Saturday, March 25, 2023

Chronicle of a Death Foretold

 


Ah, why is that Black Swan always right? It must be the Einstein of birds.

But this one was predictable. Indeed, we all predicted it. Setback Luis Severino, down again.


I was surprised to see that some of my brethren here never liked Setback Sevvy. I loved him. By his third year in the show, he was one of the best pitchers in the major leagues, finishing third in the AL Cy Young race. By the next season, 2018, he was even better, the ace of the staff.

That year, as the Yanks came charging up the standings, chopping 7 1/2 games off the lead of the streakin', cheatin', BoSox, it seemed as though there really might be another dynasty. On July 1, our boys slugged the Carmine Hose in a Sunday night game at the Stadium, 11-1, leaving them tied for first after exactly half the season. The Yanks were 54-27, and their potential looked eliminated.

But in that game, too, you could practically call the pitch when Sevvy's career went from gold to dross, unlimited to marginal. 

In the 7th inning, with the Yanks up 9-0, Sevvy was cruising. He'd allowed only 3 walks and 2 bangles, and struck out 6. He got the first two outs of the 7th, too, inducing Rafael Devers and Brock Holt to bounce into routine groundouts. He'd only thrown 99 pitches, and Christian Vazquez, the Sox' right-handed, light-hitting catcher was up.

But all of a sudden, Sevvy was out of the game and Dave Robertson was in. No explanation, and the Yanks were mum about it the next day. But it soon became obvious that Luis was hurt.

Before that game, Sevvy was 13-2, with a 1.98 ERA. The rest of the way, he was 6-6, 6.19, and in the playoffs he was obliterated by Boston.

The Yanks said that he was tipping his pitches. The Yanks said that he inexplicably showed up late for that playoff game in Boston. 

They lied about this, of course. They lied about it just as Brian Cashman's front office lies about everything, all the time, and especially the injuries that his incompetent staff constantly allows to happen and constantly fails to fix. 

Persisting in that lie, the Yanks—Cashman—gave Sevvy a huge new contract after the 2018 season, which with the option year has now amounted to almost $56 million. A contract like that, for a guy who supposedly can't hide his pitches and shows up late for a key playoff game?

Obviously, he was hurt. But Brian Cashman, who hopes for good things to happen like a desperate child, thought coughing up the big bucks would change reality.

Well, reality is a stubborn thing. For all that money, Sevvy's won exactly 9 regular-season games, and gone 0-2 in the postseason. And now he's hurt again.

For all of the other things that have gone wrong since that July night at the Stadium—for all of Andujars and the Hickses, and the Gleybers and the Giancarlos, and the almost endless horror flick that was Chappie the Sweat Meister—obviously, Luis Severino was the heart of the Yankees, and they've never been the same since.

I don't blame Sevvy for this. I blame Brian Cashman. And as Dr. T. asked in a previous post comment—like Zola thundering "J'accuse!" during the Dreyfus Affair—when are Cashie and his minions EVER going to be held accountable?

The answer, of course, is the same for the question of, "When will the Yankees win again in our lifetimes?" 

Never.







11 comments:

  1. The Yankees totally destroyed this kid's arm:

    2015: 62 innings pitched
    2016: 71 IP
    2017: 193 IP
    2018: 191 IP

    Even his first two years in his first two years in the minors he went from 44IP to 113IP.

    No wonder his arm fell off.

    The Yankees killed him. Like they do with all their pitchers.

    Who is running this death barge?

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  2. I've been wondering all winter why I still follow this team, knowing full well what's coming at the end of the road every year.

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  3. As had been said in dark corners from time to time, it’s not that developing pitchers throw too much, it’s that they don’t throw enough. In prehistoric times most starting pitchers started 35-40 games, often completing 15 or more. In ‘72 Steve Carlton completed 30 games, more than most pitchers start nowadays. Different era for sure. And without doubt, the NYY F/O has much to answer for in terms of player development, not that they ever will have to answer for it. A Confederacy Of Dunces….

    His contract is finally up after this season, so at that point we can sever Severino.

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  4. Maybe so, 999...though just in looking at the Yankees' past, there were a disturbing number of pitchers back in the day who had a terrific couple of years, and then got hurt and completely flamed out.

    All these guys in the 1950s and '60s—Bob Grim, Johnny Kucks, Tom Sturdivant, Rollie Sheldon, Bill Stafford, Jim Bouton, Al Downing (though he was able to come back).

    There DOES seem to be SOME indication that guys whose innings were limited for whatever reason when young—Warren Spahn because of WW II, Whitey Ford after being drafted, etc.—had longer careers.

    But, as you say, that was certainly not the case for Steve Carlton...

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  5. There are other ideas.

    Allen Barra, one of the smartest and most interesting thinkers in the press box, has put forward the idea that young pitchers should be limited to almost all fastballs. He thinks it's the extra torque on breaking pitches that does the damage...

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  6. Is it anymore predictible than Anthony Rizzo's going out sometime this season?

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  7. Me, I think we need to teach people to pitch to contact again.

    Tommy John, 1981 playoffs:

    6 innings vs. Oakland, 74 pitches, 1 run.

    7 innings vs. LA, 78 pitches, 0 runs.

    Not easy, I know. But the sort of thing that should be stressed more...

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  8. Whatever the case, you know it won't happen.

    Cashman's vaunted "investigation" into all the injuries was promised after 2018 or 2019, I think. I never happened.

    There is never ANY innovation, never any look into how the Yanks can actually do things better.

    And HAL, for reasons that we speculate about endlessly, let's it happen, forking over 18-wheelers full of money, year-in and year-out, to guys who prove physically unable to take the field.

    I'd say we might be missing something. But that something might only be stupidity.

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  9. I've always been very high on Sevy....to the point of losing a bet on the blog over the quickness of his healing powers. You can't hate on someone just because he's injury prone (except Ellsbury who was previously a Red Sock and Pavano who simply sucked). Always seemed like a good kid who wanted the ball. Unlike quite a few others I've observed since watching the Yankees regularly circa 1960.Let's hope he consults his own medical professionals and excludes any medical advice from anyone on the Yankees payroll so he can get healthy in time to help the team earn a playoff spot.

    I have no clue as to who Allen Bara is, but his advice to throw almost all fastballs is quite foolish. Any MLB (or MiLB) hitter who knows a pitcher will continually throw fastballs will eventually light him up faster than a ________________. And that starting pitcher (with a few exceptions) will have a very short baseball career.

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  10. Here is an SI article from 3 seasons ago regarding strikeouts and fastball usage.

    I like this quote from the article:

    “I think 95 is the new 90,” Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Guys can really hit velocity. And so, to kind of get guys off of that, pitching off your secondaries … I really believe there’s a lot to that.”

    https://www.si.com/mlb/2020/08/10/justin-verlander-fastball-usage



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  11. Well, you make sense, Carl Weitz. Which is maybe why young pitchers should be confined to the pen, period.

    ReplyDelete

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