The New York Yankees’ immediate future could be determined by their rotation of the lottery tickets, bolstered by excellent first impressions from Jameson Taillon and Corey Kluber.
As the Americans (hopefully) ascend towards something near the promised land, fans were given a reminder of the last “funniest era” in the last Bronx baseball on Saturday when Todd Frazier showed up.
Do you remember the toddfather? The personable thug who helped wake up the 2017 cut-off date Yankees offensive and quickly rose from the unannounced sub-regions of the David Robertson trade to redefine the team’s playoff run?
He’s now a Pittsburgh pirate and he’s switching places as Taillon steps into a 2021 season that feels almost normal so far.
Taillon went back to business on Saturday, sniffing four and allowing two hits in two innings in preparation for April by stretching a little with 39 pitches.
On the way up the hill, Frazier stopped him and assured him he could move on from Pittsburgh and do his thing in the Bronx. The seasoned third baseman would take it from here.
When Jameson Taillon came down from the hill today, he crossed Todd Frazier and they shared a brief moment.
Taillon revealed that Frazier said, “I’ll take care of your boys here.”
– Max Goodman (@MaxTGoodman) March 6, 2021
Todd Frazier had Jameson Taillon bring the torch to the Yankees on Saturday.
This interesting little moment certainly speaks for the “caretaker” nature of both men.
Taillon is a one-of-a-kind individual who was in part poached by his former teammate Gerrit Cole to reunite as a top duo with the Yankees. Until last month, however, the pirates were the only organization Taillon had ever known. You were his baseball family.
When he made it perfectly clear on Saturday, he drove to Bradenton with eyes metaphorically closed. He had followed the path that was already rooted in him.
Years after leaving the bombers, Frazier’s brief presentation on Saturday showed that he is still committed to helping his former team when the opportunity arises.
People like Frazier don’t come around that often, and so do people like Taillon, a pitcher who is clearly on the edge of greatness and still feeling the weight of the team it left behind.
Frazier? He, too, regards baseball as a brotherhood, and that brief chat on Saturday was one last chance to let the quirky Taillon know that it was more than okay to move on.
Great things could be ahead for the Taillon-Cole pairing as long as the newcomer and the team’s ace are mentally ready to contribute. Saturday’s game was a big step towards normal in several ways.
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