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Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Dellin Betances is lucky to be on this Yankee team

When you read, "Betances made an appearance last night," it means:

1. The Yankees were way ahead.

2. The Yankees were way behind.

3. The ghost of Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde showed up in Aaron Boone's dreams.

Last night, Dellin Betances appeared - rattling chains and going bump in the Yankiverse - and thankfully, it was due to a). And with due respect to Mr. Gehrig, Dellin should consider himself-self, the luckiest-iest, man-an, on the face-ace, of the earth-rth... because this is a Yankee lineup of blowouts and bombings, the only team outside of Scranton for which he now can pitch. Time is running out on the month-long Betances intervention. We can't do this forever.

Last night brought another mini-meltdown, one that - though conveniently forgotten in the final score - leaves exposed a fragile psyche that cannot be ignored. It's painfully clear that that the Betances we once knew - the monster who terrorized batters and made all-star teams - has become the exploding cigar in a pile of Havanas. We now see a Dellin who is always one pitch away from imploding, who cannot hold runners, who cannot throw to first, and who cannot be brought into a game without a replacement warming in the pen. We can do this in April. I'm not sure we can in May.

Thus far in 2018, the Yankees have seen several players - Giancarlo, the most famous of them - with adjustment issues. But there is a difference between a welcome-to-NY slump and someone going full-tilt, Glenn Close-bunny-boiling-psycho - as Betances has done repeatedly. He has sandwiched solid outings with stinkers, where everything abruptly goes south. Clearly, Boone is trying to bring him along, and there is wisdom in patience, I suppose. Betances had thrown two straight scoreless outings in a row... reason for hope... before last night.

At some point, the Yankees must call the cards: Put Betances on the DL, send him to Tampa to work with a pitching coach and a shrink, and come back on a rehab assignment. I don't know the paperwork involved with rehabilitating a pitcher with a tweaked psychological gonad, but Betances needs a reset button. If the Yankees cannot give him one, it may have to come with another franchise. Right now, no lead is truly safe with Betances on the mound, and that is a terrifying reality.

Listen: We all want this guy to succeed. He's a lifelong Yankees. He's only 30. Physically, he has three to four years left. Mentally, though... yeesh. Something is broken. We can't do this all season.

14 comments:

Joe Formerlyof Brooklyn said...


Diagnosis: Knoblauch Disease

Suggested Treatment: Move him to Left Field.

.....deep, deeeeeeep left field. Maybe the upper deck?

JM said...

Trade him to a club whose pitching coach thinks he can "straighten him out" because, after all, he "has great stuff."

The Ghost of Yankees Past said...

Lol, “ the exploding cigar in a pile of Havanas “ . Sad but true. A month in Tampa / Scranton with Dr Bob Rotella might not be a bad idea.

KD said...

Sadly, it appears that *gulp* Randy Levine was right about this guy.

Never thought I'd write such words but ya gotta give the devil his due.

Since that time Toonces has only gotten worse. As a smarty on this blog wrote, he's got Chuck Knoblauch Disease. There's no coming back from that. I expect to hear of him living under a highway overpass somewhere outside Waco in about 10 years. (I note that our Leader has resisted calling "Betances" by his well-earned moniker bestowed by a wage on this blog. You are a kind-hearted gentleman, Mr. duque. Me? not so much. He is Toonces now and forevermore.)

Anonymous said...

TO ME, IT SEEMS LIKE WHEN ANY PLAYER WHETHER IT IS A PITCHER, OR AN EVERYDAY PLAYER, HAS THIS TYPE OF MENTAL BLOCK, THEY NEVER RECOVER.

STEVE BLASS
CHUCK KNOBLAUCH
STEVE SAX
MACKEY SASSER
RICK ANKIEL

SORRY TO SAY, I THINK HE IS FINISHED.

FELT BAD FOR HIM (AND US) AS HE WALKED INTO THE RUNWAY AFTER BEING BOOED LAST NIGHT.

MR.DUQUE'S SUGGESTION ABOUT DL AND REHAB IN MINOR LEAGUE BALL IS A GOOD ONE, AND LOOKS LIKE THAT IS ALL WE CAN HOPE FOR NOW WITH HIM.

IT IS A SHAME, ON TOP OF THE FACT....WE NEED HIM.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Love Duque's imitation of the sound system on Lou Gehrig Day!!

Yeah, it does look bad. On the other hand, we need somebody to mop up. Maybe that's what he's suited for until he gets his head together?

It's a shame—but Scranton worries me more.

Carl J. Weitz said...

I have a better name for him: "Loony Toonces".

It's time to send him back to Scranton and let him work his way back after a couple of months. Perhaps include a psych evaluation and follow-up treatment. I'm not being mean, just honest. There is something wrong with him and it is not physical. Do that soon and it could pay dividends come playoff time. The status quo will achieve nothing positive.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Love "Loony Toonces"!

Question is, though, will a psych evaluation and send down just further humiliate and depress him?

If only the Yanks could get some kind of shrink to work with him quietly, in New York or on the road. Sports shrinks must be a specialty, no?

Local Bargain Jerk said...


Sports shrinks must be a specialty, no?

Does anyone else remember an episode of the original Bob Newhart Show where Dr. Hartley took on a catcher for the Cubs as a patient in his psychology practice?

The humor on the show -- somewhat similar to Green Acres -- revolved around the central character (Bob) trying to maintain his sanity while the rest of his world (i.e., therapy group members, neighbor Howard, wife, the other doctors in the office, etc.) floated in and out either perpetuating some bit of lunacy or harping on different takes on the same joke.

In this episode, everyone kept questioning why Bob would take the Cubs player on as a patient because they maintained he was "a bum". Bob would patiently explain that each of his patients are different, have unique needs and challenges, etc., and to categorize any of them as "a bum" was insensitive, etc.

Almost needless to say, at the end of the episode, Bob and Emily were in bed watching a Cubs game on TV. Bob's patient, the catcher, struck out in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded. Bob leapt across the bed in his pajamas and screamed in his close-to-a-teenage-boy's-cracking-voice, "You Bum!".

He then said, with wonder in his voice, "I just called my own patient a bum."

I thought of that episode a lot during Knoblauch's later years with us.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Hilarious, LBJ! I don't remember that episode, but you have nailed the show. It was really a rather sneakily, politically incorrect series, in which you could practically hear psychiatrist Bob thinking, 'What a nut job!' about his patients, who were shown to be incorrigible (though harmless) lunatics indeed.

It's what fandom always drives us to, particularly in this age of the big money. I feel very bad for Dellin, the person—but my only contact is with Dellin, the ballplayer, who I happen to know makes over $5 million a year, but can never get out there and just pitch.

Alphonso said...

Duque thinks every ailment can be solved on the couch.

And he is right about that.

Local Bargain Jerk said...


If by "on the couch" he means "in a bar", I agree.

13bit said...

How about a MMA cage match between Dellin and Randy Levine?

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