State of the Yankees - A Definition of Insanity By Hank Indictor
Don't you hate knowing you're right even when being right is painful? Well, right now, this is me with the Yankees. Don't get me wrong, I didn't think they'd fall into last place, but considering the way the offseason went, you know, the one where all they did was pay Aaron Judge the big bucks to stay and make him captain as well as overpay for an overachieving pitcher in Carlos Rodon, there was no way I would be entering this season with high expectations. After all, they are the definition of insanity: they do the same thing repeatedly, expecting different results! They not only extended Brian Cashman as the G.M., but they didn't do a damn thing to fix the lineup holes glaringly exposed in the Astros Series. However, I'm not angry because the Yankees are in last place; I'm angry at how things have gone down and how the front office continuously exposes themselves as spineless and tone-deaf.
The first thing to start discussing is the Aaron Judge injury. From June 4th until July 28th, he missed a significant amount of time with a tear in the ligament of his toe. It seemed like it wasn't something that was a big deal. That is until Judge himself announced the tear when management insisted otherwise. And there's only one way to explain it; the Yankees committed medical malpractice. They knew how unwatchable this team was, so they tried to fool the fans into believing the injury was minor so that fans would consider going to games. ALL ABOUT THOSE TENDER BUCKETS BABY!!!!!
Give me a break, you jerkoffs!
Anyways during this time, the Yankees went 19-24, and it was then that Brian Cashman's moves (or, to a certain degree, lack thereof) became glaring. During those games, the Yankees had no more than three runs in roughly half of them. In other words, their offense stinks!
And it didn't help that during that stretch. They were also dealing with injuries at various points to Harrison Bader, Giancarlo Stanton, and Josh Donaldson, to name a few (then again, if we're being honest, the latter is more addition by subtraction, he's a washed-up, overpaid waste of space who does warning track bat flips!) Remember, this is a big payroll team that once had to use an outfield consisting of Isaiah Kiner-Falefa, Jake Bauers, and Billy McKinney.
Gleyber Torres has had his moments but hasn't lived up to his potential, and D.J. LeMahieu hasn't quite been LeMachine. Without Judge in the lineup, there goes your most significant threat in the lineup. Thus guys like Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton don't get those pitches that they might see with the reigning MVP in the lineup.
Then again, Stanton has seen better days with his glass bones, paper skin, and albatross of a contract. Same with Anthony Rizzo. Oh yeah, speaking of Rizzo, he recently had to be put on the I.L. due to suffering from concussion-like symptoms he admits he'd been having since late May, which explains why his B.A. is at .147 and hit only one homer. Talk about MALPRACTICE! Seriously, can we fire this training staff on the spot?!
The Yankees' collective team batting average is .232 with an OBP of .306, both of which are in the bottom tier in the entire league. While Judge was out, their OBP was at its lowest since 1968! We're talking about a franchise that's well over 100 years old. I'm referring to a season where the Yankees were so bad that their best player was aging and injured Mickey Mantle, who could no longer play Center Field, and remember this was before the D.H., so you have to factor in the pitchers' batting.
It even reached a point where Brian Cashman, a man not known for firing coaches midseason, fired the Hitting Coach Dillon Lawson and replaced him with Sean Casey. It worked out so well that the Yankees magically had their bats struck by lightning (a la Roy Hobbs), and everything got better! Just kidding, nothing changed at all. They had a two-day stretch where batters struck out 30 times! In other words, it's still a dumpster fire. Brian Cashman needed to use someone as a scapegoat.
Speaking of which, let's talk about this jerkoff who has ruined this team. Remember how I said Cashman did nothing to fix this team in the offseason? His significant acquisition in Carlos Rodon is slowly turning into Carl Pavano 2.0 with his injury history; granted, I was okay with this move, but as I said, HE DIDN'T FIX THE LINEUP!! And he should have thought of that after signing the face of the franchise to be a Yankee for life. Way to waste a Cy Young season from Gerrit Cole and a solid bullpen featuring an under-the-radar closer in Clay Holmes!
Oh yeah, and what exactly was his trade deadline approach? The worst thing possible in standing pat! Granted, being buyers wouldn't have helped, but how would keeping pieces such as Gleyber Torres and Harrison Bader help, especially given they might have gotten a decent return? But don't worry; he says this team is "in it to win it." More like in it to win it for the definition of insanity contest!
This is the same moron who allows Aaron Boone to change the lineup like a girl changes clothes, making you wonder why the Yankees bats can be hot and cold (mostly cold, sorry, Katy Perry). What else has Aaron Boone done besides turning into Bobby Cox and getting ejected a lot just for the hell of it? How does Cashman sleep at night knowing he hired him (a guy who had no prior experience) to replace Joe Girardi and give him the keys to the Maserati as if he were a 16-year-old? Seriously, that's like trusting a teenager with a credit card! More importantly, how do these guys still have jobs again?!
Oh, that's right, Hal Steinbrenner is the owner, and he seems to care more about the bottom line than winning, unlike Daddy George. The Billy Madison owner looks perfectly content with running back most of the same team that isn't working because it's all about those tender buckets, baby! Remember, he does not understand fans' frustration three weeks into June, but this guy claims the Yankees have a World Series-caliber roster. Yeah, I want whatever he's on.
So you're telling me that Hal is not only spineless but tone-deaf? Okay, cool, got it. How else do you explain that Domingo German was on the roster after several alcohol-related incidents and a domestic violence case? Then again, considering Hal wanted us to forget about Chapman's DV baggage when he re-signed, should we even be surprised?
What is there to look forward to with the rest of the season? Maybe Aaron Judge now that he's back in the lineup, but unless things change, the poor guy will probably end up like Don Mattingly and be a Yankee captain and great that couldn't win a ring. It's such a shame how far this organization has fallen this year, and I'm still kicking myself for taking that special season of 2009 and taking it for granted. Can things turn around? Mathematically it's not impossible but realistically? Oh, who are we kidding? There's an uphill battle just to get to the Wild Card. In the immortal words of Josh Nichols, "HEADACHES, THEY GIVE ME HEADACHES!!!!"