With the decade wrapping up, who would you choose to be the Yankees all-decade team. I put together a list of the players who had significant playing time at each position. C: Jorge Posada (00-09) 1B: Tino Martinez (01, 05), Andy Phillips (04-07), Jason Giambi (02-08), Mark Teixeira (09), Nick Johnson (01-03) 2B: Alfonso Soriano (00-03), Miguel Cairo (04, 06-07), Robinson Cano (05-09) 3B: Scott Brosius (00-01), Robin Ventura (02-03), Aaron Boone (03), Alex Rodriguez (04-09) SS: Derek Jeter (00-09) LF: David Justice (00-01), Shane Spencer (00-02), Hideki Matsui (03-07), Johnny Damon (08-09) CF: Bernie Williams (00-06), Melky Cabrera (07-09) RF: Paul O’Neill (00-01), Raul Mondesi (02-03), Gary Sheffield (04-06), Bobby Abreu (06-08), Nick Swisher (09) SP: Roger Clemens (00-03, 07 | 83-42, 4.01 ERA) David Cone (00 | 4-14, 6.91 ERA) Orlando Hernandez (00-02, 04 | 61-40, 3.96 ERA) Andy Pettitte (00-03, 07-09 | 192-109, 4.02 ERA) Mike Mussina (01-08 | 123-72, 3.88 ERA) Ted Lilly (00-02 | 8-12, 4.65 ERA) David Wells (02-03, 34-14, 3.95 ERA) Jon Leiber (04 | 14-8, 4.33 ERA) Javier Vazquez (04) Kevin Brown (04-05) Randy Johnson (05-06) Chien-Ming Wang (05-09 | 55-26, 4.16 ERA) AJ Burnett (09 | 13-9, 4.04 ERA) CC Sabathia (09 | 19-8, 3.77 ERA) For me, the toughest choices were Teixeira over Giambi, and Cano over Soriano
by taking account what he brought to the team, such as defense and making the entire infield better. That, and he hit for a higher average, and didn't have the steroid cloud around him. I loved Giambi, he hit the hell out of the ball for a good part of his contract, but Teixeira brought a hell of a lot to this team, and has won a WS, something Giambi failed to accomplish in his 6 seasons. Like I said, it was a tough choice, but I feel like Teixeira brought more to the team than Giambi did.
Absolutely, I'd take Teixeria over any 1st baseman in baseball including Giambi, But Giambi played with the Yanks pretty much the entire decade, you cannot take that away from him.
I'm well aware, and I'm not even trying to deny that. Giambi hit .260/.404/.521 (avg/obp/slg) with the Yankees, which aside from the average is pretty damn good. I guess my line of thought when picking Teixeira was taking the better player. When I was constructing this "team" it was taking players who would contribute in what they did when were on the Yankees. In this case, Teixeira's '09 season (taking fielding into account) is more valuable than Giambi's, in my opinion.
C: Posada 1B: Giambi- he wasn't the best 1B but Tino only played 2+ years here and Tex only 1 year. 2B: Cano SS: Andy Stankiwicz 3B: ARod LF: Matsui CF: Bernie RF: Abreu LHSP: Pettitte RHSP: Mussina CL: Steve Farr
O'Neill only played 2 years for us this decade. Abreu only played one more but I think he was more productive his 2+ years than O'Neill his 2 years.
C: Jorge Posada 1B: Jason Giambi 2B: Alfonso Soriano SS: Derek Jeter LF: Hideki Matsui CF: Bernie Williams RF: Bobby Abreu SP: Roger Clemens Orlando Hernandez Andy Pettitte Mike Mussina Chien-Ming Wang
It depends on what criteria you're using. Are you saying who you'd prefer at the position over the other players, or who had the most success as a Yankee there? For example, if you asked who I'd prefer at first, my list would be 1) Teixeira 2) Tino 3) (and a distant 3 at that) Giambi. However, if you based on their performance as a Yankee only in the 2000s the answer is obviously Giambi, simply for the larger body of work. I'll answer based on who I would want at the position, who played on the Yankees at any point in the decade. C: Jorge Posada (no brainer) 1B: Mark Teixeira (because if he had been with the Yankees since he came up this wouldn't even be a conversation) 2B: Alfonso Soriano (because when he played good 2B Cano couldn't hold his jock.) 3B: Alex Rodriguez (Because Aaron Boone's single HR isn't enough to knock ARod down.) SS: Derek Jeter (Why did junc put Stankiwicz?) LF: David Justice (Far more talented than anyone else on the position's list at his peak.) CF: Bernie Williams (At his peak, the best Yankees CF not named Rickey in my lifetime.) RF: Paul O’Neill (Sheff gets an honorable mention, Abreu doesn't hold a candle to Paulie at his peak.) SP: Cone (not the tail-end Cone, but the Cone who was great for years) Sabathia (narrowly misses the #1 slot) Pettitte (you can't ask for anything more than the consistency Andy has given for his career.) Wells (on durability alone I'd want this guy in my rotation) Clemens (at his best, one of the best pitchers to ever hold a baseball.) CL: Mo Rivera (I know this is obvious, but you can't make a legitimate list without putting his name there.)
If you're going by the logic that you could get a player at his best during his career, ie a mid 90's David Justice then I might take Pudge Rodriguez in his prime over Jorge, the Dodger version of Sheffield probably is better then O'neil in his prime and Mussina would belong in the rotation.
I put Stanky and Steve Farr in as a joke b/c obviously there's no other answer besides jeter at SS and rivera as closer.
C: Posada 1B: Giambi 2B: Robby Cano SS: Derek Jeter 3B: Alex Rodriguez OF: Gary Sheffield OF: Bernie Williams OF: Hideki Matsui SP: Roger Clemens SP: Mike Mussina SP: Andy Pettite SP: CM Wang SP: Nobody Paul O'Neill didn't play enough in this decade to make this hypothetical team.
Actually, I was going by their peak as a Yankee. Otherwise, sure, you're right. Gotcha. I kind of figured (hoped) it was a joke.
C-Posada 1B- Giambi (I honestly was tempted to put in Tex based on his 1 magnificent season) 2B- Soriano 3B- Rodriguez SS- Duuuhh OF- Sheff OF- Bernie OF- Matsui SP-Mussina SP-Pettite SP-Wang SP-Clemens SP- Sabathia
defensively, not so much. But he did fall 1 HR short of a 40-40 season, and was a force with the bat and had tremendous speed
