At least someone is confident. Ever since Gerrit Cole reported a tender elbow, barely three weeks ago, despair has flourished across the Yankiverse like measles in Florida. We waited all winter for the Yankees to sign Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery, ignoring the front office's constant denials. We were like kids who found horseshit under the Christmas tree, and ran jubilantly to the backyard, convinced that a pony awaited us. Surely, the Yanks would sign one of the two, right? But it never happened, and now, nobody expects otherwise. And if anybody criticizes the Yankee brain trust, one response always goes unspoken:
Want another Carlos Rodon?
In modern times, the Yankee narrative is larded with repeated attempts by Brian "Cooperstown" Cashman to bring an ace pitcher to Gotham. Cashman, himself, has called it his "white whale." His list of failures is legendary - (it almost defies random chance) - the pitchers who exceled in other cities, then went knock-kneed in NYC: Carl Pavano. Jose Contreras. Jeff Weaver. Kevin Brown. Javier Vasquez. Randy Johnson. Cory Lidle. Kei Igawa. Sidney Ponson. AJ Burnett. Rich Hill. Nathan Eovaldi. Michael Pineda. James Paxton. JA Happ. Lance Lynn. Jameson Taillon. Corey Kluber. Andrew Heaney. Sonny Gray. Frankie Montas... DEAR GOD, STOP ME! Honestly, it goes even further.
If Cashman had any feel - or just dumb luck - for identifying the great future pitcher, this franchise could have several more rings, and he would be striding into Cooperstown like Barbie on a red carpet. This remains his greatest continual failure. And today's big question - if it is a question, at all - is whether Carlos Rodon will soon join the above illustrious shit list, which is celebrated by Yankee-haters everywhere.
Yesterday, in a "tune up" for the regular season, Rodon dispelled whatever hopes were generated in his previous start - a five-inning, no-hit performance. As you see in the above box, he gave up five earned runs in four innings. That's the kind of start that would earn Luis Gil a bus ticket to Scranton. But the Yankees have no recourse other than postgame spin: He has "confidence." It's like the trope message in the newspaper personals: "Come home, Bruno, you didn't fracture my skull, you merely broke my nose. All is forgiven. Lulu."
Making matters worse, Rodon's performance came yesterday as rumors were spreading across Elon's X (Twitter) that other GMs are far more skeptical than the Yankees are about Gerrit Cole's return in June. Nobody knows whether Cole can come back - not even Cole, I suspect. But here are the stakes:
If Cole's elbow doesn't improve, he could undergo Tommy John surgery. That would wipe out 2024 and most of the following season. He might return in September of 2025, pushing age 35, with three more years on his Yankee contract, at $36 million per season.
Considering what Cole has meant to the Yankees, he will never appear on the list of Cashman's Cuties. But if he misses two seasons and is never the same, it will be fodder for Hal Steinbrenner to never again approve a Cashman proposal, when it comes to pitching. And frankly, who would blame him?
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“We were like kids who found horseshit under the Christmas tree, and ran jubilantly to the backyard, convinced that a pony awaited us.”
So beautiful…..
My Little Pony
My Little Cashman
I can almost see the cute, interlocking NY turds dropping out when you raise pony’s tail.
Cashman was cursed the day he turned his back on Tino Martinez and signed "Juice" Giambi. Like Torre, the Brain was handed a great team and rode it out, earning accolades for a dynasty that was the product of others. But unlike Torre, Cashman was never nudged out and held accountable once that skein ran out. So, here we are. And it's only gone from bad to worse.
Of course, I think that going from Torre to Girardi to Boone has been a ride from "okay" to "disturbed" to "clownish," so who knows what a Cashman replacement might have done. Though it's hard to believe it would be as bad or worse that what he's done.
When we ponder Cashman and pitchers, it's interesting how the three-year expulsion of Andy Pettitte to Houston gets so conveniently flushed down the memory hole.
Statisticians have no feel for the human body. That's why Yankees break ballplayers like breadsticks. The physics of torque and velocity may tell you how to put more spin or speed on the ball (or hit the ball harder), but that only speeds the day - if you'll pardon the pun - when the arm that throws the ball, swings the bat or the legs that run the bases will snap a tendon, tear a ligament or some other injury.
But if statisticians have no feel for the human body, they have even less capacity to understand the human inside that body: their emotions, insecurities, etc. This is why Yankees can't finish prospect development, even if we set aside their awful advice to young ballplayers (hit strikes harder!). Boone may mollycoddle players, but he and the coaches are not in charge and keep their jobs because they know not to get in the way of the real decision-makers: statisticians and the worthless trust fund brats who listen to them.
On a team driven ENTIRELY by stats and overprivileged, trust fund brats, neither of whom ever played baseball, this is a deadly combination. Throw in a stadium crowd that is also full of trust fund brats (because the rest of us can't afford a ticket), who also never played the game and the sum of all things is fundamentally incompetent, dangerous to player health and emotionally toxic.
Even for the player who already learned how to play successful baseball, in a kinder, gentler universe, this can be overwhelming. First, they don't play as well as they used to and get booed. Then they listen to the incompetent advise of Yankee statisticians and stat-driven trainer/coaches, their performance doesn't improve, they double down on bad Yankee advice and . . . well . . .off to the medical office you go.
I'm a lifelong Yankee fan and I wouldn't want to play on that team. Not if I value my future career, enjoy my lifelong passion, not be abused and or want to kick the dog at the end of the workday. Management sucks. Arrogant idiots rule the decision-making process. The trainers will get me hurt. The fans are harsh and unforgiving. Too many nicer places to play and my dog will thank me for playing there.
Nothing beats developing your own young players, especially pitchers. I would increase the budget for player development exponentially, raiding other teams for their proven coaching / training / scouting / medical personnel. Someone should explain to Steingrubber that it would be much less expensive than spending $162M on a mediocrity like Rodon. Then again winning isn’t the object here, is it? Steinway is content with employing overpaid, aging “stars” in a pathetic, transparent effort to gin up attendance and ratings.
What’s that saying? “If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit!”
Amen, Doc
Yesterday after not getting a strike call, RollDon just lost all composure and hissy’d over and out. A few moments later he uncorked a bad fastball and immediately walked about ten feet away from the mound towards the foul line between home plate and third. Newbee G in the booth let out a concerned UH OH thinking that CarLoss had injured himself. Nope - just a man child meltdown unable to keep his (horse) shit together. Kay immediately pointed out that none of the coaches came out to the mound to check on him. Just Rodon being Rodon.
Later in the scintillating interview the manager during the game segment, MKay pointedly asked Boonesfarm why all these spring training games started so early in the day. He was concerned because it was making these players that are normally nocturnal creatures have to get up so early in the morning that it was messing with their wellbeing.
With a petulant smirk Boonesfarm began his response by saying, “First of all, STOP YELLING AT ME.”
Another beautiful day in the Florida Bronx….
Very true, Duque. Pettitte was injured early on in that first year he was gone, 2004—but only because he was batting, which he would not have done in the AL.
WITH Pettitte, we have the one pitcher we were short to avoid the most awful loss in Yankees history, the karma-turning, world-reversing meltdown against Boston. We probably win that World Series—and maybe the 2005 and 2006 Series as well.
That was the year that Cashman let some 700+, lifetime wins walk off the team without getting anything in return. That alone should have led to him being fired.
Brilliant analysis, Doctor T! Though I think Cashie DID play baseball, for a lower division college team. Which, in some ways, is all the worse, making him believe he knows the game.
We've had that argument here: is the problem that Cashman relies too much on statistics, or that he doesn't know how to utilize them? I suspect it's a little of both. But whatever the case...HE'S FAILED AT IT FOR OVER 20 YEARS!
What does it take for him to run out of rope?
And yes, 999, that's the way you do it: you build the core of the team through the farm system, then add the occasional free agent as needed.
And as you say, it can't be that hard to do that, if you're the Yankees. You simply look at consistently successful personnel, and give them more money to come to New York. They will then hire good people in turn.
But that seems to baffle HAL, who instead just tries to maneuver to keep the bottom line up. And as we've also discussed, I think this is due to both a desire to NOT be his father, firing everybody, and especially to get along with the other owners, who are quite content to minimize cutthroat competition, keep expanding the playoffs, and make it so that, sooner or later, everybody gets their turn to win.
Doing something like what the Dodgers did this past offseason would horrify HAL. It's not playing cricket—AND, as we've seen, there's a risk involved. The HAL Yanks are not about risk or ingenuity.
And in the case of Rodon, yes, I suspect he IS the last, "big name" free agent pitcher we ever see on the Yankees.
There's a great Mark Twain quote about how if a cat sits on a hot stove, it will never do that again—but it won't sit on a cold stove, either. That's your HAL Yanks.
Great points, everyone! Yeah, I really do think that they've stopped trying to win, since after the 2009 championship. They've consistently done everything possible to fuck everything up and NOT to win since that time. And they've done a marvelously talented job of wasting money and NOT winning since then. I think they (HAL & Cashman) deserve some kind of recognition medal for mediocrity. They should be studied in business school as a fine example of how to keep the money bags rolling in without capsizing the boat or ever making it to the destination port. That's not easy to do, you know. I don't think I could've done it as well as these morons. They have the business smarts, for sure.
@ Cashfuck: How 'bout developin' some freakin' talent? We haven't developed a good, winning starting pitcher here since freakin' Andy Pettitte!!!! That's going on almost thirty years now!!!!
With the exceptions of Robinson Cano & Aaron Judge, we haven't developed a good position player during that time either.
Yes, we had Chien Ming Wong before he blew out his foot running home on a Derek Jeter single. And yes, Jordan Montgomery left and became a champion with the Texas Lawmen. But these guys never reached that championship level whilst they were here.
A common thread since the 2009 championship is that we seem to be skimping on coaching, bringing in a lot of people who really shouldn't be coaching for the New York Yankees. Lots of inexperience. I understand that people have to start their careers somewhere, but the freakin' New York Yankees should not be the development camp for new coaches.
I do not know if the scouting situation is similar, but based upon what I've seen from the coaching, I certainly would venture to guess that they're skimping on hiring the best scouts as well.
The failure to develop young players is certainly NOT bad luck or coincidence. It's just bad management. And despite the piss poor management, Cashman has a lifetime job. What's that tell you about HAL's priorities?
How's that Severino doing with the Mutts? It'll be interesting to see. I expect that he'll be pretty decent, much better than "the worst pitcher in baseball" that he admittedly was last year.
It'll also be interesting to see Rodon's E.R.A. at the end of this year. I fully expect that he'll have a 12.75 E.R.A. I'm not joking, unfortunately. There is nothing wrong with this guy that a good coach couldn't fix. I don't think Blake is up to the job. Blake couldn't fix either Severino or Rodon last year. Why expect anything different this year? In fact, the pattern here is very consistent. When guys start to struggle, they get worse and worse until they become "the worst pitcher in baseball". Yet, Blake is still here. What gives?
Rodon signed big FA deal, then came into camp totally out of shape, kept getting hurt because of it and pitched like shit when he finally got off DL. That's character stuff. He may have a handful of good starts this year, but he's not a winner.
What gives, indeed.
I agree, Hammer. And we may well see Sevvy do much better with the Mets—and watch out for Andujar with the A's.
Some guys we get rid of continue to flop, some suddenly revive. The difference seems to be whether or not they've been sufficiently wrecked here with the Yankees.
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