So be it.
Days before camp Tampa opens, here is the Yankee staff, with notes about last year.
Starters:
Gerrit Cole (great, magnificent, wondrous; can he repeat?)
Clarke Schmidt (threw 100 more innings than in 2022)
Marcus Stroman (3.95 ERA his highest since 2018)
Carlos Rodon (returning from injury)
Nestor Cortes (returning from injury)
Swing:
Luke Weaver (did well in 3 games; season ERA: 6.40)
RH Middle innings bullpen:
Scott Effross (returning from injury)
Ian Hamilton (fell apart in September; ERA: 6.35)
LH Middle innings bullpen:
Caleb Ferguson (second half ERA: 4.18)
Victor Gonzalez (missed all of 2022, ERA: 4.01)
Setup:
Tommy Kahnle (second half ERA: 4.26)
Jonathan Loaisiga (returning from injury)
Closer:
Clay Holmes (second half ERA 3.71; far above first-half 2.23)
Okay, I'm cherry-picking stats here, basically because I'm a miserable person who always sees the Yankee glass as half full - of gasoline. But after Cole and Holmes, I don't see any sure bets here, and getting through the eighth inning is going to give us heart attacks.
Any injury - and here's the rub: we know they are coming - will spin plates off the sticks. The Yankees are literally playing with fire. Maybe Clayton Beeter or Chase Hampton will rise from the minors and save us, but is that we've been reduced to - hoping for rookies to rise out of nowhere?
If, say, Nestor Cortes tweaks something in spring training, just a minor thingy, it sets off a domino drop that will, by July, fry the bullpen.
Blake Snell is still out there. I know, I know... beating a dead horse... but as Roy Scheider once said, "We're gonna need a bigger boat!"
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11 comments:
I'd rather have Bauer than Snell and I'd rather have Monty than either of them. Though Bauer is really damn good.
He's the one who isn't ever mentioned in the press as being on our radar. Okay, once, a long time ago now. But that would be a classic Cashman Surprise...if he bothers with them anymore.
Of course, I realize that we're signing nobody else. But I have to try.
Watching this offseason unfold reminds me of those poor bastards continue to play on the deck of the Titanic.
There's also Luis Gil...
Johnny Lasagna is perpetually hurt, why even put his name down?
That list does not remind me of the 1998 staff ...
Is there a starter on this team, other than Cole, that will throw a 100 innings this year?
“…is that we've been reduced to - hoping for rookies to rise out of nowhere?”
Why, yes. Yes it is.
Good analogy, Duque. Not to mention the loose bolts in the brains of Cheapskate Hal and Genius Cashman.
Unlike the Boeing jet that lost it's nuts, this Yankees team will not land safely.
Strap on your parachutes, it's going to be a long ride down.
When your #6 starter is Luke Weaver... If Cole gets hurt then The Brain should have a massive sell-off asap.
In any case, unless (and in the unlikely event) we are real contenders by July 4th we should try and get some young pitching for Soto. I wouldn't discount the possibility that is "Plan 9, from Outer Space) the "Plan" after we missed out on that Japanese pitcher who I won't name.
The Brain has had some bad luck trading or acquiring pitchers over the years. But God in Heaven, there must be >5 pitchers who we acquire, find "wanting" for some reason, then move on and become very good starters. And not picking up guys like Luis Castillo, Charlie Morton, I could go on when they were available and reasonably cheap is unfathomably stupid. I'm sure that being a GM in fact is much more difficult than I would like to make it seem. Still... it's not quantum physics.
Holmes a sure bet?
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