Instead, they have Josh Donaldson.
So, as we experience the final gasps of winter - a time of brutal war, recurring wildfires, terrifying tornadoes and celebrity-on-celebrity crime... a time when the Mets annexed New York, in the way Vladimir Putin expected to take Ukraine. Surely, nagging injuries could undermine the Mets' rise in the NL East. But they won't undermine their new position as NYC's dominant baseball franchise - a role the Yankees were willing to cede.
For better or worse, 2022 goes down as the winter of Josh, the new face of Yankee leadership.
Yesterday, when the Yanks and Mets swapped bullpen lug nuts, it was Donaldson whom the Gammonites quoted, marveling over the talents of - huh? - Miguel Castro?
It's Donaldson who will likely bat leadoff on Opening Day. It's Donaldson who will send DJ LeMahieu - the Yankees best player in 2020 - to the bench. It's Donaldson whose exodus allowed the Twins to afford Carlos Correa, the best SS on the market. It's Donaldson whose contract will give Hal Steinbrenner an excuse to avoid expensive free agents over the next two years. It's Donaldson who will indirectly cause the trade or release of Miguel Andujar, the end of a minor era of unresolved hope. It's Donaldson - age 36 and with 40-something calves - whom the Yankees will expect to play 3B. (Last year, he played 92 games there, making 13 errors. Gio Urshela, whom we traded to get him, played 96 at third, with 10.)
I don't want to demean Donaldson, who by all accounts is a fine teammate with a sterling clubhouse reputation. If he stays healthy, he could hit 25 HRs and drive in 80. (His lone season of 100+ RBIS came in 2015.) It would be nicer if he hit LH, but - hey - the Yankees have Joey Gallo for that, right?
This winter, with a huge raft of tradeable veterans, the Yankees made one move to get younger: They dealt Luke Voit for a 20-year-old lottery ticket. They entered the off-season with glaring weaknesses at CF, SS and C - and it's not clear whether they solved any of those problems. But they do have Josh Donaldson. And - for better or for worse - this will be his year in the Bronx. Surely, we must be joshing...
Posts
31 comments:
I figure by Wednesday, Justin Upton will be a member of the Bronx Bombers.
Re Donaldson.
After that series of compelling arguments it's all too clear.It WAS the signing of Donaldson.
I vote to convict!
This is genius.
It's just what the Yankees need: a 36yo leadoff hitter with cement mixer legs.
Masterful management! Such brilliance!
Why didn't any I see this before? How could I have been so blind?
It wasn’t that long ago that it was morning in Yankeeville; we had a raft of young players, who would surely become some new version of the Core Four, and we believed we would flex our financial muscle to paper over holes.
“So swiftly the sun sets in the sky….” -Dylan.
Well, we always have that fake WS Championship from '17.
Nobody can take that away from us
Of all the points Duque brings up, the biggest--to me--is the benching of DJ. What the fuck are they thinking? He can play third, second and first, and all three positions are now taken. He is the best player--maybe tied with Judge--and this is just inexplicable.
But that's the Yankees.
Goodbye, Joely Richardson, we hardly knew ye.
Agreed, JM—except I wouldn't worry too much.
As noted in Duque's post, Donaldson is 36 and managed all of 92 games in the field last year. Then there is The Gleyber, who at 25 has already missed one-quarter of all of his team's games due to injury—and at the rate he's declining as a player, may miss more due to simple incompetence.
And don't forget The Unvaxxed, Mr. Rizzo, with transmissions on the rise again in NYC.
Unless this season is vastly different from the last five Yankees' seasons, I suspect that LeMahieu will have the chance for as much work as he can handle.
And Celerino, I would agree that Upton is just the sort of one-dimensional hitter our Mr. Cashman adores. Except that he now feels the OF is good to go, between his old love, Hicksie, Giancarlo, and Joey, Joey King of the Streets Child of Clay.
By June, we may be pining for Upton.
HC, Upton is the quintessential Yankee. .211 BA K'S 33% of his AB. You can't let a guy like that get away.
I hear ya, Hoss. It's a lot like worrying about Hicks in center--history shows you don't have to worry very long.
The way this team is constructed, I wonder if they actually resign Judge. I mean, the guy hits.275-80. Completely doesn't fit. I'm sure Brain could find a really good defensive right fielder who bats .200. Inability to hit against the shift would be frosting on the cake.
Toronto just released Greg Bird - - - how long until we peck, er, I mean pick him up?
Don’t forget- we have no rotation.
Maybe Cashman made a mistake thought Miguel Castro was Miguel Cairo, whose departure signalled the end of Yankee dominance.
Maybe he thought it was JOEL Cairo:
https://youtu.be/86x4im8TQWY
With The Intern’s famous line:
“I stick my neck out for nobody.”
Sadly, the intern would probably go for Joel Cairo over Sam Spade.
"Look, Joel's a good clubhouse guy, he's been all around the world and shown he can work well with others, and he has a single-minded dedication to winning (the dingus). If he's of dubious sexuality and suspected Orientalism, well, aren't those old stereotypes that should finally be put to rest?
"You hire on Sam Spade, on the other hand, and automatically he's going to want more money, putting you over your budget, and you never know what bedroom or barroom he's going to turn up in. Plus, by God, sir, he's a character, sir."
Remember the name people:
Yankees acquire Rays pitcher David McKay
Our indomitable genius Boy Intern has acquired yet another AAA mediocrity.
Dick, his ERA was 6.08. That's Kriske territory
If you look at every Cashman move with the assumption that its main purpose is to improve/fortify Scranton, the last dozen years makes a lot more sense.
Why do we give a pass on DJ's awful season last year? Three reasons we sucked scoring runs, DJ not up to his numbers, Gleyber declining 2nd year in a row, Sanch"meh" and Urshe"meh" (lopping these two since they were traded together) at the plate. We can't just run it back...they did SOME thing without compromising "future". Risk? Sure thing. But so is Correa/Seager turning into Lindor.
Well, the story was that DJ played hurt all last year, right? After having two, terrific seasons for us. And hell, he still led the team in hits and doubles, and finished a close second in runs scored.
So...yeah, could be, he's 33, he now goes into permanent decline. If Cooperstown Cashman had any greater plan or ideas for this team, the idea would have been to bid DJ a fond farewell after 2020—NOT sign him to a lavish, 6-year contract.
But...sigh...the Cashman Conundrum kicks in. Coops had no bigger or better plan, of course, so, best thing to do was to sign DJ and hope for the best. And maybe DJ will bounce back to at least have a couple more, pretty good years for us.
El Duque, this is how The Yankees operate. Clueless Hal allows Genius Cashman to run free and operate with no consequences. He brings in Mike Fishman, a Computer Geek and follows him religiously. Oh! by the way, hip hip hooray, Cashman has brought in David McKay and his 6.08 MLB ERA.
MLB power rankings: Yankees 6th???
Why do people think vaccinated are protected from Covid? Stop thinking like a sheep. Maybe read the pages of side effects the vaccine causes. 1 of them is actually Alopecia and coincidentally Pfizer is coming out with a medicine for it. So stop attacking people who decided to enforce their freedom of choice
Between Donaldson and DJ the Yanks are paying 38 million because he didn't want to pay Machado 30 a year. 😂 Brilliant
They just signed Bird 😂😂
Cashman evidently thought the team was too young, thought we needed to get older and more experienced, more injury prone, so bring in Donaldson and bench LeMahieu. I have thrown up my hands trying to figure out what the toadstool is doing.
Not to get into this endlessly: but nothing is "freedom of choice" when it pertains to contagious disease.
Think whatever you want about the efficacy of vaccines, cherry-pick whatever stats you want and ignore the rest. No use in us going down that rabbit hole.
BUT...whatever you think, if other people can catch it...It's. NOT. Just. A. Matter. Of. Personal. Choice.
And stop calling people who disagree with you "sheep." Incredibly enough, other people in this world may be right, and you may be wrong on some subjects.
There are people that believe Co-Vid is a government plot. There are people that think there are no mass shootings, simply the government hiring actors so they can confiscate AR 15 automatic rifles. Some people think that the Earth is flat and some believe Trump won the election.
And some of the above are also Yankees fans.
Carl, I think Co-Vid really is a government plot. By the government of Communist China. Whether they intentionally released it, whether they negligently failed to control it, whether it was unintentionally released by an infected lab worker, the result is the same. A worldwide disaster.
I still can't get over that Trump raised taxes by creating the stupid $10,000 limit on state and local tax (SALT) deduction. And he got away with it scot free. Imagine if a Democrat President had done that!
And then phony Trump failed to institute economic sanctions against Communist China by, for instance, seizing all assets of Communist China and declaring them forfeit to the U.S. government. He talked tough but was nothing but a phony in the end, probably because he has his own assets in Communist China that would be seized in retaliation. If he'd seized all assets of Communist China, and distributed them to the virus victims and their families, then he would've been re-elected, I'm sure.
Post a Comment