Here are some early season thoughts;
1. Luis is our only starter who can go long....and only when he isn't tipping pitches.
2. Grey, Monty and CC give us 5 innings ( and 2-3 runs ) on a good day.
3. Adam Warren seems to have an empty tank.... he was supposed to be a 2-3 inning guy.
4. Tanaka is unpredictable. Can be great, or can give up a grand slam killer.
5. The regular "start of season" surgery for Greg Bird always has a " domino " effect;
- We sign Neal Walker...who can catch the easy ones at first
- Tyler Austin gets called back from Scranton...he is a converted outfielder.
- Defense at first becomes marginal and the offense is occasional.
6. Gleybar Torres bombs out in spring training. Recovering from TJ surgery is not that easy.
7. Tyler Wade has a great spring, but I still don't believe he can hit major league pitching.
8. Andjuhar plays better defense now than offense.
9. Drury is acquired, shows some promise ( riding on the wings of Didi's brilliance ), and checks into the hospital. We only hope it isn't more serious than migraines, which are serious enough.
10. Andjuhar gets a legit shot and bobbles it.
11. We look around and see an infield of three guys who all hit below .230, and no one who hits for power, or can be relied upon in the clutch.
12. The new guy can't catch a cold. Playing him in the outfield is a disaster. But he gets paid far too much to just DH. He presses at the plate and strikes out endlessly. The key hits he has to deliver for us to win, simply vanish. And his arm is erratic and weak.
13. Gardy and Judge are fine. But Hicks is probably back too early.
14. Bettances gets the yips once a runner gets on first.
15. Green is good. Shreve is okay sometimes. I do like German. But El Chappo is a head case and the reality is; everyone throws 100 mph now.
16. We have a new " manager."
17. We are climbing toward .500.
ReplyDeleteAnother website has a review of the 2013 season's lineups. There are a lot of items that will you make in there -- here's the final paragraph:
To cap off 2013, the only players to appear in the starting lineups of
both game one and game 162: Vernon Wells and Eduardo Nunez. Just as we all expected.
See:
https://www.pinstripealley.com
[note: I'm not employed by that site, nor related to anyone who works there. Just thot it would dovetail with Hoss's reviews of the past ---]
Oh, the nattering nabobs of negativism. Chew on this...
ReplyDeleteWe lost two games in extra innings. We lost two and won one against the Red Sox AT FENWAY in the freezing cold and rain against a team who has won eight in a row and was playing peak baseball. The Red Sox played tomato cans to open the season. They play something like .500 ball on the road. Plus the injuries are just getting going for them. They will come down to earth.
Yeah everything Alphonso wrote is true. But, as I've written before... look at Stanton. Guy never played a meaningful game in his life now he's in the middle of fight scrums. New team, new league, new stadiums, new hitter's backgrounds, new pitchers, new position, new role in the clubhouse, new pressure, new manager.
Give the guy a break. Pick any three of those and it would be a lot. New position! Talk to me in June. Plus he came up big in two of the games so far so we know it's there. Give him time.
Same thing with AnDUjar... he's pressing because they brought in Drury in a big blow to his ego. He thought he had it. Now he's nervous. He's also a kid. Talk to me in June.
The pitching really does suck though.
Doug K.
Quite so, Alphonso.
ReplyDeleteDoug, I can agree with pretty much all you say as well, though I do wish you had put quotation marks around 'manager'.
My greatest fear is that you will still be trying to foster optimism in June by attempting to convince us that it is still early. LB (No J)
Fire cASS-man. Hicks is a bust!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteCautionary tale about Andujar and other slow-starting rookies, from an article on A. J. Hinch in ESPN The Magazine (although obviously there are dozens of other such examples):
ReplyDeleteAlex Bregman, the No. 2 pick in the 2015 draft, was promoted to the Astros in late July 2016, and there were immediate expectations. Bregman responded with a grim debut, going 0-for-17 in his first five games, a stretch that suggested he might have been pushed too early. Hinch's response appeared to be counterintuitive, and maybe counterproductive: He moved Bregman up in the lineup, from seventh to second. Bregman got his first hit and hit .288 the rest of the season. "How many managers would move a rookie from seventh to second when he hadn't had a hit?" Luhnow asks, laughing. Apparently one who understands psychology and motivation and the individual. "Alex sweats confidence," Hinch says. "It's a lovable trait that some people can't get away with, but he can."
http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/22921401/houston-astros-gm-aj-hinch-unusual-career-path
The Master just gave me a stat. Andujar and Wade are a combined 6-60. Torreyes is 7-18.
ReplyDeleteI like the Bregman move.
ReplyDeleteAnd if Andujar really is such a batsman, he should be hitting ahead of the big boppers.
Neil Walker, enough with this guy. Either play Tyler Austin or don't. For the love of God stop using him until Achilles Bird comes back. There is a reason why only the Yankees contacted him.
ReplyDeleteBack in the day, say 2013ish, I had an alternate name. It was "Nova Sucks" and I used it exclusively for bashing Nova, even when the Yes machine, not so much you guys, were still high on him. I'm going to start using "Andujar Sucks" pretty soon.
Hicks comes back, hits an inside the park HR then crushes one waaay back in the the right center bleachers.
ReplyDeleteI would love for the to continue. I have severe doubts, but it would be awesome.
Binders would have taken Betances out after the Victor Martinez double.
ReplyDeleteToonces = mop up guy.
ReplyDeletePlease don't use him for anything else.
Nice to see some life out of Hicks, Miggy, Gardy. But Stanton still flailing.
ReplyDeleteAnd my goodness, what bad pitching! Six more runs, four relievers again to put down a miserable Tigers team. Oy.
Incidentally, outside of their series against us, the Orioles are 2-8 on the year. This does not bode well!
OK. A few things.
ReplyDelete1) LB no J: I am descendant from a people not known for optimism. If nothing's shaking come this here July. I'm gonna roll my self up in a big ball and die... My my!
2) Betances is Chuck Knoblauch. Pull the plug. Rufus is right. He's nothing. He's a head case. This guy has "Jeff Hostetler face" (TM) Enough is enough. Send him down to fix him or find a trading partner. I feel about him the way I felt about Nova. I don't care if he goes to the Hall of Fame (and he won't) I'm just tired of looking at him.
3) AnDUjar: See. I told you.
4) Torreyes: My favorite Yankee in the last 20 years was Hideki Matsui. If there was a guy on third he would find a way to bring him in. I feel that way about Torreyes. He will make contact. He will get it done. Forget Tyler Wade. This is the guy. Plays all over the diamond. Perfect sub. Wade + Bentances for a late second round pick. (Either for the Giants or the Knicks - they both need help.)
Doug K.
Doug K, I am descended primarily from very sober Germans; any optimism usually tends to rub me the wrong way - - and make me want to roll myself up in a big (VERY big) ball and take the Yankee front office with me on my trip to the ninth circle.
ReplyDeleteAnother coincidence: my favorite Yankee of the past 20 years was also Hideki Matsui; it pains me now to see that poseur of a pitcher wearing his proud double-nickel. It also bugs the hell outta' me to see a "professional" hitter such as Walker presently wearing the number of the great first-baseman, Moose Skowron.
It also pains me to see Ma Boone standing there calmly blowing pink bubbles while mishandling the 'pen.
Agreed: Toonces for mop-up only. Yes, Joey Blue Binders probably would have taken Toonces out after v-Mart's two-bagger; I was screaming at Boone when he put him in, in the first place. LB (No J)
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