And for all our depressing issues this winter - Hicks in LF, "Jackie" Donaldson at 3B - at least we can still be entertained by our foes' continual woes.
As you know, the Mets have blown through all previous spending limits, an $800 million penis extension for owner Steve Cohen. Surely, they will win the World Series. Right? They'll win 130 games. Right? A juggernaut, like Kevin McCarthy. Right?
Look closer, though, and you must wonder if Cohen isn't a 3D-printer version of Peter Angelos, who in the 1990s choked his Orioles with thick wads of money.
It's sexy to fill out a rotation with the names Verlander and Scherzer. The problem, though, is their ages - 40 and 39, respectively. Moreover, both looked ancient and tired last fall.
It doesn't end there. Carlos Carrasco will be 36. David Robertson, 38. Adam Ottavino, 37. Sterling Marte, 35, and then there is the ongoing matter of Carlos Correa, whose knee is floating on grease. In the best case scenario, the cheating Correa will be a SS who is playing 3B.
Cohen's mistake might have been in secretly patronizing Hal Steinbrenner by choosing not to bid on Aaron Judge and Carlos Rodon. Cohen could have had both for $500 million. Instead, he's got Brandon Nimmo. Good luck with that.
Then there are the Redsocks, still recovering from the jolt of Xander Bogaerts leaving for San Diego. Their replacement, Trevor Story, is half the player, with far less love from the fan base.
Last week, when Boston spent the house on Rafael Devers, it didn't bring an outpouring of love. Instead, the fans angrily remembered Bogaerts, Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez - a certifiable Yankee killer - who left for the Dodgers. Nathan Eovaldi, too; he's a Texas Ranger. It's like they declared war on all players who tormented us.
If Chris Sale returns to Cy Young form, Boston will be fine. But Sale will turn 34 this year, and in the last two seasons, he pitched a combined 46 innings. So Boston will lean not only on Sale, but on Corey Kluber, 36, and James Paxton, 35. Yeesh. They have a supposed star LF from Japan. In the other corner, Brigadoon Refsnyder?
The newly expanded Yankee brain trust remains stunted in its quest for a LF. That hole might not be patched until June. By then, our chief rivals might be suffering holes of their own.
Cohen has spent a lot of money, and a lot on old guys. You'll never see Cashman doing that. He looks at the scrap heap and signs over the hillers for peanuts. He spends money wisely and responsibly, making sure the team gets results from every dollar it invests.
ReplyDeleteYou have to understand how hard it was to type that while laughing so hard my fingers were jumping all over.
Doug, I'm a big Murakami fan, too. Have all of his books and also think he's an interesting guy. There are some other great authors in Japan, but their works either aren't translated or take forever to be translated. If you want to tackle a great 1,000 pager, check out the two volumes of "Lady Joker."
Age, like Shingles, doesn't care. About what team and older body plays for.
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ReplyDeleteJM,
ReplyDeleteThank you. I will check "Lady Joker" out.
The only Murakami book I didn't really like was Norwegian Wood
My favorite is still "The Wind Up Bird Chronicles". I just finished his short story collection "First Person Singular". How can you not love stories about the ghost of Charlie Parker or the "The Yakult Swallows Poetry Collection."
Last thing on Murakami before I turn to the topic of the day. Went to his web site to get the names of the short stories and saw this...
"In 1978 Murakami was in the bleachers of Jingu Stadium watching a baseball game between the Yakult Swallows and the Hiroshima Carp when Dave Hilton, an American, came to bat. According to an oft-repeated story, in the instant that he hit a double, Murakami suddenly realized that he could write a novel. He went home and began writing that night."
Pretty much that's it right there.
I guess the issue with Steve Cohen is that he's a fan not a "baseball guy" so he goes out and gets the "best" of the names he knows that are available because he doesn't know the guys that haven't come into their own yet or play for other teams but aren't big names yet.
ReplyDeleteLike if most of us had to put together a team. We want Otahni! We want Machado. We want Patrick Corbin! (Boy was I wrong there.)
What is inexcusable is how often Brain does this. "Let's get Donaldson!" He should know better. It's his fucking job.
Schadenfreude doesn’t work for me.
ReplyDeleteI want the Yankees to be the gold standard of franchises. Hated. Feared. Respected. Right now, it’s only the first.
Change is a beautiful thing, I want to see beauty again.
The Winter is the same old shit. The fact that Barren Hicks is mentioned aa a possibility in LF, says a lot. Genius Cashman is a putz. Let's hope that Sabaen and Minaya can fix the problem of poor player development.
ReplyDeleteNobody wants Hicks...nobody wants Donaldson...and the Yanks rarely release players still on contract...
ReplyDeleteGreat story about Murakami, Doug!
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree about the fan-GM difference. At least with Corbin, though, we probably would have won one World Series! But I know what you mean. I remember very much wanting us to get Chone Figgins, when he was a free agent. Not a good idea, as it turned out.
But hey...have no fear! Billy McKinney is (back) here!
ReplyDeleteYes, signed to a minor-league deal after the last two, stunning .096 and .192 seasons. (Think of it: he hit .192. And the next year his average dropped by almost 100 points.)
Well, hey. He's still 28. And if I had to pick whether he or Hicks would go on the DL first...