A dark day to be a Yankee fan; could the 2023 Yankees have bottomed out?

By now, you know about The Martian. Everyone on Earth has heard. Last night, the phone wouldn't stop dinging. Bad news gets gas.

He tore up his chicken wing. It's a Tommy John thing. He'll be out until June, maybe longer. That means a return stint at Scranton and maybe an appearance in the Bronx after the all-star break. He might be done in CF. It's way too far off to ponder, but basically, we are screwed. Thank you, juju gods. Thank you, soooo much.

You also know about the no-hitter. Eleven innings, zilch. Some of our half-innings took less time than the commercial breaks between them. Lambs. We deserved to lose. In fact, we should have seen this coming, considering the one- and two-hit shutouts we endured in recent weeks.

So much for celebrating 1998. This is one of the saddest Yankee teams in our lifetimes - made worse by a sense that its architects will pay no price for shitting the bed. Players will change, but the ownership and front office will stay. They'll probably give themselves raises, as some hazardous duty scale. I gotta believe they get yelled at on the street. I sure would.

(Why do I think they'll stay? Here's the reasoning: Brian Cashman recently jettisoned Harrison Bader, a hometown hero, having concluded that Bader had no future Yankee role. If Cashman were NOT returning, that decision would have been left for the new GM. Hal let it go, because Cash is his man, and the money just keeps flowing, so nobody cares.)  

Today, the best reason to watch this team - Jasson Dominguez - is gone. And it's reasonable to wonder if the decision to promote him - hyping game sales, of course - contributed to his injury. Did he push himself too hard? Did he play a few games in pain? (In Saturday's disastrous 8th inning, he made a weak, rainbow throw from CF, which - in retrospect - looked like a bad omen.) 

What now? Well, a few ideas: 

1. The Yankees should replace The Martian with The Scrantonian - Estevan Florial, who homered twice yesterday at Triple A. On the season, the 25-year-old Florial has 28 HRs, 25 SBs and a .284 average. He'll probably win the International League MVP. (Fun fact: Two Yanks in recent times have won this prestigious award: Shelley Duncan, 2009, and Ben Gamel, 2016.) Florial bats LH, which is the Yankee sickness.

Frankly, it's a crime that he hasn't gotten a chance this year, especially considering the Four Seasons Landscaping of Fanners - Jake Bauers, Billy McKinney, Franchy Cordero and Willie Cahoon - that took his place. 

Yes, the knock on Florial remains his strikeouts. He swings and misses. He has fanned 144 times this year - a rate of 35.2 percent. On the Yankees, Anthony Volpe has fanned 147 times, but at a slightly lower rate (30.8%) Some other K-rates:

Bauers 39.9%
Judge 35.2%
Stanton 31.5 %
Rizzo 26.0%
LeMahiue 24.7%

(Dominguez had fanned 8 out of 31 plate appearances - 25.8%.)

Frankly, I'd like to see Florial get a shot, simply to embarrass the front office, who clearly would be rooting against him. Nothing would more distress Cashman than having to watch Florial go on a hitting tear. For that reason, I doubt the Yankees will give him the light of day. Sad, eh? 

2. We must support Gerrit Cole for the Cy Young. Right now, he leads Sonny Gray - yes, THE Sonny Gray, another Cashman embarrassment - by six wins and a sprig of ERA (2.70 to 2.98.) 

It might be fun to see Gray win it, simply for the CEF -Cashman Embarrassment Factor. Cole could sit out the last three weeks and probably win. But he won't, of course. He's a gamer, our last source of pride, and let's hope the team rallies to support him. He's 13-4. With modest help, he should be 18-2, and drawing comparisons to the all-time greats. I appreciate Aaron Judge's leadership but cannot help but wonder if Cole is the true Yankee captain. 

3. We play Boston this week. Four meaningless games. Truth be told, who cares? Let them beat their chests, as if these games matter. It's time to get excited for football. I hear the Giants look mighty good! This could be their year!