Monday, November 11, 2019

Cashman's job at the General Managers meetings: See what's up for "Next Man Up."

The annual GM meetings launch today at the Omni Scottsdale Resort and Spa at Monteluciatsdale, Arizona, Here is where, in boozy late night hookups, trades will be conceived. Surely, Brian "Cooperstown" Cashman will keep a four-day running bar tab, and constantly prowl the hotel lobby for young, scantily clad GMs, flashing their rotations. Make no mistake, Coop will will a powerful, primal urge within his loins to couple up with someone. He needs a deal.

Fans of the Death Star should not expect Food Stamps Hal Steinbrenner to abandon his policies of austerity and suddenly throw $35 million at Gerrit Cole. It. Will. Not. Happen. Yeah, it's fun to imagine - the franchise restored to marquee status, as baseball's team to beat - but nothing suggests that Hal will change. To solve their pitching woes, Cashman must make trades.

Critical to everything is the status of the five players who embodied last year's "Next Man Up" spirit: Clint Frazier, Mike Tauchman, Gio Urshela, Cameron Maybin and Luke Voit. They each showed flashes of brilliance, but one question always remains: Can they now adjust to the adjustments? Let's take a quick look at each.

Frazier: He gave us a great June - .324 with some clutch hits - and we howled when Cash did what he always does, traded for Old Man Encarnacion, who kept breaking down. But "Red Thunder" fell apart in August and September, didn't even break .200, and the only question now is whether he so damaged his value that he's not worth trading. If the roster were set today, he'd be back in Scranton, which nobody - not even the people of Scranton - wants to see. Once upon a time, Cashman boasted about Frazier's "legendary bat speed." Everything seemed to collapse following one terrible night in the field, broadcast on national television. WTF happened? 

Four months ago, every Yank fan in captivity assumed this was Brett Gardner's final year in pinstripes, his exit clearing a path for "the Red Menace." Now, following Aaron Hicks' latest injury, Gardy's on the verge of returning. That leaves Frazier, who only recently turned 25, on the block, and this time, probably for good.

Tauchman: He had a blazing July - .426 - and then tailed off to a serviceable August (.274 with more HRs) and September (.278), before getting hurt and missing the playoffs. One of the weirder scenarios of the World Series was the notion that Tauchman was supposedly ready to play. 

He has three huge advantages over Frazier: 1) He's LH. 2) He's a solid fielder. 3) He can play CF. He surely will stay. He turns 29 next month. It's now or never for him. 

Urshela: He had two rotten, very bad, awful months - June (.232) and September (.207) - surrounded by hot streaks. In other words, he made adjustments. He was one of our better hitters in the post-season (though that's not saying much.) Like Tauchman, his glove is for real, and his ability to play multiple infield positions makes him a valuable asset. He just turned 28. 

But if Miguel Andujar fully returns, and he's capable of playing 3B, could Urshela be moved? The Yankees would surely get something in return. The problem with that scenario is that spring training is too far off. It's hard to see Urshela being dangled this week.

Maybin: He peaked in June-July, nearly hitting .400. In August, he fell into a correction - .235 - and flattened out (.256) in September. We always knew he wouldn't hit .330, but for a fifth outfielder, he was a steal. That said, he's free to move around the cabin, and I get the feeling he'll want a longer deal, probably with another team. 

The point about Maybin is that cagey vets like him are always out there, sitting on the scrap heap, waiting to be signed. He'll be 33 in April. One mitigating factor: He is said to be a great clubhouse presence. (If it comes down to him and Frazier, that could make a difference.)

Voit: A regular season spark plug, then a sad sack in October, when he failed to make the playoffs roster. He turns 28 in February. Luke carried the team in June (.333), batting third, then slipped in each successive month. It reached critical mass in September, when hampered by a sports hernia, he hit .194. As the season progressed, he seemed bent on pulling every ball, rather than hitting to RF. Voit's continued decay, coupled with his lame-ass fielding, raises a concern. If Didi Gregorius leaves, then DJ LeMahieu probably shifts to 2B, and the team will desperately need a good glove at 1B. This is a problem. 

Cash better have an unlimited bar tab. He's going to need it.

18 comments:

JM said...

Sounds pretty sound to me.

I'd have more to say if I wasn't hampered by a sports hernia.

Anonymous said...

WE THOUGHT OUR BRASS DID A NUMBER ON POOR OL REFSNYDER?

WHAT WE DID TO CLINT WAS EVEN WORSE.

WHAT DID WE DO AFTER A FANTASTIC, CLUTCH .324 JUNE FILLED WITH HITS WITH RISP TO HELP US KEEP WINNING?

WE BETRAYED HIS PERFORMANCE BY SHOCKINGLY SENDING HIM DOWN AND ACQUIRING ENCARNACION.

HE WAS SIMPLY CRUSHED, CONFUSED, AND OBVIOUSLY TOOK THE DEMOTION AND DEJECTION TO THE FIELD WITH HIM THR REST OF THE SEASON, [NO MATTER IFBIT WAS SCRANTON OR THE BRONX].

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

WE ARE THE ONLY TEAM DUMB ENOUGH TO EMOTIONALLY CRUSH AND DEVALUE OUR OWN PROSPECTS.

AMAZINGLY, WE KEEP DOING THIS AND DON'T SEEM TO CARE.

LETS REPEAT THAT AGAIN...

WE ARE DEVALUING OUR OWN PROSPECTS.

NEXT DESTRUCTION AND DEVALUATION?

MIGUEL ANDUJAR!



13bit said...

Don't forget what we did to Betances. He'll never sign with us again after that bullshit with Randy Levine two years ago. He's going to stick it to us. Cashman is an idiot. Hal does not care.

Anonymous said...

TRUE, 13...

HoraceClarke66 said...

Very true, except...

No, we do not need an exceptional glove at 1B. I agree that good fielding at the position is underrated. But there are limits.

Mike Ford had a .909 OPS last year, and his fielding was certainly acceptable. If he can hit like that again, I don't care if he fields like Dave Kingman. A late-game substitution of The General to first and Wade or Thairo to send will work fine.

Also: time to give Mr. Stanton a 1B glove, to see if there is anything he can do without hurting himself.

13bit said...

This is all smoke and mirrors without two more serious starters. All goat shit on toast.

Anonymous said...

Sigh...

Wait I'll start again...

Sigh...

No, this is how I feel. Maybe it's because I watched the Giants lose to the Jets and heard rumors of the Knicks getting crushed as well.

Maybe it's because I read what JimmyEatsHotDogs wrote and I know deep down that...

1) Cleveland isn't going to take

A pitcher who is meh at best (and an ageing meh at that), plus

A guy who can't field and is regressing at the plate, plus

A guy who hasn't played for a year and was, I believe statistically among the worst 3B when he was playing, plus

And a guy who is both a head case and who they traded away to begin with and has gotten worse,

- For a superstar.

and 2) The days where the Yankees go after the best is long gone. So No Rendon either.

Sorry Jimmy, nothing personal. I want Rendon as well.

The reason I am sad is that last year was an aberration. A miracle where the mice and the pumpkin turned into a stage coach and footmen but sadly turned back at eleven instead of midnight and we were left with no ride.

This year we will see just how moldy the pumpkin gets.

In other words, going forward, who would you rather have...

Ford/Voit
DJ
Gleyber
Urshala/AndUjar

or

Gurriel (Rookie of the Year?)
Altuve (El Chapo Killer)
Correa (Yay Gleyber is better)
Bregamn (MVP?)

Is it even close in your mind?

So as I said before Sigh...

Doug K.



Anonymous said...

Wait, I'll make it worse.

Our outfield is

LF Uh, Tauchman/Frazier? < Brantley

CF I guy close to 40 who fades down the stretch and a guy who can't stay on the field. < Springer

RF: Judge (who we love but is always hurt.)> Reddick

SIGH!

Doug K.

TheWinWarblist said...

I've been drinking quite heavily since the ALCS started. Forecasts predict this to continue. There are two absolute stud pitchers available on the free agent market. We won't pursue either. That is collusion, when the world's wealthiest franchise doesn't make a reasonable offer to a player they need. It artificially suppresses salaries. Hal doesn't like baseball. I doubt he's a big fan of fair play and competition. He does not care if the Yankees win or lose or never have another dynasty because he's a miserly dink who can't achieve sexual satisfaction for himself or his lovers.



Crushed by an elephant at the circus? Let me think about that one.

Austria's Only Baseball Fan said...

This is all sounding to me like an American film I once saw called "Ground Hog Day." But much darker: the repeated cycle never ends. D'ya know that one? I think the 2020 Yankees will look a lot like the 2019 Yankees, with very few exceptions. No Rendon, no Bumgarner, etc. Don't get your hopes up. Better to join Winnie on his beverage binge.

TheWinWarblist said...

I wish illness on you Hal. I wish cancer and death on you. A cruel debilitating cancer that deprives you of your ability to "lead" this noble franchise and then after interminable suffering takes your life before your time.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Oh, yeah, Austria. Love me some Ground Hog Day. What's it called in Austria? In France it was, "Le Jour Sans Fin."

But yes, it's the same. And why not?

For HAL, 2019 wasn't an inspiring season that fell just short of being perfect.

For HAL, 2019 WAS perfect. Exactly what he wanted, a season in which the Yanks contended all year long, went to the second round of the playoffs, and led the league in attendance with players who often cost very little.

Triumph!

Sure, there was a troubling sign or two for the future, such as the fact that the Yanks' attendance and TV ratings were down, and they were less of a road draw—all indications that there may be an end to his Cycle of Inertia.

But by the time that begins to pinch, so many more hundreds of millions, maybe even billions, will have passed under the bridge...

Mediasavvy said...

I expect the biggest thing coming out of the GM meetings will be the Gardner signing. Nobody else is getting any.

Cashman, like everyone else will be playing looksie and swapping business cards for later hookups. The rumors will be better than the action.

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13bit said...

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Thanks, Helen, and I'll see you in the animated version of "Groundhog Day," featuring cameo appearances by every person on this blog, along with "Scranton Stanton," a close relative of Punxatawney Phil.

We love you, Helen.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Hah! Yes, if Scranton Stanton sees a strain in his league, he disappears for another six weeks.

Austria's Only Baseball Fan said...

Hoss, the movie is here called "Und täglich grüßt das Murmeltier" ("And Daily the Marmot Greets You"). I guess that's OK. Some of the title changes totally puzzle me. Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest" is called "Der unsichtbare Dritte" ("The Invisible Third Party")!

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