This time, we turn to Josh Allen, and his piece at our esteemed, sister publication, Pinstripes Nation.
Mr. Allen backs El Duque's recent words with facts and figures on just how screwed the Yankees are, how unable they are to undertake due to how many dollars have already been committed to sunk costs in the contracts of Cantrun, Rodon, DJ, and Rizzo.
https://pinstripesnation.com/contract-flaws-cripple-yankees-in-2023-2023-10-04/
Allen's piece—written back when the team's audit had not yet been exposed for the p.r. fraud it was—points out that the Yanks are likely to be hit by a whopping luxury tax for 2023, and how there's no relief in sight.
OUCH!
You would think, after seeing his record laid out that baldly (no pun intended!), somebody would be embarrassed.
But then, you would think that, after seeing that record, somebody would no longer have a job.
I wonder how bad Cashman would have to be to get fired? Which also brings up the question, can he actually be any worse?
ReplyDeleteI think yes, but it's going to take a spectacular effort. There's not much farther he can go on the Schmuck-O-Meter.
From everything that I've seen or heard, HAL has indicated that Cashman is here to stay for the rest of his life. It does not matter if the Yankees finish dead last for ten years, unless the finances are in trouble. But that's just it, the finances are not in trouble. They seem to be doing great, financially speaking. Ergo Cashman is staying. There are no plans to fire him.
ReplyDeletePerhaps if Cashmon starts wearing a nasty rug on top of his microcephalic head - then and only then will he be terminated.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the audit, we all know that is bull shit. HAL will pay some outside company of half fraudsters 25 million bucks to analyze. At best, they will tell HAL what all of us already know. That the management here is rotten to the core and that everyone in the front office should be fired. At worst, they will tell HAL that 2023 was just a bad year, full of bad luck.
ReplyDeleteEven if the audit reported that everyone should be fired, HAL will not fire anyone, that much is for certain.
And as far as the potential player moves over the winter, we know from observing the last decade and a half that since 2009, virtually nothing has happened over the winter. They've made some big money splashes here and there (Stanton, Cole, Rodon, retaining Judge), but basically just P.R. moves, nothing that makes the team a real top contender.
So I would fully expect that they'll pass on Yamamoto, pass on Juan Soto. There'll be no big trades over the winter. Gleyber will still be here in 2024. As will Domingo German. As will Stanton, Clarke Schmidt. Cashman will rummage through the dumpsters and bring in the 2024 versions of guys like Willie Calhoun. Florial will be banished to the minors again. Ben Rortveldt might even beat out Austin Wells for the catching job in spring training 2024. Wells will be sent to the minors for more "seasoning" because Cashman likes his players to be "finished" before they make the major league roster. 2024 will most probably strongly resemble 2023.
It could be that HAL made too much money this year and needed to spend to offset the profits, thus the audit. Those who've run businesses would be familiar with this tactic. Near the end of the year, if you've had a very good year with the profits, and you want to reduce your tax liability, you start spending money like crazy, buying anything and everything that could be called business related, in order to offset those profits by increasing expenses.
ReplyDeleteThe audit company, is it related to HAL in any way? If the auditors are family, then HAL spending money on an audit is just a way to transfer money to family members, without paying federal gift tax. At the same time, he lowers his tax liability. Win-win!
ReplyDeleteRich people are very good at paying zero income tax. The middle class pays nearly all the income taxes in America. Hell, the average 50 year old grade school teacher has probably paid over a hundred times more income taxes than Donald Trump.
Apparently, from what I understand, the audit has already turned out NOT to be a real audit.
ReplyDeleteThat is, instead of having some outside company of consultants come in and analyze the Yankees—bullshit anyway; all such people are going to say is that the money is fine and the baseball...whatta they know?—the audit will NOW consist of the Yankees looking at other organizations.
So good. No muss, no fuss, no paper trail. 'Yes, we looked all around, and decided that our 'process' is perfect. Back to doing the exact same thing and hoping for different results.'