And at the heart of every mystery - every streak, hot or cold - you find Mr. Aaron Judge.
If he's hitting, we thrive. If he's not, we suck.
Over the last four games - victories - Judge is 5 for 14 with one HR, a walk-off blast that averted a home park sweep by Tampa that would have haunted us the rest of 2026.
Before that homer, he'd gone 2-for-23 against Tampa, Toronto and the Mets - teams that hate us with the heat of a million suns - with the Yankees losing four of six.
Long before there were Gammonites, the Murrays and Lardners used to say, "As Mantle goes, so go the Yankees." Nothing was ever truer. Even though he was surrounded by perhaps the greatest lineup in history, Mickey set the tone for every streak, every championship. He embodied the Yankees.
Well, as Judge goes, so goes this team. Nothing compares to the moment when he steps to the plate, his presence somehow even larger than his frame. When Judge swings and lifts a ball, even if it's a routine fly, time stops and the universe shudders.
We just happened to be alive in the era of Aaron Judge.
Which is why this is the most critical season in our modern lives.
Listen: There may be no baseball in 2027. The owners and players have fortified their war chests with so much money that neither side will feel the pinch of a labor stoppage. A big, cold darkness is coming. If there is a 2027 season, it might be the size of a walnut. Emerging from it, in 2028, Judge would be 36 and, quite possibly, robbed of his last great year.
That leaves 2026 as the year for Judge to win a ring.
If the Yankees fail, they will have squandered the greatest slugger in modern history and leave the Dodgers as baseball's legacy team.
I cannot stress this enough: Between now and October, the Yankees must address huge holes in their daily lineup, their 26-man roster and, most importantly, their bullpen. They are going to need to trade young players, a Faustian bargain from which is no escape. As Kissinger once said, the key to success with Mephistopheles is getting a good deal.
Brace yourselves for the trades that are coming. But this needs to be the year Aaron Judge gets a ring.
Posts
13 comments:
Thank god we have such a superb bullpen. We all know how critical that is…
Those holes are filled when we play the Royals...only then...
Fat chance the Yankees win a ring this year. There are six or seven less than stellar teams in the NL that will eat our lunch
Wait, wait, wait, wait, WAIT !
This is a Yankees blog?
Next thing you’re all gunna tell me is that the entire team has taken over the Howard Johnson motor lodge down the street in Vallejo for the next few days as they prepare to take on the sAc this weekend.
Oh my god. That changes everything. EVERYTHING !
Time to brew up some gosh darn coffee and, uh, like, you know - get ready for the day, OK ?
Best-case scenario, the team coasts to a 2023-like, .500-ish result, showing little concern or urgency all the way through. 2027 will save all of us a lot of time and unnecessary grief.
I agree with you, Dick. Dodgers in 6 against anybody.
Judge deserves a ring. He deserved five or ten, but, you know.
As last year's trade deadline showed, Cashman gets hoodwinked right and left. Other teams must laugh hysterically over how they fleeced him as soon as they they put down the phone.
So I don't expect much. Unless he's able to trade who he traded for in 2025, I really hope he doesn't do too much.
Unfortunately, Volpe has made himself teacher's pet for at least three or four months. Making the slim chance of him being traded even slimmer.
If I didn’t know for a fact* that Hal reads this blog several times a day then I’d say that there was little hope for this team this year.
However, empowered, inspired and renewed by what he has learned here amongst us all, I KNOW* that Hal has instructed Cashman to do what it takes to reinforce and enhance the team to give it the best opportunity to take it all this year*.
This 2026 Yankees team is, so far, the very most annoying of all the annoying Yanks teams of the past ten years. It's not that they ever look really good, but that every other week or so they look good enough to take the rest of this American League and—who knows?—get lucky in the World Series....
As for trading young players—I don't know if we really have any we can trade, at least in return for anything good. After Spencer and The Martian flamed out—not Dominguez's fault but still, he's hurt—who is going to want them?
Who else is there? A hard-throwing pitcher or two—but we'd be better off bringing them up and putting them in the pen. Right now, George Lombard, Jr. is hitting .198 in Scranton, with 0 homers in 23 games. He may well come around—but what is he going to bring?...
Funny side note, there was some internet commentator the other day, writing that he thought the Mets might be willing to trade Soto back to us...in exchange for Rice, Schlittler, Lombard, and a couple minor-league arms.
He was serious! Ah, Mets fans, you gotta love 'em, living in fantasies like that. But I digress...
Throw in Jazz and Wells and Boone and I might make that trade.
It’s not like it’s going to matter anyway.
(Well, ok, ok, OK……I’d keep Schlittler and include Rodon instead)
But we would be be on the hook for Soto's salary? I don't know about that...
Post a Comment