Eovaldi Released, Yanks Get Nothing For Him

In 2015, Nathan Eovaldi went 14-3 for the Yankees, leading the American League in winning percentage at .824.

In 2016, he went 9-8 before getting hurt, and requiring Tommy John surgery that would likely keep him out of action for the entire 2017 season.

Pitchers have come back from the surgery before and done well. And he'll only be 28 years old on Opening Day 2018.

The Yankees have now released Eovaldi.

You know, Brian Cashman is a confirmed jackass and a confirmed moron. But at least when he traded away Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller, Ivan Nova and Carlos Beltran, he got something back. Nothing that's going to do a damn thing for the Yankees prior to roster call-ups in September 2018, but at least it's possible.

We're giving up Eovaldi, and getting back nothing at all.

This is not a recommended way to run a ballclub.

Meanwhile, Boston, Baltimore and Toronto are still good. Outside our Division, there's Cleveland, Detroit and Texas. Houston and Kansas City tailed off a bit, but we can't count on them not coming back to Playoff capability in 2017.

The Yankees continue to regress. November 4, 2009 seems like a long time ago. So does October 12, 2012, when we last won a postseason series. Even October 6, 2015, our last postseason game, now feels like it was in another era.

What has Brian Cashman done to make it look like a Playoff berth is possible in 2017? Not a damn thing.

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Russ Nixon died earlier this month, at age 81. A native of the Cincinnati area, he was a catcher with bad luck. He was on the Cleveland Indians when they finished 2nd in 1959, but fell short of the Pennant. He went to the Minnesota Twins after they won the Pennant in 1965, and lost the Pennant to the Red Sox on the last day of the 1967 season. He got traded to the Red Sox, but Jim Lonborg's broken leg doomed them to non-contention, and he never played in the majors again after that season. His lifetime batting average was .268.

He went into coaching, and was promoted to his hometown Cincinnati Reds in 1976, and got a World Series ring that way. In 1981, with Nixon still on their staff, the Reds had the best overall record in Major League Baseball, but because the strike that season caused a split-season format, and they didn't finish 1st in the National League Western Division in either half, they missed the Playoffs, in spite of it being the 1st-ever 8-team Playoff. They fired manager John McNamara as the team fell apart the next season, and Nixon couldn't turn it around. He lasted another season. He had now become a manager with bad luck.
He worked in the Montreal Expos' and Atlanta Braves' systems, and in 1988 was named the Braves' manager. Although he had helped break in Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Steve Avery (Greg Maddux came later), the Braves were headed for a last-place finish in 1990, and general manager Bobby Cox fired him -- and took the job himself, with John Schuerholz being named the new GM. And the rest was history.

He later served as a coach with the Seattle Mariners in 1992, and worked in the minor-league systems of the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers as recently as 2008.

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Dave Ferriss died last week, just short of turning 95. The Mississippi native, sometimes listed as Boo Ferriss, was signed out of Mississippi State University by the Red Sox in 1942, served in the U.S. Army during World War II, was discharged in February 1945 due to asthma, and made his major league debut on April 29, 1945, pitching a 5-hit shutout against the Philadelphia Athletics. He pitched 22 scoreless innings to start his career, a record that lasted until 2008.

He went 21-10 in 1945, and 25-6 in 1946, making the All-Star Game at his home field, Fenway Park, and helping the Red Sox win their 1st Pennant in 28 years. Had there been a Cy Young Award at the time, he surely would have won it that year. He shut the St. Louis Cardinals out in Game 3 of the World Series, and started Game 7, but did not figure in the decision, as the Cardinals beat the Red Sox thanks to Enos Slaughter's "Mad Dash."

In 1947, his asthma began to catch up with him, and arm trouble restricted him further in 1948. In 1949, he made only 4 appearances, and his last was just 1 inning on Opening Day in 1950. He was 46-16 before his 25th birthday, but threw his last major league pitch at age 28, finishing 65-30. He pitched 2 more seasons for the Sox' top farm team, the Louisville Colonels, but it was clear that he no longer had it.

He later served as the Sox' pitching coach, and in 1960 was named head baseball coach at Delta State University in Mississippi, a job he held (with a brief break in 1967-68 to be Mississippi State's assistant athletic director) until 1988, winning 639 games and 4 Gulf South Conference Championships, and reaching 3 NCAA Division II Finals.
He coached 20 All-Americans, 20 Academic All-Americans, and 23 professional players. A player who did not make his team was John Grisham, whom Ferriss cut in 1978. Grisham returned to the Cleveland, Mississippi campus of Delta State 30 years later, and thanked Ferriss for taking him off the path of sports, and putting him on the path to writing.

He was a member of the Mississippi Sports, Delta State University Sports, American Baseball Coaches Association and Boston Red Sox Halls of Fame. The baseball field at Delta State and the Mississippi Collegiate Baseball Player of the Year award are named for him.

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