For the last couple months, it seems that Brian Cashman has been on a campaign to win the hearts and minds of Yankees bloggers everywhere. He brought up Phil Hughes, he traded Scott Proctor to force Joe Torre to diversify the use of his bullpen, he rose the curtain on the Joba era; and now, just in the last two days, he's called up critical darling Chris Britton and given Mike Mussina's next start to Ian Kennedy.
Cashman has managed to swing the organization's philosophy nearly 180 degrees in the past year. The Yankees are now devoted to keeping their young players, protecting their assets, and even giving the kids a chance to play on the big club when Joe Torre's beloved veterans are stinking up the joint.
I couldn't be more thrilled that Kennedy is getting the start on Saturday. I have no way of knowing if he's ready for the big leagues yet, but at least he'll give the Yankees a fighting chance to win the game, something Mike Mussina simply cannot do at this point in his career.
Still, I feel bad for the Moose. I've never been a big fan, for reasons I got into yesterday, but right now he's a proud veteran coping with his own mortality, and he's being publicly humiliated. It's hard not to empathize with that.
Moreover, the AP story on the Kennedy call-up seems to take unusual glee in Mussina's plight. Aside from claiming Moose has been "shoved aside," the story calls him "cerebral and finicky," apropos of nothing. This is a supposedly objective news story, mind you, not an editorial or a blog entry.
I know I've taken to calling Mussina the finicky cat, but I'm not writing a fucking AP news story. What does his rumored reputation for having, uh, distinct preferences have to do with who's starting for the Yankees on Saturday? And I also don't like the use of the word cerebral, implying somehow that Mussina considers himself above the physical drudgery of the game because he operates on a higher plane. I know a lot of reporters don't like Mussina, but come on!
In honor of Mike Mussina and what he must be thinking, while praying Ian Kennedy gets the job done, take it away Rhett Miller:
The new kid, he’s got money
The money I deserve
He’s got the goods but he’s not good for his word
I should be rolling in it
I've been a working stiff
As for the justice no one knows where it went
I’m gonna toil away
Until my judgment day
I will be rewarded for the good things I did
Believe me every year
There is another one here
Don’t you see I used to be the new kid
I am sorry to say
You’ll get carried away
You will be replaced
You will be replaced
I tell you again
Don’t get too settled in
You will be replaced
You will be replaced
The new kid, he’s got my girl
The girl I used to have
He’s got the looks you know, got them from his dad
I should be kissing that girl
We should be so in love
There is no justice
There’s just dark stars above
