Someone had to pay for the Yankees early playoff exit

George Steinbrenner promised there would be changes tothe Yankees this offseason, but this probably wasn’t what he meant. The free agent pitching pool just got a little shallower as Yankees right-hander Cory Lidle showed he flies even worse than he pitches, crashing into a high-rise condominium building in New York. He was 34. That Lidle managed to miss the entire sky was somewhat ironic, as he was known as a control pitcher. In a 9-year career with 7 teams, Lidle personified mediocrity, with an 82-72 career record and a 4.57 ERA. This season he started with the Philadelphia Phillies before being traded to New York in July. In the Yankees final playoff game this year, he recorded 4 outs and gave up 3 runs. Lidle had bought the plane and started obtaining his pilot’s license during spring training in February 2006, making Phillies management very happy. You’re going to hear lots of hand wringing about how much Lidle will be missed, but the minute the Phillies traded him, he ripped half his teammates, the minute the Yankees got eliminated, he threw Joe Torre under the bus and he was one of the last remaining picket line crossers from the last baseball work stoppage, so most of them are lying. After this and Thurman Munson, the Yankees have banned the use of any plane that doesn’t use a rubber band.