Three Triple A retreads (Calhoun, Bauers, McKinney)
Two seriously struggling youngsters (Volpe, Cabrera)
Two lumbering, perhaps-done veterans (Donaldson, LeMahieu)
Two defensive catchers (Trevino, Higashioka)
Two slumping former stars (Torres, Rizzo)
And one continuing, generational mistake (Stanton.)
The team is no longer on course to take the final AL wild card slot, a feat that becomes less impressive each year.
It shows no spark, no flare and little ability to score, beyond the occasional solo HR - the prototype for October failure - if they somehow do make it.
They have squandered one of the MLB's best bullpens and heaped colossal pressure on two people to salvage this plummeting season.
1. Aaron Judge surely feels compelled to return ASAP, with or without his toe fully healed. It could be a costly decision. Last year, DJ LeMahieu - suffering from a similar ailment - went from a league batting leader to a mediocre leadoff hitter. He still hasn't returned to his former self.
By collapsing into a leaderless void, the Yankees are pushing Judge to not only heal miraculously soon, but to then perform at a nearly superhuman level. When he hurt himself in LA, he was on fire. What happens when Judge inevitably slumps? Because he will. Without Judge seeming to hit a HR every day, it is flat-out amazing how dead this lineup is.
2. Brian Cashman, the maligned GM whose string of deals last July tanked the 2022 season. In his career, Cashman came late to Money Ball and now seems unable to move on. He has slumped since the disastrous acquisition of Joey Gallo, which seemed born from some algorithm that should have vanished with Chris Carter.
But it's his track record with pitchers that frightens us the most. His list of recent failures is terrifying: Sonny Gray, James Paxton, Lance Lynn, Michael Pineda, Javier Vazquez, JA Happ, Javier Vazquez, Franky Montas... and now, gulp, Carlos Rodon?
These days, each loss pushes the Yankees closer to the doomsday scenario, where Cashman tears up the farm system, trading youngsters for a new bilge of salary dumps. Make no mistake: The Yankees got here by acquiring bad contracts. They are too big to fail, and yet they are failing, miserably. They look in the mirror and see the Mets, and they think NYC can still be won.
How much deeper will they lash themselves to this sad, tired lineup in order to chase a final wild card slot?
We just experienced the worst Yankee day of 2023.
Or did we?
--We just experienced the worst Yankee day of 2023.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope so. Playing so poorly in Boston is humiliating. This weekend had to be a low point for the season, doesn't? Surly that $179 million dollar payroll is going to buy some exciting baseball at some point. Doesn't?
These lineups are grotesque. Without Judge, they're one of the five worst teams in baseball. With him, a fringe wild card team.
ReplyDeleteHeard a great comment..."IKF is Cashman's version of Ohtani."
$260M payroll. If this isn't the worst run organization in professional sports, tell me who is?
ReplyDeleteHal, Hal, are you there? Hello, Hal?
ReplyDeleteThe only thing worse than being a Yankee fan right now is being a Yankee fan and a Cowboys fan. [Don't worry folks, " Dac is not Stanton and we will win the SB this year."]
ReplyDeleteIn an earlier post I shamefully dissed the 1968 Yankees.
ReplyDeleteThey actually had a winning record and got over 140 games out of Mickey Mantle with no DH. Still got 18HR and batted .237 with a .385 OBP with .782 OPS. from him. Age 36 season.
That output might put Stanton in the ASG.
Unfortunately I'm back to rooting for a complete meltdown this season, AND, I'm painfully aware that it will change nothing of consequence within the Yankee organization,,,,, URRGGGGG!
ReplyDeleteYeah, they wouldn't know how to manage a meltdown/rebuild any better than they would know what to do with the Mets' Monopoly-money budget.
ReplyDeleteUnwavering positivity, for fuck sake.
ReplyDeleteGreat IKF quote, Publius!
ReplyDeleteWhat a shit show that was, one worse than the other. The Sox were wearing out holes in that fence, and Yanks were flailing at air.
ReplyDeleteDoes Stanton actually take any batting practice? Or is he too busy? He's gone back to his blind man routine. The only thing he seems to do is pump iron in the gym. The arms are as big as ever. The contact as rare as it's ever been.
They finally moved Stanton out of the #2 slot for the second game, but why was he hitting #2 lately? Doesn't seem like a good fit there. A guy who strikes out 12 or 13 times, draws a walk or two, a single maybe once a week, and a home run or two. Hit him #4 and pray for a baserunner when and if he hits one out.
The thing about Mantle's '68 season is that it took place in a very low run scoring environment. The League wide ERA was 2.98. His wRC+ was 145. wRC+ league average is set at 100. So 145 was still a very productive year. His OBP was .385 for fuck sake. His lifetime wRC+ was 170. The number looked bad but they were still good. More than good enough for Mantle to have played another couple of productive years.
ReplyDeleteInteresting comparison, Archie.
ReplyDeleteAfter the Long Day's Journey Into Nightmare, the Yanks' OBP is now .298. That is their lowest since 1968, when it was .292.
But wait! In 1968, pitchers still batted. Take out the Yanks' hurlers that season, and their OBP was .303.
In fact, take out the pitchers' contribution, and we're talking the Yankees' worst OBP since 1908, when it was .283, and .292 not counting those pitchers' at-bats.
That 1908 team, unsurprisingly, was one of the worst editions of your New York Yankees ever, a team that finished 51-103-1 and dead last, 39 1/2 games behind the Tigers, and 17 games behind the 7th-place Senators. Back then, they were still often called the Highlanders, and played in a wreck of a ballpark, Hilltop Park, where Columbia's Med School is today.
Hey, I heard a good story from Waldman on the radio during the second half of the sordid affair yesterday. She said the Sox starter had failed to cover 1st base on a play awhile back, besides being too full of himself and too cocky. And Alex Cora went out to the mound and chewed him out in front of the whole stadium, pointing his finger at the guy's chest. Well, that "shocked" the guy awake and he's been much better since.
ReplyDeleteThink Boone is capable of doing something like that? Boone is not a manager. He's just a sock puppet babysitting a bunch of multimillionaires.
Hammer - the answer to your question is a definitive - most likely not.
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ReplyDeleteThis is a new low for us. We are comparing this team to the 1968 team with reams of statistics.
The one statistic that nobody mentioned, in spite of having a winning record (something the current Yankees management takes great pride in) is that the 1968 team finished in fifth place.
Gone and done. Just like this championship-caliber team.
The spirit of Mike Burke has been reincarnated in Brian Cashman.
This team reminds me of the late 80s: Over spent money on aging players, one superstar (Mattingly/Judge) and no young stars on the horizon. The question is who is the modern day Stump Merrill?
ReplyDeleteThe hosts on WFAN this morning were criticizing the Mets and Yankees, and Cashman in particular. And it was noted that fans with a long enough memory know that Cashman did not create the late-90s team, so what exactly has he done for the team?
ReplyDeleteAs I was turning the radio off, they were attacking the "championship caliber" bullshit--the mindset that thinks success is defined by making the playoffs, not winning a ring.
Are any of you guys freelancing over at the FAN? It sure sounded like it.
Kay will be squealing like a pig on his next broadcast. One of his latest lines of defense for cashman is that if the team dumped him (O Happy Day!) he’d be hired right away somewhere else. That would be one less team for us to worry about. It wouldn’t matter though; Steinsucker will simply hire another apparatchik, a better looking wolf in sheep’s clothing.
ReplyDeleteDuque’s best point, which I wanted to comment on anyway, is the enormous pressure on Judge not just to hurry back, but that he will be expected to immediately right the ship, to be a HR hitting jesus, a savior to lead us across the ghost-runner desert to the promised land of World Championships, where our forefathers dwell. A lot of pressure, to be expected with that hefty price tag, but still… too much for any one player.
As for Stanton, who claimed he “doesn’t have time for reps” if I try to write anything it will descend into wordless howling gibberish, as unformed as a boone presser. Can’t wait to see him stomping around the OF, looking like Frankenstein chasing some villagers, but without Frankie’s determination and effort.
That's pretty damned funny, 999!
ReplyDeleteAnd Judge? Frankly, I don't mind if he's hurried or pressured. That's what you get the big(best) bucks for.
The worst is yet to come. Sinking like an anchor until the All Star Break. Still a long ways to reach the bottom.
ReplyDeleteCashman didn't follow any algorithms in acquiring Gallo. Just the same old stupid habit of betting all his chips on washed-up veterans. Cashman does not understand analytics or how to apply them. If he did, the Yankees would be the Rays instead of the anti-Rays.
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