Thursday, March 14, 2019

Searching for illusions in a Yankiverse of delusion

Bryce Harper barely hides his disappointment. "Everybody knew that, growing up, I was a huge Yankees fan," he tells today's Murdoch Post (now with Jerry Hall!) "Never heard from them."

Imagine the scene right now if the Yankees had signed Harper. All of New York would be standing on its toes, waiting for the first spring HR. Every Yankee would have been interviewed. The YES Network would be exploding with viewers. To keep pace, Boston would have shelled out for Craig Kimbrel, and the Yankees would once again be baseball's marquee team. But they never even called.

So we have this dismal box score reality:

Of course, none of this matters. Too soon. What matters, though, is that Aaron Hicks remains sidelined, now two weeks after publicly divulging his bad back. How long beforehand had he been nursing it? would seem a valid, but unanswered question. Bad backs are tricky. He might miss opening day. When I hear about back issues, I think of Don Mattingly. Anything is possible. 

Tyler Wade is playing SS, along with Gleyber Torres. I think it's clear to everyone that Troy Tulowitzki - whether he hits a lick or not - must be treated with extreme caution. The guy is a walking tweak. At this point, we have no choice but to roll the dice on Tulo. But the odds of him regaining his former level of play continue to grow - against him. 


As for pitchers, Mean Chad Green got whacked - but it was the first time he's pitched two straight days, so he's actually ahead of schedule. 

Tommy Kahnle is throwing zeroes. It sure would be nice... 

Two weeks before opening day. Scuttlebutt says Greg Bird is destined for Scranton, no matter what he hits this month. So be it. He made his bed. But without Hicks in the lineup, we have only one LH bat - Gardy, who didn't crack .240 last year. The Yankees can pooh-pooh the RH tilt all they want. It's a bad omen, especially in Yankee Stadium. 

And the man who would have all the difference in the world, the one who right now would be on every billboard and talk show host's breath... we never even called. 


21 comments:

  1. yeah, well, I guess this is what a Fully Operational Death Star actually looks like. who knew?

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  2. Well, you know, we have an outfielder glut. Judge, and Gardy, and...and...Big Red, who is getting sent down for at least a while, which makes no sense, and Hicks, who is so tweakable it's scary, and John Carlo, who isn't really an outfielder, but in a pinch..and...and...

    Ellsbury! He's going to save the day, just you wait.

    Fucking doomed.

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  3. FUCKING DOOMED, (JOHN M JUST MAY BE RIGHT).

    HICKS SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN MORE THAN A 4TH OUTFIELDER FOR US, YET, HE HAS BECOME A THORN AS COOP CRAVES SUPERSTARDOM FROM HIM, (WHICH WONT HAPPEN). LOOKING AT IT ALL NOW, HE IS ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS WHY WE DID NOT EVEN TRY FOR BRYCE.

    .....BUT WE SAVED $250 MILLION!

    THIS HICKS DEAL, ($70 MILLION FOR 7 YEARS, MAY TURN OUT TO BE A COMPLETE DISASTER.

    IT ALREADY STARTED OFF ON THE WRONG FOOT.

    I HOPE I'M WRONG.

    PLEASE LET ME BE SO WRONG.



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  4. That they never even reached out to Harper is yet more damning evidence that the Yankees front office is either delusional or incompetent. Clearly they should have signed Harper, but even if they didn't want to do that, they should at least have been in contact with him. At various points there were rumours going about that Harper or Machado would have to accept much smaller contracts than they ended up getting, or that they would explore shorter, higher annual value deals. If there was even a chance they could be had on the cheap or short, the Yankees should have been all over it. And even if that chance never existed, they should have been constantly calling the agents and hinting interest to the press in order to drive up the price for someone else.

    I rather hope the true explanation is collusion rather than incompetence, and that we someday learn the other owners had to buy Hal's cooperation with free tickets to 'Hamilton' and a fidget spinner. Sadly incompetence is much more likely than malevolence...

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  5. Der Kaiser and Anon are both right, imo.

    Also note that der Kaiser was very closely related to the Queen of England.

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  6. Indeed, Queen Victoria was closely related to just about every royal house in Europe. The extended family tended to get along fairly well (as families go), it was a pity the rest of the continent couldn't do the same.

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  7. Are y'all saying that it's (already) . . . Over?

    Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7vtWB4owdE

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  8. @Der Kaiser https://i.imgflip.com/2w2ilp.jpg

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  9. Oh sure--blow the bank account on a guy with a WAR of about ONE and have no money to sign Andujar, Judge, and Torres when the time comes. You guys are FUCKING STUPID.

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  10. NO WE ARE NOT FUCKING STUPID...

    HERE'S WHY.

    TAKE AWAY THE HICKS AND LEMAHIEU CONTRACTS AND THAT IS ALMOST $100 MILLION ALONE!

    WE CAN LIVE WITHOUT EITHER OF THOSE 2 PLAYERS, WITHOUT A DOUBT.

    REPLACE JUST THOSE 2, WITH BRYCE AT $300 MILLION, AND GUESS WHAT?

    THE DEAL WILL PAY FOR ITSELF IN 3 YEARS TOPS, MAYBE LESS.

    HOW?

    IT'S CALLED REVENUE MY FRIEND.

    SO MUCH MORE REVENUE TO A TEAM THAT ALREADY HAS A STREAM MORE POWERFUL THAN MOST.

    QUESTIONS?

    P.S.) YOUR ADHERENCE TO THE "WAR" STAT IS FUCKING STUPID. IT DOESN'T TELL YOU WHAT YOU THINK IT DOES.....EX.) BRETT GARDNER'S "WAR" IN 2018 WAS 2.8 - BRYCE'S "WAR" IN 2018 WAS 1.3

    WHO WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE?

    SCHOOL SESSION OVER.

    ReplyDelete
  11. In 2018, Aaron Hicks had a WAR of 4.7. Harper had a WAR of 1.3.

    So yes, YOU ARE FUCKING STUPID.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Pointless talking with the troll.

    ReplyDelete
  13. DO I HAVE TO TAKE YOU BACK TO SCHOOL AGAIN, DOUCHEBAG?

    I'M GOING TO HAVE TO CHARGE YOU.

    ReplyDelete
  14. WAR...hunh...good God, y'all....what is it good for?...Absolutely nothin'

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  15. Says John M., who knows absolutely nothing about the stat or the formula behind it or what it means. Just look at their other numbers, offensive and defensive, if WAR is too daunting for you.

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  16. Don't you understand, ALL-CAPS? EVERYBODY (pretty much) has a WAR above zero, meaning that major-lague platers are like the children of Lake Woebegone: ALL of them are above average.

    The stat is supposed to measure how much they are above a replacement. So, up comes a replacement from the minors and, almost invariably, HE has a WAR above average.

    Lake Woebegone!

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  17. As far as the Yanks' front office goes, the thing we have to remember is this: under Hal, the team will only compete to the degree that it is GUARANTEED bigger and bigger returns on its expenditures.

    Bryce and Manny would have represented some degree of risk. Therefore, they could not be signed.

    Of course, someone actually competent—i.e., not Hal—who decided to embark on this strategy would then hire all the best builders of great minor-league systems available, thereby minimizing risk while maximizing potential profit.

    Skeezix Steinbrenner doesn't get that, enjoying instead what is no doubt the finely tuned flattery of Coops, who long ago proved himself to be a world-class panderer.

    Eventually, he might. But I suspect that will entail at least five more years of steady deterioration, maybe more. Combine it with a necessary five years of rebuilding—assuming Hallie makes the right choices for a new GM, coaches, etc.—and we're talking at least 10 years before the Yanks will be serious contenders again.

    Of course, by then MLB may have so annihilated the need for any competition that Hal might have decided to stop competing altogether.

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  18. HC66--you're dense as a brick. Not all major leaguers have plus WARs. You don't have a clue.

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  19. Dude, why do you come here, where you insult people? Do you like the attention?

    You have no sense of humor or appreciation for human interaction.

    Get help now before your mom walks in and finds you whacking off again.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hey Psycho Anon--flattered by your compulsive attentions. Also slightly concerned for you and the safety of your family. Did you have something to say about baseball, or is it too difficult to do that and wipe the spittle from your mouth at the same time? Asking for a friend.

    ReplyDelete

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