MLB Rumors: Should Cardinals just shut down Nolan Gorman with move to IL?
The Cardinals announced they were placing star infielder Nolan Gorman on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Monday.
St. Louis appears to be done kicking the can on Gorman's back issue, and Gorman lands on the IL after suffering from back discomfort since late July. Gorman is reportedly being treated with an injection that will sideline him for at least the next three days; the earliest he could return is August 25 when the Cards face the Phillies.
Given the ups and downs of Gorman's last month, should St. Louis just shut the slugger down for the season? Cards fans have had to deal with injury tweet after injury tweet, and with St. Louis firmly out of playoff contention, it may make more sense for the franchise to keep him on the shelf so he doesn't exacerbate his injury in a relatively unimportant season.
In his second year in St. Louis, Gorman has quietly become one of the unsung heroes of the organization, improving his OPS to .815 and recording 24 home runs, 67 RBIs, and six stolen bases.
Seeing Gorman sit for the rest of the season will deal another blow to the Cardinals' already depressed morale, but at least the franchise won't have to keep going through the vicious cycle of Gorman's fickle recovery.
In Gorman's place, the Cards can keep playing Richie Palacios, a developmental piece they traded for earlier in the season who could use the experience.
MLB Rumors: Aaron Judge the scapegoat, not savior? Pundit spews nonsense
It's one thing to point the finger at Aaron Boone. It's another to point at Aaron Judge.
WFAN's Sal Licata gave one of the most asinine takes of the year in claiming the five-time All-Star somehow deserves to shoulder a portion of the Yankees' woes.
Falling below .500 and seeing their playoff hopes diminish with every week, the Yankees have no clear-cut scapegoat for 2023. They're simply a bad team with bad vibes and bad luck.
Part of their bad luck manifested in Judge picking up an injury from the fluky incident of crashing into a wall. Obviously, the Yankees can't fault Judge for getting hurt, but according to Licata, they can blame him for not living up to expectations.
"Since he's been back, the Yankees haven't been any good. I get he's hobbled and it's a bad toe. I get it, I get how great he can be. But why is Aaron Judge absolved of all blame here, when you look at what's gone wrong with the 2023 Yankees? He should be front and center. He's now the captain of the team. He's been the leader and the face of a franchise that has failed year after year.
He's a great player… but we're overlooking the biggest part that's been here. He's the one guy from 2017 on that hasn't delivered."
Let's backtrack a little here. Licata's point seems to be that Judge has been unable to achieve any real glory for the Yankees in the last seven years. New York shelled out $360 million for Judge just to stumble toward another pennant-less season.
But failing to reach the Yankees' high bar is not on Judge. His franchise chose to pay him knowing that Judge hasn't always been that healthy.
As Red Sox reporter Gabrielle Starr notes, Judge played 157 regular-season games in 2022, a career-high. He also played 155 games in his rookie year in 2017. From 2018 to 2021, though, Judge played just 390 out of 546 possible games. And the Yankees still paid him.
Licata also has a problem with Judge's measly postseason numbers, stating that Judge had a .565 OPS in 17 playoff games since 2018. Admittedly, Judge has not done the most he could to help the Yankees win a World Series in part due to injuries and in part due to sparse droughts. Yet expecting him to be some kind of knight in shining armor because New York paid him an exorbitant amount of money doesn't pass the smell test.
Judge, the face of this unspectacular Yankees era, is not a record-setting robot. He's going to have MVP-caliber years, and he's also going to have his injury-impacted years, and that's something New York already knew long before the ink dried on his contract.
MLB Rumors: Former Yankees prospect blasts team into oblivion
There's no shortage of Yankees hate this season. Former Yankees minor-leaguer Ben Ruta was the latest to criticize the franchise for its 2023 disappointments.
Ruta, a 2016 draft pick by New York, spent time with the Yankees' Double-A affiliate and also had a short stint with the Padres.
On a podcast, Ruta slammed the Yankees for depending too much on analytics, also claiming that the franchise's farm system, at least, failed to give proper baseball coaching.
"Fully expect them to clear house in the minor leagues… they will change developmental culture back to old Yankees days. Keep in mind, I played in the Yanks org. before analytics in '16 to '18, and then after in '18 to '20. Stark difference in development."
On track for another underperforming season, the Yankees may have structural issues that extend far beyond the observing eye, and it may be unrealistic to hope for massive improvement within the year.
Last place in the AL East never felt so crummy.