(Note: Pronounced by The Master as "ko-INK-ee-dink." Kaboom!)
So, what should we make of Luis Severino reporting "right shoulder discomfort" just days after signing a 4-year $40 million contract extension? Apparently, his shoulder didn't hurt while signing the papers.
Then, this: Days after Aaron Hicks inks a 7-year, $70 million extension, he pulls up with a stiff back. Hasn't played a down since.
WTF? Two key players - lug nuts who helped the Yankees win the 2019 Pre-Season World Championship! - face troubling injuries. In Sevy's case, the phrase "rotator cuff" is akin to staring into a mirror and saying "Beetlejuice" three times. As for Hicksie's bad back? That's what did in Don Mattingly.
Just days before their injuries became known, both signed what were viewed as "team-friendly" contracts. In both cases, the players accepted less money than what would have been expected before the owners imposed their 2019 collusion/racketeering/organized crime model. I'm not suggesting the players were hiding injuries, but - well, maybe I'm wondering. Collusion goes both ways, no?
I wouldn't blame a player for hiding an amputated foot if it means cashing in on the long term contract that will feed his family for life. If Severino was hurting, and he kept mum, so be it. Same with Hicks.
Or could it be the Yankee front office, aware of the tweaks, used them as leverage to sign players when feeling especially vulnerable?
Considering the team's reputation for truth-telling - which is on par with Trump's in an improvisational speech to a hillside of rabid hyenas - I don't know what to believe. This is what happens when credibility is tossed out the sidecar at 80 miles per hour. We lost trust with this team 10 years ago, and we'll never see it again. In our lifetimes, we may never know the Yankees as they once were: proud, dominant and unafraid to spend money.
Supposedly, our "fully functional Death Star" - (haha!) - is eyeing Gio Gonzalez as a stopgap solution to Severino's injury. Dear God, no. Aside from the fact that we already have enough "Gio's," Gonzalez, now 32, peaked back in 2012, and last year couldn't keep his ERA below 4.00 in a league where the pitchers come to bat.
Yankee-killer Dallas Keuchel remains available, but Food Stamps Hal Steinbrenner prefers to clutch the shiny copper coins in his penny purse, as if they are magic beans ready to sprout a beanstalk. Right now, the Yankees have three starters: Masahiro, Happ and Paxton... each a tweak away from disappearing into the Pavano Asteroid Belt. If I were a 35-year-old ex-junk-baller, I'd think of coming out of retirement and calling the Yankees. There are going to be some openings in the Bronx.
I donno what went down with Sevy and Hicksie,. But who else is out there, currently in denial about a dull ache that will soon become a sharp pain? In a matter of days, the Yankees - the 2019 Pre-Season World Champions! - became a team with no ace and no CF. I know I've got a reputation for being pessimistic, but am I the only one seeing this? Kaboom!
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11 comments:
These pitchers got two arms, don't they? If one arm hurts, just pitch with the other one. so simple!
listen, 5 years ago my right arm hurt like hell from the repetitive movements of computer mouse manipulation. Did I piss and moan and go out on the DL? Hell no! I learned to mouse with my other hand. sure, it takes a little while to get used to it but after a couple of weeks, I could mouse as good left hand as my right hand.
If I could do that, why can't pitchers switch it up? They're ATHLETES, for Christ's sake!
I'm not positive about this, but these two tweaks could be very good news, at least short-term, for Thunder and Lasagna.
When Hicks returns, he'll have a built-in excuse for batting .220, reverting to the mean. I can see the "he played in 2019 with a bad back," while clogging the lineup.
Severino is the most spectacular case of ace to scrub I've ever seen. Last July, he was headed for the Hall. Now, he's headed for the knife. And rotator cuff surgery isn't like having a hangnail removed. He could be gone for a long time if they decide to fix him. But of course, they'll do the opposite, and keep trotting him out while his ERA goes over 6 or 7. By the time they pull the plug and do the right thing, he'll have damage he'll never fully come back from.
I'm beginning to think it was Sonny Gray who was lucky to get out of here, not us who were lucky to get rid of him. What a shitshow.
The genius of Cashman rears its ugly dickhead again.
Two random thoughts.
1. I remember going into some season in the early aughts with something like 7 starters. This was when we all still though the Yankees gave a shit and, in fact, if George was still alive, that may have been true. Anyway, everybody was agonizing over what the fuck we were going to do with so many pitchers. Who'd have to go? One of us must jump overboard so the other can life. blah blah blah. By late May, we were desperate for pitching. We are going into this season with three cylinders and two of them have been reconditioned. We are in horrible shape when it comes to pitching. But hey...we'll hit a lot of homers.
2. Remember when Tanaka's injury first showed? Was it his first year? We all knew that he should have just gone to the Tommy John Vacation Resort at the time. Yes, it would have meant him missing the first half of the next season, but he most likely would have come back stronger AND we would not have spent the last few years wondering when his arm would fall off. Who knows how it has affected his game, knowing with every pitch that he has s partial tear up there? That was a "let's win now, fuck tomorrow" kind of decision by the great 3D chess-playing wizard, Casholo and his talking dummy, Rothschillicken. I'd love to hear the line of shit that he lays on Prince Hal whenever he gives his weekly briefing to the "owner" who doesn't give a shit.
So, Hal must actually be kind of dumb to actually trust such a moron. George died in the year when, due to a series of changing bars, there was no estate tax. To prove once again that Darwin was not totally right. Hal will never go hungry, but this is not due to any brains, skill or guile on his part.
As for Sonny Gray...He has now avowed that it was Rothschild who forced him to develop and throw a sinker, which was lousy. It threw off his entire game.
Watch Sonny build a good record by pitching his own way.
One glaring Yankee weakness, for years, has been the uselessness of the coaching staff with respect to making good players better.
In fact, they are good players lousy.
Another vulnerability avoided and ignored by the GM.
The team is going nowhere.
ALPHONSO (AND THE REST OF THE GANG)....
GUESS WHAT THE UNDERLYING REASON WHY SONNY SAYS HE SUCKED WITH US?
SABERMETRICS.
....AND I PARTIALLY AGREE WITH HIM.
STUPID STAT SHEETS SAY BATTERS HIT WORSE AGAINST THE SLIDER?
COOP DIRECTS OUR PITCHING COACH AND PITCHERS TO THROW MORE SLIDERS (EVEN IF THE PITCHER HAS NO CONFIDENCE IN THE PITCH).
LADIES AND GENTLEMAN JACK, IT IS UNBELIEVABLE TO ME THAT BRIAN CASHMAN, WHO HAS NEVER PITCHED OR PLAYED AT ANY LEVEL OF PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL, HAS FULL CONTROL OF EVERY ASPECT OF ON-FIELD OPERATIONS OF OUR NEW YORK YANKEES.
WE ARE PRETTY MUCH SCREWED AS LONG AS THIS SONOFABITCH STAYS IN POWER.
We're back to the same debate, All-CAPS: greed or stupidity, which is screwing up the Yankees most?
At this point, I'd say it's a deadly combination.
Yeah, a pitching coach's first responsibility should be, "Do no harm."
If your pitcher is pitching well, is a veteran, and doesn't look like he will hurt himself, why meddle?
If he's struggling, or looks lost, THEN you can suggest something. But not the Sabremetricious. They read a book, see, and some stat sheets, and that's all they need to know.
(Though I will say that the huge disparity between Sonny's home-and-away performances should make him look in the mirror on this, too.)
@ AllCaps> AB- SO- FUCKING-LUTELY!!!!
I also feel bad that my usual response is to simply agree with what you all have just written, but DAMN, I agree with what you ALL have just written, LOL!
URRGGGGGG!!!!
I mentioned several weeks ago that Sonny said that they forced him to pitch according to the Yankees Advanced Statistics department through Rothschit's tutelage, forcing him to pitch in a way that was not the best for him. Sonny was a fastball/sinker/curveball pitcher and they wanted him to be a Slider/fastball/change up pitcher. Why take away what has worked for a pitcher? If anything, do that with a rookie or someone who hasn't yet distinguished themself. It's why good pitchers come here, suck, leave and become proficient once more.
And You're Not Doing it Right-I agree about using both arms. Perhaps the Yankees can pull off a trade with the SF Giants for ex-Yankee Pat Venditti. He throws with both arms, and makes only 550K....right in Cashman's price range.
Greed, stupidity and don't forget EGO.
Boone is Brian's stooge. Brian has built up an organization where nobody argues with him or disagrees with him. That's actually the sign of a weak, insecure leader. It's also not working out well. Too bad he doesn't have the strength or emotional fortitude to take criticism and suggestions.
This is Brian's team. He owns it. But, oh yeah, when things go wrong, ANYBODY ELSE gets the blame. Not pretty.
Fuck you, Brian. And Hal, fuck you, too.
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