That's not what key means.

Dominguez is not an afterthought. He is supposedly a star of the future with potential. At this stage of his career, his is easily replaceable.

The other three players listed are afterthoughts.

Winning is fun.

Soto is a grown man who will make his decision for himself. The psychoanlysis is tedious:

“There is a rigid, robotic-like, buttoned-up feel to the Yankees...there’s something to that type of environment versus the looser, maybe more fun type of environment that the Mets have. Maybe Juan Soto likes that as well.”

The Mets may be more fun than the Yankees.

I've heard his excuse many times when the Yankees are playing poorly.

The Mets are certainly in the running for Soto. They can afford him while many teams can't.

I wouldn't expect Soto to sign for a discount just because the Mets play super-competitive canasta games in the locker room and his teammates are allowed to grow lengthy sideburns.

I can imagine Cashman at the negotiating table, offering the perks that have infiltrated corporate America: "Final offer: Fifteen years, $750 million ... and a free Galaga machine in the locker room."

It's also an ironic observation, because which is it, Sal?

The Yankees are uptight? Or the Yankees lost the World Series because they lack fundamentals and need to tighten up?

Sports talk radio is mostly a grift.

A MLB team just won 94 games and made the World Series. The negative reaction wouldn't change even if the Yankees had won the World Series.

Because the answer is always to trade everyone or break down the team and start from scratch.

I mean ... is it even fun to concoct these scenarios and put them out on the air just to get a reaction?

Even after Stanton's performance in the playoffs, he isn't worth much. He's a fragile one-trick pony. I wouldn't even be hesitant to trade him to an AL East rival.

So trade Giancarlo Stanton.

Trade Giancarlo Stanton to the Padres.

The Yankees will still have to pay 80% of his salary and, in return, the Yankees will get ... let's see ... ummm ... two minor league bullpen pitchers.

"Rebuilding the team" is a surefire key to success.

It's a bitter pill to swallow, but no one is arguing with him.

This is all true, but the regular season counts, too.

"The Braves got unlucky because they had to play a double header" is weak.

The Braves had to play a double header because they didn't win enough games in the regular season.

Then, they didn't get a first-round bye.

Like it or not, the teams aren't power-ranked when the playoffs start. Like it or not, the Yankees almost won the World Series. The bullpen pitched well, they hit a lot of home runs, they got their walks, and most of the games were very close.

Four games to one isn't close, but the crowing is because it's fun to beat the Yankees' brand. The brand has outperformed the team for decades.

It is accurate to say that talent lost out to fundamentals, but as is the case with the 2024 Yankees, their talent almost compensated for their lack of fundamentals. The World Series was not a Dodger blowout.

 

As for as Kelly's crowing, it's totally embarrassing and no one can dispute what he's saying.

It's Gary Sanchez being the only catcher in MLB history who jumps out of the way of the tag.

It's supposed future superstar Jasson Dominguez proudly proclaiming that he's going to practice his fielding. Because he wows the scouts with home runs, he apparently hasn't taken care of the fundamentals that he should have handled when he was fifteen years old.

Why doesn't Cole sprint to first base? I have no idea. You struck out two batters in a row with the bases loaded after your teammates committed back-to-back errors. That's the hard part. The sprint to first base is the celebratory easy part. Sprint to first base and get to Game Six and cross your fingers that Rodon pitches well.

Judge took his eye off the ball. It was a rare, poorly-timed goof up by a fundamentally sound player.

That was a shocker. It adds to his choker credentials for sure.

The rest of the Yankee garbage in the field and on the basepaths was entirely predictable and par for the course.

The headline and tag suggest this article is about the Jets.

It's gloating about the Yankee defeat.

Yankees, Yankees, Yankees, Yankees, Yankees, Yankees, Yankees, and the final coup de grace is a zinger lacking in self-awareness: "The Yankees are the other baseball team in town."

Then stop talking about them so much, huh?

The 3-6 Jets saved their season and are going to the Super Bowl.

The AL Champs Yankees are garbage.

Mookie Wilson, Mookie Wilson, Mookie Wilson.

Also, can we please discuss this bogus "transitive property" idea that the Mets outperformed the Yankees in 2024?

The Yankees made the World Series.

The Mets did not make the World Series.

The pride that the Mets take in losing to the eventual Champions? The same team that beat the Yankees?

Who even cares?

I don't remember any parades for the Yankees in 2017 ... or 2018 ... or 2022. Just Mission Not Accomplished: You Lost in the Playoffs.

Just like the Mets in 2024.

The Mets might be on the verge of a true dynasty, but Lupica has said the same thing for decades.

Alex Rodriguez is such a Yankee legend, Jazz Chisolm Jr. wears his uniform number.

I was listening and chuckling when ARod described the fifth inning as the worst meltdown he had seen in forty years. (Technically, he said "one of the worst.")

For one thing, have I got some 2024 Yankee clips to show you!

Most perplexing of all is the obvious observation that this dude was front and center in the Yankee collapse in the 2024 ALCS.

While I totally agree with all the postmortems ... WHY IS THIS THE FIRST I'M READING ABOUT IT? ABOUT THE YANKEE LACK OF FUNDAMENTALS? ANYWHERE BESIDES MY OWN BLOG?

This is why I thought the Yankees wouldn't get past the Royals.

Indulge in a Lupica gloat session.

Same template.

The current Yankees aren't as good as the Torre-era Yankees. 

What was your first clue over the past 20 years?

"Sure, they had the best record in the American League and won against garbage teams in the AL playoffs," that kind of thing.

It doesn't matter.

The Dodgers are better and the NL is better. The best teams don't always win the World Series, however, and I thought it was exciting and fun to make it.

Sorry if I had fun being a fan of a baseball team.

If winning the World Series is the only way to define success, then only the Dodgers were successful in 2024.

The oddball hypocrisy is his dismissal of the Dodgers payroll compared to, well ... I don't need to prove the case. 

I mean, he is kind of re-imagining the Torre-era Yankees after years of dismissing them as MLB-ruining Steinbrenner Stormtroopers.

But the really oddball thing is his insistence of rebuking an argument that no one is actually having.

No one is saying the Yankees are better than the Dodgers. No one is patting themselves on the back for almost winning.  No one is elevating this era to the dynasties of the past.

Where are you hearing these things, kind Sir? The voices in your head?

It's the World Series and the defensive ineptitude is making headlines.

Soto is a Gold Glove finalist, but I don't see it. 

Volpe already has one Gold Glove and is a finalist for another. I don't really agree. Maybe there's a defensive drought at shortstop in the AL?

Verdugo is a finalist and probably deserves it.

The best defensive starting OFer on the Yankees, in my opinion, is the one who isn't a finalist. Go figure. Or draw your own conclusions about the veracity of the Gold Glove award.

As for Gleyber, what else can be said about the man who consistently refuses to do the easy things?

It's a tad convenient to "blame" one play or another. The Dodgers had lots of scoring opportunities, only hit a couple of sac flies, and didn't cash in until the final at-bat.

But as a mind exercise, imagine the following: "If Gleyber Torres can catch a relay throw from the outfield, the Yankees will win Game One of the World Series."

So you sign up for that bargain, and you still lose.

 

Unearned runs and ineptitude with RISP.

I totally missed the deal with the ninth-inning intentional walk. I somehow missed the consequence of Verdugo throwing the ball from the stands. I thought runners were still on first and second.

It's still a risky move because, with the bases loaded, you can't afford a walk or a HBP.

Which means Cortes is under more pressure to throw a first-pitch strike.

Which means ... well, it happened.

I agree with Klapisch that Cole should have stayed in longer.

 I can't say for sure that Hill would have gotten Freeman out, but that is also a fair criticism of Boone.

 I'm still traumatized by the ridiculous walk to Muncy. Cousins has to challenge Muncy instead of just giving away an at-bat. But this is the high-reward/high-risk Yankee bullpen.

We all saw what happened. The sloppy play in the field is very standard operating procedure for this team, especially in big spots, and it comes back to haunt them quite often.

Jazz manufactured a run in the tenth, which was a long-awaited pleasant surprise.

But the Yankees are precisely who they are. They hit one home run and almost won the game. They needed two home runs.

Giancarlo earned the MVP of the ALCS. My observation is not a criticism of his performance or of his MVP credentials.

It's just a really good microcosm of modern baseball.

A DH who batted .222. in the series end up being the obvious choice for MVP.

Of course, since all four hits were home runs, his slugging percentage for the series was .889.

The Mets have a "better future" than the Yankees, for sure!

The Mets didn't give up in Game Five of the ALCS.

Even after having a bad record in 2023, the Mets didn't give up in 2024. 

Gee.

The Yankees, on the other hand, one game away from the World Series, have no pitching and their superstar, Aaron Judge, is a bum.

This is why the Mets are better.

But we already knew that based on the Mets beating the Yankees 4-0 in the regular season and Lupica explaining this to us the past thirty years or so.

Lupica has always told us the Mets are better, and he is right.

Also, the Mets have a better future than the Yankees. Obviously.

Not sure how this conclusion reached ... details are for FanGraphs dorks ... but it's obvious to anyone who believes in Truth and Justice and Grittiness.

So if the Mets are better than the Yankees; and if the Yankees get further than the Mets in the playoffs; then the only conclusion is that the Yankees overachieved or the Mets underachieved.

This hasn't happened yet.

Next week is difficult to predict, much less the nebulous "future."

But if that happens, then that's the only conclusion one can logically reach.

I have zero confidence in Stroman.

If he's described as a secret weapon, then I suspect the Yankees will be hoist by their own petard.

That's from Shakespeare.

Because I'm super smart.

An 80% save percentage isn't very good.

I'm not being serious.

One out to go is tough to take, but the Yankee bullpen wasn't going to have an ERA of 0.00 forever.

A real Joe Namath over here.

A modern-day Mark Messier, don't you know?

Messier famously got a hat trick after he guaranteed a playoff victory. Symbolic and inspiring.

Jazz is batting .138 in the 2024 playoffs.

I know it's just his preferred way of communicating and psyching himself up. It's just clownish to me if you don't deliver.

"Not ... crisp."

"Rizzo did not start Game 3, as manager Aaron Boone went with utility infielder Jon Berti against the left-handed Matt Boyd.

While it was an adventure at time [sic] for Berti, he got through most of the game without a crucial mistake. Boone would later use Rizzo as a defensive replacement in the later innings and the veteran first baseman was not as crisp."

The Yankees are heavy favorites, evidently.

12-1?

OK, fine.

I hope 12 out of 13 experts are correct.

So the Guardians are not a third-round bye?

“They’re way better than anything the Yankees will have faced this year,” Sal said of Cleveland. “The bullpen, the defense, even the lineup, while it’s not as deep as the Yankees, it’s far better than what the Yankees saw with the Royals. So they’re gonna face their toughest challenge.”

He is correct in the sense that the perception is incorrect. The perception is that the AL Central are a bunch of farm teams for the coasts and that the Yankees have an easy path to the World Series.

As for the Yankees' lineup, it's lots of things.

It's effective, as explained many times before, mostly due to walks and home runs. They hit into too many double plays, have trouble hitting situationally, and have a slumpy way of forgetting how to hit with RISP.

One thing it is not is deep.

Even with Gleyber doing the job from the leadoff spot and, in my opinion. a competent catcher who is due for some productivity from the cleanup spot ... the Yankee lineup is basically two great hitters and that's about it.

“They don’t have the starters that Kansas City had...but the Yankees don’t hit in the postseason! That’s been the given. I wish I could say I was encouraged with the first four games of the Yankees postseason...but the Guardians can pitch and play excellent defense, and I don’t think they’re gonna be intimidated at all by the Yankees. This is gonna be a very difficult series...I think the Guardians can win this series very easily.”

The Yankees also have a tendency to beat themselves.

They mostly played "clean" in the first round of the playoffs.

I foresee an infuriating situation where the Guardians score a few tide-turning runs that the Yankees give away. A walk on a pitch clock violation; a catcher's interference; a wild pitch; and an error on a tailor-made GIDP.

 

 

There's a word for fly balls that are almost home runs but caught by the outfielder.

They are known as outs.

Almost fair balls are foul, almost strikes are balls, almost wins are losses.

Besides, I'll take my chances in an extra-innings battle of the bullpens.

When Erik Kratz talks, people listen.

He is certainly entitled to his opinion. The proof is in the pudding and I don't think he's correct in this instance. In any case, the "ex-Yankee" angle is just click bait. When you think of ex-Yankees, Kratz falls somewhere between Mike Jerzembeck and Henry Rodriguez.

It's both. Why can't it be both? It's obviously both.

"You can blame the enigma that is Carlos Rodon, he of three lights-out innings before imploding in the fourth, all you want for the Yankees’ Game 2 loss, but the fact is, he had one bad inning and the bullpen was aces for five behind him."

I mean, he sort of kept his team in the game, if that counts for anything. I suppose it does.

It wasn't a complete disaster. I've seen worse.

But "one bad inning" always means it's a bad start. You don't get credit for almost getting out of an inning.

"To Boomer & Gio, it was the other side, where the Yanks had just five hits entering the ninth and squandered multiple opportunities, that bears the brunt of the loss."

Sure.

Two runs isn't enough.

So in yesterday's game, the offense was bad and the starting pitcher was bad.

The bullpen was excellent. Both games. Zero runs combined.

" '... he pitched much better this year than he did in previous years, and you would think that he’s gonna be a guy that's gonna at least get us through six innings – but they used eight pitchers last night.' ”

Did he pitch much better this year?

He got a lot of wins.

He surged at the end of the year to get his ERA down to around 4.00.

I certainly did not think he would get through six innings.

He pitched 175 innings in 32 starts. A lot of those starts against non-playoff teams. Do the math, kind sir.

The other aspect which unfortunately played out is that the guy seems to be a head case, which is bad news in the playoffs.

Et tu, Clase?

Most Yankee fans envision a disastrous blown save in the playoffs by a second-rate "closer" and they blame Cashman for his unwillingness to spend extravagantly on ... who?

"We don't want another Aroldis Chapman nightmare."

So who's the reliable closer?

There aren't any left.

Score some runs, play good defense, and don't rely on one player to be infallible.

This is a convoluted way of saying it ...

 ... but look around what is happening in the playoffs.

Mariano Rivera isn't walking through that door.

The Yankees already have a good bullpen. It's a strength of the team, not a weakness. That includes Holmes, even though he deserved his demotion.

 

Diaz just blew a save for the Mets in the eighth inning. I'm not surprised at all. We shouldn't forget that he also blew a save in the first game of the Braves doubleheader, setting the stage for Lindor's memorable home run. I don't think Diaz was expected to get a seven-out save today, but he couldn't even get through the eighth.

Now we'll see if the Phillies "closer" can close it out in the ninth.

Hader was "hittable" in the first round, even though most of the runs allowed weren't charged to him.

 

Devin Williams: 1.25 ERA in the regular season, 21.60 ERA in the postseason.

 

I believe in Clase. I also think he's one of a kind of all the current players in MLB. 

So unless you can imagine a scenario where the Guardians are going to trade Clase to the Yankees, the Yankees should feel quite comfortable going with what they've got.

It's just ten innings.

Nine and two-thirds, to be precise.

But the postseason ERA for Clay Holmes is 0.00.

The distrust and anger directed towards this player is overwrought and misguided.

Also, I will predict right now that, at some point in his career, he will allow at least one run in the postseason.

When it happens, the Yankee fans will pounce with a collective, "Told ya so."

Kudos to Peter Sblendorio at the Daily News for noticing that Clay Holmes pitched well in yesterday's game.

Stroman out.

My blog post from September 17:

"So that's five. If you want to put Stroman on the playoff roster, that's six, though I'm not sure why you would do that.

In what possible scenario is Stroman going to be more reliable out of the bullpen than Holmes? In which pitching statistic is Stroman better than Holmes?"

Opinions!

One big surprise over at MLB.com:

"Although the Dodgers won the NL West by five games with MLB's best record (98-64) and have a high-powered lineup featuring Shohei Ohtani (making his postseason debut after the first 50-50 season in MLB history), Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, our experts think the Padres are headed for their second NLDS triumph over Los Angeles in three years."

Oh, I see what he's saying. OK.

“Something magical happened. That moment is as significant in met history as any. You cannot hit a bigger home run. In fact, no one ever has. He is the first player in baseball history to hit a lead-changing home run in the ninth inning or later in a winner-take-all game in the history of the sport. That is a moment that no other fanbase has.”

So while I instantly thought of Gibson and Carter in the World Series, those weren't winner-take-all games.

OK, Mr. McGonigle.

We're good.

 

For the past few months, I have been thinking that the Mets had a better chance than the Yankees to win the World Series. If the Mets make the playoffs. If the Mets get past the first round.

The Mets barely cleared those hurdles, but they cleared those hurdles.

I'm not emotionally hedging, it's just my analysis of the teams.

I don't think the Yankees are getting past the Royals.

A typical take is Andy Martino's, where he acknowledges some of the team's glaring and persistent shortcomings, but minimizes them.

I, on the other hand, predict these shortcomings be amplified in the postseason, and it will be exceedingly frustrating to see a team lose because of unforced errors:

"The Yanks must also squash some of the mistakes that popped up a little too frequently during the season. They’ve blundered on the bases – can’t run into dopey outs with this much firepower in the lineup – and they made 93 errors, the seventh-most in MLB. Of the six teams with more, only one made the playoffs – the Mets, who had 94."

I also specifically predict, while rooting desperately for the opposite, is that the crucible of the playoffs will crush deer-in-the-headlights Volpe. I expect horrible performances at the bat, on the basepaths (assuming he gets on base), and in the field.

The Yankees will not play small ball. I don't even know what Suzyn is talking about. It's whether or not they can homer their way out of sloppy play. It's how many people are on base when they hit their home runs.

Pete Alonso does nothing in big spots.

 

Diaz is the closer.

We know Maton wasn't going to pitch the ninth.

Therefore, Maton wasn't going to get a save.

Therefore, Maton didn't blow a non-existent save.

I know I'm the only person on the planet consistently bugged by the misunderstanding of this particular stat, but it's easy to solve. Anything before the ninth inning is a blown hold.

It really is OK for the official scorer to make a judgment call.

A journeyman middle reliever in the sixth inning with the bases loaded and a one-run lead is not expected to close out the next four innings. If he keeps the game close and merely allows a sac fly, he gets a blown save.

The save stat is silly and arbitrary in its own right.

The blown save stat is not accurate in any way.

Maybe 1/4th of blown saves are actually blown saves -- a game you legitimately expected to win, where your lead in runs exceeded the number of innings remaining, and your closer was pitching.

Also, if people are going to assume that your team lost a game in which you blew the save, then just adjust the stat likewise. Nobody gets a blown save if your team wins the game. Or maybe have a team stat that accounts for this.

Byes in the first round are advantageous.

"Sal says the Mets have the manager in Carlos Mendoza, the star power with Francisco Lindor, and the collection of hitters who know their roles and get it done in big spots, from Jose Iglesias to Tyrone Taylor and Jesse Winker."

I'm not saying the Mets can't win the World Series. I'm not saying the Mets won't win the World Series

I will say that, if the Mets don't win tomorrow, Mendoza's stock plummeted based on one play.

Why wasn't Diaz pitching in the eighth inning, Grady Little? I mean, Carlos Mendoza?

"As everything seems to be coming together, Sal says these Mets have a good shot to be one of the more improbable World Series champions in recent memory."

Errr ... the Texas Rangers from 2023 don't qualify as recent? 

 

“'At this point, I don’t think we can put any ceiling on this team,' Sal said. 'Anything is possible. They continue to show us how good they’ve been. I think they have as good a chance as anybody else to win the World Series.'”

Not true.

Because four teams have already advanced past the first round.

Because: Math.

At the time this article was written, the Mets were a two-game losing streak away from being eliminated from the playoffs.

Now, it's a one-game losing streak.

 

Brian Cashman is smarter than you.

By "you," I don't mean the Diamondbacks owner, though Cashman is smarter than the Diamondbacks owner.

I mean "you," all the people who zeroed in on Montgomery one year ago just because they thought Montgomery's limited success for a World Series champion makes Brian Cashman look ridiculous.

So stupid.

Baseball players move all over the league all the time.

The Mets have ex-Yankees Severino and Bader, who the Yankees just released or didn't pursue. 

Did I forget to mention Adam Ottavino? "How could the Yankees get rid of bullpen help? I'm so much smarter than Brian Cashman! I'm going to call up WFAN and let them know."

Imagine my surprise to see Gio Urshela on the Braves.

In 2024, he went from one playoff team, the Tigers, to another playoff team! Everywhere that Gio Urshela goes, the team wins. Not really, but in 2024 only.

Giancarlo Stanton looks ready for the playoffs.

On Thursday, Stanton had a home run and four RBIs and is ready for the playoffs. He is the "X-Factor."

Which is really good news.

Because on Tuesday, he was 0-for-4 with 4 strikeouts. On Tuesday, he was the "K-Factor."

Verdugo is no Roy White. Verdugo is not even Rondell White. But he's going to start in LF for the Yankees in the playoffs.

Pay attention, people.

The Yankees are not going to put this guy in the outfield in the playoffs.

It's not as if Dominguez is tearing the cover off the ball. A .200 batting average and a couple of home runs.

I find all of this baffling, but I shouldn't be surprised anymore. The fielding is the easy part. Go shag some fly balls in the summer afternoon. Hit the cutoff man once in a while.

Learn the basics and fundamentals of playing baseball. 

Sure, the Yankee prospects are "young" by professional baseball standards, but I knew how to do this stuff when I was ten years old.

Heck, Gleyber plays baseball as if he doesn't understand the fundamentals of physics and how physical objects interact in the world. "If I slide when I'm fifteen feet away from third base, will I reach the base? If I throw the baseball to a spot that is ten feet away from second base, won't gravity pull it back to Volpe? Like, the Coriolis Effect?"

Nice slide.

He is hitting well lately, but he still plays like Larry from Accounting at the company's softball game.

Weak take.

I have relatively high hopes for the future of Jasson Dominguez, but his recent hot streak brought his batting average up to .195.

We know why the Yankees prefer Verdugo.

He isn't a horrible situational hitter, but most of all ... HE CAN FIELD.

As for Holmes, this is a silly narrative that has taken on a life of its own. 

He is in a slump, but he's a good pitcher, and the only reason anyone notices his slump is because he was designated as the closer. The non-Holmes bullpen is quite good, but its collective ERA is not 0.00. Too many BBs, HBPs, wild pitches, wild pickoff throws, and other self-defeating nonsense.

Is Tim Mayza going to be on the postseason roster? He allowed a home run yesterday vs. Baltimore! Also, a walk!

Is Ian Hamilton going to be on the postseason roster? He allowed a home run yesterday, too! He doesn't have what it takes. He chokes in the big games.

The anti-Holmes Society is out of control and has been for a while. He can induce a double play, he doesn't give up a lot of home runs, he has 29 saves this season. As is the fashion, he tries to be too perfect, resulting in high Ks and high BBs. It wouldn't shock me if he is used during a playoff game and bails out a starter who has left runners on base.

As for the closer, it's fine. Try Weaver or Kahnle or maybe one of the lefties if the situation demands. I hope it works out in the playoffs. Each game is "must win" or "pivotal," isn't it?

I'll worry about 2025 when it gets here. Holmes will never close again, and that's fine. The thing is, if you give Weaver 100 "save opportunities," and you surround him with a garbage infield, he's going to get a lot of blown saves as well.

Keep it up, Gleyber.

Tearing it up in the leadoff spot and in September. Can he keep it up in October? Did a flip switch and maybe he stopped trying to hit home runs every time?

Opinions are like armpits.

I have no particular predictive ability or inside information regarding who will be named to the Yankees' starting rotation the playoffs.

I seem to be the only person who is insistent that Clarke Schmidt should be in the starting rotation.

This isn't a difficult decision, in my opinion.

Schmidt is a better choice than Rodon or Cortes. Schmidt will not go deep into games, so maybe that's why the Yankees will pass him over.

Rodon has been good lately, but I'm more concerned about a Rodon first-inning meltdown than I am about Schmidt's inability to get through the lineup three times.

We need to talk about Jordan.

No one mentions Jordan Montgomery's 6.23 ERA. His $25 million contract isn't worth a 6.23 ERA. Cashman must be a genius? No?

Not reality.

I believe 12 pitchers are typical for a playoff roster. 

Top three starters in my mind are Cole, Gil, and Schmidt. I don't think it's debatable.

The fourth starter I suppose is Rodon, though I'd be just as comfortable (read: uncomfortable) with Stroman. 

Cortes goes to the bullpen, undermined by his own versatility and, gee, a 3.90 ERA doesn't distinguish him from the others.

So that's five. If you want to put Stroman on the playoff roster, that's six, though I'm not sure why you would do that.

In what possible scenario is Stroman going to be more reliable out of the bullpen than Holmes? In which pitching statistic is Stroman better than Holmes?

OK, but let's just say for the purpose of discussion that Stroman makes the roster. That's six and there are six more to go.

In order to eliminate Holmes from the roster ... why are we doing this? ... you'd need to find six players in the Yankees bullpen who are better than Holmes.

1. Kahnle

2. Weaver

3. Cousins

4. and 5. Hill and Mayza because you want lefties?

6. Ian Hamilton? Rob Marinaccio?

OK, I suppose this is possible, but I think Holmes is the fourth-best pitcher in the bullpen ... and I wouldn't even include Stroman on the roster in the first place.

So while I think it's obvious that Holmes is on the roster due to the simple math involved, Keith McPherson has other ideas:

"Keith would give the spot to nearly anybody else at this point, including youngster Clayton Beeter, an exicting pitching prospect brought over in the Joey Gallo trade who is finally fully healthy this season."

Clay Holmes is a two-time all star with 29 saves this season, but McPherson is ready to put Clayton Beeter on the playoff roster to save the Yankees' season.

Fine.

Let's hope the offense and defense show up and we don't have to pin our hopes on either Holmes or Beeter. Maybe we can agree on that.

 

Volpe in the clutch.

2024 RISP: .205.

2024 two outs RISP: .217.

Technically speaking, these are improvements over last season.

So if he keeps it up, maybe he will bat .300 with RISP by the year 2120.

The same article for 25 years at least.

The Mets are playing better than the Yankees.

No one anywhere is saying otherwise.

You know how I know the Mets are playing better than the Yankees? I looked at the standings. The "last ten games" and such. This fact isn't officially verified because Mike Lupica says so.

So why does anyone even care if the Yankees are "overshadowing" the Mets? What does that even mean? Where does Mike Lupica think sports fans are going to consume sports information?

If you're a Mets fan, you pay attention to the Mets. If you're a Yankee fan, you pay attention to the Yankees.

If you want to read about the Mets, you have plenty of places devoted specifically to the Mets. Most of the WFAN hosts are Mets fans. The only time WFAN talks about the first-place Yankees is to complain about them.

The boring Yankees have a three-game lead on the Orioles. The mediocre Yankees have the best record in the AL. The tedious Yankees just won a game on an Aaron Judge grand slam. The meh Yankees sell out every game.

The Mets will probably make the playoffs, but they might not. If they miss the playoffs, that would take the wind out of Lupica's sails, wouldn't it?

The Mets don't have nearly as much room for error as the Yankees, that's for sure.

One blown save or a ball lost in the sun and they lose a game they should have won. The Braves go on a winning streak of their own and suddenly the Mets are on the outside looking in. Lupica's next article is about how the Mets would have won the World Series if Bader had just hit the cutoff man that one time.

It's why you play 162.

It's why games in April and May count.

I know "making the playoffs" is a low bar for the Yankees, but they didn't make the playoffs last year.

There's not much to talk about as the Yankees slog through September. First place in the AL East should be a carrot that gives every game a sense of urgency, but it isn't.

Seth Lugo is the big concern keeping the Yankees from #28? Sure. Why not?

The Yankees might not face the Royals in the playoffs.

The Yankees might face the Royals and score six runs off Lugo in the first inning.

If WFAN hosts have a hunch that the Yankee offense will stall out again in the playoffs, I'm certainly on board with that concern. 

I'm also concerned about the horrible defense, the goofy stuff like balks and wild pitches and HBPs, the inability to hit situationally if your name isn't Wells, GIDPs, and ineptitude with RISP.

The Yankees might HR their way out of their sloppy play and win a World Series.

The Yankees also have a good chance when the game is a battle of the bullpens.

Or they just might get lucky.

Or they just might get surprisingly good performances from mediocre players.

I'd be shocked beyond belief if the Yankees suddenly started playing crisp, smart "playoff" baseball in October.

Arguing with no one.

Verducci is undoubtedly thorough.

But everyone is recognizing the unique accomplishments of the soon-to-be three-time MVP.

The question and answer format just isn't effective or useful in this instance.

I'm flabbergasted that Ohtani has proven himself to be an excellent pitcher and elite power hitter ... and then, this year, out of nowhere, he just seemingly decides to go out and steal fifty bases.

This is not even counted as an unearned run.

Yankee pitchers have allowed five runs over the past 3 1/3 games. One home run. Three unearned run plus this garbage "earned" run.

Gleyber doesn't even look like a professional athlete.

I might be able to play second base better than Gleyber.

Sure, the Yankees are not going to win 100 games.

The Dodgers are the best team. The Phillies have slumped a bit, but they're good. I think the Brewers and Guardians are underrated, but that's just my personal opinion. If the Yankees are mediocre, then there is simply no room for many teams to be good.

Bill Madden can stop living in the past any day now.

The Yankees have one championship in the past 23 years. This isn't news.

To single out Verdugo and Holmes is downright weird and petty.

The other faces of the mediocre Yankees are: Rodon, Cortes, Stroman, Gleyber, Rizzo, Volpe, LeMahieu, Chisolm, Stanton, Wells, Trevino, Grisham, and pretty much the entire bullpen ... though, to be honest, the bullpen has been quite good, and that includes Holmes. Holmes is just under scrutiny because he was assigned the role of "closer" and he isn't Mariano Rivera.

Who did I miss?

Oswaldo Cabrera, Ben Rice, Jon Berti, Jahmai Jones, Taylor Trammell ... do any of these names ring a bell?

I take it back on Wells. I'll elevate Wells to "good."

Stanton has been better than I expected, but get serious. He's a one-trick pony who will strike out every time if the pitcher executes three good pitches.

So, in summary:

Three great players (Judge, Soto, and Cole elevated on account of he's the reigning CYA winner).

Three good players (Wells, Gil, and Schmidt).

Everyone else on the team is mediocre at best.

If you're looking for the "faces of mediocrity" on the 2024 Yankees, you're going to need a camera with a wide lens. One of those panoramic views.

And away we go ...

I am not getting into this bad math again, but it's simply incorrect and based on a misunderstanding of what actually happened in the games and what a blown save is:

“I understand that there's other situations which we've hit a lot, like DJ LeMahieu, but there’s nothing to decipher anymore: what you do with Clay Holmes is you tell him you're not a closer anymore, that's it. He has blown eight of his last 18 games, and I know that there seems like there's a lot wrong with the Yankees, but think about this: if you only blew two or three, which most quality closers do if that many, the Yankees are up four games and their entire world seems very different.”

"If that many."

There are no closers whose save percentage is 94%, ever.

Mariano's career save% was 90%.

Holmes is going through a tough stretch. I'm not making excuses. He never was an elite closer, but for a while he was an all star closer. He isn't playing like an all star anymore.

Whether or not the fans "trust" him is based mostly on reputation. He is having, more or less, the same season as Edwin Diaz. Diaz became a fan favorite in his roller coaster Mets career and is therefore cut slack.

 

As for the alternatives?:

"BT has another idea:

'Holmes is out, Luis Gil is in, that’s it,' BT said. 'Clarke Schmidt, you're in the rotation, Luis Gil, you’re the closer, Clay Holmes, you're done.' "

The pitcher with the most walks in the major leagues is your closer in the playoffs. A pitcher with a staggering 4.8 walks per nine innings. A rookie who walks 4.8 batters per nine innings. A rookie with no closer experience who walks 4.8 batters per nine innings. He is the solution. He is the guy you're bringing into the ninth inning of a can't-lose playoff game with a one-run lead.

The batters on the Twins are just going to stand at home plate, pinky swear not to swing the bat, and put the champagne on ice.

If you walk a batter, the run will score. Yankee relievers should live by that motto.

I'm not defending Holmes. When the closer is bad, the losses are bad.

I don't understand the walks. I think it's more than just a lack of focus or a lack of ability. I think it's a strategic shortcoming throughout the entire Yankee team, and maybe throughout MLB.

I also don't think anyone else on this team would be better-suited as a closer. If the struggles continue, we might see Rodon try to close out a game in the playoffs. Maybe it works, who knows? I know for sure that the drama will build with a lot of full counts and fifteen-pitch at-bats.

As for last night's game:

• I also think Boone made a mistake by pitching Holmes the previous night. A lot of pitches over two nights.
• The LeMahieu error is typical of this team and, if he isn't a reliable fielder, then he has no place on the roster.
• The mental baserunning blunder by Chisolm. What is up with this stuff?

A walkoff grand slam obliterates a lot of good things in a baseball game. It also masks a lot of the other problems that just gave runs to the other team or took runs off the board for your team.

Shaking up the AL East, Rizzo returns to the lineup.

Batting seventh may limit his ability to do what he does best: Ground into double plays.

I disagree with the notion that Rodon will be in the Yankees' playoff rotation.

So far tonight, Rodon has allowed one home run, one walk, one wild pitch, one balk, five stolen bases, and four earned runs.

 In two innings. 

He has allowed nine home runs in 27 "first innings."

If one thing goes wrong in the first inning of a playoff start, he will melt down. If he melts down, the Yankees will not win the game. If they don't win the game, they probably don't win the series.

Joey Gallo and Jordan Montgomery

Anthony Volpe is not clutch.

RISP

2024: 19-for-97, .196.

Career: 42-for-210, .200.

Two outs, RISP

 2024: 13-for-62, .210.

Career: 21-for-117, .179.

Way.

I remember being a detractor of this guy for the first three seasons. Rightfully so, if you look at his first three seasons.

The sky's the limit for a team that demonstrates professionialism and poise.

Rockies' third inning:

• Ezequiel Tovar doubled to left
• Ezequiel Tovar to third on balk
• Brenton Doyle singled to center, Ezequiel Tovar scored
• Brenton Doyle to second on balk
• Ryan McMahon struck out swinging
• Brendan Rodgers flied out
• Michael Toglia reached on catcher's interference
• Jake Cave singled to left center, Michael Toglia to second, Brenton Doyle scored
• Nolan Jones doubled to deep center, Jake Cave scored, Michael Toglia scored
• Drew Romo struck out swinging

 

 

 

But seriously ...

... why does Volpe strike out so much?

Sal has a problem with the Yankees. The Yankees are not good enough to satisfy Sal.

They might win the World Series, and that would be fine, but they should be dominant.

"Confidence was high after 2017, and even after 2019, but since after the Wild Card clunker in ’21, the Houston sweep in ’22, and last year’s October off, it seems like falling short is all the Yankees ever do."

Yeah, it's all they do.

 

" 'Their record says the Yankees have the most wins in baseball, but I don't care what their record says – no team in baseball is on pace for 100 wins, so all the Yankees are is one of a bunch of teams that can win the World Series just because the odds are you're in the postseason, so you have a chance to win a World Series…not because they're built to be a World Series team. Big difference.' "

I'm not sure what planet you've been living on the past 25 years.

The Yankees are a successful marketing campaign, basically, living off past glory. 

In that sense, they remind me of New York City in general and WFAN as well, come to think of it. 

Sal:Mad Dog::Rizzo:Gehrig.

Enjoy the magic of Soto and Judge and that's it. They will probably lose in the playoffs, but from a fan's perspective, I'm enjoying this duo performing at tip top level on the same team in the same season.

Saves are a stupid stat. Blown saves are even stupider.

“Man, he’s blown 10 saves,” Boomer said. “Think about where they would be if he just did his job half the time.”

I think Mr. Genius means "done his job" half the time in the games with blown saves. Which would mean five blown saves instead of ten. "Doing his job half the time" ignores the 26 successful saves.

I'm not delusional enough to think Holmes is an elite closer. There aren't many elite closers. If there were, then the word would lose its meaning. But he's been good all season, with a small number of horrible outings.

I mean, it takes two minutes to look this up on the Internet.

The Yankees have won three of the games in which Holmes has blown the save.

In four of Holmes's ten blown saves, he has allowed zero earned runs. That's one of my favorite stats, actually.

Bad defense; grounding into double plays; never throwing out opposing base stealers; pitchers all over the place who walk too many batters at inopportune times and also hit them with a lot of pitches at inopportune times; inability to hit situationally or hit with RISP.

Do any of these problems sound familiar?

Doesn't anyone watch the games?

Doesn't anyone remember this gem where lizard-brained commenters put the blame on Holmes because he didn't just strike out all the batters?

The general consensus is that Holmes will blow a save in the playoffs and this will cost the Yankees a trip to the World Series. 

I say the Yankees get swept in a three-game series in which they score a grand total of five runs, allow seven unearned runs, and bat 1-for-24 with RISP. Holmes has an ERA of 0.00 while pitching one inning in a Game Three loss. Boone decides to use Holmes in a non-save situation because, when your team is shutout, there ain't no save situation.

I can even describe in great detail the first inning of any playoff game started by Stroman, Rodon, or Cortes. The first two outs will come easily. Then an 0-2 count on the third batter becomes a 12-pitch full count foul-ball-fest until the batter walks. Then a stolen base with a throw into centerfield. Followed by a wild pitch. So it's 1-0. But now pitcher is flustered. A HBP, an error on a pickoff throw, an error by Gleyber or Volpe scores run #2. Then a walk, walk, walk, walk, grand slam. It is 8-0 and Suzyn is explaining how it is frustrating because he was one pitch away from getting out of the inning. Also, there is some action in the Yankee bullpen by this point.

What Boomer is imagining is five more wins for the Yankees. I guess. I am applying logic to illogical and ignorant observations.

So where would the Yankees be if Holmes had done his job half the time? Five more wins. That was easy math. Ten divided by two is five last time I checked. Then the Yankees are in first place by five games instead of tied for first place. That's how things work!

But that silly analysis requires imagining a closer with a 100% save percentage and a shortstop who can field ground balls in the ninth inning.

Who?

I can shut down this entire conversation with one observation.

If this rule is implemented, then the pitcher just has to walk the batter on four pitches and claim it was not intentional.

The sample size is large enough now that I can safely conclude that Volpe is a choker.

200+ career at-bats with RISP and a batting average of .200.

110+ at-bats with two outs and RISP and a batting average of .180.

Also, what's with all the strike outs? With RISP, can you please focus on putting the ball in play? Do you think you're going to hit a grand slam?

Having good players is actually bad.

 Alternate title: "It's a nice problem to have":

“Every home run this guy hits…the price goes up. Honestly, he’s pricing himself out of the Yankees,” Sal said. “They know this is gonna be a ridiculous price. I’m not sure they would go to those extents.”

I just read that two times to be sure, and I must conclude that Sal Licata doesn't know what the word "honestly" means.

The Yankees are playing the Rangers, who are the current World Series champions.

The Rangers are a mediocre team that won the World Series. They're right in front of you and they strongly support the argument that the baseball postseason is a crapshoot:

"I love it when I still hear about what a 'crapshoot' the postseason is in baseball."

It is.

"What, it wasn't a crapshoot when Mr. Torre's Yankees were winning four World Series in five years and nearly making it five out of six?"

It was a crapshoot. Ask the superior Braves in 1996. Or the inferior Diamondbacks in 2001. Or the inferior Marlins in 2003.

Not sure why he stopped at five out of six when it was "nearly" six out of eight.

The "nearly" part kind of contradicts his entire argument, if you think about it.

It's excruciating, isn't it? 

"Nearly" winning is the same thing as "losing," and it's cut and dried, it's all or nothing, it's binary.

It's a bloop single into centerfield, it's non-HOFer Graeme Lloyd getting HOFer Fred McGriff to ground into a double play. You put your best team out there and hopefully they'll play with poise and skill. But you just never know what is going to happen.

Kind of like every time a roll of the dice craps out it was "nearly" a winner. Which is why it's a good analogy.

"That is still the biggest and best reason why Torre is the greatest Yankee manager of them all, even if others won more World Series than he did."

To the victors go the spoils. Only a fool would ignore the fact that luck plays a part in it.

The earlier Yankee dynasties didn't have to deal with multiple playoff rounds, did they?

The Torre era didn't have to deal with three wild card teams in each league.

Each round of the playoffs is just Bayesian Logic writ large in the sporting world.

Conclusion? Yeah ... it's a crapshoot.

The White Sox are bad. How bad are they?

They have lost seventeen in a row and it barely even makes the news.

Gleyber Torres turns a double play in the ninth inning.

Chisolm is not a big name.

I mean, when I heard the first name with the last name, I was able to identify who he was. "That guy." 

But when I first heard the Yankees got "Chisolm," I wasn't sure who they were talking about.

 

It's kind of the inevitable result of the trade deadline deals every year.

"Once again" going after a big name, he says. Because the Yankees are constantly landing superstars at the trade deadline. Because Benintendi is also a big name, or something?

I mean, it's been a while. Cone in 1995, Justice in 2000 ... anybody else in the past 24 years who is worth mentioning?

Glenallen Hill? That's like a Chisolm-level "big name." A guy whose jersey is ranked in the top 200 at MLB.com.

I'm probably missing somebody. I know a lot of relievers come and go. Armando Benitez that one time and maybe a few others I don't remember.

But the trade deadline overall is a bunch of hype with minimal impact.

Some people lack self-awareness.

Thirteen errors and a defensive WAR of -0.1 ... which seems like a generous defensive WAR to my eyes.

Sure. Why not? He is probably better than Holmes.

I'll admit this guy was under my radar. 

Just be wary of a player who has a dominating half a season; A guy who walks five players per nine innings.

I know Yankee fans are envisioning a five-K bailout performance in Fenway last night, but you might get a walk, walk, HBP, wild pitch Dellin Betances Special. Throw in a Volpe error and a Gleyber botched double play you've got my vision of a Yankee playoff game.

Also, it's quite a hilarious situation when an average old bullpen guy finds a dominant stretch for 40 innings and millions of sports radio callers around the nation assume he's going to join their team and save their team:

"According to Jon Heyman, several teams are in pursuit of Scott: The New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers, Arizona Diamondbacks, and the Mariners." 

You know what?

I'm not even being cynical.

Go ahead and get this guy and make him the new closer.

If Holmes is really a horrible pitcher, then the Yankees will still be vulnerable in the 7th and 8th innings.

There simply is no formula for success in the playoffs. If the Marlins want our entire starting infield for a reliever rental, I'd make that trade today.

But why would the Marlins want to buy anything the Yankees are selling?

It's noticeable at the plate and in the field.

Volpe is cut a lot of slack because he's young and likable.

His career stats:

• RISP: .198.
• Two outs RISP: .153.

If he's not a choker, he'll do until the choker gets here.

Because he's young, there is a lot of room for improvement and it's likely he will improve.

But if you look around this touted infield, it's total garbage. The Yankees would probably be better off with some of their castoffs. IKF, Refsnyder, Voit, and Urshela come to mind.

It's only shocking if you don't know how baseball works.

The wild card kind of ruins everything, if you ask me.

If you made me choose right now, I'd pick the Guardians and the Dodgers in the World Series.

These analyses don't even mean anything: "Can the Mets beat the Phillies in a short series?"

Of course they can. The Rockies beat the Red Sox by 13 runs last night. The A's could beat the Phillies in a short series.

The Mets will probably make the playoffs. That's all you need. The Padres might knock off the Phillies and the Mets won't need to.

Put it this way, and this should be obvious: It's easier to win the World Series than it is to catch the Phillies. 

I'd be impressed if they caught the Phillies.

MLB should get rid of the wild card and force the Mets to get serious and make some aggressive moves.

It has gone on long enough, that is true.

I would never say anything has hit "rock bottom," because you probably haven't seen it yet.

It was the two-out, two-strike game-tying home run by Masataka Yoshida.

Then it was the back-to-back errors with two outs in the ninth in Baltimore with first place on the line. Ridiculous. I've watched a lot of baseball, and I'm not sure if I've ever seen a more embarrassing display.

Now it's the embarrassing finale vs. the Mets.

Crosstown rivals? I really don't care about that part. Neither team is going anywhere in the playoffs in my opinion. Either could prove me wrong in October. Both could prove me wrong in October. Next thing you know, it's Cole vs. Manaea in Game One of the World Series with Benny Agbayani leading off for the Mets.

The whole thing about outlooks and "on pace to win" and "if they go .500 from this point forward" is that you just don't know when a team is going to go on a streak or a slump.

One of the most overlooked aspects of the Yankees' slump is that the Big Bad Orioles haven't been much better.

I guess the narrative isn't really "Big Bad Orioles."

It's more "Up and Coming Orioles."

"Fresh Faced Orioles."

A cool drink of water in a division dominated by the Yankees for decades (though the division has not actually been dominated by the Yankees for decades).

I'm also not dismissing 30 bad games. A .700 team has fallen to .600. If they really keep up the .333 winning percentage, they'll fall completely out of the playoff picture. 

This probably won't happen.

They're the 90-win team we always thought they were. They just have a roller coaster way of getting to 90 wins.

So what are we really talking about? 

What are we really concerned about? 

It's the attitude. The entertainment value. The team that rests on its laurels and reputation and sleepwalks its way through the regular season.

It's not even the final score of last night's game. It's the fact that when the Yankees fell behind by three runs in the fifth inning, you knew the game was over. You knew that Volpe was not going to come through with bases loaded. You knew that Gleyber was going to strike out with runners on base. Watching the Yankees is just changing the channel and checking in every forty minutes to see if it's time for Soto and Judge to get up again.

The Yankees have a better overall record. That's how you know.

The first seventy games count as much as the next seventy.

 

Are you saying which team is better tonight? The Mets for sure.

Are you saying which team is going to be better in the remaining sixty games? Probably the Mets. It's not easy to say.

Players and teams go through streaks and slumps. We see it every year and yet we always act oh-so surprised.

 

The argument for the Yankees being a better team is simple enough:

1. They have a better overall record.
2. They did it with Cole on the DL most of the season.
3. They expect to get Stanton and Schmidt back.

So then the way you decide is that each team plays 162 and you add up the wins. 

 

Also: Who really cares?

The Subway Series has no juice, both teams are mediocre, and mediocre may be less entertaining than truly awful.

 

Odds are both teams will make the playoffs as a wild card. 

I don't expect the Yankees to get far in the playoffs, but you never know. Maybe they'll get hot again at just the right time. Same goes for the Mets, I suppose. So if that's your criteria, then wait until then to decide who's "better."

I will say for sure that, similar to most Yankee teams of the past decade or so, this team seems to have no guts, no ability to perform in the clutch, and no ability to win big games.

 

 

 

Everyone agrees with Severino.

It's very mild trash talk anyway. A bit of a shame he isn't pitching in the series. On the other hand, he has had a very successful season with the Mets.

"Costly error."

He should get that phrase on the back of his jersey.

It is more than the number of errors. He makes a lot of misplays that don't count as errors.

But it's also his lack of athleticism. The ball hits off the heel of his glove and he can't adjust and pick it up. This is a 27-year-old, supposedly at the peak of his athletic performance.

Team All or Nothing.

"Brandon Lowe homered in the sixth for the Rays, who went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position. Tampa Bay is 1 for 41 with runners in scoring position in its last four games."

Someone has to point out that the Orioles' closer if Craig Kimbrel.

"Clay Holmes heard some blame and criticism for his role in Sunday’s ninth-inning disaster, allowing two walks to set up two crippling defensive blunders by Anthony Volpe and Alex Verdugo in an eventual walk-off win for the Orioles."

In the top of the ninth inning, Kimbrel walked the #8 batter, then walked the #9 batter, then allowed a go-ahead three-run home run to the leadoff batter.

Kimbrel has two blown saves in his last two save opportunities vs. the Yankees.

“I can’t look at Clay Holmes and say ‘He is the lockdown closer that wins a championship for this team,’” Evan said.

Why not?

Who would you rather have as a closer on your team? Who is a lockdown closer that wins a championship for your team?

I'd prefer Hader and Clase for sure, off the top of my head. It wouldn't shock me if Clase is a difference-maker in the playoffs who propels the Guardians to the World Series. Same goes for Hader and the Astros, who first have to worry about getting into the playoffs in the first place.

Some guy named Helsley leads the majors in saves and it turns out he's pretty darn good.

Helsley is sort of a low strikeout guy, similar to Holmes. Clase is a low strikeout guy as well, for what it's worth.

Maybe the professional baseball players on the Cardinals and the Guardians know how to field baseballs that are hit directly at them, thereby assisting their closers in their attempts to get the final outs of baseball games.

The Dodgers just blew a five-run lead in the ninth inning.

They should give up on the season and trade Ohtani for prospects.

It's World Series or bust for the Mets.

Because I'm a reasonably intelligent person, at no point during the 2024 season did I think the Mets were out of the playoff race.

By the way, the Wild Card Mets, with their recent surge to a .516 winning percentage, have the highest payroll in baseball.

I guess $306 million just doesn't buy what it used to.

The best way to beat the Yankees' bullpen is to stand at home plate and not swing the bat.

Is this a thing?

To me, it's a thing.

Not hitting batters in the head, but just hitting batters. The Yankees hit a lot of batters. Also, at inopportune times.

The Mets should buy. The Yankees should give up.

The Mets are two games over .500. 

Because they started off so poorly (written off by many fans and WFAN hosts), they have "momentum."

Imagine the narrative if the Yankees had started 6-17 before surging to 17 games over .500 and a .600 winning percentage.

Would the pundits suggest giving up on the season?

If you take the emotion out of it, you realize the Yankees have a good team.

Like every other good team (including the Orioles, if you have been paying attention), they've hit a slump.

I'm quite sure Sal Licata said the same thing about the Mets three weeks ago. The magical fairytale players that are abundantly available to any GM willing to give up on the season in the pursuit of future benefits:

“They’re not gonna do it, but they’d be better off doing it…this team has failed year after year. It’s the same thing. The smarter move to me would be to sell Juan Soto. That’s the piece, because there’s really nothing else.”

"Sell Juan Soto," he says.

Many have questioned the wisdom of "renting" Soto for one year. How much do you expect the Yankees to get back for Soto? From a team who's renting him for half a season?

Unless you know for sure that the Yankees will  sign Soto in the off season, what's the point?

The best thing to do is make the playoffs and then get hot at the right time.

Even if the Yankees lose Soto after the 2024 season, you've got to be some sort of demented Higashioka-phile to think the Soto trade was a bad trade for the Yankees.

The better strategy would be to sell off the over-hyped AA players while they're potentially still worth something.

But the best strategy is to stick with this team. More or less. If you can trade Rizzo and Gleyber for a few fungo bats, be my guest. If you can add a starter who can get into the sixth inning, let's do it. 

If you take the emotion out of it ... if you forget the "Home of Champions" branding and ignore the endless comparisons to the Yankee dynasties ... you'd see the Yankees are one of the best teams in baseball in 2024.

That does not mean 125 wins and a World Series sweep. It means 90 wins and maybe a first-round bye.

 

MVP of the Mets maybe.

You can't mean MVP of the National League.

Stroman is a clown.

Today's game just seems like a typical pattern of twenty pitches per inning and a miracle if he can get through six innings.

Also, what's up with all the walks? By relief pitchers? Can you make the opponent swing the bat once in a while?

There just seems to be a lack of awareness. Runner on first base with two outs. You walk the #9 hitter and now you face the leadoff hitter with a runner in scoring position. This is in the bottom of the eighth with a one-run lead.

Challenge the #9 hitter and take your chances.

It's always a good look when the players who aren't hustling are also batting under .200.

Holmes blew the save.

Volpe blew it with his baserunning

LeMahieu and Grisham (again) didn't hustle.

 

The play that bothered me the most was Grisham leading off the bottom of the ninth. Let's recover from this shock and win this game! Show some guts!

He struck out looking on three pitches. Not just taking the third pitch, but taking all three pitches. After botching a play in CF on Thursday and botching a play in CF on Friday.

Is he employed by another team? Is he secretly trying to lose?

Stupid.

The Yankees are in a slump. Their ridiculous 30-something games over .500 and .700 wining percentage was obviously a mirage. They put those wins in the bank so they can withstand a slump or two.

But unless Marcus Stroman was intimidated, I don't see how any of this means anything. Ian Hamilton and Cody Poteet didn't even play.

Between Stroman's endless walks, hit batsmen, and home runs, it's hard to tell when he's intimidated. 

That should be a new combined stat: 45 walks + 15 home runs + 7 HBP.

Marcus Stroman's Combined Stroman Count is 67. Probably leads the league.

Then you can index all the other players to Stroman's Stroman Count. 

So 67 is a Stroman of 100.

For example, George Kirby has a Stroman Count of 24, which is .36 Stromans.

Carlos Rodon's Stroman Count is 55, which is a pretty terrible .82 Stromans.

Bullpens "R" Us.

Without fail, the solution to (almost) every team's problems (almost) every year is to improve the bullpen.

The Yankees and the Mets need to improve their bullpens.

Where do you find all the great bullpen pitchers, anyway?

Maybe the Giants and Jets can shop there for offensive linemen.

Bury the lede.

"With the veteran struggling to get through the fifth inning -- having allowed the Blue Jays to load the bases with no outs -- he got Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to hit a groundball to the shortstop that could have been a much-needed double play.

Instead, Guerrero beat out the throw to first by Gleyber Torres. Shortly after the safe call, Stroman was shown on the broadcast yelling into his glove. It looked as if Stroman was upset with Torres being unable to complete the double play.

Stroman would continue to show his frustrations in the dugout after he was pulled from the game."

I don't trust Stroman and I also don't like his attitude. Some of this is based on performance and a lot of it is based on style.

Still, not a game goes by where Gleyber doesn't screw up in the field or on the basepaths.

Turning double plays should be mastered by the time you're in high school. 

I don't trust Rodon.

 I also don't like his attitude.

Gleyber is benched today. J.D. Davis is batting cleanup. Oswaldo Cabrera is playing second base.

How could they be worse than Gleyber?

If J.D. Davis stands at home plate and never swings, he might get HBP or a walk.

If Oswaldo Cabrera plays blindfolded with his back to home plate, he would be approximately as good at fielding ground balls.

Jerk.

In that case, the poor guy apparently has been fighting a groin injury for about six years.

He is working really hard in the same way that Gary Sanchez worked really hard on his defense.

Gleyber has 12 errors this year, but that doesn't tell the story of his defensive ineptitude. Bad decisions or an inability to turn a DP occur every other game. He doesn't even seem to be ready to go when the pitch comes in. He doesn't seem to think about which base to throw to. Or he hasn't learned to catch the ball first and then look up and then throw it to the base. You ought to figure that out in little league. Keep your eye on the ball.

It's World Series or bust for the team with the best record in baseball.

 The, ummm ... the Cleveland Guardians.

In between two extremes.

“The Yankees, to me, are on the brink of spiraling out of control,” BT said. “The Yankees have zero depth. The Yankees have a C-level lineup.”

...

“Everything that was up for grabs two weeks ago - 100 wins, run away with the division - I’m not even worried about that right now,” BT said.

At no point in this season did I think the Yankees were going to win the division or win 100 games.

They played over their heads for half a season. The same thing happened two years ago.

I'm not sure what he means by "spiraling out of control," but I take it to mean "miss the playoffs." Which I definitely don't think is going to happen.

Probably win about 90 games and then lose in the playoffs.

 

That's a prime play.

Most people who comment on the Yankees are stuck in 1998.

“Boston and Baltimore just slapped around the Yankees in these last two series,” Boomer said. “This is a little bit of a wake-up call. Right around game 80, right around halfway through the season here.

“They are not intimidated in the least by the Yankees and their lineup or their pitching staff.”

No one has been "intimidated" by the Yankees in the past 20 years at least.

"And if I’m the Baltimore manager or any Orioles player, I’m thinking ‘Man, we got them. We’re just as good if not better.’”

The Orioles were 19 games better than the Yankees last season. The Orioles have also defeated the Yankees in 2023. In 2024, the Yankees added Soto and have gotten surprisingly great pitching, but the Orioles have been the favorites since day one.

As for the notion of a wake up call, I suppose it's true. You go through streaks and slumps. Yesterday was a true beatdown in a big game. I'm not sure, however, that the Yankees were delusional about their success prior to the Orioles series.

Mariano Rivera isn't walking through that door.

Baltimore's closer is Craig Kimbrel. Would you rather have Kimbrel closing in the playoffs? I wouldn't. Not that I know what's going to happen in the playoffs.

I think Holmes has had one bad game this year. Maybe two. Four blown saves. One of them because of unearned runs and then the other night with a blooper and an infield single. Meh.

Who is a dominant closer nowadays Josh Hader? Sure, I suppose. 

Hader has had some hiccups in the playoffs, but let's replace Clay Holmes with Josh Hader somehow so Yankee fans can feel like they have exorcised the Ghost of Aroldis Chapman.

By the way, the Yankees won a World Series with John Wetteland as a closer. He even won the World Series MVP.

The aforementioned Kimbrel recently closed out a championship for the Red Sox. So did Jonathan Papelbon, Keith Foulke, and the immortal Koji Uehara.

I mean, Holmes seems to have the proper mental makeup. He doesn't get the high number of strikeouts of a typical modern day closer, but he usually wriggles out of trouble.

Also, he has allowed zero home runs this year and only 16 in his career. Sixteen home runs allowed in 300 innings.

Holmes has 19 saves and a 1.80 ERA. Other than Clase, probably the best closer in MLB this year. There is no reason to disparage the accomplishments of Holmes.

It's a thin line.

 " 'You gotta be perfect, there,' Mendoza said. 'I thought the bullpen, obviously, did a helluva job piecing it together all the way to the ninth inning when we couldn’t get the last three outs.'

About Diekman, the skipper added, 'Two pitches pretty much cost him the game.'

...

The lefty continued: 'I just don’t think I'm executing well enough in certain situations. The homer, if it’s two more inches in, it might be a swing [and] miss, it might be a double down the line, but they only score one so, it’s different…  I liked how everything moved today, it’s probably more of execution.' "

Right.

Almost winning the game because you almost got the opposing batters out.

The home run could have been a double or it could have been a strikeout.

Reggie Jackson's three home runs in Game Six of the 1977 World Series. If he had missed them by two inches, they would have been strikeouts instead.

Many Mets fans are confident the Mets will sign Soto to a long-term contract after the 2024 season.

I heard a WFAN caller say the Mets should spend at least one billion dollars on a Soto contract if they have to. "An offer he can't refuse."

It could happen ... not the billion-dollar part ... but Soto could sign with the Mets. Money talks. 

But a .400 team does not have the upper hand over a .700 team.

When you're going to a tough stretch, you're going to see emotion from players.

Which is good.

It's better to have a team full of bad players who are angry about being on the worst team in baseball than to have a team full of bad players who are not angry about being on the worst team in baseball.

 

"'I'm ready to come back tomorrow if they want me here,' López said.

The Mets apparently do not want López around, as SNY's Andy Martino reported shortly after the reliever's rant Wednesday that the 31-year-old López will be designated for assignment."

What happened to free speech in America. anyway?

A surprising number of pundits thought Judge's slump was permanent.

He had earned the benefit of the doubt long ago, but I can understand those who were worried about his foot injury.

Now look at him.

A 1.000+ OPS and on pace for about 50 HRs and 125 RBIs.

Money talks.

No one wants to hear the owner say stupid things.

I think the Yankees have a good chance to sign Soto long-term, but why don't we first get through this season? See what happens.

"Future payroll."

Steinbrenner has quite the keen sense of marketing, doesn't he?

"Don't get your hope too high, Yankee fans. I've got my eye on marginal ROI, and I may have to move some financial levers in an undesirable direction."

Real American Heroes.

"The Atlanta Braves were one out away from ending their 30-year no-hitter drought Saturday at Citi Field. Then J.D. Martinez stepped to the plate.

The New York Mets' designated hitter spoiled the Braves' bid with a first-pitch solo home run off closer Raisel Iglesias with two outs in the ninth inning. The heroics marked the veteran Martinez's first home run as a Met. New York, however, lost 4-1."

When is the ticker tape parade?

I did this many times in wiffle ball, for what it's worth.

It's even better if the left-fielder throws down his glove in anger.

A five-out save. Zero earned runs so far this season.

Of course, Soto is the team's MVP.

Also, Holmes is kind of the team's MVP.

Baseball is really an individual sport.

Gleyber had a sac fly in game number three and there were some early instances of the Yankees taking a lot of pitches and then getting to the bullpen.

It was a mirage.

Soto is Soto. He is responsible for the at-bats of Soto. If he could really influence all the other players on his team, then there would be many more Sotos.

The Ks are down for the most part, and that just seems to mean the GIDPs are up.

As for the playoffs, just make the playoffs first. Then hope for the best.

I just watched an NBA playoff game on TV. The game has a total of 43 personal fouls. Based on the reaction of the players, zero of the fouls were actual fouls.

"It appeared the lack of an interference call wouldn't make much of a difference in Sunday's outcome after Abner Uribe retired Giancarlo Stanton on a pop fly for the second out of the inning. But everything fell apart for the Brewers from that point on.

Verdugo advanced on Anthony Rizzo's walk and scored the go-ahead run on Gleyber Torres' single to center. Oswaldo Cabrera walked to load the bases before Jose Trevino singled home two runs. Elvis Peguero replaced Uribe and threw a wild pitch that brought home Cabrera. After Anthony Volpe walked, Juan Soto hit an RBI single.

Volpe and Soto executed a double steal while Judge was at the plate receiving a chorus of boos from the American Family Field crowd. Judge capped the seven-run outburst with a two-run single that extended the Yankees' lead to 11-4.

The Brewers never recovered from the missed call."

Just being honest about it, one bad umpire call is not worth ten runs. Get the third out and then score more runs than your opponent.

"Star."

I'm not sure what's the worst offensive stat for Gleyber:

• Two RBIs for the season.
• Zero RBIs since April 6th.
• .150 BA with RISP.
• .000 BA with two outs and RISP.
• Two extra-base hits this season.
• Zero home runs this season.
  
• A .212 slugging percentage

Also, he's a bad fielder.

Also, he's a bad baserunner.
 

I must admit Jahmai Jones isn't exactly Rogers Hornsby ...

I was still hoping Gleyber would be benched two games in a row.

At some point this season, Gleyber will hit a home run ... have a multi-hit game ... make a clutch fielding play.

But I'm also convinced that this early season slump is more signal than noise.

I don't even think a benching would necessarily send a message, resulting in an attitude turnaround. I just legitimately think Jahmai Jones gives the Yankees a better chance to win a Sunday afternoon game vs. a division rival. Maybe he could turn a 6-4-3 DP once in a while.

Yankee Highlight Reel

Soto sends Yankee Stadium into hysteria with 3-run shot.

All Star second baseman sends Yankee Stadium into hysteria with a .224 slugging percentage.

I understand the sentiment and I also think the pendulum will swing back a bit.

But if the solution is "pitch like Greg Maddux," you may as well tell all the batters to "hit like Ted Williams."

The year when he batted .400.

Do the Yankee infielders practice double plays?

I can cut (fraudulent) Gold Glover Volpe some slack for botching the GIDP ... but is anyone going to take action when we're putting the worst-fielding second baseman in the league out there every night?

"Just bobbled it" Girardi says.

"Torres said that his first instinct was to try to look Naylor back to third, which contributed to the bobble.

'I missed it for a couple seconds, and when I got the ball, it was too late,' Torres said."

Quite the history of clutch defense, am I right? 

Instinct is not an actual thing. Practice is a thing. When people seem to have a "natural" ability, it's because they practice a lot. When people seem to have instinctual abilities to make the correct decision, it's because they have the poise which is a result of preparation. A lot of preparation.

Gleyber was a bad-fielding shortstop. He hit 38 home runs one season, so it was a worthwhile tradeoff. When he moved to second base, the idea was that he would be more comfortable in the field (I see no evidence of this) and also more comfortable at the plate (I see no evidence of this).

The errors he makes aren't just physical errors. He throws the ball wildly on double plays because he's rushing when he doesn't have to rush. On this game-changing play where he was trying to look Naylor back to third base prior to fielding the ball, a good professional ballplayer would have cut his losses and gotten the out at first base.

I'm serious.

The Yankees might still win this game if Gleyber just allows the run to score and gets the sure out at first base. It's a tough pill to swallow, allowing the tying run to score. Then you'd have to play an eleventh inning. We want to win right now. But playing an eleventh inning is better than losing in ten.

 

Also, my man has zero home runs this season.

Hitting home runs is the only thing he's good for.

So what's his function on this team?

Defending DJ LeMahieu seems like an odd thing to do, doesn't it?

Oswaldo has obviously been fantastic and fun in the first two weeks of 2024. It is encouraging that he may be a keeper.

But Yankee fans are worried if there's a spot for DJ LeMahieu?

I know!

How about second base?

Maybe put a player out there who can turn a double play once in a while.

It's crazy to constantly hear all the wishcast theories about why Gleyber is going to get his act together. He's moving to second base instead of shortstop. It's a contract year. Proximity to Juan Soto. Inspiration from his teammates at the World Baseball Classic. A new approach to hit the ball to the opposite field rather than endless warning track fly balls.

It isn't happening.

He isn't very good.

2019 was a mirage.

DJ LeMahieu is better.

Lots of players are better.

Mike Lupica is behind a firewall nowadays.

So I can't (won't pay money) to read this article.

But I know it's the same article he has written for 40 years.

Mookie Wilson, Mookie Wilson, Mookie Wilson.

The Mets run the city (how is that working out, by the way?), Alex Rodriguez is a steroid fraud but Robinson Cano is a great guy, Jason Giambi is a steroid fraud but Josh Hamilton's home run derby at Yankee Stadium was a greater moment than Lou Gehrig's speech, and the Yankees' GM is a perennial stupid dum dum head.

 

There's not much to add about Gooden at this point.

The Mets' ownership disowned him for a long time because he was a drug addict.

Uniform numbers mean something to players and fans, and the Mets gave #16 to some real slobs in the post-Gooden era.

I'm happy for him to get his number retired. He deserves it.

Which reminds me: The Yankees should do the same for Winfield, so this doesn't happen. Look at the record, simple as that.

 

Against the slumping Marlins.

"On Tuesday against the Marlins, in his first home start of the season, the 31-year-old hurler showed the Yankees what they paid for. For six innings, Rodón breezed through Miami’s overmatched lineup, punching out six without allowing an earned run. He commanded his trademark, high-spin heater to the arm-side part of the plate, back-footed the slider to right-handed hitters, mixed in his changeup to tally whiffs and induced early-count weak contact with his new cutter."

Against the slumping Marlins.

 

"But perhaps more important than the final line was how Rodón looked atop the hill: loose, easy, free. A year ago, pitching looked like a laborious chore. He rarely appeared comfortable in his new surroundings, the pitching version of trying to sleep on a bad hotel mattress. His starts were a struggle to endure, not an opportunity to shine.

It’s early days, but that dynamic feels different now. On Tuesday, Rodón was floating, flowing. Granted, not every start will be this easy — the worst-record-in-baseball 2024 Marlins are a pitcher’s best friend — but six scoreless is far better than eight runs and no outs."

I agree.

It is better than eight runs with no outs.

I also think his body language might slip the next time he gets slammed.

Not "dope."

The Mets taught him how to stop tipping his pitches.

Severino's first inning ERA last year was an impossibly bad 11.50.

So far in 2024, his first inning ERA is 27.00.

Reactions to one game.

I agree that Stanton is shot.

I don't agree that Holmes needs to be replaced as the closer.

Not against the Yankees. Against the "Yankees."

I disagree with the take in general, but I also don't have confidence that Bauer would be a particularly successful major league pitcher in 2024. I could be wrong about that.

What I know for sure is that three shutout innings in a split squad Spring Training game is not a big deal.

Most observers have "big concerns" about the Yankee rotation. Yet Rodon threw half a no-hitter last week and Schmidt blew away the Mets yesterday.

Why would the Mets even need to sign Bauer when they already have Sean Manaea?

I never considered myself a pessimist ...

... but the bar for "good news" is quite low when "avoiding Tommy John surgery" is considered good news.

Save him for October.

The conundrum is that the Yankees may not even make the wild card without him. It's a conundrum, I tell you. Such a conundrum.

I don't usually pay attention to Spring Training games ...

... but Rodon has not earned the benefit of the doubt.

Please don't call him "Doogy."

The more I hear about Stroman's optimism ...

 ... the more I'm convinced he's going to be a bust.

I like Girardi well enough.

I think he got a raw deal when he was dismissed. I also think he was largely proven correct. In the sense that Boone's supposed ability to manage the young players was proven incorrect. Notable exception, of course, being Judge.

I think the Mets will have one of the worst bullpens.

That's all I've got for you.

Never heard of him.