Okay, Yankiverse, altogether now, stand and repeat after me:
"MEH!"
Actually, it should just be "Meh." I'm not sure this warrants Trumpian all-caps. If we're not bellowing, that's sorta sad, because - as you may recall - Bader was our best player last October in the shameful, four-game train wreck against Houston. (Wait... Was it a train wreck or a dumpster fire? I'm never sure.) He deserves a Somerset, N.J., round of applause. Trouble is, I don't want to tax his auditory canal with excessive noise. He might tweak his Eustachian tube and miss another two months.
Bader is the bright, colorful Christmas package we have never been able to open. A Cards fan friend once told me that Bader - with his long locks flying horizontally as he chased down flies - was the most thrilling outfielder in baseball. We will never get to see that comet tail of hair, but we can sure use a gold glove CF who hits his weight. So, there's that... hopefully.
But Bader's return means someone must go, and here's where it could get sticky:
It might be a Yank fan fave, Oswaldo Cabrera.
That's a case made today by Mike Axisa in his Patreon (membership required, but it's worth it) Yankee blog. I try not to copy Axisa because 1) he's great, 2) he rightfully charges a fee and 3) I don't want to steal content from a guy trying to make a living (again, join his site!) But what he says today would be fightin' words for Team Oswaldo:
"If Oswaldo is still running a slash line that starts with 2s across the board and is striking out nine times as much as he walks when Bader returns, then yeah, a trip to Scranton is in order. It wouldn’t be a punishment. It would be a step toward getting Cabrera back on track..."
Disagree.
Technically, it wouldn't be a punishment. But spiritually, it would be the Edmund Fiztgerald - a soul-crushing demotion, the kind that leaves a guy struggling at Triple A and on a fast train to East Palestine, Ohio. Yes, Oswaldo is flailing - yesterday, he was thrown out cartoonishly trying to stretch a single into a double, and his K rate is climbing into Zolio Almonte territory. That said, if Willie Calhoun is not the one to go, I don't know why the Yankees keep a farm system.
And don't get me started on Aaron Hicks. Nope, not a word about Hicksy. Well, okay a word or two. The cheapo Diamondbacks yesterday released Madison Bumgarner, despite owing him $34 million, because the guy just doesn't have it anymore. (Could the Yankees take a flier on him? Why not?) If the notoriously frugal D-backs would pay Bumgarner $34 million to disappear, why can't the Yankees cut their losses with Hicks? Do they really think he'll magically turn back the clock five years? And if he did - for a week maybe - where does he fit into the newly configured OF?
Meh.
Posts
23 comments:
Jesus Montero, Mike, it's April 21. We've been playing ball for three weeks out of the season's six months. Oswaldo has crap to work out? Let him work it out where he is. Give the kid a chance, fer peetssake.
Alas, poor Willie. I didn't know him well, but had some hope he might finally, as the nuns used to say, reach his potential. He doesn't get the patience Oz deserves because his track record says that Spring was maybe just a fluke.
Too bad. Willie is a great baseball name that seems to be dying out. Say hey.
Haul out the guillotine, Casey. We have some work to do.
So Kole Calhoun signed with the Yanks. Did Ca$hman consult with an astrologer and was told that a Calhoun would turn around the season? And if that's true, he's sign another one soon...
It’s like the 80s all over again. Never give kids a chance, trade them for broken down has-beens or never were bins. If it wasn’t for $200m payroll, this team would be the KC Royals.
Couple of thoughts...
1) Kole Calhoun
So the Yankees like him because despite sucking he has a good "hard hit ball" number.
Here's what I don't understand... The appeal of the "hard hit ball" is that the harder you hit it the more likely it is that it will be a base hit.
But his batting average stinks. So if his hit hard hit balls don't translate to hits then... why should we care?
2) Oswaldo
When Bader comes back they should cut Hicks. Or Willie Calhoun. Hell cut Hicks AND Willie Calhoun in order to keep Oswaldo and bring up Chaparro (he's killing it at AAA)
Don't send the kid down. And bring up Chapparo. He's killing it
I agree with y'all, cut Hicks and Calhoun. Cabrera is in a batting slump, but big deal, Hicks has been in a batting slump his entire tenure with the club, his entire MLB career. Axisa has to get his head out of his ass.
I raised my eyebrows at last night's victory. Yanks actually won a game, and scored a bunch of runs, without hitting a home run. How many of those do you think we'll see during this year? Two? Maybe four, at most? Hell, it was shocking, stunning, astounding!
Blue Jays are in town, so look for the good feelings to go away pretty quickly. Jays have given Yanks fits for a while now. I don't expect this year to be much different. Lock up the women and children. Prepare for battle. Vlad the Impaler's comin' to town!
If there is a return from Bader. Does he get hurt in his rehab game. Seven seasons, seven injuries. Never has batted 400 times in a season. More wonderful work by Genius Cashman. One year Bader was out because of migraine and another because of illness. Yankee fans have a brain illness due to the knowledge of watching Casgman work.
Hicks needs to go. No more excuses. He can't hit. His fielding is somewhere between phoning it in and playing dropsey. And even mollycoddling Boone doesn't trust him with more than pinch running duty. If they send down one of the kids because they have options left, Cashman should be fired on the spot.
Apparently, Cashman doesn't mind dropping 50 million plus on a worn down 3rd baseman, when he had a younger, better and phenomenally cheaper 3rd baseman in Gio. So dropping Hicks off at the bus stop shouldn't be a problem for the World's Greatest Intern.
In other news, the Yankees just signed 35 year old, Kole Calhoun, to a minor league contract. He's sporting a .213 average and -2.6 dWAR over the past 5 years. Yeah! Our LF problems are solved!
Please temper any expectations about Bader. He has a long track record of excellent fielding, mediocre (at best) hitting, and constant injury issues. If that thrills you, you’re welcome to it.
Agree about Cabrera, I see no point in sending him down. He was never considered to be an everyday player, just a super utility type, a role which he has embraced and excelled in. His offense will always be the weakest part of his game, and he must cut down on the strikeouts. Let him play through it, and don’t turn him into another Florial.
Speaking of K’s, I see Jasson Dominguez is really struggling in AA. His K rate is nearly 40%, but he is a 20 y/o plying in a league where the average age is 23. It’s rare that the Yankees rush a player through the minors. He does have tremendous potential, and I wish the team would let him get off the hype train.
Kole Calhoun was signed for one reason: he’s cheap. No different than Willie or Frenchy, both of whom have started slumping, although Cordero has value as a LH hitter in YS, a la Matt Carpenter who BTW is struggling in SD.
Got nothing left to say about the execrable Hicks that you guys haven’t already said. He will be released at some point, just not now.
I used to visit RAB, and found Axisa to be an insufferable, bloated bore with a childish fan boy view of the game. Duque, you’re worth 3 of him.
Got a feeling we’re gonna lose this series to TOR. Hope I’m wrong.
Josh Donaldson has been diagnosed with a Grade 1 hamstring strain. Aaron Boone said “it will probably be a couple of weeks.”
So it looks like it will be at least June before Donaldson is back.
Sabean should say no to picking up Madbum because he’s likely still peeved at him for that off day dirt bike injury so many years before. That and he’s not so good any more.
Wait - that means Cashman has already signed him — never mind.
Hicks is due for a strain soon. Perhaps this weekend
The only thing Hicks will strain is his own credulity that he can still play the game.
Doug - that's still a strain, right?
German better break out that Rosin paste . . .
Little Tony opens the game with a single!! His BA is above the Mendoza line!!
And his wRC+ is up to 93!! That's approaching league average!!
Gleyber continues to be the worst baserunner I have ever seen.
With all these very bad contracts that Cashman gives out or picks up via dumped over-the-hill players, one might think he does so because their agents give Cashie Boy a kickback. Hmmm, I might be on to something as that's the only thing that makes sense. His ex-wife probably took him to the cleaners.
Lest anyone forget, Cashman got his tit caught in the wringer when he was caught having an affair with a nut-job.
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The wife of Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has filed divorce papers a day after prosecutors charged a woman with stalking him and extorting money over an extramarital affair.Feb 4, 2012
Brainy Trashman and his League of Mediocre Morons answer to Lord Hal, Ruler of the Universe.
The end is near, true believers.
Gather all your love ones and prepare for a message.
No special equipment will be needed as everyone will be able to hear the transmission.
Be strong.
Be calm.
Be ready
Anyone notice that the Kashman Klown Kar is only one-and-a-half games out of the AL East cellar? It's coming soon to a shopping mall ballpark near you. . . .
My favorite Boonie and Meredith remarks are about how the tests came out negative and" it will be just a little while longer til ___ starts baseball. activities."
Cue this year's excuse that we just had a few injuries that set us back.
I'm sure that ASSman will scour the minor league op-out wire on May 1 and Hal will appear sometime in July to give us his "State of the Team" remarks with his deep concern about the mental fragility of "the bondholders."
Hicks will be working with the grounds crew between innings.
Same as it ever was.
Post a Comment