What Are These People Doing Here?

As we head into the last week of the regular season, three intriguing individuals have suddenly emerged on the New York baseball scene.  Two of them may well determine just how well your New York Yankees do in the coming, apocalyptic postseason.

One is Luis Severino, of course.  Will he be as good as he looked in his first outing?

Who knows?

But he does have a track record, and if his arm is really healed, it could be quite lively, not having pitched all year (Also, I suspect, he has somehow fixed that "tipping his pitches" canard problem from last season.)  If we can get him out there, fireballing 2-3 innings in key situations, we could be sitting in the catbird seat.

Two is the most surprising, and intriguing, last-minute addition on the Yankees.  No. 73 in your program, no. 1 in your hearts:  Mike King.

This is the guy I thought was going to be the sleeper who emerged this year, instead of Mr. German.  King was 11-5, 1.79 ERA, combined, on three levels last year, including 4-0, 1.15 in Scranton.

Then—the arm miseries.  And after coming back, he was 3-1 in Scranton this year, but with a 4.18 ERA.

But beyond that, the stats still show some possibilities:  23 2/3 innings, 20 hits, only 6 walks, 3 homers, and 28 strikeouts.  Not bad.  And of course he'll have the advantage that nobody has seen him.

I say, if King shows us anything over the next week, he should get a postseason slot ahead of Cessa or Johnny Lasagna.

And three...Buck Showalter????

What's that about?  But it's true:  Buck was back this week, bloviating on the Yanks' postgame show, and he seemed in fine good humor, quick and insightful.

It was nice to see.  He appears to have shed the "Flying Dutchman," mad monk look of his last, awful summer in Baltimore.  And he sounds like he has a lot of baseball left in him.

So?  What's he doing here?

Much as I would love to believe that Coops is about to hire him on as his righthand man, that's never going to happen.  Cashman is way, way, way too clever an office politician to ever let that good a baseball man come that close to his job.

Bummer.  But...why IS he back in New York?

Could it be as a way of quietly auditioning for the Mets job, should the Flushing Remonstrances fall short of the playoffs this year?

I don't know about you, but Buck in charge of the Metsies gives me the willies...