Monday, March 21, 2022

Could this be the year the Yankees collapse?

Showa hands: Anybody here remember Gil Blanco? (Yikes, you're ancient.) He was a 19-year-old LHP who was supposed to be the next Whitey. That was 1965, the year the mighty team of Mickey, Roger, Elston, Bobby, Clete, Mel and - yes - Whitey were picked to be unstoppable - and then finished 6th, eight below .500. 

The following year - after a winter retooling - they came in 10th, descending into an era remembered for Horace Clarke (recalled faithfully by our own IIH favorite blogger.)

Couldn't happen again, right? They're the Yankees. They spend so much. They have big name stars. They're the Yankees. And - truth be told - this team does look like a legitimate wild card power, a third place dynasty in the AL East. 

Still, last year, they unveiled - um, let's see now - Nobody. No impact rookie, not one. Same with 2020. And now, 2022 looks, well, the same. How many seasons can a team with such a highly self-praised farm system contribute... Nobody? (Our last true home grown rookie star was Miguel Andujar, and - wow - did we ever screw him up!)  

Amid the YES hype - (a bit desperate, doncha think? as NYC drifts towards the Mets) - let's ponder how bad 2022 could be, especially if the shrunken spring results in more tweaks and strains than usual. 

What if the floor caves in? It could happen, easier than you think. 

What if...

1. Gerrit Cole gets hurt? Yep, the catastrophe. Last year Cole threw just 181 innings - low, compared to his Houston days - and missed a few weeks. His ERA rose to above .300 for the first time in four years. He's 31, the bulwark of the rotation. Replacing him would be... um... The Entire Bullpen, (which already might be No. 5 in the rotation.)  

2. Giancarlo and Judge return to fragility? Both enjoyed relatively injury-free 2021 seasons. What if they return to the tweaks and strains - back to back, belly to belly? In Stanton's case, we'll always have a DH - (though the inability to find a LH slugger is sorta amazing.) But when Judge disappears, his replacements sometimes turn into Shane Robinsons and Jace Petersons. (And our new guy, Josh Donaldson, is also a career tweak machine.)

3. Aroldis Chapman continues to erode? He's now 34, and every ninth inning is a haunted house. Last year, his ERA ballooned to 3.36, worst since 2011. Back then, a 101-mph made him a freak. Now, every bullpen has one. And for all his intimidating glares, Aroldis always seems on the verge of implosion. We hope Jonathan Loaisiga takes over, but his career has also been marked by injuries. If El Chapo goes, it will be a long and tortuous process, and it might lead nowhere.

4. Last year was NOT an outlier for DJ LeMahieu, Gleyber Torres, Anthony Rizzo and Joey Gallo? Each had a lousy 2021. The Yank front office seems to think they'll all return to form. Aaron Hicks, too - (but when he was healthy, Hicks hit only .194.) We'll see. 

Of course, I'm merely playing a parlor game here, called Pure Pessimism. Surely, 2022 will bring pleasant surprises. Right? Surely. Right? I mean it. Right?

Maybe we'll find a Gil Blanco. In 1965, he pitched 20 innings and kept his ERA under 4.00. The following winter, he was traded to KC for - gasp - Fred Talbot. He suffered an arm injury and was done by 1967. Baseball is cruel, but life often forgives.

He's now 76 and, in the rare chance that he sees this, I wish him the best. To those of us who remember him, "Bambi" will always be 19. I hear time is a flat circle:  Everything that happened before, it's still happening. Hold onto those memories, folks. They're gonna be coming around again. And they might include 1965.

14 comments:

  1. What if Spartacus had a Piper Cub?

    Sorry, had to get that out of my head. There are so many things that could go wrong--or be fatally mediocre--that 1966 seems more likely than even the last time we said 1966 was maybe likely.

    On the other side of the scale, Citi Field has a shitty logo. But the outdoor food area is kind of nice.

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  2. Cole doesn’t even have to get hurt for this season to tank, he’s one guy in a rotation full of egg shells. I can easily see two or three other rotation pieces being on the il at the same time. I’m already looking forward to the 2024 postseason when Cole opts out and the Yankees fully fall into the abyss

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  3. Well we got another player past his expiration date...does Marwin Gonzalez have anything left in the tank?

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  4. They will fall into an abyss. ? They basically have already.

    Unfortunately, there will be no Steinbrenner to buy them from Steinbrenner in a few years.

    Oh, don't you feel just terrible for those poor bondholders.

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  5. This is a sad team.

    Good teams can be counted on to have strength up the middle. The Yankees have no solid players at catcher shortstop second base and centerfield. We have two corner infielders who are old and were in their prime five years ago. The only thing we have going for us is our corner outfielders, And two decent starting pictures. The rest of the roster is filled with question marks.

    All this for $250 million Harold always points to that price tag as proof that he's trying to win, but it's money poorly spent. For the last 10 years it has felt like the Yankees are burning while Harold fiddles.

    Time to burn it all to the ground.

    The only other option is for the Yankees to remain a perpetual wildcard team that loses in the first round. What makes that scenario even worse is that the acquired mid-level draft picks will be perpetually mediocre. (Not that the Yankees have had a stellar record about developing prospects anyway.) They are treading water as annual also-rans, and the corporate entity will march on in this vein, all the while maintaining a reasonable return on equity.

    We are totally fucked. The Yankees are (maybe) the sixth best team in the AL - and even if everything falls into place, they might move up to fourth. Which only means a brief October. But if the age trajectory remains true, look for wheels fall off by July. This team needs to get in on the next expedition with Ponce de Leon.



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  6. >The Yankees have claimed LHP Yoan Aybar off waivers from the Colorado Rockies.

    This guy is an outfielder-turned-reliever who originally signed with the Red Sox in 2013. He'll be 25 in July.

    In AA last season: 46.1 IP, 6.22 ERA, 33 BB, 53 K, 1.791 WHIP
    In his MiLB career: 131.2 IP, 5.67 ERA, 88 BB, 150 K, 1.511 WHIP

    Well now it's all coming together for the 2022 Yankees.

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  7. Put me in with the Pessimism Patrol. There are just way too many “ifs” to form a credible belief that this will be a truly contending team. The starting rotation in particular is built on a (broken) wing and a prayer. Help is not on the way as the only additions will be off the scrap heap. From Boone on up, “Management” is such a joke I can barely type the word. They will continue to gaslight us in the hope that enough of the rubes and lightweight fans will fill the coffers just enough to turn a decent profit. For us, the woke fans, we will continue to spit bile and venom through the trading deadline, when the shouts of “SELL!, SELL!” will reverberate across our idealistic landscape, after which we can turn our weary eyes to the fall and winter sports.

    And God Bless You, Gil Blanco. A little boy remembers…

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  8. Actually, I felt last year they over-performed. Who knew that they would get even that many good innings from Bushmills Taliesen, or JoMo, or the young guys in the pen?

    This could well be total collapse time.

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  9. Real Yankee fans WANT them to collapse now. That will pave the way for rebirth, renewal and rejuvenation.

    In my dreams...

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  10. @ZacharyA...another scrap heap pickup...that will put us over the top...jeez....

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  11. Cashman got played so thoroughly this time, I'm beginning to suspect he's receiving payola from some of our rivals LOL!!! He's either an idiot or a traitor, maybe both, but nothing can possibly change with him involved.

    Viva La Grande Collapse!
    FU Brain!
    FU Hal!
    Hello '22 Yankee Misery!
    BOYCOTT ON!

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  12. At least we have Kluber and his No No from last season. That should hold us fans over for a season (or three) of mediocrity.

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  13. 4TH PLACE!!!!!!!! 80 SOME ODD WINS!!!!

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