Meanwhile, last night, in the caustic blur of Fenway, the current Yankee SS, Jose Caballero, went 0-4 with two bellyaching Ks, including a fruitless ABS challenge, which stranded a cruise ship of runners. A "Meh" night for the Cabster, who is batting .234 with a withering On Base Percentage of .280. Considering his base-stealing prowess, if Caballero could reach base at the MLB average - .322 - he'd force Volpe to buy a condo in Scranton; there'd be no place for him.
Ah, if "its" and "buts" were candy and nuts...
Unfortunately, Caballero's ceiling - at age 29 - looks to be made of concrete. A .322 OBP looks like a bridge too far. And Volpe still has the "What if?" factor on his side. What if he hadn't been injured for most of last year? The Yankees have ridden with it now for three years. George Lombard Jr. is almost ready. But they're going to try Volpe one more time.
Soon - like, any day now - the Cashman A.I. algorithm will promote Volpe from Scranton, unleashing a roster transfiguration that, for better or worse, will reshape this team.
Volpe's return will probably mean the disappearance of OF Randal Grichuk, perhaps permanently. Thus, to complicate matters, Grichuk last night went 2-4, suggesting an awakening from his brutal 2026 start. (He is 4-for-24 - .167. - with an On Base Percentage of .192. Horrible, eh?) Still, his exile will force the Yankees to use two infielders - Cabby and Amed Rosario - to regularly play OF, while the infield becomes a logjam. They will be flying a plane with three wings and one propeller.
And, as usual, the farm system gridlock will worsen.
Last night, for Scranton, Jasson Dominguez went 3-for-4 with his 3rd HR of the season: he's batting .333, tied for 9th in the league. Spencer Jones, the lost incarnation of Joey Gallo, went 1-2 with a walk - (and, of course, a strikeout.) Lately, Jones has been on fire. He has 5 HRs - tied for 7th in the league - and is hitting .261 - (with too many strikeouts.) The thing is, Jones is supposed to be a fine defensive CF, which means he might be the first responder to a Yankee outifield injury, leaving The Martian forever stranded in the Strait of Boone.
Why am I saying all this? Well, part of it is to uphold the grand tradition of all Yank fans: When in doubt, whine! I mean, seriously, what a problem! A returning starter, and too many infielders. Woe is me! We just beat Boston. Break glass!
The Yankees are on a roll, and Volpe will soon return - with or without a place to put him. The captain has turned on the SECURE SEATBELTS sign. Hold on. It might get bumpy.
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Are we actually "on a roll?" Do you mean, as in a smear of deviled ham on a kaiser bun? Or are we on an unstoppable streak of 12 straight wins, pulled off with aplomb, dominance and confidence. Has our engine started to rev? Are the gears engaged? Is the wind at our back? Has the light broken through the clouds? What kind of roll are we on? I"m not whining. I'm just being pragmatic after years of being destroyed by the Cashman Machine.
Yeah, too early to trust. Too bad about Caballero...but he's not the answer at SS. I would really really really prefer to trade away Ryan McMahon for a handful of magic beans, but of course that ain't happening because we paid him too much. Ah, the weird, backward world of the New York Yankees!
Meanwhile, Mr. 50-50 now at 87 plate appearances without a jack. When he breaks out...ho-ho-ho...I mean, when he gets going...I mean, you don't wanna be around...I mean...What DO I mean?
Meanwhile...Love That Devin!
Not long ago, I was afraid that the Metsies had discovered a way to straighten out Devin Williams, and make him again the lights-out closer that he somehow was with Milwaukee.
Not to worry. Last night, our Devin came into a tie game, faced five batters, and did not get a man out. He had some bad luck—a botched bunt and a seeing-eye single—but he also walked three batters, and walked in a run.
This followed a blown save on Sunday, and a grand-slam that took the Metsies out of a close game in LA. He is now 0-1, 9.95, with 11 hits and 6 walks in 6 1/3 innings.
But the killer was his postgame reaction: "I've never been part of something like this before"—referring to the Mets' 12-game losing streak.
Um, Devin? It's not happening TO you. You are helping to make it happen. What an attitude for a closer!
Oh, and to answer Bitty's question: I believe we are on a sesame roll, with some mustard and pastrami. Delicious!
No, not the deviled ham. It's a blowme sandwich on a hardon roll with popoff seeds. Or perhaps it's penis butter and jelly?
I think that Milwaukee year was a freak year, or maybe he just needs to go to a town that doesn't have the intensity and scrutiny of New York. Whatever, he's back to stinking again.
Reminds me of a little song my brother used to sing many years ago...
I was standing on a hill
Watching a sesame roll
Sesa-who?
Sesame
Well, surprise, surprise! We actually won last night. Gil pulled one out of the hat.! But that probably means that Commander Ba-Boone will press the self destruct button tonight and destroy our chances in the last two games of the series.
Duque, I checked out the Scranton Rail Riders & other highlights yesterday and saw clips of home runs by Dominguez, Volpe & Lombard.
Dominguez has a great swing. Obviously, a major leaguer. Shouldn't be down in AAA.
Volpe's homer, looked to me like he ran into one. He still takes a huge cut and hopes to hit it hard. Not a recipe for major league success.
Lombard: went the other way, right center power alley, hit a fly ball that just carried out. Hitting the other way with power? Definitely a promising sign.
I also checked out just how many right-handed at-bats Dominguez has against lefty pitchers. Because that's one of the main reasons why they sent him to AAA, right? They said they wanted him to work on hitting lefty pitching, right?
I said that was all bullshit and that he needed to work on his right-handed swing up here at the major league level. Wanna know how many at-bats Dominguez has against lefty pitching so far? 8 at bats thus far. 8 fucking at bats against lefties. (He's 2 for 8, with a home run.)
Obviously begs the question, how will a guy learn to hit lefty pitching if he doesn't face lefty pitching? Because he's on pace to get about 60 at bats against lefty pitching THIS YEAR.
I think Yankee management had all of this figured out. They knew he was hardly ever going to face lefty pitching. So that's where they send him. So he never develops properly. Did I tell ya that Yankee management ABHORS player development?
Why is the question, and we've got plenty of theories. But the fact that they hate to develop young players is the truth. We've got a few decades of evidence. Other than Robinson Cano, Judge, now Ben Rice, how many really good position players have they developed in the last twenty years or so?
You're not going to win any championships developing two or three position players every 20-25 years. That's an average of about 1 player every 7-8 years. 8 years is almost one baseball generation. We're not even talking about great players. The bar is any "good" position player. (Wells & Volpe have proven that they're just not good enough, well below average players.)
Cano & Judge have been great, sure. And of course, they did win once with Cano in 2009, with the entire previous generation of talent still holding the fort. But the supporting cast for Judge sure has been very weak. (Ben Rice is still under examination. And Jasson Dominguez has been "disappeared". Spencer Jones will never even get an opportunity.) They're putting down all their money on guys like Grisham, Grichuk, Cabellero, Rosario. Which is why they haven't won in 16 years and counting. And, yes, it will be why they won't win this year either.
Ultimately, that is the main reason why I can't really knock Judge for not producing in the playoffs, not putting the entire team on his back and winning a championship. This is still a team game. Mighty hard to win if you're the only bat in the entire lineup worth a damn. He only hits once every nine guys at the plate.
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