Sunday, December 11, 2022

After Mets sign Kodai Senga, it's Carlos Rodon or nothing for Yanks

If the Death Barge misses out on Carlos Rodon, it's a long, Hans Gruber plummet from Nakatomi Plaza to a fallback starter. 

I can't shake the feeling that we've seen this movie before. Yesterday, the Mets signed the intriguing Japanese free agent, Kodai Senga, leaving the Yanks once again facing San Francisco in a duel of money and manhood. Rodon is far above what's still out there. 

Here's a list of unsigned free agent starting pitchers. It's a long way down. 

Best Bets 

Nathan Eovaldi (age 33, 3.87 ERA, 109 innings last year)
Chris Bassitt (age 34, 3.42 ERA, 181 innings)
Corey Kluber (37, 4.34, 164 innings)

Meh's 

Sean Manaea (31, 4.96, 158 innings)
Wade Miley (36, 3.16, 37 innings)
Rich Hill (42, 4.27, 124 innings)
Ross Stripling (33, 3.02, 134 innings)
Zack Greinke (38, 3.68, 137 innings)
Michael Wacha (30, 3.32, 127 innings)
Noah Syndergaard (30, 3.94, 134 innings)

Lottery Tickets

Mike Minor (35, 6.06, 98 innings)
Jordan Lyles (31, 4.43, 179 innings)
Drew Smyly (33, 3.47, 106 innings)
Erick Fedde (30, 5.81, 127 innings)
Joe Ross (29, 4.17, 108 innings)
Michael Lorenzen (31, 4.24, 97 innings)
Ryan Yarbrough (31, 4.50, 80 innings)
Michael Pineda (33, 5.79, 46 innings)

Turkey Stuffing 

Dylan Bundy (29, 4.89, 140 innings)
Chris Archer (33, 4.56, 102 innings)
Aaron Sanchez (30, 6.60, 60 innings)
Carlos Martinez (30, missed 2022)
Zach Davies (30, 4.09, 134 innings)
Chad Kuhl (29, 5.72, 137 innings)
Dallas Keuchel (35, 9.20, 60 innings)
Chase Anderson (35, 6.38, 24 innings)
Mike Foltynewicz (30, 5.44, 139 innings)
Kohei Arihara (30, 9.45, 20 innings)

Many come with pre-existing ailments, which seldom dissuades Brian Cashman. Keep fingers crossed. We'll soon learn how badly the Yankee ownership wants to win, or whether - like Gruber - they really just wanted to look like activists, and they simply needed to bag Bruce Willis Aaron Judge. 

15 comments:

Mildred Lopez said...


If the plucky little New York Yankees and their plucky little GM manage to sign Rodon and Benentendi and somehow rid themselves of Donaldson and Hicks, even if only for a bucket of chicken, do we call it a successful offseason?

I don't want Reynolds but only because I don't want the plucky little GM going anywhere near the trading table where he tends to consistently outsmart himself (and no one else).

JM said...

We'll fail to sign Rodon and Benentendi and the Josher and Hicks will be playing for us again next year. We'll also trade at least one of our promising minor leaguers or an Oswald--maybe both--for a disappointment.

It's Cashman. It's the 21st century Yankees.

Buck's team is going to be so much better it might make me stop wincing at their uniforms' horrible color combination.

DickAllen said...

I don’t know what you guys are complaining about - we already have a championship caliber team.

The Intern and Harold told me so.

Mildred Lopez said...


I know in my knows you're right JM but the heart still flutters with hope during the offseason.

HoraceClarke66 said...

I fear you're right, too, JM.

I think the best thing they could do now would be to sign Rodon, sign Correa, stick one of the Oswalds in left, deal Donaldson and IKF for lottery tickets, and Gleyber for what they can get.

But they won't. God help us all, I wouldn't be surprised if Eovaldi and/or Pineda are headed back this way.

doo wop rebbe said...

morroco 1 portugal 0 the greatest example of the world cup being a farce since us amatuers beat england 1-0 in the 1950 world cupin brazil.el duque was dead on the other day!

The Hammer of God said...

You can almost tell what pitchers they'll go after merely from reading their names. They love midwestern, so called "red-blooded American" sounding names. Some names that instantly scream out New York Yankees: Wade Miley; Ross Stripling; Mike Minor; Drew Smyly; Joe Ross; Ryan Yarbrough; Dylan Bundy. It doesn't matter if they suck, if they're old, or whatever, as long as they have a midwestern American name.

Of particular interest to Yankee fans would be Ryan Yarbrough (a/k/a the Yarlboro Man). Not that we'd want him, but it's just that he's the soft throwing lefty who Yankee hitters couldn't hit in their dreams. I think that if I was Yarbrough's agent, I would advise against him signing with the Yankees, except as a last resort. Because the Yankees are the only team that does NOT hit him. If he comes to the Yankees, it would be a career finishing move, because he'll get hit harder than a pinata on El Presidente's birthday bash on Cinco De Mayo. But conversely, Cashman would be stupid enough to bring him here.

The other thing Cashman does wonderfully well is to drag back second and third timers. Witness Javier Vasquez I and II; Aroldis Chapman I and II. Just to name a couple off the top of my head.

So there is a very strong chance that the Yankees bring back Nathan Eovaldi or Corey Kluber or even Rich Hill.

This propensity to drag in former names is probably the result of terrible non-existant scouting. If you have no scouting, what do you do? You take the devil that you know over the devil that you don't know. That's got to be the reason why Cashman brings back guys like Tommy Kahnle.

Where does Houston get all those young arms in their bullpen? They scout 'em, sign 'em, develop 'em, and then coach 'em to championships. The Yankees do not scout effectively, nor do they develop anyone, nor do they coach effectively at the major league level. So how can they compete against a well run organization like Houston?

Rufus T. Firefly said...

I think this deserves it's own thread:

https://sportscollectorsdigest.com/news/mickey-mantle-lewd-letter-questionnaire-yankees-lelands-auction

AboveAverage said...

It’s cold and raining in NJ

Rufus T. Firefly said...

It never rains in southern california....

13bit said...

but girl, let me warn ya...

13bit said...

or something like that. I wasn't that conscious when that song came out, so don't ask me to remember the lyrics.

either way, Hal's useless, Brian's a dope, and Randy Levine just announced that he's engaged to Lindsey Graham!

The world is beautiful.

The Yankees always win in the upland, sunlit Tampas of the mind.

River Avenue blues, indeed...

HoraceClarke66 said...

Hammer, Cashie explained that just the other day: They're just crazy about all the Yankees' amenities!

The Archangel said...

"don't tell em how you found me, don't tell em how you found me.
Give me a break, give me a break."

Cashman will bring in Dallas Kuechel with just a dash of Rich Hill.

Boonie in May, " Dallas and Rich are really coming along fine. We expect them to resume throwing next week and , well, be with us before the All-Star break."

HoraceClarke66 said...

"I'm outta work
I'm outta my head
I'm outta self-respect
I'm outta bread
I'm outta love
I'm outta bread
I WANNA GO HOME!..."

All right, I'll stop now.