Yesterday, the still-not-ready-to-tank Blue Jays signed 31-year-old Jaime Garcia for $8 million this year, plus $2 million in bonuses, if he pitches well, (and we all know he won't.) Garcia poses an interesting benchmark, because Cashman obtained him last summer for Diedrich Enns and the living legend Zach Littell, a 21-year-old who went - get this: - 19-1 at Single and Double A. Nineteen and one. (Write this down: If Littell turns out to be a keeper, the name of Jaime Garcia will roil the Yankiverse for many years to come.)
Garcia threw 37 innings for the Yankees - eight sickly starts - and pitched 2 scoreless innings in the Divisional Series against Cleveland. Overall, he went 5-10 last year, with an ERA of 4.41 (which, terrifying fact alert here, was still better than Masahiro Tanaka's 4.74.)
But if $8 million wins you Jaime Garcia, I believe it's safe to say that Yankee fans can forget about Jake Arrieta or Lance Lynn. Even with Toronto out of the auction - and that's no certainty - the big name pitchers will still command far more than what Garcia is receiving. If not, something is seriously wrong with the concept of supply and demand.
Which brings us back to the hope that Cashman can find a cheap, used-lottery ticket reclamation project. Yesterday, Tim Lincecum auditioned in front of about two dozen scouts, and supposedly hit 93 on somebody's radar gun. (In this day and age, hitting 93 is the equivalent of a GED diploma.) It's amazing to think that Lincecum - after four years of sustained mediocrity - might be too pricey for the Yankees, but jeez, if Jaime Garcia costs $8 million... that may be a reality.
We might have to start thinking about 35-year-old Jason Vargas, or 29-year-old Chris Tillman, who endured a completely lost season last year in Baltimore, falling from near ace status to a Betances-in-crisis, end of the bullpen lugnut. I don't know what Tillman would cost, but it's like Popeye's Fried Chicken - cheap but not good for you.
Last year, Cash coaxed Chris Carter up from the primordial ooze - a strike-out machine DH who cost us $3 million. Hard to imagine, but this year, in search of pitching, we might get less. We want a Bartolo. Might just be that even the Bartolos are too expensive.
I'm so tired of retreads.
ReplyDeleteHow about the young guys?
Maybe Littell will go nowhere, but I'm pissed that we gave him away. I'd rather choose from a pool of 7 home-raised, hungry starters - guys with all upside and almost zero cost - than a few rabid, run-over, has-beens who will not only cost millions, but who have already GOTTEN USED TO LOSING IN THE BIG LEAGUES. Guys who are broken and don't even believe in the hype and hope that a new city will change their fortunes. They know they can't do it and they are just in it for the money. I don't judge them for that. If I could make a few mil pitching for anybody next year, even if I knew I could not hack it (and I do know that) and that it might even be embarrassing, of COURSE I would do it. These guys are not to blame. They don't set the market rates. They are like some compromised version of bitcoin, essentially vapor. Anyway, no fans would fault the Yankees for going with the young guys. Bring them up in rapid fire. If one sucks, send him down. Mariano could not cut it initially as a starter. SHOW A LITTLE FAITH, YOU MORONS. I'm so tired of Crackhead Cashman thinking the next puff on his stem is going to fix things. It's just going to lead to another Carl Pavano, Esteban Loaiza high. And by the way, did you read the news the other day on Mister Loaiza?
Hear, hear, 13bit!
ReplyDeleteLittell, just for the record, actually went 20-1 last year, including a minor-league playoff game. Yeah, yeah, he doesn't have "major-league stuff"—all he does is win.
No Soccer, no Yankees, no cry today—just Mets (plenty of crying).
Mets crying story = half a Yankees article in my universe
ReplyDeleteLet’s face it: we’re just halfway through February, and 2018 is already shaping up to be one mama-jama of a singularly horrible year sports year.
ReplyDeleteIt started with the Super Bowl between Philadelphia and New England. And yes, while the greater evil lost, it only brought home all the more clearly that we’re unlikely to see any of the local talent in this event before the NFL has switched to non-concussable robots.
In Pyoncheong, our largest ever Winter Olympics team is tanking like Napoleon’s Grande Armee in Russia.
Mikaela Schiffrin took a gold, but finished off the podium in her big event, the women’s hockey team lost to Canada—again—while the men’s hockey team lost to Slovenia or Slovakia, I forget which, and that snowboarding woman who blew the huge lead 12 years ago lost out on a medal yet again, despite hiring a “success architect.”
Oh, and that poor Nathan Chen guy is wandering around the ice looking like I would if I ever had to face major-league pitching.
In other international competitions, this year the U.S. men’s soccer team will—literally—not even show up for the World Cup, depriving us all of an excuse to get drunk in the morning for a week.
Locally, the Rangers can’t even score on the Islanders with 50 shots, while the Knicks…oh, the Knicks.
Somewhere, there is an alternate universe where the Isles, the Devils, and the Nets matter. But that’s not likely to be a pretty place, more along the lines of that freakish dimension glimpsed in Stephen King’s “From a Buick 8.”
The Mets, to be sure, have puncher’s chance now that they’ve hired the pitcher whisperer to be their manager. But are Conforto and Cespedes ever going to be on the field together? And what are the odds that Reyes ends up playing over 100 games? All too good, I suspect.
That leaves one team, one team only, to end what figures to be a 12-month long nightmare for New York fans. The pressure is on. One sport, one team, one glorious destiny. No Garcia.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure which I enjoyed more, this article on the Red Sox' troubles, or the reader comments at the bottom.
We're only down to a few weeks...
13 BIT.
ReplyDeleteWELL SAID.
STOP WITH THE RIDICULOUSLY PRICED VETERAN PITCHERS WHO WILL UNDOUBTEDLY COME HERE AND SUCK.
TELL DOMINGO GERMAN, DOMINGO ACEVEDO, CHANCE ADAMS, LUIS CESSA, AND JUSTUS SHEFFIELD, THAT THEY WILL ALL BE COMPETING FOR THE LAST SPOT ON THE MAJOR LEAGUE ROSTER.
IF WHOEVER WINS THE COMPETITION, DOESN'T PERFORM WELL IN SEASON, KEEP A CLOSE MONITOR ON THE NEXT NAME DOWN ON THE FARM AND SWITCH ROSTER SPOTS. RINSE AND REPEAT IF THE 2ND GUY DOESN'T WORK OUT.
IT'S AMAZING THAT CASHMAN HASN'T LEARNED, AFTER 20 YEARS, THAT THE VETERAN PITCHER COMING TO US, (ESPECIALLY THE ONE COMING FROM THE NATIONAL LEAGUE), IS A SURE-FIRE DISASTER.
GO WITH OUR OWN KIDS.
CRISIS MOST LIKELY AVERTED.
MONEY SAVED.
SAME RESULTS, (OR EVEN BETTER).
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone.
Let's face it -- We're talking about the sixth pitcher! For five spots! In the first month or so they don't even really use the fifth guy.
Unless our starters go down the first time through this is a total non issue. Or should be.
No Jamie Garcias, No broken down NL pitchers. No trades for anyone that has the word "serviceable" in their description.
If something comes up - let the kids play! (Just not on my lawn!)
Doug K.
Shiffrin is a great skier, but the problem I have with her is that--every time I hear her name--I think of Lalo Schifrin. He was always popping up in the 60s and 70s. He even did the theme music for "Mannix," starring Mike Connors, the Greek-American heartthrob (according to a Greek-American girlfriend I once had).
ReplyDeleteHow many Greek-Americans are on the 2018 Yankees? None. Zero. Nada. The empty set. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
I think this should guide us in looking for any pitcher. Lincecum, by the way, is Filipino-American, not Greek.
I wonder if Lalo Schifrin skied? Might of had a whole different career if he did.
Yeah, I have a hangover. Lots of misfiring synapses today.
Now our prospects get shot at...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/22467807/new-york-yankees-prospect-thairo-estrada-recovering-gunshot-wound-hip
I truly believe the Blue Jays could have signed me for 1 million and I'd be just as (in)effective as Jaime.
ReplyDeleteThank God Thairo the Pharaoh is all right. I wish he would stay out of Venezuela until things get better.
ReplyDeleteBut now that he seems to be completely fine and unharmed...I have to admit it's kind of cool that we have a prospect who has a bullet in his hip. Kind of like our own Andy Jackson.
Leinstery, that reminds me of the Knicks' first pick I would have bested.
ReplyDeleteFrederic Weiss didn't even show up.
I would have shown up, and signed my ten-million-dollar contract. Then, I would've faked a heart attack. But I would've showed up!!
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