Like our Peerless Leader, I have to be traveling this weekend—and NO, it does NOT have anything to do with arranging fully equipped and furnished shelter sites for leading government officials should anything go wrong at the Singapore Summit. Nope, nada, I completely deny it!—so I leave you with these thoughts, you lucky dogs.
In a horrible irony, probably the two best pitchers now belonging to a sinking team are...Legroom and Cinderella. That's right: Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard.
Two pitchers the Mets will never, ever trade to us, because it will be embarrassing if they're pitching in the World Series every year for the Yankees and because, well, they're the Mets, and their entire purpose in life is to slowly torture their fans without ever truly rebuilding.
Besides, as many have remarked on this site, other teams are not simply going to hand us major talent for our old junk, just because we'd like them to be so obliging. There's absolutely no way that the Mets give us their best two pitchers for anything except a price we would find to be prohibitive, and probably not even then.
Unless...
Let's not forget, this magical odyssey we call the New York Yankees all began when we managed to acquire Babe Ruth from the Boston Red Sox for...not even junk, but straight cash, to finance Sox owner Harry Frazee's investments in "the show business"—which, incidentally, dwarfed professional baseball at the time. The rest of the Red Sox soon followed.
Like Frazee, Mets owners Wilpon Pere and Wilpon Fils are mostly interested in something entirely outside the realm of baseball. That is, real estate development. Of late, they have been somewhat thwarted in that, as a judge recently threw out their master plan to develop Willetts Point because, go no, in the State of New York you're not allowed to simply sell off public land to developers without an act of the legislature.
So...what our own ruling family needs to do is shell out enough cash to the legislature to make Wilpons Point a reality—judging by our Albany solons' usual standards, a couple hundred dollars and some lottery tickets should do the trick—OR, secure another, undeveloped piece of property somewhere in New York, and agree to hand it over for Legroom and Cinderella.
Now sure, back in the days when men were men and women rolled their eyes even more than they do today, a man like Harry Frazee could plough his own enterprise straight into the ground and nobody would say boo. Today there would be a big investigation or some such, and much harrumphing from the commissioner.
Fine. Put a nice gloss on it with a few "prospects." Have the Mets announce that they can't wait to get our latest draft fiasco, uh, choice, Anthony "One-Man Band" Seigler, so that he can play every position on the field simultaneously and ambidextrously.
It doesn't matter. As long as there is real estate underneath it all, the Wilpons will bite.
Traitor Tracker: .261
Last year, this date: .291
Friday, June 8, 2018
Harry Frazee 'em
Baseball, eh? Where have I heard that word before, Smithers?
Our national Paper of Record today ran a front-of-section article on, of course, the business of soccer ("Amazon Wins Right to Show Major Soccer Matches in U.K." Be still, my heart!), along with nearly three whole pages on LeBron James' career, major articles on the Warriors, the 76ers' departing coach, and the U.S. chances in 3-on-3 Olympic basketball; an entire page on the French Open, a big story on the Capitals winning the Stanley Cup, half-a-page on the Belmont, a short piece on a Milwaukee Bucks player who was arrested and subdued with a stun gun, AND—get this—an entire page, with four big photos, on the woman who paints in the names and scores at Roland Garros.
Not one word on the Subway Series.
This is getting perverse.
Our score thus far: Yankees 105, Soccer 98.
Inter-city rivalries are not fair to big market teams
When all sports teams are made equal - and thus, the Yankees do not exist - then New York City is crushed by the sheer volume of its cultural diversions. Look at the Knicks. Look at the Rangers, Jets, Giants, Nets, you name it; here is America's most metropolitan, sports-obsessed city, and aside from the Yankees, it has no dominant pro or college team in any game, whatsoever. Good grief, Syracuse promotes itself as "New York's college football team." Syracuse. If not for the Yankees, the New York tabloids wouldn't need back pages.
How can - say - the Knicks compete with the San Antonio Spurs, if they can't spend more on players? In New York, a million dollars buys a condo; in San Antonio, you get a mansion the size of a football field. The Spurs can drive to games in about 20 minutes. The Knicks must battle traffic jams, subway breakdowns, crackheads, conga lines of hookers and media hordes, before and after every game. And let's add one more ungodly stress: The inter-city tribal blood match.
Over the years, the ridiculously meaningless Giants-Jets preseason game often has sidelined key players for the entire NFL season, because coaches feel compelled to win. I still remember Giants coach Jim Fassell having Jason Seahorn - an ascending defensive star - return the opening kickoff against the Jets. He tore out his knee and was never the same. Ever since, I've dreaded that game.
And now comes our "Subway Series," a phrase that once means the World Series. Now, it's just the annual StubHub-boosting cockfight, with both teams' pitching staffs loaded into cannons and fired at each other. The Yankees already have a death rivalry with Boston and face felony-grade hatred from the Rays, Orioles, Jays and even Philadelphia (which, to be fair, despises everybody.) This weekend, while the Yanks and Mets are tearing off each other's testicles, the other big "rivalries" include the death match between the Padres and Marlins - two teams competing to be the saddest on the planet. Oh, and here's another: The Brewers play the Phillies! Wow. That should move ESPN's needle.
Wait... one more: Boston plays Chicago - the Redsocks/Whitesocks hell-fest! Get it? The two teams warring to be Top Socks in the Socks World!
I'm not saying the Yankees and Mets should scrap their rivalry. It's nice to see the crowds. But let's be honest here: It's not fair scheduling to force them to play each other every year, while other teams get patsies. MLB continues to reward small market owners - billionaires, folks, with a "b" - to be cheap and greedy. Spend the least, and you get an extra first round draft pick. Crap the bed, and you can be the Astros. In no other American industry is tanking the product such a surefire way to eventual success. Tonight, when our players are crashing into walls or charging the mound, let's keep close tabs on that Padres-Marlins score.
If I were commissioner, I'd force ESPN to televise it. Maybe Derek Jeter should be Trump's next pardon?
Thursday, June 7, 2018
Poets in the crowd
I was traveling today, unable to post anything but some idle scraps from the phone. Never saw a minute of last night's game, so I asked for verses to explain.
Behold... from John M
We didn't expect much from Sonny
The guy with a head that is funny
He channeled Cy Young
And I coughed up a lung
Cheering, "He's well worth the money!"
But Toronto had their Cy as well
And our BAs were going to hell
When Aaron took over
And ended in clover
By ringing the ball like a bell
John Carlo stepped up to the plate
Lacking pressure, he can be just great
He lasered a shot
And went into a trot
And you thought that it must just be fate
The bullpen kept Blue Jays at bay
They floundered while our guys made hay
'Twas no doubt about it
We might as well flout it
These Yankees are doing OK.
From Doug K (to tune of "Penny Lane"
Sonny Grey, the pitcher, helped to win a baseball game
Attacked the plate, had good command, more strikes than balls.
In the 13th Judge cleared the wall.
and ended his shame...
It was nice to see John Carlo playing like he’s mad
it seems that Didi might again has found his stroke
Although Sanchez is still a “moke’
We won anyway.
Sonny Grey looks like he just turned it around.
But we've been here before and run aground.
So, we'll see
meanwhile back...
Gleybar Torres suffers from trying to do too much
He should stop swinging every time for the fence
Also, Mueller should indict Mike Pence
I just had to say…
In other Yankee news it looks like Austin's spit the bit
It's likely that we get Torreyes back today,
this doesn't mean that he'll get to play
he should get to stay.
Sonny Grey looks like he just turned it around.
But we've been here before and run aground…
Sonny Grey
From HoraceClarke66 (channeling Tennessee Ernie Ford)
You play thirteen frames and whattaya get?
Another win closer to a-playin' the Mets
Sonny put in eight and the pen did five
They shut down the Jays and that's no jive.
If you see us comin' you better get lost.
A lotta teams didn't and a lot got tossed.
One fist's Giancarlo, the other is Judge
They'll pound you down to a puddle of sludge.
They was born one mornin' in an' old wood crate
Picked up a bat and walked up to the plate.
Hit that ball into the upper deck
Left-a Cashman gaspin' 'Now what the heck?'
You play thirteen frames an' whattaya get?
Still a game behind Boston who we ain't caught yet.
Metsies don't you cross us cause we ain't got time,
We'll beat you down like some old French mime."
And finally from Alphonso...
It took too long
For Judge to swing
So after thirteen
We finally sing.
Great job, guys. Thanks for having my back.
And maybe we should do poetic write-ups every day...
Thirteen innings, lucky number
I’m on the road this morning. What happened last night?
Dining Out in Queens This Weekend? Hope You Like PINEAPPLE!
I write this with no reference to ODUMODU, or Dr. Bogdan, or any of the other JuJu gods, before whom I gladly prostrate myself and acknowledge that I am a lowly worm.
JuJu aside, the simple logic of baseball must lead us to accept that we are in for a royal pineappling this weekend at the Stadium Formerly Known As Shea and That Should Be Known As Robinson.
All of the indications are there. Yes, the Yankees are winning at a clip we have not seen in 20 years. Yes, they are hitting home runs as we have not seen, well, from anyone, ever. Yes, the pitching turned around and stole one for us last night, our seventh win in the last eight games.
What's not to love?
But as the Pride of Russell, Kansas, Bob Dole, used to like to say, you know it, and I know it, and the American people know it: this can't continue. We are becoming more of a tightrope act than Philippe Petit in these wins.
While Stanton seems to be finally rounding into form, most of our "veterans" are sputtering, with Gary Sanchez swinging last night as if he thought he was playing cricket. It's gratifying to see us win game after game thanks to the Gold Dust Twins at second and third, but just how long can a couple of rookies, talented as they are, continue to carry the lineup?
Meanwhile, the Mets have reach absolute rock bottom. If they get any lower they will sink into the igneous layer of the earth's crust.
Watching some of their game against the Orioles today, it kept reminding me of the 1969 World Series, mainly because all the players looked decrepit enough to have played in those games. This time, instead of J.C. Martin's sacrifice bunt winning the game, Asdrubel Cabrera popped into a double-play, giving the pathetic O's a 2-1, 1-0 series victory over the Metsies—scores that read more like a home-and-away contest in the Champions League.
Truly, the Mets just cannot play any worse. They are now 16-31 after their scintillating, 11-1 start. They are 0-6 on this homestand, and they have scored exactly 2 runs in their last 42 innings.
What's more, they are loaded for bear—well, all right, at least for very mean badger—this weekend, which will be their "little World Series," as Jack Curry called it on YES.
Their pitchers will be Legroom and Cinderella, deGrom and Syndergaard, with Steven Matz, who has looked very sharp of late, tucked in between. They have just activated one of their better relievers, Anthony Swarzak, and their Toms River pepper pot, Todd Frazier. There are rumors that Cespedes for the Rest of Us may come off the DL at the last minute, too, and go all Willis Reed on us.
Expect them to be angry, mean, and motivated, and their fans to be like rabid dogs.
Meanwhile, we are throwing Tanaka, German, and Severino against them. I would have preferred to have Sevvy in the mismatch with Matz, in an effort to steal one game, at least, and then maybe pit CC against Thor. But Ma Boone is going with the marquee match-up, Savvy-Syndie. Ugh.
Combined with the fact that we have to let our pitchers bat, thereby negating part of our advantage over the queens of Queens, and the fact that they will have a day off to rest, as well as to get mad as hell...well, it doesn't look good. Every single sign is pointing to them reviving and our luck expiring.
I'm thinking a three-game pineappling, one that will have us gnashing our teeth and staying off the street as frenzied Mets fans run amok, hurling firecrackers and shooting bleach at each other.
Good times!
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
"Masterpiece" Theater
Seven innings, two runs... that's now a "masterpiece?"
The bar seems to have shifted.
Necessity forced the Yankees to try a rookie infield; now it demands a young rotation
There, John Sterling wore a beard, and his sidekick, Sarah Sanders, was a man. But the most noticeable difference was our infield: Jace Peterson played 3B and Danny Esposito held 2B. It was the Yankiverse of Not That Long Ago and Not That Far Away - when the team's annual quest for that final Wild Card slot meant a lineup too important to be placed in the hands of rookies. In this strange and perverted dimension, manager Joe Girardi still champions the need for veterans at the skill positions. That's how it's done in this Mets-crazy city.
Meanwhile, still on my Romilar trip, I saw Andujar in Scranton, working on his "footwork" in front of the AI-driven robot Billy Connors. Gleyber Torres was playing shortstop, a prime showcase for Brian Cashman's upcoming franchise-bending face-lift.
It's not hard to imagine the Yankees preferring grizzled vets, because that's been their act for most of the last 20 years. But lately, the greatest fun is waiting for the bottom of the lineup to come to bat. Our 2-to-5 sluggers strike out or pop-up, but from 6-to-9, we're in business. It's youth that drives this team, and that's not even counting Clint Frazier, who deserves a shot before being traded for some aging warhorse, one step from being churned into Gorilla Glue.
In this Yankiverse, our infield could be intact for the next eight years, which in baseball is several lifetimes. Trouble is, our rotation may not last the next eight starts. Yesterday's news that Jordan Montgomery will undergo surgery was a kick in our Stump Merrill. Trades are coming, folks.
It doesn't matter what we - or any other blogger, for that matter - say. Brian Cashman won't stand pat, not with the tall stack of trade chips at his disposal. And there is no sense speculating on future deals; Cashman never shows his hand. One day, we'll learn that so-and-so has been traded for such-and-such, and that's that.
But just so it's said, here is one fervent hope - hereby shouted into the void of Yankee space, where nobody can hear you win-warble:
Mr. Cashman... please, I beg you...
TRY THE ROOKIES, FIRST!
All of us idiots who wanted Andujar and Gleyber from the git-go... we were right, dammit. We simply wanted players on the rise, rather than codgers looking to squeeze out one last annual salary. Before you trade for the ghost of Freddie Garcia, try Justus Sheffield or Chance Adams, or Jonathan Loaisiga, or Josh Rogers, or anybody.. and see what happens. If they get walloped, it won't destroy them. This isn't like bringing up a 19-year-old Marv Throneberry. At the worst, if they get knocked around, it'll be a learning experience they'll have gotten out of the way. Give them a chance. Even in losing, they'll still generate more hope than to be loaded in an Uber van and driven to Detroit.
Try the rookies, sir. See what happens. Let's stay as far away from that other alternative Yankiverse as possible. I just can't handle John in a beard.
Enough, already
Quick quiz:
Which individuals do these batting slashes belong to?
.201/.284/.370/.653
.212/.283/.299/.582
No, one of the answers is NOT Gary Sanchez, though these days you wouldn't be far off.
The top line was what Chris Carter accomplished in 62 games for us last year. The bottom one is what Neil Walker has done in 38 games so far this year.
In other words, it would take a major improvement for Walker to match Carter's OPS—though in fairness, he has NOT blown several games with his glove alone, as I seem to remember Carter managing last year.
The time has come for Neil to go. In fact, it is far past that time. With the roster already swollen and about to get even more complicated as we move into doubleheader season...enough is enough.
Coops picked up Walker, we were assured, as insurance. Good on him. I was against it, but really, who could know if El Conquistador and El Matador were truly ready?
Well, they were. Hooray! We had insurance, but then we won the lottery!
What's more, we STILL have insurance! There's Tyler One, and there's Drury and Toe, wasting away in Dunder Mifflin Land, both of them younger, better, and more talented than old Neil ever was. We even have double-triple insurance, if you want to count Tyler Too, and several other minor leaguers who, let's face it, could probably do about as good a job as Walker has.
This is not to be bitter. Even with all the sadness of his stay in the Bronx there have been moments of euphoria, a couple games that Neil won with key hits, and we will always look back on them with gratitude.
Somebody give this doughty warrior his gold watch, peddle him for a couple lottery ticket arms, and let's get on with business.
Tuesday, June 5, 2018
You Heard It First From One Of Your Own....the Duque Duck
Just for the record, the Yankees PR staff has been publishing and talking falsehoods...including Mr. Boone.
They said, as recently as yesterday, " that Jordan was making good progress, had been throwing off flat ground ( as opposed to the slanted version ) and might soon progress to the mound."
We were all led to believe that German just had to give us a few more okay starts, and Monty would be back in the rotation.
Lies and stupidity.
Tommy John surgery now beckons for Jordan Montgomery and we wish him well.
But why deceive us into thinking things were progressing well?
Is there a secret trade in the works which, " hangs in the balance," on Jordan coming back in 10 days?
Will Boston lose a game because they think Montgomery could be only two weeks away?
Jordan will actually return in June or July, 2020. Maybe.
And he will be a mystery until he isn't.
So it is time to say good-bye, Jordan. See you in Columbia, South Carolina at re-union.
And tell the Yankee " talking heads" that their lies and deceit remind us too much of a certain democracy, whose world leadership is wearing thin.
Don't believe anything they say.
Not a word.
I don't understand why reporters even talk to them, knowing that all they get back is mush and untrue statements. Someone gets paid for this?
And get ready for the big prospect dump.
It is now as unstoppable as molten lava.
Fucking Honk.
Montgomery in surgery ward
Terrible news.
Jordan Montgomery is meeting Tommy John.
Expected back by 2020.
Leading the League
1. Miguel Andujar - lading all rookies with extra base hits.
2. Gleyber Torres - leading all second basemen in errors.
3. Gary Sanchez - leading all catchers in " passed balls"
4. Sanchez, Judge, Stanton, Austin - leading the world, in all its imaginings, in golden and platinum sombreros.
Are we playing this game well enough to win anything important?
Eat, drink and be merry.
A picture Of Yankee Effort & Enthusiasm
From the moment Luis departed, the team went into the tank.
They could not get through a 7-2 lead after seven innings, without going to El Chappo. Jon Holder has been "lights out" until yesterday. Did his tank suddenly go straight to " empty?"
And a line-up with Neal Walker and Tyler Austin, and several other strikeout kings, is threatening to no one.
Dead fish.
I would rather watch them lapping up on the shoreline, than see Aaron Judge strike out looking on perfect meat balls.
I am beginning to think this game was fixed. Or fished.
What a disgrace.
The trouble with doubleheaders is not the roster crunch
Too many doubleheaders, he grumbled. And we all know what happens with doubleheaders...
He paused, and I waited for his horrible prophetic words: You split them.
Thus did John break his own first and greatest Sterling Postulate of Life: You cannot predict baseball, Suzyn. He reported the future. He knew...
As of today, MLB has seven doubleheaders scheduled for the rest of the season. The Yankees play two - both in soggy Baltimore. (By the way, Boston has none.) From now on, with every rain-out or game called due to riots, a new doubleheader will be born. Not only will it represent a future roster crunch - I cannot remember a time when the Yanks were protesting ESPN over a schedule change - but there is that psychic Yin-Yang of the two-headed outcome:
It's hard to beat a team twice in one day.
Of the 13 doubleheaders already played in 2018, ten have been splits and three were sweeps. We can leave Ryan McBroom in Trenton. You win one, and you lose one - even when the opposition is a feckless team in collapse mode, like the Tigers. The Yankees showed that last night, as they repeatedly left game-breaking runners on second and third, letting miserable Mike Fiers beat them. What a disgrace. How could it happen? Well, it was the second game of a doubleheader, and they'd already sated themselves at the clubhouse buffet.
And last night, we made good on John's vision. I still don't know what happened to Aaron Judge, who fanned five times. Twice, he watched 90-mph fastballs go right down the middle for a called third strike, then sauntered back to the dugout like Melania on her Ketamine. Lately, the YES announcers have taken to repeating some bizarre study that claims to prove the umpires are screwing Judge on pitches outside the zone. As best as I can tell, they're referring to a mid-May Statcast post which says the Yankees are getting the most bad strike calls in baseball, with Judge and Brett Gardner getting the worst. Where's Al Pacino to scream about injustice? All I know is that last night, those third strikes went right down the glory hole. Having already won a game, was Judge being a good sport? Was that The Master's prophesy? The 2018 Yankees have the most talent in baseball. Do they have the most hunger?
Monday, June 4, 2018
Is He Really Good Defensively?
Before today's game began, Gleyber was fielding his position at a .949 clip, vs a league-wide average of .985 for the position.
Then, he booted a ball, picked it up in haste, and threw it wide of first, leading to a base-runner and an unearned run. He was only charged with one error on the play.
He also failed to cover first on that pop-up bungled by Romine ( wind blew it back into fair
territory ), so when Romine picked up the ball there was no one to throw it to.
So, physically and mentally, the kid is steamrolled.
What does everyone think? He has bungled easy plays at second and made the difficult ones. He now has 8 errors for the season. Did Jeter or Cano ever make that many in a season?
It seems he has made an error in each game of this road trip, although I wouldn't claim to any precision on that observation.
Enough, in any case, to make me worry. And to think that he is being jinxed every time an announcer talks about what a great defender he is.
Is he, in reality, a terrible fielder?
Should I take Ambien? Oxy? Opium? Heroin? Heroine? Gentleman Jack? Pure Agave tequila?
Future Yankee Great?
If I am not mistaken, today is the day.
The draft of amateur players for MLB.
As per tradition, the Yankees will select pitchers.
The first pitcher we select will be tall and have just completed, or just enrolled for, Tommy John surgery.
Ideally, said player will be from one of the Carolinas.
It will be said that he can throw off flat ground by July, 2019.
The crapshoot begins. The poker faces go on. The lies are issued.
This has not been a Yankee strong point since WWII ended.
Can you imagine our demeanor if we actually nailed it this time?
And it can rain all day.
The draft still goes on.
Brought to you by Jeep.
Yes, the rotation is in tatters due to the weather, but what's the long-term plan?
Clearly, between now and Aug. 1, Brian Cashman will trade for pitching. Because a hallmark of the Cashmanic management style is to never - ever - flag a future trade, there's no point in speculating who he will target and who he will trade. Que sera sera, whatever will be, will be. And, frankly, considering the state of the Yankiverse, the front office deserves respect. In the past, we could look at a lineup of Pronk and Vernon Wells and instinctively condemn every trade, but that door swings both ways. Cashman hasn't made a massive, extinction-level blunder in recent years; maybe he learned his lesson?
Today, though, let's ignore the ongoing crunch (the weather) and ponder the distant future - (the climate) - that is, 2019 and 2020, because, hey, we don't want just one ring; we want a handful. Let's think long term rotation. Here goes.
1. We have a legitimate ace in Luis Severino. At 24, he may be the best
2. We have a question mark in Masahiro Tanaka. He's 29, with the stretched ligament thingy, and he's ours through 2020 (at $23 mill per season.) His great October last year obscured a disappointing regular season. This year, it's getting harder to ignore. He's becoming a five-inning, four-run starter. Ugh.
3. We have another "?" in Sonny Gray. He's ours through 2020, though next winter, he'll hit arbitration. He's only 28. Frankly, I dunno what to think about this guy.
4. This is the final roundup for CC Sabathia. It's hard to imagine him returning, though - hey - Bartolo Colon? You never know... but... nah.
5. We have a potential lugnut in Jordan Montgomery. He's 25, returning from his first injury scare in pro ball. He's throwing off a flat surface, could return late this month. Right now, Montgomery looks like the fulcrum on which the future rotation could pivot; if he heals and returns, he's a legitimate 3rd or 4th starter for the long haul. If something happens, well, uh-oh.
6. There is Domingo German, 25, who intermittently reminds us of a developing Severino - and who then promptly gets cuffed around. Let's drop the Sevy comparisons. Yes, they're Latinos and right-handed; after that, they're entirely different. Plus, German is older, and guys like Severino don't come in bunches. One thing, though: Over the next six weeks, we should have a good idea of what German can do; he's going to get a full shot.
7. We have several prospects, some of whom might see arrive this season. Highest on the list is Justus Sheffield, who was seriously ripped by his former agent in a story this weekend. The story coincided with perhaps his worst start of the season, and I wonder if the two are linked. There are other prospects of note, but most are in the low end of the farm system.
What's missing here? Obviously, we are at least one pitcher shy of a championship rotation. The mystery pitcher would be 31-34 year-old, a veteran on his final incarnation. Maybe he has two years left. Preferably, a wily left-hander.
And, folks, no matter how we slice it, the name at the top of the list is Cole Hamels. His contract gives the Rangers - or whoever has him - a $20 million team option for 2019. (Also a $6 million buyout, plus incentives.)
I don't think anybody here gets jolly over Hamels - I don't - but he's a clear fit, and with any trade, the devil is in the details. The Rangers won't give him away. If a bidding war ensues, I'd rather see Railriders. But Hamels fits both the two-month and the two-year plan.
Could it happen? The Rangers recently got whacked by a Dallas beat reporter for their handling of Dillon Tate, a former golden boy that they traded to the Yankees for Carlos Beltran. They're probably still smarting from the words, and no Texas suit wants to be seen as cozy with us damn, uppity, liberal, Jesus-hatin' Yankees. Can Cash get it done? Forget the storms from global warming. The trade winds are blowing, and those are the clouds on our horizon.
Sunday, June 3, 2018
Global Warming Erases Yankee Fan Fun....
It just won't stop.
The relentless rain.
Always where we don't need it and rarely where we do.
NY Yankee baseball has been a nightmare, due to inclement weather in the east.
Just say the word, " Baltimore," and I run to the closet and put on my slicker and rubber boots.
When the big issue of the day is not the line-ups, or the starting pitchers, but the weather forecast, I know I am in trouble.
It is driving me crazy.
Drinking all day, while watching the " rainy day theater " movies Mustang suggests , is enervating and wearing my body down for no good purpose. Who wants to endure a hangover when you can't even review the box score? The newspapers just put in some " filler " about the exciting junior college world series, in Dumbstruck, Oklahoma.
We better start tending to those glaciers, or we will be at June 3rd next year, with a record of 5-6 and twenty-two double headers scheduled.
Blah.
Is there mud wrestling on TV?
Pass the fucking limes and salt.
Oil Check
Now desperately searching for something to do—the Mets' first inning went, two walks, three strikeouts—I thought I would take advantage of the rain to look at our first-third of the season ledger.
Most importantly, of course, the Yanks were first past the century mark in their furious struggle with Soccer—though Soccer is, as predicted, coming on strong with the World Cup looming.
Right now, it stands Yankees 100, The World's Game 92.
Now, for the obvious:
The team of our desire is on a pace to win 111 games, which would be their most since 1998, and to score 933 runs, which would be their most since 2007. We are leading the league in home runs, and on a pace for 270, which would break the major-league record of 264.
All good, especially since the team does not even seem to be hitting on all its, well, hitting cylinders yet.
The big worry, of course, is pitching, and even here, the statistical news is far from bad. The Yanks are fourth in the AL in ERA, at 3.80—though of course it is far from reassuring that two of the three teams ahead of us are Houston and Boston.
As you may recall, I have been tracing how many innings we're getting from our starters and our relievers. The fear is that we will get to a situation where the overworked pen cracks, much as it did in the notorious 2004 season.
The good news is that, though it may not seem like it, there Yankees' starters are slowly extending their outings. Right now, they are at 299 2/3 innings, which projects to 899 innings over the season—still considerably below what they have done in the last four championship seasons, but considerably ABOVE the lousy 833 they were projecting after one-tenth of a season:
1998: 1,036
1999: 984 2/3
2000: 946 2/3
2009: 937
2018: 899
Meanwhile, the Yanks' top five relievers are at 122 2/3 innings, and their top six are at 141. This is also something of an improvement, projecting to 368 and 423 innings over a full season, as opposed to the 383 and 456 totals they were projecting to after just one-tenth of a season. Though the figures are still far above those from the championship seasons:
1998: 260 1/3 311 2/3
1999: 316 2/3 366
2000: 329 2/3 354 2/3
2009: 301 2/3 340 2/3
2018: 368 423
All figures, of course, courtesy of the lovely folks at baseballreference.com.
Interactive Journalism
Since there's no game today, I decided to look through a few articles on MLB.com. There was one entitled "5 Trades That Make Too Much Sense Not to Happen".
Anyone who's read this blog over the past 30-60 days should be able to guess #1 before reading the article. So let's have a little interactive fun:
- Make your best guess concerning the player and teams who might be involved in Trade #1,
- Click the link and read the article,
- Congratulate yourself on being right,
- Drink Sangria for the rest of the afternoon,
This Is What We're Talking About
As I attempt to entertain myself this soggy afternoon by watching Brandon Nimmo draw a walk, race to first base, then make ecstatic signals toward the sky—"Thank you, oh Lord, for my ability to distinguish pitches!"—it occurs to me that the collection of baseball wreckage that has washed up on Flushing Bay has once again sunk into Miracle Hoping.
That is the usual state of our New York brethren. Hoping that, somehow, nobody will get hurt, everybody will overachieve, and the obviously inadequate team they have cobbled together will come up with another miracle season.
Hey, they aren't nicknamed "the Amazins" for nuthin.
Take a look at the strategy that Mickey Callaway has been reduced to, as reported in the Times:
"His original lineup had Bruce in right, Jose Bautista at third base and Kevin Plawecki, normally a catcher, at first in an attempt to jump-start the offense."
Yes, that's their hitting-heavy offense: Bruce, Bautista, and Plawecki. Though of course even that didn't come off because Bruce couldn't play, and they lost 7-1 in 14.
After completely collapsing with injuries and flameouts last year, the Mets went out—and got older. Their average batter is now 29.1, their average pitcher now 28.3—the oldest in their division on both counts, save for the Nationals' pitchers. The Yankees' batters, by contrast, average 27.2; their pitchers, 28.6—a figure that will be cut in half once CC retires.
Alphonso and some of the rest of us here are notorious "prospect huggers." The real term should be "depth huggers."
Every year, it seems, the Mets try to slip by with little depth, a tatterdemalion lineup, and pitchers who may or may not get through May without hitting the DL.
They are a living, breathing example of why you need depth.
Boone-ese?
Here was Ma Boone's comment on Stanton in the Times today:
"I thought he looked really good, actually, for about a week or so now. The results haven't been there, but he looks like he's struggling just to find that rhythm and timing up there. It's good to see him get some results."
He's been looking good, but struggling, and now he's getting results. Okay.
Casey Stengel would be proud.
Time to call up Ryan McBroom
Last time we called for the Bronx Broom - (we were facing Boston, on the verge) - the 26-year-old 1B/OF was playing regularly for Scranton. McBroom, who we obtained for Brigadoon Refsnyder, was hitting .269 with 5 home runs in Triple A, and while that wouldn't win him the key to Moosic, we'd seen worse. But he was exiled to Trenton by the Mother Ship's talent surplus - Clint Frazier, Billy McKinney, Tyler Wade, Brandon Drury, Ronald Torreyes, Greg Bird (on rehab) and even Kyle Higashioka (if you judge a catcher by defense.) Throughout the system, the talent overload meant that the normal upward movement of young position players suddenly was reversed. (By the way, I'm not complaining; just saying.)
For example, one of the quiet breakout Yankee prospects of 2018 has been a speedy, 23-year-old middle infielder named Abiatal Avelino. He was hitting .286 at Scranton before the wave crashed. He went to Trenton, where he's hitting .327 with 4 HRs. If not for Wade and Big Toe, Abi would be getting a full shot at Triple A. (That's not counting Thairo Estrada and Kyle Holder, young shortstops who would be playing at Scranton, if not for injuries.)
The one problem here with all this talent at Scranton:
They can't pitch.
Our two best pitching prospects - Chance Adams and Justus Sheffield - can't seem to string together two dominant outings. Apparently, during the next stretch of double-headers, the Yankees will promote 30-year-old David Hale - as in "Hale Mary!" - to start a game. Veteran, no-name minor league starters have a nice modern tradition with the Yankees - usually, they shut us down - but for now, all that ripening talent in Scranton looks like chips for Brian Cashman's impending July deadline deals.
All I know is this:
1. In recent years, Cashman has righteously refused to trade youth for age. We still rage over Jay Buhner and Doug Drabek, but those debacles happened two generations ago. We can still call for Cashman to be boiled in oil - that's what being a fan is about - but he isn't a fool. He's not going to trade Frazier for a 36-year-old. (Right? Please, tell me I'm right.)
3. The three biggest potential atomic bombs on the Aug. 1 trade market - Manny Machado, Bryce Harper and Clayton Kershaw - shouldn't involve the Yankees. We have no legitimate position for Manny; the Nats surely will keep Harper, and Kershaw - even if the Dodgers somehow decided to trade him - is hurt.
4. Cashman faces no urgency to make a deal. The Yankees are winning at a staggering pace - a 106-win season is now projected - with at least two big hitters (Stanton and Sanchez) in deep dark slumps. We have the firepower to win shootouts. Adam Warren is near returning, and there is one interesting bullpen lug nut - guy named Cody Carroll - who looks promising in Scranton.
And today, looking at sad and sorry Buck Baltimore, I have a feeling McBroom is on the way.
Saturday, June 2, 2018
Singing In The Rain....
We are not running on all cylinders, but it is nice to steal one between rainstorms.
Keep the heels a clicken' ( or just shout yay).
And tomorrow?
Curiouser and curiouser
So, back in the same store the other day, I glance at the "Coke Zero" section, and what do I see?
That's right! "Torres," is seems, is now a first name.
This is getting truly spooky. I've never seen anything like this in my life.
And what do I do? Do I drink it? Save it for a certain moment? What???
I feel like the hero in that great, creepy Ray Bradbury story, where this destitute guy comes across a perfectly good wheat farm that nobody seems to want and it's his to keep, and slowly he begins to realize that he's "The Reaper," cutting down lives everyday in the field. (I guess nobody dies in the winter, but never mind!)
Or that story in one of the Alfred Hitchcock collections I use to read as a kid, in which the guy buys a bottle that gives you all sorts of good luck if you drink from it, but you have to sell it to someone else at a cheaper price before you die, or you go to hell?
In any case, I need some advice here. What should I do? And do I even dare to go back in that store??
This is getting weird
I'm in the store about a week ago, looking to indulge in my worst vice—imbibing the unadulterated, completely worthless and probably carcinogenic chemicals that constitute Diet Coke—when I see they've started their silly, first-names-on-the-bottles summer promotion.
And what name to my wondering eyes should appear? "Contreras."
Right there, on a bottle label, like some kind of terrible omen. I mean, WTF? Is "Contreras" even a first name now? I carefully, carefully backed away from it, the way you would on discovering an unexploded bomb.
Then, the other day, back in the store, I see another "first name": Rivera. I am not making this up. Here's the proof:
Right? As you can see, it's on a bottle of Coke Zero, which I normally don't even drink, thinking it's just another marketing ploy. What's the difference, right? Diet Coke has one calorie, Coke Zero has none. Are you kidding me?
But here it was: Rivera. So I bought it.
The other day, we get down to the Astros, 2-1, and I decide, what the hell. I pull it out, drink some. We rally, go up, 5-2. El Chapo gives up that run-scoring double in the ninth. I quickly gulp down some more of this swill. Chapo rights himself. We win!
So now...what do I do? Save the magic Rivera bottle until the playoffs? Is this some gift from the gods, or some crazy JuJu trick.
BUT WAIT! There's more...
New Yankee Terror Alerts: Global warning and - gulp - a healthy Chief
Our two biggest concerns: Global warming and the health of a certain OF currently wandering the steam rooms of the George Steinbrenner Mar-a-Laga weight room and spa.
Concern #1: Rising sea levels.
Thus far in 2018, the Yankees have played 53 games, tied with rainy Minnesota for the fewest in baseball. Already, we have played 5 fewer games than the Redsocks.
This sets up the months of June and July as a grueling, Roman chariot race. The Yankees will play 29 games in the 30 days of June. Then, leading to the three-day all star break, 14 games in 15 days... and coming out, 11 games in 12 days. Brutal.
Already, the rotation is filled with TBA's, minor leaguers summoned from Central Pennsylvania. The problem isn't warm bodies; we have plenty. The problem will come when a starter gets bombed - destined to happen - draining the bullpen beyond recognition. We need another closer. We need another 8th inning man. We are going to need a second pitching staff. Who'll stop the rain?
Concern #2: Ellsbury's health.
Lost in the 2018 talent surge - which has Clint Frazier, Brandon Drury, Billy McKinney, Tyler Wade and Ronald Torreyes all playing below their skill level - is the eventual return of Jacoby Ellsbury.
I know it's fashionable to use the "Ell from Hell" as a punch line. But we cannot accuse the guy of faking. He's hurt, one injury after another, and he must be going crazy in Tampa. Frankly - and I know this is unpopular to say - Ellsbury deserves sympathy, not condemnation. It's not his fault that the Yankees gave him a terrible contract. Was he supposed to say, "No, Mr. Cashman, I can't accept these terms, because they would put the future of my family in front of Mr. Steinbrenner's temporary financial discomfort. If that happened, I couldn't live with myself."
But here's the problem: What happens when Ellsbury heals? Any day now, the Yankees could announce that the Geritol worked, his gonad is untweaked, and he is launching the required 20-day minor league rehab. Then what?
Well, he'll hit the already crowded Yankee roster like a cluster bomb. Who gets sent down? Neil Walker? Tyler Austin? A relief pitcher? (See Concern #1.) Do the Yankees waive Ellsbury, eat his contract and let him go anywhere - say, Boston - to face us in the playoffs? Do we want that? I don't.
As for Clint Frazier and Billy McKinney, they might as well take up hockey. They'll be lucky to see time in September. Throughout the system, young outfielders will be jammed up. We'll have to trade Frazier... and keep, gulp, Ellsbury? Fuck me.
We make fun of Ellsbury's ongoing injuries. But thus far, they have spared us from a roster explosion. The fear is that they're done. Coming soon: Yankee Ragnarok?
Friday, June 1, 2018
Are They Still Playing Basketball and Hockey?
C'mon everyone.
It is nearly summer and the TV stations are still playing games that began in September?
Hockey is a winter sport and so is basketball, except for the asphalt playgrounds of inner cities.
Stop the madness.
Organize your life and watch baseball, while you barbecue spam in the back yard ( or front ).
Eat salty chips and swig Colas with Jack Daniels in paper goblets. Invitre your cousins over for some family romance.
Listen to the game if you can't get a clear picture on the tube.
Do it all.
But the time for basketball and hockey has long since passed.
Help.
The question no one dares to answer
O, how little we mortals care to know...
FACT: On May 9, an INTERNATIONAL JUJU INTERVENTION was held on Mr. Brett Gardner!
FACT: At the time, he was batting .198!
FACT: That night, during the IJI, he went 3 for 5 with two doubles!
FACT: His batting average is now .256!
June Swoon?
I took advantage of the rainout to call up my Cousin Dan, who has you may recall has a little fishing shack in a far-off corner of the Everglades, where he makes a living most by catching bluegills and feeding marshmallows to the alligators to entertain the tourists.
Cousin Dan has many special insights into baseball, due in part to his friendship with Anthony Rizzo, who likes to spend part of his offseason fashioning homemade wooden pikes with him, and spearing the local eels and bullheads, and sampling Cousin Dan's particular corn liquor recipe. Says it does wonders for his hand-eye coordination—the eel-spearing that is, not so much the King Kong.
Anyway, it was Cousin Dan who first assured me that Gleyber Torres was gonna be a good 'un, and when I started in all sour on Giancarlo—a not uncommon subject in my conversation these days, you will not be surprised to learn—he stopped me right there.
"That boy can go on a tear," he assured me. "He can hit 20 homers in 20 days, if he gets going," which sounded Biblical enough, at least, that I was comforted.
It was a good thing, too, because statistically, well, our Mr. Stanton is badly underperforming thus far.
Just take a look at his splits this year from his site on my cherished baseballreference— https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=stantmi03&year=2018&t=b:
PA BA/ OBP/ SLG/ OPS
April/March: 128 .230/.313/.425/.737
May: 101 .270/.337/.528/.865
That at least shows some evidence of improvement, which is maybe what gives Cousin Dan hope. But it looks much worse compared to Stanton's all-time numbers for these months (and mind you, these career month numbers have already been lowered by Stanton's abysmal 2018)—https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=stantmi03&year=Career&t=b:
PA BA/ OBP/ SLG/ OPS
April/March: 780 .251/.340/.485/.825
May: 792 .276/.359/.579/.938
Yikes, that's (comparatively) not good, is it? Historically, our Giancarlo is performing well below how he has started seasons in the past.
Now, I'm not saying that the past is necessarily prologue. Maybe Giancarlo is just getting adjusted to the pressure of playing for a real team in the big city, which would be good because it's not like the pressure is only going to increase as the pennant race goes on. And maybe it's just all the rain and cold weather, which is also good because it's not like we get any of that around here come October.
But then historically, again from baseballreference's career splits, we have Giancarlo's June:
PA BA/ OBP/ SLG/ OPS
June: 801 .268/.346/.513/.859
That's right, ladies and gentlemen: over the course of his career so far, Stanton has generally gone into a bit of a swoon in June.
Well, maybe history won't be a guide.
Maybe Stanton will actually start to recognize curveballs, and learn that there are also righthanded pitchers in the game. And after all, if he can get through June, July and August are traditionally his best months—before another dip again in September/October.
I honestly hope Cousin Dan is right. Because we'll have Stanton through 2028.
Even The Crabs Ran For Cover....
Yesterday, I finally converted.
Baseball stadiums should have domes ( but keep the real grass).
Too many Yankee games have already been rained out, and this entire week in Baltimore is under weather threat.
Football is fine in the rain. No domes needed there. Same with Lacrosse and Rugby. Not to mention " futbol." Tennis needs domes. Basketball figured it out years ago. Hockey did, too. Although outdoor hockey is a revelation.
But baseball needs to be played. Every scheduled day of the season.
Too many people made plans, spent money and traveled to Camden Yards, only to be sent away disappointed. With some " maybe" ticket for another day ? Against another team?
It is not fair to anyone on this blog to have a day without baseball, when the schedule calls for a game. Without the Yankees, we might as well all live on vegan diets.
And no one is satisfied, watching some Yankee game from 1996 on replay tv.
Of course, by the time Camden Yards gets a dome, I'll be looking up at the grass.
Even a day without Sonny is a gray day, indeed.
Happy Lou Gehrig Day
On this day in 1925, Lou Gehrig began his 2,130-consecutive game streak, pinch-hitting for the immortal Pee Wee Wanninger against Walter Johnson, before 10,000 fans at Yankee Stadium.
The Iron Horse flied out to left against The Big Train, as the Yankees lost, 5-3, to fall 11.5 games behind the—and this will sound funny—defending world champion Washington Senators (even weirder: at the time, the Yankees and the Senators had the exact same number of rings).
A couple of interesting historical quirks here: Wanninger had ended shortstop Everett Scott's 1,307-game consecutive streak—the longest before Gehrig's—back on May 6. And Wally Pipp was playing first on that long-ago June 1, and stroked a single.
The next day, though, Gehrig started at first, pounded two singles and a double, and the rest was history.
Weirdly, the reasons for Pipp's benching are STILL disputed. Some attribute it to Pipp's life-threatening, batting-practice beaning at the hands of Ray Caldwell (they took batting practice seriously, back in the day), one that left him in the hospital for a month.
That happened—but only on July2, after Gehrig had already taken his position. Others attributed it to another beaning, during an earlier game.
Some feel that manager Miller Huggins simply wanted to shake the team up, and the aging Pipp was slumping. There were even rumors—subscribed to by Gehrig's wife, among other, who was a former baseball annie and not always the most reliable of sources—that Wally was away betting on the horses, though his kids vehemently deny that.
Whatever the case, the streak started on this day. And the usual what-ifs are intriguing.
If Gehrig had not contracted ALS, his streak could easily have lasted through at least 1941, when he would have been 38, and put another 450 games or so on it. And with the weakening of wartime competition, he might have been able to play right through 1945—over 600 games more!—before the boys came home. (Though it's difficult to conceive of an upstanding individual such as Lou Gehrig ever being a slacker.)
It's a free country, so let's talk blasphemy
1. Austin Romine should be the Yankees' starting catcher.
Frankly, it's a no-brainer. Tell me one phase of the game - aside from HRs, (of which we have plenty) - that Gary Sanchez is superior. Let's table the enormous batting average disparity (Romine's .358 to Gary's .211) as a small sample size. Romine is better defensively, better at handling pitchers, and better in the clutch. Meanwhile, let's say it: Gary has failed to take that next step to defensive excellence; if anything, he's regressing.
Sanchez is tied for the MLB lead in passed balls, with eight. (He's up there with the great Omar Narvaez of the White Sox.) At this rate, he will top last year's total (16) which was also tied for the lead. As The Master says, "GARY IS SCARY." We've got to stop seeing him as the Great Yankee Salvation of 2016, the summer when Cashman finally went with youth. In many respects, he's just another rookie who broke-out super hot, cooled off, and then never learned the art of adjustment. In recent weeks, he has become a strikeout machine who flails at pitches out of the zone. His big hit against the Astros - a nubber through the open right side - was hailed as a sign he will smarten up against the over-shift. On his next at bat, he was back to pulling a grounder into the teeth of the defense. So much for that.
Romine, at 29, does everything the Yankees ask. It spoke volumes in April when manager Aaron Boone refused to allow Romine to become Sonny Gray's personal catcher. He didn't want to launch a controversy. Well, one is coming.
I'm not saying the Yankees should trade Sanchez, (though in such blockbusters, the devils are always in the details, right?) I think we should reduce expectations about his future Hall of Fame credentials, drop him in the batting order, replace or platoon him at DH far more often, and dramatically increase Romine's playing time. Let it happen slowly. By September, Romine should be our number one catcher. And if we find ourselves playing a one-game season, here's a revolutionary idea: let's go with the catcher who catches.
2. We need to go easier on Aaron Hicks.
When you look at the great baseball teams of eternity, a common thread emerges: The CF can sure cover ground. It doesn't matter if he hits. The fucking guy covers ground. You need a Paul Blair, a Cesar Cedeno, a fleet glove who roams the horizons and catches everything he sees. The defensive CF. It's a must.
That's what Hicks is, and we should stop thinking of him as the power hitter who briefly emerged in 2017. View him as a light-hitting, defense-oriented CF, and he's not half-bad.
We're still judging him by 1) the fact that he's a former first-round pick, 2) he looks big coming off the bus, and 3) that apparent breakout last spring, when he was the Yankees' best player. Forget the shoulders. Look at his speed - he's tied with Gardy for the team lead in stolen bases, with five - and you see a relatively light-hitting, defensive CF. He can bat eighth or ninth. And that's all we need.
One more thing before you carp: We have nobody to replace Hicks. The notion that Gardy will move to CF and save the day? That works for a weekend. He'll never last a month. Clint Frazier? Dear god, get real. He'll run into Judge, and they'll both be lost for the season. Our young CF option was Dustin Fowler - aka Moonlight Graham - whom we traded to Oakland for Sonny. The only other viable possibility is Jacoby Ellsbury, but this is blasphemy, not comedy.
So lay off Hicks, and start viewing him as the Blue Jays do Kevin Pillar, or Atlanta does Ender Inciarte: A solid glove at a crucial position.
There, anybody wanna argue? Or do I need to go to the volcano and claim that Cashman is actually performing brilliantly? Nu-i, nu-i...
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