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Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Yankees apparently say "No" to Ben Zobrist. Did the Doomsday Howie Kendrick Clock just move up a minute?

I cannot escape these brain worm deliriums, which leave me howling and slobbering into my safety collar. I can only compare them to the disturbing hallucination Tony Stark suffered during his opening confrontation with Scarlet Witch, when he foresaw the Avengers' corpses littered across a smoldering Skrull-infested battlescape. Yeah, it's that bad. I chew through my suspension tethers, and the orderlies don't have enough laxatives to subdue me. It's one honkingly serious bad dream.

In it, the Yankees sign Howie Kendrick to play 2B.

Excuse me, while I shrink to a corner and moan.

I'm back. OK, I know what you're thinking. No way will the Yankees sign Howie Kendrick. It makes no sense. Trouble is, I don't see Brian Cashman going into 2016 with a 2B platoon of Rob Refsnyder and Dustin Ackley. It's just not the Yankee Way. The Yankee Way is to snag some castaway veteran retread to a flea-market contract - Brian Roberts, Stephen Drew, it doesn't matter, as long as they are five years past sell-date. When possible, the Yankees prefer guys who hurt us in the past, even though without us to torture, their production levels are certain to fall. That's Howie Kendrick, folks. He's a free agent. He'll be 32. He'll cost us a draft pick. He has a finicky hamstring. There are a million reasons why we don't need him. So why can't I shake the feeling that we'll get him cheap, for two years, and he's coming for me.

Excuse me, I need to eat a box of laxatives.

I'm back, ten pounds lighter. What brought about these Howie attacks was news yesterday that the Yankees apparently won't bid on Ben Zobrist. That followed news that the Yankees apparently won't bid on Daniel Murphy. There is, of course, no certainty to these newsy tidbits, because they could be Cashmanic crapola - disinformation meant to drive down the bidding. But let's face it, Zobrist and Murphy will cost too much. I think Kendrick will come cheaper, especially if teams must surrender a draft pick.

I know it makes no sense. But as a fan, you need a reason to hope, even if it's crazy. Let me give you an example: I get far more excited about Greg Bird than I do for Mark Teixeira. I know it's stupid. I know it's wrong. Tex has been a great Yankee. He could return and hit 30 HR next season. Bird could be a flop, the next Kevin Maas. But given a choice to watch the two, I'd take Bird. It's the difference between somebody coming and somebody going. It's the difference between a past star and - just maybe - a future one. In recent years, the Yankees have done a really poor job of giving their fans any such hope.

Refsnyder may be a delusion worthy of the Scarlet Witch. But at least he gives hope. Will they stomp it out? Excuse me. I need to go cry.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I AM READING HOW KENDRICKS FIELDING "METRICS" ARE WAY DOWN, AND GETTING WORSE THE LAST 3 YEARS....IF THAT IS THE CASE, THEN IT MAKES NO SENSE FOR CASHMAN TO SIGN KENDRICK, AS HE ALWAYS LOOKS TO DEFENSE FIRST AND ALREADY SAID THAT IS WHY WE ARE PASSING ON DANIEL MURPHY.....KENDRICK DID HIT .295 WITH A .336 OBP AND GET THIS,....HE HIT .360 WITH RUNNERS IN SCORING POSITION!...THAT MEANS "IN THE CLUTCH", SOMETHING WE NEED, BEYOND BAD......BUT I DON'T THINK KENDRICK WOULD COME AS CHEAP AS SOME PEOPLE THINK...HIS SALARY IS 9.5 MILLION PER YEAR....HE IS 32...I BELIEVE HE IS GOING TO GET 3 YEARS AT 33 TO 36 MILLION....HE MAY EVEN COMMAND MORE IN THIS SICK ENVIRONMENT!....BOTTOM LINE IS.......JUST COMMIT TO REFSNYDER!....ANNOUNCE IT!..HAVE A PRESS CONFERENCE!....THROW CONFETTI AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE!...SAY IT, CASHMAN! DO IT!!!....HE IS ONLY 25, WON'T COST THE YANKS ANYTHING, AND WILL MAKE MOST YANKEE FANS THRILLED!!! (AT LEAST UNTIL HE PROVES HE CAN'T HANDLE THE JOB)...... COMMIT!

Leinstery said...

I told you already, Cashman has his eyes set on Utley.

ceeja said...

Wait a minute. If Hal is too cheap, why would he spend money on Kendrick when he can pay minimum or near minimum salary to Refsnyder and Ackley?

Now here is a new one to keep you up at night: Don't you think the Red Sox GM has his eye out for Stanton? Miami will want to dump Stanton before he starts making too much money. Dombrowski, or whatever his name is, wants to repeat his coup of bringing Cabrera to Detroit. So he now seeks to bring Stanton to Boston and will empty out his prospects and good young players to do so. Cashman must know this.

So: Yankees/Sox bidding war over Stanton? Cashman gives everything for Stanton who promptly gets injured? Or if Stanton does halfway decent and opts out after 30 a la A Rod, the Yanks pony up $40mm per year just to justify their investment? Do the Yanks or Sox destroy themselves with Stanton? Or, worse yet, does Stanton pan out, sign with the Red Sox and bring them championships while Refsnyder turns into Horace Clarke, Judge turns into Charlie Spikes, and Bird becomes Rusty Torres?

The horror! The horror!

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Yogi story please

Anonymous said...

INTERESTING CEEJA.....I HAVE A BUDDY WHO IS A CRAZY BOSOX FAN, AND HE HAS BEEN TELLING ME EVEN BEFORE DOMBROWSKI BECAME GM THAT THEY'RE AFTER STANTON....(THAT IS SCARY)......BUT THE POSSIBILITY OF OUR PROSPECTS TURNING INTO HOSS, SPIKES, AND RUSTY TORRES IS EVEN SCARIER.....BUT I RATHER GO DOWN SWINGING WITH THOSE HOME GROWN GUYS THAN HOWIE KENDRICK, JUSTIN UPTON, AND WHOEVER ELSE THAT WOULD COST US UPWARD OF $200-$300 MILLION DOLLARS OR MORE.......AND IF KID CASH SIGNS CHASE UTLEY FOR 2ND BASE, HE HAS TO BE FIT FOR A STRAIGHT JACKET.....BUT YOU KNOW LEINSTRY,....AFTER THE BRIAN ROBERTS, AND STEPHEN DREW EXPERIMENTS, I'M HORRIFIED YOU MAY BE RIGHT.

Anonymous said...

....BUT DON'T FORGET....STANTON HAS A $325 MILLION CONTRACT (13 YEARS AT $25 MILLION PER YEAR)...I HAVE TO BELIEVE, THAT IS GOING TO BE A TOUGH CONTRACT TO MOVE.

Alphonso said...

Kendricks is already being measured for his uniform. And Refsnyder will go in the package to obtain him.

Anonymous said...

Yanks will go with the kid at 2nd, trade Gardy and sign Kazmir. Looks like another one and done!

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