So, what happened? The Death Barge beat tomato can Chicago and gained one game in the loss column on Toronto and Boston. (Ah, the Redsocks, the Thelma to our Louise, as we both hurtle off the cliff...)
In fact, we won last night without using every pitcher on our staff. (And welcome back, Johnny Lasagna.) Once again, Clarke Schmidt proved to be the nicest surprise of 2023. If the Clarkster could get - say - two more outs per start - that is, pitch into the 7th instead of the 6th - he could be our No. 2 next year.
Boonie's Bums stand four games behind the Jays for that final wild card slot, which is tantamount to winning the Golden Globe for Cast Ensemble in a Limited Series, where in this case, Boone would portray the ditsy Jennifer Coolidge character in White Lotus.
Full disclosure: Last night, I didn't watch. Not a pitch. Nope. I monitored. A phone check, here and there. No expenditure of juju. Much easier on the nerves.
With a 4-1 lead in the fifth, I figured we'd probably win, but Boone would drain the entire bullpen, ceding our our fate tonight to Albert Abreu - "old Double A" - and the cast of Knots Landing. The Yankees are playing the 4th worst team in baseball, and tonight they'll play a rubber match with an undeclared starter (who, if it's Luis Severino, might last two innings), followed by Wobbly Wandy, Tommy the Traveler (note old Hobart reference) and Shylock Holmes. I can nickname these lug nuts until the cows come home.
In fact, we won last night without using every pitcher on our staff. (And welcome back, Johnny Lasagna.) Once again, Clarke Schmidt proved to be the nicest surprise of 2023. If the Clarkster could get - say - two more outs per start - that is, pitch into the 7th instead of the 6th - he could be our No. 2 next year. Trouble is, scoring runs. Right now, the most frustrating event in the Yankiverse is a leadoff double - because you know how it will play out. A strikeout. A grounder. A pop up. I mean, who can watch?
A scattered thought...
They're now whispering that Everson Pereira - the 22-year-old, fleet OF at Scranton - will soon be promoted to the Show. Translation: The Yankees are preparing for a cold September, after they fall out of even wild card contention. Pereira is as close as they've got to a phenom.
This season, in 46 games at Double A, he hit .291 with 10 HRs. Not bad. Not exactly Trout. (It happened sort of under the radar: Everyone was watching The Martian, who has raised his average to .243 with 13 HRs, and who will probably move up to Scranton.) Pereira was promoted to Scranton in July, and the league hasn't figured him out: .330, 5 HRs. Trouble is, he bats RH, continuing the roster bugaboo that the Yankees have faced now for four rotten years. If Pereira comes up, he's more of a replacement for free agent Harrison Bader than the answer to our LF sinkhole.
Of course, it would be great to see an actual Yankee prospect, rather than pretending Franchy Cordero and Jake Bauers represent the future. And Scranton does have some contenders - most notably catcher Austin Wells (.241, 0 HRs over 15 games.)
But if/when the Yankees start touting kids, it's just another sign of games to be monitored on phones. It will soon be September, and this team will be sniffing the barn for winter.
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Speaking of prospects I was at the Renagades game last night and got to watch 6'6" Spencer Jones the "next Aaron Judge" because, you know, he's tall...
That said, three base hits including an effortless swing 400 foot double with the tying run on base. He was impressive in this very short statistical sample.
I liked that he didn't sell out for a the home run in every at bat and seemed to be getting the most out of the pitches he was given. I got the feeling that he knows that the HRs will be there because the power is clearly there so he doesn't need to swing from his heels.
He made all the plays in the field but nothing was challenging. Not fast on the basepaths but not slow either.
Oh and Duque... I really like the YMCA post. Didn't see it until this AM.
I came away impressed.
Imagine,
You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.
I hope someday you'll join us and the world will live,
without Cashman, Boone and Hal.
Arch, you bring a tear to my eye.
The best thing you can say about this season so far is that we're not in last place at the moment. But it's close.
All of these guys should be up here right now and learning on the job. Yanks are in last place! Well, basically tied for last with the Red Sox. What's Dumbass Cashman waiting for? Until last place is signed, certified, sealed, delivered? This is why he almost never develops young players. He says he likes to wait until the player is "finished" before bringing him up. There is no such thing as being "finished" in the minors. The final step up the majors will always be a trial by fire. The first two to three years in the majors are a trial by fire. If these kids are good and develop quickly up here, then there is a chance that we could be back in contention for the second half of next season. If Cashman waits until the end of the season, there won't be enough time to develop them, and we'll have no idea going into next season. This year will have been a complete and total wasted year.
Iron Maiden's "Wasted Years":
So ... understand
Don't waste your time always searching for those wasted years
Face up ... make your stand
And realize you're living in the golden years
In three weeks they can bring up two more players...so you figure Pereira would be one of them. The second...beats me? Depends on where they are in the standings and that's very much up in the air...
King and Lasagna pitched great last night...maybe one of Ca$hman's hopefullys is happening...
Up the Irons, Hammer!
Some of these days, and it won't be long
Gonna drive back down where you once belonged
In the back of a dream car twenty foot long
Don't cry, my sweet, don't break my heart
Doing all right, but you gotta get smart
Wish upon, wish upon, day upon day, I believe, oh Lord
I believe all the way
Run for the shadows, run for the shadows
Run for the shadows in these golden years
The Daily Klapisch:
Despite the mounting pressure, a source familiar with Hal Steinbrenner’s thinking says the owner has already decided one of the two will be back in 2024.
Cashman is safe.
According to the source, “the idea (of firing Cashman) isn’t even on the table. It’s not up for discussion.”
Boone’s fate is less certain, in part because he has only one year remaining on his contract. That, and the Yankees’ lackluster play throughout the 2023 season, have left Steinbrenner “deeply frustrated” according to that same source. … The safety net, according to another voice in Steinbrenner’s orbit, is the owner’s wish to avoid tough choices and stay out of the spotlight.
“Firing people is not in Hal’s nature,” the person said. “To this point he’s been content to let Cashman make the decisions; he trusts him. And he happens to like Boone personally, too.”
Nice to know Hal likes to avoid tough choices.
Is the prospect you were referring to Periera? The Yankees are allowing the clock to tick so they have more years of control.
Likes to avoid tough choices? Never would’ve guessed.
That’s what happens when you grow up rich and don’t have to make tough choices, like deciding between paying the rent and eating.
Calling up Periera now would not affect the years of team control.
They like him as an option because it’s the cheapest option.
That’s the real reason they made no moves at the T/D. They want to stay under the next salary cap threshold.
Great analysis, Hammer, as usual!
And of course, the inexplicable Florial torture continues.
Including today’s game, Dominguez batting .441 in August. Let’s see how it goes…
clarke kent shmidt aint superman but is trying to save the yankee universe
I was at the White Sox park for the Cole game. Cole was terrific. Late runs were kahnle's fault. Judge was not limping. But lemahieu and Stanton cannot run.
Absolutely no hard contact until Bauers smashed one down the line but nabbed by first baseman . The team puts no pressure on the pitcher or defense and allows the pitcher to get into a groove.
I don't expect them to win a ring every year. But I do expect a competitive team. Absolutely the most boring soul destroying team . They will lose fans in droves next year
Agreed, Ceeja! Really, in 58 seasons of watching this club, I've never seen them so boring and lifeless—even when they had much less competitive teams.
Part of that is how baseball is played now, but part is also age, injuries, lack of imagination, and lack, apparently, of motivation.
I follow some other teams and agree that the problem of boring lifeless baseball is league wide. Teams should be run by baseball men who are also able to digest the data. Hit the ball hard and low and fo some bunting and running. The stst heads reject this approach because it's too hard to model mathematically.
Put the latest version of gene Michael in charge of building a mentally tough sound team. Just play good ball and I'll watch
I found it funny, but fairly sinister, that I saw FOUR articles about Periera today [I get a series of dings and hit sfrom the various apps that I set up on my phone back in the day.]
Nobody seemed to give a shit about him until after the deadline. I knew of him based upon my almost Don Q. tilting at windmills, and his existence on our 40-man.
Word must have gotten out to Cashman lackeys that since Hal said he was safe, Cashhole can now say that he didn't find a LF because he knew that he had Periera coming.
They will call him up, cut McKinney , save about 35K, and christen him the LF for 2024 and beyond. Three years of basic min salaries and then a few Arb. years.
We don't need np stinking Soto!
Lining him up just like Peraza, except Peraza didn't work out so good so far.
Does anything really matter? Ca$hman & Mr Bean will be back next year with $300m spent on 2024 FAs (not named Ohtani). It will be a nuclear winter for the next decade.
The insanity of this inning. The White Sox actually pitch to Judge with a man on, and Judge delivers only to have Bauers thrown out - MAKING THE FIRST OUT OF THE INNING AT THIRD!!!!!! - and then Gleyber The Ever Disappointing grounds into a double play.
Two hits, no runs, none left on base.
These fuckers.
Let's not get carried away with Mr. Periera just yet. He only has 112 PA with a career high .420 babip. In 103 AB he has 30K/4BB. It, ah, "not what you want" . I'm not saying that he has no future, but he has to put in another year at AAA. Right now he's the stuff of talk show wet dreams.
*Numbers are AAA
Well, all that “maybe changing things up will spark Severino and get him back on track,” talk lasted about, oh, 3 minutes.
Cashman Baby:
Ain't that a shame
My tears fell like rain
Ain't that a shame
You're the one to blame
Severino is unpitchable. Just DFA him now before he returns to the dugout.
But hey, you just HAVE to love Severino getting 2 Ks with no walks in an inning!
Thank You Mr. Moderator!
BTR, nice Fats call-out.
God, can't we just not start Severino here on out? So many wasted games.
AA, nice Bowie quote. And Hammer, Maiden hasn't been my thing but my brother in law is here from Austria and he's a massive fan. So I'll tell him you brought up that song.
Criminy. Sevy is going out for another inning.
Alternative theory...is Boone continuing to send out Severino as a message to Ca$hman that this is your decision not mine?
Okay, so the ChiSox have now scored a fifth run. The Yankees cannot score more than 4. They never come from behind. We are going to lose a series to the fourth worst team in the Majors. A team that was on pace to lose 97 games. (It's a 95 loss pace after this series.) A team that has already given up and traded away every player they could.
These, these are your 2023 New York Yankees.
Bases loaded. No one out. No runs scored. Because of course!
And that, gentlemen, was the Yankees 2023 season in a nutshell:
Bases loaded, nobody out.
Followed by a strikeout (looking) and double play ball.
I'm meeting you all at the bar early on the 24th.
Seen enough…turning the tv off…
My, my, the clock in the sky
Is pounding away
And there's so much to say
A face, a voice
An overdub has no choice
An image cannot rejoice
Wanting to be
To hear and to see
Crying to the sky
But the porpoise is laughing
Goodbye, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
Clicks, clacks, riding the backs of giraffes for laughs
S'alright for a while
sings of castles
And kings and things that go
With a life of style
Wanting to feel
To know what is real
Living is a, is a lie
The porpoise is waiting
Goodbye, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
Free drink to someone who can tell me the name of the above song without hitting the interntZ
I thought Ramirez was banished to the zone of crapitude? Like, Scranton? Or released?
What a shit show.
I failed your challenge, AA, and had to look the song up. It's well-chosen and beautiful.
But the Yankees are neither well-chosen nor beautiful.
Losing 2 of 3 to the WHITE SOX???
This keeps up, crashman will have to sacrifice Boone after the season
But hey, the important thing is that Glo homered, on his drive to hit over 20 and stay above the Mendoza Line, so that certain people can tell us how truly great he is.
The Yankees now have a negative run differential. They definitely have the talent to win it all. It's right there in front of them for the taking.
Not only do I know the Porpoise song by heart, probably the most beautiful song Carole King ever wrote for Micky Dolenz… I even made it 2/3 of the way through the movie Head before falling asleep. Twice! I truly believe the Monkees or a better band, because they were a bigger band, with more talented contributors than any other band of the 60s. A.k.a. fuck the Beatles.
I don’t know if my post is getting verified as Barney free…. But a follow up…. Since I can’t use Google, I can’t send you a link but on YouTube and there is a video with just the backing track to porpoise song it’s worth looking it up.
Wasn't the "Porpoise Song" used in "Vanila Sky", or that a different song?
I've been in denial most of the season. Keep thinking the Yankees will make a run at it. But the reality of this team's lineup is starting to tell me to "wait until next year".
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