The recent debacles against LA and Boston produced a few amazing sights. For me, it was like traveling back in time to that mythic era when gods roamed the base paths. I saw batting orders where players actually hit higher than .280 - with - get this - 25 to 30 home runs! I'm talking about Ruthian lineups, in some cases with multiple hitters actually batting above .300! Amazing! How do they do it? They must be juicing, right?
Soon, we will award the 2016 IT IS HIGH PLASTIC LUMBER AWARDS to the most offensive Yankees and - wherever he is, Arturo Lopez must wish he could still lace up the cleats and mount a comeback. He'd fit right in on this team.
In fact, nothing signifies the 2016 Yankee collapse more than the embarrassingly anemic batting stats - an excess of mediocrity that simply cannot be blamed on Joe Girardi. With the year winding down, the Yankees are chasing the kinds of statistical milestones that star players achieve before the all-star break. It's pathetic.
Some examples? How about home runs.
Yep. Two months after being traded, Carlos Beltran still tops the team... with 22. Twenty two.
If Gary Sanchez continues on his tear, he might lead the 2016 Yankees. (I love Sanchez but hope he is not being set up with impossible expectations, that - no matter what he does next year - will leave some fans feeling disappointment. This is a very real concern.)
Keep in mind, the Yankees play in what most fans view as a bandbox. Currently, second on the Indian Point Power Outage Report is Starlin Castro, who is hurt and thus will top out at 21. Twenty-one.
Folks, there is a reason why Didi Gregorius hits cleanup. Until Sanchez arrived, we had no HR threat, whatsoever. The Yankees... no home run threat, whatsoever.
Okay, let's look at batting average.
Our top man is Didi, who is slumping. (Sanchez and Beltran don't have enough Yankee at-bats to qualify.) He is our only hope to hit that astronomical .280 (two-eighty) mark. Castro stands at .273. Both Ellsbury (.262) and Gardner (.258) would be lucky to reach .270. And the list of players who simply stank - A-Rod, Tex, Aaron Hicks, Aaron Judge, et al - remind us of the late 1980s. Pathetic.
Runs batted in?
W.A.R.? (Wins Above Replacement)
Okay, I haven't the slightest idea how they get this number - a red flag on anyone who uses it in arguments - but let's give the geeks their due. The Yankee leader in W.A.R. - (what are you good for? absolutely nuthin) - is Gardy, at 3.0. (Sanchez also has 3.0; I have no idea why it's so low, probably because he hasn't played in enough games. But this is what you get with a geek stat.)
For W.A.R., Gardner ranks 67th in all of baseball. Sixty-seventh. Our best player... sixty-seventh.
Seriously, we cannot blame everything on Girardi.
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ALL TRUE, YET WATCH IN THE OFF SEASON WHEN BRIAN CASHMAN WILL AGAIN STATE: "HITTING? WE HAVE THE HITTING...... WE NEED PITCHING PITCHING PITCHING." .......... AND WE DO NEED TO FIND PITCHING, BUT CASHMAN'S MANTRA ALWAYS NEGLECTS THE OFFENSIVE PORTION OF THE TEAM.... HE THINKS, "WE WILL FIND A WAY TO SCORE"...... IT DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY BRIAN...... YOU CAN'T KEEP ACQUIRING GUYS LIKE STEPHEN DREW, CHASE HEADLEY, AND AARON HICKS, AND EXPECT THE TEAM TO "FIND A WAY TO SCORE"........ WE NEED FUCKING TALENT!!!
Next year, hopefully, we have Bird, Sanchez and, hopefully, an improved Judge at the heart of the order, with Didi and probably Castro. That's five. Hopefully they hit as we hope they will. Maybe Austin will be in that pack, too. And Refsnyder is working on his power, if he's around.
Beyond that...we got nuthin'. Beyond Professor Tanaka...we got nuthin'.
All that said, just think how lousy most teams are if, in our current condition, we're still 2.5 games out of the second wild card. We could add one more good bat and quality starter and win 90+ games next year.
The first wild card.
The mind boggles.
>I love Sanchez but hope he is not being set up with impossible expectations, that - no matter what he does next year - will leave some fans feeling disappointment. This is a very real concern.
"Some fans feeling disappointment" should be the name of this blog.
I'm disappointed in Mustang's comment.
THE KEY TO MORE OFFENSE, I BELIEVE, IS TO OPEN UP ANOTHER OUTFIELD SPOT BY TRADING GARDY...... I KNOW CASHMAN IS GOING TO HAVE HIS OWN "TIMELINE" ON WHEN CLINT FRAZIER IS READY TO COME UP...... BUT I SAY WHY WAIT?.... HE IS GOING TO BE 23 NEXT SEASON AND IF WE ALL HAVEN'T LEARNED YET, (INCLUDING CASHMAN), MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL IS NOW A YOUNG MANS GAME....... ...OUR RELUCTANCE TO BRING UP GARY SANCHEZ EARLIER PROBABLY COST US THE PLAYOFFS....WE DESPERATELY NEEDED A RIGHT HANDED HITTER DURING THIS SEASON, AND SANCHEZ WAS DOING WELL.....BUT IT DIDN'T MEET CASHMAN'S "TIMELINE"....I CAN'T STAND OUR GM.
That's only because he's a clueless asshole, Anon.
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