In most professions, you get a review after a certain amount of time on the job. Good review? You usually get a raise. Bad Review? Stay where you are and start looking for another job (cause someone is probably gonna ask you to do that anyway).
So with Labor Day upon us (a celebration of hard work and dedication to one's career) I thought it would be a good idea to go around the horn for the Yanks and see who makes the grade.
Catcher: Jose Molina/Pudge Rodriguez - C+
This is a combined grade because Molina gets an A and Pudge gets a D, so by my calculations that comes out to about a C+. Molina has been much more than the Yanks could have hoped, and considering how poorly Pudge has played the team probably would have been better served just extrusting the every day duties to Jose. No, he isn't gonna hit all that much, but for a guy with almost no bat, he comes up with the occasional big hit, has a little bit of pop, enough to keep people honest. His defensive skills are off the charts retaining him for next year is about as important a move as you can make.
Pudge, on the other hand, has played miserably. He hasn't hit, his throws have been all over the place to second, and he hasn't provided any pop/big hit ability, which you would have expected from him. Who knows where the hall of famer ends up next year, but it won't be on a Yankee roster.
First Base: Jason Giambi - C-
I'll admit, going into the season I thought the Giambino was washed up and should be sent out to pasture. He has certainly played like someone deserving of being in the lineup every day and his power numbers have returned. However (and perhaps this isn't completely his fault) when you hit in the number 5 hole and you have an average with runners in scoring position that is barely peeking up above the Mendoza line, you are consistently letting your team down.
Giambi, for all his power, has been a main culprit in the Yankee's woeful average with runners on base and his overall ineffective play at first has also hurt the team. You know things are going the wrong way when simply making scoop plays at first (which is something any decent first bagger should be able to do) is applauded as if it were Mattingly-esque. Giambi's power numbers have masked an otherwise very ineffective year.
Second Base: Robinson Cano - D
This is turning out to be a D for Disaster.
Cano's numbers are a disappointment, certainly, but, when compared to the rest of the second basemen in the league, the numbers really aren't all that bad. A lot of teams would take .270 13 60 right now out of their second baseman, no question about it.
But Cano's talent dictates that, by now, he should be one of the game's elite players, someone who reminds us all a lot more of Roberto Alomar than Luis Soho, and the fact that Cano has taken such a major step back, after hitting over .300 last year with nearly 20 homers and 100 RBI, is a HUGE disappointment and concern.
However, what makes Cano's year so hard to swallow is his attitude and his careless play. No one is suggesting that Cano is a bad person, but you don't need to be a bad person to take your job for granted. There are plenty of people (including myself) who are good, decent, likeable, affable people who, at one time or another, took a job wayyyyyy too lightly and didn't produce the results that were required.
Girardi, from the beginning of the year, has treated Cano like a little leaguer, seemingly more concerned about the young man's psyche than his performance. Every miscue is explained away as "being human" but, after a while, you're not "human" you're sloppy as hell.
Cano has done little in his career except show flashes of brilliance, yet he plays the game as if there is a resume of excellence behind, while players with such resumes (Jeter, A-Rod) play hard and aggressive and passionate every single day. Cano does not hustle as much as he should. He does not have a high baseball IQ. He is far too lackadasical with his play in the field, and he loses focus way too often. Whether these lapses have been addressed away from camera's and reporters is anyone's guess, but it continues to happen, so either Girardi's message isn't clear or it isn't even being sent.
Short Stop: Derek Jeter - B-
Jeter is Jeter, so you can never have a truly unproductive year. He plays hard, still has the ability to get big hits in big spots, and has improved his defense up the middle this year to answer those critics who blindly labeled him the "worst defensive short stop in baseball." Yet, there is no question that this has been the furture hall of famer's worst offensive year of his career. He has raised his average very near .300 and may end up, as usualy, past that demarkation line, but all of his other numbers are down and he has become a ground ball machine, which accounts for his high number of double plays.
Jeter was never a home run hitter, but he was far from being a punch and judy hitter either. He routinely had 40 doubles and would have about 15+ homers per year to go along with his 200 hits. Now, it seems the first thing gone from his arsenal, as he gets older, is that little bit of power he once had. He still has the speed to get on base and steal double digits, and he is still gonna rack up close to 200 hits a season, but this year has shown Jeter, for the first time, to be somewhat on the decline, and that decline has been a major factor in the team's offensive struggles.
Third Base: Alex Rodriguez - B-
A-Rod gets the same grade as Jeter.
Overall, A-Rod's numbers are decent while not outstanding, but while he seemed to have gotten past his problems in the clutch last year with a season for the ages, he has returned to his 2006 form this year, hitting just .240 with RISP. He and Giambi have combined to leave half of China on base this year, and one would be pretty rich if they had a nickel for every time the Yanks had runners on with no one out and got nothing because A-Rod and Giambi combined for the pat strike out, pop up double play.
A-Rod went back to being a compiler this year and while his numbers will look fine when the season expires, everyone who has watched him knows how much of a struggle it has been. Like Jeter, the Yanks will expect a much better overall year next year.
Right Field: Bobby Abreu - B
I was actually expecting a lot more from Abreu considering he is a free agent after this season, but what you have gotten from Abreu is his normal, productive yet unimpressive season. He is hitting close to .300 with 15 homers and 83 RBI, on pace for his usual .300 20 100. That is good, but not great, and Abreu's terrible base running has hurt the team numerous times this year, as has his consistently shotty defense in right field.
Considering how tough it has been for the team to score runs this year, bringing Abreu back is a real possibility. However, I thought Bobby was gonna make the case for a multi-year contract for big bucks with a big, big season and, again, he has simply nestled nicely into yet another average, B year. If he wants more than 2 years (which he probably will) the Yanks would be best served to let him walk.
Left Field: Johnny Damon/Xavier Nady - A-
Damon had the spot in the beginning of the year, Nady now, and both have played very well. Nady just has the look of a hardnosed player that gets big hits and helps your team win. Damon is still productive and is a spark plug at the top of the lineup. Both have done their jobs and played very well.
Center Field: Johnny Damon/Melky Cabrera - D
I am not including the revolving door of Bret Gardner and Justin Christian, they didn't play enough games there. It has really been Damon and Melky. Why such a low grade?
Damon's defense in center is, well, unacceptable really at this point. His arm has always been a liability but now he no longer seems to have the range that at one time made up for those weak throws. His offense, as stated before, has been fine, but Damon is no longer and everyday center fielder.
But it is Melky's whopping F that brings the overall grade down.
Sure, it is fun to watch Melky track balls down and throw guys out. He is a heck of a defensive player. But Melky went from being a potentially productive major leaguer to a decent serviceable major leaguer to a down right atrocious major leaguer who was an automatic out. Melky was allowed to patrol center for way, way, way too long and his inability to even remotely hit at a decent major league level hurt the team, even if he was buried at the 9 hole.
When Melky first came up, it appeared he had the tools to be a .280 hitter with a little pop. In other words, a Shane Victorino-esque guy. The numbers wouldn't earn him a trip to Cooperstown or to the All Star game, but it would make him a valuable every day addition. That was 2006. Now, in 2008 he has played himself back to the minors where he ultimately might belong.
The rotation: C+
I am gonna take a little short cut here because there have been so many guys who have filtered through it would take too long to grade them all. Pettitte has been a disappointment, Mussina has earned an A+, Joba has an A in waiting, held up by the injury, and everyone else has really just been average, from Rasner and Ponson to even now Pavano. There have been terrible games, there have been decent games. The rotation has not been the overall problem for the Yankees. No, they haven't been spectacular and have accounted for their share of losses, but overall, they have been average.
The bullpen: D
This would have been much higher only a month ago, but the bullpen hit a wall towards the middle of August and now they are in full "hold your breath mode." Mariano has been an A-, getting that - because of his terrible performances in tie games, which do actually count. After that, it has been a crap shoot. Jose Veras? Has ranged from an A to a D. Damaso Marte? Mostly an F. Edwar Ramirez? I don't even know how to grade this guy. On the one hand he has gone through stretches in the season where he has been unhittable, literally. Yet, there isn't one pitcher in that bullpen who has given up as many big, devastating hits as Ramirez and there isn't one pitcher I'd least like to see in an important spot. The numbers say one thing, the eyes say another.
Manager: Joe Girardi - D
Okay, let's get a few things out of the way. One, this season is not all on Girardi's shoulders. You can't make guys hit in the clutch or pitch out of trouble. With a veteran team, the guys should be performing on their own, leaning on built up guile and determination, and the fact that this team hasn't been able to do that is on them, not Girardi.
Two, we know there have been a lot of injuries and that certainly hasn't been GI Joe's fault. Wang rounding third? Bruney covering a base? Posada just not being healthy all year? Nothing Girardi can do about that.
However, here's what Girardi could have done: he could have done something about this team's lack of focus and energy. At no point in time did I ever see a Yankee team play with such lifelessnesss under Joe Torre. Maybe they are just pressing, the stress gettingg to them, but when was the last time you felt so sure a Yankee team was going to lose when they got behind, even by a few runs, early in the game? Seriously, Michael Kay has said it a few times and I agree - this team has a glass jaw and that has to fall somewhat on the shoulders of the manager.
How can you not blame Girardi for Cano's year this year? He hasn't hustled, has made bone headed plays left and right, and hurt the team in every way imagineable, yet Girardi is always an apologist for Cano rather than a disciplinarian. Is he addressing this behind closed doors? If so, the message isn't getting across, not in the least. It is ironic that Girardi was brought in after Torre in part because there was a sense that grandpa Joe was too easy on his players, yet it was under Torre that players seemed to be held far more accountable for their actions. Cano, Abreu, even Melky were all sent out there day after day, inning after inning, even when they hurt the team with their lack of focus and energy. Inexcuseable.
His in game strategy has, at times, been terrible, but we'll let that slide for now because that is what it is.
The progession of the "young" players has been nonexistent. Girardi was billed as a rookie guru, someone who would nuture the Yankee farm hands through this transition. Not one young player has improved or even really performed under Girardi.
We already touched on Cano and Melky and they dismal seasons both are having (with Melky relegated to the minors). How about Phil Hughes? Before he was injured Phil Franchise looked like Phil Fraud. Ian Kennedy? Look, maybe it isn't possible to make silver out of shit, but Joey G was all on board with handing over a spot to Kennedy in the beginning of the year and the kid helped put the Yanks in an early season slumber from which they have never awoke.
Girardi came in with a lot of promise and hype, many believing he would be a throw back to Billy Martin, a tough minded baseball genius. The truth? This year has been so suspect and so bad, just on his end, it is no guarantee that Joe Girardi will make it through his full contract as manager.
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