Thursday, June 6, 2019

For the Yankees, every game is now a "bullpen start"

It's been 11 games since a Yankee starter pitched more than five innings to get a win. JA Happ did it May 25 against KC. Ever since the trapdoor opened beneath Domingo German - our "ace" in April-May - the Death Star has known no stopper, no innings-eater, no No. 1 starter, to staunch the bleeding from a bullpen that is increasingly under siege. Last night, the gaskets blew.  

Last night, as The Master might say, the Yankee chickens came home to roost. We are seeing a flat-tire rotation, where five-inning starts have become the new complete game. If management poor-mouths on Dallas Keuchel - who faced more batters last year than anybody in the AL - we might as well flash on the Jumbo-Tron our billionaire owner's preference for money over the "pride ad tradition" touted on house ads. Somebody will sign Keuchel. If they outbid the Yankees, it will simply be because they want more to win.

But wait... I hereby propose a staggeringly new, unprecedented concept: Let's not crap our pants over a three-game losing streak. Even if we're swept, (as I sense we will be), this won't be the end of the world. 

Admit it: We all knew a slump was coming. This isn't the 1998 Yankees. They won't win 120. Gio Urshela may be the feelgood story of 2019, a veritable Katy Perry anthem of empowerment, but he's not Wade Boggs. Cameron Maybin is wondrous to watch, but there's a reason he was picked off the scrap heap. And the spot-welds are popping open on German. We'll face a dogfight in August, and Boston will make a run. Between now and July 31, trade winds will turn the Bronx into Tornado Alley. Even if our owner man-ups and signs Keuchel, the Death Star will be churning for more arms at the deadline. I have a bad feeling about tonight, but the Yankees might need to bottom out before they go on another hot streak. If so, maybe the sooner the better. 

Last night, while the muthership crashed, two hopeful events occurred in the hinterlands of Triple A. For Scranton, Chance Adams threw a 7-inning shutout (a double-header complete game.) He gave up three hits, his second straight scoreless outing. To top it off, Nestor "Ocasio" Cortes Jr. went 6 scoreless innings, gave up one hit. Yes, they've both been spotty in The Show - what rookies aren't? - but we're aren't replacing Aroldis Chapman here. They would take over for Luis Cessa, who has been in meltdown mode for weeks. Watching Cessa surrender two HRs, back to back and belly to belly, killing all hope for a comeback, you had to wonder if there isn't somebody, anybody, in Scranton. Well, Adams and Cortes are knocking at the door. Right now, I'd take either of them over Cessa, and maybe CC too.

Today, a hellish chorus is calling for the Yankees to trade Clint Frazier. Dear God. For reasons likely rooted in the opioids crises, some Yankee sites have decided he's a "character issue," and that he's somehow blaming the media for his fielding woes. Wow. When he arrived, Frazier was greeted by a crust of Gotham egos who wanted to display their dominance, a bunch of Dick Young dinosaurs, and if he's now telling them to go to hell, good for him. (Yes, we are a fan site, and we take unbridled stances on everything about the Yankees, but we don't make up shit.) I view Frazier as one of the most refreshing young faces on this team. I believe he can hit, and if we trade him for a rag-arm, we will regret it for the rest of our lives. 

Moreover, if we trade Frazier because the billionaire on his throne wouldn't throw some dimes on Keuchel - in the face of a crisis - shame on the Yankee aristocracy. I'm tired of reading about skyrocketing Yankee revenues, while the team pleads poverty on payroll. I'm a lifelong Yankee fan. But I don't root for the team to make money. I root for them to win. Maybe I've been making a mistake. 

Winds of change are blowing through the NYC landscape. For the last two years, the Yankees have easily dominated the back pages of the tabloids, as chronicled by the charts on this site. This year, something is happening. The Mets, who aren't that good, remain within spitting distance of the lead. To stay atop the New York food chain, the Yankees must win. If Keuchel goes to the Tampa Rays or Minnesota Twins, I wonder what those numbers will look like in August? New York could be a Mets town. Truth be told, it might already be. Food Stamps Hal better wake up. These shifts happen slowly, and once they take place, they're not easy to rectify. 

13 comments:

13bit said...

Hal is still a cheap asshole who doesn’t care about the team.
Brian is still a moron who does not know baseball.
And we still do not have the pitching that it takes to even get to the World Series, let alone to win.

JM said...

Yeah, but aside from that...

I like Cortes Jr. And why don't we bring up Chance?

German has had a great run, but I don't think he's exactly ready for the bigs quite yet. He's the Sevvy of '19--great first half, then he starts "tipping pitches," which is code for sucking. Actually, Sevvy had a longer skein of wonderfulness, but you know what I mean.

And wtf is it with Cessa, already? And Morales? (Though I continue to posit that Morales is there simply to make us yearn for Stanton, and I think it's working.) And Holder's remarkable inconsistency?

Our rotation is the same rotation the water makes when you flush the toilet. Bless their hearts.

Anonymous said...

I'M GOING TO TRY TO ENCAPSULATE MOST OF WHAT IS IN MY MESS OF A YANKEE MIND RIGHT NOW.

#1.) CLINT FRAZIER SHOULD NOT BE TRADED. (WHY?...BECAUSE GARDY NEEDS TO BE REPLACED AFTER THE SEASON, AARON HICKS CAN NOT BE TRUSTED PHYSICALLY, AND THAT GOD DAMN STANTON IS JUST AS WORSE IN THE FIELD AS FRAZIER, AND HE CAN'T HIT IN THE CLUTCH)....

#2.) IF WE TRADE FRAZIER, PREPARE FOR A "JAY BUHNER" TYPE DISASTER. MAYBE EVEN WORSE.
COOP BETTER HAVE THE SENSE TO TRADE HIM TO THE N.L.....IF AND WHEN WE FACE HIM, BE READY FOR "HITLER-LIKE HATE" AGAINST US THAT WILL UNDOUBTEDLY WIND UP WITH US GETTING FITTED FOR A COLOSTOMY BAG.

#3.) CC WAS A MISTAKE.... HE JUST CAN'T GO A FULL 4 INNINGS (FORGET ABOUT 5 FULL INNINGS)....EVEN 3 FULL, SEEMS TO BE A PROBLEM....SOMEHOW HIS ERA STAYS UNDER 4 WHICH THE GAMMONITES KEEP PRAISING....HE JUST CAN'T GET IT DONE, ESPECIALLY AGAINST THE BETTER HITTING TEAMS, (AND THE RED SOX).

#4.) JONATHAN FUCKING HOLDER SHOULD NEVER, EVER, PITCH ANY LATER THAN THE 6TH INNING. (UNLESS WE ARE UP BY A MINIMUM OF 5 RUNS-EVEN THAT MAKES ME NERVOUS).
WE HAVE OTTOVINO, GREEN, KAHNLE, BRITTON, AND CHAPPY TO GET US THROUGH 3 INNINGS.
DON'T TELL ME THAT ISN'T ENOUGH!

#5.) I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE PLAN IS WHEN DIDI COMES BACK, BUT LEMAHIUE IS NOT ONLY OUR BEST HITTER, BUT HE MAY ALSO BE OUR BEST FIELDER TOO. I GOTTA BE HONEST, GLEYBER CAN'T SHINE LEMAHIEU'S SHOES AT 2ND.... JUST BEING HONEST.

#6.) WE ALL LOVE DIDI....BUT I DON'T WANT HIM BACK UNTIL HE IS RAKING AT SCRANTON...AND I MEAN .300 RAKING....I WANT HIM FREE AND EASY AND SMOOTH IN THE FIELD TOO THE DAY WE DECIDE TO BRING HIM BACK...THE POINT IS, DO NOT RUSH HIM.

#7.) FORGET ABOUT HOPING AN EFFECTIVE, HEALTHY SEVY COMES BACK THIS SEASON...I DON'T EVEN THINK HE WILL COME BACK NEXT SEASON EITHER. (WATCH FOR SURGERY SOMEWHERE DOWN THE LINE).

#7.) I BET WE DON'T GET KEUCHEL....WE ARE HOLDING A HARD LINE, FINANCIALLY AND IN A MARKET LIKE THIS WHEN THERE ARE OTHER BIDDERS, WE WILL LOSE OUT.

#8.) ONCE WE LOSE OUT ON KEUCHEL, WE WILL HAVE ONE LAST MISSILE TO LAUNCH.....AND THAT MISSILE MUST BE AIMED AT MADISON BUMGARNER. IT WILL MOST LIKELY COST US FRAZIER, BUT AT LEAST HE WILL BE OUT OF THE A.L. AND FAR AWAY FROM US.

#9.) IF WE MISS OUT ON BOTH KEUCHEL AND BUMGARNER, I'M AFRAID WE WILL BE ALL OUT OF AMMUNITION WHEN THE REAL WARS BEGIN IN OCTOBER.

HOPE COOP IS PAYING ATTENTION.

HoraceClarke66 said...

I think the defining moment of 2019 came last night when, immediately after Vlad the Impaler Junior's monster blast, the YES cameras cut to Larry Rothschild speaking urgently on the bullpen phone.

We could only imagine what he was saying:

"No, wait, there may still be some horses in there! Let's not close the barn doors just yet. Get Cessa on the mound!"

This is why you don't just throw away tied games in KC, or anywhere else. This is why you don't indulge yourself and bat a washed-up acquisition in the clean-up spot for two weeks just to show what a genius you are.

These things come back to bite you.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Yesterday, Chris Sale pitched a complete-game, 12-strikeout shutout over KC, as the Sox romped, 8-0.

Charlie Morton threw 7 shutout innings for Tampa Bay, which won, 4-0.

The Yankees played hardball with Dallas Keuchel.

Anybody else see a trend here?

HoraceClarke66 said...

As I think I made clear, I dread the start of the Clint Frazier soap opera ("All the Clints of Our Lives"? "Clint's Secret Storm"?).

But if the Yanks are not even going to sign Keuchel, I concede: it's pointless to trade The Red Menace for anything short of Scherzer—assuming that deal is even available, which it almost certainly is not, thanks to Clint's histrionics.

Bumgarner could be an asset in the playoffs, but he alone won't get us TO the playoffs.

We need Keuchel—just as we needed to take a shot with Corbin, risky as that may have been. Just as we needed to get more than a soft-toss draft pick and an overaged, Single-A outfielder for Sonny Gray, just as we needed to get more than Five Times Pettitte for our best pitching prospect, just as we needed to NOT completely neglect the starting staff for the past three years until the bullpen—quite predictably—fell apart.

Too late. What is done cannot be undone, and so we might as well keep Frazier, and give Chance Adams and Cortes the Conqueror a real look.

But they won't get us anywhere.

Anonymous said...

CAREFUL WITH NASTY NESTOR, HOSS...

I'VE ALREADY SEEN ENOUGH.

CAN YOU IMAGINE HIM IN FENWAY WITH THE PRESSURE ON????

BARF.

BIG BIG BARF....

Carl J. Weitz said...

Anonymous....I'm not sure if continual pineapples up the butt leads to a colostomy bag. But I'm not an internist.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Don't get me wrong, ALL-CAPS. I suspect the absolute ceiling for Chance and Nestor is maybe okay No.4 starter.

But I would rather see them at least show us what they've got than have to watch CC stagger through another four-inning start, or a Chad Green "opener."

I confess to having been carried away by our Second Line success. Pitching is, as ever, the key, and without that it was all an illusion.

And yes, the great thing about Kendrys: he makes me want to actually see Stanton return. (When is that scheduled for, by the by? I guess the All LeMahieus would have stretched their record against the All Giancarlos to 57-3. Hard to make up a 54-game deficit even in June but, you know, analytics!).

Anonymous said...

YOU ALL MAY LAUGH....

....BUT WITH RUNNERS IN SCORING POSITION, AGAINST A RIGHT HANDED PITCHER? (MAYBE EVEN A LEFTY TOO)?....

I RATHER TAKE MY CHANCES WITH KENDRY'S OVER STANTON....(KENDRY'S AT LEAST HAS A CLUE HOW TO MAKE CONTACT IN THAT SITUATION).

....AND I'M SERIOUS.

ONE RUINED POST SEASON IS ENOUGH FOR ME.

....AND CARL, THE PINEAPPLES "COULD" LEAD TO THE COLOSTOMY BAG, I'M PRETTY SURE...

Pgpick said...

Let’s leave Clint alone and let him develop.....why the NY media feel it is their god given right to expound on every little thing is beyond me. The kid was upset with himself and needed time to decompress, Does that make him some sort of monster ego-maniac needing a huge take down by those poor writers to whom he forgot to Bow?

ranger_lp said...

Looks like Dallas Keuchel is headed to the Braves. So Clint can stay...for now.

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