LIST I: THE IGNORABLES
Xander Bogaerts
Carlos Correa
Corey Seager
Trea Turner
Trevor Story
Francisco Lindor
Manny Machado
These are the high-priced shortstops who in recent years hit the market - as free agents or trade chips - only to find the Yankee brass hiding under its bed.
At any time, Hal Steinbrenner could have stepped up, jumped in, and outbid the planet for any one of them. Instead, he played with his lobster and didn't answer the phone.
The Yankees tried Troy Tulowitski, Gleyber Torres and Isiah Kiner-Falefa as stopgap SS's until either Oswald Peraza, Oswaldo Cabrera, Anthony Volpe and/or Anybody McAnyone could rise through the system and secure the position. And the Yankees continually paid the price, with season-ending exits by Columbus Day.
Could Volpe make the first list irrelevant? Can he be worth the wait?
LIST II: THE ABHORRIBLES
Miguel Andújar
Tyler Austin
Greg Bird
Clint Frazier
Gary Sánchez
Billy McKinney
Thairo Estrada
Mike Ford
These are the ill-fated position players who - with varying degrees of YES-fueled hype - appeared and disappeared. With each, Yank fans went through the Kubler-Ross Five Stages of Yankee Prospect Failure: Anticipation, Excitement, Concern, Denial, Cashman Death Threats. It's been a hard slog. The Yankees have logged an entire lineup of frustrations, awaiting breakouts that never broke.
That said, we should weigh this list of exasperations against one name: Aaron Judge. Somehow, the Yankees managed to elevate and keep baseball's greatest slugger and a once-in-a-generation captain.
So, onto which list will Volpe end up? The all-star shortstops? Or the lost causes?
I'd like to say that we will soon know, but that would be untrue. The thing about long haul decisions is that they take time to cook down. The historian, Charles Beard, asked to sum up the vagaries of humanity, said, "The grist of the gods grinds slowly, but infinitely small." It will take years to get a true sense of Volpe's fate. Then he'll end up - etched in concrete or maybe bronze - on a list that doesn't lie.
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12 comments:
This team is not going to win or lose because of Mayor Volpe. Judge and the Geriatric crew (Stanton, Jackie, Rizzo, Hicks, etc) will decide how this team does.
And then there is the pitching. Will Melido Perez or Sidney Ponson come out of retirement? Actually I'm excited to see Brito & Vasquez (Randy not Javy 2x). I think Clark Kent will be in Scranton by May and by that time half the AAA team will have been traded for 3-4 35yr old pitchers.
Stanton and Hicks will be with us forever. Mercifully, Jackie "Duck" Donaldson will be gone after this year. But this year, one or two young guys give us something to watch, perhaps a few sparks in the sodden wood of our starting lineup.
This is really odd to say, but does anyone else find Judge kind of boring? Doesn't anybody ever do or say anything with some zip in it anymore? Pepitone's hair dryer. The wife swap. Reggie's braggadocio. Martin's alcoholic madness. Hell, I'll throw in Winfield nailing the seagull up in Toronto. Anything. (Jackie did provide a moment, but it was too ugly and not crazy at all.)
All this straight-arrow, corporate, Sunnybrook Farm shit makes me want to watch Dr. Pol wrestle a calf out of its momma.
From the NY Post:
The Mets have accepted failure with their trade for Darin Ruf by designating the righty hitter for assignment, The Post has learned.
The Mets decided they would rather have Tim Locastro’s speed off the bench in a year when new rules are expected to enhance stolen bases over continuing to try to revive Ruf in New York.
Jeter was the same way, JM. Boring. In this day and age, healthy emotional equilibrium which manifests as a bland personality is probably the only sustainable way to be a "star" in Gotham. Or at least for the Yankees.
I will take several helpings of "boring" Jeter.
There is something reassuring about someone who lets his play do the talking for him instead of self-promotion d-bags.
[Here's looking at you Reggie The Anti- Thurman]
I dunno. I still remember Jeter insisting on staying in the game even though he thought he'd busted his ankle in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series. I remember him actually breaking the ankle—or something—during his last run with the Yanks in the 2012 ALCS. He would play until he literally could not.
Yes, Reggie was great, the rare man who could back up his words with blasts into the black seats.
But there were so many others who just became annoying soap operas. A-Rod, of course, but also all the nonsense with Ellsbury, Montero, Brown, Sanchez, Clemens, Cano, Nick Swisher crying over how the fans dared to boo him when he basically threw away the season out in right field.
Yes, many of them gave us some good moments. But there was also too much whining, juicing, malingering, and underperforming in the clutch.
My worry with Judge is not that he isn't colorful enough. I worry that he'll never see a World Series because his boob of a general manager can't fill in the supporting cast around him.
Merciful of el duque to end the LIST II: THE ABHORRIBLES at only 8 players.
This franchise has enough busted prospects in the Cashman years to fill a novel.
I'm gonna see that glass as half full and wish the kid a fantastic rookie year. Make us forget the myriad of miserable misses.
Volpe looks like the real thing. Hopefully he won't make the list. In CaSHMAN, EVEN THE BLIND SQUIRREL FINDS A NUT!
From what I’ve seen of Volpe, I think he’ll be fine. Not Jeter, but eventually our best SS since at least Didi.
So…what about Peraza? He was anointed as SS at the beginning of S/T, but now he’s stuck inside of Scranton, with the Bronx blues again. Trade, someone said? Nope - no trades without dumping some salary. Luxury Tax iceberg dead ahead! I guess it’s the living hell of the Scranton Econo Lodge, at least until Team Physician Dr. Frankenstein and his band of merry pranksters get their germ infested hands on Volpe.
Home Run call, you say? (grunts) How about “Chalk one up for the the A/V Dept!” aahhh, that sucks worse than a cashman trade proposal.
I don't like to reverse-fan but I'm hoping Cacklin' Jackie gets off to a bad start and follows it up with an extended slump. Same with Hicks. I want to see Peraza, Volpe, and Torres in the infield, Waldo in left. No Setback Sevy? that's something we're all accustomed to. I'm looking forward to swearing at J Hony through my TV this summer, maybe Vasquez, maybe Gomez. Young teams are easier to root for, expectations are low, disappointments accepted, successes surprising and delightful. Yepper, delightful.
bornto
Just read your comment. I was thinking about Peraza this AM as well and just put up a post about him. He is royally screwed. Volpe is safe and on the other side of what you described.
Duque -
Really liked the Kubler Ross stages and remember, you can't spell abhorribles with out Abs and horrible.
Judge's Blandness
I'm really starting to admire him. The Captain should always lead by example. He's a professional and seemingly possesses common sense and perspective.
I'm sure that what is currently the quote on the masthead of this fine blog played into Cashman's decision to give Volpe give Volpe the nod.
You know who else besides Jeter was bland? Lou Gehrig. I'll take it. Except for the disease part. That would suck.
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