SU watched all of the Djokovic – Alcaraz 4-hour final yesterday in temperatures in the high 90s, and I was struck by the level of effort that these guys put out on the court. Djokovic never plays well in hot and humid conditions, and after going up 4-2 in the 1st set, he was clearly impacted by the heat for the next hour. Down 4-2 in the 2nd set, it looked like he was dead man walking, and this would be over soon. But he found another gear, and pushed the match into a 3rd set.

Alcaraz is only 20 but plays without fear. He saved so many break points and even match points with crazy winners from all over the court in the 3rd set. The rivalry now stands at 2 -2, and every match has gone the distance. SU was happy to see that the Cincinnati crowd actually gave Djokovic his due, and there were a fair number of fans rooting for him. Very unusual in the US but the absence of Nadal and Federer seems to allow more fans to root for him in the twilight of his career. You have to give him props at 36 for hanging in there and going toe-to-toe with Alcaraz who will be one of the all-time greats. He has the all-court game, and can even serve and volley like one of the old pros from years gone by. For tennis fans, these are must-see TV events.

One note for the Tennis Channel: it’s not necessary to zero in on the server tossing the ball and then quickly breaking back to the all-court view to watch the actual serve. The human eye cannot adjust in time. Please make the adjustment.

Now the contrast. The Yankees were swept by the Red Sox and their losing streak is now at 8 games. The season is over. The team plays with no passion, no effort. I know in baseball, it can make it look like you are not trying when you are not hitting, but there is no hustle and every game features errors and head-scratching plays. Fan Graphs gives them a less than 1% chance of making the playoffs as a Wild Card. There are obvious moves to make:

1. You can only bring up the youngsters in the minor leagues who are on the 40-man roster. They need to release some of the guys on the current roster. McKinney and Bauers are nice stories but they are not your keepers for 2024 and beyond. They have minimum salaries – you can let them go and find another home. The Yankees actually have some exciting players ready for a chance to show what they can do for the last 35 games or so. This is a no-brainer.
2. Don’t fire Aaron Boone now. Not his fault. True, he is not a good in-game manager, and the players no longer respond to him but they’re not going anywhere this year. Do what you want in the off-season. Paging Don Mattingly? David Cone?
3. Change the entire mindset for the organization. Stop teaching the upper cut swings in the minor leagues, and go back to hitting for average and getting on base. SU does not understand the upper cut swings when pitchers throw 95 – 100 mph high in the zone. How does that even work? Parading .200 hitters to the plate is not interesting, inspiring or watchable. The transition will take years and will require a rebuild of sorts. You have Judge and Cole in their primes, and that may be a problem. Or it allows you to still be competitive to some degree?
4. SU knows everyone wants to fire Cashman but not going there. If you look back to the July 31st moves last year, they gave up so many minor league players for Frankie Montas (awful) and two other relievers (Trevino and Effross) who have not pitched at all this year. And they traded for Joey Gallo the year before. SU says stop. Just stop. Develop your minor league players. They are cheaper and more fun to watch. Trading for Josh Donaldson is the perfect example of bad decisions. Yes, they did move Gary Sanchez there but Donaldson is the type of high strikeout player no one wants to watch.
5. The Yankees were the last team to have a player get to 50 RBIs. Just happened yesterday I believe. They have had 49 games where the starting pitcher went 6 innings and gave up 2 runs or less. They are 9 – 40 in those games. SU did the math and that is 40% of total games played to date. Giancarlo Stanton is hitting .200 for the year and cannot run full speed. They are stuck with him until he turns 53, and at a salary of $30 million+, he will not go anywhere. SU has come to grips with that. He will miss 60% of the games each year though, so there is still room to slot in someone else for more than half the season. DJ LeMahieu seems to be past his prime and they also have him for another couple of years. For SU, it is clear that the Braves have the right idea: lock up the younger players with long-term contracts at a younger age. Enough of the long-term deals for older players. We will see how Carlos Rodon turns out for the next 5 years but 2023 has not been a good look. Not everyone can play in NY. And btw, shut down Judge for the year. Let him have his toe operation. Also Stanton. He can’t run and it must also be impacting his swing.

Bottom line: the team needs a rebuild and SU can handle that. I have not been to a game this year and have no interest in going. “Nothing to see here; please move along.” (from The Naked Gun movie). Sums up the 2023 Yankees.