The dramatic Josh Donaldson photo. (Turns out, there IS crying in baseball.) The sparing of Aroldis. The belief that all would be okay - that the Death Barge would launch a winning streak, put Toronto in the rearview mirror, and end this cringy sense of holding a wet paper bag filled with dead kittens.
Last night, our jubilation lasted all the way into the top of the second, when Frankie Montas - hailed by the midway barkers, Kay, Flaherty, Sterling & Waldman - walked the BJ's 9th batter, setting up a five-run rally that every Yank fan in captivity viewed as a death blow.
Interesting, that ninth man. It was former all-star Whit Merrifield, whom Toronto secured from KC at the trade deadline. He's a 33-year-old, lifetime .285 hitter who plays everywhere. KC wanted to shed salary, and Toronto - like Houston, which grabbed Christian Vasquez and Trey Mancini at the deadline - had no problem adding to payroll.
I'm not saying Merrifield should be a Yankee - we needed a LH bat - but he's the kind of savvied vet that the franchise - (2009 world champions!) - used to chase on July 31. This year, the goal was contractual control - in each of our acquisitions, Brian Crashman assured us of how smart the team is with charts and graphs: Check out them contracts, boys and girls! - so Food Stamps Hal Steinbrenner could maintain his precious bottom line.
In essence, we swapped Mont for Mont - Jordan Montgomery ($6 million) for Montas ($5 million), who just spent another postgame show claiming he is not Sonny Gray.
We saved ourselves some money.
Look... sometimes you gotta just laugh. You gotta just sit back, take a stiff shot of a name-brand cleaning fluid, and smile into the jaws of hell. This 2022 team looks like a practical joke by Ashton Kutcher. We've been Punk'd. If we live long enough, we might someday giggle over the mention of Aaron Judge's home run chase, or all those comebacks and meltdowns of Aroldis Chapman. The Yankees win a big game, and we're like Charlie Brown kicking the field goal: We think the world has changed - and all it did was spin another rotation.
People: After all is said and done, the Earth is just a hanging curve thrown by Albert Abreu.
You gotta laugh. Last night, in the second, after Oswaldo Cabrera trapped the lead runner in a hotbox, though a run scored, John Flaherty went on a mansplaining bender, telling us how a veteran like Montas knows the importance of yielding one run in order to forestall a big inning. This was why the Yankees obtained the wily Montas. He is a gamer, the kind of Olympian who won't wilt because one measly run scored. The Yankees had dodged a bullet.
And then Montaz walked their ninth man, leading to four more runs.
Damn. One of the cruelest jokes by the juju gods all season.
Well, we have three left with Toronto. If we can win two, we can right this listing ship. We knock back Toronto and hope to split with the Mets. But he we are, once again waiting for something, someone, to save us. You gotta laugh, even with tears in our eyes.
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37 comments:
We need Wade Boggs's knuckleball in the bullpen.
They say laughter is the best medicine, but winning ain’t so bad either.
As someone previously pointed out, perhaps it's time that we stopped trading for Oakland pitchers.
Between Montas & then Abreu, we would've needed double digit runs to win that one.
And fat chance of that, with the no-show offense once again.
There is a pretty good chance that the Blue Jays sweep. Yanks might be out of first place by end of August.
Indeed, we might be witnessing the greatest regular season collapse of all time in major league baseball. But we should keep in mind that the lead they built up wasn't real. Because this team wasn't for real. They were just pretenders, not real contenders.
And then add to that the ridiculous hubris of sitting Judge on days preceding an off day and the crazy trade they made to prepare for next season, as if they had this one already in the bag. It was hubris.
Add to that the failure to make any meaningful trade to help the offense. Benintendi wasn't going to be enough, not by a long shot. And the failure to bring up new blood earlier in the year. I always said the failure to develop new players will end up killing them.
Cashman-trade deadline-Oakland-pitcher
Me-1976"Uncle Sam's Disco"Erie Blvd- Last call-leave with girl I met during Last Call.
The harsh daylight of the morning after.
Regrets, I've had a few, but I did it my way.--Chairman of the Board, 21-year-old me-"Tiny Cashman."
Montas no longer pitches at RingCentral Coliseum. We all knew what would happen when he pitched here...FFS
Both Whit Merrifeld and Andrew Benintendi are 7-year MLB veterans. Both were on the Royals.
Merrifield is a career .285/.331/.423 (.754 OPS) hitter.
Benintendi is a career .278/.351/.429 (.781 OPS) hitter.
I won't rag the Yankees too much for choosing Benintendi over Merrifield. They needed a left-handed outfielder.
And I'll point out, neither have been particularly good since being traded: Merrifield 8-35 (.229) and Benintendi 13-65 (.200).
I think the Yankees have run into a bunch of issues at the same time:
1) Injuries to Giancarlo Stanton and Matt Carpenter (plus minor injuries to Anthony Rizzo and DJ LeMahieu) have reduced our offensive capabilities.
2) Injuries/ineffectiveness by Michael King and Clay Holmes have exposed how mediocre (at best) the bullpen is.
3) Our GM sacrificed all our rotation depth for a starter with shoulder injuries and a glove-first outfielder with a foot injury.
4) The Yankees were playing way over their heads in the first half and regression was to be expected. But regression coupled with the above three issues has caused sub-.500 play.
Devi Garcia’s line last night was equal to Montas. Also the Cardinal GM must have had someone personally deliver the PW for the Monty trade, before someone in the Yankees front office said WTF?
Pitching matchups for the Mets series on Mon/Tue
Max Scherzer vs. Domingo German
Jacob deGrom vs. Frankie Montas
"A wet paper bag full of dead kittens."
Duque, you have outdone yourself.
As usual, a Yankees collapse has brought out the best in all our withering prose. At least there's that!
The Monday/Tuesday match-ups are so jaw-droppingly awful for our side that we would be better off finding a reason to forfeit.
The Yankees have become exactly what they are. Kudos to The Genius and Cheapskate Hal.
It’s easy to prognosticate this: we lose 3 of 4 to TOR, and both to the NYM.
How about some good news?
https://www.mlb.com/news/spencer-jones-embracing-aaron-judge-comparisons?partnerId=zh-20220819-681307-mlb-1-B&qid=1026&utm_id=zh-20220819-681307-mlb-1-B&bt_ee=Gdg31xvKtCoccNArDn78xvxW2WxTzFFtHC32mAqLAcv6Ufkscjuv8qsyc2bp65Gv&bt_ts=1660919190780
I prefer my wet, paper bag kittens alive :) (but that could just be a ME thing)
Since a couple of us are in the very expensive seats in Oakland for the upcoming series - I may just try to give away all of our free food items to the Yankees players that have earned and/or deserve it.
Hey Judge, have this footlong red-hot with peppers and onions and spicy brown.
Mister Nasty, I have a few yards of tasty Red Rope for YOU.
Anthony Rizzo, these 6 metal bottles of Budweiser are YOURS!
It's gunna be a blast and a hoot to boot!
Chew on this: the Astros scored more runs last night than we have in our last 9 games.
Give Montas a break!
After all as he said, "“I mean, to be honest, I just feel like the second inning was the inning that kind of got me off the game, but besides that, I felt like I threw the ball pretty good.”
I get it...
A lot of you don't know this but, except for a few triple bogies and some missed putts every round I am a scratch golfer.
What the Blue Jays did best yesterday was take what the pitchers were giving them and, instead of swinging super hard, just went with it resulting in a lot of base hits.
We don't do that.
Also,
As this is shaping up to be THE GREATEST COLLAPSE IN THE HISTORY OF BASEBALL AND PROBABLY IN THE HISTORY OF SPORTS and because WE HAVE ANOTHER MONTH AND A HALF LEFT BEFORE WE LOSE THE WILD CARD PLAY IN...
(Breathe... Breathe...)
OK I'm fine. HOW THE FUCK DOES BOONE SAY SHIT LIKE THIS? "Just some fastballs in the center of the plate,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Just not quite the put-away, splitter-fastball combo that he’s had in the past.” AND KEEP HIS JOB!!!!
(Breathe... Breathe...)
OK I'm fine... Truth is, after the second inning, I was able to watch the rest of the game with a bemused detachment. Maybe there's something to this Buddhist thing.
Worst team in baseball. Stanton return will help marginally. Take a look at the schedule. Tough to see them get to 90 wins with this lineup and staff every day. Maybe the kids get hot, provide a spark. That's fingers crossed stuff though. Epic, historic failure I fear.
I read an article this morning on Cleveland's new relief phenom, 26-year-old Trevor Stephan.
In 46 games this year, he has a 2.54 ERA and even better underlying metrics: 11 BB/58 K, only 2 HR allowed. He's been absolute death on right-hand batters. Throws 97 with an unhittable split finger. Statcast metrics have him among the best relievers in all of baseball this year.
And Cleveland controls him through 2026.
Maybe you remember he was in the Yankees farm system once upon a time. Drafted in 2017.
Brian let him go in the 2020 Rule-5 Draft... along with Garrett Whitlock.
Folks, we have just the best GM.
I’m not fucking laughing.
We need his grit.
Thanks, ZachA. And amazing, considering how many deals Cashman justifies, every single year, because of "the Rule 5 Draft."
I mean, it's his "dog ate my homework," default excuse for handing out top minor-league prospects like they were breath mints. But hey, some of the best we had? They went for nothing.
It's a real possibility, Publius, which is incredible.
And I don't know if Stanton even will come back, and I don't know what that will mean.
Love Cross-Eyed Cashman, AA!
Thank You, Mr HC66 - much appreciated.
Tonight's starting lineup:
1. DJ LeMahieu (R) 1B
2. Aaron Judge (R) CF
3. Anthony Rizzo (L) DH
4. Josh Donaldson (R) 3B
5. Andrew Benintendi (L) LF
6. Gleyber Torres (R) 2B
7. Isiah Kiner-Falefa (R) SS
8. Oswaldo Cabrera (S) RF
9. Kyle Higashioka (R) C
I don't think there's any good reason to bounce Florial from the lineup after only two games. MAYBE if a lefty were pitching for the Blue Jays tonight, but that is not the case. Just another example of Cashman's patented slow-drip mental/emotional destruction of promising young players. Once promoted, Florial should stay in the lineup for a meaningful sample of at-bats. Kiner-Falefa is at best mediocre stopgap for the present, whereas BOTH Cabrera and Florial are keys to both the present and futur--IF they are treated like valuable assets rather than marginal addenda, per Cashman's usual way with young players. Nothing will ever change in this dumbass, inept organization.
Man if we reverse every Cashman fuckin rule 5 castoff and shitty deadline deal of the last decade we prolly looking at 3-4 WS wins and NO BOONE...but alas
THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM--THE YANKEES ARE OLD
I don't see much discussion here of a central problem with this team: it's too old, subject to the inalterable biological imperatives of more frequent injuries and overall declining on-field performance. I noted, in a previous post, that on average an MLB player reaches peak performance at age 27 but that Cashman has a predilection for over-thirty "name" types who were good five years ago and mistrusts younger players, leading to the AL's oldest roster (second-oldest in the majors).
This empirically obvious observation elicited the following half-hearted Cashman apologia from another commenter: "I have to point out that acquiring sub twenty-seven year old talent is exceedingly difficult to do." Of course, this blanket proclamation was issued without a scintilla of empirical evidence, per this commenter's usual practice.
In fact, the evidence is quite abundant and points to the contrary conclusion--lots of teams develop and acquire young talent and excel in the process. The Rays have been doing it for years and kicking the Yankees' asses in the process--their average age now is 28.5, 1.6 years younger than the Yankees, the most senior club in the junior circuit. The Cleveland Guardians, who are leading the American League Central, have an average age of 26.4 The Mariners are fielding a competitive team with an average age of 27.8. And so on--these are just a few of many examples I could cite of contending teams with an average age well below that of the aging, free-falling Yankees. See the following:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/236223/major-league-baseball-clubs-by-average-age-of-players/
And just who forced Cashman to acquire Rizzo (33), Donaldson (36), Higashioka (32), Luetge (35), or sign long-term deals with Stanton (32), Chapman (34), Cole (31), LeMahieu (34) and Hicks (32), all of whom will be expensive contractual millstones well in their LATE THIRTIES as their numbers inevitably plunge along with the Yankees' fortunes? And who forced him to stick with Gardner into his late thirties, re-signing him twice even though he was measurably one of the worst players in baseball while he had clearly superior alternatives who were younger? (And notice that no one was interested in Gardner once Cashman finally overcame his crush and faced the bleak reality.)
Cashman doesn't want cheap young talent because he doesn't trust it--he decapitates it with trades for older players and the worst player-development and drafting record in baseball. This is not a matter of Cashman not being unable to acquire younger talent--it's a matter of him being inept at developing your players and constantly burying them and/or demoralizing them and/or trading them away for older “name” players, or doing his infamous dumpster diving for aging veterans--whereas other teams actually covet and develop young, fast, athletic talent. By contrast, behold this Yankee squad: old, slow, unathletic--and reeling into obvlion with Cashman's long-term contractual follies.
This is yet another confirmation--as though any more were needed--that Cashman has no clue about the insights of analytics, in which it has become common wisdom to avoid long-term contracts to thirtyish players because you end up paying for past rather than future performance. But Cashman is infected with the traditionalists' and unschooled fans' fascination with "names," even if the body behind the name has passed its biological prime, mindlessly replicating George's folly of shelling out heedlessly for the biggest "names" to "win now"--except the team never does "win now" (the 2009 splurge excepted) and is invariably hobbled by the physical/financial consequences of the biological "later" that Cashman--but not the smart analytics front offices--persistently ignores.
Toronto, so the word on the street had it, offered Gardner two million and change to play, as did a few other teams.
There is no documentation anywhere that anyone offered Gardner a contract. "Word on the street" is not a verified fact. No one was interested except Cashman, for two years past the point where he could play baseball at the MLB level.
You say so, Tootsie. I read this in numerous articles, but as I mentioned, "word on the street".
Can you cite one of the numerous articles? No team verified making an offer to Gardner. He's sitting at home. End of story.
The WORD was that he only wanted to play with the Yankees. If the issue is that important to you then I suggest you spend your time looking into it. I have a number of Yankee-baseball sites that I read daily, some I pay for. I'm only relaying what I have read, I'm not writing a bond as to the veracity of said articles.
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