The Yankees are turning back the clock to 2005

Seriously, is it 2005 again?
Is Brokeback Mountain playing in the theaters?
Is Hollaback Girl popular again?
Is Lost a new show?

Because if you looked at the moves the Yankees have been making, you’d think the clock was turned back 6 years.

I know losing the 2005 Division Series to the Angels must have been painful, but the Yankees look like they haven't gotten over it!

The Yankees need pitching depth and maybe some outfield help.

So bring in Mark Prior… who actually pitched 166 2/3 innings in 2005 and was still an ace.

Bring in Justin Duchscherer… who made the 2005 All Star team

Bring in Andruw Jones…who hit 51 homers, won a Gold Glove and was the MVP runner up in 2005.

And, most impressively, bring in Bartolo Colon… who won the AL Cy Young in 2005.

Seriously, 6 years ago these moves would have made people scream “It isn’t fair! The Yankees get ALL the superstars.”

In 2011, these moves look like what the Pirates would do followed by the phrase “They are hoping to catch lightning in a bottle.”

Let’s review how they’ve looked since 2005.

Prior threw just 43 2/3 innings for the Cubs in 2006. He hasn’t thrown a pitch in a Major League game since. The Yankees are hoping the last 4 years of not pitching will make him stronger.

Duchscherer made the All Star team again in 2008, but has appeared in only 5 games in the last two seasons.

Jones has seen his stats deteriorate since 2005, hitting the low of his dreadful ’08 season with the Dodgers where he was cut after being a sub .160 hitter. The Yankees will be his fifth team in the last 5 seasons.

Colon hasn’t thrown 100 innings in a season since the 2005 campaign. He left the 2008 Red Sox somewhat unexpectedly to handle “personal matters.” He resurfaced in 2009 with the White Sox but missed the entire 2010 season. Fat, broken down and having personal matters is a great combination for New York.

Also turning back to 2005 is Brian Cashman not having control of the team. The bizarre public contract negotiations with Derek Jeter. The conflicting stories about the Cliff Lee pursuit. (Did he meet with him or what?) His not wanting Soriano and publicly trashing the signing in the press conference.

It all seems like the Yankee brass is making moves over Cashman’s head. And what other kind of move seems more Steinbrenner like than bringing in big names people have heard of, even if the move doesn’t really make sense of help the team.

The team is old and has injury issues. Better bring in a bunch of guys who have combined to miss 6 entire seasons recently!

Ironically do you know who was ALSO good in 2005?
Cliff Lee.

I’m just saying.

Cue up Hollaback Girl!

(I still don’t know what a Hollaback Girl is.)


CORRECTION:
Justin Duchscherer has been courted by the Yankees but not signed yet.
The point still stands

Hey! The Yankees signed an ace! (In 2003)

The Yankees signed Mark Prior.
So is THIS their Plan B after losing out on Cliff Lee?

A rotation that needs durability and youth has been replenished with a guy who has thrown zero innings since 2006?

Why not just activate Whitey Ford?

The Wood/Prior era has ended...

Kerry Wood was let go by the Cubs to make room for Kevin Gregg.
And thus ends the Mark Prior/Kerry Wood era in Chicago Cubs history.

Man... this is NOT how anyone thought it was going to end.
Remember how the promise of duel aces made a Cubs pennant seem all but assured?

Remember people comparing them to Johnson and Schilling that their very presence will mean doom for the NL Central and make short work of a short series?

Remember how Wood burst onto the scene with a 20 strikeout performance and a Rookie of the Year award in 1998?
And then came back from rehab to put up win after win...

And when Prior fell to #2 in the draft because the Twins took Joe Mauer, Cubs fans thought they had the next Tom Seaver?

When the Cubs lost the 2003 NLCS, there was a sense of comfort.

Wood is only 26.
Prior is only 22.

Heck, Zambrano was nothing to sneeze at as a 22 year old #3 starter.

They were going to be the Atlanta Braves of the 2000s.
And spare me the snickers of the Braves only winning one World Series title.
That one series would tide the Cubs fans over PLENTY!

If you had told me that after the 2003 NLCS that Prior, fresh off of an 18 win season, would win only 18 games over the next 3 seasons combined and not pitch after the 2006 season... and that Wood would also win only 18 games over the next 5 seasons (albeit including a fine year as a closer) and would be unceremoniously dumped for the Marlins mediocre closer... I would say "Yeah right! And the Red Sox are going to win 2 World Series and an African American Guy with a Muslim name will be elected President!"

But here we are.

Prior is 27. Wood is 31.
They are both not only ringless but now no longer Cubs.

It's a cautionary tale for those who predict dynasties.
And also shows you how impressive those Braves teams actually were... contending for that long.

And keep in mind they won one fewer World Series in 14 years than the Cubs have won in 105 years.
Not a bad ratio.

The Wood/Prior Era... we hardly knew ye.