Wednesday, January 27, 2016

As the Yankees' bargain basement winter continues, a question: How did we get this way?

Yesterday, the Retrieval Empire added journeyman catcher Carlos Corporan to the Scranton playlist, continuing our K-Mart austerity plan in a time when every other MLB franchise is buying at Bloomingdales.   

For the record, I wish Carlos luck. He's 32, a career .212 hitter, and a few years ago, he and his wife suffered a terrible tragedy, when their 16-month old son died from heart complications. He deserves nothing but respect. And the fact is, add a tweaked gonad to spring training, and you can see Corporan on the opening day roster. His signing is another case of Brain Cashman doing what he does best: Picking through the scraps. And these days, that's the Yankee improvement plan. 

Corporan's signing came as the Mets added Yoenis Cespedes, the O's Chris Davis, and the Tigers Justin Upton. In each case, up until the very end, hopeful bloggers suggested the Yankees might vault in suddenly and surprise everyone. These people take LSD. We vaulted in suddenly and surprised everybody by getting Carlos Corporan. 

How did we get this way? How did the wealthiest franchise in American sports - heir to the NYC money-making market - become penniless? And why are we doing this?

On the day he was born, Hal Steinbrenner had pretty much the same net worth as today: It's infinite. It's uncountable. When Hal earns another dollar, he's now worth Infinity-plus-1!

Obviously, Hal is cutting costs because that is the metric by which he has chose to judge himself? He could be trying to set personal records on the treadmill, but that's not doing it for him. His goal is to make the Yankees sleek and profitable. To win as many games as possible while spending as little as possible. And he can't do the former until he has first accomplished the later.

Will that be his legacy? Will the baseball historians someday say Hal Steinbrenner brought frugality and humbleness to the Yankees? 

Or is this just a passing phase of somebody born with too much money at his disposal? After all, two years ago, Hal - seemingly on a whim - larded up the Yankees with three of the most questionable long-term contacts in recent history: Beltran (3 years), McCann (5) and Ellsbury (7). Ever since the reality of those deals became apparent, Hal's plan has been to wait until around 2020, when everybody is off the books and he can press reset. 

Which leaves us with Carlos Corporan.  

Back when the Yankees were great - the days under Torre - now and then, when things were going bad, Paul O'Neill would smash up a water cooler. I wish there was a way we could that now. Yesterday, my fave Yankee blogger, Mike Axisa, wrote about this Yankee winter...


If you think about it - "since 2012" - that's not saying much. But still... I wish I felt it. But all I see is Carlos Corporan, and it hurts to laugh.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

32 YEAR OLD... .212 HITTER....YEP!..THAT FITS THE BILL!....SIGN HIM, QUICK, BEFORE SOMEONE ELSE GETS HIM!!!

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Did I miss the announcement that Alphonso has been traded to the National League?

Or is he just in rehab (again)?

Anonymous said...

...AND HERE'S ANOTHER THING WE KEEP DOING WRONG...I JUST READ AN ARTICLE SAYING CARLOS CORPORAN WILL NOW BE COMPETING FOR THE BACKUP CATCHER POSITION WITH GARY SANCHEZ, AND, (TOLD YA), AUSTIN ROMINE .....SO, LETS ALL GET CONFUSED ALL OVER AGAIN, JUST LIKE LAST YEAR IN THE "COMPETITION" FOR THE 2ND BASE JOB.....IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE REFSNYDER, OR JOSE PIRELA IN THE COMPETITON...SUDDENLY, THEY WERE OUT BECAUSE OF THE WONDERFUL STEPHEN DREW SIGNING, CRUSHING THE 2 PROSPECTS..............NOW, AFTER BEING THE RAGE OF SCOUTS THIS PAST MINOR LEAGUE SEASON, GARY SANCHEZ IS IN A "COMPETITION" FOR THE BACKUP SLOT ON THE BIG LEAGUE TEAM? A BIG LEAGUE TEAM, MIND YOU, THAT IS IN DIRE NEED OF RIGHT HANDED HITTING, (ESPECIALLY A POWER BAT)......MOTHERFUCKER....MOTHERFUCKER.....I SAID MONTHS AGO, I SMELL AUSTIN ROMINE AS THE BACKUP CATCHER THIS SEASON, AND GA DAMN IT, I HOPE I'M WRONG!....BUT HERE IS THE KICKER, AUSTIN ROMINE DIDN'T EVEN CATCH LAST YEAR!...HE PLAYED 1ST BASE MOST OF THE SEASON IN TRIPLE A!.......... ARE WE FUCKED UP ENOUGH TO GO WITH AUSTIN ROMINE AS THE BACKUP CATCHER THIS SEASON BASED ON PAST "MAJOR LEAGUE" EXPERIENCE??? I GOT A FEELING THIS IS WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN, AND IF IT DOES, WE ARE ONE FUCKED UP ORGANIZATION RIGHT NOW.....

ceeja said...

They should have signed a pitcher and, of course as El Duque continually reminds us, they should have signed Moncada. So the price of these two moves is higher than we'd like? Big deal. You either want to win or you don't.

Happy they did get Chapman, though we know they were fully prepared to pass up that opportunity as well. Can't really fault them on not signing any position players -- pretty slim pickings really.

They have a pretty good team. If the health of their starters holds up, they'll make the playoffs. If Severino, Bird, Judge, and Sanchez develop, they actually might do something in the playoffs in a year or two.

As John Belushi says: "Did we quit when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? When the going gets tough ... the tough get going." Not ready to hit the Crown Royal with Alphonso.

Anonymous said...

I DO AGREE CEEJA, I THINK WE DO HAVE A PRETTY GOOD TEAM......IT'S JUST TOUGH ADJUSTING TO OUR NEW, NO FREE AGENT POLICY, WHEN WE REALLY NEEDED TO ADD WHAT WAS AVAILABLE.....(NOT TO MENTION BOSTON GETTING WHO WE REALLY NEEDED,-DAVID PRICE)....AND I BELIEVE THE CHAPMAN TRADE CAN BE HUGE FOR US, BUT ONLY IF WE KEEP ANDREW MILLER!...I AM AFRAID CASHMAN WILL TRADE MILLER DURING THE SEASON FOR ANOTHER "JEFF WEAVER" TYPE STARTING PITCHER.....GOD FORBID.

joe disgusted pastry said...

Hal is cheap, so I'm not putting any more $$ into his pocket.
The baseball portion of my entertainment budget will be spent at CitiField, rooting against the Mets.

Anonymous said...

JOE, PLEASE DON'T GIVE THOSE CHEAP SCUMBAG METS YOUR MONEY, WATCH THEM AT HOME....IT GOES AGAINST GENERAL PRINCIPLE, AND OUR OVERALL WELL-BEING.............lol

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