Thursday, April 12, 2018

All right, I'm calling it

2018 is officially a rebuilding year.

The Yankees had their most inspiring win of the year up in Fenway, came out the following evening charged up and loaded for bear...and handed in another dog of a game, flopping in every aspect of what might charitably called, "baseball."

No pitching, no hitting, and a great big error. I'm sure that Ma Boone did something bad, too.

It's not the end of the world. But it is, I think, the end of any remaining pretensions for this year.

Which, as the one here most responsible for fanning said pretensions, I say now might not be a bad thing.

Obviously, we don't have enough pitching to win anything. So let's start using the rest of this year—now—to do something about that.

First thing: bring up Chance Adams. Sure, he was lit up more than the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree this spring, and has not looked so great back in Dunder Mifflin land.

But what's the point of leaving him to just rot down there...particularly since we've already erased his trade value?

Bring him up, and let's see what he can do. Cessa, too, and maybe Sheffield later on. Time's a wastin'!


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's still early Hoss. I know that lowering the bar makes it easier to swallow giant turds like today's stinker.

But one could look at it differently. Sure we lost the series to the Red Sox 2-1 but...

David Price is now damaged goods. He may pitch Monday. He may not. But stuff like that doesn't go away. Ask David Cone.

Hanley Ramirez was hit on the wrist (by accident) maybe he plays. Maybe he doesn't but wrist stuff is tricky.

I can't concede the division yet. And I certainly won't concede a playoff berth.

Sure Sonny Gray isn't what I'd hoped. OK I'll give you that Tanaka has issues. And sure CC has the knee, Betances is a head case, Kahnle has lost velo, Chapman sucks, Robertson is showing his age, even Chad Green... I get that. Hmmn. OK maybe you're right, but...

I remember when Cano came up and changed the Yankees fortunes. You know Gyeybar is just days away. I still believe AnDUjar will hit. Gardner is a professional, Judge is real, so is Stanton, so is Sanchez. Didi is Didi. We're OK. Not great. But OK.

It's April 12th. Too soon. I'll leave you with this. (BTW this is not mine.)

"Little Timmy went to kindergarten one day wearing a Yankees hat. His teacher asked him why he was a Yankees fan. He said, "Because my parents are." His teacher said, "That's not good. What would you do if your parents were drug dealers and hookers?" Timmy replied, "Well, then they would be Red Sox fans."

Doug K.





HoraceClarke66 said...

Doug K., you make many good points. And I loved the joke. And I don't think anything is hopeless, either.

But I do think, as we all discussed through much of last year, that we haven't finished rebuilding. We caught lightning in a bottle in 2017, especially during October, and I think it turned our heads. I know it did mine.

You mention Cano. He DID help revive the team. But he came up in 2005, and we were not champions until 2009, after we'd signed CC, Teixeira, and Burnett.

I keep thinking of the 1975 team (because I'm a very old fart)—almost there, but it needed a couple great trades, and a few signings. Fortunately, we had Gabe Paul.

Gardner is old, and I'm afraid I no longer share your faith in Andujar or The Gleyber, but who knows? They could turn it around.

What I don't see, however, is anyway the pitching gets much better. We're already down a starter, and nobody can go more than five innings, ever. Even if the pen bounces back, this will wear it out.

Without pitching, you can't win long, and you can't win short. You can't take the division, and you can't get hot in the playoffs.

It's the oldest, saddest story in the books: pitching. When you don't have it, you don't have nuthin'.

Yankee Shamus said...

APRIL! It’s the second damn week of April. Close the windows. Climb down from the bridge. They’ll be ok

Anonymous said...

I AGREE (AGAIN) WITH YOU 'OL HOSS....

BRING UP ADAMS...BRING UP SHEFFIELD.....GIVE GERMAN A SHOT.

BUT NO!!!

COOPERSTOWN WOULD (AND MIGHT) BRING UP A "SHANE ROBINSON" TYPE FOR THE ROTATION, INSTEAD. (WHERE THE HELL DID HE COME FROM ANYWAY)? ....I FOLLOW OUR ENTIRE MINOR LEAGUE SYSTEM, AND I NEVER HEARD OF HIM!

A 30 SOMETHING BOUNCE AROUND "VETERAN INNINGS EATER" WHO CAN'T STICK WITH ANYONE, CAN'T GO MORE THAN 3 AND A HALF INNINGS, AND WILL SUCK FOR US.

THAT IS ALWAYS CASHMAN'S DIRECTION.

....AND IT'S THE WRONG ONE.

Local Bargain Jerk said...


I agree with what everyone is saying but except for one point: I don't believe it's appropriate to use the words "Rebuilding Year" when referring to a lineup that includes a player with a $240MM contract.

I.e., we're in for a penny, we're in for a pound. Several hundred million pounds, actually.

KD said...

we need specialization in the GM realm. Keep Cash as the Position Player GM, where he's done a somewhat decent job. Hire a Pitching GM for God's sake! I can't take much more of this crap!!

HoraceClarke66 said...

I love that idea, KD!

LBJ, you're right—except that nobody goes nowhere without pitching. If the 1920s Yankees had added Babe Ruth but not lifted much of the Red Sox' and Athletics' staffs as well, they would have had a very entertaining time finishing third or fourth every year. This is our destiny if we don't get the pitching right.

(Not to compare Stanton to Ruth. Or, say, Mark Teixeira. Or Danny Cater, at this rate.)

Anonymous said...

yes, KD. Cashman is clueless about pitchers!

Doug K

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