One will whisk Hal back to the Yankees under Joe Torre, celebrating their latest world championship.
One will show Buck Showalter in real time, toasting his new job with the Mets and strategizing for opening day.
The final ghost will transport Hal into a cold, dark, empty clubhouse and point its boney finger at a terrifying sight: A 2022 lineup card with Gary Sanchez batting third.
At that point, Hal will wake up in bed, go take a piss and then return to sleep by counting money.
Yeesh. When did following the Yankees turn into doom-scrolling?
Whenever the Mets pull off a seemingly big move - as they did yesterday and have done since October - I'm temped to dismiss it by saying, "Yeah, but they're still the Mets."
I'm not so sure any more.
In 2004, the Redsocks and Yankees swapped positions in the celestial baseball juju incondibulum. Boston has owned us, ever since. Nobody ever talks about the Yankees overtaking them at the season's end. That era is long gone.
Lately, the vibes surrounding the Mets and Yankees suggest another magnetic shifting of the poles. Under Showalter, the Mets shall be expected to win or else. Meanwhile, the Yankees seem incapable of change, regardless of the team's failure, because of contracts and old boy networks. They lack an owner who will hold management accountable.
Those three ghosts Friday will get a surprise. After the visitations, Hal will think about his money, go take another piss and then return to sleep. The Kansas City-ification of the Yankees will continue.
Relax and don’t buy into the Buck hype. The guy has a career record of 1,551-1517, been let go by four teams, has never won a championship and was passed by for all openings in the last three seasons. Two of those teams that let him go one championships the very next year, that alone should tell you he’s not the answer
ReplyDeleteAnd it autocorrected won to one every damn time I typed it for fuck’s sake 🤦🏻♂️
DeleteBuck spent eight years managing the Orioles. And he actually got them to the playoffs a handful of times, showing that a good manager can actually get a team to overperform.
ReplyDeleteIf you managed the Orioles for eight years, your W-L record wouldn't be so hot, either.
He was let go from the Yanks after his controversial and fatal decision to let Coney keep pitching during the '95 Seattle playoff series. Press coverage put it bluntly: "Showalter did not summon a reliever because his bullpen had been abysmal, with a 6.14 earned run average in four games." Cone couldn't do it. Black Jack came in and sucked.
That's the kind of thing that got you fired when King George was around.
Showalter and Michael built the Yankees into a contender. Torre, the luckiest manager in modern baseball, got hired and handed a ready-made team, with Bob Watson as GM providing the final moves that led to our mini-dynasty.
Yeah, Buck isn't perfect, and his more hard-nosed approach and past irascibility got him tossed from one or two teams. But I would have loved to see what he could do with our group of misfits and underachievers. The man knows the game and appreciates the subtleties that win ballgames. He's smarter than Cashman, so he'd never get hired by us.
That's ok...Jimmy Cordero will save us and get us back to the Fall Classic...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/12/yankees-jimmy-cordero-agree-to-minor-league-deal.html
El Duque, well written. I totally agree with you. Unfortunately Cheapskate Hal does not get it and won't change his ways.
ReplyDeleteExactly, JM, which is why statistics without context are meaningless.
ReplyDeleteI'll bet the first thing Buck does is take down all the mirrors in the clubhouse to stop theses guys from practicing their preening.
ReplyDeleteHe's one of those managers that never made it big as a player and wished that he had gotten some of the wasted talent he observed in numerous underachievers. I bet he will be successful with the talent that the mets have.
Show Cashman, Hal and BOONIIEE what collective toxic waste dumps they have become
>curious to see what a David Cone could do<
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThere's good reason to suspect the prospects for success of the NY Mets.
It's right in the Bible, John chapter 1, verse 46:
"Can anything good come from Queens?"