Sunday, May 30, 2021

HoraceClarke66: One Man Stood Tall

 


This started off as a riff on something the estimable Kevin wrote the other day, about how no one saw what a disaster the Giancarlo acquisition was going to be.

I’m afraid that’s not correct. One man did. One man saw what an utter disaster that move was, what a millstone Stanton—seen here the night he picked up a Grammy for his smoking rendition of Robert Johnson's, "I Believe I Will Dust My Broom"—would be from the moment that deal was announced.

Not me! I had visions of the Twin Towers hitting 125 home runs between them and countless championships, dancing in my head.

I should have known I was wrong because the last time I had such visions—putting aside certain LSD experiments—was when the Yanks acquired J-Lo’s ex and I actually said out loud: “We’re going to win the next seven World Series.”

Of course, now I would pay cash money for anyone who could net us the 6 division titles and 1 world championship we won with the face of male make-up.

But I digress.

The man who called his shot on Stanton? Our Dauntless Leader, of course: Alphonso, from his all-seeing eye in the Fortress of Solitude, or do I have that mixed up?

I don’t know how he did it, but Alphonso took a close look and decided that contract would drag us down to hell. Maybe it was the 30-plus games missed a year that Stanton had already amassed at age 27. Maybe he actually watched Stanton play, unlike most of this town’s sportswriters.

But whatever it was, he saw just what a poison pill Derek Jeter, a GM who actually knows something about baseball, had slipped us with the Former Slugger Formerly Known as Mike.

The players on the Marlins we should have been trying to pry loose were Christian Yelich and J.T. Realmuto. But we didn’t. Because Brain knew better.

To date, Giancarlo has missed 552 games early in this, his 11th full season of play. Mickey Mantle, the most famously injured player in the history of the game, missed 131 games in his first, full 11 seasons.

When you are injured more than four times as often as Mickey Mantle, something is wrong. 

Just what that is, I have my own theories—but this post is already long enough.

Let me say for now, I completely endorse El Duque’s—Peerless Leader’s!—guidelines regarding criticisms of the players. I don’t think this is about the days when men were men, or about the money. I wouldn’t have turned down a nickel of what Giancarlo was offered, and neither would anyone here. 

There are other, systematic things that are very, very wrong. But all I want to reiterate is…No one saw the Stanton mess coming? You’re wrong, McGee! One man stood tall. Or at least, slumped tall with a cool highball on his lawn furniture.

You heard it here first.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Duque, I'm confused, was it Hoss or Alphonso who predicted the Stanton pickup was crap?

As for moi, I'm afraid I was fooled also. I also thought that it was a pretty good pickup. Only because I never watched the Mets or any National League baseball (except for the World Series) and had not seen Stanton play except for snippets on the highlight shows. Those always showed him launching tape measure shots. I did not know that this guy was made out of paper mache and toothpicks.

After his struggles in his first year with the Yankees, or maybe during the first year, I heard some strange things about Stanton. About how he had to take a certain number of steps from the locker room to the weight room during his time with the Marlins, and other stuff like that. I don't know if that stuff was true, but I'm just reporting what I'd heard back then. Anyway, if that stuff is true, then we got a bona fide head case. A strong case of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Shouldn't the Yankees GM have known about these issues before bringing him in?

But maybe that stuff wasn't true. So we found out the first year that he may be legally blind and that the only pitch he hits is a fastball right down the middle. After muddling through that first year, wouldn't any intelligent GM have pulled the plug on this experiment and traded this guy away? Mistakes can and do happen, but when a GM allows mistakes to fester, that really is the mark of incompetence.

The Hammer of God

Alphonso said...

I'm sure Hoss saw it as well, and it doesn't matter who saw it first.

It doesn't even matter that we predicted it correctly. What matters is that it happened and it is still here.

What matters is that Aaro nBoone pencils in a " golden sombrero" to the heart of the Yankees line-up nearly every game he can.

What matters is the team does better when Stanton is on the DL, but Boone's behavior doesn't reflect that fact.

What matters is we learned nothing from the Ellsbury contract, or bidding against ourselves in the rush to re-sign a highly diminished A-Rod.

What matters is we have ownership who doesn't want ...or care ..about baseball. Hal must not be embarrassed.

And what matters is the fact that we are never going to be good until Giancarlo is gone.
\
And by then, most of us may be gone as well.

But It is nice to be remembered for something.

For seeing that the earth is round.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Nope, didn't see it at all, and wrote as much. I will freely admit my own chowderheadedness!

Speaking of which, I also wrote that the Yanks had made the better pick-up than the Sox, who got J.D. Martinez at the same time. Although I DID write at the time that the Yanks should have signed Martinez as well, thereby sticking it to the Sox and assuring us a championship at the same time.

How might that have played out?

Well, we would have romped to a 2018 World Series win, as Martinez hit .330 that year. In 2019, when Stanton went down...we probably still would have won it all, with Martinez filling in at DH. He would have sucked last year, and we would have all complained...and now we'd be in first place again.

Oh, and HAL's head would've exploded with his payroll, and he would've fired Brain on the spot.

So...win-win!

JM said...

Whatever it is, I'm against it. No matter what it is or who commenced it, I'm against it.

I think I was also unhappy with the Stanton deal. I think a lot of us were. But I almost always agree with Alphonso, so it's a moot point.

It was, indeed, another A-Rod-type deal that you knew would bring us nothing but trouble.

To everyone who saw it coming, this Bud's for you (not Seling).

Kevin said...


Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB Pos Awards
2010 20 FLA NL 100 396 359 45 93 21 1 22 59 5 2 34 123 .259 .326 .507 .833 118 182 7 2 0 1 6 9/H
2011 21 FLA NL 150 601 516 79 135 30 5 34 87 5 5 70 166 .262 .356 .537 .893 141 277 11 9 0 6 6 *9/H8D MVP-23
2012 22 MIA NL 123 501 449 75 130 30 1 37 86 6 2 46 143 .290 .361 .608 .969 155 273 5 5 0 1 9 *9/HD AS,MVP-24
2013 23 MIA NL 116 504 425 62 106 26 0 24 62 1 0 74 140 .249 .365 .480 .845 131 204 10 4 0 1 5 *9
2014 24 MIA NL 145 638 539 89 155 31 1 37 105 13 1 94 170 .288 .395 .555 .950 164 299 16 3 0 2 24 *9/DH AS,MVP-2,SS
2015 25 MIA NL 74 318 279 47 74 12 1 27 67 4 2 34 95 .265 .346 .606 .952 159 169 5 2 0 3 6 9/D AS
2016 26 MIA NL 119 470 413 56 99 20 1 27 74 0 0 50 140 .240 .326 .489 .815 120 202 6 4 0 2 5 9H/D
2017 27 MIA NL 159 692 597 123 168 32 0 59 132 2 2 85 163 .281 .376 .631 1.007 169 377 13 7 0 3 13 *9/HD AS,MVP-1,SS
2018 28 NYY AL 158 705 617 102 164 34 1 38 100 5 0 70 211 .266 .343 .509 .852 130 314 17 8 0 10 5 D97/H MVP-19
2019 29 NYY AL 18 72 59 8 17 3 0 3 13 0 0 12 24 .288 .403 .492 .894 137 29 1 0 0 1 0 7/D9
2020 30 NYY AL 23 94 76 12 19 7 0 4 11 1 1 15 27 .250 .387 .500 .887 144 38 4 2 0 0 1 D
2021 31 NYY AL 34

The above is a cut/paste from baseballreference.com on Stanton.
I must confess I thought that his games played was a little better, but when measured against "regular" players probably normal. But if what Hammer wrote about Stanton possibly having OCD, well that changes and explains some things. It very well could explain his obsession with the weights, leading to injuries which to use a Barry White line, "too much of a good thing is no good for you". Maybe Judge got into the spirit of things as a competitor. Hmmmmm, if he's obsessive (which you have to have a lot of to be a pro athlete anyway), HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM................

Anonymous said...

Pardon my error - I see now that Hoss wrote the piece and Duque posted it for him.

Paul O'Neill today said Stanton's stance is too closed, makes it difficult to see the ball. Understatement of the year! I've been questioning how this guy can possibly see right handed pitching when his back is to the pitcher. Was Stanton always so turned-around when he was with the Marlins? I don't remember.

The Hammer of God

Anonymous said...

I remember Ken Griffey, Jr.'s stance back when he was on the Mariners, terrorizing the Yankees. He had his head turned so that both eyes were on the pitcher. Both eyes squarely on the incoming ball. That was one of his secrets. A comfortable stance and great vision for recognizing pitches.

You can't hit what you can't see. I'm pretty sure Stanton only sees the right handed pitcher with his left eye. (Of course, he also looked dreadful against the lefty pitcher today.)

He usually hits lefties much better. I'm sure that it's partly because he can see lefties with both eyes.

The Hammer of God

HoraceClarke66 said...

Sorry for the confusion, Hammer and Kevin. Again—I freely admit I was all for the Stanton deal at the time. I was just trying to credit Alphonso for seeing through it.

Throughout baseball history, all kinds of players have had all kinds of success with all kinds of stances.

The problem with Stanton is that he can't stay on the field.

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