Roughly 60 years after they betrayed Brooklyn - now the high-rent hipster capital of the world - the putrid Dodgers represent our last hope against the Redsock '18 Hall of Fame Superteam of Destiny (TM). We have reached the crossroads of John Paul Sartre's most desperate despair, and find ourselves reduced to choosing taxes over death, lizards over snakes, facial herpes over rectal gonorrhea... howl, howl, howl...
If LA can somehow pull off a World Series victory - (my guess is Boston will run through the Dodgers like my last colonoscopy-prep Fleet Enema) - here's how it could affect us in the future.
If the Dodgers win, Manny Machado will be more inclined to stay in LA and sire the next generation of sitcom Mindys. I can live with that. The more I see Machado, the more convinced I am that he is a) the best free agent on the market, b) the most expensive free agent on the market, and c) the potentially worst free agent fit for NYC.
Part of it is the jogging thing, of which he's disturbingly unrepentant. The Yankees already have one jogger. We're hoping to break him of the habit. Do we want Machado loafing down the line, while Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar watch for cues? I agree that Machado plays hard, breaks up double plays like Sam Huff blitzing the Browns, but the notion of our next YES star lollygagging down to first - and rationalizing it in the post-game show - I see nothing good coming out of that, especially with the NY media.
If the Yankees sign Machado, they drop an atomic bomb on their current lineup. They become top-heavy with RH hitters, and considering that he's not that good a defensive SS, they probably trade Miguel Andujar. That's a huge, long term gamble. Andujar has a great work ethic, and his bad throws could be solved with a great glove at first-baseman, instead of an ex-linebacker.
If Machado stays in LA, the Yankees would probably sign Bryce Harper, whose LH bat would sit between Judge and Stanton. I can't think of a more formidable heart of the order... Hicks, Judge, Harper, Stanton, Andujar, Sanchez, Torres... wow. If they can sign Patrick Corbin, trade Greg Bird and Sonny Gray for pitching, and find a defensive 1B and a first-half SS, and maybe some bullpen help, they can reload until Didi returns. That leaves Clint Frazier in limbo, but with the lineup listing so heavily toward the right side, I don't see him getting a shot, anyway.
If LA beats Boston, it could dramatically change our future. I'll take it, though. If the Redsocks win it all, 2019 becomes the most important Yankee off-season in our lives. Boston is poised to launch a dynasty. They could win two or three world championships, supplanting us as the gold standard. We better retool fast and hard. If Boston wins, we will be the only team capable of stopping them.
I like the Harper scenario. Machado, I am already done with him, although I would not be surprised to see Cash-Money get him. He fits perfectly into his usual player profile..
ReplyDeleteCorbin - Coricidin? - can we not do better? I guess we cannot be choosy, but is there no way we could lean on Kate Upton to somehow get her husband to defect on the next Greyhound bus and come pitch for us? It's the pitching that I'm really worried about. Some halfway decent National Leaguer isn't going to fix us. We don't have a hole in the wall - the foundation has crumbled. The cruel Sheffield fantasy that was foisted upon us has been shown to be a sham. Tanaka will battle and I'll always love the guy, but he remains one frayed strand of ligament away from career-ending surgery. CC is done. Please do not bring him back. Sonny MUST go no matter what. EVEN BRIAN SEEMS TO GRASP THIS. Happ? What will he want to come back and be a solid 4th starter? Probably too much.
We need pitching. And yes, tinker with the lineup as much as you want, but WE NEED A NEW HITTING COACH AND A NEW PITCHING COACH. We really need a new manager DESPERATELY, but that ain't going to happen. Boone is Cash's useful idiot and it's hard to find a good useful idiot.
So yes, go Dodgers, you traitorous bums. I have no choice but to root for you now.
Harper makes so much sense...and Bryce says he could play 1B if they ask him to.
ReplyDeleteFire Rothschild and Thames...agreed. Trade Gray for a case of pickles.
Find one pitcher. Find one left handed hitter besides Harper.
Find a new analytics company. This one is not working toward a championship.
Finally, I'm happy that Erik Kratz got a run in the PS. He deserved that.
First, forget the " what if " scenarios.
ReplyDeleteLA will win, maybe, one game. It will be because they rest Kershaw for six days, and he gets a shot when LA is down 3-0.
Second, getting Harper makes the heart of our line-up formidable in name only. They are all home run hitters and, except for Judge, will fail in the clutch.
The ICON of the NYYankees is Giancarlo striking our with the tying/ leading /game-winning runs on base. Now we can multiply that by six.
But the line-up will, surely, "cause lack of sleep in our opponents' next day pitchers. "
Until game time. When no one needs sleep and the reality overwhelms the baseball cards.
Please stop planting the idea that the Yankees can ever win anything.
Formidable in name only.
Duque, you've convinced me: I vote no on Manny.
ReplyDeleteI had dreams of them moving El Matador to left, which I still think could work. But we have to get to Brian Cashman's lizard brain here. You're right: he will train Andujar, something I will find unforgivable.
So let's think of this as the lineup, at least until Didi gets back:
The Gleyber, SS
Andujar, 3B
Judge, RF
Harper, LF
Stanton, DH
Hicks, CF
Voit, 1B
ICS, C
Toe, 2B
I think that is at least a competitive lineup. If we get a break and the likes of Frazier, Bird, and ICS show signs of life, it will be more than that (incidentally, based on his season and what I saw in the playoffs, I also say NO to Dozier on second).
Alphonso, even in the grip of my own postseason despair—facing the worst World Series of my lifetime—I think that could be a good lineup, including guys who can do something besides swing for the fences. But...
All this Toe love... he is NOT a capable full time player...
Delete...13bit is also right. We need to fire coaches, now, and find more pitching.
ReplyDeleteCorbin could be all right—a decent no. 3 starter. We may be forced to give Happ what he wants. Sheffield still deserves a shot.
But yes, pitching could easily sink us.
As for the Series, I just cannot root for the Dodgers. They sold us out; long may they rot.
ReplyDeleteMy main hope, just now, is about 50 groin pulls. But hey, maybe the inevitable Sox victory will spur us on to do...something.
Torino Class 9.
ReplyDeleteA Yankees-Dodgers WS would have been classic, but we would've lost.
ReplyDeleteI don't give a hoot who wins now. Let the chips fall where they may, including Erik Estrada.
I repeat--a lonely, small voice in the wilderness--trade Hicks. His value will never be higher. We don't need a defensive center fielder who hits .240 or .250. Sign Harper. Get somebody else if need be. Promote Frazier and make him wear a crash helmet in the outfield. I don't care if he's right-handed of uses his feet like the gal in "Freaks," give him his shot.
Prediction: there will be no changes in the coaching staff unless Larry decides to retire. Boone will obviously return. Railing against all of those guys is just venting. Expect them all to be back.
Machado is and always was a bad idea. Anyone named Manny is a bad idea. A-Rod should have been our last expensive, entitled, dirty tricks player, forever.
We need pitching and there's none in sight. The bullpen will be tinkered with, the starting staff shored up as well as it can be, probably. Don't rule out the return of CC. Happ, too, with greater certainty. There's just noone out there. Severino will settle in to his Ace status as the hardest-throwing #4 in major league baseball.
As for Tanaka, well, this season showed us that everyone and everything hangs on a thread. That's no knock on him. He hangs better than a lot of other threaders did this year.
If Cash resigns Neil Walker, I'm gonna hurl, but I won't be surprised. 2019 will be Bird's last chance; he may be gone by midseason for a bag of Utz.
Miggy is going nowhere. That's an unfounded fear, imho. Unless he's part of a blockbuster trade that brings us an unforeseen killer moundsman, but I doubt it. Hicks should be part of that if it happens, along with whatever farmhands we've got left.
Whatever Cash does or doesn't do this offseason, one thing is for sure: we're not gonna like it.
Tyler Wade, if given the chance, would be a better all-around player than Torreyes: better range on defense, better speed, more pop in his bat.
ReplyDeleteAnd what is this childish Red Sox phobia? Anyone who is close to organized baseball will tell you that the deeply ingrained tradition of the sport is to root for your league's champion in the World Series. The Red Sox are a first-rate organization that has fielded a superbly balanced team. You'd think that Yankee fans would jump at the opportunity to root for that kind of team, if only for ten days or so.
Assholes abound.
ReplyDeleteAssholes abound--true enough, and most of them are concentrated in the Yankee front office.
ReplyDeleteTorino CLass 9. Or better.
ReplyDelete
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