One pitcher does not constitute a starting staff. It was great that the Yanks signed Gerrit Cole, price be damned, and he has generally lived up to advance billing.
But by himself, Cole is not a substitute for a five-man staff. Or a four-man or a three-man staff. Despite all the evidence that you have to have the big starters to get through the playoffs, Cashman keeps hoping that he can do it on a wish and a prayer. Tanaka—much as I love him—Paxton, and Happ are simply not playoff-quality starters.
Most relief pitchers are not Mariano Rivera. They are not effective for more than a few seasons, at most. Which is why you need to be constantly replenishing the pen.
Going back to the days when he thought he could get by with Gordon and Quantrill as the bridge to Mo, Coops has once again always tried to substitute wishin' an' hopin' an' prayin' for live arms. It never works.
Injury-prone players do not get less injury-prone as they age. Nuff ced.
You will never beat the Tampa Bay Rays playing their game. For many a year now, perhaps to prove his prowess as a general manager, Cashman has tried to show us that he is also a master of Sabremetrics, Moneyball, and all the other assorted, money-saving devices that cash-strapped teams use to play above their heads.
It's as if the U.S. military tried to win WW II through guerrilla warfare tactics, instead of simply unleashing all the firepower that the world's greatest industrial power could furnish on those dirty Axis bastards.
If you have no talent for developing players—as Mr. Cashman surely has proven he has not—then you need to go out and bury the opposition with money. Adopting their same concept of the game will not only fail, it will advance the Rays' seeming mission to make watching baseball as boring as possible.
If you listen to Fox, ESPN, and YES commentators, Cashman is a genius because he found Gio (who has stopped hitting), Tauchman (who should be starting in CF), and Voit (no complaints). We still don't have a rotation, we still play Hicks (one triple does not a season make)(seven years? WTF), and Gardy, and Sanchez (passed balls, anyone?).
ReplyDeleteGenius.
I could forgive the passed balls if the average were above .132. Really, this guy looked like the next Johnny Bench three years ago. Now he looks like the next Jesus Montero.
ReplyDeleteYeah, unfortunately, he has the potential to be the next Jesus Montero. But at least he seems to be waking up a little bit. The average is over .100, hooray!
ReplyDeleteCashman, or whoever runs things here, seems to think that bringing in someone else's ex-closer to be the set up man is the answer to a strong bullpen. That's never really worked out for us. With Gordon, Britton, you name it. Tampa certainly seems to know how to build a strong bullpen. We never hit their relievers. Kevin Cash also does a very good job of mixing and matching against our home run derby contestants.
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