The Long Road Home

It is August 25th, and this is the final stretch. They playoffs are about 5 weeks away and the AL East is still air tight. The Yanks just fell out of first but sit only a game behind the Red Sox in the division. But as the smell of October starts to fill the air here in New York, the Yankees have to kick it into gear. They seemed to be playing solid baseball until a slew of resent losses to subpar teams. Losing 3 of the last 4 is not the way the Yankees want to be playing teams like the Twin and the Athletics. What happens when they are playing teams like the Rangers and the Red Sox?

Believe me, I am not beginning to panic. I might be a tad disgusted about last night's loss to the A's, but I am not panicking. I just think there are couple of things that can be done to strengthen the team. Firstly, the six man pitching rotation has to end. The long rest has effectively ruined CC Sabathia's chances of landing the Cy Young Award. Worse than that, is how the long rest has made him not as effective or dominant. Freddy Garcia is all better and a decision needs to be made. Not just any decision either. Listen to the fan base on this one. Banish AJ to a place where he can hurt the team the least. Burnett has been so bad and I don't need to delve into details, we all know the stats. He is simply awful and to keep allowing him to start games this late in the season is irresponsible to say the least.

Secondly, adding a lefty to the pen is very important. Boone Logan has been unreliable in big situations this season. He can not be trusted to do his job come October. The team added Aaron Laffey but quickly designated him for assignment. Now, Brian Cashman is saying that Manny Banuelos may not be a late season call up and that putting him in the bull pen is unlikely. Banuelos is the organizations best lefty prospect. A trade for a reliable lefty is out of the question so why is it that the organization also refuses to fix the issue with a prospect? I feel like logic is absent in this decision.

5 more games until Boston. Let's get with it!