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Tuesday, June 13, 2017

A Moment For Reflection.



We all know that Greg Bird's failure has been a drag on this team.

I believe, in his youthful exuberance, that Greg " covered up" the extent of his foot injury.  I often commented that it was odd to watch him limp down to first on a sure ground ball out, hit to second.  Baseball players ( except for Cano ) hustle, and Greg is a baseball player.

Finally, the Yankees woke up and realized that his lack of offensive production and his inability to run, were signs that something was wrong.  I mean, was Joe wearing rose colored glasses?  Was Brian not looking?  And where was the doctor hiding, who mis-diagnosed this injury in the first place?  How does that doctor still escape the microscope of journalistic inquiry?

More than a month later ( I think he departed the scene May 2, but don't hold me to that), Greg is finally doing re-hab in minor league games.  But he is still down there and not in Anaheim.

Finally, to my point:

I think we have to give a lot of credit to Chris Carter, and be damned thankful that he is wearing pinstripes.

He has been much better defensively, than we imagined. A league above what we get from sticking Romine there, or Gary or Refsnyder or Holliday.

His offensive numbers , of course, are not what we were programmed to expect from Greg Bird, but Carter has had his moments.  He has generated important runs, leading to victories, and he has prevented numerous errors ( and runs) with a nice glove at first. The power is still there.  He takes walks.  And, sure he strikes out more than average.

But he has been a total professional.  If we had anyone capable  as back-up ( other than in 14 run blow-outs), I would be happy to let Bird spend the season in AAA, and not return until his numbers demand it. I want to see from him, " spring training " numbers, earned in several weeks of AAA competition, before he returns to the big club.   No more excuses.  When he shows up he better deliver.

Chris Carter deserves our respect.  He should not simply be automatically replaced by a younger, "big prospect" player, who has done nothing at the major league level.

Quietly, Chris Carter has proven himself to be an  off-season acquisition we could not have done without.

Welcome to the Yankees.




20 comments:

el duque said...

Alphonso,

You are losing your mojo.

Joe Formerlyof Brooklyn said...


It's hard to type this, but -- YOU WERE RIGHT.

About Bird being injured and hiding it. For WEEKS.

I'm not sure how everyone else (esp. the people PAID to watch for these things, including Cashmonger and Girardi) MISSED this.

BUT: They did.

I am damn sure that I missed it, and disagreed with you (weeks ago).

You done good. Congrats!

[I am not sucking up for any future consideration. However, if you would take a gander at tomorrow's program for Monticello Raceway and share some of the sure-thing winners you no doubt already have tapped, I would greatly appreciate it.]

joe de pastry said...

Wow, somebody not named joe de pastry saying nice things about Chris Carter.
What have you been smoking?

Leinstery said...

Carter looked like Teixeira in the game against Baltimore that Severino pitched. And he makes the difficult throw to 2nd regularly. Maybe he realizes that who he is as a player (high K's for high HR's) isn't going to be a profitable career and he is working on his defense to help keep people interested in him. Who knows.

Anyways, is Theo Epstein the most overrated GM? Baseball people will forever suck his dick because he gets credit for breaking the two most famous curses in sports. But Boston's team was basically in place before he got there. He just added Schilling, who was probably going there regardless of the GM. And then he ran the team into the ground before skipping town.

Now he did have a larger hand in building the Cubs than the Sox, but I'm looking at the Cubs boxscore right now and it made me see some questionable moves he made with them. Obviously trading half the organization for Brendan Ryan is dumb, but he made those moves because he felt that Addison Russell, with his .215 BA was better than Castro. Castro initially got unceremoniously shoved to 2nd base, then he felt an aging jack of all trades - master of none Ben Zobrist was better than Castro. He's batting under .240 and is 36 years old. Then the Yankees wanted Kyle Schwarber, who up until that point seemed like a poor man's David Ortiz. Theo said, "no, but we will give you our super prospect. Also take three other guys off our hands including Warren because we were too dumb to figure out how to use him." Schwarber is batting .170 making Chris Carter look like Ted Williams and for those of you who drank away the memories of Stephen Drew, he batted around .195, 25 points higher than this guy.

In conclusion, he did a good job building the Cubs, but has done an even worse job building them to last. He did diddly squat to build the Red Sox and almost ruined them. If not for the guy who took over (and subsequently pushed out in favor of Dave "Win yesterday" Dombrowski) that team would still be in the gutter. But in the last sentence I realized it's not so clear cut that he is the worst, because Dave Dombrowski is equally good at falling ass backwards into easy gigs and fucking it all up. Anyways Suzyn, Theo is garbage. I like to believe that Cashman has been plotting revenge on him since 2004, and I hope that it's close to fruition.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Carter is slightly above (it's) Headley. Likeable guy, seems to be a good teammate.

High homer and K.

Not that I like stats I don't know how to calculate on my own, but, but, but,...


Carter's WAR is negative!

He's this year's Jon Olerud. Likeable lugnut.

Parson Tom said...

Nice. You write something nice about Chris Carter for not being a complete clod and sure enough he drops an easy throw that would have been the third out. So CC had to throw more pitches, strains his ham hock and comes out of the game. Did you do this on purpose?

DutchFan said...

I have no knowledge of the Juju rules. Even thinking about them makes me feel anxious. The anxiousness of the ignorants.
But there has to be a relationship somehow with what transpired right here on these pages and the Carter/Sabathia combination.

It is 5.40am out here and I have this image of a pineapple in my head.

DutchFan said...

So Gio goes through the middle of the Angels lineup and only has a limited amount of pitches. Why is is mandatory to put in Warren immediately instead of giving Gio at least a shot at the bottom of the order. I just don't get the automatism at work - so that is Joe Binder.

I should stick to soccer, much easier to understand.

Anyway still winning because you can bank on Chase!

DutchFan said...

Warren went 1 inning and that automatically means that Clippard is brought in. I guess.
Anyway, so we are tied at 2.

On a lighter note:
Suzyn: "You really love your Roku - the minute you get back to the hotel.....
Master: "Oh yes, I love it. LOVE it!! I mean I haven't proposed yet......"

Unknown said...

Please, for the love of God, write and article about WHY Girardi keeps sending Clippard out there to try and blow these close games and essentially kill this momentum.

I personally favor Chasen Shreve as he has not tried to fuck us out of a win TWICE in the last 24 hours and would trade Clippard for a bag of peanuts TOMORROW if I could.

Why is Girardi still using this bum?

DutchFan said...

Time to have another espresso with first and third and 2 outs in the 10th.
And into the 11th


DutchFan said...

I really had to take a break after this sorry loss. Mostly because we lost CC in the 4th and hammies are never good news. Not even in soccer.

How-evah........
This was not a pineapple experience. It was sort of a soft blow in the end. So we are 6 and 1. Every streak has to end.

Anonymous said...

Carter might be a good fielder (he is no Tex), but he is killing the Yanks at the plate. As for Clippard - enough said. To quote Dear Leader - sad.

Parson Tom said...

I beg to differ with the esteemed DutchFan: That was a pineapple loss, and I'm pissed off at myself for staying up and watching it. 2016 replay for frustation. Totally winnable game squandered.

JM said...

What Leinstery said.

Dutch Fan, I have to admit...I love my Roku, too.

Anonymous said...

CARTER SUCKS.....
HE BLEW LAST NIGHTS GAME.
BASES LOADED, 1 OUT, GAME ON THE LINE, I KNEW HE WOULD NOT COME THROUGH.
POP UP, 1ST PITCH.
GAME OVER.
KNEW IT.
AIN'T THE FIRST TIME HE COULDN'T GET THE RUN IN, IN THAT SITUATION.
WON'T BE THE LAST.

Unknown said...

Yes, every streak has to end, but you don't need Girardi trying his best to personally end one by consistently throwing Clippard out there in key situations and overusing him.

Yeah, he still has good numbers, but how many times are you willing to bring this guy in to protect a one run lead in the 7th or 8th only to watch him fail?

TWICE in just the last 24 hours by my count.

I realize we are anxiously awaiting Chapman's return to make those situations a little more 'manageable', but to watch the same mistake being made repeatedly is inexcusable, ya know?

Hopefully CC isn't out too long, Chapman comes back, we can get a healthy and productive Bird back (he plays last night, just defensively, we most likely win as we don't give up that Carter E that cost us a run) and who the hell knows what Ellsbury's return date will be at this point and how do we even use him with the production we're getting out of our current outfielders other than starting a platoon rotation to give these guys some much needed rest.

We're still short that one legit starting pitcher and need to make some sort of sensible move come July 31st. I just hope we don't have to give up an arm and a leg to do so.

We'll carry on and keep fighting the good fight, but when I can text my cousin in the top of the 8th while seeing Clippard warming up in the pen with a, "If Girardi brings this fuck in the bottom of this inning I will break my TV", only to watch the guy come in and blow another lead something is wrong!

I played ball growing up and I know how the game works, but I am certainly not MLB Management material. (or am I? 🤔) All I'm saying is that if a guy sitting at home drinking a beer on his couch can see impending disaster coming a half inning out W-T-F is Girardi getting paid millions to actually let it happen?

🍍

joe de pastry said...

Schwarber has twice as many homers as Carter.

SADLOVE said...

I realize we are anxiously awaiting Chapman's return to make those situations a little more 'manageable', but to watch the same mistake being made repeatedly is inexcusable, ya know?
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