Well, here we are.
Blink, and five years go by.
In 2019, German goes 18-4. That's no misprint on the IIH Linotype. Eighteen and four. That's a Guidry-level stat. He was the Yankee IT Girl.
Then he punches out his girlfriend, apparently in front of the entire NYC sports world, and goes away for a year. Then comes Covid. Then, in 2021, still skin and bones, he just isn't very good. Last year, a mini-comeback - if you can call it a comeback: he goes 2-5 with a 3.61 ERA.
And here we are.
With any kind of health this spring, the Yankees wouldn't be trotting out German every fifth day. He'd be the bullpen long-man, assuming he beat out Clarke Schmidt and wasn't sent to Scranton. But the rotation is a shambles and - well - here we are.
Yesterday, German pitched so dominantly that the Twins gave him the highest honor known to a pitcher: They accused him of doctoring the ball. Doesn't get much better. Obviously, he secured himself a slot in the April rotation. The bar is rather low. But is he real, or was yesterday just another false flag sent by the juju gods to drive us crazy?
If you're looking for answers, rest assured: There are none here. I doubt even German knows why he was so overwhelming yesterday, and whether his command will continue. But for now anyway, in one afternoon, he staved off five years of critics. For now. And here we are.
Does life really have any meaning?
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI watch him and hope he pitches well but I just can't not have the punch-out in the back of my head. The whole domestic violence business makes my skin crawl. But I'm just some grouchy old bastard so who am I to judge?
I'll miss the Diva today - we have a function for our daughter we're attending - but I'll be sure to check in here first thing when we get home.
Has anyone ever seen a more detailed account of German beating up his girlfriend? That's the most I've ever seen: "German beat up his girlfriend," sometimes with the addition of "badly."
ReplyDeleteI'm not being morbid here, I just want to know what the guy is guilty of beyond a vague mention. It's said that the incident was so shocking and/or brutal that he deserved what happened to his career. I'm fine with that. But I want to know what it is he actually did, because it would not only prove he deserved what he got, but might show that he really deserves much, much worse.
Given how MLB and the Yankees both work, the latter suspicion seems pretty likely. And I haven't ever seen even a purported leak about all this in the media, which means somebody with power is suppressing the story big time.
Anyone seen anything about it?
13 Bit:
ReplyDeleteAmong the great existential questions that will dominate our lifetimes, “Does life really have any meaning?” has to be right up there next to; “What the hell kind of name is Rocco Baldelli?”
Now where’s my damn coffee?
Today's Lineup questions;
ReplyDeleteWhy does Stanton need a day off after only DHing yesterday when tomorrow is an off-day?
Why is badly slumping Torres batting cleanup?
Why is Hicks playing ?
More examples of existential questions that confound and furrow our brows….
ReplyDeleteWelp Looks Like our DH/OF who's made outta Glass is taking his routine trip to the IL... Fuck
ReplyDeleteWhere's the Dalai Lama when you need him?
ReplyDeleteFor JM , best I could find
ReplyDeleteFrom Lindsey Adler / The Atheltic
“In September 2019, Germán and his girlfriend attended a charity gala held by then-teammate CC Sabathia. Many of Germán’s 2019 teammates were also there with their families. Germán slapped his girlfriend at the event, sources said, but the MLB investigation focused primarily on what happened at his home later that night.“According to multiple league sources, including a person with knowledge of the MLB investigation, Germán was intoxicated and became physically violent toward his girlfriend until she hid in a locked room. The victim is said to have contacted the wife of another Yankees player, and the couple drove to Germán’s home late at night. The victim remained with the teammate’s wife, while the player attempted to calm down Germán, who is said to have been angry and belligerent.“The incident was reported to MLB by a different member of the Yankees staff, whom Germán’s girlfriend had told about it. The victim did not call law enforcement, so there is no police report from the night of the assault.”
With no police report, this is probably all we’re going to get. I appreciate the performance yesterday, but If there’s one thing I loathe it’s a bully.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch
ReplyDeleteMLB.COM:
Giancarlo Stanton will be put on the injured list with a hamstring strain, Yankees manager Aaron Boone told MLB Network Radio on Sunday morning. Stanton will undergo an MRI, Boone added. Shortstop Oswald Peraza is with the team and will be recalled to the Major League roster.
Stanton, who left Saturday's game for a pinch-runner immediately after stroking a two-run double off the wall, was off to a strong start to the 2023 season, hitting .269 with four home runs and 11 RBIs in 13 games.
Peraza hit .306 in 18 games for the Yankees last season. He has hit .290 with four RBIs and five steals in nine games with Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre.
@ The Archangel, Well, those questions at least have easy answers: because Aaron Boone is a baboon and a jackass. Jackass Boone and Dumbass Cashman, what a team they make, eh?
ReplyDeleteDumbass probably dictates the lineup to Jackass over the phone every morning.
Yep, my question no.2 was answered.
ReplyDeleteFinancial Anchor, Jeter Discard, ASSman evidence of Brilliance is on the IL.
The never ending cavalcade of injuries and mismanagement reveals itself once more.
Thanks, 999. That is...I won't say "good" to know, but at least illuminating. And if it's true, yes, good that he was suspended and why is he still on the team?
ReplyDeleteBut I agree with JM: I never liked the fact that what German did was so heinous he was just disappeared. Let's at least hear what it is.
Actually question No.1.
ReplyDeleteI should proofread myself more.
@ borntorun999, The slap part of it is what I remember. All of a sudden, I'm seeing talk about punches. Your post sheds much more light on it. It appears that he was a drunken bully that night. So maybe he needed Alcoholics Anonymous more than a girlfriend.
ReplyDeleteAnd Stanton...hey, he had to run all the way to second base!!
ReplyDeleteSomewhere—probably in his enormous mansion—Derek Jeter is laughing.
Domingo German was the best Yankee pitcher the year of the slap/suspension. Taking him out of the equation pretty much was the death knell for the Yanks in the playoffs. The record that year was not a mirage. He has excellent stuff. After he finally came back from the suspension, which basically was like two years, he wasn't the same.
ReplyDeleteSo yesterday, the old German was back. Hope he doesn't go out celebrating and drinking.
A. Volpe (R) SS
ReplyDeleteA Judge (R) CF
A Rizzo (L) 1B
G Torres (R) 2B
D LeMahieu (R) 3B
W Calhoun (L) DH
O Cabrera (S) RF
J Trevino (R) C
A Hicks (S) LF
But hey - Donaldson will be back in a few days!
Giancarlo Stanton has, thus far, missed 36.7 percent of the team's games as a Yankee.
ReplyDeleteIf he matches that mark this year—and there's no reason why he shouldn't—he'll miss 59 games. Insane that the team refuses to move on from this millstone.
Glad Cordero's not in the lineup. All that home run hitting was getting on my nerves.
ReplyDeleteCheaters are inherently suspicious whenever someone else does better than them. They think everyone who does better is also cheating. So maybe the Twins pitchers are using foreign substances, with Rocco Baldelli's blessing.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Boone should have asked the umps to check up on that Twins starter in Game 1 of the series. If the Twins starter today is cooking, perhaps Boone should pull the same stunt that Rocco Baldelli pulled yesterday.
I remember an old incident with Tim Leary on the mound. Back when the Yankees were bad. He had a tiny piece of sandpaper in his pocket. As the umps were checking him, he puts his hand in his pocket and then pulls it out real fast to make the paper fall out. But one of the umps saw it falling to the ground. And the camera caught it too. He would've been better served studying magic tricks. I'm sure he would've come up with a better way to conceal it than that.
Last week I incorrectly predicted a man-child tantrum/meltdown from Cole.
ReplyDeleteI admitted I was wrong.
However, given what must be the unresolvable internalized jealousy and rage building deep inside after German got away yesterday with rosin pasting his pitching pinky, coupled with discovering that Baldelli will be scrutinizing his hands from the dugout through high powered binoculars - I just can't see Cole making it out of the fourth inning today.
@ AboveAverage I agreed with you last time and, even though the prediction was wrong, there is even more of a chance that Cole lays an egg today. Cole has been strangely brilliant so far this year. Too good. You know he's going to have a meltdown sooner or later.
ReplyDeleteDidn't he give up back to back to back homers last year? Wasn't that against the Twins? Maybe it was the Traffic Guardians. We could see another home run derby today.
ReplyDeleteI remember an old incident with Tim Leary on the mound.:
IIRC, they sent a bag of scuffed baseballs to the commissioner but Leary was never caught. The one I always think about is Joe Niekro.
I think Mrs German was the happiest person yesterday
ReplyDeleteI don't know about laws in NY, but in Florida the cops MUST be called in for domesticate abuse (well, assuming that someone will call them in the first place). The case still baffles....
ReplyDeleteI understand that the 1990's occurred in the Olden Days, but the way that the media totally played down Bobby Cox beating the hell out of his wife is crazy even by the lawless standards of the Time.....
@ LBJ I recall seeing the footage of him with the tiny paper falling to the ground behind him and the ump bending down to pick it up. And then they pumped him out, gave him the old heave ho. Could it be that I'm thinking of someone else? I'm pretty sure that it was Timothy Leary, when he was a Yankee.
ReplyDelete@ LBJ You know, I just looked for it on the search engine, and you must be right. The only one I'm finding is Joe Niekro in a Twins uniform. They called it an "emory board". So where did I get that memory of Tim Leary? Sorry, Tim! Like Andy Pettite, I must've mis-remembered! All this time, I was thinking Tim Leary was guilty, but he was never caught. I sit corrected. Thanks, LBJ!
ReplyDeleteStanton to DL. Hammy. Starting his summer vacation quite early this year. We'll see him again on August.
ReplyDeleteThe Glass Giant strikes again.
ReplyDeleteThink of how this injury happened. He hit the ball hard, and watched it standing at home plate. Then he trotted casually to first, when he realized the ball was still in play. So he started to actually run to at least get to second. And then he called for a pinch runner.
He can only hit home runs so he can mosey around the bases. If he picks up the pace..tweaks, pulls, whatever.
What a pathetic commentary on modern ballplayers. Not all, but some.
The other Oz was called up. This could change the complexion of the team, if they play him, the other Oz, and Volpe in the same game. Decent amount of speed there.
ReplyDeletePa Yankee says Sonny Gray has a 0.53 ERA. Are we lucky we missed him this weekend? Dumbass Cashman will look for a way to bring back Sonny Boy for a second go-round. Probably air mail the whole damned farm system for him.
ReplyDeleteSince Stanton keeps getting injured as a DH, you would think that management would just say, 'The hell with it, let him play the outfield most of the time'. I don't recall him ever getting hurt from playing the outfield, my guess is that a man of his size needs the extra work to keep the body warmed-up. But that would require somebody taking a risk with their career. The same goes with the "hundred pitch wall". Funny, but it seems that some pitchers keep getting hurt, others stay healthy regardless of use (heavy workloads before age twenty-five have been shown to shorten the careers of both pitchers and catchers). This all falls under the CYA of player management.
ReplyDeleteKing is possibly a multi inning closer. An old time idea. But of course, Boone will only use him as such every three or four games. Curry just emphasized that Holmes is the closer. He didn't mention that it's in name only, because Holmes is a pretty lame closer. His role and King's should be reversed.
ReplyDeleteBut we'll stick with Holmes until he blows a half dozen saves because, you know, Cashboone has decided he's the closer.
What a dumb fucking team.
And what Hammer and Kevin said.
ReplyDeleteJust wondering, cuz I won't be watching the game until 3:00 on tape because I have something to do, but What are they going to do with all these infielders?
ReplyDeleteDJ, Volpe, IKF, Oz , Donaldson , Torres?
Did I miss someone?
Two have to sit, unless like Torres or Dj DH.
I guess IKF and Cabrera will be full-time OFs.
Did they say anything on the pregame?
Re: Stanton
ReplyDelete(There is nothing left to say)
BTW the Twins pitcher is the guy Cashman tried to get from Miami at the trade deadline. Of course he's having a breakout year. If we got him he'd be on the IL.
The Marlins wanted Gleyber AND Peraza which seems like a lot.
@ Doug K. Wow, if that's all they were asking for, I think I would've done that. You get a really good starting pitcher and just give Torres, who has retrogressed from his one great year, plus a good up and coming SS/infielder Peraza. I would've done that deal.
ReplyDeleteHammer,
ReplyDeleteI feel you. But,
Lopez was good and had a lot of upside but hadn't really proven himself.
Losing both Gleyber and Peraza would have left them with no infield as Volpe was only 20 at the time and unproven and IKF can't play short well.
So I get it. BTW Lopez had dead arm for the second half of last year so we would have hated the trade.
You mean we didn't give away the farm for an injured pitcher?
ReplyDeleteCashman is slipping.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteA CG S/O!
ReplyDeleteA rarity these days. I guess Cole hasn’t washed his hands all season.
Seriously, he’s been a true Ace so far. Keep it up and fer chrissake stay healthy!
Subject a fragile body to the extra strain of playing the outfield to prevent injury. You can't make this stuff up.
ReplyDelete