Sunday, July 22, 2018

Notes heading into the rubber game/rain-out

1. Chasen Shreve's greatest moment as a Yankee came just as he is likely to be replaced by a trade for some badly needed LH relief specialist, which is what he isn't. 

2. On that front, supposedly, Houston and the Cubs are bidding for Chris Britton, an overpriced dice-roll, considering his injuries. You can never count out Stealth Cashman, who makes deals out of nowhere, but we know Baltimore won't trade with the Yankees unless it is a nightmare deal for us, and I'd have to say, Go Cubs!

3. Gleyber Torres, who started rehab yesterday at Single A Tampa, is the fourth-youngest player on the Tampons Tarpons roster. Only pitcher Rony Garcia, infielder Diego Castillo, and outfielder Estevan Floral are younger.

4. Blake Rutherford - the biggest prospect we traded last year for the Toddfather, David Robertson, et al - is starting to turn heads in Single A. He had looked like a clunker for a while, but now he's hitting .303 with six home runs and 11 stolen bases. Just sayin'... trade prospects, and it's only a matter of time before you pay the price. 

5. The notion that Humanus Centepedes apparently needs surgery on both heels is a reminder that the Mets are fundamentally cursed. If there's a lesson to be learned, I would suggest this: When you acquire an aging veteran in a pennant race, you must always remember that the former team was happy to let him go. Despite his obvious desire to stay with the Yankees, we did not sign Todd Frazier last winter, because of the clear decline in his skills. But two years ago, the Mets doubled-down on Cespedes, and now they're stuck. 

6. Last night for Scranton, Justus Sheffield went 5 and 2/3 innings, gave up one earned run and struck out four. I really don't understand why he doesn't get a call. Do they really think the starting pitchers on the trade market will do better? My best guess: He's on a pitch count, they're limiting him carefully, and if nothing pops at the trade deadline, he'll get the call. I cannot believe they would trade him, unless Bumgarner becomes available.

7. Five years ago, the Yankees outspent the world on 16-year-old international free agents - the eloquently named Dermis Garcia being top millionaire - and, from here, it looks like Hal wasted his money. Hardly any of them have sprouted - (Floral was in the class, but he was relatively cheap.) But in the last three years, they seem to have figured things out. Today, we have a surge of young talent way, way, way down in the system - Antonio Cabello, Eziquiel Duran, Everson Pereira, Anthony Garcia, Roberto Chirinos, et al - and in two to three years, after we have won a few rings, we might really have something. (Or maybe it's just the usual crapola hype, which is an earmark of the Yankees.)

8. Every Yank fan I know - bar none - is rooting for us to trade for Nathan Eovaldi. That the guy has made it back is a testimony to his guts and perseverance. We know he can do it in New York. We also know he might feel a twinge and be gone for good. Nobody wants this guy to pitch in front of the 500-person crowds in Tampa. He needs to be a Yankee again. Out of sheer blind fantasy romance, he's the one guy I'd be willing to give up a prospect for. I mean, seriously, who wants fucking JA Happ?

15 comments:


  1. Let's start the day with some positives.

    1) Somehow, somehow, the Red Sox managed to lose yesterday.

    2) Bumgarner has not been mentioned in any Yankee trade scenarios. The Dodgers just improved themselves by landing Machado, so let's hope that SF decides they are sellers at the deadline.

    3) Of the 19 pitches Chapman threw yesterday, 16 were balls, including his last 11.

    Oh. Wait. I was supposed to focus on the positives.

    4)






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  2. I'd rather see the Yankees Hapless....I'm mean the pitcher.

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  3. On Justus: I don't know how to research this, but I figure the reason he's not already with the team has something to do with one of

    (a) if you don't call him up, he won't be eligible for the Rule 5 draft this winter.

    or

    (b) if you do call him up, you lose one year of "team control" or something like that.

    or

    (c) there's a clause in his contract that says he gets paid like an Ellsbury if he posts 2 MLB wins in any given season.


    My imagination, as demonstrated above, is quite limited.

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  4. 4) Greg Bird is hitting

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  5. LBJ - I remember optimism.

    Now that my Pollyanna Hat has been tragically destroyed in what I am now calling the "Jiffy Pop Incident" I find that a cold, almost statistical, robotlike clarity is ruling my thought process.

    For example while watching Chapman melt down yesterday my old self (and apparently Ma Boone) thought, "clearly he will right himself, as no major league pitcher can throw that many balls in a row. Particularly one of such a high caliber." This was not wishful thinking. It was based on fact and statistical probability. There was no reason to warm anyone up in the pen.

    When Shrieve finally came in I didn't believe the game was lost. Not because I was foolishly optimistic but because an understanding of the history of the two clubs as well as their place in the current baseball universe led me to the obvious conclusion. Victory!

    They were playing the Mets. A team that should be nicknamed "The Doles" after the pineapple plantation they've required this season. My analysis was rewarded.

    As to the Red Sox. We are only three games behind in the loss column. We've already played and outplayed most of the tough opponents. The Red Sox have yet to. They scored one run in the last two games. This would be cause for optimism. But I will not succumb.

    Yes, Bird is coming around and Stanton is starting to play to the back of his baseball card... NO! NO! It doesn't matter.

    Gleybar returns in time for Tam.. STOP!

    Gray pitched sort of OKish... not really, but he was better than his usual dreck maybe he's turned the.... AAAAAAAAAGH!!!! Make it stop! Make. It. Stop.

    I was going to end this with me going out to find a garage sale to find a new hat but decided to take a quick look on the web...

    Apparently the Pollyanna Hat is a real thing.

    https://www.etsy.com/market/pollyanna_hat

    Who knew?

    Doug K.

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  6. Doug K.:

    Thanks for the link. Etsy never fails to come through, eh?

    Whenever I get tempted to judge the 1,161 people who might purchase something like this, I try to remember that there are at least that many of us who spend money on stuff like this.

    That said, I can see how this item might have its uses.  Look at it for a moment and I'm sure you'll agree that stealing home is the most exciting play in baseball.

    Ahem.

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  7. LBJ

    Thank you for introducing me to idea of Esty product as punchline/time killer/ and, let's call it,"fodder"

    Some notes:

    Shouldn't the Yankee toilet paper be on the Red Sox page and visa versa? Seems like the creator is blowing the marketing. And the Yankee Candle Wax is a sham. Nothing to do with the team.

    My favorite is the Game Used Baseball Necklace. Because that means that some one caught a ball, and then cut it up, slapped a chain on it and gets to charge $58 bucks for it. As, soon to be head of the FBI, Yakov Smirnoff used to say, "America, what a country."

    Doug K.



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  8. I WOULD TAKE JA HAPP...

    UNDER 2 CONDITIONS...

    NO CLINT...

    NO JUSTUS...



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  9. Do we really need to trade for somebody? I agree, bring up Justus.

    Put the money into a CD paying 1.1% and use the interest to buy toys for kids who can't afford them.

    If there were a way to get Eovaldi without giving up one soul, sure, but I'd rather we look within, as some spiritual sage might advise.

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  10. 13,

    As Eddie Murphy or Dan Aykroyd or maybe it was the butler guy, said at the end of Trading Places, "Why not both?"

    Bring up Sheffield. Trade for Eovaldi. It's not like we don't have the room.

    Sevi
    CC
    Tanaka
    Eovaldi instead of Gray. Evoldi is tough and wouldn't cost A+ prospects.
    Sheffield instead of (German, Cessa, etc.)

    At least we wouldn't go into 40% games assuming a loss. (I still like Tanaka)

    Doug K.

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  11. Good to hear about the kids, Duque—though I notice that a bunch of them are hitting in the .210s or .220s. And yes, Rutherford is playing disturbingly well. He also has 65 RBI, which I know are not supposed to matter, save to anyone who actually watches the game.

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  12. Great stuff, Doug K. and LBJ! And ALL-CAPS, I agree on Happ...but NOT even for a Tyler Wade. Maybe a Tyler Austin.

    Look, since the main goal of the Blue Jays, like almost every other MLB team, is simply making money, why not just offer cash, which as we're told always makes a nice gift? We can claim it's for foreign-player rights, or some such cover.

    It would be good to bring back Eovaldi. But how to do it on the cheap? Maybe we could offer Gray for him?

    And yes, bring up Sheffield already! And Chance Adams: you can't trade him, you might as well pitch him, at least once!

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  13. The Rutherford news doesn't bother me. Long way to the show but regardless ya gotta give to get. No Robertson, No Frasier. No Kahnle (Last year's version) = No postseason and best Yankee run (and season)in years.

    Good trade.

    Doug K.

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  14. Clint Frazier is back on concussion protocol--10-day major league disabled list--after diving for a ball in Scranton.

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