Wait, see that fellow in the parking lot, next to the disabled Rolls Royce, holding the gift shop stuffed Orca? It's none other than Manny Machado, star first-baseman for the Padres. He looks tired. He's just opted out of his 10-year deal with the team, ditching $30 million per season, because he's tired of finishing third in the NL West, and second in the heart of San Diego - (to SeaWorld, no less!) His beachfront mansion is almost underwater. And he wants to be closer to his wife and kids, who live in New York.
Manny has had enough. For starters, he never wanted to play in San Diego; the Padres just offered the most money. It was fine for the first three years, when he was hitting and teams nearly won wild cards. Then came the knee injury and the lost 2022 season. Because he comprised nearly half the team's payroll, the media blamed him for the last place finish. The booing began. Good grief, he was playing with a bum; didn't they understand that he needed to jog? If not for a decent second half, with the Padres out of the race and trying to trade him, Manny might have decided to stay the last five years - at $30 million per - in this hellhole.
But with the Padres in tank mode, it occurred to Manny that unless he declares himself a free agent, he could wind up in Milwaukee. Besides, his one goal remains: he wants to play for the Yankees. The question is... can he fit?
Well, it's been a tough five years in New York. Giancarlo Stanton missed most of 2022 with zombie deer disease, having eaten tainted venison from a trip upstate. That left the Yankee offense to Aaron Judge, Antonio Cabello and Everson Pereira. The team's problem: pitching, pitching, pitching. Chance Adams can't do it alone! Fortunately, the world champion Redsocks - led by graying Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi and Bryce Harper - are faltering. Manny would be a perfect fit at 1B for the Yankees... when, you guessed it... the juju gods intervene.
Joey Votto - out of baseball for two years due to a double mastectomy/hip replacement - wows the Yankee brass in a 45-minute private workout. This prompts owner Hal to sign the 40-year-old slugger to an MLB minimum wage contract. It's a win-win for the team: If Votto can't return - (but damn, he looked good that day, blasting pitches from Larry Rothschild) - the Yankees can stick with regular 1B Ryan "Boom Boom" McBroom.
So Manny's shot could depend on winning the DH slot over Rob "Brigadoon" Refsnyder, who magically returned last August to lift the team. But even if Manny misses NY, there may be a happy ending, after all: Buck Showalter wants him in Kansas City, where the Royals are rebuilding! It's going to be a great decade, the 2020s, if only we can finish that wall!
Can we just enjoy Manny's exit from our stage for one day?
ReplyDeleteYes, it's a wacky game and you can't predict it. Yes, it will take a miracle for us to advance beyond the wild card this year.
Yes, Harper is the perfect fit, but no, we won't get him.
So what? At least we argue about other stuff now, like pizza. Did anybody read that piece today in the Times on pizza?
Unlike the rest of you all, I am not a life-long Yankees fan. I have always had a more plastic relationship with fandom, probably due to the many, many moves my family was forced into while I was growing up. my loyalties, up until this point, have always been more tied to the home team. I moved to NJ is 1993 and was drawn to the Yanks for pretty obvious reasons. It's easy to love a winner. But my love for the Yankees has grown much stronger than the any loyalties I've had for any other team. Up until very recently, I thought it would last forever. you see, I once thought the ownership of the Yankees cared as much about baseball and winning as I did. Maybe that was once true. It is demonstrably false now.
ReplyDeleteIf this current ownership does not feel a need to make the Yankees a better team by signing Harper, it will be more than confirmation bias. It will be proof positive that these owners care much more for the bottom line than for fielding a championship caliber team and finishing above the hated redsocks.
so, moving soon to Virginia where the Gnats will be the local team, who seem to be in the running for Harper.
Hal? Do I make myself clear?? Do you even give a shit?
Just to be clear, I am not a huge Harper fan. Haven't seen him play much at all. This is more about what the Harper free agency represents. this is really a watershed moment. If the Yankees fail here, it will never be the same for me. never.
ReplyDelete2 DEEPLY INTERESTING POSTS KD.
ReplyDeleteYOU ARE RIGHT ABOUT GEORGE AND HAL, IT IS A SHAME.
GEORGE'S DESIRE TO WIN WAS THE ONE, TRUE EDGE WE ALL HAD AS YANKEE LOVERS.
IT HURTS TO REALIZE HAL DOESN'T PUT WINNING AS HIS TOP PRIORITY.
DON'T LEAVE THE UNION THOUGH, KD.
WHY ROOT FOR ANOTHER SCUMBAG OWNER, FOR ANOTHER TEAM?
HAL IS A PRICK....
....BUT HE'S OUR PRICK.
I listen to MLB radio. There, the hosts, are proclaiming how great Manny signing is for baseball. As an embittered Yankee fan, I disagree. Manny will hit .280 with thirty home runs for a .500 team whose fan base isn't even regional, and the Hispanics who might flock to the parks if Manny were a Yankee won't flock to San Diego because they won't be able to climb over that damn wall. So a bright star, a potential Hall of Famer, will play out his career in obscurity, with half a dozen Padres fans showing up for his Hall of Fame induction. And all the nationwide endorsements and advertisements those San Diego players get! Man, back in the day, you couldn't walk down the street in any American city without running into a billboard with Tony Gwynn's picture on it. I don't fault Manny for chasing the money; I do fault the logic that says that the Yankees are closer to a championship with Tulo at shortstop than with Manny. As I say, an embittered Yankee fan.
ReplyDeleteManny does Cano. Both jog. Both signed with teams going nowhere, without a national fan base, without much of anything. Both got rich.
ReplyDeleteDid I mention that the Padres have the top farm system in baseball according to some people? It won't matter, but it's worth mentioning.
The Jogson twins both will become footnotes in baseball history because they went where the money was, but the baseball wasn't.
And we should sign Harper, but yeah, we won't. KD has a good point.
You nailed it, KD.
ReplyDeleteI always considered myself a realist. I've long known that Yankees owners were just as ruthless and hardhearted as any others, and I always expected the to try to squeeze every last dime out of all of us fans.
The one thing I expected in return—and always got until now—was an honest attempt to win.
That trust has been violated. The natural reaction, I think, is what are we rooting for?
ReplyDeleteHoss,
"The natural reaction, I think, is what are we rooting for?"
We root, root, root, for the Home Team
If they don't win, Hal's to blame...
They'll be one, two, three strikes (After the Basic Agreement Expires)and We're out!
So we might as well watch while there's still an old ball-game.
Doug K.
We are favored to win the AL East.lol
ReplyDeletehttp://www.espn.com/chalk/story/_/id/26037732/yankees-favored-red-sox-win-al-east
I wanna what Kool-aid the media is drinking that they'd fix their fingers to declare Yanks as favs to win East. Based on What.. Name me one good deal made this year that puts them over the top...
ReplyDeleteYa I heard the crickets too!
The betting line just shows how little attention even people who have money riding on it pay attention to it.
ReplyDeleteIf the Yanks don't sign Harper, there's a greater likelihood they will finish third this year.
amen, Hoss
ReplyDelete
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