Faltering Yet Again, But Not What You Think

It's funny.

It was the 5th inning and I was sitting on my couch thinking about today's piece (that's right, I think Y2K ALL DAY LONG -- we bloggers care) when I figured out what I was going to write about.

I was going to write about Kelly Johnson. I was going to write about how he is not discussed in the same conversation as Brian McCann and Jeff Francouer even though he should be. His swing looks like Chipper Jones' and he looks like he has the build to turn into a real power guy.

I thought I'd be giving you guys some insight. Something a little different. Then Kelly Johnson went dong breaking our hearts and capturing the series for those hated Braves.

Now it doesn't feel right to talk about Kelly Johnson. A little too obvious.

The Yankees getting swept by the Sox. Derek Jeter getting dominated by Jonathan Papelbon on consecutive nights. That was nice. But again a little too obvious.

We here at Yankees 2000 don't do obvious. We tell you stuff that you don't know but SHOULD know. Something to pass off to your friends as a new piece of information, something that will make you smarter as a baseball fan.

So here we go.

Joe Torre is doing it again.

For the last two years I have discussed Joe Torre as an overrated manager. Yankee fans would argue that I as a bitter Mets fan. But I had two real theories.

1. That he was overrated when it comes to managing egos. His handling of A-Rod, Sheffield and co. was more bad than good, highlighted with his benching of Sheffield and his hitting A-ROD in the 8th spot in last year's postseason.

How could a team with so much talent falter in the postseason every single year? They were so much better. If it wasn't the fault of the superior talent, it had to be the fault of the person managing that talent.

2. This one is related to #1.

Joe is a terrible manager of his bullpen. Every year he burns out his pen in the regular season so they inevitable falter in the postseason. The numbers are there. It happens time and time again.
This year is no different.

I watch a lot of Yankee baseball. I watch a lot of baseball in general, but in particular the Yankees. It's a hate thing.

I couldn't help but notice how often Scott Proctor, Luis Vizcaino and Mike Myers were pitching. It seemed like it was every day.

So I did a little research and my memories were confirmed. Take a look at the numbers entering Sunday

Take a look at the number of appearances for Joe's top middle men:

Proctor: 11
Myers: 10
Vizcaino: 10
Farnsworth: 8

This in 16 games. This puts three of his guys on pace for more than 100 appearances.

Now have a look at the top guys for the Mets and Red Sox.

Red Sox

JC Romero: 8
Joel Piniero:7
Brendan Donnelly: 6
Mike Timlin: 4

Mets

Joe Smith: 10
Aaron Heilman: 7
Pedro Feliciano: 7
Scott Schoenweis: 8

To give you some perspective, the leaders in appearances by middle men usually top out at around 80-85 games, or roughly once every two days. Again, that's the going rate for the leaders.

The Yankees have three pitchers already on pace for 100 or roughly 20-30 more than their rival counterparts.

As you saw on Sunday and you know I believe, bullpens are the key to baseball. My dad drilled this idea in to me at a young age.

Joe Torre is terrible at managing his bullpen.

He plays to win today and doesn't factor in the long term.

This could not be more apparent than in last Thursday's game against the Indians. Tied 1-1 with 1 out in the 5th inning, Torre pulled starter Darryl Rasner after just 81 pitches. It was a great move strategy-wise. He brought in lefty specialist Mike Myers to face Grady Sizemore, Dave Dellucci and Travis Hafner -- all lefties.

The move worked and it was the perfect move for that game. But it was not the perfect move for the Yankees season. No other manager would pull a starter in the 5th inning, especially when he was effective and at a low pitch count.

The move does not make sense over the course of a season. Neither does pitching Andy Pettitte twice in relief in April. You do this in October, not in April.

The Yankees should play baseball to an extent like Shaquille O'Neal plays basketball.

They should rest in the regular season and take it down a gear so that they have that extra boost for the postseason. Their overwhelmingly superior talent as the result of a major discrepancy in salary should carry them to the postseason every year.

Their relief pitchers should have the fewest appearances in the game so that they are ready for October. Not the most in the game so they are dead in October.

This has been happening every year for sometime. It is not discussed but should be.

Joe Torre has two responsibilities.

Keep his egos happy and keep his pitchers fresh. He is bad at both of these things. Just thought I'd point that out.

VCD,

Sip

(Pics courtesy of cnn.com, hornetsreport.com, mlb.com, aftonbladet.com)