Tuesday, March 12, 2024

The Yankees say Gerrit Cole's MRI is just "precautionary." Nothing to worry about. Yeah, right.

Yesterday, the Gulf Coast breezes halted, Tampa bridge traffic ceased to flow, and the pasty snowbirds of spring break momentarily stopped slathering, as time suspended itself across the Yankiverse.

Tonight, by sunset, the 2024 Yankee season could be effectively neutered, though the promotional home fires of YES will surely continue to flare with hope. 

By tomorrow, all the happy "maybes" that the Yankees collected this winter - maybe Rodon would come back, maybe Giancarlo would hit - will be replaced by a tall, dark Stygian shadow.  

Gerrit Cole is having his elbow scanned. If the high resolution imagery shows a tear, an inflammation, a strain - anything - Cole will miss weeks, maybe months - maybe even a year, and maybe, at 33 - well, fukkit, maybe he's never the same. The Yankees say they're just being cautious. They regularly lie about such things. On the matter of injuries, they exhale pure drivel. There is no way to downplay a trip to NYC by their ace in the middle of March. This is bad. This is really bad.

Without Cole, the Yankees would instantly tumble from divisional contender to wild card hopeful - and maybe even to a trade deadline selloff in advance of the 2025 Tankathon. (Was it coincidence that yesterday, they unveiled SS Roderick Arias, who is two years away?)

Without Cole, the team must find a way to fill 200 starter innings, and their main lug nut, for now, would be 30-year-old journeyman Luke Weaver. 

Damn. This is a potentially catastrophic loss, the kind that could kill multiple seasons. 

Yesterday, as if Fate were providing a tease, three semi-young RH pitchers emerged in split-squad outings. For now, this may be what constitutes hope.

Will Warren, 24, streaked through Double A Somerset last year - a 2.45 ERA over 6 starts - then got banged up in Scranton (19 starts, ERA of 3.61.) He's been on the radar for two years, after soaring through Single A in 2022. Yesterday, Warren went three innings, gave up a run, walked three.  

Clayton Beeter, 25, came over in the 2022 Joey Gallo trade dump, signifying an end to the worst trade of Brian Cashman's storied career. Last year, Beeter threw well at Somerset (2.25 ERA), then got spanked in Triple A (4.94.) Yesterday, he went 4 scoreless innings, probably moving to the front of the conga line.

Luis Gil, 25, obtained in a trade for Jake Cage (who is still around), streaked through the system in 2018-19, looked like a keeper, then cemented his status as the Second Coming of Luis Severino by having Tommy John surgery in 2022. Last year was basically his rehab. Yesterday, he went three and two thirds, no runs, and struck out eight. Not bad. 

Three nice outings. Together, they might replace Jhony Brito and Randy Velasquez. Nobody will replace Cole. Hold your breath, everybody. This could hurt. 

16 comments:

  1. Haiku Tuesday
    (dirty diaper edition)

    Oh No Gerrit Cole
    Judge’s Core and Judge’s Toe
    Tough to be Half Full

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  2. AA, you reminded me...the next episode of Shogun is available today on Hulu.

    Gil might be good. Warren might be serviceable. Beeter might beat the odds (YSWIDT). And Weaver could at least eat some innings.

    Hal will sign nobody.

    I have no illusions that Rodon and Nestor will pitch like they did a couple years ago. But we'll trot them out every time their turn comes up. Once in a while, one or both will go five innings, giving up "only" three or so runs.

    It all falls on the shoulders of Stroman (not a difference maker) and Schmidt (oy).

    Gonna be a long year.

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  3. Have to take issue with referring to the team as a division contender. With Cole, they could compete for a WC. Without him, last place beckons. Either way, Boone will continue to fellate his superiors and dispense his bullshit as he prostrates himself in front of them begging for his next contract extension.

    I am prepared to hear the worst.

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  4. BTR, by "WC" do you mean "water closet"? A term that was censored when Jack Paar said it on The Tonight Show, leading to him walking off the show?

    I think we can achieve that kind of WC and, unless we sign more starters, no other.

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  5. The Good

    Today's AA Haiku.

    The Bad

    Baltimore is 14-3 this spring.

    The Ugly

    From MLB.com "Judge expects to play on Opening Day despite MRI on abs".

    We are mega fucked.

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  6. Looking forward to both Cone and Girardi in the booth at the same time - - - hearing their teeth grinding away whatever enamel is left as they’re forced to react “professionally” to the YES backwash that Kay is guaranteed to spew.

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  7. Yes, it seems that Judge’s injury was serious enough to warrant an MRI. The team chose to hide thu yesterday.

    Thanks for the angst Yanks!

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  9. So Cole is precautionary and Judge’s came back clean, that’s Yankee terminology. In the real world, both will be out for the season.

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  10. "And it's all over now, baby blue..."

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  11. @Hoss, I missed out on a lot of good blog news lately. CONGRATULATIONS on your new book!!!! It sounds awesome. Can hardly wait to read it. Wow, lots of professional writers on this here blog. This is, by far, the champion of all Yankee blogs, for sure!

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  12. "Tangled up in ...lose"

    Don't I know you Jim

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  13. And here come the Injury Bugs. The ever present pestilence that tortures Yankee players like flies buzzing around the bloody faces of fully fed lions on the African sahara. Like the mosquitoes in Florida, as big as oranges. Like those ever present vultures circling carrion. Like those harpies of ancient Greek infamy, descending upon poor Phineus every time he tries to sit and eat at his own feast.

    You know the routine. Cole probably needs Tommy John surgery and will be out a year and a half. And now Judge says his abs are barking. There goes his power. He'll probably be a singles hitter this year, when he is able to play. If he is a singles hitter, he should probably hit #2. But you know the genius of Aaron Boone. Ba-Boone will put the singles hitters in back of the power hitters, just to make sure that all their homers are solo shots. Because you don't want to score runs in bunches. That would make it too hard for the other team to beat you.

    Suddenly, everything that can go wrong is going wrong. Murphy's Law, Yankee version. IIHIIFII ... C Baseball Rulebook Section 1(a), subsection (4). Look it up!

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  14. Baby blue,

    All of Ca$hole's acquisitions are gathered by coincidence...

    ...in the infirmary.

    Maybe it's *not* coincidence?

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  15. Thanks, guys! You rock. The Yankees...sock? Dammit, I can never get these haikus to rhyme! Or even be haikus.

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  16. At this point I guess it boils down to how much faith you have in the org to be honest regarding injuries.

    I have none.

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