It's a cold June - brrrr - and our heroes are as limp as Rupert Murdoch while being spoon-fed by Jerry Hall, as Boston prepares to wave bye-bye to the AL East. The jury remains out on Aaron Judge and Greg Bird, but our pitching is just as advertised: Tanaka, El Chapo, Betances and the adorable child cast of Stranger Things. Jacoby Ellsbury has replaced Pete Rose as the greatest career On Base By Catchers Interferencer in history. Chase Headley is doing his .235 thing, and Starlin Castro still hasn't learned the art of walks. Didi remains our star, and he's the league's fourth best SS. Climate change is still a hoax, despite the ice berg now threatening Cape Cod. The Gammonites are restless.
That leaves Brian Cashman with two options, neither of which will push the Fan Excitement Index to the level of Irritable Bowel Syndrome Lady doing squat thrusts: He can bundle prospects and trade for a new Headley - you know, a short-term fix. Or he can collapse the team for the second straight year - dealing Tanaka, Holliday, Betances... whatever. (But Cash will be feeling stress; his contract is coming due, and two consecutive meltdowns doesn't look so good, eh?)
So... it's June, and the Yankiverse sorta sucks, right?
But but BUT... the cavalry could come in the form of Gleyber Torres, a hitting machine since arriving last August. He raked in Arizona - (albeit, a notorious hitter's league, where Slade Heathcott batted .320) - and is having a great spring. (He homered yesterday.) Would the Yankees do with Gleyber what they did once with Jogginson, er, Robinson Cano - that is, dump a vet (Tony Womack), install the rookie and never look back?
Yeah, they sure could.
In fact, it looms as the only move that would bring hope to an increasingly caustic fan base: Bring up the kid and see what the hell happens.
Trouble is, where does Gleyber play? We have Headley for two more years and $26 million, and Castro is our for four seasons, totaling $46 million. (Last winter, while Hal was bemoaning long term contracts, he picked up a new one - amazing how he does this again and again, right?)
Under the above scenario, we get little for Headley or Castro, and considering his great value to the team, I'm not sure we'd ever get a fair deal for Didi.
So... what happens? Let's face it: Gleyber Torres looks like the future, and if he hits at Trenton or Scranton or wherever - we better lay off the mushrooms and start shoveling a path.
We ate a lot..a LOT...of money to get A-Rod off the field, rightly or wrongly. Why not Headley? Why not Jacoby? Why not Cashman? Oh, sorry...
ReplyDeleteCastro is OK, but come on, he's no Gleyber. In fact, everybody is no Gleyber. Who the hell names their kid Gleyber, anyway?
All we have to do is casually ask someone to take tens of millions of dollars to go play somewhere else. Hal has the money in his sofa cushions. It shouldn't be such a big deal. Remember, this is the team that told the Scooter he was being replaced by telling him he could take a job in the broadcast booth or be out of work. (OK, that was pre-Steinbrenners, but you get the idea.) It's not like we have a problem with humiliating people. Bernie, Jorge, A-Rod...we're actually very good at it. Cutting ties in a relatively humane (give them lots of money for not playing here) way is easy.
Ruth hasn't played here since the 1930s. Even the way we let him go was ruthless, so why stop now?
ReplyDeleteI am in 100% agreement, but perhaps it could be implemented over time:
- If Headley is not hitting .250 by June 1, he is traded to someone who needs him for whatever they're willing to pay. We'll eat the rest.
- If Castro is not hitting .260 by June 1, he is traded to someone who needs him for whatever they're willing to pay. We'll eat the rest.
- If Ellsbury is not hitting .287 by July 1, he is traded to someone who needs him for whatever they're willing to pay. We'll eat the rest.
If these three perform to these reasonable standards, we're ok. If not, we have a future path for Torres and others who can help the team.
P.S. there's no way that all three of them hit these marks.
WHO'S ON FIRST?....I DUNNO... THIRD BASE!!! (ABBOTT AND COSTELLO)....... THE ANSWER SHOULD BE SIMPLER THAN WHAT WE ARE THINKING....... LETS BREAK IT DOWN.
ReplyDelete1.) TAKE ANYTHING IN A TRADE FOR CHASE HEADLEY, AS A MATTER OF FACT, IF NOTHING IS RECEIVED IN RETURN, GIVE HIM AWAY, AND EVEN OFFER TO PAY ANY PORTION OF HIS SALARY. THIS QUICKLY WILL BE A WIN-WIN FOR US..... WE WILL MAKE UP SOME MONEY LOST WITH THE ADDED EXCITEMENT RESULTING IN BETTER ATTENDANCE, AND MOST PROBABLY, MORE WINS.
2.) INSERT GLEYBER TORRES AT THIRD BASE (START PLAYING HIM AT 3RD IN MOST SPRING TRAINING GAMES NOW).
DONE.
YEARS AGO, THE RED SOX HAD IT MUCH TOUGHER AND THEIR GM SOMEHOW, WAS ABLE TO TRADE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN UNWANTED PLAYERS CONTRACTS TO THE L.A. DODGERS.
CASHMAN CAN'T SWING ANY KIND OF TRANSACTION FOR ONE GUY? ...THIS IS WHAT THE ORGANIZATION NEEDS HIM TO DO NOW!
Obviously, we can't go back in time, NOT sign Headley, and KEEP Yangervis.
ReplyDeleteOr......can we?
I kinda like the guy but haven't we all seen enough of Headley? What else can he possibly show us?
ReplyDeleteCome on, Yankee F.O. You can do it. admit you made a mistake. it's OK. everyone makes mistakes. but what separates the men from the boys is admitting your mistake and taking steps to mitigate the blunder. You can do this!
I mean, you've done this before. remember Drew at 2nd? he sucked but you didn't keep running him out there game after game after game after game after.... er... Oh, wait.... you did...
never mind.
nice pep talk, KD, but you need to work on your rousing finish.
ReplyDelete
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