Wednesday, June 1, 2022

Jose Trevino looks like the Yankees' steal of the summer

Okay, gotta ask, once again... where, where, where in Phukaduk would the Yankees be without Jose Trevino? 

The alt-Yankiverses are not happy places. There, we are...

1. Waiting on Kyle Higashioka, a mysterious disaster, now hitting .164 with zero HRs and RBIs countable on one hand. We haven't cracked the Higgy Code - why did his power vanish with spring training? Alas, he might just not be a frontline catcher, like Austin Romine, a spare part now wallowing in the Angels' farm system. 

2. Waiting on Rob Brantley, a 32-year-old lug nut who - (and I suspect this tells us all we need to know) -on Saturday refused his demotion to Scranton and went out on the MLB waiver wire, able to go anywhere. Sunday, he re-signed a minor league contract with the Yankees and is now - gulp - in Scranton.

3. Waiting on Ben Rortvedt, the original comfort food in last winter's Gary Sanchez deal with Minnesota. Supposedly, we'd found our rock, the catcher who would settle the staff and charge the defense. Of course, Benny Biceptv tweaked something , missed spring training, then jobbed a knee and is recovering from surgery. One more boo-boo, and it's strike three on 2022. Oh, well, he's only 24, and what were we expecting? Last year, The Rort hit .169.  Higgyesque.

4, Waiting on Austin Wells, a 22-year-old "offensive" catcher - (read: future first-baseman?) - down in Single A Hudson Valley. Wells is reputed to be our top catching prospect - (or first-baseman?) - with an ETA of September 2023. He's injured, replaced by former first-round pick Anthony Siegler, who last week achieved his first viral video by doing a theatrical bat flip on a fly ball that died at the track. At least he's not a future first-baseman.

5. Waiting on Cooperstown Cashman (pictured at right) to monitor the waiver wire with the intensity of of Johnny Depp pushing a wife down a flight of stairs, (which never happened, right?) 

Waiting on... no, wait! We have Trevino! And thank God. To get him, we traded the eternal prospect, Albert "Double A" Abreu, to Texas. This weekend, the Rangers waived Abreu, and - who knows -maybe he'll come home? Manny Baneulos did. Shane Greene did. Don't they all?  

Every winning Yankee team has at least one surprise no-name, who makes an impact. This year, we've had Nestor Cortez, Clay Holmes, Tim Locastro, and Trevno - now hitting .263 with 3 HRs. Our last starting catcher to hit higher was Gary, in 2017, in his miracle half-season. He finished in a freefall at .278. Before then, you must go back to 2010 with Francisco Cervelli, who hit .271. Remember the giant helmet?

Don't know how long Trevino can keep this up. But he's been a godsend, who has saved the bottom of our lineup from becoming an open drain. He's the steal of 2022. And right now, he's our catcher.

14 comments:

JM said...

What???? No mention of Gallows getting two hits? One of which was even a real, honest-to-gosh smacker down the line?

Yes, of course, Trevino, but let us not forget this potential turnaround game by Joey Uppercut. A big reason why the Yanks were firing on all cylinders last night, except for Judge, who managed only a sac fly RBI.

Maybe we need 90 degree weather to see what this team can really do. Which wouldn't bode well for October. Unless climate change works its magic and the city swelters into Thanksgiving.

AboveAverage said...

Remember . . . A Trevino grows in the Bronx.

Now if you'd all excuse me - I must get to my

Nasty -
Nasty -
Nasty -
Nasty -
Nasty -
Nasty -
Nasty -
Nasty -
Nasty -
NASTY NESTOR! ritual.

Mildred Lopez said...

Gallows on the postgame had me twitching. Thank God for the gin

TheWinWarblist said...

A Trevino grows in the Bronx.

ranger_lp said...

As for Kyle, he got those spring training home runs against A and AA pitching...nuff said...

Ken of Brooklyn said...

I would also love it if The Master added 'it's hammer time' after Carpenter nails it, would bookend nicely with his 80's reference Nobody beat the Riz > which is pure GENIUS!!!

Fun game all around last night, just soaking it all in,,,,,,,,

BTR999 said...

Trevino is not the second coming of Johnny Bench, but he is CLEARLY the best possible option we have at C. Did you see him pick that runner off first? He should be starting nearly every game until a replacement is brought in for Higashioka.

Bemoan Gallo we must (last night notwithstanding), but have you seen Robinson Cano’s slash line in SD? .094/.121/.094 Yikes!

HoraceClarke66 said...

Great piece, Duque—and references to Rorty Biceptvedt always make me smile—but one slight correction:

Gary Sanchez actually had MORE than that miracle half-season (which was in 2016). The man came back with a pretty damned good, full season in 2017, hitting that .278 with 33 HRs, winning the Silver Slugger, throwing out 38 percent of would-be base-stealers (as opposed to the league average of 27 percent), framing pitches like the staff of the Metropolitan, and getting a humongous hit in the ALCS against Houston.

Then...it all went south.

Today, Gary is apparently the top hitting catcher in the AL...which says more about the lack of hitting catchers than anything else.

AboveAverage said...

Nasty Nestor ritual completed - now on to game time.

TheWinWarblist said...

Robinson who?

DickAllen said...



Say what you will about Gary Sanchez, but The Intern made the worst of all possible trades. I guess, at the time there were no better options, but losing him and Gio in exchange for Donaldson (remember him?) so far has been a lose-lose proposition.

Maybe it was simply a matter of a change of scenery or, as I suspect, the expectations on him were just too enormous. Something he simply couldn't live up to - much the same as The Martian is going to experience. Putting that kind of hype and that much money onto a poor (as in poverty) kid is bound to have a gut-wrenching affect. Major league baseball is hard enough when you have a lot of support, but...

When I saw Sanchez in the AFL years ago, I couldn't believe how far down the ladder he would eventually fall. Sadly, he didn't turn out to be the Johnny Bench I assumed he would become. I had such high hopes.

Now, we're all wet in the pants over Trevino. I wonder how long that's going to last.

Fuck The Intern.

Joe Formerlyof Brooklyn said...


I'm not smart enuf to know if the improvement in NYY pitching is the result of Gary leaving, and someone else -- anyone else -- crouching back there.

Does this pitching gain rest on Trevino's shoulders (and Higgy's)....?

HoraceClarke66 said...

I agree with you on all counts, DickAllen. I was hoping he'd be the next Johnny Bench, too—the guy he most reminded me of.

Was it too much hype? Was it the nagging injuries that we were only told about after the fact? Hard to know—and, amazingly, the NYC sports media made absolutely no demands for accountability.

Any player's problems are first and foremost his own responsibility. But obviously, the Yankees' coaching and training staffs had absolutely no ability to turn him around.

THEY NEVER DO.

Why does nobody in a position to do so—looking at you, HAL. And you, press—EVER demand an explanation for all the mysterious and complete face-splats players now have every year on the Yankees?

HoraceClarke66 said...

Good point, Joe. Maybe that's the hidden strength of that trade. Maybe.