Friday, February 9, 2024

The Athletic grades the Yankee winter as a "B"

The winter grades have been posted outside Principal Skinner's office. The Yankees got a B. 

As always, they did well in the Verbal section, but messed up in the Math. 

The neat and tidy grades come courtesy of The Athletic, which seems to have evolved into The Sporting News of our era. As the tabloids crumble behind pop-ups and firewalls, we must ask: "Where have you gone, Peter Gammon, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you." Soon, every game will require a payment of some sort. (Wait, are there any free games, anywhere?)

In case you're wondering, within the AL East, Baltimore received an "A," (which is trouble. ) The  Redsocks, Rays and Blue Jays received "D"s, not for making bad deals, but apparently for absence. Of course, some major free agents - Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery - remain unsigned. Any of the three teams could rise dramatically by landing a big fish. 

Why did the Yankees score a B? The site names Juan Soto, who fills three major needs - corner OF, LH bat, and youth. It questions the trade for Alex Verdugo. (Looking back, it came days before  the Soto deal. I suspect the Yankees made it to cover their buts, if the Soto trade went south.)

Oh, well, the days are getting longer. By this time next week...

8 comments:

  1. I look forward to once again saying, "Hey, it's seven o'clock and it's still light out."

    Oh, and, our team is run by idiots and morons.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, please.

    https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/02/angels-interested-in-gio-urshela.html#comments

    ReplyDelete
  3. Why is it that Brian Cashman can only solve one roster problem a year and creates a new roster problem every time he does so? The offense needed work. No doubt. Soto makes the offense a lot better. While the Yankees now have 6 bonafide major league outfielders, they still have no center fielder, except the imminently breakable and utterly unreplaceable Aaron Judge.

    But to achieve that outcome, Cashman gutted the pitching staff. If this were the first year that he did this, I'd cut him some slack. But he's been guilty of one-dimensional rosters since the Michaels/Watson era players retired, got traded or moved on.

    Meanwhile, one of the most predictably effective pitcher the Yankees have had in the past decade, Montgomery, remains unsigned. And the Yankees stopped trying to sign Snell when they realized they were the only suitor. Why does it feel like Cashman is just a spoiled, ignorant child who puts his ego so far above the team that his decision-making looks like petulance?

    So the Yankees are preparing to hit spring training with twice as many outfielder than they need and not enough pitchers, let alone championship-grade pitchers in the rotation or the bullpen.

    Give the Yankees a B? I give them an incomplete and a very impatient lecture about the fundamentals of building a championship baseball team and how that's profoundly different from collecting 26 random baseball cards.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "Why is it that Brian Cashman can only solve one roster problem a year and creates a new roster problem every time he does so?"

    That is an excellent question albeit one that we all know the answer to.

    That said, there's the site's featured banner quote right there.

    ReplyDelete
  5. National publications or websites that don’t follow the Yankees closely always over praise them. Of course Soto is an awesome get, but it’s just for one year.. (Is there any man-Jack here who truly believes the team will extend him after the season?) And has the team sought to maximize the signing by grabbing as much available talent as possible for 2024? I agree with Doctor T, the correct grade is “Incomplete”. It’s more likely this season will be a minefield of mistakes, putting us in a very uncomfortable position at the trading deadline, praying to god that cashman doesn't torpedo the whole fucking thing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Off Topic...but wow!

    Former Mets GM Billy Eppler suspended for fabricating injuries

    NEW YORK -- Former New York Mets general manager Billy Eppler was suspended through the 2024 World Series on Friday by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred, who concluded he directed the team to fabricate injuries to create open roster spots.

    No Mets medical or athletic training personnel were mentioned in the announcement by Major League Baseball.

    Manfred said in a statement that Eppler directed "the deliberate fabrication of injuries; and the associated submission of documentation for the purposes of securing multiple improper injured list placements during the 2022 and 2023 seasons."

    https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39492323/former-mets-gm-billy-eppler-suspended-fabricating-injuries

    ReplyDelete
  7. Amen, guys. It's another half-assed job by our full-time ass.

    Speaking of which...our heroic commissioner has suspended a former GM for doing what everybody does?

    Yeah, I want that job. The commissioner's, I mean.

    ReplyDelete

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