I am quite confident Aaron Hicks will get 500 at-bats. Who's with me?

You lost me at Rotary Club.

It's time to burn it down all the old ways and start over.

Things nobody said.

"Wait a second, Yankee fans, if your team doesn’t make it to the Canyon of Heroes this season, it’s Aaron Boone’s fault?

Got it."

Not sure anyone is saying this. 

However, Boone has not done a particularly good job during his tenure. Please don't forget the main reason he was chosen over Girardi ... because Boone supposedly could communicate better with the young superstars.

How did that work out with, say, Gary Sanchez and his negative WAR?

 

"I’m still loving the idea of yoga turning everything around for Aaron Judge.

Because, let’s face it, if there’s a way to pull an oblique doing Downward Dog, No. 99 is going to find it."

Classy.

Again, no one is saying this. "Turn everything around." Never get injured again.

But it also sounds like a good idea to work on flexibility instead of size.

It sounds like a bad idea to act like nothing is wrong.

 

 

 

The three-batter rule ruined his career.

He's only good against righties. The splits bear this out.

I find it hilarious that the author remembered this tidbit about Babe Ruth:

"The Yankees had signed the Brooklyn native, who had boasted he’d strike out Babe Ruth every single time, to a three-year, $27 million contract in an effort to bolster their bullpen."

Lupica remembered to send a Valentine on Valentine's Day.

The headline should not say "no competition," because, even if deGrom is the best of the best, there are many pitchers in the discussion:

"First Matt Harvey, the Dark Knight of Gotham City, was supposed to be the great star of that rotation. Then along came Noah Syndergaard, with all that hair and another comic book nickname -- Thor."

I say something is "supposed to" happen.

When it doesn't happen, a normal person says "I was wrong," rather than "it was supposed to happen."

 

Also, as I've mentioned before, the only reason deGrom was largely ignored by the press, is because the press elevated Harvey and Syndergaard (among others) ahead of deGrom.

Why?

I don't have any idea why.

You tell us, Lupica.

Cool nicknames? 

Which you now mock?

 

"Dwight Gooden, of course, was spectacular when he was a kid, especially in 1985, when he finished 24-4 at the age of 20 and had a Bob Gibson-like ERA of 1.53."

No way. Dwight Gooden and Bob Gibson in the same sentence?

Do you know how long ago 1985 was?

Stop and think about how long ago 1985 really was.

I was on the phone with Sid Fernandez and Mike Scott; I was golfing with Mookie Wilson and Rick Honeycutt; I was spritzing in a sauna with Juan Beniquez and Teddy Higuera ...

Where was I? Oh yeah: Jacob deGrom is great. Which you already knew.

Current Champions and favorites to win World Series are ...

 ... in a position to win.

"Early Friday afternoon, before Trevor Bauer announced he would sign with the Dodgers, I texted manager Dave Roberts to take his temperature on what he thought might happen with Bauer."

Oh.

Hey, that's cool, man.

That's really cool.

You have the cell phone number of the manager of the Dodgers.

I was wondering what the purpose of this article could possibly be, and now I know. It's just a name drop.

There is no "title" of America's Biggest Sports Star.

On to baseball:

"If Noah Syndergaard is healthy by the summer, the Mets still might have a better team than the Yankees this season."

I don't think the Mets will win more games than the Yankees this season ... if that's what you mean by "better team."

Who cares, anyway?

I know how this works.

All the Mets get healthy and play well. All the Yankees stay injured. Mets win back the Big City. Mookie Wilson.

 

"It doesn’t change the fact that Trevor Bauer, in the end, wanted Los Angeles and the Dodgers more than he wanted the Mets and the big, bad city."

"If I’m the Yankees, I don’t extend Aaron Judge until he shows me he can stay on the field for about 150 games one of these years.

I’m starting to get the idea that only Stephen Hawking was more of a genius than Eric Cressey, the Yankees’ director of player health and performance."

Hmmm ... it will take a while to unpack that logic.

If Noah Syndergaard gets healthy and the Mets are better than the Yankees, then Trevor Bauer wouldn't want to go play for the current World Champion Dodgers?

It reminds me of the recent golf game I played with Noah Syndergaard Mookie Wilson Doc Gooden Madison Bumgarner Tony Lasorda.

 

"Incidentally? Give him and his agent all the credit in the world.

They played their hand about as well as it could be played.

They win and the Dodgers win.

 And baseball wins.

Because the Dodgers now officially become the Big Team, in all ways, that the sport hasn’t had since Torre’s Yankees."

For real?

From reading your columns, I would have sworn it was the Collins-era Mets.

 

"If I’m the Yankees, I don’t extend Aaron Judge until he shows me he can stay on the field for about 150 games one of these years.

I’m starting to get the idea that only Stephen Hawking was more of a genius than Eric Cressey, the Yankees’ director of player health and performance."

a) Thank the Lord you're not the Yankees.

b) We get it. Yankees injured, Mets healthy.

Maybe Cressey can get to work on Syndergaard ... so the Mets will be better than the Yankees ... and you can get an interview with Mookie Wilson.

Injured Stanton and Judge, along with a healthy Syndergaard, and the Yankees will still clear the Mets by ten games.

Yankees starting pitching ranked #4 by this guy, which I suspect is higher than most rankings.

His Top Sox list does not even include Severino. 

The Yankees may have the best starting pitcher in the league.

I am pretty sure they have the most starting pitching depth.

Unintended consequences, huh?

Opportunity cost is certainly a thing, and all contracts involve risk.

I'm just tired of 120 years of shock and outrage over player salaries:

"The first winner is Bauer, who turned brash self-promotion and two strong seasons into the two highest annual salaries in MLB history. This deal is the validation that baseball’s Mark Zuckerberg has craved all along. It’s a giant middle finger in the faces of all those who questioned his methods, the perfect mic drop for all those who dared to doubt him.

The second is the Padres, the pesky title-less franchise two hours down the coast (without traffic, anyway). Their brilliant moves this offseason baited the rational Dodgers, three months after winning the World Series, into overspending for a starting pitcher they don’t need. Even if the Dodgers are still the better team this season, such a deal could prove restrictive for them and give San Diego the advantage moving forward."

Sure.

Lots of things could happen.

I could use the same logic and say the real winner is the Colorado Rockies because both the Dodgers and the Padres overspent in the offseason.

Even though the Rockies lost Arenado, they got a lot of minor league players in return, and they probably also have a lot of the ever-so-popular "draft capital."

 

"None of this comes as a surprise to the Dodgers. Their willingness to tolerate Bauer will depend on how well he pitches and whether they win, neither of which are guaranteed."

I personally guarantee the Dodgers win the World Series the next ... let's say ... five seasons in a row.

 

"The Dodgers are making a lucrative investment in an iconoclastic 30-year-old with an inconsistent résumé. He better be worth it."

Or what?

They give someone else a lucrative contract and continue to win a lot of baseball games?