Some dates to remember in 2015


May 24: Will retire No. 51 and present plaque in Monument Park to Bernie Williams

June 20:  Present plaque in Monument Park to Willie Randolph and it will also be Old Timer's Day.

August 22: Will retire No. 20 and present plaque in Monument Park to Jorge Posada

August 23: Will retire No. 46 and present plaque in Monument Park to Andy Pettitte

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Tags: Andy Pettitte, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, Old Timers Day, Willie Randoplh, Yankees

The Bernie Williams Comeback isn't exactly going according to plan. In his return to baseball Williams is 0-4 with 2 walks. Not only has his on the field game taken a hit, so has his off the field reputation.

Bernie has a complaint filed against him from a woman who says the former Yankee star hit her. According to a police report that was filed, Williams took the camera from the woman damaged it and hit her in the face. Here is a statement released from Williams' manager:

“Yesterday evening we learned of the filing of a complaint against Mr. Bernie Williams. The news has taken us all by surprise. On the night in question, Mr. Williams had gone out after accepting an invitation to be a guest performer with a local music act. Mr. Williams denies any wrongdoing and we feel that some published media reports today are inaccurate. At this time, Mr. Williams has been advised by his legal counsel, José M. Marxuach, to not make any further comments, inasmuch as we do not want to interfere with the ongoing investigation. We want to assure everyone that Mr. Williams will fully cooperate with the local authorities to have this matter clarified as soon as possible.”

I find this a little hard to believe, but then again nothing surprises me anymore. Hopefully Bernie is able to clear up this mess and move forward.


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Tags: Baseball, Bernie Williams, WBC

One of the things that made the Yankees great over the years was they knew who was playing centerfield. Bernie Williams was their centerfielder and there was no doubt about him. He could run, he could hit and he could field. Ok so he couldn't throw but with all the upside, the throwing aspect of Bernie's game was his only downside. Nowadays Melky Cabrera mans CF. But there's some debate about if he should be the man out there.
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Many people, such as myself are Melky Cabrera fans. I love the guy's arm. When there's a ball hit to him and he's getting ready to try and throw out a runner don't tell me you don't start to get excited. His arm is incredible. His fast start this season mad you wonder can Melky be a top notch CF? Does he have ther power to go along with his arm? He's a decent .280 or .290 hitter. He runs pretty well, he's not slow. But since that quick start this season Melky has cooled off. He's only had three extra base hits in his last 30 games. He's missplayed a few flyballs that have caused a few unearned runs. So shall we ask the question, is Melky Cabrera the Yankees CF of the future? or is he holding that spot warm for highly touted prospect Brett Gardner?

Gardner was selected in the third round of the 2005 draft. Down in the minors everyone is raving about him. He has a career .387 OBP since he started playing in the Yankee organization. He has a .290 average to go along with 141 stolen bases. Now for the stuff that are making people in the organization drool, hrough 60 games he’s tripled his homerun total of the previous two seasons combined. He's slugging .454, 80 points better than his career average. Pretty impressive if you ask me. Now he doesn't have the arm Melky does but those offensive numbers to go along with his speed surely raise the question of who's better suited for CF.

Gardner is only a year older than Cabrera. The Yankees have a good dilemma on their hands. I can see both of these guys running flyballs down in the outfield for years to come. In the near future why not have Melky in left and Gardner in center.

I believe Gardner will one day take over the Yankees CF job because of all the hype we've heard about him. Melky is a solid baseball player. He will improve with time. I can't wait to see them side by side out there. Until then I like Melky in CF but I want to see what Gardner can do at the major league level. Hopefully by the end of the year I'll get to see the future of the Yankees right before my eyes. Who do you think should be playing CF?

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Tags: Baseball, Bernie Williams, Brett Gardner, Melky Cabrera, QUITE FRANKLY, Yankees

On Thursday afternoon the New York Yankees took their first step in a new direction. A 4pm conference call was announced and the Yankees Team President Randy Levine spoke. He offically announced that Joe Torre rejected the Yankees offer of a 1-year $5 million offer with a $1 million bonus for every round of the postseason he reached. It marked an end of an era and it was the beginning of something new.

You can argue that this was a move the Yankees should've made a year or two earlier but ask most Yankee fans and they'd tell you they'd prob prefer Torre as the manager. Who else can replace the man that brought back prestige and respectability to the pinstripes? He made Yankee Stadium the place to be the last 12 years. He instilled fear and imtimidation in the opposition. Or was that something the Yankee players did themselves? It was a combination of both, and that's what made it work. That's what got the Yankees 4 world championships in Torre's first 5 years. The unity between the team and it's manager.

Torre became a household name in New York. He was an icon. The same way we knew why Derek Jeter was a superstar, was the same reason we loved Joe...he won so much and won so often. So popular that his decision to reject the Yankees offer for 2008 had all the network news lead off with the story, helicopters hover over his plane arriving in New York Thursday, have a mass media frenzy in front of his house, and front and back pages of all the local newspapers. A key to Torre's success was his trust and loyalty to his players. It's one of the reasons why players like Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera,and Jorge Posada love him so much. Ironically these 3 might also be on the way out as they are all free agents at season's end.

Via ESPN.com:

"I love Joe Torre to death," Pettitte told Houston's KRIV-TV on Friday. "He meant the world to me. I hate that he's not going to be the manager.

Rivera told reporters a week ago that his status might be determined on if Torre was back next year as the manager of the Yankees. Posada also hinted at the notion the fate of the manager might affect where his plays next season.

Joe Torre has been nothing but class and eligence since his arrival in November of 1995. No one knew him back then, now everyone in New York knows who he is. Some of us grew up only knowing Torre as the Yankees manager. Some of us have only seen world championships the way Joe has seen them, '96,'98-2000. For me as a fan he made me want to bleed Yankee pinstripes. He gained my trust, he gained my confidence and he gained my loyalty, as I'm sure he did with millions of people who followed the Yanks the last 12 years. I truly believed Torre would make the right decision in the most cruical spots. And most of the time he did. It was impossible for him to be perfect but he was close to it.

Via Mike Lupica NY Daily News:

If this sticks, it was the end of Torre's Yankees and everything they have meant and everything they have been. And it was the end of George Steinbrenner's Yankees, just because nobody will ever believe he is really calling the shots there ever again.

It was the end of all that. It's almost as if Torre and Steinbrenner leave the Yankees together.

The Yankees will win again someday, maybe as soon as next season, with another manager. There is still too much talent around and too much money to spend, and everybody can see they have a farm system again, and young arms. So this wasn't the end of the Yankees. Just the end of what they have been under Torre.

It's true he hasn't won it all in 7 years but the job he has done over the last few years has shown his worth. The days of the (11-19) 2005 Yanks, the (21-29) 2007 Yanks are some of those examples. He once shipped out slugger Ruben Sierra because Sierra had a "me"-first attittude and that's not what Torre stood for. Sierra came back and was a new man and had a new "team"-first attitude. Darryl Strawberry once said Torre was like a father to him. Jeter likes to call him "Mr. Torre"..a show of respect and admiration. Now, after 12 years Joe Torre is gone and no longer the manager of the New York Yankees. He was poorly treated and disrespected in his final days as manager. Where was the loyalty for Torre? How could you let a man that brought you so much success dangle and be tossed around like that? Where was the class of the Yankees brass? I agree with Joe, if they wanted him to manage the Yankees next year, then he would be the manager. I am disgusted by the way the Yankees handled Torre and the way they've done business this year. The way they handled Bernie Williams and now Torre. At this rate Pettitte, Posada and Rivera..you might want to start packing your bags, these aren't Torre's Yankees anymore and that could be a start of a long way down from grace..and the Yankees took their first step.

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Tags: Andy Pettitte, Baseball, Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, Joe Torre, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Yankees