I believe I speak for the Yankiverse in saying, WTF? That guy, again? Something about "player to be named later:" He's hard to process. As is this trade.
Cessa was one of our few bullpen pitchers throwing well - (don't be surprised if Cincinnati lets him start) - and Wilson was probably thrown-in for irony: (they were once traded for each other.) On the Yankee Scale of Disappointments - the great Steve Whitaker being a 10 - Wilson falls somewhere between Roger Repoz and The Amazing Kriske.
Obviously, the Yankees are creating a roster opening for - gulp - someone. A kid from Scranton? (Note: Luis Gill got walloped last night) A salary dump retread? Who knows? What we do know is this: Brian Cashman's restructuring is now underway.
All season, this has been Cashman's team - certainly not Aaron Boone's. In that regard, nothing has changed.
Still, what to make of this? As you might know, I've been calling for a housecleaning of the team's marquee names, beginning with Giancarlo Stanton. Even after last night's win - and until the final pitch, all was in jeopardy - I find it patently impossible to imagine this team winning in October. The roster simply has too many holes.
I think we must teach the controversial Critical Yankee Theory, which goes this way: You can cheer the players, but Yankee success always rolled from the top down, via money - when ownership demanded wins over profits. And that is something we currently lack.
Today, the state of the Yankees - compared to other teams in the AL East - is a terrifying concept.
Boston: The Redsocks have a better current team. They are younger. Their farm system - boosted recently by the fourth pick in the draft - is superior.
Tampa: Despite last night, they have a better team. The Rays are younger. They have a more fruitful farm system, one of the best in baseball.
Toronto: All things considered, they are our equals, currently. But the Jays are younger and with a superior, top tier system.
Baltimore: Yeah, their team is worse. But they are younger and with an ascending farm system. One of the these days, all those high draft picks will result in something.
Meanwhile, unless the Yankees stop the bloat and develop a new Core Four, we will find ourselves at the bottom of the AL East. This franchise is at the crossroads: It either looks to a new generation - Volpe, Dominiquez, et al - or it just thrashes harder in the quicksand, and continues to sink.
So, let's hope the player to be named later is under age 25. Any bets?
I'd take the over at 30.
ReplyDeleteThe genius is hard at work, playing the four dimensional chess that mere mortals like us will never understand.
ReplyDeleteCashman needs to pull a "Simone" and leave for his mental health.
ReplyDeleteHe can recharge and count his money for a year or two and then see if maybe another franchise wants him.
Watching this franchise is like watching a toddler fall down the stairs from 50 ft away and you sprint to get there just to determine if the kid is still alive. [Not that that has ever happened to me.]
The Archangel
Let me get this straight.
ReplyDeleteCashman sends Adam Ottavino (41.1 IP, 3.27 ERA/2.76 FIP) to our dreaded division rivals to free up money in the offseason in order to sign:
Brett Gardner, who is hitting.197/.316/.312 on the season
Darren O'Day, who is missing the entire season with a hamstring injury
Justin Wilson, who has a 7.50 ERA/6.76 FIP on the year
Just brilliant.
Then, to cover up Wilson's stink, Cashman loses Luis Cessa (38.1 IP, 2.82 ERA/3.54 FIP).
I shudder at the genius at work here.
By the way, how pathetic is it that the mighty New York Yankees need to send Luis Cessa away just to shed themselves of Wilson, instead of just DFAing Wilson, eating the loss, and keeping Cessa? Way to flex that financial advantage, guys.
You guys remain a rare bright spot in Yankees fandom these days. The analysis is so spot on.
ReplyDeleteI try to comment from my phone sometimes and I don't think it always goes through. Am on a real computer and wanted to show some love to the John Sterling Blog.
This analysis is just great. Ready for Duque as GM.
A kid from Scranton? Oh, Duque, you are the funniest Yankees analyst in the world, by far.
ReplyDeleteI like Cessa. He turned into one of the best arms we have. And now he's gone.
This sucks. Why him? Why not Chapman or Britton? The mystery deepens. The brain of Brain is unfathomable.
Just wait till Cash picks up some analytic darling no one else cares about while the Red Sox pick up Scherzer. The run on booze will be epic.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteClearly they are making cap room, sorry, I mean trying to stay below the luxury tax threshold.
So now they will have a couple of million extra which could be the difference between a marginal player and... what's the next level up from marginal? Decent?
Part of our Perpetual Disappointment is the illusion that we have this billionaire uncle who could cover our kids college tuition or get us a car and make the money back in the time it takes to write the check.
And, because we are family, we are cared for, or at least included on some level.
Instead we are handed $10 worth of lottery tickets and told, "Who knows? Maybe there's a winner in there and you can buy a house!"
What makes it worse is that we actually send money to him.
As far as Cessa and Wilson go. Meh. You'd like to think that they were worth more than a player to named later.
Then again, that player could be anyone!
Who knows? He could wind up as a future Hall of Famer!
Doug K.
In theory I agree the Yankees need a housecleaning, starting with the Bloated Front Office. But who do we replace the current roster with? The farm team is a shambles under the egis of Cashman. And with him running the show, without any creativity or guile, Stanton is not moveable.
ReplyDeleteGetting Wilson removed is addition by subtraction. After 5 years, my wish to get rid of Cessa has been granted. Yes, he hasn't been bad this year but when you factor in his entire Yankee tenure, he is still a horrible failure.
And the player to be named later, you ask?
ReplyDeleteSonny Gray
BTW, Wilson was another one of Cashman's "love me two times" losers. You'd think there were only a handful of pitchers out there to choose from. Javier Vasquez I and II; Chapman I and II; Wilson I and II. I think there are some others that I've forgotten. Maybe some of them weren't losers, but they were in the twilight of their careers. For Pete's sake, I wish he'd at least stop recycling pitchers.
ReplyDeleteThe Hammer of God
Riddle me this Batman,
ReplyDeleteWho was the PTBNL, for Ovanii from the Socks?
I wonder if we will even get one here either?
The Riddler Archangel
You can't be sellers at the deadline when no one wants what you're selling. You can't be a buyer when you really can't compete with the other buyers in terms of prospects. So what do you do? You trade for Clay Holmes and friends and pretend you are going for it. Is Howard Spira still around? Maybe Hal can use him to dig up dirt on Stanton, so he can get out of the contract. It's as good a plan as anything Cashman has.
ReplyDeleteDidn't we also give up Garrett Whitlock in that Ottavino trade?
ReplyDeleteThe East doesn't matter. Houston is assembling a killer bullpen. Cheaters again prosper.
Also, off topic, but ... am I wrong in thinking that if we had stuck Greg Allen out in centerfield when HIcks went down he might have done better with the 300 plus at bats we've given Gardy. Or is it just that we have to play the contract?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNo, Whitlock was a Rule 5 casualty. Obviously, Cashman made another evaluation blunder.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteCessa threw 29 innings this year. Spotrac.com says he's getting $1 million this year, and is eligible for arbitration in '22 + '23 (i.e., he won't get a fortune). Age: 29
Wilson's contract for full-year '21 was $2.8 million The Reds are on the hook to pay him $2.3 million next year, $1.07 million in '23. There apparently is a 2022 player option that the club, if it declines, will have to pay a $1.15 million buy-out. All that is from Spotrac. Age: 33. He amassed 18 innings in 2021.
If this was a salary dump, it falls short. The NYYs have played 99 games, these two guys combined threw 47 innings. Wilson is LH -- which I guess means less with the rules that a guy who comes in from the bullpen must face minimum 3 batters.
Also of note - tho I don't know if it's relevant: The Reds just acquired Mychal Givens, age 31, who has appeared in 337 MLB games in his career (0 starts). This year: 31 games, 29 IP, ERA = 2.73. Age: 31
@Celerino Sanchez "You can't be sellers at the deadline when no one wants what you're selling." Reminds me of the lyrics from the Heart song which title I forget but it was a damn good line and sung beautifully ("I can't sell you/what you don't want to buy").
ReplyDelete@Yankee Daddy Roger "am I wrong in thinking that if we had stuck Greg Allen out in centerfield when Hicks went down he might have done better with the 300 plus at bats we've given Gardy."
For the life of me, I can't figure out what the fixation was with Brett Gardner in CF for the entire year. Any lefty hitter from the minors would have done better. We could've taken a chance with Florial to see if he'd develop. We could've just stuck Greg Allen out there and hoped that he'd hold the fort. Both of these options would've been far better than Gardner.
It's not just offense, it's defense too. I don't think Brett Gardner makes that catch in the 9th inning. What do you think?
Another year has gone down the toilet, and we didn't even figure out if Florial can be a major league CF.
The Hammer of God
In trades PTBNL have to be named within six months, so Boston owes us zilch. Presumably this latest salary dump is meant as a precursor to something "bigger". You would have thought that by this late in the day it would have been announced, so I wouldn't expect much, it's only accounting at this point. I/we should have fully understood that when Hal passed on Harper and Machado that the old rules were left in an old wallet. As for next year, you all know the refrain, "same as it ever was". Without Boone. BFD.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who thinks that we can trade Stanton in a "fair" trade is smoking the opium pipe. And if we can't get fair value, then what's to be gained? If such a trade were to be pulled off, please remind me, I'll fly up and smoke the pipe with you, my treat!
ReplyDeleteGod, but it brings nothing but smiles to imagine this blog if we'd signed Trevor Bauer! Things could be worse. It could be raining.
Hey, we just got Gallo and a left-handed reliever from Texas!!! No word on who we gave up.
ReplyDelete