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| Yankee hitting stats, last 7 games |
I'd call it a roller coaster, but they have ups and downs. This has been more a carny Super Slide, where you ride a burlap bag through the bodily excretions of your zip code - a straight descent to the fried dough expulsions of the county fair midway.
This year, Gleyber has systematically checked the bingo cards for a desperate player in free-fall:
1. He has booted critical grounders.
2. He has made stupid baserunning moves.
3. He is hitting .226.
4. He was benched for two games after jogging out a grounder.
5. He even got screamed at by Marcus Stroman, from pitchers mound, on national TV.
He accomplished all this with a dazed, Celine Dion expression - (too soon?) - as if this isn't really happening, it's just Netflix, and this isn't the most important year in his family's financial life. This is Gleyber's walk season, his looming free agency, and his greatest chance to cash-in next winter. He should be inspiring contact extension talks. Instead, the Death Barge seems delighted to show him the door. Lately, an emerging question is whether they'd trade him at the Aug. 1 deadline, punting on him, altogether.
Gleyber suffers from Future Great Yankee Syndrome, an malady that strikes down healthy young studs on their way to Monument Park, after they breathe the plague-ridden air inside the YES Network studios. Remember Alfonso Soriano? Robbie Cano? Melky Cabrera? Gary Sanchez? Clint Frazier? Or did you block them from memory?
In 2019, his second season, already a perennial all-star, Gleyber belted 38 HRs and batted .278, despite being saddled with John Sterling's all-time worst Homer Holler: "And like a good Gleyber, Torres is there!" Yikes. After his sophomore year, and a failed attempt to make him the next Jeter, at SS, Gleyber's production mysteriously began to drop. That continued... until around this time last year.
Last June, one year ago, Gleyber batted .198 with almost no power. Then, in July, something happened: he improved to .275. In August, he hit .327. In September, .290. He finished 2023 with 25 HRs, seemingly ready for his big haul in 2024.
Well, it sure hasn't happened... dare we say... yet?
Last week, Gleyber went 6 for 17 with a HR -which came shortly after his tongue-lashing by Stroman. (Frankly, he didn't deserve it. This happened after a high hopper that could not be converted into a double-play. But in the earlier game when Gleyber failed to run hard, he should have been ripped, openly.)
Listen: I dunno what the hell has been going on with Gleyber. But we're about to see what he has left in the tank. Is he simply one of those players whose biological clock wakes up around July 1? He has the next month to prove his worth. Come September, if he's still hitting .226, Yankee Stadium will be a cruel place to make his fortune.
Whether he improves or no, one thing is for sure: he cannot be a Yankee next season.
ReplyDeleteEnough. We have suffered enough.
ReplyDeleteGood post....and timely. But, I'd blame the Yankee coaches a lot more than YES for always fucking up talented players. Gleyber is hardly an isolated example. But Cano should not be on that list because he fulfilled his potential (and probably more) during his tenure on the team.
ReplyDeleteHappy Bobby Bonilla day everyone!
ReplyDeleteNot as happy as Bobby Bonilla! 😊
ReplyDelete@DickAllen, thanks for the heads up, always love a good BB Day. We need to add Feb 1st to the calendar. That is now Rafael Devers Day. He’ll get pain $7.5 million each Feb 1st until 2043. Also, why can’t Gleyber chronically tear some fascia like our other straw men? Not that we actually have a back up 2B to play in his stead.
ReplyDeleteWe should all be as happy as Bobby B.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if they just Venmo it to him now.
Alphonso Soriano was a terrific player, though he had some glaring weaknesses, like the strikeout, (which would later on become a Yankee hallmark). Would've won a World Series in 2001 but for Joe Torre running Mariano Rivera into the ground that series. So close, yet so far away.... I would not have traded him for A-Rod, but then maybe me don't win in 2009, who knows, mayhap we would have won in other years, who knows.
ReplyDeleteMelky Cabrera was a good player. They had to trade him because he became Robbie Cano's shadow and they didn't like the direction that both of them were going in as a result of each other's influences. At least that was the prevailing thought, right or wrong. After the trade, he became a big time player but then got suspended for juicing.
Gleyber - who the hell cares at this point? If they re-sign him, they should have their heads examined. If they don't trade him at the deadline, they should have their heads examined. He won't get much, maybe a bucket of balls.
ReplyDeleteGood point, Carl J. Weitz. Yankees prospects CONSTANTLY go backwards and/or get hurt. Greg Bird/ Frazier/ Andujar/ Sanchez/ Gleyber/ Sevvy—just from the much-heralded class of 2017. There's something very wrong there...that is never, ever examined.
ReplyDeleteThe answers are there for this club, yet they continue to stew in their own shit. Trent Grisham playing well right now. But he's just a bench player. They should bring up Spencer Jones. Should've brought him up last year. Should've brought him up early this year. But Yankee management has its own agenda, as we know.
ReplyDeleteThey say Jones has "changed" his swing. Bull shit. He only lowered his hands in his stance. Big effing deal. There was a time when ballplayers would make small changes like that almost EVERY FUCKING DAY. He could've made that change up here in the majors. And maybe he hits .170 here for a month, but if he's good enough, he'll come around. He's being wasted in the minors.
Ben Rice looks like a major league hitter. Amazing, that they brought him up. Probably should've been brought up last year. Shouldn't they have waited until he was 29 years old and fully "finished"? Hell, he looks so much like a major league hitter that maybe they should've waited 'til he was 32. Cashman is probably kicking himself for bringing him up too soon. Needed to wait until he was old and decrepit, career fully finished, ready for the nursing home. So they could call him up for one game, give him one at-bat, and then release him after giving him a plane ticket and a new watch for his dedication and devotion to the organization.
As for Robbie Cano, well, STATISTICALLY, he should go to the Hall of Fame, despite all the jogging and the bad postseasons. He also deserved to win at least one MVP in his five incredible seasons from 2010-2014. He played second better than any Yankee ever has, before or since, for such a sustained time.
ReplyDeleteSTATISTICALLY.
He was likely juicing much of that time, something he finally, foolishly got caught at. It will be interesting to see if he is deemed deserving of the Sportswriters Big Papi Amiable Enough in the Clubhouse Exemption, something that is mysteriously tendered to some—Ortiz, Piazza, I-Rod—but not others (Clemens, Bonds, A-Rod).
I would say it was actually a smart move of the Yankees NOT to give him a big new contract for his declining years...except that The Brain then turned around and used that money to ink Ellsbury, McCann, and Beltran. The plague years at second kicked in: Brian Roberts, Stephen Drew. (Eww).
I did like Melky. Who, yes, was juicing, but could easily have got us over the top with his excellent seasons in 2011-2012. Instead, The Brain traded him to reacquire...Javier Vazquez (shudder, wince, puke).
ReplyDeleteLoved, loved, loved Soriano when he first came up. He is another of the great might-have-beens of the Cashman era.
ReplyDeleteHis potential seemed unlimited. Sandy Koufax said he had the fastest wrists he had ever seen. While his play at second could be erratic, he made a terrific grab to help us win that 2003 epic against Boston—and had Torre not mashed the bullpen again, he would've been the MVP of the 2001 World Series.
What everything was pointing to was to make Soriano the centerfielder, replacing Bernie as he aged out, with Cano slotting into second. Yes, he badly needed help with pitch selection. Somebody should have worked with him, day and night, to lay off outside pitches he couldn't reach.
But that's life in Yankee land under Brian Cashman. DON'T get the promising player the help he needs, but trade him off in some deal designed to show what a genius you are.
Hmm, I'm sensing a theme here...
The front office sucks, the manager sucks, the coaching staff largely sucks, and the medical staff seems to suck.
ReplyDeleteSo, if we're going to win anything, it's up to the players, as usual. They have to win it with the rest of the organization stacked against them.
The incompetence surrounding them is a given at this point. Meanwhile, Judge has 31 home runs and 82 RBI...before the break. If he keeps going, we're looking at a Gehrig level of RBI, maybe another new HR mark.
As painful as it can be, there's something to watch games for.
I took my German wife to her first baseball game at the end of the season, and we got to see Soriano hit his first home run ever.
ReplyDeleteShe still has a soft spot for him.
Is there any way to beanball the Supreme Court?
ReplyDeleteTo be cold, players are assets, commodities. Although he was floated in some trades, the team is keeping Torres bc of his relative youth and the thinking that he can provide average to above average productivity at 2B. The flaws in his game are obvious to anyone watching the Yankees play. However, the team’s management has completely sold out to analytics, hiding behind a variety of cherry picked numbers the way a frightened child hides behind his mother’s skirts.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that Torres will NOT be traded, as the team tries to attain the illusory achievement of a wild card berth. If Torres does not improve over the second half, I think the team will offer him a one year “prove it” deal. Any longer term contract would be based on the outcome of the Soto negotiations. Our best MiLB option, Caleb Durbin, remains MIA and the team maintains strict radio silence about his status..
Personally, I am tired of watching Torres, as I dislike low baseball IQ players who don’t hustle. But the optimal time to trade him is a year or two in the past. The team has failed the maximize this players somewhat limited potential
This kind of erratic behavior is typical for someone struggling with substance abuse. Or Gleyber could just suck. I have no idea just so long as he's not a Yankee next year.
ReplyDeleteBut, but, but….Joba Chamberlin and Phil Hughes…our developmental team is second to…everybody except the Rockies.
ReplyDeleteIan Kennedy, too
ReplyDelete@ JM....I once took my old girlfriend to a Yankees game. I kissed her between the strikes and she kissed me between the balls. Bada Bing!
ReplyDeleteBill James made an interesting point years ago. Teams are foolish to trade a player unless they have someone who's better. Right now, somehow, we don't. Too bad Berti had to get hurt. Cashman has turned into a cursed GM. Even when he seemingly has a plan, players get hurt. And it doesn't seem to matter the age. This year Berti, The Martian, Stanton, bullpen pitchers who SHOULD have come back from injuries by now... Maybe WE ARE ALL DEAD AND ARE BLOGGING AND BITCHING IN HELL!
ReplyDeleteAaron Judge will not participate in the home run derby this year.
ReplyDeleteNo problem with that here, I don’t even like the all star game itself.
Cashman suffers from incompetency. Sure, he's had some bad luck. Every human shares that experience. I'll only believe he's cursed when he turns into a frog.
ReplyDeleteOh, baby, I LOVE it, 999! " hiding behind a variety of cherry picked numbers the way a frightened child hides behind his mother’s skirts"—hee see!
ReplyDeleteI did used to love the All-Star Game. But all the NBA-imitating nonsense around it now, plus moaxes like Vlad the Lad not taking it seriously have really soured me.
Baseball doesn't respect its traditions—when it is ALL tradition.
Gleyber is a streaky hitter. Almost all ballplayers are—another reason why it's asinine for Boone to arbitrarily "rest" players even when they're red hot. They'll cool off soon enough, Boonie, and then you can give them a day or two off to clear their heads.
ReplyDeleteThe question is:
—How bad are your bad streaks?
Aaron Judge had an awful April—possibly because he was still hurting from that spring training injury. Nonetheless, he kept drawing walks, running the bases alertly, playing the outfield well, and being a major clubhouse plus. And even with some awful hitting, he managed to hit 6 home runs and drive in 18 runs.
When Gleyber goes bad—which happens at least once a year, and often more—he drops out of sight.
He runs up what are literally the worst numbers (or close them) in baseball for a month or two. At the same time, his field falls apart, he makes idiotic mistakes on the base paths, and he forgets to hustle.
That's not acceptable for a pro, particularly a pro who is expected to be a big piece of a contending team....
That said, I agree with 999 that the time to trade Gleyber was last year, or the year before. (Or, as I suggested, to float a Gleyber-for-Alonso trade idea back in April.)
ReplyDeleteThat was all missed by Mr. Anticipation, Brian Cashman. Who also made sure to get rid of possible replacements for Torres, by dealing off Thairo, Duran, and Smith for a bag of cash and Joey Gallo.
The return on Gleyber now would be negligible—and all possible replacements look shakier than ever. We might as well ride his hot hand, such as it is.
Clearly at the end of last year, Torres went on the Cano training program and my guess he’ll resurrect that program soon
ReplyDeleteHave to reluctantly agree Hoss, I just don’t see a replacement, not as long we want to seriously contend… also agree his trade value is negligible, unless as a part of some larger deal, also unlikely.
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ReplyDeleteDoes anyone else think Volpe's a shitty lead-off hitter? He's in the catbird seat in the lineup and he swings at everything, no patience at all. He's like the anti-Soto.
Yeah, Volpe's gone in the tank again, sad to say...and of course nobody on our team of crack instructors—or was that, "instructors on crack"?—can figure out a way to help him. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteJM - to answer your highly controversial question from earlier ——- NOT without being prosecuted.
ReplyDeleteAlso - welcome to Shummer -
https://emergency.marincounty.org/
Funny joke, Carl.
Remember to POUND the zone.
Hoss - you may have (((( respectfully )))) missed the forest from the trees with Gleyber. Someone on our team HAS figured out how to fix the troubled boy. All yah gots to do is have our pitcher SCREAM at him on the field every time he makes a boneheaded mistake. Just rip into him for a five or ten seconds and he’ll straighten right out ( although you may have to bench him for a game or two for this remedy to take full effect ).
I didn't think anything could distract me enough from caring about NY sports, most of all the Yankees. But after today's Supreme Court ruling (along with other recent decisions) I realize how trivial these other pursuits seem.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, Carl. Incredible.
ReplyDeleteA sad day.
ReplyDeletePerhaps a tragic one.
Indeed, Gentleman.
ReplyDelete2024
I'm also with you Carl (and you all), it's a travesty,,,,,, puts freaking out about the results of a sport in perspective!
ReplyDelete