Mine fought him. But I guess this is just for Germans.
The biggest news site in Germany, spiegel.de. Quite a move with the rise of the AfD party (Nazis in thin disguise.) Yeah, it's happening here, too. Scary.
And now, back to baseball...sorry for the diversion, but I felt I had to share this one.
After Tampa and the Yanks - high and far above the rest - only two American League teams stand above the Gene Mauch Line of Tomato Cannery.
Meanwhile, in the NL, eight teams are above .500, and tonight, we'll see what a non-cupcake looks like. The Yankees face the Brewers - a team of bunts, steals and defense - missing ingredients that have plagued the Death Barge since 2009 (though that has changed with the arrival of one Jose Caballero, right?) Milwaukee sports MLB's 9th best record. We won't be playing Baltimore anymore.
The Yankees are tied with the Cubs and Braves for MLB's best record, with Tampa a half-game behind. Then come the Dodgers who - oh, fukkit, they'll spend $100 million at the trade deadline and win it all, anyway, right? Why kid ourselves?
But but BUT... this weekend just got a lot more interesting...
1. Forget Dos Equis beer. The Most Interesting Man in the World (of Baseball) has joined the team. Yes, Spencer Jones! who was busting fences in Moosic. We're finally going to see him, live, full-sized and in-person.
No more bogus stats about swing-and-miss rates or barreled balls - (who cares if they're barrels, if they don't bother his wife.) For four years, we've been hearing about this dude - his size (6'6"), his power (the 2nd highest exit velo batted ball in 2026) and his speed (I'll take their word for it.) Last time the Yankees brought up an outfielder with such beautistics, he only turned out to be the best hitter in baseball.
Look: Jones won't be the next Judge. But he might be the next Joey Gallo, the one we thought we were getting a few years ago, before he turned out to be Rob Deer. (If you're under 70, you might have to google him.) For years now, Jones has been the most intriguing prospect in the organization, if not in all of baseball, and now - finally - we'll get a taste.
If he's outclassed, well, it won't take long for the Scranton bus to arrive. But I can't think of a less stressful place to launch a career than in Milwaukee, the home of Oprah Winfrey, Harley-Davidson, and cheap beer. On top of it, Giancarlo Stanton will soon return and end the experiment, regardless of what's happening.
And if over the next week, Jones hits - aw, let's say 20 HRs - we'll cope with the strikeouts.
2. I keep telling myself not to be concerned about Ben Rice. And I'm not. Sorta, anyway. Nope. I'm good here.
Oh, hell, I'm terrified. And we all should be.
Here's the problem: Rice still leads all of MLB in OPS - 1.214 - above Yordan Alvarez, Mike Trout and - yes - Aaron Judge. Now that he's injured and missing a few games, he has basically no place to go but down.
When he returns from the bone bruise, every stat wonk in YES captivity will start counting BEFORE and AFTER numbers. It's hard to imagine Rice improving on production before the injury. So, when he returns (tonight?) he'll slump, and that will become the defining numbers of his still-young season.
Why why why... do Yankee injuries always seem to coincide with hot streaks?
3. Beginning tonight, we will throw Max Fried, Cam Schlittler and Carlos Rodon. Clearly, the weak link is... Rodon.
Imagine that.
There is no excuse—NONE—for the New York Yankees to put anything dangerous on the field in Yankee Stadium III. This isn't some archaic feature of the grand cathedral that was the original Yankee Stadium. Hal and his daddy put paid to that joint long ago.
Nonetheless, there is Dominguez banging his head against a chain-link fence—a chain-link fence!—covering the left field ad wall.
The ad wall has to be there because, of course, we can't just have ONE ad on the left field fence in the Stadium. We have to have constantly rotating, electronic ads.
Hence the fence. It's not there to protect the players, but to protect the ads.
Somehow, the bright lights who Hal hires to run his bright lights could figure out no better way or place to maximize the ads that already fill almost every inch of the ballpark we taxpayers built for him—or that blare incessantly over the sound system.
The "Your Ad Here" space is so bad, in fact, that we were fortunate Dominguez's injury was not worse.
Incredibly, some idiot also installed a step up to the chain-link fence. (Hey, why not just a moat and alligators?) You could see The Martian's shoe stick on this for a moment as he went down, in a daze. We're very lucky he didn't break his foot.
That wasn't the fault of the Yankees' management, but Mantle's initial, awful injury in the 1951 World Series, was. Sure, Joe DiMaggio was being a jerk to Mantle so he didn't want to step in front of the Great Man and sure, it was an accident: some thoughtless grounds crew guy leaving a sprinkler cap open.
But there sure as hell is no excuse for this.
I could not help noticing that the Yankees went over the 800,000 mark in attendance today. In May. That's over 40,000 game even with the lousy weather we've had all spring, tops in the American League.
But hey, no reason for our nepo baby owner to evvvvvvver give up another dollar, even if it means some young kid's career.
Forget last night. It never happened.
We're still waiting on Giancarlo. He's eligible to come off the Injury List, but the calf is still barking. The problem: We must not only wait for Stanton, but when he returns, we'll have to wait for him to heat up. He is starting to mimic the old Aaron Hicks' Cycle of Hell: Get healthy, get hot, get hurt, repeat.
We keep telling ourselves not to worry about Ben Rice. It's early in the season, with no reason to rush him back from what could be a nagging injury. Then again, how badly is he bruised? The Yankees lie about injuries. They don't even try to hide it. So, how bad is it... really?
Last night in Scranton, Anthony Volpe: 0 for 6 with a strikeout. Yikes. (George Lombard Jr., playing 3B, went 1-3 with three walks.)
Meanwhile, The Martian is struggling - 1 for 12 over his last three games. When Stanton returns, he might find himself back in Triple A. He needs 150 ABs and a green light to steal bases, neither of which look likely. On top of everything, Trent Grisham isn't hitting, and Spencer Jones - last year's most intriguing Yankee prospect - is once again our most intriguing Yankee prospect.
Everywhere, the lineup is churning. The first place Yankees are a roster in chaos. Weird, eh?
Someone was good enough to point out that I did not give the link to the 144 calls by the Master that had been ranked by Andrew Mearns of Pinstripe Alley.
The link was provide by Stang, and can be found here:
This is an actual screenshot of my phone.
Apparently it knows me a little too well.
Nine ponderings:
1. Isn't May 5 too early to subject your closer to a two-inning save? That's what Boone did last night with David Bednar. In the modern reality, no closer lasts the season without a series of meltdowns. Are we doomed to overuse Bednar until he frays? We did it with Clay Holmes. Here we go again.
2. Yanks' hype over the impending return of Geritt Cole and Carlos Rodon gleefully ignores the gorilla pooping in the woods: Both are getting pummeled in their minor league rehabs. Last night, for Scranton, Rodon gave up five ER in 6.1 innings. WTF?
3. Last night's big, beautiful bat: Jose Caballero's perfect bunt single, which led to the rally. I believe bunt singles unhinge pitchers even more than a HR. A bomb clears the bases, lets the pitcher start over. A bunt leaves a nagging distraction at first, and a reminder that we can steal a run without hard contact. (Yanks must use this tonight against Eovaldi.)
4. Last night for Scranton: Anthony Volpe, 2 for 4 with a SB. In Volpe's new reality, he must run, run, run...
5. Also for Scranton, George Lombard 0-3 and Spencer Jones 1-4 with a three-run HR. (He is 2nd in the IL, with 11, behind another giant outfielder, 23-year-old Kevin Alcantara, 6'6", whom the Yankees traded away for Anthony Rizzo.) Jones struck out once.
6. If you're a rookie appearing in Yankee Stadium for the first time, giving up three runs in the first inning is par for the course. Elmer Rodriguez walked his first two batters and ended up surrendering three runs in the first Still, he straightened out and lasted five innings. He's been sent back to Scranton, but I gotta believe he feels good about himself, and that he'll play a role in October.
7. Down in Double A Somerset, a 24-year-old 2B named Marco Luciano is having a moment: batting .326 with 9 HRs. He's an ex-Pirates farmhand, picked up last winter by way of Baltimore. Last year, in the PCL, he hit 23 HRs, batted .224. Not the greatest record, but if he keeps hitting the Scranton infield could soon be crowded.
8. Considering how well the Yankee starting rotation has done, it's hard to justify how threadbare this bullpen looks. Last night, when Tim Hill faltered, the bullpen backed up like a sewer pipe. Blackburn, Bird, Doval... who has faith in any of them? This is our weakness, and it will take us down.
9. The death of John Sterling has unified the Yankiverse in a manner that few players could have done. Of all the words and emotions poured into moment, I'll take Suzyn's refusal to take last night's game off: She said John would never approve of missing a game. Fuck me. Tears.
You can't predict journalism! (Gift link)
I think some fine, upstanding Yankee fan put a link to this in the comments but I can't find it & want all of you to be able to savor El Duque's disgrace.
For me, the best way to pay tribute to John Sterling is through the world he loved almost as much as that of baseball: the American musical theatre. Hence, I present, Giovanni!, the Master's musical epic, as he might have written it.
We open with hordes of distraught, keening Yankees fans and players making their way into the Original Yankees Stadium, which has somehow manifested itself across River Avenue. They wail and sing dolefully:
Requiem aeternum don Giovanni
Requiem aeternum don Giovanni
HAL & PAL swagger into the Stadium.
HAL is wearing his kinky boots and a yachting cap; PAL, his finest elf rappelling costume. They sing disdainfully:
Oh, what a circus
Oh, what a show!
New York has gone to town
Over the death of a man who got everything wrong!
Somehow, though, JOHN STERLING’S voice echoes out over the field:
He’s something sort of Grandish! The Grandy Man can! Oh, the Grandy Man can!
HAL & PAL tremble, and clutch each other, but resume singing derisively:
He had his moments
He had some style
For years the best show in town was the crowd
Outside the Drive-by-Jeep booth in the Stadium
Crying, “John! John! It is so gone!”
But STERLING'S voice resounds again through the PA system, enthralling the crowd:
Sir Lancelot rides to the rescue! C’est lui! C’est lui!
HAL & PAL persist:
But that’s all gone now.
Soon as the tears from the media clear
We’re all gonna see
How
He did nothing for US!
For a third time, Sterling's voice enraptures the Stadium:
Russell shows muscle! Monsieur Martin est la! Giancarlo, non si può stoppalaro! It is a Stentorian home run! Non dimenticar! That ball sure traveled far! Oh, McCann can! Yes, McCann can! El Comedulce! Bobby Abreu is as sweet as candy!
JOHN'S coffin is brought into the ballpark, carried by eight pallbearers: THE CORE OF FOUR plus BERNIE WILLIAMS, PAUL O'NEILL, EL DUQUE, and TINO MARTINEZ.
Atop the enormous catafalque, wearing a glimmering, sleeveless dress, is SUZYN WALDMAN. She raises her arms to the heavens, and the mourners are moved to song once more:
Salve regina mater misericordiae
Vita dulcedo et spes nostra
Salve salve Suzyn regina
Ad te clamamus exules filii Giovanni
Ad te suspiramus gementes et flentes
O Clemens o roger
SUZYN extends her arms to them, and begins to sing:
Don’t cry for me, Suzyn Waldman,
For I am ordinary, unimportant
And undeserving
Of such attention
Unless we all are
I think we all are.
Climb on John’s catafalque
O my Yankees!
And when it’s your turn to die
You’ll remember
They wore those special hats
Sang lamentations
Not just for Giovanni
For everybody
So share his glory
So share his story.
SUZYN, the pallbearers, and the crowd are all reduced to sobbing. JOHN'S voice rings out again:
Oh, yes, in-Didi! Gregorious makes Yankee fans euphorious! This is the dawning of the Age of Gregorious! Robbie Cano, don'tcha know! The Giambino! The Bam-Tino!
HAL & PAL slink away from the now ecstatic crowd. HAL, brooding, asks PAL:
How can we best monetize this?
(With many thanks to Andrew Mearns, managing editor for our brethren over at Pinstripe Alley, and to Stang, for bringing his ranking of all 144 of the Master's calls to my attention.)
The O's had signed Pete Alonso, their long-heralded missing piece, and the Redsocks officially launched their ultimate youth movement, led by The Next Big Thing, Roman Anthony.
It's too early to count out anyone. (Somebody once said, you cannot predict baseball.) But both teams sit at least 8 games down: Baltimore's bullpen is in tatters, and Boston fired everybody. (Suck on it, Jason Varitek; join a professional face-slapping league.)
The Yankees are in first... FIRST... but something is wrong.
They should be alone - drunken and self-pleasured, on a comfy couch in their softest pajamas, eating pizza and wings, so far atop their division that the pennant race seems like a distant butterfly fart.
Check out the names to the right. After Junior Caminero and Cedric Mullins, do you know anybody? WTF is going on?
Look, I'm not squawking. I wanna think that Yank fans know when the ham is smoked. Right now, we're sitting in a catbird seat, with a surplus of talent at Scranton and two ace pitchers about to return. We haven't felt this good since Clint Frazier was wowing Triple A.
But, damn, we should be six up. At least! And beginning tonight, we face deGrom and Eovaldi? WTF, juju gods. We could hit the weekend in 2nd. Yeesh. WTF?
10. "An A-Bomb... from A-Rod!"
9. "Bern, baby, burn!"
8. "Robbie Cano, a-doncha-know!"
7. "... And I thank you, Suzyn..."
6. Show tunes.
5. "Thuuuuuuh pitch..."
4. "Tomorrow will be a completely different game, because of the pitchers."
3. "You can't predict baseball, Suzyn."
2. "It is high! It is far! It is gone!"
1. "Yankees win! Thuuuuuh... Yankees... win!"
I can no longer access images via google ( I'll work with Mustang to get this corrected ), but I can't let this day pass without comment.
John Sterling, our " reason for being" is dead. In his 87th year, I believe.
"What," as the French writer , Albert Camus, once said, " do we do now?"
The honorifics and messages of condolence will last but a few days.
Do we carry on as if unaffected?
As a line in one of my favorite country song states, " a link in that chain has been broken."
Can we continue to represent this man now that he is calling games for Babe Ruth and Lou?
I still remember meeting John on two occasions; at the mayor's mansion in NYC after a World Series win, and in a bar in Tampa during spring training ( he was drinking martinis).
"It is high, it is far...." will live forever. For John and all his calls.
I'll drink to that
First, Alphonso texted that "Ben Rice has been pulled," and the season was over. Later, after The Martian homered, and the season was saved. Then Stang chimed in: "Volpe optioned to Scranton." Bedlam.
The rise and fall of humankind, neatly compressed into nine innings, and dispatched with a sense that the Yankees may have finally stopped believing their own crapola, and are throwing down hard decisions, the kind their fans have wanted for years. Consider...
1. Anthony Volpe to Scranton. This brought a jolt. Most Yank fans believed the team would restore Volpe to starting SS, despite being outperformed by Jose Caballero in almost every comparison - also with the Yankees streaking. But they didn't bite.
Volpe is a decent fielding SS (when not hurt) and a potential 30 HR hitter (19 last year.) He plays hard, always hustles, never whines, remembers birthdays, holds the door for ladies - a fine human being - but over three years, he's hit .222, and that's Jorbit Vivas after a sixpack. Still, it's a hard fall. At Scranton, he'll compete with George Lombard Jr. at SS, and Oswaldo Cabrera for utility IN. Volpe must do what he's never done before: Hit at Triple A. (In two Railrider incarnations, he hit .236 and .267.) Whatever he does, his future might be in another town - another ruthless decision by the brain trust?
2. Luis Gil to Scranton. You can't be Rookie of the Year forever. With an ERA over 6.00, Gil was demoted and replaced with Elmer Rodriguez, who will soon get caught in the shuffle behind Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon. It's a huge logjam for Gil. (FYI: In one start with Scranton, Gil went 4.2 innings and gave up 3 ER; for the Yankees, Elmer went 4 and gave up 2 ER.) Gil might end up in another city, as well.
3. Two weeks ago, they ditched Ryan McMahon for Amed Rosario at 3B. Now, McMahon has started to hit. (His fielding was never questioned.) But Rosario's bat will keep him in the mix. (Also, fun fact: He is one of Suzyn's faves; she devoted an inning to his smile and beloved place on the team, the love of a true mom.)
4. They released Randal Grichuk. This, after Cashman went out of his way to sign Grichuk and send The Martian to Scranton.
5. They benched Paul Goldschmidt against lefties, so Rice can play everyday. Another tough call. Goldy's a legit candidate for the Hall. His presence yesterday tempered the possible loss of Rice (which the Yankees say will only be a day-to-day loss. Sadly, they lie.)
They will soon deal with the return of Giancarlo Stanton, which could send Jasson Dominguez back to Scranton. This won't go over well. Meanwhile, at Triple A, Spencer Jones hit two HRs yesterday, his second multi-HR game in a week.
Would Brian Cashman demand that Stanton play a few rehab games in the minors? Probably not. Stanton is the Grand Old Man. Still, this may be the Yankees' hottest streak of 2026, and they still can't seem to shake Tampa. It's no time to play sentimental faves.
After Baltimore tonight, with Cam Schlittler, they face Texas, with deGrom and Eovaldi lying in wait. This is hardball, people. And today, nobody knows it more than Volpe.
All right, let's go down the check list. Today, in a Sunday afternoon game:
—The Yankees fielded the ball like drunks (at least in the infield).
—Jazz Chisholm cost us a run with another boneheaded play.
—Ryan McMahon elevated his game, adding his inability to glove or field the ball to his inability to hit it.
—The Martian, after days of careful medical examination...played like a whirling dervish.
—Ben Rice, having seemingly injured himself...is fine.
—Aaron Boone:
Insisted on once again pitching every time to a red-hot Pete Alonso, even though nobody else on the Orioles can hit a lick.
Refused to pinch-hit for McMahon in the 7th inning, with the game still on the line.
Decided to bring in our overworked closer "to get some work" with the game safely out of reach.
We still won by eight runs.
And, oh yeah:
—Brian Cashman decided to keep Anthony Volpe down on the farm.
"It's time we stop/ Hey, what's that sound/ Everybody look what's goin' down..."
1. They still can't shake hateful Tampa, a team comprised of Junior Caminero - the emerging nation - and a Travoltian roster of 2nd-chancers: Drew Rasmussen (30), Shane McClanahan (29), Jonathan Aranda (27), Jonny DeLuca (27), et al. Before you snicker, remember: they swept us. Postseason tie-breakers... ouch.
2. It's not an A.I. hallucination. (I don't think so, anyway.) Yanks are making contact. Across MLB, only two Yanks rank in the top 40 for Ks, and one is Aaron Judge, (14th), who doesn't count. Jazz Chisholm comes in at 37th. As a team, they are 11th - not bad, considering that they lead MLB in HRs. This love of contact could play against Spencer Jones getting the call.
3. Perennial SB king Jose Caballero is facing competition. He's 3rd - behind Washington's Nasim Nunez and Cleveland's Jose Ramirez (huh?) - with 12. (He's been thrown out at least twice trying to swipe third.) No opposing player threatens Cabby's reign. That role belongs to Anthony Volpe.
4. If you look at OPS by position, only three Yankees make the top 10 lists. They are Judge, of course, (1st in RF), Ben Rice (1st at first) and Cody Bellinger (3rd in LF, rising with a bullet.) Jazz and Stanton? Nope.
5. Last year, Judge chased a triple crown. He still might, but - well - nope. He's tied for 2nd in HRs, 27th in RBIs, and he's lost at sea in BA, hitting .256. A couple Player of the Month awards could change that.
6. Yanks have three starters in MLB's top 11 for ERA: Cam Schlittler (2nd), Max Fried (8th) and Will Warren, (11th.) With Cole and Rodon returning, pinch me.
7. For all that's tormented them, Redsock fans still haven't experienced the inevitable, out-of-body, meltdown by Aroldis Chapman. His ERA is 0.92. Ahh, but one of these days... hahahaha!... the Cuban Water Cannon shall reappear!
8. It's taken 35 years, but we may finally be free of Jose Altuve. He's hitting .248 with 3 HRs and 8 RBIs, and he's not covering ground at 2B. Don't want to jinx his downfall. But the juju gods look tired of his act.
9. Speaking of future Hall of Famers, Roman Anthony is hitting .233 with 1 HR and 5 RBIs. He ranks 124th in OPS, at .682. Coupled with the troubles of Jackson Holliday, it might be time to reassess the bullshit annual Number One prospect rankings, which MLB's state-run media trowels out to the thirsty public. (Also, Bobby Witt Jr. might not be the MVP we anticipated two years ago. And then there is Volpe...) Keep that in mind when they turn their hype cannons on George Lombard Jr.
10. In 2024 - while Witt, Holliday and Anthony were okaying their bronze plaques - Ben Rice was ranked as the Yankees' 12th top prospect by Baseball America. Behind Roderick Arias and Chase Hampton. Not knocking them. Just sayin'...
We wouldn't have traded Mike Lowell, or punted on Nathan Eovaldi, or botched countless roster tweaks, from Zolio to Melky, from Nova to Cano, from Tauchman to Overbay. We wouldn't have gone 16 years without a ring, as Brian "Cooperstown" Cashman has now done.
But but BUT... today, I stand before you, groveling to the juju gods in rapt appreciation that I. Am. Not. Cashman.
Nope. He can have his fancy parking space, his coffee machine, the cufflinks, the private commode... everything. Over the next few weeks, Cashman has several major decisions to make - first world problems - with only one way to go - down. The Yankees have won 11 of 13, and they face an infusion of rawboned youth and experienced guile. It's hard to imagine a period where things go better than they've gone, and - of course - when it starts to go south, we'll blame Cashman for everything. You get the tar; I'll get the chickens.
Today, we enjoy the best record in the AL, with a former Cy Young winner returning and various youngsters knocking on various doors. But a month from now, with summer still beginning to explode, we could be looking at a disaster, because that's all, folks, that's China Town, Jake, and that's baseball, Suzyn.
Cashman faces three huge decisions, each to be rammed down his throat. In fact, he has no decision to make.
1. What to do with Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon? The answer? Nothing. Just hold on and watch. Both are returning. Both will join the rotation, probably this month, replacing the two Ryans - Weathers and Yarbrough, who will head to the bullpen.
This is great news, unless it isn't. There's no guarantee that Cole, at 35, can recapture the Cy Young stuff that is now three years in his rearview. Same with Rodan, 33. Last season, he had, arguably, his best year as a Yankee - 18-9, 3.03. But at the end, he could barely lift his shoulder. He must reinvent himself, as pitchers his age must always do.
This isn't Cashman's decision to make. These guys are coming back. Period. They are veteran pitchers, former aces, and cagy enough to win by honest duplicity. But Cole gave up three runs the other day in Double A, and Rodon gave up one, and baseball is murder, especially when a great career is reaching its twilight. To paraphrase Michael Kay, do Cole and Rodon have rallies in their bones? If they don't, it will be painful.
2. The Martian's elbow scan came back clear, and it looks as though he will not miss playing time. (He might play today.) This is wonderful news. The sight of him being looked over by trainers, after Nathan Eovaldi plunked his elbow - it was our worst nightmare.
We need to know what Jasson Dominguez has. The notion that he'd miss a month or two with a broken elbow - that's how careers get derailed. Eight years after he was signed in a hail of hype and money, we're still waiting. (Spencer Jones, too.) It's time to find out what we have... and, if necessary, to move on.
3. The fulcrum point for Anthony Volpe creeps ever closer. He's ready to join the team. But Jose Caballero has earned the right to start at SS. For God's sake, he homered last night. He's playing at a level that we haven't seen Volpe reach since the brief period when he shined, three years ago, as a once-around-the-league rookie.
One wrinkle: if the Yankees option Volpe to the minors, for at least 20 days, apparently, it will delay his free-agent eligibility by a year, pushing it to 2030. Volpe won't like that, and I don't blame him. But don't be surprised if Cashman plays hardball and sends him to Scranton, to play 3B next to SS George Lombard Jr.
For now, I'm glad I'm not Cashman. Though a time machine wouldn't be bad...
1B Marx Texeira
2B Stalin Castro
SS Lenyn Sosa
3B Pinko Higgins
LF Apparatchik Hafey
CF Adam Engels
RF Fellow Traveler Jankowski
C Roy Partee Member
RHP Red Ruffing, Red Faber, Red Patterson
LHP Lefty Grove, Lefty Holmes, Lefty Calhoun, Lefty Gomez, Lefty O’Doul
MGR Commie Mack
1. After a winter of healing, Anthony Volpe is knocking on the clubhouse door, and we're still in our pajamas. By now, we were supposed to have a place for Volpe, a path for him, a plan that didn't involve pissing on Jose Caballero, who deserves to be our everyday SS.
The Cabster's .267 average is second on the Yankees, and, as usual, he leads the AL in stolen bases. Volpe won't beat those numbers. (He'll hit more HRs, but is that what we need?) Moreover, Volpe led the AL in errors last year. I doubt he expects to have SS handed to him. But something's gotta happen.
The brain trust keeps floating this line that Caballero is a utility man, which - after further review - is so demeaning that it's almost racist. In fact, Volpe should stay in Scranton and learn 3B, because no matter who plays SS, the emerging nation known as George Lombard Jr. is soon to arrive, and somebody's gonna get traded for a bullpen lug nut.
2. Fear the worst. This week, the juju gods gave us a glimpse: The Martian took a pitch to the elbow, only hours after the team jettisoned Randal Grichuk. (We're still awaiting scanner results.) If the Yankees do end up moving Volpe or Caballero, rest assured that somebody will quickly tweak something, and Cashman will be on the phone to Paul DeJong.
3. For now, as the wranglers used to say on Wagon Train, "It's quiet... too quiet." And it is. Everywhere you look, Yankee nemeses - the Redsocks, Mets and Astros - are floundering. (Houston, at 12-20, didn't even make the AL chart on the right.) It's quiet... too fukking quiet.
If history repeats, May will be a shit show. Giancarlo will be out much longer than announced. Ben Rice will come back to earth. The bullpen will get overworked, and Boone will be Boone. Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon will return, but something seems off. It's not as if either is dominating in the minors. I'm not sounding alarms - rehab outings mean nothing - but is it too much to expect shutout innings, when they're doing Double A?
4. No sirens. This is not a critical weekend, or a critical week, or even a critical month. But every win we bank in May will stand tall in September, when we're staggering drunkenly toward the end. Last year, we couldn't beat our rivals, and the tie-breakers killed us. It sure would be nice to knock down Baltimore this weekend, so they don't get ideas. With Boston in a funk, the O's represent our biggest adversary. Let's take them as they come.
4. I miss Luke Weaver, the Bullpen Bard. I hope the Mets panic, clean house, trade him for phlegm, and the Yankees somehow get him. Yes, he's been a disaster across town. He should have never left the Bronx. Meanwhile, he remains one of the most thoughtful - and funniest - players in the game. He is the future of YES, if the Yankees are smart. Last night, after surrendering a horror show, game-losing HR, he spoke directly to flame-sputtering reporters. This is what he said.
"I've been sitting here trying to think about what to even say to you guys and what you're even going to ask. At the end of the day, this pursuit of perfection is an ultimate pressurized failure mindset. "Everybody wants to be the hero because we care and we want to win really, really bad. I just don't think success lives in that realm. It truly doesn't. I sit there and feel the weight of the world, like I let the team down. "We sit there, and we tell you guys, 'It'll come. This is the game. This is the law of averages.' But those words just don't hold the same weight when you continue to lose, day after day. The encouragement and motivation to pursue being the best person and best baseball player you can be is the only answer."
Wow. He's fukkin' Pete Buttigieg!
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