Friday, June 16, 2023

Estevan Florial is now embarrassing the Yankees

Two nights ago, the Death Barge lost when on a drive to right glanced off the bottom of the wall. It wasn't a terrible, awful, horrible miscue by RF Jake Bauers. It just wasn't a game-saving catch. Would Aaron Judge have made it? Maybe. Probably. Hell, why torture ourselves: Nobody knows.

But don't blame Bauers. He plays 1B. In his six-year MLB career, he has roamed the meadow of RF a mere 41 times. What was he even doing out there in the 10th? Filling the void, I suppose - the void that has lasted all season.

Nearby, there stood Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who had never played OF in his MLB career, not once, before making the switch in spring training. He has now played 54 games in CF, most by any Yankee. Two nights ago, when another drive braced the wall, IKF pulled up short. Would Harrison Bader have made it? Maybe. Proba-AW, HELL WITH THIS, WE DONNO, WE DONNO, NO MORE TORTURE, WE DONNO...

Excuse me. I meant to ask another question: 

Would Estevan Florial have made those plays?

We donno and never will. Florial is trapped miner in Scranton, and the Yankees show no interest in his rescue. 

Last night, Florial belted two HRs, giving him 17 for the season. He's hitting .312/.405/.648 - for those of you scoring at home, that's an OPS of 1.053. He's fast, 13 stolen bases and three triples. He's 25, now in his third year at Scranton. 

Let that sink in. Three years at Scranton. He knows the waiters. He can drunk-drive the backstreets to Wilkes Barre. He can go into Pizza Hut and order "the usual." He can vote in local elections.

And if the Yankees were to play him in LF, beside Bader and Judge, they could actually claim the best defensive OF in baseball.  

But they won't. As we've all been told, Florial strikes out too much - 29.6 percent of the time. As we've all been told, this is unacceptable. No Major Leaguer - not even Aaron Judge should strike out so often, right? Wait. Huh? Doing the math here... Judge strikes out... um, well, dang... 36 percent of the time. But he's Aaron Judge, dammit. And Anthony Volpe? Um... 33 percent. 

Doesn't matter. Somebody in the Yankee AI/human brain trust has seen something in Florial's swing, and don't ask any more questions, okay, we don't fucking know and we never will, okay. So, let's just stop being smart-mouth fans and pretending we know the answers, okay? 

The real problem with Florial is that the Mother Ship used up all its options on him, practicing the Scranton Shuttle for three straight years. If they bring him up for a game, or a week, they cannot dispatch him back to Central Pa. for using the wrong fork in a lobster bar. Thus, they would have to play him every day and see what the hell he's got. And they've already decided.

Oh, did I mention that he bats LH, which is what the Yankees need? 

Last year, Oswald Peraza led Scranton in HRs with 19. (He's still there.) In 2021, Chris Gittins led the Railriders with 14. (Florial was 2nd, with 13.) Back in 2019, the famous Ryan McBroom - our poster boy for sweeps - led the Railriders with 26. In 2018, it was Mike Ford (14) and Billy McKinney (13) - yes, THE Billy McKinney. Are we sensing a glitch in The Matrix? Have we stumbled upon a loop within time and space?

Tonight, Harrison Bader might return against Boston. Let's hope he catches that ball off the base of the wall. Because meanwhile, down in forgotten Triple A, Florial will be chasing McBroom, and it just seems as though we're getting nowhere, am I right? 

88 comments:

HoraceClarke66 said...

Wait, tonight is supposed to be a Harrison Bader sighting? Do you think it will happen? Is the forecast for clear skies?

I will get out the telescope...

AboveAverage said...

Horace - look for the glistening mouth guard . . .

ZacharyA said...

Remember, the Yankees DFAed Estevan Florial just two months ago and all 29 teams passed on him. That's why they were able to outright him to Triple-A again.

The doubt about Florial is not limited to the Yankees front office. Even baseball's bottom-feeders — the A's, the Nationals, the Rockies, the Royals, the Tigers — all passed on claiming Florial off waivers for free.

I think there's something about his swing or pitch recognition that is telling teams, "this guy can't hit major league pitching."

That's not to excuse the Yankees here. With all the injuries, this is a good time to give Florial an opportunity (so was last June/July). Let him start vs. RHP and use him as a defensive replacement in the other games. If he struggles, at least you gave him a chance.

HoraceClarke66 said...

But that's the crazy thing about this, Zach! Why the obsession with him being out of options?

If Florial comes up and flops, big deal, he'll clear waivers and they can re-sign him for Scranton again.

They really seem to be afraid that he will SUCCEED. This is where Cashman lurches into a sort of low-level madness. "I must be able to send any player on my 40-man roster up and down, at any time, regardless of how well they are doing."

It's just nuts.

BTR999 said...

Yessir, U R right!

Nobody’s saying Flo’s gonna be the next Yastrzemski, but with this lopsided, flawed roster he’s certainly earned an extended opportunity here. Let’s not overly concern ourselves with other team’s evaluations when their own 40 mans were set. Would 💕 to see Florial show up Mashman wouldn’t you?

Hoss, no official word yet on Bader, but his rehab start went well, so the expectation he will be starting in CF.tonight. The corresponding move likely to be Cabrera to SWB, unless they want to break up the law firm of Bauers, Calhoun, & McKinney

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Jettison the guys that you know are not that good. Bring up the kids that *might* be good.

Can't be any worse.

Celerino Sanchez said...

I read an article this morning that ties into this. It basically said how great the Yankees at finding guys like Calhoun, Bauers, etc. Now if Ca$hman brings up Florial and he goes off, the question will be Why didn't you bring him up earlier and not F around with these other guys. So it behooves Ca$hman to leave him down there and not risk the embarrAssment

JM said...

Rufus, that kind of thinking will never get you a job in the GM's office. Until you get your head right, I'm afraid you'll have to stay a batboy in Scranton.

By the way, I think it's clear what can happen. McKinney hit 13 home runs in 2018 and now he's back and playing with the Yankees. So logically, Florial doing so well in Scranton means he'll be back in 2028 and finally get his chance at the big time.

It's all part of Cashman's genius, inscrutable plan.

(ANNOUNCER (sotto voce): The password is Tulowitzki.)

HoraceClarke66 said...

Hilarious, JM! And I fear that you're right, Celerino.

edb said...

Duque:
There are two problems here. One, Florial has never hit Major League pitchers. He looks overwhelmed. Second, the Yankees have no confidence in him. They give him a few atbats and then sit him and send him back down. They could play him for a week against lefties and righties. One problem there, the Yankees are a Clown Organization run by a Clown GM.

ranger_lp said...

Here's the problem with bringing up Florial...it's not that they are afraid of him doing well or being racist. There is a risk to bringing him up. And risk is...he's NOT on the 40 man roster. And if they offer him a contract, who are you taking off the 40 man roster? There are all sorts of ramifications around that...besides that he's a AAAA player...

BTR999 said...

You could replace half the 40 man and not skip a beat.

The Hammer of God said...

Florial is still too young for Cashman's taste. He'll bring him up when Florial is 29 yrs old. Cashman says he likes his players "finished" before he brings them up. And at 29 yrs old, when Florial's career is finished, he'll get the call up. He'll play a game or two and then get released, for keeps this time.

What I don't get is why a player that they don't believe in is still in their minor league system. Every roster spot is a chance to develop someone. They're wasting a roster spot. So Florial is 25 yrs old, which is old for a prospect, yet he's still here. Shades of that Hoy Jun Park. This is why they don't develop new players. They have to overpay and bring in someone's chronically injured, like Harrison Bader, or dig through the dumpster for other team's 29 yr old rejects.

Just poor management. And so why does HAL tolerate it? Good question, our guess is that he's happy with his finances and doesn't want to rock the boat.

13bit said...

"There'll be no teardrops tonight."

~ Hank Williams

ranger_lp said...

Bader not activated…McKinney starting in CF tonight…

BTR999 said...

Yeah, Kay reports that Bader felt he wasn’t “ready” and will likely won’t be activated until the Seattle series next week.

AboveAverage said...

Kay may launch a new segment tonight called:

IS BADER READY?

Exciting, scintillating television.

Hazel Motes said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hazel Motes said...

For all those who boldly assert that Florial is a AAAA player or that he has problems with pitch recognition or that he can't hit major league pitching: these are all propaganda memes planted with the subservient beat writers, who dutifully regurgitate whatever nonsense Cashman feeds them in order to maintain "access" and keep their jobs. (1) If his pitch recognition were that feeble, he wouldn't be able to put up these impressive numbers at Scranton. (2) As for the claims that he cannot hit MLB pitching, there is no empirical evidence on this because he has never been given a sufficient number of consecutive MLB at-bats to settle this issue one way or the other. (3) As for his being a AAAA player, see point (2).

I still think that the main problem is racism. If a white or even biracial light-skinned layer were putting up these numbers at Scranton, he would have been here a month ago, ahead of the certified white men McKinney and Bauers. And Peralta would have been here ahead of Volpe.

And speaking of Volpe--we now have ample evidence that he cannot hit MLB pitching, but I don't see any of the usual suspects impugining him as a AAAA player with poor pitch recognition who strikes out too much and whatever the Cashman "destroy-the-prospect" party line of the day is. Why? Because he is the Great White Hope.

Where racism reigns, so do arrant double standards. Some kinds of people just don't get to drink at the Yankee clubhouse water fountain or eat at the same buffet table as the "other guys." We know who the other guys are. And don't tell me about Severino this or Calhoun that--there is a tacit quota for Latinos and dark-skinned blacks on the STARTING EIGHT of the Yankees. It's not written down anywhere, and not read by Michael Kay along with the standard copyright statement on the telecast, but it's there. Only those with a case of severe partisan denial--or those infected by the same virus--can argue otherwise with a straight face. Duque deftly dodges this issue, but I'm sure he suspects it as well.

Hazel Motes said...

And I don't need to hear that Volpe is half Filipino. As I have pointed out in the past, biracial, light-skinned players like Jeter, Judge, and Volpe pass the eyeball test for the gated-community soft bigots who run this club. The quota applies first to dark-skinned blacks and then to Latinos on THE STARTING EIGHT of the big club. How else do you account for the endless presence of aging mediocrities and washouts like Donaldson and LeMahieu in the lineup? I have posted the social scientific literature on this subject--when it comes to racist prejudice, skin tone matters.

Hazel Motes said...

"It's Getting Harder and Harder to Ignore Estevan Florial as the Yankees Offense Struggles"

https://yanksgoyard.com/posts/its-getting-harder-and-harder-to-ignore-estevan-florial-as-yankees-offense-struggles-01h32cwsdew7

AboveAverage said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rufus T. Firefly said...

Careful, there's a turd in the pool.

AboveAverage said...

Another little piggy is troubling Judge which means another shot and another 10-14 days.

Doofus you R a funny Firefly

AboveAverage said...

I meant to publish Roofus but my iPhone is a mean and soulless being

Rufus T. Firefly said...

You silver tongued devil, you!

Hazel Motes said...

One last point: on the Yankees' roster of aging, overpaid light-skinned washouts and failures, we have Stanton, Donaldson, LeMahieu, and Bader (yes, Bader who is a good--but overrated--fielder but lousy hitter), McKinney, and Bauers (the latter two repeat failures at the MLB level); and now you can begin to add the aging, faltering Rizzo to that list as well. In other words, underperforming whites are strangely overreperesented among the Yankee starting eight, whereas Latinos and blacks--especially of the dark-skinned variety--are strangely underrepresented. Coincidence? PUH-leez.

BTR999 said...

Looks like the pitching matchup should tilt somewhat in our favor tonight but with this offensive offense, who knows?
Please keep the ball AWAY FROM DEVERS!

BTR999 said...

Not sure if that was a dumb base running move by Torres in the first or if the coach sent him, but no need to go for an extra base with 2 outs. He’d probably get thrown out 9 times out of 10 doing that. True to form Donaldson whiffed anyway

BTR999 said...

So what is it now with Judge? Is it a different ligament? The fact that he had to have another plasma injection is not a good sign.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Request for new thread and turd patrol.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Never heard of most of these carmines, yet they are ahead of the Ca$h Zombies.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

double shovel the sunflax seeds.

BTR999 said...

German not sharp at all…

Rufus T. Firefly said...

And they are UGLY motherfuckers.

I have a friend from NZ that is at the game, visiting for work. He will have a warped view of baseball if this fiasco continues.

AboveAverage said...

No game thread - no game either

Rufus T. Firefly said...

of course AV shouldn't try to steal.

AboveAverage said...

They’re planning to replace Judge’s piggies with bionic digits

Ken of Brooklyn said...

Well it's a shitshow in Baaaawston,,,, no need for a game thread LOL!!!!!!!!

AboveAverage said...

The New York Yankees

A team barely alive

We can rebuild them

Make them Stronger

Faster

More prone to injuries

And ignorant management

BTR999 said...

Calhoun is an awful OF-er.
Boone sucks for putting him out there
Cashman sucks for not adding Florial to the ML roster

AboveAverage said...

Funny how Cone brought up Florial, commenting on when we’ll ever see him again on the ML roster and See-Yah Kay just ignored him and changed the subject.

Isn’t Kay the best!

AboveAverage said...

Start spreading the news…….,

Celerino Sanchez said...

I hope Mrs German went to her sister’s house tonight

Rufus T. Firefly said...

It's even worse than it seems.

Scottish Yankee fan said...


I think I can go to bed now and not wach anymore of this total farce and humiliation there is zero chance of any comeback

Totally scunnered

Angry with the dumplings running the organisation I still want the Yankess to win but if we actually end up with a losing season for other teams that might force a change but for us it will make no difference as Cashman clearly has blackmail photos of Hal that or Hal is more thinking of buying a new yacht and we will se the same over the hill washed up veterans playing and young players traded away for little return

It is now verging on the depressing rathr than the boring

Again when are the press going to call out this continual year in year out failure of the organisation at every level or are they going to be happy just writing puff pieces and having a quiet life?

AboveAverage said...

Scottish Fan - at least you have that great cap avatar.

You’ll always have that

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Scottish Fan, you have distilled it down to the essence. ...like good scotch.

Well done.

And the Yankees are -- well, DONE!

AboveAverage said...

Do you think that if the Red Sox score 20 that Boone will be fired?

AboveAverage said...

Roofless - you’re good at identifying turds, what’s your opinion?

mik said...

Going to quote Elton John again -

It's sad, (so sad) so sad
It's a sad, sad situation
And it's getting more and more absurd

mik said...

@AboveAverage - Boone will never be fired, Cashman loves him because he's a puppet without a backbone.

AboveAverage said...

MiK - they had to remove his spine so Cashman could get his hand and arm up deep inside so he could better control him.

It’s only natural

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Higgy should have been running all out. I don't care that their guy got hit.

But that's just me.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

AA,

thanks for the visual....... NOT!

JM said...

These guys are an embarrassment, forget about Florial.

Jesus. Bad News Bears.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

They're just crushing the enemy tonight!

Wait, what???

AboveAverage said...

No charge Roofy - just don’t ask me to photoshop it

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Mad George would have fired the entire coaching staff by the 4th inning.

BernBabyBern said...

So, I missed the early part of tonight’s game. I miss anything good?

[checks score on ESPN.com]

Yeah, I think I’ll tune into the Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives marathon on the Food Network.

Have a good night, all.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

AA,

If you're doing photoshop, I want Jerry Garcia shaking hands with Ronald Reagan. Kinda like Elvis and Nixon.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

BBB,

I'd rather watch the Gardner Guy om HGTV.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

hilarious feed from the carmines Pravda:

Torres running hard down the line.

Mildred Lopez said...


Checking ESPN: Yanks down 13 - 1. Glad to be in Skaneateles with the fam, no access to YES.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

DFA Torres now...

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Or sooner

Hinkey Haines said...

It’s the Yankees that are embarrassing the Yankees.

JM said...

14-5! Shit, we're catching up!!!

MJ said...

Suzyn interviewed Willie C. before the game. He was squared away; short answers but who among us would do better? But then Ssuuzzyynn (twice as much cowshit seemingly better), talking to a man who has been contributing to an extent far beyond my best guess at his ability, asked if he could believe he was in the starting lineup.

No one who's on a man's side would ask that, then.

She sighs and sees what John misses. I guess that's a job. But for someone whose sorta claim to fame is being the first at something wish she'd marry Jesse Barfield (if he's on the market) and enjoy her place in the Yankee world without so regularly sighing or being nasty or blasting other teams's stadium or/and other ways flexing herself as a real dick.

Extra credit...when she murmurs "Goodness..." does anyone on here think it's an honest assessment of her feelings?

Sorry: I was hoping it was 30-3 when I checked back. Gotta head for awhile.


AboveAverage said...

15 and 5 = 20

That’s it

Fire Boone

MJ said...

20+15-5=30

What AA said.

-30-

Stet.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

A loss is a loss is a loss.

13bit said...

The Team of the Century

If I thought that every loss would lead us closer to Cashman's demise as GM, I'd celebrate, but Hal does not care, so I continue to mourn.

Hazel Motes said...

Kevin -- There are asinine jerks in the world, but you take the palm. Are you so fucking stupid that you don't understand the difference between stating that (a) people with darker skin are more likely to suffer racial prejudice, a reality that has been well-researched and studied in the social-scientific literature, and (b) the crackpot RACIST caricature that you vomit up here, one that harks back to the vilest myths of antebellum racism, namely that black folks are physically stronger and hence better atheltes in general than whites? You think that (a) equals (b)? If so, you either suffer from a serious cognitive disability, or (b) you're just a malicious piece of shit. In that case, (a) does not preclude (b)--they both may be true, and in fact, in your case, based on the evidence trail of your mentally diseased comments, both are likely to be true.

Your repeated distortions of legitimate concerns about racism in the Yankee organization--which I have documented going back to the 1950s--belittling those concerns, hurling invective at those who express those concerns, and hence belittling any concern about racism in general, makes you a racist in addition to being a dumb fuck and a malicious piece of shit in general.

If Stang and duque are delighted to make this blog a forum for digusting bigotry, that's their choice. But they should recognize that that is what they are doing by giving people--and I use the term loosely--like "Kevin" free rein here.

13bit said...

I'm also thinking, at the JUJU Intervention Worldwide Event on the 24th of August, instead of holding up some sign marking us as nattering nabobs of negativity, we do - one letter per person - a signing saying:

WE (HEART SYMBOL) JOHN STERLING

Any thoughts from the commentariat?

AboveAverage said...

Bitty - that’s a great start!

In the immortal words of Roofus T - can we insure that no turds are allowed?

Asking for a friend?

AboveAverage said...

Kevin - r u going on the 24th?

Kevin said...

EBD, coming from a person who wrote the posts above to talk about racism in anyone, well I have to say that you've got bigger balls than a bull. My comment was a lampooning of your sickening dreck. And for the record, besides being of Italian ancestry I also have Soul Brother blood as well as Berber. Now take your disgusting victim hash and leave me alone. I really tried to teach you how to act in polite company.I was hopeful that you would get past at least some of your issues and join the club. Whatever your impairment is I'm not a psychiatrist and I am not going to allow you into my life, virtual or otherwise. So don't waste your time trying to get under my skin, I won't read your post. Considering that I am probably the only person who has even slightly tolerated you, have at it.

Kevin said...

Above Average, slight chance of getting up there, but possible.

AboveAverage said...

I'm trying to arrange it from Kalifornyah

Hazel Motes said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hazel Motes said...

"Kevin" -- you have consistently characterized attacks on racism as racist. This is the classic far-right-wing crap that gets flung into the MAGA hats of the Fox News Channel audience. You are "lampooning" serious accusations of racism rather than addressing them thoughtfully? A long history of Yankee racism--meticulously documented by me and others--is for you cause for derision rather than concern? You're just another disgusting far-right-wing apologist for the worst in human behavior, which you yourself exemplify here night after night, with your countefeit arguments and blowhard incoherencies, never supported by fact, logic, specific examples, or verifiable sources; your sneering indifference to the Yankees' history of racism; your instinct to run with the herd on every topic instead of actually thinking for yourself.

You have made it your life's purpose to derogate Florial, repeatedly asserting that you have access to scouting reports questioning his pitch recognition and other assorted weaknesses. Of course, this is just your usual flatulent posturing. Which scouting reports? Can you link to them? Can you cite any reporting about them? No and no. Just the usual adolescent bellowing. And now that duque has made it clear that he finds it appalling that Florial has not been given a meaningful trial--therefore putting himself 180 degrees from your asperions--you find yourself in a quandary. The crowd is now running in a different direction, so you clam up. Not one word contesting duque's post of today on Florial. Because an insecure, slovenly, subhuman worm like you can't bear to stand alone. Now you find yourself at odds with the leader of the blog--a herd animal without a herd. You have no wife, no girlfriend, no job, no life. You're a loser, sitting there picking your nose in front of a computer screen and obsessing about a corporate brand instead of having a life.

Go take your con elsewhere. A few people indulge you as one would indulge a psychopath randomly encountered on the street. But no one here takes you seriously. In fact, you don't take yourself seriously. Hence your desperate lunges at self-importance, your typed frenzies of counterfeit authority, your pathetic self-parody as the orotund bullshitter and failure.

Hazel Motes said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hazel Motes said...

C'mon, "Kevin," you howling buffoon. Give duque the back of your hand on the subject of Florial, whom you've been denigrating since forever. Now that duque has declared that it's absurd that Florial is not getting a promotion, set duque straight. Of course, you won't do it--because you're a coward. You want to be "in" on the blog. You're a herd animal-- a pathetic fraud and buffoon, an imbecile who tortures logic and fact, who can barely bring a grammatically complete sentence, much less a logically complete thought, to the light of day. Of course you can aspire to neither of those modest accomplishments--for you there is no light of day. Only the perpetual night of your dark delusions and obsessions, played out masochistically before a dumbstruck audience that beholds you with more contempt than pity. So keep posting here; writhe your pathetic, squirming, mad dance in public. Do it because you have nothing else to justify your twisted little life.

The Archangel said...

Let's all stop this malarky.
It is getting tedious.
This used to be a place where we could all agree to denigrate CashMAN, Hal and Boonie and the laugh angle stage which they adore.
While I believe that a review of the history of this site will show that many wanted Florida to get a shot form the start, some did not because of his tendency to whiff like a flag on a winding day, almost all herein have advocated for him to get a fair shot to play every day at least since like June of 2022.
While I honestly don't know their abject failure to promote him now, it isn't because they want him to play in the Negro League rather than MLB, Oscar Gamble's hair or Gary Sheffield's unease around the batting cage.
I think he's in AAA, because the Yank's have been checkmated by their own stupidity, which should be the fundamental lesson we continue to drive home on this erstwhile fun-loving site.
Stop the madness.
EBD, just look at it this way, we are all mostly geriatrics here, hammered by life into what we are and we won't change because of your pointing out that POC could not serve in the same Army units in WWII that our Dad's did.
Even those of us who have percentages of African heritage are just hopeless , so preach to a different choir.
BTW Happy Juneteeth , or however you spell it.

Kevin said...

Archangel, well said, as expected.

Hazel Motes said...

Above Average -- Your request to "stop all the malarky" is really hilarious, and not in a good way, coming as it does from someone who routinely lauds and abets unprovoked comments about turds in the pool while adding a few more of his own unprovoked volleys of preadolescent abuse. So that makes you not only a nasty piece of shit, but a crassly hypocritical one as well. And thanks for your feeble gesture of denial of the long history of racism in the Yankee organization, buttressed by zero evidence and a string of incoherent irrelevancies and daft analogies that rival "Kevin" for sheer stupidity and dishonesty--so of course your mentally warped pal finds your drivel to be "well said," because it's pitch perfect replication of his own endless inanities.

Your slimy word salad is exactly what I would expect from an intellectually challenged, compulsive flame addict who doesn't know the difference bewteen "bate" and "bait" or "melanin" and "melatonin." If you want to cozy up in your little polemical love nest with your two demented fellow psychopaths, "Kevin" and "Rufus," that's just lovely . . . not that there's anything wrong with that. Just don't expect anyone to take your peace and love pose seriously now that you have repeatedly revealed your true persona: a spiteful, writhing pit bull with a stunted intellect and an untreated anger management problem.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

eye gess thay donnt teech reeedin comprension et thuh june-yer collidge yew uh-tend.