Thursday, September 13, 2018

Time to Cue Ned Beatty

No, not the Ned Beatty from Deliverance, maybe the most embarrassing role ever played by a modern movie actor (and while we're mentioning it, a shout-out to the departed Burt).

I mean the Ned Beatty from Network, the corporate magnate brought in to explain to crazy Peter Finch that all his "I'm mad as hell" raving is futile against the machine, and that he does not understand how the world works.

I've been reading everybody's comments here, and I completely agree.  Particularly with ALL-CAPS' call for the Yanks management team to be cleaned out from top to bottom, starting with the Steinbrenners.
 
In a remarkably short time, these bozos have wrecked any hope for what seemed like a surefire dynasty—the last Yankees dynasty most of us were ever likely to see.  Go back to the Sports Illustrated take on this season.  SI reluctantly admitted that, when it came to both the major-league roster and the minor-league system, the Yankees were the best positioned of any team in the sport to win and keep winning for a long time.

Amazing how that all melted down to the stumble bums we see nightly now—one of the most spiritless, disengaged Yankee ball clubs I have ever seen.

A full assessment of this fiasco can wait until after the last out of our already foreordained, 5-1 loss in Oakland.  But suffice it to say for now that we are in a Chinese finger puzzle of a trap here.

Yep, current management SHOULD be pulled out, root and branch.  But that will never happen until Brian Cashman goes.  And Brian Cashman will never go as long as the Steinbrenners own the team.

And the Steinbrenners, the Snopeses of modern New York...aren't going anywhere.

This is where it's time for Hal—or maybe better, Hank, who has nothing else to do—to enter as Ned Beatty.

All of us fans who have been screaming from the windows, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take Neil Walker anymore!  I want a Yankees dynasty built the old-fashioned way, from the ground up!" ?  We might as well hold our breath.

Corporate is in charge.  And what corporate prefers to do is sign big free agents, so they can keep the advance sales money rolling in.  It's all they know.  It's all they're comfortable with.

Building a great team from the ground up would entail having to accurately identify talent.  It would entail having to hire the right people to nurture and mold said talent.  It would entail having in place people who can tell which talent to keep, and which should be dealt away for the Jeff Nelson's and Tino Martinez's of the world.

It would entail taking risks, which is something no modern American corporation of any kind is ever willing to do anymore.

It would entail having to surrender some modicum of power to people who actually know the game—not just mathematical theory—and who have the confidence to develop and follow their own opinions, not serve simply as robotic extensions of The Great Brain sitting in the GM office.  

As long as G.B. Cashman is there, those people aren't going to be hired.  As long as the Steinbrenners are there, those people aren't going to be hired.

So we should go ahead and do the only thing Corporate is comfortable with.  Sign every free agent in sight, now that the cap has been eluded.

Sign Machado and Harper.  As Rufus T. Firefly notes, this could easily be a disaster.  But more likely, it will at least be something to see.

Is it guaranteed that a Yankees team even with Machado, Harper, Judge, and Stanton, not to mention El Matador and El Conquistador, can win it all?

No.

Even the one champion that Cooperstown Cashman supposedly built, in 2009, was buttressed by Gene Michael's Core of Four.

Are Severino, Sanchez, Didi, and Chapman the equivalent of Pettitte, Posada, Jeter, and The Great One?  Please, don't make me snort out bourbon through my nose.  It stings like hell, and is a waste of good bourbon.

Corporate has, once again, made it clear that all of our hollering out the windows is for nought.

Our real choices are between watching lumbering, overpriced, alleged superheroes slowly age and decay—and seeing the likes of Shane Robinson and Neil Walker in right field, and Sonny Gray on the mound.

I will take the first option, which will probably mean a bunch of playoff appearances, maybe a ring sometime, and at least some nightly entertainment value.

Just the sort of carefully limited aspiration that that ultimate corporate entity, MLB—fast becoming the Rollerball of the 21st century—is willing to grant us.

I'm mad as hell...and so what?











21 comments:

  1. ALL HISTORY IS CLASS STRUGGLE

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  2. Hoss, Good post.

    "one of the most spiritless, disengaged Yankee ball clubs I have ever seen."

    Disengaged. Perfect word choice to sum this team up.


    " I want a Yankees dynasty built the old-fashioned way, from the ground up!" " And what corporate prefers to do is sign big free agents, so they can keep the advance sales money rolling in. It's all they know. It's all they're comfortable with."

    I get that you are going with the flow, or maybe bracing yourself and us for the inevitable free agent spree. It may not happen the way you describe.

    Given the current nature of ownership championships are not the bottom line. The bottom line is the bottom line. I don't think they will spree.

    After all the Yankees are a "product" and they need to put a viable product on the field in an economically viable way.

    I'm sure there is a profit/loss - win/loss calculation and as long as we are "competitive" that's sufficient from a bottom line stand point. If they win a championship that is just a happy (and profitable) byproduct. They just need to be somewhere in the 90+ win range to keep the turnstiles turning.

    They may not drop 600 or 800 million. They don't need to. Ownership will spend the minimum to achieve the 90+ win goal. It's like we're going to be stuck in the high end of good or the low end of great depending on how the players play in a given year. It Sucks.

    "Are Severino, Sanchez, Didi, and Chapman the equivalent of Pettitte, Posada, Jeter, and The Great One? Please, don't make me snort out bourbon through my nose. It stings like hell, and is a waste of good bourbon."

    Totally agree about the bourbon. Not so sure about who you picked. I think we have a good core.

    Pettitte - Serverino might get there yet. (And by the way, it could be Sheffield if they ever let him play)

    Posada - Sanchez Sigh. Posada was tough in the right way. Team first tough. Sancho leaves a lot to be desired to say the least. so that ain't happening. But...

    Jeter and Rivera (and don't forget Bernie!)- Our core is Judge, AnDUjar and Gleybar.

    I know it doesn't match by position but the new core of the team has got to be those three and that's really good! Of course Judge might be permanently injured and AnDUjar need a position change.

    Hey! Did anyone else notice him airmail the throw on that foul ball yesterday. Yikes!

    Red Thunder was supposed to be there too but that's not management's fault.

    And here's my segue - managements fault. Back to your telling quote.

    "one of the most spiritless, disengaged Yankee ball clubs I have ever seen."

    They need a butt kicker as a manager not some corporate shill. Someone who gets 110% out of the players not 75% and "they will come around" and that goes for the pitching and batting coaches as well. Start the clean up with those three.

    As you said, that is something they could fix and won't. Instead they'll add either Machado or Harper (When what we really need is pitching.) They are good additions. And I agree it...

    "which will probably mean a bunch of playoff appearances, maybe a ring sometime, and at least some nightly entertainment value."

    I suppose we are better off than the fans of most teams because they will do JUST enough. Their goal is not to make us "Mad as hell" but "Meh'd as hell" so we continue to take it.

    Doug K.




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  3. And so it goes...the fuckery of Boone..."The process" has failed. Get these goons outta here...

    Is it to much to ask for coaches, who've actually carved out some semblance of successful major league careers..

    Thames what the hell he ever do in that major league but be a poverty man's Rondell white

    Larry Rotschild...did he even MAKE it to the major league

    Boone? Fuhgetaboudit I can think of 500 Major league players better than Boone was in his prime...thanks for the 03 home run but u suck.

    Bard...nuff said

    The only decent coach on this team surprise surprise is someone who actually put together a QUALITY career in Phil Nevin...

    Management probably too stupid to see that conmection.

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  4. Dammitdammitdammitdammit dammitdammitdammitdammit dammitdammitdammitdammit dammitdammitdammitdammit

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  5. In the very mortal works of Hideki: So endeth the boo-boo.

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  6. What you are saying is:

    Nothing is going to change.
    The Yankees will return to their old ways.
    The youth movement has come and gone.
    Live with it or watch soccer.
    Continue complaining and drinking.
    Try to stay alive.

    Bummer. But true.

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  7. Doug K., you make an all-too-salient point: signing up a bunch of overpriced superstars is NOT the worst-case scenario.

    In fact, in a classic bit of Foodstamps jujitsu, Hal could even use the hope of building a winner to cloak years of planned mediocrity to come: 'Hey, we've had experience with big contracts not working out before. Trust us!'

    At this point, Coops is so completely unchallenged, I could see him re-signing Walker.

    I think they will address the pitching by signing Corbin. But that should be just the first step to avoid what could well be a massive meltdown on the mound next year. Tanaka and CC are always one pitch away from retirement, Montgomery we won't see until 2020, if we see him again at all, Gray has flamed out, and there's go guarantee that we can re-sign Happ and Hapless. There's also no guarantee that would be a good idea.

    if Severino continues at his present level of mediocrity, we're screwed, regardless of what Sheffield does.

    You're probably right that they will "just" sign Machado. But now that Coops has traded away so many outfielders, that will leave us desperately short. Gardner is clearly finished, there is no guarantee that we'll ever see Frazier play again, Cutch is a rental (and a bad one at that), Florial is at least years away (and I doubt if he will ever be a major-league player), and Hicks, let's face it, is a mediocrity.

    The Yankees actually NEED to sign Harper now, and to convert AnDUjar to the OF, which means they will also NEED to sign Manny. This team has come apart with such record speed that we will be forced to do just what Coops loves to do anyway.

    Much as I'm sure the Steinbrenners would like to avoid the expense, I think they will actually have trouble putting enough guys on the field if they don't sign these guys.

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  8. Joe F., I'm not impressed by this manager and these coaches, either.

    But you can probably count on your fingers the number of truly outstanding ballplayers who also became great managers or coaches.

    The problem isn't that the Yanks' braintrust did not have great major-league careers. The problem is that, evidently, they can't teach anybody anything, or motive them.

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  9. Corbin would be nice I hope they do it. Machado and Harper are great ballplayers. Bring em on.

    But as we both just said, they crack the celebratory champagne not when the team clinches a playoff spot but when they sell their three millionth ticket. The rest is gravy. After that they sit down and think what's the least we have to spend to hit that number again?

    Doug K.

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  10. True Hoss..

    I think of Cash for the Ray's... He was good at his craft in the ML...and looks to be a good teacher.

    Loved Stottlmyre as pitching coach Kevin long, Randolph, Pena. There's gotta be someone along those lines out there

    Girardi same thing good at his craft good teacher/leader he came from an old school America of times past an evidently wasn't cool enuff for the millenial movement. I get it a "new voice" but couldn't they have replaced it with someone with An actual voice not some robotic tow the line trust "the process" dare to take strike 3 crap

    What upsets me as there were options even amidst Yankee lore they could have came up with something better than this. You got matsui for christs sake playing cupbearer to the GM he couldn't get a coaching job. Beltran basically retired to coach the Yanks. Hairston woulda been like Cora imo, abreu...Wells(David please no Vernon), Cone, Pettite, Bernie, Posada .. SOMEONE!!!!!

    Maybe if Yanks brain trust stop pissing off former players

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  11. Maybe they should do managers the way they do the bullpen . For the next 30 days Paul O'Neal. He could be our closer. Kick some butt teach them to play with fire

    Doug K.

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  12. And hey, how about Cora himself, Joe F.?

    Once again, the Red Sox have totally out-thought and out-maneuvered us:

    They signed Cora, we signed Ma Boone.

    They got Martinez, we got Stanton.

    They traded youth for Chris Sale, we traded youth for Sonny Gray.

    That's what makes this century so depressing: being outsmarted by the Red Sox at every turn.

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  13. I am a Yankee fan, born and bred. I have stuck it out through the bleak times and the great times and I will to the day I die. I always want them to win and never give up hope and, yes, maybe they can run the table this post-season. THAT BEING SAID, and please don't take this as blasphemy, but for them to NOT make the one-game wild card and to NOT "make it" to the "post season" might be the best thing that ever happened to them. Yes, after the obligatory "second record in baseball amazing how well they did despite the injuries blah blah blah" bullshit. After all of that. After Hal burps and turns over in bed, after we know Coops will remain at "the helm" forever, could we not then at least suppose that Ma Boone would have to get the old heave-ho? Could we not ask that much?

    As a mental and spiritual exercise, let's play the game of "What Would George Do?"

    As we all know, George would have fired this whole training and coaching staff - not yesterday, not last week, but 5 FUCKING YEARS AGO.

    George would have gone through 18 managers in the last few years, some multiple times. Some would have been duds, but at least he would have kept tinkering.

    George might have gotten pissed off at Giancarlo (IF he had even signed him) and publicly humiliated him. It might not have accomplished much, but we could have at least had some fun watching it.

    George...ah, fuck...I just realized how pathetic it is, this game that I'm playing. It's the kind of thing that an old, unreformed Jets fan does. Forgive me, Juju gods. I have sinned.

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  14. 13bit:

    Your avatar's tiny fist is shaken by all of us.

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  15. Indeed, 13bit!

    It's the same thing with Old George and Billy Martin: you want to somehow preserve their essence to inject into Yankee execs and managers at key moments.

    Too much quickly turns toxic.

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  16. In general, I guess Hal and family could start to pay attention IF the bottom line on the Yanks started to go soft.

    Trouble is, it's almost impossible to actually lose money in baseball these days.

    BUT...unlike many MLB cities, there are a lot of entertainment alternatives in NYC. Fans won't put up with a losing team for long, and a fall-off in attendance and especially TV ratings could get their attention.

    The real shame is that the Mets are just a real estate racket.

    If the Mets were a real team, they might have gone all-out to outbid the Sox for Martinez, then signed Hosmer, Cain, and Moustakas from the Royals.

    They would have wrapped up the weak NL East in July, and been the toast of the town just now. That might have got somebody's attention in the Bronx.

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  17. Ironically, speaking to TV ratings, the ridiculously mis-programmed YES Network is showing a marathon of "The Road to Pinstripes" on this off-day evening.

    Wow. I can't bring myself to watch any of it, but I can only think that all the young developing "stars" featured must have been traded away already.

    "In a week or two they'll make you a star
    Weeks turn into years
    And all the stars
    That never were
    Are pumping gas and parking cars..."

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  18. I'M JUST HAPPY WE DIDN'T LOSE TONIGHT.

    ISN'T THAT FUCKED UP?

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  19. All-caps,

    We last a half game on the Yawkey's, but gained a half game on the Finley's

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