After four months of searching for Ithaca Binghamton Cortland Syracuse Scranton, this we know about the lotus-eating, siren-chasing, lost-at-sea '26 Yankees.
1. They cannot manufacture runs. Their offense is entirely Homeric.
2. Nor are they grinders, who outlast opponents by running up pitch counts. They come to bat swinging, seemingly oblivious to a pitcher's control problems.
3. Without Aaron Judge, they are a sorry team, a tomato can.
4. Anthony Volpe has exhausted his Yankee karma. He needs to play in another city.
5. At 23, Jasson Dominguez might someday become a star. But right now, he has no business batting third in the Yankee order.
6. There is no hope from a lineup with Max Schuemann, a utility infielder, playing RF.
7. Yesterday, against the Dodgers, the Yankee lineup had Dominguez batting third and Schueman in RF. Talk about waving the white flag...
8. Our greatest fear is no longer Scylla (Tampa). It is Charybdis (Boston, now only four behind us in the loss column.)
9. Anyone who says the Yankees are postseason shoe-ins has not been watching this team over the last month. It is capable of a full-scale epic meltdown.
10. We are now hearing the five most frightening words in the Yankiverse: Cashman is looking to deal.
May the Gods have mercy on us.
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27 comments:
#3: Even with Aaron Judge, this was a sorry ass team.
#5: Boone simply does not know how to write up a lineup, and it shows every game. Why does he insist on batting Dominguez in a power slot? This is why I always thought they should bat Dominguez either leadoff or #2 or in the bottom third of the lineup. If they hit him leadoff, they might be sacrificing some on base percentage now (because Grisham has a better on base %), but they'll maximize Dominguez's development. Dominguez, at least so far in his major league career, is not a power hitter, not an RBI producer. He is better suited to be a run scorer. Typical Yankee management, trying to force square pegs into round holes.
By the way, they're well on the way to ruining Dominguez. He is behind on just about every fastball. Looks almost like ... Paul Goldschmidt, who can't hit a fastball anymore. With Goldschmidt, it is bat speed; he simply can't hit the fastball anymore. With Dominguez, it's definitely not bat speed, because he's got excellent bat speed. Then what is it? I think the coaches have him looking for off speed on every pitch. This is, of course, a cardinal violation of the age old baseball adage: never look for the local, because you'll never catch up to the express, always look for the fastball, then try to identify the off speed and adjust. This has been going on since last year. If I was an opposing pitcher, I would throw nothing but inside heat to him, especially when Dominguez bats left handed. Because he doesn't get the bat head out. It's impossible for him to touch a fastball. He doesn't even foul it off. He's swinging when the ball is already past him.
This is an easy fix. But I think this is the way the coaches want it. They must think that Dominguez can look for the off speed, but still get around on the fastball. No one in the history of baseball has been able to do that. Physiologically, it just doesn't work that way. They're effing crazy.
And, let me say that if that's what the coaches are preaching to JD, it's high time for him to stop listening to their bull shit and get a private batting coach. Even if he is young, at some point, he's got to have enough brainpower of his own to realize they're driving him to ruin, doing everything backasswards.
I saw in yardbarker that they think both Jasson Dominguez and Spencer Jones will be traded for a pitcher. I'm not sure why that would help the Yankees, because the biggest problem here is a total lack of offense. We all knew it coming into this year: this lineup won't score runs. Even with Judge in the lineup, this team struggled to score, except when they were beating up on some terrible newbie pitcher.
But for their sakes, I hope Dominguez and Jones are traded to a team that will develop them properly. I still think Dominguez would be an All Star for many other teams. Imagine him on the Rays, Blue Jays, Dodgers, Brewers. He'd be hard to stop. Jones, I'm still not sure of, because he hasn't even had two weeks to show what he's got.
Jazz Chisholm saved the Yankees' bacon last night. He finally took a good swing, looked like a worldbeater on this one swing, an opposite field line drive home run. Did ya catch the look on the Dodger pitcher's face? That guy was like, "where the fuck did that come from?" When Jazz Chisholm stops trying to jack everything into the upper deck, stops trying to launch moonshots, and just hits liners all over the field, that's when he's at his best. This is another guy who needs some strong mentoring, a coach who's got the balls to tell him that Jazz's way of doing things is shit, who can convince him to play the game the right way. Chisholm has talent. He should be a .300 hitter. His defense in this game was also excellent. This may have been Jazz Chisholm's best game to date as a Yankee.
Duque, the crack game announcers were discussing what a good pitch-per-at-bat average the Dodgers have, but the Yankees' is even better.
Which is weird, because in the games I've been able to see, I see what you see.
They scored two runs in each of the two games yesterday. That was actually a good day for them. On a bad day, they get one or two hits in a game and no runs at all. How do you win with an offense this pitiful? How often are you going to hold the other team down to one measly run?
Dodger bats looked slow in the second game. They were tired. The bullpen game worked out well for the Yankees, mostly throwing heat, and the Dodgers could not catch up.
It was cool to see the Rocket Roger Clemens again. He looked good, sounded good. Three pitchers doing the commentary. So mostly pitching insights, not a lot from the batter's perspective. But I think it still worked out pretty well. Better than the asinine FOX presentation, anyway.
Right on, Hammer! All too true—and again, how the hell is it that the coaching/training staffs ruin one "can't-miss" prospect after another, and nothing is done about it?
Like a Soviet commissar—or an NFL coach—Brian Cashman is interested first and foremost in proving that he can never be wrong.
Yes, I was also chilled to hear those words about how Cashie will be dealing. Dealing what? For what?
Not only is trading Spencer and The Martian for a pitcher idiotic on the face of it, they may be faced with a situation where they are literally out of outfielders. Incredible how this team keeps crumbling, and Hal & Pal—and much of the local sporting press, to be sure—keep living in this fantasia.
And a shout out to Rufus!
I really enjoyed most of the World Cup—it was a lot higher scoring than the Yankees, that's for sure!—but since when was the all-time great Pelé dismissed out of hand for Messi?
This is where soccer's lack of stats hurts discussions of the all-time best. There has not even been an attempt to seriously discuss who was the greatest ever. FIFA and Fox want it to be the guy still playing, so it is.
I will stick with Pelé, who I had the honor to see play several times with the Cosmos.
How about some happy news?
David Bednar has not allowed a run in 17 outings over the last two months, walking just four batters while striking out 22 in 20.2 innings pitched
PREACH, HAMMER!
PEACHY, HoG !
As the old saying goes, “You Reap What You Sow” …multiple years of complacency and greed have hollowed out this franchise, leaving us with this shell of a team. Whatever transpires at the T/D will be strictly performative, highly unlikely to move the needle much. The issues here go far deeper than, should we trade this one, should we trade that one….they are both systemic and inimical. The first step to solving a problem is recognizing the problem, This organization isn’t even close to doing so.
Unfortunately, if JD hires a personal batting coach, he risks the ire of the organization and being labeled as both a malcontent and not a team player. The consequences result in being sent down or sent away to another team.
It also sounds like a certain high-ranking government official in DC whose pate looks like it wears Davey Crockett's coonskin cap.
These Our 2026 New York Yankees cannot beat the Pirates. The Yankees suck. Of course they're ruining their young talent. Look at who is running the organization.
Fuck HAL.
I've always liked Bednar. He's not lights out, but at least we don't have to watch him throw Devin Williams meatballs every time out.
And well-put, 999. They DON'T recognize the problem, and what they are really gearing up for is the 2027 apocalypse. Which...might be another huge mistake, for Hal and his fellow owners.
Yes. VolpE6 definitely paly in another city. Someplace nice and homey, like Bridgewater NJ.
That's why he has to do it on his own time. Without telling the a-holes in Yankee management. That's what Judge did.
I shudder to think what’s going to happen next year. Right now it’s just a big black hole.
At this point, 999, I really say, let it burn. If the rest of my life is going to be Hal holding my favorite team hostage to his family fortune—and the Algorithm Kids determining how baseball will be played—then...time to start anew.
✅
Bring on Banana Ball.
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