Tuesday, June 4, 2024

The Yankees are a mile ahead of everyone but the team they fear: 10 takeaways from a seemingly quiet off-day

As Hoss expertly noted yesterday... with the Knicks, Rangers, Mets and even Springsteen on the shelf, the Yankees now walk alone through the storm, dreaming the impossible dream, on behalf of the oppressed, downtrodden, loveable, Leo Gorcey Jr. street urchin billionaires of Gotham. Climb every mountain, ford every stream...

Ten takeaways from the non-day, yesterday...

1. This season remains a long, hard death march, evidenced by the mosquito's butt-crack of space between the Yanks and Baltimore, whom we cannot shake, like a coal miner's cough. In theory, we have two impact players on the way: Gerrit Cole and The Martian, Jasson Dominguez. Unfortunately, the O's have four of the top hitters in the International League, including a RF named Heston Kjerstad, challenging for a Triple Crown, and Jackson Holliday, 20, supposedly the best prospect in baseball (though recently demoted after hitting .059.)  They have enough young talent for a massive infusion, either from fresh legs or trades. We should be at least five games up. We're one, in the loss column. 

2. Redsock fans still have the Celtics. Tampa and Toronto are watching cornhole. 

3. Yesterday, the Yankees promoted Dominguez to Scranton. He's 21. Right now, there is no place for him at the Show. That will change with the next injury. He was destroying Double A pitching. Dare we dream the impossible dream: What if he's for real?

4. Modern comparisons to Ruth & Gehrig, or Mantle & Maris, are always toad-licking, full-gone bonkers. But - damn - if Hal opens his wallet, the Yankees could have Judge & Soto at their career peaks for the next three years. (Judge turned 32 in April; Soto is 25.) And if Dominguez is for real...

No. I am not thinking such things. It does no good to write of such things. FOR FANS, NOTHING GOOD EVER COMES FROM BEING OPTIMISTIC. 

5. On that note, I cannot believe Luis Gil is for real. He cannot be that good. I see him as a Nasty Nestor 2022 type, who will make the all-star game and then falter due to the workload. The Yankees will hand him the ball until his arm hurts, and then yelp, "Who thought this could happen?" 

6. The Yankees will need to fortify their bullpen for the stretch run. But I don't seem them benching or trading Gleyber Torres, unless his game further degrades, or the team slides into a deep funk. Our most intriguing replacement, the tiny Caleb Durbin, is injured, and there is no solution on the way from Scranton. They'll go with Gleyber for at least another month, probably two. (By the way, he's hitting .250 over the last 15 days, .246 over the last 30. Not a streak, but a sign of life?) 

7. The most beautiful moment last week came in Juan Soto's late-inning bunt single against Frisco. They used to say Mantle could hit .400 if he bunted all the time. I get the feeling Soto can break out of any slump by laying them down the third base line. Moreover, it speaks to the quality of the player. When Soto came from SD, I think Yankee fans expected a raw, undeveloped, unrefined talent. He's a disciplined, cerebral, skills hitter, far more than we anticipated. Lock. Him. Up.

8. Nothing succeeds like success. If somebody suggested Cody Poteet would pitch well, I'd have said he had as much chance of succeeding as a Jewish lady has of winning the Mexican presidency. 

9. I cannot remember the last time a Yankee starter got blown out - a full-scale bombing. We have seen bullpen meltdowns, but who hasn't? An earmark of Yankee disappointments over the last 10 years is the sense that, when we fell behind 2-0, the game was over. With this team, right now, they can overcome almost any setback. 

10. Springsteen out until June 12 with "vocal issues." If he were on the Yankees, that would mean he'll be gone through July. 

7 comments:

  1. Always love to see the Bowery Boys. They are in my, "Pantheon of Unsung Comedic Influencers"(TM).

    THe Yankees have two MAJOR issues that are going to destroy them sooner or later.

    1) The right side of the infield can't field and can't hit. Right now with everyone else playing so well we don't really notice but they have to be the worst tandem in the league. (Sorry, Anthony - I'm actually a fan but you really need to turn it around and I'm not sure you can)

    2) Their bullpen is filled with far too many guys who are not good. I don't understand why the wheels haven't fallen off yet but it's a comin'.

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  3. And Doug, why does the bullpen have so many guys what aren't good? Why are they still there? Would promoting a few kids really be any worse (for the team or the kids)?

    Bonus question: Why does Boone continue to use Santana, specifically, in any close game whatsoever? If Cashman won't get rid of him, that doesn't mean he has to be used. And there's no way I believe that he has to be brought in to rest the tender arms out there for, what, a couple of innings? Because you know he'll often fuck up and someone else will have to come in, anyway.

    So, I guess...WTF?

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  4. I see that Keefe is asking the same questions about our crappy bullpenners and the crappy manager who uses them crappily.

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  5. JM - Just read that. He apparently watches the games as well. :)

    It really boggles the mind how many marginal to bad relievers we are carrying.

    Cashman is so stupid he's probably planning to stick Gil in the pen when Cole returns. You know, to save inning on his arm.

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  6. But of course, Doug. We should pitch a new sitcom, "That's Our Cashman!" Too bad Arnold Stang isn't still around to play the Brain.

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