We got him for Maikol Escotto, Roansy Contreras, Miguel Yajure and Canaan Smith-Njigba. (Yes, THE Canaan Smith-Njigba.)
Clay Holmes finished with a scoreless (though panicky, Chapmanesque) ninth. To get him, we gave up Diego Castillo and Hoy Park. (Yes, the Hoy Boy.)
Earlier, Matt Carpenter homered and Nestor Cortez pitched another gem. We signed both off the scrap heap. (Yes, we gave up nothing.)
Okay, you know where I'm going. Gonna eat a plate of it. Around here, we spend hours - days, weeks! - collectively ripping Brian McGuire Cashman for crimes against the Yankees - for the last 13 miserable years of Edwars and Zolios, of Overbays and Pronks, of near misses and generational catastrophes. But here we are, the 3rd of June, with first place in our bellies and a wondrous three-game sweep of Anaheim - a franchise we still haven't fully paid back for 2002, the autumn of Scott Spezio and Troy Glaus. Last night, Taillon came within six outs of remembering the Davids - Cone and Wells - and you can think what you want, but everywhere we sniff on this team, we catch the scent of Brian Cashman's aftershave.
Of course, I must note that Cashman traded four prospects for Joey Gallo, who struck out in the eighth with the bases loaded, even as the Bronx faithful rhythmically chanted his name. Gallo is looking like an Omar Moreno/Kei Igawa/Carl Pavano Cat-1 level disappointment, the highest category of despair known to Yank fans. Somehow, over the next two months, Cashman must parlay Gallo into something, anything, an air-fryer maybe, or a toaster oven. And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make, anything less than a slow October ride along the Canyon of Heroes will mean the glories of June 3rd mean nothing, and Taillon's game will be forgotten like the season three "Hold Onto Sixteen" episode of Glee, which included a much maligned cover of the odious Toby Keith's "Red Solo Cup." Did you need to remember that? No. But will it ever truly go away? Nooooooo.
Everywhere on this team, we find Cashman's tiny fingerprints.
LeMahieu. Cash re-signed him.
Judge. Cash undercut him in a contract year.
Rizzo. Cash got him in a trade, re-signed him last winter.
Gleyber. Cash kept him despite last year's debacle at SS.
Kiner-Falefa. Cash got him in the Gary Sanchez Dump-a-Thon.
Trevino. Cash stole him from Texas.
Hicks. Though he's flopping, Cash originally got him for John Ryan Murphy, out of the majors since 2020.
And - gulp - Gallo, to whom Cash shall forever be surgically co-joined. None of the four prospects has become a star, but small samples are a bad way to assess a long term trade. This may be Cashman's mulligan. And if the 2022 Yankees blow it, Gallo will be our Red Solo Cup.
But but BUT... Joey's got company. This season will make or break Judge's future. It will decide whether Aaron Boone stays or goes. (Carlos Beltran hovers overhead.) And I actually believe Cashman's tenure teeters on the brink. Nobody knows what photographs he keeps of Hal Steinbrenner, but if the Death Barge botches another October, even barnyard shots won't withstand the clamor for a new regime.
So, here are some words I know will scald you. If you are faint of heart, or require anxiety medication, read no further...
Congratulations, Mr. Cashman. You built this team. Way to go. Now, bring us a ring.
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13 comments:
It's hard to admit, but Cashman isn't a complete dolt. So far this year, even Boone isn't a complete idiot.
When your winning percentage is .706, a lot is forgiven, and in Torresque fashion, practically every move you make (I'll be watching you...) works. Coulda been a disaster but wasn't. Of course, there is a disaster here and there, like Gallo, or bringing Chapman in in any close game, but, yeah. Forgiven.
We have Detroit to deal with this weekend--including tonight on Apple+, free for a limited time only--before entering The Crucible for the remainder of the month. And we look unstoppable. Ish.
It's June, lets' see what Tallion, Severino & Cortes look like in August. Let's see if Johnny Holmes stays up or peters out. Will Judge stay healthy? It's a long to the top (If you wanna rock & roll)
Our friend Jim Kaat got into an issue about Nestor...
https://nypost.com/2022/06/02/jim-kaat-uses-offensive-nickname-for-yankees-nestor-cortes/
Twelve years. Twelve years of wild card losses. Twelve years coming up empty.
No kudos. Not yet. Nuh uh.
Even a blind nut finds a squirrel once in a while.
12 is a magical number. It’s the number of hours between moments a broken clock appears to be working. Give it a minute, these Yankees will look very broken again very soon.
I once read something about how Warren Buffet's success wasn't all that special. As I thought WB was something approximating God, I read it and thought about it.
You've probably heard this, but just in case...
It's the tail of the coin-flippers. You put 1,056 people in a hotel room, pair them up, give each pair a coin with head/tail, and tell them to flip the coin. One person "calls it." Someone wins.
Now, you have 528 winners.
You do it again. 256 winners.
And then 128. And then 64....32.....16.....8.....4.....2.....1.
Now, that Ultimate Winner has called 9 coin flips correctly in a row. He/she is the great coin-flip-caller of all time!!!
But . . . get them in the room a 2nd time. Do the whole thing over again. Do you think the winner of the first competition is going to win again?
This applies to Buffet (if you buy this thinking) -- he made a lot of stock-buying (and selling) decisions. He was mostly right, and over a long period of time outperformed the market.
...maybe it was just luck...?
For Cashmoney: He has made a lot of decisions, many of which those of us here at IIH excoriate. The team, which we all expect to win a lot of World Series, has won one in the past 21 years.
[in fact, forgetting history -- well, you might expect the team in the biggest city, with the biggest $$$ influx, and usually the largest payroll, to win a lot. right?]
So maybe the "wins" the NYYs have had in player transactions in 2022 are just the result of one heck of a lot of coin-flipping by the GM. Make 1,056 trades, claims, acquisitions of nobodies -- and one or more work out.
Maybe.
Joe Formrlyof Brooklyn - Nice!
Now would you mind sharing your thoughts on exponential growth and decay and how it applies to the limits growth within our universe?
I'm in "I'll believe it when I see it" mode. Yeah, the season so far has gone swimmingly for the Yankees. Not much to complain about. The stupid moron Cashman actually appears to be ... not so stupid.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we've seen this script at least a bunch of times during these lean years since 2009. We get off to a hot start and look like worldbeaters. Only to fall off a cliff after the All-Star break, or even a few weeks before. Those last two games in Tampa didn't look so good. Will those two games be an omen of things to come this year?
There are 4 more loooong months ahead of October, let's see how this plays out. I agree with Hammer, we've seen rapid declines after brilliant starts before,,,,,,,
My son was watching a couple of innings of the second game with me yesterday and he wanted to know why the Yankees had the best record in baseball. This was after watching them put guys in scoring position over and over again and failing to bring them home.
I talked about the pitching, the improved defense, catching etc. but after watching Gallo fail with the bases loaded and then the Rizzo at bat I pointed to the screen and said,
"This. They are winning the games that they used to regularly lose. Even when they can't buy a big hit they still manage to win the squeaker."
It's an attitude thing. Losing is no longer acceptable. Neither are shitty AB's. This is why Gallo will be gone and guys like Carpenter start a game with an 11 pitch AB. They have battlers now.
Rizzo CHOKED UP on the bat with 2 strikes. Then lashed the game winning hit.
Battlers.
Loved Rizzo’s approach on the game winner. THAT is situational hitting, and if he continues he’ll get out of his slump in no time.
Before the season if anyone said we’d wake up on 6/3 in first place with a .706 WP we’d have taken it a heartbeat. In all fairness, we must give Cashman/Boone their due - so far. But we need to wait until October to see the entire picture.
BTR99, I predicted 80 wins this season. (I had to open the post and edit it because SOMEONE forget to add me, but why belabor that point.) I stand by that prediction. Our undoing this year will be titanic, one for the record books.
The Yankees look good. Thank Genius Cashman all that you want. Barren Hicks and Joey K. both Cashman pickups, are complete disasters. The Genius continues to play with Miguel Andujar's head, demoting him to Scranton. But Joey 55 Ks in 140 at bats, with five homers and 7 RBIs. 7 whole RBIs in 140 at bats. He has at times been shaky in the outfield. Let us not forget Barren Hicks. He finally got a hit with a runner in scoring position. His big time eighth RBI. Wow wee! Woop de doo. Kyle Nohitgoshioka. The Genius got lucky with Jose Trevino. Making Kyle their number one catcher because he frames well is a Genius Cashman move. You might say that the Yankees starters are doing well because of the framing. I will give The Genius that. If the Yankees were in the playoffs and you shut down Judge, Rizzo, DJ and Stanton and there are no homeruns, same old Yankees. The greatest executive of all time who knows how to leap into the trash bin and comes up with many castoffs. Yes, Carpenter is working out thus far. The Genius who convinced Hal to invest in Mike Fischman, an analytics geek, who knows nothing about Baseball. Talk to me, if an when the Yankees are in The World Series. It has been a long time.
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