Yeah, wait... I do know you. We were here last year, when the Yankees obtained Jazz Chisholm. And we were here years earlier for the Joey Gallo trade, and - gulp - going way back - for Pete Incaviglia, for Daryl Strawberry, for Jay Buhner - dear God, I remember now! -for J.A. Happ, for Andrew Benintendi, for countless August 1 midnight deals. You and I, we've been meeting in this Wilkes Barre transfer station every July since the dawn of baseball, waiting for something to change our lives, waiting for a chance to transform, waiting to go somewhere, anywhere.
Yeah, I know you. We celebrated the arrival of Harrison Bader, thinking this guy had to be great, because the Yankees surely would never traded Jordan Montgomery for an injured schlub. We couldn't wait to see Mark Leiter Jr, and Glenallen Hill, and Raul Mondesi, and John Olerud, and all the others who would come and go, come and go, come and go...
The players leave, but we stay, like ghosts, rattling our chains in the hope that Brian Cashman will hear.
Yeah, I remember you. We stood here, watching in horror, when the Yankees traded Al Leiter for Jesse Barfield. This is July, the doggiest days of summer, that unsettled period of dread, full of trade rumors and proposals, as the Yankees pursue some aging, underachieving veteran for a run at what will eventually be the wild card.
Take a look at the pitching stats on the above right. As far as I can see, no matter who we trade for or what we do, several arms hold the fate of the 2025 Yankees. Luke Weaver must somehow regain his fastball. Marcus Stroman must stay healthy. Jonathan Loaisiga must return to form. Max Fried's blister must heal, and Cam Schlittler must be for real. If those things happen, we'll be all right. If they don't...
Well, we will be here next year, like all the others. As far as I can tell, there are no busses leaving this place.
Old Cashy McCash may get us in trouble, but it won't be "good trouble," John Lewis style trouble, where he takes a risk, does the right thing, and justice prevails. It'll be more like QAnon trouble, where some dumb shit happens, then a warped version of reality gets promoted by strange, shady mouthpieces, then we are all gaslighted into eternity until our asses fall off from crying throughout another October. Fuck Hal, fuck Cash, and fuck Boone.
ReplyDeleteBoone is an idiot. And his defense of Volpe is, as Bleeding Yankee Blue noted, so bizarre that Michael Kay--Michael Kay--called him out about it and flat-out said, "Stop telling me he's playing great!"
ReplyDeleteWow. I didn't know Big Head Todd had it in him.
A few pizzas, a couple dozen hot dogs, some nachos and that fake ice cream in a little helmet, yes. Those I assume are in him, too.
By the way, we're doomed. Cashman will do something stupid. I can't bear to look.
well JM, I just don't know....just don't know if that would be a possibility with Michael Kay....here have a looks (and see where I mined his photo from....)
Deletehttps://defector.com/michael-kay-finally-consumed-eggs
I still remember… I was sitting in the stands at Yankee stadium wearing an Al Leiter t shirt when a security guard tapped me on the shoulder and jokingly said I couldn’t wear it anymore and pointed to the jumbo screen. They had just put up the Barfield trade.
ReplyDeleteThe wound has never healed….
I will NEVER FORGET where I was when I about THAT trade! We can't lay that one on The Brain, however.... Who was the GM anyway?
Delete
DeleteI will also never forget an interview with Leiter on the evening news (WPIX perhaps) on the day of the trade. The poor kid mumbled behind a 1000-yard stare while trying to answer some dense reporter's questions.
That was sucky day.
Thanks to a current billowing news cycle - I now know that our beloved NY Yankees are suffering from . . . .
ReplyDeletechronic
venous
insufficiency
Never knew that an entire team could be impacted by it.
It’s chronic alright
DeleteHere’s the thing: you can’t build/rebuild a tea at the Deadline. That has to be done during the off season. For contenders, the TD is for doing a bit of a patch job, a little touch-up here, maybe a coat of paint there…last winter, cashman got off to a good start after Soto left, but steinbummer slammed the cash register drawer closed before the job was finished. Now the team is scrambling to paper over the obvious deficiencies. Can’t be done.
ReplyDeleteThen there’s the biggest deficiency of all: boone. Not sure how you paper over that.
More of a papering under, while he continues to shit on the floor.
Delete😉
DeleteGreat piece, O Peerless One! Pretty damned funny—but the joke is indeed on us.
ReplyDelete999, you called it. Yankees at the trade deadline used to be, 'Hey, our first baseman is hurt. Let's bring in Johnny Mize.' Or, 'Who can we steal away from that idiot in KC? Ralph Terry, check, Clete Boyer, check, that Maris guy...' Or, 'Hey, ever hear of this Cliff Johnson? Well, certainly is big...'
Now, we know it's just a disaster waiting to happen.
Also love the mentality of whoever wrote that NY Post article, headline: "Volpe must reward Yanks for patience." Of course, because ability is just something you can summon and trade for good treatment. Is everyone now officially crazy?
ReplyDeleteSo out of the break it's Hamilton as the opener tonight? What happened to the new guy?
ReplyDeleteUnbelievable, are they really going to bullpen the game after 4 days off ? This hasgot to be Analytics. No baseball person, even boone, is this stupid.
DeleteBTR - underestimate Boone's stupidity at your own risk. He is special when it comes to weapons-grade stupidity.
DeleteYanks have claimed Rico Garcia off waivers from the Mets.(Beeter told to beat it back to Scranton) His 6.47 career ERA fits neatly into our ‘pen.
ReplyDeleteIPTV down. Might be permanent. Don't unplug if it's working. Mine didn't come back when I restarted.
ReplyDelete😪😥😢😖😱
ReplyDeleteNice, concise piece Duque. Painful as all get-out to read and remember, but it was concise.
We all need to be reminded of the Montgomery/Bader trade, at least annually.