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Thursday, June 27, 2019

Tauchman? Are you kidding? They're ditching Clint Frazier for Tauchman?

Shocker: Giancarlo Ellsbury is out. Again. Bum knee. 'Till September? Who knows? Gianni, we hardly knew ye...

The only positive - aside from not having to wait for his next injury - was that Clint Frazier would get another chance. After all, the guy hit .283 with 11 HRs for us (209 plate appearances) and helped lead the team through its dark injury days (which apparently are not over.) Perfect fit: Frazier for Stanton. Might even be an upgrade.

Nope.

The Yankees yesterday announced that Mike Tauchman will make the trip to London, leaving Frazier to languish in Red Rock Country. WTF? Good question. According to Bob Klapisch of the Times, the front office - (Cooperstown Cashman, of course) - was miffed over Frazier taking his allotted three days of personal time before reporting to Scranton like a good little soldier. And amazingly, the disillusioned and depressed Frazier didn't go on a hitting tear in the city where he's now played three straight years. 

Great young hitter. Fiery temperament. Runs into walls. They can't wait to trade him. 

Long term repercussions here. 

25 comments:

Wezil1 said...

What happens when someone actually shows some personality maybe a little out of synch with the playbook. Could it simply be to punish Clint? Really? He sorta carried us for awhile and deserves to be with the team while the china doll recovers from his baserunning adventure. The other possibility is that Clint may be simply disliked in the clubhouse and the rest of the team is happy not to have the attitude around....
I guess I’m confused about this latest move with Tauchman.

ranger_lp said...

One of two possibilities...Clint is disliked as @Wezil1 mentioned, or...Clint is been shopped around as part of a trade and the last thing the Yanks need is for Frazier to get another injury running into a wall...or a player...or a zero turn mower.

Local Bargain Jerk said...


^^^ @ranger_lp ... or all of the above.

Mediasavvy said...

Something's going on. By the numbers and on the field, Frazier clearly belongs in a MLB uniform. He and a few other scrubs led the team to 1st place, even if he also had an epic bad day in RF one night. It's a waste of talent to leave him in the minors.

I get that a flashy kid who designs customized sneaker/cleats may ruffle the feathers of a deeply conservative organization. He may even demonstrate some vulnerable immaturity. But then he would be just like every millennial kid growing up in America today. (Hell, he reminds me of my son.)

The Yankees need to get over themselves if they want to keep up with the times. If baseball fandom is age-shifting upwards, this is a fine moment to explain why.

PS: When did the Yankees turn into puritans? I thought it was the other way around.

TheWinWarblist said...

The Yankees have always expected players to conform to the Yankee standard. Players are supposed to give up their individuality and facial hair. The players should be humbled at the possibility of the Yankees letting them don pinstripes.




FYH.

Anonymous said...

Gotta agree with LBJ on this. All of the above. I don't think the team likes him.

I saw it in the dugout when Frazier hit a big home run.(This was the day after the bad fielding day) Instead of jumping all over him as in, "Good job. It's going to be OK!" everyone was perfunctory in their congrats.

Gleybar did a very short version of the celebration dance and truth be told they looked like how we used to react to say, a Steven Drew home run. Sort of a "Great, now this guy is going to get an extra month of ABs. Dammit."

Doug K.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

He didn't have to report to Scranton for three days, and he didn't.

The Yankees didn't have to recall him from Scranton, and they didn't.

The message is as clear as how they handled ICS/Dottie in the minors.

Impossible to verify, but I'd bet if he had immediately reported to Scranton (and didn't throw a digital hissy fit by erasing Yankee mentions in his anti-social media accounts), he'd be on the plane to jolly old England.

He didn't have to report to Scranton for three days, and he didn't.

The Yankees didn't have to recall him from Scranton, and they didn't.

Bob's your uncle!

Anonymous said...

YOU BETTER BELIEVE LONG TERM REPERCUSSIONS, MR. DUQUE....

IT'S THAT OVER .400 AVERAGE WITH RUNNERS IN SCORING POSITION THAT CATCHES MY ATTENTION....I DON'T KNOW WHY IT DOESN'T CATCH COOP'S....

WE ARE NOW IN "REFSNYDER MODE" WITH FRAZIER.

IT BETTER BE BUMGARNER HE GOES FOR, (NOT STROMAN).

FORGET THE FACT THAT STROMAN IS A BARELY A NUMBER 3 STARTER, BUT THE REALITY OF FACING FRAZIER 19 TIMES A SEASON IS A DISASTER EVEN COOP CAN'T IGNORE...

...OR CAN HE?

YOU SEE BUMGARNER'S PERFORMANCE THE OTHER DAY AGAINST A GOOD HITTING TEAM, (COLORADO)?

WE HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE, AND MISSED THE BOAT TWICE (CLIFF LEE, AND VERLANDER)....

THIS ONE SHOULD BE EASY....

IN MY MIND, THERE IS ONLY ONE ANSWER TO OUR POST-SEASON.

COOP'S ABILITY TO LAND MADISON BUMGARNER.

ANYONE ELSE WON'T BE ENOUGH. (UNLESS IT'S SCHERZER, AND THEY ARE NOT TRADING HIM).

OUR HAPPINESS IS IN COOP'S HANDS. (AND MIND).- OH SHIT.

IT BETTER NOT BE THIS MATTHEW BOYD. (THAT WOULD BE COOP'S "BRILLIANT" OUTSIDE THE BOX, PICK).

NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

Wezil1 said...

And Clint is probably still harboring a grudge over the haircut. And now this. Does anyone get the sense he thinks he is God’s Gift? I didn’t- but even so, from his comments and interviews, he might be capable of holding a grudge forever. Like Jeter does about those final contract negotiations with Coop.
Name another shortstop......

HoraceClarke66 said...

Actually, Frazier may have dodged a bullet, missing this trip.

Mark my words: this London trip is going to be a bloody disaster. We'll be lucky if we come back without another 3-4 people on the EL—when do we start calling it the GL, for you know who?—considering the ridiculous playing surface, etc.

Mad George would never have put up with it. HAL? They probably shipped him a new Bentley.

By the time the Yanks get back, they will likely have no choice but to play The Red Menace.

Carl J. Weitz said...

Rufus...."Bob's your uncle", LOL. Only on this blog and the BBC!

I agree with most here. It's a combo of Frazier having a personality and being a bit of a prima donna. Can you imagine the disdain from "the bloated front office" if Frazier ran around the bases with that effing stupid parrot/arm gesture after hitting a home run? (Pitcher to umpire:"no sir, I did not intentionally throw at Encarnacion's head, I was aiming for his parrot").

The Yankees have long had a military/football mentality when it comes to management and players. They want conformity at all costs. And never, EVER question the TBFO about anything, particularly in public. That will get you traded fast! Most MLB teams allow displays of individuality on the team. Generally, they don't care what you do as long as you produce on the field (abuse alcohol, juice, do lines of coke before you relieve in the seventh inning, beat your wife). Even the Yankees indulge their stars to some degree. Obviously, they don't consider Frazier a future star ON THEIR TEAM. In football, coaches and GMs will cut off their noses and spite their faces even if you do produce so as to maintain that military chain of command they demand.

RtotheE said...

EL. That's great and is what I'm going to call it from now on, or at least until Jacoby comes off the EL.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Carl,

Thanks and Cheerio and all that!

I recall some trepidation in signing a certain left handed relief pitcher who sweats a lot. Seems he 'allegedly' choked his girlfriend and fired (emptied the clip) his gun inside his garage. They still traded for him anyway. Then resigned him to a large contract.

The difference is that there are fewer lefty closers that throw 100 mph than there are available slugging righthanders. Or so it seems.

Plus, the reliever apologized. Well, sort of.

Well, now I've got to run off and splash the boots.

JM said...

Rufus, stand with the wind at your back and it helps spare the boots.

Yes, the Yankees are a conformity-driven team. This is actually a thing in most companies now, by the way. Positivity is expected, negativity can get you fired or sidelined. No complaining, no disagreeing (unless done in the most diplomatic and painfully polite way), no criticism of others or the org or anything.

The world has changed, weirdly, in the direction the Yankees have long operated.

Frazier may be very, very good, but he's way too public with his temper tantrums. Makes the team and the org look bad. Ruffles esprit de corps. I bet the other guys wouldn't mind seeing him go out the door, especially if an effective starter comes in as a result.

It's not like it used to be. The reason he might feel he doesn't "fit in" on now his second big-league team is because he doesn't, and other players might resent, dislike, and want him gone. Prima donnas aren't tolerated pretty much anywhere in business, and as we know, the Yankees are a business. Nobody is considered irreplaceable or able to make up for a bad or more self-centered attitude.

I've never wanted him to go, but if all this is the case, he's already gone. And the team will be fine without him even if on performance alone they'd be better with him.

HoraceClarke66 said...

I have very mixed feelings about the kid. Among other things, I still have trouble getting my head around the complaints of 24-year-olds with a million or so in their bank accounts.

But I don't know if he's gone at all. The Yanks are one more outfield injury away from having to keep him—and Hicks' shoulder is barking. Two games on that idiotic surface in London, and I think it's even money that Judge is back to the GL/EL.

The Red Menace may be with us for a long time, Coops' schemes notwithstanding.

HoraceClarke66 said...

I have very mixed feelings about the kid. Among other things, I still have trouble getting my head around the complaints of 24-year-olds with a million or so in their bank accounts.

But I don't know if he's gone at all. The Yanks are one more outfield injury away from having to keep him—and Hicks' shoulder is barking. Two games on that idiotic surface in London, and I think it's even money that Judge is back to the GL/EL.

The Red Menace may be with us for a long time, Coops' schemes notwithstanding.

13bit said...

I was a stranger in the city
Out of town were the people I knew
I had that feeling of self pity
What to do, what to do, what to do?
The outlook was decidedly blue
But as I walked through the foggy streets alone
It turned out to be the luckiest day I've known

A foggy day in London town
Had me low and had me down
I viewed the morning with alarm
The British museum had lost its charm
How long, I wondered, could this thing last?
But the age of miracles hadn't passed...

Retired Stratman said...

I agree with Carl about Clint “having a personality and being a prima donna”, but so what? Since when are those traits not acceptable in elite athletes? Makes me wonder if Cashman and Co. would have run Reggie and Rickey Henderson out of town, too.

HoraceClarke66 said...

I like Frazier in left, Maybin in center, and Judge in right. Which, if we're lucky, is what we will have in July.

Alphonso said...

You are all more comfortable than I am that Frazier can become even an adequate outfielder.

I fear the concussions muddled his wires, so that he cannot instinctively calculate direction, angle, pace and curve in hard hit balls to the outfield.

Just a dumb theory.

TheWinWarblist said...

Alphonso, Le Grande Rouge's wires are fine. He can still rake. That's all you need to do to be a corner outfielder.




FYH.

Honey Barnes said...

el duque falls is love with another young gun with too many character flaws. How that young Love hurts. Stop coddling the personality and see what he is: Pretty could bat, challenging glove and like a bus, another one will show up on schedule. Feel the pain and let him go.

Local Bargain Jerk said...


@JimmyEatsHotDogs:

I agree with all that you (and others) are saying BUT, if the guy does things like leaving the locker room to avoid answering unpleasant questions from the press regarding his little league outfielding -- and, by inference -- pins the unpleasant task on his veteran teammates who have to step up to the microphones to answer for him, AND if he treats his teammates like an arrogant prick when he's barely out of puberty AND if he wonders aloud and in public why everyone picks on him, well that can be a real issue. I never played anything at the professional level but I did play on organized teams all the way through college and those sorts of behaviors were a problem in any locker room I was ever in.

I have seen good players -- really good players -- removed by the head coach from teams because they couldn't function as a teammate. Both times it happened, no one thought poorly of the coach. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Quite.

Nothing like a prima dona in the locker room to get the whole team chemistry all bollixed up.

Better to keep a stiff upper lip, as they say.

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