As were Carlos Rodon, Nestor Cortez, Johnathan Loaisiga, Frankie Montas, Wander Franco, the Mets, Wink Martindale, Daniel Jones, the Uncut Gems lady who hooked up with Kanye West, Prince Harry, Dr. Oz, Machine Gun Kelly, Beanie Feldstein, Samuel Bankman-Fried, the My Pillow guy and the driverless-car industry.
Unfortunately, last year, Cease went 7-9 with a 4.58 ERA - the baseball equivalent of being thrown out of an off-Broadway Beetlejuice show for grabbing genitalia.
For some reason - (I suspect it involves supply and demand) - the baseball world has identified Cease as a grand and glorious chess piece in the 2024 race. The Yankees are one of several suitors drunk-dialing the Chicago White Sox, slobbering for a chance to land this gleaming, golden trout, who was good in 2022.
I believe I speak for the Yankiverse in saying to our competition in this trade war:
God speed you, God bless you, God protect you. May you bundle prospects in the way that Flo does her car and home insurance with Progressive, and may you bag the ultimate door prize, known as Dylan Cease. Go forth, o, snail and climb Mt. Everest! Make the deal! Dream the Impossible Dream!
And to the Yankees, I would say:
Hello-o, fuckwads? Hey, (snap fingers), look at me. If you don't intend to shell out for a major free agent, why not do everyone a favor and put Carlos Rodon, with a chunk of salary paid, out for bids? See what he'll bring. Because if you think you can trade your way to a 2024 title - that is, just keep draining the farm system for players past their shelf life - well, you can delude yourselves, but you're not fooling the fan base.
With Juan Soto, Alex Verdugo and Gleyber Torres reaching their contract seasons, there is a talk about the Yankees "going for broke" in 2024.
Unless Hal Steinbrenner opens his wallet and springs for a key free agent pitcher, this whole exercise is a joke. If the Yankees sign a solid pitcher - Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, et al - they'll have a puncher's chance.
If we're supposed to think our future hinges on trading for Dylan Cease, folks... we are screwed.
If he doesn’t cost a Jones or Hampton I’d rather have Cease than Snell. Yeah, I know Snell one the nl cy young last year, he also pitched 50 more innings last season than he did in the last two before it. The seasons before those two were even less innings. He’s an injury waiting to happen again. He already has an injury history AND will all that averages five innings per start. That’s Leiter on his last run.
ReplyDeleteAs for Montgomery, I wish he had never left. At this point it’s better for him that he did. I have no faith the Yankees won’t try to change his pitch mix back to the back of the rotation guy they seem to think he is
@ Jaraxle...Once Monty signs the new deal, he can just tell the analytics staff and Matt Blake, if need be, to kindly "FUCK OFF"
DeleteI gotta say it: we’re screwed either way.
ReplyDeleteAs Walt Kelly famously put it, we have met the enemy and he is us. "Us" being our front office.
ReplyDeleteThere isn't a worse bunch of idiots running any major league team.
We're #1.
If the Yankees were serious, they'd resign Montgomery in a heart beat. But that would mean Cashman was wrong about Monty to begin with.
ReplyDeleteThis hot stove season isn't about building a championship team. This is about saving Cashman's job. Pure and simple. Cashman couldn't build a championship team if the ghost of Gene Michaels left the roster in a note on his bed stand. And even if he did, his worthless gang of sabermorons would give bad instructions to their empty suit of a manager, teach the batters how to swing and miss, de-educate pitchers on how to get people out, ignore fielding fundamentals, teach players to trust the stats department instead of their professional instincts and send a record number of ballplayers to the IL list.
This is why Yamamoto didn't sign with the Yankees. He wanted to be on a championship team, working for a championship class front office. Not a clown show run by a narcissist and his gaggle of unathletic, trust fund geeks.
Really really good take Mr. Duque.
ReplyDeleteEspecially, "why not do everyone a favor and put Carlos Rodon, with a chunk of salary paid, out for bids? See what he'll bring." which I have not seen anywhere before.
Also, "For some reason - (I suspect it involves supply and demand) - the baseball world has identified Cease as a grand and glorious chess piece in the 2024 race"
Yes. This too. Fortunately we will be out bid by the Orioles who have way more prospect depth and an even greater need for pitching.
If the Yankees were smart, so I guess this won't happen they take your suggestion on Rodon and a boatload of cash, and add it to superstar 2nd baseman Gleyber Torres, and then throw in a "prospect(er) like Walter Brennan and try to grab Miami's Pablo López,
Then spend the bucks on Monty (Who the other pitchers love BTW
- if any of you recall how happy everyone looked at the rail of the dugout when he was here and they were on a roll and how sad and fragmented they were after and dropped off a cliff.
And call it a day.
@Doug I don’t know if there was a joke there I missed but Lopez got traded to the Twins last season. Luzardo is the guy rumored to be on the move and would be great for the Yanks but he makes too
ReplyDeleteMuch sense for Cashgrab
Jaraxle -
ReplyDeleteNo joke. I mentioned the wrong guy. I meant Luzardo. Sorry and thanks for pointing it out. :)
Couldn't have said it better myself, Doctor T!
ReplyDeleteAnd what is the key factor here? Hal's money.
Signing Hader or Monty or Snell would all be a better idea than signing Dylan Cease. Signing all three would make the Yankees a co-favorite to take the pennant—and still cost a good deal less than signing YY would have been.
But instead, they're talking about trading still more prospects for a big risk...because it won't mean spending any of Hal's money.
And the big irony here is how Hal has no idea of how to handle his money. The Rodon idea is a good one...but he will never, ever do that, because to his mind, it would mean "giving up" some chunk of his money. When in fact, it would mean SAVING most of the money he will otherwise throw away on Rodon, while acquiring guys who might help him MAKE more money by playing well, and winning a pennant.
Cease, another mediocrity, who will fail in The Bronx. Fishman thinks he will be a star. The kiss of death!
ReplyDeleteHoss, pursuant to your last point, and more to my way of thinking, why does the individual who authored the Rodon contract and can’t construct a contender with a $300M payroll still have a job?
ReplyDeleteThe Mets are signing left-handed pitcher Sean Manaea to a two-year deal worth $28 million, a source tells SNY's Andy Martino, which includes an opt-out after 2024.
ReplyDeleteManaea looks like another, Oakland at-home phenom, who lost what "magic" he had, once he moved on. Just as glad we passed.
ReplyDeleteI’m considering leaving the Yankees behind and instead giving all of my disposable free time over to the I. P. B. L. (International Pickle Ball League).
ReplyDeleteThoughts?