Correction: Four-Time Champ

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?

2016 NL MVP

BBWAA

Name	Points
Kris Bryant	415
Daniel Murphy	245
Corey Seager	240
Anthony Rizzo	202
Nolan Arenado	199
Freddie Freeman	129
Joey Votto	100
Yoenis Cespedes	45
Justin Turner	44
Max Scherzer	39
Paul Goldschmidt	18
Brandon Crawford	15
Jean Segura	14
Buster Posey	11
DJ LeMahieu	8
Madison Bumgarner	7
Jeurys Familia	6
Wilson Ramos	6
Addison Russell	5
Noah Syndergaard	5
Christian Yelich	5
Yasmani Grandal	4
Kyle Hendricks	2
Ryan Braun	2
Yadier Molina	2
Charlie Blackmon	1
Johnny Cueto	1

 Felz Poll

Name	Points
Kris Bryant	23
Daniel Murphy	10
Anthony Rizzo	6
Nolan Arenado	4
Freddie Freeman	4
Corey Seager	4
Joey Votto	4
Ryan Braun	2

2016 AL MVP

BBWAA

Name	Points
Mike Trout	356
Mookie Betts	311
Jose Altuve	227
Josh Donaldson	200
Manny Machado	150
David Ortiz	147
Adrian Beltre	135
Robinson Cano	79
Francisco Lindor	56
Miguel Cabrera	56
Zach Britton	11
Kyle Seager	10
Brian Dozier	9
Edwin Encarnacion	7
Nelson Cruz	6
Chris Sale	3
Jose Ramirez	2
Justin Verlander	2
Adam Eaton	1
Corey Kluber	1
Evan Longoria	1

 Felz Poll

Name	Points
Mike Trout	18
Mookie Betts	13
David Ortiz	9
Jose Altuve	6
Josh Donaldson	4
Mark Trumbo	4
Adrian Beltre	2
Robinson Cano	2
Brian Dozier	1
Edwin Encarnacion	1

The Yankees don't need Mike Trout.

The Yankees already have what's his name ... Clint Frazier.

2016 NL Cy Young Award

BBWAA

Name	Points
Max Scherzer	192
Jon Lester	102
Kyle Hendricks	85
Madison Bumgarner	46
Clayton Kershaw	30
Johnny Cueto	19
Jose Fernandez	18
Noah Syndergaard	15
Jake Arrieta	2
Tanner Roark	1

 Felz Poll

Name	Points
Max Scherzer	20
Madison Bumgarner	18
Kyle Hendricks	9
Jon Lester	8
Jake Arrieta	3
Johny Cueto	3
Bartolo Colon	1

2016 AL Cy Young Award

New faces on the AL Cy Young Award list this year. The voters wanted change.

BBWAA

Name	Points
Rick Porcello	137
Justin Verlander	132
Corey Kluber	98
Zach Britton	72
Chris Sale	40
J.A. Happ	14
Aaron Sanchez	6
Masahiro Tanaka	6
Andrew Miller	3
Michael Fulmer	1
Jose Quintana	1

 Felz Poll

Name	Points
Rick Porcello	18
Masahiro Tanaka	9
Corey Kluber	8
Chris Sale	7
Justin Verlander	6
Zach Britton	5
Felix Hernandez	3
Aaron Sanchez	2
Cole Hamels	1
David Price	1

... and we officially ran out of baseball topics.

Here is an article about Tim Tebow not answering a question about Donald Trump.

.216

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."

He even inspired himself to strike out with the bases loaded.

The dumbest story line to emerge from Game Seven:

"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."

The writers sure love this guy for some reason.

Someone is thinking too hard.

Winning is better than losing.

It's why you play the game.

I'm quite sure most Cubs fans/players/coaches would take a ring over mystique.

I doubt Chapman is coming back to the Yankees.

"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.