All season, I was dead certain the Yankees would fall short of the World Series - absolutely sure of it - that is, until after the fifth game of the ALCS, when we beat Houston. At that point, I became absolutely certain we were going to win.
Do you understand the implications here? As long as I - in my heart of hearts - considered the Yankees to be also-rans, they played like champions. As soon as I thought them to be champs, they turned back into pumpkins.
Listen: There isn't a remedy for this. It's not about me simply proclaiming the Yankees suck, using reverse juju, and winning happily ever-after. We are what we are. I can grouse around like the pincushion guy on Hellraiser, but if on the inside, I'm a touchy-feely, hope-and-changy girl scout cookie, it won't work. The juju gods don't care what negative slop you ejaculate onto the Internet. (To begin with, I'm not even sure they have WiFi.) The universe knows that, deep down inside, you're wetting your flowery panties about the Canyon of Heroes. The juju gods may be middle management deities - they don't get to regulate hurricanes or growing seasons - but they are not naive. They have been around since monkeys started stacking rocks, and they know when you are secretly turning Jello. You can't fake juju.
And here's where it gets scary: Everybody, the Gammonites, the Joe Bucks, the hardened fans - and me, myself, I - think the Yankees are going to win in 2018. We might as well call ourselves the 2018 Yankee Hall of Fame Superteam of Destiny (TM), named after the great recent Bostonian October clown show.
It's hard not to be optimistic. Look at the lineup. With Judge, Bird and Sanchez, we have three premier young sluggers. Then there's Gaga, Jimmy, Barry - wait - there's Didi and - well, Hicks and Gardy. If we buy out Ellsbury's hostage contract and trade him packing for a Pocket Fisherman, we still have four young OF for two openings - Clint Frazier, Jake Cave, Mason Williams, Billy McKinney - plus, the Pocket Fisherman, which really catches fish! In the infield, we can give the Toddfather a gold watch of appreciation, trade Castro for movie money, and still have three kids - Miguel Andujar, Tyler Wade, Glyber Torres - not to mention Big Toe and one more year of Chase Headley - to fight it out at 2B and 3B. We have a wave of youth coming. What can go wrong?
Well... for starters, there's a little thing called the first rung of the playoffs. This year, it weeded out Cleveland, the AL's best team. Then there are the injuries, and the mystery head cases, and the things that go bump in the dugout. There's a shitwad of plans that always go wrong. So forget optimism, folks. Let's just go with hope, because we'll need something to get us through the winter.
The winds are shifting in upstate New York. The trees have turned, it's getting cold at night, and yesterday, I looked for the windshield scraper. In Syracuse, NY, you take no ride for granted between Nov. 1 and March 30. I'm oiling the hot stove. And despite all the horrors and the pain, all the pineapples and the sudden ice picks to the forehead, you know what? 2017 was a good year. And I can't wait to see what happens next spring. Jeez, did I mention we have Garrett Cooper, too! Yes, Cooper II, too!
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Agree with Duque. You can never know if you'll get back there the next year. I think the game to steal would have been game 2 at Houston. Didn't have a lot of hope for game 7...Yanks did not make the crucial plays at Minute Maid (Orange Juice, really).
I think we'd all be foolish to think anything is a given, guaranteed, a done deal, etc. I got really worried when everybody here started getting that inner "we're going to do it" vibe after Game 5. You could smell it a mile away. I think we should - if I may presume to say so - feel good about the coming year. God knows, I feel better about the Yankee future now than I have in 10 years. Hopefully, there will be good baseball and we may, with the hard lessons learned from this year's second half, advance to the greatest heights. But, as the Master says, "you can't predict baseball." We'll just have to continue to take it a day at a time. This year, I will resume my once yearly winter ritual of watching Ken Burns' "Baseball" documentary in its entirety. I'll do that after the first snows fall, once I am settled into my tree stump dwelling in cozy Greenwich Village-land, the theme park that used to be my neighborhood. I'll start to follow MLB Trade Rumors rabidly. I'll put on my my Sherlock Holmes hat and try to decipher Cashman's purposefully vague utterances. At this point, I'd put money on Cash and Joey coming back. We'll just assume that and live with it. I can only hope that they don't trade the farm. We have most pieces in place for a good run. We'll have to see what Tanaka does. Yes, I guess we'll need pitching, but we'll also need someone to put our guys in a situational hitting clinic and lock the gate until they learn how to manufacture a run. We need Posada to take Sanches to Tampa and throw balls at his head, 8 hours a day, 6 days a week, for the whole winter. He can practice bunting on the 7th day, just to keep opponents on their toes. We can try to put together a team to infiltrate the complex down south and spirit away Joey's binders, maybe replacing them with bogus ones, to demonstrate the sheer futility of most metrics. And, most of all, I know that I will be hitting this blog, Chez Duque, every day. It's what has gotten me through the bleakest of times and I can only pray honestly, outwardly, and beseechingly, out loud and directly, to the Juju gods, to restore us to our rightful place in the firmament. Onward!
Dammint!Dammit!Dammit!Dammint!Dammit!Dammit!Dammint!Dammit!Dammit!Dammint!Dammit!Dammit!Dammint!Dammit!Dammit!Dammint!Dammit!Dammit!Dammint!Dammit!Dammit!Dammint!Dammit!Dammit!Dammint!Dammit!Dammit!Dammint!Dammit!Dammit!Dammint!Dammit!Dammit!Dammint!Dammit!Dammit!Dammint!Dammit!Dammit!Dammint!Dammit!Dammit!Dammint!Dammit!Dammit!Dammint!Dammit!Dammit!Dammint!Dammit!Dammit!Dammint!Dammit!Dammit!Dammint!Dammit!Dammit!Dammint!Dammit!Dammit!Dammint!Dammit!Dammit!Dammint!Dammit!Dammit!Dammint!Dammit!Dammit!Dammint!Dammit!Dammit!
Cut/trade Ellsbury and eat the money. Just take your medicine, OK? It was a bad deal and I don't see why we need to keep paying the price. One more year of Gardy is fine with me. After that it's time for Red Thunder. Trade Castro for some pitching. give the Toddfather a hearty handshake and fond farewell. Love the guy but he's not part of our future. See what we can get for Headly and trust that Bird has finally arrived. I'd like to keep Tanaka, so pay up Hal but buy some elbow insurance. However, if Masa truly wants out, do whatever it takes to be sure we receive a draft pick in return. Sign Otani. Don't know what to say about Toonces. I've had it with him and Pineda both. Just make sure they go to NL clubs.
SO TRUE, EL DUQUE.....
THERE ARE SO MANY PITFALLS THAT CAN HAPPEN COME PLAYOFF TIME....
HERE IS ANOTHER ONE YOU LEFT OUT.....
GIRARDI.
WHO KNOWS WHAT KIND OF FUCK-UP HE WILL LAY ON US IN THE FUTURE?
HE JUST ABOUT COST US ONE SERIES.
HIS TEAM, AMAZINGLY, GOT HIM OFF THE HOOK.
I just moved my RAB optimism rating to 7 (from 6.) Not to 10 or 9 0r even 8 but a very sensible 7.
Seven, the number construction workers give my wife when she walks past. A little make-up, drop a few pounds and we're talking an eight.
So... let's lose some weight and add a little make-up.
1B - I like The Big Emu. So just two words. Slide School. Actually, he might want to work with a great base stealer or running back on getting a more explosive start. But Slide School.
2B -
I do not like Starlin Castro. I would prefer if that is where Gleybar ends up.
So, let's lose Starlin. Who can we get? I don’t know. Maybe we can convince MLB to expand and we can leave him unprotected. Maybe we can convince the US government to lift the trade embargo and trade him to Cuba they love guys named Castro. Just get it done. He has all the nonchalance of Cano and 1/3 of the talent.
3B
Don’t sign Frazier the Elder. It would be a mistake. His almost 3 run shot to tie it up was it for me. He rose to the occasion. Squared it up. Crushed it. And it didn’t make the seats. Two years ago, that’s twenty rows deep. He’s done. I wish him well. He helped make it fun. See Ya.
Try to trade Headley but if not. He can finish his contract. I know sometimes he looks like a kid who sits in the back of the room and eats paste but he’s not as bad as we make him out to be.
I'm saving third base for either Andujar or, if you've read an earlier comment of mine I believe the Yankees need an M player to be successful (Mantle, Munson, Mattingly (sort of), Matsui -- the biggest M on the board is Manny Machado if Andujar craps out.
SS
There is nothing wrong with Sir Didi.
C
13Bit is absolutely right about having Posada throw balls at Sanchez’ head 8 hours a day 6 days a week. My only modification is you might want to throw at his feet too. On offense so he can learn to not swing and on defense, so he can catch balls from the outfield. But the sentiment is right on.
Lose Romine. He catches 60 games a year. That’s a lot of at bats. Too many for a guy that can’t hit.
RF
“The Big Galoot” keeps getting better and better.
CF
We all want Jacobi to go. I’d pay 50 of the 60 million. But the guy I really want gone is Hicks. I’m tired of waiting on his promise. He’s had like two good months since we got him. So, has Jacobi, so did Hidecki Irabu (who I liked. This guy is not going to be what we need. (good defender though) Put Gardner back in CF and give…
LF
To Frazier the Younger. And bring up the next kid as the 4th outfielder.
DH
No more old guys. Hitters only. If the Yankees don’t think Andujar can hold down third then make him the DH. Why does it always have to be an old guy anyway?
I’ll deal with pitchers some other time.
Doug K.
Doug...Garrett Cooper can be the DH. He's proven to hit major league pitching and can play 1B fine. He's cheap and young too.
Brilliant as ever, Duque.
Yes, the JuJu gods know when we start to believe, deep down inside.
That's why we so love the great teams. They can carry all our hopes and expectations. They get better and better, and finally emerge beyond all doubts, announcing, "I am become Vishnu, destroyer of worlds!"
The 1977-78 Yankees, cantankerous as they were, were like that. Get them down two games to nothing in a playoff series, and it would just make them ornery. The 1998-2000 Yanks were the same.
These guys? I just don't know yet.
I admit, I started to believe after Game 5, even though this whole season told us that the road ahead would be strewn with pineapples. I mean, had they just executed one of two plays at home in the first two Houston games, they would have clinched the pennant then and there.
But they didn't. And they didn't die on a pineapple, some monumental bad break or excruciating mistake. They just...died. Came out and had nothing. Twice.
It happens, I know. But so complete and lifeless a flop just makes me wonder if this team will ever go further.
As for the road ahead, I think Doug K. and KD nailed it.
Clean out all the old, dead wood, save for Gardy, who earned his last year with the Yanks.
The two Tylers, Ronaldo, Cooper, McKinney, and Cave should provide plenty of depth, and even Kyle "The Glove" Holder has started to hit a little the past two years. Yes, trade Castro for pitching, and no Machado until we see if Andujar is for real.
Hicks is an enigma, I know, but I think he's worth hanging onto. Interesting idea to deal Romine.
For the pitchers, I'd say keep The Bear if he's willing to take something reasonable. It's hard to picture Tanaka getting an offer for over his present $22 mill a year...but if he does, I say we bite the bullet and let him go. Pineda IS gone; we won't see him around here no more. Trade Toonces if we can, though that will be all but impossible now.
Ranger and HoraceClarke - I liked Garret Cooper as well. He'd be fine as the DH. (plus Bird insurance)
Doug K.
And Mike Ford! Don't forget Mike Ford, the guy everybody ignores because he went to Princeton. Mark my words, he will become a good major-league hitter.
DOUG K, AND KD ARE MAKING A LOT OF SENSE.
.....AND 'OL HOSS HAS ME THINKING WHEN HE SAYS IT WAS SUCH A COMPLETE AND LIFELESS FLOP, HE WORRIES ABOUT IF WE CAN EVER GO FURTHER.
HOSS HAS A TOTALLY LEGIT CONCERN (AS ALL OF US SHOULD).....
.....BUT LETS LOOK BACK.
WHAT DID GEORGE DO WHEN WE TURNED THE CORNER AND BECAME A GOOD (NOT GREAT TEAM), IN 1976?... REMEMBER, WE GOT SMOKED IN A HORRIBLY ONE SIDED WORLD SERIES AGAINST THE REDS.
GEORGE SAID LETS FINISH THE JOB, AND BOOM- WE HAD REGGIE ON OUR SIDE.
POINT IS, LET'S FINISH THE JOB (HAL), AND GET WHATEVER IT IS WE NEED, AND MAKE THE NECESSARY MOVES THAT MUST BE MADE (WHATEVER DIFFICULTY SOME CONTRACTS BRING)- (CASHMAN).
HEADLEY NEEDS TO GO.... THAT PATENTED GROUND BALL TO 2ND WHEN IT MATTERS MOST IS SICKENING.
ELLSBURY MUST BE GONE NO MATTER HOW MUCH WE HAVE TO EAT.
CASHMAN AND GIRARDI HAVE TO GET OVER THE FACT THAT AARON HICKS IS A 4TH OUTFIELDER.
I DON'T THINK WE SHOULD KEEP CC UNLESS HE GIVES US A GREAT "HOMETOWN DISCOUNT" (WHICH NOBODY DOES ANYMORE.) I WOULD SAY ABOUT $9 MILLION FOR 1 YEAR SHOULD BE THE CUTOFF...... HE IS OLD, OVERWEIGHT, IMMOBILE, AND CAN'T GO MORE THAN 5 INNINGS MAX.... HE IS GOING TO GET HURT, AND MISS 1/2 TO 3/4 OF A SEASON....GUARANTEED..... WOULDN'T WE RATHER HAVE CHANCE ADAMS OR JUSTUS SHEFFIELD HAVE A CRACK AT THE ROTATION INSTEAD?
GLEYBER TORRES MUST BE ON THE TEAM AS SOON AS POSSIBLE NEXT SEASON NO MATTER WHAT POSITION HE PLAYS.
WE NEED 1 MORE POTENT LEFTY BAT IN OUR LINEUP..... DIDI, GARDY, AND BIRD, (NOT COUNTING HICKS AND HEADLEY), COMES UP SHORT FOR US ON THE LEFT SIDE.
THINK BRYCE DOWN THE ROAD.... IN THE INTERIM, MAYBE WE TRY BILLY MCKINNEY OR JAKE CAVE AS LEFTY DH'S.
I WOULD LOVE FOR US TO SIGN OTANI AS A PITCHER AND A LEFTY DH. I READ, HE MAY ACTUALLY BE A BETTER HITTER THAN PITCHER) BUT KNOWING HOW WE THINK, NO WAY WE LET HIM HIT....OF COURSE, HE MIGHT DIE.
A NEW MANAGER WON'T HAPPEN, BUT I FIRMLY BELIEVE WE WOULD BE BETTER WITH ONE.
CAN'T STAND HEARING MEDIA AND YANKEE FANS SAYING, "KEEP GIRARDI, WHO ELSE ARE WE GOING TO GET? THERE IS NO ONE ELSE."
LIKE GIRARDI IS THE ONLY GUY WHO CAN HANDLE THIS TEAM?
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
C'MON!!!
That's very interesting, ALL-CAPS. Yes, a Reggie type would be perfect just now. But where is he?
I think you're right about CC, though maybe $6 million should be the cutoff.
Hey, did Yu Darvish sign with the Dodgers? He might be worth a go as a free agent if the price is right. But beyond that, we should indeed go with as many of our young guns as possible, starting with Adams and Sheffield.
I don't know if we want Harper—but yes, we should give McKinney and Cave a solid shot, to see if they have anything.
Overall it's very encouraging. There's no denying it. But I'd like to see a new manager, too. A vet who is a good strategist, and willing to try something different sometimes. That's not Girardi.
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