TEAM...... The Yankees on this current 4 games losing streak have been outscored 25-5 At 8-14 this is the first time in 9 years (2007) that the Yankees have been 6 games under 500 Yesterdays 8-0 loss was the teams 7th straight game of scoring 3 runs or less. On the season (22 games) the yankees have scored 3 runs or less in 17 of them. And 2 runs or less in 12 of the 22 games. PITCHING..... 4 of the 5 starters have ERAs over 4. Three of them have ERAs over 5. And two of them have ERAs over 6 HITTING...... Only one regular is hitting over 270 (Castro) Five of the nine regulars are hitting under 240 Ellsbury (235) is 3 for his last 23 Gardner (254) is 3 for his last 23 Beltran (253) is 4 for his last 25 Teixeira our CLEANUP hitter is batting 224 Rodriquez remains in the middle of the lineup dispite hitting 185 McCann (262) is 3 for his last 19 Gregorius (224) is 1 for his last 18 Headley (150) stays in the lineup despite being 3 for his last 30 with no extra base hits on the season & hasn't driven in a run since the 3rd game of the year. Castro (The newcomer) is the ONLY bright spot on the team batting 305 & leading the team in RBI with 12.
This is what happens when you finally hit the point of no return with bad contracts and an aging roster. They get a break after the season with the contracts of Beltran and Tex ending. Beyond that they need to eat the final year of Arod's contract because either way you cannot have him back another year at age 41 going on 42. Headley is another awful situation that they're going to have to get rid of and likely retain a good portion of that salary as well. The ultimate albatross of a contract which is going to rank as busts of all time is Ellsbury. This guy is a rapidly deteriorating disaster that's signed at big money for four more seasons. An absolute killer.
...Mess, Tote and I were discussing PEDs and PED testing and IMO that sometimes a player is caught in the net of the testing program, sometimes he doesn't...but there's also sometimes a "spike" in the player's production that can raise red flags too. But once a player has a banner year you know how it goes, as soon as he hits FA status he's gonna get over paid by some team. If he get busted for PEDs so what, he's already got his fat contract...and if he stops taking PEDs he production drops but he still gets his money. ...if you think about it, Ellsbury and Headley both reek of this. One great year, then nothing...of course, no one is forcing mindless GMs to sign them to these idiotic contracts.
...I know Rick, I know...just busting your chops...among other things, I was referred to as the "Grim Reaper" recently....that where that came from. ...but hey, watching this team is so hard for us right now, we might as well have some laughs...it sure beats clawing our eyes out after watching the games.
I'd like to see A-hole get busted again, end of the line. Headley is constant failure, ditto Gregorius, six or one half dozen flip flopping them in the order. Beltran and especially Ellsbury are where I get livid with rage. Ellsbury played his best for the Bean Eaters last night. All of those people are classic examples of getting huge salaries under false pretenses. Yeah let me put "Bump" in there as well. Don't understand why they didn't let some of those kids play instead of signing duds like Headley and Beltran. Even in the best of times the Yankees couldn't win all of the time but we at least saw genuine effort and had some players we could cheer for.
All around the league I'm seeing young kids (Story, Conforto & so many others) getting a chance while the Yankees have there kids wasting away.
The Yankees can be pretty much free of the big contracts soon expect for Ellsbury. There's no understating but a terrible situation that is right now. The guy is awful.
Jacoby Ellsbury 2011 = 32/105/321 (Red Sox) Where do I start? His previous HR & RBI high was 9 HRs in 2008 & 60 RBI in 2009. Since then his HR & RBI high was been 16 & 70 with the Yankees in 2014. He's also apparently forgotten how to steal a base. Chase Headley 2012 = 31/115/286 (Padres) Prior HR high was 12 in 2009 & hasn't hit more than 13 since. His highest RBI total prior to his big year was 64 in 2009. Since his big season his high has been 62 which he did last season with the Yankees. These two guys & there one great season has Brady Anderson written all over it.
Ells and Headley did have performance spikes, but to link that to PEDs smacks of recency bias. Fact is those spikes come within the span of current testing regime. You look back in time prior to the alleged ped era and players had spikes all the time. What is different are the drugs of FA and guaranteed contracts. Oddly players seem to step up performances in "contract years". But I think there are simpler human reasons other than PEDs. Look baseball needs to step back and analyze the financial ROI from these contracts. But getting that fiscal genie back in the bottle? Accountability it seems has no place in baseball given MLBPA deals and the de facto profit sharing schemes implied in financial contracts.
Tom I hear you but we're not talking about going from 10 HRs to 15-20 HRs or going from 50 RBI to 60-65 RBI. Some of these spikes are drastic.
Again these are statically variances. We cannot jump to conclusions. Otherwise your saying that the testing is suspect and inaccurate and therefore that assertion goes both ways. Care to explain for example Therman Munson 1972 vs 1973?
If it makes anyone feel any better, the Bums are hitting < .100 with RISP....with the most bloated ridiculous payroll in MLB....jest sayin'...
The pay raise, enabled Thurman to buy better spirits, hot dogs too.... after all that was the Team that Ruth built, ..... I mean King George...
..."bias"?...oh please...no, in the PED era it smacks of common sense. ...you keep complaining about the PEDs testing program but as I've said it beats not having one at all. Besides, a first time violation is not a death penalty for the player and if he gets caught again he's given a stiffer penalty, and so on. ...the court system is not perfect either and there are errors made every now and then and that's unfortunate but it is no reason to condemn the whole court/judicial system...hell, if we took that approach.we might as well abolish all laws and open the doors to the jails and penitentiaries. Sorry Tote, but again, I don't get your angle here....I think it's a bit over the top.
You're the voice of reason & yes one can't always assume that its due to PEDs. After all........................ Lou Gehrig went from 16 HRs in 1926 to 47 HRs in 1927 Ralph Kiner went from 23 HRs in 1946 to 51 HRs in 1947 Carl Yazstremski went from 16 HRs in 1966 to 44 HRs in 1967 Jimmie Foxx jumped from 30 HRs in 1931 to 58 HRs in 1932 Ernie Banks went from 19 HRs in 1954 to 44 HRs in 1955 Orlando Cepeda went from 24 HRs in 1960 to 46 HRs in 1961 The above are just a few examples but there are many more. Hell even the great Babe Ruth went from 29 HRs in 1919 to 54 HRs in 1920 On the flip side there are always the one's (aside from the obvious Sosa, McGwire, Bonds etc.) that come under suspicion like............... Brady Anderson went from 16 HRs in 1995 to 50 HRs in 1996 Kevin Mitchell went from 19 HRs in 1988 to 47 HRs Kirby Puckett went from 4 HRs in 1985 to 31 HRs in 1986 Luis Gonzalez went from 31 HRs in 2000 to 57 HRs in 2001 Adrian Beltre went from 20 HRs in 2003 to 48 HRs in 2004 Shawn Green went from 24 HRs in 2000 to 49 HRs in 2001 There are many more in this above group also & honestly I'm on the fence with Headly & Ellsbury.
...it's Thurman...and we're talking about the PEDs era...care to explain Bonds, Sosa, Mac, Anderson, et al? ...and no one said that performance spikes were the only barometer....so there's no reason to take it that way,
Over the top? Respectively disagree. If you want to allege statistical spikes in performance is rooted in unnatural enhancements, fine. Show me scientific proof that can be verified, for each specific instance.
