We've gone five nights now with Verdugo, frozen in time, flatlined in left, with Clay Holmes praying that the AL all-stars don't call on him, and with Anthony Volpe flogging himself with his cat-o'-nine-tails.
1. We have the 3rd best record in the AL, despite a six-week collapse. It doesn't feel like we're winning. In fact, it feels like another lost season, yet here we are, just one game behind the O's...
2. Heading into the trade deadline, we have massive needs and a depleted farm system. Here are the main Yankee sinkholes, according to Mike Axisa, (whose RAB Thoughts remains the greatest Yankee blog - after this one, of course.)
1.
Third base
2. Bat-missing reliever
3. Another bat-missing reliever
4. Platoon partner for Alex Verdugo
5. Starting pitcher
6. Help at first and second bases (and shortstop?)
Frankly, it would have been easier if he listed the areas we don't need to overhaul. That would be:
1. Judge.
2. Soto.
3. Suzyn Waldman.
That's pretty much it. Ben Rice remains a manic pixie dream boy, and Gerrit Cole needs a few more solid outings before we pronounce him whole. After that, maybe Michael Tonkin and Luke Weaver? though either might be nearing his sell-by date. After that, it's waiting for people to heal, which is like waiting for grass to grow.
3. The Wounded Yankee Restoration Society.
Soon, we'll should get back Giancarlo. That will bring several Golden Sombreros and 115 mph drives off the wall, which he parlays into singles. As for the others - Anthony Rizzo, The Martian, Jose Trevino, (new!) Clarke Schmidt, and yes, Virginia, there is/was a J.D. Davis. God knows where they are in their rehabs. I gave up keeping track.
4. The next four series - Rays, Mets, Redsocks, Phillies - will tell us what we need to know, as Cashman tries to fix this mess. Last year, he took a long, hard look, then walked away. We won 82 games. I can't imagine him doing the same this time.
That is not a hopeful thought.
5. At least, we have Aaron Judge. But maybe Yankee fans should worry: If Judge once again chases his single season HR record, the Yankees will dominate the back pages and sell mucho tickets. Surely, a light has flicked on in Owner Hal's head:
If fans turn out to watch Judge, the Yankees don't need to win pennants.
So... what now?
This team is not as talented as the 1982 team which finished below .500 and started a dark decade. Go to BB Reference and convince yourself otherwise.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYY/1982-roster.shtml
Remember when the position of Yankees GM wasn’t a birthright? That team’s GM was Cedric Tallis.
I just read that the global Windows outage today, caused by a bad update to Crowdstrike antivirus software (and that's a big fail, by the way, when your antivirus update takes down the world's computer systems) resulted in the blue screen of death. What I did NOT know is that the blue screen of death has an established acronym, ie: BSOD.
ReplyDeletePerhaps we can call this the BSOD season?
Or the "Pinstripe Screen of Death©" season?
Or the "Cashman Shit For Brains Season of Death?" (CSFBSD)
Just riffing here.
I love you all.
Woke up
ReplyDeleteGot outta Bed
Dragged a BSOD across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup
And looking up, I noticed I was late
Found my coat and grabbed my cap
Made the bus in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke
And then Trump spoke and I went into a dream
Twen Tee ee Four
Twenty Trennnn
Tee ee Four
It's a heckuva year, Brownie...
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to a game that means something. Been a long week. When the Yanks aren't on TV to kvetch and wring my hands over, the news starts to encroach on my consciousness, and none of it is good.
ReplyDeleteThe Yankees, even bad Yankees, is better than the news this year.
By the way, Curt Schilling's sock has been trying to call the former president's ear. It wants its ketchup back.
3rd base is indeed the black hole. Not too long ago we had a perfectly fine third sacker, who we traded away in a fit of…well, a fit of something. As our owner cries poverty and weeps at the cruelty of the mess he dreamed, this fine fellow is making peanuts in the hinterlands, which should brighten Steinsucker’s day, but somehow doesn’t.
ReplyDeleteGio Urshela, we turn our lonely (and bloodshot) eyes to you…
It really is a mess, isn't it.
ReplyDeleteDuque, the next four series will tell us what we need to know? Methinks we all know it by now. They will be fortunate to play .333 ball over that stretch. Losing every single game is not out of the question. Third best record in the A.L.? By early August, they will be at .500 or close to it.
ReplyDeleteThe only interesting question tonight for scatologists (or turdologists, in the vernacular) is what kind of Cole turd will be sighted by the Yankee Titanic.
ReplyDeleteWill it be the sub-species known as prima donna earlyitis? This variant usually manifests in the 2nd or 3rd inning. Usually results in a lopsided loss, characterized by throwing in the towel early, with jogging and substitutions aplenty, hence the name.
Or will it be the sub-species known as prima donna collapsitis? In this variant, everything is smooth sailing, with the Yankees holding a fairly big comfortable lead, until suddenly, usually about the 6th or 7th inning, although it can happen as early as the 5th, the ceiling collapses in an epic style cave-in. This sub-species is known to occur more frequently against the Tampons, who they play tonight, than against any other opponent. It is usually aided and abetted by resident genius, Ba-Boone, who will make some kind of astonishing bullpen reliever choice blunder.
Turdologists everywhere are eagerly looking forward to tonight's event.