Wednesday, February 6, 2019

By June, the Yankees likely will be desperate for a LH bat

Yesterday, Aaron Judge wasted a delirious human cry into the Canyon of Heroes, saying he would happily move to CF if the "Eco-Yankees" would break ranks with the MLB ownership cartel and sign Bryce Harper. 

Judge's words prompted the Yankee brain trust to spring into action. Quickly, the congenial Aaron Boone - aka "the expendable Aaron" - dismissed the notion, suggesting that "Judgy" - (yes, he really called him that) - had consumed too much Super Bowl dip. He assured the Yankiverse that no deal is coming: Just because we found horseshit under the Christmas tree, no pony is waiting for us in the back yard.

These days, the Yankee front office cannot stand to hear the words "Manny" or "Bryce," fearful of spurring the hopes of fans who swallowed their carefully parsed lies over the last two years. Since 2017, the ownership meticulously cultivated the notion that cutting payroll would lead to a big 2019 free agent spending splurge. Some fans still believe it. They think the Yankees will rise up to sign Harper. Yesterday, Boone did everything but turn a fire hose on those wisps of hope. 

Nevertheless, like a judge instructing the jury to ignore that recent outburst from the witness, what's done is done. Judge's words have laid bare a glaring  Yankee underbelly: They are almost an entirely RH lineup - a team with no lefty power - in Yankee Stadium, no less.

Oh, technically, we have two. One is the graying, 35-year-old war horse Brett Gardner, who hit .236 last year. The other is Greg Bird -  either injury prone or overrated, take your pick. It's easy to imagine both on the DL. If you think opposing managers won't stack their bullpen, you missed what happened last season in Tampa. The fact is, some teams will be more likely to exploit the porch in right field than we will. Folks, that's insane.

So, it's rather strange to hear Boone to desperate to strangle any hopes for Harper, who would instantly make the Yankees baseball's best team. You'd think he'd favor the idea. But that's what toadies do, isn't it? By mid-May, Boone will be lamenting the lefty weakness, and Cooperstown Cashman will be sleeping in junkyards, looking for somebody, anybody. Can the Giambino come out of retirement?  

Well, at least Judge won't have to change positions. He'll just never see a lefty pitcher. And never be protected. Make no mistake: That's going to hurt this lineup. And there's nothing they can put in the Super Bowl dip that will change it. Trouble. 

20 comments:

KD said...

Boone's done it now. No way will Bryce ever become a Yankee. Would you want to be called "Harpy" at your place of employment?

13bit said...

A-fucking-men

JM said...

I hate to admit it to the Red Sox fans out there, but the Yankees suck. In ways their feeble New England brains can only begin to fathom.

Local Bargain Jerk said...


If only there were a way to get Hally, Cashy, Leviney, and Trosty to read this bloggy.

13bit said...

LBJ, if I may respectfully amend your happy little list, based on Hal's legal middle name of "Zieg", for which I'll offer a "no comment," by the way.

Ziggy, Manny, Randy, and Lonny is more euphonious to me and sounds like an awful vaudeville team that somehow outlasted its own success into the early age of television.

Anyway, even if they did read this blog, you must remember that THEY KNOW MORE THAN WE PLEBES.

What do we know, anyway? All we do is bleed pinstripes every fucking at bat while they're all laughing on their cabana tables during their prostate massages.

13bit said...

Wait...does Hal have a family? Is he married? Does he have kids? I was just looking to see what HIS choices of children's name were so that I could compare them to the choices of his dad, Mad King George, who thought nothing of naming his kid Zieg.

I find now wife, kids or anything else, just that he is a pilot and owns a couple of planes.

Does this mean anything?

I mean, I used to have a wife, but I'm now happily single and that doesn't mean shit except that I have left a string of bad faith and awkward memories in my garbage-strewn wake. HAL, on the other hand, perhaps one of the most eligible bachelors in New York, seems to be a lone wolf. Is there something deeper going on here?

Carl J. Weitz said...

In addition to the Yankees needing more lefty batters and a frontline number 1 starter (among other needs) there was an excellent article in River Avenue Blues that alluded to the stupidity and stubbornness displayed by the Yankee coaches regarding the failure of Sonny Gray to pitch effectively. What Mike Axisa meant by 'Yankee coaches" is specifically Larry Rothschild. Larry tried undo what Sonny was good at, getting batters out by using fastballs and sinkers 75% of the time, to throwing a much higher percentage of sliders and change ups, something that Gray wasn't comfortable in doing. Rothschild totally screwed up Sonny's pitching method and probably his confidence by forcing him to pitch according to what their analytics department say is the most efficient way to pitch. It is why so many good pitchers are horrible after joining the Yankees and after leaving, regain their touch. One can only imagine what Rothschild would have done to Mario had he been around at the time. "Mario, son, if you expect to succeed at the MLB level than you have to throw more than one pitch. Next outing I expect more sliders and change ups."

Same with their recent string of hitting coaches. Just about every batter acquired drops 50 points from their career average when they arrive. Couple that with a clueless GM that never played anything but small school college baseball and an arrogant, bloated front office that only care about profits, it is hardly surprising that they've only won 1 championship since 2000.

JM said...

We have a pitching coach? I thought that was Boone's addled old grandpa.

Come to think of it, Boone's addled old grandpa would be a step up.

Local Bargain Jerk said...


Ziggy has 3 daughters.

I wasn't sure whether to trust this biography but this UPI news story corroborates the key points, so I'm guessing the "bijog.com" story is correct.

Bottom line: He's married and has 3 daughters.

Also, "Zieg" was his mother's maiden name.

Carl J. Weitz said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Carl J. Weitz said...

LOL....Mariano, not Super Mario* Damn, getting old is a bitch.

JM said...

Ziggy played guitar.

Or so says the rumor mill.

Anonymous said...

Riddle Me This Batmen:

If the Yankees are so driven by analytics to the point where it is informing and influencing their decision making to the determent of their ballplayers then how is it possible that they are ignoring one of the earliest and time worn analytic of all... the righty/lefty match up?

Particularly in a stadium built for left handed batters.

To me it is inconceivable. And so I must conclude that they will in fact sign Harpy. Because otherwise this season is "a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham."

Doug K. (and Woody Allen)



13bit said...

Okay. Good work, LBJ. Thank you.

Do we have names? If the daughters are NOT named "Derekette," "Bernina" or "Mariana," then he is not a fan and needs to sell the team immediately to somebody who gives a shit.

Carl J. Weitz said...

The author of that Bijog piece sounds a lot like Georg or Yortuk Festrunk of SNL fame.

Joe of AZ said...

Fuck, I looked at the calendar and almost had a spark of excitement for spring training and the upcoming baseball season....

Then I realized Fuckin Pasty Boone is still the coach, Cash is still given a free reign to eternally fuck up this team.... And I quickly lost all heart

KD said...

Any Yankees manager who wouldn't say "Listen, I have no idea what's going on in the negotiations. Hell, I don't even know if there ARE any negotiations. But if you are asking me does Harper make sense for this team, I can only say...... FUCK YES!! ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY? ARE YOU A MORON? BEST LEFTY FOWER-HITTING FREE AGENT IN A GENERATION AND YOU ASK ME THIS?" is a total stooge.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Very interesting, Carl Weitz, and while I'm sorry to hammer the same point again and again, this strikes me as a huge problem with this team.

Last season, almost everyone not name El Matador or El Conquistador, on all levels of the organization, either got worse or got hurt.

Now, since the bubonic plague did not descend upon us in 2018, this HAS to be a problem with coaching and training. Heads should have rolled.

Even the more successful Yankees had warning signs going off like so many dashboard lights. I'mm talking about Judge hitting .212, with 9 homers and 22 ribbies on the road, and Severino's second half.

These are serious problems, which should have been addressed. They have not been, and will thus likely continue to fester.

Anonymous said...

THIS SEEMS TO BE OUR M.O. NOW.....

OUR BRASS DOES JUST ENOUGH TO MAKE US HOPEFUL, BUT DISAPPOINTED....

....AND THE FEELING THAT WE ARE BEHIND THE 8-BALL BECOMES REALITY DURING THE SEASON.

KEEPS HAPPENING.

OUR OBVIOUS WEAKNESS...NO LEFTY BATS.

NOTHING DONE ABOUT IT.

SLIDER, SLIDER, SLIDER, SLIDER.

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