Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Didi Gregorius Could Be the Next Tino Martinez


This post was influenced by the YES Network’s Michael Kay who felt compelled to go onto Twitter to defend Didi Gregorius. Kay was absolutely correct in everything he stated, and I helped him fight off the bandwagon fans on Twitter, and was utterly shocked that he had to defend Gregorius after what was then just nine games into the season. Kay did touch on something in just 140 characters that I wanted to touch on in many more and that is the fact that Yankees fans were ready to run Tino Martinez out of the Bronx after just a month of baseball too and now he has a plaque in Monument Park.

Tino , much like Gregorius, was given the almost impossible job of replacing a Yankees legend and a Yankees captain in Don Mattingly and came out of the gate struggling. We all remember the four World Series titles and the clutch October home runs but what many do not remember was how Martinez started out his Yankees tenure with a 3-24 drought without a home run until his 18th game of the season. Much like Martinez did Gregorius has come out of the gates slow in New York batting .152 before last night’s Tigers game and has struggled also on the base paths and in the field defensively. Gregorius has just one error on his record sheet this season but has been the recipient of at least three plays either in the field or on a throw that should have gone for an error.


Martinez finished his first season with New York with a .296 batting average with 44 home runs and 141 RBI finishing second in the MVP vote for the American League with a World Series title to boot. That’s a far cry from 3-for-24. It’s also worth noting that Martinez was a veteran who was fresh off a playoff run with the Seattle Mariners just the season before where Gregorius is just 25 years old and on an Opening Day roster for the first time in his career. Mix that in with the fact that he’s playing shortstop on the biggest stage in the Major Leagues and he is replacing some guy named Derek Sanderson Jeter and you can imagine the amount of pressure he is putting on himself without the “Der-ek Jeter” chants. I said all that to say this, if Martinez can replace a Yankees legend and a Yankees captain then so can Didi. It may take Didi a little longer, and honestly he may not ultimately, but we should, as fans, at least give him a fair shot and more than two weeks’ worth of games before we run him out of town, don’t you think?

5 comments:

  1. My question to you Burch is that Didi has been in three organizations now at the age of 25. Recently traded by a brilliant baseball mind in Tony L so why is that? Yes its early but I am a firm believer as I stated in the past that you are what your baseball card says you are and I see nothing that tells me other wise

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    1. There have been plenty of good players traded either early on or in the primes of their careers. Obviously two teams were interested enough in his services before us to take a chance. While he may not work out and he may not be the next Tino Martinez I can't justify using the fact that he was traded as a reason to be down on a guy.

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  2. I'M READY TO TURN OFF THE TELEVISION SET.....because I'm not stupid.

    I'm watching this second game tonight vs Detroit. It is 1-0 Yankees, in the fourth.
    They may have scored their allotted run/runs already. We'll see.
    Last night, one run....a loss. Sound familiar ?

    This is the third year of this inept offense. Three years, with no improvement.
    I'm so tired of..." if everyone is healthy, we'll score runs "...Really ?
    The only one that produces runs, is the guy with two hip surgeries. And they hate him !

    I'm tired of shortstops with no brains. I'm tired of the bottom of this years line-up. Awful.
    I'm tired of Gardner...give left field to a masher. To a player, not similar to Ellsbury.
    Why do we need two ?

    I'm tired of Stephen Drew. What !...All of a sudden he will remember how to hit ?

    I'm tired of The legend of Beltran, and his elbow, and knee, and that hideous mole on his face.
    You make $ 45 million...go to a dermatologist. Jesus.
    That thing looks radioactive. It has always bothered me.

    Those things, and more are making me nuts.
    Why do I sit and watch this sad third rate play ? It gets worse each year. I am nuts.
    This team needs muscle. Players who do damage on a nightly basis.
    Not players that spit out seeds, and make faces when called out on strikes. Often.

    This is a milk toast team, and you all know it.
    I'm nuts, but not stupid. I could actually switch the words to make my point.

    June 6th is circled on my calender. That's my beach season. My beloved time of year.
    I'll put up over 200 miles walking the south shore of Long Island beaches this year again.
    Point is, I may not be able to ride this roller coaster to the toilet all season.

    Three months ago the big news was...the Yankees are worth $3 Billion.
    Tonight I look at a Tiger line-up, a line-up that we should have representing us. I'm saddened.

    Why should you care ? Sorry to have thrown kelp on your parade. It was not intentional.


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    1. If it makes you feel better the offense did their job, four runs now.

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  3. Someone said on this site; "look at their cards, that will tell you how they will play!" or words to that effect.
    Well, I have been looking at the cards and what do I see? I see Didi as a very talented Glove and a respectable hitter, give the guy time...Jeter made plenty of errors in his first year or have you all forgotten?
    I also see Beltran a .280/28HR/103RBI card! I see McCann a .272/26HR/96RBI card! I see Tex a .273/36HR/116RBI card! A-Rod a .291/41HR/124RBI card!
    Now, one may just want to re-think that statement, because once a player reaches old age (for a player) those numbers are not worth the cards they are printed on.
    It seems to me the guys fans a bitching about are the only ones playing good baseball; Ells, Brett, A-Rod, Drew, Headley, Young and Jones.
    Age is age and talent withers and dies with age, some can play into their 40s on talent alone...but not many. Jeter played 4 years too long. Mickey played 3 years too long. Joe "D" played 2 years too long. Some of them were still better than anyone on the team that was able to replace them but, very few can lay claim to that caliber of play. We have, it seems to me, Beltran in his late 30s with Tex not that far behind him playing out their careers on this team as is A-Rod. The difference is A-Rod (for now) is out playing both of them with two bad hips and at 39 years old along with sitting out more than a year of baseball.

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)