If young arms are going to be the future of the next New York Yankees'
dynasty, then it's time – or it soon will be – to accelerate their
responsibility.
In 1984, new Mets' manager Davey Johnson, emboldened by his team's 12-9
start, and tired of watching Mike Torrez, Craig Swan and Dick Tidrow
get hammered relentlessly, convinced then-GM Frank Cashen to cut the
three veterans.
Though the Mets would eventually lose the NL Easy by
six games to the Ryne Sandburg-led Chicago Cubs they would have
qualified for the NL Wild Card that season, had it existed. The point?
The Yankees should follow suit.
Is there really any reason to continue to pitch La Troy Hawkins and Kyle Farnsworth in meaningful spots? Not when you have arms like Jonathan Albaladejo, Edwar Ramirez, and even Scott Patterson in Triple-A.
Relying on young arms worked for the 2007 Yankees, and with Dave Eiland installed as the new pitching coach this year, who better to shepherd that transition? He's already helped transform Billy Traber (left, photo by B. Menzel) ) into an impressive lefty specialist. Getting the Yankees' pen younger and more reliable is the next logical step.
***
Bobby Abreu's strong spring has carried over into the first few games of the regular season. In fact, after suffering through a dismal first two months of 2007, Abreu has returned to his All-Star form.
Batting just .228 with only 22 RBI entering June, he batted over .300 for the rest of the season, totaling 101 RBI and 123 runs scored.
"I know last year was last year, but I had a very slow start. It took me like a couple of months to get up there. This year I've been pretty good the first week, and I don't want to get back to that slump," Abreu told the Daily News. "I've felt pretty good at the plate since spring training, and I think that's one of the things that helped me keep the rhythm."
***
Last week, when the Yankees' first Opening Day was postponed, there was a lot of really grumpy folks in the media room. However, in the press dining room, I spent the much of the waiting around to see if the game would be played with three great guys; New York Post columnist Kevin Kernan, FDNY Lt. George Rodriguez and Firefighter Joe Kennedy.
While others were grumbling, the three of us had a pre-game meal, and subsequently traded stories, pictures of our kids and other things. Once the game was called, we parted ways. The next night, the first person I saw was Kernan, who smiled and said,”I just saw Rodriguez upstairs!”. I eventually ran into both of the firefighters later that night, and asked to join their routine walk-around the Stadium for an inning.
Two things struck me; the first being that these guys were as on top of their jobs as anyone I've ever seen, the second was how they referred to their co-workers as “brothers”. This wasn't Hollywood, or an episode of “Rescue Me”, this was real. After checking to make sure that everything was ok, they returned to their post and I took a moment to soak everything in.
Yankee Stadium, filled to capacity, tens of thousands of voices thundering as one mighty roar. It was a heck of a way to start off the season.
If young arms are going to be the future of the next New York Yankees'
dynasty, then it's time – or it soon will be – to accelerate their
responsibility. 
Not when you have arms like Jonathan Albaladejo, Edwar Ramirez, and even Scott Patterson in Triple-A.
Last week, when the Yankees' first Opening Day was postponed, there was a lot of really grumpy folks in the media room. However, in the press dining room, I spent the much of the waiting around to see if the game would be played with three great guys; New York Post columnist Kevin Kernan, FDNY Lt. George Rodriguez and Firefighter Joe Kennedy.