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Wednesday, April 21, 2021

We need to start talking about Gleyber

"Gleyber Torres is a singles hitter now and his regression since that 38-homer season in 2019 should be the No. 1 worry for the franchise." 
-Mike Axisa, RAB Thoughts (via Patreon, well worth paying for, BTW) -

Ow. That line hurt, just cutting and pasting it. I felt a jolt. I mean, WTF, Mike? 

Two years ago, the Gleyb was one of baseball's rising stars, up there with Trout, Lindor and Mookie. This summer, gulp, he could become a fifth wheel. 

Last night: Another 0-4 clunker, batting fifth, which nearly helped return a gift win from Atlanta. On the season, Gleyber has no HRs, one RBI, is hitting .180, and has fanned 15 times in 55 at-bats. Moreover, his defense at SS - where the Yankees made him their linchpin - has been shoddy, at best. (Better lately? Or am I imagining it?) Like a bad Gleyber, Torres is not there. 

In our own personal panic rooms, we must start pondering the unponderable: 

What if Gleyber is a fizzle?

By "fizzle," I mean a young player seemingly destined for Monument Park, who is cut down by defensive realignments, pitching strategies and - (let's face it, probably...) - his dick. (Birds gotta fly, fish gotta swim...) In the last few years, the Yankees have seen their share. 

Yangervis Solarte was a fizzle. Greg Bird was a fizzle. Tyler Austin was a fizzle.

Gary Sanchez... an emerging fizzle. Aaron Hicks, yep. Miguel Andujar? Starting to worry. Clint Frazier? Ouch, make it stop! Gleyber? A fizzle?

At this point, I need to calm down and chant our mantra: 

It's... still.... early... it's... still.... early...it's... still.... early...it's... still....

An old John Mellencamp song goes, "This aint the end of the world, but you can see it from here." That's how I see the Yankee alt-future, if Gleyber continues to fizzle. 

Here, comrades, is the OFFICIAL IT IS HIGH GLEYBER WORST-CASE SCENARIO:

1. We try him for two months at SS. His glove never comes around, and he sinks lower in the batting order. Weak up the middle, the Yankees struggle.

2. In June, we switch Gleyber back to 2B, hoping to save him. That pushes DJ LeMahieu to 1B, making Luke Voit a fifth wheel (until someone gets injured.) We shop Voit around because... 

3. We have a massive void at SS. Tyler Wade - never exciting enough to "fizzle" - is not an everyday SS for a contender.  We end up trying Kyle Holder, a glove SS who has never hit. 

4. On another team, Voit excels. We finish out of the playoffs. The Mets play Boston in the World Series. Our rivals laugh at us.

5. Next winter, we shop Gleyber for a pitcher, or a catcher, or the SS he wasn't. 

6. At age 25, for another team, he  becomes a superstar.  

7. We relive the 1980s, one of the worst periods in Yankee history - characterized by bad trades, from Doug Drabek to Willie McGee, from Fred McGriff to Jay Buhner.

8. Everybody dies.  

Dark enough? Today, the Yanks have two big prospects, an overly hyped 17-year-old OF named Jasson Dominiquez and Oswald Peralta, a 19-year-old SS. The hope is that Peralta this year will shoot through the system and become a unicorn. It's fun to hope. But with the minors canceled last year, nobody knows nothing, in terms of which prospects are real and which are Memorex. 

If Gleyber is a fizzle... oh, God... It's... still... early... it's... too... early...

21 comments:

Celerino Sanchez said...

3-7 hitters last night: .214, .170, .182, .000, .214. The exit velocity from the batters box back to the bench is the best in Baseball!

Anonymous said...

Two thoughts...

1) Do It Now!

In looking at the nightmare scenario wherein we move Gleyber back to 2nd after he's been emotionally destroyed and then Luke comes back and DJ is rootless...

Let's do it now. Stop screwing around. Put him back on second and ease his mind. Let's get he "all field no hit" SS up and on the team. He will fit right in our no hit lineup and at least we'd get the "all field" part. Cross the Voit bridge when we come to it.

Maybe Gleyber can regain his form at the plate. Why wait until he's a total basket case?

2) Hal Was Distracted.

I can't spell schienenfrued but I can look it up... schadenfreude. There you go.
Why do I have schadenfreude?

From the Daily News

"Plans for a European Super League comprising 12 soccer teams were ditched on Tuesday after massive pushback by everyone from grassroots fans to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge."

Guess who owns one of the soccer teams that was going to be part of the European Super League (of Extraordinary Players)?

I guess with the ESLs collapse Hal will have more time to focus on his other failing asset.

BTW, my favorite soccer movie is Shaolin Soccer. Sort of the Bad News Bears meets The Seven Samurai or maybe Dodgeball. And who here ever thought they would read a line about movies that used Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece and Ben Stiller's Dodgeball in the same sentence?

Doug K.





JM said...

My wife and I are of the opinion that Ben Stiller is possibly the least funny man in the movies. We can't sit through any of his wacky "comedies." Kurosawa is funnier, for Pete's sake.

As for Gleyber...could be just another Yankees fuckup of a promising youngster. We're so good at that. That's why so few of our talented kids ever ripen into something long term. Because injuries are going to get some. Inability to adjust is going to get some more. And the management will fuck up some of what's left. Destroy their confidence, mess with their heads, use them in the wrong way until they become non-entities.

We're seeing the latest crop of those now. It's just maddening.

Anonymous said...

JM,

Didn't say Dodgeball was funny just some plot similarities. I actually like Ben Stiller though.

It's interesting how some comic actors don't work for some people.

There's one superstar, who shall remain nameless, that I just do not understand how people find this guy funny, much less how he became an icon.

But what do I know? The funniest movie I ever saw was, West Side Story.

Doug K.

el duque said...

Jim Carrey?

Carl J. Weitz said...

I was thinking Doug meant Adam Sandler. I don't find him funny at all. And all of his movies are the same: Moron/dupe is dissed, swindled or otherwise taken advantage of. Moron/dupe outsmarts them all and winds up with the hot chick.

The problem with Gleyber now as opposed to when he arrived 2 years ago is that when he was a rookie he had to utilize fundamentals in order to prove his worth. That included patience in pitch selection, going the opposite way and overall plate discipline. The lack of the above makes him look like a swashbuckling pirate (not the PA team) using his sword to cut up his opponent. He swings like a lunatic trying to hit a HR in every bat. Not unlike most of his teammates. At what time does the hitting coach and especially the manager enforce better hitting habits? This is a total organizational failure that starts at the top. No one seems to be held accountable except the conditioning staff. The bloated front office is larger than just about all of MLB yet no one is ever dismissed for team failure except when one of George's daughters get a divorce. A total joke! This team is starting to resemble the 1965 team.

Ken of Brooklyn said...

I'm a lukewarm fan of Ben Stiller, but his chemistry with Bobby D in Meet the Parents was hysterical. And good guess El Duque, that would have been my choice as well,,,,

@ Doug, excellent thoughts, the sooner Gleyber is moved the better.

@JM, spot on 10000000% agree about f*#$ing up the confidence of the youngsters,,,, it's been such a pattern for so long I've come to expect it> #RedBlunder

HoraceClarke66 said...

I liked Stiller in Zoolander and that thing he was in with Tea Leoni years ago (though he was more of the straight man there). Mostly, though, I have no interest in the movies he's in because like pretty much every movie in America they are aimed at the sensibilities of 14-year-old boys (says the man writing on a baseball blog. Oh, well.)

But getting back to the latest mystery fizzle...

HoraceClarke66 said...

Do we actually have Kyle Holder? If so, we should call him up tomorrow.

Leinstery said...

Gleyber stinks. We have bigger problems however.

https://www.si.com/mlb/yankees/news/new-york-yankees-see-slumping-aaron-hicks-playing-huge-role-in-success-this-season

THEY STILL WON'T ADMIT THEY'RE WRONG

Anonymous said...

The guy who played Cousin It just passed away. Add to that the passing of Trooper Dobbs and it's been a tough month for 60's TV ensemble actors.


Stiller: There's Something About Mary. Funny film.

Doug K.

Anonymous said...

How do you know anything about Tyler Wade's potential when the team never really gives him a meaningful tryout in the majors? Are you clairvoyant?

Joe Formerlyof Brooklyn said...


I'm sorry to add dung to the fire, but: How STUPID does shedding Didi look right about now?

On top of everything, he hit LH.

In 2021: Avg 296, HR2 RBI10 -- yeah, plus 13Ks.

Hal saved $$$ by waving bye-bye to Didi.

Now he can wave bye-bye to the fans...

TheWinWarblist said...

I just hope that the Braves want to cough up another win into our laps tonight. Because this team doesn't appear capable of winning one their own.


Dammit.

ranger_lp said...

@Carl...Adam Sandler was good in Uncut Gems...his first drama role...

Anonymous said...

Joe FOB,

Yeah letting Didi go was a mistake. It started the whole everyone is out of position thing.

Doug K.

Anonymous said...

Woke up at 6:54 this morning, computer between my legs - cat very happy. Did I miss anything? Coffee ... coffee.. did I miss ... coffee ... Did Gleyber clobber? Waz er a Most Happy Fella? Are we still last ... ? I don't wanna see more King Crimson (hose?)
Fed cat ... very happy.














Anonymous said...

Adan Sandler never "funny" post-11th grade (too gay for seniors to admit). Happy Something. Gimmea Kurosawa or Godard or some Resnais, mon amour. Izzat red head still in left field? Back to sleep --- no fun here ...

Anonymous said...

@JoeFOB & Doug K. I thought letting Sir Didi go was a mistake and I did not quite get the reasoning behind it. It wouldn't cost that much, relatively speaking. A two year offer probably would've done it. I didn't really see a huge downturn for him in the near future. It seemed a no-brainer to sign him. Then I would've traded away some of our surplus of righty hitters. I would've gone for lefty bats and starting pitching.

The Hammer of God

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