Wednesday, November 3, 2021

Thank you, Atlanta, for finally ending the season from Hell.

And the living shall envy the dead... part three.

Wow. It's finally over. Good riddance to the 2021 season. Eight weeks, and we're done with the year. I'm ready to pull the plug. This was the year of gaslighting - our new, shiny, three-dollar word for bullshit.

Yeah, bullshit. We should use it more often. When somebody claims the election is rigged, that a needle jab makes you magnetic, that JFK Jr. is alive, that the headsets made you call timeout, or that Yankees are The Team To Beat... no more debate. We have one play: Yell "BULLSHIT!" We can't argue about space lasers. We can't blame the umps, or the injuries, or the third base coach, or Antifa, or the federal agents who donned Yankee uniforms and false-flagged the wild card loss. We can't even blame the juju gods. All we can do is scream "BULLSHIT!" In 2022 - no, starting today - that's how we deal with Hal, with Cashman, with Boone, and with the Gammonites who supply them with fresh blood... Bullshit! 

Forgive me. I lost it. This is a Yankee fan blog. So let's stick to purified, felony-grade Yankee bullshit. 

Last spring, everybody assured us that Tampa had punted, that Boston was weak, and that Houston would never live down the scandal, and that we had a clear path to win the division and pennant. 

And - dear God - we ate it with a knife and fork. 

Well, finally, it's over. Congratulations to the Atlanta Falcons. Or Hawks. Whatever.

Once again, the lesson of October - as it has been for a generation now - is clear:

Teams win championships with rising players who are building their careers - not legacy stars who peaked three years ago. 

As long as the Yankees ignore this - (Note: They're about to break the bank on a free-agent shortstop) -they will chase wild cards. We will continually watch our rivals tank, rebuild and leapfrog past them. 

This Christmas, all I want is a plan. 

Instead of signing a star who makes us 2022 "front-runners," can we look long-range? 

Can we imagine each player not just at the beginning of his contract, but also at the end? 

Can we figure out why so many of our young players regress?  I'm talking about Clint Frazier, Gleyber Torres, Miguel Andujar, Gary Sanchez, Deivi Garcia - a generation of Yankee talent that has rotted on the vine.

Can we show the courage to bring up young players and let them play, rather than always trade for another ex-star past his prime? How many young outfielders, given the chance, would have outperformed Joey Gallo in August and September? (Note: He hit .160.)

Do we always have to go with veterans, whose ceilings are fixed? Did we have to play the entire summer to realize that Rougned Odor was not the answer at 2B?

Well, it's over. Good riddance. But can we, as fans, call what they're giving us by its real name?

5 comments:

JM said...

The world is built on bullshit, and that's why it wobbles on its axis so much and so often.

That stuff is squishy.

DickAllen said...


Only 102 days to spring training

HoraceClarke66 said...

Just to brag on myself, I will note that I sent that dish back to the kitchen.

From what the Yanks looked like to me in spring training, they over performed this season—by a lot. They were lucky that they got decent 1/3-1/2 seasons out of the likes of Kluber, Taillon, and German.

But this only makes next season look more precarious. Yeah, maybe somebody like DJ (who did, after all, have a hernia) will bounce back. But the pitching is still a mess. Look for this team to backslide all the more.

Kevin said...

Maybe the REAL reason that our young players seem to constantly regress is that management over sells their talents. The scouts find the holes in their games, they are unable to adapt, and 'see ya'. To us it seems inexplicably common, but many teams rely on the kids.......for decades. Just trying to make make some sense of nonsense.

Alphonso said...

Sadly, but candidly, the answer to most of your pleading questions is " NO."

Why will anything change, when the same guys are calling the shots?

Boone was rewarded for his failures with a new three year deal ( not cheap hay either ).

Cashman is unaffected by everything.

Hal doesn't give a shit.

I predict a battle with the O's for the cellar, regardless of whom we give $300million to play shortstop.

Thank god we are free of baseball for a long time.

As a Yankee fan, the season is like a pandemic.

College BB and soccer are next.