Are the Yankees as smart as they think they are?

[Avs4ever]

What is this???... trading a 27 year old proven starter (Javier Vazquez) and a "few" prospects to the Dbacks for a 41 year old mullet wearing 7 foot tall pitcher who's arm could fall off any minute? I just dont get what they are trying to do. Randy Johnson had a terrible year last year and he wont do any better than Vazquez did last year for the yanks... I hope they do this and still lose out to the Red Sox and it will prove how stupid they really are.

[Arsenal]

Does Perfect game and World Series MVP and Most-Dominating-and-feared-pitcher-in-the-game say anything to you?

[Molina00]

Where did you get the idea that Johnson was terrible last year?
245.2 IP, 177 Hits, 44 BB, 290 K's, 2.60 ERA, 4 CG's, 2 Sho's.
He even won 16 games. The only thing that kept him from winning well over 20 games last years was the D-Backs lousy offense. Even at 40 or 41 he is still the most dominant pitcher in the game.

He may only be good for 1 or 2 more years though but the Yankees just think they have to go after all the biggest name players. Examples, Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, and now Randy Johnson.

[Arsenal]

^ Don't forget Beltran, they are in pursuit of him now too.

Just cause the DBacks sucked last year, doesn't mean he did.

[Cardinal Optimist]

Considering he's the best pitcher in baseball, and that Vasquez had a 6+ ERA after the all-star break, and his contract is almost as big as Johnsons.

[Avs4ever]

i just think they are stupid for trading young players for old players. then when those old players retire they dont have anything and they end up doing the same thing, trading their younger guys for old guys its just crazy.

[cshutout33]

The Yankees dont need a future with all that money... they go for the WS every year.

[NomarFan5]

Considering he's the best pitcher in baseball, and that Vasquez had a 6+ ERA after the all-star break, and his contract is almost as big as Johnsons.

*eyebrow* really.. why did he not win CY Young.. looks like theres at least 2 better then him.

[Cardinal Optimist]

*eyebrow* really.. why did he not win CY Young.. looks like theres at least 2 better then him.
Who are those two? Considering that the voters are possibly the most idiotic people in baseball. They still think wins and losses determine what makes a good pitcher.

[allsportidiot]

*eyebrow* really.. why did he not win CY Young.. looks like theres at least 2 better then him.

Its would be a lot easier for him to win a Cy Young if he was on a winning team. Plus I think he was a snub at the NL Cy Young this team. The guy's individual performance outdid Clemens, Johnson would be Cy with run support.

Also I do think the trade is in slight favor of... the Yanks. Johnson has to be in the top 3 pitchers in baseball, probably number two on my list (behind Schmidt). I dont really care about age the whole point is the Yanks are getting a star pitcher, nearing the end of his career. But he proved last year that he is one of the game's best. As for the DBacks I have no idea who the prospects they are getting are, guessing they must be top, but Vazquez is a nice addition. Guy has proved in seasons past that he can perform well. The only problem I had is I thought the Johnson trade would be made to chop off some salary, when Vazquez is making near as much as Johnson. Though this could probably be a move to get some youth on this team. Anyways deal seems to work for both teams but I just give the Yanks the slight upperhand.

[NomarFan5]

Hes not the best pitcher in baseball, well say that much. Clemens, Schilling to name some.

[Cardinal Optimist]

Clemens
214.1 IP 218 SO 2.98 ERA 1.16 WHIP .292 OBA .217 AVG
Schilling
226.2 IP 203 SO 3.26 ERA 1.06 WHIP .271 OBA .239 AVG
Johnson
245.2 IP 290 SO 2.60 ERA .90 WHIP .241 OBA .197 AVG

Randy wins every single catagory. It's not even a contest, Johnson is by far the best SP in the game.

[NomarFan5]

He has so many innings because the Diamondbacks NEED him to. And the Diamondbacks play in the second worst division in all of baseball.. the nl west. He plays teams like pittsburgh and milwaukee and cincy and colorado and easyness like that.. its not hard to get good stats against teams that also blow.

[Cardinal Optimist]

He has so many innings because the Diamondbacks NEED him to. And the Diamondbacks play in the second worst division in all of baseball.. the nl west. He plays teams like pittsburgh and milwaukee and cincy and colorado and easyness like that.. its not hard to get good stats against teams that also blow.
Your argument is so awful, I mean really. This is possibly the worst argument I've ever heard against me.


seriously, you have to be crazy. Clemens plays the same teams that Johnson does. And Schilling gets slightly more leverage because he's in the AL, but not enough to make up for the Half run of ERA and 30 more On base Percentage.

[Phill11]

He has so many innings because the Diamondbacks NEED him to. And the Diamondbacks play in the second worst division in all of baseball.. the nl west. He plays teams like pittsburgh and milwaukee and cincy and colorado and easyness like that.. its not hard to get good stats against teams that also blow.

Clemens faced those teams too. And Schilling had Tampa Bay, Minnesota, Chicago, Toronto, Detroit, and all the other "easy" teams too.

Johnson had a great year last year, but it was in the shadows of a struggling team.

He didn't need a ton of innings. The Diamondbacks had Greg Aqunio, Jose Valverde and a few other in the pen. He also had Webb as a number two. (Webb wasn't great, but he was decent. But he underperformed compared to the year before)/

[missionhockey21]

Randy Johnson by far was the most dominant pitcher in the NL last season. And dont use the argument on the teams. Those easy teams, excluding Colorado, are not even in the same division as RJ was and by what I counted, he faced the Brewers twice and the Pirates and Reds only once each. 4 of his 35 starts would not skew his stats that greatly. And if you cant tell, the reason why he has so many innings is because he was a stud last year.

WHIP under 1, K/9 over 10, BAA under .200. In 2004, teams OPS against Johnson was only .555, thats sick. All of his stats were excluding the W-L record, which doesnt mean anything.

[RobsKicks]

Peavy is better the Johnson.

[Molina00]

IMO the only pitcher in baseball who really compared to Johnson was Johan Santana. Johnson still had more innings pitched, fewer walks, more K's and a lower ERA than him. Not mention more CG's and Sho's.

NomarFan, I don't know where you got your info on them being in the worst division in baseball. The Padres, Giants and Dodgers all had legit shots at the playoffs and even the Rockies were better than the D-Backs. He doesn't get so many innings because the D-Backs need him too. He pitches as much as he does because he is a great pitcher and one of very few, if any others, that can actually handle such a huge workload year in and year out consistantly.

[missionhockey21]

Peavy is better the Johnson.
Obviously Peavy is on the upswing of his career where RJ is on the down, but RJ had a better year statistically.

More CG's.
Better K/9.
Lower WHIP.
Lower BAA.

Peavy did have a lower ERA, but threw 90 less IP than Johnson so who's to say his ERA would of remained lower had he pitched as many innings.

[Magus Relmyn]

Randy Johnson had a terrible year last year.

Really? He did? I wasn't aware of that. ;)

[NomarFan5]

Well.. whatever you wanna think, ill think what I want, you think what you want.. if the Yankees get RJ, then good luck with him.. they still wont win the championship just because they have RJ.. they need a lot better pitching then just him to be able to win that.. maybe they should trade a little of that offense they have and go get some.

[thechadman2]

Randy should have won Cy Young last year. Just because he plays for a shitty team, shouldn't effect his chances of winning. If he was on Astros instead of Clemens, he would have won. I'd rather have Vaz though. He is a lot younger and I think he is a good pitcher, he just had a bad year. Plus Randy would have to shave and lose his scaring ability. I dunno, hopefully they would make an exception.

[Cardinal Optimist]

Well.. whatever you wanna think, ill think what I want, you think what you want.. if the Yankees get RJ, then good luck with him.. they still wont win the championship just because they have RJ.. they need a lot better pitching then just him to be able to win that.. maybe they should trade a little of that offense they have and go get some.
Just because your a bitter red sox fan, that can't cope with the fact that the Yankees are probably getting johnson, blinds you from the fact that he's the best pitcher in baseball.

[Molina00]

Why would a Red Sox fan be bitter? They overcame a 3-0 deficit to beat the Yanks and became world champions. I sure wouldn't be bitter anymore.

[Cardinal Optimist]

Why would a Red Sox fan be bitter? They overcame a 3-0 deficit to beat the Yanks and became world champions. I sure wouldn't be bitter anymore.
Well, not bitter. Yankee Hater, would perhaps be better.

[DONtheGREAT23]

no they are still bitter. they won once, and they want more, so until their championship count starts to catch up to that of the yankees, they will be bitter

[Jeff]

They go for the WS every year.....
...and blow it!!!! *banana*

Big Unit wouldn't get any run support in Arizona. It's obvious with his extremely low ERA and his record was around .500. The way I see it, the Yankees can trade all their prospects for all I care, their minor leagues are already screwed up as it is.

[Yankees4eva]

RJ is gonna be good next year, then he'll probably suck in 06 and 07. This will end up being the worst trade in MLB History. I wouldn't be surprised if Vazquez won the Cy Young next year.

[DONtheGREAT23]

wow, pretty negative. i believe johnson will do great for the next 2 years and then decline in 07 but not be bad. vazquez will continualy get better, but dont expect a cy young in the near future. and as for the prospects, you really cant tell yet.

[Yankees4eva]

Oh, come on, everyone knows Navarro will be awesome...probably .300 BA for 10 seasons and at least 8 Gold Gloves. Scouts are saying his defensive skills are already almost as good as Pugde's. Even without Power, he's awesome

[X-Factor]

Johnson is amazing at his age