Friday, October 19, 2018

These are the best of times, these are the worst of times

Hey, buddy, what'll ya have... a shot of hope, or a tumbler of some old-fashioned despair? Belly up. Okay, you can argue that:

1. This could be the second straight year where the Yankees prove to be the toughest hurdle en route to a ring. We gave Boston a bigger tussle than Houston. (What a bunch of limp dicks.) If Boston rolls over the NL team, we will once again have been the most difficult test. (So... whoop-dee-fuckin-doo... eh?)

2. This winter, the Yankees should be poised to spend lavishly on the most talented free agent class in years. (Oh, did I mention that the Dodgers, Cubs, Astros and Angels also apparently cut payroll below the threshold? So there will be bidding wars.) 

3. Boston should be hard-pressed to add free agents. They'll face a 50 percent luxury tax. (Oh, but that doesn't mean they won't spend, anyway. Remember Yoan Moncada, the one they outbid us on a few years back? He cost them twice as much, due to luxury taxes, but they did it anyway. And that's why they have Chris Sale, while we dicked around with Luis Cessa.)

4. The Yankees can save a quick $20 million by letting Brett Gardner and CC Sabathia walk. Love them both, but business is business, and neither justified his salary in 2018. (But won't it hurt seeing them in, say, a Rays uniform?)

5. We won 100 games in arguably baseball's toughest division. We did this despite a wave of injuries that corroded our lineup to the point of playing a journeyman minor league outfielder in the season's most critical series. (But several young players - Bird, Sanchez, Frazier, Sheffield, German, Cessa - remain complete enigmas. We could actually come up empty on the entire group.)

6. As hard as it is to swallow, we should be thankful that the elbow injury to Didi Gregorius and ensuing Tommy John surgery was diagnosed now, rather than in spring training, when most nagging ailments come to the forefront. As a result, the Yankees could get Didi back late next summer, a nice shot in the arm. (But a possible long term problem if we sign a big name to replace him.)  

7. Supposedly, the Yankees still have a "deep" farm system, with our top talent sprinkled through the lower levels. Last year, after the Japanese Babe Ruth chose the Angels, the Yankees bought a bunch of kids with their leftover international money. (I'm as skeptical about such signings as anybody. Five years ago, we signed every Latino 16-year-old whose testicles had dropped, and we still have almost nothing to show for it.)

8. This winter means a chance to focus on needs - or just burn money for the smoke. Last December, the last thing we needed was Giancarlo Stanton, a righty DH. But Jeet dangled him, knowing our back page addiction, and so we bit on the most onerous contract in baseball history. Come the Winter Meetings, more big names will come available - (my prediction, write this down: Robbie Cano, for next to nothing). Will we bite? Or will we address our needs: Pitching, pitching, pitching. Manny and Bryce, and another year's lock on the tabloids? Or actual improvements to the team?

9. Oh, and did I mention the Redsocks are going to win it all, making 2018 officially a horrible year?

10 comments:

  1. Yes. I see no way that the bosocks lose this year. hurts to say this but they appear to be the real deal now. The 21st century version of the 20th century New York Yankees. (John M! tell me how wrong I am. I want to be wrong!)

    if MLB is still being played at the end of the 21st century, who will claim more WS championships? I will give you guys 1000 to 1 odds that it's Boston. (I'll hold the bets.) They are already gaining ground fast.

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  2. re: Signing every stray Latino ballplayer in sight.

    Have you looked at the Transactions page on the NYY web site lately? In October (so far), they have signed 7 more -- guys who might be great, or not.

    http://m.mlb.com/nyy/roster/transactions/

    ....so it's the theory of, if at first you don't succeed -- fail, fail again?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Asteroid JuJu on MAXIMUM. We need a class 8 or better.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torino_scale

    Fuck it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. NOOOO!

    NO TO CC.

    NO TO GARDY.

    NO NO NO TO CANO. [DON'T FORGET, HE WONT BE ON ROIDS ANYMORE, SO EXPECT HIS HITTING TO DECLINE...PLUS IMAGINE THE "JOGGINSON TRIO" ALL TOGETHER]?

    SANCHEZ, CANO, AND MACHADO.

    HUSTLING IS A NO-GO!

    THE "JOGGINSON TRIO"...SOUNDS LIKE A JAZZ BAND.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well, KD, look at it this way. The Red Sox are winning so far because pretty much everything has gone right for them. Their injuries have been nowhere near as bad as ours this year, and their young guys did pretty well or better, while ours sucked (minus Judge, but the injury...).

    I think you can make the case that the Sox would not be going to the WS if it weren't for terrible umpiring and even worse replay decisions. The Astros would've beaten them a couple games ago, and I'd give them a very good chance of nailing it down regardless of St. David Price's one good playoff game. In fact, didn't the Yankees suffer from a terrible replay decision, too? It all blurs together. We were one hit short of taking them back to the Bronx and potentially kicking their asses.

    Also, keep in mind that the Sox destroyed bad teams this year, but struggled mightily against anyone who was halfway decent. Our record was, inexplicably, the opposite of that. But the injuries, etc., etc., and of course, Stanton.

    So, bottom line, they aren't that good. They certainly aren't much better than us, maybe not at all. If a couple of our kids can turn it around next year and we get some good pitching, I think we've got them. Conversely, if we just get adequate pitching but a reliable bat, we've got them, too. And year to year, it will be a matter of having enough to take them down.

    Honestly, I think it was kind of satisfying this year to watch them sweat. Plus, Pedroia was a washout all year long, the little rodent.

    ReplyDelete
  6. (KD, putting down S&W 38 Special..)

    Thanks, John. I needed that.

    ReplyDelete


  7. ALL CAPS,

    THE "JOGGINSON TRIO"...SOUNDS LIKE A JAZZ BAND.

    or a really bad podcast. Basically, the three of them refuse to get worked up about any topic.

    Duque,

    AnDUjar, Sanchez (I know), Severino (I know, I know) and Gleybar (not our initial signing) are all international signing guys. So it does work out. I think the front office is right about this one... spend the money, throw a bunch a crap against a wall and see what sticks.

    KD,

    Those are excellent points. Also when the Yankees racked up the bulk of their championships they only had to survive the one round. It's much much harder now to repeat much less dominate.

    I'm still struggling with the question, "Is it acceptable to root for cost control above averageness" but thought I would jump in anyway.

    Doug K.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I meant John M. (responding to KD) Sorry John M.

    Doug K.

    ReplyDelete

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