Since Derek Jeter retired 15 years ago, let's talk about Derek Jeter.

"Since Derek Jeter retired, the Yankees have deployed 15 different players at shortstop, ranging from Didi Gregorius to this year’s tandem of Volpe and José Caballero. None have lasted more than four years, and it really felt as if the team wanted Volpe to be the next organizational success story and Jeter’s heir apparent. The team even gave Volpe the No. 11 jersey, which, considering the amount of low jersey numbers retired by the franchise, was seen as a sign of their belief in him"

There is a difference between data and information.

Counting up the number of shortstops the Yankees have played in the past 15 years doesn't really help evaluate Volpe's performance on the baseball field.

His uniform number is also not relevant.

You sound like Dave Sims. 

 

"The Yankees have legitimate World Series aspirations, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that Volpe isn’t a player who's going to enhance their chances of competing for a championship."

Correct. Though he has oddly walked a bit more this season. Just trying to be fair.

The Yankees also had legitimate World Series "aspirations" last year, and the year before that. That has nothing to do with Volpe's effectiveness, does it?

If the Yankees were a fourth-place team, what would be the reason for a major league team to put a guy at shortstop every day who isn't good at playing shortstop in the major leagues?

 

"He’s gotten measurably worse since he debuted in 2023, but the organization continues to give him chance after chance."

True. Welcome to the party.

 

"New York's brain trust must come to the realization that Volpe’s ceiling isn’t as high as the franchise had once projected—and with top prospect George Lombard Jr. looking more like the shortstop of the future in the Bronx, Volpe will likely wind up merely being a bridge shortstop until Lombard gets his big-league promotion."

Nice! George Lombard isn't actually Jeter 2.0 -- he's Jeter 4.0. Gleyber is Jeter 2.0 and Volpe is Jeter 3.0.

Also, I think the "brain trust" already knows Volpe isn't the answer. That's why he isn't really the starting shortstop anymore.

Love Paul Goldschmidt.

The two-out RBI singles most of all.

Bellinger winning the game in the tenth inning by playing pepper instead of striking out playing hero ball.

These two represent a different approach. It's how winning's done.

Homegrown is not an actual thing.

I don't care.

I care about Ws and Ls:

"For the Bronx Bombers, it’s a bit of a divergence from what’s happened in recent years. The Yankees may have envisioned having a core of homegrown players who could grow alongside Judge, but Gary Sanchez, Gleyber Torres and Luis Severino never fulfilled that promise, and the next wave of prospects -- Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells and Jasson Dominguez -- has yet to produce a star.

As a result, the Yankees had to lean heavily on free-agent signings like Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón and Max Fried and trade acquisitions like Juan Soto, Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton to support Judge, who is now in his 11th season."

Clint Frazier and Greg Bird also never met that promise. The one guy with the same bat speed as Mike Trout and the other guy with the same batting stroke as John Olerud.

I think it's possible that the Yankee Hype Machine operates in hyperdrive, but the main reason that most Yankee prospects don't work out is because most prospects don't work out.

It's very satisfying to see Schlittler and Rice develop into legit superstars who seem to care about their craft.

It doesn't really matter where they came from, does it? 

 

I have no particular regard for Torres or Severino. The Yankees are doing fine without them.

But to describe them as busts just isn't fair.

They're in Cooperstown when compared to can't-misses such as Jesus Montero and  Eric Duncan.

Austin Wells Letting Yankees Down.

He has five RBIs. He has three home runs. How is this even possible?

Aside from three solo home runs, he has two RBIs.

He is 2-for-26 with RISP. That's how!

He's like a game on The Price Is Right.

"I'm Austin Wells, and I'm a professional baseball player. Guess my batting average. Lower. Lower. Lower. Lower."

"I guess .000, Bob."

"Higher." 

.174 is a special number.

The Yankees have two catchers currently batting .174.

Are they going to do something about this?

The old baseball saying is that it's bad if you can't hit your weight. What if you can't hit half your weight? 

It's a bitter pill to swallow, I suppose ...

... though I don't expect Yankee fans to wear anti-Weaver tee-shirts and dramatically turn their back on him.

It's not really very shocking, is it?

Do you know the Yankees? The New York Yankees? The best way to get the team to score zero runs is to just walk the bases loaded with no outs. Dreams of Grand Slams will override all other considerations.

Also, the best way to score against the Yankees is to stand at home plate and not swing the bat.

It's one thing to get three runs on one hit. A walk, a hbp, a three-run home run.

It's quite another when that one hit is a single.

Carlos Rodon finds a way every time, doesn't he?

It's a warning from Bill Madden.

I don't fully buy into the Rays, but that's just an opinion.

The Rays have confounded the Yankees for most of the decade. The Rays are the Yankees' true rival at this time. Not the Red Sox, not the Blue Jays, not the Orioles, not the Mets.

But what's the warning?

Are the Yankees not going to make the playoffs this year? 

I never thought I would be wistful for Kyle Higashioka or Wil Nieves.

What is this garbage?

A focused and intentional strategy that yields beneficial results.

Caballero is batting .348 with RISP.

The anti-Volpe.

Sure, it's small sample size nonsense to some degree, but look more closely.

Two strikeouts in 23 at-bats with RISP.

It's a strategy. 

When you've lost Xavier Scruggs, you've lost everyone who pays attention to the opinions of Xavier Scruggs.

Felz Stat of the Day

Austin Wells has five RBIs.

Wells has a lot of walks for some reason, but overall pitiful production from the catchers. 

"Fair or not."

A weekend sweep by the Rockies shortly following a 12-game losing streak shortly following the most disappointing season in Mets history?

Fair. 

I've got a Jose Cabellero update for ya.

.280 batting average, 3 HRs, .746 OPS, 1.1 WAR, 10 stolen bases, 12 runs, 11 RBIs, .333 BA, with RISP, .286 BA with RISP and two outs, and zero postgame press conferences  sheepishly and wearily explaining why he wasn't more aggressive fielding the ground ball in the ninth inning.

Cruel April for Yankees has them in first place.

This guy's column is truly ossified, frozen in amber for 25 years at least.

"The Mets have a long season remaining" as they are in the midst of their worst winning streak in 22 years and their manager is going to get fired tomorrow morning.

Even Mr. Met is like, "what is this guy talking about? Is he paid by our PR department?"

But even if Lupica legitimately clings to hope because "it ain't over 'til it's over" and he can dismiss the slide as a short-sample-size blip for a truly great Mets team ... what do the Yankees have to do with this?

It's just completely impossible for him to give the Yankees credit.

It's impossible for the Mets to just exist as a thing without the endless comparisons to the Yankees.

The Mets may be in last place, but the season is long.

The Mets may be in last place, but Jazz Chisholm has no home runs, what do you think about that? 

Where is the vitriol from the grizzled New York gumshoe who used to work his leads by day and do body shots with Jimmy Breslin by night?

Why does this dude love the Mets so much, anyway?

Disappointment is when expectations are not met.

The 2024 Mets are the most disappointing team in Mets history.

The Soto signing following an NLCS appearance set World Series or Bust expectations. They missed the playoffs.

The 2024 Yankees won 94 games and lost in the playoffs.

Not the same.

When presented as equivalents, it's a lie written by a bad reporter who doesn't know anything about baseball.

The entire premise isn't accurate, anyway. Big Baseball Town was a nice idea, but one of the teams never lives up to their side of the bargain.

Yeah, the Yankees are in a championship slump. It's brand exceeds the product for sure.

But Lupica gets aroused reliving the Mets' 2025 NLCS loss to the Dodgers ... a series in which the Dodgers outscored the Mets by 20 runs ... because the Mets managed to win two games.

While the Yankees only won one game vs. the Dodgers. In the World Series. Which the Mets weren't good enough to make it to.

Bully for the Mets.

The Mets lost to the Royals in the 2015 World Series. The Yankees lost in the wild card round that year, to Houston, but the Yankees had a better season than the Mets. Because the Yankees would have beaten the Royals in the ALCS, or at least lost to the Royals in seven games instead of six. 

Frustration is growing.

It's so bad for the Mets, it's a combination of problems, a plethora or problems, and a myriad of problems.

I always used myriad as an adjective. "Myriad problems." I mean, it can be both. It's a matter of preference. It turns out that Jackson Stone prefers to use it as a noun. 

Very exciting play.

With the runners going and the aggressiveness of the baserunners?

They're still basically a homer-centric, all or nothing team, but it's also obvious there's more attention to the nothing.

I mean ... you know what I mean.

A noticeable effort to be more aggressive on the basepaths and put the ball in play. 

I just think he's pouty because he wasn't named Captain.

Ben Rice practiced infield defense and it shows.

Jasson Dominguez should do the same.

I also can't imagine turning four clutch double plays in one game with Volpe at short.

Potential.

He isn't a good hitter and he isn't a good fielder. He was given 400 at-bats last season and he didn't hit well enough to earn a starting spot on the team.

"As easy as it is to suggest that the Yankees should trade Domínguez now, what would be the point? Very rarely do you see an impact player traded either in spring training or in April, and the Yankees aren’t — or at least, shouldn’t — give up Domínguez for pennies on the dollar.

For the sake of conversation, let’s assume that Grisham or Stanton needs to go on the injured list at some point. Naturally, Domínguez would be the next man up. But what happens if Grisham returns to his 2024 form, or his power stroke suddenly vanishes? Would the Yankees realistically move Grisham back to the bench and name Domínguez the starting left fielder again?

At this stage, the best thing the Yankees can do is wait until June 1. By that point, we should have an idea of which teams are either out of the playoff race or are open to trading players who no longer fit in their plans, as the Red Sox did with Rafael Devers last June.

All of this is an unfortunate saga that the Yankees brought upon both themselves and Domínguez. He’ll play the entire season at 23 years old, and he’s under team control through 2031. Yet, does anyone really genuinely believe that the Yankees will course correct and get things right at any point this year? I certainly don’t."

I don't understand any of this.

The Yankees are concerned about the state of the Yankees, not the state of Jasson Dominguez's career.

It's very likely Dominguez gets lots of playing time with the Yankees in 2026. Injuries or a major slump by one of the starters. Trent Grisham isn't Mickey Mantle. Before that, Dominguez would help his cause by playing well in the minors and shagging some flies.

What does Rafael Devers have to do with anything? The Red Sox traded a good player and the Yankees are unwilling to pull the trigger? Maybe so, but Dominguez isn't ... you know ... a good player.

He might be one day, but "potential" won't get too much in the marketplace. 

 

Judge is the best. If he's asked about the World Series, he has to talk about the World Series.

But no one has the ability to live in the moment.

The regular season is so boring for most Yankee fans and players, they're already talking about the World Series. Half the WFAN callers are fast forwarding to draft picks and 2030 free agent signings.

The regular season begins Wednesday night in San Francisco.

Two months ago, it was -20 degree wind chill.

I can't wait for Opening Day. 

"Anthony Volpe looms" is one of the least intimidating things a MLB shortstop can hear.

"Concede."

Jasson Dominguez might get demoted to AAA.

That must have been quite an inquisition to get that shocking piece of information out of the Yankees.

But according to Mike Lupica, Juan Soto is the biggest storyline.

In fact, most erudite baseball fans don't even pay attention to the New York Yankees anyway. It's for the tourists.

"Move the Needle," he says.

"It’s a deal the Yankees had to get done. After standing pat and failing to make any major moves thus far into the offseason, it truly began to feel as if it was Bellinger or bust for New York. Fortunately, they’ve managed to retain their top free agent, but does his return truly enhance the team’s chances of winning a World Series?"

You're wrong!

Bellinger returning is important!

 

"Don’t get me wrong. Bellinger returning is important. But the Yankees are effectively back to where they were last season when they were routed in the ALDS by the rival Blue Jays. As it stands, the organization will trot out the same core in 2026 as they did in 2025, while many of their competitors have re-tooled and gotten better."

The Blue Jays lost Bichette, if that helps.

 

"Bellinger’s return seems like the absolute bare minimum for New York. GM Brian Cashman better have a few more moves up his sleeves, because as it stands now, the Yankees don’t look like the best team in the American League, let alone a real threat to dethrone the Dodgers."

So who's the best team in the AL?

I mean, it's just a pretty vague and eye-opening statement to say "many of their competitors have re-tooled and gotten better" without describing who in the AL has "re-tooled and gotten better."

Supposing the Blue Jays were the best team in the AL in 2025 ... they made the World Series and beat the Yankees head to head in the regular season and the playoffs, of course.

Have the Blue Jays moved the needle? If you REALLY like Dylan Cease that much, then go on record and say it.

Who else is in the running?

The Mariners, the Rangers, the Astros, the Red Sox, the Tigers ... have they really re-tooled and moved the needle in a positive direction? "Running back" Tarik Skubal doesn't count.

I like Pete Alonso well enough. Is he going to be worth 20 extra wins for the Orioles?

 

The 2026 Yankees are not an exciting narrative. They are going to slog their way through the regular season with 90+ wins and likely lose in the playoffs again. Same reasons as always. Though maybe this year they catch a few breaks and emerge victorious.

As for Bellinger, he is precisely the type of player that might help get them over the hump.

 

 

PED usage doesn't bother me as much as it bothers many people.

Pettitte has a case. He's 100 games over .500 for his career.

But there are dozens and dozens of players who are more deserving and have waited longer and ... obviously ... if the voters are suddenly forgiving of PED usage in Pettitte's case, I think it's just because he charmed them with an "aw, shucks" persona.