Costello: All I'm trying to find out is what's the guy's name on first base!
Abbott: No. What is on second base.
Costello: I'm not asking you who's on second!
Abbott: Who's on first.
Costello: ONE BASE AT A TIME!
So it went, for 10 wondrous minutes, destined for Cooperstown, the Library of Congress and - for my money - those NASA probes that extend for eternity, into the void of space. Who's on second? What. That's who.
And for Yank fans, the question is whether "I Don't Know," the hometown boy who plays SS, can hit more than .250. Who? What? When? And I don't know. That's a crapola infield, and it always seems to revolve around - What... 2B.
It shouldn't have been this way. In 2013, we had Robbie Cano, a future lifetime Yankee, with a future plaque in Monument Park, if not Cooperstown. But Food Stamps Hal would not outbid Seattle - money doesn't grow on trees, people! - and both the Yankees and Cano wandered a 2B desert for most of 11 years. The players who have held 2B since Cano - the What the Fucks? - are:
Brian Reynolds, former "Mr. Oriole."
Stephen Drew, last vestige of "the Curse."
Rob Refsnyder, called "Brigadoon" for the ways he disappeared.
Starlin Castro, eventually traded for Giancarlo.
Gleyber Torres, earmarked for SS "I Don't know."
DJ LeMahieu, "Mr. Fundamentals."
The list offers wide extremes. Drew sucked, Refsnyder came of age with other teams. Gleyber stagnated and LeMahieu won two batting titles, also he hit the dramatic HR that tied cheater Houston, moments before Altuve unloaded on the giggling El Chapo. But in terms of numbers, nobody replaced Cano, until he fell to PEDs and lack of protection in the batting order.
The Yankees never did replace the Jogger. And if Aaron Judge stays in CF, or suffers injuries, it's worth wondering if history will repeat, and we will ever replace Juan Soto?
Either way, the Yankees right now are staring into a deep, dark abyss at 2B. Here's the depth chart:
1. Jazz Chisholm, which would leave 3B open.
2. LeMahieu, at 36, following his worst-ever season.
3. Oswaldo Cabrera, better utility man?
4. Oswald Peraza, or Year Four at Scranton?
5. Jorbit Vivas, a lost Dodger.
6. Somebody, anybody, in a trade for Marcus Stroman.
7. I Don't Know. Would he move from SS?
Today, the Athletic - the modern version of The Sporting News - gives the Yankees an "A" for moves this winter, adding that - and I quote - "future Hall of Fame GM Brian Cashman continues to show he's one of the best in the game."
Listen: I do believe Cashman isn't as bad as fans often claim, while venting, but it's been a long hard slog under his tenure. If he ever goes into the Hall, they better hold a private induction ceremony, because Yankee fans will boo.
It's way too early to assign grades for 2025. But here's a thought: If you're going to have a black hole in the lineup, 2B is a crappy place for it. What's up? Maybe. I Don't Know. Who? Please, cut the mic...
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15 comments:
Cashman blew it when he couldn't sign Beats Me. It's been all dominos since.
Who Cares . . .
Who Watches the Cashman? . . .
Who are You?
Who Who?
Who Who?
Steinscammer has already said he’s done spending. There will be no major additions without a Stroman trade. Durbin was the answer at 2nd. Probably better to move Chisolm there and cycle through all the unpalatable options at 3rd and ooze into that last WC with say, oh 87-88 wins.
"Will we ever replace Juan Soto?" No. He was never ours to replace. It wasn't a relationship, it was a season of The Bachelor, and we didn't get the rose.
Duque - Really enjoyed today's post. Well your post here. The NY Post on the other hand...
So let me see if I understand this correctly... The Giants season mercifully ends and I'm able to swing my full attention to the championship potential Knicks who then promptly fall apart and play some of the worst basketball I've even seen over the last few games. Maybe it's because the Rangers have been better of late.
Is there something in the city charter that says that NYC has always has to have at least one horrifically bad team playing at all times?
Sigh.
Very good analogy.
Sigh-o-nara ?
. . . saw someone wearing a Yankee cap yesterday. I asked them if they were a fan. They said no, adding that they hate the team. They just like wearing the cap . . .
🤨
AA, that great Tiffany design never gets tired. It means New York all over the world. Too bad the people running the team now don't have such class or endurance. Hell, soon they will probably start running out of alternative "NY" designs on given days, as part of the eternal quest to sell more gear.
Yanks didn't even have to go full out to have some decent at second. Josh Smith and Ezequiel Duran, two of the guys traded in the disastrous Joey Gallo deal, for instance, could have teamed quite nicely with Thairo Estrada in providing decent play at the position.
This is, of course, one of the most irritating things about our Bozo GM: he NEVER worries about building in sufficient depth.
And I gotta differ with our Peerless Leader here. Brian Cashman is a truly terrible general manager. You have to judge that office by the resources you're given. Under old Mad George, Cashie had an unfettered checkbook. Even with Food Stamps Hal, the Yanks always spend near the top of the major-league levels.
Still, he can't get it done. Nor can he build a consistently excellent farm system. His own judgement is trades is usually terrible, and he never takes a stand for players—as Stick Michael did in absolutely refusing to deal Mariano or keep Jeets on the farm—preferring instead to go along with the owner and do things like sign Sheffield over Vlad the Lad.
Then...he lets it be known that it's the owner's fault (assuming he's telling the truth in the first place). At all times, Cashie is more interested in assigning blame (elsewhere) than in actually building a great team. Which is why he has lasted so long—and why it has been so long since the team won it all.
Stang, Doug K., I don't know if that's true about Soto. But whether it was or it wasn't, it SHOULD have factored into the Yankees' thinking.
That is, SOMEONE should have said beforehand, "Hey, should we really trade four good young pitchers if we don't know if we can re-sign this guy?" And once the commitment was made to trade for him, the all-out push to sign him should have been on.
Dinners, personal contact, demonstrations of what the Yankees were doing to build a winner. Give his family the damned box already. And...make him what would have then been an insane offer, early.
If the Yankees had, say, offered Soto $700 mill for 14 years last May...would even Boras really have turned up his nose at that? Or would he have had to tell his client, "Ya know, you could always blow out a knee"?
I dunno. But it would have been worth it to try it. Instead, the evidence is OVERWHELMING that the Yankees never really thought they would keep him. If Steve Cohen had had a fatal heart attack, I'm sure the Yankees still would have finished second (or third) to what anyone else bid.
And finally...the Knicks. Ah, the Knicks.
I met this nice young father at some holiday bash, who was lamenting the fact that his young son was a Nets fan, because they live in Brooklyn. He rooted for that hopeless team because his son did, but he would much rather have been following the Knicks, who he felt were on a championship run.
I had to tell him how long it had been since any such thing had happened to the Knicks. And so far, I am sticking very easily to one of my New Year's resolutions, which is to pay less attention to people and organizations that could not care less about me.
Looking at you, Knicks and Rangers! I have no idea what their records are, and I blissfully don't care. I worry this will happen to the Yankees, too, but...maybe not the worst thing?
Here in Loser City, we have to take care of ourselves.
" which is to pay less attention to people and organizations that could not care less about me."
So that pretty much just leaves your wife, family members, business associates, and friends (which includes us).
Maybe you're on to something.
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