Thursday, April 14, 2022

Company Man.

 


Just thought I would take this gorgeous, baseball-free Maundy Thursday afternoon to try to further unravel the mystery of why your New York Yankees would bother to trade for a light-hitting "gloveman" who can't field his position—our new shortstop, Kiner's Falafel—when they already a better version of same in the man of many ways, Tyler Wade. 

Further complicating this mystery is the fact that Wade is and was...considerably cheaper. From the best I can find, his salary is $825,000, while that of his replacement, IKF, is $4.7 million.

(Yes, he is a 2020 Gold Glove Winner!  At third base!)


Wait, it gets better! 

Add in our new third baseman, Crusty Josh Donaldson ($21.75 mill), and take away the $6.55 mill the late, lamented Gio Urshela would've made, and we're talking our crack front office spending $19.075 million MORE than it needed to...just to make the left side of our infield shakier than ever.

Huh?

And this from a team that now claims not to have the scratch to to re-sign maybe the team's best all-around player.  

I know what you're going to say:  the same trade that brought us Salty Dog Donaldson and the Falafel also enabled us to get rid of the $6.35 mill attached to Gary "Mr. Fire" Sanchez. But even if we throw that in, the Yanks are STILL $12.725 mill in the red.  

And of course there were other ways to get rid of Gary the Gamer.  Like, you know, trading him someplace else. For something good.

So what gives? 

I can already hear the excuses that Brian Cashman's assorted minions—Brinions?—will be conjuring up. 

Telling us what foresight the Brain had when Aargghh Donaldson inevitably gets hurt and IKF has to shift over to third. Telling us how brilliant he was to allow Carlos Correa to sign with Minnesota and stay out of the clutches of the Red Sox.

Ah, yes. Brian Cashman. The man who's playing three-dimensional Parcheesi, when everybody else is playing chess.

Many of us here thought that we had hit upon a more rational explanation. Namely, that Hal was aiming ro the sweetspot of profits-taking. That is, carefully shaping the Yankees to be a perennial Wild Card contender that never actually wins.

But I just don't get moves like this, trades that actually INCREASE the Yanks' payroll. 

For years now—years and years, really, ever since the last championship, in 2009, and even before—we've been given one excuse after another as to why the Yankees cannot go after this or that major free agent or available star.

Carlos Beltran (twice, and despite the discount he offered), Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Chris Sale, Pat Corbin,  J.T.L. Realmuto, Dallas Keuchel, Charlie Morton, Manny Machado, Bryce Harper, Corey Seagar, Carlos Correa, to name just a few—and all guys who, acquired at the right moment, would've all but guaranteed us another ring.

Even players such as (the Famous Original) Aroldis Chapman, Yoan Moncada, Yu Darvish, and  Jose Abreu, among many others, who as foreign players would not have even had their earnings counted against the luxury.

Maybe these were all just terrible judgement calls by the Brain. But if they were—when combined with his repeated failure to build a productive farm system—wouldn't you just can the little toadie already?

So what does give, when money doesn't even seem to be the real obstacle? 

Well, maybe it's this statement from Hal, regarding the lockout:

“It’s important to the industry as a whole — and I’ve said this before so it’s nothing new — not one fan should come to spring training thinking their team has no chance to win a division, no chance to make the playoffs. That can only be bad for the industry as a whole. So I have supported competitive balance and measures to try to address that even in this agreement.”


Sentiments that never, ever should utter from the mouth of the owner of ANY New York sports team. 

You're worried about fans in other cities, Hal? You're worried about "the industry as a whole"?

Apparently so. Who knew that a Steinbrenner could be such a tame little company man?                                                            

32 comments:

  1. I’ve never seen a player of his caliber flail at bad pitches as much as Stanton. He is a guess hitter, pure and simple.

    Watching this series, I just have to comment the BJ defenders seem always perfectly positioned. I guess our hitters are living up (down to?) their profiles.

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  2. Trevino hit a chip shot…where did I hear that before?

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  3. "the industry"

    let me just say this - the Yankees will not win the big one so long as Hal is in charge.

    he does not care.

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  4. Did Stanton come within a foot of hitting any of those pitches he flailed at?

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  5. Joey Whiffs kills another rally…

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  6. There is no rally they won't somehow kill.

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  7. You're very right, 999. I don't think I've ever seen so many line drives right at people.

    And it further puts the lie to "exit velo." Again and again, you see the Yanks hit balls that are caught because they held up long enough...but still fell into gloves far short of the fences.

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  8. Oh god, Chapman is throwing at birds again

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  9. Still, back-to-back bunts—well, attempted bunts, anyway—which is something!

    First one went for a hit. Second effort, by Trevino, didn't work, so with two strikes, he swung away...and hit into a DP. To which my reaction is...why?

    If you're sacrificing an out there to move the runners up, do it all the way. If Trevino had fouled off another bunt, there's just one down and two outs still to go.

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  10. Ought-oh. Chapman v. Chapman. Don't like the looks of this.

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  11. Is it just me, or does Trevino strike anyone else as yet another "gloveman" who's not particularly good in the field?

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  12. Aaaaaaaaand Chapman looks like he's in playoff form tonight.




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  13. This 9th inning is giving me 2021 flashbacks.

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  14. Kudos to Ma Boone, at least, for pulling that bum.

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  15. Chapman’s contract can’t end soon enough…

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  16. How about never using him in a high-leverage situation again for the remainder of his contract, too?

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  17. Boonie Balls at Work - Kinger in to displace Chappy - YAY!

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  18. Five pitches. Five strikes. Three outs.

    Is there any possible reason to leave Torrents as our closer anymore? I don't think so.

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  19. And that's a happy win for our stupid, ugly team. Removing the Chapped Arse is the first step towards toilet training this group of Toddlers

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  20. Well, the game was lost by a bad play by Chapman.

    Thankfully, it was their Chapman with the blunder (getting too far off the bag), rather than our Chapman.

    I'll take the split.

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  21. Agreed, Pocono Steve! There will be a whole lot of mop-up innings this years. Torrents is welcome to all of them.

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  22. We could trade Rolaids at the trade deadline for a dozen resin bags…

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  23. How did I not know until tonight that the Yankees are going to have a John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman Bobblehead Night at the Stadium this season!?!

    And it's going to be the Yankees' first-ever TALKING bobblehead!


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  24. Man, I didn't want to see vlad come up. Scared shitless he was gonna hit it out

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  25. The fans deserved that, in what was another night of Yankees fan torture. No game on a gorgeous spring afternoon...so the Yanks could make fans wait out an hour-and-a-half rain delay at the start, then sit in the rain for half the game.

    Nearly 5 hours of this, just so they maximize ratings. At least everybody got to see an exciting win.

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  26. Also, good to see Sevvy do well. Fingers crossed!

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  27. I’ve just finished watching the first season of Brockmire which was far more exciting than sitting through another three hours of Yankees baseball.

    On to season two!

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  28. Happy with a split. Great pitching tonight - except for Crapman. It being the last year of his contract, we should look to move him at the TD, if not sooner.

    Unexpected boost from the bottom of the order. A successful push bunt by from IKF! Haven’t seen that by a Yankee in …a long time. Disappointing start for Donaldson - in 7 games 1 XBH, 2 BB 11 K’s, an unsightly 38% K-rate.

    On to BLT, where we should sweep, bur probably won’t.

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