Josh Hamilton is back in training camp.

The Angels got 31 HRs for their $125 million investment.

Though the Rangers paid $4 million of that.

So the Angels got 31 HRs for their $121 million investment.

This is why set up men leave to become closers.

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.

Last place.

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.

If you want to start with a runner on second base, then hit a double.

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."

It's not a good example.

Because one is tennis and the other is baseball.

So ... other than that ...  it's a good example.

You know what would be a great idea? Starting extra innings with a runner on second base.

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."

I'm gonna show those arrogant New Yorkers.

"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.

You did it.

You're Mike Lupica.