[NU Sports] Torre probably out in NY, Pinella in?

[Arthur Miller]

I have been hearing this a lot lately from the commentators, but I don't get
it.  The line of reasoning seems to be that the Yankees' strategy is good
enough to win 97 games in the regular season (best in the AL), but somehow
in the postseason it becomes a flawed approach?

Perhaps a more reasonable answer is this:  The postseason series format
(especially the best-of-5 Division Series) is simply too small a sample
space for the better team to consistently emerge victorious.  In other
words, it's a roll of the dice.  The fact that the Yankees haven't won a WS
in 6 years after winning 3 of 4 could largely be due to random chance, not a
structural problem with the team makeup, lack of motivation, poor managerial
decisions, or all the other drama-tinged reasons we like to use to explain
sports outcomes.

Steinbrenner and most of the sports journalism world seem to ignore this
possibility.  IMHO, if you get your team to the postseason after a grueling
162-game season, you've done nearly all that you can.  After that, fate
takes over...hopefully, your team will hit a hot streak (like the Sox last
year), but in baseball these things are hard to control.

But you're right in that the Yankees are getting their wins the easy way, by
buying proven veterans.  Alas, the easy way is also the most expensive.  One
of these years, Steinbrenner is going to wise up and ask his staff why their
ROI is so poor, i.e. why they have to pay over twice as much per win as any
other team out there.  If/when he gets tired of overpaying for wins, he'll
start building teams the hard way: good drafts and a strong farm system,
coupled with patience and (gasp) acceptance of a sub-.500 season now and
then.

Just my 2 cents.  And trust me, I'm no Yankees fan.

Art Miller

-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On
Behalf Of Jeff Beamsley
Sent: Monday, October 09, 2006 10:28 AM
To: nwu-sports at romaine.tssi.com
Subject: RE: [NU Sports] Torre probably out in NY, Pinella in?

I think that Pinella will get fired first because George's strategy (the
best team that money can buy) doesn't work anymore.  Baseball is all about
pitching and pitching these days is all about young arms.  Young arms come
from the minor leagues. Small payroll teams have discovered they can be
competitive by investing in minor league salaries rather than major league
salaries.  As a result, smaller payroll teams are holding onto their young
talent rather than selling them to the Yankees.  Look at the twins, sox, and
tigers and you'll see that their AAA teams are successful too.
[...]

I think that Yankees will always be able to buy their way into the post
season with a great offense, but as long as we continue to see a wealth of
pitching coming out of the minor leagues and drug policies get enforced,
defense and small ball will beat teams that depend on offense to win.
[...]

Jeff







-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On
Behalf Of Mike Nolan
Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2006 9:33 PM
To: nwu-sports at romaine.tssi.com
Subject: [NU Sports] Torre probably out in NY, Pinella in?

It appears the man who REALLY made "You're Fired!" a part of the New York
lexicon is about to dump Joe Torre for another retread, Lou Pinella, so I
guess Joe Girardi is headed back to Wrigley if the Cubbies ever get their
front office staffed.

Pinella and Girardi have my sympathies, both appear to be headed into what
are likely to be no-win situations.  Any bets on who gets fired first?

The Bears are trying to prosper despite inept ownership, the Sox, Bulls and
Black Hawks have yet to do that (beyond a fluke year in 2005 for the south
siders and the MJ years at the Stadium.)  But the Tribune has proven to be a
worse owner than the Wrigley family for the Cubs, and 20 years ago I
wouldn't have said that was possible!
--
Mike Nolan

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