Friday, March 5, 2021

Searching for meaning in a meaningless debacle

Writing concisely 2.0: 

And so it goes. Albert Abreu's luster - faithfully spit-shined by the Yankee brain trust since 2016, when he was obtained from Houston for Brian McCann (who later killed us in a post-season) - dims by the outing. Yesterday, the Murdoch Post jumped ship. Abreu's appeal was always tied to a radar gun, rather than his ERA, which made him an enigma to everybody waiting for the next Mariano (or even Mean Chad Green.) He feels a lot older than 24. I think that's what caused the Post to cancel him. Ah, cancel culture... 

But, yeesh... a 15-0 shellacking, the kind that - even to the end - would have roused Old George from his creamed corn. (SPRING GAMES MATTER.) These days, the Yankee brass understands the debacles of March, in the way that Elon Musk accepts a rocket exploding on the launch pad. Abreu gets shelled? So what? He has a minor league option. And the bird said, "Poo tee weet."  

Now and then, everybody pulls a stinker. Bond had Lazenby; Britney had Federline.  Fortunately, it was March 4, and recovering heart patient Aaron Boone didn't have to watch. Here's the pitching line. If you have a bum ticker, don't read.



Yeesh. Fortunately, most of the above names are barely google-able, adding new meaning to the word "meaningless." On this box score, only Deivi Garcia stands out: Two innings, two HRs, three k's - not the worst spring debut ever. Supposedly, the Yankees intend to stash Deivi through April in their Scranton refugee holding facility. The International League - or whatever they're calling it - won't start until May.

As of today, here's our rotation:

Gerrit Cole, the ace, the rock, the hope.
Corey Kubler, 1st question mark.
Jameson Taillon, 2nd question mark.
Jordan Montgomery, 3rd question mark.
Domingo German, 4th question mark.

Yeesh... After German - who faces a mountain of uncertainty - we tumble into King/Cessa/Loaisiga territory, which includes anyone who looks good over the next four weeks. Of course, few teams right now list an iron-clad rotation. But the Yankees biggest need this spring is not a LH-bat. It's luck. 

They need help from the juju gods. Without it, things could go south quickly.

Other items from The Debacle:


Mike Tauchman made his second error this spring. Not sure how to play this. Tauchy sits on the 25-man bubble, and his past fielding was solid. He played CF, went 0-2 with a strikeout. It's too early to ghost him. But he doesn't need another error, that's for sure. 

Gio Urshela returned from minor elbow surgery, if such a thing exists. That pushed Miguel Andujar to DH, where he lurks in the giant abyss-like shadow of Giancarlo Stanton. The Andujar logjam remains one of the most troubling issues in Campa Tampa. Nobody wants him in Scranton. But where does he play? Yesterday, he went 0-2.

Today, the Yanks are touting 21-year-old Yoendres Gomez, who hit 97 on the gun in the ninth inning, facing members of the Marywood Girls Choir. He's listed as a starter. Don't be surprised if he's our 7th inning man by June. God knows where we will be, by then, but I assure you: Yesterday's massacre will be long forgotten, replaced by a few that actually matter. And the bird said "Poo-tee-weet."

9 comments:

Celerino Sanchez said...

I was shocked the Cessa didn't pitch in this game

JM said...

There's nothing like lousy pitching and lousy hitting to make a day special.

Anonymous said...

Yes that game was tough to take, but on one level it was record breaking...

Longest amount of time hitting the fast forward button while staying in the same half inning.

I held that button down longer than a failed SNL sketch into the musical guest and the commercial break.

I held it down longer than a New York Giants opponent setting up for a field goal just before halftime, into the halftime show, and then into the opening kickoff of the second half.

I held that thing down longer than it took for the Senate pages to read the Covid relief bill.

and still the Phillies were up.

Last...

I'd like to apologize for calling Carlos Mendoza The Worst Manager In The History of Baseball. That was unfair... I should have written "Clearly Carlos Mendoza Is The Worst Interim Manager In The History of Baseball."

Mea Culpa Maxima.

Doug K.

Anonymous said...

Could be wrong but thought Abreu was out of options. Where's Tanaka?

Anonymous said...

anon,

I'm starting to worry that WE are the ones out of options

Doug K.

Alphonso said...

I, too, had read some ill-researched report that Abreu was out of options. I guess the sportswriters are as lousy as the team.

For the record, I think Devi Garcia is over-hyped...kind of like the Titanic. Every outing shows him to be too soft, small, slow and limited. That 92-94 mph fastball fools no one. I don't care how " fast" or " deceptive " his arm motion is. Once an inning, a batter isn't fooled and goes "yard." Once an inning.

I think, if he is remanded to Stanton, he stays there and becomes our third or fourth starter there. When King becomes more highly rated, you'll know Devi has been uncovered. It won't be another season and he will never again be mentioned in the same sentence as Pedro. If he were 27 , instead of 21, he'd be a career AAA player. He is touted, still, to the high heavens. God knows why. Who has seen anything from him that suggests " a new Pedro Martinez?' In his biggest moment last season, he limped and sucked.

And our "ace" is showing himself to be the best we have, and very good as a Yankee. But I have yet to see him overwhelm. Is it possible, Gerritt Cole has peaked and is now sliding off the plateau? Or do the Yankees just bring everyone down?

Probably by May, Domingo German will be our number two. And we'll be a .500 club.

Just a thought.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Huh, no pitching. Go figure.

And hey, we'll be lucky to land at .500. 77 wins, lads—and that's being optimistic.

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