Monday, October 19, 2020

Just For The Record


I watched the play-offs between Tampa and the Cheaters and, of course, between The Braves and Dodgers ( LA ). 

It worked out pretty well, although I hyperventilated at the thought that the Astros might come back from three down, taking away our record.  It is nice to " own" this humiliating failure. 

So here are my observations;

1.  The Tampa team won because of extraordinary defense,  team speed, excellent pitching and a rookie who makes Judge's rookie year look like amateur hour. 

Quietly, they hit more home runs than the " Bronx Bombers," although they score by every means available. Huge offensive displays are not common for them.. They win 4-2; 4-3. 

Their defenders are worth watching.  The plays are Jeter-like, and beyond. Everyone on that team is like Urshela at his best, all the time  Only faster. 

2.  The Dodgers are also excellent at defense ( a notch below Tampa ), have excellent pitching, and can hit. They can score 11 runs in the first inning. 

The thing about the Dodgers is that they have a deep line-up and bench.  In these Covid series' ( 5 games in a row, 7 in a row, etc ), depth ...quality depth...makes a difference. When the Dodgers needed fresh blood it was first string stuff.  They didn't put up a bunch of slow fat guys who strike out, and can't run or play their position very well.

3.  It made me realize how far below these teams ( and the opponents who lost...Atlanta and the Cheaters ) the Yankees reside. 

Our pitching is basically one starter and everyone else. I saw better rookie starters from the competing teams than Garcia, King, Schmidt or whomever we trotted out, combined.  Our bullpen is 2-3 reliable guys but no one whose star shines above any of the pitchers the Dodgers or Tampa trot out. Every pitcher throws 98-100, so El Chappy is no longer unique. 

In our infield, we have two great fielders ( Urshela and DJ ) and two below average...including SS and first base. What I am saying is that Torres and Voit are not even close to the SS and FB play of any of the four finalists.  They make game winning plays.  We make game losing plays. 

Our catching doesn't measure up at all.  The Dodgers and Tampa each have two guys that are better in every way than either player we suit up with the big glove. Maybe they don't have the "potential upside" of Sanchez.....but maybe we don't either. 

Judge is a quality outfielder and, if he could hold his average up in the .280-.300 range, and remain healthy, he could start for at least one of the finalists.  Hicks is several notches below the CF for any of the four final teams. He doesn't have their speed, their arms, their athleticism, and he doesn't hit as well. And while Gardy is a decent defender, the package pales by comparison.

And when we go to the bench, we are reaching for AAAA guys.  Not potential all stars. Not future starters. 

So the Yankees are not in the class of any of these four finalists...and, by the way, those teams are loaded with youth., energy and enthusiasm. And I don't even know about other teams hiding in the weeds. 

When next season rolls around, I think we must seriously consider," making the wild card round," the top of our game.  Don't give me all the HR stats and that crap.  Don't tell me of our " beastly " line-up showing up together. 

Sure, we'll beat the dogs of the league. But that is it.  That is wild card level. 

As for the big time, we have no chance as presently constituted. 

None at all. 


22 comments:

Kevin said...

You totally nailed it. I was totally happy that the Yankees didn't make the ALCS, and get undressed on National Television.

Anonymous said...

100% truth. I felt the same way when I was watching.

We are not scary. Not on offense. Not on defense. Not on the mound or behind the plate. We are just a bit better than mediocre. 2nd tier all the way.

We will need some major fixes.

Doug K.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Yup. Absolutely true.

Just three years after the Yanks were the "Team of the Future"—not to be confused with "Chef of the Future"—they are already on the downward slide—a slide that should accelerate next year with no starting pitching.

It's quite amazing. In 2017, they had a brilliant young team that got within 1 game of the World Series—and were only stopped then by cheaters. In additions, their farm system utterly dominated, on every level.

Three years later? We're looking at a potential losing record and 4th place finish next season. How do you fuck that up?

13bit said...

How do you fuck that up?

1. Cashman is not too smart.
2. I'd like to say that Hal is cheap - and he can be - but we spent a lot of money, so go back to Point #1
3. Bad luck? I don't believe in that when it comes to a record of 20 years of suckitude, with a few minor diversions of better-than-okay along the way.

We suck. Hal sucks. Brian sucks.

Anonymous said...

Did you notice that one of the Yankees' best winning stretches this season occurred when all of the team's young talent was on the field for a couple of weeks because of injuries? Frazier, Wade, Andujar, Torres, etc., were playing every day during that stretch. The chemistry and youthful dynamism of THAT team reminded me of the Rays. Until and unless the Yankees have the guts to go in that direction all-out--which will never happen under the stagnant, clueless Steinbrenner-Cashman regime--the Yankees are doomed to perennial disappointment.

13bit said...

That's the truth and I have been pointing that out for years. The teams that win for us are the hastily-assembled backup plans, the squads that are culled together when Cashman's "A-Teams" get injured or go south due to bad coaching. Then, when the mastodons get healthy, we toss them back in, where they proceed to tank. They also gum up the roster so that we canNOT play the young guys or acquire new ones. Cashman is a bad baseball man. He has horrible baseball judgement. And, since Hal doesn't really care about the team, Cashman and his bad judgement persist, year after deadly year.

Kevin said...

I don't understand this narrative concerning Andujar and the so-called "kids". Andujar was horrible with the bat (YES, SSS), but his glove doesn't play anywhere, save, probably, first base. He had a terrific rookie year with the bat, but suffered through a torn shoulder labrum and surgery. Is he recovered? Will he ever? Maybe The Brain knows things about his health that we aren't privy too. Wade "is what he is", a fast utility infielder. Torres is NOT a shortstop, and never will be, which is why hankees will let the expensive DJ go, with many crocodile tears. So Torres to second, a serviceable bat, very good glove to take over shortstop. Frazier will be the starter, Gardner will be a backup left/centerfielder, until China Doll Hicks is waylaid by a torsion testicle. God only knows what happens to the pitching staff. We have no talent in upper minors, "plenty of talent in low minors. Same as it's been for the past twenty years. Andujar will be traded. The Song Remains the Same.

Anonymous said...

Idiot Kevin returns. Andujar's was a very small sample size, and he was surging at the bat in his last ten days before he was sent down; his defensive issues are overblown, if you would actually look at some numbers. Nobody has any idea of Wade's potential because he has never had enough continuous reps at the major league level. The Retarded Brain knows only this: with the most lavish resources in baseball he has produced exactly one pennant and world championship in twenty years, while teams like Tampa Bay with one fourth the Yankees' payroll zoom past them. Just SFTU and go spray your stupidity somewhere else.

Kevin said...

Oh, the Excitable Boy returns! Give yourself a shot and calm down. If you had any attention span you would have noticed that I mention "SSS". Andujar has been one of THE worst defenders in baseball. Now, fl, fly away, excitable boy.

Anonymous said...

Bullshit. Cite the numbers, asshole. You're just babbling with your basement-Internet-addict "SSS" fluff. Andujar, in his first season at third base, before he was injured, was an average defender. You're a total moron and fraud. Eat shit and die, Mommy's little failure boy.

Kevin said...

Classy, brave, and a real mental case who knows nothing about baseball. He is obviously coming into his manic cycle. Excitable Boy needs his powders.

Anonymous said...

SSS? LOL! Where are those numbers about Andujar's rookie defense, genius? You're a frothing little fraud. A frustrated fraud with no job and no life. Sad.

Kevin said...

You sure like to talk about jobs, basements, being alone, and frothing. We have files on people like you for amusement.

Kevin said...

Excitable Boy needs to get hooked up with tiny penis doctor.

Anonymous said...

No stats, basement boy? No job? Thank goodness for Mommy!

Anonymous said...

By the way, Mommy Boy--while you were out looking for a job the other day, I fucked your mother up the ass. She signed, "If only I had done it that way the night my retarded son was conceived!"

Anonymous said...

In 2018, Andujar had a WAR of 2.9, making him one of the elite third basemen in baseball. You, basement boy, have a blog WAR of minus 10. Oh--is that you calling Mommy to wipe your ass? Sorry to interrupt your intimate moment. Please let us know when you get a job so you'll have something to siphon off your time from this blog and rid us of the mini-plague of your incoherent drivel.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Kev, Andujar may have been too hurt to play more this year. But I thought it was worthwhile to really give him a shot, try to seriously make him into a left fielder. Maybe he won't ever be a good one, but hell, Frank Howard played left field.

The only way Andujar is ever going to get that bat back to what we saw is to play regularly. And in this way, theoretically, the Yankees could compensate for their ceaseless injuries—maybe—with numbers.

I would let Gardy go, sad as that is, and keep the outfield Judge, Hicks, Frazier, and Andujar. Throw in Stanton, and you would probably have 4 bats—and JUST 4 bats—at any given time for the 3 OF spots and DH. (I'd keep Tauchman as a defensive replacement.)

I don't know if Wade's glove is good enough to put up with his bat at short for a year. Holder should get a shot next spring, too. And what to do with Ford, who certainly has no trade value right now, but showed us something last year?

All that aside, it's the lack of pitching that will kill this team in 2021. It usually is. Sure, maybe, somehow, Deivi, Schmidt, Domingo, and Monty can form a terrific, young rotation behind Cole. But I really doubt. And I think we are going to rue trading Sheffield.

Anonymous said...

HC66 -- Wade is known for the strength of his defense. He also is a good hitter. Why don't yo stop trafficking in vague impressions from sporadic, fragmented MLB samples and look at his 2019 SWB numbers? If you make the suitable adjustments for level, he clearly could be a solid MLB player IF GIVEN THE CONTINUOUS REPS, which the Yankees don't have the balls to do. They'd rather pile up aging "name" players, targeting THIS year, while THIS year never comes, and all the other years slip away because Cashman can't/won't follow the building-with-youth strategy that every other solid franchise employs--that the Yankees themselves last employed a quarter century ago with Michael and Showalter on the way to a dynasty. If Cashman had been running the Yankees then, Bernie Williams would have been buried before he had a chance to flourish--same with the rest of the core. Clyde King didn't even want to promote Jeter--that's the old-school bullshit that still governs Cashman's stunted mind.

I don't believe Urshela is for real. I think over time he will regress to the norm offensively and become a burden on the organization. I think that they should cut bait with LeMahieu, who is at an age where is he ripe for a marked regression: he's one of those slow, old, phlegmatic types that savvy organizations avoid like the plague. Just build with the young, fast, dynamic players of the kind that predominate on teams like the Rays--otherwise, the Yankees are going to dwell in mediocrity forever, lavish payroll notwithstanding. That will happen, alas, only under some other future ownership, if ever.

Anonymous said...

baby stat boy plays with being a member of the fraternity here - until he can't stop himself from insulting somebody for no good reason, then his true asshole nature comes out.

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