I generally like to stick to history and analysis here, but I’m going to venture off path a little bit today with some amateur psychological analysis as well as some baseball thoughts. And as a reminder, Out of Left Field is an occasional post about topics that may not need 1,000 words of analysis but are worth a quick mention. In no particular order…
I never want to see anyone injured – and if you do express joy over a player’s injury, at the risk of being officious, I implore you to reevaluate what type of human being you are. That said, I believe in silver linings. If Josh Donaldson’s setback means we get to see more Oswald Peraza, I’m putting that in the silver lining column because Yankee fans are sleeping on Peraza.
Two things can be true: Anthony Rizzo is largely overrated as a player, yet it’s simultaneously impossible to not love him being on your team. Rizzo dealt with Vlad Jr.’s childish nonsense last night as the adult in the room and the veteran player he is, making Jr. look even sillier than he’d already made himself look. Credit to Greg Weissert as well for acting like an adult, but Rizzo’s response also came with the gravitas of 13 years of big-league experience. Well done, Anthony.
Speaking of Vlad Jr. and his (repeated) proclamations that he would never play for the Yankees, I’m reminded of the Chris Rock line: (Paraphrasing) That’s like saying “I’d never get into Rhianna’s panties!” Bruh…you weren’t invited. I’m not a psychologist but I’m going to pretend to be one right now: Vlad Jr. may as well just start every interaction with “I grew up with a rich daddy and absolutely everything is about me…and if it isn’t, I’ll make it about me by making an ass of myself until I get the attention I crave!” He’s the anti-Rizzo – absolutely impossible to like.
In case you missed yesterday’s post…
Derek Jeter posted 2.2 fWAR in 1996 when he won the Rookie of the Year award. At almost exactly the same age as Jeter was in ’96, Anthony Volpe is on pace for 4.1 fWAR in ‘23. Yes, I understand it’s April, but that’s hard to ignore. And if you’re curious, bWAR has similar numbers for both but Prospectus’ WARP isn’t quite as high on Volpe as the other two are, having him on a similar rookie path as Jeter’s.
Cole vs. Manoah today, 1:05 pm in the Boogie Down. Grab the popcorn and a carbonated beverage of your choice, I’ll be watching with you.
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