Anyone else watching the Yankees....

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

Actually, he plays for Real Madrid now

I'd sob less if he played for the *Yankees*!

[Déjà Bru]

The words of the Tom Petty song come to mind:

And we're free
Free fallin'
Yeah, we're free
Free fallin'

[Déjà Bru]

And I feel like taking a poke at people who say it's only because of Judge's injury. Bull.

Here's some tough love that I would administer (or, would have already administered) if I were the GM of this OOTPB team:

Pull the plug on Donaldson already. Eat the contract. Your sleeve patch ads will pay for that.

Pull the plug on Stanton already. Eat his contract, too. What I pay for the YES Network (while not being able to see all the games), multiplied by millions, will pay for that. Note: I don't care at all about his 12 home runs, most of which have come recently after his latest long nap. He is past his prime, batting .198, and is a walking, ticking IL case.

Also pull the plug on Volpe. You made a mistake in prematurely anointing him as the next Yankee great, including giving him #11 which will now be an embarrassment when he gets sent back to AAA where he belongs for now.

IKF is a utility INfielder. Infield!

Make a gift basket of Cordero, Allen, Bauers, Calhoun, and McKinney (mix and match) and get a LF who can hit and play the field.

And/or give a shot to Estevan Florial, and I mean a good shot like the rest of this season and into the next. If he's still shaky after that, then that's it for him.

As far as the pitchers, well, as a group they are not the problem. Still, I would clean out the rubbish in the bullpen — IKF and Donaldson have better ERAs than some of the fringe guys — and get this:

Right about now — and I know this makes me a bad GM — I would have a bad case of buyer's remorse about Carlos Rodon. I would be floating one of those trade deals where I am offering to retain 75% or more of his salary, asking for a decent prospect in return. Just to be rid of him.

Yes, I know that I should have more patience, just like I said about Florial. But Florial is a low-risk, low-emotion proposition. To have put all these expensive eggs in Rodon's basket and to have him a) get injured, and get injured again, before he ever threw one Yankee pitch, and b) perform this badly after waiting half the season for him; well, the buyer's remorse would be very intense and I would seek immediate relief.

[Westheim]

Can I interest you in Tommy Pham? He's raging hot! Lemme see those prospects you got there. (tries to access Bru's scouting reports)

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Can I interest you in Tommy Pham? He's raging hot! Lemme see those prospects you got there. (tries to access Bru's scouting reports)

Nononono, he totally didn't just leave the game with an injury, nonono, I don't know what you're talking about I can't hear you LALALALALALALA

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Nononono, he totally didn't just leave the game with an injury, nonono, I don't know what you're talking about I can't hear you LALALALALALALA

Heh, it may interest you to know that I play with Scouting off now. Also Coaching. I see all now. I am omniscient. In addition to his injury status, I would know this about Tommy Pham:



So, were you to offer me Pham in a trade, I would respond with Donaldson. When you grumbled about salary differential (quite substantial in favor of Donaldson, I admit), I would retain a portion of his salary since you are a good buddy.

But I would ask for a draft pick! Business is business!

[rudel.dietrich]

Originally Posted by Westheim

I'd sob less if he played for the *Yankees*!

I was sad to see it as well

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

So, were you to offer me Pham in a trade, I would respond with Donaldson.

Now, if you had good scouting and baseball intelligence-gathering, you would know that the Yankees have just upgraded Donaldson's IL status to 60-day which probably means season-ending. It might be even career-ending because he's a free agent after this season. Who would bid for a guy who was batting .142 in his final contract year and at age 37?

In OOTP, you would reply with one of those witty negative responses: "You say yes, I say no. Stop wasting my time because I have better things to do. You have to up your game to stay in this party." or something to that effect. Your assistant GM would be saying "I hate this trade. They are offering a vastly overpaid veteran!"

[Amazin69]

Curious about the despair above, I checked and see that the Yanquis have descended to the basement, albeit still over .500 and 4.5 games better than the Mets. It's just that we have Washington to slightly cover for our sins.

Still, this has a shot to be the first time ever we're both at the bottom, right? When you were earning that #1 overall Ron Blomberg draft pick in 1966, Wes Westrum had us reaching the then-historic heights of ninth place. And when it all came crashing down in 1992, the Pinstripers had taken advantage of George's suspension to struggle back to 76-86, which only looks good in contrast to the calamities at Shea, yet still.

So all we need to do is let the Nats past us and we're golden. Yoicks.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

So all we need to do is let the Nats past us and we're golden. Yoicks.

In that case, I propose a "reverse" Subway Series. Loser takes all!

[Amazin69]

If by "all" you mean Verlander's contract, you're on!

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Also pull the plug on Volpe. You made a mistake in prematurely anointing him as the next Yankee great, including giving him #11 which will now be an embarrassment when he gets sent back to AAA where he belongs for now.

I say this, then I witness him hit a double, steal third on a failed hit and run (the batter struck out), and score on a SF which really shouldn't have been deep enough but Volpe scampered home anyway.

He manufactured that run all by himself. Every run these days is big for the New York Yankees.

There is no doubt that he has great potential, particularly as a team sparkplug. But he cannot keep flirting with the Mendoza Line. Believe it or not, I have been rooting for this guy all year long. I still do, despite what I said.

[Déjà Bru]

Imagine the pressure on Cashman in the next six hours to come up with something that looks like he is addressing the dumpster fire that is the Yankees now. Imagine what fans and media will say if he accomplishes nothing, appearing to settle for the meager contributions of Rizzo, Stanton, Donaldson, and LeMahieu.

All four of those guys appear to be in the typical mid-30s performance decline. Donaldson is definitely gone; the others may or may not have a renaissance. But Cashman cannot bet on that.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Imagine the pressure on Cashman in the next six hours to come up with something that looks like he is addressing the dumpster fire that is the Yankees now. Imagine what fans and media will say if he accomplishes nothing, appearing to settle for the meager contributions of Rizzo, Stanton, Donaldson, and LeMahieu.

All four of those guys appear to be in the typical mid-30s performance decline. Donaldson is definitely gone; the others may or may not have a renaissance. But Cashman cannot bet on that.

Cashman shrugged. The response was to stand pat. We will see.

[Amazin69]

You don't think Spencer Howard and Kenyan Middleton are the solution, huh? [/needling, to kill the pain]

[Déjà Bru]

Let's hope two things for Rizzo; that he got the straight story about a lingering concussion from a collision at first base at the end of May and that 10 days on the IL plus whatever remedial treatment he receives will be the answer for his swoon since then.

For, when he returns, the pressure will be on. Everybody, including him, thinks that this is the answer to his woes. When he is "cured," he will be expected to start producing again.

[Déjà Bru]

At least he demonstrates self-awareness. For, I believe he is absolutely correct; if he runs all out, he his going to hurt himself as he has so often in the past. The question remains: Do you want a guy like this on your team? I don't. Overall, his contract has been yet another monstrous waste for the New York Yankees.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Overall, his contract has been yet another monstrous waste for the New York Yankees.

And this is shaping up to be yet another.



I have learned my lesson in OOTPB in that I stay out of the free agent market unless I have an immediate need that demands attention and trade is out of the question. I prefer to grow my own talent and use my dollars to keep them on the team when I grow sentimental.

[Westheim]

I wonder how thrilled the Marlins are that they found a taker for Stanton's bloated contract before he turned into a bloated corpse.

On the other paw, he had quite a few productive years in New York and the Marlins got basically nothing of much value for him in the end. Yankees fans hate to hear this, but they actually WON the Giancarlo Stanton trade.

I can't draft for my life, but I like to sign sixpacks of 16-year-old Dominicans for a tenner in the July international free agent window and they pan out a shocking amount of time. This might vary from version to version, though. The Raccoons are still in OOTP 16.

[Ty Cobb]

But tonight’s performance by Booney…”And the Oscar goes to.. “

Proved beyond any doubt that imitation is NOT the sincerest form of flattery.