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Monday, May 22, 2017

If I ran the team...

Screw Meat Loaf: Two out of three aint good, especially when you lose them to Tampa, and fan 17 times in one game. I'm officially rattled. It's Yankee Defcon-4. That means, like any good fan, it's time for postulating and prophesying, strategizing and soliloquizing, blathering and bloviating about what to do. 

Here's my trademarked IT IS HIGH Action Plan, or IIHAC (TM).

First base: The truth isn't out there. Chris Carter isn't working. We signed him as 15-minutes of Geico insurance, in case Greg Bird failed. Well, Greg Bird failed, and he still hasn't paid out on the policy.

Though Carter isn't the stone statue fielder we feared, the whiffs are mounting, and we can no longer say he's merely a streaky hitter who needs at bats. Dear god, he's a free-swing, undisciplined turnstile pinwheel, and this team cannot absorb another 200 strikeouts.

I say bring up Rob Refsnyder, and audition him at 1B for the next two weeks, while Bird and Tyler Austin untweak their swollen gonads. Keep Carter as a backup, for now. But when Bird and Austin return, unless he dramatically improves, eat the money and waive him. This lineup doesn't need more home runs. It needs more line drives, more sac flies, more groundball singles to the opposite field. A couple of the above, and we would have won Tampa. 

Second base: Move Starlin Castro up to the second in the batting order, replacing Gary Sanchez. He's our best hitter, and he's certainly faster than Sanchez, who is a terrible base runner.

Shortstop: Move Didi Gregorius atop the batting order. Has anybody noticed? He's our best hitter. Why is he batting sixth or seventh? 

Third base: Stick with Headley for the time-being - Tyler Wade, who made an error last night at 3B in Scranton, just isn't ready - but move Glyber Torres to third. (The Yankees promoted Torres to Scranton last night.) Sometime in July, install Torres at thirdbase - the way he once did with Robbie Cano at second, over Tony Womack - and never look back. If first base remains a problem, move Headley there and cross our fingers. At least he won't be throwing balls into the right field stands.

Note: Under no circumstances should we trade for a veteran 1B or 3B. Teams like the Rays would love to steal the Yankee future for a twilight player like Evan Longoria, but such a move would kill us. We have solutions in the farm system. 

Outfield: Come July, package Jacoby Ellsbury with a shit-ton of gold bricks and a viable 24-year-old, and see if we can find a decent starting pitcher. If we can't - and, let's face it, we probably can't - dump Ellsbury on whatever team will take him for whatever they will give. Think of him as an old Ben Gamel. Bring up Dustin Fowler or Clint Frazier, and play Aaron Hicks in CF. Accelerate the youth plan. 

Pitchers: Not much we can do here. If Masahiro Tanaka doesn't figure it out, we're screwed. If he's hurt - if we find that elbow is finally shot - at least that means he won't opt out of his contract next winter, and he will be a Yankee for life. Let's keep him, and let's be happy. He's a great competitor, a great Yankee. Same with CC Sabathia: At this stage, why trade him? Let's be thankful that he lasted this long. 

As for Michael Pineda, we should weigh the odds of playing in a meaningful October, and come late July, perhaps try to peddle him for prospects to some hope-addicted team. (Would the long-suffering Mariners, clinging to the chance of winning a divisional title, accept Pineda, the prodigal son, and West Coast nature boy Ellsbury for a couple long-term projects?) Of course, if the Yankees are still atop the AL East, we'll never trade Pineda - (nor should we.) But if we keep losing two out of three, and fanning 17 times per game... well... those aint the ways of a world champion, eh? As Meat Loaf would say, all dressed up and no place to go.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...



Let the season play out . Way too much "chicken little" going on on this site. It is a long season , there will be ups and down. Remember we are reloading. The Yankees , while better than anticipated, are not as good as their hot start would have led us to believe. Don't be fooled by the fools gold of a hot start. Stick to the plan and enjoy the ride....both ups and downs.

KD said...

Refs can at least put the ball in play, unlike Carter who guesses on every pitch. Yanks really outsmarted themselves with the Carter signing.

JM said...

The good news from last night was that we didn't have to score double digits in order to win. CC regained his form, or possibly had another of those flashes of brilliance/competence in an otherwise terrible season in the making.

Professor Tanaka has to be injured, if undiagnosed. He's not this bad a pitcher, not for this long. Something is wrong.

Gardy went yardy again. What the heck?

We can score runs, but the starting pitchers are the weak spot. That string of greatness they put in, playing above their heads for a month, has ended. Now we have what we really have, and it's spotty.

Girardi had miniscus surgery last Monday. Last I looked, it didn't have any effect on his managing. He still gives me the creeps.

Anonymous said...

CHECK
CHECK
CHECK
CHECK AND
CHECK
TO ALL YOUR SCENARIOS.
WE HAVE A TURNSTILE AT THE PLATE WITH CARTER.
....BUT WE KNEW WHAT WAS COMING.
GET HIM OUTTA HERE.
WE NEED SOMEONE WHO CAN MAKE SOME CONTACT AT THE PLATE.

Leinstery said...

Didi bats behind Headley, that way Didi either has to get a hit to bring home whatever runner Chase left on base, or Didi can get a hit with no one on base. The binders aren't working Joe.

Alphonso said...

How od is Bok Choi( the hot hitting kid playing first at Scranton)? And why is he never mentioned? There has to be a reason. Is he 34?

Carter has to go, and soon. His defense is the best we have at the position, but he is an " auto out " sometimes and " auto DP," Too often, he makes no contact. He should be ordered to bunt, no matter what.

el duque said...

Ji-Man the He-Man is hurt. Otherwise, I'd have called him up.

Beana27 said...

I wish you ran the team.

joe de pastry said...

Are you Refsnyder's agent or uncle or something?
Why these frequent references to a guy who, as I've said before, reminds me of Horace Clarke?
A singles hitter who never walks and is below average defensively.
Carter has been awful, but at least with him there's a possibility of a sudden cluster of homers, common for hitters like him.
With Refsnyder you know what you're getting, but it's Horace Clarke II.
[I've now had two comments disappear from this site recently. I hope this won't be number three. If it is, I'll just quit. As someone who has been commenting here for about 8 years I think I know how to do it.]

el duque said...

Joe,

In all the years of doing this blog, I've never deleted a comment, and certainly wouldn't delete yours. Alphonso doesn't know how to delete comments, and Mustang wouldn't. I don't know what's going on, but seriously, it's not us.

Alphonso said...

It could be Russian interference. They have penetrated higher security in the US, or so I am advised.

Plus, if they can kill baseball, they can kill America.

This blog does not edit anything, as far as I can tell. So deleting a comment is not a possibility.

Should I learn how to do it?

Nevermind. Who gives a shit?

Joe Formerlyof Brooklyn said...


The posting ("if I ran the team") seems to be somewhat critical of San Giuseppe.

Doncha know he is a certified genius -- at least by the media types. Just like Saint Brian of the Tall Buildings....?

Rufus T. Firefly said...

So, is Sanchez or Didi our best hitter? I'm confused.
And where does Judge fit in? 3rd best? C'mon.

to non caps anon -- this site is gloom and doom. It's what they do.

Anonymous said...

REFSNYDER OVER CARTER AT FIRST BASE?
ANY DAY OF THE WEEK!
CARTER CAN'T HIT...CAN'T MAKE CONTACT, AND LETS ALL BE HONEST HERE....WHAT IS THE FIRST THOUGHT THAT CROSSES YOUR MIND WHEN CARTER IS UP WITH A MAN ON 3RD AND LESS THAN 2 OUTS?....C'MON....TELL THE TRUTH..LOL....
THE ANSWER IS, " I KNOW HE'S GOING TO STRIKEOUT."
......AND HE DOES.

Ken of Brooklyn said...

Joe De Pastry,
My comment was also deleted, very weird, seems to be a glitch in the IIHIIFIIC Matrix,,,, so it's not personal ( my comment was flattering and benign, LOL!)

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