(Son a.k.a. Paulie, Yankee fan and It Is High reader, submitted this through Twitter, in what will be remembered as the last constructive thing to happen there, ever.)
A year or two ago when I was really worried about where the team was headed, I ended up in an social media argument with a Yankees beat writer I thought was too soft on ownership (As we know, this has been most of them). This person said to me, "It sounds like you don't think Hal even watches all the games." And acted like that was so silly of me. I responded that, honestly, the results and decision making made me question his level of engagement. How could he be watching and make such obviously bad decisions?
Anyway, now it seems like we have confirmation. In my frustration with where we're at, I was rage reading through some recent articles including Judge's comments at his locker. One line absolutely jumped out at me: “I think there’s some things that happened this year that opened people’s eyes,” he said. “Hopefully the right people saw it and we’ll get the right people in the room to discuss those things and figure it out.”
How is it possible to read that as anything other than our captain, most important player, and the guy Hal supposedly did so much to bring back openly wondering whether the owner even pays attention on a day-to-day basis? Our Captain, a paragon of discretion and class, is openly questioning whether Hal is even tuning in.
Let that sink in: As Hal supposedly prepares to make changes to the team, Aaron Judge is wondering if he even watches or cares. I am too.
We all know that when Hal comes into "work" and says, "How did we do last night?" he's not talking about the score.
ReplyDeleteHAL does not watch any of the games. Does he ever show up at the stadium to take in a game? Nah, he's too busy counting his gold coins, gold bullion, weighing his gold dust, flakes. Using a graduated cylinder and balance to measure the density of his collection, making sure that the density measures out to 19.2999 gm per cubic centimeter. Counting his stacks of $100 bills. Collating and tallying his 3,600 bank accounts. Hey, being rich consumes a lot of time!
ReplyDeleteHal's personal idol is purportedly the late King Midas of ancient Greek fame. (Midas' favorite activity was sitting in his enormous vault, counting thousands of bags of gold coins.) Every day, HAL's goal is to be .1 percent richer than he was the day before. Every day he sighs and says to himself "Oh, if only everything I laid eyes upon would turn into gold, then I could be truly happy!".
To my knowledge, Hal allows his crack committee to be his eyes. I do understand he is at alot of the games. I do not think he understands what he sees. The Yankees rely on close to 100% analytics or Yankalytics. They do not work for The Yankees. The Yankees tell their players not to swing at a pitch that will not result in a flyball. This would explain why with runners in scoring position, flyballs die in the outfield and runners are left on base. "Three Run Homers Win Ball Games." Quote, care of Genius Cashman.
ReplyDeleteThe long and short of it:
ReplyDeleteHAL DOES NOT CARE
HAL DOES NOT WATCH THE YANKEES
HAL ONLY WATCHES THE BOTTOM LINE
HE LETS MORONS LIKE BRIAN "CARE"
HAL HATES THE YANKEES BECAUSE
DADDY LOVED THEM MORE THAN HE LOVED HIS FAMILY.
HAL DOES NOT CARE
So, while it's a noble rhetorical question you ask, we all know the answer at this point.
BECAUSE - and this is "e=mc squared" territory - IF HAL CARED, BRIAN WOULD BE GONE.
or, to put it into basic computer code:
IF Hal cared, THEN Brian would be gone.
Sigh. Dark times to be a Yankee fan. And screw Twitter, X, Musk and Lon Trust, who has always sounded to me like some middle-level gay porn actor from the mid 70s.
Trost, damn it, not Trust. What a cruel universe it is that contains autocorrect.
ReplyDeleteFrom Giancarlo Shakespeare
ReplyDeleteSHALL I COMPARE THEE TO A SUMMER'S DAY
Shall I compare thee to a baseball player?
Thou art more lazy and more indolent:
The slightest tweaks separate your layers,
And on the IL you have the summer spent:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And salaries rise into the stratosphere;
And while my own savings fast decline,
Your net worth rises faster than the foam on beer;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor can you DH, run, catch, or sit in the shade,
You are never on the field and your bunions do growest:
So long as your contract runs or eyes can see
, So long lives this fallacy that tortures me
next up: EE Cummings, WB Yeats, and the Book of Genesis
ReplyDeleteJust my opinion, but I feel he only follows the team remotely. You know, sees the result, cursory look at the box score. Defintley hands off and defers everything to cashman. But when it comes to money matters, he’s like a starving wolf watching a meat truck.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised this comes as a surprise to anyone.
ReplyDeleteHal has been focused on A1Padel. They showed a session on YES recently. There were 8 people in the stands, E-I-G-H-T. I guess all that advertising on YES and TMKS worked out great...
ReplyDeleteHal doesn't watch all the games...he just wants the receipts...
What really surprises me is that we could have, and should have had, Rob Thompson as our manager. Imagine working for the same organization for 27 years and getting passed over as manager to a pundit?
ReplyDeleteApparently with the Yankees, loyalty is a one-way street.
And DickAllen - that one way street is an unpaved fire road in a dangerous and embarrassing bad state of disrepair.
ReplyDeleteUnwaveringly Soured
Indeed it is, AA.
ReplyDeleteHey, BTR, you think Hal knows what a box score is?
Hal HATES baseball and the Yankees. This is his version of psychotherapy.
ReplyDeleteHAL? Watching a baseball game? Really?
ReplyDeleteAbout as much chance as me becoming a carmines fan. Which is a negative number.
I like the TV you chose for this post, Stang.
ReplyDeletePower is on but no body is home
Killin' it, bitty!
ReplyDeleteDoes HAL watch the games? I dunno—and I don't think it matters.
The key, I think, is his vague talk about getting "the process" right. I think Cashie has convinced him that all you can do is make your preparations—and that all of these have been done perfectly—and then the rest is just the proverbial crapshoot.
HAL feels he spends enough money—why spend more, when it will just lead to more luxury tax giveaway, or paying guys to play for other teams? He feels he trusts people, rewards them for past successes and givers them lots of opportunity to succeed.
Are there limits on all these things? Perhaps, but they won't be acknowledged until the team is finally sinking to the bottom and the Mets are the toast of the town.
I suspect it will take another five years to reach rock bottom. And then he will have to find some way to rebuild—something he has no clue about.