Who is coming to save the 2023 Yankees?
Giancarlo? Setback Sevy? Bader-Ginsberg? Jackie Donaldson? Lou Trivino? Estevan Florial? Rodon? Rodan? Mothra? All of the above? None?
And when they return - assuming they return - who will then be M.I.A? Last year, Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortez, DJ LeMahieu and Anthony Rizzo all missed time. The Yanks are an old team, perhaps an aged-out team, and we know what happens to retreads when they hit the potholes of July and August.
We have nobody in the minors on the verge. Somebody decided Florial is a dud. Our fleet of young pitchers - remember "The Gas Station?" - is gone to Oakland, Chicago, Pittsburgh. The Martian - who homered last night - has looked overmatched at Double A. If he flops, we're back to throwing darts at Single A.
Cooperstown Cashman is on an incredible streak of bad trades - even for him. Right now, he has nothing to deal.
For the first time since 2001, before Anthony Volpe was born, the Yankees have lost a season series to Minnesota. Tonight, the Twins can sweep us for the first time in 32 years.
Yeah, it's only April. And we're still over .500, tied with Houston. You can say that this is the bottom, that it will soon get better. But I dunno. So please - somebody, anybody - tell me what about this team inspires hope?
Aaron Judge might hit 63 HRs, but most will come with nobody on. Franchy Cordero turned into a pumpkin. Willie Calhoun is a likely future IIH punch line. Volpe might have needed a month at Scranton. Don't ask me the bullpen pecking order; it changes every night. Clay Holmes is sinking, the way his sinker used to.
Tell me, how can a franchise that spends $280 million on payroll be so dead, so stiff, so devoid of hope, and so unable to change? Didn't Cashman vow to build the farm system? When was that, 2006? How did we blow all that money on 16-year-old Latinos and still miss the young stars - Soto, Tatis, Acuna, Franco - who now populate the rosters of our rivals?
Is this a spring slump, or is it 2023? Who will save this team? Please tell me. And don't be afraid to lie.
The correct answer is...nobody. Nobody will save this team.
ReplyDeleteThe ESPN website summary of the game mentions how our offense is struggling because Gianni and Jackie are injured. Has the reporter never seen how our offense struggles with both of them in perfect health?
Even Cortes is coming down to earth.
But Rodon is slated to pitch from a mound this week!! And Bader is playing rehab games in Scranton!!
Yeah. Nobody.
The real question is,
ReplyDeleteis this 2023 or 2023 thru the entire Cashman contract?
JM, don't forget Severino has been walking up and down the mound and Stanton is doing underwater yoga to help him recover.
Any day now, any day now.
ASSman has raised mediocracy to an absolute art form.
And as we collapse we will end up with a great draft pick next year which ASSman will use to draft a college pitcher who needs TJ surgery.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your exact question,;
ReplyDeleteJesus saves
and Esposito scores on the rebound.
Duque, I read your NYTimes opinion piece on Tucker Carlson. Simple, yet very effective. Awesome job!
ReplyDeleteIf people like him keep spinning together opinions, lies, half lies, and half truths in a fascist word orgy, American democracy will severely test the idea (was it John Locke?) that truth always prevails over falsehood. In a free society, objective truth is a foundational necessity. Which is why freedom of the press is in the Bill of Rights.
Pontius Pilate asked Jesus "What is the truth?" Great question. No easy answer. I think that, sometimes, you have to know the truth instinctively. Sort of like the difference between right and wrong. Sort of like Lincoln knowing that America must not be divided in two. And, sort of like Lincoln (eventually) recognizing that slavery had no place in a free democracy.
Boys, boys, your despair is so debilitating. The solution is to dump the old guys now and go with the young guys. Yeah, you gotta eat some big contracts. But the young guys — the replacements — don’t make that much. So over time, the money is a wash. Bring up Chaparro, Pereira, Florial, the Martian, etc., and two or three or four young arms. Let ‘em play. Yeah, no pennant this year and probably not next. But we’re building young. And strong. The fans will love it. Time for a BIG change.
ReplyDelete@ Pkgreenville, You're right, and this is what some of us have been saying for a while now. Should've been big ass changes after last year, especially to the offense. But the only new position player was Volpe. Who I think is hanging in there. He'll be all right. But he's not enough to make the difference right now.
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing former Yankee reliever Jeff Nelson on an interview earlier this year. Maybe it was before the season started, or just after. And he said the offense is the biggest question mark, the biggest weakness. We all knew it coming into this year.
The ship be sinkin'!
ReplyDeleteFortunately, I caught the Islander game last night. They staved off elimination. Forget this Yankee shit show.
ReplyDeleteThe desperation trade is coming, so don't get attached to any of these young guys.
ReplyDeleteI don't see how this offense turns around. As Parcels said, you are what you are. None of these guys are playing below their standards. Most of them are Mendoza line guys now.
The pitching could get better. If Rondon doesn't hurt is ear, or nose or dick when he pitches off the mound this week, he could help.
High Ho Severino should come back and look great for 6-8 weeks (prompting Ca$hman to give him a 6 year deal)
This team is mess, but Ca$hman banks on the fact that Oak, Det, KC, Chi, Bos & LA will suck more.
If this is the real 2023 Yankees, we're in deep shit.
ReplyDeleteBecause this team is not in a position to rebuild.
You don't give Aaron Judge $400M and then punt his age 30-32 seasons and hope to contend when he's headed toward 40. (Same goes for Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon.)
You don't call up your top prospect, start his clock, and then start a rebuild, wasting those precious cheap years.
This team is all-in.
And if they're bad, it's the biggest disaster of the Cashman era.
We really don't have to toss too many players to make room for a few promising upstarts. Jackie, Hicks, IKF, gone. Higgy? I know people say he should go, and they have a point, but I have a soft spot there. Still...
ReplyDeleteNo Franchy, no Willie. Aside from some bullpen moves, maybe, that would do it. Stanton will be on the IL a lot, so that's a help.
What's the OF we have down in AA or Scranton...Dunham? I think that's his name. Let him play. Florial, maybe. I think he's not what he was supposed to be, and will just replace a sagging old bat with a sagging young bat. The Martian, the other guys that PK mentioned.
Of course, none of this will ever happen because Cashman's ego won't allow it. He not only makes terrible trades, he refuses to cut bait when they don't work out.
So, in fact, nobody is coming to save us.
Wow, that was such a terrific post, Duque, that I thought it was going to break into music:
ReplyDelete"Is this our beginning
Or is it
The end???"
The end, I think.
Great points, Zach, JM. And I mostly agree, Pk.
ReplyDeleteRight now, Estevan Florial has an OPS in Scranton of 1.074. Considering what we now having playing, why is he NOT in the major leagues?
Right now, Jake Bauers has an OPS in Scranton of 1.364. Why is he NOT in the major leagues?
And both Florial and Bauers are lefties.
Right now, Andres Chaparro seems to have reverted, already, to his lifelong mediocrity. But he has 8 homers in 20 games. Why is he NOT in the major leagues?
I have few illusions that these guys will prove to be longtime, Yankee stalwarts. But Bauers and Florial are hot right now, and might, just might, give us 3-4 weeks of good play.
Why not find out?
But again, as often said here, it's all about not contradicting Cashman.
Someone mentioned Donovan Solano before, playing a decent infield for the Twins. He was briefly a Yankee in 2016. We got rid of him—for nothing.
ReplyDeleteThis is yet another Cashman tendency that is hugely destructive: simply dumping guys who might at least have some trade value, out of his inability to successfully work the 40-man roster.
Thairo Estrada, Sonny Gray, Solano, those two different first basemen on TB, many others: constantly, useful role players or back of the rotation pitchers who Cashie dumps for cash or nothing at all, supremely confident that they won't be missed.
He's an idiot. But the bigger idiot is HAL, for keeping him in place.
This team is dreadful, but HEY! How about Little Tony!? He's looking good, displaying skills, wearing number 11!!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt’s pretty hard to remake a team on the fly during the season. The die has been already been cast. The failure came in the off-season, when the team spent 81M on Judge, Rodon, Kahnle,& IKF. The Judge signing was bungled the previous off season, painting Crash n Li’l stein into a corner. Those millions could’ve be been better spent. Judge has had his career year, he will never approach those #’s again. Rodon was a classic overpayfor a P whose career has mostly been defined by injury. We could’ve signed 2 or 3 heathy pitchers on that money alone.
ReplyDeleteHope? There is always hope for young players, but there doesn’t seem to be much help immediately available. pitching is particularly bare, with the best prospects in A or AA, still years away. Florial…he had no immediate impact previously but 60 AB’s over 3 seasons is hardly a fair sample size. However, his k-rate in the minors indicates he would struggle against MLB pitching. He is arguably the most physically talented player our minors; his time is now or never, at least for us. Others have mentioned Dunham, Bauers, Chaparro; Chaparro has a stone glove, strictly a DH type. We already have enough of those, particularly Stanton. Bauers has washed out of 3 other orgs already, has had over 1000 ML at bats and has a career .213 BA with a 78 OPS+ (100 is ML average) still, he would be no worse than Calhoun or Cordero, so if you want them to swap places go right ahead. Dunham has the best profile, showing excellent contact skills and an acceptable all around skill set. This doesn’t make him Bernie Williams, but perhaps a less injured version of Harrison Bader.
I put the team down for 89 wins, a WC slot and a quick exit from the playoffs. I still hold to that because as bad and uninspiring as the team is, most in MLB are just as bad if not worse. As has been stated 1000 times here, that is perfectly acceptable to management, who show no accountability and sleep well with heads resting on the pillows of their guaranteed contracts.
No, The Yankees suck.
ReplyDelete