the 2023 new york yankees: all rise, again?

honestly as the most casual of yankees fans…I find all the pitchforks out for cashman to be pretty funny. a year or two ago he was the best GM in the league…now they might have their first losing record in THIRTY YEARS and suddenly every decision they’ve made was terrible

Do you remember the last time they were under 500

I’m 34, so no! but something tells me they’ll continue to be in the mix

a year or two ago he was the best GM in the league

citation needed

i think he's been a v. good GM, and it's not his fault that rodon got hurt, and i suspect that signing judge to the gargantuan contract that will haunt the team for years to come was a decision made over his head

but this is a poorly assembled team, and doing *nothing* at the trade deadline was a dereliction of duty

i also roll my eyes at the exaggerated dragging of cashman, he was pretty good until about 3-4 years ago

last 3-4 years have been pretty disastrous tho

donaldson trade, hicks contract, lemahieu contract, punting the trade deadline, sitting out free agency every other year to get under the luxury tax

that last bit doesn’t depend on the gm, it’ll likely be ownership policy for as long as the steinbrenners own the team, but still, he’s had the job for 25 years and it’s culminated in this. gotta be someone out there who can do better with $309 mil

*screams* ellsbury contraaaaaaaaact

applies for stadium Cracker Jack seller job

$15 Bud Lite anyone?

I don’t really watch the Yankees as much as I used to since I got MLB.tv and have a choice of games to watch, within my timezone anyway, but the wider Yankee media environment is high art in many ways. It reminds me very much of classic Arsenal fan TV during the bad Wenger days.

The apex of Yankee media is ofc Talkin’ Yanks, which is hosted by baseball video specialist Jomboy and his sidekick Talkin’ Jake. When I tell you these are high art. The best ones to watch are, obviously, when something bad happens. This is even truer when Aaron Boone has to go on - he is contractually obliged to appear on this show which is WILD - and they pepper him with questions. But let’s rewind.

The show has a very specific dynamic. Jomboy takes the role of Sad Dad Who Is Disappointed in the Yankees. Jake is younger, sarcastic, constantly boiling with fury. When Boone is on the show feeding them a line of bullshit, I’m constantly watching Jake. He keeps his face rigidly still, while his eyes SCREAM with fury. He sometimes wears T-shirts on the show mocking things Boone had said. He is the personification of the booing Yankee fan who throws stuff from the stands on the field, except what that person might be like on a day to day basis.

On the normal show, a conversation might go like this:

Jomboy (dejectedly): I don’t know, Jake. I think we thought it would all be ok when Judge came back, but the roster problems…

Jake (sarcastically): well it would have been nice if the front office had thought to pick up an outfielder…or a left fielder…or watching this team wasn’t an exercise in absolutely exquisite AGONY

the producer guy who speaks in a monotone whose name i can never remember: it would be really nice if this yankees team could win a game or just be shot into space

Jake: Watching (other team), you know what I noticed? They play with PASSION. They play to WIN. Like the Yankees team I grew up watching!

Jomboy: (almost on the floor in despair) it used to be the Yankees Way.

I’m telling you guys. It’s art.

Would love to see a breakdown of sad/mad Yankees media/fans vs sad/mad Mets media/fans this year. As a Mets fan I read the above and think “cute, they feel a sense of sharpness in regards to this seemingly tame season of adversity”.

Matt Olson said that the Braves would watch Frank the Tank meltdowns after beating the Mets, his popularity transcends everything I think

yankees have missed the playoffs three times in the last 30 years. their fans have no idea how to deal with adversity and they're going to lash out at everyone in sight

eventually they'll turn on judge, simply for not being jeter

Suffering from their own history of success, a tragedy

Some of them turned on Judge last year when the team slumped mid-season. (Which, to be fair, is common across sports, directing ire against a bad team's one good player.)

they did win 99 games last year ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

they are certainly very bad now

I garbled that a bit. They definitely weren't bad last year--the parenthetical referred to this year's team--but there was some booing directed at Judge. I forget exactly when; I posted about it in the Judge thread.

I could not possibly feel less sorry for the Yankees than I do right now.

Cashman's success over a 25 year period is incredible, and it doesn't just come down to money. But every time the Yankees have an off-year, I wonder whether he has the motivation to do this anymore. Nobody has ever navigated all the Steinbrenner BS better than him, but how long until he simply wants a break from it all?

Going for 10 straight tonight--not since 1913. (They last lost 9 straight in '82.)

luis severino is healed

the blessed hands of Cash Man

Donaldson released

five in a row, eight of 10, back over .500!

this team caught some bad breaks; i think they should run it back in 2024