Could this be the year the Yankees collapse?

Showa hands: Anybody here remember Gil Blanco? (Yikes, you're ancient.) He was a 19-year-old LHP who was supposed to be the next Whitey. That was 1965, the year the mighty team of Mickey, Roger, Elston, Bobby, Clete, Mel and - yes - Whitey were picked to be unstoppable - and then finished 6th, eight below .500. 

The following year - after a winter retooling - they came in 10th, descending into an era remembered for Horace Clarke (recalled faithfully by our own IIH favorite blogger.)

Couldn't happen again, right? They're the Yankees. They spend so much. They have big name stars. They're the Yankees. And - truth be told - this team does look like a legitimate wild card power, a third place dynasty in the AL East. 

Still, last year, they unveiled - um, let's see now - Nobody. No impact rookie, not one. Same with 2020. And now, 2022 looks, well, the same. How many seasons can a team with such a highly self-praised farm system contribute... Nobody? (Our last true home grown rookie star was Miguel Andujar, and - wow - did we ever screw him up!)  

Amid the YES hype - (a bit desperate, doncha think? as NYC drifts towards the Mets) - let's ponder how bad 2022 could be, especially if the shrunken spring results in more tweaks and strains than usual. 

What if the floor caves in? It could happen, easier than you think. 

What if...

1. Gerrit Cole gets hurt? Yep, the catastrophe. Last year Cole threw just 181 innings - low, compared to his Houston days - and missed a few weeks. His ERA rose to above .300 for the first time in four years. He's 31, the bulwark of the rotation. Replacing him would be... um... The Entire Bullpen, (which already might be No. 5 in the rotation.)  

2. Giancarlo and Judge return to fragility? Both enjoyed relatively injury-free 2021 seasons. What if they return to the tweaks and strains - back to back, belly to belly? In Stanton's case, we'll always have a DH - (though the inability to find a LH slugger is sorta amazing.) But when Judge disappears, his replacements sometimes turn into Shane Robinsons and Jace Petersons. (And our new guy, Josh Donaldson, is also a career tweak machine.)

3. Aroldis Chapman continues to erode? He's now 34, and every ninth inning is a haunted house. Last year, his ERA ballooned to 3.36, worst since 2011. Back then, a 101-mph made him a freak. Now, every bullpen has one. And for all his intimidating glares, Aroldis always seems on the verge of implosion. We hope Jonathan Loaisiga takes over, but his career has also been marked by injuries. If El Chapo goes, it will be a long and tortuous process, and it might lead nowhere.

4. Last year was NOT an outlier for DJ LeMahieu, Gleyber Torres, Anthony Rizzo and Joey Gallo? Each had a lousy 2021. The Yank front office seems to think they'll all return to form. Aaron Hicks, too - (but when he was healthy, Hicks hit only .194.) We'll see. 

Of course, I'm merely playing a parlor game here, called Pure Pessimism. Surely, 2022 will bring pleasant surprises. Right? Surely. Right? I mean it. Right?

Maybe we'll find a Gil Blanco. In 1965, he pitched 20 innings and kept his ERA under 4.00. The following winter, he was traded to KC for - gasp - Fred Talbot. He suffered an arm injury and was done by 1967. Baseball is cruel, but life often forgives.

He's now 76 and, in the rare chance that he sees this, I wish him the best. To those of us who remember him, "Bambi" will always be 19. I hear time is a flat circle:  Everything that happened before, it's still happening. Hold onto those memories, folks. They're gonna be coming around again. And they might include 1965.