Both the Yankees and Mets entered this season with a ton of question marks. The Yankees lost out on Cliff Lee and saw Andy Pettitte retire leaving what appeared to be a gaping hole in their rotation. The Mets were surrounded by questions about their economic stability and are embroiled in a billion dollar lawsuit and new GM Sandy Alderson has had to work around a media that is always asking him when he will start the big fire sale. Life in New York is not easy. Not for Brian Cashman and not for Sandy Alderson. It doesn't get any easier on the field for Joe Girardi, who is expected to win the World Series every year, or Terry Collins who has to prove this Mets team is good enough to contend. Here are their grades for the first half of this year:
Brian Cashman: He lost out on Cliff Lee, saw Andy Pettitte retire, and saw the rival Red Sox sign Carl Crawford and trade for Adrian Gonzalez. Things were not looking good for the Yankees. It wouldn't get better for Cashman as days after losing out on Lee and with Crawford already in Boston, Yankee owndership circumvented Cashman and signed Rafael Soriano to a ridiculous contract leaving question about who is running the team swirling around the Bronx. Cashman's offseason looked impotent, especially when he signed Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia to minor league deals. Colon and Garcia were considered by many to be washed up has-beens with nothing left to give. Still, Cashman needed arms to compete for roster spots. So far, the Colon and Garcia signings might have been the salvation of the Yankees first half. Both have pitched extremely well and have provided innings to ease the burden on a depleted bullpen that has seen Joba Chamberlain lost for the year and Rafael Soriano for an indefinite amount of time. The other big free agent signing of the year, Pedro Feliciano, was supposed to give the Yankees a veteran lefty arm to supplement Boone Logan and get lefty hitters like Crawford, Gonzalez, and David Ortiz out. Feliciano has yet to pitch in a game this year due to arm issues. Losing Feliciano, Cashman's big free agent signing, hurt. Cashman's first half, which includes this past offseason, was not very good when measured by expectations. He is saved only because Colon and Garcia are pitching well. Still, its hard to overlook the shot across his bow by the Steinbrenners with the Soriano signing, a disaster in itself so far, and the fact that he didn't land Cliff Lee, and Feliciano, who had been abused by the Mets over the years, goes down before getting into a game. I'm not even mentioning the child-like way he handled the Derek Jeter negotiations. Overall grade: C-
Joe Girardi: It's never easy being the manager of a team that everyone expects to win every year. Having the largest payroll will do that. To Girardi it's just another day at the office. Injuries to his main bullpen cogs not named Mariano have left him scrambling for answers. He has had to rely on kids like Hector Noesi, Lance Pendleton, Cory Wade, Amaury Sanit, Jeff Marquez, and veteran retreads like Buddy Carlyle, Luis Ayala, and Sergio Mitre. Some have surprised, like Wade and Ayala. Others have been good. While others, like Sanit have been disasters. He has also had to deal with a contentious relationship with Jorge Posada whose outburst in Boston threatened to rip apart the team, questions about where a struggling Derek JEter should bat, and a host of other issues on a day to day basis. A 1-8 mark against the Red Sox hasn't helped matters either. Still, the Yankees are right there, hovering around first place with the Red Sox, and Girardi has this team playing well. Take away those losses to the Red Sox and the Yankees have a 6 game lead in the East. Right now the Yankees are on pace for 97-98 wins. Not too shabby. Grade: A-
Sandy Alderson: When he took the job as Mets GM he knew he was facing a daunting task. He was handed over the keys to a car that needed major repairs but would still be expected to take to the road. He surrounded himself with some very good baseball people in Paul DePodesta and J.P. Ricciardi, among others and has not blown up the team for the sake of a total rebuild. The Mets have responded by going out and playing some good baseball despite the truckload of injuries to key players like David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Ike Davis, not to mention staff ace Johan Santana. He just traded Francisco Rodriguez and cash to the Brewers to prevent the Mets from having to pay $17.5 million in a vesting option for two players to be named later. Freeing up that money for next season helps pave the way to resigning Jose Reyes. It would have been very easy for him to just blow up a team that has not played up to its potential in recent years or has been hit by enough injuries that would make entire hospitals weep at the workload. With the trade deadline approaching he will have his work cut out for him but he has a plan and will be prepared. With a baseball braintrust like he has assembled, how can he not be? Alderson's overall grade: B+
Terry Collins: Managing the Mets might have been one of the least appealing jobs in all of baseball. The financial questions swirling around ownership, the roster of underachievers and DL candidates, and the New York press hovering about like vultures waiting for the death to swoop in and pick at the remnants. Into this cauldron stepped Terry Collins, a man who last managed in 1999 and whose 444-434 record didn't instill a ton of confidence in the Mets fanbase. Collins has responded by leading the Mets to a 46-45 record at the break, leaps and bounds above where anyone expected to see this team at this point. Throw into that the fact he has not had Johan Santana all year, has lost Ike Davis, David Wright, Angel Pagan, and Jose Reyes to injuries for parts of this season, and has juggled a lineup that has included Justin Turner playing second and third, Willie Harris playing everywhere, and Scott Hairston getting significant playing time. Still, the Mets are above .500, a small miracle that has kept the Mets faithful hopeful that there might be a future for this club. His overall grade: B+
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