The Brainstrust

Just an idle thought while waiting for my copy of the 2020 Bob Klapisch/Brian Cashman's sequel, Inside the Ruins to arrive:

The assembled baseball acumen we have here, as displayed by people spending maybe 5-10 minutes a day around our having to do real work—or, okay, real drinking—far exceeds that of the brainstrust (yes, that was the original spelling of the word, and we're nothing if not Old School here) assembled by Brian Cashman, the man who has taken more victory tours than you can shake a stick at, but has yet to win anything on his own.

I hate to ever contradict our Peerless Leader, El Duque, who has been killing it of late (and pretty much always).  But I didn't cheer or clap when Cashie inked Sevvy and Hicks to those crazy contracts, and I don't remember anybody else doing so here.

Despite all the Kremlinese coming from the Bronx, I ALWAYS thought that there was something wrong with Severino beyond his "tipping pitches," and I ALWAYS thought it was ridiculous to sign up a player such as Hicks—a speed player, in good part, whose game would inevitably decline even if he somehow avoided the plague of injuries that has always beset him—to such a long deal.

But how is it possible that our collective wisdom here, at a single, whiskey-soaked blog, exceeds that of the best baseball money that Steinbrenner cash can buy?

Just look at the comments on the state of our ballteam in the last post comments:

Warbler:  It would have cost $10 million a year to sign up at least one more, highly serviceable starter.  TRUE.

ALL-CAPS:  The Yanks should have played it straight and got Sevvy the operation he obviously needed back in 2018.  Now we're likely to be without him until 2022.  TRUE.  (This is especially true because I wrote it, too, in an earlier comment.)

Joe FOB: We can't keep wasting money on frail players.  TRUE.

RichieAllen1964: Despite his suspiciously Philliean moniker, he points out that taking Severino from 133 innings in two years to 384 innings in two years was not a good idea.  It's a figure so crazy in light of what we know about young arms today that I had to go look it up.  You know what?  It's TRUE TRUE TRUE.

Hammer:  Aaron Hicks, hardworking and likable though he is, was never more and never could be more than a wan imitation of Bernie Williams.  Why the hell would you possibly give him all that money?

Incidentally, in Bernie's last year he hit .281, with an OPS of .768, and was firmly shown the door because he was making the ungodly salary of $1.5 million a year.  Hicks, who if we're lucky we'll get our usual one-half to one-third of a season from this year, has a lifetime BA of .236, and a lifetime OPS of .729.  He'll be making nearly $11 million in 2020.  TRUE.

Other Anon:  "...a good 2020 from Severino is...neither likely nor necessary...His overall career has been at best average...and his performance in the playoffs probably the worst of any Yankee in the modern era."  FALSE.

I respectfully disagree.  First, Severino had an outstanding 2017, and halfway through 2018 was one of the best pitchers in the majors, with an ERA under two runs a game.  His potential was immense.

As to his postseason performances, yeah, they've been bad, particularly his first-ever outing in the wild card game against Minnesota.

But consider:  In his one start in the 2017 ALDS against Cleveland, he came up big:  3 runs and 9 Ks in 7 innings, as the Yanks tied the series.

Against Houston, IN Houston, he did less well.  Hmm, why would that have been?

But it still wasn't awful, considering what we now know he was up against:  1 run and 2 hits in 4 innings in his first start there, before Girardi gave him a quick hook, down 1-0; 3 earned runs in 4 2/3 in Game 6, before another quick hook.

Yes, there was that disastrous start against Boston—when we now know he was pitching injured.  Then, last year, 4 scoreless frames against Minnesota, and 2 runs in 4 1/3 against Houston.

When, as we now know, he was once again—ludicrously, crazily—pitching injured.

And finally, YES, we desperately needed him for 2020, considering how weak and injury prone the rest of the staff is, save for Mr. Cole.

All of which is not to say that we're all geniuses here (although, you know, we kind of are).

It's that this once blooming Yankees dynasty, with so much promise, has been nipped in the bud by the sheer, inattentive incompetence and stupidity of Brian Cashman's actual brainstrust.

Just look at the record above:  wasting money on players who obviously weren't worth it (and then crying poor), pitching injured pitchers, and above all, always, always hoping for something to work out when there was no indication at all that it would.

It has been said of one of New York's more infamous mayors, James J. Walker, that he hoped like a child.

He had nothing on Brian Cashman.