The one thing to be said for this is that it's only for one year, and not the multiple years and enormous dollars that Walker would have commanded. (The bad things are, of course, that Goldschmidt is a righty who no longer walks much and hit all of .245 last year. Also, did I mention that he's 37?)
And yet again: so the Yanks have absolutely zero faith in their Triple-A first-sacker who hit .290 with some power and is supposedly an excellent fielder? Just saying.
But beyond all that, the Yankees last night—in the wake of Walker going to Houston—trotted out their same old, same old "Playing for the Future" lies. They aren't going to go for anymore top free agents, they let it be known, because that costs too much in future draft picks.
And as it is, a bunch will be lost next season, when they go full bore after...Kyle Tucker.
Right.
This is right up there with their bait-and-switch games over the past eight years or so. Remember when they failed to pursue Manny Machado, or any of the Slew of Shortstops who hit the free agent market in rapid succession?
That was all because they wanted to hang onto the bucks to go after Bryce Harper when he hit the market. Or J.T. Realmuto, or Shohei Ohtani. Recently, this was updated to how they had to hang on to Hal's hard-earned money if they wanted to sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto, or Roki Sasaki, or Juan Soto...
It soon got tired then, and it's tired now. The Yankees have demonstrated for decades that they could care less about the state of their farm system. They don't want to be anymore obligated to sign great, homegrown stars in the future, than they feel obligated to sign other people's stars today.
But they need a plausible-sounding excuse, one that we're going to hear over and over again soon, about how we couldn't afford even Alex Bregman or Pete Alonso, because we're cleverly waiting on Kyle Tucker—the guy we wouldn't trade for.
Well, Bologna's not just a university town in Italy. Expect the "we can't possibly give up so many draft picks because we need them for the big star who's just right" to be trotted out again and again over the next few years.
Spoiler alert: Going forward, Hal has absolutely no intention of spending his money on the top stars—or even the "Plan B" stars—as far as he can help it. Don't believe the hype about draft picks. The Yankees will always find another excuse to make some half-assed effort like this.
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9 comments:
Hoss (and everyone)
I'm still in need of convincing that Juan Soto would have been a savvy investment at $730 million for 10. Aaron Judge is taking home $40M/yr, right?
Overlooking (Please!) what happened to AJ in Game 5, I would consider him to be a far superior player to JS. Better baserunner, better fielder. Comparable at the plate.
Yeah, I know -- you pay what the market dictates. And JS is younger. Also, I have been a Soto fan since 2019 -- the Nationals are my "other" team.
And YES, Soto-plus-Judge equals more than Judge alone.
AND yes, you give $500 million to Brian Cashman, and you get nothing.
However:
a. Cashman might fall while scaling a building. Let's be optimists.
b. Someone, some time, needs to get a good crop of coaches and minor league managers. And build a farm system.
c. I hope this doesn't happen -- and I ain't no Mets fan -- but Soto could become injured. It would fit in with my faith in . . . Mets. And: Remember Ellsburger!
I hope I didn't take too many words to make this point: $73 million (avg) over 10 years is a lot of $$$ for a ballplayer. Even a generational talent.
I'm of two minds when it comes to the Goldschmidt signing.
Mind one: While I would like to see them bring up that first base playing kid I have to wonder why they didn't. And why he is NEVER mentioned in their plans. Not even as trade bait. What's with that?
In addition, I would like to see Ben Rice get plenty of reps and ABs at first because I think he will get better in his sophomore year.
Mind Two: I am sick of first base being used as a place where we just stick people. I don't want to see Ben Rice who is a catcher, DJ who is an infielder, Aaron Judge in two years, or Oswaldo, or anybody at first who isn't an ACTUAL 1st baseman.
A real first baseman saves runs. Lots of runs. A real 1st baseman doesn't make dumb plays that extend innings and wreck the bullpen.
Goldschmidt with his four gold gloves is a real first baseman.
Now, should they have signed Freeman? Oh, yeah!!!! Not doing it was stupid. stupid. Stupid! But at least the guy they just signed can play the position because that's the only position he plays.
RIP Rickey. Way too young. He was one of my favorite Yanks when I got into baseball, when the Yanks were extremely awful. Winfield, Mattingly, John, Guidry, Righetti...
Technically, Joe FOB, I think they got Soto for 15 years, so it's more like $49 mill a year. But point taken. It's always risky to invest so much in a single player, and much as he and Judge (who, yes, is a better all-around player, and who I forgive for Game 5; hell, we wouldn't have got close to that game without him) promised to approach Mantle-Maris or even Ruth-Gehrig as a tandem, I could see forgoing such a contract for a great all-around plan to strengthen the team, now and tomorrow...
...But I think we're pretty much all on the same page here, right? In agreeing that we're not getting that, either? It's not going to happen, because the problem isn't even Cashman, self-idolizing idiot that he is.
Should Cashie, uh, let's just say, "retire" soon, Hal would only replace him with CashBot II. As we've all come to realize, Hal just isn't interested in making the Yanks a great team, now or ever.
Which...makes me almost as sad as it does to lose Rickey.
Does he get a comfy chair in which to nap?
Again, the team signs an aging out “star” with a marquee name and little else. He won’t even match last year’s stats here. Will they platoon him with Rice? As Hoss asked what about Rumfeld, getting the full Florial treatment in Scranton.
Maybe WinWarb has an explanation, but it's hard to understand that as we approach 2025, how a seemingly athletic and healthy person with access to the best medical care in the world can succumb to pneumonia. Could it be that with the way meat factory farms hasten the weight and maturity of the animals by pumping their feed with antibiotics (and unhealthy hormones) that Ricky became immune or unresponsive to those life-saving antibiotics? I seriously don't get it.
Bravo, Horace, well said. This is what the Yankees do under Cheapskate Hal and Genius Cashman. The Yankees do spend money. They will not go beyond a certain point. The Yankees moron hierachy believes that they can get around fixing all the holes. Alex Jackson, a 29 years old .132 hitter. If he makes the team as a backup, will will see him on Sundays when DB Doofus Boone rests alot of the lineup. How many hitters who batted over .250 are on the Yankees. Not many.
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