Incomprehensible; or Just Inevitable
The Yankees designated Bubba so that they could bring up Jose Veras. "We probably needed another arm" spake slow Joe, suggesting that he had nothing to do with the move. Of course by refusing to play Bubba with any regularity, Torre all but ensured his exile, whether or not he added his voice to the decision itself. Still, this is all a bit curious. I mean, at the moment they have Ponson, Procter, Beam,Villone, Fahrnsworth, Rivera and Meyer in the bullpen. While we all wish this assemblage was better, do we really need it to be larger? dilated by someone presumably less qualified than those already present and accounted for (even the egregious Mr Beam)? And what of Dotel, who continues to toil in the Pacific Coast League, pursuing the completion of his rehab? Once he makes his long delayed debut in pinstripes, won't one of these gentleman be sent down (let us not speak of Pavano since he now bears the existential status of an imaginary friend). If Veras (or Beam) is not long for this major league world of which we speak, isn't that more of a reason to hang onto Bubba at least until Dotel is finally with us? Granting that the Yankees need a quality reliever more than a spare outfielder, Veras has never been, and is still not, touted as being any such thing. And surely the Yankees need Bubba more than just "another arm" as Torre has it. For one thing, he is the only reserve centerfielder they have, unless you will have your little joke and count Bernie Williams. Given Damon's vulnerbility to injury while exiting his automobile, a reserve centerfielder would seem to be an asset the Yankees, of all teams, really needs. What makes this move particularly bad, potentially disastrous, is that now they can't retrieve Bubba if Damon goes down for any length of time. They'll just be stuck with Williams not only to spell Damon but to replace him.
And that my friends is the real meaning of this otherwise nonsensical gambit. It is the ultimate in what BGW terms "sentimentalization." The acquistion of Abreu and Wilson, and their play so far, has left Williams virutally without a raison d'etre on this team, other than pinchitting against lefties (see last post), an important but highly specialized role. The ouster of Bubba gives the slow, aging, defensively challenged, weak-armed Williams a role and a standing on the team that all of these liabilites should have precluded.
Right now, with the team riding high, the elimination of Bubba, "the unappreciated Yankee," might just seem like a sad end to a long history of unexploited potential and unrewarded enthusiasm. But if the Yankees are fortunate enough to reach the post-season, and Johnny Damon goes down, either in late September or October, the consequences of this decision could be nothing short of a lost championship. Too melodramatic you say?
Come with me now to the seventh game of the ALCS against the Tigers or worse the Sox. A tight game in the eighth inning, one out, runner on first, when a lefthanded batter hits a tailing liner toward the left-centerfield gap. Damon or Crosby would have run it down, but Bernie doesn't get to it and when he bounces the relay throw to Jeter the runner on first scores, tying the game. A hitherto composed Wang tries to bring him self under control and he gets the second out of the inning on a comebacker, which freezes the runner at second. The next hitter however hits a bloop into center and Bernie, playing deep to compensate for his leaden feet, approaches it gingerly, refuses to dive for it, and even though the runner had to hold up on the off chance that Jeter might reach the ball, he is still able to score on the four bounce throw that Williams flings, like an 8 year old girl, in the general direction of Posada, who wasn't blocking the plate anyway. The Yankees wind up losing by a single run. The sad thing is, and you all recognize this truth, if Damon were to go down, this scenario is not really all that unlikely. And then we will say, if that damn Cashman had only kept Bubba. Instead of saying, as we have been wont to do, if that damn Torre had only played Bubba.
And that my friends is the real meaning of this otherwise nonsensical gambit. It is the ultimate in what BGW terms "sentimentalization." The acquistion of Abreu and Wilson, and their play so far, has left Williams virutally without a raison d'etre on this team, other than pinchitting against lefties (see last post), an important but highly specialized role. The ouster of Bubba gives the slow, aging, defensively challenged, weak-armed Williams a role and a standing on the team that all of these liabilites should have precluded.
Right now, with the team riding high, the elimination of Bubba, "the unappreciated Yankee," might just seem like a sad end to a long history of unexploited potential and unrewarded enthusiasm. But if the Yankees are fortunate enough to reach the post-season, and Johnny Damon goes down, either in late September or October, the consequences of this decision could be nothing short of a lost championship. Too melodramatic you say?
Come with me now to the seventh game of the ALCS against the Tigers or worse the Sox. A tight game in the eighth inning, one out, runner on first, when a lefthanded batter hits a tailing liner toward the left-centerfield gap. Damon or Crosby would have run it down, but Bernie doesn't get to it and when he bounces the relay throw to Jeter the runner on first scores, tying the game. A hitherto composed Wang tries to bring him self under control and he gets the second out of the inning on a comebacker, which freezes the runner at second. The next hitter however hits a bloop into center and Bernie, playing deep to compensate for his leaden feet, approaches it gingerly, refuses to dive for it, and even though the runner had to hold up on the off chance that Jeter might reach the ball, he is still able to score on the four bounce throw that Williams flings, like an 8 year old girl, in the general direction of Posada, who wasn't blocking the plate anyway. The Yankees wind up losing by a single run. The sad thing is, and you all recognize this truth, if Damon were to go down, this scenario is not really all that unlikely. And then we will say, if that damn Cashman had only kept Bubba. Instead of saying, as we have been wont to do, if that damn Torre had only played Bubba.
posted by joe valente | 2:43 AM
1 Comments:
I will try to clarify, though I probabably have this wrong. For the next ten days, Bubba Crosby is still the property of the Yankees and they can and will attempt a waiver wire trade of him. That is to say, if any team seeks to claim Bubba during this period, the Yankees can pull him off and talk trade with that team or refuse to talk trade as the case may be. That gives them ten days to attempt to get him out of the division or out of the league, provided there are suitors with worse records than the Sox of any color, the Tigers, A's etc. At the end of ten days, however, he has his outright release, he is no longer the property of the Yankees (though htey continue to pay him as his contract is guaranteed). He may indeed accept assignment to Columbus, but because the Yankees are out of options, they cannot recall him in September or at any other time. He would play there, available for pick-up by any team that so chose.
The likeliest scenario, as suggested earlier on this blog--and now perhaps the least damaging--is that the Marlins claim Crosby and the yankees work out easy terms for him to go there. When Giardi was a bench coach for slow Joe, he repeatedly advocated making Bubba an everyday player and he now would presumably see the benefits of having bubba for an unlikely playoff run being fueled by a hustle and fundamentals.
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