Why the Yankees drive their fans crazy: From today's Gray Lady... Exhibit A.
This is nuts. We beat Boston with a staple gun, go to sleep, dream of unicorns, wake up safe - no asteroid, no super-volcano, no nuke war - to find this: A Gammonitic story suggesting that Miguel Andujar will be traded for another one of those mythological "young power arms" that only exist in Brian Cashman's Ambien-driven wet dreams.
Says Billy Witz this morning:
So, it stands that to get an elite pitcher — Jacob deGrom or Noah Syndergaard, if the Mets don’t quiver — the Yankees may have to part with a prospect, perhaps two, who may haunt Cashman for years. At the top of the list could be the rookie third baseman Miguel Andujar...
GAAAAAAAAAAAAA. This is nuts. Can't we enjoy one victory - just one? - without a spasm of Cashmanic diarrhea? It's bad enough that the Yankees seem to be talking themselves into trading Clint Frazier, but now we get speculation on throwing Andujar into the pool, as well? GAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
First, a trade with the Mets would raise the stakes far higher than the Yankees need. No way would they trade deGrom or Syndergaard across town unless the deal is so top-heavy with young talent that it crushes our future in ways we cannot comprehend. Yes, the Mets may be idiots, but they're not morons. The price would be insane. Why would the Yankees rip up their best young lineup since 1996 - jeopardizing their future - for pitchers of questionable durability - (See Harvey: Matt.)
Okay, I'm a prospect-hugger. So shoot me. I get it that the Yankees should do something between now and Aug. 1. Several promising players can be dangled in talks, without giving up our 3B for the next decade. For example:
Billy McKinney, 23, 11 HRs at Scranton, lefty OF blocked in NY.
Tyler Wade, 23, .271 at Scranton (rebounding from deep slump), SS-utility blocked by Didi and Ronald Torreyes, et al.
Brandon Drury, 25, .306 at Scranton, 3B-2B now blocked by Andujar/Torres.
Abiatal Avelino, 23, .341 at Trenton, SS, having breakout season, but blocked.
Kyle Holder, 24, .344 in small sample at Tampa, former first-rounder, great glove SS, impressed in spring training but was hurt; now blocked at SS.
Okay, you don't get somethin' for nothin'. But these are viable prospects, capable of bringing a Happ or a Hamels, or some other third starter. We do not need to deal Justus Sheffield, Andujar and/or Frazier for the next Sonny Gray, and suddenly turn a bright future into a side trip down Javier Vazquez Boulevard.
There's another thing going on here, and it's worth taking a pill over. Trading Andujar would almost lock the Yankees into dropping $400 million on Manny Machado next winter - and returning to their old, tired, bloated, Steinbrennerian ways. Within two years, we could be floating the largest payroll barge in baseball, a team of underachieving stars, ever-floundering, while the Mets recapture NYC. Look, I'm not opposed to signing Machado - Hal's gotta spend the money somewhere - but if we must trade a kid like Andujar, we'll have a lot more leverage next winter, when it's not a such a seller's market.
Of course, Cashman is gonna do what Cashman is gonna do. But we are not powerless.
If Cashman trades Clint Frazier, we must mobilize. When someone sees him in a restaurant, we will gather at the front door and chant, "SHAME, SHAME, SHAME!" And at night, we will meet outside his house and play recordings of Alphonso shrieking from the pain of having Sheffield ripped from his loving hands, as we chant, "NO JUSTUS, NO SLEEP... NO JUSTUS, NO SLEEP!"
Big Yankee win last night. Can't we just enjoy it?
Posts
22 comments:
Off-topic: Duya think the presence of Drury in the dugout helped Bird to realize his potential on Friday night?
If so, and they trade Drury -- perhaps they can leave a photo of the guy in Bird's locker.....?
BLP.
CASHMAN, YOU SUCK! CASHMAN, YOU SUCK! CASHMAN, YOU SUCK!
Benedícat vos omnípotens Ruthus, et Scooter, et Mantleus, et Spíritus Jeterus.
So endeth the JuJu.
There's a depressing quote from Manager Boone in the NY Post concerning Sonny Gray's start today:
“Hopefully Sonny will continue to build on the momentum we feel he’s started to
build over the last month,” Boone said.
You don't need to be a baseball insider to know this translates to:
“Hopefully Sonny won't suck as much as he has over the last month.
Hopefully Sunny won't slam his own scrotum in a car door. Like a really big heavy door. Like on a full size SUV. Because that would be terrible.
el duque, good list on who we should be willing to trade for a starting pitcher. My no trade list ( excluding pitchers) is Judge ,Andujar, Sanchez, Torres. I would not like to trade DiDi , but we could move Torres to SS. It is his natural position. Also Frazier is someone we should keep as he is Gardner’s replacement in left. But if we had to package one of them ( moslikely Frazier ) for a top end starter like Syndergaard or Bumgarner ( if he is healthy) we would need to seriously consider if. For the next tier of pitchers down, I am not sure there is much I would want. Maybe a good deal on a rental of Cole Hamels. He is on the downslide but could help short term. All I would consider giving for him is some fair package from the list you developed .
this is insane. the sell-by-date on pitchers is almost always expired when the Yankees make a move. exceptions are Mussina and Sabathia, which shows that it's a once-a-decade phenomenon when it works out. I agree duque that that article was dispiriting. sports writers are enablers for stupidity, always claiming that the fans are clamoring for the move that will get the Yankees over the top. Really? I doubt they ever talk to fans. they talk to each other and pray that Cashman will stop to talk to them next time he's shaking it out in the next urinal.
the Yankees management has always been paralyzed by fear at the idea of bringing up young pitchers. But German and Loaisaga have been gamers, better than GraySunny, in fact. do what KC and Minny and all the rest of them do: Keep bringing up the kids. Give them a shot. We've got the best record in baseball, the best bullpen and, allegedly, one of the best offenses. The team can afford to play around with a few young pitchers, see what they can do. Hold onto the talent, like AnDUjar and the rest of them. Forget about Machado. It's more fun rooting for kids than someone making movie money.
I think the past has shown that speculation in the press about what Cashman is going to do is meaningless. They never get it right. So this is just guys selling papers, imo. (Though Duque's point about the guys who are backed up at Scranton is well taken. They might deserve to be traded, just so they get a chance to play in the bigs, as they should.)
As for Horace's "hot" post, I'm not worried by the Sox. At. All. When Bird hits two dingers (nearly doubling his power output for the year in the process), and Andujar cranks one, and CC continues an incredible run for a giant, overweight, old pitcher (hell, it's a heck of a run for a small, slim, young pitcher), you can see that even if we don't sweep the Sox--though we might--we can take both them and the division this year. I mean, Drury is back. All we have to do is get rid of Walker and we're solid.
I still maintain that all of this hand wringing about pitching is a waste of energy. I'm completely in Parson Tom's camp. Don't trade anybody for anybody. Just keep bringing up the kids and see what they can do. For all we know, German and Lasagna or Sheffield are Jim Boutons-in-waiting, the young phenom who takes the team over the hump and helps them get a ring.
Boston's group of rising stars is impressive, but ours are more numerous and even more impressive as a group. Maybe Bird is turning it around, Andujar and Torres have had their slumps which, as slumps go, weren't anywhere near as bad as Didi's and Sanchez's, Judge will be fine. I'm finally thinking Stanton will cram a great season into the last few months.
Cashman--not any actual member of the team--is the wild card. If he can restrain himself (which seems unlikely, but you never know), I think the team we need to win it all is already here. Maybe we don't make it, maybe we do. There's a certain amount of magic involved when you have a bunch of young guys on the field and a couple of old hands keeping them on the straight and narrow. It's not just about numbers or even talent. Like every endeavor, baseball at this high level is decided by intangibles: the ability to gut it out over a long season, keeping your focus, having fun, having each others' backs, coming through when by most accounts you shouldn't.
That's how you win it all. And we can do it without any stupid trade.
Coops should ask for a player they're desperate to get rid of...Jay Bruce. Then he won't have to give up as much. Then just cut him.
Agreed. The team has basically been carried by its pitching for a month, so what are we trying to do? Trade for pitching. We have a great game against a terrific team—and we're talking deals. Oy.
Duque, any combination of the "secondary" trade guys you list would make the Mets at least 100 percent better. And again, why are we even talking about the likes of Andujar? WE'RE supposed to be the team operating from a position of strength, not the team that's had a 5-20 June and has no future as constituted.
Parson Tom, great points—and add to them the fact that CC and Mussina were both free agents. No need to give up a player for them. Which is why it might make sense to take a flier on Patrick Corbin this off-season. But do NOT surrender players!
By the by, the rumors make Sonny's start tonight all the more important. A terrific start would damp down the trade rumors considerably.
And you're very right about the writers, too, Parson Tom. These rumor-mongering Knights of the Press Box are just lazy, bored fools, trying to generate news by talking to each other. They haven't stepped down down in the stands in a decade, if ever.
And don't forget; Tanaka is already soft tossing in a rubber room.
Trade no one. Just offer money.
I can't believe the sports writer didn't line-up Judge, Andujar, Torres and Sanchez for a tradeMaybe we could get a guy scheduled for Tommy John. What a genius.
Duque is right. Cashman has already said, " I have to live in this town."
Here's my concern: Why HASN'T Cashman precluded a trade of Andujar and/or Frazier as unambiguously as he has for Torres? The problem with Cashman--one of many--is that he's susceptible to a critical mass of groupthink: if enough stupid people--callers and hosts on WFAN, Michael Kay and Sterling, daily sportswriters--keep banging the drums calling for a trade of Andujar/Frazier for a 35-year-old pitcher, or one who is clearly no better than Loisiga or German but who has more mileage on his arm than a ten-year-old Greyhound Bus and already one arm surgery (de Grom), then the Yankee GM will grow weak in the knee as he ponders his image in the eyes of hoi dumbass polloi, and will, like the moth drawn to the flame, do the irreversible, stupid, obvious thing.
Proper case anon- John Sterling has never banged the drum for trading Andujar. You’ve been banned for the next ten minutes due to your error.
Another point here: Tampa Bay, as they often have in the past, is pointing the way to the future with their use of "openers" and rotating pitcher WITHIN a game to maximize effectiveness (batters don't get to see them a second or third time) and prolong careers. I recall watching Brian Kenny interviewing Bill James on the MLB Network five or six years ago, and this was the topic of discussion: the idea of parceling out innings among the staff rather than relying on the traditional starter/reliever template of days of yore. James was so sure that this was the rational approach that he predicted that it would become a commonplace within ten years--and it looks like he was right, given the success of the Tampa Bay experiment (they have the lowest ERA in the league since they inaugurated this policy).
Give all the foregoing, WHY THE FUCK is Cashman pinning the Yankees' hopes for this season and future seasons on the outmoded paradigm of the "big-time" starter rather than aiming for overall balance in the pitching staff--balance and YOUTH as opposed to high-mileage, fragile, overused big-name arms that are accidents waiting to happen (Sonny Gray or Jaime Garcia, anyone?). In brief: can't the Yankees hire a GM with a slightly higher baseball IQ?
Beauregard--
Oh please--Sterling hasn't banged the drum for that SPECIFICALLY, but he and Susan do keep banging the drum for some such trade on their pregame extravaganza--either through specific advocacy or relentless recycling of the inevitability of such a move (and certainly Kay is even more egregiously guilty of this editorializing), and they routinely emit torrents of treacly joy at every move Cashman makes or contemplates. Sterling is like a nonstop industrial machine of traditional baseball stupidity. SO YOU are banned for ten minutes for missing the point on this.
Today in the Daily News John Harper proposes:
Syndergaard to the Yankees for Brandon Drury, Estevan Florial, Justus Sheffield, and Tyler Wade.
He's making it up but if it were possible I do this one. Sheffield at best becomes Sydergaard, Drury is superfluous, (although I like him as Golden Zobrist), Florial is years away, and Wade doesn't move the needle.
Picture...
Sevi
Snydergaard
CC
Tanaka
as our playoff starters as opposed to
Sevi
CC
Tanaka
Gray.
Big difference.
Doug K.
That would indeed be tempting, Doug K.
But I don't know that we'll see it. With Alderson ill, the Mets must be in a certain amount of disarray, and with the undercapitalized Wilpons interested mainly in real estate, as ever, I'm not sure they want to go through Creative Tanking while letting their best pitcher go to their crosstown rivals.
I'm sure that their worst nightmare is seeing Legroom win the Series for the Yanks while the Mets' revenues drop for years to come.
Love is in the air...
Damned Sunny.
Damn his ham-fisted hands.
I really want the world to know about this great man who brought back happiness into my life again after my husband left me and the kids 3 years ago for another women online when i contacted Dr Believe he cast a love spell for me within 48 hours my ex husband start calling me and begging for forgiveness for everything that have happened between us. I was so happy to have my family back together with love again here is the email of Dr Believe via believelovespelltemple@gmail.com a man with the great powers you can also call him or add him on Whats-app: +2348156148821
God bless you
I am very grateful for your help in my marriage.
Post a Comment