If you're scoring at home, he's the 6'7", 240-pound beefcake who would join The Martian and Judge in the outfield to fill Yankee Stadium with an electricity not experienced since the days of Juan Soto.
Jones is not the Yankees' top prospect. That perilous designation belongs to SS George Lombard Jr., whose presence at Double A makes Anthony Volpe more expendable by the day.
But Jones is the most intriguing object in the Yankee solar system. Since rising to Scranton 10 games ago, he has fulfilled our feral fantasies - a .385 average, a 1.315 OPS - and 21 HRs this year overall. Yeesh. Calm down, people. From this ether, I can see your erections. You're disgusting.
But but BUT... what will happen with this gigantic, glittery item, who is burning a hole in our pockets?
Will Brian Cashman - (Fun Fact: the longest tenured GM in baseball) - define his survivalist career by becoming forever known as The Guy Who Traded Spencer Jones? Or will he let 2025 float away in the flood, and seal the sad fate of Mr. Aaron Boone?
In just three weeks, the Yankee asteroid is coming. Should we party, celebrating the end? Or start digging, to cover ourselves in ashes?
This, we know...
Cashman is crazed and will do anything, anything. He has decided that this Yankee lineup, as constructed, does not fly. How do we know this? Well, he just did something that will go on his permanent deportation record, in case ICE agents grab him in a raid: He just cut DJ LeMahieu, one of the great Yankees of this millennium. He cut DJ. God help him.
You can say he had no choice. At 36, LeMahieu had become a caricature of his former self. Still, if I'm a young, small market team looking for a player-coach with something to prove, LeMahieu would fit the bill nicely. (At all costs, the Yankees must not let him stay within the division. This is Cashman's main directive.)
My point? Like Lady MacBeth, Cashman has already launched the bloodletting. He cannot stop. If you're willing to cut DJ LeMahieu, you'll do anything. This makes rappelling down a building in a Santa suit look like peeing in a bucket. As a former Yankee great, LeMahieu could someday do a "Story of My Number" episode with Cashman's daughter. That would be interesting.
2. Let's not go ape shit here. Jones still strikes out waaay too much - at Scranton, 15 times in 49 ABs, which is par for his course. The guy takes mighty cuts. He'll fit in with the Yankees. But we need another 200 Ks per year?
Or, at 24, can he learn to lay off certain pitches? Because that could be the difference between a generational Yankee slugger and the Second Coming of Joey Gallo. The minute we trade this guy, a pit will open in our stomachs. We might feel it for the rest of our lives.
3. Let's be real about our needs. I laugh when I read bloggers bloviate about how the team should get Nolan Arenado and Sandy Alcantara - why not add Jennifer Lopez and Sydney Sweeney? - as if their price tags won't be astronomical. Frankly, our farm system doesn't have enough talent to fetch such players in an old-school flesh auction.
To fill our needs, we must be prepared to feel real pain. Trading Jones would do that.
Or do we just go with Jorbit Vivas?
4. Jones can force the issue. Right now, he's on fire in Scranton - Triple A hasn't figured him out - but he has no place to go. Cody Bellinger is having a solid year. The Martian is improving by the day. Trent Grisham, god bless him, is holding his own. In the short term, Jones is blocked. (Of course, somebody will tweak a thingy tomorrow; that's how the juju gods work.)
But right now, the Yankees are so stopped-up that Ben Rice isn't even getting a shot. Something's gotta give. And it probably needs to happen before July 21, when the Yankees venture into Toronto.
Yesterday, Jones went 2-for-4 with his 5th HR at Triple A. You can feel his trade value skyrocketing over the hills of Central Pennsylvania - along with our fantasies. Soon, it will come to a head. Three weeks to define a season. And maybe a decade?
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23 comments:
Next year, Bellinger will move to first base for Goldy because Paul will not be re-signed. That leaves a spot open for Jones. Grisham will have to be the 4th man, perhaps platooning with Jones.
Jones' development is echoing that of Judge. It wasn't all that long ago when scouts and talent evaluators claimed that he struck out too often and was too big to be a consistent hitter due to a long and looping swing. They were wrong, and Judge finally learned to lay off the sharp breaking balls low and away as well as swinging at eye-level pitches. I predict the same for Jones
And Rice will be given an accelerated tutorial at first base to give him more playing time.
DJL DFA
Unless he's traded.
Unless he's traded.
He might yet be traded.
But what if….
What if someone started spreading the rumor that Spencer is Alex’s nephew.
(I’m looking at YOU)
Truth is….
It would make no “Cents for Cash” to trade him.
Cars for Kids
Cents for Cash
Stockpiling Drugs and Food.
Jazz is King
Volpe Sings
DJ buys a Bidet
(Don’t ask - need coffee)
Three certainties in life:
Death
Taxes
Ca$hole will fuck up at the trade deadline.
DJ deserved better. A different role, player/coach, something. He had to be taken out of the day to day lineup, and Jazz should be at second, but... something.
Wonder if the Rockies could use him again?
If Stanton wasn't there, there'd be a lot more flexibility to mix Jones into the picture. We definitely shouldn't trade him. Imo.
Cashman is the scorpion in the old story. He can't help fucking up. It's what he does.
Hey Hoss!
It occurred to me while watching the game yesterday that somewhere there is a ten year old whose future blog name is going to be AnthonyVolpe25.
As cool as it would be to have an outfield next year consisting of Judge, Jones and Dominquez a.k.a. Two and a Half Men , I don't love Bellinger as the full time first baseman.
I'm really pleased with how well he's working out but I think Ben Rice is on his way to being a really good ballplayer. It's only his second year.
I guess they could lose Trent Grisham and use Beli as a fourth outfielder and platoon him at first to get Rice at bats but that kind of multiple position stuff tends to mess with their heads.
Hicksing: (Verb)
To add extra years to a contract to get a player to sign knowing it will not end well and then release the player with exactly one and a half years remaining and eating the money for the good of the team. (Also, Hicksed)
Uses:
Hicksing equals fixing.
Brian Cashman set about Hicksing this week in an attempt to improve the roster.
DJ Leimeihu got Hicksed this week.
I think there's just one more year of Stanton before he can get Hicksed.
It says here the team won’t trade Jones. Cashman’s asking price would include a young-ish quality player with at least one more year of team control. Not many available. Remember, the Yankees don’t trade for players, they trade for contracts.
As far as Jones’ future with the team, I think he could be a credible source of LH power, but I believe MLB pitchers will eat him alive. This team already strikes out waaay too much, and adding Jones to that toxic brew could be truly damning.
So what to do? For now, nothing. More AB’s @ SWB. Meantime, fix the goddam bullpen and get a legit 3B. Peraza ain’t it.
Also we need a Hal and Pal bobblehead promotion.
Make it so.
You will get Billy Joel (who isn’t even a Yankee fan) and you will like it.
Katie Sharp points out:
Jazz Chisholm Jr has 10 HR since coming off the IL on June 3.
The only AL players with more since that date are Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh (both with 13)
So would that dual bobblehead involve some act that can't be done in public?
These days, if a player strikes out 20-25 percent of the time, it seems to be acceptable, if his power numbers are good enough. It ain't like the days of Yogi, Joe D, or Teddy Ballgame. Or Carew or Gwynn or Ichiro, for that matter. Mickey struck out a lot but he's kind of a piker compared to today's whiffers.
With all due respect, DJ will walk away from baseball having made well north of one hundred million dollars. He may have felt a slight sting of bruised pride. But he's walking away with a lot of money. Which is what he "deserved".
Kevin,
He *is* a rich man, bbbbut...
He did play hurt when they needed him to, which is more that you can say for a lot of the other millionaires. And it probably hastened his deterioration.
Here's hoping swimming in dollars will console him a la Scrooge McDuck.
Following my comment above, I hereby request that the bobbleheads are in the style of Scrooge McDuck and one of Donald's (Duck, not Trump) nephews. Both not wearing pants. Include the necessary eye-bleach in the giveaway.
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