Enough.
Gentlemen, I could not agree more about how splendid it was to spend this season—like so many seasons—with all of you. And while I think it's good that we didn't give Hal Steinbrenner anymore money at the ballpark, I do regret that we never got together to at least watch a game in a bar. We can't let that happen again.
But...But...
For me, I'll sure as hell remember the 2024 World Series for a long time. I'm mad as hell about it—as your New York Yankees should have been, but showed no signs of so being, during that ridiculous, Game Five meltdown.
I detect, as well, a certain resignation, a certain acceptance stealing into our own fandom going forward.
Stop it. Stop it right now.
Yes, the Yankees should re-sign Cole. No, Anthony Rizzo, nice a guy though he is, should never be in a Yankees uniform again.
The rest is fairly easy to figure. Put the kid, Rumfield, on first. Give him as long as we possibly can. If he fails completely, stick Ben Rice there again.
Give Gleyber his walking papers. Despite his improved postseason in the lead-off spot, he is never going to be an engaged or attentive ballplayer, much less a good one. (And no, I won't remember how carelessly he cost us Game One, either.) Since we're stuck with Mr. Histrionics, Jazz Chisholm, put him on second.
Give the Oswaldii a shot at third—and also let them compete for Volpe's position. Bring up that Chaz Durbin guy, and let's see what he's got.
For the love of God, let Vertigo flop his way out of town. Put The Martian in center, and see what he can do. Bring up Spencer, too, and give him a good look. Sign every damned starter or reliever on the market, though the pickings are slim.
But above all...sign Juan Soto.
I don't care what it costs. You can read the chart up there as well as I can. The Yankees have the money.
In 2023, the Yanks had the highest reported revenue in the game, at $679 million. With their payroll of $316 million in 2024, they ranked only...18th in major-league baseball, in terms of revenue expended.
Eighteenth.
Don't swallow any of the lies you're about to be fed. Don't listen when they tell you that Scott Boras is being unreasonable (This is what agents do: they support their clients.). Don't listen when Hal & Pal start to whine about the salary cap, or the whatzit tax, or the whosit tariff.
Above all, pay no attention when they tell you that Jasson Dominguez, the player they intentionally did not bring up and develop this season because of what they might have to pay five years down the road, is the equal of Soto.
He is not. Maybe, someday, he will be. It's a consummation devoutly to be wished. But right now, The Martian is just a hope, a dream, a tiny red speck in the night sky. He is no more Soto's equal than Clint Frazier is.
Don't be fooled. Don't settle—because with this couple of grifters atop the Yankees' organization, you will never again not be fooled, or forced to settle.
Soto, Soto, Soto. Even if it takes $700 mill for 12 years. Even if it takes...anything. The Dodgers just demonstrated how to defer salary and beat the cap. The Yankees don't have access to accountants?
Don't believe the hype—whatever it is. The Steinbrenner family is on their second, obscenely subsidized stadium. Some $1.2 billion in public monies for this one.
"Do not go gentle into that good night/ Old age should burn and rave at close of day," and even if the guy who wrote that managed to drink himself to death by 39—never mind. He was right. He saw it coming.
This is not the time to close our particular window. Not with Judge still raking in the bucks, and Cole, too. Not with no bloody chance of rebuilding with The Brain in charge.
Soto. For a start. And we'll go from there. Maybe we'll even get out to Taxpayer Stadium again.
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18 comments:
Amen, Hoss! That chart is obscene. Look at the top few teams on that chart and you see who wants to win. The others just want to contend and, in our case, simply want to keep the bucks rolling in and be able to say, "Look, we're trying." The numbers here say it all. We all know what needs to be done, but Hal cannot be shamed, cajoled or convinced. He's cheap, entitled, piece of sheep shit. I'm not resigned to being like a Cubs (20th Century) Red Sox or Jets fan. I have not gone that far, but I'm happy to just coast along and watch the crumbling with a sort of numbness, even a bit of sangfroid. The joke may be on us but, ultimately, it doesn't matter. We have already had our hearts broken by the colossal stupidity, by the lack of caring, by the lack of desire to win. I'm a fan. I'm still rooting for them and I really look forward to hangin here with all of you. In fact, I have been at this stage of ennui for a few years now. It will just continue. I agree that we must sign Soto. I also fully expect the usual, "We matched them for money, but not for years" argument when LA or the Mets get him. Hey, it's just Chinatown, Jake. EITHER WAY, let's pick a casual place somewhere in Manhattan that we can call our own, then assemble and bitch in person, which is much easier than typing. Hell, we can even do a live zoom chat for a while with anybody who wants to sign in. Either way, we rest, we lick our wounds, we smoke a little crack, sniff a little glue, drink whatever you want to drink, and then we keep blowing the Juju gods and hoping one day they'll answer our prayers.
Sorry for the big block of text. I was wound up and temporarily forgot about grafs.
This is the ultimate “help me come the F down” after that ending. I had never watched Soto play regularly before he came to play for us, just saw his highlights. He is one disruptive dude at the plate, I’d love if he’d stay. Great post Hoss.
NO SOTO NO PEACE.
NO SOTO NO PEACE
Judge, Cole, Soto, Weaver, Wells. That leaves a lot of holes to fill. A lot. And if we go the rookie route, we have no idea if any of them will work out. Plus, we still have the millstones known as Rodent and Stroman.
And, of course, we still have the biggest obstacle of all, Boone. The man whose bad decisions and indecisions, whose actions and lack of action and lack of team discipline ultimately cost us the series and 10, 20 regular season games. Maybe more.
We can sign Soto, Mays, Gehrig and Cy Young, and we'll still lose in the end. Because we can't win with Boone at the helm. It's not possible. We could scoot by with Brian and Hal, maybe, but not with Boone in addition. Never.
And he's not going anywhere.
Certainly eye-opening, Hoss!
There are two ways they could go: spend big time/become the biggest fish in the ocean once more or go in a different direction (not necessarily to save money, but because it might be wiser to spend the money on players other than Soto and Cole).
Either way, though, as you say, Hoss, they should spend money. HAL made 363 mill this year? They might have other expenses, but just going by those numbers, they made far and away the most money of any team. Ergo, stands to reason that they should be the BIGGEST spenders, instead of all that profit going into poor HAL's bank account. They complain about their spending, but they were the biggest profiteers.
They could DH Soto most of the time by getting rid of Stanton. Judge could go back to RF. The Martian could play CF. Then all they have to do is get a LF or play Spencer Jones in CF and The Martian in LF.
Cole, I don't think is a good idea. Mr. Prima Donna pitched great in the post-season, and they still didn't win. Plus, he's another year older (and who knows how much he has left in the tank). There is no reason to think that he'd be the difference maker next year. Hell, he might suck next year. We very well might have seen the best of Cole this postseason, and it could be all downhill from here. The money that it would take to re-sign Cole, it sure seems to me could be better spent on other players. But that's just my take on it.
For the record, I want to keep Holmes. He's become a good setup man.
Also for the record, Brian Daboll is an idiot. A jerk. A hubristic ding dong. He's the Aaron Boone of football.
Yeah, JM. I wholly agree about Boone. Just by bringing in a really good manager, they'd make this a much better team. Betcha the first thing a good manager does is to insist on getting rid of Matt Blake and bringing in a real pitching coach. Those moves would be worth at least 3 or 4 good to great players, as far as improving the team instantly.
just please give above average enough lead time so that if it is possible to attend above average will,l
Good points, HOG
Perhaps Boone will not re-sign and instead decide to take a year off and and have a team of medical professionals work day and night to try to remove all the sunflower seed chaff that has built up in his stomach and intestines due to the hyper-neurotic chawing of all those seeds during the entirety of the 2024 post season.
https://youtu.be/zy0r_ktKd84?si=xx1T8-p8UqnVCre2
High colonic time for Booney.
Thanks, guys! And I repeat your cry: NO SOTO NO PEACE! Or...NO FANS!
I could certainly entertain the notion of getting rid of all the big salary guys and rebuilding—something Hal & Pal always claim we won't stand for. BUT...we have seen that alternative. They have no idea of how to build a farm system and create a winner from within. None. Thus...NO SOTO NO PEACE!
No Soto? No peace.
Horace...First point: Yes, we should have met in Manhattan for at least one game; however, had it been game 5, some of us would still be in jail due to a lack of bail funds after being arrested for willful damages.
Point 2: You can double that revenue estimate. One line never crossed by the MLBPA that the owners set in stone is open books for public viewing. This is understandable from their point of view because it would be like reading Grimm's Fairy Tales.
Point 3: Hal will never come near Soto's ultimate contract price. Who will is debatable but it surely will not be our Yankees. But, that might be a silver lining if both Jasson and Spencer become NY outfielders for the next decade. They probably will both become stars, if not superstars. That's more than good enough if the team re-allocates the Soto money into Bregman at third and Alanso at first.
Point 4: The tone starts from the top. The players see that Hal has no fire in the belly. So why should they? Yes, George was a very flawed person and a control freak. But at least he cared a lot. The players knew he wanted that fire from them as well. If not, they would be held accountable.
Alonso*
I completely agree with you on most of that, CJW. Yes, I should have pointed out that, considering how owners ALWAYS manipulate the revenue figures, the Yankees almost surely made much more than this.
And yes, sadly, I suspect that Hal will find a way to "come in second" (meaning third, or fourth, or fifth) in the Soto bidding. I just don't think we should let him off the hook preemptively. Among other things, this would be a tactical DISASTER considering the fact that we gave up Michael King for Soto. But in any case, we in the fan base should be constantly threatening rage, boycotts, defecting to the Mets—ANYTHING that might make Hal pause.
As for the rest, well, I don't know if the Yanks WILL go after Bregman and Alonso; probably not. And the both of them together won't make up for losing Soto. Yes, maybe Spencer and The Martian will become stars; they're just as likely to be the next Frazier and Fowler. Plus, who knows how long it will take them to become anything?
Finally, yes, you're right: the fire is missing. And people know that.
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