Friday, February 21, 2020

Will the Yankees, twice burned, abandon long term contracts to emerging stars?

Last February, the Yankees broke from longtime policy and signed Luis Severino to a four-year, $40 million contract. It made sense. He was 25, still ascending, and the deal would avoid arbitration and ensure that his future Cy Young seasons happened in New York. Across the Yankiverse, citizens cheered. I can't lie: We at IT IS HIGH certainly did.

A few days later, the Death Star doubled-down: They signed Aaron Hicks to a seven-year, $70 million deal, filling CF for the foreseeable future. At 29, Hicks was coming off his best season, and he looked like the next Bernie. I can't lie: We applauded.

The real news here was the change in Yankee fiscal strategy. We were following the lead of small market franchises, investing in young(ish) stars, rather than waiting until they hit free agency, as old George Steinbrenner did, and then wooing them with tractor-trailers full of money. 

Welp...

The first results are in! With 90 percent of the precincts reporting, the outcomes are - um - awful. 

However wise these deals seemed last year, they now look like the most epic disaster since The Adventures of Pluto Nash. Hicks is a walking bag of shards; and Sevy? What is there to say, aside from, "Good luck in rehab!" His forearm hurts, he's getting tested, and until we know otherwise, we shouldn't count on him in 2020 - or for that matter - maybe ever. 

Severino's problems came without warning. Who knew? But if the 2020 Yankees are, once again, emulating a coronavirus cruise ship, maybe the problem is not the trainers. Maybe it's management's continual disregard for injury backgrounds on the players it seemingly "steals" in trades.

Case in point: Nobody should have been surprised last spring, when Giancarlo Stanton went down for virtually all of 2019. Any cab driver in Miami could have predicted it. This is not to rip Stanton; injuries are part of the game. But they happen to some players more than others, and we are learning that big, lumbering OF husks have a tendency to tweak. 

Nobody should have been surprised when James Paxton recently went down with a barking back. Any bellhop in Seattle - (are there still bellhops?) - could have predicted it. The problem with Paxton was always injuries. When the Yankees traded for him, they knew this. He's good until hurt. Then he disappears.

We should not have been surprised when Hicks went down, only days after signing his contract extension. His track record was clear: He'd play two months, then miss one. The Yankees knew this. 

Just as they know Aroldis Chapman misses more time with each passing season. Or that Masahiro Tanaka, who has pitched nearly seven years with a slight tear in his wing, is coming to camp after off-season surgery on chips in his arm. More than anybody in baseball, the Yankees should be aware of a player's injury record.

Then there is Jacoby Ellsb-[STOP: THIS IS YOUR AUTOMATED CARDIAC MONITOR. A DANGEROUS RISE IN HEARTBEAT HAS BEEN DETECTED. IT IS ADVISED THAT YOU STOP WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING, OR WRITING, AND REFRAIN FROM SAID ACTIVITY. ALL WORDS WILL BE BLOTTED OUT, UNTIL NORMAL HEARTBEAT RESUMES...] -imagining Alan Ludden's and Betty White's marriage night, yowzer, am I right?

And soon, the team must decide on its future core four: Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres. Of that group, only Gleyber has been durable; the others crumble like fresh Cheetos. (And know this: Gleyber is indispensable; if he's hurt, Code Red.) Will Hal Steinbrenner - the owner formerly known as "Food Stamps" - bestow upon any of them a long-term deal that cements his future as a Yankee? Or, twice burned, will we return to the days of old George? (Or for that matter, should we?)

This winter, the Yankees avoided arbitration with all their players, seemingly sailing towards a pennant... and more. But without Paxton and Severino, everything has changed. Suddenly, even floundering Boston has a stronger rotation, and Toronto and (especially) Tampa are rising nations. It's certainly too early to panic, and the team still has trade chips - Clint Frazier, Estevan Florial, Luis Cessa, Thairo Estrada. But yesterday morning, before the news broke on Sevy, the future looked a hell of a lot brighter. And today, aren't we all just waiting for the next shoe to drop? Who else out there has been waiting until now to report that twinge of pain? Class? Anybody? 

14 comments:

  1. Thank the Gods of Baseball and the Lords of JuJu that we didn't sign Hyun-jin Ryu. What would we with all that quality major league pitching. Much better that he went to an intra-division rival. Plus, he was way too expensive at 10 million DOLLARS a year. The Yankees can't afford that. If only we were fans of big spending Toronto, darn it.



    Fuck you Cash and fuck you Hal.

    ReplyDelete
  2. FUCK THIS.

    GIVE HIM THE OPERATION ALREADY.

    PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE HAD IT LAST YEAR.

    WASTED YEAR IN 2019.

    WASTED YEAR IN 2020.

    IF WE WAIT TOO LONG IT WILL BE A WASTED 2021.

    GUESS WHAT?

    WE NEED STARTING PITCHING AGAIN.

    UNBELIEVABLE.

    ReplyDelete

  3. Can't have a team that plays as if it's walking on eggs.

    Can't have Gleyber NOT slide into bases.

    Can't have Sevi live on 79-mph fast balls.

    Can't have Judge not swing the bat hard.

    It's the price of doing business. Interesting, isn't it, that Houston pays $5 million for cheating, and the NYYs take it up the butt with frail players...?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Don't we have another really good young pitcher? The one who beats up his girlfriend. What's his name again?

    Isn't he supposed to come back mid-season?

    My memory isn't what it used to be.

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  5. It's no surprise Sevy is a lame duck before his time. The Yankees just plain burned him to the ground.

    In two seasons, (15-16) he pitched a total of 133 innings.

    Then, in the next two seasons he pitched 384 innings.

    That, my friends, is the way to wreck an arm.

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  6. While a good 2020 from Severino is something in which to hope, it's neither likely nor necessary: He hasn't contributed since mid-2018. His overall career has been at best average (and injury plagued), and his performance in the playoffs probably the worst of any regular Yankee starter in the present era.

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  7. I did not think that signing Severino and Hicks to those deals was a good idea at the time; I thought they were both big mistakes. Why?

    What exactly had Severino done to that point to prove that he was worth a long term deal or a lot of money? One season where he looked like the best pitcher in baseball for about half a season, before getting shelled down the stretch run.

    And Hicks? An injury waiting to happen based on his long injury record. But more than that, Hicks just wasn't good enough. Did Cashman think this man would be the next Bernie Williams? Hicks hit something like .230 or .240, and then they signed him to a 7 year contract. I couldn't believe my ears when I heard about it. Hicks is a switch hitter with power from both sides and can play really well in centerfield. There the comparison with Bernie ends. Because in a good year, Bernie hits ONE HUNDRED points higher. And Bernie was pretty durable. Hicks, a franchise player worth a 7 year contract? I literally thought it was a bad joke at first. Hardly did I have time to digest this nonsense, when I heard his back hurt and he wouldn't play for a week. HaHa, a week, now that's a good one.

    We'll be lucky if either of these guys ever play again for the NYY.

    The Hammer of God

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  8. Sevy's arm has been bothering him since October 19? There is a loose body in his arm? If only the loose body was Jacob DeGrom's.

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  9. Oh my word, an Allen Ludden reference!!!

    To distract you for the Yankees' injury woes, I recommend you immediately go watch the "Password" episode of "The Odd Couple," one of the great moments in TV sitcom history.

    Here's a clip:

    https://youtu.be/gN2ATS_zsNo

    And remember ... Aristophenes is ridiculous.


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  10. Here are predictions for the season
    1)In March Stanton will tweak a hamstring, should be ready for opening day. July 27th - Stanton returns from his tweaked hamstring. Aug 1 - Stanton tweaks an Oblique. Sept 22 - Stanton done for the season, but has high hopes for the 2021 season.
    April 30th, it is determined that Severino needs TJ surgery. Cashman says he will be back in 2022, better than ever.
    May 7th - Tanaka needs TJ surgery, Cashman thanks the heavens for not trading Luis Cessa
    May 8th - Garcia needs TJ
    May30th - Judge Tweaks an Oblique
    Aug 1 - Judge returns
    Aug 5 - Judge tweaks a Hamstring
    Sept 29th - Yankees vs the Twins in WC game. Chapman gives up GW HR in the bottom of the ninth. Cashman thinks the Twins were cheating

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  11. Bern Baby,

    Yes, Easily up there with Chuckles the Clown.

    Doug K.

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  12. Not ALL of us were happy, re: those seven-year contracts, duque; I'm with Hammer - - I wasn't mad about the Sevy deal, and I WAS positively upset at the seven-year deal for Hicksy.

    I'm still flushed with anticipation, re: FoodStamps' one splurge of the decade, and the couple of great years that might bring us. At least every fifth day should be fun, unlike SOME recent years.

    LB (No J)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Someone one asked Robin Williams who comically influenced him the most...Jonathan Winters and Allen Ludden...

    ReplyDelete


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