Monday, July 31, 2017

Waiting for the cruel shoes to drop

Two more Yankee prospects vanished yesterday. So long, Dietrich Enns and Zack Littell. That's five gone in the last two weeks. The youth movement is officially over. Today, we'll probably jettison three more - maybe four. Our list of top 30 prospects now includes Cody Carroll, a 24-year-old middle innings reliever in Trenton. (Let that sink in: twenty-four, middle innings reliever, Double A.) By tomorrow, Cody could be in our top 25! Could Cito Culver be next? 

Oh, fukkit! Who cares! Certainly not the Wall Street Weekender from Westchester (WWW.) And I respect that. The world needs its hedge fund managers to be clearheaded to the task at hand - screwing dumb fuck pensioners - rather than analyzing the starting rotation in Trenton. The world doesn't need another Yankee obsessive - or as the Mooch would call me, "a fucking paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac" - blogging about the danger of trading Jorge Mateo. Nope. If the WWW simply knows that there used to be a player named "A-Rod," and he still thinks Derek Jeter is the Yankee shortstop - hey, no problem: That's China Town, Jake! Nobody has to care about the dearth of talent in the Pulaski outfield. And for those divinely uncaring WWWs, tonight's YES Network takeaway will surely be that the Yankees have obtained an all-star pitcher - Sonny Koufax! - in exchange for absolutely nothing. It was a gift from the good people of Oakland, whose franchise was once again outsmarted by that all-wise, big city operation, run by the crafty Hal Steinbrenner, the beacon of front office superiority. 

The Yankee farm system, bursting with talent two weeks ago, will soon return to the norm: Scranton again full of 26-year-old utility candidates. (FYI: Cito Culver homered last night!) Trenton will once again be the home of Chris Christie rather than Jorge Mateo. The Yankees will either win everything this fall - (actually, there are teams in Houston, Cleveland, Los Angeles and Washington that might have a say in this) - justifying the trades, or we will have pitched overboard our youth movement for - well, a one game wild card appearance? We may never see Billy McKinney or Justis Sheffield or Chance Adams, at least not in Yankee uniforms. And what happens over the next three months will still depend entirely on injuries and slumps; Aaron Judge, Jordan Montgomery and Clint Frazier are still defining themselves, and somewhere out there, a tweaked gonad is waiting for us. It's the long game that really matters, and in the last few days, we quit playing it. The WWWs don't know, and they don't give a shit. Only fools that the Mooch would fire - idiots, like us - would ever bother to be concerned about 2019.

The way to build dynasties is to be like the New England Patriots, who are always stashing extra draft picks, always supplementing a core of stars with emerging young talent. This year, we began that way. We developed Aaron Judge, Jordan Montgomery, Luis Severino, Aaron Hicks and maybe Clint Frazier. (But Greg Bird, Tyler Austin and a bunch of young pitchers - Kaprielian, Heller, Gallegos, et al - went south.) Next year, we will see - hmmm - well, lemme get back to you on that. Next year, we may be watching ex-Yankees on the White Sox, Twins and A's, and we'll be thinking of how we had Todd Frazier, David Robertson and Jaime Garcia. Next year, we can watch other teams unveil talent, while Culver dazzles us with his newfound stroke. As for the Wall Street Weekenders from Westchester? Well, there will always be more prospects to trade for established stars, you know - more Todds and Jaimes. Todds and Jaimes. Todds and Jaimes. Todds and Jaimes... I guess that sums it up.

I happen to believe that by trying to win everything now, right now, we piss away the chance to build a dynasty down the road. Wasn't that's what the Yankees were supposed to do... back before we sold our souls to the weekenders from Westchester? Oh, forget it. Nobody listens to a paranoiac. 

15 comments:

Joe Formerlyof Brooklyn said...


You are, no doubt Correct.

The qustion becomes: How miserable is Billy Beane? It's July 31, and his team is 10 gams behind -- in the "Wild Card" race.

So 2017 is history for him. Would he accept some middling prospects (even if it's 4 of them) for Gray?

I give Cashman no credit. I'm not aware who he can blame for signing Ellsbury, or Headley (instead of keeping Yangervis), or the massive $$$ deals with CC Sabathia and Masahiro. Or letting go of Nova and Cervelli.

And so on.

However, if Beane is truly looking to "do something" and not go into 2018 with the same crapola that his team is now fielding -- remember, Big Free Agent Signings are not the Oakland way --

-- he might just make a deal now. For not very much. Maybe.

I am being optimistic because it's really the only way to keep breathing between now and 4PM today -

el duque said...

I think I hate Trade Deadline Day more than any other day in the MLB calendar year. It is the one day from which so many Yankee problems arise. Last year, it was wonderful - joyous! This year, it is full of dread.

The Ghost of Yankees Past said...

el duque , you are a great fan , friend and outstanding writer. But man, can you go negative. You may be right, but the jury is still out. We didn't give much for Garcia and he is bettter than we have. Prudent trades to give us a chance to "catch lightning in a bottle " is worth it. Clearly you don't want to give away the future.

Sonny Gray could be a good addition at the right price. Let's see what Cashman does. I am nervous he will screw it up and pay to high a price. However over the past couple years he has demonstrated an ability to protect the key prospects. Lets hope that continues. In any event we will know soon. Keep your fingers crossed.

JM said...

My plan for the day is to hide under the bed with a half gallon of Tito's. Maybe some ice.

Anonymous said...

The Ghost of Yankees Past is right. You have to look at what was given up and why.

Enns wasn't ever going to be used and he probably will disappear with Rule 5. He was injured a lot this year and the Yankees never seemed to like his stuff even with some amazingly low ERAs.

Littell wasn't projected to be any more than a 4-5th. He was number 22 on the prospect list which isn't all that hot actually. The Yankees needed to clear space on the 40 man and he was expendable.

We really didn't give up a whole lot for Garcia, it's almost trash for trash actually. One of those transactions we'll forget ever happened a year or two down the road.

But yeah, if we do get Gray, then how much will we give up? It would be crazy to give up a lot because he's not that much better than a 4-5th either and a lot of A's fans feels he's due to go on the injured list at any time as he's very prone. If anything the Yankees should be offering up more of the same, but they may have to give up at a top 10 in the deal just to get it done. It would be foolish to give up two top 10s and more for him.

Alphonso said...

I will also tell you that Adam Warren is better than the no name from the Twins who is about two days short of his 32nd birthday.

And, as I said before, it isn't so much the specifics of who we traded and who we got.

It is that we gave up our strategy.

The disaster is that we are back in the old school methodology of trading youth for mid level talent. Soon, we will sign Beltre to a 10 year deal, so we can " solve the third base problem."

Sadly, and a total demoraliziation to me, is that the approach of keeping the young talent we acquired through trades ( because Cashman has developed little of his own ), a strategy previously unheard of under Cashman, is, again, out the window.

Turns out; it was a fake strategy. Like the fake news that now rules the country.

When you look next year, the 40 man roster's average age will be 33, and people will be talking about how the Yankees need to re-build. And Cashman will say, + we don't re-build here, we only re-tool."

And will will compete for the one game play-in spot, while watching the familiar names of superstars emerge on other teams, many of whom were this year in Scranton/Trenton.

But the future doesn't matter. Only the present.

And decisions based upon that approach are always to the benefit of 1%.

Screw the fans.

el duque said...

That's the issue, Fonz.

We've changed back to the old ways.

When the deal comes down, we can analyze it until the cows come home. There will be a million ways to spin it, but we will have reverted back to the old ways. That cannot be debated.

And you better believe that if someone gets hurt - say, Didi or a pitcher - we will trade more prospects at the waiver deadline, because we're deep in the hole, committed to this year. Once you start dealing prospects, you have no choice.

Remember how refreshing it was last year, getting so much hope for the future?

We're in first now because of the moves made last year. Where will we be a year from now, depending on the deal or deals we make today?

KD said...

I am simply hoping for the best. I guess some of these kids ought to be moved, if only so they have a chance at an MLB career and the pension. I just hate seeing them blocked when the Yankees buy a hired gun for 7 years with only 2 shots left in his revolver.

Anonymous said...

I dont mind th trades...youre not gonna play them all, some of them have to go ...I dont mind I think Jaime Moy... er Garcia will at least give them some reliability every 5th day and some innings. Thaty should cover them through the stretch put Caleb in the bullpen where he can harness his stuff and be ready to start next year.

ranger_lp said...

And because we still have high priced veterans on our roster, we keep giving up Rule 5 players. This backlog in the OF is killing us. We can't even do a reset on Ellsbury like Boston did with Sandoval because we can never admit a mistake on the payroll ledger. I feel your pain man...

Anonymous said...

I JUST SAW A BEAT WRITER TWEET,

"WITH JUDGE, CLINT FRAZIER, AARON HICKS, GARDNER, ELLSBURY, DUSTIN FOWLER, AND POTENTIALLY BRYCE HARPER ON THE HORIZON, WHAT'S THE PROBLEM TRADING A LOW A OUTFIELDER?"

THE GUY IS RIGHT.

CALM DOWN GUYS.

IF CASHMAN GIVES UP FLORIAL, AND MATEO FOR GRAY REMEMBER THIS.

FLORIAL WON'T BE IN OUR OUTFIELD OF THE FUTURE.

MATEO WON'T BE IN OUR INFIELD OF THE FUTURE.

THEY ARE ROADBLOCKED, LUCKILY WITH A LOT OF YOUNG TALENT.

WE NEED QUALITY STARTERS. (NOT JAIME GARCIA TYPES).

CASHMAN ALWAYS MISSES THE MARK IN HIS TRADES, ESPECIALLY WITH PITCHING.

....BUT LETS HUNKER DOWN AND WAIT...... I WANT GRAY OR DARVISH.....BUT LIKE DUQUE AND ALPHONSO, I DON'T WANT TO GET RAPED DOING IT.

AND HERE'S TO YOU MR. CASHMAN, OUR NATION TURNS IT'S LONELY EYES TO YOU.

KD said...

Blocked by Ellsbury... what a sad fate!!

I'm Bill White said...

Anthony Scaramucci still has an hour to be hired as Yankees Comm Director before the trade deadline.

Anonymous said...

HAHAHAHA...GOOD STUFF BILL WHITE

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