top of page
file.jpg
Writer's picturePaul Semendinger

Perspectives: Lots of Thoughts

By Paul Semendinger

July 31, 2023

***

Aaron Boone was supposedly hired, in part, for his communication skills, so when he speaks, we have to assume that he knows what he is saying.


But, when people talk, sometimes they tell more than they really wanted to...


This was Aaron Boone on the status of Aaron Judge on Sunday:

Aaron Boone, the great communicator, and the man hired to bring the Yankees to a World Series (all those years ago), said, "We've got to be smart a little bit."


That's an amazing statement from the team's manager in regard to their superstar player.


"We've got to be smart a little bit."


Or said differently, "Sometimes we're not so smart," or, even more in the way Boone talks, "A lot a bit of the time, at least in regard to Aaron Judge, we're not smart."


Well, I'd agree.


With Aaron Judge, the Yankees aren't being smart. They rushed him back, and then in what was supposedly a big game, they sat him.


I really don't think the Yankees know, from minute to minute, what they're doing. They make it all up as they go and then they give inane and insane answers that further cement their incompetence.


***


The Mets are selling. They can see that their plan for 2023 didn't work, so they are making moves to make next year better.


The Yankees are standing pat. This means 2024 will be like 2023. That's a bad approach.


One team (the Mets) seem to have a clue. The other team (the Yankees) seem (or at least act) clueless.


***


This from a comment I wrote yesterday:


Mets fans are angry that their team isn't good.


Yankees fans are angry that their team isn't good.


I think Mets fans believe their owner wants to win.


I don't think the Yankees fans believe that about their owner.


***


Hal Steinbrenner said the following, in June:


"“I understand (the fans are) upset. I’m a little confused this year, being the third week of June, why they’re upset, but they’re upset and that’s going to get my attention."


“Everybody just needs to know that we’re working hard on all fronts to get this back on the rails and start playing the way we were for a couple weeks in May.”


What, exactly, did the Yankees do since then to get the team back on the rails? It seems they fallen further off them.


***


The trade deadline is tomorrow. The Yankees squandered weeks when they could have been making deals. They might do a lot over the next day or so, but that doesn't take away the fact that they did nothing for far too long.


On top of this, imagine having a surplus of products that have some value especially because what you have is a commodity that isn't readily available anywhere else. And then doing nothing with that commodity.


That's the Yankees.


See this Tweet:


Teams don't seem to be able to acquire hitting. There are "no bats" at all available for trade.


The Yankees have a hot of batters that should have been available for a long time. A well run team would have seen that the industry needed the very thing they themselves have.


The Yankees should be selling Anthony Rizzo, Giancarlo Stanton, D.J. LeMahieu, Gleyber Torres, and Harrison Bader...


And, if there is a GM out there that actually believes that Billy McKinney or Jake Bauers has value... the Yankees should sell them too.


***


The 2023 Yankees are bad.


Imagine how bad they'll be next year with all the players I just listed one year older and one year slower. And one more year past their prime.

***


I read this a lot...


"Giancarlo Stanton is untradeable. He makes too much money. He had a no trade clause. And he's old."


Max Scherzer makes a ton of money. He's old. And he had a no trade clause.


He was traded.


***

Remember this:


August 2022 - "Jordan Montgomery isn't good. The Yankees don't even think he's good enough to pitch in a playoff game."


Now this:


July 2023 - The FIRST PLACE Rangers just acquired lefty pitcher Jordan Montgomery...


***


Or remember this:


August 2022- "Harrison Bader is going to be a player that hits on the Yankees. This was a great move for the Yankees."


Now:


July 2023 - Harrison Bader's OPS+ is 91. (Yes, below league average)


For the record, Jordan Montgomery's ERA+ is 126. (Yes, well above league average.)


Quick Question - Would the Rangers, right now, trade Jordan Montgomery for Harrison Bader?


Quicker Answer - Not in a million years.


***


The Yankees should have a conversation with Gerrit Cole. Seriously. He has an opt-out after next year. There is a possibility that as the team crumbles that he might not wish to spend his last good years playing for a team that is falling apart around him. If the 2024 Yankees perform like the 2023 Yankees, Gerrit Cole just might opt out.


If he's thinking that way, the time to trade him might be... now. He'll never be more valuable than he is right now.


***


I like bubble gum as much as the next guy, but when all you see from the Yankees' manager is him blowing bubbles and spitting seeds, you have to wonder.


It tough to be taken seriously as a leader when you are seen consistently blowing bubbles with bubble gum.


That's just a fact.


Also, after last night's game, a game where the Yankees struck out 18 times, Aaron Boone said, "Outside of the strikeouts, I thought at-bats were building off of last night. I thought we grinded out really well."


Look, when the manager is that out of touch, it's an embarrassment. This is humiliating. It's time for Aaron Boone to be shown the door.


***


Remember in the beginning of the off-season when so many of us said the Yankees needed a left fielder (and a leadoff hitter, and lefty bats, and...)?


We were told, "It's early."

December came and we were told, "It's not even the new year."

January came and we were told, "It's not even Spring Training."

Spring Training came and we were told, "There is tons of time before Opening Day."

Opening Day came and we were told, "Just wait until the trade deadline."

The trade deadline has come and... now it's far too late.


The Yankees, from top to bottom have shown that they are incapable of fixing the disaster they created. Worse, they didn't even see that this is what they built. They didn't see it. That's a problem.


***


Here's another question (I'll be the first to ask it).


Right now who regrets the Aaron Judge deal more, him or the Yankees? Judge might be making a ton of money, but, he also might be looking at nine long years without winning. There isn't a championship on the near horizon. And by the time the Yankees are good again, Aaron Judge might be past his prime.


On the other hand, the Yankees didn't get their value in 2023 on him, and he's only going to get older and slow down more as the years go on.


But, even if Judge hits 63 homers in 2024, based on the framework of this team and how they operate, will that lead to a pennant next year? The sad reality is that the Yankees are more than a great Aaron Judge season away from being a legitimate contender.


***


I know he's pitched well in the second half with three excellent starts, but, Gerrit Cole has not won any of those starts. He has a 1.40 ERA in those three starts, and the Yankees are just 1-2. I really have to wonder what he's thinking.


"I signed on for this?"


***


I have said, for a long time, that when the window closes, it closes quickly.


The Yankees' window closed. It's going to take a lot of work and smart deals and excellent management to turn this franchise around. There is no quick fix. And, as I have been saying, these, right now, were the years that were supposed to be the good ones. This is when Gerrit Cole and Aaron Judge are in their prime. The Yankees signed them to win now, not at the end of their long expensive contracts.


Instead, the Yankees punted on 2023 thinking that their brilliant moves of finding cast-offs from other franchises would allow them to compete.


It didn't.


***


The Yankees, who could never figure out a lineup, have tried the following players as their leadoff hitter this year: D.J. LeMahieu, Gleyber Torres, Anthony Volpe, Jake Bauers, Willie Calhoun, Anthony Rizzo, Oswald Peraza, Billy McKinney, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa.


***


Anthony Volpe is batting .209 on the season. He had a 15-for-30 "Post Chicken Parm" surge. Without those at bats, he is hitting .181 on the season.


He has struck out 111 times in 350 at bats.


He has batted in the following spots in the batting order: First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth.


He swings from the heels at bat after at bat and swing after swing.


He's hitting .198 in July.


As the leadoff batter in the lineup, he has batted .148 to begin a game. Leading off an inning at any point in the game, he has batted .186.


Oswald Peraza, the other great shortstop prospect, is batting .173 this year.


Is there anyone that believes the Yankees have done a good job developing these players?


***


The Yankees are at a crossroads. There are now 15 teams in the big leagues with better records than the 2023 Yankees. This means the Yankees are in the bottom half of all MLB teams.


I'll repeat for emphasis - The Yankees are now in the bottom half of all the MLB teams.


The saddest thing is that so many fans and writers and bloggers saw this coming for a long time - and the Yankees did not.


This is the state of the 2023 New York Yankees franchise.


13件のコメント


cpogo0502
2023年7月31日

We fans are at a 'torches and pitchforks' time. Things were ugly before, but things are really ugly now. I remember the dark years '65-'75 and '82-'95 but there is something VERY dark about the now time. Heads have to roll. How can Cashman and Boone survive this? I'll probably be asking what happened when spring training starts in 2024 and Boone is still blowing bubbles and Cashman is talking about how the process works.

いいね!

sfs1944
2023年7月31日

Paul, over the years we have been saying the same things. Hal has proven time after time that he is not a baseball ma but an accountant. The Yanks continue to sign ballplayers who are old, past their prime, slow footed. If they had signed the terrific players that were available over the years like Harper, one of theSS that were available and others this conversation would be moot . One player I liked very much was Olsen who signed with the Braves after they let Freeman go. They signed fringe players instead. They tried to surround these players with pitching Montas and Rodan Frustation has now set in with me and you because we know all they had to…

いいね!

Alan B.
Alan B.
2023年7月31日

My comments are based on this post.


Volpe had a weak 3 weeks of Triple-A ball last year but ended up being the Yankees SS in 2023 because of Cashman's mouth. Peraza had an illness or an oblique injury in June, and ever since then, he hasn't hit up here or in SWB, before his recall. So, with this being the Yankees, the question is: Is Peraza really healthy? Peraza, was ready to assume the NYY stating SS definitely by the 2022 trade deadline. Why didn't he? IMO strictly because of Cashman. Cashman had said, after they made the deal with Minny, he 'had to have IKF' to be his everyday stopgap SS. That meant no matter what …


いいね!
Alan B.
Alan B.
2023年7月31日
返信先

Keeping Wade or Velasquez, who are both athletic & can play a fine SS, were both perfect for the Yankees until Peraza was ready. If you DFA them at that point, does it matter? Personally I would've rather had Wade or Velasquez at SS and Gio at 3B while waiting on Peraza to assume SS, than IKF & Donaldson (& his contract) with a block on Peraza. I said this at the time of the trade.

いいね!

Mary Polizzi
Mary Polizzi
2023年7月31日

Fine column by Gabe Lacques in the current Sports Weekly about the bright young Marlins GM who is rebuilding a "moribund" franchise (sound like the Yankees?) into a playoff contender by trading for pure hitters like Luis Arraez who don't strike out (give me tried and true B.A. and junk the analytics) and bullpen depth. If only the Yankees had a bright young mind like that in their organization instead of Brian Clueless . . . What? . . . They did and Clueless let her slip away? . . . Kim Ng.


Maybe Kim figured out that a HR and three strikeouts gets you one run but three singles and no strikeouts gets you a run and a chance…


いいね!
Alan B.
Alan B.
2023年7月31日
返信先

What did she do last year at the trade deadline to the Yankees? It seems odd, that all this stuff comes out at some point after the fact, but a year later we still no nothing. I believe they agreed on a deal, but then something happened, and she blew up the deal, but because she is the first women MLB GM, it all got covered up.

いいね!

fastucasal
2023年7月31日

GET RID OF THE ARCHITECT....CASHMORON!!!!!!

いいね!
dr sem.png

Start Spreading the News is the place for some of the very best analysis and insight focusing primarily on the New York Yankees.

(Please note that we are not affiliated with the Yankees and that the news, perspectives, and ideas are entirely our own.)

blog+image+2.jpeg

Have a question for the Weekly Mailbag?

Click below or e-mail:

SSTNReaderMail@gmail.com

SSTN is proudly affiliated with Wilson Sporting Goods! Check out our press release here, and support us by using the affiliate links below:

587611.jpg
583250.jpg
Scattering the Ashes.jpeg

"Scattering The Ashes has all the feels. Paul Russell Semendinger's debut novel taps into every emotion. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll reexamine those relationships that give your life meaning." — Don Burke, writer at The New York Post

The Least Among Them.png

"This charming and meticulously researched book will remind you of baseball’s power to change and enrich lives far beyond the diamond."

—Jonathan Eig, New York Times best-selling author of Luckiest Man, Opening Day, and Ali: A Life

From Compton to the Bronx.jpg

"A young man from Compton rises to the highest levels of baseball greatness.

Considered one of the classiest baseball players ever, this is Roy White's story, but it's also the story of a unique period in baseball history when the Yankees fell from grace and regained glory and the country dealt with societal changes in many ways."

foco-yankees.png

We are excited to announce our new sponsorship with FOCO for all officially licensed goods!

FOCO Featured:
carlos rodon bobblehead foco.jpg
bottom of page