Farewell To The Jesus

I'm not a religious man by any means.  The one day of church I attend every year is on Christmas Eve, and I only do it because I know it's important to my mother.  And even then, I spend the majority of my time at that one Christmas Eve church visit trying not to laugh at the way the pastor delivers a watered down version of the Christmas story, including random animals that would never appear in the nativity scene.

So while I might not be one of the lucky few who is spared during the next rapture or end of the world of whatever, I was a believer in one Jesus.  That Jesus wasn't a product of a virgin birth (as far as I know), he didn't sport a kickass hippy beard, and he more than likely won't get nailed to a cross by a bunch of angry baseball fans.  But he was a miracle child, and he could have been the savior of the Yankee offense.  Sure, he wasn't going to be Pudge Rodriguez behind the plate, but look at that swing!!  It was a thing of beauty.  It was as if Michelangelo himself rose from the grave to craft that swing and bless it with opposite field power.  And after the events that transpired on Friday night, it is a swing that we Yankee fans shall get to enjoy nevermore.  That swing will live on through our memories of those glorious 69 plate appearances last September, and the couple in October, but from this day forth we will experience it only as that of a visiting player, the enemy, and that is truly disappointing.

I've written about the perils of prospect hugging before, but in the case of Jesus Montero I was powerless to follow my own advice, as I'm sure many of you were.  He had been hyped up for so long (with good reason), and we had to wait seemingly forever to finally get the chance to see him break into the everyday Yankee lineup, laying the groundwork for the next great batch of homegrown talent that would surely establish the next great Yankee dynasty.  And now he'll be shipped clear off to the other side of the continent, never to bless us with any of his heavenly talents.  After waiting for years for him to develop and make his way through the Minor League ranks, and seeing him held out of multiple trades for other pitchers, to have him snatched away right as he finally reached the level at which we all wanted to see him is a tremendous blow.

On a personal level, despite the fact that I quickly came to understand how good a trade this was for the Yankees on Friday night, I'm still bummed out at having to lose Jesus and not get to worship at his altar for the next 10-12 years.  He was the first prospect since Phil Hughes that I latched onto early and followed all the way through the system, and I was a firm believer that the Yankees should not have traded him for anybody and used him to build the foundation for the future lineup.  Not to mention the fact that he was my favorite of all the Photoshops I use regularly on the site, and now I can never use it again.

I'm even going to have to replace him on the sidebar of the page.  That fucking sucks.

I'm happy with the decisions the Yankees made in terms of the big picture.  But a part of me will always be bummed out that I didn't get to see what Jesus could have done in a Yankee uniform.  Whether he turned out to be Carlos Lee or Miguel Cabrera or somebody else, whatever.  It would have been exciting to see his career play out after all the hype.  I used this song last year in jest to commemorate Pedro Feliciano being lost for the season.  Today, it actually seems strangely appropriate to use in connection with Jesus leaving us.  Goodbye, sweet prince.  You will be missed.