Gio Urshela might have just taken a shot at Brian Cashman and the New York Yankees for trading him.
What felt like it should have been a magical season for the New York Yankees crumbled as soon as it faced adversity. The Houston Astros proved they are the far better team when they swept the Yankees on their home field.
Significant roster issues underscore the whole demise of the Bronx Bombers’ season. Obviously, they have a lot of talent. Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton highlight the offensive side of things, with Jose Trevino, Harrison Bader, and Anthony Rizzo highlighting the non-pitching defensive side. The starting pitching staff is great as well, led by All-Stars Gerrit Cole and Nestor Cortes.
There are significant issues, though, and one of them stems from the trade that landed the team Josh Donaldson, and Gio Urshela appears to have sent a shot toward the Yankees in regards to that trade.
This trade and its validity or invalidity can actually be debated, despite how bad it looks. We’ll get to Urshela’s comments, but here’s the trade, as a refresher:
- Yankees incoming: 3B Josh Donaldson; SS Isiah Kiner-Falefa; C Ben Rortvedt
- Twins incoming: C Gary Sanchez; 3B/SS Gio Urshela
For a while, the trade actually looked like it unlocked a lot of good for the Yankees. It allowed them to move Gleyber Torres from shortstop to his more natural position at second base, which gave him the confidence to have a bounce-back batting year and a better year from the field. It also unlocked DJ Lemahieu as an all-around infield utility guy wherever was needed on a nightly basis.
The positive second- and third-order consequences from the trade shouldn’t be ignored.
Despite the positives, the slumps started and made the negatives stick out. Kiner-Falefa was not the defensive player the Yankees thought they were getting, committing the fifth-most fielding errors in the MLB. Donaldson failed to hit for much of the season, putting up an OPS+ under 100 for the first time since 2012.
Gio Urshela seems to throw some shade on the Yankees loss
Gio Urshela was a great third-baseman for the Yankees. Let’s remember, he put his body on the line for the pinstripes in 2021:
He was loved, and seeing him go in the Twins trade felt bad, but at the time it seemed as though the trade could be a definitive upgrade, especially since the Yankees got rid of Gary Sanchez who had been frustrating to watch in 2021.
Here’s what he Tweeted Monday morning, just hours after the Astros swept the Yankees:
Good morning ! ☕️
— Gio Urshela (@Urshela10) October 24, 2022
The inclusion of the coffee emoji has us thinking of the Kermit tea-drinking meme… Gio is just, “minding his business,” but very well could be hinting at the fact that the Yankees trading him that made their infield “so much better” really didn’t do that at all. In the end, it got the Yankees just a bit closer to the World Series, but still short of where they intended to be.
Think it’s just a routine Tweet? I don’t know about that! The last time he Tweeted anything other than a retweet of other accounts was April 17th. It’s unlike him to throw up a “Good morning” Tweet for no reason.
So, yes, probably some shade from Gio. We kind of love it.
Gio might not be the only player to leave New York and become an opponent pretty soon…