December 21, 2024

44 thoughts on “Yankees.com: Yanks look to ’96 for comeback inspiration: ‘It’s not over until it’s over’”

  1. Everything with Dominguez this year is nuts. They gave him ~50 ABs to “prove” himself while playing a newish position and gave up on him, but not enough to keep him off the roster to be used as *checks notes* a pinch runner?

    It seems like they, like most of us, thought he was eligible to get the Yankees a draft pick as a potential RoY candidate next year. Unfortunately, due to his time on the ML IL, he would not get them a draft pick. Definitely feels like this took the Yankees by surprise. If true, that’s a massive fail on their part.

    With LF as the major weakness in the OF, why wasn’t Dominguez playing LF in the MiL? Or if they were planning to move Judge back to a corner, why wasn’t that discussed with him during the season?

    IF Boone actually is making the lineups, like he and the Yankees claim he is, it seems to me that there was a disconnect between Boone and the FO on how to use Dominguez. If the FO is making those decisions like many believe, then what the fuck were they doing?

    1. I think the initial plan was for him to get the left fielder job in time for the playoffs, but his injury ruined that. Then they called him up for September to give him a crack at winning the job in September, and he sucked.

      Even WITH all of that, he still should have pinch hit for Wells.

      By the way, regarding not having pinch hitters, these guys shouldn’t NEED to be pinch hit for, ya know? Wells was one of their best hitters for MONTHS, and now he needs to be pinch hit for in a big spot. That is weird as shit.

    2. I just don’t think they gave him enough time in September, they should have called him up immediately, instead of playing coy for 2 weeks. But again, if the plan, post injury, was for him to be in LF, why wasn’t he playing LF in the MiL?

      The combined collapse of Wells’ offense and Trevino’s defense has REALLY hurt the lineup.

    3. They did the same thing with Waldo the year he came up to play the outfield, a position he had pretty much never played in the minors. Absolutely the Martian needed to play mostly left in the minors.

    4. I think Cabrera was more defensible, since he his move to the OF was more emergency than “planned.” But there’s definitely a pattern.

  2. Stupidest manager in the game strikes again! They won the AL despite him not because of him. Alas, winning the AL means another few years of this. Unless..,Soto bails us out by saying he won’t sign with the Yankees unless they fire Boone. A guy can hope, right?

    Judge is seriously entering “choker” territory. It’s been often said there is no such thing as clutch hitting – but there is such a thing as choking. Just sad to watch.

    1. I just don’t understand why the Yankees aren’t supplying Boone with a bench coach capable of cogent thought.

      Judge looks like he did in early September, he’s not seeing the ball great and is a bit off mechanically. He’s also probably pressing a bit on account of his playoff struggles recently, but I think it’s mostly just him being out of whack.

  3. About the WS. It’s frustrating to see the Yankees lose two winnable games, but even worse is their offenses inability to stress the already shaky Dodgers starting pitching. Short of winning the games, the most important thing the Yankees offense could do was force the Dodgers into their pen early.

    They pretty much completely failed to do that. Yamamoto and Flaherty were solid, but neither were fantastic. The Yankees just didn’t force them to throw strikes, just pathetic.

    1. I doubt if Boone would even listen to a bench coach in big game situations. They also need a bench. Speaking of 96, where’s our Jim Leyritz who got the key hit in 96. A RHB who can adequately play 2 positions out of C/1b/LF?

      I know this is never going to happen but Waldo is a better hitter against a RHP than phenom.

  5. It’s very hard to find comprehensive minor league splits but Id like to know The Martian’s. They brought him up 1 game in July to face Skubal, which is not exactly a fair test.

    Consider Waldo who was 268/729 vs RHPs, better than Volpe, but 190/469 vs LHPs and in a tiny sample 313/688 left on left. Yankees need to make some decisions on whether to have Waldo (or the Martian) give up switch hitting. Cedric Mullins stopped switch hitting in 2021 and has been much better since. JT Snow also.

    2. On and off, seat of the pants. In ST he should hit only left handed. Bernie had level splits. Mantle had a higher BA hitting right handed but equal OBP and SLG. Switch hitting is not for everybody and the numbers are declining.

  7. I referenced Jasson’s splits two years ago and that maybe he should just hit lefthanded. I think this is another instance of the pigheaded/stupid Yankees organization at work.

    Cashman has been past his use-by-date since 2017.

  13. Katie Sharp “There are 131 teams with at least 75 AB with RISP in a single postseason. Yankees .174 BA is currently 3rd worst in that group, ahead of 1995 Mariners (.174, actually .1739 while Yankees are .1744) and 1912 Red Sox (.158)”

    We would crush the 1912 townies.

    1. I’ve come to like Verdugo, his energy, passion… but what I sure as hell don’t like is obsessively playing him when he can’t play.
      As for Judge… if he keeps making the post-season, one of these years he’ll break out. Until he does, though, this team just can’t be anywhere near what it should be in the playoffs. And it’s not like he’s a little worse – you’re replacing what you expect from Judge with three strikeouts plus a single or fly out. That’s a crippling change.

    2. Yeah, it’s like they forgot how awesome Jasson was last year before the injury. Even a few ABs of that quality replacing Verdugo for the entire series could be pivotal. Or as a pinch-hitter for, oh, I don’t know … Wells? But as has been mentioned by others, this is clearly not a serious organization. When a group of long-time Yankee fans on a minimally-visited website could make better decisions that the GM and manager, you know things are bad.

      And yes, Judge going MIA is more of a problem than just about anything Boone screws up.

    3. “more of a problem than just about anything Boone screws up”
      Which is really saying something!

  16. At least there’s still a chance that SOMEONE closes out the World Series in Yankee Stadium.

    Coulda been us with winnable games at hand. But at least somebody get the place messy.

    1. I doubt any of these guys are even actually “looking to 1996.” I’m sure it’s just a general, “Just win these games and we’re right back in the series,” which, well, IS the truth.

      They’re fucked because the Dodgers are better than them, not because they’re down 2-0 heading into three games at home.

  19. Yeah, LA being up two after the first two games at home is “on serve”. The Yankees need to do the same at home, and steal one on the road. Same as it ever was. They had opportunities to take both of these games and pretty much screwed the pooch whenever possible.

    None of this, of course, inspires confidence for the coming games. That’s why you have to actually PLAY them. Remember 2004 ALCS to see what rolling four straight Yahtzees looks like. It can be done, and we need to see it through.

    Would be nice to win a few laughers along the way, though.

    1. Not really. Home field advantage doesn’t mean much in baseball. The 2024 Yankees were better on the road, weren’t they?
      But they still have to win 4 before the Dodgers win 2. That’s not impossible.

  21. This is going to be a frustrating offseason. We did everything we could to win the world series, to keep Juan Soto, to address our team’s weaknesses … etc. Baseball is hard. BTW, we’re extending Boone and Cashman another five years.

  22. Lineup
    TBD
    G Torres (R) 2B
    J Soto (L) RF
    A Judge (R) CF
    G Stanton (R) DH
    J Chisholm Jr. (L) 3B
    A Volpe (R) SS
    A Rizzo (L) 1B
    J Trevino (R) C Against aRHP
    A Verdugo (L) LF Must play

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