Thank you, Yahweh, Allah, Jesus, Buddha, Fates, Gia, Kanye, Odin, Cthulhu, Jerry Garcia, Whomever You Are, for not originally begetting us as diehard supporters of the New York Mets.
No matter what happens this spring in Tampa - (close your eyes, and we can all imagine the unimaginable) - it won't likely rival the aftermath of last night's World Baseball Classic. Moments after Edwin Diaz struck out the side to seal Puerto Rico's emotional victory over its arch-rival, the Dominican Republic, the Mets closer apparently blew out his knee, while doing celebratory pogoes on the mound. They carted him off in a wheelchair.
BTW, that's no metaphor. A frickin' wheelchair. Since when do guys get carted off in wheelchairs?
If the Mets were a bank, Moody's Investment Services today would downgrade their rating, citing a "rapidly deteriorating bullpen." If they were a textbook, they'd be banned in Florida. If they were a Jake Paul heavyweight bout, the fight would be halted.
Today, as we tiptoe into the minefield of Yankee issues, let's get some context. Here's what didn't happen to us last night: We didn't just lose one of our key players for perhaps the entire season, due to the vengeful ghost of Bud Selig, who forever wanders the earth in search of ways to hurt New York City. Milwaukee Bud created the "World Classic" hoping to monetize the tribal emotions of nationalism, something baseball had mercifully avoided in its first 100 years. So this week, to honor their home dictatorships - and sell out stadiums - players gave their best to win - what - a cup? a trophy? medals? certificates of appreciation?
Wait... I got it... how about... the golden wheelchair!
Don't me wrong. I'm not crowing. I know how juju treats fans who cackle. Besides, a relatively large faction of the Yankee fan base believes the best thing that can happen to the Yankees is a thriving Mets franchise. Hal Steinbrenner will never face an existential crisis - he's too rich - but his father's legacy won't look all that well preserved if the Yankees become NYC's second tier team. The Mets can force Hal to get off his ass and spend more movie money. But their chances of winning in 2023 just suffered a gut shot. Or a kneecapping. We'll know more today. But from now on, the enduring image of the World Baseball Classic will be... a frickin' wheelchair?.
Which brings me to the Yankee left field situation. No wheelchairs. But not much else, either. The Yankees yesterday somehow managed to score eight runs while getting nothing - nada, zilch, nope - from players who seek to fill the LF sinkhole. The law firm of Hicks, Florial, McKinney and Ortega contributed six Ks and nothing else.
Of course, we have Oswaldo Cabrera and Anthony Volpe, two current beacons of hope. But do you get the feeling that these youngsters - who were originally slated for less stressful roles - are becoming central cogs to this team? Volpe has been leading off, and Oswaldo yesterday batted after Judge. I know that can't be the lineup on opening day, unless some injuries keep coming.
I'm ready to leap onto the Volpe bandwagon. But it would be nice if he actually had to beat out someone who was also having a solid spring, rather than simply be the best of not much. We aren't seeing much. But, hey, no wheelchairs, right?
Of course, we have Oswaldo Cabrera and Anthony Volpe, two current beacons of hope. But do you get the feeling that these youngsters - who were originally slated for less stressful roles - are becoming central cogs to this team? Volpe has been leading off, and Oswaldo yesterday batted after Judge. I know that can't be the lineup on opening day, unless some injuries keep coming.
I'm ready to leap onto the Volpe bandwagon. But it would be nice if he actually had to beat out someone who was also having a solid spring, rather than simply be the best of not much. We aren't seeing much. But, hey, no wheelchairs, right?
Baseball's bigwigs wanted the game in the Olympics. The Euro-centric Olympics organization gave in, but then changed their mind. And the WBC was born to give them a "nyah, nyah" on a bigger-then-America stage.
ReplyDeleteIt's complete bullshit, regardless of what Mike Trout says.
On another topic, Hal is not wrong to say you shouldn't need $300 million (formerly $200 million) to put together a championship team. However, you do need some skill and sound judgment when it comes to spending your money.
Cashman has proven his incompetence in those areas for decades. He is the poster child for blowing huge piles of cash on really stupid moves. And his trading acumen has gone from bad to lousy to pathetic.
So, on the one hand, Hal thinks he doesn't need to spend a billion dollars to field a championship team. And on the other hand, he just gave a 5-year contract to someone who proves, year in and year out, that he bleeds the franchise's money on bad decisions. With no championship in sight.
Seems kind of...odd, don't it?
On the other other hand, as Duque put it the other day in his post about ticket sales, Hal makes so much money that he should allow even an incompetent like Cashman to spend $500 million a year if he wants to. Donaldson sucks? Cut 'im. It's only $25 mil. Hicks? lol...come on, $8 mil a year? Get outta town.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fucked up company. Because that's all it is, a business venture. With bullshit PR.
I agree with JM, you don't need to spend $300 million to win. You just need someone not named Cashman to spend the $200m that has gone for the past 10 years.
ReplyDeleteAlso it's almost time to hear that Hi Ho Severino will need to be shut down for a few weeks (meaning months) because he has a sore ass.
Is it any different that Rondon is probably gone for the season pitching an inning in a meaningless preseason game or a meaningless WC contest. At Least Diaz saved the game.
Did anyone notice during yesterday’s game when Volpe kept rubbing his wrist with a sort of pained expression while playing in the field? The camera crew kept cutting to him but the announcers ignored it because they were too intent on talking to Boone in one of those insufferable innings where we have to listen to Boone Blather from the dugout while the game action goes completely ignored. Maybe it was nothing, but I fear the worst…
ReplyDeleteI never “got” the whole idea of the WBC, and don’t care for it. Was hoping it would fade away after COVID, but alas…
ReplyDeleteOverall, this year’s S/T seems lifeless, desultory…almost a period of rest for most of the team. Maybe that’s why bright spots like Volpe seem to shine so much. No pun intended, but the pitching staff could certainly use a shot in the arm. I think we need a little Nestor Cortes, right this very minute.
I did notice Volpe holding his wrist was surprised the announcers didn't comment. Seems like it was after he stole second base hopefully its nothing. I think you right Stratman they were to obsessed to listening to Boone saying nothing. I like Jack Curry but sometimes he talks a little too much.
ReplyDeleteThey will use that, "We don't need _______ to win." forever.
ReplyDeleteThen they slyly pad the total by adding worthless contracts like over the hill Donaldson, elephant in the room Stanton, always injured Sevy, One-season wonder Hicks, Zac we hardly knew ye Britton and overpaid oft-injured Rodin. Even Lumbago Rizzo is on pins and needles for 20mil a year.
They will moan like the rich family in CCR's Fortunate Son and say that we can't afford players in their prime like Harper and Machado for example.
Did any rational person believe that acquiring Stanton would be a good idea by about three years later. Especially when Jeter could not get rid of him fast enough. Why oh why did Stanton have to refuse SF?
Hal and Cashman are a wonderful couple. Lewis and Martin.
Spot on Archie
ReplyDelete“Some folks are born, silver spoon in hand
Lord, don't they help themselves, yeah
But when the taxman comes to the door
The house look a like a rummage sale”
Not to be the contrarian, overall the WBC is a net negative, mostly because the players have to put out playoff level effort before their bodies are ready but...
ReplyDeleteHere are two actual benefits:
1) Gleyber Torres is playing for Venezuela. As a result, the Yankees are getting extended looks at other infield combinations. It's the main reason we've gotten to see so much Volpe.
2) It's a chance to see how players from the Far East perform against talent from the Western Hemisphere. Many of the guys who were eventually signed by American teams made their mark at the WBC.
Not saying that it makes it worth it. Just wanted to look at it from a different POV.
BTW
ReplyDelete"Playing for the Yankees Has Its Perks. In-Flight Internet Is Not One of Them"
https://www.si.com/mlb/2023/03/15/yankees-no-in-flight-internet
LOL
I don't mind the WBC.
ReplyDeleteI don't care who wins or anything, but it's enjoyable to see non-MLB talent from Japan, Korea, Australia, and other nations. I never get a chance to see those players on TV here in the U.S.
El Duque, No need to glut over the Mutts. Yankee injury avalanche is coming soon, to a theatre near you!
ReplyDelete@JM "Hal ... just gave a 5-year contract to someone who proves, year in and year out, that he bleeds the franchise's money on bad decisions. With no championship ... Seems kind of...odd, don't it?"
ReplyDeleteYeah, so what does that tell us? There are only two possibilities. HAL is stupid/doesn't care or HAL likes what Cashman is doing.
Of these two possibilities, the latter is much more probable.
I can't buy that HAL doesn't care. If he didn't care, he would've sold the franchise and cashed out. If he's stupid, what wouldn't make any sense is how well he's doing financially. People who are stupid run their businesses into the ground real quick. Look at Silicon Valley Bank, for example.
No, I think the only reasonable possibility is that HAL is doing great financially and wants to keep it that way. The finances are the only thing he cares about. Risk management, something the idiots at Silicon Valley Bank could've taken lessons about from HAL, the Yankee financial genius.
Cashman is doing a fantastic job, from HAL's point of view. Which is strictly a financial one. And one that is not just about the profits, but about risk management as well. HAL likes the status quo and wants to keep it that way. Just barely making the playoffs and then getting booted out seems to be the sweet spot that his accountants drew up. And Cashman follows the plan marvelously well.
The WBC is yet another of MLB's pathetic attempts to imitate other sports. They really think it will become the equivalent of the soccer World Cup. Oy.
ReplyDeleteNice point, Doug—but I still hate it.
I guess what I'm sayin' is, we shouldn't judge Cashman by our own standards, but we need to think about it from HAL's point of view.
ReplyDeleteCashman is a genius at getting the Yankees into the playoffs and then getting them eliminated ASAP. The team is purposefully designed to spend a large amount of money every year but without winning anything.
Hell, I don't think anyone here could do such a masterful job of playing second or third fiddle to the ASS-stros or the Tampons, while making a ton of money for HAL. And all of it, probably, without paying any income taxes to federal, state or local government. Cashman should teach business at Harvard or Yale.
Well said, JM. I was writing something similar the other day.
ReplyDeleteHAL's motives remain mysterious. He is, as they used to say of the USSR, an enigma, wrapped inside a mystery...tied up in an inherited-money, rich boy's stupidity, apparently.
Does Cashie just flatter him so shamelessly? Does he want the other owners to be his pal? Does some part of him really NOT want Daddy's obsession to win it all? Or is he unconsciously fearing that he WILL exceed Daddy's success?
Me, I suspect that he feels he's hit the ultimate, financial sweet spot, by just contending every year and never winning.
Whatever the case, it makes being a Yankees fan something it's never really been before: an enervating experience.
And by the by, I thought Stanton was conspicuous by his absence in that lineup.
ReplyDeleteCould it be that the submerged Titanic iceberg of injuries is ALREADY hurt?
Putting a meaningless, high end competition on a month before the season starts is just begging the juju gods for injuries. This is completely stupid. Players are generally not ready and should be eased into high competition. Lord knows, some are barely ready for the season (looking right at you, Severino). Were I a baseball owner or GM, I would prohibit all my players and prospects from participating in this injury festival. I feel the same way about the home run competition at the All Star game. Another great way to ruin a ballplayer's season on a meaningless competition.
ReplyDeleteDo it in November, if you have to do it at all. I know I would never waste my time watching a single game.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/stantmi03.shtml
ReplyDeleteAt the time, most of us were dancing in the streets over the Stanton trade. And why wouldn't we? He was coming into his prime, had he been on the free agent market Hal would have been crucified for NOT signing him.
I'm no fan of Hal-Cash, in fact I can't stand them. But let's be fair. Now Hicks, Donaldson, Montas (I mean, trading for a pitcher with shoulder issues, NFW) and the years long reluctance to buy really top talent is maddening........ Oh, and the amazing "ability" to never draft players who actually have meaningful careers is statistically improbable, sigh...
Everyone is blaming The Mets for having Diaz play in the WBC. Everyone is blaming MLB for having this competition before the regular season. Objectively, that tear of the patellar tendon would have happened sometime during the regular season if Diaz didn't play in the WBC...it was a matter of time. It's unfortunate but the WBC didn't cause it...
ReplyDeleteKevin,
ReplyDeleteI understand your point, but I was honestly wary of the length and structure of the contract from the start.
I figured 3 seasons of VG to great play and then. Well, what has happened .
The definition of a millstone.
The day of the trade, I told my son and brother that I had that feeling that you get when a little voice tells you, "Don't go into those woods,"
We are now experiencing the dread seeping from a medieval European forest.
I completely agree Hal is more interested in the financial side of the Yankee business. That said I wonder if he is operating on behalf of his extended family's interests in this. We don't know, at least I don't, how the ownership is structured within his family. Maybe how he operates makes perfect sense financially to them, especially if they don't care about baseball.
ReplyDeleteArchangel, "Don't go into those woods,"
ReplyDeleteWe are now experiencing the dread seeping from a medieval European forest.
LMAO! I'm a little more optimistic but I always enjoy hearing Rommel's quote (in movies at least) to his underlings, "You can afford to be optimistic. I CAN NOT"!
I think that Cashman must make a big trade to straighten this roster up. He has to show that he has both creativity AND balls. But then again, I can afford to be optimistic... This year my time following the team will be based on results. I'm no longer the young man that I was (yesterday?), I'm not inclined to spend too much time with "that sense of dread".