Saturday, March 7, 2020

Right before our eyes, the Yankees seem to be disintegrating

Gerrit Cole surrenders four homers in two innings. Jordan Montgomery follows,  does no better. Gary Sanchez, hitting .059, gives up four passed balls in an outing. At SS, Gleyber Torres commits four errors in eight games. Aroldis Chapman, in his delayed debut, gives up a rope double. Hitting below .200 are the names Gardner, Ford and Wade. Giancarlo Stanton is on Ellsbury Island, where he'll soon welcome Aaron Judge, who has a broken rib that should have healed by now. All this, in a span of barely three weeks.

I know, I know... we must never put stock in exhibition performances. (Last spring, DJ LeMahieu batted .205, while Kyle Higashioka hit .368.) Still, I cannot remember a stretch in Tampa more defined by lapses and setbacks, and we're only halfway through the python. The Death Star's inability to assess ailments makes the Coronavirus Keystone Cops look good. By waiting on James Paxton, Luis Severino and Judge, the Yankees squandered months of potential playing time - an entire winter of rehabilitation, lost. 

In mid-February, the self-congratulatory, giggling Yankees opened camp as the best team in baseball. It lasted about 48 hours. Today, they look like a wild card contender, struggling to keep pace with the Rays, who have unveiled a veteran Japanese slugger and their usual, next Cy Young. And that Yankee mantra, the one that goes, "Everyone back by July..." - it's perched on the notion that no more key players go down, a naive fantasy that fans no longer entertain. 

The dice are loaded. The juju gods have declared war. The 2020 Yankees - the team we thought would launch a great decade - seem to be coming apart at the seams. Injuries are killing us, opening weaknesses we otherwise could ignore, and there is no end in sight. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

9 comments:

13bit said...

It's just thing kind of spring training that can lead to greatness. We are being tested. We can win it all this year. Pray that Stanton's balls remain in a cast.

Joe Formerlyof Brooklyn said...


Drink now, panic later.

Celerino Sanchez said...

Honestly, how does Cashman keep his job? 3 years in row they have players get hurt and the medical staff can determine what's wrong. He oversees everything. He pissed away 120m on Ellsbury, looks like he has pissed away 300m on Stanton. Does he have to kill someone to be let go?

13bit said...

Killing would not do it. Stanton could shoot somebody in the middle of River Avenue and they'd still put him on the injured list.

Anonymous said...

CELERINO SANCHEZ!

YES!

HOW DOES CASHMAN KEEP HIS JOB?

ELLSBURY
STEPHEN DREW
CHASE HEADLEY
STANTON
HICKS' EARLY SIGNING
SEVERINO'S EARLY SIGNING
INJURY DEBACLES GALORE SINCE 2016

IT NEVER ENDS, AND IT JUST SEEMS TO KEEP GETTING WORSE.

IT IS CASHMAN WHO IS PULLING ALL THE STRINGS WITH THIS TEAM, AND EVERYTHING IS IMPLODING.

IS HAL PAYING ANY ATTENTION?

HE IS COSTING YOU A FORTUNE IN UNDER PERFORMING PLAYERS!

HoraceClarke66 said...

He keeps his job because he cultivates the writers. Simple as that. They go cheap, particularly in comparison to ballplayers. O'Malley used to buy them off with free suits and steak dinners. These days, Cashman does a book with Klapisch, and he's proclaimed a genius.

To be fair, the dumpster diving also helps.

But what's never pointed out is that the diving for discarded pearls would not be so necessary if Cashie only made better decisions in the first place, in who he drafts and trades for, and who he gets to coach and train the team.

Who can forget his brilliant theories, such as how the Yanks should draft pitchers who needed major arm surgery, because they would be "bargains"? To my knowledge, none of these bargains EVER worked out.

It's insisting that the almost mint-condition Lexus you found abandoned is a steal, now all you have to do is replace the missing engine and wheels...

Retired Stratman said...

Hoss - It's insisting that the almost mint-condition Porsche you found abandoned is a steal, now all you have to do is get rid of the rampant B.O. from the interior.

Celerino Sanchez said...

Hoss, I agree about finding guys like Urshela, etc, but we’re the fucking Yankees. That’s for the likes of the Padres and TB. if he could actually judge talent and character, we’d have real players. What NY need is a second coming of Dick Young to write about this.

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