That was Clay Bellinger's kid, Cody, officially bolting for the door.
Yesterday, Bellinger ditched his $25 million one-year Yankee option, heading for the Corona Beer tent of free agency. He even deleted his Yankee profile on Instagram. He's like Rosamund Pike in that Ben Affleck movie - a Gone Girl Guy. Off to try the free market of capitalism, while the Yankees try to avoid charges of criminal malpractice.
On behalf of the Yankiverse, I wish Bellinger luck, health and bricks of gold. I sorta hoped the Yankees could frontload a three-year deal - like Shohei Ohtani's magically deferred payments with the Dodgers - and make him the Yankee CF, at least until Spencer Jones proves relevant.
That's a pipe dream, of course. I doubt Bellinger can cover - from April to October - the area code that is Yankee Stadium centerfield. Everybody likes Belli, but is there a path for him to anchor a championship Yankee team?
This winter, I believe the Yankees must do three things:
1. They must decide on their two biggest prospects - The Martian and Spencer Jones. Both might suck; that's baseball, Suzyn. Every year, some rising team wins the World Series by beating a tired Yankee roster of 30-somethings. Jasson Dominguez is 22. Jones is 24. Each needs a shot. And if the Yankees bring back Belli (and to a less likely chance, Trent Grisham), there will be no openings. Another tired old team, good enough for a wild card.
2. They need pitching, pitching, pitching. They cannot depend on anybody. Every spring, they show up touting their rotational depth, and then watch several key arms go down. Right now, they have Max Fried, Will Warren, Cam Schlittler and Luis Gil. After that, Carlos Rodon is hurt; Gerrit Cole won't be back until June, Clarke Schmidt might not be back at all, and the farm is threadbare. The Yankees must sign a major starter, maybe two, maybe three. Last year, the Dodgers went through stretches with an Injury List all-star rotation. They just planned for October, and it worked.
3. They need Gold Glove defense up the middle. The final teams this October fielded defensive burners in CF. The Yankees had Grisham - solid, but not great. There is a notion that Bellinger can play CF, or maybe Jazz Chisholm. I doubt either would last the season. The Yankees need someone who can fly. That would require Jones to prove his news clippings are true, and/or Dominguez to make great strides. (He's got the wheels; he needs to put in the work.) Same goes for SS, but we've wasted enough ink on that black hole.
It's rare for a player's professionalism and character to impress the Yankees as much as Bellinger did last season - and then to watch him depart. Six years ago, they invested in DJ LeMahieu for just that reason. It backfired. Last winter, they watched the human loyalty-sinkhole, Juan Soto, follow the cash and never look back.
The days of great players wanting to play for the Yankees are over. If anything, a ring-hungry veteran will want to go to the Dodgers, or maybe even Toronto. The Yankees are just another team that feels the whoosh, and wonders who just went out the door?
On the other hand, the Dodgers had the oldest team in MLB this year. If ya don't believe me, you can look it up.
ReplyDeleteBellinger isn't gone yet. Of course, with Cashboy in charge, who knows where Hal's money is going to be spent...maybe Cody, maybe not.
Does anyone have a Magic 8 Ball handy?
Freddy Freeman finally looked kind of long in the tooth against the Jays. He still managed to hit a solo walk off job though.
DeleteHEY!
ReplyDeleteIs this thing on ?
Testing five.seven, five.
Anyone Alive ?
Hal, Pal and Seedy
Feeling a wee bit needy.
And the infields looking
A tad bit weedy
No way to end this
Except with a long piss
And working on my
Short list
Of who next to
Diss Kiss
The average age of players on their Opening Day roster:
ReplyDeleteDodgers: 31.48. Despite not rostering any of the five oldest MLB players in 2025, the Dodgers are the oldest team. ...
Padres: 30.74. ...
Rangers: 30.68. ...
Blue Jays: 30.55. ...
Cubs: 30.28.
Yes, the team's average age is lowered by the number of kids on the roster. But the position players are mediocre:
DeleteWells- Can't hit and is horrible at throwing runners out.
Rice- Is a good hitter and knows what to do at the plate. But since he is a defensive catcher, much like Wells, he needs to learn how to play first base.
Volpe- A clueless hitter and an error-prone shortstop. He should be at AAA.
Jizz Chasm- Another clueless hitter and a horrible second baseman. Doesn't care what the situation calls for; he just swings for the fences and strikes out too much for a middle infielder.
Cabrerra- A so-so hitter and a slightly better multi-positional defender. But, he should only be a bench piece.
JD- Has a lot better upside all around, Tons of skill that needs to be developed. Unfortunately, he's on a team that can't do that. So he's on his own. Let's hope that he isn't on this list next year.
So, while the Yankees aren't among the oldest teams by average, their youngsters are on the team because the owner is too cheap to sign upgrades, and the kids they do have are there because of bad Cashman trades and bad player development.
Duque had a complaint about the NYY being old in the post, and I was just noting that the Dodgers were the oldest team, on average, at the start of the year.
DeleteThat's all.
Let's hope that the fucking Dodgers get old real fast and collapse of their own fucking financial weight. They've become my most hated team now. Not sure how that happened, but now I hate 'em even more than the fucking ASS-stros.
DeleteThe available centerfielders are not great. They might be better off
ReplyDeletePutting Jazz back in center and grabbing Brandon Lowe or Ozzie Albies or…..Gleyber? For second until Jones is ready to take over center. If Jones lights up spring training fuck it, let him start. I’d sign Tucker for left and trade Domínguez for a starter. I like Jd but they’ve messed him up.
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ReplyDeleteIf his defense and right handed hitting improves, the Martian might someday contribute to a legit MLB contender. He could be a lineup extender, handling the bat well out of the 7 or 8 spot. Valuable. Jones' ceiling, unfortunately, is middle of the order hitter on a cellar dweller. There's no room for what will be his record-shattering number of Ks on a legit contender.
ReplyDeleteThat's what many scouts claimed about Judge 10 years or so ago. I wouldn't be surprised if Jones followed suit, albeit that's a big suit.
DeleteThe idea that either or both could be main engines for a dynamic, contending MLB lineup is nonsense.
ReplyDeleteIt's hardly nonsense. Let's revisit this topic in 2-3 years.
DeleteYAWN
ReplyDeleteLet Bellinger walk. We can lose without him. I kind of like these two year deals with opt out clauses. Gives the player incentive to play his ass off and then, poof! Disappears into the night.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we can get Kyle Tucker to sign a similar contract. Might take a lot more money and a longer term, say a four or five year deal, frontloaded with an opt out after two years. That way, we can get two good years out of him, then he rides off into the sunset and we won't have to worry about aging mediocrity.
Hammer, I wish we could get Tucker on a deal like that. He might get an opt-out, but at his age, he will lock down a 7-8 year deal at minimum. And as much as I'm pro-player regarding contracts, it's too bad that clubs don't have an opt-out clause as well.
DeleteIf Jasson Dominguez played for a team like the Blue Jays, he'd already be a superstar. It's too bad he's going to be ruined by Yankee coaching. There's a sliver of hope that maybe he was held back by the surgically repaired UCL in the right elbow this year. So maybe he has a much better year next year. But I wouldn't bet on it.
ReplyDeleteThere's no way Jizz Chasm should play CF next year. No way. He's on my list of guys to be traded pronto. Along with Volpe, Wells.
ReplyDeleteI forgot about Rodon's elbow chip removal surgery. Guess nobody'll want him until he proves that he's okay. Which is why he should've been traded before, like I've been sayin' for a whiles now. Ditto with Clarke Schmidt. Too fucking bad. Cashman never makes moves that need to be made. Always waits 'til it's too late.
They need at least two starters. And Rodon and Schmidt coming back from injury ain't it. But that's how Brain Dead Cashman will frame it: he'll say "we don't need to make any big pitching moves because Cole, Rodon, Schmidt will be a-comin' back next year". And it's bull shit, of course. Cole may or may not be back at all next year. And if Cole does make it back, who knows how effective he'll be. Rodon and Schmidt should've been traded before they got hurt. What are the chances they come back and pitch better next year? Long odds, to say the least. These are sucker's bets.
ReplyDelete@ JM...understood. About the team age thing.
ReplyDeleteBellinger moved way up my "all-time favorite Yankees" list this year when he hit 3 HRs (and should've had a fourth) when I was at the stadium with my sons on my 60th birthday. One of my best stadium trips ever. So, part of me wants him to come back. But the rational me thinks the same thing -- a full year in center field? I dunno.
ReplyDeleteBut, at least at the moment, he might be our best option. Dominguez? Got the wheels, and we all envisioned him in center this year. El Duque is right, though. Did he do anything defensively that makes anyone think he should be the starting center fielder in Yankee Stadium? Spencer Jones is supposed to be a fine defensive outfielder, but Baseball America was right this summer when it called him MLB's "most perplexing prospect." Is he the next Aaron Judge or the next Rob Deer or Adam Dunn? Jazz Chisolm .... uh, no.
I'd be nice to get Cody on a 1-year deal and see if Spencer or the Martian blossom next year, but I doubt a 1-year deal is happening.
Again, when faced with a fork in the road, Brian Cashman will...sit down and tell you how he planned for this fork to there all along.
ReplyDeleteYanks should either re-sign Bellinger, grab that Murakami guy for 3B (perhaps impossible, if the Dodgers are serious), get what pitching they can and go all out to win now...OR, make a serious commitment to the kids, Jones and The Martian, and maybe give poor Rumfield a chance, too...OR do both.
Instead, they won't do either. And since we can count on a good 6-10 teams in MLB tanking, they might even make the playoffs again. And flop again.
As it is, I think they will finish third behind the revived Carmine Hose and Toronto next year. Which may well still be enough to get them into the playoffs.
ReplyDeleteWhere, as we know, it's all a crapshoot—one in which the Yankees roll snake eyes, year after year after year.