Friday, July 26, 2019

Last night, the ghosts of the new rivalry reappeared, and they could shake the Yankiverse down to its foundations

Last Aug. 2, the mighty Yankees visited Boston looking to set things straight in the AL East. They stood in second place, 6 games behind the Redsocks, who looked ready to stumble once again - the longtime tradition between the rivals:

For ninety years, with the season on the line, the Yankees always won. 

In game one, the Yankees took a 4-0 lead, and Boston fans chewed their fingers. Then CC Sabathia fell apart, and the Redsocks scored 8 in the fourth, en route to a 15-7 decimation. Boston swept the four-game series, taking the finale in 10 innings, after Aroldis Chapman walked the bases loaded and blew a three-run lead. The Yankees left Boston 10 behind, with a brand new tradition in place. 

These days, it's Boston who waits to pounce late in the season, and it's the Yankees who fidget and fall. 

These days, the phrase "Boston Massacre" signifies an entirely different outcome than from 1979.

Last year's embarrassment came with one major difference from last night: It happened after the MLB trade deadline. Thus, it couldn't go off in Brian "Cooperstown" Cashman's medicated brain like a Fourth of July M-80. 

Already today, the Yankiverse echos with full-throated bleats for Cashman to do something, anything!, to staunch the bleeding. The Gammonites of NYC - on and off the team's YES payroll - are calling for Cash to trade whatever he's got for whatever he can get - be it Marcus Stroman or the reanimated carcass of Hideki Irabu. It doesn't matter who goes. Just trade for someone.

The calls come 25 days after the Yankee owner couldn't be coaxed to dig into his pockets and sign Dallas Keuchel, who has been a savior to Atlanta. In a strangely suspicious mini-auction, both teams submitted truncated versions of what they had offered Keuchel last winter, and neither budged. So Food Stamps Steinbrenner kept not only his money but his warm standing among the super-rich country clubbers who own baseball teams.  

But if Cashman is compelled to make a deal this weekend, maybe it's time to take stock of the Yankee farm system, which three years ago was considered one of the game's best development machines. The well respected Fangraphs web site this week issued its mid-season ranking of MLB farms, and if you're a Yank fan, it's not a beach read. The Yankees rank 22nd out of 30, and almost all of their top prospects lurk in the lower levels of the system, where - frankly - everybody looks likes like a future star. If the Yankees drain this already-thin system, we could find ourselves back in the eighties, when the franchise consistently ranked among the worst in the game. 

Well, you can't predict baseball, Suzyn. But here's a likely scenario for the next four days: 

1. Cashman will trade several of the Yankees best prospects for a starting pitcher.

2. The courtier Gammonites will cheer the move, saying the Yankees didn't give up all that much.

3. The Yankee farm system will sink even lower.

Is this a certainty? No. I think Cashman fully realizes the danger in trading his best prospects. But he is the architect of the most fruitless decade in Yankee history, and if he really expects to reach Cooperstown, it's now or never. 

And there still is a chance to avert this scenario. It begins tonight. 

Last night, the Yankees were humiliated. If this continues all weekend, if the Yankees get blown out, stand back, everybody... because it's been a great year thus far, but some terrible shit is about to fly. 

29 comments:

JM said...

Forgive this repeat of a comment I posted to Hoss's previous post:

Buried in the notes after the ESPN write-up of last night's debacle was the quiet news that Deivi Garcia has 125 strikeouts in 75 or so innings for Scranton. 20 years old and bidding for a call up. He's going again tonight. You could say they'd be rushing him if he was brought up, but if the kid isn't finding any competition in AAA bats, what else can you do? It's not like they don't need him desperately. We might be seeing him very, very soon if he continues his dominance tonight. Especially if the starters don't get some semblance of an act together in Beantown.

Four more games in three days late next week, in the Bronx. So over the next six, seven days, we have 7 opportunities to put last night in the past and lock up the division. Even with last night, the Socks are 10 back. Massive run scoring still only counts as one in the win column. Garcia, German, and Severino might not be a bad threesome to have in the rotation come late August.

I really feel bad for Tanaka. He's a proud and hard-working guy, with flashes of real brilliance this year. This must have embarrassed and infuriated him to no end.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Ca$hmoney, the king of overreacting after sitting on his hands. I hate him almost as much as comcast, who were so fucking bad they had to change their name. Same shitty service though.

Bring up the kid and give him a shot. Next weekend. In the Bronx. If we're lucky, we'll see him on the 12th. Might actually get through the 4th inning.

Vampifella said...

I'm thinking the Yanks won't do squat. A 9-10 game lead (I am expecting a split with the Sox) won't entice them to go get a pitcher. They do have Loaisiga and Garcia, both of whom I expect they'll call up when rosters expand to try to give the main starters some rest for the playoffs. Also I firmly believe that they are counting heavily on Severino to return and do amazing things for them. That and 75% of both leagues are wanting pitching help, the odds are against the Yanks getting anything of real value before the trade deadline.

My worry is that Tanaka is probably really injured now (beyond his normal injured status) and will go get that Tommy John surgery in August. Him being that bad is like trying to pretend Sánchez was merely in a slump this month. Something's certainly up with him as I don't think switching catchers on him should have effected him that badly.

Gibbon said...

A split would be nice. I personally don't feel too optimistic, but a split would be nice.

Since we're Yankee history buffs here, I would remind you all that the Yankees once went to Fenway and put a beating on the Red Sox, 19-8. Of course that was Game 3 of the 2004 ALCS, and the rest, as they say, is history -- of the most awful variety. My feeling at the time was that a lopsided win like that results in complacency and hubris and contributed to the collapse that followed.

Perhaps now the shoe is on the other foot?

JM said...

Good point, Gibbon. Let's see if history repeats itself, inverted.

Urban Farmer formerly known as DutchFan said...

I see a juju-intervention looming.

Just saying

Ken of Brooklyn said...

I agree Urban Farmer,
I'll be performing some Reverse- Shamma Lamma- Ding Dong JuJu tonight by playing Sweet Caroline backwards during the Yankees PreGame broadcast,,,,,, crossing fingers, and toes, and anything else crossable tonight!!!

Ken of Brooklyn said...

Sometimes, you just gotta go toward the dark,,, Lovin' There'll Be Lisa, LOL!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5c5xarwsw8

Anonymous said...


I would remind everybody that, as Earl Weaver once said, "Momentum is only as good as the next day's starter."

So while they throw former Oriole Andrew Cashner at us we get to counter with The Big Maple. Who, as we know, has the stuff to be a number one. In other words... We. Are. Screwed.


Doug K.

Anonymous said...

Hey Ken that was truly great!

Doug K.

Urban Farmer formerly known as DutchFan said...

I will play the end monologue from "Blade runner" over and over again. Not just because it is about the Death Star. Also because Rutger Hauer passend on last week. A Dutch hero.

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.

TheWinWarblist said...

Ok, so last night was bad. Bad happens. The real issue is that this team had the best record in baseball without having one reliable starting pitcher. Tanaka has been forced to carry the load of a number one when it is clear his arm is injured. A chronic injury the should have been dealt with last year. Masahiro is a gamer; he will throw until his arm is ruined. (It's clear management will let him injure himself; they expect it from him.) And he's it really, for our starting rotation. German is still too young and raw to be reliable. Everyone else is old and on the downside of their careers. Paxton is a league average, back end of the rotation talent. CC is at the end of a brilliant career. And Happ plain stinks. Rather than spend a money on Corbin (3.7 WAR and a 140 ERA+ this year), Hal traded away talent to get Paxton. And then tried to pass the trade off as something momentous. "Death Star." Sure. I believe that. A death star without a starting rotation. Hal reinvests a lower percentage of profits back into the team than any other franchise. Because another dollar is more important to him than a number one starter or another title. Hal takes no pride in this franchise. Any member of the Steinbrenner family would be a better principal owner than Hal.


Fuck you Hal.
Fuck you Hal.
Fuck you Hal with gravel and rock salt.
Fuck you Hal with blood and pus.
Fuck you Hal with contagion.
Fuck you with the bones of your dead father, may he otherwise rest peacefully.
Fuck you Hal.

Anonymous said...

FOR THIS SERIES, I CAN SEE THE WRITING ON THE WALL....

TONIGHT IS A MUST WIN WITH GOOD 'OL RELIABLE LITTLE MAPLE.

IF WE DON'T WIN TONIGHT, IT'S THE DREADED CC (IN BOSTON), FOR GAME 3.

NO SHOT.

THEN THEY HAVE CHRIS SALE IN GAME 4.

BOTTOM LINE, IF WE DON'T WIN TONIGHT, ODDS ARE WE GET SWEPT.

TECHNICALLY, WE REALLY JUST NEED TO WIN 1 THIS SERIES TO PREVENT A TOTAL DISASTER.

STRAP YOURSELVES IN.

THIS ACTUALLY SUCKS.

WE ARE 10 GAMES UP, AND WE ARE CHASING THEM.

Anonymous said...

GRAVEL AND SALT...

BLOOD AND PUS....

HAHA..

MADE ME LAUGH WARBLIST...

13bit said...

It's nice to bunch things according to decades. It's useful, as well, but it's more than just "the most fruitless decade in Yankee history." Yes, we won in 2009, but what have we done since 2002 besides that? And we all know who put together the last dynasty, and it wasn't Cashmaniac.

I'm sure that, somewhere down in that rhino horn under his skull, Cashman has some pride and wants to win. He's just a moron. The bigger problem is that Hal keeps making money, no matter what happens. Hal is s small-minded, no-imagination numbers guy -greedy and grasping, with massive daddy issues, who hates the team he owns. He sees no need to go the extra distance. He is making whatever percentage works for him, enough to keep his penis engorged year-round. He basically hates the Yankees and, I have new for you: HAL HATES US. He hates Yankee fans.

He will let Cashman keep on managing forever, so long as Cash-Back-3%-Man keeps it looking like close-run thing. "We almost made it." Even the Master's slogan works in his favor "You can predict baseball." Shit, we spent more than most of the other teams. We came close. Just a bad inning and that's it. Let's go to Palm Beach and get high."

Fuck you, Brian and Hal.

13bit said...

please excuse the typos. I'm too lazy to proof today.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Warbler, you are the best!

And yes, ALL-CAPS, this is not a drill. This is the start of a major weekend blowout. See the Boston Massacre of 1978—1978, not 1979, Duque! Though I realize everybody is a little shell-shocked—or 2006.

Or, more relevant, see Boston's infamous blowout of us in 1977, the one where Reggie and Billy got into it in the dugout.

We got three more games, and not a pitcher in sight. This is going to be ugly.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Most relevant, though: August 27-28, 2002.

The Yanks went into Fenway up 7 games, but Boston was on a tear. They had just won a rousing comeback against the Angels the night before, and they were on a roll.

The Yanks beat them 6-0, 7-0. Wells and Mussina. Two games, 8 hits.

In its own little way, it was more dominant than even the 1978 rout.

That's what good pitching does for you. It's like trying to fight a hurricane.

Too bad we won't see it again.

HoraceClarke66 said...

And yes, Urban Farmer, Hauer was a wonderful actor, and that was a classic.

What a great idea, mixing science fiction and a noir detective story!

"It's too bad she won't live! But then who does?"

JM said...

Rutger was well-loved in our house, a great actor and greater philanthropist.

Like all "movie stars" he made some incredibly bad films--never his fault-- to make money for his family and foundation. We all know his good movies, but I suggest you rent "Old Man with a Gun." Brutal, bizarre, really a one-man show. You won't want to see it twice, but do see it once.

Urban Farmer formerly known as DutchFan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Urban Farmer formerly known as DutchFan said...

That would be "Hobo with a Shotgun", I guess.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

"The Hitcher" is a classic in its own time.

Urban Farmer formerly known as DutchFan said...

Try "Turkish Delight" with a very young Hauer and free breasts and "Heineken Kidnapping" the old Hauer

TheWinWarblist said...

Urban, is that the film were he fishes his girlfriend's turd out of the toilet bowl, breaks it in half and sniffs it?

Urban Farmer formerly known as DutchFan said...

Yep that's the one.
He is actually not really sniffing. He looks for blood because she has cancer .

Anonymous said...

UNDERRATED RUTGER HAUER MOVIE?

"NIGHTHAWKS" WITH STALLONE AND BILLY DEE WILLIAMS.

ALL ABOUT TERRORISM BEFORE ITS TIME.

HE PLAYS A GREAT BAD GUY.

JM said...

Oh, crap, yes...Hobo with a Shotgun!! That other title is another movie, not with him.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

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