the truth is Phelps is hitting .421 and has earned the job until he does something to loose it. Also in the end I have to wonder why the hell we even bothered. The truth is there are plenty of trade options out there that could have brought us much better returns then Mitz glove or Philips or Phelps bat. For example Sean Casey signed with the Tigers; Chris Shelton is the odd man out and probably could have been included in the Shef trade. After that there is Chris Duncan on the Cardinals, who will never see the light of day as a first basemen because Albert Pujols is not going to be leaving St Lous any time soon. A friend of mine in one of the online groups I am in has been argueing this point for several months now, and I have to agree with him, but I’ll add another wrinkle to this as well. With A-Rod troubles at third last year why not move him across the field to first base. The Truth is Alex has the range and flexibility to play first and if you take away the added pressure of playing third you eliminate one of the distractions he had last year to begin with.

What this all comes down to is the Yankees need to do more then just improve their farm system. They need to ACTUALY USE IT! We have great young prospects that are beating down the door to the majors in spring training and the Yankees are prepared to simply send them back to triple A with out a second thought. These young kids bring balance to a team comprised mostly of Veterans and for the most part superstars. These young rookies can remind our Veteran Superstars what it is like to be hungry for playing time and have the heart and passion to win. The honor that is involved in being a Yankee has been forgotten by our Veterans and the joy of the game needs to be restored. I believe some young rookies could bring the honor and joy of the game back to our Veterans and inspire our fans. More importantly these young rookies can remind everyone the most important thing about playing baseball.

JUST HAVE FUN!

Till next week...

The Yankees Fan