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Sunday, March 18, 2018

The Yankees have become a mediocre exhibition team

Eleven days ago, the Yankees stood on the precipice of exhibition dominance: Their 10-2 record led all of baseball in the vagaries of meaninglessness, suggesting their great, unforgettable-but-forgotten grapefruit league of 2017 - they went 24-9 - could reproduce itself into another summer. Last March, electrified by competition at several key positions, the Yankees were the best team in nothingness. 

But the last two weeks have exposed a glitch in the Meaningless Matrix. Lately, the Yankees look once again like a ho-hum, Twittering cavalcade of cover-boy celebrities, who happen to also play baseball. Since March 7, they are 2-7, losing in ever-creative manners, such as getting only two base hits, or watching late-inning games collapse like a Florida footbridge (sorry, too soon) with a bullpen made of paper machete. Yesterday, it was the starter: Masahiro Tanaka gave up 4 runs in two innings, leaving with a 11.25 ERA and a game that would never be close. 

Listen: Nobody is suggesting that we start sweating spring training records. But there is a decidedly different attitude this season, inflated with hubris and expectation. The addition of Giancarlo Stanton and the elevation of Aaron Judge to deity status seem to have created a team of Instagram rock stars. Everyone expects the 2018 Yankees to battle Boston and Houston - and crush the rest of the AL without a blip. Last year, the Yankees fielded a team of hustling nobodies. This year, aside from Tyler Wade - who likely will be relegated to the bench - and Gary Sanchez - who looks newly rededicated - the team does not appear to be inspired by an impending season.

Maybe this is good. Maybe the Yankees needed to step back, lose a few meaningless games, and keep everyone healthy. (Thus far, no critical starter has tweaked anything.) But the Yankees look like a team with a few world championships under its belt, when in fact, all that came from 2017 was a one-game wild card flag. Greg Bird is hitting .158. Stanton is at .212. Judge is .240. Yes, it's a small sample size. Yes, the numbers mean nothing. Yes, a big day tomorrow could change everything. Yes, yes, yes...

Of course, this is simply what happens when you seek meaning in a pointless universe, which may or may not be a computer simulation. This is no time to sound an alarm, or to suggest unwarranted changes. But Houston, Boston and Baltimore are cracking. At some point, Aaron Boone will need to change the focus from deck chairs to wind sprints. In 11 days, the meaningless ends. Right now, we are not ready.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

So true: Right now, we are not ready. But, remember -- in the words of the Master; you can't predict baseball. Personally I don't give a rats a@@ if we don't win any spring games. Let us just pray to the JUJU Gods that we disperse from Tampa injury free!

ranger_lp said...

There is a silver lining...Bird hit .100 before he was on the DL last year. That's 50 lower than he's at now.

Anonymous said...

I don't know but theres too much kumbaya and happy go lucky going on with this team,... Were gonna miss Ol binders intensity this year....

Anonymous said...

I miss OL binders already. I would get the biggest kick from watching him leap to his feet and get out of the room after his post game interviews. He looked so annoyed with everything and rolled his eyes at each question. Never seen a man move that fast...

ranger_lp said...

Wont be one contentious post-game this year...must avoid tv.

13bit said...

I wasn't in love with Binders, but I felt as though he had earned the right to one more season with that stretch and post-stretch run. Stanton may be fine, not much to quibble with there, but we may see a lot of big swings with this lineup and not much small ball. Not good. Suddenly, like magic, in the last two weeks, we have refreshed our deep well of retreads and crushed the spirits of the youth movement. Our pitching staff is shaky and we could easily be the little team that couldn't. It's not that tough to be mediocre.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Duque,

Even the Post has picked up on your spring training theme:


Headline yesterday:
"A meaningless Aaron Judge game reveals how all-in these Yankees are"

Joe Formerlyof Brooklyn said...


Having seen a lot of spring trainings, I claim the right to an opinion. It is this;
Pitching Matters.

So the question you might ask yourself is: R U happy with the Yankees' starters thus far in 2018?

I am really surprised (which proves to me, once again, that I know nothing) at how good CC Sabathia is right now. Also surprising: How well he pitched in '17.

Montgomery -- I have hopes. Stupid? Maybe.

Severino -- last outing = 7 hits in 5 innings. Let's hope he wasn't really trying.

Sonny Boy -- if I'm on the jury, we'd be discussing him for the foreseeable future. I don't have a verdict. You?

Tanaka -- at some point, you've got to stop "holding your breath" -- he's not hurt, he might soon be.....but he sure does not appear to be a better pitcher than he was in 2017. And that wasn't so freaking hot, was it?

I'll leave the bullpen alone. Our in-house hopes for alternatives (Chance Adams, etc.) so far have not panned out.

Bottom line: I suspect Adam Warren might put in quite a few innings between May and August. OR: That Cashmonkey might be driven to deal for someone off the scrap heap.

I find my own analysis discouraging. Please tell me where I'm totally wrong, so I can ignore myself.....

JM said...

I don't know, Joe. Tanaka might be a lot better than last year. There's no reason why he shouldn't be, unless he's hiding an injury, and last year was kind of an outlier. Monty might turn out fine, too. But as shaky as the rotation could be, the bullpen is worse because it relies on the double-headcased monster of Betances and Chapman. Though Robertson will no doubt be his reasonably consistent self. And whither Chad? Starter or reliever?

It always ends up about pitching, don't it?

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