"And Cashman is the one who thought the Yankees could win with Granderson and Johnson instead of Hideki Matsui and. So now Berkman, whose home run totals really have dropped like an anchor over the side of a boat, is the DH that Matsui could have been for one more year at the Stadium, and Kearns becomes another outfielder."
Mike Lupica is talking about Johnny Damon again.
Oh, and the Yankees have the best record in baseball. So they're kinda winning.
"Berkman is 13 homers, 49 RBI, a .245 batting average. Matsui? He is 14 and 55 and .251 with the Angels, and you can only imagine what his numbers would look like with the kind of boppers the Yankees would have put around him again. Damon is .281 for the Tigers, seven homers, 32 RBI, not up to his Yankee standards. But you think those numbers aren't better hitting behind Jeter and ahead of Teixeira, and the right-field wall beckoning at the Stadium?
Seriously, if you're a Yankee fan, you want to go to war with Matsui and Damon, or with this year's trade-deadline saviors?"
They all pretty much stink. But Damon and Matsui can't field anymore and the Astros are paying $10 million of Berkman's salary. So what's the problem here?
Also, did you just disrespect Detroit leadoff hitter Austin Jackson? The all-star that Cashman should have never traded? Wow.
"This isn't just about Yankee money, even though you'd think the Yankees, at $210 million (what happened to the 'budget'?), would be more fully-formed at this point in the season."
$210M is the budget. If Cashman had stuck with Matsui and Damon, the payroll would be a lot more. Then, you'd complain about that.
"This is about the weird insecurity around a team that is loaded with All-Stars and legends and came into Saturday with a record of 65-37 and seems to be well on its way to another 100-win season."
No, it's not that at all. It's small-impact deadline deals to improve the bench and the bullpen.
But I love that Lupica has given up on the gritty Red Sox and his favorite cheater Big Papi and his favorite closer Papelbon and his favorite GM Epstein.
"Will the Yankees beat them out of first place in the East in the end? That's the way to bet.
And that's not the real question here.The question goes something like this:Why do the Yankees seem to be so worried that they can't?"
This is not an "insecure" move by a panicky team. Lupica is just projecting his own Napoleon Syndrome psychological problems.
When the facts don't fit Lupica's story, Lupica just bends the facts.
What Lupica is demonstrating is that he's going to criticize Cashman no matter what.
Interest in Lee? That's overkill.
Do nothing? That's arrogance. (Look out for the Rays and also the return of Josh Beckett!)
Tweak the team at the cost of Mark Melancon? That's panicky, too.
It's Cashman's job to be panicky, by the way, but this is just minor tweaking. Maybe Minaya and Epstein should be more panicky.
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