No longer shall there be Covid, or political strife, or wildfires, or mudslides, or pain and suffering... though it will still be nearly impossible to get a plumber on weekends.
I refer to Opening Day, the holiest date on the IT IS HIGH calendar after July 4, the birthday of John Sterling. Sometime, between now and O-DAY, the Yankees must make a move. Actually, several. They will need to jettison someone, to cull the herd and make way for 2023.
I hereby speak for the entire Yankiverse in asking Brian Cashman - today - to phone, text, Facetime or butt-dial every single MLB general manager on the planet - and Miami, too. He should offer around the newly rejuvenated Josh Donaldson - a reborn and refurbished slugger who has rediscovered his 2015 MVP stroke, and who is headed for a fantastic season, Comeback of the Year! Do they know he's only 37 - 11 years younger than Derek Jeter, who could easily hit .260. Donaldson is one of those seasoned old pros who can "teach the kids how to win." He's already won the respect and admiration of African-American players by kiddingly calling them "Jackie." He's a veritable Gold Glove at third, and he hit two HRs yesterday. Did you see that? Two HRs. He's back. Hey, Monty, let's make a deal!
Look, I hate to mock Donaldson. It's not his fault that somebody gave him an outlandish contract, and the Yankees then traded for it. That dust-up last season with Tim Anderson? Let's give Donaldson the benefit of the doubt. Let's say he wasn't being racist. But he still represents the trouble with the modern Yankees. Like a recurring movie sequence, every year, after avoiding bidding wars on free agents, they trade for aging veterans with incredibly bloated contracts. They did it with Kevin Brown. They did it with Giancarlo. They did it with - dear God, don't make me go down the list - let's just say that Donaldson is the latest former star the Yankees acquired from some GM who was desperate to ditch. Also, to make matters worse, last October - on the world stage - Donaldson was putrid. The fans booed, and the Yankees this winter found no team willing to take him. End of story?
NO! HE HIT TWO HRS YESTERDAY! If, say, he hits two more today, could they find a taker?
I don't think Donaldson is a bad person or the cause of Yankee rot. He's just another guy whose contract overwhelms his actual value. If the Yankees could trade him tomorrow - for anything, forget true value, just to a team that would absorb his contract - here's their infield:
1b Rizzo
2b Gleyber
ss Volpe/Oswald
3b LeMahieu
back ups: IKF, Oswaldo
Trouble is, we have Donaldson, the Yankee equivalent of a teetering bank that is too big to fail. We must play him. We must endure this mating dance with our own crapola. If he gets off to a hot start, it simply means he will play longer into the summer before the slump hits, before age catches up to him.
I say, make the calls, Brian. It's a cruel business, baseball, and today might be the best shot you get.
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14 comments:
They need to focus on trading IKF. He's expendable. He's trying out at catcher and CF. How about trying out at another position...left out...
I don't mind IFK as a rotating piece.
It is not his fault the the Yankees traded for him and expected him to be any more that I space holder but acted /marketed him like he was a SS on a WS Champ.[ When they actually passed on All-Stars because of cash.]
Really, I hope only the best for the guy. He seems like a pro's pro.
Kind of a Horace Clarke vibe. It was not either of their faults that the Yanks management suck.
Mike Burke was better looking than Cashman, he was a better dresser than Cashman, he had more hair and he told funnier jokes and he could dance the pants off of Cashman!
Can we trade IFK for a bucket of KFC, EXTRA CRISPY?
How many roving infielders does one team need?
We have DJ LeMahieu moving between first, second, and third.
We have Isiah Kiner-Falefa moving between second, short, third, and now the outfield.
We have Oswaldo Cabrera moving between first, second, short, third, and the outfield.
We have Oswald Peraza and Anthony Volpe who have both played second and short this spring.
I remember when teams used to have one roving utility infielder and the other positions had set starters. Too much to ask for?
The Yankees will need to eat some large portion of JD's contract to pull off a trade. If Donaldson was not in a season-long slump last year, we might actually like him. By my humble estimation only and not actually based on any sort of statistical review, he was better than pretty good as a fielder.
But if he were to get on a spring hot streak, sell him!
Make room for the young,new guys!
No other team is dumb enough to take Done aldson and his 25 million contract. Maybe Cashman could trade him to the Yankees again. He was the only GM dumb enough to acquire him.
JM
"Cashhhhman!"
"Grrrr yes. Cashhhhman!"
Rumor mill...Texas is interested in JD...
No one is swayed by S/T homers. The main issue here is of course THE CONTRACT.
We would have to eat most of it to facilitate a trade. That would help, but still probably would not get it done. Similar to Hicks, we have an older player (very old in MLB terms) who is in obvious decline. Why would any team want to add such a useless piece at any price?
I am extremely doubtful that any trade gets done. (Exception would be someone like Florial, who would have to be exposed to waivers if he doesn’t make the team) Yes, Torres and IKF are the most likely candidates. This would be done not be to clear any perceived glut, but done for financial reasons, since every single thing this organization does revolves around money. Torres would clear 10M against the salary cap and perhaps even return a viable piece. However, this team always overvalues its players and would probably ask for too much in return.
Oh yeah, snap your fingers and trade Donaldson. All you have to do is find an MLB GM who is even dumber than Cashmsn and who believes that the sample size of one game trumps his age and dismal long-term nose diving performance. Sure rhing!
Per MLB Trsde Rumors, here is the list of Yankee Zplayers out of option years:
Yankees
Albert Abreu, RHP
Jimmy Cordero, RHP
Estevan Florial, OF
Domingo German, RHP
Clay Holmes, RHP
Kyle Higashioka, C
I don't mind keeping IKF as a back-up to everything. But the other dead wood has got to go.
First of all, Cashman ain't going to trade Donaldson because they wanted to take on that contract. It was a financial move. They want to pay out on that contract.
Second, no GM will offer anything for Donaldson. You'd have to have the same kind of rationale, a financial one. Anybody else out there willing to take on 25 mil in order to reduce their chances of winning? Probably not. I suppose if Donald Duck sucks bad enough at some point, they might DFA him. Because they would owe him the remainder of his contract, so that works for them financially. But the kid who replaces Donald Duck might actually play better, and that is a risk Yankee management wants to avoid.
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