tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

Yanks = Wild Card??

The Yankees dropped a 4-3 decision to the Oakland A's yesterday dropping them 3 games behind the Red Sox in the AL East. Unless something changes soon, Boston will be AL East champions. So it's looking like the Yankees entry into the post season will once again be as a wild card. But can they hold on??

As we know there are 2 sides to a baseball team, offense and pitching. Offensively, the Yankees have some problems. The designated hitter is suppose to provide offense. Jorge Posada is not doing that. He needs to be replaced. The problem is that on the current roster there is no one who is going to give the team the offense they need. Mark Texiera is in a horrible slump. The grand slam on Friday notwithstanding, he is not providing the Yanks with what they need particularly with ARod out. You could live with your catcher hitting .220 if your DH and first baseman were carrying their weight.

The pitching staff is not playoff ready. The Yankees do not have a number 2 starter that can match up with the Angels, Red Sox and the Phillies. The bullpen has been ok but who do they have to get out the big lefty bats of the Red Sox. It's not Boone Logan as evidenced by Hideki Matsui's blast yesterday.

So far Cashman's response has been to claim JC Romero and Marcus Thames off waivers. These moves coupled with the bargain basement signings of Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon makes one think that the Yankees are on par with small market teams like the Royals. The difference is though that the Royals are going with youth and buildiing for the future. The Yankees are bringing in oldies to win this year. The problem is that these oldies aren't good enough to win in October.

Some are saying that Cashman is right for not trading away top end prospects for help before July 31st. Normally I would agree with that. But I have 2 problems with this now. First, these are the Yankees who measure success only by winning the World Series. This roster is not built to win the World Series. Secondly, when will we see these kids and how good are they??? How come other teams can bring up young players and have them excel while the Yankees baby them only to have them falter??

The Yankees need to do something now. They either make a trade blowing away a rival GM with a package to get a top of the line starter or they bring up some of these top prospects and hope to catch lightning in a bottle. It's time for bold action. It's time to stop playing it safe. It's time for Brian Cashman to show some guts.