According to Pete Abraham over at LoHud , Girardi is thinking of not having a long reliever on the squad, allowing him to keep someone like Albaladejo instead of Aceves, Giese or Tomko.
This may sound like a small deal but it has got me up in arms. This was a bad move Girardi made last year in his disastrous coaching debut with the Yankees and it’s starting to look like he’s just going to go back to his losing ways once again. At the beginning of the season, I had high hopes for Joe. He seemed to realize that he made a lot of mistakes last year, handling the media, handling the players and handling his roster. Most of the reports out of spring seem to show that Joe knew the spotlight was on him and he was ready to make needed changes.
Now this. Yes, it’s just a minor issue, but one that I thought doomed that Yankees for a large chunk of last season. The lack of a long reliever coupled with the complete failures of Kennedy and Hughes along with Mussina’s slow start, strained the bullpen and cost the Yankees quite a few runs and games early in the season. All signs this spring pointed to the team actually carrying a long reliever on the roster, which gave me a lot of hope for avoiding some of last year’s hiccups, and renewed some of my confidence in Girardi.
Taken by itself, this issue is just one bad decision. What really worries me, is that all the other things I was hoping to see a change in will fall by the wayside as well.
As an aside, if you’re wondering who my pick is to fill the reliever spot, I’d give Tomko a chance.
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