Yankees Demote Melky And Other Stories

• Yankees demote Cabrera, cut Sexson, then lose to the Royals:

For a player who was only a moderate prospect in the minors, through sheer hard work and winning attitude Melky Cabrera became an

everyday player on a team with designs on a championship year-after-year. Up until the brief time right before his recall in 2006, Cabrera's minor league numbers----minor league stats----never indicated that he'd be anything more than a defensively minded fourth outfielder who could run; but he made it to the big leagues and learned on the fly; he hustled, he played good defense, produced clutch hits.
Looking like the type of player who seized his opportunity and would develop into a 15-20 homer man as he matured and got stronger, the Yankees had no reason to believe that there would be this kind of a regression at the plate and in the field. After an excellent start, Cabrera has provided little since early May. It's possible that it wasn't his hitting that prompted Cabrera's demotion to

Triple A though; it may have been that he's playing as if he's in a fog. There have been the defensive lapses----the most egregious and youth-infused being that he misplayed a ball because he was waving to the fans in the bleachers as they did the Yankees lineup "roll call"----and other instances of his head not being where it should be that angered manager Joe Girardi and made the Yankees decide to send him down rather than bench him.
The easiest thing to do now is to say that he wasn't that talented a player to begin with, but it's not that hard to recover what it was that made Cabrera into an everyday player at the age of 22 if he gets his head on straight; this demotion might be a version of a wake-up call to shock him into getting back to what it was that made people believe he was going to develop into a solid 15 homer, 85 RBI, basestealing, opportunistic, defensively minded center fielder. He's still only 23 and can once again regain what it was that made the Yankees think they could play him as their regular center fielder in the first place.
The Richie Sexson signing was a low-cost gamble that didn't work. Sometimes a change

of scenery works with a veteran player and it was worth a shot to bring Sexson into a better situation than what was going on in Seattle to see if it would wake up his bat. Sexson wasn't awful, but he wasn't contributing much of anything either and it makes sense to cut him now.
After these moves, the Yankees then went out and lost to the Royals 4-3. For a staggering team trying to find some way to stay in contention and keep from falling out completely, the Yankees cannot have Mariano Rivera giving up the winning run on a wild pitch. To inject a little (more) urgency into their situation, it has to be noted that they're closer in the standings to the Blue Jays and Orioles than they are to the Red Sox and Rays. (Oh, and Joe Torre has won five in a row with the Dodgers, who are getting healthy and have some magic working.)

• Tom Glavine should retire:

While it's completely understandable that Tom Glavine: A) didn't want to end his career

with that embarrassing performance for the Mets on the last day of the regular season in 2007; B) wanted to pitch at home in Atlanta; and C) wouldn't want to end his Hall of Fame career due to injury, he should probably retire after this trip back to the DL.
For a pitcher of Glavine's stature, it's more palatable to retire having to be dragged off the mound with injuries than to skulk away having given a performance that a high school kid could have replicated in his last start for the Mets. He's always been a quiet bulldog type on the mound stemming from his days as a hockey player in high school and it's fitting for him to walk away because he physically can't perform rather than because he's not any good anymore.
He's got his 300 wins; he's won his World Series (including the MVP of that series); he's got two Cy Young Awards; he survived playing in New York; and in 2008, he's pretty much done the equivalent of a football player signing a one-day contract to retire with his preferred team. Does he really want to go through rehab and/or surgery for a rebuilding team that may not even want him back next year due to anything more than loyalty and a severance contract? It's up to him, but why go through all of that for no reason? He's got a big career in broadcasting ahead of him if he wants it and he should walk off the field now rather than hang on only to get hurt again.

• Mike Hargrove's pronouncement lends credence to the stories of the Ichiro-force out:

Former Mariners, Orioles and Indians manager Mike Hargrove, who resigned last season from the Mariners as the team was in the middle of an eight game win streak and had leapt

into surprising contention after years of mediocrity, has said he wants to manage in the big leagues again----ESPN Story. While all parties deny it, it's clear that there was something to the Ichiro contract situation and that he was less likely to return to the Mariners if Hargrove were still the manager. (That's worked out great for Ichiro's bank account; less so everywhere else.)
Hargrove may have mistaken "losing his passion" for the game for exhaustion at dealing with a prima donna like Ichiro and wanted a break or a different situation where the team wasn't going to hinge on the whims of one overrated player. Hargrove's silence or deflection of blame in the Mariners situation is indicative of his personality of the strong, silent, cowboy type who you probably don't want to mess around with. There have been managers and coaches who felt burned out and walked away from their respective games----Dick Vermeil, Hubie Brown----only to come back and have success; Hargrove is a competent manager and, in the right situation, deserves another opportunity without having the statement that he "lost his passion" haunt him.

It's July And It's Enough Already

• Rangers 3-Yankees 2:

The Yankees can't continue to play the "new regime/young players" card forever. The Red Sox are going to have their 95 wins at the end of the season and the Rays aren't going away, so the time for the Yankees to continually put their hands up and say, "patience, patience" to

their increasingly unruly and disenchanted fans is about up.
The differences between the Yankees teams in years past and this one is stark. Joe Girardi, despite all of his seriousness, commitment, impressive vocabulary and history as a winner is still a manager in his second big league season; he has a lot to prove. The young pitching that was supposed to be the hallmark of the new Yankees is either on the disabled list (Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy) or being nursed along (Joba Chamberlain); the lineup, which was supposed to make up for

the callow pitching staff, has been hamstrung by the slumping Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera, and the injured Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada. The bullpen has been untrustworthy and the Yankees aura is missing. Teams don't seem intimidated when they're walking into Yankee Stadium; they don't seem impressed by the Yankees financial power; they're not panicking in the late innings and blowing games; and it's enough already.
Those that are counting on a similar blazing hot streak as the team experienced under Joe Torre following slow starts in the past may be in for a rude awakening. Girardi still has to prove that he can right the ship when the leaks are springing up all over; the young pitchers have to prove they belong and can pick up for their injured ace in Chien-Ming Wang; and they have to start beating teams that they've consistently fattened their record upon----but they're

not. They're losing pitcher's duels to teams like the Rangers who don't have any pitching; they're seen to be turning the corner when they're beating teams that are slumping (the Astros) or are just plain bad (the Padres), but then they fall back into the mediocre bunch they've been all season and we still hear the apologists stating with more desperation than confidence, "the Yankees are gonna be in the playoffs" as if it's their divine right. It's not. They have to win some games.
It's July; their reputation for overcoming adversity may have flown to Los Angeles along with Torre and if that's the case, then they'd better make some moves fast to improve their current roster because believe it or not, there's not an unlimited amount of time for the team to right themselves; more importantly, they might not have the personnel to do it either.

• Rays 3-Red Sox 1:

There's been talk that the Rays may jump into the sweepstakes to try and get a starting pitcher for the stretch run and C.C. Sabathia's name has been the most prominently mentioned. They have the prospects to do it, but a young team like the Rays that seems to have a chemistry and some magic working (who could possibly have expected the heretofore

automatic out Gabe Gross to show up and provide so many clutch hits?) doesn't want to start moving too fast without weighing all of the pros and cons of such a move.
Sabathia is a rental because the Rays aren't going to shell out the money he's going to want to keep him; they'd have to give up a chunk of prospects to get him and they might be better suited to make smaller, more intangible maneuvers (Kevin Millar and Chad Bradford for example) rather than making the big splash. Their young pitching has adapted well to the attention their receiving; their veteran relievers have performed up to their best-case scenario expectations and they score plenty of runs. Instead of getting Sabathia, they might be better served to bring up Jeff Niemann or David Price to slot into the rotation rather than an impending free agent like Sabathia.
Their offense isn't going to be their problem----Carlos Pena has a hot streak due any day now----and they've done pretty well so far with their young starters; if they're going to make a

bold move, they'd probably be better off supplementing their bullpen because Troy Percival is about to turn 39 and one wrong move away from being out for the season given his injury history. Huston Street is probably available for the right price; or they could go to a team like the Padres and see if they'd be willing to move Trevor Hoffman (he's been atrocious this season, but a pennant race and change of scenery might give him an adrenaline boost); there are better and cheaper options available than Sabathia; and more importantly, they don't want to start messing around when they're playing so well, plus the starting rotation isn't in need of a desperation rental who hasn't been that great in the playoffs anyway.

• Phillies demote Brett Myers:

I probably wouldn't have accepted this assignment if I were Myers for a few reasons; most prominently, he took one for the team last season by moving to the bullpen and potentially sacrificed his own career to help carry the Phillies to the division title; then the Phillies found a closer in Brad Lidge and moved Myers back into the starting rotation. Pitching coach Rich

Dubee is blaming the 3-9 record and overall terrible performance on a lack of confidence and out of whack delivery, but it could be that the switch from the rotation to the bullpen and back has affected Myers more than anyone realizes or wants to admit. Starting requires stamina like running a marathon; pitching out of the bullpen requires resilience and something similar to a quick-burst sprint.
Now they're sending Myers to Triple A when it might be more appropriate and less embarrassing if they took the course other teams have taken with struggling veteran pitchers and sent them to extended spring training to work out the kinks without having to endure the mental stigma involved with a demotion. What makes it worse is that Myers did what he was asked to help the team and they're treating him as if the 3-9 record is his fault and his fault alone, but the Phillies are just as, if not more, responsible because of the way they've jerked Myers around. Sending him to Triple A may help, but there were better ways to handle the situation and the individual.