First, I want to say thank you to Joe for asking me to write down some of my thoughts. And, thanks for waiting for after April 15th.

I have two themes for this piece: the first being how enjoyable this season is so far and the second a retrospective on the history of the Yankees franchise players.

In light of the terrible losses this weekend I have to modify my comments somewhat on the first theme.

I don’t believe that baseball is a science and that you can predict or orchestrate things or events. The fact that you have the best players, or the highest payroll doesn’t mean you win the WS, and the Yankees have proven that the past several years. So I like the adversity this year with the starting pitching staff on the DL. I hope this adversity builds team character and with it a championship. The greatest team over the past 40 years was the 1998 Yankees (No Sparky Anderson, it wasn’t the Big Red machine or your 1980’s Tigers team). The 1998 roster was full of very good players, but at that time no superstars (Jeter has since become a superstar in my book). I would like that to be the case this year, though we now have two super stars in Jeter and A-Rod (I reserve the superstar status for everyday players; obviously Rivera would be one if pitchers were included).

I like the introduction of young players even though some of the moves are done out of necessity due to injuries. This makes the older players play harder and makes the games more interesting. Pitching is the key for success and you need young arms to win. I would love to see Wright stay with the team and for the Yankees to continue the transition of a younger team motivated to win with hungry players.

Unfortunately, my enjoyment was put to the test Friday night, not because of the loss but because of the way the game was lost. Joe Torre panicked like he did in games four and five of the 2004 playoff against the Red Sox. For the record I note the comments of Russ on the same point. Joe miss managed the bullpen last year and totally miss managed the playoff series against the Tigers. There was no reason why Proctor could not pitch the eight inning. Joe did not have to bring in Vizcaino, who has had some recent problems with control. What book is Joe following? You are taking a big risk by replacing a relief pitcher that is effective with someone coming out of the pen. The situation did not call for bringing in Rivera in the eight inning. Even if Mo was successful in that situation he would still have to pitch the ninth inning and his participation in game two and maybe three would be questionable. By the way, where was Farnsworth? Bad move Joe Torre. To me Joe looks lost in the dugout.

I was a big Joe Torre fan but I wanted him fired after last year. I feel that way now as well.
Now for the retrospective:

Last week I was listening to the radio coming back to the office from a business meeting in NYC and I heard the tail end of a conversation about the five greatest Yankees. I did not hear who were selected except for the fact that Babe Ruth was not one of the five. OK, that is sheer stupidity, but it got me thinking. Who are the five greatest Yankees of all time?

My five are: Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, DiMaggio and Berra. FYI, I had some difficulty with number five since Whitey Ford was the best big game pitcher ever. Sure, I know about Koufax and others, but Ford pitched in more big games and proved himself time and time again. The others simply do not have the track record to challenge Ford’s success in critical WS games. Remember, these were not the first or second round playoff games. They were WS games for all of the marbles.

I look for the comments of the Roundtable on this and I want to add one more point:

I don’t see how any current players and maybe future player can break into the top five categories. Certainly, Jeter and Rivera are worthy, but fall short of the greatness of the top five. A-Rod may have a long Yankees career (I hope so), but he won’t be in the top five. My point is that the five players I mentioned are immortal.