Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Will the Yankees keep the wrong Frazier?

Everyone knows the Yankees last week pulled off an incredible bank heist in swiping Gioncarlo Stanton from Derek Jeter, with or without the gift basket. Unfortunately, now comes the hard part:

Laundering the money.


Yesterday, they cleaned $13 million by dispatching Chase Headley back to San Diego. Sadly, to do this, they had to add a serviceable young arm, Bryan Mitchell, to the bundle. Now... with Headley and Starlin Castro disappeared, Cooperstown Cashman has effectively washed $22 million from next year's payroll. The Mafia would be envious. But the big purge - Jacoby Ellsbury's $22 million per season - is yet to come. And there is no Maytag large enough to handle it.

Today's grapevine of the Gammonites - via George King of the NY Post - suggests that, for the Yankees to jettison Jacoby, we might have to add Clint Frazier to the pot. 

You know what I think of that? Blaughhhh. I just puked on my keyboard. To vanish the Chief - a solid center fielder who could easily be the MLB Comeback Player of 2018 - we'd have to include a rising slugger like Frazier? Pardon me. Blauuugh. Frazier remains one of the Yankees' most intriguing young players - a larger than life personality, a potential star - and we're supposed to turn him into the spoonful of sugar so another team can swallow Ellsbury? No fukking way... No, no, no... blauggh!

I get it that baseball has become the upside-down, and that bad contracts now overwhelm even great players. And with Stanton aboard, the Yankees now possess perhaps the two worst contracts in Major League Baseball, if not all of professional sports. That's okay; we're a big, wallowing Death Star. We can handle boondoggles - as long as we don't do something incredibly stupid... which brings me to another gem currently circulating on George King's terror wire: 

That Cashman is considering signing Todd Frazier.

Yep, the young Frazier would go, and the old one would return. Seriously, can you feel the hope draining from your system? Sure, the Toddfather is a sweetheart, and he loved being a Yankee, and he wants to play close to his Jersey home - but he hit .212 - Chris Carter territory, and when the music stops on his deal, mark these words: We will be adding a decent prospect just to coax some other team to take him off our sweaty little hands.

Expensive veterans are baseball's version of the outmoded Hewitt Packard desktop: To get rid of it, you must pay a recycling fee.

Worse, Cashman is supposedly looking for a veteran 2B to "anchor" the infield. That's "anchor" - as in "immovable." Will the Yankees suddenly ditch a youth movement that brought us Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino and Greg Bird, and return to the ways of 2010-2016... the good ole days of Pronk and Soriano? If we sign the Toddfather, that means Miguel Andujar rots in Scranton, until - of course - he becomes the sweetener to deal another bad contract. And will we sign some ghost of Stephen Drew to handle second-base? Will we turn to stopgap veterans, as we did last spring with Carter. Wow. Can you feel the excitement draining? Let's bring Brian Roberts out of retirement!

Yeah, I recognize that Andujar and Glyber Torres - the seeming heir apparent at second base - are no sure things. Neither was Aaron Judge last spring. In fact, on the final weekend of March, the Yankees were debating whether to send him back to Scranton for more seasoning. (Imagine this, for a moment: Disillusioned and depressed, Judge might have slumped in Triple A, and who knows where we would be now?) Part of what made the Stanton heist so exciting was the notion that the 2018 Yankees would be a mix of established and rising stars - the returning sluggers plus the youth of Glyber, Clint, Andujar, Chance Adams and Justus Sheffield. Now, suddenly, we're actually thinking of trading Clint Frazier merely to launder Ellsbury's contract? Wow. Now there's a grim foreshadowing of the day when Stanton starts to degrade, and we're still on the dime for $100 million.

I've said this before, and I realize it's not a popular sentiment: If the Yankees must eat Ellsbury's contract, then grab the fukkin fork and start chewing. And if we're not willing to do that, then Cashman has to do something equally odious: Grit his teeth, keep the Chief, and trade Brett Gardner instead. We must not trade prospects. The rebuild isn't over. This isn't about 2018. It's about the next 10 years. We are not the Houston Astros, looking at a one-and-done. Let's keep the right Frazier.

47 comments:

Cketis Boyer said...

Keep Clint. So obvious. Todd Frazier's batting average tells it all.

Bobby Richardson said...

Cash, you need a veteran to anchor 2B for a couple of months while Gleyber T preps? Give me a call down here in South Carolina.

Todd Frazier said...

You don't need pitching. You need a cheerleader. Sign me. I posture nicely.

Cletis Boyer said...

So pissed off at Cooperstown Cashman I can't even spell my name right.

Todd Frazier said...

Furthermore, I can show the rookies how to cock their batting helmets so stylishly it doesn't matter when you strike out (as I do frequently).

Manny Machado said...

Get lost, Todd Frazier. The Yanks need ME at tbe Hot Corner, where I can flaunt my petulance and enormous ego on the Big Stage.

Anonymous said...

I'm more confident in Erik Kratz & Jabari Blash than in Todd Frazier.

Anonymous said...


No more Waiting For Mr. Gleybar. It's time to play the kids. Also I think Andujar's offense will outweigh his learning curve on D. Plus if his batting eye is as good as I think it is his nickname can be Walking Andujar.

Sorry. I know puns are a cheap form of humor but I'm up at 5AM again.

I don't know what to do with Clint Frazier. Too bad he's not a CF. Not really a big Hicks fan. (A Hickey?) I think he's my new least favorite Yankee (Romaine doesn't count.) and even Hicks would be OK with me if he could sustain, I just don't think he can.

and last... Jacoby has to go. Eat 75% of the contract and get on with it. A 22 million dollar pinch runner. Zey Gazunt.

Doug K.

13bit said...

Stanton deal leads to the Law of Unintended Consequences. Cash is no chess player. Pass the Fritos, Frodo, sit back and watch the toilet flush.

Anonymous said...

I WOULD LOVE TO KEEP CLINT.

THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT HIM.....AT 23, HE ALREADY HAD SOME BIG CLUTCH HITS AND A HUGE WALK OFF HOMER.... AND HE SURE LOOKED LIKE HE BELONGED WITH THE OTHER "BABY BOMBERS" DURING THAT GAME WINNING CELEBRATION.

PROBLEM IS.....

THERE IS NOWHERE TO PUT HIM.

GARDY, ELLS, AND HICKS ARE BLOCKING HIM.

REALISTICALLY, HE IS THE 6TH OUTFIELDER.

EVEN IF ONE OF THOSE 3 ARE DEALT, CLINT IS STILL BLOCKED.

THE REAL MONKEY WRENCH HERE IS COOPERSTOWN CASHMAN'S UNDYING ALLEGIANCE TO AARON HICKS.

HEY, AFTER LAST SEASON, HICKS DESERVES ANOTHER LONG LOOK....

......BUT I AM STILL NOT SOLD, BECAUSE YEAR ONE WITH US WAS SO BAD, I STILL HAVE A ROTTEN TASTE IN MY MOUTH ABOUT HIM.

SORRY TO SAY, I SEE CLINT GOING IN A DEAL, AND VERY SOON.....HE OUGHT TO BE ABLE TO BRING US A SOLID STARTER.

HOPEFULLY, HE IS DEALT TO AN NL TEAM (EXCLUDING THE METS) WHERE HE CAN'T TORTURE US WITH HIS LONG RED HAIR AND BEARD.

ALPHONSO MAY BE PROPHETIC ON CLINT.

HE CALLED IT LONG AGO.

Anonymous said...

BTW, DID I SAY,

"OH HAPPY DAY!" YET?

NO MORE HEADLEY!!!

OH HAPPY DAY!!!!

Anonymous said...

So Aaron Boone thinks Andujar needs more time at AAA? What the hell do you know, Booney? You haven't managed in OB for a solitary minute. Aaron Boone is the dumbell who forfeited a Yankee career because he violated his contract to play a little pickup basketball in the off-season. Yeah. That's smart. Should have hired Bam Bam, Hal.

Aaron Boone, future HOFer said...

Player-manager! 3rd is mine, Andujar.

13bit said...

Boone will provide much grist for the IIHIIF mill - unfortunately - this coming season. An amateur and a puppet.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Now this I agree with you guys on, Duque.

Judging from history, this is the moment of maximum danger when, riding high, Coops gets carried away and does something really stupid.

What I worry about most is some idiotic, C. Frazier-for-Cole/Fulmer/Corbin trade. (Of those, Fulmer would be the least awful option. But still.)

The good news is that Manny wants to play SS and breaks the salary cap, so he's unlikely (for now). T. Frazier is supposedly holding out for a multi-year deal (maybe a massive twitter campaign to TF, urging him to stand firm for 3 years? Or one for the Wilpons, telling them how signing TF would really screw over the Yankees?)

The bad news is that CC is supposedly negotiating with other teams, and wants more than one year.

I find this more than a little annoying, considering the 32 wins he gave us for $94 mill, plus missing the 2015 postseason with alcohol problems, 2013-16. His knee isn't worth the risk for 2 or more years, and he should at least have a little gratitude for the Yanks sticking with him.

What I'd love to see happen?

Throw caution to the winds. Plant Torres on second and Andujar on third. Eat what you have to of that Ellsbury salary, and open the air lock. Try to keep Gardner as a nice back-up. Try C. Frazier in center (hey, he's young), and/or play him all around the outfield, constantly, as you judiciously give the Twin Towers days to rest or DH. (I'd say you have to keep Hicks, at least for the time being.)

Take a shot with the young pitchers, now! Install Chance Adams as the no. 5 pitcher, or maybe even Sheffield as the no. 6. There are others right behind them, and you have Warren if all else fails. Don't give in!

HoraceClarke66 said...

Besides, if it all fails, you can probably try to go get Manny in 2019. Or what Boras calls, "The Three Tenors," a Judge-Harper-Stanton outfield.

Be still my heart!

Alphonso said...

I fear it has always been true.

The danger has lurked beneath the surface like a great white shark.

Everyone please stay out of the sea.

Play in the pool and keep Clint alive.

Why do I feel this has already happened?

JM said...

Gardy is pretty old. Ells is pretty old. Hicks is getting realy old for a Mr. Potential guy.

So realistically, after a couple of years we'll have Judge and Stanton. And who?

The depth chart isn't so hot if we get rid of young guys ready to prove themselves. The hired gun carousel would just start spinning. First up would be Harper, yet another right fielder. Maybe we could play Judge, Stanton and Harper together in right, and leave the rest of the outfield empty.

We need Frazier and Cave, and we need them to come through. Otherwise, the merry go round of the 90s starts all over again.

At least somebody else will have to suffer with Pineda. Another Mr. Potential. And Mitchell was pretty much terrible, no great loss there.

Aaron Fucking Boone. Ya gotta be kidding me.

Stang said...

You prospect huggers make me sick.

You know who else likes 'em young?

Roy Moore.

Parson Tom said...

this is all happening too fast. as ALLCAPS said, we haven't had time to celebrate the disposal of the Talented Mr. Headley (hat tip to Doug K for Waiting for Mr. Gleyber). That is what we should be talking about and enjoying, not the idea of getting rid of C Frazier in order to give the Jacobin his freedom.

Cashman, as usual, is too clever by half.

The better, simpler solutions have all been discussed here:
Get rid of Gardy, with much sadness, and keep Ells or
Cut Ells and pay his salary

As for 3B, sure, bring back the Toddfather on a one-year contract, but if Torres and/or Andujar show that they are ready to go, he sits or gets DFA.

These are easy choices. If you have a guy like C Frazier, you hang onto him. He's going to be a very good MLB player. No more Willie McGees, Fred McGriffs, Doug Drabeks ad infinitum. I know these references identify me as a trauma victim of the '80s, but as Santayana said, sort of, we don't want to make the same mistakes twice.

Parson Tom said...

multi-year contract for Todd Frazier? BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Hal S said...

HoraceClark66; xlnt formula. You are hired.

The Ghost of Yankees Past said...

Trading Clint Frazier as the key give up for a young proven ,middle of the rotation starter ,makes sense. Moving him to help unload Jacoby makes no sense and sounds like the musing of a sports writer who has been drinking too much sterno.

The only living boy in Wishaw said...

I fear the worst.

I see lots of prospects being traded away and coming back to haunt the Yankees.

Leinstery said...

Short answer; most likely.

We have bigger problems

https://nypost.com/2017/12/13/yankees-engage-diamondbacks-on-ideal-infield-fit/

Someone, for the love of God smash his phone. Anyone here work for AT&T or other communications providers? Cut off his service. MAKE HIM STOP!

Anonymous said...

Some one needs to congratulate coops Cashman on a job well done and cut off phone service or call him back to jump off another building before he outsmarts himself and does something STUPID.

BFG

Anonymous said...

Cash, you do NOT need infielders. You need bad ass starting pitching. So simple.

Timothy Leary said...

Must be the first time that Cashman has taken LSD.

Urban Farmer formerly known as DutchFan said...

Knowing full well I have absolutely nothing to add to all the wisdom and wise cracks already on display here, I would like to add something.

The problem is, I have no clue as to what I might say.

And that I would like to add.
Thank you

HoraceClarke66 said...

Aargh! We don't need a dreary Drury!

Parson Tom, as usual, you are right on the money (alway trust the clergy). I am still traumatized by those 1980s deals, too.

Meanwhile, it could be worse.

Beneath that same Post story is the headline, "Mets will have to convince Kinsler to accept trade."

Yes, it's come to that. The Mets will have to convince a .233 hitter to accept a deal. From Detroit.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Isn't this great? I feel as if we are the Greek chorus to a tragedy. Or maybe Sweeney Todd:

Inconspicuous, Cashman was
Quick and quiet and clean, he was
Back of his smile, under his word
Cashie heard music that nobody heard

Cashman pondered and Cashman planned
Like a perfect machine, he planned
Cashie was smooth, Cashie was subtle
Cashie would blink, and rats would scuttle

He served a dark and a vengeful god
What happened then, well, that's the play
And he wouldn't want us to give it away...

KEN ROSENTHAL said...

A public letter to Todd Frazier (and by implication those who have been mocking him on this irreverent and malicious blog): Todd Frazier, you deserve nothing less than a 10-year deal. It's not just the HR threat you pose, but also the elegant strike outs, the hustle you exhibit running out the many DPs you start, the way you mug for live TV coverage, the macho technique when you spit. If the Yankees do not offer you a 10-year deal, snub them.

HoraceClarke66 said...

You know, I think the Mets might really have a breakthrough season again this year. And what they need above all is The Man from Tom's River, to serve as their Jersey ambassador.

I think Todd ought to seriously consider taking less money for more years out in Queens. The future is limitless there. And hey, you can see jets up close, right from the field!

Buhner's Ghost said...

Looking for veteran leadership at 2B? Why not bring back Robinson Cano? The Mariners just picked up 2B Dee Gordon, just 29, making Robbie expendable. Moving Gordon to 2B creates space in the OF for Ellsbury. Throw in some prospects and it's a win-win for the M's, Yankees and Joggie!

Stang said...

NICE TRY, BUHNER'S GHOST

Anonymous said...

DID I HEAR THE METS GAVE ANTHONY SWARZAK $14 MILLION DOLLARS FOR 2 YEARS?????

WTF!!!

ARE THEY FUCKING NUTS OR WHAT?

THAT IS UNBELIEVABLE, I DON'T CARE WHAT HE DID LAST YEAR.

GOTTA LOVE THOSE METSIES!

.....AND I HAVE A FRIEND WHO KEEPS INSISTING TO ME SANDY ALDERSON IS BY FAR THE BEST GM IN THE BUSINESS!

GOTTA LOVE THOSE MET FANS TOO!

13bit said...

Cashman inherited a team that led to a dynasty.
He then bought another team that won the last series for King George.
He then presided over a series of catastrophic trades, deals and swindles - and I'm not about Swindals here -
which led to years of suck-itude and constipated situations where we could not unload our tubs of lard for any amount.
He then seemed to be a different guy last year - his walk year - and hewed the party line of "must get under luxury tax, must get under luxury tax" and then his untreated crack addiction kicked in again, so he mortgaged off the future for a big fix, was told he was a genius, and is now in the process of re-creating the 2005 Yankees.
It's only a matter of time before he trades Judge for a pitcher, brings A-Rod back to DH, and undoes everything else that happened last year, the year of unintentional youth movement.

I'm not worried, though, because future Manager of the Year Aaron Boone is going to make everything work.
I'm not a pessimistic, negative, paranoid guy. I'm just a Yankees fan who has seen too much.

HoraceClarke66 said...

"A great pitcher
We haven't got
A great hitter
We haven't got
Whatta we got?
We got Swaaaarrrzaaakkkk!"

"Commodore, the deck chairs are all arranged in perfect order!"
"Excellent, Captain Alderson! Now, full-speed ahead into that iceberg!"

Anonymous said...

I didn't know Cashman was a crack addict. Well, that explains that.

Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside said...

Ok so how to you explain this: https://nypost.com/2017/12/13/yankees-accidentally-helped-todd-fraziers-market-value/

Is the article a plant to get other teams to take Frazier, or a plant to make us not arrive at Yankee stadium with pitchforks when they sign him?

All we do know is what Trump knows... dat shit is fake news.

Anonymous said...

LEINSTERY HAS THE BEST STRATEGY....

SMASH COOPERSTOWN'S PHONE'S....

NOW.

THE LANDLINE AND CELL.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Oh, I hope it's true! Yeah, Mets, go get him! He's perfect for you!

Also, the Mets are all the more desperate because while they were signing Swarzak the Magnificent (snort, giggle), Ian Kinsler got (or ran) away.

Mr. Wilpon, the Mets cannot have a third-base gap! Sign, Todd! Sign, Todd! Stick it in the Yankees' eye!

HoraceClarke66 said...

And yeah, the Twins signed Pineda. Two years, $10 mill.

Well, he's the sort of guy who will probably do better up there, with no pressure. Good riddance.

Meanwhile, YES is reporting that CC needs an offer from the Yanks that shows respect for him; quite possibly, that's two years.

So, the Yanks have paid this guy over $205 million, put a ring on his finger, and stuck with him through his alcohol rehab at the start of the playoffs, in exchange for 13 wins a year (8 wins a year over the last four seasons). And he needs respect? He needs an extra year?

Hey, I love CC. He was the right guy at the right time, and it was a mutual exchange in 2009: no way we're winning that Series without CC.

But he's also a guy who managed all of 27 starts, at an average of 5.5 innings per start last year. Because he can't keep himself in shape, and his knee is always a threat to go at any moment.

And he wants an extra year?

He wants "respect?"

Screw it. Sign Cobb or Darvish, one of the free agents, or just go with the kids. Who needs this?

KD said...

I feel there is something between CC and the Yanks that we don't see. why would an elite athlete decide he just HAD to check in to rehab right before THE BIGGEST GAME OF THE SEASON? It couldn't wait a week? He couldn't have checked in the month earlier? It HAD to be at that time? No, something smells fishy here. Something happened and the Yanks forced CC out of the post season and allowed the face saving cover of a rehab stint. The YES men covered, as they always do, and the gullible fans feel rain when getting their legs pissed on. Am I the only one to smell a rat?

Alphonso said...

Not for nuthin', but this post must set the all time, off-season , record for responses/reactions.

And, therefore, we can only all be wrong.

Anonymous said...

We lost Mike Ford! The future Iron Horse of the Yankees, stolen by Joggie and Gamel. For shame...

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