Mel and The Strike

Mel

Earlier this week, in what may be the beginning of a slew of changes, Mel Stottlemyre resigned from his position as pitching coach of the New York Yankees. Citing the difficulty of pleasing two sets of masters, New York and Tampa, the classy pitching coach felt that he had tolerated enough and just didn’t want to go through the pain any longer. I don’t blame him at all. It has to be extremely frustrating to deal with criticism from an irrational and ignorant owner who feels the need to involve himself at every level of the organization.

Will Joe Torre be the next to go? He has stated that this has been the toughest season that he has endured with regard to Mr. Steinbrenner. Arguably, the 2005 campaign was Torre’s finest as he managed the team to 95 wins with a make-shift pitching staff. Yet, there is a lack of acknowledgement of that accomplishment from Tampa. Certainly, Mr. Steinbrenner shouldn’t be happy that he invested over $200 million in payroll this season only to see a first round exit in the playoffs. However, there is not a direct correlation between dollars invested and winning. In whom one invests the dollars is the critical piece of the puzzle, and increasingly one that the Yankees seem to be getting wrong.

I can’t say for certain who is to blame for the big spending on free agents that haven’t completely worked out in NY. If it weren’t for the low-priced talent on the team (see Small, Cano, Chacon, Wang), this team would have been a total bust this year. Is Mr. Steinbrenner too involved in the process to the point that he overrules his “baseball” people and simply does what he wants based on his own whims? I think most people would answer “yes” to that question. And if the answer is “yes”, then what would you do if you’re Brian Cashman? On the one hand, being the General Manager of the New York Yankees has to be one of the dream jobs in Major League Baseball. On the other hand, reporting to Mr. Steinbrenner has to be one of the nightmare jobs in Major League Baseball. It wouldn’t surprise me if Cashman doesn’t return after his contract expires, and I hope for his sake that it is of his own volition. When allowed to do his job, I think he has done well. However, in the past few years, it appears to me that he has become increasingly handcuffed in his role. That has to be tremendously frustrating.

The change that I would like to see this off-season is one that won’t happen: a change in ownership.


The Strike

Home plate umpire Doug Eddings certainly got himself in hot water the other night in the 9th inning of Game 2 of the ALCS. It seems to me that there were two mistakes by the umpire on the play. The first is the dispute over whether the catcher caught the ball cleanly or not. From television replays, it appears that Angels catcher Josh Paul did catch the ball cleanly. However, I did see the change in direction that the umpiring crew cited as justification for the call. What we don’t know is if that was because the ball hit the ground or if it hit the top of the glove and then moved into the pocket.

Nevertheless, the second mistake was the more egregious. Eddings extended his right arm to indicate that the batter had swung at the pitch. He paused for a moment and then brought up his right arm and made a fist to indicate the batter was out. If the ball was still in play, he should not have made the second gesture and this is what I believe has the Angels incensed over the call. The explanations by the umpiring crew appear pathetic in light of the video evidence.

I’m not crying for the Angels though. In my opinion, they were the benefactors of a dubious call in Game 5 versus the Yankees when Robinson Cano was called out for running outside of the baseline. Perhaps bad calls do even out and this is simply “baseball justice”.

Some media members (Dan Shaughnessy) are saying that this call casts a shadow over the entire series. That seems a bit melodramatic to me. If Joe Crede strikes out, this blown call becomes trivial. Certainly the White Sox took advantage of the mistake to win the game, but the mistake didn’t win the game on its own. Crede still had to execute in the same manner that Tadahito Iguchi had to execute after Tony Graffanino’s error.