Playing CF yesterday, Spencer George Jones - the future of Yankee hope - clubbed a 2-run HR against Toronto's D team. (The Jays' Olympian first five pitchers: Lucas, Little, Pop, Fluharty and Pardinho...)
Listen: We don't need another inkwell devoted to Spencer Jones. Guy's already played in two (2) Futures Games and garnered more than enough attention. As the 25th pick in the 2022 draft, he was quickly anointed as the next Aaron Judge because of - well - let's just say that size matters.
At 23, Jones stands 6'6" and weighs 235 - (Judge is 6'7," 282) - and is generally viewed as the highest ceiling Yankee prospect after the Martian.
Last year, in 122 games at Double A - (he didn't even score a coffee in Scranton) - Jones hit 17 HRs and batted .259. Not terrible, if you're into Aaron Hicks. Unfortunately, the guy fanned 200 times in a Sinatra season - riding high in April (.328) shot down in May (.170.) Those 200 strikeouts placed Jones 2nd in all of the minors, behind a 20-year-old turnstile in Washington's single A system.
In May, after Jones fanned in nearly every other AB, the Yankee brain trust sent in the swing doctors, generally the kiss of death. Did it work? Sorta. He continued to rise and fall. Jones had entered 2024 as Baseball America's 46th ranked prospect. By midyear, he'd slipped out of the Top 100. He recently was named one of 30 MLB prospects entering their "make or break" year.
So, yesterday, Jones joined Zolio Almonte in the "Mr. Yankee February Society," homering in the earliest games of spring. He is a leading contender for his second consecutive James P. Dawson watch award as the best-looking Yankee rookie in camp. (Last spring, he hit .444 - 8 for 18 - with a HR and 4 RBI, then bashed two HRs in the first ever "Spring Breakout Game" against Toronto's prospects.)
So, been there, seen that, right? Obviously, it's to early to expect anything. Jones will surely open 2025 in Scranton; the cheapskate Yankees will option him out just to maintain an extra year on his contract.
But but BUT... these are weird times. For all their reconfiguring, the Yankees have a big black eye. The Mets stole Juan Soto, and maybe the zeitgeist of NYC. A rawboned rookie goliath in CF would create a nice Bronx buzz, and two-years ago, they pulled the trigger on Anthony Volpe. (We're still wondering if that was a wise move.) Today, Zolio. Tomorrow, Aaron Hicks? Hey, you never know. And you can never have too many watches.
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March 28th, most likely at a tavern/restaurant close to west 14th Street, there WILL BE MEANING, there WILL BE HUMAN CONNECTION, there WILL BE SHARED PATHOS AND JOY. There will be an off-campus, non-stadium IIHIIF Huckleberry Meetup. So far, it's just me and AA and here is what I ask of you decent folks...how can you leave us with nobody else to talk with? Come on down. We need you. We can plot out a Stadium meetup for high summer. We can talk about "the good old days." We can eat and belch and stare at the wall. We can DO IT ALL!!! As the Palisades Amusement Park ad used to say, "COME ON OVER!"
You'll never know how great a kiss can feel 'til you stop at the top of the Ferris wheel.
JM, if you need help with IPTV and VPN, I or Rufus can help you. Well, I don't speak for Rufus (if I did, I'd probably resemble Knucklehead Smith or Lambchop), but I think he'd also be available for you.
I did find a tutorial, Carl, on IPTV after you told me about it. Looked like it was around 18 different steps to the process, though, so I moved along. I may have to revisit that.
13 B...I can send you a printed "Directions for Dummies" that works for most IPTV devices, which are the size of a smartphone. If you go with a subscription service, they will have a step-by-step guide that is very simple to follow.
If El Duque thinks it's appropriate, I'll donate a device to the winner of the correct number of wins by the Yankees or any other contest he can concoct.
@ 13B...I will try to attend.
I saw the Jones HR. He barely got to the ball and still had enough strength to hit it to the opposite field. For anyone else it would have been a weak fly to left.
JM...I like making out at a baseball game with a cute girl. I like the system where I kiss her between the strikes, and she kisses me between the balls.
Thanks, Carl. Which VPN do you like?
Go for it!
CJWºCT - this could be a contest to guess the correct number of spring training wins with the device being awarding to the winner at the 3.28.25 belching-banquet-symposium-get-together-jamboree. This way the device can be used to enjoy the remainder of 2025 season (If a tie occurs, the winners will participate in a live twinkly eating competition. First to get 25 down, wins.)
I meant to type twinkie but was thwarted once again . . .
Someone added beards to the best Yankee players by year since the no beard policy began, Worth a quick look.
https://btrimgr.com/gallery/wdfhAnq
I had high hopes for Spencer Jones. But as our Dauntless Leader, Alphonso, once said, "Rookies gotta shine." Or something like that. For almost all top baseball stars, success comes frighteningly early.
Joe DiMaggio was still 18 when he batted .340 and hit in 61 straight games in the (almost major-league) PCL.
The Mick was just 18 when he hit .383 in the minors; a year later he was in The Show.
The Babe was still 18 when he hit the first major-league pitch he saw out of the park. By the end of that season, he was a winning pitcher for the Red Sox.
There are exceptions, of course, and Jones wasted some years in college. But right now, it's not looking good.
After seeing so many over-hyped prospects flame out, you’ll have to excuse me if I am cynical about Spencer Jones. I realize he is not fully formed yet, and that the team may rush him along for appearances sake. At this point , Jones is not on the 40 man and is still rostered at Somerset. Of course that’s easily changed, but I don’t see him playing in the bigs this year unless the team is out of it (highly unlikely given the watered down playoffs) and/or desperate for attention. As a fan, I wish him nothing but the best, with the understanding that the very nature of how the team nurtures it prospects has stacked the deck against him.
And hey, Jaraxle, in regard to what you wrote about Soto: I hear ya. The guy does not seem overwhelmed by sentiment.
But Hal and Pal needed to go all out to sign him, once they had traded for him. Put on the full-court, George-on-Reggie press, take him around the city, pump him up—and make him a mondo early offer. Maybe he turns that down—maybe he says, "Hey I could get hurt in my next game."
It was worth the shot...and if it didn't work...yes, you, Hal Steinbrenner, perpetually distressed looking heir to your father's business, needed to put on your big-boy money belt, cash in a yacht or two, and outbid the Mets.
If you never planned to do that, WTF did you and Pal trade 4 good young pitchers for Soto in the first place?
That made no sense—which is why I continue to maintain that this was a grift from the start. Soto was supposed to take us to the promised land, and another tickertape parade. Once that was accomplished, all of us gullible nitwits wouldn't him traipsing off to wherever, while we brought up the Can't-Miss Martian and Mr. Jones. Yanks on a roll—but best of all, Hal's payroll goes down.
It was a scheme...right out of the Washington Nationals', small, underfunded franchise playbook. And it nearly worked. Until it didn't.
I will never forgive it, and neither should any Yankees fan.
this appears to have been taken down
nope it is back up
AA...good idea. The number of Spring training wins. I think there are about 32 games. So, if someone with posting power can make the contest appear, let's do it!
I'll try to make it to the meet-up, but I'll likely have to get the winner's address. I will make a guess, but it won't count for the prize.
Good luck to all!
@ JM...Express and Nord are highly rated for VPN efficiency and security/privacy, as is IPVanish.
Thanks Carl, however perhaps an alternative to the twinkie eating competition is a better way to go - something like this a tie breaking prediction - Guess the combined number of total Home Runs that Judge and Soto will hit during spring training. Sample guess: Judge=3 + Soto=7 10 is the guess.
Sounds excellent, AA. Again, someone needs to post the contest, and a deadline of a few days or so sounds reasonable to allow as many entries as possible without giving anyone undue advantage of waiting before picking a win total.
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