1. We won.
2. We won with Judge, Verdugo, Rizzo and Torres fanning 9 times (out of 12 ABs) and contributing one measly single. Still the Yankees right now are capable of winning with just one or two bats coming alive, and that's what happened yesterday over the mighty White Sox.
3. Juan Soto went 4-for-4, raising his BA 16 percentage points. So much for the first slump of his Yankee career. He's back on Triple Crown Challenger mode.
4. Giancarlo hit another HR - three in his last four games - and bounced one off the wall, allowing him to reach 2B, his 8th double of the season. This is amazing. For Stanton to hit a double, the ball must get stuck in a drainpipe. For him to hit a triple - he has none thus far - it needs to land on the back of a carrier pigeon, who then roosts above the scoreboard, becoming electrocuted and fused so tightly to the wall that a stadium technician must remove it with a spatula. Even then, it's a close play at third.
5. Stanton's recent hot spell has every Yankee fan pondering the same unponderable thought: Can we trade him, maybe? Could some team out there assume the final four years of his deal with Mephistopheles if, say, we kick in for 2024? Hate to be a downer, but let's face it: Nobody will take the guy when he's hitting .202, and a month from now, that's where he might be. Or on the Tweaked Gonad List, from trying to leg out a single off the right field wall.
6. Wait. I take it back. Spit on me, I deserve it. How could I advocate for such a dastardly deed? Did you see the cherubic smiles on the Yankees faces yesterday when Giancarlo homered? Pure joy. Especially Aaron Judge, who knows that a hot Stanton means nobody can pitch around the front four. If the Yankees traded Giancarlo now, they would be telling the team to fuck itself, and that all Hal Steinbrenner cares about is money.
7. Which would be the honest thing to do. And that's why Cooperstown Cashman should be making calls today. I mean, why lie? Hal's boathouse needs a new walk-in refrigerator, and he's not running a do-gooder soup kitchen. He's running a small business, dammit. Cash should be on the phone, contacting Milwaukee or Detroit - some city looking for a big star, and willing to cough up a 16-year-old Dominican whatever. Next winter, we'd buy somebody with the Giancarlo Dividend.
8. Wait. Shoot me. What have I become? I apologize - to you, to Giancarlo, to humanity. How could I be calling for some despicable deal, trading a player just as he is finally fulfilling his destiny as a Yankee?
9. Then again, let's be real. The Martian went 2-4 yesterday in the dirt leagues of Tampa. He's gonna to need a path to the majors, and Stanton will be sitting in it. We gotta do something to clear the way. What to do? Calgon Bath Oil Beads, take me away!
10. Luis Gil seems too good to be true. No, the entire pitching staff seems too good to be true... and without Gerrit Cole. Tommy Kahnle soon to return. Are we dreaming this?
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18 comments:
"it needs to land on the back of a carrier pigeon, who then roosts above the scoreboard, becoming electrocuted and fused so tightly to the wall that a stadium technician must remove it with a spatula. Even then, it's a close play at third."
Actual laugh out loud.
I second that, Doug. Fantastic.
Now, about Gil...so the kid will reportedly be handled a little carefully this year after his 2022 TJ surgery. Not that he has an innings limit, but he might have an innings limit. And that supposedly is why he'll go to the bullpen when Cole returns even if he doesn't deserve to.
The problem with that is, Gil has a wild streak that can get him in trouble. Yesterday, it was in the first inning. Do we really want to have a guy in the bullpen who comes in and starts walking people? Didn't we try that with The Sweatmaster? Not a good idea in a reliever.
And if he stays in the rotation, who doesn't? Stroman and Rodon are making too much money. They'll get their starts. Schmidt is coming along fine. Nestor? Yeah, I dunno.
Of course, if someone gets hurt, God will make that decision for us. Tough one, eh, Yahweh?
If the Yankees keep on winning and, dare I say, win the World Series, we will have to stop excoriating Cashman and call him a baseball genius.
Not me Carl!
Stanton is actually resembling a real DH…my emotions are so conflicted.
With Stanton, no need to over react to a hot streak. I believe the team would be willing to keep Dominguez in the minors for the rest of the season.
Gil has been beyond impressive, looks like an Ace in this SSS. His innings will have to watched
Practically speaking, there is no need for any changes as long as the team keeps winning. The CWS are really no test. There are better teams coming up that will tell us more about what this team really is.
Agreed ~ Number Four was absolute perfection.
This is how far down Giancarlo's production has gone over the years: two weeks of decent production is being hailed as a "hot streak."
And while he's being productive trade him.
None of it makes any sense, and if he had a decent season, or even, heaven's forbid, a monster season, The Intern would bust his buttons with pride and say at the end of the season: "I told you so. I'm a genius."
Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn ..., etc.
BTR999, if Dominguez stays in the minors for the entire year, that's precisely the kind of thing that's wrong with Cashman's management. Too risk averse on the young players = near zero development + disastrous results from old guys + zero playoff success + no world series wins. Hanging on to Stanton will cause an eventual injury, possibly when they can least afford one. Then if and when they ever bring up Dominguez, he will have pissed away all the best years of his career down in the minors and he'll never develop up here, never have a good major league career. They would've never given him a chance, unless you call that early September call up last year "a chance" - a one week pre-injury looksie.
Yeah, it's looking like that's what'll happen. Stanton is never going away. Even after his contract expires, there is the distinct possibility that Cashman will re-sign him for another three or four years.
There is also the distinct possibility that Cashman might trade for Gary Sanchez before the trade deadline. You know how Cashman loves to bring back guys for seconds, thirds, fourths. The worse they played here, the better the chance that Cashman might bring them back. They could send Wells back down to the minors and alternate Sanchez and Jose Trevino. Because Cashman loves right handed hitters with low batting averages.
All that could happen, if HAL's accountants order Cashman to torpedo this year. If they look like they might have a chance to win a championship, you'll see some truly mind blowing trade activity by Cashman. All because their main goal is just to keep the barge steady, just keep the dough rollin' in. A championship might cause unnecessary disruptions for their accounting team's priority list.
Best of both worlds:
Can they package Glassman and Gleyber Cano for a couple of promising low A prospects?
And yes, a triple for Glassman is possible maybe if it's an MiB III game against the mutts.
Pretty funny, Doug! And...let's get back to reality.
Giancarlo is not going anywhere. HAL, in true, nepo baby style, has little understanding of how business or life works.
He would rather pay somebody to HURT his "product," than pay them to go away, which he would consider "wasting money." On the bright side? Stanton will almost certainly hurt himself soon, forcing a Martian call-up.
A modest suggestion? The staff is full of tender arms, old and young?
Why not a six-man rotation? With no one going more than 6 innings anyway, why not?
Or perhaps a seven man rotation going seven innings. We could try that six times in a row and then go completely bonkers by instituting an eight man rotation pitching eight innings each regardless of the results.
Everyone loves a dreamer. That's why Walt Disney was so successful ( though possibly a fascist and pervert).
All this smoke about trading Giancarlo is just a dream. Like we all dreamed of having Marilyn Monroe fall in love with us at the local soda shop.
No one, not even a foreign nation, would be willing be willing trade money , humans, or pottery for Giancarlo.
If you wish to pretend there is a smidgeon of reality to your dream, please continue. Worst case, it puts the big G back into a 27 at bat strikeout streak. Best case, it evokes a smile somewhere.
No one wants this guy for any price. Sorry to say. But that is the truth.
I agree with Alphonso. Other GMs have probably heard all about Stanton's injury history, his hitting numbers over the past few years, etc. And how would the money work? Do we just pay a team to get him off the record and receive.......nothing? And suppose he keeps hitting? Don't worry about the Martian, we have four outfielders and a DH. Somebody will get hurt.
A 6 man rotation? I was thinking the same thing as I perused the Yankee pitching stats and contemplated who goes to the pen when Cole returns. In a world where pitchers spend a third of their careers in the medical room and the Yankee bullpen is already being overworked, maybe a 6 man rotation is a good idea.
Based on stats, Stroman should be the odd man out, but it's not like he's stinking up the room. And he will take that very badly, maybe setting fire to the clubhouse. Gil maybe the kid in the rotation, but he's also the hottest pitcher on the team. Schmidt? I wouldn't put it past the Yankees to screw with the guy's head just when he's settling into being an MLB starter and doing great. But I'm sure someone in the stats department, playing with his Joba Yo-Yo, is making that argument now. Rodon? Performance + salary X years makes that a silly notion not even the Intern would consider. A 6 man rotation looks like the best plan. But screwing with a hot young pitcher's mind is the Yankee way.
Could Giancarlo's resurgence be real? He did show up in better shape, he made a lot of noise about getting his sh*t together and he's definitely having better at-bats. He's only 34 and he's just DH'ing, so there's no reason he couldn't play until 40, if he put his mind to it.
But then there's that....
Either way, his salary makes him untradeable. Enjoy the resurgence. Hope it lasts.
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