He Who Hesitates Is Lost: Where Do the Yanks Sit After Missing Out on Cliff Lee?
December 18, 2010 · Colin Krouse · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
He who hesitates is lost. Or, in my experience, he who sleeps in misses the bus.
The Yankees were looking good. The assumed front-runners to nab Cliff Lee, the Yankees somehow lost him to a late arrival to the party, the Philadelphia Phillies. Apparently, Lee decided on Philly because of the “fans and a great atmosphere” and also hinted that it may have been what his wife wanted.
Whatever the case, Philadelphia is sure to have a “Merry Cliff-mas” and “Happy Hol-Lee-Days” this year, while Cashman and the Yankee front office friends are and will most likely continue to scratch their heads wondering what the hell happened.
When they recover from that, they are faced with some daunting problems.
The first of which is how they will compete with the Red Sox. The day has finally come when the world looks at what has happened so far in this offseason and sees the Red Sox somehow having a more productive bidding season than the Yankees.
(Gasp)
It seems to be true. The Red Sox have made astounding offensive upgrades, adding two of the game’s best—Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford—to an already dangerous lineup. If the season began today, it sure looks like the Red Sox would be the team to beat in the AL East.
Think about it.
The Rays seem to be a third place team at best this year, losing Crawford and others to free agency. The Orioles will go on their usual April run and shut down for the year. The Blue Jays could turn out to be a good team and could possibly compete with the Rays for third place, but with their pitching staff at the moment, they won’t be able to keep up with the Red Sox or Yankees.
That leaves—you guessed it—the Red Sox and Yankees. The lineup already swings in favor of the Sox, and, assuming Josh Beckett stays healthy and Andy Pettitte retires (which the Yankees and Pettitte have hinted at), the starting pitching goes to Boston as well.
That’s not to say all hope is lost for the Yankees. Things happen, and there was no better example of that than the Red Sox in 2010. Plagued by injuries, their third-place finish was excellent considering what that many injuries can do to a team.
My point is, if everything were to go as planned in life, the Yankees would appear to have no shot right now. But, baseball is a crazy game. Keep your fingers crossed New York, and Mr. Cashman, please bring us some holiday cheer (in other words, get us some arms to help our rotation compete)!
Merry Christmas, and Go Yankees!
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