I keep chanting - "four-time all-star, four-time all-star" - and the YESirs relentlessly tout his "stuff." But something has gone perilously wrong, and no other bullpen lug nut, having compiled Betances' record in recent months, would still be on the roster. Anybody from the Heller/Holder/German/cast of Glee crowd would be long gone. But we can't quit Dellin.
Right now, the Yankees are effectively using a 24-man roster, with Betances functioning as an exhibition highlight, brought in to keep TV viewers interested during blowouts. But even that roll could be in jeopardy; last night he couldn't put down a Tigers lineup that would struggle against Scranton.) But what can we do?
For starters, I don't gotta fuckin' clue. As best as I can see, here are the options.
1. Trade him. Somebody will take a flier. We might get one or two decent low single-A prospects, akin to what we received for Brian McCann. (That would be lucky, by the way.) We won't get much, either way. We'd replace him with somebody from Scranton, hoping the next Mean Chad Green emerges. But there's no guarantee anybody will do better. And if Betances regains his stuff, not only do we look like idiots, but we might have to face him someday.
2. Put him on the DL. Frankly, I don't know what this would accomplish, but it seems a semi-illegal tactic used by teams when players hit unaccountable slumps, and no other option exists. This would buy time for Betances to go to Tampa, work on mechanics, see a shrink and sort out his demons. But he's already had the winter to do this, and it didn't work. Right now, he seems to have given up on holding base-runners in place, so every walk virtually puts a man on second, upping the pressure on every pitch. It's a feedback loop, and it's not pretty. (And, gulp, at times it almost seems like a contagion that could infect Aroldis Chapman.)
3. Keep doing what we're doing: Wait for blowouts and bring him in. Celebrate if he looks good, and chant the phrase "four-time all-star" until we actually believe it. I suspect this is the plan. Maybe he will heal himself. Maybe this is just something he's going through. We're going to need a lot of blowouts, and one of these days, we're going to blow one of our own.
Good luck, Mr. Boone. Your first no-win decision on a Yankee player is in the cue.
So during the winter...if you believe the script, we heard Dellin saying he was "working on repetition so his delivery would be a repeatable event"...something to that extent.
ReplyDeleteSo he has done that, but he hasn't worked on his pitches.
I know in NY that we fans and media overrate our players. But me thinks that we overrate our pitching coach, Larry Rothschild. What has he done lately? Did you see Dellin last night? Did you see Sonny Gray the night before? What does he tell Boonie? Something like..."well Joe last year did this, so you do the opposite." Really? I know it's early. But I think that Randy Levine has permanently damaged Dellin after that contract fiasco. He basically told him "you're not good enough." And Bettances lives up to that..every outing now. He needs a shrink...in fact...we all need shrinks watching this stuff.
So sad. It reminds of Steve Blass. Incredible that he can't get it together even in games where there's zero pressure on him.
ReplyDeletePardon my ignorance, can’t players be demoted to Scranton when not playing major-league calibre ball?
ReplyDeleteThe problem is; we need this guy to be great.
ReplyDeleteIf he becomes Steve Blass, so do we.
And I don't here talk of the " next Mariano " only a few innings away in our cherished farm system. Unless Sheffield develops, or the guy I like ( Domingo German ), we have dick. Chance Adams, despite the cool name, seems to have little command of two 80mph pitches, and little else.
The truth is; We have one imminent prospect ( Torres ) and one a few years away ( Florial ). We are seeing Andjuhar, and his clock is ticking. If he doesn't get hot soon, and simply take the third place job, he is going to be back digging coal.
Not much else remains on our shelf. Too many "future names" went in the deals for Stanton and Drury. Jesus, did we give up anyone to get Walker? When will he next get a hit?
Too many .200 singles hitters.
Meanwhile, what does Torreyes ( .400 ) have to do to win the starting job at second?
Trebor, as a veteran Toonces is probably out of options, or whatever other provisions they have now that keep us from doing that. Otherwise, we could have just stuffed Ellsbury down there until he cried uncle and demanded a trade.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Alphonso, we are witnessing an arms gap. But I don't think those are the trades that did it.
The only pitcher we gave up for Stanton was Jorge Guzman. I hated to lose him, too, but he's a 22-year-old who was at Staten Island last year. For Drury, the only pitcher we surrendered was Taylor Widener, a 23-year-old who has made two starts in Double-A this year, and been pounded.
In other words, it's highly unlikely either pitcher would be someone we could count on this year.
A more immediate loss is likely to be Zack Littell, who we gave up for the utterly worthless Jaime Garcia last year. But while Garcia is off to a good start with the Blue Jays, Littell, too, much as I like him, has been bashed in his first two starts in Double-A.
There simply wasn't anyone that close, once Chance flamed out in the spring. That's why I don't think we'd have a lot to lose just seeing what he has anyway.
And no, we didn't give up anything for Neil Walker. And yes, he is useless.
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