Bleeding Yankee Blue: CRANKY CASHMAN & THE EVIL "S" WORD

Friday, July 7, 2017

CRANKY CASHMAN & THE EVIL "S" WORD

Photo: NJ.com

Sac fly and sac bunt, save situations, switch hitters, shutout, sliders, southpaws, seventh inning stretch, strike zone, stealing signs, slumps, and squeeze plays. These are all phrases that start with an "S" that make baseball so exciting. I like these words. But there is one "s" word that I don't like to hear and that is "surgery." I would say things have gone from bad to worst but worst happened a long time ago. So now what?

Photo: Chris O'Meara / AP

Brian Cashman has a lot of challenges to deal with right now, and it doesn't look like it is going to get easier any time soon. Here we are half way through the season and things are still a mess with Greg Bird. He's still not back and we don't know when he is coming back. Hell, we don't even know what is wrong with him and at this point Cashman is just frustrated, read more HERE. Cashman says Bird has now seen "six or seven" doctors and they still haven't found the answer on how to fix Bird. So now, it sounds like Bird is going to see one of the best doctors in the country.

So MRI's and X-rays don't offer answers as to why Bird is still hurting and now the Yankees will consider surgery in hopes to figure out how to get Bird paying again. It's scary to think that opening someone up may be the only thing to help get Bird playing again. The Yankees don't know what they are looking for but going under the knife may be the only way to find it and fix what has Bird sitting out of the action. Bird missed all of last season after having shoulder surgery. The last thing he wants to do is do that again. Let's hope this next doctor can find what the other doctors have not.

Possible surgery isn't the only thing that has Cashman on edge. The Yankees have been linked to possible third base trade rumors for several weeks now and they aren't going away. Cashman was recently asked about plans for third base, read that HERE. He gave the obvious answer of Chase Headley but then he was asked the same question again....and Cashman got cranky.

"Who do you want me to play there? "Headley's our third baseman. Sorry you don't like it. I would like him to produce, I would like all our guys to produce. But until there's somebody else, we've got what we've got. It's not easy to wave a magic wand and change it. It's not like sheets on the bed where you can go change the sheets."

So in case anyone was wondering.....Headley is still our everyday third baseman not Ronald Torreyes "until there's somebody else" as Cashman said. It sounds like a backhanded defense for Headley but it is what it is and Cashman is no longer mincing words.

So the Yankees struggles continue and hopefully this passes quickly without anymore snarky soundbites from Cashman, surgery for Bird or an extended 4-17 slump.

Cross your fingers and hold tight, Yankee fans. And at this point I will officially stop using "S" words.