Some observations on the first half:
1. No matter what happens today, the Yankees won't feel like a 1st place team. The recent six-week constipation squandered their best opening in history. A sweep of Baltimore could diminish the freefall. It cannot eliminate it.
2. Several key players will either soar in the 2nd half or face career extinction. I'm talking about Alex Verdugo, DJ LeMahieu and Gleyber Torres. By now, they should have about 150 RBIs, collectively. They have about 90. The YES team has run out of excuses and hopeful signs.
3. Deep into year two, we still don't have a read on Anthony Volpe. Is he a future great Yankee, or a stopgap, good field/no hit SS?
4. The more the Yankees struggle, the more critical it is that they keep Juan Soto next winter. And the less likely it becomes.
5. For the first two months, the Yankees deluded themselves about the ease of finding pitchers from the waiver wire. It was a false reality. The last month proved it.
6. Aaron Judge is the greatest player on the planet. He must be protected in the field and the lineup. If Judge gets hurt, all is lost.
7. No matter what happens, the Yankees won't fire Aaron Boone. If such a chance existed, he'd be gone by now. (And frankly, I've come to view him sympathetically, as he graciously eats the sins of loss after loss, without blaming his players.)
8. Cross your fingers, and Austin Wells might be the catcher we've been waiting for.
9. Internet blather about Yankee trade deadline targets must consider that our farm system looks drained. With Ben Rice in the Bronx, there are no rising stars at Scranton.
10. After all is said and done, the Yankees will probably make the 2024 postseason. As Cooperstown Cashman says: From there, it's a crapshoot. Still... chasing another wild card? What a letdown.
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113 comments:
Half “Rodón” with the season
Half “Rodón” with the year
It’s “Rodón” today on the mound
Perhaps we’ll get to cheer
Hit it, Olivia…..
A place where nobody dared to go
You needed the world to know
They are in Xanadu
And now, open your eyes and see
What we have made is real
We are in Xanadu
A million lights are dancing and there you are, a shooting star
An everlasting world and you are here with me, eternally
Xanadu, Xanadu
(Now we are here)
In Xanadu
Now that I'm here
Now that you're near
In Xanadu
Xanadu
Having the opportunity now to watch Soto play every day, or at least as much as I can stand to watch the Yankees, I get all the hype. He doesn't lead the world in any one thing, it's more like he's in the top three in everything (as long as it doesn't involve him wearing a baseball glove, which he's better at than I thought he would be).
He's one of those intangibles guys - hustles all the time, smart all over the field, unbridled enthusiasm, clutch as hell, plays hurt. Need a run driven in who would you rather have up? These things from a young guy who's big in big games and also hits the will to live out of the ball.
The Yankees haven't had a player like this in....well I don't know how long and Hal better sit his pasty ass down after the season, lock his little bald biscuit troll in a closet somewhere, and write a check, a big fat check, as big as necessary to keep Soto.
Soto is also a showboat, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'm old and old school. Bat flips bother me. Guys who admire their home runs (especially when they're not home runs) bother me. Guys who thump their chests and roar like King Kong bother me. Shoes and gloves and compression gear in garish colors or simply not a match to the team's uniform really bother me.
I haven't reached the point where I start shouting at clouds, yet. I mean, Soto is a showboat, but a showboat I hope Hal signs over the winter. The kid is good.
Show of hands...how many of you have Roku?
So if you dont, create a free account on https://therokuchannel.com. You will be able to watch the game graits...
Now that they threw away four pitchers to get Soto, it would be malpractice not to sign him. But that's precisely why they probably won't. First of all, it takes two to dance. Will Soto want to stay here? Probably not. He's a bright guy; he must be able to see the chaos here. The roster cluttered with useless old guys who should've retired years ago. The lack of pitching, both starting and relieving. The lack of support in the lineup, aside from Judge. Why the hell would Soto stay here?
Secondly, you think HAL will do whatever it takes to retain Soto? HAHAHAHAHA!!! Good one!!!
They couldn't even entice Yamamoto to sign here. The Dodgers will come up with an offer to entice Soto: $100 million a year, 98 million per year of it deferred to 25 five years from now. And that will be that.
It was malpractice to trade for him last winter. They should've waited until he was a free agent, then jumped. When he leaves, they will have given away four pitchers for nothing. It was a terrible trade. Now, I admitted before that as a Yankee fan I was secretly glad they got him, but only because it would mean more entertaining play this year. Doesn't change the fact that I never would've done it, if I were the GM.
Soto IS good, yes I hope we sign him. His approach at the plate is relentless, and he is in his prime, unlike most of the team.
Not completely sold on Rice and Welles, but the could still develop into quality players. They are the same age as Soto, but far behind in talent and development. Volpe younger still, has established himself as a viable defender at a premium position, but needs to retool his approach at the plate.
As far as the T/D is concerned, what do we have to offer? Many of our best prospects at the higher level have suffered injuries or bouts of inconsistency. Nobody wants our overpaid, aging players on the 26 man roster. In other words, we will be limited in what we do.
Meanwhile, the combination of an early AM start with at Rodon start will probably sink us today. At least LeMahieu isn’t starting.
They're still making a serious mistake by not bringing up Spencer Jones right fucking now. I don't buy the idea that he strikes out too much. Seriously, on a team with Stanton, you cannot bring up a guy because he strikes out too much??? How much more than Stanton can Jones possibly strike out?
If you're waiting for Jones to hit .500 with zero strikeouts in the minors, you're gonna wait an awful long time.
This guy would slot into CF right now. Judge and Soto could share the DH slot. Or you can trade Verdugo, and that solves the logjam in the outfield. Soto would play left, Judge would go back to his gold glove position in RF.
When Judge first came up, he struck out half the time. You throw Jones in there and work on his skills, hope he develops. Force his development. If he's good enough, he will develop.
Right now, they have no alternative but to throw Jones in there and hope he develops. Play Grisham in CF? Yeah, if you want a career .200 hitter in there and you want to waste Spencer Jones in the minors.
If they can develop Jones, this will not be a lost cause year. If they don't, they will have wasted another year. Afraid they'll ruin Jones by bringing him up too early? Once again, I have to laugh out loud. How many guys have they developed the past two decades> What the hell do they have to lose?
Judge plunked, but kept his cool.
Volpe is once again swinging too hard, thinks he's a mini-Judge. Even lost control of his bat yesterday. Seriously, what the fuck? The only thing wrong with him is that he's got his head up his ass. Maybe he needs a personal hitting coach. Maybe Judge could introduce Volpe to Judge's personal hitting coach. Maybe Volpe's just a very slow learner. Maybe we just have to wait four or five years for him to get his act together. It took Bernie Williams about four years to develop. So it won't be unprecedented. Some guys take a loooooooooooooooong time to reach their potential. Hey, it's excruciating at times, but this is the price you pay to develop guys.
Someone might say that bringing up Volpe early was the wrong way to go. I firmly believe in bringing up guys early and quickly. You don't get better by playing fifteen years in the minors against shitty competition. You get better (and reach your potential) by playing against guys who are better than you. Guys who are good enough will develop. Conversely, guys who aren't good enough will prove themselves unworthy. So I believe the decision to bring up Volpe quickly was a good one. Howevvvvva, for whatever reason, they're not doing the same with Spencer Jones.
Once you've reached a certain level of mastery of a skill set, you don't get better by practicing against the low level losers in your neighborhood. You have to face higher competition to force your development. You have to face the best.
This was recognized from ancient times. In feudal Japan, for instance, samurai Miyamoto Musashi travelled the land learning from many different masters of the sword. He recognized that, in order to be the best, he would have to get off his ass and learn from those better than him.
If they have a chance later in the game, they should nail another Oriole for that Judge hit by pitch. Winning the game is more important, but they do need to repay that purpose pitch in this game or another game later this year. This all started with that game where the Orioles hit Judge in the hand and threw at other Yankees as well. Can't let that slide.
What a stoopid start time for a ball game. Can major league baseball get the hell out of its own fucking way?
Nice grab by Volpe
The Roku Channell? Really?
And at least on my Roku (the cheapest one you can get) there’s no rewind, which in this day and age is really annoying.
I hate having to have 162 channels to watch all the games.
When Rice is up there are no defenders within a mile of 3B . If he could lay down a bunt he could walk to first
The season tally for O's vs. Yanks:
O's HBP 10 times
Yanks HBP 4 times, counting today
We're way ahead in plunking. Maybe it's time to dismantle the ICBMs.
Rodent due to melt down any time now...
On schedule.
Bern, Peacock had these games last year, but it didn’t attract enough viewers. So, Roku the next option. As Hammer pointed out, MLB has no idea what’s doing.
There’s the Rodin we all know! Walk the # 9 hitter, hang a meatball to one of the best hitters in the game.
He won’t last 5 innings today
I don't know JM. I'm old too, old enough to still think batting average is an important statistic, and you're right about Soto being a showboat, but damn, he can back all that bat-flipping Soto-shuffling stuff up. Doesn't stand around, sniff his own farts, the man hustles. Hit into a force yesterday in the first, should have been a double play but he busted ass up the line, beat the relay, and that eventually enabled the Wells at-bat. He ran himself into and out of a rundown between first and second a few nights ago, waited until the runner from third scored and still got back to first. LeMahieu should maybe ask him how that play's supposed to work.
I can take showboating every day from a hall of famer who plays hard.
@BTR999...A money grab is a money grab...
I don't disagree, Mildred. The behavior might ruffle my feathers sometimes, but that's not really important. The kid can play.
Rodon can hit 100? Don't think I've ever noticed him doing that before.
I seem to have all the streaming services they run games on BTR, (Apple TV, Prime, Roku, Peacock last year), so it’s a minor inconvenience. But I wonder how many fans are saying “the heck with it” and losing interest with the three-channel monte games they are playing to make people find games. I know it’s more money now, but I think it could hurt MLB in the long run. But, like you and others have said, MLB often doesn’t know what it’s doing.
I like Grish. Sorry, but I do.
When you realize how bad Cashman and Hal are, it's not really a surprise that MLB would also suck. After all, it's largely a reflection of the goofball owners. And there are too many of those.
Kahnle coughs up a furball.
Bern, I agree💯
The owners don't care if the game is destroyed 15 years after they sell the team. As long as they maximize profits this year. No different than most big businesses.
Happy Bastille Day everyone.
I hate to say this, and I know some of you are going to jump down my throat, but this kineup is missing Stanton.
Without him, the Yankees don’t stand a chance in the second half.
It ain’t over until Verdugo swings at the first pitch and grounds out to second.
The lineup is full of guys who should be batting 7-9.
No protection in the lineup for Judge.
That protection is spending his annual summer vacation on the IL
I agree, Dick. I knew his injury was bad news, and boy, has it ever been.
A double play - who knew
Wells can't bunt. Why the fuck did he try?
If this is one of those "almost" games, I'm gonna scream.
Wells hits 3 run HR yesterday, so naturally asked to bunt today. Because he's that kind of hitter.
a fucking 4 year old could see that bonehead is a HORRIBLE manager.
Pop Quiz:
Do we:
A). Suck
B). Stink
C). Reek like a Port Authority men’s bathroom
D). All of the above and more…..
Think and answer carefully
It's total bullshit to buy a season package from mlb.com only to have them sell games which aren't included. I don't like getting punked by these greedy bastards and one day I will kick the habit.
As far as THE BRAIN'S assertion that it's a "crapshoot" once in the playoffs, who's he kidding? One more layer of games with a chance of running into an inferior, but possibly hot team is the same as getting a bye? Really? And it seems like the press has swallowed the idea hook line, and sinker. I guess that ass kissing has become a requisite for being a sports commentator. Well, of course it is, just tune into ESPN.
Soto didn’t catch that ball, by the way
That's what they get for moving back the wall.
Defense is not a strength of Soto's.
See ya, Cedric.
The All Star break
Good Time to bid Adieu to Boooooooo
Nuh
Kimbrel warming up the vulture move.
Eeez thar un Rahleeee en dar bonz?
Pinch runner?
No
Double Play?
Come on, clownboy, walk the bases full.
Grish didn't even slide?
WoW
Boone?
Slide?
LOL, umpire interference?
Walk
Walk
Come on Rice
Rice Rice, baby.
Rice is as cold as rice pudding from the fridge
Yeah!!!!!!!
Ricin!
Rice!!!
I just poked the juju gods. That’s how it’s done
Whoo!!
Nice one, BTR.
BTR - were there raisins in that chilly pudding?
Holmes is going to give up a Grand Slam in the bottom of the ninth
Ben!!
And now, Holmes. Eek.
But dare we watch the bottom of the ninth?
Yep we do BTR - it is what we do
Shannen Doherty
They will not win this! Holmes sucks.
Fucking Holmes.
Only 53, AA. Cancer sucks.
Home run is on my bingo card…
Fucking Holmes. Henderson HR no doubt.
Whattabout a strike out?
Daley is Doooooo
Can't believe the ump called those last two strikes. Great pitches, but borderline.
We haven't had the Gyeyber error yet/
Jeezus Holmes
Grand Slam time
Ah, setting up the grand slam.
Great against Gunnar, terrible next guy.
Vol Peeed on that one
It was Volpe!!!!!
Oh, Volpe.
WoWzEr
So easy. Unreal.
That Was AMAZING
FUCK
Holy fuck. Verdugo?
Happy Pineapple Day!
The worst loss for the Yankees ever. A pineapple the size of Hawaii
Suffering from VERTIGO!!!
Dear Fucking Christ why?
Blown save #6, most in the Majors.
Holmes was terrible. Volpe choked. Verdugo...I don't know what that was. Jesus.
Keystone cops ninth.
Set it to Benny Hill music
You can’t predict baseball, Suzyn.
But you can now predict Yankees Baseball!
I feel bad for Rice.
Fuck Boone.
Fuck CashBrain.
Fuck Hal.
These Yankees tolerate losing. King George would have Holmes out of the organization by morning.
Switched to YES to heat boone spin and gaslight.
He didn’t disappoint
Winnie, you are not exaggerating. He would absolutely release him.
We have done something terrible to offend the gods…
We must have. I'm happy to offer up AA and BTR to the gods for a little roo roo. I mean if you think that would help?
A perfect ending. Pristine. This is Cashboone's Yankees.
HAHAHAHAHAHA Winny.
I'll pack my bags up and get ready.
Winny - did you see my POPQUIZ from earlier:
Pop Quiz:
Do we:
A). Suck
B). Stink
C). Reek like a Port Authority men’s bathroom
D). All of the above and more…..
Think and answer carefully
Not sure if it would help, but willing to do my part.
The Port Authority's men's room smells sweet to some - not to me, mind you - and fields of cow shit also may inspire, rather than repulse, so we must try harder with our analogies. Winnie is always good for some awful, seeping pustule language, but I think we can do even better. How doth we sucketh? Let me count the ways....
I'll work on that one.
We suck in ways that make our mothers cry. We suck in ways that disappoint our best friends. We suck like a burlap bag full of seeping diarrhea from someone who ate too much sauerkraut and pork bellies. We suck in ways that are mysterious and unholy.
Publius is correct, though, that THIS IS BRIAN'S TEAM. He owns it, from top to bottom. And Hal? The real problem, as we all know, is that Hal, doesn't care about winning, doesn't like baseball and, in fact, hates Los Yanquis. Hates them with the fire of a million suns. They stole his childhood. Daddy loved the team more than he did little Hal, which is why racehorses give him an erection and baseball makes him go soft.
As for offerings to the JuJu gods - let me tell you, fellas - we don't have anywhere close to their asking price. We're just along for the ride on this cosmic pebble of shit that used to revolve around the old Stadium. We're just passengers and are paying the karmic price for all the glory years.
We suck Godzilla's nuts.
Maybe we should change the team name to "THE NEW YORK MEAT FARTS"
13B - I vaguely recall calling Aaron Boone the Milk Fart Skipper.
Add some meat and it will be twice as sweet.
and.....aren't godzilla's nuts the size of VW beetles?
The size of a VW Beetle, covered with Godzilla mucousy reptile sweat, with hairs like leather spikes. Stinking of monster testosterone - no thanks, buddy, not enjoying sucking on those nuts...
This whole discussion requires the term smegma to be introduced.
Only, I think that is way too attractive of a description of this team.
Yankess 1st round pick
Ben Hess RHP
Seems to have been quite injury prone and ERA 5.28!
Hopefully they know what they aredoing and I wish him good luck
Im off to my bed now 2.32am here and I have work I must be mad to sit up and watch the draft especially after that load of old malarkey of a game tonight
https://rolltide.com/sports/baseball/roster/ben-hess/10410
https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=hess--000ben
https://www.usabaseball.com/news/gsa-spotlight-alabama-s-ben-hess
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