The latest dash of winning play from the Yankees was a fun little ride (accent on the LITTLE), but it's over now. They couldn't beat the Toronto Blue Jays two games out of three, and are losing ground rather than gaining it with 29 games left on the schedule.
It was interesting to have hope for a while, but that's pretty much kicked in the face now, so let's assess.
Robinson Cano became the 116th Yankee to be hit on the hand by a Blue Jays pitcher this year, but only if you count Curtis Granderson twice. Eduardo Nunez, current winner of the Ron Bloomberg Silver MRI Award, hurt his knee while not really doing anything on a play up the middle, and it looks like he's going to be out for a while. And there isn't a whole while left in the season.
I don't know who the backup shortstop or second baseman is for the Yankees right now, but I'm getting out my glove and waiting for a phone call.
This is a microcosm of the 2013 season: A short burst of decent play offset by so many injuries the YES Network must be selling its Injury Report at bulk rates. "And now the Injury Report, brought to you by W.B. Mason, your local Mercedes-Benz dealers, Bigalow Tea, our good friends at the Fox News Channel (!), Bob's Liquor Store on 128th Street, the cast of Under the Dome and that guy who's always asking you for spare change at the train station."
We asked much, too much, of a group of hangers-on and replacements at the beginning of the year. By the time everybody except Teixeira came back, it was just too late to expect more. Alfonso Soriano has been pretending it's 2001 for a month now and doing a convincing job, but Mr. Rod looks like a guy awaiting a 211-game suspension, Curtis Granderson is reminding us about the strikeouts and not so much the home runs, and the captain, although he hasn't been back long, makes us hold our breath every time he hits a ball on the ground and has to run.
This hasn't been a good year, and it isn't going to end well. That's okay; it happens every once in a while. But getting our hopes up in late August bordered on the cruel, only to have people fall down and not get up again, and see Hiroki Kuroda suddenly forget what was working for him until August 1.
Until recently, the offense has been offensive. Now, he pitching is starting to look like a bunch of old men and a couple of guys who never really became what they were supposed to be. When David Huff is seriously in the conversation to start a game, it's time to draw the curtain and thank the folks for coming.
The real tragedy is that Mariano Rivera won't get another chance to pitch in the postseason. But if anyone can be said to have done enough for the Yankees, that's the guy. Sorry it's not going to end in storybook fashion, Mo. Maybe we only expected it to because you were always the guy at the end of the game.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Because, Let's Face it...
This season is over.
No, the Yankees aren't coming back from this. There is no amazing six-week run in this club. They're going to be just this bad, or maybe a little better, from here on out. Mr. Rod's ignominious return did not spark the offense, CC's one decent night did not turn his season around completely, and Andy Pettitte is old.
Even Mo blew a save. That happens every now and again, but a sweep by the White Sox? The doormat of the AL Central? Unacceptable.
So let's look ahead, although that might not be any more edifying. What will the 2014 Yankees look like? (Let's assume the injury thing subsides long enough for Opening Day to come off successfully.)
Projected Opening Day lineup:
Gardner 8
Jeter 6
Teixeira 3
Cano 4 (we're hoping)
Soriano 7
Ichiro 9
Nunez 5
Wells DH
Romine/Cervelli 2
Starting pitchers:
Sabathia
Kuroda (maybe)
Nova
Pineda
Phelps/Warren
Bullpen:
Robertson (closer)
Logan
Claiborne
Banuelos
Kelley
Two people we don't know yet (Nuno?)
Backups:
Almonte (outfield)
Nix (maybe, infield)
That is not terribly promising.
Missing from the 2013 roster:
Granderson
Chamberlain
Hughes
Pettitte
Rivera
Adams
Stewart (?)
Youkilis
Hafner
Mr. Rod (the inevitable suspension)
Free agent targets for the new, thrifty Yankees (from what is, admittedly, a less-than-stellar class):
Brian McCann?
Jarrod Saltalamacchia? (Just because he wouldn't have the weight of his name on his back)
Michael Young? (He's cleared waivers--the Yankees didn't claim him. Message?)
Trade targets:
Your guess is as good as mine.
Nope, not terribly promising.
This might be the era when younger fans get a taste of what it's like NOT to be in the playoffs every year. When quick fixes don't fix quite so much. When, sooner or later, there is no Derek Jeter, forever.
It's key that Cano be signed to a new contract. It's really important that Kuroda not be allowed to high-tail is back to Japan after a year of such awful run support. And yes, we're going to need a viable backup shortstop and first baseman, because there are no guarantees with injuries and some people just aren't getting any younger.
This year has been frustrating. Lately, it's gotten pretty much unwatchable. But sports loyalties don't change for real fans, even in awful times. If you're a Yankee fan, you're stuck. I was stuck at the age of 6, which was roughly half a century ago. I'm not going anywhere, even with this 2014 roster above. Will you?
Changes, no doubt, are coming. Maybe that's good. Maybe not. But don't expect an immediate return to glory, ala the 2013 Red Sox. The sudden obsession with spending, the weak free agent class, the not-fabulous farm system from which to trade, and the lack of a blockbuster trade possibility like the wholesale re-do Boston pulled off last year all conspire against the Yankees.
It's going to be a rough couple of years, at least. But when it's over, the joy will be that much more satisfying.
Are you in?
No, the Yankees aren't coming back from this. There is no amazing six-week run in this club. They're going to be just this bad, or maybe a little better, from here on out. Mr. Rod's ignominious return did not spark the offense, CC's one decent night did not turn his season around completely, and Andy Pettitte is old.
Even Mo blew a save. That happens every now and again, but a sweep by the White Sox? The doormat of the AL Central? Unacceptable.
So let's look ahead, although that might not be any more edifying. What will the 2014 Yankees look like? (Let's assume the injury thing subsides long enough for Opening Day to come off successfully.)
Projected Opening Day lineup:
Gardner 8
Jeter 6
Teixeira 3
Cano 4 (we're hoping)
Soriano 7
Ichiro 9
Nunez 5
Wells DH
Romine/Cervelli 2
Starting pitchers:
Sabathia
Kuroda (maybe)
Nova
Pineda
Phelps/Warren
Bullpen:
Robertson (closer)
Logan
Claiborne
Banuelos
Kelley
Two people we don't know yet (Nuno?)
Backups:
Almonte (outfield)
Nix (maybe, infield)
That is not terribly promising.
Missing from the 2013 roster:
Granderson
Chamberlain
Hughes
Pettitte
Rivera
Adams
Stewart (?)
Youkilis
Hafner
Mr. Rod (the inevitable suspension)
Free agent targets for the new, thrifty Yankees (from what is, admittedly, a less-than-stellar class):
Brian McCann?
Jarrod Saltalamacchia? (Just because he wouldn't have the weight of his name on his back)
Michael Young? (He's cleared waivers--the Yankees didn't claim him. Message?)
Trade targets:
Your guess is as good as mine.
Nope, not terribly promising.
This might be the era when younger fans get a taste of what it's like NOT to be in the playoffs every year. When quick fixes don't fix quite so much. When, sooner or later, there is no Derek Jeter, forever.
It's key that Cano be signed to a new contract. It's really important that Kuroda not be allowed to high-tail is back to Japan after a year of such awful run support. And yes, we're going to need a viable backup shortstop and first baseman, because there are no guarantees with injuries and some people just aren't getting any younger.
This year has been frustrating. Lately, it's gotten pretty much unwatchable. But sports loyalties don't change for real fans, even in awful times. If you're a Yankee fan, you're stuck. I was stuck at the age of 6, which was roughly half a century ago. I'm not going anywhere, even with this 2014 roster above. Will you?
Changes, no doubt, are coming. Maybe that's good. Maybe not. But don't expect an immediate return to glory, ala the 2013 Red Sox. The sudden obsession with spending, the weak free agent class, the not-fabulous farm system from which to trade, and the lack of a blockbuster trade possibility like the wholesale re-do Boston pulled off last year all conspire against the Yankees.
It's going to be a rough couple of years, at least. But when it's over, the joy will be that much more satisfying.
Are you in?
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Of Mr. Rod, Buck Showalter, and The Lineup
The saga of Mr. Rod continues on every sports page, sports site, sports radio and NBC News (Brian Williams is tweeting about it!) in the country. The other nine or ten players who will be suspended by MLB for dipping into the Biogenesis pool are afterthoughts. Ryan Braun? A sideshow. We know what (that is, who) this is about.
The debate goes something like: Why is Mr. Rod the one being "persecuted" by Baseball? (Persecuted? Really?) Why is the commissioner of baseball so jazzed about sending Mr. Rod to his Fortress of Solitude for as long as possible?
No less a communications expert than Buck Showalter today suggested that having Mr. Rod banished for at least a year and two months would create an unfair advantage for the Yankees because there would be less payroll by a goodly piece and that would mean the luxury tax penalty would be severely reduced. The theory there is that the Yankees would use that on expensive free agents like Matt Weiters, who happens to play for Ol' Buck. Suggesting his catcher would go after the big bucks and that it's the Yankees' fault should play really well in the clubhouse, no?
Not to mention that he's suggesting the Yankees should be forced to pay a penalty in luxury for a player who's not getting paid because he isn't playing. So it's an unfair advantage to not pay for a player who isn't there. Should the Yankees be paying for Albert Pujols's contract? He won't be playing for them, either.
It'll sound like 20/20 hindsight, but I didn't want Mr. Rod on the Yankees. Not in 2004, when Aaron Boone's knee brought the circus to town. Not in 2009, when he seemingly single-handedly delivered a World Series championship. Not ever.
In 2007, when Mr. Rod opted out of his contract--in the middle of someone else's World Series,--I was in a car driving home from Philadelphia to hear the news that some Steinbrenner or another had prevailed upon the other to offer up the sum of More Money Than God (and God has been saving for millions of years) to bring us 10 years of Mr. Rod. I pulled over and screamed at the radio for five full minutes. When I got home, I told my family my voice was scratchy from teaching that day.
So now when I say that I hope MLB suspends him for the rest of his natural life, I sound like I've soured on a great player recently. Not at all. They say, "but he's better than anything the Yankees have at third base now," and that is abundantly true. I still say, keep him away.
The past week has been a Mr. Rod nightmare, with doctors calling radio stations, Mr. Rod himself calling radio stations, lawyers calling radio stations, Brian Cashman losing what's left of his hair (and probably his mind along with it), Bud Selig threatening to shoot him into space or something, and the Yankees losing games in which their pitchers gave up two runs or less.
But consider this: Assuming something truly hideous does not happen between today and tomorrow, the next Yankees lineup posted on a dugout wall in San Diego should read something like:
Gardner 8
Jeter 6
Cano 4
Soriano 9
Granderson 7
Overbay 3
Nix 5
Romine 2
Sabathia 1
When the team gets back to a civilized American League park and Sabathia is replaced with Suzuki, it gets better.
Now, that's starting to resemble the Yankees. Does it make up the 8.5-deficit from first place? No. Can it make up the 3.5 games to the wild card? Maybe, maybe not.
But it'll be a hell of a lot more entertaining to watch than what the first four months of the 2013 season brought.
Would it be better with Mr. Rod replacing Nix? Probably (who knows what Mr. Rod has left in him?). Is it likely we'll see that happen this year? No.
I can't say I'm sorry. Because I'm not.
The debate goes something like: Why is Mr. Rod the one being "persecuted" by Baseball? (Persecuted? Really?) Why is the commissioner of baseball so jazzed about sending Mr. Rod to his Fortress of Solitude for as long as possible?
No less a communications expert than Buck Showalter today suggested that having Mr. Rod banished for at least a year and two months would create an unfair advantage for the Yankees because there would be less payroll by a goodly piece and that would mean the luxury tax penalty would be severely reduced. The theory there is that the Yankees would use that on expensive free agents like Matt Weiters, who happens to play for Ol' Buck. Suggesting his catcher would go after the big bucks and that it's the Yankees' fault should play really well in the clubhouse, no?
Not to mention that he's suggesting the Yankees should be forced to pay a penalty in luxury for a player who's not getting paid because he isn't playing. So it's an unfair advantage to not pay for a player who isn't there. Should the Yankees be paying for Albert Pujols's contract? He won't be playing for them, either.
It'll sound like 20/20 hindsight, but I didn't want Mr. Rod on the Yankees. Not in 2004, when Aaron Boone's knee brought the circus to town. Not in 2009, when he seemingly single-handedly delivered a World Series championship. Not ever.
In 2007, when Mr. Rod opted out of his contract--in the middle of someone else's World Series,--I was in a car driving home from Philadelphia to hear the news that some Steinbrenner or another had prevailed upon the other to offer up the sum of More Money Than God (and God has been saving for millions of years) to bring us 10 years of Mr. Rod. I pulled over and screamed at the radio for five full minutes. When I got home, I told my family my voice was scratchy from teaching that day.
So now when I say that I hope MLB suspends him for the rest of his natural life, I sound like I've soured on a great player recently. Not at all. They say, "but he's better than anything the Yankees have at third base now," and that is abundantly true. I still say, keep him away.
The past week has been a Mr. Rod nightmare, with doctors calling radio stations, Mr. Rod himself calling radio stations, lawyers calling radio stations, Brian Cashman losing what's left of his hair (and probably his mind along with it), Bud Selig threatening to shoot him into space or something, and the Yankees losing games in which their pitchers gave up two runs or less.
But consider this: Assuming something truly hideous does not happen between today and tomorrow, the next Yankees lineup posted on a dugout wall in San Diego should read something like:
Gardner 8
Jeter 6
Cano 4
Soriano 9
Granderson 7
Overbay 3
Nix 5
Romine 2
Sabathia 1
When the team gets back to a civilized American League park and Sabathia is replaced with Suzuki, it gets better.
Now, that's starting to resemble the Yankees. Does it make up the 8.5-deficit from first place? No. Can it make up the 3.5 games to the wild card? Maybe, maybe not.
But it'll be a hell of a lot more entertaining to watch than what the first four months of the 2013 season brought.
Would it be better with Mr. Rod replacing Nix? Probably (who knows what Mr. Rod has left in him?). Is it likely we'll see that happen this year? No.
I can't say I'm sorry. Because I'm not.
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