Baseball Chat

[domainmaster]

Perfect metaphor comparing Brian Cashman to a "blind squirrel" finding his "nuts".

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut, the saying goes, and Yankees fans have long believed general manager Brian Cashman was that blind squirrel — groping and searching for the complementary players who could help Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole hang a championship banner.

Joey Gallo? The Yankees nearly traded away the entire farm system to find out it wasn’t him.

Josh Donaldson? The Yankees spent $50 million to discover it wasn’t him.

Aaron Hicks (another $70 million) and the group of day laborers in left field seemingly recruited when the Yankees drove past a Home Depot and said, “Hop in”? Wasn’t them, either.

And on and on.

But, as it turns out, Cashman found his nuts: And you know the kind we’re talking about — family jewels.

"Dawg," left fielder Alex Verdugo said. "Put it like that. [Juan Soto is] a dawg. We're all dawgs out here."

Look, it’s only four games into the season — a mere 2.46% of the schedule — but it appears the unbeaten Yankees have found a roster of gamers. And when was the last time you could say that, Scott Brosius?

Sure, Juan Soto carried the Yankees to their four-game, season-opening sweep of the hated Houston Astros, but look at what the other new guys did, too.

Verdugo gets jumps on balls and tracks them like no other Yankees outfielder since Bernie Williams. It’s ironic that he was traded by the Red Sox because he was late to the ballpark. Slow to roll out of bed, maybe. Slow to roll on fly balls? Fuhgeddaboudit.

Verdugo made two sliding catches (one for the final out on Sunday) and chased down a ball in the gap in a key spot earlier in the series.

https://link.nj.com/view/6539bd2e69c235acf50c79c4krn0s.my/14e72708