Traitor Tracker: .249

Traitor Tracker: .249
Last year, this date: .310

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

For the sinking Yankees, it's now a wild card race, framed around one unanswerable question

Remember the merry month of May? Trump's daily rants? Catastrophic floods? The famine in Gaza? The war in Ukraine? The - wait a minute - nothing's changed, am I right?

Actually, there is one change...

In May, the Yankees were one of baseball's best teams. At one point, they built a 7-game lead in the AL East.

Ever since, they rank among the worst teams in the game. They are 5 games behind... and fading.

And now - get this: 

As disposable, ragdoll fans - we're supposed to hope that the architects behind this collapse now have 72 hours to save the season?  

Nope. Sorry, folks. I got one thing to say.

They shoulda signed Bryce Harper.  

WHY DIDN'T THEY SIGN BRYCE HARPER!

Look... LOOK at where we are. They lose to teams they must beat, most notably Boston and Toronto. We have no young stars. Jasson Dominguez is now being platooned, Anthony Volpe is getting booed, Ben Rice is fading, and Cam Schlitter is rumored to be on the trading block, even as the team grows ever more desperate for pitching. (Mark these words: Trading Schlittler will be the worst deadline deal since Jordan Montgomery went out the door.) 

With Aaron Judge on the Injured List - and all this happy YES gobbling that he will only miss 10 days, it's mere talk - the Yankees have no offense. They are comically suggesting that Giancarlo Stanton might play the outfield; the guy can barely run to first on a single off the wall. The lone player who could bring a buzz - Spencer Jones - remains in Scranton, because the Yankees don't want him accruing MLB contractual equity: They prefer him under team control... and cheap.

Soon, Luis Gil will return. You'd think he was Quinn the Eskimo. 

Are we supposed to expect this team to do anything but continue to sink? 

Why didn't they sign Bryce Harper? He came to New York. He went to their door. He rang the bell. He wanted to be a Yankee. THEY SHOULDA SIGNED BRYCE HARPER! THEY SHOULDA SIGNED BRYCE HARPER! THEY SHOULDA SIGNED BRYCE HARPER!

10 comments:

JM said...

I wish we had a guy who can not only hit, but wants to throw Manfred the Dog out of the clubhouse.

He's out kind of guy. Why didn't we sign him? Was it Hal? Or was it some idiotic stat analysis that said he wouldn't be worth the money?

Oh, that reminds me. Boone is an idiot.

Mildred Lopez said...

We didn't sign Harper because our bald biscuit idiot GM had just fleeced Jeter in the Stanton trade, and because Hal didn't want to spend the money, and because the outfield was too crowded with Judge, Hicks, Ellsbury, Clint fucking Frazier, and 35-year-old Gardner, and because the idiot could see no path forward for Harper at first base what with Bird/Voight/Tyler Austin already there. Where could you possibly find space for a future Hall of Famer on that loaded roster?

Of all the dipshit moves Cashman has made down through the years choosing not to sign Harper because of Stanton is the dipshitiest of all.

BTR999 said...

A gray week, we continue to slide out of relevance in the most dull and predictable matter, while the organization dithers and dathers about what to do. So obvious that a sea change is long overdue.

Hey, remember a few years ago when Steinington said that a big internal audit of the entire organization was being done?

https://empiresportsmedia.com/new-york-yankees/yankees-reveal-3rd-party-analytics-company-set-to-audit-the-organization/

Whatever happened? Or was that just more distraction and PR puffery?

Publius said...

Why didn't they sign Harper? Cash preferred Stanton. Jeter laughed and laughed and laughed.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Great analysis, Mildred Lopez. And don't forget...Cashie the Sad-Eyed Clown ALSO passed on J.D. Martinez because he grabbed Stanton.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Thanks for bringing up the Great Zelus Audit, 999. And you know what? It wasn't even the first such audit. I think it was back after 2018, when the Yankees were just plagued by injuries, that Cashie swore he was going to do a major audit or survey of the team's training and development methods.

Soon, we'll get Audit III. Or just the usual, "How can you expect us to win with so many injuries?" presser.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Incidentally, here's the Estimable Keefe, of Keefetothecity, running down the Yanks' record against winning teams since May 30th:

Lost two of three to the Dodgers
Lost two of three to the Red Sox
Swept by the Red Sox
Lost two of three to the Reds
Lost two of three to the Blue Jays
Lost two of three to the Mets
Swept the Mariners
Lost two of three to the Cubs
Lost two of three to the Blue Jays
Lost two of three to the Phillies

The Yankees went 1-9 in the 10 series with an 11-17 record. Over that time, they have watched their eight-game lead over the Blue Jays turn into a 5 1/2-game deficit (and it’s really 6 1/2 when you account for the head-to-head tiebreaker).

ranger_lp said...

Who fleeced who?

BTR999 said...

All the recent comments about the monumental failure of Cashman’s failure to sign the fiery Harper are spot on. (Can’t imagine telling the president of my company to fuck off though.) Anyway, great article on YGY today highlighting some of Cashman’s T/D failures:

https://yanksgoyard.com/5-missed-trade-deadline-opportunities-that-will-haunt-yankees-brian-cashman-forever

Stang said...

When his time comes, Harper will enter LDS Heaven wearing a Yankee cap.