As I watched Jacoby Ellsbury steal home against the Yankees Sunday night, I thought to myself: "This pretty much sums it up." An aging Andy Pettitte forgets to deliver from the stretch, letting a youthful Ellsbury elude another future Bingo regular, Jorge Posada's, tag at the plate. Would Justin Masterson have made the same error? The two ballclubs could not be headed in more opposite directions. Every year, the Red Sox seem to call up another hyped prospect, while the Yanks continue to overpay for limited talent, and shun their farm system.
Maybe right now the Yankees have more confidence in CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett. Fair enough. But who's to say once Phil Hughes is called up, and stays up, that he won't become the next Justin Masterson? Forget projections, let's go with the facts. What are the Yanks spending so much money to protect? A championship? Pennant? Division title? How about NONE OF THE THREE. Since sliding into mediocrity, Cashman and Steinbrenner have turned a blind eye at their one and only escape route.
I just traded Robinson Cano in my fantasy league. I'm already regretting it. So far, his 'roided-out numbers include: .381/5/16/.418/1.037. Yankees fans, is this for real? A young farm-hand making it in your starting line-up? Not only is he "making it," Cano leads the team so far in AVG, HR, and RBI. Well, he must be the only one. Actually, he's not. Let's check another, Melky Cabrera...surely he's not performing. Wait a minute...according to ESPN, Melky's hitting .325 with 4 HR and 8 RBI. That makes two Yankee farm-hands performing well enough to keep starting positions. Anyone else? Brett Gardner's not off to an all-star start, but he does have 5 steals and 3 doubles. Cashman, pay attention! Use your resources...don't trade them away.
Only time will tell if the Yanks keep doing this. Maybe it's just their sheer ignorance that prevents them from adopting the Red Sox Nation way of life. One must ask why the hell not, considering Epstein's engineered a much more rewarding lifestyle than gold ol' Hank has. Masterson, Ellsbury, Lowrie, Bucholz, Papelbon, Youkilis, Lester, the list goes on. Even non-Red Sox fans, like myself, are insisting Theo's onto something. I just wish he'd take it to Washington.
Keywords: AJ Burnett, Andy Pettitte, Boston Red Sox, Brett Gardner, Brian Cashman, CC Sabathia, Clay Bucholz, ESPN, Hank Steinbrenner, home, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jed Lowrie, Jon Lester, Jonathan Papelbon, Jorge Posada, Justin Masterson, Kevin Youkilis, Melky Cabrera, New York Yankees, Philip Hughes, Robinson Cano, steal, Sunday night, Theo Epstein
