Presidential election, Olympics, solar eclipse, super volcano, the Singularity, Taylor Swift wedding... and an all-or-nothing Yankee season.
That's right. All or nothing. Look at the lineup. Look at the recent moves. You can see the greased cogs turning in Hal Steinbrenner's head. For the '24 Yanks, it's win or go home.
In recent days, they obtained Alex Verdugo (age 27) and Juan Soto (25), and it looks as though they'll keep Gleyber Torres (26) - all three facing contract "walk" years.
They'll play beside Aaron Judge (31) and Gerrit Cole (32), stars in their primes. They'll join Giancarlo Stanton (33), DJ LeMahieu (34) and Anthony Rizzo (33) - all facing career crossroads - plus Carlos Rodon (30) and Nestor Cortez (28.) They might sign Frankie Montas (30), another now-or-never shot.
Too many vets, you say? Too old? Maybe. But from here, '24 looks like an all-out assault on the AL East and the looming Orioles dynasty. If the Yankees fail, there will be consequences - major casualties.
If that happens, imagine the fetid spew of bile next winter. I have to believe it would signal the end of the Brian Cashman/Aaron Boone era.
With so much invested in 2024, the Yankees must go hard after Yamamoto, the best free agent pitcher on the market. If he choses a west coast team, well, so be it. Either way, the Yankees must not be outbid by the Mets or Redsocks. That simply cannot happen! Losing Yamamoto could leave the team scrounging for arms, its staff withered by the recent deals.
If Yamamoto goes elsewhere, Hal must overpay to chase Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, Josh Hader and maybe Matt Chapman (which could prompt a trade of regulars for more pitching.)
The last Yankee world championship came in 2009, after Hal signed Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett - the best free agents on the market. Five years later, he tried again - Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann and Jacoby Ellsbury - this time, failing miserably. Ever since, Hal has played footsie with the luxury tax threshold, signing just enough players to be competitive. And last year, they weren't.
Strap in, people. Apparently, Hal has decided: The Yankees will be all-in on 2024. It could be a great Yankee season. Or, well, it could really suck.
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20 comments:
If it’s Tuesday it must be . . .
2024
Argylle and so much more
Yamamoto Please
"If Yamamoto goes elsewhere, Hal must overpay to chase Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, Josh Hader and maybe Matt Chapman"
I think that should say, "If Hal doesn't overpay for Yamamoto, he must overpay to chase Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, Josh Hader and maybe Matt Chapman".
He's going to overpay for any good (or better) pitcher, period. Who he overpays for (or rightly, for whom he overpays) is the only question.
I think that the question we’re all asking is . . . What would Frank Perdue Do?
Frank would feed his pitchers marigold petals and give them water from deep Artesian wells.
Agreed, Duque! This is it! This is fucking it!
NO HALF MEASURES!!!
Well then - all I can say is that I hope that Matt Blake is reading this and follows Frank’s lead.
Come on Matt, we’re counting on you!
Frank would choke Cashman...like he does his chicken.
Frank was a tough man.
Looks like HAL told his lackey Cashman to go for it in 2024. So they should throw bags of money at Yamamoto, and Hader, and Snell, and Bauer. If they get all those pitchers, they'd have a very good chance of winning the World Series. If you're going to go for it, go all the way!
I was not a big Who guy - in my high school, it was The Who, Zep, Stones freaks, and the occasional art rock/YES guy. I was squarely in the Stones freaks camp.
That being said, and with all due respect to El Duque...
WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN....
Or as Frank sang:
"When somebody loves you
It's no good unless they love you
All the way..."
Love us all the way, HAL, and forgive the disgusting connotations.
Hammer, I hear you on Ohtani.
But...sometimes, I think, when you get up to money levels that are more than you can possibly go through in ten generations, other things take priority.
So, he gets $500 mill instead of $700 mill. I would guess he already is worth over $100 mill. And if, thanks to his decision, the Dodgers win several World Series and he is revered as a deity by their fans...is that so bad? Any Yankee free agent who made a similar decision, let's face it: we would become his groveling thralls. Just saying.
If the Yanks can sign YY, I'd STILL want them to get Hader—and at least sniff around Monty and Snell.
If they don't sign YY, it becomes imperative they get all three of the alternatives.
I am very pessimistic on both counts.
Hoss, I don’t intend to get fooled into thinking they will contend. Not so long as the brain is running the show
Hoss - as we have (all) gleaned over the past few years - HAL loves CASH all the way. And you can take that to the bank.
HAL LOVES BRIAN LOOOOOONG TIME...
Sign Monty, Snell, Hader, and Chapman instead of The Admiral and we increase our chances of winning the Ring of Bragging. I love YY. But younger is not necessarily when it comes to catchers and pitchers due to cartilage maturation. Assuming that we have a choice better to spread the risk around, and it is a fact that we have a lot of holes. Naturally we have to see how high the bidding goes.
You may be right, Kevin—except that i'd pass on Matt Chapman. Down to 17 homers last year, and a lifetime, .240 hitter. He has Cantrun written all over him.
Well, it only took Cashman 25 years to realize he needs left-handed hitters in his lineup. And he seems to have suddenly discovered that hitters who strike out all the time, don't necessarily improve the lineup. So, who says an old dog can't learn new tricks?
But Cashman's organization has lost all ability to develop prospects, so trading them off for some old codgers with resumes may be the best thing for the prospects. But the old codgers will soon be in the hands of that meatgrinder of a training & medical staff we lovingly call the 'wrecking crew' and fed that brilliantly one-dimensional, 'hit strikes harder' baseball philosophy of the Yankees. Amid all this flurry of activity, I get the sick feeling in my stomach that all this sudden enthusiasm for winning is more about saving Private Brian than it is about winning championships. Or, god forbid, playing great baseball.
So I'm not ready to order that case of Moet just yet. The leadership of the team remains unchanged and taking 25 years to learn that lefties are an asset in Yankee stadium, or that strikeouts kill rallies, does not inspire confidence. I'll keep the Prozac stocked in the medicine cabinet and hold off on the Moet until the end of October.
This could be a PBR & sardine season.
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