Monday, May 8, 2023

It's all YOUR fault!

 

"I shouted out 'Who killed the Kennedys?'

When after all it was you and me..."

—Rolling Stones

Happened to notice that Elizabeth Holmes was back in the paper, and it puzzled me as to why the Yankees had not signed up Silicon Valley's favorite sociopath.

Holmes, after all, is and was a proven master at the sort of grifter mind games that your New York Yankees would like to play on us all, but which they're just so damned inept at.

Case in point being Aaron Boone's cri de coeur (That's French for, "Get the damned dog off me!") over the weekend, his admission that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays—with their famously tiny payroll, apathetic fan base, awful ballpark, and absentee owner—were blowing the Yankees' doors off this season because:

"They can do some things that we can't do. I'll just say that. They can do a lot of things that we can't do."

Oh??? For instance?

Like all of the Yankees' clumsy apologists, Ma Boone quickly retreated—and only sunk himself deeper in the quicksand:

The Rays, Boone informed us, make "really sound moves of when to be able to move on and finding those diamonds in the rough throughout Major League Baseball that they bring in, all while maintaining a top-line farm system that they can always kind of grab people from. I think you got to respect them as one of the more well-run teams certainly in baseball, but also in sports. They do a great job."

Wait, back up a minute here. 


So, what exactly is it that the Rays do and the Yankees cannot?

"Find diamonds in the rough throughout MLB that they bring in"? 

Huh. I thought that was Brian Cashman's stock-in-trade.

"Maintain a top-line farm system"? 

That's not possible for the Yankees? Funny, it was for decades during their original dynasty years, and then again under the likes of Stick Michael.

What Aaron the Fumfah King was driving at, of course, is the same-old, same-old party line out of Kremlin-on-the-Hudson. That is, the idea that the Yankees "can't" really compete with teams like TB because of YOU. And me. And all us Yankees fans.

It's become a very familiar shibboleth, one that Michael Kay, chief TV mumblebum, was pushing earlier this year when he said that Yankees fans' expectations were too high.

Yeah. Great Expectations. Wasn't that the Dickens novel in which the innocent young boy is deceived by some delusional person living in a home stuffed with the cobwebbed memories of a once-glorious past? Yeah, I thought so.

What Kay and Boone and often Brian Cashman are hinting at oh-so-subtly here is that we spoiled Yankees fans just want to win all the time, and thereby prevent Cashie from doing the regular meltdowns and rebuilding jobs that are now to be expected from all teams in professional sports.

Well, you can pretend all you like that the fans of other teams like that. 

You can pretend all you like that you are NOT selling one of the very most expensive teams to see on the basis of their past glory and tradition, the fact that they are playing in New York, "the greatest city in the world," and blah-blah-blah.

But that's exactly what the Yankees do. And contrary to what Boone and The Office Boy and Michael Kay are pretending, that's NOT how Tampa Bay operates.

The Rays don't tank every other year. In the last 15 seasons, they've had 11 winning records, made the World Series twice, made the playoffs 8 times, and won 90 games or more 8 times. 

TB is a regular contender, on a budget about one-fourth the size of the Yankees. And all that speaks to is the fact that their front office personnel is much, much, much better than ours. 

They don't have much better draft choices than we do. They don't get secret printouts of the waiver lists, or other teams' rosters. They have no advantage whatsoever over the Yanks, and several enormous disadvantages.

In fact, there is only one reason why the Rays can do anything that the Yankees "can't do." His name is Brian Cashman. 




43 comments:

  1. Hoss, you're French translations are exquisite to the point of being Le Pétomane -esque. True art.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Reading Buffoone Baboone's soliloquy on the Post was absolutely side splitting fun.

    "[M]aintaining a top-line farm system that they can always kind of grab people from ...."

    Hmmmm. So, in order to win like Tampa, you have to maintain a top line farm system. Okay, got that. But you also have to "always kind of grab people from" there. Always ... kind of ... grap people. Isn't kidnapping illegal? Does Tampa shanghai its players? Do they take a pair of lobster tongs and always kind of grab people from the lobster tank? Is this like the Cyclops and Odysseus in the cave, with the Cyclops grabbing one of Odysseus's men every so often and ripping them apart and eating them?

    It's so awesome to find out that we Yankee fans are gentlemen (or gentlewomen) of Great Expectations. At least Pip got to nail Estella at the end, but we get ... what? This Yankee shit show of 2023. The same shit show that we've been watching since 2010. No thanks. I've seen this movie too many times, Brian.

    It is a ridiculous dig at Yankee fans by The Weasel and his sock puppet, Buffoone Baboone. The idea that the Yankees can't do the things that Tampa does. Really? Cashfuck can't get rid of dead weight like Hicks and Donaldson because of ... Yankee fans? Classic communist and fascist propaganda trick. Whatever and whenever you're fucking up, you point fingers and scream bloody murder that (insert scapegoat here) is behind it all. Nobody here is dumb enough to be beguiled. I suspect that most Yankee fans without any vested interest (looking at you, Michael Kay) can see right through this bull shit.

    What can you do, except laugh? Well, that and don't bother going to the stadium. If they don't care about anything except finances, why should we give them any more of our hard earned money? The product that they're offering sucks. If they offered free tickets, I still wouldn't bother.

    ReplyDelete
  3. All very good points but…how many World Series have they won?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hoss, I only remember the World Series that Tampa lost to the Dodgers. So there were two in the last 15 years? So they've already beaten the Yanks in that respect. They've made it to two and we've only got that 2009 win. You gotta figure they'll win one sooner or later. Might be this year.

    As far as I can see, every time Tampa makes a trade, they get better. They seem to fleece everybody. I can't believe that anyone deals with them. They know when to unload their crap.

    It ain't just Tampa that knows when to unload crap. I seem to remember that Boston had guys like Josh Beckett. And was that Adrian Gonzalez too? They were loaded with millstones. When those guys stopped producing, Boston unloaded them like lepers, shipped them all off somewhere. Nothing like the Yankees, who continue to stockpile and add to their collection of millstones. Nobody ever leaves here, until their contracts terminate. Yankees should change their Frank Sinatra "New York, New York" theme song to the Eagles' Hotel California. Because like the Hotel California, you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

    ReplyDelete

  5. I am wary of posting this as I don't feel I am knowledgeable enough to comment as I have only really been following baseball properly for the 30 years I have had access to the internet before then I had to order The New York Times and USA today once a week from Borders bookstore in Glasgow as there was virtually no reports or articles in any of the UK papers and zero footage on television.

    Tampa to me seem to have almost the same order of draft picks as we do. They also do not have much if any of a higher money pool for the International draft. They are not picking up players in the first ten picks every other year in the draft ad are not able to sign many high priced international free agents in fact we seem to throw $5 million at many of these players and it doesn't seem to be producing much

    All that I can really see that they do differently to us is trade away some of their best players before they become free agents so they have a slight advantage there of adding new young talent than we do.

    The rest of the time they seem just to draft better than us and not only that develop these players who seem to effortlessly fit into their style of play and they do this year after year so I think it is safe to say there is not any evidence of luck involved

    So wht not try something radical?

    Why not go to the Tampa organisation and tap all their scouting and coaching staff?

    How much would it really cost considering we spend millions of dolars on crocked players/

    Get the international scouts and USA scouts get all the minor league hitting and pitching instructors and while we are at it conditioning coaches and tell them to do exactly what they were doing with Tampa and especially ignore all this exit velocity launch angle malarkey that we seem to treat as some sort of scared rule that must be obey when evaluating players.

    I understand if anyone laughs at this post or even swears at it because remember I have never been to an MLB game in my life and probably never will due to my fear of flying and lack of money so I may well be talking utter mince.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Scotty, your point is well taken, no one is laughing. It comes up every so often when we try to decipher why TB is usually our equal but on a quarter of our budget. I suppose hiring a bunch of guys from a rival would make for bad optics. But the truth is the organization is long overdue for a shakeup. It would start with Stein hiring a strong GM with a proven track record and then stepping back and saying it’s your baby, run with it. I’ll just sign the checks. The new GM would reshape the org as he sees fit. He would get the blame or the glory and accept either with equanimity and without excuse. Steinly would still rake in his millions and the fans would really have something to cheer about.

    Not so Nasty Nestor tonight against the worst team in MLB in baseball. At this point who knows what to expect?

    A Volpe (R) SS
    G Torres (R) 2B
    A Rizzo (L) 1B
    D LeMahieu (R) DH
    H Bader (R) CF
    I Kiner-Falefa (R) 3B
    O Cabrera (S) RF
    J Trevino (R) C
    A Hicks (S) LF

    ReplyDelete
  7. Our NY Yankees vs the soon to be Sin City A's.

    This annoys me for only one reason and that is once the A's leave the 510 I'll have no where close to go to see our Yankees play.

    (I'm a zippy 41.5 minute drive from the Oakland Coliseum)

    Oh - and most of the 400 loyal A's fans are pissed as well . . .

    ReplyDelete
  8. Amen, Scotland, and no laughter! I've been saying the same for years—and so have many of us here. This isn't rocket science; recruit the front office talent that produces. But that would implying that Brian Cashman could be wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks, Hammer. And you're forgetting the 2008, Rays-Phillies Classic. So has most of America. It still is, I think, the lowest rated World Series ever.

    And no, ranger, they never have won it all. But I predict they will their first before we winn #28.

    ReplyDelete
  10. And Rufus, all translations are guaranteed accurate by the United Nations. Or was it the League of Nations? One of those guys.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I thought Foster Brooks was your fact checker?

    ReplyDelete
  12. J.P. Sears mowing them down. Two innings 19 pitches. Maybe he can no hit them.

    Good thing we kept Clark Schmidt.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hoss I thought it was a waitress at the International House of Pancakes.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anthony "Big Tony" Rizzo got a hit!! In the first inning!! Go Big Tony!! And Nestor has pitched two scoreless innings!! Find the good in the world!! Unleash your unwavering optimism!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Schmidt would probably mow us down too

    ReplyDelete
  16. UNWAVERING OPTIMISM!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! GO GO GOOOOOOOO YANKEESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Only 38 pitches for Sears through 4!
    Yanks refusing to work the count or alter their all or nothing approach, even with 2 strikes.
    So far it’s nothing…

    ReplyDelete
  18. Don’t forget that three bagger from Bruxin’Bader

    ReplyDelete
  19. Little Tony to Big Tony! Double play!

    ReplyDelete
  20. RUB THAT GOOD GLEYBER!! RUB ON HIM!!

    ReplyDelete
  21. John Sterling says “There won’t be any booing now!”

    John is so rarely wrong. Mark the calendar.

    ReplyDelete
  22. BJPB - you mean mark it for the next inning?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Quick trade him now before he gets hurt.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Hey Doug - AA here - why not just trade him to Oakland. It’ll make it easy

    ReplyDelete
  25. Ca$hole will probably extend his contract now.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Wow these A’s are just an awful team…

    ReplyDelete
  27. MARINACCIO GETS THE WIN FOR ONE INNING OF SHITTY PITCHING!!! YOU GO KID!!!

    ReplyDelete
  28. AA

    I'd trade him to the Stockton Ports if it gets him out of here.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Bone’s post game presser..can someone make this stop?

    ReplyDelete
  30. So Judge is back tomorrow… who goes? Hicks, Hicks, Hicks!

    ReplyDelete
  31. That's so Hicksian to hit a meaningless home run and earn himself another month of playing time.

    ReplyDelete
  32. I especially loved the dropped bat, stand-at-the-plate and watch it soar reaction from Hicks. On his first hit at home on the season. Lifting his batting average to .153. Off Austin Pruitt, a journeyman with 12 lifetime wins in 6 seasons.

    Hoorah.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Hoss - Hicks is ALIVE - HE'S - - - ALIVE!

    ReplyDelete
  34. Did you shout out who killed the Yankees? The Foolish Four: Genius Cashman, Cheapskate Hal, Fat Slob Randy and Looney Lon. Boone is a puppet ans just goes along.

    ReplyDelete
  35. No wonder they didn't cut Hicks loose. If he can do that against the mighty A's late enough that Stanton envies the irrelevance, he's a keeper! Who needs luck when you have...this?

    ReplyDelete
  36. I am a little late to this party, but I have been advocating for a couple months now that Yankee scouts should just scout Tampa's scout. Go where they go. Se who they like and draft/sign them from the draft and international Pool.
    Also trade guys in their upper 20's so you don't get stuck with yearly 8 -figure salaries on 34+ year olds dreaming of what they were at 30.
    They re-load, we medicate to prevent dementia.
    "Oh my aching back."
    Paging Carl Pavano

    ReplyDelete
  37. I'm sure there are plenty of great scouts out there. Tampa doesn't have a monopoly on the best scouts. So if the Yanks wanted to bring in great scouts, they could.

    It's not that they CAN'T, as Boone said. It's that they WON'T.

    So the question becomes "why won't they do the things that are necessary to win?" The only thing I can think of is that they really don't want to win. They just want to keep the status quo. It must have something to do with their finances.

    ReplyDelete
  38. The Ray's don't rely primarily on scouting. They apply advanced proprietary analytics, which the Cashman/Boone confederacy of dunces has no clue about.

    ReplyDelete

Members of the blog can comment. To receive an e-mailed invitation, write to johnandsuzyn@gmail.com. And check spam if it doesn't show up. (Google account required.)

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.