No Accountability

 Duque, and others, have offered the reason why the Yankees have failed for 15 straight seasons. 

It is due to the triad of Hal, Cashman and  Boone. 

Hal doesn't care. The stadium is sold out; the bobbleheads are popular and the jerseys still sell.  Not to mention the TV and ( now ) streaming audience payments.  He never really liked baseball anyway.  He was always " the last guy picked" when kids chose " sides. "

Boone and Cashman define insanity.  That being;  when you keep doing the exact same thing but expect a different outcome. 

Each year they give up on rookies ( Andujar et al ). 

Each year they trade prospects and youth for sepia toned curriculum vitae.

Each year they are terrified to trade veteran players who have value( why is DJ still starting?).

Each year they draft poorly.

Each year they make a splash ( one) and feel that will do the trick. 

Each year no one develops and remains a star. 

Each year they sneak into the wild card playoff game and call it a season. 

Each year Boone and Cashman get bonuses.  For failing. 

Why We Stink: How Nepo Babies and Wealthfare Cheats Wrecked New York Sports, Part II.

(Please note bold new title.)

In 1957, after years of sporadic negotiations, Horace Stoneham and Walter O’Malley, the owners of the New York Baseball Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers, made their demands plain: if New York City did not subsidize massive new stadiums for their ball teams, the Giants and the Dodgers would move.

No ultimatum like this had ever been made before. 

Soon after World War II, cities such as Milwaukee, Kansas City, and Baltimore renovated or rebuilt publicly owned stadiums, in the hopes of attracting major-league baseball and football teams. But the idea of publicly subsidizing a new ballpark or arena for a particular, professional team—which would then own the facility in question and take its profits—was unheard of.

Then came Walter O’Malley.

For the first time, thanks to The O’Malley, professional sports teams would demand not only public subsidies, but also facilities built to the specifics they desired, in the places they preferred. Such demands have not stopped since.

Most fans must have been bewildered as to why any of New York’s sports teams were unhappy in that sepia year of 1957. All six teams in the city—the New York Yankees, the New York Giants, the Brooklyn Dodgers, the New York Football Giants, the New York Rangers, and the New York Knickerbockers—had all been highly successful for years, in the standings and at the gate.

Over the previous 70 seasons, the Yankees, Giants, and Dodgers had won a combined total of 53 pennants and 28 world championships—with the Yankees about to embark on another string of 6 pennants and 3 championships in the next 7 years. 

The football Giants, in their 32 years of existence, had won 9 division titles and 4 NFL titles, and tied for 2 more division championships. They had shredded the Bears in the last title game, 47-7, and were about to run up 5 more division firsts over the next 6 seasons.

The Rangers, in 30 years, had won 3 Stanley Cups and appeared in 6 Cup finals. The New York Knickerbockers, still just 10 years old, had already made 3 NBA finals, extending 2 of them to 7 games.

 

All of the city’s baseball teams usually sat or near the top of their leagues when it came to attendance. The football Giants, playing first in the enormous Polo Grounds and then in the even more enormous Yankee Stadium I, were equally successful. 

The Rangers and the Knicks fared a little less well at the box office—mainly because they had trouble always getting into Madison Square Garden, blocked by college basketball, boxing, the circus, and other events, in what was then truly “the World’s Most Famous Arena.”

All these teams were loved on a deeply personal level—particularly the baseball teams, which had been around the longest, and whose players often lived year-round in the neighborhoods where they played. 

And yet, the Dodgers and Giants wanted more. 

O’Malley, in particular, pointed to how both teams’ attendance had declined since baseball’s peak, postwar year of 1947—the Dodgers’ had dropped from 1.8 million to 1.2 mill; the Giants, from 1.6 million to just 654,000. 

Both teams blamed their aging ballparks, with a lack of parking and the declining neighborhoods that surrounded them.

 

The Dodgers were still second in the NL in attendance—but far behind the team he painted as the emerging dynasty in baseball. This was the Milwaukee Braves, in their newly renovated County Stadium, with over 43,000 seats surrounded by an ocean of parking space.

“How long can we compete on an equal basis with a team that can outdraw us 2 to 1 and outpark us 15 to 1?” wailed Walter. If nothing were done, he insisted with a straight face, the Braves would become “the new New York Yankees,” while the Dodgers themselves would become “the new Washington Senators.”

With the 2024 season on the brink, here are 10 ugly truths about the Yankees

1. They consistently collect injury-prone players, then express shock when those players get hurt. 

2. Every winter, they sign just enough talent to compete for a wild card, then stop short of adding the final piece. 

3. As they continually trade young prospects, long term malignancies are starting to pile up. 

4. The team is full of players who desperately need a change of scenery, and the front office is terrified of letting them go. 

5. Their owner doesn't care, as long as tickets are sold.

6. The franchise has squandered some of the greatest individual seasons in modern history. 

7. Aaron Judge is a great player but - at least, thus far - a failure as captain.

8. They are slowly defining NYC as an impossible sports town.

9. They refuse to rebuild, even for one season, rejecting the path taken by almost every successful team. 

10. The new generation of fans knows them as a team that always loses. 

This weekend, Boston. It's been 46 years since the Massacre, 20 since The Curse was lifted. In this millennium, the Redsocks have the superior team.

In a nutshell... 

It's a terrible time to be a Yankee fan.

What Went Wrong: How Nepo Babies and Wealthfare Cheats Wrecked New York Sports. Part I.

It's an off-night, I know—but then, isn't every night an off-night for your 2024 New York Yankees?

I

Hey, I kid, I kid...not really. I was thinking tonight of launching yet another, seasonal query into "What's wrong with the Yankees??!" But then I figured...what's the point? (Spoiler alert: Cashman's an idiot, Hal doesn't care.)

So instead, I thought I'd go with this wild-eyed rant a multi-part, deep dive into why not just the Yankees but every New York area team now seems incapable of winning it all. Enjoy it as long as you can stand it.

It looked for a few moments, in our halcyon spring of 2024, that this was New York’s year in sports. The Rangers compiled the best regular-season record in the NHL, the Knicks suddenly looked like a contender, and the Yankees got off to a near-record start to the season. 

 

The Knicks and Rangers burst out to a combined, 13-2 start in their playoffs. The Yankees were 50-22. Even the Mets were winning—while Aaron Rodgers gamboled like a 40-year-old colt through the Jets’ early practices. Cue Alicia Keyes!

Then it all went wrong—again. What happened—and why does it always happen? Just when and how did we become such a town of losers?

For the answer to that, we have to go all the way back, back, back...to 1957, the apex of New York athletics, when there were six, major-league teams in the city, in the “Big Four” of professional sports: baseball, football, basketball, and hockey. All of them well-liked, winning teams that brought home numerous pennants, championships, and playoff berths. 

They played in a total of four different stadiums or arenas, all of which were at least 32 years old, built and maintained entirely with private money, and as beloved as the teams that played in them. Admission and concessions were cheap, tickets were readily available even for big games, and fans could see nearly all their teams play for free, on television.

Today, there are nine major-league teams in New York and environs, playing in seven different stadiums or arenas.

This is not an improvement.

The sad fact is that no New York franchise has won a title since the New York Giants’ miraculous upset of the New England Patriots, in the February, 2012 Super Bowl—and this does not look likely to change any time soon.

Most of the city’s teams have gone decades without winning a ring, and several have become industry standards for ineptitude. 

Yet every one of these nine teams plays in facilities that have been built from scratch or wholly renovated within at least the last 17 years, almost always with massive public assistance. 

Despite such taxpayer giveaways, these interchangeable, cookie-cutter stadiums and arenas have purposely reduced the number of seats available, and driven the cost of all tickets and concessions well beyond the ability of most fans to afford them. Even watching at home now comes with a hefty price tag, and often requires subscriptions to several different cable channels and streaming services.

How did this happen?

How did team after team, in what is still the wealthiest city in the world and the most populous city in America—a city where many of these sports were invented, refined, or reached their zenith in skill and popularity—come to offer so little and demand so much?  How did sports in the city of the “World’s Most Famous Arena” and “The Cathedral of Baseball,” become such a feeble joke?

There are many parts to this answer, including general trends of wealth and exploitation, in the U.S. and the city; in the grasping nature of modern sports and monopoly capitalism. 

Above all, though, New York sports have been ruined by an unprecedented ascent of “nepo babies”—the unqualified and uninterested heirs to the thrones of many local teams—and “wealthfare,” public allotments and tax breaks bestowed in such enormous amounts that they have erased any real incentive to compete.

Let's speak it out loud: The Yankees are dreadful, and Cashman will soon trade their future for more crapola

 

The biggest fallacy of 2024, thus far:

Thinking the Yankees have hit rock bottom. 

Whenever they seem totally dead - as they now do - you think they'll turn the boat around and win a few. But they don't.

You think DJ LeMahieu, Alex Verdugo, Anthony Volpe, et al, will start hitting. But they don't. 

You think somebody in that horrendous bullpen, constructed almost entirely of used body parts and scrapheap signings, will start pitching lights out. But they don't. 

Instead, we await a looming trade frenzy, with the Yankees leaning toward trading their best prospects - a move Brian Cashman once swore he'd never do in the modern era - merely to stay afloat in this rapidly devolving wild card race.

The most likely prospect to go: Spencer Jones, 23, a 6’6” lefty CF who has twice represented the Yankees in the Futures Game. 

For two years now, Jones has made the top 100 list of MLB prospects, and now the Yankees will be dangling him for somebody, anybody, who might staunch the bleeding from one of the several gaping wounds on this team. 

By the end of the weekend, the Yankees could be tied for third in the AL East, having squandered one of their best opening months in history.

This is malpractice, malfeasance and madness. This is institutional rot. Does anyone think trading our best prospects is a good move? 

Frankly, right now, I'm too angry to write. But I'll tell who is our main prospect. This guy, who just came, courtesy of the Mets. 

Cy Gone

Last year he won the Cy Young award.

Best pitcher in baseball.

Today he was not.  Neither of the above.

He got clobbered and the Yankees looked laughable, again. 

So let's look into that. At the beginning of the season, when the Yankees were winning everything, various players regularly did remarkable, and unexpected, things. 

They got the big hit; the walk-off HR; the sacrifice bunt; the stolen base, the shutout; the three strikeout inning in relief; the great assist and fabulous catch. 

Now, the Yankees ( with the exception of Severino's identified two hitters) never do the unexpected.  Now, they do the expected.  They pop up those bunt attempts; they hit long fouls and then strike out; they kill rallies by hitting into double plays; they hit 3 home runs in one game and then strike out 21 times in the next 43 at bats; they blow easy ground balls and get thrown out stealing;  they ground out to second with the bases loaded and the lead run in scoring position.

And Boston stole 9 bases against them in one game. 

Then the no name bullpen shows what they've got. 

Zip.

Luckily, the olympics are beginning. 

Gamey thread

 

If Yanks win tonight, they are .500 since the all-star break. If they play .500 the rest of the way...

Last night, the floundering Yankees lost... 

a) The 2024 Subway Series
b) Bragging rights to NYC
c) The chance to snicker at Sevy, Bader, Quintana, Ottavino, Torrens and all the other ex-Yankees, who will be beckoning Juan Soto to join them next winter.
d) Again
e) All of the above.

Of course, the true answer is f): Their minds, their souls, their purpose in life and their hopes for the next few years. 

I've long argued that the Yankees mirror the American condition: Awful during the 1960s (Vietnam and Watergate), the 1980s (banking crisis, Iraq war) and now (whatever this is.) If they continue to suck, democracy is at stake. So, nothing to worry about, eh?

Other takeaways from last night:

1. If the Death Barge wins tonight, it will be .500 since the break. If the Yanks can play .500 ball the rest of the way, they will finish with 85 wins, three more than last season. This might nudge them into the expanded postseason, as one of the participation trophy wild card slots. 

Livin' the dream, am I right?  

2. Suzyn Waldman has become the Despairing and Distressful Voice of Doom. It doesn't matter who is sharing the booth. Suzyn is fed up. Last night, she started bemoaning the lack of batter discipline, and then abruptly stopped herself, muttering that whatever she says doesn't matter. Honestly, it was a golden moment, an existential self-awareness akin to the final scene in The Truman Show.  Her bitter lamentation, "Oh boy," is the Wilhelm Scream of sports broadcasting.

3. Repeating the essence of yesterday's post, what metric in God's Creation justifies batting Juan Soto and Aaron Judge batting second and third? Why keep pretending this is a batting order? The Yankees have a two-man offense, nothing more, so get them to the plate as often as possible. 

Last night, Jah Jones batted leadoff. Jah Jones. Why? Jones is a bench piece, a banjo hitter in a lineup of harps. He has no power. (One HR). He has a lousy on base percentage. (.301). He doesn't run. (One SB.) He should bat ninth. Instead, he hit leadoff. Why?  

He was simply there to satisfy the adage that you always need a pesky guy to hit before the big guns. In the ninth, Trent Grisham - hitting .187 - pinch-hit for Jones. He made an out. It could have been Soto leading off that inning. Who knows if it could have turned out differently? Why keep pretending this is a batting order? 

4. The current Yankee infield may be the worst of this millennium. DJ LeMahieu can't hit and last night botched a bouncer. Gleyber Torres is simply not all there. First base is an ongoing audition. And Anthony Volpe still hasn't recovered from co-booting the worst loss of the year. Seriously: Has there been a worse Yankee infield in the last 24 years? 

I'm looking at the 2013 Yankees, who missed the playoffs. Lyle Overbay, Robby Cano, Eduardo Nunez and Jason Nix. A truly rotten infield, and this was back when Robbie was still learning how to jog. Still, they had Cano (who hit .314 with 27 HRs.) It's a tough call.

5. The Atlantic just proposed a set of trades that would land the Yankees a 3B, a starting pitcher and a bullpen lug nut. It would also decimate the farm system. (Spencer Jones, George Lombard Jr., Will Warren, Oswald Peraza, et al.)

Will next week's trade deadline neuter us for the next five years? Are we going to destroy the future so Brian Cashman can save face, maybe win a wild card slot?  

6. The Yankees should soon have back both Giancarlo Stanton and Jasson Dominguez. Stanton, any day now (Though I ask : If a guy can't run, how much can he help?) The Martian could start a minor league rehab next week. (It's worth wondering: Could the Yankees bring him up too soon and mess up his head?)  The arrival of Dominguez could effectively end the Alex Verdugo experiment. (Doogie went 1-2 yesterday with a walk; dare we be hopeful? His last big chance could come this weekend against Boston.) I guess what I'm saying here is that we need these guys back, but there is no easy path, no simple solution to the problems of this team.

7. Gerrit Cole tonight. Wow. It sure didn't take long for every one of Cole's starts to be critical, to come after a tough loss - and to be far more stressful than you'd want for a guy returning from an arm injury. It didn't take long for the rotation to become Cole and four dice rolls. 

8. The Mets last night unveiled to the world a perfect strategy: Walk Judge and take your chances with the Munchkins. I've got a funny feeling that we're going to see it again.  

Game Thrrrrrrrrrread

 

The Cashman Conundrum!!

 

One of the worst days of my young fandom was December 11, 1975. The Yankees followed a disappointing season by trading off Bobby Bonds to the Angels for Ed Figueroa, and Doc Medich to the Pirates for Dock Ellis, Ken Brett, and Willie Randolph.

I was devastated.

Trade Bobby Bonds???

He was one of the best outfielders I'd ever seen on the Yankees! From a whole new level of National 

League, speed-and-power guys. He'd just run up another 30-30 season—in an age when only Willie Mays did that—by playing hurt for a crippled Yankees team long after it had faded from contention.

And for what? I'd never heard of Ed Figueroa. Mickey Rivers seemed like a clown, a weak-armed centerfielder who stole a lot of bases, which was what guys on clown teams like the Angels did. 

Mick might've been Quick, but he had hit one, count 'em, 1 home run in 1975. And he was going to play centerfield for the New York Yankees?

The other trade seemed nearly as bad. Ken Brett I remembered as a failed Red Sock. Willie Randolph seemed intriguing—but for the Pirates, then a perennial contender, to deal him and keep their other young second sacker, Rennie Stennett—seemed like a bad sign. 

And trade our second-best pitcher, Doc Medich, for Dock Ellis, perpetual troublemaker, the guy who bragged about pitching a no-hitter while on acid?  

None of this seemed like a good idea to my seventeen-year-old self. And yet, of course, it built the foundation for five Yankees division championships, four pennants, and our first two World Series wins since 1962. What did I know...compared to Gabe Paul, the canny baseball lifer, who George Steinbrenner had brought in to run the Yankees?

So I hear the calls to strip our present team down to the gunwales (whatever they are), and rebuild. To ditch EVERYBODY—maybe even Judge, Cole, and Soto—and start from scratch. The only problem with that? The Yankees are no longer run by Gabe Paul, or Gene Michael, or Bob Watson, or Buck Showalter. 

That's right...once again we've come up against—

THE CASHMAN CONUNDRUM!

Every time we look in fresh disgust upon another Cashmanic flop (such as this team), the natural urge is to chuck it all and begin again. And that just might work save for the fact that...the guy who would be doing it is the same Laurel who got us into this fine mess to begin with. 

Quick show of hands: who here really trusts Brian Cashman to get full value for Aaron Judge? Or Gerrit Cole? How about Gleyber Torres? Trent Grisham?

Yeah, I thought so. 

Sorry, but I say forget all the strip-down trade ideas, in the distant hope that some day, Brian Cashman will decide to seek the eternal light, and trip away to a Himalayan monastery. 

In the meantime, I at least want guys like Judge and Soto, especially, around to give me some modicum of entertainment.

Speaking of which: did you know that Soto is one of exactly 2 players to hit at least 25 home runs and draw at least 80 walks in his first 100 games with a team?

The other two are Juicin' Mark McGwire...and The Babe. Ruth, that is. 

I want that guy around. I don't want whatever magic beans The Brain will get for him.
 

An Above Average Haiku Tuesday - Is that a plunger or are you just happy to see me ? - Edition

 

Should the Yankees abandon pretense and simply bat Soto and Judge, numbers one and two?

Yesterday, as his BA dipped its toes into Lake Mendoza, Benjamin Kimball Rice looked - as rice is known to be - rather cooked. He laid off a few tough pitches, battled to a 3-2 count, then watched Canseco-like as a fastball bisected the plate. He didn't protest. He just marched to the dugout, to solitude.  And somewhere in the sky, Rice's numbers clicked down to an even .200.

Frankly, it's been unfair to Rice, now with 95 MLB at bats, having him hit leadoff for a stumbling team mired in its personal misery dome.  

On June 17, Rice was still learning the lusty secrets of Scranton, where he'd hit 3 HRs in 11 ABs, mostly playing catcher. The Yankee brain trust noticed that he was hot, pushed a few buttons and brought him up to play 1B, a position he'd barely begun to learn. You could say they had no choice. DJ LeMahieu was floundering, and they had nobody else. Rice handled it well. He hit three HRs in one game and belted what should have been the game-winner HR against Baltimore, which - in an alternate reality - is a future Yankee Classic. Shoulda been, anyway. 

We knew he couldn't be Judgian forever, and now the slump is here. His next AB could put Rice below .200, a symbolic event that will haunt him on the Jumbotron in every turn through the order.

I wonder...  why are the Yankees even bothering with a traditional leadoff man, perched in front of Juan Soto and Aaron Judge? Right now, nobody else on the team shows a pulse. (Maybe Austin Wells, but he's no leadoff hitter.) Last week, Luis Severino made headlines by seeming to mock his old team, saying they only had two hitters in the lineup. Sevy wasn't ripping us. He was simply telling the truth. 

Right now, the bottom of the Yankee batting order is a shit show train wreck in a dumpster fire clown car. If anyone gets a hit, it only matters because it means the lineup is circling closer to Soto and Judge. Aaron Boone might as well bat them #1 and #2. Why lose a close game with a .200 hitter at the plate while Soto and Judge wait on deck?  

Of course, Giancarlo Stanton should return soon, maybe tonight, but I have to wonder: If the guy can't run, how much can he contribute? He's far more likely to hit a double play ball than a double. 

Yesterday, we scored nine runs. When the Yankees are hot, they certainly can pour it on. Not complaining - when the bullpen is as shaky as ours is - an eight-run lead might just be what it takes. 

But no matter what the line score says, Sevy put it quite succinctly: The Yankees have two hitters. They might as well get the most they can from Soto and Judge. They have nothing else. 

So much for the All-Star break re-energizing the Yankees...

Okay... look...

I got nothing.

If you expect me to wax hopefully on anything that relates to the '24 Yankees, I'm sorry. Dead in the water. They have ruptured my verbal spleen. They have squandered what shards of optimism remained following the Verdugo Belly-Flop Game, which replaced the Ten Stolen Bases Game, which replaced the Clay Holmes Meltdown Game, which - aww, stop this! Please, toss me back into the lake, invalidate my parking stub, cancel me, delete me, exile me, or just postpone me... but listen: I got nothing. 

Here's a stat from The Athletic: 

Over their last 31 games, the Yankees are 10-21, the second worst record in baseball, after the lowly White Sox. (And if we played Chicago, does anyone doubt they'd win 2-of-3?)

Here's a stat from MILB.com.

Spencer Jones, our best prospect, is hitting .238 at Double A. Six months ago, he was untouchable. Now, the Yankees are dangling him in trade talks - and he's at his lowest value. For years now, they've been trading prospects at the deadline, something a younger Brian Cashman long ago vowed never to do. Now, it's an open tap. (And if they do trade Jones, does anyone here doubt they'll get burned?) 

Here's a tidbit from Baseball Reference: 

Heading into the all-star break, DJ LeMahieu was 0-for-10. Coming out of it, he's 0-for-7. Dear God. He's 36, and the Yankees have two years left on his contract, at $15 million per. We can't trade him. Nobody will give us anything. (And here's the rub: If we release him, if he signs somewhere, does anyone here doubt that, at least in the short term, he'll find his stroke? I mean, how did the Yankees become such a toxic organization that decent players suddenly go into the tank?) 

Nope. I got nothing. Every glass I see is half-empty. No. Completely empty. No trades, no return of Gerrit Cole, not even Aaron Judge can save this sorry team. And if anybody thinks Giancarlo Stanton - the Creeper - will miraculously raise this Titanic from the ocean floor, well, have at it. I see a zombie franchise, oozing money from every pore, but refusing to do what every successful team in the modern era has done: Rebuild with youth. 

Last year, the Yankees went 82-and-80, 19-games behind Baltimore in the AL East. Nineteen games. It was their worst season since 1992. And the reaction? Denial, of course. They traded young prospects, draining the farm, expecting a quick fix.    

Well, I got nothing. And it's been a long, slow descent into nothingness. Twenty-five years ago, the Yankees represented the MLB gold standard. Now, their drought extends 15 years (16, counting this one.) They are a long dead empire and the second-best team in New York. They can close their eyes, pretend they're still relevant, sell Andy Pettitte Bobbleheads and chase one of those pitiful three wild card slots, which resemble T-Ball participation trophies. But if you want hope? Nope. I got none. It is mid-July, and the '24 Yankees look dead as dishrags. 

An Above Average Tasty Game Thread

 

For the Yankees, it's gotten really late, really early

 

All right, people, move along, MOVE ALONG! There's nothing to see, nothing to do here, no rubbernecking, just keep moving... DAMMIT, MOVE!

The season isn't over, and it won't end this weekend, no matter what happens. Ya hear me? The Yankees could blow their next five straight, and they'll still be contenders for that vaunted last AL Wild Card kewpie slot. They're in the wild card race., and they're gonna stay there, dammitall! - at least through, say, mid-August. 

Quit yer bellyachin! It's almost time for The Big Cashman Shakeup. Soon - like any minute now, the most successful Yankee GM in history, according to longevity, will obtain for us some Joey Gallo/Jose Abreu -type - a brawny star of 2019 - who has overstayed his welcome in some WWE hub, and who is waiting for a chance to flop in Gotham. To get him - or them - we'll trade a bunch of Single-A and Double-A nobodies, who, were yesterday's tomorrow, and who now never fitted into the Yankee strategic, long term picture.  

Put your ears to the railroad tracks, and you'll hear the rumble of Cashman's giant spackle machine, rolling our way, as the GM seeks to stem this ongoing collapse, now approaching its eighth week.

Don't worry. Cashman will find enough Band-Aids to keep us in the wild card race. Remember: As long as you finish over .500, you've got a shot at that expanded playoffs lottery ticket. All you need is a Gallo and a dream...

Listen, there's something about watching a full Yankee matinee wipeout - like yesterday - when the only question is whether the opposing pitcher will throw a no-hitter. (Technically, that couldn't happen, because our first man up hit a double, before everyone went to sleep.) It makes you wonder how a franchise that spends so much money can be so wimpy... and why a year from now, we'll be writing the same posts about the same situation... 

Nope. Move along. Seriously, today and tomorrow, what is there to see? 

Statistically, we cannot lose this season, this weekend. But psychically - ah, yes, with a few dollops of self-torture -  if we lose the next two to Tampa - crappy Tampa, who was out of the race two weeks ago - at home -  in front of the Yankiverse... well, is there anything left to see?

For Verdugo and LeMahieu, an existential crisis

It was a dark and dreary night for Alex Verdugo and DJ LeMahieu.  

In the 1st, Verdugo grounded out to 1B.

In the 2nd, LeMahieu grounded into a DP.

In the 3rd, with the bases loaded, Verdugo grounded out to SS. 

In the 4th, LeMahieu hit a pop fly to LF.

In the 5th, Verdugo grounded out to 2B.

In the 6th, LeMahieu grounded out to 2B, and Verdugo struck out swinging.

In the 8th, LeMahieu grounded out to 3B.

Eight plate appearances, no hits, one RBI (on a measly bouncer), a strikeout, no erections, six slow and fruitless runs to first, scattered booing, and multiple moments of existential dread.  

Off in the distance, you could hear the rhythmic pulsations of Brian Cashman's auto-dialer, phoning other GMs in search of a taker for this year's Yankee disappointments. We could add Gleyber Torres, but maybe - maybe - (oh, why are we doing this to ourselves?) - maybe he's starting to hit? 

This might be the last great opportunity either sees. 

If the Yankees punt on the slumping Verdugo, they will become his third team - after the Dodgers and Boston - to cut bait. He's only 28, and a lifetime .275 hitter, but that big contract he was expecting next winter will be as misplayed as that lame fly ball in Baltimore. Three strikes, and you're out. Already, Cashman might be looking for a RH platoon in LF, greatly diminishing Verdugo's chances to save his season. That blown pop fly from Cedrick Mullins might turn out to be Verdugo's most memorable Yankee moment. What a wart.

As for LeMahieu, who turned 36 last week, he's lucky to have scored his payday contract several years ago. No matter what he does, the Yankees have him for two more seasons at $15 million per. More and more, he's falling into Willie Calhoun/Franchy Cordero territory. He's hitting .182, without power, (three doubles on the season), and you can feel hope draining on every grounder off his bat. There is no dealing LeMahieu without adding millions in salary, and I'm not sure Food Stamps Hal would approve such an expenditure.

It looks as though the Yankees must sink or swim with the pair. When contracts always supersede performances, that's your only move. 

And that, my friends, is modern Yankee baseball. 

Yanks welcome back - um - J.D. Davis

 Highlight of the season.

The 2024 Cashman All-Stars! The Pitching Staff!

 

Pitching, I think you'll agree, has always been Brian Cashman's really, really vulnerable Achilles heel—as opposed to his other Achilles heels, of catchers, infielders, outfielders, managers, coaches, and trainers. 

All right, the guy has a lot of feet. But the mound is where he has really excelled, year after year, in overlooking, underpaying, giving away, and screwing up. To wit:

 Yoshinobu Yamamoto—Early this season, it looked like Cashie just might get lucky, as the admiral of the Western Sea looked scared stiff to be in the show.

But...he now appears to be every bit as good as advertised, off to a 6-2, 2.92 start, as the Dodgers carefully nursed him along (something your New York Yankees just don't do.) Looks now like the Bums have hold of a rotation mainstay for the next 10 years.

Of course, the Yankees’ big offer was just more Cashmanic gamesmanship, carefully calculated to finish a weak third in the bidding for the free agent. Would have been very embarrassing if Yamamoto had said, “Hell, yes, I live for Broadway shows!” and accepted…

Blake Snell—…almost as embarrassing as it must’ve been telling Blake Snell that the Yanks’ offer to him was no more than Monopoly money, after Snell's other suitors never materialized. Blake’s cruel spring has left him useless this year. Will he remain that way—or revert to the two-time, two-league Cy Young winner he was? Hard to say—he was never someone I was very high on—but I wouldn’t bet against him being better than Rodon or Stroman before all is said and done.

Shota Imanaga—What a delightful spirit! And with the nickname of, “The Throwing Philosopher”! Off to an 8-2, 2.97 start in Wrigley Field. This was the Poor Man’s Yamamoto—$22.5 mill for 2 years guaranteed, then another $30 mill in player options for the next two seasons. But, you know, Hal is SO poor these days, no could do.

Jordan Montgomery—No, no, no, no! No way a Cashman mistake can ever be admitted—particularly when it comes to the man who might have saved the 2022 season. Monty has certainly looked awful after missing his spring training—6-5, 6.44—but give him time. Meanwhile, his 2-0, 1.29 pitching against Houston in the ALCS last year got the Rangers into the World Series, when Monty won one more ring than any present member of your New York Yankees. But hey, we did get Harrison Bader...

Chris Sale—"Slowly I turn to you..." After outbidding the Yanks for Yoan Moncada, the BoSox turned him into Sale, who won a Series for Boston in 2018—and might well have done the same for us in 2017. Years lost to injuries followed...but now he's back, 13-3 with Atlanta, and an NL-leading 2.70 ERA.

Michael King—Now we get into more of the dubious deals. King has pitched well as a starter down in San Diego, going 7-6, 3.41 so far. But think of how much more valuable he could be anchoring our awful bullpen.

 

But hey, you gotta give up something to get Juan Soto. Right? Well, maybe not—or at least, maybe not the four pitchers the Yankees surrendered for him. (Another one was Drew Thorpe, now 3-1, 3.58 in Chicago, who the Padres bundled to get Dylan Cease.) Might someone such as, I dunno, Gleyber Torres sufficed instead, back in 2022? Which would have maybe got us over the top that year? 

 

Who can say? But giving up four young arms only made sense if the Bronx team was going to re-sign Soto. And sadly, they will not.

Josh Hader—I forget all the names Brian Cashman was saying he was going to sign when he was talking about “supercharging” the bullpen (I bet Brian has forgotten them, too.). But Hader was the one that stood out.

 

I know, it was a helluva risk by Houston, signing a 30-year-old reliever to a five-year deal for $95 mill. But somehow, the risks Brian Cashman refuses to take are always surpassed by the risks he then creates. Which is riskier? Paying too much for Hader? Or going without a bullpen? After an atrocious start, Hader now has 18 saves. Imagine what he could do for us down the stretch.  

 

Prediction: Hader will be in a World Series before the Yankees are.

Luis Severino—Hard to blame the Yanks for finally giving up on Setback Sevvy. But…wouldn’t he be a nice addition to our pen now? And to not give him some, minimal contract after all the time and money already invested…Also, yet again, another team’s (the Mets') coaches and trainers seem to have succeed where ours did not.

Sonny Gray—No, I didn’t like him, and no, I don’t miss him. 

But what was absolutely nuts was that Cashman compounded picking him over Justin Verlander in 2017...with getting absolutely nothing for him when he traded him on in 2019. Gray has been a serviceable, No. 3-level starter for three different teams since then. What a waste—and how typical.

Aroldis Chapman—No, I don't miss ol' Sweats. But I DO miss the 22-year-old, 105-mph "Cuban Missile," who ran up 546 strikeouts in 319 innings, a 2.17 ERA, and who saved 146 games for Cincinnati, before he turned into Machine Gun Kelly.

Food Stamps  Hal was beat out by a Reds team that offered $30.25 million for six years, plus a $10.25 mill bonus. All that lost us was perhaps another 3 rings, 2010-2012. 

The Altercockers Gallery—Sure, neither Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, nor Charlie Morton are exactly flourishing elsewhere, with arms that are all past 40—or getting there. But they’re doing all right, with some remaining potential to do something down the stretch.

The Yanks passed on numerous chances to pick up all of them…and instead watched them win  slew of division titles, a bunch of pennants, and a total of six rings for other teams. 

But hey, why worry about that now? I hear that Scott Effross might come bbackk!