Generally, it's laughable - yet we devour it with both hands. It pushes our fantasy button, the one that says Gary, Gleyber, Luke, Greg, Troy, Vernon - gulp - Youk - insert name here - that a past disappointment has seen the light, changed his honky ways and transformed himself into a tripodal, porn star Adonis, on the verge of a breakout. We want to believe. No, we need to believe, and mid-February - when the Oscars are near, and the swimsuit edition is in the mail - is the time to dream.
Last year, one of the sillier tales of Tampa was this chestnut: Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton had altered their workouts, adding stretches and yoga, to increase durability in the regular season. It lasted maybe two news cycles, replaced by excitement over the Jay Bruce signing.
Still... get this:
It turned out to be true... maybe.
Judge had gone four years without appearing in 120 games during a season. He ended up playing in 148, hitting 39 HRs and batting .287 - by far his best numbers since his cartoonish freshman arrival.
Meanwhile, Giancarlo played 139 games - his most since 2018. Moreover, he played 26 in the outfield, giving the Yankees a huge flexibility that Aaron Boone managed to overlook. Stanton hit 36 HRs and batted .273 - and actually seemed to thrive when playing the outfield. (He hit .267 as a DH -vs .343 in LF and .279 in RF, though small sample sizes.) Should somebody tell Boonie?
So... was the trope, gulp, true?
Well, I dunno. It could be coincidence - a stopped clock, twice a day. But the Yankees have spent a shitwad on player development, and the days of Billy Connor happy hours are long gone. We have young, analytical coaches using advanced training techniques...
You know... like every other team in baseball.
Still, here's a thought for a cold day: Supposedly, Luke Voit spent the winter doing stretches. He's traded kettle balls for kegels. Dare we believe?