SU is a big Joe Girardi fan. Being a manager in New York with all the media outlets and the constant second-guessing is a real challenge. He is a smart guy, protects his players and tolerates the media as best he can. Joe Torre was the master with the media – Mr. Smooth – and always comfortable chit-chatting with them. Girardi does what is required but you can see him bolt off the stage after the post-game press conferences. Not his thing.
If the Yankees don’t make it to October this year, it will be 3 years in a row. They have the oldest roster in MLB and a bench of utility infielders. His starters are creaky and he has to juggle a 6-man rotation with generally only 6 innings of production. SU believes he does a masterful job and that they have over-achieved to date. This is a flawed team offensively. Plus he has to play Stephen Drew every day. It cannot be easy writing that name in each day.
Brian Cashman has had an incredible run in New York and has the trust and confidence of Hal Steinbrenner. He will be under pressure to consider a new manager next season. SU says Hal should take a look at Dave Dombrowski and see if the Yankees should consider a change at the GM position instead of manager. There are finally some pieces at the higher levels of the minor leagues but the Yankees are now stuck with Headley and Ellsbury for years to come. Headley is serviceable on a deep roster but for a guy with that many at bats, he drives in so few runs. Ellsbury can’t stay healthy and is just not worth $22 million a year. SU fears Girardi’s job is at risk if the Yankees collapse down the stretch but it’s not his fault. Time will tell.
Some also believe that the Mets need to make the playoffs this year to save Terry Collins’ job. That may be true but it’s not like he was given a world beating roster this year. However, now that they are up 2.5 games in the standings, expectations are on the rise. They are a nice story and if the Yankees falter, they will have the spotlight for the next 6 weeks.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
What happened to “No Time to Panic?”
Headley and Drew were 75% of the offense last night.
Girardi is at risk but I’m not sure how much so. They had a huge lead last week but that may have been an aberration. Still, they’re good enough to make a run at the playoffs but not good enough to be a lock, no matter what the lead was in early August. Also, Toronto is a very good team. I’ve mentioned their run differential which is fantastic and an indication that they were better than their record indicated a couple weeks ago.
I am not on the Dombrowski bandwagon. He got out of Detroit at the right time. They are about to be old with expensive injured players. The way he developed the roster, they could very quickly become the Yankees but without all the TV revenue. He’s probably good at his job but I don’t seem him as having some magic formula that would revolutionize how things are done for the Yankees.
Is it too soon to start making jokes about the Jets’ ability to protect the quarterback?
I don’t see how Girardi survives if the Yankees collapse and don’t make the playoffs…whether it’s his fault or not, you can’t be in that job and be home in October 3 years in a row, especially if the final one is a huge collapse, like this could turn out to be…and I don’t see any way that Collins doesn’t come back…even if they fall short this year, they are building something for the future with a young pitching staff and a decent nucleus of other players, so he absolutely deserves to come back…they hung in there pretty well even before this hot streak.
I only wrote that to calm the troops out in the field. I am firmly in panic mode for the Yankees as they drift down to the level where I think they belong for this season. The pitching is actually fine – both the starters and the bullpen keep them in most games – just like last season. Reliance on the homerun covers up their inability to manufacture runs. I also don’t believe you can project A-Rod’s and Texeiria’s production numbers out. McCann hasn’t got a hit or really hit the ball hard since hurting his knee last week – something is going on there I think. They have over-achieved to date and it’s just possible they will tire down the stretch. I still don’t think Toronto is a world beating team but despite that, not sure if the Yankees have what it takes either.
It could always be worse for Geno Smith. He could have been sucker-punched while lighting a firecracker.
I would guess that the second wild card team gets in with about 85-86 wins so if NYY miss the playoffs it is a total collapse
If the Yankees play .500 the rest of the way, that is just about where they will end up. My point is that they have the record they have with the combination of Betances/Miller being almost perfect. Little margin for error. Agree with 2nd wild card estimate and there will be a lot of teams in the hunt in the East and West.
24-27 gets them to 85 wins
On paper, certainly doable. Gardner and Ellsbury will tell the story I think as to how the rest of the season goes.
Girardi only at risk if there is an obvious candidate to replace him, like a Jim Leyland. Not much you can do when your 1-5 batters are 2-66 over the last three games- makes Drew look like an MVP candidate.
Fair point. Leyland would only come if Dombrowski did. Long term, they need to flip the switch on the next generation of position players and just deal with the growing pains. Last night’s loss was painful but the really negative aspect was Drew’s homerun which guarantees him another 20 games starting at 2nd base. One more homerun and he will have tenure for the rest of the season. You can hide Drew if everyone else is hitting but when the whole team is bad, it’s just another dead spot in the order to make up for. FIOS actually lost the YES Network in the 16th inning as there was no doubt so little action that everything went dark. It was a mercy outage for the fans.