I refer to Oswaldo Cabrera, the precocious one, master of the flashy debut, darling of the Bleachers. Wherever he played, something happened. It was as if the ball - or Fate itself - was magnetically attracted to Oswaldo. He homered in the playoffs. He captured our hopes. Only trouble: He couldn't crack the Mendoza Line. At the end, he was hitting .195.
This weekend, when Jackie Donaldson, Tommy Kahnle and Giancarlo Stanton - the Glass Menagerie - join the team in Dodgertown, Oswaldo will disappear. Destination: Central Pennsylvania. He could soon return - 'tis the season of tweaked gonads - but there is also a chance that Oswaldo vanishes for good, joining the Lost Generation of former future Yankee greats.
Greg Bird, 30, last played with Scranton in 2022. He hit .218.
Miguel Andujar, 28, was recently dispatched to Triple A. With the Pirates, he was batting .161.
Last night, Gary Sanchez, 30, added to an impressive career list of boners by inexplicably failing to cover home on a critical throw to the plate, costing the Padres - his latest team, for the time being - a game.
Clint Frazier, 28, is seeking to salvage his career with the White Sox. In a handful of ABs, he's hitting .261.
Tyler Wade, 28, is batting .225 in the A's system.
Luke Voit? Released. Estevan Florial? Stranded. Oswaldo Peraza? Nowhere to go. Anthony Volpe? Oh, God, I hate to say this... next?
A lost Yankee generation, youngsters who arrived with a bang, who elevated hopes and then began to degrade.
Okay, look, yes - we DO happen to have a certain fellow named Judge - Aaron Judge? you might have heard of him? He's the planet's greatest player and fuck you, Ohtani-backers. Judge's mere presence gives the Yankee system credibility. He's like the billionaire who steps onto the city bus, instantly raising the average income of the riders into the millions. We also have Gleyber Torres, though I sense a certain fatigue at his mention.
What the Yankees have is a hype machine that makes rookies into rock stars, in part due to their rarity, and because the alternative is a dreary clown car of aging vets with iron ceilings. I mean - Willie Calhoun and Jake Bauer are serviceable replacements in a Lyle Overbay/Travis Hafner sort of way. Does anyone see them as longtime Yankees? If you kill hope, all you see are empty uniforms.
Soon, maybe tonight, Stanton will return. His presence in the lineup exerts a gravitational pull, instantly tilting the batting order to the right. He also kills managerial options (never a big thing for Boone.) With Calhoun, the Yankees now have two DHs. No closer, no LF, but two DHs. A bad sign...
As for Oswaldo? He'll fly to Scranton and, from there, who knows? Right now, Peraza is molten hot: Two HRs last night. If anybody deserves a call-up, it's him. But with Donaldson joining the team, there is even less a chance to see them. And the Yankees don't want to give up on Volpe, into whom they have invested tons of generational publicity.
Even if Oswaldo gets roaring hot at Triple A, there is no guarantee we'll see him again. The trade deadline is two months away.
Another name to the Legion of the Lost?
You know, I suppose first-time visitors to this blog would read these posts - and your comments - and think we're all angry, spoiled Yankee-haters. Honestly, we're just sad.
To quote some lyrics from a new SPARKS song:
ReplyDelete“Nothing is as good as they say it is.
That’s the way it is.
I wish I knew beforehand
All your standards must be so very low
This is not a place that I'd want to go
How can you exist in a place like this?
I surely can't, oh no”
What do all those players have in common?
ReplyDeleteWe overrated them. The Master, the reason we have this site, said of New York that specifically the media and fans overrate their players. I've learned quite a bit from John...
But on a happy note,
ReplyDeleteHicks started his O's career 2-2 and then promptly left the game with muscle leg tightness.
You can't make this shit up11
For his sake I hope they trade Peraza soon. OAK will probably steal him from Cashman in another idiotic trade.
ReplyDeleteThe Glass Menagerie!!!
ReplyDeleteUnwavering positivity!!!
Duque, I nearly choked on my iced tea when I read "the Glass Menagerie."
ReplyDelete"But on a happy note Hicks started his O's career 2-2 and then promptly left the game with muscle leg tightness. You can't make this shit up."
ReplyDeleteGets hot gets hurt.
Another case in point...
Sanchez doesn't cover home with an obvious play to the plate coming. Did I mention he is the catcher? Covering the plate is kind of job one.
Yankees trade for Bader,sign Rodon etc.
Amazing.
Not that any of the above happened, that ball clubs acquire someone and expect them to be anything other than what they are.
---
I turned off yesterday's game after the loaded the bases in the 10th and couldn't push a run across. Because, I know who they are and I know what a dead bat loss looks like. I woke up rested.
---
Last,
Oswaldo.
Yes, El Duque captured it perfectly. We're just sad. There's really nothing to add to that.
Last night, Judge comes up in the 9th inning, two outs and nobody on base. What happens? Mariners do the smart thing and give him the free pass. It's as good as a single, because bases were empty, but still.... If they'd put him in the #3 slot, it probably wouldn't have made any difference in that game, but still.... The fact remains that they reduced the chances of Judge coming up in an RBI situation, in order to get that extra at-bat late in the game, which turned out to be ... an intentional walk with bases empty.
ReplyDeleteRepeat that 150 times over the course of the season, which was better, hitting Judge #2 or #3? It's probably not a huge difference, probably makes a difference of only a few games, but I think hitting Judge #2 ends up costing a few wins. He'll come up more times and maybe win a few games late by hitting #2. But the cost of that was giving up on more opportunities to hit in RBI situations in the 1st inning, and possibly also in other innings.
Having mulled it over some more, I don't know if I buy the idea that the chance of an RBI situation, by hitting #3 as opposed to #2, is only greater in the 1st inning. If you have two guys who can hit in the #1 and #2 slots, seems to me that would increase the probability of the #3 hitter coming up with a man on base in later innings as well. If you have a black hole at the bottom of your lineup with the #8 and #9 hitters, is it really just as likely that they would get on base if Judge were hitting #2? Well, if their on base percentages are just as good as the #1 and #2 hitters, that would be the case. But they won't be as good at getting on base as your #1 and #2 hitters.
Someone (I think it might have been John Sterling) once suggested that maybe you have a "good" hitter batting in the #9 slot so that would make it more likely that Judge as the #2 hitter would come up with guys on base in the later innings. But why would you put a good hitter in the #9 slot? Why not just put two of your best on base guys in front of Judge?
Gleyber giveth and Gleyber taketh away. He gets a hit, then gets thrown out stealing. At least he waited until Judge had an at bat. But still.... It appears that no one has told Gleyber that his name is Gleyber Torres and NOT Lightfoot Louie.
ReplyDeleteAA, a Sparks song. I didn't know there was another Maels fan here. I've been following them since Kimono My House way back when. They'll be playing NYC soon, but I have to pass on this year's tour because we're traveling. Saw them last time around and they were great...of course.
ReplyDeleteDuque, I don't mean to shout, but you keep insisting we don't have a closer. KING IS OUR CLOSER. AND IF BOONE ACCEPTED HIM AS SUCH HE WOULD BE AVAILABLE TO PITCH IN MORE GAMES, instead of using him in these two or two-plus inning appearances.
What a dumb team.
I knew Ba-Boone would find a way to piss away that game. And even with his pitchers hurling a 9 inning shutout, he found a way to piss it away. (Where there's a will, there's a way.)
ReplyDeleteWith bases loaded and two outs in the 10th inning, he opts to pinch hit Franchy Cordero over Rizzo. Before the game, Ba-Boone had said Rizzo was "available". After the game, Ba-Boone says Rizzo was only available in "an emergency". And if that's not "an emergency", what exactly constitutes "an emergency"? Franchy strikes out and they lose the game in the bottom of the 10th.
Repeat that kind of thing about a dozen or so times over the season, and they miss the wild card by a few games. Anatomy of a Yankee season.
And if Rizzo really was not available, why didn't they at least bring someone up to shore up the bench? If someone is not available, put him on the injured list for the ten days.
ReplyDeleteCashman loves to play shorthanded. That's another one of his things. Playing a game short a man, sometimes even two or three men.
They pretend that it's because they're not really sure when the walking wounded will be ready to play. But I really do think it's because they save a few pennies on the major league minimum salary. And a second reason is that they don't want to burn one of those player "options" so that they can be more flexible and hang onto a minor leaguer well past his expiration date.
Per Jack Curry
ReplyDelete“… Yankees add Stanton, Donaldson and Kahnle to their 26-man roster, one of the moves will be optioning Cabrera to AAA. Cordero and Krook also likely to lose roster spots.”
I like Cabrera, as I believe most NYY do, but he simply didn’t hit enough. I do think he’ll be back sometime this season, but (barring a glut of injuries) his role will be extremely limited. But who knows? Maybe the time in AAA will be time well spent. They do have coaches there, just not good ones judging by the results. Even Judge himself famously had to go outside the org for better coaching. The team should’ve been shocked and mortified by that but instead resisted this obvious call for change.
I guess every team has their own Legion of the Lost, ours seems worse because of the attendant hype. But some players, like Sanchez, are just stupid and lazy. It’s that simple.
I don’t think Yankee fans are sad. We are ANGRY. One WS in 20 years for the richest most hailed sports franchise in the Universe? Accompanied by practically no remorse, no responsibility taken, and no change by the condescending team management? Angry? We are FUCKING PISSED!!!
RE: Volpe, while I have opined that he be given a wide berth this season in terms of opportunity, there is a limit, and that limit is within sight. Peraza is raking at AAA, and his D is a given. What I’d like to see is both at the ML level, let them alternate starts. Hopefully one would emerge. This of course will never happen, especially with Donaldson back wasting a roster spot. The team must have some kind of plan to accommodate both, requiring either a position move or trade.
ReplyDeleteLast night
Oswald Peraza 3-6, 2 HR, 2 RBI
With Stanton back we know have TWO DH’s as duque observed earlier. Roster crunch.
And just for shits and giggles:
Estevan Florial 2-6, 3B, RBI, K
Probably!
ReplyDeleteYES JM, indeed a Sparks fan. I am full of surprises.
ReplyDeleteThey are not performing in the Bay Area this time around (at least no shows have been announced yet) but I remain hopeful a show will be added.
"The Glass Menagerie" is genius, Duque!
ReplyDeleteAnd you guys all called it. It's not simply that we had "crazy" expectations. Beginning in 2017, this team had a horde of highly promising young players, most of whom shined in their first couple of years...then declined into nothingness.
ReplyDeleteSanchez and The Gleyber weren't merely prospects. They were already all-stars. Bird looked like a budding star. Frazier, Fowler, and above all Andujar—these guys were the next dynasty.
And nothing. Everyone, save for Judge—who took his training and coaching outside the organization, as 999 points out—gets injured or swiftly declines to nothingness. WITHOUT (as 999 also writes) ANY ACCOUNTABILITY!
It's nonsense, already.
You guys obviously like ca$hole and HAL much more than I do. You'll come around sooner or later.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, as Hammer notes, it was another game played shorthanded, with our injured, second-best hitter obviously unable to play, but still on the roster.
ReplyDeleteFrom Twitter:
ReplyDeleteJon Morosi
@jonmorosi
Source: OF Kole Calhoun exercising June 1 opt-out with Yankees and will become free agent unless Yankees add him to MLB roster within 72 hours. Calhoun implemented a swing change and has a .963 OPS at Triple-A, so he’s likely to draw interest from other clubs. @MLBNetwork
Hammer -- This obsession is destroying you. It's so much better not to give Judge an extra at-bat in a late and close situation. Keep repeating that, from here to eternity. It's like a bad Poe story.
ReplyDeleteborntorun -- One will emerge? Volpe has already emerged. He can't hit MLB pitching . . . yet. He needs more seasoning at the minor league level. He has a long swing that makes him vulnerale to hart stuff up and in. His promotion was premature. Peraza is much more likely to succeed as a major leaguer at this point. But it would be necessary for Cashman to admit he made a mistake for that to happen, so good luck.
ReplyDeleteNevermore, nevermore, nevermore....
ReplyDelete