"When is the all-star break, anyway?"
Technically, the answer is July 12. But that's not what Cone was actually referencing. He was posing a more terrifying question:
When will the Yankees - at least, briefly - pause this ongoing collapse, this annual nightmare, which threatens to define this franchise as much as the championship flags that once celebrated its history, and which now mock their numb-nuts owner and his floundering regime?
Over the last two weeks, the Yankees - before the tired eyes of their fan base - have reverted into the meek and trembling Dr. Jekyll, back to the same, sad midsummer fiascos we've come to know over the last 15 years. Yes, they still lead the AL East, where Baltimore has guzzled too much from the snifter of overconfidence. And yes, there is time to pull out of this rapid descent.
But we have seen this movie too many times. Here's how it checks off.
1. The Yankees roar off to a hot start. (Check.)
2. A few hitters conjure hope for big seasons. (Giancarlo, Rizzo... check.)
3. At least one slumping regular become a pariah. (Last year, Donaldson. This year, Gleyber... check.)
4. Our closer blows a few big games. (Check.)
5. After Aaron Judge, the batting order collapses. (Check.)
6. The Yankees can't beat good teams. (Check.)
7. The bullpen crashes and becomes a daily shuttle to Scranton. (Check)
Here's what happens next... (Warning: The following contains images that some readers will find disturbing.)
8. Judge gets hurt.
9. A starting pitcher needs surgery.
10. Brian Cashman trades the farm for stopgap veterans.
11. The Yankees win a wild card berth.
12. They fall in the playoffs.
13. They do the same shit next winter.
So... when is the all-star break? Here's the real answer:
It is hiding, far far away in an alt-Yankiverse, a trillion miles into space, where the Yankees make long term plans and actually stick to them, where they don't act as if other front offices are stupid, or sell the idea that failed players will magically revive in New York, and where they build actual teams rather than midway attractions.
The all-star break - as a salve and tonic - does not exist. The Yankees cannot wait for July 12 - or worse, the trade deadline. They must regroup now. And their future is not in the MLB scrap heap. It's in their entire system. Unless the Yankees commit to home grown stars, rather than perpetually trading off their youth and pretending they've lost nothing, this bummer of a movie will never end.
As long as Ca$hman is running this team, these will always be the results. His management style is archaic, spend, spend, spend on guys past their prime and no money on player development. Look at the Indians, who’s on that team? Yet they have the best record in baseball. Why, because they develop pitchers something this team will never do!
ReplyDeleteHAL and Ca$hole have guzzled from the snifter of incompetence for decades. It has become the snifter of comic terror (pun intended) for us, the abused Yankee fans.
ReplyDeleteWhen was the last time the Yankees produced a decent third baseman....Mike Lowell about 25 years ago?
ReplyDeleteFirst Baseman.....Nick Johnson in 2002? Steve Balboni in 1989?
Catcher....I don't count Gary Sanchez. So, Frankie Cervelli in 2008?
Totally unacceptable. What a clusterfuck this organization has turned into! Hmmm, what hire did the Yankees make in the early 1990's that correlates with these failures???
Baltimore is matching us suck for suck, at least. Strange how both teams nosedive at the same time.
ReplyDeleteAll things considered, I’d actually consider trading Jasson. It’s more of a mercy thing. If we keep him, IDK if he’ll ever play a full season. We could do him a favor for his life and maybe get something. Problem is we’re not one player away. As el duque pointed out, we’re in this eddy of “not quite good enough”.
ReplyDeleteGreat points, Carl Weitz and Celerino.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's even weirder than just the farm failing and Cashie resorting to overaged free agents—the 1980s way.
Have we ever seen an organizations systematically destroy so many great-looking prospects? Gary Sanchez reminded me of a young Johnny Bench his first couple of years. Then he reminded me of an old Joe Garagiola. Gleyber goes from 38 homers, to twice as many errors as homers? The utter, physical meltdowns of Sevvy and Clint Frazier? And now The Martian has crash-landed?
OBVIOUSLY, this team's instruction and training is woefully, destructively incompetent. WHY is this noticeable only to some of us fans?
If we look at the coaching staff here on the MLB level, it doesn't look like the kind of staff that the New York Yankees should have. Well, our hitting coach might be good this year. But before him, we had Dillon Lawson. Pitching coach, Matt Blake, still here.
ReplyDeleteSo on other levels throughout the minor leagues, we can guess that the same thing goes on with the coaching. We can also guess the same thing goes on with scouting, training staff. We probably have a few good coaches, here and there, but the vast majority is probably mediocre at best.
New York Yankees, the greatest sports franchise in the world, being run almost like a third world hospital in some poverty stricken African country. Mediocre to poor results are no surprise.
Thank God for Shelley Duncan.
ReplyDeleteRight on Hoss!
ReplyDeleteI think many fans get blinded by the bling that is Yankees baseball. The teams MO is signing overpaid “stars” to ruinous long term contracts and promoting past glories to create the false notion that this org is a juggernaut of greatness. Titles are secondary at best so long as the gravy train keeps rolling - which it does.
As Duque pointed out, you build a winner through your home grown talent, your core. Veterans can be brought in as supplemental additions. Instead the core is now a bunch of aging, declining players who we are married to financially. Something is very amiss with coaching and development of young players, who are lacking in fundamentals and always hurt.
There is a way out of this mess. It requires an organizational reset and perhaps even a few losing seasons. Doubtful that current management has the stones for this, so the first step is bringing in new leadership.
Your move, steinbrenner…
You're right, 999, as is El Duque. But as you say: until the money train stops rolling, there seems to be no incentive to change anything.
ReplyDeleteThe only movement Steinbrenner is capable of exerting is when he's sitting down.
ReplyDeleteJudge. Gil. Schmidt. Monty, I think. Maraschino. Oswaldo, the Martian, Peraza, Volpe, Rice, Austin Wells.
ReplyDeleteWe'll see how the latest bundle of homegrown guys pans out. Too many casualties over the years...
Dick,
ReplyDeleteHAL probably has someone do that for him too.
Which reminds me, did you know that a buttload was an actual unit of measurement? Used for beer and wine, especially.
ReplyDelete"The butt is an obsolete English measure of liquid volume equalling two hogsheads, being between 450 and 1,060 litres (99 and 233 imp gal; 120 and 280 US gal) by various definitions."
It will never end.
ReplyDeleteAs long as we see Hal and Cashman and Boone, the nightmare will never end.
Hoss...I forgot that only a few years ago Gleyber hit 38 HR. It seems like a lifetime. Another great example of how deficient the coaches have become.
ReplyDeleteLast night, O' Neill said Torres changes his footwork/weight distribution from at- at to at-bat, seemingly unsure what to do. If he can see this as a part-time observer, why can't the full-time manager and coaches see this? Perhaps they have seen it and don't have a plan to remediate the situation or won't hold him accountable to fix it.