Kevin Baker's book is here!

Kevin Baker's book is here!
"... an exemplary sports book..." Kirkus Reviews

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Watching The Real Teams

Thanks, Mustang, for making my bail.

Next time I get in a bar fight about the Yankees, it will be in my basement.

I couldn't get El Duque to accept my collect call, but you are are my hero.

As to the Yankees, we have said it all.  Cashman has failed to build and accumulate talent.  Hal, " I'm not cheap," Steinbrenner has pissed away money on over-the-hill veterans, in a failed attempt to field a competitive team, and is now stuck with the consequences.  Girardi plays the wrong guys at the wrong times, and refuses to require basic baseball tied to the limited abilities of the roster.  The batting coaches, the base stealing coaches, the strength and conditioning guys all drive mercedes, and all suck at helping the Yankees.

In addition, no one will accept the truth;  this team is in desperate need of re-building.  And no one on staff has a clue how to do that job.  Consequently, we have talent ( or maybe don't ) withering in Scranton/ Trenton, with no hope of learning how they might perform.  We keep giving them another year there, until their sprits wilt and they wish they had been soccer players.

Has anyone noticed the talented youth appearing on Houston, KC, the Cubs and Dodgers?  Has any one noticed the tired bats of Gardner, Ellsbury, McCann, A-Rod, Headley and some I have omitted?

We need an honest voice. The current roster is a losing team, destined for nothing.  We need to take risks, re-build and look 3-5 years out.  Come in last in 2016.  At least it is honest.  Failure and learning is better than mediocrity and stasis, every time.

 The Yankee fans will accept the truth.  But the repeated cover ups and " let's pretend" optimism, are strangling me.

I would keep about 15 players from the existing team and let everyone else play for someone else, or retire and play golf.

But we will do nothing!!!!!

11 comments:

I'm Bill White said...

Most boringest team ever.

Stang said...

In Steinbrenner/Giuliani/Trump City, status and money outweigh merit every time. Dropping Adam Warren for CC was not done to win games. It was to reward status. Ellsbury and McCann and A-Rod could not be safer.

Joe Formerlyof Brooklyn said...

I live in a retirement community.

I have to admit: The idea of watching A-Rod, Tex, CC Sabathia, Headley, McCann, and whatever other geezers they pick up for a ham sandwich (in a trade) or for 15 cents (waivers) --

-- is inspiring.

If they win 70 games, it will be awesome!

Anonymous said...

For the first time this year I watched a Mets game. So much more exciting than Yankee games, BOOORRRING Yankees. Watched this young kid strikeout 13 Dodgers I drank a Highball to him... Does anyone remember the last time the Yankees had four quality young pitchers in their system????????It might be when Jack Chesbro pitched for them.
ANYONE WHO THINKS THE YANKEES HAVE A COMPETENT GENERAL MANAGER IS A MORON !!!

The Yankees have more than enough money, while the Mets are broke, yet who has the better farm system???

Anonymous said...

YOU'RE SPOT ON ALPHONSO...WE WON'T DO ANYTHING, AND JOE G. ALREADY STATED HE "BELIEVES" THIS SAME TEAM CAN WIN IT ALL NEXT YEAR!..(HUH???)...I FEEL LIKE THE AFLAC DUCK WALKING OUT OF THE BARBER SHOP IN THE YOGI COMMERCIAL.....IT DRIVES ME CRAZY HOW WE HANDLE OUR FUTURE..GREG BIRD IS FOR REAL! RIGHT NOW!..BUT TEX IS SENDING HIM BACK TO SCRANTON...GARY SANCHEZ LOOKS LIKE HE'S ARRIVING...BRIAN MCCANN IS BLOCKING HIM (BIG CONTRACT TOO)...JORGE MATEO MAY BE A PHENOM...BUT DIDI LOOKS LIKE HE'S OUR GUY FOR ANOTHER 10 YEARS.....AARON JUDGE IS COMING..CARLOS BELTRAN IS HOLDING HIM UP AT LEAST ANOTHER YEAR...ROB REFSNYDER SHOULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE STARTING JOB AT 2ND BASE AT LEAST FOR THE 2ND HALF OF THE SEASON, BUT IT DIDN'T HAPPEN...WE WAIT TOO LONG WITH OUR PROSPECTS!...OUR PHILOSOPHY SEEMS TO BE WAIT FOR THE PROSPECT TO HIT 25, 26, OR 27 YEARS OLD..THAT'S TOO FUCKING OLD!!!!!...I BELIEVE JUDGE, SANCHEZ, AND REFSNYDER WILL ALL BE 24 NEXT SEASON...MATEO IS 19, IS THE PLAN FOR HIM TO TAKE OVER AT 29 AFTER DIDI DOES 10 YEARS? WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE DOING? IT IS GOOD THAT WE ARE NOW "HYPING" OUR PROSPECTS, (LIKE THE METS HAVE BEEN HYPING THEIR GUYS FOR YEARS AND YEARS), IT HAS TO HELP IN TRADE NEGOTIATIONS TO DO SO, BUT IT'S SOMETHING SOMEHOW, THE YANKEES HAVE NOT DONE UNTIL RECENTLY....I KNOW WE ARE CONTRACTUALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TEX'S, AND THE BELTRAN'S AND THE MCCANN'S, AND THE CC'S, AND THE ELLSBURY'S, BUT IF THESE GUYS ARE NOT CUTTING IT DURING THE SEASON (OR IN THE PLAYOFFS), THEY SHOULD BE BENCHED..AND IF THEIR REPLACEMENT DOES WELL, THEY MUST CONTINUE TO RIDE THE BENCH...ALL I KNOW IS WE BETTER CHANGE OUR PHILOSOPHY ABOUT "HITTING HOME RUNS" TO SCORE RUNS, BECAUSE IT IS KILLING US. WE NEED SOME GUYS WHO CAN HIT TO THE OPPOSITE FIELD, AND HIT IN THE CLUTCH. THIS STATION TO STATION, BASE TO BASE, 4 SINGLES TO SCORE A RUN BULLSHIT, WAITING FOR THE HOME RUN IS NEVER GOING TO GET US TO WHERE WE WANT TO BE. CASHMAN IS BOOK SMART, AND DIAMOND DUMB.

Hank Bauer said...

Next time a fight breaks out, call me, Alphonso.

JM said...

I simply can't read the all caps thing. My eyes go batshit crazy.

However, if you copy what Anonymous says into Word and then change the case to Sentence or Lower, he becomes readable. And you know, he's right.

Anonymous said...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: CAPS LOCK EDITION.....-MORE ON OUR MINOR LEAGUE "MOVES"--- IT SEEMS LIKE EVER SINCE JOE MADDON SUNK HIS TEETH INTO US AS THE RAYS MANAGER, THE YANKEES ALWAYS SEEM TO HAVE LOTS OF OUR MINOR LEAGUERS "WITHOUT A POSITION". I NOTICED AS MANAGER OF TAMPA, MADDON SEEMED TO HAVE MANY OF HIS POSITION PLAYERS PLAY ALL OVER THE FIELD...ZOBRIST WOULD PLAY 2B, THEN HE WOULD PLAY OF, 1B, A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYWHERE...MATT JOYCE WOULD PLAY 1B, AND OF, AND THERE WERE OTHER GUYS AT THAT TIME THAT WERE PLAYING ALL DIFFERENT POSITIONS EVERYDAY. EVER SINCE, IT SEEMS LIKE THE YANKS HAVE BEEN TRYING TO IMITATE THIS PHILOSOPHY WITH OUR MINOR LEAGUE CLUBS..THE PROBLEM IS, IT HAS BEEN GOING SOMETHING LIKE THIS. ROB REFSNYDER STARTS PLAYING IN THE OUTFIELD, THEN TO FILL THE BIG CLUBS NEEDS, WE SWITCH HIM TO 2ND BASE. HE MADE SOME STRIDES LEARNING 2ND, BUT WE WASTE A WHOLE SEASON BEING "AFRAID" TO TRY HIM THERE.....I'M READING, ERIC JAGIELO LOOKS LIKE A SOLID LEFTY BAT. 3RD BASE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE HIS POSITION, (A PERFECT POSITION FOR HIM TO TAKE OVER EVENTUALLY), BUT I NOW SEE THERE SEEMS TO BE MIXED REPORTS ABOUT HIS FIELDING AT 3RD, AND I HAVE READ SOMETHING ABOUT HIM MAKING A "MOVE TO FIRST BASE" BECAUSE HE'S MORE OF A "DH TYPE" HITTER. I REMEMBER ERIC DUNCAN YEARS AGO..SAME EXACT THING HAPPENED WITH HIM AS WITH JAGIELO (A 3RD BASEMAN WHO WAS "SWITCHED" TO 1B), AND EVENTUALLY WOUND UP PARKING CARS SOMEWHERE. I KIND OF REMEMBER DANTE BICHETTE JR. WAS ALSO A 3RD BASE CANDIDATE, WHO WOUND UP GOING TO THE OUTFIELD..I ALSO HAVE READ THAT THE IDEA HAS BEEN "FLOATED" TO MOVE SHORTSTOP JORGE MATEO, TO 2ND BASE..(IT JUST DRIVES ME NUTS THE LAST BUNCH OF YEARS, AS IT SEEMS WE HAVE SOME HEALTHY PROSPECTS BUT THEY DON'T HAVE A "SET" POSITION...HOW ABOUT KEEPING THESE GUYS AT ONE GOD DAMN POSITION SO THEY CAN LEARN THEIR CRAFT!!!...INSTEAD, CASHMAN (AND I BELIEVE GIRARDI, ARE GOING BATSHIT CRAZY OVER THESE "BEN ZOBRIST" TYPES.....WHAT GOOD IS PLAYING MULTIPLE POSITIONS, IF YOU'RE NOT REALLY THAT GOOD AT ANY ONE OF THEM????? PUT JAGIELO BACK AT 3RD BASE AND HIT HIM 250 FUCKING GROUNDBALLS EVERY DAY, SO HE LEARNS THE POSITION!!! STOP TRYING TO MAKE EVERYONE BEN ZOBRIST!!! LETS GO BACK TO "OLD SCHOOL"...STAY AT A "SET" POSITION!...WORK HARD AT IT, AND LEARN YOUR CRAFT!!!

KD said...

Thanks for the tip, John M. I can now read Anonymous too. He's worth the effort!

I remember this Derek Jeter guy who couldn't field his position worth a lick in the beginning. Then they worked him HARD and, guess what? he improved vastly. This current player development bunch would have turned Jeet into a second baseman, for sure.

also, imagine what these people would have done to a rookie playing 3B if he made errors at the rate Headly did this year. The guy would not have lasted 3 weeks.

Anonymous said...

PERFECT LOGIC KD...YES, I'M PRETTY SURE DJ HAD SOMETHING LIKE 30 ERRORS THE YEAR BEFORE THE YANKS DECIDED TO RIDE WITH HIM AS THE FULL TIME SS.....AND THAT DAMN HEADLEY GOT ME MAD WAY TOO MANY TIMES THIS YEAR (WITH THE BAT, AND THE GLOVE)..

Isiyku Abdulahi said...

I really want the world to know about this great man who brought back happiness into my life again after my husband left me and the kids 3 years ago for another women online when i contacted Dr Believe he cast a love spell for me within 48 hours my ex husband start calling me and begging for forgiveness for everything that have happened between us. I was so happy to have my family back together with love again here is the email of Dr Believe via believelovespelltemple@gmail.com a man with the great powers you can also call him or add him on Whats-app: +2348156148821
God bless you
I am very grateful for your help in my marriage.