Where is the 2016 Yankees are Assholes Thread?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Oakland completes a MFY Stadium sweep. Lost 7 of last 8.

[Lefty Specialist]

So what happens if the Yankees are bad this year? Like, out of it at the All-Star break bad? Do Hal and Hank explode? Trade for a quick fix? Shrug their shoulders and do nothing?

You know what George would have done, but there hasn't been a truly bad Yanx team since he spit the mortal bit. It'll be interesting to see.

[Frayed Knot]

SWEPT in Fenway!!!!
8-15

[nymr83]

beautiful.

[ashie62]

Without Jeter and them not winning I am willing to let them suffer in silence, likely for a long time. Think 1965-1969.

[Frayed Knot]

The Yanx will NEVER suffer in silence as long as I'm around.
I'm STILL pissed off at those Mets fans who decided that the mid-90s Yanx were an OK team to root for; because they took George's relative silence as a sign of a reformed man (he was still an asshole, just one who was under suspension), or because the team had been down for long enough (no such thing), or out of a misplaced allegiance to Doc & Darryl.



The two-run bomb off of Bettances's first pitch was the best part of Sunday's game.
That, btw, was his 3rd straight outing with a HR allowed.

[MFS62]

Frayed Knot wrote: The Yanx will NEVER suffer in silence as long as I'm around.

This.
And a hearty AMEN!

And any verbal shot at Jeter is a good one, too.

Later

[Edgy MD]

That .423 OPS from Chase Headley makes my eyes hurt.

And Didi Gregorius. Though remembering that it was some kind of tragedy when the Yankees got him instead of the Mets gives me great joy.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

6 in a row now. New No. 3 hitter Arod going in for a hammy MRI.

[MFS62]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: 6 in a row now. New No. 3 hitter Arod going in for a hammy MRI.

Too bad.
I don't want them to have any excuses.
I want them to lose with a healthy A-Rod in the lineup.

Later

[Centerfield]

This is cool.

But I think I'd rather have them hover around .500 and make a strong play for the second wild card slot. So that they can trade away their farm system for Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval at the trade deadline.

[Frayed Knot]

Six game losing streaks early in the year tend to skew projections -- right now it puts them on pace to lose 108 games -- so you wouldn't figure they're going to be this bad through the entire season.
But it's going to be interesting to see how they react if mid-season comes without them appearing to be even close to a race.

The most 'dump-able' guys they've got are Teixeira & Beltran on account of them being only signed thru this season. Both could be useful for a team looking for help down the stretch although the Yanx would probably have to eat a bunch of the remaining money (Teix = $22.5 for the year, Beltan = $15) and, despite their rep for big spending, eating money is NOT something the Yanx do very often. Nor, unlike Beltran of four years ago, is dealing either of these guys going to land them this year's version of Zack Wheeler.

Nathan Eovaldi & Aroldis Chapman are also only signed for 2016.
With three closers being a luxury for even a good team, Chapman could be dangled in front of a contender (how funny is it to be talking about flipping Chapman before he even throws a pitch for them?!) and, although they're certainly intrigued by Eovaldi's talent, you wonder how long they'll wait for him to harness it particularly since they'd have to bid on him like everyone else come next off-season.

And then there's C.C. who has a vesting option for next year which kicks in as long as he makes enough appearances this season without his shoulder falling off. But, even absent that obligation, he wouldn't be attractive in a deal anyway without somehow shaving off about 8 years and 60 pounds.


But then they're still 'stuck' (for better or for worse) with:
ARod - thru 2017
Ellsbury - 2020 + option
Tanaka - 2020
McCann - 2018 + option
Gardner - 2018 + option
Headley (whose next XBH this year will be his first) thru 2018
Miller - 2018
Castro - 2019
so there's only so much restructuring they can do.

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

MFS62 wrote: John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: 6 in a row now. New No. 3 hitter Arod going in for a hammy MRI. Too bad. I don't want them to have any excuses. I want them to lose with a healthy A-Rod in the lineup. Later

I want to see them lose with A-Rod having an MVP-caliber season in the lineup.

[Lefty Specialist]

I don't care how they lose, as long as they do.

[Frayed Knot]

A-Rod officially to the DL.

In trying not to put the destruction of the Yanquis’ cart in front of the horse while enumerating our pre-hatched barnyard fowl ahead of time (or some such analogy), I went checking for other MFY slow starts over this 23-year span of no losing seasons to find if there was any spot even semi-comparable to where they are now (8-16 - though threatening to make it 9-16).

Nothing quite this bad, but a couple that were sorta close.
2004: 8-11 in a season where they’d go on to win 101 games and the division meaning they went 93-50 afterward
2005: 11-19, went on to win 95 games (so 84-48 from that point on) and the division
2007: 8-13 (worst start by pct until this year), went on to win 94 games (86-55) and the WC
2008: 20-25, this was the first missed playoff year since ’93 with 89 wins (69-48)
2009: 13-15, won 103 games (90-44) and the WS

Now it's easy to say that, yeah, but those were better teams than this one is and there's no way this sub-.500 crew is going to play .600+ ball from here on out like all those other squads did.
Sure, but of course such things are only known to be true in hindsight.

[MFS62]

They won tonight.
They're still assholes.

Later

[Frayed Knot]

See-See Cabathia, coming off his best start of the year with 7 scoreless vs Baltimore on Wednesday, lands on the DL with a groin strain.
One time Yank, but started the year with Lancaster in the independent Atlantic League, Phil Coke called up to replace.

[Frayed Knot]

Clipped from the Rox KTE thread:

I'm trying to think what Reyes' ultimate destination will be. With 3-5 lousy infielders, New York pedigree, and a demonstrated tolerance for domestic abusers on the mend, the Yankees are always a potential landing spot, but I can't see them dealing for him even paying nickels on the dollar. Perhaps Colorado just releases him and the Yankees sign him on the cheap.

Yeah, in the old days, snapping up Reyes would have been a move George would be all over.
These days I'm not so sure. On the other hand, Didi Gregorious and his .241 OBA so far this season isn't quite the player the Yanx thought they had coming off his solid second half of 2015 so maybe they think he needs a platoon partner. Right now their only backup at SS is a 23 y/o Venezuelan waiver pick-up off the Dodger roster who oddly sounds like he's the baby Reyes had via his long-ago illicit affair with Joe Torre: Ronald Torreyes. Maybe that's what Jose and his wife were fighting about.

And then there's the money. Owed about 2/3 of the $22 million for the remainder of this season, plus the full $22 for next year, plus a $4 mil buyout to keep from having to pay the same again in 2018.
That's over $40 million at minimum and Colorado might have to eat at least $35 of that just to get someone to take him.





In other MFY news: RHP Luis Severino walked off the mound in the 3rd inning last night and straight onto the DL with what is being described as "tricep soreness".
Not that he was pitching well anyway [0-6, 7.46] but he, like Gregorious, was another guy coming off a promising 2015. But now, with the also not pitching well Ivan Nova was already bumped into the rotation to replace the also DL'd and also not pitching well CC Sabathia, this just spreads the already thin starting talent a little thinner.

[MFS62]

This is disgraceful:
http://nypost.com/2016/05/15/how-yankees-disgracefully-sell-the-national-anthem/

Later

[Ceetar]

MFS62 wrote: This is disgraceful: http://nypost.com/2016/05/15/how-yankees-disgracefully-sell-the-national-anthem/ Later

oh, Mushnick, I see he's as angry, wrong and rant-y as ever.

He missed an easy segue too. After talking about Rosenberg (who it sounds like is a voice of reason on the Michael Kay show?) he went over to the Mets, but surely he could've worked in Rosenberg's wife Alexa Datt in to make the transition?

[Edgy MD]

Not that he's wrong but...

Phil Mushy wrote: At a time when we’re debating which bathroom stall men, women and those somewhere in-between can use as a matter of liberty and law, could there be a greater monetized perversion of right from wrong?

Give me about one second to answer that one, Phil.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Whatevs on the Yanks. Fred would sell anything if there was some $$ to be made on it.

[Ceetar]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Whatevs on the Yanks. Fred would sell anything if there was some $$ to be made on it.

And I'd be fine with it if it got the team a few extra dollars to worry about payroll that much less. The Yanks are experts at selling and marketing nothing. multiple starting lineup sponsorships, a billion 'official sponsors' products, etc. Maybe with the Mets recent success/demand they'll start doing it too.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I couldn't give a flying fuck about this one. Personally, I'm sick to death about the Anthem and wouldn't miss a beat if they never played it again before sporting events. It's a waste of time, AFAIC, and for my money, Dwayne Wade could take all the practice shots he wants during the playing of. Same goes for those super duper douchy fans who appoint themselves as hat police, butting into business that isn't any of theirs. Oh, my, he's wearing a hat while they're playing the anthem. Now the whole world's gonna come to an end. I never heard of something so stupid.

[Guest Mets Guy in Michigan]

I like the anthem, and I like "God Bless America," too. I've never encountered the hat police, but I guess I haven't been looking, either.

I'd be curious how much the Yanks are getting for such "sponsorship." The key here is not that a team would do such a thing, but that the Yankees, which treat themselves as if every blade of grass on the Yankee Stadium field is sacred -- and how dare you imply otherwise! Ruth! Jeter! DiMaggio! -- would do it.
A team gets all high and might about its jerseys -- we don't profane our jerseys with a Majestic logo -- but sells the National Anthem is guilty of mixed messaging.

[Edgy MD]

It's not just the jerseys and grass they get high and mighty about. But (especially when Big Geo was calling the shots) they have a long and storied track record of enforced patriotism. So the paradox is more explicit.

[Frayed Knot]

Also, this is just one of Mushnick's 'themes'. I like Phil but he has about a dozen pet peeves and just pounds the hell out of them over and over again.

This particular thorn in his paw is that the MFY broadcasts, both radio & TV, are sponsored to within an inch of their lives to the point where the game almost seems like a secondary concern. I mean Suzyn Waldman gets cited for being the first full-time female team broadcaster but credit for that should almost go to the next woman because, with Sterling handling ALL of the play-by-play, it falls to her to read all the ads during each inning [first pitch, 15th pitch, coming to you from the 'Your Name Here' booth; 'and that HBP is brought to you by Bronx Medical', etc.] until there's almost no time for her to actually talk baseball.

So anyway, I don't think Mushnick is making the case that this is sacrilege so much as he's just pointing out yet another product connected aspect to the game that would have seemed like satire had it been proposed only a few years back.

Edited May 16, 2016 by Guest

[batmagadanleadoff]

I like Sunshine of Your Love and While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Doesn't mean I'd wanna hafta hear them played, mandatorily, at the start of every baseball game while I'm required to stand up. And then on top of that, it won't be Cream or the Beatles but someone like Mariah Carey doing the performance.

[bmfc1]

Playing "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" before every game is brilliant! We can leave it up to the artist as to whether they do the "White Album" version or the "Anthology" version but either way, it would be exciting.

[Guest Mets Guy in Michigan]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: I like Sunshine of Your Love and While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Doesn't mean I'd wanna hafta hear them played, mandatorily, at the start of every baseball game while I'm required to stand up. And then on top of that, it won't be Cream or the Beatles but someone like Mariah Carey doing the performance.

Personally, I prefer "America, the Beautiful" to the Francis Scott Key anthem, but I get that the tradition is to honor the country prior to a sporting event. I like it, but that's just me.

I do object to my broadcast being constantly interrupted by ads slipped in beyond the actual ads. But I also like signing Yeonis Cespedes, so I get why they do it.

The Yankees get no such slack.