Headley had 31 HRs and 115 RBIs one year for San Diego. His career 162-game average? Try 15 HRs and 68 RBIs ... and that includes the 31/115 anomaly.
Cashman was hoping for another Brosius/Swisher bargain basement find and Cashman got burned:
"The Yankees gave the switch-hitting 32-year-old third baseman a four-year, $52 million two seasons ago after acquiring him in a trade with the Padres in July of 2014.
In 2015, Headley committed 23 errors and posted a .693 OPS. In 2016, he got off to a miserable start at the plate, contributing to his team's miserable start in the standings."
25 HRs and 113 RBIs isn't so bad for a third baseman playing at Yankee Stadium and making $13 million.
Oh, wait.
Those stats are for two seasons combined?
"On May 3, Headley's batting average was .147 and the Yankees were 8-16.
'Mechanically, I had a little too much forward movement in my swing and I was a little too pull conscious,' Headley said. 'And when things are going that bad and you have some poor luck, your confidence gets a bit shaken. Because of my past track record, it never got to the point where I was like I'm not going to hit again, it was when am I going to hit again.'
Eventually, he rebounded to hit .268 the rest of the way."
Wow. A whole .268 "the rest of the way."
If Ellsbury hits .268 "the rest of the way," the writers want to run him out of town.
"While Spring Training is about preparing for something larger, there occasionally are moments like this one. Afterwards, all the best quotes came from the Detroit clubhouse.
'There's pride involved,' Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. 'You don't want to get no-hit whether it's Spring Training, regular season or Wiffle ball in the backyard.'
Yankees manager Joe Girardi laughed when someone asked if he'd saved the lineup card. For him, a spring no-hitter simply was another brick in a very impressive wall.
At 16-5, the Yankees hold the Majors' best record this spring. They've seen what they had hoped to see from most of their primetime players and the waves of young talent on the way."
"Forget five pitchers fighting for two rotation jobs."
No problem. I have forgotten the names of the five pitchers fighting for two rotation jobs. That was easy.
"The right-field competition between Aaron Judge and Aaron Hicks has
turned into the hottest battle in Yankees camp that may not be decided
much before the April 2 opener."
Exciting.
"Should Hicks, 27, win the job, Judge, 25 next month, isn’t going to
stick around as a bench player. That would open a fourth outfielder
spot. Even as good as Dustin Fowler has looked in spring training, it’s
highly unlikely the 22-year-old who never has played above Double-A
would be the choice. Ditto Clint Frazier, who played 30 games at
Triple-A last year. Mason Williams, who hasn’t appeared in a spring game
because of a strained left patella, could fill the role if he gets
healthy enough. He was limited to 43 minor league games and 12 major
league tilts last year because of shoulder surgery."
On the other hand, I'm also guessing that Harper never noticed an on-deck circle snafu before simply because Harper wasn't paying attention:
"Maybe it wasn't quite the same as a rookie quarterback nervously lining
up under the guard rather than the center to take the snap, but Tim
Tebow's lack of baseball experience proved embarrassing before he ever
got in the batter's box on Wednesday.
It's not often you see a hitter walk across to the other team's on-deck
circle to get ready to hit. Actually, you never see that, not even in
high school, where Tebow last played before signing on for this sideshow
with the Mets.
It was so unusual that Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello, warming up at the
time, said he assumed it was a bat boy when he noticed someone in a
Mets' uniform walking behind the plate to the Red Sox side of the field.
When home plate umpire Ryan Addition noticed, he had to tell the former
Heisman Trophy winner to get back to his side of the field.
Afterward Tebow said he thought because he's a lefthanded hitter, he
should go to that side. He said Jacob deGrom kidded him, 'I won't tell
anybody but I saw it.' "
"The New York Yankees are seriously contemplating dropping the $153 Million Man, Jacoby Ellsbury,
to the bottom of the batting order this season. Since Ellsbury has been
a Yankee, he has nearly always hit in the first three spots of the
lineup, despite being barely an average player. It seems as if his
seven-year deal could go down as the worst free-agent signing in
franchise history."
I believe you answered your own question. If Ellsbury has been average, then he's a lot better than many Yankee free agent signings.
Has Headley been average? Was McCann average? These are players on the 2016 Yankees. Not a huge research project. Just look around the locker room.
In 2016, Ellsbury was the fifth-best player on the whole team according to WAR.
"This season, the Yankees are paying Alex Rodriguez
$21 million not to play, per the terms of his final 10-year, $275
million contract. Owner Hal Steinbrenner has shown the team will eat
money if there is no better option."
Nothing could be further from the truth. Obviously, owner Hal Steinbrenner has not shown the team will eat money if there is no better option.
If so, the Yankees would have cut ARod years ago.
I can't recall any other example of Steinbrenner eating a major contract ... and he has had plenty of chances.
For example, what was Teixeira even doing on the team last year?
"Ellsbury's time with the Yankees has been downright boring, with few
memorable highlights and benchings in pivotal games. He has built no
equity with the team."
No doubt.
But I don't recall too many Yankee fans naming their kids after Steve Kemp or Dave Collins.
"Ellsbury’s seven-year, $153 million contract is vying for the worst in
Yankees history. Its shear enormousness, an overreaction to the
impending loss of Robinson Cano in the winter of 2013, will likely give it the edge over Ed Whitson's, Carl Pavano's and Kei Igawa's in Yankees free-agent infamy. (Not that anyone should feel bad for Ellsbury; who wouldn’t want to be overpaid?)"
No way.
Just account for inflation. That is all you have to do. It isn't a difficult concept.
The aforementioned Steve Kemp was the 4th-highest player in baseball in 1985. His WAR was 0.1 and he was sent to the minors before quickly being traded. Kemp's salary of $1.4 million doesn't sound like a lot 32 years later, but it's the 2017 equivalent of Miguel Cabrera's salary. Cabrera ain't exactly playing in the minors.
Similarly, Ellsbury is the 30th-highest paid player in baseball in 2017. Too much money, without question. Yet Ellsbury is still better than some of the people ahead of him on the list, believe it or not, even if he's merely average.
ARod is 31st for, you know, lots and lots of consulting.
"In his three seasons in the Bronx, he has hit .264 with a .326
on-base percentage -- far below his career totals of .297 and .439
coming into the contract. He has stolen just 80 bases -- 10 more than he
stole in a single season, 2009, with the Boston Red Sox.
He has hit 32 homers in three seasons as a Yankee, which is the same
amount he swatted in 2011 in Boston, the one year that seemed to justify
his big-bucks signing. Ellsbury chases balls down in center field, but
he throws worse than a New York Jets quarterback.
On
top of this, Ellsbury brings no buzz to the team. He is as invisible in
the clubhouse as he is on the field. He is not a leader, typically the
role of higher-paid players. When things went wrong, Derek Jeter
was almost always there to answer the tough questions. It is part of
the job for the top crop of Yankees to communicate to the fans. Ellsbury
is rarely in the clubhouse, especially when the big-time players are
being held accountable."
This is not a strong case at all.
1. "His Yankee totals are below his own career totals."
2. "He has speed on the basepaths and the outfield."
3. "No buzz in the clubhouse." Well, gee.
None of these observations explain how Ellsbury was a worse signing than, say, Pascual Perez, Jose Contreras, that weird pro-rated Roger Clemens nonsense which excited Suzyn Waldman quite a bit, or Mike Witt ... some obvious disasters who Marchand didn't even mention.
If you're worried about sheer size of the contract, then it is still nowhere near the worst when youl take inflation into account and look at ROI.
What Marchand is really doing is trying to figure out who to obsess about since ARod has retired.
We can all look forward to thousands upon thousands of anti-Ellsbury tweets while Marchand ignores similar observations about Brett Gardner and CC Sabathia.
"The matter of Frazier’s hair speaks to a deeper issue for the Yankees and baseball in general.
Frazier, who could be a starter this season, is viewed as being central to the Yankees’ youth movement, and with his hair and provocative personality, he might offer a jolt of enthusiasm largely absent from Yankee Stadium these days.
Attendance, television ratings and the fan following for the Yankees have been in steady decline in recent years, as the team has played only one playoff game since 2012. Magnetic performers like Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Alex Rodriguez have retired.
Across town, the Mets stand in sharp relief: an ascendant World Series contender and increasingly popular on television, the team is built around a dynamic young pitching rotation. The Mets’ two headliners, Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom, sport shoulder-length hair that is decidedly un-Yankee-like and both celebrated and mimicked by fans.
The two teams — and their hirsute styling — may stand as proxies for the push and pull that baseball is going through, trying to speed up the game to lure young, attention-starved fans without alienating older, tradition-bound ones.
How to embrace tradition without being a slave to it?"
The only thing that matters is Ws and Ls.
Shoulder-length hair is not why Mets fans celebrate Syndergaard and deGrom.
Betances has been basically unhittable for three straight seasons as a setup man.
bumps in the road last season because, I guess, he's human.
Then the Yankees use his lack of saves against him in arbitration and go out of their way to trash his accomplishments.
So Betances gets $3 million because the Yankees couldn't scrape up another $2 million. Which is probably what they spend on Dellin Betances bobble head dolls.
It sounds kind of bad when you say "nine postseason innings in the past four seasons."
Not even being snarky, when I first read the headline, "Yankees Plan a Trip to Canyon of Heroes," I thought they meant for a different event. Like a team-building trip to celebrate a parade for a World Cup soccer team, or something like that.
Has anyone even pondered the fact that you're giving both teams the same advantage? Sure, you're increasing the chances that the visiting team scores a run in the top of the inning ... and then increasing the chances that the home team scores a run in the bottom of the inning:
"I know there's a romantic notion about extra innings, which speaks to the
timeless element of a sport that isn't governed by a clock. But the
reality of it is the romance goes out of your run-of-the-mill
extra-inning game fairly quickly, and after the 10th or 11th it feels as
if everyone in the ballpark is begging for some action."
I harbor no romantic notions about extra innings or even the timeless elements of a sport that isn't governed by a clock.
Baseball has lots of run-of-the-mill games, extra innings or not.
Baseball fans enjoy them either way.
If you're really hoping to keep the youngsters off their iPhones, you've lost them by the bottom of the second inning anyway. You're trying to make that game more exciting for a catatonic 9-year-old in the cheap seats ... and you think they'll awake from their slumber because you start the inning with a runner on second base?
"Is it gimmicky — an artificial way to get to a speedier result? Sure, but it wouldn't change the authenticity of the competition.
Instead it would create instant drama, put immediate pressure on the
pitcher and the defense, and set up a strategy decision — to bunt or not
to bunt? — that all but ensures some level of second-guessing of the
manager.
Is any of that bad for the game?"
Yes, I believe it's bad for the game. The reasoning is so obvious that I don't even feel like taking the time to explain. After nine innings, line up 5 players from each team and spin plates on the knob of the bat. Whoever keeps their plates spinning the longest wins the game.
You're also wildly overrating the excitement of (a) sac bunting and (b) second-guessing the manager.
"But perhaps a better comparison is the radical change another sport
adopted nearly 50 years ago to bring a conclusion to the endless hours
sometimes needed to determine a winner.
At the time, players and fans alike screamed in protest that installing
a tiebreaker in tennis was too gimmicky to be accepted. Now, all these
years later, it's hard to imagine tennis played without tiebreaker.
Otherwise some of those classic Federer-Nadal matches over the years
might have never ended."
One of the most pressing problems with baseball is the high volume of 18-inning games where utility infielders are forced to pitch:
"Let's see what it looks like," Torre told Yahoo! Sports. "It's not fun
to watch when you go through your whole pitching staff and wind up
bringing a utility infielder in to pitch. As much as it's nice to talk
about being at an 18-inning game, it takes time."
"But for now, the Patriots really do feel like the old Yankees. Not Torre’s Yankees, who took Yankee hating out of style. No, the Yankees who began with Babe Ruth and went all the way into the middle 1960s. The Yankees who were once compared to U.S. Steel. Those Yankees."
Take a thing from Boston. Red Sox, Patriots, David Ortiz, Theo Epstein.
Compare it favorably to a thing from New York. Torre-era Yankees, Babe Ruth-era Yankees, Alex Rodriguez, Brian Cashman.
"Ex-Yankee Robinson Cano returned to dominance in 2016, belting a
career-high 39 home runs, triple-slashing .298/.350/.533 and ranking
sixth in all of baseball with an ESPN Wins Above Replacement of 7.3.
Cano is now three seasons into his 10-year, $240 million contract with
the Mariners. And so far — with the exception of the first three months
of 2015, when he battled a reported stomach illness and struggled as a
result — it's worked out very well for Seattle."
No, it hasn't worked out very well for Seattle. They haven't even made the playoffs.
"An eight-year, $200 million offer supposedly would've done the trick.
But the Yankees went in a different direction, giving Jacoby Ellsbury a
seven-year, $153 million deal, and deciding to move on from Cano."
I don't buy "supposedly" when it's off by $40 million, so the Yankees chose Ellsbury + $90 million. Which really means the Yankees chose Ellsbury + Tanaka. Yet, none of these analyses ever include Tanaka.
But even if Tanaka is excluded from the equation, $90 million isn't chump change, even for the Yankees.
"In a perfect world, the Yankees would be able to trade Ellsbury, who
has had a history of injuries, and find a short-term solution in center
before Clint Frazier's eventual arrival. But it seems like they're
stuck.
Long-term, it's possible that Castro, who used to play shortstop,
projects as a utility infielder and Ellsbury projects as a corner/fourth
outfielder. In the meantime, the Yankees can only hope to get more
consistency out of each player.
Cano's decline will eventually come too. But unless he gets hurt, it doesn't appear that's happening anytime soon."
Ellsbury has been a bust, Tanaka has not been a bust. Csatro will not be able to replace Cano at second base by any means.
It's simply too early to evaluate this signing by Seattle.
If Cano can produce in years 8 through 10, I'll be surprised ... shocked, actually ... and the Mariners didn't commit a quarter of a billion dollars to win 80-something games and miss the playoffs every year.
Seattle may get the last laugh, but that's only if Cano is flashing a ring in a Puget Sound parade.
It's one thing to overstate the importance of a player's popularity among his teammates. It's a stretch to keep that player out of the HOF for that reason.
But this guy is simply voting against Schilling because of a personal grudge.
"Aside from providing veteran leadership for his younger teammates, it's
probable that manager Joe Girardi pencils the nearly 37-year-old DH in
the cleanup spot — sandwiched between phenom Gary Sanchez and, perhaps,
Greg Bird.
Holliday is an accomplished righthanded hitter, a seven-time All-Star
who was one of the most productive bats in baseball during his prime —
regularly reaching 5.0 wins above replacement or greater."
"Veteran leader" and "accomplished hitter" ... judges?
"Curt Schilling has lost more votes from writers who previously picked him than any other candidate on the ballot. According to Thibodaux’s calculations, 18 writers switched their votes away from Schilling. The next-most votes lost: the seven lost by both Trevor Hoffman and Fred McGriff.
Jerry Crasnick wrote about the Schilling phenomenon earlier this month, addressing the question: Is it possible to tweet your way out of Cooperstown?
In my opinion, this is a really bad look for the baseball writers, because it’s a loose affirmation of a stereotype that is almost always wrong: Writers pick candidates based on whether they like them. Since last year’s balloting, Schilling hasn’t thrown a single pitch; nothing he has written or said changes anything about what he did as a major league player over 20 years."
"A loose affirmation of a stereotype that is almost always wrong: Writers pick candidates based on whether they like them."
"I love voting for the Hall of Fame. I relish the rigor of it, along with the inevitable criticism that follows. If anything, the ethical dilemmas make the experience more worthwhile. As judgments become more nuanced and complex, I'm honored to be part of an organization that wields profound influence on the way baseball history is remembered in Cooperstown."
I suppose I can't blame you for sounding so consumed with your self-absorbed importance ... the baseball Hall of Fame has a way of doing that to people.
"First, I'll state my position on performance-enhancing drugs: I draw a sharp line at the 2005 season, when Major League Baseball began suspending players for PED use. To me, Rafael Palmeiro (no longer on the ballot), Manny Ramirez (eligible for the first time), Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun have disqualified themselves from consideration.
There is substantial evidence that Bonds and Clemens used PEDs. Steroid suspicion has followed Bagwell and Rodriguez. But rather than surmise who used -- because an educated guess is all we have in some cases -- it's most reasonable to vote for the players who truly excelled in a flawed era. Bonds, Clemens, Bagwell and Ivan Rodriguez did that."
I must say, that's auite nuanced, just like you said.
"Sammy Sosa, by contrast, ranked ninth among position players on this year's ballot with an OPS+ of 128, just ahead of J.D. Drew and Magglio Ordoñez. Yes, Sosa hit 609 home runs. But he did so during a PED-tainted era, in which the skill of hitting home runs became less historically significant.
Rodriguez won 13 Gold Glove Awards at catcher. Bagwell won one. Sosa? Zero. And Bagwell's OPS+ (149) was much higher than Sosa's."
I actually can't wait for Ivan Rodriguez to get in.
This is the first of an avalanche of ridiculous justifications.
"I draw a sharp line at the 2005 season" because that makes no sense whatsoever, but that way I can justify voting for Ivan Rodriguez, who won 13 gold gloves as a catcher and stuff.
By the way, reviewing the people you voted for?:
Jeff Bagwell, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Vladimir Guerrero, Trevor Hoffman, Edgar Martinez, Mike Mussina, Tim Raines, Ivan Rodriguez, Curt Schilling
I'll bet they all took steroids. Not sure about Mussina, Schilling, or Hoffman ... it's not as easy to tell with pitchers, is it? Quite sure about all the others ... and if Raines is not guilty of taking steroids, he's guilty of worse.
I don't really think it's a bad list at all. You'd probably be better off leaving your nuanced reasoning out of it and just letting the list speak for itself.
Because the 2005 criteria doesn't make much sense.
"So this is the way it's apparently supposed to work: If Bud Selig gets into the Hall of Fame then Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are supposed to get in right behind him, as if it's some sort of referendum on equivalency. Only it's not."
Oh boy, this oughtta be good.
"If Selig is responsible for the use of performance-enhancing drugs by some of the most prominent names in baseball history, then so are a lot of us in the media, and not just the baseball media."
Yes. You are totally guilty. This obvious verdict is not even up for discussion.
"If you want to throw the book, and that means the record book, at Selig for not acting sooner, then ask yourself something: Why didn't the same people still prosecuting Selig for baseball's drug past tell us what was going on in the 1990s? What was stopping them?"
Not sure.
Maybe what was stopping them was a lack of complete awareness, hampered by incompetent and holier-than-thou baseball journalists who don't care about researching and disseminating useful information, but instead focus on personal grudges and empty gossip.
Maybe they never pondered Selig's HOF candidacy because it seems so absurd and perverse. Even now, after it's happened. It seems surreal, actually. 2016 has been a very strange year, hasn't it?
It's difficult, however, to answer your rhetorical question because you haven't specifically identified "the people" in question.
"Could Selig have stated his concerns about PEDs earlier than he did? He could have, could have applied common sense before he had actual evidence or proof, taken the high ground from the intractable union leadership of Donald Fehr and Gene Orza. He could have said that if it were up to him -- and this is in the mid-'90s -- he would unilaterally impose drug testing on the spot, even though he knew that was impossible under the sport's Collective Bargaining Agreement. Selig could have said he was doing it in the name of the record book, and clean players."
If the writers truly cared about steroid use (they don't), then they would not even consider Selig.
See, we're complaining about you. We're not really complaining about Selig. You're the hypocrites for voting this guy in. Do you not understand this?
Your defenses of Selig are completely missing the point.
"He could have done better. We all could have done better. I wrote a book about 1998, and the magic of it for my sons. Bob Costas, who started hitting the subject hard around 2000, on his various platforms, says now, 'I wish I'd addressed the issue sooner.'"
"We all could have done better." Speak for yourself.
"Of course, Bud Selig doesn't get a hall pass on the steroids era just because he's in the Hall of Fame now, where he absolutely belongs. No one is suggesting that he should. But Bonds and Clemens don't get to follow him through the doors like Selig's running interference for them, either. It doesn't work that way."
You are suggesting Selig gets a hall pass. In the column which I'm reading right now.
I think I know how it works, by the way. Check it out:
Incompetent and lazy sportswriters refuse to research and disseminate useful baseball information. Instead, they use their columns for empty gossip and personal grudges. So if Selig had refused to return phone calls or if he had worn bespoke suits instead of all of his ridiculous Regular Guy affectations, then the writers would not have liked him and they would not have let him into the HOF.
"Now this is supposed to be all Selig's fault. Only it's not all anybody's fault. There is plenty enough blame to go around. Selig looked the other way, we are now told, because home runs were so good for business ..."
Stop right there. That's exactly what happened. If you deny that, then you haven't learned anything.
Of course Selig profited, and so did you.
It's not all Selig's fault, but he was the Commissioner.
If you want to put the Steroid Commissioner in the HOF, then put in the Steroid Third Basemen and Steroid Left Fielders.
Please get off your high horse once and for all. It will feel good and feel just.
"I’m happy that Aroldis Chapman is happy to be back with the Yankees, but
he needs to shut it on Joe Maddon now, whether Maddon should have gotten
him out of Game 6 earlier or not."
No.
He doesn't.
"Cubs won and so did Chapman, at the end of a season that began with him
suspended because of something that happened between him and his
girlfriend on Halloween weekend in 2015.
He won, and now he gets paid.
Move on."
"Move on." It only happened, like, 2 months ago. It's the first press conference since the World Series.
It's interesting to me that Girardi's superior bullpen management may have been a factor in Chapman's decision.
"The largest reliever contract in baseball history is one the New York Yankees will regret. It is too long, for too much money, for the wrong guy and, in the long run, a mistake."
Shaddup.
"Signing Chapman for five years and $86 million is an 'all-in' move. The Yankees, however, are an in-between team."
Is it?
Is that your idea of an "all-in" move?
Wait until you see what the Yankees offer to Bryce Harper.
"The David Ortiz farewell tour was filled with many memorable moments. Most of those happened during games, as the retiring superstar nearly slugged his way into the MVP award.
His final season was also filled with just as many awkward moments. Most of those actually came before games when teams presented him with going-away gifts.
Perhaps the most awkward ceremony took place in Baltimore. Prior to his final game at Camden Yards, on Sept. 21, the Orioles rolled out the red carpet, showed highlights of Ortiz mashing home runs against the mutual rival New York Yankees, and then presented him with the actual visitor’s dugout phone he once destroyed during an in-game meltdown."
Yeah, if you're going to celebrate a player, then at least do it properly.
But, of course, there's an even easier solution that would nip this awkwardness in the bud.
"Now the World Series team with the better record will host Games 1, 2, 6 and 7, a common-sense solution that ends the charade of tying the outcome of an exhibition to the sport’s signature event. If the teams have identical records, the first tiebreaker would be head-to-head record; the second, divisional record."
That's a good change.
Not much else going on. Tim Tebow hit .194 and did not commit to returning to the Mets. So there's that.
He may have been on the 1996 postseason roster, but he did not play in the entire postseason.
Also, Bernie was better:
"MLB Network's Brian Kenny presents a case for Posada using OPS+, a
metric which adjusts for era and park effects. From 1998 through 2009,
Posada's 125 OPS+ ranked second only to Piazza's 132 OPS+, ahead of Victor Martinez (121 OPS+) and Ivan Rodriguez (113 OPS+).
What's more, over Posada's 10-year career peak from 2000-09, his 129
OPS+ is comparable to the peaks of Hall of Famers Johnny Bench (132
OPS+, 1970-79) and Berra (130 OPS+, 1950-59), while edging those of Gary
Carter (128 OPS+, 1977-86) and Carlton Fisk (125 OPS+, 1972-81)."
Who knew it was all OPS+?
He walked a lot and hit a lot of HRs, particularly for a catcher.
"Though Posada was never a Gold Glove defender, his value to the Yankees
was immense after moving from his original position of second base,
helping him get to the Majors and develop into a power-hitting threat
from both sides of the plate. Rivera said that Posada's impact on those
championship clubs may even have been underestimated."
"Never a Gold Glove defender" is a nice way of putting it. It's an important point when most of his values are his offensive contributions "as a catcher."
I find the Posada-for-HOF conversation so weird. He went from underrated to overrated as soon as his career ended.
Here's a guy who got a handful of MVP votes in his career ... 3rd place one year and 6th place one year ... and now he's the second coming of Yogi Berra?
Montero, 33, slashed .216/.327/.357 in 242 at-bats in the regular season, but watched as Willson Contreras handled most of the catching duties in the three postseason series. Also, David Ross appeared in eight games and had more at-bats (16) than Montero.
Montero was happy, however, to be behind the plate for the final two innings of Game 7.
"Catching the last two [innings] of the World Series made it sweet," Montero said. "Otherwise, it would have been nice because I'm part of it but maybe I didn't help as much as I wanted to help. To be more involved ... I would have felt bad to go home with the trophy and not even catch one inning in the World Series. That would be the tough part."
"Heyward hit .104 with one RBI in 16 postseason games, yet his words in that weight room during the brief delay served as a turning point for the Cubs, who went on to score two runs in the 10th before holding on in the bottom of the inning to win their first World Series in 108 years."
"In addition to rescuing the Cubs’ season on Sunday night, Aroldis Chapman probably raised the bidding on his impending free agency with his first-ever eight-out save.
And if you’re a Yankee fan hoping Chapman winds up back in the Bronx this winter, you should probably root for the Cubs to pull off this comeback and win the World Series.
Because if they lose, they’ll be under enormous pressure to pay whatever it takes to keep the Cuban star in Chicago to continue pursuing that elusive championship."
I don't know why he would come back to the Yankees. Well, there's money, of course. So maybe the Yankees will lure him with a lot of money.
In any case, there's a lot of presumptions here with two games to go. What if Chapman blows Game Seven and is suddenly a weird combination of Steve Bartman and Blair Walsh? What if he's carried off the field as World Series MVP ... that scenario would increase his chances of returning to the Yankees?
"I can vouch for such a sentiment because as I was getting back to my hotel in the early morning hours after Game 5, I got a text from Marc Malusis, who was hosting the overnight show on WFAN, and as a lifelong Yankee fan, he was as fired up as those on the calls he was taking.
'Tell you what,' he texted. 'If I’ve gotta watch Chapman and Miller dominate the World Series, then Gleyber Torres better be the next Derek Jeter and Clint Frazier better at least be Bernie Williams.' "
That's not how it works.
Maybe things will click sooner than expected, but the Yankees are a long way from the World Series.
Yankee fans are going to have to get over the 2016 World Series matchup ... and the weird attachment to Chapman, who was in pinstripes for a whole 31 games.
" 'I’m just saying he better be right about those kids he got because one of these teams is going to have Cashman to thank for winning a championship.'
I couldn’t argue with that. The Cubs’ win in Game 5 on Sunday night not only saved them from elimination but also evened the score a bit between the dueling ex-Yankee relievers, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman."
"The battle between ex-Yankee relievers."
Have you ever seen such a myopic statement?
The Yankees were Miller's fifth team and, after serving his suspension, Chapman was in the Bronx for about three months.
I mean, sure: Cashman had better be right about some of these young players or the Yankees are headed for many years of mediocrity.
Same prognosis for the Yankees if the 2016 World Series happened to be Los Angeles vs. Toronto.
A lot of teams are better than the Yankees right now. A lot of those teams happen to be in the AL East. It is going to get worse before it gets better.
As Cashman is quick to point out, it's not bad to see your ex-players perform well. It helps with your future credibility when you're at the bargaining table.
"Even the golden goodies — the old standards — no longer apply, lost
to modern standards, which means low standards or none at all.
Remember, 'Winners never quit and quitters never win'?
But quitters now win, so much the 2016 National League batting title
was won by sitting out the season’s last 4 ²/₃ games. Yet, that barely
made a sound from a media who have lost their ability to identify cheap
and cheesy while surrendering their tacit responsibility and public
trust to distinguish right from far less."
The media was not paying attention to the Rockies or the batting title.
"To think he could’ve told them he chose to risk losing the title by
trying to win it rather than to win it by quitting. To think his legacy
might have been as a man who wouldn’t exploit circumstances to win
rather than one who did."
He really doesn't have a legacy.
"On Sept. 28, 1941, Boston’s Ted Williams, just 23 — five years
younger than Reyes and LeMahieu when they won their titles — was batting
.3996, which rounded to .400, before the last two games of the season —
a doubleheader, Red Sox at the Philadelphia A’s. He was given the option to sit them out and finish at .400 — the
first since Bill Terry hit .401 in 1930.
It wasn’t as if the Red Sox, 17
games behind the Yankees, were in a race.
But Williams insisted on playing both games, with, 'If I can’t hit .400 all the way, I don’t deserve it.'
Williams went 6-for-8 to finish at .4057 — rounded to the now
unapproachable, known-by-heart-head .406. No one since has come close."
The go-to Ted Williams story, huh? God Bless America.
Technically speaking, Brett came close in 1980 (.390). Gwynn came close in 1994 (.394). Carew came close in 1977 (.388).
Manly McManly would have probably hit .400 back in the Good Ol' Days, but he strained his back Fixing America during the off season.
Look, it would be easier to pick an Alex Rodriguez/Mark Teixeira
tandem, since they went from carrying the offense last year to burdening
it in 2016. But they were baseball geezers at the end."
Look, it would be easy to be accurate.
"Ellsbury is not the worst player in the AL or even on the Yankees. But
is there anyone more invisible for the money (well, maybe Joe Mauer)"
Yes.
I can think of several on the Yankees.
"Brought to New York to be a catalyst, Ellsbury on Thursday registered his second steal since June 19. How is that possible?"
I also don't understand why Gardner and Ellsbury stopped stealing bases.
"Did anyone notice a lot of veterans who might have been in play for this
award vanished, never to return: A-Rod, Prince Fielder, Omar Infante,
Desmond Jennings and Jimmy Rollins?"
Yes, I noticed. But ... vanishing means they're adding even less value than Ellsbury.
Whatever. It's not something to get too hung up about (the LVP isn't even a thing).
The problem is, taking the totality of the 2016 season, Ellsbury is not worse than any of the other Yankee non-pitchers. Which isn't saying much. Sanchez didn't do it long enough, Beltran is gone, Castro leads the team with an astonishingly low 70 RBIs.
Ellsbury was paid too much, of course, but not compared to ARod, Teixeira, Headley, McCann ... if you're taking salary into account when you figure out your LVP.
It's not a defense of Ellsbury. The signing is no longer defensible. The Yankees paid a premium for an ordinary player. But what gives with the sportswriters who fixate on Ellsbury's deficiencies and then get all teary-eyed when Teixeira finally takes a hike?
But the so-called Yankee MVP in this un-scientific poll has batted .222 in September (down the stretch!).
It's actually insulting to the Yankee players who grinded it out all year.
No offense to Sanchez and best wishes for 2017 and beyond. He had a great debut. He was insanely productive, even in the month of September.
The lack of appreciation for Betances ... who has been Mariano-esque for three years, if not better ... while being asked to pitch 250 innings ... it's just a shame that he's underappreciated and overshadowed by the New Kid in Town.
Sports writers offer no value to understanding baseball. They simply use their column to hand out merits and demerits depending on how much they like the player:
"Stand up and cheer.
That is what Yankees fans should do over the next three nights when Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz walks to the plate during his final appearance in the Bronx. Ortiz deserves this respect as arguably the most important figure in the game's greatest rivalry since George Herman Ruth."
You forgot about Roger Clemens and arguably some others, but, whatever. The key here is that HE PLAYS FOR THE RED SOX.
"So if Yankees fans want to jeer Ortiz until the bitter end, it's their
prerogative. But it's not right. To boo Big Papi based on his alleged
involvement with performance-enhancing drugs, for one, would be heaping
with hypocrisy. Some Yankees fans will point to the New York Times
report that Ortiz failed a PED test during what was supposed to be an
anonymous phase of Major League Baseball's drug program. Given Ortiz’s
lack of an explanation, and the arc of his career from castoff to
superstar, it is easy to understand how a reasonable person might label
Ortiz guilty.
Still, it shouldn't prevent fans from honoring what Ortiz has definitively done -- not what he might have done."
That's a straw man.
Yankee fans are not anti-steroid activists. They are pro-Yankee activists.
Again, HE PLAYS FOR THE RED SOX.
"Did you cheer Andy Pettitte upon his return, post-Mitchell Report? Did you applaud Alex Rodriguez
in 2015 when he hit 33 homers? If you answered 'yes' to either of those
questions, how can Ortiz’s supposed use prevent you from acknowledging
him during his final at-bats in the Bronx?"
Difference being ... THEY WEREN'T PLAYING FOR THE RED SOX.
"On the other hand, Ortiz has never failed a test that wasn’t
anonymous. He has never been caught up in a BALCO or a Biogenesis
scandal. That doesn't make him innocent, of course, but it doesn't make
him guilty, either. The PED issue remains relentlessly complicated when
it comes to honoring players from the last quarter century."
That's it? He might be guilty and he might not be guilty?
Of course, Marchand wouldn't know if it's "relentlessly complicated" because he hasn't relentlessly pursued the truth.
Maybe so, maybe not, I dunno. Journalism!
"His infectious smile, his ability to build friendships with seemingly
anyone and everyone in the game, and his exploits at the plate in clutch
moments will be a part of rivalry lore forever."
Infectious smile? This is embarrassing, yet revealing.
Nobody as ESPN is going to proclaim that we can't believe in Ortiz because he couldn't believe in himself? No?
"The other day, one of my teammates comes over to me in the clubhouse and says, 'Hey, you see what they’re gonna do to you in New York?'
I don’t know what he’s talking about.
I’m like, 'What’s up? They gonna give me a pizza or something?'
He says, 'Nah. Your last game, the fans are gonna pull their pants down.'
I’m like, 'Nah, bro. Come on. Be serious.'
Then he shows me an article on his phone about some guy who’s trying to get everybody in Yankee Stadium to moon me.
This dude even made a whole website: moonbigpapi.com.
Bro.
Bro.
Come on."
OK, I think we're finished here ... bro.
"Playing against the Yankees was just different. It was war.
You gotta understand what it meant to me, Pedro and Manny — three guys from the Dominican Republic. In our country, the Yankees are huge. Back in the day, they were pretty much the only big league club on TV. When you walked around Santo Domingo in the ’90s, you would see so many Yankees caps."
XXL Yankee caps for these three ... their heads are swollen for some reason.
"First things first: If Yankee fans want to give David Ortiz ovations this week at the Stadium in appreciation of his remarkable career, then great, I’m all for showing that type of respect to an opponent.
I just don’t think the Yankees should be forcing that notion upon the fans with a going-away ceremony on the field that feels like a politically correct response to what the Red Sox did for Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter."
No one has ever satisfactorily explained to me why the Sox (or any team) would officially honor Jeter and Rivera.
Fans know what's up. They can stand up and cheer for 15 seconds when his name is announced, a tip of the cap. That's about the extent of it.
"Ortiz, after all, has played the role of hated villain in the famed rivalry with the Yankees, and willingly so with his bat flips and leisurely strolls that passed for home-run trots over the years.
In short, he’s not Jeter, he’s not Rivera, the two most universally admired players of their era. Ortiz may be well-liked by his peers, but it wasn’t long ago that David Price, before he signed with the Sox, essentially called out Big Papi for thinking he was bigger than the game, in part because of his home-run celebrations.
No, Ortiz doesn’t mind agitating the opposition, and so in regard to The Rivalry he’s a lot more like Alex Rodriguez than Jeter or Rivera."
I think we can just make this easier on everybody and eliminate the practice entirely.
"As beloved as Joe Torre was as manager, in fact, it drove fans crazy that he wouldn’t insist that his pitchers at least try and intimidate Ortiz — and the same for Joe Girardi.
Finally, when the outcry reached such a level that CC Sabathia felt compelled to plunk Ortiz with a fastball one night, the Red Sox DH further annoyed Yankee fans by complaining publicly about it.
As for the steroids? Ortiz has tried to shoot down the issue by denying he ever took PEDs, even though his name was leaked to the New York Times in 2009 as being one of the 104 on the list who failed drug tests in 2003, the year the Players Association did survey testing as a prelude to MLB’s mandatory testing program.
Those names were supposed to remain anonymous, but a few were leaked. When A-Rod was outed in February of 2009, he admitted to using PEDs; but months later Ortiz denied his usage, and while he promised at the time that he would find out which substance caused his positive test, he later insisted he was unable to obtain that information."
"The bullpen is still quite strong, though weakened relatively since the trade deadline. This relative
weakness could negatively affect their .690 winning percentage (20-9)
in one-run games ... a few devastating blown saves in crunch time vs.
one of the four teams ahead of them in the wild card race."
"It's kind of a reworking of an age-old question -- who quit first, the New York Yankees
on Joe Girardi, or Joe Girardi on the New York Yankees? -- but unlike
the classic chicken-and-egg conundrum, the answer to this one came
directly from the manager's mouth."
The Yankees quit (or burned out).
Girardi does not quit.
"Asked why he had gone to Blake Parker in the seventh inning of a game his team absolutely, positively, had to win Friday night against the Toronto Blue Jays,
Girardi replied: 'He has the most experience and has probably been
pitching the best in a situation where you’re down 3-0. If it’s closer, I
probably go to Adam [Warren],
but knowing that we’re going to need these guys a lot if we’re going to
make a run, you’re hoping he can get through the seventh, you get a
couple runs then maybe go to Adam, but it just didn’t work.'
Let that sink in for a moment. "If it's closer ...?''
Which
led to what seemed like a natural follow-up: 'Joe, do I understand that
you’re saying 3-0 is no longer considered a close game?' "
No, you don't understand what he's saying. "Closer" is different than "close." Right? It's a normal use of the English language.
It's not because you're dumb, it's because you are trying to get a rise out of Girardi. It worked! Now you have a column and are briefly the center of attention! Congratulations to you.
Besides, what does Wallace Matthews have against Blake Parker in the first place? Are you just judging players after the game? That's very easy to do.
"Here's exactly what he said: 'No, Wally. But I’ve been throwing Adam
multiple innings. Parker has been throwing pretty good for us. He didn’t
tonight. I could have went to Adam and then maybe I don't have him
tomorrow. We have some issues, in a sense. We don’t have a starter
Monday. I’m just trying to piece it all together.'
Then he said, 'I'm done, I'm done. That's it,'' and left the room.
What
exactly he was saving his bullpen for was never made clear, because as
everyone knows, there is no tomorrow for the Yankees. Not if they lost
today."
He was saying he never quits.
He's saying you play to win the game. That's the great thing about sports. Hello?
Girardi is constantly lying to the press. Torre did the same thing and was better at it. It seems to go against Girardi's nature.
Girardi wanted to say all year: ARod stinks and is a cheater; Teixeira is a decrepit joke; my bullpen management doesn't help much when the team scores zero runs; Pineda is gutless; if you want Gardner and Ellsbury to be benched or moved down in the lineup, please name a suitable replacement; the GM gave up on me, I didn't give up on the GM.
" 'Things are kind of slipping away at this point,' said Brett Gardner,
always a rational voice in the Yankees' clubhouse. 'We're not out of
it, but definitely not in a good position. It’s frustrating.' ''
Sure, he's rational. He's allowed to be. Girardi is not allowed to be.
"But unlike his manager, Gardner was not willing to give up. 'I think
until you’re six back with [five] to play, or whatever it is, you’ve
still got a chance. Crazier things have happened. We’ve just got to
win.' "
Go screw yourself, Wally. You just called Girardi a quitter and you're a disgrace for saying it.
By the way, if Gardner hasn't actually given up, he sure plays like he has.
This is not the first time the team has tired down the stretch. Maybe Girardi has worn out his team. They don't seem to go to the wall for him.
The problem then is not that he quits ... the problem might be that he's too intense.
"After that, he was sure to be asked about starting Billy Butler at first base, a decision that cost his team two unearned runs -- and
essentially the game -- in the first inning when Butler bobbled a
routine grounder. And about how the Yankees had Francisco Liriano
on the ropes in the top of the first, loading the bases but failing to
score. And about how he had suddenly decided to abandon the use of the
young kids on his roster, who temporarily at least had injected a dose
of energy and enthusiasm into his clubhouse and created the impression
that the Yankees were, in fact, playoff contenders."
Easy:
1) Teixeira stinks.
2) Have you seen this team with RISP this year? What team have you been watching?
3) Because they stink, too, other than Sanchez.
Any more stupid questions?
"As soon as Girardi admitted going to Parker -- who allowed the Blue
Jays to bust it open with four runs in one-third of an inning -- because
he wanted to save his effective bullpen guns (Warren, Tyler Clippard and Betances) for another day, he was telling you he considered this game a lost cause.
And
it is hard to reconcile a team with the proud history of the New York
Yankees -- the Bronx Bombers, for George's sake -- conceding defeat when
trailing by a measly three runs."
Be a man.
Walk up to Parker in the locker room, look him in the eye, and tell him that his appearance in a Yankee game is conclusive proof that the Yankees have given up on the game and given up on the season.
Parker's ERA when he entered that game was 2.93.
If you think George would have a problem with his manager, I wonder what George would say about his GM giving up on the season? Ownership giving up on the season?
"The third inning was even worse, when the Yankees got the first two runners on base -- Gardner via an error and Jacoby Ellsburyon a single, the Yankees' only non-Sanchez hit -- but went nowhere when Sanchez flied out, Butler struck out and Didi Gregoriuspopped out. The Yankees managed two more baserunners all night -- a Sanchez single leading off the sixth and a walk to Aaron Hicks in the seventh -- but could do absolutely nothing with them."
Wally Matthews with his first in-game analysis of the season!
Hey, Wally, why did they get rid of ARod? Don't you think ARod could have had a productive at-bat in that situation? Wally?
I mean, what is this? The Yankees have been horrible with situational hitting all year. From day one. Not all year, actually. Probably the past 10 years.
We have a beat writer who slogged around locker rooms for five months who finally noticed that the Yankees can't hit.
The Yankees have scored 644 runs this year, and the year is almost over.
Here are the collective clutch stats, genius:
RISP: .229.
2 outs RISP: .222
You knew this already, though, right? Since you watch all the games and stuff?
I mean, you're suddenly all overwrought about the Yankees being the Yankees.
"It was still only 3-0 to that point, but as far as the manager was concerned, it could have been 300-0.
'I
know that we lost another day, it seems like most of the teams [the
Yankees are chasing] are winning or won,' Girardi said before his
curtain line. 'We’re going to have to win a lot of games.'
But there aren't a lot of games left, and it no longer seems even the manager believes the Yankees are capable of winning them."
The manager was right, by the way. The Yankees were not going to score 4 runs. Because they stink is the overarching reason.
Not sure why the beat writer wants to fixate on the manager's attitude when the team is in the midst of three consecutive shutouts.
Mike Lupica likes the Mets, the Red Sox, the Jets, Jimmy Connors, Dancing with the Stars, and David Ortiz. Not all of them are steroid cheats, but some of them are steroid cheats:
"The last man standing in Terry Collins’ starting rotation, at least the one he started with, is 43 years old. So much then, at least for now, for all those big young arms that were going to steamroll their way with big stuff through the National League for years to come. For the last time: You want to make the baseball gods laugh? Tell them about all your plans for young starting pitchers."
You use those words "last time" quite often. I don't think you know what those words mean.
"So Collins’ starting rotation, led by Bartolo Colon, now has Robert Gsellman in it, Seth Lugo, Gabriel Ynoa. Who had them in their fantasy leagues before the start of the season? I keep waiting for Tim Tebow to get a start."
I'm waiting for Tim Conway to get a start. Dorf on Pitching.
"Lucas Duda is back playing first base for the Mets, which means that Collins is working with half the infield that he took north from Port St. Lucie. An indispensable part of that infield is suddenly T.J. Rivera, a 27-year old out of Lehman High, Bronx, N.Y."
The only good player the Mets lost to injury was deGrom. Neil Walker, too, I suppose.
All the other injuries were blessings in disguise. Collins didn't have to deal with the drama of benching Wright or moving the Dark Knight to the bullpen.
The Mets' patchwork rotation is not much different than every other team's. The Mets used 12 starting pitchers while the Yankees used 9, the Nationals used 10, and the Red Sox used 10.
"You know he might not make it and the Mets might not make it. But it was just the other day that they were 60-62 and now here they are, with no Matt Harvey and no Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz with a sore left shoulder and even Noah Syndergaard with strep throat at the worst possible time. And, oh by the way, if you can name all of the relief pitchers that Collins keeps running out there, you have a chance to win some valuable prizes."
If you can identify one player in the Phillies starting lineup, I'll give you $1 million.
So that's the problem with the Collins praise, and the Mets' undying underdog narrative (oddly endorsed by Dan Rather, of all people): Outside of the Nationals, the NL East is abysmal. Cespedes probably gets paid more than the entire Phillies' roster and could probably win 85 games in this division single-handedly.
"You know how many Mets fans are always looking to jump Collins first chance they get, who want him gone. You know there is a loud, angry chorus who will never forgive him for not bringing in Jeurys Familia to pitch the top of the 9th in Game 5 against the Royals. So Mets fans like that are probably thrilled at the suggestion that somehow Collins is supposed to be fighting to keep his job.
Only that’s not the story here, or the headline, or a fair take on this particular Mets season. No. The story is the job Collins has done to keep his team fighting. If you can’t see that, you’ve been watching the wrong movie."
That's talk radio nonsense following a sweep by the Braves. Collins isn't going to get fired, but guess what? The Mets underachieved this year.
The hypocrisy of Lupica is revealed when he praises Colon and Ortiz:
"I have thought for so much of the second half of the season that his teammate, Mookie Betts, was the MVP of the American League.
I believe it is Ortiz now, hitting the way he did in the postseason the last time the Red Sox won it all, three years ago. So the Stadium says goodbye now. Or maybe good riddance."
Good riddance, cheater. Don't let a 95-MPH fastball hit you in the butt on the way out.
As for the farewell tour nonsense, I'm not understanding it at all. Maybe if he'd played for the Yankees for 10 years or something like that.
As for this particular observation, this is standard. "Game of the Year" was proclaimed by many sources:
"That game the Mets played against the Phillies the other night, tied by Jose Reyes with a 2-run shot in the bottom of the 9th and then won with a 3-run shot by Bat Flip Cabrera, was one of the great regular season wins the Mets have ever had.
Once again, the problem here is the part about "against the Phillies."
It was a crazy comeback while the Mets are in a playoff race in September ... but the opponent was the Phillies' AAA roster.
The team may be worn out and uninspired as they struggle to score runs, but Girardi never quits. If a reporter questioned Girardi's commitment and professionalism, then that reporter is way out of line. Girardi probably takes this stuff too seriously and it may wear on his players.
Clippard and Warren have been quite good replacing Miller and Chapman ... until they weren't.
If your strategy is to intentionally walk every Red Sox batter who's a Yankee Killer, there's nobody left to pitch to.
A better idea is to get Hanley Ramirez out once in a while.
I applaud Girardi for sticking with the plan. One can only hope that Refsnyder is learning something in his 200 at-bats ... his power numbers in 2016 are disappointing to say the least.
This is what Yankee fans pleaded for as the team squandered around .500 through the first four months. Give the young players some experience in the challenging environment of Fenway.
Do you want to play for the Yankees? Do you have plans to win the AL East in 2018? If so, you're going to have to beat Boston. Maybe Cessa and Mitchell and Severino got some experience they would not have gotten if the Yankees were still chasing a playoff pipe dream.
"Halfway to a very different kind of Boston Massacre, we have clarity on several issues swirling around the Yankees: They’re not nearly as good as the Red Sox and their rotation beyond Masahiro Tanaka is suspect enough to loom as the potential undoing of their wild-card hopes."
The Yankees have scored 200 fewer runs that the Red Sox. The Yankees have been outscored this season by about 20 runs. The Yankees have not been higher than 4th place since May. The Yankees could win all of their remaining 15 games and still miss the playoffs.
Wild-card hopes are still theoretically alive, but that's just because Selig and his cronies ruined the regular season by allowing 1/3rd of the teams into the playoffs.
Imagine the legendary 2016 AL East race if only one team could make the playoffs? Sigh.
But enough about the Yankees' ever-dwindling playoff hopes that never had much to dwindle in the first place.
I want to give an extended shout out to Tanaka. Mention him beyond one sentence.
Why no NY hype about his Cy Young chances? A right-handed pitcher whose home games are at Short Porch Yankee Stadium who leads the league in ERA.
Yes, it has happened before. Three times. Allie Reynolds in 1952 and Spud Chandler in 1943 and Wilcy Moore in 1927. Black-and-white replays before you were born.
I suspect there's no hype or recognition because he is proving everybody wrong and people don't like to be proven wrong.
"How have the Yankees been able to play like this without Alex Rodriguez around to mentor the young guys?"
I think ARod could have added some value mentoring the young guys, especially with the roster expansion. Most of the young players have been struggling.
As for how the Yankees are playing, ARod's final game was a scintillating victory over the Rays on a rainy Friday night in front of a packed house at Yankee Stadium. Following that victory on August 12th, the Yankees' record was 59-56.
Since then (i.e., since the departure of ARod), the Yankees are 10-9.
So "play like this" means what to a stupid baseball columnist? Your guess is as good as mine.
"You know that as soon as the 2016 baseball season is over the Yankees will be declared the favorites for 2017 . . . even without starting pitching!"
No.
You're wrong again.
The Yankees haven't been declared favorites for a long time.
You should get that whole stupid thing checked out when you get a chance.
If you want to read about it in the Daily News, here are a lot of words about it:
"The Orioles were shifted on Mark Teixeira, so third baseman Manny Machado had moved closer to second base, leaving third open. Third-base coach Joe Espada waved Sanchez around second, but Machado darted back toward the bag, snared the throw from right fielder Steve Pearce and tagged Sanchez about eight feet from the base.
'They gave me a green light,' Sanchez said through a translator. 'We thought we had a chance there to get to third. Unfortunately not.'
'When I made the turn, I tried to run as fast as I could. Couldn't see the throw because I was focused on getting to the base.
Girardi had no issue with the play, he said, and called it a read by Sanchez, though it's worth noting that a rookie would probably be looking to the third base coach for cues.
'I always say that mind has to be made up by the baserunner,' Girardi said. 'It's not Joe's. I think he was reading the third baseman and he took a gamble that he wasn't going to get back there. It took a really good throw and a really good play by Machado. I don't have a problem.
It's an aggressive play. We've been playing aggressive. That time it caught up to us. But I think the thought process was pretty good, because of the shift and what it took to get him.'
Whatever the case, it was just another moment in the spotlight for a guy who must be getting used to it."
... this is the Yankees' starting rotation right now.
Tanaka
Pineda
Sabathia
Green (Chad?)
Cessa (Luis?)
The bullpen is still quite strong, though weakened relatively since the trade deadline. This relative weakness could negatively affect their .690 winning percentage (20-9) in one-run games ... a few devastating blown saves in crunch time vs. one of the four teams ahead of them in the wild card race.
There is no reason to give up ... it's illogical. May as well try hard and see what happens.
But if Gary Sanchez really is Babe Ruth, then the Yankees could probably use his pitching more than his hitting.
"So the trade deadline came, ownership and management pulled off their
version of a purge, and Alex Rodriguez went soon after. But instead of a
halt, the Yankees have caught fire. Lo and behold, they are even in a
playoff race."
See what I mean?
The Yankees managed to get to 4 games over .500 with ARod on the team.
Now they're 5 games over .500 and another month has fallen off the calendar.
"Sanchez’s numbers are so Hobbsian — .403/.459/.883 with a 1.342 OPS
and 20 RBIs in 77 at-bats — that the commissioner maybe should demand a
check of the specifications of the catcher’s bat. Or is it the catcher
himself who is Wonderboy? And was it A-Rod who played the role of Bump
Bailey in this movie?
It isn’t and wasn’t just Sanchez. Cessa was fine in winning his
second straight start. Ben Heller, who came from Cleveland as part of
the package for Miller, pitched a scoreless inning in his major league
debut. Aaron Judge smacked a double and threw out a runner at second.
They’re the Baby Bombers and they’re in a race. Next thing you know,
Girardi will be telling Sanchez to knock the cover off the ball.
And he will."
Yeah, but the rest of the young players have stunk (despite Ben Heller's entire scoreless inning).
Severino is back in the minors and Judge strikes out half the time.
ARod's replacement, Tyler Austin, is the only person on the entire planet whose OPS is actually lower than ARod's.
Look, the Yankees found a surprise gem in Sanchez. They will ride it as long as they can. They could have promoted Sanchez and benched McCann with or without ARod on the roster (and with Beltran, Miller, and Chapman).
Sanchez is going to hit the skids, the Yankees are going to finish in fourth place in their own division, and ARod will be "advising" from afar for $27 million per year.
It was time to take off the training wheels and prepare for the future. I have no particular use for the dead weight, including the dead weight that remains on the roster.
But if these Baby Bombers are going to pay off, we won't know until 2018.
It would be all too easy to
invoke the names of other Yankee rookies whose careers began like
skyrockets only to fizzle to earth. Kevin Maas, Shane Spencer, Shelley
Duncan, anyone? The other two big league rookies to hit as many as 10
home runs in their first 22 games -- Colorado's Trevor Story
this year and Boston's George Scott back in 1966 -- provide a little
more in the way of evidence as to where this start might lead Sanchez,
but it is hardly conclusive. Scott, of course, was a solid big league
player for 14 seasons, a .268 hitter who averaged 20 home runs a year.
Story is among the favorites for NL Rookie of the Year."
Ronald Torreyes is batting over .400 for the month.
Enjoy it while it lasts.
"If it is not fair to blame all the Yankees' early-season woes on the likes of Mark Teixeira and Carlos Beltran and of course, Alex Rodriguez,
neither is it realistic to fail to notice the difference now that two
of them are gone and the third, Teixeira, has had his playing time
reduced in his final weeks as a major league player."
Beltran? Beltran still leads the Yankees in HRs and RBIs. Nobody was blaming Beltran.
"Sanchez's at-bats have replaced A-Rod's as must-see events for Yankees fans and even for some of his teammates."
When is the last time an ARod at-bat was a must-see event? 2009?
Why is it impossible to discuss the Yankees without bringing up Alex Freaking Rodriguez?
" 'I think that these young kids have done a really good job; they’ve
contributed in a big way,' Girardi said. 'Guys are excited around here,
and we believe.'
When's the last time you heard that out of the Yankees clubhouse?"
When is the last time I heard a trite, optimistic answer from the Yankees clubhouse? Every single day.
I hope Sanchez keeps it up, the Yankees somehow make the playoffs, ride the wave all the way the the World Series ... ARod would get another ring, by the way ... and all these young players grow into MLB superstars.
My suspicion, however, is that a lot of the elevation of Sanchez (and excitement over a whoop-dee-doo 12-8 record over 20 games) and exaggeration of Yankees' playoff chances boils down to the endless, tiresome mockery of ARod.
Tyler Austin is batting .148. Aaron Hicks is batting .215 after a recent surge. Aaron Judge is batting .222. September callups are 5 days away.
You can't imagine a scenario where an aging ARod could have fulfilled a pinch-hitting role as the team tilts at September Surge windmills?
So the real idea is that ARod's clubhouse presence was damaging to team chemistry and dragging the whole team down ... and Sanchez's hot streak is somehow proving the hypothesis.
"The Seattle Mariners did not intentionally walk New York Yankees rookie sensation Gary Sanchez once Wednesday to face Mark Teixeira -- they did it twice. And even Teixeira knew the Mariners had no choice.
'Shoot, if Babe Ruth is hitting behind him, you intentionally walk him,' Teixeira said of Sanchez after the Yankees' 5-0 victory over the Mariners. 'I mean, he is as hot as any player I have played with in my entire career. You just don't see guys doing what he is doing. I don't care how old he is.' "
All of this is wrong.
"But here is why Sanchez matters the way he does these days, whatever he eventually becomes in baseball: He has made the Yankees interesting again. Sanchez has become somebody for Yankee fans to want to watch and to care about. And, boy, do they ever care about this kid. You get the idea that as you've been reading this, Sanchez might have found a way to go deep on his way to get coffee."
Ha ha ha. Coffee.
I don't get it.
"This isn't about whether the Yankees can make an improbable run at the second Wild Card in the American League, because it will take a small miracle for them to do that, or a few teams ahead of them simply deciding to go home. No. This is about the Yankees' farm system producing the first young hitter people really want to watch since Robinson Cano was a rookie. In 2005."
This revisionist history is untrue. I don't feel like listing all the names. Fans were excited when lots of bigshot minor leaguers came up. Only in retrospect has Sanchez buzzed past them.
I can list three Yankee catchers: Cervelli, Montero, and Romine.
The buzz died down because their play didn't live up to the hype. But a year ago, Romine was a bigger deal than Sanchez.
"We know the Yankees don't develop lasting, frontline talent in starting
pitching any longer. The last homegrown kid who became a star in their
rotation was Andy Pettitte."
I will just say Chien-Ming Wang again because I feel like I have to ... and if the Yankee homegrown superstar pitchers all end up in a dominant bullpen rather than the starting rotatino, that isn't so bad.
"If you don't believe that history doesn't sell quite the way it used to
at the new Yankee Stadium, turn on a Yankee home game and take a look at
those expensive blue seats down closest to the field. It sometimes
seems to be as wide an expanse of blue as you would see standing on the
beach and looking at the Atlantic Ocean."
Right.
Except for ARod's bizarre last game.
Guess what? Sanchez ain't filling those seats any time soon.
"But now here comes this kid to hit home runs in bunches. He really has
taken the stage as one of the Yanks' famous Jurassic Park All-Stars,
Alex Rodriguez, is sent home to Miami."
... and the rest of the article is about ARod.
Which is the last time Lupica will write about ARod. I promise.
As for the next big thing, Mike Conforto is back down in the minors while Travis d'OntThrow tries to pick up the Next Big Thing slack left by Josh Thole ... and those two represent just one position on one team.
I mean, who knows? All great players and HOFers started off as young phenoms.
But when you say something like this:
"Austin, who sat out Monday's game after 3-for-8 in his first two, looks like he might be a nice player for the future, too, but Judge has the potential to be a star, maybe a guy who will bash 40-to-45 homers season after season in his prime."
"Aaron Judge hit another home run on Sunday. Two innings later, Gary Sanchez did the same. In the past two weeks, the Yankees have reloaded their lineup with young sluggers from the farm system, and the early returns could be hardly any better.
But there is a danger in assuming too much, too soon.
For a cautionary tale, look to the mound.
Luis Severino no longer looks like the future ace from a year ago. His command is erratic, his breaking ball is inconsistent and his changeup is nowhere to be found. The latest Yankees home runs meant nothing because Severino was knocked around in a 12-3 blowout loss to the Rays. Severino was optioned to Triple-A immediately after the game."
I hope it works. I hope the Yankees win the World Series as soon as possible.
If early returns meant anything, there would be a Kevin Maas wing in the Hall of Fame.
But I surely don't have to go back that far. David Adams and Andy Phillips would be manning the corners on the 2016 World Champs ... and the battery every night would be full of All Stars: Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy, Ivan Nova, Luis Severino, or Vida Nuno pitching to Jesus Montero.
As for the idea that this team is funagain, well, we'll find out if Buster Olney is anywhere to be found if the Yankees only manage to win 74 games next season.
I know everyone is preoccupied with a part-time DH hitting a fly ball to right field, but if you check the standings, the World-Series-or-Bust Mets have the same record as the Trade-Everyone Yankees.
I think Torre's evasiveness was charming to the press, but Girardi's evasiveness is irritating.
As Seattle wins 5 in a row and gets back into the wild card race, I truly think the Yankees might have done the same thing if they had kept their team together. Will it pay off in the long run? I guess we'll see.
But, c'mon. You can't have it both ways. You can't say you think you have a chance to make the playoffs while you throw AAA players out there every day.
"Yet Teixeira is also a symbol of something else. Always ready to play,
play hard, and with the old-world nobility that still appeals to the
masses. And someone whom even the most ardent Yankees hater couldn’t
quite get himself to hate."
I don't consider him particularly hard-nosed or noble.
But I like the fact that you're referring to him in the past tense.
"Maybe Teixeira came too late to be a minted member of the Core Four, but he surely played with their collective spirit."
Whatever that means, I think you're imagining it.
"When people parse the Yankees, and all the bad they allegedly represent,
you never hear the name Teixeira as a symbol of all their sins. Simply,
it’s just impossible to dislike someone who was as good, humble, and
charitable as Teixeira."
I feel honored to have achieved the impossible.
"In spite of all the home runs, Gold Gloves, and All-Star games, Teixeira
maintained the blue-collar ethic that defines the Big Apple."
Teixeira's exaggerated howls of pain when he dove out of the way of a low pitch do did not seem blue-collar to me.
"Despite all the money and marble of Madison Avenue, the swollen
billboards and media dysfunction, New York City was built by blue collar
people who still lug their lunches to work, don’t mind getting dirty,
and don’t own a single pair of skinny jeans.
So despite his nine-figure contract, Teixeira kept his old-school
sensibilities. Some players get to Gotham, sign for biblical money, and
forget who they are and what got them here."
Sooooo ... you're saying he's white?
Teixeira seemed to forget what got him here, by the way. What got him here was playing good baseball.
"Not Teixeira, whose handle, Tex, evokes the notion of a simple man with a
simple plan. No matter the big numbers on the field and absurd numbers
in his savings account, he never floated above the team, was never too
big to dive for a baseball, or too important to get his pinstripes
muddy."
I truly don't follow.
Other than Cano, every player dives for baseball.
Teixeira never struck me as a particularly humble guy, not that it really matters.
Or is all this just an indirect dig at ARod?
"Teixeira’s teams may have seen more success, but you’ll never get
Teixeira to say he was better than Mattingly, or anyone. It’s not the
way he played, the way he lived, or the way he won."
I mean ...
"Teixeira was one of the rare players who came to New York needing little
more than a tour of the locker room. He was never bothered by the
lights, shaken by the media fishbowl, or intimidated by the fans."
So what happened?
Check out his clutch stats.
Maybe he wasn't intimidated by fans or media, just by the pitchers in Major League Baseball.
"Sabathia, A-Rod, and Teixeira are the last legends left from the last
legendary team. So while Tex may not be the same player he was back
then, he’s still the same man. So rather than notice what he means to
this year’s team, perhaps we should remember what he meant to the
Yankees, and what it meant to be a Yankee."
"For the good of everyone, the New York Yankeesmust make a decision on Alex Rodriguez, then announce it and move on.
They can cut him or keep him. They just need to decide. Right now."
So far, they have kept him, which is the status quo.
So they're already decided.
"They can release him today, eat his $27 million and let him find out if
anyone else wants a 41-year-old DH with a .609 OPS, or they can let him
ride the pine the rest of the year and let him give it another crack
next spring to see if he has anything left."
I think they have decided the latter.
"What they should stop doing is trying to figure out what they think.
Because they already have announced that A-Rod is not going to play
much, if at all, the rest of the way, then the baseball operations
people must tell Hal Steinbrenner if they think Rodriguez has anything
left. If they don't, thank him for his work and let him and the
franchise move on."
You seem to be imagining some internal decision-making angst which doesn't exist.
"If they think Rodriguez might be able to regain some magic next year,
then announce he will be on the team the rest of the season and they
will give it another go then."
"There were still so many times, even after the last Yankee dynasty ended
in 2001 -- Game 7 against the Diamondbacks, bottom of the 9th, Luis
Gonzalez dunking one over Derek Jeter's head -- when the Yankees would
automatically be declared the champions of the offseason every time they
signed another free agent or spent more money. They were the Yankees
and there was this idea that they were smarter than everybody else
because they had more money. And because, well, they were the Yankees."
The 2001 World Series?
"The funny thing is, it was losing that World Series to the D-backs --
and nearly winning it despite scoring just 14 runs -- that really made
them start spending like sheikhs. Bidding against themselves that
offseason, they spent nearly $120 million to go get Jason Giambi. But
Giambi didn't put them back on top, so they didn't blink in early 2004
when they absorbed Alex Rodriguez's contract via a trade from the Texas
Rangers. Now the left side of the infield alone, Jeter and Rodriguez,
had contracts whose total value was nearly $450 million, though the
Rangers were willing to pay $112 million to get out from under the rest
of A-Rod's contract.
It would be five years before the Yankees won a World Series with
A-Rod playing baseball for them, the only one they have won since 2000.
And all they had to do that year was spend another $450 million or so on
CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett."
Winning the World Series isn't easy.
"So even though the Yankees were still selling a World-Series-or-bust
model to their fans every single year, and even though they never had a
losing season, they were now far more likely to miss the playoffs
entirely with another $200-million-plus payroll, or not make it past the
first round, as they were to get near the last week of October."
True.
It isn't easy to win the World Series.
"The Yankees have kept this thing going for an amazingly long time in the
Bronx, and sold a lot of tickets at the new Yankee Stadium. Even when
the 2013 and 2014 Yankees missed the postseason, they gave themselves a
chance. But there has been nothing special, or remarkable, about them
for a while. You know what their biggest attractions have been lately?
Farewell tours for Jeter and the great Mariano Rivera. Legendary Yankees
at the back ends of their contracts. You know what they might be
selling now, now that Beltran is gone and the full-time DH job opens up
wide? The 41-year old Rodriguez trying to get to 700 home runs, as if
that number matters to anybody else except him."
I find it astonishing that Lupica thinks the 2016 Yankees are going to market ARod's chase for 700 HRs when (1) no one cares about the chase for 700 HRs, and (2) most observers think ARod is about to get cut.
