Thursday, January 11, 2018

The crossroad point on Geritt Cole: 10 reasons why the Yankees shouldn't trade for him

1. Posted 4.26 ERA last year in league where - get this - pitchers come to bat!

2. Surrendered 31 homers - 2nd most in NL, a league where - can you believe it? - pitchers bat!


3. What's wrong with this picture: A relatively inexpensive, cost-controlled starter being tirelessly shopped by a small market franchise. 

4. Peaked two years ago as all-star, gone steadily downhill ever since.

5. Spider sense tingling? Why is team desperately shopping guy following down year, when trade value should be lowest? Since he's such a great pitcher, won't they get more by letting him rebound, and then put him out for bids at Aug. 1 trade deadline?

6. Get this: The 2017 Mets, as a team, hit .375 against him (two starts, surrendered 6 HRs; I'm not making this up.)

7. Over five years, his arm has logged nearly 800 MLB innings. Last year, threw 203 - second time in his career over 200. Following the first season, 2015, he could only throw 116 innings the next year, saw dramatic deterioration.

8. Pirates GM has unmitigated gall to demand Glyber Torres, Yankees best prospect, plus others. Do you believe this? This alone should have resulted in Cashman prank-SWATTING the guy's home on Christmas Eve.  

9. Cole was originally drafted by Yankees, scorned us and went to college for a year. What kind of message does this send to future draft picks? "Don't worry, if we don't sign you now, we'll just trade a boatload for you someday." Nope. He had his chance. Don't give us this "I always wanted to be a Yankee" crapola. The ship sailed, buddy boy. Enjoy Houston. Hope you can swim. 

10. Yanks already have five starters, not counting Chad Green or wave of prospects who should be MLB-ready by June. Why grow tomatoes if you're not going to make ketchup?

I know, I know... preaching to the choir and sounding like a broken 45, and yes, the devil is in the details... but I see this Geritt Cole bit as a litmus test on Cooperstown Cashman's mental state: He's pulled the bottle down from the shelf, unscrewed the cap, taken a whiff... contemplated all the pros and cons of going on a trade bender. Now, does he have the fundamental discipline to say no, to set the bottle back in place? And why aren't the NYC sportswriters on this? Is there not one willing to take a stance here, to simply say this looks like a bad idea?

25 comments:

  1. THE 2 GAMES I WATCHED COLE PITCH AGAINST THE METS WERE EYE OPENING.

    IT SEEMED LIKE IT WAS THE SAME OUTING BOTH TIMES.

    ....AND THE RESULTS WERE AWFUL BOTH TIMES.

    NO ADJUSTMENTS MADE, NOTHING. THE METS POUNDED HIM TWICE, ONCE AWAY, AND ONCE AT HOME, WITHIN A WEEK AND A HALF, IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY.

    HINT TO COOP- THE METS CAN'T HIT!

    DROP THIS GUY.

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  2. Wait...did I miss something? Are we talking about a three-way with Houston?

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  3. Frankly, if he did always want to be a Yankee, declining to enter their minor league system was a pretty shrewd move.

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  4. The only living boy in WishawJanuary 11, 2018 at 11:20 AM

    Great article.

    I am surprised the New York media and none of the other Yankees blogs are taking this stance.

    I don't pretend to know enough about baseball I am still learning but it seems to me that Cashman seems to have one main fault in that he sees pitchers differently from position players.

    I guess all trades have risks but he seems to have a very poor record with pitchers.

    I will understand if someone laughs at this posy or even swears at it for I am 3000 odd miles away from Yankees stadium and have never been to a baseball game in my life.

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  5. Wishaw Boy, no laughs or swearing from me. Thumbs up.

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  6. Happy Gerrit-versary!

    That's right, folks: as best I can determine, it's now been one month since we—and especially NYC's underemployed sportswriting community—have been following the one-again, off-again, roller-coaster/house of horrors thrill of Gerrit Cole.

    One Month.

    This guys just won't go away.

    He's like that brother-in-law, or your old friend from college who just needed to spend a couple nights on your couch—three at the most!—while he got settled after he lost his job, his car got towed, and his wife threw him out. One month later...there he still is, shoving Tostitos in his face, watching yet another episode of Cake Boss on your big screen, dressed in his usual outfit of stained tee-shirt and increasingly hole-ridden shorts.

    One. Month.

    Can't we at least move on to a new rumor/ brother-in-law?

    Thirty days of Gerrit Cole. I think the siege of Leningrad must have felt shorter than this, and they were eating each other.

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  7. And yes, great point O.L.B. Wishaw.

    Cashman DOES seem to lose it when it comes to pitcher.

    All those awful pick-ups from back in the day—Jeff Weaver, Kevin Brown, Vazquez II, Jaret Wright, the Bronx Buttocks (shudder).

    Not to mention his ongoing theory that it's best to get his pitchers at a bargain price because they're injured, which is like saying it's best to get a Caddy that's been stripped of its engine.

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  8. On the bright side, as noted, THE YANKS ARE ON THE BOARD AGAINST SOCCER!

    Unfortunately, the Times also ran a much bigger piece on how a Disney guy bought an obscure little English soccer club in the Fourth Division, thereby setting up his next movie.

    So it's Soccer 7, Yankees 1.

    Still! Gooooooooooaaaaaaaaaalllllll!

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  9. Wishaw Boy, so many Yankees blogs have now deified Cashman, especially after the Stanton trade. You won't see too much of that around here. Our hearts have been broken too may times and our Patron Saint is Alphonso.

    Welcome!

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  10. What does 3000 miles away mean?

    In which direction?

    Are you in Holland? The Netherlands? The low country? Pay-Bas?

    We have a huge fan base in Rotterdam.

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  11. Fonzie,

    Wishaw is in bonnie old Scotland.

    Birthplace of one Mr. Bond. James Bond.

    As well as origin of numerous fine whiskeys.

    ReplyDelete
  12. The only living boy in WishawJanuary 11, 2018 at 5:36 PM

    Yes Im from Bonnie Scotland

    Wishaw is just a wee town not far from where I was born in Glasgow

    Thanks for the warm welcome

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  13. We love Scotland and we love your whiskey.

    I, for one, am stunned that you love baseball.

    I assume you also love humor, irony and great wit.

    Hence, this blog is on your list.

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  14. Alphonso, don't be stunned. Perhaps his great grandfather was a big fan of the New York Highlanders.

    And welcome as well.

    Doug K.

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  15. WISHAW BOY....

    VERY PERCEPTIVE ON YOUR PART HOW COOPERSTOWN CASHMAN HAS A POOR RECORD WHEN IT COMES TO HIS PITCHING DECISIONS.

    HE CAN'T GET AWAY WITH SUCH DECISIONS ON THIS WEB SITE....

    HERE WE ARE LIKE A BUNCH OF ELEPHANTS WHO NEVER FORGET.

    OUR RINGMASTERS ARE EL DUQUE AND ALPHONSO....

    WELCOME ABOARD.

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  16. Elephants who forget their past are doomed to stay in the circus forever. Yes, welcome. I really want to organize an IIHIIF day at the Stadium this summer. I became a big fan of the $15 Pinstripe Pass last year. No seat, but you get to walk around and have fun. We can get seats, but I actually this is more interesting. Anyway, we can discuss this at some point in May or June.

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  17. According to Yahoo, "The Yankees gave Yu Darvish 48 hours to take $160M and he didn't bite"

    Seriously 7 years at $160 for Darvish who is surely going to suck sooner than later? It makes trading away top prospects for Cole seem like the smarter to do. At least we'd be stuck with Cole for a couple years at next to nothing.

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  18. The only living boy in WishawJanuary 12, 2018 at 11:16 AM

    Hi Alphonso

    Thanks for the kind words

    Been a baseball fan since a wee boy

    Saw Pride of the Yankees movie and I was a Yankees fan from that day on
    In the early 70's to late 80's virtually no coverage at all in UK.

    1 newspaper posted scores the horrible Daily Telegraph (Imagine a paper written by a 109 senile member of the British aristocracy with a political beliefs slightly to the right of Hitler and you get the idea) and that was just the final scores occasionally a short article if a player did something notable.
    I used to order Sports Illustrated and other magazines from a bookshop in London and once a fortnight they would arrive and I could actually read about Yankee players and see what they looked like because I had no idea the games were never shown in any for on television.

    A friend went to New York and brought me back a great gift Yankees jersey Paul O'Neill number 21 who was my first favourite Yankees player.Still fits me and I wear it with pride.

    Firstly American football then finally in the early 1990's baseball made it to tv in Scotland.

    The internet turned me into a baseball fanatic and especially interested in minor league,the draft and following prospects through the system.(I still think Mike Ford will be a decent option for a Major League team at 1B but nobody agrees with me)

    I made friends with Kevin who was the expert who used to write for Nomaas on the minor leagues and prospects and who every year on his birthday on facebook I remind him he is the reason I stay awake for every single round of the draft and look up the players as the Yankees draft them
    I watch all the Yankees games online most finishing at 4am here so I get 3 hour sleep before needing to get up for work

    Just found this site last year and love it,not really confident enough to post my opinions yet as I have a lot to learn but as this rambling post shows maybe that is not a bad thing ha ha.

    All the best from Scotland
    John

    Hi Anonymous and Doug K

    Thanks for the nice welcome


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  19. The only living boy in WishawJanuary 12, 2018 at 11:19 AM

    Horace,KD and John M

    Thanks for the nice welcome as well

    John M is my username on all site I go so I had to make a new one up so made bad joke on song title

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  20. No apologies necessary, OLB, and you have a fellow Ford fanatic here.

    The guy is going to be terrific! He's already adept at getting on base, and he's just growing into his power. The mighty minds that run baseball are prejudiced against him because he went to an Ivy League college, and because he's older (because he went to college!).

    But he will be a good one. My one remaining hope here is that whoever took him (Seattle?) won't keep him on the roster all year (hey, they have to start converting SmilyJogginson to first) and we get him back.

    I can see you are an individual of rare and discerning judgement!

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  21. The only living boy in WishawJanuary 12, 2018 at 12:49 PM

    Hi Horace

    Thanks for the reply

    He stuck out for my in that draft that if memory serves me right he won player and pitcher of the league awards which I though was really unusual.
    I followed him especially closely after reading that.
    I thought that might be the case that people would consider the opposition quality being something to hold against him.
    But he seems to have done nothing but hit at every level and with increasing power I know everyone could not be protected for the Rule 5 draft and he would be someone that would probably be picked but was still sad to see him go.

    I will still follow his career even if he is not returned to us and stays with Seattle I think he will be an at least average 1B

    all the best
    John

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  22. OLB,

    A college classmate of mine teaches at University of Glasgow and lives in Motherwell (although I've never visited him). Sounds like you're almost neighbors. Anyway he is a psychology professor, which kind of fits for this site. Among the attributes of the people who congregate here is insanity (which Alphonso forgot to mention above).

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  23. The only living boy in WishawJanuary 12, 2018 at 2:31 PM

    Hi Rufus

    Yes Motherwell is about 3 miles away from Wishaw both in North Lanarkshire.

    I think I will fit in ok here nothing wrong with a bit of insanity now and again

    aw the best

    John

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  24. Good to have you aboard, John.

    Interestingly, Lou Gehrig was also a very successful pitcher in the Ivy League, at Columbia. (Ford was Princeton, I think.) He never got a chance to try out his pitching in professional ball, either.

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