Ben Rice singled to right.
No-hitter averted.
So ended their day.
Also, so ended the first two weeks of 2026, with the YES channel barkers - like Fox News hosts gushing over the state of the world - declaring victory for the Yankee front office's decision to rerun the 2025 team for another season.
Thanks to the current mediocrity of the AL East, where no other team is above water, the Yankees have maintained a priapic state of self-pleasure for 14 days and nights assuring us - and themselves - that all is fine, that the roof is not buckling, that Melania didn't know Ghislaine, and that an aging runner-up lineup, now one year older, should be celebrated, not abandoned.
What a fiasco.
For now, here's where everything stands...
Aaron Judge comes up every three innings, briefly raising hopes, until he is walked. Increasingly frustrated, he lunges after balls and hits grounders.
The real Final Four - yesterday it was Grichuk, Wells, Caballero and McMahon - may give the 2013 comedy troupe of Ishikawa, Cruz, Gonzalez and Romine a run for its money, as the most bottomless Yankee abyss in this millennium.
Lately, I wonder if the Yankee Matrix glitched, switching 3B Ryan McMahon with the Ryan McMahon of Syracuse, a GOP functionary who serves as Onondaga County Executive. Can't hit. Can't field. As for McMahon, the former Colorado all-star, he's no longer working in Rocky Mountain High air, which means he might upend Zolio Almonte as the IT IS HIGH gold standard for ineptitude. Along with hitting .069, he is striking out four times in every 10 at bats. On every statistical measure, he is a candidate for Worst Hitter in Baseball.
It's gotten so bad that we're actually marveling over Giancarlo Stanton's speed on the basepaths. (Note: He still runs like he's pulling an invisible rickshaw.)
The team finally punted on Cade Winquest, the Rule 5 pitcher who, amazingly, never got to throw a pitch. He's been designated for assignment, and we're bringing back Luis Gil. Yikes.
In every appearance, David Bednar comes closer to disaster. He's given up earned runs in three of his last four games, and left runners in nearly every outing. You can feel the confidence draining.
Michael J. Fox is alive. ALIVE!
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7 comments:
Just disgusting, but what can we do, except rail against the mediocre money making machine that has become Prince Hal's Yankees?
They play McMahon, despite his .069 with 40% strikeout rate. And bitch and moan about Spencer Jones' strikeout rate in the minors.
They'll play Grisham all year, despite his .162. Wells, despite his .167. Chisholm, despite his .186.
Gonna be a loooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggg year.
Amed Rosario has one good game, and all of a sudden, he's the lead off hitter? Wow, the stupidity of Boone is just mind boggling. 'Course, we haven't had a real leadoff hitter in what seems like a decade and a half or more. Not since Derek Jeter, right?
Actually, this team would have what would seem to be a pretty decent leadoff man, but he's rotting in the minors: Jasson Dominguez. What they could do, if they were so inclined, would be to try Dominguez again in CF. (When he first came up, he played CF. Don't remember any mistakes he made there.) Or they could make Stanton the pinch hitter extraordinaire and make Dominguez the DH. And bring up Spencer Jones to play CF. And bench Grisham.
But like we've talked about for so long, this organization hates developing prospects. And even when it does try to develop someone, it's someone like Volpe or Wells. Guys who hit some homers but strike out a lot and generally look very mediocre to sub-mediocre doing it. The consistent theme seems to be mediocrity.
@ JM, I saw your post in the Duque Anti-Soto Diatribe: "Where's the risk? Let the baseball guys run the team as long as they stick to the financial parameters. We're still bound to do better than we do with the Genius and the Idiot."
Yes, but you're thinking like an intelligent person. You've got to put yourself in the heads of current Yankee ownership/management. (It's definitely hard to do; it throws me off as well.)
The risk is that they might actually win a championship, maybe multiple championships (which they don't want), that they might upset the current apple cart loaded with gold; that playing talented youngsters who make peanuts right now would throw off all their current tax calculations and, if those youngsters play great, would be entitled to huge increases in salary and throw off their future financial planning.
They actually want to spend a lot of money, most of it, unwisely. That's why they made it a top priority to bring back Trent Grisham, for that ridiculous 22.05 mil "qualifying offer", instead of letting him walk away. That's why they might extend Stanton's contract. Or, if they really think Stanton is done, they will let him walk away at the end of his contract. But they will bring in someone else who is a big name and pretty much useless, in order to replace that liability on their books. It's a sort of a ponzi scheme, if you will, aimed at keeping the status quo.
BTW, "where's the risk?" reminds of me that old Wendy's commercial from the '80s, "where's the beef?" Haha!
Yes, they could manage this ball club like the Tampa Rays, play the kids, lower payroll, get good coaches and a real manager. They'd win a championship, sooner or later.
But they would rather garrote themselves than lower the payroll. Prince Hal complaining about the high payroll? I think it's mostly theatrics. Good acting on his part. For publicity, making everyone think they're broke and that he's a miser. Then unleashing the funds in the end. Yes, I think he'd rather have a smaller payroll and make even more money. But I think he likes where he's at right now. That's why Cashman is still the GM.
Bottom line, they don't want to win. It ain't about winning, for them. They couldn't care less. It's all about the finances.
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