No stress. No Babadook moment. Thou shalt doeth no work. Just fat leads, comfy couches and cold beer. We blew up a hate-filled division rival, boosted our lead in the AL East, and won twice, not once. I could use a year of Sundays like yesterday, the last one of April.
But today, in an alt-universe, we'd be posting the trad thumbnail of Ryan McBroom, the IT IS HIGH patron saint of sweeps. It would have happened but for Devin "Eleven" Williams, who blew Friday night without retiring a batter, lifting his ERA above 11.
Look, it's too soon to Christie Noem him to El Salvador. And in a bizarre way, it's almost comforting to clear a bad month from his bowels - the opposite of how Aroldis Chapman and Clay Holmes tortured us in recent years: Riding high in April, shot down in May. Could Williams be operating in reverse? Let's hope.
Because if he's truly cooked, if we got a dud in the deal, our bullpen will inevitably self-immolate. We need from Williams about 60 innings and an ERA around 2.40.
And if he could have held Toronto Friday night, we'd be celebrating McBroom today. Other thoughts...
1. I wonder if Vladimir "I hate the Yankees and will never play for them, wait, I WOULD play for them if they paid me a shit-ton of money; wait, NO, I'll never play for them because I love Toronto" Guerrero Jr. - when he went 2-for-9 in the series, was reacting to Trump's post: Vladimir: STOP!
Well, he did homer against us - his second of the year! Yep, number 2.
We all know he will someday play for the Yankees. It will happen when he cannot get around on fastballs, when his BA dips below Luke Weaver's weight. I wonder if it might not happen far sooner than anyone expects?
2. Ben Rice is slowing: 3-for-25 over the last week, His average has dropped 32 points, to .259. Maybe it's my imagination, but he still looks tough at the plate. He's hitting balls hard. They're landing in gloves.
Look: We always knew Rice wasn't the Unicorn. He was just a pleasant surprise. With Giancarlo Stanton returning - someday? - and DJ LeMahieu knocking on the door, Rice's time in the leadoff Paul Lynde Center Square might be closing. I wouldn't count him out. But the next few weeks, against Baltimore and Boston, will heavily decide the course of his season.
At some point, the Yankees must find him a position - either 1B or C. You cannot DH a young player. It's not fair to him. The question is whether Rice will learn a slot in NYC or Scranton?
3. Yesterday, multiple hits from Anthony Volpe and the Martian - the pair on which the Yankees are most heavily betting the long term future.
Volpe went 5-12 against Toronto with a HR, raising his BA to .228 - a 30-point jump.
Jasson Dominguez went 4-11, a jump of 19 points, to .238.
What does it mean? Fuck if I know. But take Aaron Judge out of the equation - he is otherworldly - and these are our two most important players. If they tank, it will be years before replacements arrive.
4. Clarke Schmidt bounced back from a crapola start - five runs in four innings, against Cleveland - to shut down Toronto. Close your eyes and imagine Schmidt pitching well this season, and there is a solid path to the pennant. We have yet to see what Schmidt can do in his career year, and there is every reason to believe it is now.
Fingers crossed. Now, how about a McBroom against Baltimore! We could knock them out, really fast, before they even know it.
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21 comments:
All the planets are in alignment......til they ain't...
Hey, let's be optimistic. It only took Boone and Cashman a solid month to realize that Williams is currently terrible, for reasons physical or psycholoonical.
As the Master said, if we get Lasagna back, and he's anything like he was, the pen will be fine. Or fine enough. We could have kept Holmes, who looked pretty good as a setup man, and kept Weaver as our closer like he was late last year. Now Holmes is a blooming starter across town, and Weaver should still be our closer. And we coulda kept Durbin.
Oh, that Brian. Always chasing the next shiny object and missing what he already has. He's really pathetic. And Boone? Well, he's an idiot. But you know that.
I'll take 2 of 3, especially with this bulletin from the Department of Metsenfreude...a bad defensive play by Soto precipitated both Nats walk off wins this weekend.
Wait a second…..
Boone…..is an idiot?
My prediction: Devin Eleven is done. He isn't admitting it to himself, and the Yankees won't admit what is obvious, either. But sooner or later, he will go in for the MRI, get shut down for a month that stretches into 2. Then he'll try throwing, admit that it hurts, and the next stop is the operating room -- elbow, shoulder or brain. By waiting for a miracle cure before surgery, the Yankees will successfully lose him for this year and next. Meanwhile, Caleb Durbin is proving to be a solid major leaguer. All this based on the rinse-and-repeat tendencies of Yankee management.
Game 1 of the double dip looked like it was going to be one of those days in the top of the 1st inning. But Max Fried is the new ace of this team, and he didn't come apart. Max Fried, probably rusty from six days rest, but he makes no excuses, and he just finds a way to get it done. You know if either one of our Prima Donna boys were starting, (and ya'll know who they are), they would've come apart like a cheap suit in a pro wresting battle royale.
Was even more surprised when they won Game 2 of the double dip. It's tough to sweep those.
Yes, Ben Rice is still hitting the ball well. He usually makes solid contact and has a good idea of how he is being pitched to. He is just having some bad luck hitting right at someone. The only thing that he needs to do more often is go the other way. The more hits he has to left field, the better chance he has of getting hits going through the right side, as they can't play him to pull the ball as much.
Regarding Devin Williams, I think his meltdown in the NL playoffs last October, the series-losing home run, has affected his psyche. Let's hope he gets it going again.
BTW, The Master on his show also echoed what I've been sayin' about Soto. He said basically that it worked out great for the Yankees, that they were able to bring in a lot of new players with the money that would've been used up on Soto.
I think Soto leaving was the best thing that could've happened here. If he signs here long term, you're left with Judge and Soto and nothing else (except for kids like Volpe and Dominguez) for the next 10-15 years. I like Dominguez but you'd be left hoping that he develops in a hurry. That would've been a lot of pressure. But instead they have a nice mix of veterans and youngsters, and a new ace in Max Fried, so they're going to have much more of a combined positive impact than just Soto.
Yeah, but once again, it comes down to our pitching coach who can't seem to correct struggling pitchers. Or if they do get better, it only comes after a year or two of struggling, like Rodon. And you still have to wonder when the next implosion will be with a guy like Rodon. There's a long line of guys who they couldn't fix. I hope Devin ain't going to be one of them.
I would've tried to keep Holmes too. They just needed to avoid using him as the closer. But maybe no matter what they offered Holmes, the Mets would've offered more. They could've at least made a decent attempt to keep him here though.
For Soto personally, I think he made the right move going to the Mets. Steve Cohen doesn't give a shit if he spends a billion $ or even ten billion $, he's going to do whatever it takes to try to win. So getting Soto won't stop the Mets from spending. It would've stopped HAL from spending more on other players, that we know for sure. The Yankees simply couldn't afford to keep Soto. Yes, hard to believe, but true when HAL is working under a limited budget.
Bottom line: it worked out for both parties. That's why I don't get the hate fest from Yankee fans who've gone Anti-Soto. Look, Soto did us a huge, huge, huge favor. I mean it's bigger than a poop load from Brontosaurus after munching down the forest that used to be in the Sahara Desert. Ain't that good enough for ya'll?
Soto's defense left much to be desired. And that's another reason why his leaving actually helps the Yankees. The outfield defense is much better.
I still think that Soto is going to tear a hamstring running down balls in the outfield for the Mets. And when that happens, Yankee fans will know they dodged an artillery shell the size of the Yucatan peninsula meteorite.
The longer he's gone, the more I'm good with it. Something off about that kid.
An interesting metaphor or analogy or whatever the hell it is. And I agree.
The problem with analytics is the stuff it can't measure. So we let Holmes go, we trade away Durbin and get Devin in the Details, we sign Rodon, but when the numbers are not good, like with Volpe, we ignore the stats and give him every chance in the world and then some.
And don't even start about Chisholm and the idiocy of third base. And Boone. What a shit show. How they win anything with Cashman and Goone at the helm is a miracle.
I know, AA, it's hard to believe.
First, I hope that Devin's problems are, as JM—who is en fuego today—put it, "psychological." That would mean we could maybe trade him midseason—for whatever insufficient return Pal would get, of course, but still.
I fear, however, that the good Parson is right, and he is physically hurt.
Beg to differ on Soto. Yes, he's erratic in the field. So was a certain young man I remember named Reggie Jackson.
No, he has not yet begun to hit. But he will. And he will be a terror. There would have been MORE pressure on The Martian? I don't think so, with him surrounded by Soto and Judge...
...But I can see the argument that it's not worth putting all those eggs in one basket. My beef is that the Yanks didn't compensate enough with the money saved (no surprise).
They should have started with the Polar Bear, who the Mad King would have grabbed up in a minute, had anyone had the effrontery to grab a generational star away from him. Then another reliever or starter.
But no. He of the Many Yachts could not be bothered.
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