Jasson Dominguez whacked a 445-foot HR, and Jazz Chisholm hit one that traveled just far enough. Didn't matter, though. The game was outa reach and, basically, stayed that way.
Thus far in 2025, the Yankee offense is simple:
You have Aaron Judge, and everyone else.
Judge leads everything, even when umps steal a HR, as they did in Tampa. If Judge tweaks a gonad - (I shudder just to write it) - the Yankees would instantly become a sub-.500 team. (Despite his .372 BA, Paul Goldschmidt hasn't homered since the Milwaukee Torpedo Massacre, and Ben Rice remains a small sample all star.)
Let's face it: If you're here, you enjoy self-torture. Thus, let's savor the output of Anthony Volpe, Cody Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm and Austin Wells - the ocean's lost trench. With all respect to Haiku Tuesday, here's a short rhyme.
The Bore Four
Volpe, Bellinger, Chisholm, Wells!
A cavalcade of Yankee hells!
Of nights in raunchy, bleak hotels!
With ever-present sewer smells!
Right now, slumps and icy spells
Bellinger, Chisholm, Volpe, Wells!
But but BUT... help might be coming. This week - tonight? - Mr. Fundamentals, DJ LeMahieu, will launch a minor league rehab mission, recovering from his latest tweak. Say what you will about DJ: He's still DJ. Yeah, he's 36. Yeah, it's not 2021. But he deserves a shot. (And, frankly, there's nobody else.) Unless he tanks in Somerset - or tweaks something anew - (the most likely scenario) - DJ should join the Mother Ship by mid-May.
How could he affect the lineup?
1. Platoon with Oswaldo at 3B. This is almost a sure bet. Cabrera has fielded the position decently (despite some troubling recent issues with throws), and he's hitting .302 (1 HR, 5 RBIs.) He deserves to play against righties. But Boone has only allowed him 7 ABs thus far against LHs. He's already platooning, sorta. I'd bet DJ plays most of his rehab at 3B.
2. Pinch-hitting for The Martian, Wells, Bellinger and/or Ben Rice? This would require DJ to hit. But Giancarlo remains a month away, and the Yankees already face a crisis from the right side. There is a need for LeMahieu, if he can fill it.
4. Platoon with or replace Jazz Chisholm at 2B. Not sure about this. For one thing, I believe Chisholm will soon snap out of his slump, and the problems will be moot. For another, such a move would royally piss him off, and I'm not sure how that would affect him. It's the Red Button that says "Self-Demolition." But DJ's best position was always 2B. And Jazz did play 3B last year.
Whatever the case, in the late innings, it wouldn't hurt to have DJ coming out of the dugout. If he could just give us a month of what he once was... it sure would solve some problems.
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16 comments:
May I say with the deepest respect and the utmost sincerity:
Don’t hold your breath.
None of these lineup moves matters much. We don't have "it", that not-quite quantifiable thing that separates the winners from the also-rans.
NO. DJ needs a "day" and the retirement to the Jacoby Ellsbury Memorial Hot Tub.
If Bellinger is physically well and not playing with a sore back, something always questionable with the Yankees' opaqueness concerning injury, he will be fine. Ben Rice should also be fine, as long as he continues to adjust. I think he will. He's intelligent and has a nice swing with a plan at the plate. Unfortunately, Volpe is the opposite of Rice and will never have that "light bulb" moment. If he hits .250-hallelujah! Ditto for Wells.
And why the fuck would any manager put a slow-footed catcher batting .175 at the #1 position? Seriously. Oh, wait...it's Baboone, the worst manager in my lifetime, who makes Stump Merrill look like Casey Stengel.
Ummmm, no. DJ has to be put out to pasture. TheWinWarblist got it right!
Grisham is on paternity leave, I think. I heard some lady WFAN host say in an interview that she would maybe sit The Martian and play Grisham whilst he's hot. Wrong, wrong, wrong! It might produce some good results short term, but unless you think Grisham is going to be the center fielder for the next ten years, it's the wrong move for the long term. The reason Grisham is hitting so well is that pitchers think he sucks, and they're throwing cookies over the plate. (It's the Brett Gardner syndrome.) He's proven that he can hit cookies. Those cookies will dry up at some point, probably soon.
If you want to develop The Martian or see how good he'll get before making a decision on whether to trade him or not, you've got to play him full time, all the time. Takes several years to learn how to play a position really well. And some guys never become good defenders. The point is that every game and every inning with Grisham just delays judgment day for the kids. Which is bad if you make the playoffs. Because come playoff time, it'll be the kids that make the difference between winning and losing, not Trent Grisham. We already know this, don't we?
Yeah, I'm afraid you're right, Bitty. And yes, Carl J. Weitz, Wells as our No. 1 hitter is downright inexplicable. As for the rest of it, well, Giancarlo is a month away, and always will be.
I think The Martian was pretty streaky in the minors. He'd look terrible for awhile, then get super hot. Doesn't matter if he doesn't hit, hold your ground and keep playing him. It's the only way to find out. Playing him part time only delays judgment day. Want to be like the Rays and develop players? It ain't rocket science. Talented kids need to play. Old guys need to sit on the bench.
Amen, Hammer! It may have already cost the Yankees a ring that they did not commit to The Martian last season, bringing him up a month or two earlier as they should have, and seeing if he could get his batting head together. No could do. Now, the franchise that was so concerned about letting him be a free agent too early, five years from now...is not quite committed to playing him full time this year.
And last night, Judge hitting as the #2 batter, came up in the 9th inning as the last potential Yankee out, which he might not have if he'd hit #3. WHOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What's that? He struck out? Yeah, but ain't those stat nerds somethin'? We got to see that extra at-bat by our best hitter. Second time it's happened in just a few days, I think. At the end of the year, what's it going to be in those situations for Judge? Like 0 for 10 with 6 strikeouts and 6 intentional walks. I don't think their record is very good this year with Judge hitting #2 (haven't checked on that yet). They seem to have a lot more success with Judge hitting #3. BaBoone has been moving Judge around a bit this year.
Yep, I was sayin' they should've brought him up when his rib cage muscle healed, which was like the middle of last year. Verdugo should've been benched or traded at that point. I thought their only chance of winning a championship was to bring up guys like Dominguez and Spencer Jones and develop them. They made it to the World Series with Verdugo and Stanton. But so what? A horribly embarrassing showing. Much worse than if they hadn't even made the playoffs. We'll never get that horror show out of our systems. Hell, I haven't even needed to watch horror movies since the World Series last year. I've had my fill of horror for a hundred lifetimes.
Duque - You are of course correct but the one black hole you failed to mention, perhaps the most astonishing black hole of all, is your leap from -- 2. Pinch-hitting for The Martian, Wells, Bellinger and/or Ben Rice? to 4. Platoon with or replace Jazz Chisholm at 2B. With out providing a 3.
That's some Bermuda Triangle level stuff right there.
Jizz Chasm is completely out of control. Like a car with no brakes doing 180 mph on the freeway. This is where a good manager does some hand holding or some ass kicking, whatever is more appropriate, and gets his player to stay level headed. It's too much to handle for BaBoone, who thinks the manager's job is to fill in line up cards (based on memos coming down from the front office stat geeks) and scream at umpires when his batters get rung up. The longer BaBoone is here, the more difficult it is to believe that this clown is managing the New York Yankees.
I don’t think Booooooone is making out the lineup card. The Strat-O-Matic analysts and The Intern are giving him instructions on a daily basis. The best that can be said for Booooone is that he is good at taking orders and really can’t think for himself.
Giancarlo is circling the airport, waiting for the landing lights to come on, but it's the wrong airport and the lights are blown.
I think you're right about that, DickAllen. But I think it makes what Hammer is saying all the more important. What Boone is left with is trying to keep guys motivated or keep them from overheating—but he's awful at both things. Case #1 being his decision not to get up and go out to calm everyone down in the infamous Game 5, with the Yanks still up, 5-1, and 2 outs in the 5th. It's incredible how little feel he has for the game—as a third-generation big leaguer.
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