Monday, March 15, 2021

Another setback for Miggy Thee Stallion, and other links to beware of on the Ides of March

Remember thinking how the Yanks would skate through spring without injuries? Well, we've hit the Ides of March - (By the way, was there ever a creepier song than "Vehicle? I mean, yeesh: "I'm the friendly stranger in the black sedan won't you hop inside my car/ I got pictures, candy, I'm a lovable man, I'd like to take you to the nearest star..." WTF? Who wrote those lyrics, Jeffrey Epstein?) - and the longer the days, the darker the headlines. 

Miguel Andujar is the latest. He'll see a specialist today in NYC. Why we should fear the worst:  

1) It's his hand/wrist, the hitter's Achilles heel. Doesn't matter how young or athletic you are. For baseball careers, hand/wrist can be the asteroid.

2) It cropped up over the winter. It's not like he fell on a bong. He thought it would go away. It didn't.  

3) He's traveling to NY. Considering the wave of Yankee injuries each spring, you'd think Tampa had specialists.

4. Why not fear the worst? With Yankee injuries, the worst is reality.

At best, Miggy will miss the chance to show the world he can play 3B, where his value is greatest. At worst, he's the second coming of Greg Bird (currently - gulp - just 3-23 for the Rockies, with one HR and one RBI.) If that happens, what a tragedy.

Listen: There's no point in raging at the juju gods. They're bastards; we know this.  To make an omelet, you gotta tweak some gonads. Fortunately -if that's the right word - Andujar was already skewing towards a return to Scranton. If his wrist needs a month, this is the time. If he needs surgery, well... Calgon Bath Oil Beads, take me away! 

But suddenly, our infield is a thinfield. At 3B, Gio Urshela is coming off bone chip surgery. In theory, he should be going slowly. We have reached the halfway point of spring, where injuries in the past have turned into dominos. Whether you're a pretty girl or a Yankee fan, beware the Ides of March. Don't hop inside that car.

Other notes: 

Yesterday, Deivi Garcia threw three innings and gave up one unearned run. That probably won't keep the Yankees from choosing Domingo German, if it comes down to the pair. Garcia has options, and they want to limit his workload. More importantly, Nick Nelson and Lucas Luetge continued to look good. You can feel the Yankees counting on them, almost touting them, even though each remains a longshot for a meaningful role. 

The thing with lottery tickets like Luetge: They're good until they aren't. 

Today, Michael Kay and John Sterling will work together in the TV booth. YES is heavily promoting it, as it should. But to me, it's outrageous that The Master hasn't done more TV, and that Suzyn has been ghosted on YES. In recent years, YES has had such luminaries as Bob Costas call games, which is great, by the way. 

But John and Suzyn are legitimate Yankee icons. I realize that some announcing "purists" don't like them - thinking that homer-hollars and win-warbles are too hokey for the high culture of Gotham. It may just be that only after they're gone will people appreciate the fundamental goodness and humanity that each of them brings to every single game. 

How has YES managed to overlook them? 

8 comments:

Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside said...

Ozzy Osbourne’s Mr Tinkertrain is up there with creepy....

Would you like some sweeties little girl?
Come a little closer
I'm gonna show you a brand new world tonight
I've got a palace full of fantasy
Ready made just for you and me
Once you're there I'm gonna take you for a ride

I got a one way ticket
To take you to the other side
I got a one way ticket
So come along and don't be shy

Close the curtains and turn out the lights
Beneath my wing it's gonna be all right
A little secret just for you and me, oh baby
I've got the kind of toys you've never seen
Manmade and a bit obscene
Little angel come and sit upon my knee

They call me Mr. Tinker Train
So come along and play my game
You’ll never be the same...


And then the all time child molestation song hit... SWEET CAROLINE.. DAh dah dah...

Suzyn's Bitch said...

"It may just be that only after they're gone will people appreciate the fundamental goodness and humanity that each of them brings to every single game. "

I, for one, treasure every game that I get to hear them do!!

JM said...

John and Susan are fun to listen to. They may be the only baseball broadcasters who have that distinction in this age, although I think Ricky Ricardo is almost there. He needs a little drollery, and then he's in.

Anonymous said...

A few things...

1) Broadcasts

I use MLB.TV to follow the game and several times a year, particularly during Spring Training (when often there is no Yankee broadcast)so I get to listen to other broadcasting teams.

The Yankee broadcasters (all of them really) spend the most time not talking about baseball by far. Perhaps it's a tradition begun by Saint Rizzuto but on no other broadcast do I hear about...

What they are eating.
Pop culture movies and old TV shows.
The size of a broadcaster's head.
Local Traffic.
Show tunes.
and my favorite, What's in Paulie's Basement?

The list goes on.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing and some of these other broadcast teams are so slow and boring they should be doing golf, but I do like the extra insight about the game and baseball in general that the Yankees don't provide.

All of that said, our broadcasts are more raucous and therefore more entertaining. Maybe it's just a product of New York City. Food... Traffic... Insults... Show tunes.

Sounds like NY to me.

2) Devi vs. German

I mentioned before that I would keep German up because (unfairly) he is getting it together and might get depressed if he has to open in Scranton. Pure speculation.

3) Tauchman vs. Bruce

This is next one of note. Personally I think Tauchman was a pumpkin and it's past midnight. Also the Yankees love their late career sluggers, Parrot Guy and Ibanez come to mind although I seem to recall that Raul didn't come alive until late in the year. I say keep them both and dump Ford.

Ford is a victim of bad timing because the minors are experimenting with an infielders have to have feet on the dirt rule which would take away the short right fielder and if it makes it to MLB Ford could hit .400. Unfortunately for him he will be selling Fords before that happens.

Last,

Glad you guys liked the songs. Thanks. Allan Sherman and even more so, Frank Jacobs are my song parody heroes. (I like Mickey Katz as well. He's Joel Gray's Dad BTW) They are true masters of the craft.

Doug K.







Alphonso said...

German remains as the starter, no question. Devi would benefit from a season at AAA.

Sadly the minors don't even begin until May this year. So he'll spend April at the dorky workout camp in Scranton. Throwing against a wall.

But if he can pitch all May , June and July, he might be ready for a call-up by the dog days. I still am not a believer. I need to see him dominate in AAA.

Anonymous said...

It sounds like Miguel Andujar might have been doing too many bench presses, with weights that were too heavy. Bad bench press form will take a toll on the wrists. I don't know if that's how he hurt his wrists, but if I was a betting man ....

John Sterling is definitely the most entertaining play by play announcer in baseball. He's not quite as good as he used to be in the late '80s through the first decade of the 2000's, but he's still the best. I'm just sorry that he doesn't use words like "milieu" and "palandrum" anymore.

The Hammer of God

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