Addressing the troops
Joe Girardi is giving his first speech to the full Yankees roster this morning as the players settle in for a long welcome-to-camp meeting. The way these things work, there’s a succession of speakers who hit the guys with a variety of messages.
Brian Cashman leads off (high expectations)and is followed by assistant GM Jean Afterman (legal or contract issues), traveling secretary Ben Tuliebitz (where to go, how to get there) and head trainer Gene Monahan (try not to get hurt; let us know if you are). There was a film projector set up in the clubhouse so videos could be shown by media relations director Jason Zillo.
Randy Johnson’s open-palm New York sidewalk escapade is probably included in the "what not to do" portion. By and large, this is a really different clubhouse than having assorted cranky veterans around. It’s a much more youthful atmosphere and that’s a breath of fresh air.
The Yankees also have photos of all the beat reporters on file and show them to the players, just so the new guys know who we are. Hopefully the returning players don’t rip us too much.
A-Rod spoke to the beat reporters for 10 minutes this morning. Here’s the money quote:
"I’ve still got a lot of work to do. Being part of a world championship team is my biggest goal and that’s what I need to do. I get paid a lot of money and I understand my responsibilities. The last four years haven’t been easy at times, and it’s been very rewarding at times. For me, that’s why I signed up for 10 more years, because I enjoy the challenge."
Bryan Hoch
Best Wishes,
To the Yankees…
For a very successful season in 2008 !!!
Spring Training is the start of the journey to our 27th World Championship !!!
Go Yankees !!!
Jimmy27NYY
http://baseballtheyankeesandlife.mlblogs.com/
I hope that the talks will inspire the 2008 Yankees, We have a great team and I believe the chemistry to go all the way. All the younguns are hungry and will further motivate the veterans, making them work harder and to have more fun. It’s going to be a whole new atmoshere in Yankee camp. It’s time to get down to the business of winning the 2008 World Championship for all the New York Yankee fans worldwide. I say that for the reason that our blog has fans from all over the US and of course those from down under in Australia. Wishing the Yankees well in 2008 & beyond.
” GO YANKEES “
How weird is it that the Yankees by and large are now a “young” team? I mean, we still have a large group of vet players on the roster, but look at all the players under 30 on the roster. I am so pumped about that! GO YANKEES!!!!
Let’s have high expectations for this club in 2008. I think we have a shot at winning the whole **** thing. Even better, we can do it while NOT being the favorite to win it all. It’s going to be awesome to be the underdog this season!
Chaz I couldnt agree more, not being the favorite to win it all is huge. I think with the young guys we have not having that hanging over them will just let them play and do what’s needed. I’m more than glad to see Damon and Giambi show up to camp in better condition than in years past, they are going to be integral parts of our lineup. No matter how you feel about the Big G he’s a vet player and could hit 30+ bombs is he stays healthy. If he can hold down the fort at 1B hit his .250 with 30-35 round trippers and 100 RBIs we can be a serious force. All I have to say is Boston better watch out, they’re high now but I’d like to see their faces after the Bronx Bombers take tem down a peg or two, or ten.
The youth movement is the right approach, the veterans’ attitude is encouraging, the new leadership is determined and knowledgeable. We all need to be patient but with some good luck with health that we did not have last year, 2008 will be a great year for the Yankees.
I can’t think of a better way to close out the old Yankee Stadium than a third strike from Mo for championship #27 in 2008. Bring back the World Series Championship to the Bronx where it belongs – Go Yanks!!!
Positive projections for 2008:
Player avg/hr/rbi –
Damon .300/18/70
Jeter .320/15/85
Abreu .310/25/105
A-Rod .300/40/130
Matsui .290/25/100
Posada .300/20/90
Giambi .270/30/90
Cano .330/25/85
Cabrera .290/15/70
Rotation ip/w-l/era –
Wang 220/18-5/3.50
Pettite 210/15-8/3.75
Hughes 150/14-7/4.00
Moose 180/15-10/4.25
Joba 120/10-6/3.75
IPK 120/10-7/3.75
Bullpen 1100/17-17/4.50 (including spot starters)
Rivera 80/1-2/2.50 and 40 saves
overall record = 100-62
east division champs
american league champs
world series champs
GO YANKEES!!!!!!!!!!
Looks to me like we can judge how the team is doing based on these projections. If the pitching staff can match my projections, we WILL WIN 100 games. Frankly, I don’t think that I am being overly optimistic with regard to my numbers. I’m only expecting Joba and IPK to win 20 games combined and throw 120 innings each, i’m only expecting 150 innings out of Hughes, I’m not asking Wang to do anymore than what he does every season, same for Pettite, I AM asking Moose to step his game back up, I am asking rivera to only blow 3 saves, I am only asking the bullpen and spot starters to break even, I’m not expecting any pitcher to sport an era under 3.50 (except MO).
Chaz,
I have 1 question for you, and 1 thought as well.
Question: Which Starting rotation is better, 07 or 08?(starting of the season) Seriously, think about this one….
Thought: the Yankees were the BEST team after the all star break by literally something like 10 games to the closest team…we killed it in the second half. Now, couple this thought with Question 1′s answer: the 2008 Yankees are going to CREAM teams this year….
I’m so excited I just about keeled over in my office.
I think the key to the question is can the rotation stay healthy? If they can, we can expect this rotation to be FAR better than the 2007 version.
You are dead on. We are in great shape.
yanksrox, i’d hope the Yankees can start 2008 the way they played in the second half of 2007
my concerns however are injuries (Wang, Matsui and several others pulled something at the start of 2007) and ice cold bats (Bobby, Robby, and Melky were sluggish until after the all star break.. A-Rod, Jorge, and Jeter were pretty much holding up the offense)
ONE THING TO LOOK FOR is end-game play.. for 2005, 2006, and the start of 2007, the SETUP ROLE was inconsistent.. the start of 2007 saw so many 1-run losses.. so i’m happy to hear Joba may start this year as a dominant bridge to Mo
Nice quote by Alex, he’s been singing that same song since his days in Seattle, I love him but he’s still a freakin choker in my book when it comes to the playoffs.
Chaz Your projections appear to be right on. I too believe our pitching as of now, is better than last season. I look for an outstanding 2008 for the Yanks. In the 2nd half of “07 we were the best team in baseball and this years team has better chemistry, (no trades for older players who are set in their ways) With new management leading the way we will work harder. As said, I am looking forward to an improved and healthy Damon, Abreu & Giambi, They will make us a tougher team to beat. The bench will also be in good shape. I can’t wait for the opener and hopefully a healthy start in ’08.
“GO YANKEES”
I heard Hank gave the NY Post this quote: “”I think Girardi is going to end up being one of the greatest managers in the history of the game. That’s my gut feeling. He reminds me of Billy Martin – without the baggage.”****** I feel the same way Hank!
The young pitching staff is awesome, but I can’t wait to see Girardi. Image, a manager who isn’t falling asleep during important playoff games!
Torre never “fell asleep”. The only thing I will ever criticize Torre for was over-using pitchers. 4 World Series rings, dude.
I’m going to keep those projected numbers and see how they match up at certain points in the season.
Yeah, how can you not be jacked-up for this season after reading all of this!?
You know Chaz, my dad has the MLB 2k8 “the Show” or whatever it is. He adjusted most of the roster to what it is now save a few players, but he simmed the season and what might you guess the record was? Ahh yes, so astute you are, it was exactly 100-62.
While I’m not quite as optimistic as some, I do believe we have the talent and ability to win 100 games, I think my expectations are for them to battle for the division and maybe with a few strokes of luck here and there in the health dept.; that could just be what it takes to get us in the playoffs. I’m expecting a series win, not necessarily the WS… that would be a success given the # of younger pitchers we have. But I’m hopeful that we will have a stellar year.
We had good consistency and I believe if I’m not mistaken that other than Moose’s midseason slide, our starting pitching was very competitive and healthy over that last half which is a good part of why we did have the best record in the 2nd half.
It’d be really nice if they could re-tap that performance out of the gates!
Remember, the Yankees start slow every season. Even the 98 Yankees got off to a slow start. But, we have something over the last half of 2007 and coming into this season: Chemistry. Something I think this team has lacked over the last handful of seasons.
Hey chaz,
Your projections for the most part seem to be dead on. However, and I’m not attacking you in any way or trying to insult you, but that’s all they are, your projections. Lets see how those projections translate to the actual field. You seem to forget that the most of the pitching staff is young, inexperienced, and unproven. We still don’t know how they will do over the course of a full season. If we did there would be no talk about limiting innings for these guys, and the bullpen is still a huge question mark with too many unproven pitchers as well, and no lefthander. I do think this rotation is definitely better than last year’s, however, especially with Chamberlain starting in the rotation, he definitely has the stuff to be a dominant starter for years to come. No reason not to think the offense won’t put up numbers so ’nuff said about that. The thing is about the whole thing is this team is going to have to avoid the slow start that has plagued this team the past few seasons, if it can’t that just means more pressure on an inexperienced pitching staff. The key to the success of the team is the pitching staff pure and simple, as we saw last season it’s not enough to have a great offense. Another thing this team really didn’t do anything to improve itself as a team so that’s another fact that needs to be taken into consideration. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this team will fall short again this season, but rather temper our enthusiasm until we see what kind of team we really have. Personally, I hope every pitcher exceeds your projections especially Hughes, Kennedy, and Chamberlain if they do then they will win the WS.
Maybe “projection” is a bad word to use. It’s more like a “to do list”. If the staff can approach those numbers, we get to 100 wins.
Can not wait to see the Yankees in Tampa tomorrow.It’s just soon to tell what direction the Yankees will go in this season.As a true fan I say that we support and hope for the best.Things could be alot worse we could have been Boston Red Sox Fans.
I don’t know why, but I put 1100 innings as the IP for the bullpen. It’s more like 458 innings pitched. My bad.
Anything the “big 3″ do over what I have said is all gravy!