Insert sigh here.
What can I say about Gardy that you don't already know? He remains the last slim connection to the 2009 team, a championship now so distant that - for the TikTok generation - it never happened. Last year, Gardy sorta sucked. He hit .222 - lowest of his 14-year-career, though only one point higher than he hit in 2020. He stole only four bases (three, the previous season.) He will turn 39 in August. Realistically, how much does he have left?
But but BUT... we're talking about Gardy here. Threat to every dugout roof. Hardest slide on the team. Surest glove in the outfield. Lifetime Yankee. Let me repeat that: Lifetime Yankee. (Will we ever again see one?) The de facto team captain. Arguably, a plaque in Monument Park. He'd happily take a one-year deal. Won't ask for the moon. Won't break a budget. Do the Yankees simply let him walk?
And here is where the lasers really start to burn. The Blue Jays apparently want him. Toronto - a young and ascending team, the opposite of ours - needs a fifth outfielder, a lefty bat and a splurge of clubhouse glue. Gardner could be a perfect fit.
Listen...
I cannot remember a more disappointing and depressing winter than what we've just endured. Aside from the repulsive owners' lockout, we fans were played by the Yankee propaganda machine.
We were wound up with expectations for at least one big free agent signing - someone to spur hope for the coming season. Instead of a star shortstop, catcher or centerfielder, we have a slap-hitting experiment and Josh Donaldson, whose contract sags like a wet paper bag filled with dead kittens.
Our outfield looks like a zombie version of 2021. Incredibly, the Yankees seem bent toward the joyride delusion that Aaron Hicks will play a full season, and that Joey Gallo will suddenly become an all-around hitter.
And now, on top of everything else, will we see Brett Gardner in a Blue Jays jersey?
Okay, I know what you're thinking: The problem here is Gardy. He doesn't deserve another year, it's time to retire, he should show loyalty and not piss away the chance to be a lifelong Yankee. I get it, but with this caveat: All ballplayers think they have one more year. He's no different. He wants to try. The end is always hard. And here we are, perched at another crossroads. These are the days of miracle and wonder, and cluster bombs in the forest, and don't cry, baby, don't cry...
Gardner hit .193/.277/.246 (.523 OPS) in April and May last year, absolutely putrid.
ReplyDeleteHe then hit .234/.347/.410 (.757 OPS) the rest of the way, which isn't bad for a fourth outfielder. (A .739 OPS was league-average in 2021, for reference.)
Post-All Star break, Gardner hit .250/.344/.418 (.762 OPS), which is honestly pretty decent. He certainly outperformed Joey Gallo down the stretch.
Normally I would dismiss this as classic Brett Gardner streakiness, but the pattern does fit the league's offensive production. I wouldn't be surprised if the sticky stuff that was apparently running rampant in April and May impacted fringe hitters like Gardner the most.
I guess I'm one of the rare people who would be perfectly content if the Yankees bring Gardner back, given the current roster construction. He'd take Tim Locastro's spot on the roster, and that's no loss to me. Send Locastro to AAA until there's an injury. Not gonna miss Locastro's .231/.333/.329 (.662 OPS) career bat that much.
Start Gallo/Stanton, Hicks, Judge left-to-right, and use Gardner as a strict defensive replacement or as a spot starter vs RHP when one of the big fellows needs a day off.
Ideally the Yankees would bring better Hicks insurance than Gardner/Locastro on the roster, but they don't seem inclined to do so.
I'm going to vomit if I see Gardner in a Blue Jays uniform.
Honestly? I could care less. We need a legitimate CF option. I still say Edgar Inciarte will log more tine in CF than any other player.
ReplyDeleteI've ALWAYS felt Gardy was overrated and overplayed, but that's a very useful statistical analysis, Zach. And granted that our team no longer has a general manager and has apparently decided to assemble itself like a group of kids meeting on a sandlot, what IS the alternative to Gardner?
ReplyDeleteNothing much. Re-sign the bald little bastard already. But don't give him a plaque.
And Duque? "...sagging like a bag full of dead kittens"?
ReplyDeleteEn. Fuego.
Listen, I like Gardy, the person, a lot. But personally, he would help the Yankees much more by striking out or hitting a weak grounder or popping up to the right side on a late swing in a crucial at-bat as a Blue Jay than as a member of the Yankees.
ReplyDeleteFor God sakes, if the Yankees don't think Florial or any other minor-leaguer has the skill or ability to replace a largely faded Gardner, then their scouting and player development departments are way worse than we imagined.
Hey, Gardner will be back next year when the Yankees need a right fielder to replace Future Dodger/met Aaron Judge
ReplyDeleteI agree with several above who said promote from within. Until Florial is given a "real" look in CF, not just 3 or 4 games, I'm not ready to write him off. Has the potential to be outstanding, given the chance.
ReplyDeleteDantes - I thought Judge was Milwaukee bound
ReplyDeleteGive the kids a chance.
ReplyDeleteThere. I said it.
Actually, I am all for trading Judge, esp., if he won't get vaccinated and can't play.
ReplyDeleteGet some young pitching and/or CF and/or C for him from a contender instead of getting hooked for another long 30mil a year contract that will take his "big body" into his upper or mid-30s.
Realistically, this team is going nowhere and fans will not be showing up.
It will take Kremlin-type propaganda to make us believe otherwise.
I would love to see the season ticket sales.
Get something of real value from a contender, like the White Sox for example, who have not won but who might go somewhere with his bat.
Just saying.
It's not like we are close friends. You know what I
mean
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ReplyDeleteSo much to unpack...
ReplyDeleteGardy - I was done with him three years ago. If he wants to go to Toronto or Korea let him.
And no plaque. He was solid at best when he was solid. Also, we haven't won a WS since he became a fixture. Coincidence?
That said, he's a true Yankee and gritty and gutty and all that. I don't dislike him but he was long overdue to be gone.
Judge --I agree with Archie. Particularly if the vaccine stuff prevents him from playing.
Bye bye, Gardy....
ReplyDeleteI was ready for your victory lap three or four years ago.
Take your massive, possibly 'roided head and get thee to Toronto, the team that may well bury us this year.
Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
I see that Odor is playing for the Os. Fitting place for him.
ReplyDeleteWoke up to some interesting news; Apparently,
ReplyDeleteAaron the ballplayer will have a "vaccine exemption" but Aaron the firefighter still lost his job.
Perhaps I have that wrong after further clarification, but this bears to my conclusion that the the rich and famous get what they want, we just pay be happy and pay.
Remember, "they " live in a world where the status elevates them to a fight at the Breakers over who gets the pool chair closest to the pool bar.
I entirely agree with The Archangel that the rich and famous get what they want, but working class people just get burned.
ReplyDeleteBut to the matter at hand, if I were the Yankees, I'd offer Gardy a coaching position, with the potential for activation as a player, should the need arise.
He'd make a better manager than Boone.
How do you KNOW, Dr. T???
ReplyDeleteGardy hasn't taken the Acme Super Manager Strategy Test, where he has to get all the same answers as Brian Cashman. Until then, we cannot know.
Judge will shit on his brand forever if he misses games in TORONTO due to anti-vcxx. Gardy was a great Yankee, but his time is over. He won't be the first to play one more year with another team. Even DiMaggio went to the A's.
ReplyDeleteGood point, Horace. By that criteria, a hardworking ballplayer who had to earn his way up up to the majors (without the benefit of the Yankee PR department) and into the starting lineup, wasn't born a trust-fund brat and foolishly chose to live in upstate NY, instead in Greenwich CT, probably lost his chance on these three personal failings.
ReplyDeleteMost importantly, not being born rich.
I understand better why Boone is the manager. Thank you for the insight.