The
Empire's playing a different ballgame than the
Pale Hose. It's not about the money. It's about the attitude. I count 4 MVP's among the club's players, two of which have been handed out in this alternate universe to newly-signed
Brian Giles, the biggest offseason acquisition you'll ever find.
Jason Schmidt and
Javy Vazquez have pulled down two of the last three Cy Young awards. Some might say it's the money that allows the
Empire to bring all of these guys in.
Nope. That's just an excuse. It's the win-win-win line of thinking that's even apparent in a computer simulation. The
Pale Hose are messing around with Julio Lugo and Juan Uribe and applauding bringing in
Eric Munson and
Adam Kennedy. That's not good enough for the
Yankees. They have and had competent guys waiting in the wings. Eddy Candelario, who's sitting in AAA Columbus, posted a 3.98 ERA in 117 innings last year. You think I wouldn't have preferred that over
The Art of Suck? Bryan Myrow's got a .700 career OPS over three partial seasons, and in this universe, that's above replacement-level even for a corner infielder. Whither
Joe Crede?
But by bringing in
Scot Shields, a 30-save man, even though
David Weathers chased
Bobby Thigpen's only mark on the game last year, the
Yankees are creating their own depth.
Gary "
Kitten Killer"
Sheffield showed signs of impassiveness at the age of 37, hitting .236 with just 11 long balls, so in comes two-time MVP
Giles when
Little Giles, a .300 hitter and Gold Glover in his own right, already resided in the Bronx. This
is an Empire right here, but it's not really an evil one. It's bordering on brilliance. It's a factory of baseball talent, a machine for 100-win seasons, efficiency that would make
Ford's heart throb, and I'm not talking about
The Chairman of the Board.
Does the money help? Sure. But the attitude permeating from this organization is that average and marginal isn't good enough, and sure enough, the only weak link in this lineup is catcher
Toby Hall, but most every team is lacking a quality catcher. Hell, 23 year old supposed pheenom
Bronson Sardinha hit a fluky .280 last year, after which I dubbed him "IHNPPaaRP, EOISNY", short for "
I Have No Plate Patience and a Reverse Platoon Split, Even Odds I Suck Next Year." Well, now it is next year, and he won't get a chance to live up to that nickname because he's staring up at
Godzilla,
B. Giles, and another .300 hitter in
Randy Winn.
The Gload is in AAA. Doesn't that tell you all you'd ever need to know about this club? They've also got last year's Rookie of the Year, right-handed moundsman
Tyler Clippard, who I mention now only because I see the Hall of Fame in his future, and I'd be a fool to ignore him. The playoffs are an afterthought for the
Yankees. Sure, maybe they'll lose in the first round like that did last year, but what does that really
mean? I can't see them missing the playoffs next year, or the year after, or the year after, and that's without making a single change from the present. They're that good. Billy Beane would dream to have done so much.