Say the gentle, well-meaning, smarter-than-us nerds:
"Of the 14 pitchers in addition to Cole who entered free agency coming off of seasons of 5.0 WAR or greater, and were younger than 30 in the previous season, seven went on to be part of World Series-winning teams with their new clubs."
You can't predict baseball, Suzyn, but damn: Respect the algorithms. The numbers give us reason to believe Hal's Heavies will win it all in 2020. That said, screw the pantywaists, with their memes and fidget-spinners. We at IT IS HIGH deal in the painstaking, exact science of anecdotal analysis, where one late-season homer by Slade Heathcott can negate the memory of 100 Zolio Almontes... whatever that means (but I suspect you know.)
Those 14 elite free agent pitchers - who entered free agency coming off a WAR of 5.0 or more - represent a cavalcade of Yankee anecdotes and historical fist pumps. Among the included are:
CC Sabathia, whose signing directly led to our last world championship - gulp - a decade ago, in 2009.
Goose Gossage, who came to us from Pittsburgh and helped secure the 1977 World Series (before he met George Brett.)
Carl Pavano, who - gahhhhhhhh! - we signed in 2004 from Florida. Gahhhhhhh!
Sorry. Touched a nerve there. Won't happen again.
Greg Maddox, who was one of the first swinging dicks to directly scorn George Steinbrenner's money - (and the pressure of NY) - and sign with Atlanta.
Al Leiter, the shoulda-been lifelong Yankee, who we traded to Toronto for Jesse Barfield - gahhhhhhh! He left the Jays to sign with Florida in 1995, and won a ring with the Marlins.
Doug Drabek - altogether now: GAHHHHHHH! - the shoulda-been lifelong Yankee, who we traded to Pittsburgh for Rick Rhoden. He left the Pirates in 1992 and signed with Houston. He won nothing there, as the Astros hadn't yet perfected the art of cheating.
David Price, who left Toronto in 2015 to sign with the Redsocks, and who helped them win them a ring. Right now, he's their reigning hot potato.
Now comes Cole, whom the pencilnecks say is one of the best free agent pitchers in history.
"Armed with command of a 100 mph fastball and an assortment of diving breaking balls, Cole is coming off the fourth-best season (6.8 WAR) entering free agency among any pitcher under age 30 in that season."
So, there's that. Unfortunately, the site doesn't say who whether Giancarlo will play 30 games.
Cole can only help (I hope) the rotation, but the fact remains that the we didn't lose in the playoffs due to pitching. We sat Romine, Tauchman was out, Maybin was out (wasn't he? I'm getting very old), Thairo was nowhere to be seen...you could say that a bunch of the guys who actually got us to the postseason never appeared in it. Instead, as usual, we got the "usuals," who didn't hit when we needed a hit, left a lot of guys on base, and generally sucked at the plate, as usual.
ReplyDeleteThe Yankees in their classic mode of going with the money and the hype instead of the performance.
Cole won't change that.
Nothing is certain. Sign everybody and everything that can help create the next dynasty. Shed no tears over Hal spending our money, that miserly fuckface. Sign then all; let the IL sort it out.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Winnie's method which, on the surface, may sound profligate but, in truth, is the most frugal way to go in the long run.
ReplyDeleteSome article today bemoaned the lack of lefty hitters on the Yanks now. Can you say "asshole?" Cashfuck cannot pretend that any of this is a surprise to him. How much would it have cost us to keep Romine and Didi for another year? Shit, we could have lost Gardy for a young, untested lefty who's not juicing. And, my guess is that Gardy will give up the juice for his victory lap and wither like a drippy penis confronted with a cauterizing iron.
Maybin did play a little in the postseason, JM. Six at-bats, two hits, 1 HR, 2 ribbies.
ReplyDeleteWhich of course—much like his outstanding regular season—was not enough to get him more playing time.
Sigh.
But I do have high hopes that SOME of the newbies may break through this year. Mike Ford should at least get an honest shot at 1B/DH, Mike King should get a shot at the back end of the rotation, Thairo will see more playing time...
Letting Romine go—for $4 mill!—was extremely stupid. Let's see if they keep The Red Menace.
Even if Cole craps out before the All Star break, it's all good. My heart leaps up at the sight of Hal parting with those "hard earned" millions
ReplyDeleteAgreed, Ceeja. You can't make things go well, no matter how much JuJu you employ. All you can do is set things up so they have a CHANCE to go well.
ReplyDeleteAdd Cole: you don't guarantee anything. But you greatly increase your chances of winning it all. Which gives us hope and expectations, the meth of fandom.
Adam Warren coming back on a minor league deal.
ReplyDeleteAdam Warren had TJ surgery and wont pitch until 2021.
ReplyDeleteI agree with JM above. Cole may increase our chances of winning the WS next year, but there's still a great deal of work left to do. If we do nothing else, I have my doubts about winning a championship. Look at it this way: Houston Astros had a better hitting team than us, plus Cole and they still couldn't win it all in 2019. So now we have Cole, but our lineup still sucks in the clutch, except for Lemahieu or maybe Gio. We still lack any appreciable left handed hitting. We still have blind man Stanton in our lineup. Our bullpen is greatly overrated, not much better than average. Houston proved that also in that playoff series.
ReplyDeleteThe Hammer of God
GOTTA ADMIT...
ReplyDeleteI WANT HADER.
HE HAS GREAT STUFF THAT PLAYS IN ANY LEAGUE.
GETTING HIM COULD BE CHECKMATE.
ReplyDeleteI really want the world to know about this great man who brought back happiness into my life again after my husband left me and the kids 3 years ago for another women online when i contacted Dr Believe he cast a love spell for me within 48 hours my ex husband start calling me and begging for forgiveness for everything that have happened between us. I was so happy to have my family back together with love again here is the email of Dr Believe via believelovespelltemple@gmail.com a man with the great powers you can also call him or add him on Whats-app: +2348156148821
God bless you
I am very grateful for your help in my marriage.