The 2018 season for the New York Yankees is over, and if I
learned one thing and one thing only, it is that fans of the Yankees are the
worst. I have said it many times this season, maybe not so bluntly, but the
fans themselves have left more of a sour taste in my mouth this season than any
16-1 playoff loss or ALDS collapse ever could. Even more so, I am ashamed to
even represent my team. The team that I love, and the team I have adored, and the
team that I have idolized my entire damn life, because of some of you damn
fools and your bandwagon foolish ways.
I have said it all season long, Yankees fans disgust me, but
you guys took it to a whole new level here in the postseason. That statement
may seem harsh, but it’s nothing short of the truth… and this is coming from,
again, a Yankees fan. The 2017 season was fun. There were no expectations. The
2018 season was hell. There was nothing but disappointments. I have read a lot
of fans saying that anything short of a World Series is a disappointment. Sure,
in the 1990’s. This is 2018. The game has changed. The league has changed. The
players have changed. George Steinbrenner can no longer just throw money at a
problem without any repercussions, and a lot of you “fans” need to remember
that. There is parity in baseball now, as much as their can be anyway, and the
player pool is much larger than it has ever been. World Series or bust is the
same mantra these fans use when they bring up the fact that the Yankees have 27
World Series championships. Literally, besides you and besides “fans” like you,
who gives a shit? Not me. Not anyone I normally associate with on a daily
basis. We could win the next nine World Series championships in a row, but that
and $15 (well, probably like $25 in ten years) will get you a beer at the
stadium. That’s it. It means nothing. It is irrelevant, and the mindset is just
ignorant at this point, in my opinion.
I have never seen such a backlash from fans over everything
and over nothing. I have never seen so many armchair GM’s, managers and
players. I have never seen a fan base over-analyze every single pitch and every
single aspect of a game. I mean, I love the enthusiasm and the dedication, but
I hate the fact that a lot of you fans just simply don’t know what the fuck is
going on anymore. You just talk because you can. Because social media says you
can, and because there, again, are no repercussions. For example:
Why in the hell would we (the team cannot, obviously, but
let’s just roll with it) trade for Manny Machado AND Patrick Corbin when they
will both be free agents a week after the World Series is over? Please,
explain. I’ll wait, I have nothing better to do until pitchers and catchers
report anyway. Nothing? Oh yeah, no team would… or even could. The same can be
said for those “fans” that demand we either send Gary Sanchez down to Triple-A
(can’t, MLB rules won’t allow it without his consent), want Giancarlo Stanton traded
(the only damn reason he is in the Bronx is because he wants to be here, or did
you forget that he has a no-trade clause and he already vetoed two trades this
season to teams he did not want to play for), and want to see every coach and
manager we have fired. These are the same fans that called Hal Steinbrenner “cheap”
all season long for wanting to get under the luxury tax threshold. You say
cheap, I say intelligent and willing to adapt to the game and the mechanics
that follow it as we stand here today. What’s the opposite of stubborn? Because
George, he was just stubborn. He threw money at the problem because at the time
he was the only owner that had a major television network dedicated to the
team. George was really the only owner that could, even if it meant operating
in the red for many, many years. Hal can’t just do that, and he knows he can’t.
So, in your mind, why would the “cheap” owner fire Boone and the rest of his
coaching staff and agree to pay two managers (because I am sure all these fans
know about guaranteed contracts in Major League Baseball), two pitching
coaches, two bench coaches, four hitting coaches, two bullpen coaches, etc.
etc. etc. Still waiting on that answer, Yankees fans. He wouldn’t.
Oh, and by the way. You cannot trade Ellsbury. He sucks, and
no one wants him. Oh, and he has a no-trade clause. Brett Gardner is a free
agent and so is Neil Walker. Bryce Harper is not a center fielder. If he was, he
would be playing center field in Washington and not right field. Hicks had the
second highest WAR of any center fielder in the game not named Mike Trout, but
hell… what do I know? I know one thing; Chance Adams, right now, is not an
MLB-caliber starting pitcher and neither is Domingo German. I also know that
neither will fix the Yankees problems next season.
So, now that we are done blaming Boone and his coaching
staff, how about we move onto Brian Cashman and this gem above. Brian Cashman
never did his job and could have done more at the trade deadline. Okay, let’s
analyze. Cashman needed a starter and went out and got the best available
starter at the time for peanuts in terms of prospects and players. Cashman didn’t
want the best available bullpen arm to go to either Houston or Boston, so he
went out and got him too… again… for peanuts. Zach Britton didn’t work out,
sure we all know that, but at the time he was the top reliever available.
Sometimes deals don’t work out, it happens. Even for the “good” GM’s. Cashman
needed a veteran outfielder when Aaron Judge went down, he added Andrew
McCutchen for, again, peanuts. The team doesn’t make the postseason without
Luke Voit in my opinion, or they at least are not playing that Wild Card Game
at home anyway. Who brought Voit in to address the first base situation left by
Greg Bird? That was Cashman, and for the low, low price of a reliever the team
will never use and a reliever that consistently shit the bed. Oh, and the team
got international money back as well. I could keep going, but I feel like I put
this “theory” to bed.
So… let me get this straight… you, and I am speaking
generally here, hate our manager because he is a rookie manager with no
experience. He is so much worse than Joe Girardi. He is a BaBoone… all that
jazz, but then in the same breath… you want the Yankees to hire… another rookie
manager with no experience to replace him? What? I have no words. Well, not
literally. I just wasted a few, but still. Wow. Again, do you think before you
speak?
Speaking of thinking before you speak, here is another gem
for you. Any trade proposal that starts, ends or includes the name Aaron Judge
is immediately the dumbest suggestion on the planet. Period. Adding Giancarlo
Stanton to the list (no-trade clause), Gary Sanchez (some fans call him lazy, a
fat ass, etc. but some of us recognize his value with his bat and ability to control
the running game from behind the plate), Didi Gregorius (Do I really need to
even touch on this one?), Luke Voit (this guy sucks, so let’s trade him… ignoring
the fact that he doesn’t suck, and if he did… why would other teams want to
trade for him?), two potential Rookie of the Year Award winning players in
Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres, Aroldis Chapman, Luis Severino, Aaron Hicks
AND Masahiro Tanaka for a third baseman that cannot be traded for and who will
be a free agent at the end of the season anyway. And I checked the comments on
this post before I screen shot it… this wasn’t a troll post, and this wasn’t a
joke. This dude was serious.
You want to hear a good move that Cashman pulled off this season?
Bringing in CC Sabathia on a one-year deal worth $10 million was an absolute
steal. You may not think so, especially after he didn’t get the win in Game Four
of the ALCS, but to make statements like the above is, to quote you, “absolutely
nuts.” Sabathia posted a 2.3 WAR this season and was worth, according to
Fangraph’s Value stat, $19.9 million. These days to have a guy make 29 starts
and pitch to a 3.65 ERA is worth its weight in gold, and a hell of a lot more
than $10 million. Especially on a young team, and especially as a fifth
starter. Agree, don’t agree, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s true. If you
don’t agree he was a steal this season and if you don’t agree that the team
would benefit from having him anchoring the rotation next season as well, then
you just don’t understand baseball in my opinion. This isn’t MLB The Show 19,
this is MLB Real Life 19.
This one, and about a hundred posts just like it, really hit
me hard. When fans are giving up on the team before all 27 outs are recorded it
literally and figuratively makes me sick. Support your damn team or go support
another. The great news about supporting a team from New York is that they have
two, sometimes three, teams to choose from in most cases. Don’t want to support
the Yankees? Fine, we don’t need you. Go support the Mets. They need all the
help that they can get with that franchise. Be mad, be upset, and be emotional.
We all are. It’s called being passionate about something. But never, EVER give
up on your damn team until the MLB schedule makers tell you that you have to.
That should be rule number one, and a rule that I shouldn’t have to go over
with you.
I am ashamed to be a fan of the New York Yankees this morning.
Not because the team I rooted for that won 100 games this season was bounced by
a clearly superior team in the American League Division Series. No. I am
ashamed because I have to share my team and fandom with “fans” like this. This
post is obviously not directed at ALL Yankees fans. You know who you are, and
you are amazing, just like those who made these posts, or similar posts, know
who they are and should be damn well ashamed of themselves. You make us all
look bad. You make us all look bad when you dump a full beer on an A’s fan
sitting in the stands, you make us all look bad when you throw beer cans at
Craig Kimbrel, and you make us all look bad when you conduct yourself in a manner
that is not suitable for the New York Yankees. Act like you have been here
before and root for the team because you love the team and keep up with the
team, not because it is the cool bandwagon thing to do.
I apologize for anyone I may have offended in this post,
which is more than you will ever do for offending me and fans like me for these
asinine and ignorant comments that you have been making all season long. We all
have four-and-a-half months to think about it. Do better next season or go
ahead and schedule your New York Mets season tickets now while they are still
cheap.
