... And then you realize it's not a dream, that you won't wake up, and that the floorboards have a trap door dropping straight into Hell.
The other day, Chancellor Angela Merkel said the German language has no word to describe the devastation of her flooded homeland. I don't mean to suggest that a sports team's losing streak can compare to the tragedy of so many lost lives, but today, I have no words for the 2021 New York Yankees.
Really. What can anyone say, other than that this fiasco franchise will be long remembered for brutal, horrifying losses, like yesterday. Few teams have ever brought such disappointment. As far as the Yankees are concerned, global warming cannot flood the coastlines quickly enough. For Yankee fans, it's football season.
Today, are we're supposed to think the return of Aaron Judge and Kyle Higashioka will matter? I sure don't. Are we supposed to look forward to another deadline of Brian Cashman's backfiring deals? I sure don't.
This team cannot shed the stench of its own mediocrity, a smell so pungent we cannot even enjoy the irony of a No. 3 hitter named Odor.
For the second time in less than five years, Yankee fans this week must consider rooting against their team, hoping that a few more diabolical losses in Tampa will dissuade Food Stamps Hal and Cooperstown Cashman from trading away the future. Once again, we are chasing the final wild card birth, the brass rail of sports irrelevance.
Yesterday, even as Domingo German seemed to be pitching a masterpiece, who could truly shed the sense that Boston wouldn't rally to win? You kept wondering... who'll pitch the eighth and ninth? Each stranded baserunner - (I think we should call them "Giancarlos") - the fears deepened. When it finally happened, when the floorboards cracked, all you could do was laugh.
Wow. Somehow, they did it again.
Listen: The Redsocks own us. In every phase of the game, from their ballpark's storied past to their farm system's ripping future, they are our master. The Rays also own us, but without the history and with a bit less noise.
I try to not rip players for their contracts or injuries. Neither is their fault. But mediocrity - that's something else. On that note, I'm starting to think the Yankees must suck up their wallet - as they once did with A-Rod - and make a clean break with Giancarlo Stanton. We need a rebuilding plan, not a surgical tweak. If we trade any prospects in some desperate effort to win the wild card, we will find ourselves in this same wretched spot next year, although then, we will also be chasing Baltimore.
You tell yourself it cannot get worse...
Well, it can. We just don't have the words.
Posts
17 comments:
"Each stranded baserunner - (I think we should call them "Giancarlos")"
This X1000!
Doug K.
I like that so much I'm commenting again.
Doug K.
The word for the whole thing was posted here the other day (not mine) -- Suckitude.
It's a cousin of attitude. And like someone with a bad attitude, suckitude CAN (+ will) get worse, and worse, and even worse. We've seen it, we're seeing it, and we will probably see much more of it.
I appreciate the administration of this lesson (to myself) by the NYYs in 2021. I thought I was too old and stupid to learn anything new. Surprise!
NOW, the question is: Will Hal learn anything? Will Brian suggest creative solutions, like paying Giancola to stay home? Will Boone and his coaches escape all culpability for enforced, prolonged suckitude (at least, as it comes to fundamentals, like running the freaking bases and hitting the other way).
. . . Yes, Giancola. The NEW Giancola, not Giancola classic.
Cessa this wknd...1 high leverage inning, scoreless. 5 pitches. On Thursday.
Lasagna's outing on Saturday was great, but he hadn't pitched in weeks. Never should have pitched back to back days. Not so soon.
What's Cessa on the roster for? Unless he was hurt he should have pitched after German. Yet another fireable offense for whoever made that decision.
I am happily retired after 40+ years in the salt mines. This gives me plenty of time to volunteer and give back to my community which gave so much to me.
However, I'm not fucking Jimmy Carter so I moved out of state and spend my days anyway that I please.
This allows me to ruminate a lot, like a cow after a huge grass lunch.
Stanton 2021 stacks up nicely with Mickey Mantle 1967.
Look it up.
Of course, Mickey was like 35, had bone on bone knees, was an alcoholic and had to play the field.
What's Stanton's explanation?
That's right he sucks.
Mt father taught me not hate people, but I loath everything that Stanton stands for. I.E, the new guys, "They play like every game could be the last one they play." -Yeah D-bag, try it sometime
BOYCOTT-DIVEST
The Archangel
Absolutely correct, Publius.
I saw something online today, asking how these meltdowns keep happening.
A: Boone is an idiot. Doesn't use good pitchers who are available, and lets guys he brings in just get walloped and either doesn't take them out at all or waits too long.
So ends the mystery of the late-inning meltdowns.
Brilliant, Duque, just brilliant!
And you're completely right in the Mantle-Stanton comparison EXCEPT...that you forgot to add The Mick in 1967-68 was playing in the worst time for hitters since the "dead ball."
Mantle was in the Top Ten in several major hitting categories in those years, 10th in OPS in 1967 and 9th in 1968. PLUS, he missed a total of 18 games in each season.
Stanton has already missed more games THIS YEAR, than Mantle missed in both of those.
I meant to say, "You're completely right, Archie." Credit where credit is due!
I believe it was Bitty that coined the term suckitude for this team,?, apologies if not.
I only listen to the games with The Master and Suzyn, while painting in the studio, so I'm still being 'productive' as I listen/wallow in the muck of this suckitude, but yesterday, somehow that was the last straw, there's just too much sucking this season, and I just knew they were going to lose the game even while flirting with the no-no.
I need to take a little break from this team and just check into to IIHIIFIIC for my Yankee updates, thank you ALL for being here!
Yankees’ Giancarlo Stanton ‘prepared’ to finally play the outfield this week. I saw this headline this morning and I thought WOW, what self sacrificing gesture by a man who only makes 30m a year (for the next 7 years). The YANKEES need more guys like this. Guys who are willing to lay it on line for the betterment of the team. And my guess is, if Cashman is till the GM after this year, he will sign some more Giancarlo Stantons!
Holy Father Above,
Celerino, is there any Yankee more repulsive these days than Stanton? I wish that you were back playing.
I have seen on less illuminating sites that Stanton is untradeable because he has a no trade clause.
Well, we who pontificate herein are much smarter than that.
We can think of ways to get him to waive his clause.
I would start by making him play every inning in LF, if he breaks down, so what, it frees a roster spot.
Then I would bat him 8th, period.
He may long for the days that he can be an Angel.
Any other suggestions?
Also, I cannot wait for the day that the Cleveland team plays the LA team out west.
The Guardian-Angels. An experience of celestial delight !
The Archangel
"...we will find ourselves in this same wretched spot next year..."
NEXT YEAR?!?!?!?
This disgusting display of ineptitude, if it continues to fester (which it will when The Office Boy makes a deadline trade to chase the wild card), the floundering mess will be a cesspool for YEARS to come. I refer to the age old hypothesis which states: The Brain that got us into this mess is not going to be the one that leads us to the promise land.
We are fucked. Truly fucked. For years to come.
Fuck Harold, Fuck the Office Boy, and fuck Booooooooone.
I'm almost tempted to post this with a paper bag over my head.
Hey it's the trade deadline! let's pick up another injury prone right handed infielder whose best days are behind him. Same old Story. What sad shape we are in when Odor is "carrying our offense". Yes, carrying it to one win in four. Odor at the three or four spot in the line up is about the worst indictment of our roster composition and line up there can possibly be. And how can we ignore the toll this is taking on John and Suzyn? This sorry day -in, day- out on field ineptitude hits home in the broadcast booth--it is Elder Abuse. Suzyn's sunny bromides wither over the innings as she is forced to analyze the unspeakable and abysmal baserunning, situational hitting, and careless fielding. We have spent way too much time on our feelings and emotions during this summer of Yankee failure, and not enough time considering what John and Suzyn are going through. My prayers are with them, and my next goat sacrifice will be dedicated to them.
I can't help but see the similarities between the Yankees and America now. This is not political. It doesn't matter if you are a redder or a bluey. Both America and the Yankees used to be winners. Both changed after 2001. Sure there was the 2009 WS but wasn't that the most powerful nation throwing money at it's problems-signing Tex, CC and AJ- for one last dance with greatness? (America with the 2008 bank bailouts). Smarter folks probably have already made this comparison before. The world and times and baseball have changed and America and the Yankees still pretend like it's the same. We are winners, smarter than everyone else at everything. We are the champions. But we're not. Still taking high fives for what we did almost a hundred years ago. Does anyone care to add to this comparison?
Umm. Duque? Umm, Hrrmm ... to be honest, I never ever tell myself things cannot get any worse. As this last weekend has amply proven.
It can and will get worse next year, if we don't do some much needed housecleaning. The Cashman regime has been defined by two major failures: (1) the inability to develop young players and (2) hanging on to guys who are way past their expiration dates. The second of these failures is totally inexcusable. Why does he do it? Inexplicable.
Despite hanging on to old guys too long, Cashman also has the opposite tendency to throw away younger players for nothing. For example, the case of Thairo Estrada is typical of Cashman's style and almost unbelievable. Why was he traded for a bag of money?
Re. Stanton, I don't care if some guys have no trade clauses. They have to understand that the club doesn't want them. No player wants to be where he isn't wanted. I'm sure Stanton will waive his no-trade clause if he is made to understand that. That's not the problem. Finding a club who wants him will be the problem.
We're not the only ball club that's had millstones around their necks. Boston has had their share and yet always seems to find ways to get rid of them quickly. We're the only club that waits and does nothing until the contract finally expires. And at that point, Cashman searches for the next millstone.
The Hammer of God
The other day, I was listening to WFAN, and they had one of their newer female hosts on the air. And a Yankee fan called and said basically that the Yankees should be run more like the Rays. And the host simply said that's not happening; the Yankees don't do things the Rays. And she hung up on the caller.
It got me to thinking, what exactly is it about the Rays that the Yankees won't do? If you think about it, the only difference should be their ability to spend money. I get that the Yankees don't want to go penny pinching, and that they want some big names. That's all good. That's why I said, if they have the money to get Cole, then by all means.
But everything else about the Rays is that they're obviously running their organization the correct way. They scout very well and develop their own players. They trade for the right young players when they have holes to fill. They bring up their young players quickly, and if they don't develop, they are traded for better young players. They trade away guys before they become free agents, and they sucker some dumb club into giving up a bunch of great prospects for those guys who are about to hit their expiration dates. They get somebody else's prospect who didn't pan out, and all of a sudden, the guy they brought in is a star because they were able to quickly fix whatever was wrong with him.
These kinds of things are what every intelligent GM should be doing. And to do it, you obviously need a great scouting system and great coaches in your minor leagues. And you need guys who are great at assessing talent in your own system and making decisions about what guys to keep and which to trade away.
That the Yankees are not doing these kinds of things and that the Yankees will never do these kinds of things is not something you want to hear as a Yankee fan. However, it does explain why we haven't developed a starting pitcher since Andy Pettite. It does explain why we're good at developing guys who turn out to be a flash in the pan. It explains why we always get young players who, at best, turn out to be a flash in the pan. It explains why we spend tons of money to try and fill gaps in our roster and why those acquisitions almost never pan out.
These kinds of deficiencies are not the kinds of things that will be ironed out over a few weeks or a few months. The damage that Cashman & Co. has done is going to be around for at least the next decade. And that's if big changes are made in the front office right now to bring in the right baseball people. If Cashman & Co. sticks around for another five years, you can tack on another decade to that wait.
The Hammer of God
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