Normally, this firewalled list - available on social networks - gives Yank fans a pre-Thanksgiving erection, as we fantasize who will "break out" to become the next Aaron Judge.
But excuse me if this list isn't bringing the potatoes. In a nutshell, it's high on hope and low on achievement. Let's visit the Top 10.
1. SS Anthony Volpe. Had a nice month, but hit just .249 last year.
2. SS Oswald Peraza. Wasn't considered an upgrade over crumbling IKF.
3. OF Jasson Dominguez. Finished Arizona Fall League hitting .167. (It's considered a hitter's league.)
4. OF Everson Pereira. Hit .274 at High A last year.
5. C Austin Wells. Recovering from ruptured testicle. Wear a cup, dammit.
6. OF Spencer Jones. Last summer's 1st round pick. Default placement?
7. RHP Will Warren. ERA in Double A: 4.02
8. RHP Drew Thorpe. Last summer's 2nd round pick. Early.
9. RHP Randy Vasquez. ERA in Double A: 3.90
10. OF Estevan Florial. Yanks ignored him all last season.
I don't claim to be an MLB scout or even a Mel Kiper Jr "expert." But is it too much to hope for a top 10 where somebody actually broke out last year?
For two straight summers, the Yankees have drained their system at the trade deadline. Have we finally started sucking air?
I was late to the previous post with one comment. Yoshida is a huge Bryce Harper fan. Supposedly the Phillies would be where he wants to go, if he leaves Japan. Of course, the Phillies may or may not be interested. Though I don't know why they wouldn't be.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the situation, we're not even in the same league (literally and figuratively) when it comes to where this guy would likely want to play.
Stick a fork. They're done in my lifetime.
ReplyDeleteIf the geniuses (genii?) re-sign Judge, it will be like the Mattingly era. Watching a great player surrounded by a crappy team built by crappy management.
If they don't sign Judge, it will be like rooting for the St. Louis Browns.
Lupica has a great column on Yahoo. It’s a must read
ReplyDeleteCelerino, You are quite correct.
ReplyDeleteSad facts that HAL does not care about championships:
"
“People don’t get let go because of results. If they have a good process, and they’re doing the job well, that’s taken into account,” Cashman said.
He also said this:
“Our ownership is living proof that people are not let go because of results.”
"
Rufus, that last quote sums it up. Why the F should I care about this team, when clearly they don't.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why Judge would re-sign with these mooks. The only reason would be to become a Yankees immortal in ten years. The mystique. But if he wants to win, sayonara, baby.
ReplyDeleteSomewhat shocking that Cashman would actually utter that results comment. I think we all surmised that was their actual mindset, but normally such duplicity is kept out of the public eye. There is no hope for any type of enterprise with a mission statement such as this. It doesn’t really matter whether they sign Judge or not, the outcome will be the same. His being here is just window dressing. Been a fan of this team since I was a little boy, but when they tell you results (i.e. winning) doesn’t matter, it’s time to move on.
ReplyDeleteCelerino put it the most succinctly: if ownership doesn’t care, why the fuck should we?
Listen, everybody...
ReplyDeleteYou're right. We shouldn't care.
But we do.
ReplyDelete...when we got there, the cupboard was bare,
and so us poor dogs got no bones
@Celerino...yes great article...thx for mentioning it..
ReplyDeletehttps://www.twincities.com/2022/11/08/mike-lupica-brian-cashman-is-safe-because-hal-steinbrenner-likes-the-status-quo-with-the-yankees-2/
"The problem is that the Yankees aren’t great anymore. I’ve pointed out previously that they have become the champions of pretty good."
ReplyDeleteThe champions of pretty good.
That is incredibly accurate. It should be the tag line that ends every Yankees radio commercial as that horrible morose music plays.
ReplyDeleteAnd this:
"But unless Steinbrenner shocks the world now that Cashman’s contract has expired and decides to move on — though Steinbrenner would have no earthly idea who would replace Cashman at that point..."
Hal has no interest in the Yankees as a baseball team, only as a business. He is surrounded by others (Levine, Trost, et al) who are also interested only in the business end of things. Nobody who has Hal's attention knows a single shit about baseball and there's nobody Hal could turn to to hire a replacement for Cashman. IF, you know, he cared about building a winning team, which he clearly doesn't. This is a rut we're not getting out of until Hal sells the Yankees.
Great comments, guys! And a great piece from Lupica, who I feared had lost his fastball in recent years.
ReplyDeleteI would only cavil with his contention that Brian Cashman is a nice guy. No, he's not. And he's "engaging" with the press corps? Yes, so they won't write bad things about him.
But the question remains: if you don't judge a GM by results, what DO you judge him by?
ReplyDeleteSure, the Yankees have had bad luck. Sure, they have had injuries—too many injuries. But what's that about?
The Yankees' top players and prospects—as Duque points out—have not all been poor Thairo Estrada, walks into a bodega one day and takes a bullet in the hip from some stick-up man.
It's not like Brian Cashman has identified all sorts of top talent that has then been felled by Covid. There hasn't been a rash of plane crashes. No Yankee has been identified with Lou Gehrig's Disease since...Lou Gehrig. (Too soon?)...
...No, the Yankees suffer so many injuries because Brian Cashman constantly acquires aging players or those who already have a history of injuries (And possibly because he encourages them to bat in ways that injure them further, though the jury's still out on that one.).
ReplyDeleteAs the greatest general manager of all time once said: "Luck is the residue of design."
Brian Cashman doesn't have bad luck. He has bad designs. And without the luck of the Steinbrenner money that he blundered into, he would have been fired long ago after a couple years of mediocrity or outright failure.
If, over the course of 25 YEARS, your "good process" brings you, overwhelmingly, over-the-hill mediocrities or kids who can't make it...it's not a good process.
Process, what process. Was panicking and signing Ellsbury, McCann and an over the hill Beltran part of the process?. Was signing Kei Igawa part of the process? Was signing Carl Pavano part of the process? It goes on and on. There is no plan, no process, just panic moves and trying to grab the back page by signing losers to big money. In Lupica's story, he talks about Riley and Popovich (he should have included Belichek) as guys who have been around as long as Cashman and wield power within the organization. The difference is those guys won championships.
ReplyDeleteYou got it, Celerino!
ReplyDeleteNice to hear that many Yankees prospects are in the top 10. I have to see it with my own eyes. The Yankees player development under Genius Cashman has not been good. How Did he rupture his testicle. I hope not playing with himself. Florial is the typical Yankees bust. He cannot hit Major League pitchers.
ReplyDeleteAnd hey, Duque, you can mock these guys. But if we don't protect them, they'll end up lost to the Rule V draft!
ReplyDeleteDon't forget Omar, the talking duck. He's a hot one.
ReplyDeleteI am foreverer hopeful
ReplyDeleteThere is a Monty Python movie waiting to be produced somewhere in this cornucopia of suckitude.
ReplyDeleteP.S, saw Airplane!! last night.
ReplyDeleteNow there's entertainment.
I'll say! "Looks like we picked the wrong season to give up sniffing glue."
ReplyDeleteAh, I always get my pre-holiday boner from gnawing on a turkey leg.
ReplyDelete"Jacobs, I want to know absolutely everything that's happened up till now.
ReplyDeleteWell, let's see. First, the earth cooled."