Every great Yankee team features a great Yankee catcher. Consider...
Bill Dickey. (1928-1946)
Yogi Berra. (1946-1963)
Elston Howard. (1955-1967)
Thurman Munson. (1969-1979)
Jorge Posada. (1995-2011)
And that, my friends, is why the '26 Yankees are a smoldering, moldering dud.
It wasn't supposed to happen. Gary Sanchez was gonna save us. Oh well. Then, two Augusts ago, Austin Wells arrived, hitting 13 HRs over the final two months. Our search for the cornerstone seemed over.
But the last two years have been a disaster.
This weekend, the Yankees finally punted. They ditched not only Wells but his backup, JC Escarra, two LH catchers with the worst positional stats in MLB.
Friday, they demoted Escarra to Scranton to bring up Ali Sanchez, a journeyman RH catcher.
Yesterday, they slapped Wells onto the Injured List, dealing with neck pain. They brought Escarra back. The Scranton Express lives!
What an exercise in hopelessness. Up the middle, this team underperforms at every slot. Wells? Volpe? Chisholm? Grisham? Tylenol? Sour diesel? There's nothing there. And now, a midseason without Aaron Judge?
Of course, this team can chase a wild card berth. Thank you, expanded playoff system. But come October, these flaws will bite us in the caboose. The Yankees cannot win with a catching tandem that cannot hit .200.
We don't need to reincarnate Bill Dickey. But until the Yankees find a catcher, this team is doomed.
Which brings me - gulp - to Ben Rice.
Okay, I know what you're thinking. I get it: This guy is perfect and should not be tampered with. But when Giancarlo returns, the Yankees will have one too many 1B and DHs. Paul Goldschmidt is not going to play OF, and Stanton will be barely able to run.
This is what happens when, for two years, you trade away your entire arsenal of catching prospects.
They gotta do something crazy. It's an emergency. It's time to break glass.
Unless Escarra or Wells starts to hit - hello? is there a batting coach out there? - the Yankees must ponder the unponderable:
Rice behind the plate.
Because maybe - just maybe - we will find our great Yankee catcher.
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8 comments:
The Yanks might do it, much in the way they sometimes do intelligent things only when forced into it. Then, when Wells heals, he'll reclaim his position, and the Yankees will return to their customary logjam in which someone with an .800+ OPS always must sit.
They should've had Ben Rice behind the plate a long while back. Austin Wells should've been benched a long while back. Hell, Wells should've been traded a long while back. How many catchers has Cashman traded away in the last few years? Like half a dozen? More than that, I think. Looks like he kept the worst one in Wells. But management likes guys who hit .160, so what are ya gonna do?
It's doing it again, with the "failed to publish comment - try again later". Again had to delete this site's bookmark from my favorites list. Then delete cookies. I hate technology. Why the hell can't fucking AI solve this bullshit for us?
As I sat inside the Delta suite at the Stadium, waiting for the game to be played, which never was, somebody told me about Wells. This makes sense that he has head problems. He was the ball by a foot, as he swung. Let's hope he gets better and finds his swing.
Again, this is all the fault of Cashman and his penurious owner. The catching situation, already apparent last season, was left unresolved. It should’ve been corrected during the off season, but Cashman was more interested in getting a show for his daughter and steinbummer only wanted minimum contracts. Hence, Escarra who doesn’t belong in MLB.
The old cliche rings true: you reap what you sow.
Or in the case of our roster construction, you reap what you so-so.
Rice should catch 2-3 times a week and they should still carry 2 other catchers.
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