Madden!

"As for the Yankees, they continue to lead the AL East despite the fact that none of GM Brian Cashman’s trades last winter have worked out particularly well, and that drastically improved defense they talked about last winter has been anything but."

Eovaldi is working out fine so far.

Miller is working out fine so far, even though he wasn't technically acquired via trade.

Gregorius hasn't been too good, but he might be better than Brendan Ryan or Stephen Drew. Derek Jeter retired, in case you didn't notice. The Yankees really didn't give up much for Gregorius -- I'm not sure I'd rather have Shane Greene (though the Cashman Bashers have stopped paying attention to Greene as Greene's ERA has ballooned above 5.00).


So what's your complaint? What's your point?

Cashman stuck with his team and they're 30-25 and in first place. I'm shocked they're playing so well. Cashman's trades have, in fact, worked out ... all of the trades he didn't make.


"Second base has been mostly a black hole, Didi Gregorius has played horribly at short (eight errors), Chase Headley has 12 errors at third base, Carlos Beltran has been a liability in right field, ..."

You're talking specifically about defense ... right? It seems that's what you're doing, based on the previous sentence and the remainder of the list.

Second base has not been a black hole ... defensively.

But it's also really hard to even figure out precisely what you're trying to say.


"CC Sabathia, if he wasn’t making $23 million, would have pitched his way out of the rotation by now, and the middle relief has been mostly lousy."

The middle relief has not been mostly lousy. It's all kind of relative, don't you think?

It's basically economically impossible for a pro baseball team to have effective middle relief.

If the middle relief pitcher is good, he will not settle for a middle relief role. He will demand starter money or closer money.

If a middle relief pitcher is bad, he will be replaced by another middle relief pitcher.

So Esmil Rogers has tanked lately, and he is still on the roster for now, but his ineffectiveness has not really cost the Yankees any games. Why? Because he's a mop up guy who isn't used when the games are close. Reviewing his game log, he has really only had two bad games. The Yankees won one and lost one.


"But with Michael Pineda and now Masahiro Tanaka back, the Yankees have two No. 1-caliber starters who seldom turn in a bad outing, and with the best closing tandem in baseball in Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances, they may nevertheless have enough to win baseball’s worst division. There’s no guarantee, however, they’ll have a winning record."

Madden might be joking here, but once again, it's not easy to tell.

If he's really saying the Yankees might win the AL East with 81 wins, then I think he'll need a math lesson. The Yankees will lose at least 56 more times in the remaining 107 games. The majority of these remaining games will be vs. the AL East. So if the Yankees are losing, then another AL East team will be will be winning.

Lots of permutations. I certainly haven't attempted to work this out. I just know it's really not likely that 81 wins win win a division.


Maybe Madden is intentionally vague. It may be a strategy. He can backtrack if need be:

"It is probably no surprise that Josh Hamilton and Slade Heathcott, both of whom have a history of substance/alcohol abuse problems and associated injuries, landed on the disabled list last week, barely a week after joining their respective teams (Rangers and Yankees), and will now be out indefinitely."

Are you saying "quad strain" is a euphemism for substance abuse relapse?

Because a quad strain, in and of itself, is certainly not associated with substance/alcohol abuse.

Do you know something we don't know?

Or are you making unsupported accusations?

Or are you simply a bad writer who is unable to convey what he is trying to say?

Which brings up a point ... when you say it's "probably no surprise" that Hamilton and Heathcott went on the DL ... what the heck are you trying to say?