Opening day by the lake. Such a delight. Nick Swisher. Terry Francona. Funny named players - Drew Stubbs. Asdrubal Cabrera. Big humiliated crowd. The return of Pronk. Amazing press box coffee machines. (See next post) Five run cakewalk - plus the icing: A remembrance of the reason we still love Brian "Death Wish" Cashman, our team pilot - or Pilate - considering that he betrayed Jesus.
Let's set the wayback to the thrilling days of yesteryear, to mid-2011, when the Colorado Rockies are putting Ubaldo Jimenez on the meat market. The guy is coming off a 19-win season, in which he was briefly hailed as the best pitcher in baseball. But something happened to his Ubaldons, and the Rockies wanted him gone before the next paycheck.
So they did what everybody does: Call the Yankees. For days, rumors mongered across NYC talkshows that we would trade Jesus Montero, Austin Romine, Brett Gardner, or something for Ubaldo. But Brian Cashman held the line.
Cleveland traded four young players to Colorado: Joseph Gardner, Matt McBride, Alex White and Drew Pomeranz. (BTW: None are on the active roster; Gardner and Pomeranz are still on the 40-man.) Keep in mind that a trade between Cleveland and Colorado is like a celebrity boxing event pitting Mungo Jerry against Adam Ant.
Maybe we could have wheedled and gotten Ubaldo for less. But Cashman said at the time, they saw little improvement by getting the guy. And he was right. In three years with Cleveland, Ubaldo is 13-22, with an ERA near 6. Thank God we didn't get him. (Of course, Brian was watching a young stud from Seattle named Pineda at the time; little did we know. Ahh, but that's Seattle... If Cleveland had traded with them, it would have Mungo Jerry vs. Vanilla Ice.)
O, the fickle red tide of fate.
What's in a name? "Umberto" (as in the clam house on Mulberry Street) works. "Ubaldo" doesn't. Then again, "Pronk" worked yesterday. But with a name like "Pronk" you gotta have the right nose. And he does.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Cleveland indian name for the game was Carlos Santana. I still listen to some of his music. BTW, I must have been sleeping but where does this "Pronk" name originate?
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm a modest guy. But "Pronk" refers to the fact that I am endowed in a way that resembles a Hebrew National (TM) salami.
ReplyDeleteLyle hits it a mile!
ReplyDeleteBB, it's a BB! That's Boesch, by gosh!
ReplyDelete