Pirela's route to fame was hardly circuitous: It was ridiculous. You'd think the guy has Ebola, the way the Yankee brain trust ran from him. The poor kid - he's 24 - outhit everybody else at Scranton, yet when Brian Cashman looked for reinforcements, he only saw Antoan Richardson, Zelous Wheeler and the AARP all-star Mets cast-off, Chris Young. In July, when the Yankees finally acknowledged what every fan in captivity knew - that Brian Roberts couldn't cut it at 2B - nobody even considered Pirela. Nope. Can't hit. Can't field. Can't do the job...
Listen: I accept that Yankee scouts know more than we do. Trouble is, they have such a crappy record! It's not as if they are doing the job...
Over the weekend, John and Suzyn watched Pirela make several fine plays at second base. At one point, he ranged to his right, snagged a grounder, smartly threw to third and caught a runner off base, leading to a brilliant double play. That caused Suzyn to blow a gasket.
"WHERE'S HE BEEN?" she thundered. "Why didn't he come up on Sept. first? They brought everybody else up. WHY NOT HIM?"
Good question. This came as the news broke how Joe Girardi's secret clubhouse meeting, days earlier. Joe lit into certain players for their obesity and lack of production. But all season, Jose Pirela never even received the time of day from the Yankees. He just stayed in Scranton, played every position but catcher, and hit.
John noted that Pirela won the batting crown, but only hit .305.
"Three-oh-five?" Suzyn growled. "The Yankees don't have anybody hitting .305!"
Late September is a lousy time to get a fix on players. But this weekend, one of the reasons why Boston could afford to be so gracious is that the Redsocks are clearly moving in the right direction - while the Yankees are ready to fall into a Tampa sinkhole. Boston spent the last week unveiling next year. All David Cone and the other YES Yes-Men could say was that the Yankees have "a lot of work to do."
There isn't enough spin on a baseball to make the Yankee front office look competent.
Around now, fans are supposed to say, "Wait'll next year!"
I am already dreading 2015.
Alphonso will soon return from Norway, where he has been basking in the glow of his ancestors. If you thought he was angry this year...
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3 comments:
It's hard to actually feel the outrage about Pirela's non-call up because it's such a 'normal' fuck up for the front office.
But deep, deep down inside, beyond the cynicism that has hold on every Yankee fan's frontal lobes, the lizard brain is seething, crouching, waiting...and refusing to attend games at the pasha palace that replaced the real Yankee Stadium...
Have the Master and Suzyn left the reservation? We may be missing more than the Captain next spring.
There are certainly reasons to be pessimistic about next year. But there are some reasons to be excited as well. Mostly, can Refsnyder make the team in spring training? The Yankees will have plenty of table setters on offense and the pitching should be solid again. But the problem is still the middle of the line up RBI guys; Tex, McCann, Beltran and ARod. Just not a lot of confidence there.
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