The days of Yankee domination over Baltimore will soon be ending

The Orioles roster shows one position player over age 30: second-year backup catcher Austin Wynns. He's 30. 

This geriatric case shouldn't hold the O's back too far: They have the No. 2 prospect in all of baseball, catcher Adley Rutschman, currently at Double A. In MLB's spring 2021 Top 100 Prospects, Baltimore shows six players. (The Yankees had three: the far far away Jasson Dominiquez, the melted-down Deivi Garcia, and the rehabbing Clarke Schmidt. The 2021 Yankees unveiled no impact rookie from their farm system.)  

If last night's abomination were adapted into the movies, the game would be titled "Revenge of the Tomato Cans." The talent imbalance that let the Yankees torture Baltimore throughout the 2010s is flattening, and over the next few years, the NY farm system will suffer from the recent trading of 10 prospects for an all-or-nothing pursuit of the 2021 AL wild card. 

Of course, it was just one game. Win the next three, and order will be restored to the Yankee-Oriole continuum. In our race for the final wild card, the Yankees sit five games in the loss column behind Boston (who has lost four in a row), two behind Oakland, we're tied with Toronto, and one game up on Seattle. 

The reality is that none of those teams looks much like a World Series champion (though the Redsocks, with a returning Chris Sale, could look dangerous. Sale's final minor league rehab start is scheduled for Saturday in - gulp - Scranton.) 

But once again, Baltimore has successfully tanked. Next July, the O's will almost surely draft second. Frankly, it's hard to imagine them ever being any good. For nearly this entire millennium, the O's have been our enablers. Whenever we've needed a sweep, there was Chris Davis, stranding the runner on third. Now, Davis is gone - though his spirit seems to linger in our own Giancarlo Stanton. 

Today, the Yankees look like a succession of worst-case scenarios. The latest: Gerrit Cole testing positive. The team claims he'll miss one start. (Frankly, I don't understand what math they're using, if he's going to be out 10 days.) Also, Gio Urshela tweaked his hamstring - again. We're seeing a cycle here - he rests, he gets used, his injury worsens. Same with DJ LeMahiue. The parade of ailments just keeps going. 

On their current 26-man roster, the Yankees have 11 players over age 30. Eleven. They have one guy - Gleyber Torres - under 25. Time is not on our side, folks. It's now or never, and if you're a bettor, the latter looks pretty solid.

HoraceClarke66: A Report from the Swamps: Cousin Dan the Gator Man Gives Us the Hot Skinny on Anthony Rizzo!

 

From the desk of HoraceClarke66... 

 I caught up to Cousin Dan where I usually find him, in one of the quieter coves of the Great Okefenokee swamp, just over the Florida border. 

Dan was hard at his regular work, which was tossing marshmallows to the local gators so tourists could snap selfies with them, and selling jugs of his homemade, patented “Gator Juice” bourbon. 

“Them Gatorade fellas was down here ag’in the other day, talkin’ all about copyright infringements,” Dan told me when I arrived.

“Oh, yeah? How’d you handle it?”

“Let’s just say we saved a lot on marshmallows that afternoon,” Dan said, scratching his scraggly red beard that made him a dead ringer for about a hundred ballplaying millionaires these days.

I asked him what he thought about Anthony Rizzo, who he had the pleasure of meeting at a rehab center, back when Dan’s idea to create a water-skiing alligator pyramid attraction went a tad haywire. For once cuz’s bourbon-twinkly blue eyes turned downright sober.

“Best man I ever met,” Cousin Dan told me. “He was a young fella, recovering from non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Went through the whole course a chemo, an’ was tryna get back into shape.”

“So he did all right?”

“Sure! Worked like a demon, but was also nice as peaches to everyone on hand. Asked them about themselves, encouraged them, worked with them—and had a great sense of humor as well.”

“Sounds like a real leader for the clubhouse.”

“But he’s more’n that. Look at his skills! Look at how he chokes up on the bat, an’ goes the other way when he needs to, even with all that power! Look at what a magician he is around the bag!”

“You sure he’s all that?”

“An’ more! Look at how he just shrugged off gettin’ hit in the hand by that young whippersnapper the other day! Look at how he ignored that terrible call by the ump! Why he’s a old-timey ballplayer, the sort we’re always sayin’ the Yankees need to get.”

“That’s very encouraging. But as I recall you said very upbeat things about Giancarlo Stanton and Gleyber Torres, as well.”

Cousin Dan fixed me with a look and meditated for a moment upon the giant armored lizards swarming under the dock just then.

“Hmm, you know them gators ain’t had their marshmallows yet today…All right, call me a sucker for that silver-tongued devil, Brian Cashman. But one more entry on Mr. Rizzo’s side of the ledger is that he always talked up The Gleyber and encouraged him when they was both in the Cubbies’ organization. Could be he’s just the man to turn that young pup around.”

“Could be, Cousin Dan, and it sure is nice to have a note of hope, at least, in this miserable season. I won’t take up any more of your time.”

Dan fixed me up with a jar of the good juice, the brand made with extra extract from the gators’ pituitary glands, and I made sure to slip a finniff in the Tallahassee Prosthetic Fingers Center collection jar on the way out.

Yankee attendance may be down, but it's far from out. And it's surely why we have Anthony Rizzo and Joey Gallo

Okay, close your eyes. Relax. You are getting very sleepy. You are under my spell. 

You will forget, for a moment, balls and strikes, wins and losses, Giancarlo's contract, and Brian Cashman's increasingly hairless head. You are now completely cleansed of all YES taint - aside from Coney, who remains the best thing currently happening in the Yankiverse. Now, open your eyes.

Wait. Close them again. What you are about to witness is the absolute bottom line for everything that we know of as the New York Yankees. I'm talking about butholes in the seat wells. In the end (no pun intended), in the seats of power (no pun intended) this is all that truly matters. Fannies. Okay, open your eyes.

Did you see it? Go back and take a second look. Hmm. At first glace, everything looks bleak, horrible, terrible! The Yankees, drawing below 18,000? Yikes, two years ago, they averaged nearly 42,000. That's a - gulp - I'm not going to calculate the percentage of decline. It's a whopper. 

But but BUT... these numbers are clearly skewed by the pandemic. The Braves and Rangers - most successful teams in MLB? That's absurd. Their numbers run high because they play in states whose governors refuse to demand social distancing, masks, vaccinations, soap and Calgon Bath Oil Beads. Let's face it: That's the only reason in this world why those two wretched franchises could be leading all of baseball in attendance. Time will tell how wise a decision that was, though it certainly must please the teams' ownerships. (The Rangers even got to sell off their expensive players at the deadline! What a great time to own a shitty team! Well played, billionaires, you've done it again!)   

But wait... who cares about Texas? Nobody I've ever known. I've met many Texans. They follow football. They clean their guns while watching Newsmax. Nobody cares about the Texas Rangers, and nobody ever will. Those people in the stands, they're just doing it to own the East Coast libs, and I salute them! Have another hot dog, Ranger fans. And don't be afraid to pass it from fan to fan across the bleachers. You're part of a movement! The Texas Rangers Enrichment and Financial Salvation Project! Have at it.

But this blog concerns the Yankees, who in 2019, averaged nearly 42,000 per game, ranking third in  overall attendance, behind the Dodgers and Cardinals.

Go back to 2018, they stood near 43,000, second only to LA. 

In 2017, they ranked 4th; in 2016, sixth. 

The last time they led MLB in attendance was 2010, the year after they won the World Series. Before that, they were often described, rather glowingly, on the Yankee Radio Network as "the Beatles of baseball." That was a bit overripe, but they led the world. And those days are gone.  

Obviously, today, we're all feeling mighty solid - three wins over Miami, McBrooming them in their own lair! Yesterday, we actually came from behind! We have a newly energized lefty lineup, four upcoming games with our cousins, the Orioles, and - hey, did you notice? Boston has fallen to second place in the AL East. If we can overtake Oakland for the last wild card, we would face the Redsocks in the fateful One Game Season. Anything can happen in one game.

Tampa, though, is starting to roll again. How do they do it, year after year, with the second worst attendance in baseball, and almost no movement at the trade deadline? (Yes, they did get Nelson Cruz, but they also traded to tweak their farm system.) 

In attendance, the Yankees remain ahead of the Mets and Boston - the two teams they are always compared to. 

If we consider that Atlanta, Texas, Colorado and the Cubs should suffer relatively large declines in attendance this month, the Yankees can still finish fourth or fifth this year in bleacher bodies. Thus, it won't matter whether they win in October (which, let's be real here, they won't.) The recent moves by Hal Steinbrenner to trade 10 minor league prospects for Anthony Rizzo, Joey Gallo and some bullpen lugnuts will be considered a success by nearly  every measurement that the Yankee front office makes. 

They salvaged the months of August and September. They've done what they needed to do. Let's see how they draw this week against the O's. 

Can the Yankees do the impossible: Sweep?

They have won six of their last seven series.

They are now a game behind Oakland for the wild card.

They play tomato cans for the next two weeks.

Now or  never, right? Today, they must sweep the lackluster, trade-depleted Marlins, right? That, or nothing has changed.

Latest delusions...

1. It's heartening to see Giancarlo play LF, even if he shows the instincts of Clint Frazier and the legs of Y.A. Tittle. The Yankees can no longer fear losing him. He simply isn't that productive. Of the seven DHs with qualifying at-bats, Stanton ranks sixth in OPS, fifth in average, sixth in HRs and  seventh in RBIs. He might still get hot and salvage the season. And dolphins might rise from the sea to protest casino gambling. Let Giancarlo roam his pasture, before we have to put him out to pasture. If he gets hurt, he gets hurt. A .254 bat is replaceable. 

2. Just as Mariano once took over for John Wetteland, it's easy to imagine Jonathan Loaisiga as the Yankee closer. He's our best arm out of the larder. Surely, the Yankees must keep hyping El Chapo, our late-inning intimidator. And we'll keep our fingers crossed for Zack Britton, who right now is surviving on hard-hit balls mashed directly at infielders. But one of these days, in extreme pressure situations, Boone will need to call for his best, and that's Loaisiga. 

3. Lately, the Yankee farm system resembles a California town burnt to the ground. A week ago, lineups crackled with breakout potential. Now, a few names still pop out - Volpe, Dominiquez, Wells - but the difference is compelling. It will take years to fully assess last week's trades. One incredible disappointment is Deivi Garcia, who has lost his command in Scranton. This weekend, he once again was hammered - his ERA is now 7.41. Last year, Garcia looked untouchable. Now, yeesh. Some say this is why you trade prospects. Some say this is why you horde them. Me? I dunno, anymore. What's done is done. But the Yankees have no youthful cavalry coming from Triple A. If the team stumbles in August, September will be a long and hopeless month.

4. Videos of Cub fans waiting outside Wrigley Field to bid farewell to Anthony Rizzo warms our hearts. Clearly, he is a special player. I hope there is a way for him to co-exist with Luke Voit, without a platoon (which I think would crush both). Of course, wait a week, and injuries can change everything, right?

Jordan Montgomery today. Could we possibly give him five runs?

HoraceClarke66: On the One Hand This, On the Other Hand That, and On the Third Hand HEY LADY!

 From the desk of HoraceClarke66...

On the One Hand This, On the Other Hand That, and On the Third Hand HEY LADY!

First, I wish to dispel any and all rumors that my absence from this wonderful site coincided with Shark Trade Week, and that I was busy doing Brian Cashman’s bidding, and going around the circuit putting together these amazing deals.

 WRONG! There is no truth to the rumor that I am Cooperstown Cashman’s assistant. There is even less truth to the rumor that I am The Brain himself, psychotically masquerading as a fan who hates him in order to gather telling details about you all for my crazed revenge.

 NO! Not true! Mrs. Calabash and I simply took a leisurely jaunt around parts of New England to visit assorted (and sordid) friends and relatives. 

 On the way, news of the various deals trickled through to me in dribs and drabs. I have read all of your astute commentary on the same, and to be honest…I don’t know what the hell to make of it.

 In the great, ongoing debate of prospects v. veterans (originally decided by one of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.’s lesser decisions), I tend to go with Duque and favor prospect-hugging. 

 But who knows? With Cashman, his judgement on current major-league players often stinks. On the other hand, the Yankees’ prospects so often flop. I remember keening like a mourning bird over many of the guys Coops sent out to acquire the likes of Sonny Gray during the 2017 pennant run…only to see most of them fall on their faces. As did the guys we got in return.

 Is the latest batch dispatched to the hinterlands Dustin Fowler—or James Kaprielian?  I really can’t say. And neither, I suspect, can Cashman.

 It does seem to me that, when it comes to addressing the Yanks’ biggest immediate concern, which is its bullpen…they didn’t address it. Clay Holmes and Andrew Heaney are classic innings-eaters, whose feasts will leave us all nauseous.

 If the Yanks had some wizard of a pitching whisperer who could turn them around, it might make sense. But they don’t have that. Their acquisition might indicate some hidden motive, such as a hidden injury to Gerrit Cole—but let’s not go there.

 As for the great Hun-Joy Park controversy, I have to say, Kevin, I would have at least given him a shot. Is he the real deal? Again, who knows? Probably not. But it seems to me that the Yankees never believe in late developers, when they HAVE been known to happen (see Lou Piniella). But it’s a moot point now.

 On the positive side… Joey Gallo and especially Anthony Rizzo are a definite upgrade. They are not the top hitters we would like, but they are—at last!—power-hitting lefties, good clubhouse guys, and Gold Glove fielders. That is, useful, all-around players. 

 I’ll have more on Rizzo later from my Florida correspondent, Cousin Dan the Gator Man. But suffice it to say for now that Rizzo’s debut—monster home run, key opposite-field single, catch that saved a base and maybe a run—were heartening in all ways. 

 One thing I got from gallivanting around New England and seeing more Red Sox action is that that club—while it boasts 3-4 outstanding players that we don’t have at its core—is winning mostly on the basis of having valuable lugnuts everywhere. Outfielders who can catch and throw, infielders who can field, guys everywhere who hit sac flies and opposite-fielder bloops.

 And that said, I still don’t think they have the pitching to go all the way. If the Yankees’ starters hold up—an “if” bigger than that loathsome midtown skyscraper modeled on a wastepaper basket—and if they can somehow get a reliable closer (again, big big big if)—then they can contend for a Wild Card Play-In spot, and even in the playoffs.

 Will it prove worth it in the years to come? As all we great sages say:  time will tell.

We can hope, but there's this.

Hal Steinbrenner was born in 1969.

Brian Cashman joined the Yankees in 1986  => Hal was 17.  Brian was still in college.

Brian was named Assistant General Manager in 1992  => Hal was 23.

Brian was named General Manager of the Yankees in 1998 => Hal was 29.

Brian Cashman has been associated with the Yankees for most of Hal's life and ALL of Hal's adult life.  Do we really think a change is coming?

It would be like Chip Douglas taking it upon himself to fire Uncle Ernie.  Ain't happening.

Having split with Boston and Tampa, Yanks look to thrive in a month of tomato cans

Good luck deciding who won the trade deadline. Every contender seems to have improved. Also, so did the Yankees.

What now looms is our August golden harvest - 14 games against Miami, Baltimore, Seattle and Kansas City - aka the "Brotherhood of the Traveling Tomato Cans." (Note: Seattle - which more or less stood pat this week, remains a game ahead of us in the wild card race; this raises a question of semantics: Are the Yankees members of the Brotherhood, too? ) 

Last night, the newly upgraded, lefty-leaning Death Star had its way with Covid hotspot Miami - a team 15 games below .500, which hasn't enjoyed a meaningful triumph since the trade of Giancarlo Stanton. Anything less than a weekend sweep will cause disappoint to run through the Yankiverse like castor oil. 

Then again, has this team disappointed us in the past? (DON'T ANSWER THAT!)

After all the trades are certified - (Arizona to demand a recount?) - did the Yankees keep pace with their rivals? Fuck if I know. We've just witnessed the most intense midseason reshuffling of the decks in MLB history. Ten all-stars changed teams. Does anybody else wonder if this is healthy? I mean, you play half a season just to see who is trying and who is tanking? Baseball faces major problems down the line, but that's for another day. Some less existential thoughts.

1. Boston getting Kyle Schwarber is scary. Yeah, he's hurt and he fat. Also, I hate to be one of those doomsday "everything Boston does is smart" Chicken Little-types, but but BUT...  if Schwarber ever learns to hit to left, he could be the Second Coming of Big Papi. Look at him. He matches the profile. Of course, he could be a bust. But as soon as I read the news, my first reaction was, "Oh, fuck!"  

2. Toronto acquired starter Jose Berrios, whom the Yankees were supposedly chasing. (He wasn't quite an "Oh, fuck." More a "Shit.") Berrios was probably the best pitcher after Max Scherzer, whom we were never going to get. I still fear the Jays greatly, because they will soon receive a huge emotional uplift, when they start playing in Toronto. I don't know what that will mean in the W-L column, but it's a tangible thing. They will get hot.  

3. The Dodgers are now what the Yankees once were - the franchise by which all other teams measure success. The Yankees are simply a team that slogs after wild card births, with a pissed-off fan base that expects failure. I wonder if Hal Steinbrenner knows how much he has lost? Does he look at the headlines and see what the Dodgers did - getting both Scherzer and Trea Turner? That's because they have maintained a powerhouse farm system for the last decade. The Yankees, on the other hand, upgraded the dugouts.  

4. If the Yankees miss the post-season - and right now, no guarantees - 2021 will go down as one of the biggest disappointments in the last 20 years. In what universe would both Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone keep their jobs? Under what measure would they be considered successful? And this most recent deal - Andrew Heaney - it seems like a practical joke. The Yankees roll out all these statistical tidbits, trying to show how smart they are in getting this guy - trying to ignore that his ERA is over 5.00. Yeesh. They're sending Nasty Nestor back into the bullpen after he shut down the Rays - for this guy?

Somehow, that has become The Yankee Way. The front office algorithm spots something, and it doesn't matter what everybody else sees: A certain player must play. This is why we are where we are - which right now is nowhere. 

But then again, here comes our salvation: The Brotherhood beckons.

We cannot evaluate these MLB earthquakes until the aftershocks are finished

Okay, it's the baseball End of Days - fires, droughts, earthquakes, plague, an infrastructure bill! - and until the smoke clears and the rioting stops, this is all we know...

1. Remember back in March, when Brian Cashman assured us the Yankees didn't need LH bats?  What a prankster! Oh, well, so much for that hilarity. They have jumpstarted their lineup with LH sluggers, the traditional Yankee look. Joey Gallo and Anthony Rizzo - (whose popularity in Chicago, frankly, stuns me; he is beloved) - could sandwich Aaron Judge and knock Giancarlo - in one of his all too regular slumps - down to sixth or seventh in the lineup. We are stronger, by far. 

2. These trades will drain our farm system for years. I know, I know - nobody wants to hear cranky old el Duque rant about prospects - but, damn, we just returned to the failed strategies that launched the 14-Year Bomber Barf - from the late eighties to the mid-nineties. We have traded eight top prospects, and - listen: There will be consequences. Yesterday, Tampa unleashed upon us a 21-year-old starter, while their top prospect in baseball played SS. Somehow, they always address the short term and long term. We teeter back and forth. The Yankees are now in the longest championship drought in their history. Do we really see this team winning it all? (Will there even be fans in the stands by October?) These deals could extend our drought for years.  

3. We can't judge anything until today is done. Last night, Boston acquired Kyle Schwarber; (so much for gaining on them.) Last I looked, Trevor Story was still out there, a hostage waiting to be rescued. Meanwhile, Luke Voit looks like a goner. (I'm hoping the Yankees keep Luke, let him DH, and have Stanton play LF, for better or worse. I am waaaaaaaay beyond the point of worrying whether Giancarlo gets hurt. Think of the lineup, with Stanton in LF. Ah, but that's the 14-year-old in me.) 

4. What didn't change yesterday - and won't today - are the standings. If you try to judge the trades as wins/losses, the Yankees have kept pace with Boston and Oakland (Starling Marte), and may have gained on Tampa, Seattle and Toronto. But by 4 p.m. EST, that will probably change. Both the Rays and Jays have plenty of talent to spare - that is, unless they're merely playing the long game. Who knows? But Armageddon is here. And on that note, Armageddon outahere.

Kaboom.

 

Okay, whither goest Luke Voit? 

Comment of the Day...

"We got Gallo, not the left hander we wanted, but the one we deserve."

- Dantes - 

Instant gratification, long-term calamity: Ten reasons Yankee fans should hate the Joey Gallo trade

YOU MANIACS! YOU DID IT! YOU BLEW IT UP! AGAIN! GOD DAMN YOU! GOD DAMN YOU TO HELL!

Brian "Cooperstown" Cashman just exploded the Yankees' long range future for a shot at a wild card. You'd almost think his job was on the line.

Today, the YES teamers and the he-returns-my-phone-calls cheerleaders will roll out countless reasons why Yankee fans should rejoice. The team received another all-star - aren't we already a team of celebrities? - without giving up anybody you've ever heard of. Hooray. 

Well, I feel sick to my stomach. Today, I am wondering whether I will live long enough to see the Yankees win another world series. So here goes nothing...

Ten reasons why the Yankees will regret this trade for years to come. 

1. At its core, it was made so an incredibly disappointing team could chase the remaining wild card birth. We are not in a pennant race. We are battling for the final slot, a bastion of mediocrity. This is a trade made to save face.  

2. We gave up four solid prospects, all having breakout years, including three middle infielders and, arguably, the best arm in their system. Any one of these might haunt the Yankees for the next decade... the one that got away.

3. We received a Joey Gallo, a - huh? - a right-fielder. Hello? That's right. He plays RF, won a gold glove there. They say Gallo can play CF. In the last two years, he's played one game in center. Oh, and he's also a DH! Perfect! Just what we needed! 

4. So long, Greg Allen. All you did was have the most successful Yankee debut over 10 games since Bobby Abreu. (Your problem: You weren't being paid enough.) Since coming to the Show, you're hitting .300 with 5 stolen bases. The Yankee problem has not been a lack of production in CF. 

5. Oh, here's something exciting to add: More contract bloat. This winter, Gallo will be eligible for arbitration, expecting a big bump from the $4 million he was making in Texas. Considering that Food Stamps Hal puts his highest priority on payroll, adding Gallo will limit opportunities to sign any free agents.

6. Wait, did I note that the Yankees will now have three secondary candidates for DH - following Giancarlo Stanton, who will hold the position through 2027. With Gallo/Sanchez/Judge/Miggy Andujar, we now have a five-man DH rotation - more depth than our pitching staff!

7. Okay, the Yankees will stress that they've kept Anthony Volpe and Oswaldo Peraza, their two top IF prospects. But what they haven't kept is competition. The Yankees don't seem to value that. Nobody in this organization ever loses his job. And the line with prospects is generally this: You have five, maybe one makes it. The Yankees had a surge of talent. Now, they're down to a few chosen names, whom they will hype.  

Wait a minute: I'm not done on this. The farm system has now lost six solid prospects in the last week. Aside from the fact that it was a middling-rated system to begin with, how much can Yankee fans can expect in the next few years? 

8. Did I mention that this is all about competing for a wild card? And that Joey Gallo doesn't address the huge holes on this roster? Yeah, they've won two in Tampa, with Britton and El Chapo barely holding the line. Hooray. We remain 8.5 behind Boston, five behind the Rays, 2.5 behind Oakland and a half-game behind Seattle, with Toronto breathing down our necks. And that's for the last post-season birth.  

9. Gallo is batting .223. That's not a typo. In fact, it's 12 points higher than his career average. (.211.) I'm sorry: I know we're supposed to quote BABIP, and exit-velo, et al - it's uncouth to care about things as dated as batting averages. But this guy is hitting 23 points above the Mendoza Line. He has struck out 125 times already this season - that's 27 more whiffs than Giancarlo has delivered. (And he is/was our team leader.) Don't we already have enough strikeouts? This team has perfected the Platinum Sombrero. What's next, the Diamond Sombrero. We just added two Ks to every game. Yikes. 

10. Looking over the players the Yankees traded, yeesh... this is a fucking dangerous trade - a career killer, that is, if Cashman had any future beyond this season. SS Josh Smith, 23, has hit all year, exploding on the scene. Glen Otto has looked good at Double A and now Scranton. But the biggest loss could be 22-year-old 2B Ezequiel Duran, who was hitting .290 with 12 HR and 12 SB at High-A. Four solid prospects, all of whom the Yankees will start whisper-trashing, pooh-poohing that none had a future. Don't you believe it. That's Yankee hubris - that all the other teams are stupid. That we gave up nothing, ha-ha, for an all-star. That Cashman has a way of hypnotizing his brothers of the traveling pants.

I don't know how a GM trades a group of prospects like this, unless he thinks he won't be around when these guys come of age. 

MANIACS! YOU BLEW IT UP! GOD DAMN YOU! GOD DAMN YOU TO HELL!

Yankees drain the farm system for Joey Gallo: suggested John Sterling homerun calls

IT IS HIGH, IT IS FAR, IT IS... GONE...

GALLO GOES GRAVY! HEY, WHO NEEDS A FARM SYSTEM?

A HOMER BY JOEY! TAKE THAT, REST OF THE DECADE!

JOEY JACKS ONE! SO WHAT IF WE HAVE NO FUTURE!

Aaron Boone is on the verge of achieving the impossible...

... He might end up being remembered by Yankee fans as the failed manager, rather than the guy whose HR once beat the Redsocks. 

Think about that.

Amazing.

(Note: I write this with appreciation for Boone as a kind-hearted fellow. The loyalty he shows to his players and franchise is truly wondrous. He is now being attacked daily on NYC sports radio. He doesn't deserve such vitriol. But it's becoming clear that his days/weeks/months are numbered as Yankee manager - and his time at the helm will not be remembered fondly.)  

A bizarre trade with the Reds makes it clear: The Cashman facelift for the Yankees has begun

Following last night's nail-biting win - our bullpen tried and failed to give it away -  the Brian/Brain Trust dealt Luis Cessa and Justin Wilson to Cincinnati, for a player to be named later.

I believe I speak for the Yankiverse in saying, WTF? That guy, again? Something about "player to be named later:" He's hard to process. As is this trade.

Cessa was one of our few bullpen pitchers throwing well - (don't be surprised if Cincinnati lets him start) - and Wilson was probably thrown-in for irony: (they were once traded for each other.) On the Yankee Scale of Disappointments - the great Steve Whitaker being a 10 - Wilson falls somewhere between Roger Repoz and The Amazing Kriske.

Obviously, the Yankees are creating a roster opening for - gulp - someone. A kid from Scranton? (Note: Luis Gill got walloped last night)  A salary dump retread? Who knows? What we do know is this: Brian Cashman's restructuring is now underway.  

All season, this has been Cashman's team - certainly not Aaron Boone's. In that regard, nothing has changed. 

Still, what to make of this? As you might know, I've been calling for a housecleaning of the team's marquee names, beginning with Giancarlo Stanton. Even after last night's win - and until the final pitch, all was in jeopardy - I find it patently impossible to imagine this team winning in October. The roster simply has too many holes.  

I think we must teach the controversial Critical Yankee Theory, which goes this way: You can cheer the players, but Yankee success always rolled from the top down, via money - when ownership demanded wins over profits. And that is something we currently lack.  

Today, the state of the Yankees - compared to other teams in the AL East - is a terrifying concept.

Boston: The Redsocks have a better current team. They are younger. Their farm system - boosted recently by the fourth pick in the draft - is superior. 

Tampa: Despite last night, they have a better team. The Rays are younger. They have a more fruitful farm system, one of the best in baseball.

Toronto: All things considered, they are our equals, currently. But the Jays are younger and with a superior, top tier system.

Baltimore: Yeah, their team is worse. But they are younger and with an ascending farm system. One of the these days, all those high draft picks will result in something. 

Meanwhile, unless the Yankees stop the bloat and develop a new Core Four, we will find ourselves at the bottom of the AL East. This franchise is at the crossroads: It either looks to a new generation - Volpe, Dominiquez, et al - or it just thrashes harder in the quicksand, and continues to sink.   

So, let's hope the player to be named later is under age 25. Any bets?

Does anyone really believe the Yankees can trade their way to a 2021 world series?

Most likely, the 2021 post-season will boil down to a battle between the elite MLB franchises of this millennium: the Giants, Dodgers, Redsocks, Astros and Rays. Of course, the ascending White Sox and Brewers look formidable. Then come the outliers - the Mets, A's and Padres. 

Back in the pack - way back, in the zone of mediocrity - sit the woeful, seemingly cursed, 2021 Yankees. 

You might say this team has "issues." It has no lefty slugger, none. It has a tired, demoralized bullpen with no certain closer. It has no set outfield and nobody hitting over .300. (They rank 20th in batting average.) Aside from 3B and RF, the fielding is lackluster. The team is injury-prone. It has absolutely no speed - ranks 23rd in stolen bases- and little ability to manufacture runs. It cannot bunt. Its players hit solo HRs, hit into way too many DPs, and they have fanned more than 800 times. (Ranks 13th.) It's managed by a good-hearted schlubb who is caught in a vice between overpaid celebrity stars and a front office paralyzed by deep-dive analytics. 

This week, we hear commonly that with a few trades, all these problems will vanish.

Dear God...

Supposedly, the Yankees have put out a bid for Colorado's Trevor Story. Surely, the 28-year-old SS is a fine person, and he will make a lot of money when he files for free agency this winter. But not as much as he would have made last winter. Story is hitting .240 - only six points below the SS he'd replace, our own 24-year-old Gleyber Torres. The Yankees might move him to CF (after trading Estevan Florial?) Just what we need - another right-handed outfielder, learning a new position. (Oh, and did I mention those underwhelming stats come at Coors Field?)

Miami's Sterling Marte surely would help. He'll turn 33 in October, when he files for free agency. He's a former all-star! (Note: 2016.) He's hitting .303 with 7 HRs. You know what they say: A team cannot have too many RH outfielders over age 32.  

Then there is Max Scherzer. Great pitcher. Future Hall of Famer. He would make Cory Kluber feel young - (Cory's only 35; Max is 37.) Scherzer would be our greatest career twilight addition since Randy Johnson. And although he missed a start recently - something didn't feel right - he's thrown 105 innings this season. If he becomes a Yankee, he'll be right behind Gerrit Cole (110 innings.) 

Joey Gallo? He's left-handed! Then again, he's also a HR/K hitter who bats .222. Do we need another 20 solo homers? The Rangers may be the worst team in baseball. He anchors that lineup. Does that mean anything? I dunno. Just sayin.'

The Yankees are touting a farm of one: Jasson Dominiquez, around whom they have built the most relentless minor league hype machine since the marketing of Michael Jordan. They spent $5 million to sign Dominiquez - he was 16 - and immediately began comparing him to Mickey Mantle and Mike Trout. They seem determined to get their money's worth in ink. They won't trade Dominiquez, but it almost feels as though everybody else in the system can go. After all, they've got Mickey Trout. 

Meanwhile, the Yankees have built a wonderful narrative: That the Yankee farm system so overflows with talent that players must be dealt, like a pressure cooker ready to blow. They have too many prospects. They don't know what to do with them. Strangely, this defies the consensus of system rankings, which generally puts them back in their normal zone of mediocrity -  around 20th.  It's worth noting that their system ranks behind all their opponents in the AL East, and that Toronto ranks 4th and Tampa is No. 1 in all of MLB. Somehow, the people campaigning to trade off Yankee prospects have overlooked this. 

Look, I realize the Yankee front office certainly knows more than I. Also, these trades are far more complicated my dim view of baseball allows. Still, I ask one question: Under what metric do the Yankees think trading prospects can overcome the issues that this current team faces? 

You know, we wonder sometimes why the Yankees - no longer an elite franchise - have been so bad in this millennium. Some suggest the stadium is cursed. Some say it's New York City, too much pressure. Some blame Food Stamps Hal, or Cooperstown Cashman, or the luxury taxes, or the demand of challenging every year. I'm starting to think it's the expanded wild card system, which allows a mediocre team, barely playing over .500, to think it's a tweak or two from a championship. 

I ask it again... Does anyone really believe this team can trade its way to a 2021 world series?  

The catastrophe begins: Yanks trade two prospects for a 28-year-old bullpen lugnut with an ERA near 5.00

The front office is not done destroying the Yankee legacy. Having tortured us over the last 11 years, they're now working on the next 11.

Go back into quarantine, everybody. The Yankees apparently intend to drain the farm system in exchange for a run at the final 2021 wild card playoff birth. 

Today, they traded infielders Hoy Park, 25, and Diego Castillo, 23, to the Pirates for RH reliever Clay Holmes, 28, going on 35. 

Holmes' ERA is 4.93 over 44 relief appearances. (Note: The Yankee leader in appearances is Chad Green - with 40. Green has been hanging on by a thread lately, and this guy has been used even more.) In four years with Pittsburgh, he has a career ERA of 5.57. Clearly, he's found a home in the Yankee bullpen. 

Park - a virtual Moonlight Graham - appeared for one pitch with the Yankees: last week's waterboarding by Boston, when he pinch-hit in the eighth with the game on the line. He swung at the first pitch, broke his bat, and grounded out to first. And that was that. In Scranton, he had been tearing up the International League - .307 batting average and 11 HRs. He can play everywhere, bats left and steals bases, clearly a guy who had no future with the Yankees.

Castillo had a breakout season at Double A - hitting 11 HRs and batting .277. He too can play almost anywhere.

Wow. This trade deadline week is going to be a horror show. 

Yanks miracle loss fails to gain ground in 2022 Tankathon

 Dare to imagine: We could be a Top Ten team.

HoraceClarke66: Invisible Competitions #2

 Suck It, Habs! 

With this season quickly snowballing out of control, it’s time to look at another of the Yankees’ more long-term, “invisible” competitions. That is, the thrilling race to win the most North American championships in any major sport!

 For most of the 20^th century, unsurprisingly, the leader in this was your New York Yankees. But in 1986, a shocking thing happened: they were passed for most championships by the Montreal Canadiens, 23-22.

 Now, I know there are those of us who feel that anything played almost exclusively by pasty faced residents of the globe’s most extreme northern climes cannot truly be considered a “major sport.” And hockey’s long stints without a national television contract might seem to bear that out.

 Still, contrary to what The New York Times would like to believe, the Big Four of sports is and always will be baseball, football, basketball, and hockey—not deep-sea diving, mixed martial arts, mountain climbing, cross-country skiing, spelling bees, pickleball, backgammon, or curling.

 Or soccer.

 The Yanks didn’t regain the lead, at 25-24, until after the 1999 World Series. Les Habitants then went into a serious slide, not even making the Stanley Cup finals after 1993, as we extended our lead in this seismic competition to 27-24.

 Then, this spring, trouble: the Canadiens were back in the finals. But there—huge sigh of relief—they were polished off by the Tampa Bay Lightning.

 Mind you, I don’t normally hold with even having hockey teams in places like Florida. Hockey should only be played by Original Six teams, in majestically gloomy, smoke-filled arenas, between the months of November and March.

 But I give a shout-out to the Lightning for keeping the Habs off our backs. Considering the fact that the leader in all-time NFL championships is the Packers, with 13, and the Lakers and Celtics are tied for the NBA championship lead with 17…well, as long as we can hold off Montreal, I think we can probably count on being safely dead before the Yankees are surpassed again.

 I know this is very heartening to you all.

The Hangover

After the " no -hitter" became the 5-4 loss, I started drinking again.

I only just woke up, after 23 hours in the sack ( so I am reminded ).  My head hurts and I have

 the " whirlies." The thought of gin sickens me.

It' s like my college years.

So I have made a decision.  Some months ago ( maybe a year ) I stopped watching and reading the news.  Everything was demoralizing and sickening ( literally ). 

Now, I have added the yankees to that list.  They have become irrelevant and consistently disappointing.  I was born ( due to being a judge in a former life ) with a strong sense/need for justice and responsibility.

The Yankees are the primary case in all the world of " lack of accountability." 

 Giancarlo Stanton can strike out every time with bases loaded and two out, and he still hits 2, 3 4 or 5.  He still gets his $30 million for year.  He still sits on the bench and eats seeds. He is never even criticized except by the fans. 

Sit on the bench, claim an injury, go to bars and get Covid...you still get coddled.  You still get paid. 

Boone can mismanage any situation, yet his GM defends him like he is from the right hand of Jesus of Nazareth.  Everyone knows he is awful at his job.  He is paid to be a facilitator.  And to appear concerned at post game press conferences. 

The owner of this failed franchise is a billionaire, whose assets grow as his dis-interest expands.  Nothing matters and no one pays a price.  This pattern is not just today.  It has been so since  2009.

Mediocrity reigns.  And I won't wear my Yankee hat in SoCal.

So I am turning to soccer and to the Olympics. 

The USMNT is re-building and looking like an exciting bunch of hungry dudes in the recent Gold Cup competition. And many of these players are considered only the "B" team.  The USWNT are in the Olympics.  Favored, struggling, but still in the hunt. 

The Olympics are a better watch than a Yankee game.  Even the air rifle competition is more exciting than Yankee collapses or " stolen" success. 

Soon,  football begins in earnest.  And life returns..

And we can watch Boston play in the World Series. 

Consider me gone. 

HoraceClarke66: Invisible Competitions #1

 (From the desk of HoraceClarke66...) 

A 29^th Consecutive Winning Season?

All right, let’s face facts. 

This 2021 Yankees team is not going to win a thing. No division title. No pennant. No Wild-Card play-in game slot. Most of all, no 28^th World Championship.

Worse still, they’re also not going to tank sufficiently to win some great draft picks.

So what are they going to win? 

Well, with this Yankees team, as with so many in recent years, you have to go looking for victories where you can find them. Victories far from the madding crowd. Invisible victories, let’s call them, in invisible competitions—invisible to all but the real connoisseurs of sports fandom.

Such as: a 29^th consecutive winning season for our boys in the Bronx.  Can it be done? Much to my surprise, it looks, well, possible.

Going into this badger-in-a-blender of a season, I saw the Yanks as topping out at 77-85 and perhaps doing much worse, thanks to that grisly looking pitching staff. But even with the Arson Squad fully ensconced in the bullpen, the starting pitching, at least, has proven much better than expected.

And to get those precious 82 wins, all your New York Yankees have to do is go 31-33.

Sure, this 10-game road trip will be a killer. It could well be the Pinstripers have already won their one and only game on this voyage of discovery. But that will only help them attain this Invisible Goal!

A disaster of that magnitude will pretty well put paid to the idea that this Yankees team even has a chance for the wild card. Fan interest will die. Tabloid interest will die. The Yanks may even be removed from national television broadcasts.

Nobody will care anymore.

So…no interest…no pressure…Do the math!

This Yankees team is just the sort of character-free collection of mediocrities that will THRIVE under such conditions!

Like so many wildly overrated teams over the years, the 2021 Yankees will put on what used to be called “a salary drive,” hanging up gaudy personal statistics and strings of Ws once it doesn’t matter anymore.

Actually, one can’t really call this sort of thing a salary drive anymore, seeing as how today’s Yankees all have guaranteed, long-term contracts that pay them millions.

But let’s not get cynical! There are still baseball annies to impress, exit velocity numbers to improve, endorsements to win, and false hope to build in our younger, more naïve fans. 

So many things to play for. And even if the Yanks emerge from this road trip at  51-53—a definite possibility—all it will take is a 31-27 splurge to bring it on home.

Sure, the 21^st-century Yanks will never make it to the all-time major-league record of 39 consecutive winning seasons, set by…your New York Yankees from 1926-1964. But here’s betting this streak will continue. For this season, that is.

An invisible competition! Won!