Appropriate End to Terrible and Tumultuous Season For Yankees, Rodon

I guess that was the only way this ugly season could end - Carlos Rodon was horrific in his final start and the Yankees lost two of three to the putrid Royals. Yeah, that computes. They finished 82-80, fourth place in the AL East, 19 games behind division champ Baltimore and seven games out of the final wild-card spot. Shaking my head over here in the home office. Let’s get to it.

There are several players on the Yankees roster who underperformed in the 2023 season which is now thankfully, mercifully over. No one shit the bed worse than Carlos Rodon.

Wow, that performance Friday night was quite literally the worst by a pitcher in Yankees history, and all of MLB. If you think I’m kidding about that, Rodon’s final start lasted eight Kansas City batters, all eight reached base, and all eight eventually scored. The eight runs allowed are tied for the most by any starter without recording an out since 1901.

That’s right, Rodon did something that hadn’t been done in 122 years. “It was terrible,” Rodon said. Gee, you think?

Remember when Luis Severino said he was the worst pitcher in MLB? He was wrong. Rodon is. He finished his disastrous first season as the newest grossly overpaid Yankee with a 6.85 ERA.

“Pretty disappointing,” Rodon said of his season. “There’s not much else to say about it.”

Oh, there’s plenty to say about it, because it wasn’t just his horrendous pitching that made news on this night. How about that bush league move of turning his back on pitching coach Matt Blake in the middle of that fiasco? I mean, the level of disrespect he showed to his coach was almost as piss poor as his pitch location and execution.

“I was just frustrated,” said Rodon, the same guy who blew a kiss to a few hecklers earlier in the season in Anaheim when he was yanked after another awful performance. “I’m sure it was (disrespectful). I’m sure it wasn’t great. Definitely not the best move, it shouldn’t happen. I was frustrated with myself and my performance. Really embarrassing. Doing that with Matt coming out trying to help me, I turned my back. I was just not in the right mind, that’s for sure. That’s on me.”

It was reported that after Rodon met with the media, Aaron Boone called him into the visiting manager’s office and the two did not emerge while the media was still allowed to be in the clubhouse.

Before that happened, Boone told reporters, “Want better mound presence there, but also, the guy’s competing his ass off, and it’s been a tough year for him and he’s trying to figure it out. He wants to do well. There’s also some grace in … it’s hard, it’s heavy. We don’t have any issue with him as far as how he’s going about it, how he’s getting after it and his care factor. We just got to get him going consistently.”

Well, it’s too late for that in 2023. Maybe it’ll happen in one of these next five years the Yankees are stuck with this guy.

Look, of course there’s a chance that Rodon can bounce back next year. This season was a mess almost from the moment spring training started when he got hurt, and just when it seemed like he was ready to return he got hurt again which delayed his Yankee debut until July 7. Then he started terribly, got hurt again in August and missed two weeks, and by Friday night I’m sure he couldn’t wait for it all to end.

There isn’t a player on this team who will be under more pressure to perform than Rodon. The comparisons to the ghosts of Carl Pavano, Sonny Gray and Ed Whitson are going to haunt him until he proves he can be the guy the Yankees thought they were getting, meaning the No. 2 starter behind Gerrit Cole.

Here are my observations on the three games against the Royals.

Sept. 29: Royals 12, Yankees 5

➤ Wow. In a season filled with mortifying nights, I’m not sure why any of us would be surprised, but this was some kind of special shit show. The second-worst team in MLB, one that began the night with 105 losses, scored nine runs in the first inning. What a complete disgrace.

➤ I said enough about Rodon above, and really, there’s not much to say beyond him, but a few thoughts. Matt Bowman didn’t exactly help the situation once Rodon was sent to the showers. He brought a blow torch onto the gasoline-filled field and gave up a two-run double, an RBI single and a sacrifice fly which allowed the last four runs to score, three of those going on Rodon’s line.

➤ Randy Vasquez entered in the third and did a nice job of calming things down. He lasted 3.2 innings and gave up just one run, further making a statement to be someone the Yankees should consider finding a role for in 2024. He finished the season with a 2.87 ERA across 37.2 innings in 11 appearances, five of those starts. And he’s not making $162 million over six years like Rodon.

➤ Austin Wells continued his power surge in the final week with a three-run homer that made it 10-3 in the fourth and an RBI grounder in the fifth that made it 10-5. It would be really nice if Wells can establish himself as the No. 1 catcher next season and then Jose Trevino - who can’t hit for shit - can be the twice-a-week catcher. But we’ll see. Wells’ defense is still in question.

BOX SCORE

Sept. 30: Yankees 5, Royals 2

➤ Frankie Montas arrived just in time to save the Yankees season! I kid, of course. Montas, who ranks about as high as Rodon on the current list of terrible Brian Cashman acquisitions, had not pitched since the postseason in 2022. But he started to gear up in September, made a few minor-league appearances, and the Yankees gave him an opportunity to pitch in this meaningless game against one of the worst teams in MLB.

➤ Clarke Schmidt didn’t have much so Boone pulled him and sent Montas out to start the fifth inning in a 2-2 game. He allowed a two-out walk and that runner wound up on third after a throwing error by Kyle Higashioka on a steal attempt, but Montas stranded him by inducing a groundout. Then in the sixth, Montas gave up a single and a double, struck out a batter, and Boone lifted him after 26 pitches. His ERA remained 0.00 thanks to Greg Weissert who struck out two men to leave those runners on base.

➤ Ian Hamilton and Clay Holmes then blanked the Royals the rest of the way and the Yankees grabbed control with a three-run rally in the sixth, and that actually put Montas in line for the victory. So hey, what a season for him, 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA. Higashioka led off the sixth with a single and then with two outs, in succession Estevan Florial had an RBI single, DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Judge walked, and Gleyber Torres delivered a two-run single.

➤ The Montas situation will be interesting in the offseason. Allegedly, he’s now healthy. Before he came to the Yankees as an injured player, he was a very good starter. He’s a free agent, so if his market is soft, I wonder if the Yankees will bring him back on a one-year prove it deal? It may not be a crazy idea. There’s even talk they should do that with Luis Severino, but that doesn’t make much sense. Severino needs a change of scenery, and the Yankees can’t trust him to stay healthy.

➤ With the victory, the Yankees extended their streak of consecutive above. 500 finishes to 31. No doubt that’s impressive, but I don’t think anyone cares much about that number this season.

BOX SCORE

Oct. 1: Royals 5, Yankees 2

➤ Out with a whimper went the Yankees as they lost the rubber match to the lowly Royals who finished their season 56-106.

➤ Michael King wasn’t sharp which is breaking news given the way his season finished. He lasted only four innings and was roughed up for four runs on eight hits with just one strikeout. Just a weird game for him after he’d been so dominant since he moved into the rotation. The lack of strikeouts was a particularly odd development.

➤ M.J. Melendez hit a solo homer in the second and then with two outs King yielded a single, a stolen base and an RBI single to Nick Pratto. In the fourth, two more solo homers by Edward Olivares and Dairon Blanco, whoever they are, made it 4-0.

➤ The Yankees only runs came in the sixth when LeMahieu walked, Wells doubled and Isiah Kiner-Falefa ripped a two-run single. LeMahieu might be the last batter 39-year-old Royals starter Zack Greinke faces in his career. Greinke is a borderline Hall of Famer who returned to Kansas City last season, the place where his career began in 2004. What a shame that it might end like this as he got credit for the win, which raised his record 2-15 on the season with an ERA of 5.18, the second-worst of his career (5.80 in 2005 when he lost 17 for the Royals).

➤ “We need to be playing this time of year, so that’s the first thing,” Boone said in his final game-day press conference, hopefully his last as Yankees manager, but probably not. “But again, take a little bit of solace in how these guys continued to show up, continued to prepare, continued to compete all the way ‘til the end. Played well down the stretch when it wasn’t necessarily an easy thing to do. So I’m appreciative of that, but we know we need to be playing this time of year, and that’s ultimately the takeaway.”

BOX SCORE

 ➤ Oct. 1-2, 1949: In one of the few seasons where the Yankees and Red Sox actually battled right to the end to win either an American League or AL East division championship, the Yankees came out on top. The teams played a two-game season-ending series at Yankee Stadium and when it began, the Red Sox held a one-game lead, and when it ended, the Yankees were one game ahead.

Before the first game, the Yankees celebrated Joe DiMaggio Day, even though he had no intention of retiring and would not do so until after 1951. His brother Dom, a member of the Red Sox, and their mother joined him for the on-field ceremony. DiMaggio received gifts totaling more than $5,000 which included a new Cadillac, a new Dodge for his mother, 300 gallons of ice cream, and a four-year scholarship to a New York city college or university for a boy of DiMaggio’s selection. Also, $7,500 was donated in his name to the Heart and Cancer funds.

DiMaggio, who was never comfortable with public speaking, admitted to being nervous before he addressed the crowd, but he did utter a line that became a Yankee mantra forever more when he said, “I’d like to thank the good Lord for making me a Yankee.”

When all that was wrapped up, there was a huge game to play because if Boston won, it would clinch the AL pennant. And things were looking good as the Red Sox opened a 4-0 lead after three innings, knocking Allie Reynolds out. However, Joe Page threw 6.2 brilliant, pressure-packed innings of one-hit shutout relief and the Yankees rallied to win 5-4. DiMaggio doubled and scored during a two-run fourth and he singled during a two-run fifth that tied the game. Then in the eighth, Johnny Lindell hit a solo homer to win it.

The next day in the winner-take-all game, Phil Rizzuto led off the bottom of the first with a triple and scored on a grounder by Tommy Henrich and that 1-0 lead held up until the bottom of the eighth when the Yankees tacked on four runs on a solo homer by Henrich and a three-run double by Jerry Coleman.

Boston threw a scare into the Yankees in the ninth when they scored three off Vic Raschi, but Raschi completed the pennant-winning 5-3 victory by retiring Birdie Tebbets on a grounder.

The Yankees then went on to defeat the Dodgers in the World Series for the third time in the 1940s in a five-game rout.

The season is over, but that doesn’t mean the newsletter goes away. In the coming weeks I’ll be rolling out my season report cards - infield, outfield, rotation and bullpen. When there’s news, I’ll react. And Hardball Hyperbole will continue to come out every Wednesday and will run into the first week of December. I guess that will have to serve as our taste of meaningful playoff baseball.

One last thing, I am re-sending the Pinstripe People survey that I put out earlier in the year. For those of you who already filled it out, thanks, and you can ignore it this time. But since I last sent it, the subscriber list has nearly doubled, so many of you never saw this. I would really appreciate it if you click below and give me a couple minutes of your time so I can get your input.

Thanks everyone, and I hope you enjoyed the newsletter more than this Yankees season. Here’s the survey link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1VQobTM42zaiHYVhWWnB4Yu2Pw0gs1843yA87WA_fesw/edit