They traded our greatest nemesis, Rafael Devers, for four young players, each a potential Crochet or Verdugo. By doing it in the postgame glee of a three-game sweep - a humiliation of their foes - the Redsocks set course on a second-half of 2025 that will bring glory or a train wreck. No middle ground.
Ten takeaways from what could be the most pivotal Yankee weekend in this decade:
1. In trading Devers, Boston employed a strategy foreign to the Yankee brain trust: Deal the star when things are going well. Devers had just homered, and Boston had crushed us. Therefore... so long, chump! The Yankees, on the other hand, trade players after their tents have folded. Sort of how Boone removes pitchers: Wait until the damage is done.
2. There are no words for the Yankees' weekend. "Debacle" comes close. "Fiasco. Meltdown. Disaster." I'd go with bloodbath, but the Yankees played so timidly, so bloodlessly, that it doesn't work. The way they so sacrificially knelt in the late innings, 1-2-3, 1-2-3 - they were efficiently awful. I wonder how good this team really is.
3. Aaron Judge has fallen into one of his dark crevices. We knew he'd hit one. Here it is. Strikeouts and double-play grounders. Flailing at pitches. Turns out, he's not the greatest RH hitter of all time.
4. With Judge on the fritz, there is only person capable of carrying this team: Giancarlo, of course. We'll soon see.
5. Horrible baserunning this weekend. Three young Yankees were tagged out at third - inexplicably - in critical moments. Anthony Volpe tried to steal. Idiot! The Martian forgot the count. Imbecile! Ben Rice got picked off. Dartmouth? Fundamentals. The Yankees cannot seem to teach them.
6. I'm particularly losing hope for Rice, whose BA (.227) is headed toward Mendoza. With Stanton returning, he is the fifth wheel on a golf cart. The Yankees should consider sending him to Scranton and letting him catch, full-time. He deserves a shot at an actual MLB career. He certainly does not belong as a DH, batting second in a lineup.
7. Yesterday, I listened in frantic disbelief as Suzyn Waldman killed us with juju. She spent the entire pre-game show telling us how Boston pitcher Brayan Bello was having a horrible year - how his change-up had gone south, how his ERA was outlandish, how he was about to be dumped in the rotation. I was screaming, "NO, NO, NO!" It did no good. Is Suzyn trying to tank this team? Of course, he was going to shut us out.
8. I cannot rate the Devers deal. Seriously, what do I know? The two pitchers will help their staff, though they'll face unbelievable pressure. The two prospects are down in Single A. It could be a reincarnation of the Juan Soto deal - where the Yankees gave up Michael King - or it could be another Mookie Betts giveaway.
But I will say this: In three years, Boston will look smart for ditching Devers. His body doesn't look like a 3B. He looks like a DH ready to degrade. The Giants will absorb $250 million. That's money the Redsocks will use to buy a star.
This is the deal the Yankees should have made with Giancarlo, four years ago. But we'll have him forever.
9. The chances of Devers ending up a Yankee - the John Mayberry scenario - just increased enormously. I suspect SF will happily deal him to Gotham in, say, 2028. He'll be hitting .227.
10. What happened this weekend did not end the Yankee season. But being swept by Boston will remain a stain on this team through the playoffs. And if Boston's youth movement catches fire, this weekend will be remembered ruefully for a long, long time. This will be the weekend when everything went south.
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Cannot argue with any of the reasoning here. And guess what? It's another June swoon, right on schedule. They will now win a bunch of games in preparation for the late July/August bonfire.
Addressing number four. Do we not remember all the times Tissue Mon Stanton has returned from a more than lengthy stay on the IL. It takes him two months to find his stroke, He swings at pitches two feet out of the strikezone. This is the Hal Wil[pon way, Do not go the extra yard. Play players who are not good, because you are paying them.
Very astute, Duque. Yes, we should have made that deal with Stanton, and swallowed the money. Too late. And yes, if history is any judge—though Hal & Pal never think it should be—"Big G" as they call him, will need at least two weeks to get his batting eye, then maybe two weeks more to get hurt again.
The Yankees second half success hinges on whether Hoss can succeed on getting some of those stadium lobster tails down his pie hole.
It all depends upon that.
7 games this week, against the lowly Angels and surprisingly bad Orioles. This will test this team’s resilience. Judge was beyond awful all weekend, a sad preview of what he will be in a few short years. I don’t know what else to say about the baserunning gaffs, it just highlights one of the central tenets of my frustration with this organization: the lack of fundamentals being taught to young players.
As for the Devers trade, it will take years to truly evaluate. The Red Sox were never going to trade him to Yankees. Usually, it seems the team getting the star “wins” theses sort of trades. We’ve all seen the Stanton show. I don’t expect this year to be any different from what we’ve seen in recent years, just a little bit older and a little bit slower.
Despicable.
Turns out the Sux are just as badly run an organization as the Yankees.
First, they sign Devers to a ten-year deal, then acquire Bregman, thereby forcing Devers off his beloved hot corner, then publicly engage in an ego battle with him. Then dump him and his (salary) attitude, thereby tanking the season. Now that is how The Intern runs an organization!
It appears for all the world as though Boston is throwing in the towel on 2025.
No question, AA! Though...that's what started the swoon last year.
Per Andy Martino @ SNY, Stanton will be activated and in the lineup tonight vs. the Angels.
Then it is time to END IT !
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