Usually, that horrifying moment of Yankee self-immolation doesn't occur until, say, June. Generally, around now, the Yankiverse is still gushing over its lockdown bullpen, which the manager has yet to overcook.
In recent years, Clay Holmes dazzled through the months of April and May, braced by the likes of Ian Hamilton and/or Jonathan Loaisiga. Before Holmes, Aroldis Chapman wowed the radar guns of spring, until transforming into a grotesque, tattooed sweat machine, channeling Demi Moore in the current body horror flick, The Substance.
It's rather early for two grand slams in three outings, as the Yankee bullpen has achieved. It's sorta early for Boone to ask for a four-out save from his setup man. But last night, after the pen had turned a blowout into a potential soul-crushing defeat, I suppose he saw no other options. The red pill or the blue pill? Both had consequences.
It's just a little early, though, doncha think?
Considering that a five-inning start is now considered a Cy Young pillar of Yankee success, I wonder if we shouldn't start worrying about the health of Luke Weaver, as Boone uses him up like a bar of Irish Spring.
Certainly, everything depends on Evan Williams, the anointed closer, who should return this weekend from his wife's childbirth. (Congrats!) On Opening Day, Williams came in to face his former Milwaukee teammates, nearly blowing a laugher. (By the way, congrats to Nasty Nestor, who threw six shutout innings last night for the Brew Crew!)
Right now, assuming Williams returns, the Yankee bullpen looks like this:
Williams
Weaver
Everybody else
Who's in Scranton?
Your mom
Does that hobo have a pulse?
Of course, there is hope. Over four innings, Yoendrys Gomez has yet to give up a run. There's Fernando Cruz! Brent Headrick! But Mark Leiter Jr. has already been immortalized with a "Leiter Fluid" back page, Tim Hill's ERA is 7.71, and Ryan Yarlbrough didn't record an out last night; his ERA is 21.60.
Boone will give them second and third changes. Then he'll start churning. The Circle of Trust will form, and then it will shrink to a dot. Usually, that happens in July. The meltdown seems to have come early this year. Should we be worried?
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The Circle of Trust is shrinking faster than my stock portfolio
How about "The Tightening Sphincter of Trust"?
We should be grateful, not worried, that we will not have to endure a sweet spring mirage followed by the freight-train subtlety of brutal truth two and a half months from now. Trolley Dodgers: 8-0
Circle of Trust? Hell, it's only Mark Leiter, Jr. Does that guy pitch in every fucking game or what?
Dumbass Cashman forgot that the Yankees were the only team that couldn't hit Ryan Yarbrough, a/ka/ The Yarlboro Man. Now that he never pitches against the Yankees, I think this arrangement will be slightly problematic.
They scored 9 runs, still barely won. Against probably the Snakes' worst starting pitcher. If they played the Snakes everyday, that would be hugely problematic.
good one
Ottavino has been DFAd Good.
One real question though...
When they signed him does he get paid for the year at the MLB minimum ($750,000? I think) because that's a lot of money for one day's work from an organization that watches every penny.
Bullpen of Dreck…trademark pending.
Ottavino is worse than Kyle Yarborough? News to me.
Why are they soft in the middle now? Soft in the middle. When the rest of the pen throws it hard?
Doug, it depends on the contract signed. Most contracts are fully guaranteed, meaning the player will be paid for the life of the contract. (Exception : voluntary retire.) However, if a player signs a non-guaranteed contract, he is only paid for time with the organization. Pretty sure the penurious Yankees signed Otto to a non-guaranteed contract.
JM - Ryan Yarbrough :) The Yarbrough Man (lifetime ERA 4,24 as a reliever!) hasn't been good for a long while so when he comes in and sucks it is to be expected.
Whereas Ottavino put up 2.06 and 3.21 in two of the last three years but tends to fail in the clutch. So we think he's good but the eye test knows he's not. He keeps letting teams (and us) down.
That's probably why people think he's worse than Yarbrough. It's a bigger fall.
BTR - Thank you.
Hey at least Ottavino's line wasn't bad --->
2025 Regular Season
2 Games
1.1 innings pitched
0.0 Era
0 Hits
2 K
2 W
No wonder they released him. He hadn't given up any runs. That's not
how Cashman's bullpen is expected to perform, HAL DAMMIT !
Ok Ok Ok - I've gotta get back to work on that photo illustration of the
Tightened Sphincter of Trust.
I see what you did there, Doug. Hey, give Yarbrough a shot at redemption. He doesn't want to end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard.
Not an Ottavino fan. I remember him saying something like, "If I faced Babe Ruth, I'd strike him out every time." I always wished he'd think more about how to get guys out today than ones who have been dead for nearly 80 years.
This
There’s a bevy of injured relievers waiting in the wings. Hamilton, Cousins, , Brubaker, Beeter, Matzek, Effros, Winans, and De Los Santos, Reyzelman, et al, laboring at SWB. Seems Hamilton will be the first back, but given the team’s well documented history of lying about injuries, who knows?
Didn't give the big O much of a chance, did they? Maybe they needed the zero uniform shirt for Boone.
Why? You know why.
Boone is an idiot.
HA
He never faced Babe Ruth, so we can't prove him wrong. A real right-wing thinker.
I am sure The Big Zero could throw it right by Babe Ruth, after decades in the grave.
It's along the same line of reasoning as the multitude of martial artists who, after Bruce Lee dropped dead, claimed that they could beat him, that he wasn't that good, that they were better than him, and so on. The guy was dead, his body a-muldering inside a coffin, six feet under. Anyone with a pulse could beat him, sure.
I forgot to mention that Jackass Boone has Judge hitting #3. I think he was #2 in only Game 1 of the season. Last night, Judge hits a three run homer in the 1st. If he'd hit #2, at best, that would've been a two run homer. Jackass Boone is actually doing one thing right. How is that possible? I thought he was a two legged jackass, dreaming that he was a man, major league manager of the New York Yankees. What the hell is going on here?
Thank God the stock market is doing well. Same as the Yankees.
No Bellinger today. No doubt dictated by the good ol’ anal-ytics dept, who I still hold are the ones making out the line up. More load management bullshit I guess, unless they’re hiding an injury, which they love to do. It’s hard to believe how bad ownership and management are. They don’t want to change, because of the hundreds of millions of dollars in profit they are guaranteed no matter what…and there isn’t a goddam thing we can do about it.
Game Thread up
They say he's got a stiff back. Here come the injuries....
Me? I would have DF'd 'Bombs away' Leiter. That nepo-baby is an absolute pyromaniac when he comes into the game. Ottavino is good until he isn't. That may not be perfect, but its better than the humiliating, guaranteed loss that Leiter provides.
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