Yoshi Yamamoto will play in LA, because the Dodgers are America's most iconic team, and baseball's greatest showcase.
They beat out the Mets, who soon will become New York City's dominant franchise. (That will probably happen by next July.)
Today, the Yankees are officially just another team, and - frankly - a middling one, in the American League, and a bottom feeder in the AL East.
Some of you might want to shift strategy and immediately ponder the signing of, say, Blake Snell and/or Jordan Montgomery, to buttress hopes by imagining ridiculous trades, or maybe even imagine Giancarlo Stanton's weight loss.
I cannot do this.
It's over, folks. Not just 2024. The whole thing about the Yankees. It's done.
They once were Derek Jeter. Now, they are Jeter Downs.
They once were Thurman Munson. Now, Ben Rortvedt.
They once were Mickey Mantle. Now, what, Estevan Florial?
I wonder if Hal Steinbrenner, over Christmas dinner, will ponder the decline and fall of the once mighty team, formerly the greatest sports tradition in America?
It's gone, folks. He had everything, and he let it go. It's over.
The new team song should be Bonnie Raitt’s “We used to rule the world”
ReplyDeleteI read somewhere that Yamamoto felt that couldn't live up to what Tanaka did in New York so he didn't sign here...FWIW
ReplyDeleteBigger question, why did Cohen stop at $325 Million? If I was a Met fan, I'd be outraged...
This all happened during a Mercury Retrograde period. I predict this will not work out for the Dodgers the way they thought it would...
And if you thought that we really lost out, watch this...
https://twitter.com/TalkinYanks/status/1738079939969089724
Oh, and this...
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/BabeRuthsEmpire/status/1738080123738329098/photo/1
Ranger, that clip helped a lot.
ReplyDeleteWhere are the great European and Icelandic players? We could sign them because they'd be relatively close to home on the East Coast.
Yeah, guess it doesn't really work that way.
This pretty much sums it up. I am only mad at myself for having allowed myself a bit of hope on this one.
ReplyDeleteThe Dodgers are doing some very creative accounting work.
ReplyDeleteFirst they spread the impact of Ohtani's contract out forever. Everybody in Dodger's management and ownership will be dead by the time all that money gets paid out.
Then, and this is the best part of the deal: they borrowed against Ohtani's contract to pay Yamamoto. I don't quite understand how that's possible, but apparently they are doing just that.
So much for salary cap limitations. Wouldn't it be nice if the Yankees had someone in ownership/front office with some degree (like an MBA maybe?) of creative accounting skills to circumvent the rules of engagement?
Hal and Brain: egg on your face. And we can look forward to early tee times next October. Happy Christmas one and all.
In truth, can’t say I’m disappointed bc I knew it all along.
ReplyDeleteEl D is right of course. The sad fact is that nothing lasts forever, including being a storied franchise. The Yankees are not the greatest franchise anymore. They haven’t been for some time now. They’ve become a washed up old film star, getting by on memories of better days, trying to cover up the wrinkles and the grays with hideous glops of makeup.
But the mirror tells the tale.
Only a balls-out consolation prize--or package (heh)--of, say, Snell, Montgomery, and Hader would help to soothe the sting of this, but you know they won't do that either.
ReplyDeleteAnd if the man turns out to be Kei Igawa, or worst than Tanaka
ReplyDelete...we'll thank our lucky starts we don't have another albatross of a contract
Well, I for one am done with baseball. What LA is doing is just ridiculous and basically killing a sport that has been dying a slow death for years now anyway. MLB needs a hard salary cap like the NFL has if they ever truly want competitive balance and fans of small market teams to truly care anymore. Hal and Cashole can go pound sand and MLB has one less fan today
ReplyDeleteReportedly, Yamamoto was going to sign with the Dodgers all along and just used the other teams to drive up the price. He is a rabid Dodgers fan.
ReplyDelete@ Oasis....you sound just like a historical Yankees hater invoking overspending by the franchise that would result in ruining baseball.
ReplyDeleteSo our first inclinations that he'd sign with the Dodgers were right after all. Why else would he stay in L.A. and have everyone come to him? So he used everyone to drive up the price. That's okay by me. If HAL was baseball smart, he would've driven up the price even further, knowing that Yamamoto would sign with the Dodgers. Driving up the costs of your competition is a good strategy. It'll make them less competitive in the long run.
ReplyDeleteJust wanna throw some water on the fire: we might've gotten lucky NOT signing this guy to a gargantuan contract. Nobody knows how he'll do in the majors. He's never thrown one pitch here.
ReplyDeleteAnd just wanna point out that, as we were sayin' all along, Yanks should've been signing everyone else who's available. Now that this charade is over, the price will go up on everyone else as well. I say go after Hader, Bauer. Montgomery became a much better pitcher after he left. Why would Montgomery want to come back here? That's a recipe for disaster. Forget Montgomery, go after the others. If they're not going to change the pitching coach, don't bring back guys who the pitching coach couldn't help.
They could also trade Torres for a middling starter or a young starting prospect on the rise. But I know they'll never do that. Torres will walk away as a free agent after 2024, and they'll get nothing but a couple of compensation draft picks, like they usually do.
Just posted my thoughts but wanted to acknowledge the sad sad truth and wisdom of El Duque's,
ReplyDelete"They once were Derek Jeter. Now, they are Jeter Downs.
They once were Thurman Munson. Now, Ben Rortvedt.
They once were Mickey Mantle. Now, what, Estevan Florial?"
Yamamoto would have added some excitement and intrigue to 2024 and beyond.
ReplyDeleteI remained hopeful.
Now it’s back to business as usual as the team continues its steady decline into rising mediocrity.
Snell, Hader, perhaps Bauer.
Back to impulse engines . . .
We've gone from Mickey Mantle to Mickey Mouse.
ReplyDeleteWhat a shitshow.
Very good points Duque.
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ReplyDelete@ AA, If they pivoted and got Snell, Hader, Bauer, all those guys, I think we'd be jumping for joy. Because together, they'd easily be more valuable than Yamamoto alone. But we've seen this shit show before. I don't think they're going to do anything else all winter. Soto and Verdugo, that was it. No pitching additions. In fact, we gave away four pitchers just to get Soto, who'll most likely run away after the 2024 season like his hair was on fire.
ReplyDelete