While parsing the typically insightful comments from Duque and Parson Tom (Parsing Tom? Sorry!) here, I was struck by the good Parson's warning that "the Yankees need to take a hard look at how they they handle young, talented players."
I disagree.
The Yankees NEEDED TO TAKE A HARD LOOK AT HOW THEY HANDLE YOUNG, TALENTED PLAYERS YEARS AGO!!!
Folks, I'm not going to lie here and pretend that I know what the matter really is with Bird, or with Gary Sanchez, who as Winston Churchill once said, is a riddle, wrapped in an enigma, enrobed in chocolate fudge. (Say what you will about Churchill, but as a Brooklyn boy, he knew his baseball.)
Could be, as some optimists still say, Bird's avian ankles just need to heal more, and then he'll be able to turn on them better.
And while Sanchez does indeed strike me as a lost cause, I have to wonder about even that after the Yanks oh-so-casually revealed last night that Dellin Betances is spouting blood like a harpooned cetacean after a Nantucket sleigh ride.
Don't worry, though: they're "monitoring" the situation.
It may well be that we're better writing them both off, but I'm tellin' ya, Bird and Sanchez are an indicator of worse to come just as Hurricane Sandy should have been a warning that climate change is real.
Thing is, it's not just them. Take a look at how far the rot has crept through the roster this year. All of a sudden, Judge cannot hit on the road, batting just .204, with little power. All of a sudden, Severino cannot pitch. I'm sure the Yanks are monitoring the situation.
Andujar and Torres have their own struggles in the field? Hey, nothing to be done. Monitoring, don'cha know. Chad Green took a conspicuous step backwards this season. Questions? Check the monitor. Hicks looked like a truly great player for the first half of last year. Then he didn't.
Scranton fills up annually with broken toys now: Tyler Wade—looked like he could be something. Apparently not. Ditto with Mike Ford. Also Chance Adams. Further down the farm, Estevan Florial has gone from the surefire centerfielder of the future to a guy struggling in Single-A.
Truth is, nobody—NOBODY—gets better in Yankeeland.
To some extent, that's just the way it goes in this most aggravating of games. Guys show promise, the world makes adjustments—they can't readjust, even with the very best of tutors and most avid effort. Just the sad, rotten JuJu way it goes.
BUT...when NOBODY adjusts—when an entire system goes from hands-down champs on every level (at least in the regular season) to general mediocrity in the course of a single year, something is wrong.
I consulted Father Occam on this, and he confirms that the most likely explanation is that this is yet another aspect of the Yankees' system for identifying and developing talent that our Mr. Cashman has sadly neglected, what with booking restaurant party rooms in Cooperstown for 2038 and all.
If it's not fixed, it won't matter how many great kids we bring up.
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Is anybody else any better? Were the Yankees ever any better? Or were they astoundingly lucky in the mid -1990s?
Surely the Mets are better. They have those really good starting pitchers.
I hate to do this. But at this moment, fact is that the NYYs are tied for the 2nd-best W-L record in the AL (tied with Houston, behind only Boston). No one in the NL even comes close.
As Casey said: You can look it up.
There are only a few alternatives in adjusting the reality we all think is REAL vs. the reality of that W-L thing:
A. The NYYs are really as awful as we think they are. I actually buy this! But that means just about everyone else is awfuller. Take JD Martinez away from the Evil Sox, and they wouldn't be doing so well, probably.
B. This season is an aberration. The Yankees ARE awful, but the rest of baseball is having an off year. So in contrast, we look good. Hoping this is gonna continue is like hoping you will wake up tomorrow with a thick, strong tail and live as a kangeroo
C. Our pitching is erratic, uncertain, unhealthy, unsteady, quirky, old, and fat. This does not appear to hurt us. I'm not sure why. I don't think relying on such weird things to continue is the way to act.
D. One explanation (I shy away from this, but I might as well offer it) for the W-L superiority is that Cashman IS a genius, Lorna Boone is a great 1st-year manager, and Phil Nevin inspires greatness. And Larry R knows pitching almost as well as you know your underwear. It's not their fault that (Sanchex)(Red Thunder)(Bird)(Severino)(Monty)(Lasagna)(etc etc etc) got hurt and/or went sour; there was literally nothing they could do.
If (D) is true, everyone on this blog -- ME INCLUDED -- is a freaking crepe-hanging crybaby.
I realize I am not all that savvy, yet even if you buy Sabermetrics, you can't argue with the W-L records of 30 teams. And those records say the NYYs have done darn good.
Other explanations welcome......
Joe FoB, hang on a second I'm trying to get this crepe hung and finish up at work.
Joe FOB,
You make good points. I think the main reason why we think the team is not good is the bases loaded or runner in scoring position thing. They are so so so bad in these situations and, as you said, you can look it up.
It wears on us. We should be winning games by 5-6 runs pretty much all the time. Instead we are happy when we walk in a run. Without the HR we would suck.
But you are right, 2nd best record in baseball. It's a paradox.
Doug K.
Warbler, Joe FOB, all good questions, and that's what I like about this site: no one POV is strictly enforced, we can debate like human beings.
You raise some interesting questions, and I would like to ponder and address them. But just now, Boone has put Toonces in again in the bottom of the 8th, and he promptly walked the first batter on 4 pitches. Maybe because the ball is slippery with his blood. And now said batter stole second easily—something, of course, that we could not consider doing.
Sigh. With the expanded roster, we must be up to about 35 pitchers, but today we had to work Green for two, then go back to Bloody Mary...
We just left a guy on third in the 8th. Walk. passed ball, passed ball (or wild pitch I wasn't paying attention) We get bupkis.
And as I said in an earlier post and seguing off of bupkis. Shana Tova to all it applies to. May 5779 be better than 5778. (Didn't love 5778)
Doug K.
But anyway, to answer part of your question:
—Yes, much of the league is deliberately tanking. But then, they often did in the old days, too.
—What worries me more is, none of our young players seem to take great strides forward. Instead, they quickly slip back. And now, that goes for the guys deeper in the farm, too That seems to me to indicate a massive failure of instruction.
And yet another bravura performance from Toonces. Yawn. W-L-W-L - meaningless now.
How come he's the only one who's never on the DL?
(Uh, could something be arranged?)
Heine was a heine on that play.
Actually, another bullshit loss served up thanks to a failure to execute, mostly a poor throw to home by our supposed defensive shortstop wizard pickup.
Yep, Toonces surrendered a walk. But that should hardly have been fatal.
They turned that strikeout into a run thanks to a stolen base, a bunt, and a bad throw from our drawn-in infield.
We had the bases loaded, none out, earlier in the game...and scored exactly one run, on a walk.
We had the first runner on in the 8th...and could only get him to third because we never score or sacrifice, or try much of anything.
Sorry, meant to say they turned that WALK into a run...
We can't blame this one on Toonces, unless we're going to demand that our relievers are always perfect.
Even The Great One occasionally walked a batter.
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