Thursday, November 21, 2024

So who is this year's Tulo?


Remember Brian Cashman's big media showdown with Derek Jeter, after the 2010 season?  The Yankees' future Hall-of-Famer, then 36, was looking to renew his contract with the team, and Cashman decided that this was a great opportunity to take the negotiations public, and show Derek who was boss.

As he gleefully reported to everyone with a laptop or a microphone, Cashman told Jeter that he would just as soon have Hanley Ramirez or Troy Tulowitzki at shortstop. Jeter told him, "I'm not going to sit here and listen to this shit," and stormed out.

It's a pity that The Captain didn't keep his temper. A better response would've been a scornful chuckle. Maybe a finger-pistol point at Cashie, and a wink, and a parting line of, "Well, you let me know when you have them."

The full inanity of Cashman's challenge was that neither Ramirez nor Tulo were free agents, or available. And as it turned out, The Great Brain egregiously overestimated their value.

Ramirez, then just short of 27, would be plagued with injuries over the remaining nine seasons of his career, missing almost 40 games a season, and bouncing from position to position, franchise to franchise, while never hitting over .286 in a full campaign again.

Tulo, just 26, had it even worse. After another outstanding season in 2011, he played only 7 more seasons—and over 100 games in just 3 of those. And he seems to have been a classic Colorado Rocky Mountain High player to begin with; his lifetime split was .309/.382/.536/.918 at home—just .269/.339/.453/.791 on the road.

Nonetheless, Cashman, who could never let a player get away (and stay away), brought him to the Bronx in 2019. Tulo, still only 34, went 2 for 11 in 5 games—and retired.  

Fourteen years later, Cashie STILL has not found a shortstop for the Yankees who could carry Jeets' jockstrap.

So I wonder who his "Tulo" was in the discussions with Soto. "Hey, if you're not careful, I could get Jurickson Profar in a New York minute." "Two words, Mr. Soto: Harrison. Bader."

Or has our Mr. Cashman maybe, finally, learned to shut up, and not repeat his every bon mot to the gentlemen of the press? We can only hope.

10 comments:

AboveAverage said...

Ha Ha Ha - I do believe and I do declare and I am fairly certain and I am hopeful as hell that Cashman was on his best behavior during that meeting.

Because, Hoss, as you and I and most everyone else here in our community knows....The Cash will ALWAYS be the smartest person in the room. That's why he lost so much of his hair.

It's because his brain is so freaking HUGE!.

edb said...

Another case in point that Genius Cashman is anything but. He is the main problem.

edb said...

Same Old Shit, same old Yankees.

BTR999 said...

Aaron Judge unanimously wins the MVP. Congratulations to him!

DickAllen said...

The Intern? Learn? Anything?

I don't think so.

Copelius said...

A friend blamed himself for me losing my Yankees cap and just gave me $50 to get a new one. I told him thanks, but I am holding off on getting a new one until I see if they sign Soto. If not I may just get another of my alma matter, since I only have about 12.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Nice to see about Judge. But yeah, Cashman is convinced he's a genius, and he won't stop telling us so. But it's going to become a lot harder to believe him if Soto ends up in Flushing.

AboveAverage said...

But what about his head size and what about his hair?

Doctor T said...

Ah, Brian! Ever the incompetent judge of talent, snarky entitlement and bad management. What will it take to get rid of him and get an actual baseball professional? Such a completely useless douche.

I'm sure he'll say Will Warren will be the breakout star of 2025 and Trent Grisham will the MVP.

Doctor T said...

I'm not getting a new Yankee hat until Cashman is fired, Levine is turned over to the DOJ for taking bribes and Lonn Trost is dumped in the South Bronx without a penny or a phone and told to find his way home.