FINALLY (LEFTIES, THE GENE MICHAEL WAY)

Gene Michael Way

When Yankee Stadium was originally built in 1923, the layout was purposely structured towards the advantage of lefty pitchers and lefty hitters - mainly with a short-distanced right field wall.  Thus, it was common for the Yankees' decisionmakers to offer some extra focus on developing and acquiring a decent amount of lefty hitters and pitchers.  Of course, there are more righties in this world, so true lefty talent is limited to find and acquire.

Gene Michael played for the Yankees and was a switch-hitter.  That lefty-hitting option helped him learn the advantages of the stadium's dimensions.  He also served within the Yankees' organization as a coach, scout, manager, and executive.  During his tenure and through his multiple roles, he ultimately helped  the Yankees win championships in 1977, 1978, 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000.  For the 1977 championship he was the Yankees' Chief Scout, and Reggie Jackson credited Gene for guidance that led to his 3 consecutive homeruns in one game during the 1977 World Series.  For the 1978 championship team, he was their bench coach for both managers Billy Martin and Bob Lemon helping to offer some form of stability and guidance for the players.  For the 4 championships in the 1990s, he was the VP of their scouting department, ensuring to help attain and keep some key lefty hitters including:  Paul O'Neill, Wade Boggs, Tino Martinez, David Justice, Darryl Strawberry, and switch-hitters Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, and Tim Raines.  He also had the same involvement with the likes of key lefty pitchers including: Andy Pettitte, David Wells, and Jimmy Key.  In our last championship (2009) he continued his influence with the likes of lefty hitters:  Hideki Matsui, Robinson Cano, Johnny Damon, and switch-hitters Mark Teixeira and (once again) Jorge Posada.

Brian Cashman worked in the Yankees front office since 1986.  There, he experienced (and typically reported to Gene Michael).  He, Buck Showalter, Lou Piniella and so many others have commonly credited Gene with teaching them so much about his proven strategies.  For unknown and very frustrating reasons, Cashman stopped focusing on acquiring  a slight overage of quality lefty pitchers and, especially, of quality lefty hitters.  Cashman basically erased his learned knowledge from Gene Michael in planning the need for a decent amount of quality lefties for the team's roster.

FINALLY, for our 2024 season, Brian Cashman refreshed his memory of what he was taught to do in order to construct the best team who played 50% of their games in Yankee Stadium.  Of course, Yankee Stadium is a different stadium than it was prior to 2009 but its dimensions are similarly laid out (on purpose).  So, the same World Championship strategies would still suffice!  I am sure that, over the past winter, Cashman was scrutinized by Hal Steinbrenner after so much public fallout from the fans and felt his job was soon to be on the line.  I believe it, indeed, was!

Now, with the new signings of lefty hitting outfielders Juan Soto, Alex Verdugo, and Trent Grisham joining our current lefty infielders Anthony Rizzo and Austin Wells, our lineup not only provides the advantages of Yankee Stadium's dimensions, but also provides a lot more challenges in general to the opposing pitchers and managers. Additionally, both Soto and Verdugo offer a lot of spunk and energy for the Yankees' teammates and their worldwide fans, traits that have been missing for a while. Furthermore, Soto batting directly before Judge will, alone, drive our opposing pitchers out of their minds and will certainly produce a lot of runs!  As for our relievers, Cashman added Victor González and a few unknown lefty hopefuls who I'm sure Matt Blake (perhaps the best pitching coach in baseball today) will enhance as he usually does for our pitching acquisitions.  

Our starting pitching should be a solid mix with the likes of our incumbent group of lefties Nestor Cortes and Carlos Rodón, along with our righties Clarke Schmidt, and the "Cy Young Award" winner, Gerrit Cole (once he returns from the Injured List).  To make it even stronger, Cashman signed free-agent righty Marcus Stroman (a bulldog pitcher) - another character who will undoubtedly add spunk.  That makes our early pitching starters group with at least 40% lefties.  We also have some AAA lefties in queue when needed.  Wow, who would have thought to include a decent amount of lefty hitters and lefty pitchers on our 25- and 40-man rosters collectively?  Oh, I know...Gene Michael!!!

[Let's hope we win at least 92 games this season.]