But the attendance numbers so far show the Mets' success is not hurting the Yankees:
"It appears as if more and more New Yorkers are taking the 7 train as opposed to the 4, B or D train on game day.
After last year's surprising run to the NL pennant, Mets fans are
showing up at Citi Field at the second highest rate in all of baseball
and the highest in the National League."
Mets are 9th in attendance per game and the Yankees are 6th.
The Mets have increased their attendance (compared to 2015) at the second highest rate, but the fans are not showing up at the second highest rate.
"For the struggling Bronx Bombers, the attendance numbers are slightly down when compared to last year.
At this point last season the Yankees had seen 1,633,165 fans come
through the turnstiles. That number has dipped to 1,562,688 this season
(through 41 home games), a 70,477 decrease. It's an average of 1,719
fewer fans per game at the Stadium."
Slightly down is correct, and there is no reason to think that these people are going to Citi Field.
Funny that the click bait headline says Yankees see "big decline."
"A Fourth of July firecracker lit in California was heard in The Bronx
on Saturday night and signified the latest dagger to the Yankees’
season.
Not only did Melvin Upton Jr.’s towering home run to left leading off
the ninth inning carry the lowly Padres to a 2-1 win over the Yankees
in front of 42,315 at Petco Park, he hit it off of Andrew Miller’s first
pitch of the inning and 20th of the game.
It was the fifth homer allowed by Miller in what has been a
sensational season for the lefty reliever, who is a target of the Cubs,
Rangers and Nationals as the Aug. 1 trade deadline approaches. All three
teams had scouts watching Saturday evening."
What is the purpose of scouts? Anybody can watch the replays on televison. Or the Internet. In fact, it's a challenge to avoid the replay of Upton's HR. "The scouts on hand also saw Dellin Betances not pitch at his best. With
the Yankees ahead 1-0 in the sixth, Betances inherited baserunner Wil
Myers from Ivan Nova. Taking advantage of Betances not using a slide
step and having a high leg kick, Myers stole second easily. Matt Kemp
followed by dumping a check-swing double into right that scored Myers."
For one thing, you're not getting Betances.
For another, was anyone's opinion of Betances diminished? He is coming off back-to-back Mariano-esque seasons and he allowed an inherited baserunner to score on a check-swing double.
He also allowed a stolen base.
He has 72 strikeouts in 40 innings ... this player who isn't even on the market ... and you don't want him anymore because he gave up a whole run?
"Pomeranz and Nova pitched very well. Pomeranz gave up a run and five
hits in seven frames. Nova, who had pitched poorly in his previous seven
outings, went 5 ¹/₃ innings in which he gave up a run and four hits.
Of course, every run counts no matter when it is scored. However, the
one Upton delivered was a lot louder than the first Padres run and was
heard 3,000 miles away."
Yeah.
Using King's non-logic, maybe the scouts were impressed with Ivan Nova.
Rule of thumb for life: If you're on the cable company's side, you're on the wrong side:
"Then there’s the on-field product. It’s terribly inconsistent, at times unwatchable. It’s hard on even the most loyal pinstriped eyeballs to sit through three innings, let alone nine. And it’s even harder to imagine Joe Girardi’s crew finding a path to the postseason. When the main focus is on the buying and selling angle, or if even making it to the one-game wild-card playoff is worth it, you’ve got problems."
They're a .500 team in the playoff hunt.
Comcast subscribers missed a couple of exciting games the past couple of days.
"Compounding all this is a team lacking sizzle or a must-see player. The closest the Yankees have in that respect is a faded Alex Rodriguez, whose DH role has been reduced. And it’s not like the Yankees are banging the drums to market his pursuit of Babe Ruth’s 714 home runs."
I don't know what a must-see player is. I guess I agree the Yankees don't have one. I also don't care about the pursuit of 714 HRs.
The Yankees' bullpen is exciting to watch. Didi is starting to put up some productive numbers for a shortstop. I'm intrigued by the young players. So even if they're not mush-see, I still try my best to see. I'm a Yankee fan, so that's probably why.
In any case, they're a .500 team in the playoff hunt.
Comcast subscribers missed a couple of exciting games the past couple of days.
"That’s why the second half of the season will be so important for the Yankees. Short of turning things around on the field, the organization must convince its fan base a change is going to come. That there is hope for the future.
For if they can’t even convince their own fans, they won’t be able to convince a cable operator whose only interest is cutting a favorable deal."
Oh.
That's why the Yankees should try to win more baseball games.
By the way, the YES Network is on Sling TV.
If the Yankees surge in the second half, Yankee fans should simply cut the chord.
Bad team wins exciting game. Nothing more, nothing less.
I don't know why it's so important for some fans and journalists to dampen the enthusiasm of fans who simply enjoy baseball games.
It's funny how sports works. Two games ago, the rain delay disaster, one of the most disheartening losses I can remember. Followed shortly by a remarkable win.
Fans care and that's why they're called fans.
As for the 2016 season, the Yankees are a game under .500 and a few games out of the Wild Card sport. Sorry, but that's how Selig designed it. One Lebron James-inspired winning streak and they're in the playoffs.
The Yankees are also only 2 games worse than the slumping Mets. Should the Mets trade all their veterans and plan a Red Sox-esque cleansing of the palate?
Which is a strategy, by the way, that lots of teams attempt ... but it only worked for the Red Sox.
"The Yankees and Rockies have the same record, 34-36, and you don’t hear the Rockies telling anyone they are contenders."
Are the Rockies trading away all their players?
"At the core, baseball is about hope. What is the hope with these Yankees? Their aging players can stay healthy long enough to contend for the second wild-card spot?"
At the core, baseball is about first-pitch quality strikes.
"It used to be the Yankees went into every season expecting to win the World Series. Twenty-seven times they did.
Now they are hoping they can get it together to contend for a watered-down wild card.
There is no Yankees pride in that. It’s time to build strongly for the future and stop trying to plug one leak after another with some stopgap solution that isn’t a solution."
Thanks for the helpful history lesson.
Everyone knows the 2016 Yankees aren't the 1927 Yankees and it's not relevant to the discussion.
Whining about the good ol' days doesn't provide strategic direction.
I know the problem. The problem is this weird idea that the Yankee GM/owners/manager/coaches are living in denial. Kevin Kernan is here to reveal the truth. The Yankees should concede the 2016 season and thereby set the foundation for a successful future. Nobody ever explains specifically how this will be accomplished.
"There is no shame in selling when you shame yourself with the kind of performance the Yankees produced Tuesday night, the first night of a nine-game homestand.
Cashman has two vital pieces to sell right off the top in Carlos Beltran and Aroldis Chapman. He cannot let those free agents walk away and get nothing in return like what happened with Robinson Cano and David Robertson."
Beltran and Chapman aren't worth much. Beltran is old and Chapman is a rental. Actually, I'm being redundant and it's tedious. It's so obvious that the Yankees have nothing valuable to trade, that the only hope is that the current minor leaguers turn into good major league players.
"This Yankee team would be a lot more interesting if it were sellers. The daily buzz of what young players might be acquired is a lot more interesting than this performance."
Did you hear? Did you hear? The Yankees are making a play for Joe Orsulak Jr.! The buzz is off the charts!
Hello, Ticketmaster? Ticketmaster! I got through! Do you still have tickets for Thursday afternoon's Yankee game? Phew. I'll take 2,000 for the major league debut of future Hall of Famers Jeff Duncan and Brian Rose.
I know what the Yankees ought to do ... the Yankees ought to get Manny Machado and Bryce Harper:
"The Yankees need a LeBron. That is just a start.
To get their LeBron James, they need to get younger and more talented quickly so that when the star-studded free-agent class after the 2018 season is available, they can pounce.
Bryce Harper, who is only 23, and Manny Machado, who is 23 as well, anchor that class, but the Yankees must make themselves an attractive fit for either of those superstars to show up."
Three years into the future? Why would anyone even attempt to map things three years into the future?
"They need to begin the retooling process immediately. That means starting the Great 2016 Sell-off."
Immediately?
So Manny Machado and Bryce Harper ... assuming these two humans are alive and healthy three years from now ... are not going to sign up with the Yankees unless the Yankees take immediate action?
"A month from now teams will go strong to make deals and the Yankees need to put themselves in the right trading sense of mind — from ownership on down."
Well, a month from now is not what I thought you meant by the word "immediately," but, OK. Like everyone else, you think the Yankees should be "sellers."
"Come trade deadline time, the Yankees need to trade all veteran assets and look at it as if they are trading up for the future instead of treading water. Last month it was evident this team was going nowhere, and even though they’ve played a soft schedule since, they have not made a dent in the AL East race."
For the millionth time, this is a great idea in your fantasy baseball league.
In the actual world, a lot of things have to happen before you trade your veteran assets:
1) The veteran assets with no-trade clauses have to agree.
2) You need a buyer.
3) You need a buyer who is willing to make a reasonable deal.
"The Yankees remain 40-1 odds, according to Bovada.lv, to win the World Series."
I'd put the odds at around 100-1, but let's not talk about that. Let's assume the Yankees are sunk in 2016. I have not yet seen a convincing argument that trading away everyone in six weeks is going to help lower those odds by 2018.
"Anyone who can’t help that future team who can be traded, should be
traded. The good news is the Yankees have valuable assets that can help
build the future — and not just Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller.
The Cubs, Giants and Nationals all need help and all will be dealing and the Yankees have valuable pieces.
Carlos Beltran could make a return engagement to the Giants and could help San Francisco get that even-year championship again.
The Giants are looking for bullpen help and an outfielder, and they
still love Beltran, according to sources. Beltran could best help a team
as a designated hitter — that should open up the AL market for him as
well, but the Giants are confident he could slide to left field to help
them."
So here we go again.
The Yankees aren't getting diddly for any of these guys, OK?
"The Mets once got Zack Wheeler for Beltran — the Yankees should be so
lucky. The Yankees also have a trade piece in Chase Headley, who has
turned around his season."
Zack Wheeler is 18-16 in his career. Chase Headley is one of the the most overpaid players in baseball. You're undermining your own argument.
"After the 2018 season the Yankees can’t simply drop the biggest bag of
money on Harper or Machado and win the day. Yes, players will almost
always go for the money, there is no doubt about that, but for these
Yankees it’s going to take that LeBron-like addition and more to get
back to championship mode."
Let's go with this premise. The Yankees have to get younger and better in order to lure Lebron-like Harper and Machado.
You still haven't made one convincing argument that any of the current Yankee assets can be traded for good, young players.
Headley is garbage, Chapman is a rental, Beltran is 39 years old, and Miller is a great closer.
All four put together, what kind of young players are you expecting in return?
"If Harper comes along in pinstripes for the 2019 season, he is going
to need plenty of help, and that’s why the Yankees have to put
themselves in position now to begin to get that help.
Look at the superstar pitching talent the Nationals have in Stephen
Strasburg and Max Scherzer. It’s not just Harper — and now they need one
of the two closers the Yankees have in Miller or Chapman."
Who are the Yankees getting in return???
You can have Miller. He's on a shuttle to DC as we speak.
We'll throw in Headley, ARod, and Teixeira and we'll even pay 100% of their salaries.
I think it's sad to break up the bullpen, which is the only reason the Yankees have a surprisingly high 2.5% chance of winning the World Series, but Kevin Kernan has promised Future Machado and Future Harper, so I guess you gotta do it.
One question, though: Who are the Nationals giving up for Three Stiffs and a Closer?
Who are the Nationals trading to the Yankees that will ... how did you phrase it? ... provide "plenty of help" for Harper and Machado?
Is the goal to give free agents a soft landing spot by clogging the roster with a bunch of utility infielders and long relievers?
If the Yankees could miraculously find future superstars by trading away their current roster, then let's do it, regardless of whether Machado and Harper are coming.
I fail to understand how trading old crummy players for young crummy players would lure future superstar free agents to join your team.
"New York owns three of the best back-end relievers -- Dellin
Betances, Andrew Miller, and Aroldis Chapman. But the Yankees are 31-33,
and even with a decent next two weeks against poor teams, they could be
in selling mode with the trade deadline six weeks away.
It might make sense for the Yankees to leverage one of their three
big bullpen pieces for a haul of young prospects, essentially punting on
the 2016 season but fortifying the coming years."
Leverage! My favorite word! My favorite word that has been misused by the corporate world and is now deemed meaningless.
Replace "leverage" with "trade" ... "It might make sens for the Yankee to trade one of their three big bullpen pieces for a haul of young prospects."
OF COURSE that makes sense. I would trade ANY PLAYER on the Yankees for a "haul of young prospects" who would "fortify the coming years."
Also, it might work. I'm not saying it wouldn't work. But who are the can't-miss prospects?
"Who would they trade? It seems Chapman would be most likely. He is on a
one-year deal with the Yankees and will be a free agent at the end of
this year. The Yankees probably won't retain his services anyway, so
flipping him now could benefit them the most. Chapman is earning $11.325
million this year, a figure that likely wouldn't scare off the
high-spending Nats."
Key phrase being "free agent at the end of this year."
Therefore, even if the Nats are high-spending, how many prospects are they going to relinquish for two months of saves?
Can Chapman guarantee the Nats a Championship?
Kinda how David Price guaranteed a Championship for the Blue Jays last year?
"By several counts, the Nats have a top-10 farm system, a pool of
prospects they could part with to try to win their first World Series in
franchise history. Will the Yankees take the plunge? It might be time."
Top ten out of thirty.
By several counts.
It seems like Yankee fans and observers crave a clean break because it's psychologically important for them to cut bait on a losing season. Until July 31, it isn't going to happen, anyway.
Trade Chapman, get a few low-level prospects, re-sign Chapman after the season? I guess that would be ideal.
"But to this point in the 2016 season, the Mets have averaged a 2.95
household rating while the Yankees on YES have recorded a 2.42. The Mets
have averaged 281,327 total viewers while the Yankees have attracted an
average of 234,246 total eyeballs."
Conclusion once again: Nobody watches baseball during the regular season. I should say, nobody in New York watches regular season baseball. Look at these horrible TV ratings (from last year).
What was the Yankees' peak during the Torre Dynasty? Like, 4.0?
"There is no way of quantifying whether the Mets ratings have been helped
by what we call 'floaters.' There are a significant number of fans who
don’t have a strong allegiance to either team but wind up following the
one who is winning. No doubt these front-runners have jumped off the
Yankees bandwagon and now are riding with the Mets, helping to juice
their TV ratings."
Then why is the Mets' rating merely 2.95?
And why is there no way of quantifying this phenomenon? You'd look at the ratings from two different time periods and them compare those quantities.
"Yet it is worth wondering if the Comcast situation has contributed to
any Yankees ratings shortfall. Comcast took YES off its local systems
last November after the two parties could not reach a new carriage
agreement. If Yankees fans who are part of Comcast’s 900,000 subscribers
in New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania still had YES would they
impact the ratings on the plus side?"
Ummm ... I don't know ... would 900,000 additional potential viewers impact the ratings on the plus side?
Maybe not enough to catch the Mets, if that's important to you. But how could it not impact the ratings on the plus side? At least in terms of volume?
The Yankees are dumb. The Yankees lost Comcast at the same time they made it more difficult to purchase tickets online at the same time their team is mediocre at the same time the Mets surged to the World Series.
But there isn't much evidence of "floaters," at least not in attendance or ratings.
Naturally, the Yankees are down and the Mets are up. Just not by a lot. At least not in the regular season.
"The New York Yankees are wallowing in a state of mediocrity.
While
the Yankees are still a sports brand synonymous with platinum-plated
success, the franchise has a good chance of registering its first losing
season in 21 years. Things could miraculously turn around, but that
does not seem likely.
The team in the South Bronx is old, injury prone and deadly dull."
Two games under .500 is mediocre.
A "turn around" -- whatever that means -- would not be miraculous. An 84-win second wild card is hardly out of the question.
As for dull? I have a personal story.
A buddy of mine attended Monday's game with his son. The tyke called Beltran's HR and was jumping up and down like a lunatic. It's probably an enjoyable lifetime memory.
I'm not being naive. The Yankees are dull and mediocre compared to the dynasties of recent past and distant past. Their chances of winning the World Series this year are about 1%. This is also when we find out that the so-called diehards aren't.
"DeLucia, 55, says fans need to fight back, and the only way is economical warfare.
His
strategy is neatly summed up in the title of a passionate,
self-published manifesto, 'Boycott The Yankees — A call to Action by a
Lifelong Yankees fan.'
The Yankees, DeLucia writes, 'must stop
scamming their fans who work damned hard to put food on the table, to
put their kids through college, and to put a few pennies away for
retirement — ordinary people who must be concerned with the bottom line
every single day of their lives.' "
He is entitled to his opinion, but I am a grown man ... I shall spend my time and money how I please.
Besides, if you're having trouble feeding and educating your children? Don't go to Yankee games. Even if they're in first place.
"The site also sells merchandise like 'Respect the Fans' T-shirts (23.99) and 'Boycott the Yankees' coffee mugs ($12.99)."
Ummm ... so boycott the Yankees so you can save pennies for retirement ... but then toss away 2,399 Retirement Pennies on a crummy tee shirt?
I'm actually a little weirded out that a newspaper gives this guy free publicity.
" 'So, it’s about organizing,' DeLucia told me. 'Let’s do something about
this because the Yankees — they can’t do anything without us. They need
our money. They need our cable TV subscriptions. They need us to buy
their stuff. All they have to do is take care of us, and we’ll be at the
stadium again.' "
Very powerful message. All of us working class stiffs refuse to be disrespected or put our economic well-being in jeopardy ... unless the team is good.
I mean, look, if you don't want to invest in a bad team -- time, money, emotion -- that's a personal decision.
For me, it's quite often still an enjoyable use of my entertainment dollar.
"DeLucia lists a number of ways the Yankees can 'right the wrongs.' These
include reduction of ticket prices, monthly fan appreciation days and
sending people on all-expenses paid trips to away games."
The only wrong is losing and the only way to right the wrong is to win. Can you imagine Yankee fans seriously getting psyched about a fan appreciation day? Or an all-expenses paid trip to an away game?
"DeLucia said it was no accident that his book comes just as the
Yankees are experiencing a downturn. Attendance last year was the lowest
since 2000, and there are noticeably empty seats this year.
Maybe the boycott is already on, confirming, if nothing else, that DeLucia is hardly a lone voice crying in the wilderness."
Attendance is down with or without this guy.
So it's not really about organizing, is it? You're just some angry dude who doesn't like to go to Yankee games anymore.
"In some sense the Yankees are always measuring themselves against the
Red Sox, which so far makes 2016 nothing short of their worst nightmare.
It’s not just because the Sox have bashed their way to the top of the
AL East, leading the league in runs scored, but the way they’re doing
it, led by a trio of young position players age 23, 23 and 26, bodes
well for a bright future in Boston, as well as the present.
Yes, in Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley Jr., the Red
Sox might just have the makings of a young nucleus around which they’ll
win multiple championships, in the manner of Derek Jeter’s Core Four.
And though their pitching doesn’t hold as much promise, the Sox
received a boost on Tuesday night from highly touted 23-year-old Eduardo
Rodriguez, who returned from a season-long knee injury with a flourish
against the Orioles."
Sorry, but in the era of two wild cards, the Yankees can maybe sneak in with 85 wins. Which they don't seem likely to attain, but the point is, they sure don't have to catch the Red Sox.
So then, I'll take the Yankees with Tanaka and the bullpen.
Then, it's hope for the best in October, just like if they won 110 games instead of 85.
"In short, this has been a season to forget on many levels for the
Yankees, in particular because it’s hard to see them closing the gap
between themselves and the Red Sox anytime soon.
All of which should make their decision to be sellers in the coming
weeks easy. And while they don’t have a lot of tradeable assets, free
agent-to-be Aroldis Chapman is a no-brainer, and Carlos Beltran is a
proven clutch post-season hitter."
For what?
A fifth-round draft pick?
Or a couple of future superstars?
Because I would trade the whole team for two future superstars. Who's trading these players to the Yankees?
"In any case, the struggles of Judge and Severino have raised more
questions about the future toward which the Yankees are pointing.
So it’s time for the Yankees to start looking to deal. It’s the only
way they will close the glaring gap in young talent between themselves
in the Red Sox."
OK: Yankees stink, 2016 season is shot, the young saviors are disappointing.
You still haven't explained who the Yankees are getting in return and why any team would trade useful players to the Yankees.
Beltran is old, Chapman is a rental.
The other teams have the Yankees over a barrel and they know it.
"David Ortiz is spoiling it for the rest of the 40-year-olds in baseball.
Big Papi is putting together an insane, MVP-level year for the Red Sox
during his farewell season. With a .337 average, 1.146 OPS, 14 home runs
and 47 RBI, Ortiz looks like a slugger 10-15 years his junior.
This isn't normal."
The rest of the article is old news: ARod stinks.
ARod won't play every day ... I agree this is probably a good move, just to keep him energetic enough to hit an occasional HR.
When you look at the other hitters in this lineup, it's not as if he's taking at-bats away from Mattingly.
As ARod slogs towards Ruth using this disastrous all-or-nothing approach that he has employed for the past 10 years or so ... the man hasn't batted .300 since 2008, steroids or not ... one may turn their attention back to the Mitchell Report and wonder exactly how Ortiz looks like an abnormal slugger 10-15 years his junior.
How a sports writer could come so close to connecting the dots without actually connecting the dots.
"Rodriguez
returned Thursday after spending three weeks on the disabled list with a
strained hamstring, but he is just 1 for 16 with nine strikeouts since
returning. (The one hit was a booming 441-foot home run.) He is hitting
.170 and was given Monday off.
Teixeira,
who had spent the past five days out of the lineup with a stiff neck,
was back in the lineup on Monday, but his season has been even more
troubling. He has not hit a home run in 36 games and 125 at-bats, the
longest droughts of his 14-year career."
It's not trading Chapman and it's not Swisher at first base.
What do you think the Yankees would get for Chapman? Who's about to become a free agent? Who is going to trade a bunch of future stars in exchange for same saves down the stretch?
Consensus is to give Beltran the DH spot and stick with Hicks in RF.
The thing is, Aaron Hicks also stinks. So does Chase Headley. Worst of them all is the pitiful Mark Teixeira ... so bad that I don't think Yankee fans even want to boo him ... they want to laugh at him ... mock him with "MVP" chants.
So it's perplexing to see the criticism constantly leveled at Jacoby Ellsbury and Alex Rodriguez. This skewed criticism simply doesn't reflect reality.
Nobody is really going to fight the notion of taking 200 at-bats away from ARod. But who are you going to give them to? Hicks has a good arm, but it's going to get tiring to watch him stand at home plate and pointlessly attempt to hit major league pitching.
If the goal is to keep ARod fresh, that's probably Girardi's plan, anyway.
But until you find an OFer better than Hicks or Ackley, you may as well continue to put ARod up there and tell him to swing really hard in case the pitcher throws one into his bat.
"I love the idea that the Yankees are in great shape — at least according to the coverage — because some rich, old long-term contracts are coming off the books.
So, like, Yankee fans think the next round of contracts is going to be great?
Why?"
It's not the "next round of contracts" that Yankee fans are looking forward to with optimism. It's the promise of the players in the minor leagues. Which could turn out to be a lot of unrealized hype, of course, but since you asked, I can try to briefly explain.
It's a course correction... and a coherent plan ... maybe the only feasible plan ... and it's a plan of patience and clear-headedness that the Yankees are finally sticking to.
1) Fill the roster ASAP with talented young players who are inexpensive.
2) Clear salary in two years when the Contracts of Diminishing Returns are up.
3) Use the extra cash to fill in the roster with free agents. Cashman has seemingly learned his lesson about long-term contracts in the PED-diminished era.
"That is where Harvey now finds himself. He has a 5.77 E.R.A. and has not pitched more than six innings in a start all season. Collins would not even commit to starting him next week, when his turn comes up again at Nationals Park. He said Harvey’s confidence was sapped.
'I’m not happy about it,' Harvey said of his performance. 'I know nobody else is.'"
Not Bob Feller, not Dizzy Dean, not Lefty Grove, not Carl Hubbell, but 'Satchel Paige.'
Joe's unflinching response in 1939 to the inquiry of 'the best pitcher he ever faced' stunned a group of stadium reporters.
While Joe DiMaggio was no social crusader, he knew great pitching.
Like many other major leaguers, he faced Paige during interracial barnstorming exhibitions that were not uncommon in the off-season.
About Paige, sports writer Joe Posnanski writes:
'(He was) unhittable for the better part of 15 years. One pitch. It's a lot like Mariano Rivera, except he wasn't doing it for one inning at a time. He was pitching complete games.'
Let that sink in for a minute."
I can see where this is heading.
I have no reason to slag on Satchel Freaking Paige. The problem with this analysis is that it ignores the fact that Paidge didn't have to face the best white players. His brilliance is undeniable; his domination of the Major Leagues is probable, bust also largely boosted by the imagination.
"If the prospect of facing Mariano for nine innings seems frightening, try adding Hilton Smith's nasty curveball the next day. In 1941, the Kansas City Royals did not exist, but Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League did — and Hall of Famers Paige and Smith formed the greatest 1-2 punch in ALL of baseball — and arguably, baseball history.
Joe DiMaggio never had to face the Kansas City Monarchs in 1941. Or any Negro League team."
This is an under-reported phenomenon, I agree.
The best thing about modern-day American Major League Baseball is that it attracts the best talent from all over the world. I totally love watching players from all over the country and all over the world, assembled on the same team, competing with and against one another. It's just cool.
"As usual, the impact of DiMaggio's actual whites-only playing field was not discussed. This comes five years after a slew of celebrations for The Streak's 70th anniversary. In 2011, The Sporting News staff voted '56' as sport's greatest record. Kostya Kennedy's '56: The Last Magic Number in Sports' became a New York Times best seller, and its publisher, Sports Illustrated, gave Joe it's cover. It was called 'Baseball's Holy Grail,' and at ESPN, it was called 'the most romantic record' for its 'aura,' 'magic,' and penetration into 'the cornfields of American culture.'"
Very few players have gotten to 40 games in a row, much less 56.
Of course DiMaggio played with some advantages -- inferior fielding equipment, tired pitchers who threw 300 innings, easier travel schedules, cultural aversion to intentional walks and fielding shifts and stacked bullpens.
He also played with some disadvantages -- inferior batting technology, inferior training techniques, soft baseballs, bad scouting.
If you compare DiMaggio's accomplishment to all the players who've tried to hit baseballs in the professional ranks, you can't help but be amazed.
"Finding critical dissent on baseball's 'Jim Crow Era' is hard to come by amongst an almost exclusively white mainstream baseball media. When sports announcer Bob Costas held a baseball panel to discuss the 'legitimacy' of Barry Bonds' passing of Hank Aaron's career home run record in 2007, he invited a comedian — and not a sports journalist — to address the relevance of race."
I definitely agree that there's a certain Old White Man element in baseball lore, up to the present day. The references to "Field of Dreams" juxtaposed with the anger at Bautista's bat flip ... like Shoeless Joe is a hero and Joey Bats is a criminal.
I can also see how all the Baseball Poets and their weird Pastoral Nostalgia does not reflect reality -- especially to a black man who was denied equal access.
But here's the thing: Joe D. could flat-out rake. "The 'white ball' benefits of Joe's streak is not the same as Babe Ruth — whose home run totals would still remain historic had they landed closer to Willie Mays territory (660 HRs). The career totals of Ruth, Ty Cobb, or Walter Johnson were inflated from great to greater.
But Joe DiMaggio’s streak wasn't merely inflated by the times, it was created by them.
Without the influence of Performance-Enhancing Whiteness, it would simply not have happened."
That is hard to imagine. DiMaggio could never get a well-timed hit off of a black pitcher?
"During his streak, DiMaggio faced a Hall of Famer pitcher in his prime only two times in 56 games (Bob Feller twice). He would likely see Paige and Smith in four to eight games during his streak. If Negro League aces Leon Day (Newark Eagles) and Raymond Brown (Homestead Grays) also pitched in white baseball's American League, DiMaggio would likely face 8-to-16 games against prime Hall of Fame-level pitching."
So Leon Day never gave up a hit?
"Utley — who is white — was shut down by a Cuban, an American, and a Puerto Rican. But in 1941, Major League Baseball did not split such hairs — all three would have been banned. Period. (Only a very small number of white and light-skinned Latinos were permitted in 1941.)
Did any media notice?
If 2006 were 1941, Chase Utley's streak would live to see another day."
Uhhh ... this makes no sense and I am stopping now.
The exploration of Jim Crow baseball is important, under-reported, and interesting.
The attempt to say what "woulda happened" in a specific example, on a specific day, is total nonsense. Maybe the Streak was just a Black Swan event.
Cohen was very underwhelmed by a 2-out, 2-strike RBI single by Prodigal Murphy. The "net negative" who's batting .400.
Cohen's lack of enthusiasm is not simply because he's unwilling to be proven wrong. It's because he never gives the Mets' opponent any credit. To a degree that's detrimental to his ability to broadcast the happenings in a baseball game.
Also ... despite the hype ... lots of empty seats in Citi Field for the big series with the Nationals.
That's why Bartolo Colon won't lose his cult hero status. Because, for a player who is so fat and so old, he has shown remarkable endurance and production.
What would it take to put 2 and 2 together?
What would it take to see the obvious reason for his remarkable endurance and production?
"After that neither teams' offense could push any runs across. Thankfully for the Yankees, Tidrow was doing a good job in long relief. In this case, it was very long relief. On August 25, 1976, Dick Tidrow pitched 10.2 innings out of the bullpen. He allowed just four hits and didn't allow a run. After allowing a lead-off single to Steve Byre to start the 18th, he was finally replaced.
Grant Jackson was brought in to relieve Tidrow. He got out of the 18th and then threw a 1-2-3 inning in the 19th. Oscar Gamble led off the bottom of the 19th with a single. After a bunt moved him into scoring position, he eventually scored when Mickey Rivers singled.
Dick Tidrow's relief outing is not the longest in Yankees' history. It is the longest scoreless relief outing in Yankees' history, however. And given the way that bullpens are used today, I don't think it's a record that is in any danger of being broken."
Mark Teixeira is a victim of all different kinds of cognitive dissonance:
"'My whole career has been about back-spinning the ball, hitting the
ball in the air and home runs,' Teixeira said. 'I’m just not doing that
right now.'
... 'It’s pretty simple, I’ve got to put the ball in the air more,' Teixeira said. 'Now, it’s a matter of doing it.'"
... I don't think the Yankee managers understand the frustration of the fans:
"Here's something to mull over between now and July 15, the next time the Yankees face the Red Sox: Should Joe Girardi pull a Joe Maddon when it comes to Big Papi?
David Ortiz has crushed the Yanks this year, smashing five homers in six games and batting .333 with a 1.343 OPS.
Maddon, of course, is the Cubs' manager who essentially took the bat out of the hands of perhaps baseball's most dangerous hitter over the weekend — Washington's Bryce Harper.
Harper walked 13 times in a four-game series against the Cubs and the Cubs won every game. Harper did not even have an official at-bat in his last 12 plate appearances, walking 10 times, getting hit by a pitch and hitting a sac fly, which the Elias Sports Bureau says is a record.
Big Papi was just 3-for-13 in the just-completed series at the Stadium won by the Yanks. But all three hits were homers, including two solo shots off Luis Severino Sunday night."
I don't know if it's actually possible to just "pitch better" ... or if you can really "pitch around" a batter ... or if the Yankee pitchers need to pick their spots (these were mostly solo HRs) ... or if McCann doesn't know how to call a game ... or why the Yankees are unwilling to plunk him in the butt once or twice over the past 15 years.
So I don't know if I have a solution to the problem.
Steroid-addled 40-year-olds are difficult to get out in major league baseball games.
The gripe amongst a lot of Yankee fans is that there is a certain conciliatory attitude towards an opponent ... an opponent who consistently crushes the Yankees ... an opponent with a history of cheating and boorish behavior.
"Technically, the Yankees didn't trade Robinson Cano for Jacoby Ellsbury after the 2013 season. But due to the circumstances of how Cano — a future Hall of Fame second baseman — was allowed to walk away in free agency and was effectively replaced by Ellsbury, their careers will forever be linked in the Bronx."
Funny, this linkage never really dawned on me.
"That's turning into more and more of an uncomfortable comparison for the Yankees.
While Cano's contract (10 years, $240 million) could become an albatross in a few years, a case can be made that Ellsbury's deal (seven years, $153 million) is already trending in that direction. This season represents just the third year of the respective deals, but the early returns — including team success in 2016 — are overwhelming in the favor of Cano."
I don't think it's overwhelming.
Yankees have won one more game over the time period and Cano's cumulative WAR is 11.9 instead of 5.7.
"Cano: 344 games, .301/.357/.467, .824 OPS, 135 OPS+, 11.9 WAR
Ellsbury: 287 games, .264/.323/.386, .709 OPS, 99 OPS+, 5.7 WAR
It's not even a contest. Even with Cano's down year due to an abdominal injury in 2015, he's been the far more productive player since the start of 2014."
So there you go.
I look at the same data and say it's less than three wins per year. Not overwhelming, even if WAR isn't the best indicator, and neither is team wins (Yankees have one more than Seattle during the same time period).
I simply don't understand the fixation on Ellsbury.
Tanaka has a cumulative WAR of 8.0 over that time period. I say the Yankees signed Tanaka instead of Cano ... and only lost 1.5 games per year.
Have Ellsbury earned their money relative to Cano? No. But I don't think it's overwhelming, especially when the total contract is taken into account.
But obviously, more importantly for the Yankees was avoiding that $100 million post-35 albatrosses that are hanging around so many of the players on their current roster. So maybe it's too early to tell who gets the last laugh.
As for the 2016 Yankees, once again, it's obvious to me that Ellsbury isn't their biggest payroll thief.
"[Wright] did not give up his second hit until the seventh inning, when Starlin
Castro led off with a double. McCann followed with a deep flyout to
right field, moving Castro to third base, and it appeared that the
Yankees were finally catching up to Wright’s fluttering pitches.
Trailing
by 1-0 in the count to Mark Teixeira, Wright threw a knuckleball that
bobbled out of catcher Ryan Hanigan’s mitt. Seeing the ball on the
ground, Castro broke prematurely for home. Hanigan quickly recovered and
threw Castro out as he retreated to third.
"The Yankees have won a couple in a row now against the Red Sox, as they try to dig themselves and fight themselves out of an early-season hole. And they need to keep winning, because if they don’t you wonder what the ballpark might look like a few months from now." The Yankees' economics are fine. Better than they ought to be considering the product they're putting on the field. "Or maybe they think they can start to fill those empty blue seats near the field that sometimes look like the most expensive unclaimed real estate in New York City, with Alex Rodriguez’s creaky, inauthentic run at Babe Ruth, and dazzling late-inning relief pitchers." Nobody cares about ARod or the bullpen. Most of the 2016 tickets are already sold ... the daily attendance numbers are inflated for sure ... and the Stadium is kinda dead. But fans still show up out of habit or because Yankee Stadium is a tourist attraction. Baseball is fun. You root for your bad team and hope they win today. "But at a time when the Mets are so much fun to watch, because of star young pitchers even when they’re not pitching like stars, and home run hitters, the Yankees aren’t. They haven’t been really fun to watch for a while." I agree, the Yankees are boring. The Mets are better and more exciting. CitiField will be packed for the upcoming Nationals series. But, truth be told, CitiField is half empty most of the time. Or half full, if you work for the Mets PR Dept. "By all measure, the Steinbrenner in charge of the team is a very good guy, just one who seems to have no reichcal passion for baseball and no love for New York City." I don't think "reichcal" is a word. I think somebody mis-typed "real." "So it’s not just Rodriguez’s insane contract that is the problem here, all that contract does is provide cover. Chase Headley is working on a four-year, $52 million deal, just because sometimes you think everybody is with the Yankees. Brett Gardner is working on the same basic contract. And Brian McCann was going to be the new Thurman Munson." ARod's contract doesn't provide cover for anyone paying attention. It's columnists like Lupica who have fixated on ARod while ignoring all the other players on the Yankees ... and, even now, Lupica inexplicably excludes Beltran, Teixeira, and Sabathia from his List of Busts.
Ellsbury is his fixation and, though a bust for sure, Ellsbury is probably the best overall player in the starting eight. I know it's a low bar, but I'm serious. So if you think he's the biggest Yankee bust of all time ... or even the biggest bust on the current roster ... just look at the guys sitting on the bench to his left and right.
"The Yankees, when healthy, even though with the Jurassic Park All-Stars that is a very fluid situation, start two players under the age of 30, Gregorius and Castro. But every time somebody goes down, the way Rodriguez and Sabathia did this week, people act shocked." Who are the people who acted shocked? If anyone acted shocked, they were surely being sarcastic. I also don't think anybody really cares because they're not very good baseball players anymore. "Maybe one of these days, maybe the Yankees need to think about throwing Aaron Judge into the pool the way the Mets threw Michael Conforto into the pool a year ago, and see if he can swim. Or if he is one more guy out of the farm system who doesn’t turn out to be the next Ruth or Mantle." This isn't genius stuff. The future isn't just Judge, Gregorius, and Castro. The future is Judge, Gregorius, Castro, Severino, Tanaka, Eovaldi, Pineda, Refsnyder, and Bird. Myself and most fans are ready to make the transition rather than watching stubborn old players swing for the fences and hit into the shift. Severino's horrible start is way more troubling than the combined 2016 disasters of every player over the age of 35. If Severino can make adjustments and turn it around, he may be a future ace. If he can't, then good luck with Plan B.
They fired an untalented employee who was also a jerk:
"ESPN is a private company; it had every right to fire Schilling because it didn’t like a few of his social-media posts. (And never mind what it let Keith Olbermann get away with all those years.)
The network can censor its own content as it chooses, too — however petty and childish that choice reveals it to be."
Right.
Which is why they're not Stalinist at all.
"But it’s a darned strange way to show 'progressive' values."
ESPN.
Formerly "Entertainment and Sports Programming Network."
Not a word about a devotion to progressive values, or even politeness and civility, for that matter.
Schilling was fired because his bosses told him to cut it out and he refused to cut it out. The transgender bathroom issue was not the first time. Though, yeah, if tolerance of transgender people qualifies as "progressive" values, then maybe ESPN just fired Schilling for this one-off.
Sure, Schilling has made enough money and he doesn't care. But Schilling's argument seems to be that his employer's insistence that he behave in a certain way is stifling and inappropriate ... even un-American.
What Schilling doesn't realize is that's what a job is. Everybody's job, all day, every day. Everybody who works for somebody else, anyway.
Headley should be benched or waived ... if for no other reason than to throw a bone to the fans who still pay attention to this team.
Gregorius is a bigger problem. A year ago at this time, we all chalked up his deficiencies to the strain of replacing Jeter. A surge in the second half set up a promising 2016.
Then this horrible regression, suggesting a player who is not really devoted to his craft.
Did anybody on the Yankees take note of how the Red Sox "hitters" beat the Yankees last night? Lefties hitting to the opposite field?:
"What has given the Yankees such a home advantage for nine decades — the short right-field porch — is now a detriment.
In the age of ever-expanding shifts, the Yankees’ lack of offensive diversification has made them arguably the most easily defended team in the majors.
'It definitely hurts us,' general manager Brian Cashman admitted."
Ummm ... you sound stupid.
"Before the heavy shifting, the Yankees could fill their lineup with pull-oriented lefty hitters and gain the advantage in their home park of not only plenty of homers, but also when a ball was hit well, singles and doubles.
But put five defenders to the right of second base and try to find a hole, especially at Yankee Stadium. It is one thing to have three infielders and two outfielders shading that way in a roomy right side like at Kauffman Stadium or Turner Field. It still is effective, but not like at Yankee Stadium, which has the least square footage of any right-field area in the majors. Thus, opponents have more defenders arrayed in a small space and, well, good luck to a Yankees lefty pull batter getting a hit that does not land over the fence."
I can't think of a solution to this problem.
Can anybody think of a solution to this problem?
"But what already is entrenched could not be changed. Carlos Beltran, Chase Headley, Brian McCann and Mark Teixeira are among the 30 lefty hitters shifted against most often (all shift stats provided by Baseball Info Solutions)."
What is already entrenched could not be changed.
Or ... just throwing this out there ... cuckoo idea ... all those guys can occasionally hit the ball on the ground to the left side of the infield?
"With lefty Chasen Shreve and Betances throwing in the bullpen, Joe Girardi opted to stick with Tanaka to face the left-handed hitting Bradley after he gave up consecutive one-out, opposite-field singles to left-handed hitters Travis Shaw and Brock Holt.
'The split really didn’t do much, and he hit it off the wall,' Girardi said of Bradley’s double that erased a 2-0 Yankees lead.
...
Girardi had stayed with Tanaka against Bradley, who was 0-for-2 and 1-for-13 against the right-hander."
99th pitch of the night. Easy call to go to the bullpen. I truly think Girardi paid attention to the previous 1-for-13.
Yes, it would be different if the useless offense could score easy runs that rookie pitchers and inept defensive teams attempt to give away ... if these batters were trained to hit for the situation ... but that point of emphasis is long overdue and now it's too late.
"The real drugs to talk about with Dee Gordon, the son of a Major
League ballplayer, aren't exogenous Testosterone and Costebol. The drugs
to talk about, now that another star player has been banged for 80
games because he was dumb enough to believe some chemist or doctor or
some guy he met at the gym, are these: entitlement and insecurity and
greed.
That
is the drug cocktail for any athlete who thinks he is going to be the
one to cheat the game and beat the game at the same time, and it remains
both powerful and addictive, even in a sport like baseball, where
testing works."
The real drugs are Testosterone and Costebol.
Testing doesn't work in baseball.
Other than those minor corrections, you are right on, Mike Lupica.
"And the only thing dumber than the belief from someone like Gordon -- a
streak of light on a baseball player, the defending National League
batting champion -- that you will never get caught is the statement you
release after you do get caught."
I think it's funny because Gordon only has 8 career HRs. "You also have to know something else: They take it thinking that if
they do get caught, as shocked as Gordon was this week and Colabello was
last week, they will ride it out and come back and still get paid. It
happened that way with Melky Cabrera. It happened that way with Jhonny
Peralta, a Biogenesis All-Star. And the players who don't take the stuff
look at this and see ballplayers getting rewarded for a form of fraud.
The word Bob Costas uses about the numbers put into the books by guys
using the stuff is 'inauthentic.' He is absolutely right.
One of these days, you wonder if the cost of getting caught using
drugs will be one simple act that might actually get everybody's
attention once and for all: Your contract going from guaranteed to
unguaranteed. Jim Duquette, a former baseball executive, now a
broadcaster, once again talked about that on Friday. Because, really,
what law has ever been passed in this country that says a guaranteed
contract in sports is supposed to survive a nuclear attack?"
It's embarrassing to get suspended 80 games. Gordon lost some of his $50 million. From a cost-benefit standpoint, the benefits seem to outweigh the costs.
The Yankees are not 10 games out of first place ... yet:
"The Yankees enter the weekend ranked 14th in runs scored, slugging
percentage and hits and dead last in extra-base hits. They have scored
three-or-fewer runs in 15 of their 20 games, going 3-12 in those
contests. Even worse, they’ve been held to two-or-fewer runs 10 times
already this season, losing all 10 games.
'It’s been a struggle for the last 15 games, hitting the ball,' Girardi
said. 'I think our at-bats were good (Wednesday), and if you put good
at-bats, eventually that’s going to change.'
If there’s a silver lining for the Yankees, it’s that their awful start
— which has guaranteed them their first losing April since 2008 —
hasn’t buried them in the standings. They left Texas trailing the
first-place Orioles by only four games, so they’re not facing the type
of massive holes that teams such as the Twins (nine games out in the AL
Central) and Braves (10.5 games out in the NL East) have already dug for
themselves."
Come back and talk to ARod after 80 games: “If it doesn’t break us, it’s going to make us stronger in the long run,” said Alex Rodriguez, who went 3-for-3 with a home run
as he returned to the lineup after missing two games with a minor
oblique injury. “It’s tough, but we have to keep perspective... If it
was 80 games, it would be a lot tougher to swallow.”
Not our fault:
“You usually go through stretches throughout the season where things go
this way,” said Chase Headley, whose 0-for-3 left him with only two hits
in his last 24 at-bats. “This one has been prolonged a little bit; some
of it our fault, some not our fault.”
Girardi's players don't play hard for him:
“Do you want me just to flip it upside down? What do you want me to do?”
Girardi said. “Twenty games is one-eighth of the season. If every
manager changed the lineup after three or four guys were struggling,
you’d be changing the lineup all the time. That’s why it’s a long season
and you go by numbers over a long period of time. I think it’s way too
early for that. I don’t know what your ideas are. Do you want me to hit
(Ronald) Torreyes fourth?”
It's not September yet:
“Obviously, you hope to be over .500 every month, but I’d rather have
that in April than September,” Headley said. “We’re going to keep
fighting. We’re going to play better. We know we are. Hopefully it’s
sooner than later.”
Maybe the Yankees batters would bat over .250 if the opponents weren't allowed to use the shift:
"Joe Girardi employs infield shifts regularly, doing his best to give his infielders a chance to defend against hitters of all kinds.
But if it were up to the Yankees manager, those shifts would disappear like a Mark Teixeira grounder in short right field.
Asked whether he would make shifts illegal if he were the sport’s commissioner, Girardi wasted no time in answering, 'Absolutely.'
'I think it’s an illegal defense, like basketball,' Girardi said. 'Guard your man; guard your spot. If I was commissioner, they would be illegal.'
'As long as it’s legal, I’m going to play it.'
Girardi’s shift on Nomar Mazara Monday night helped the rookie outfielder shoot a ball through the hole at shortstop, ending Nathan Eovaldi’s no-hitter in the seventh inning. Girardi didn’t second-guess his decision, though he hated to see Eovaldi’s bid for history end in such fashion.
'I think the field was built this way for a reason,' Girardi said. 'Two on one side, two on the other.'"
I don't follow Girardi's logic. It's embarrassing that Yankee batters can't figure it out.
Strikes out way too much for the rather weak power output. Pretty good speed. A decent number of walks, boosting a low batting average. Good stolen base percentage.
It's basically Brett Gardner without the good fielding and without any ability to hit in the clutch.
"No one's looking at the standings at this point," McCann said. "We're
trying to play better baseball, trying to have better at-bats and play
better defense"
Gardner aka "Gardy":
"We'd much rather be 9-5 than 5-9, but we'd also rather go on a rough stretch like this in April than September."
"Sure, Alex Rodriguez went deep in the second inning Sunday, crushing an
86 mile-per-hour fastball from Hisashi Iwakuma into the left-field
seats on the same day Joe Girardi demoted A-Rod from third to sixth in
the lineup.
The homer snapped an 0-for-19 skid -- just two outs shy of matching the
two longest droughts of Rodriguez's career-- and gave Masahiro Tanaka a
lift in a win the Yankees' sorely needed after all their recent
offensive stumbles.
But does it change the overall conversation about the Yankees' 40-year-old designated hitter?"
Yes?
"No, not yet."
Drats. Wrong again.
"He needs a few more blasts like that one before it's easy to believe
he's fully out of his slump and will again be the lineup force he was
for much of last year when he authored a comeback season from his drug
suspension that included 33 home runs."
Sure, I guess you're right.
But, hey! Don't 41-year-old sluggers get the benefit of the doubt?
"Hey, sluggers with baggage who will be 41 during the season don't get the benefit of the doubt all the time. Sorry."
"This is fast turning into the Yankees’ worst nightmare. Not that Alex
Rodriguez is finished but he’s hitting .100 now, after going 0-for-5 on
Saturday, and no matter how many times a player has been through a slow
start, the ugly numbers make them start squeezing the sawdust from the
bat and press like crazy.
For A-Rod, in particular, he has a history of being at his worst when
he wants it a little too much and tries too hard, as he did in so many
postseasons for the Yankees before he got hot and carried them in
October of 2009."
His postseasons have been worse post-2009 than pre-2009. Not that facts matter in the least to John Harper when discussing ARod ... or baseball ... or things on Planet Earth.
"Now he’s 40 and he knows a slow start makes questions about his age
inevitable. The thing is, his numbers regarding line-drive percentage
and hard-hit balls were good going into Saturday, which indicated he had
some luck coming to him, but none of that matters once a slump gets in
your head."
We know what to expect by now.
Trying to hit a HR every time up, striking out way too much, low batting average, low on-base%, little impact on the base paths, no fielding.
"Now he’s 40 and he knows a slow start makes questions about his age
inevitable. The thing is, his numbers regarding line-drive percentage
and hard-hit balls were good going into Saturday, which indicated he had
some luck coming to him, but none of that matters once a slump gets in
your head."
ARod's bat started slowing down a long time ago.
Don't throw him a fastball down the middle of the plate. If you do, he can still do damage.
But if you throw a pitch that appears to be a fastball ... and it isn't a fastball ... which, in baseball parlance, is known as a "pitch" ... he will start the bat early and try to hit a HR and miss the pitch.
Strike one, strike two, strike three, grimace, walk back to the dugout.
"Anyway, the point is it can’t be all about A-Rod.
Then again, if A-Rod is hitting bombs, even at 40, everyone up and down
the lineup tends to relax a bit, and chances are in that case they
wouldn’t be leaving entire villages on base every day."
Oh, jeez.
"However, you also can’t ignore the fact that A-Rod seemed to run out of
gas late last season, and had a very quiet spring training as well.
Still, I think it’s a slump that’s largely mental now, not because it’s
A-Rod but because that happens in April. It’s just that for him,
especially — and the Yankees — that’s the worst-case scenario."
He's going to hit better than .100. Let's all agree on that. You could blindfold a pitcher and send him to the plate with a bat in his hand and he would hit better than .100.
But ARod is a DH who is batting third.
Look around MLB.
He may be the worst DH and the worst #3 hitter.
If the Yankees are relying on a serious resurgence ... .900 OPS or something similar over an extended period of time ... then the Yankees are doomed.
He is going to slowly be demoted down the lineup and I am guessing DiDi and Castro will be promoted. It's not much of a plan if Ellsbury and others don't contribute, but it's the only plan.
"OK, well, two pieces of advice for the Mets ace, if I may:"
You may not.
"Good God, get off Twitter, already. You’ve got the life people would kill for: you’re young, rich, supremely talented, enjoying a glamorous Joe Namath lifestyle in the big city, with a shoe collection that would make Kim Kardashian blush, as you yourself said recently."
No.
"Not to mention you’re the New York bureau chief of Derek Jeter’s Players’ Tribune; between that responsibility and trying to pitch the Mets back to the World Series, you shouldn’t even have time for Twitter."
Not to mention since NY bureau chief of the Players' Tribune is not a real job ... but good job using your column to troll Matt Harvey.
"Secondly, develop a thicker skin. Johnny Franco used to yell at me, 'Why does your paper hate me so much?' when a back page headline blared 'Down The John' after he blew a save, but he didn’t stop talking to the media because of it. Usually he was smart enough to laugh it off."
Please talk to me.
Pleeeeeease.
Harvey just needs to pitch well. Harvey doesn't need to answer to John Harper.
The Mets should try to do what the Royals did ... and that's win the World Series:
"So it starts up again on Sunday night in Kansas City, just over five months — just that — from when the Mets didn’t make it back to Kansas City for Game 6, five months after Eric Hosmer broke for home and Lucas Duda’s throw went sailing towards Manhattan. We start to find out tonight, the beginning of a trip to October that sometimes feels longer than a Presidential campaign, if the Mets can do what the Royals did:
Not just make it back to the World Series, but win it all the way the Royals did, 30 years after the Royals had last won a World Series in 1985. The last time the Mets won the Series also happens to be 30 years ago, in the loud and amazing and unforgettable baseball season of 1986."
So do what the Royals did? Just wanted to confirm.
Oh, and this has nothing to do with the Presidential campaign, but good cultural reference.
"I am standing with Mattingly at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter this spring, as he watches his Marlins take the field, two decades after his playing career ended for him with that last, loud roar against the Mariners. We are talking about his back, and I mention that everything changed for him with an awkward swing on a cold night in Milwaukee.
Mattingly shakes his head, and says that his back problems began all the way back in high school, but that he played at a time when nobody told you that too much time in the cage and too many swings could catch up with you, and your back, at the back end of your career.
'When I was a kid, I’d just go to the chiropractor,' Mattingly says, and he’d just pop it back in.'"
Soooooo ... what does Don Mattingly have to do with the 2016 Mets? Who are trying to win the World Series? Like the Royals did?
"It is stenosis that now informs Wright’s career, and what is left of it for the captain of the Mets. It is stenosis that has stolen some of his bat speed and some of his prime, and requires hours of preparation just to get him on the field. If you are a Mets fan, you know how high you can grade on paranoia, even in the best of times. But anybody who’s sure how many games David Wright plays at third base this season, raise a hand."
David Wright had 17 RBIs last year and is a career .198 hitter in the playoffs. I don't think any Mets fan expects more than, say, 60 RBIs from Wright this season. The Mets can make the World Series without David Wright ... they already did.
Is this just a convoluted way to connect this story to Don Mattingly?
Just so you can tell the world that you had a conversation with Don Mattingly?
"Even with those questions about their captain, the Mets don’t just bring promise to Opening Night, and as much excitement to a new season as they have had since 1987."
Perhaps. I know you write the same Opening Day article every year, so it's hard to tell when you're being sincere.
"There is an old baseball expression that covers this, and not just for a team as promising as the ’16 Mets: Stuff happens, even when you have Harvey and deGrom and Syndergaard and Matz, and have Zack Wheeler coming back."
Yup, that's an old baseball expression. "Stuff happens, even when you have Harvey and deGrom and Syndergaard and Matz, and have Zack Wheeler coming back."
Leo Durocher popularized this particular old baseball expression, and nobody knew what he was talking about. Because Harvey, deGrom, Syndergaard, Matz, and Wheeler hadn't even been born yet.
"We now officially know how the Royals came all the way back from the disappointment of October of 2014, all the way to their own big 30th anniversary celebration. Now the Mets try to do the same. The team the Mets play Sunday night is the team they want to be."
That article was as long as a Presidential election and as stiff as Don Mattingly's back.
"Pablo Sandoval lost his job as startingg third baseman to Travis Shaw on Thursday. Sandoval, now a backup with a $95 million deal, shared his thoughts on Red Sox manager John Farrell’s decision to bench him for Opening Day.
'We talked about it. I’m happy with the decision,' Sandoval said, via WEEI.com. 'They made the decision. It’s the right decision to help the team win. I’m going to be happy. I’m going to be ready on the bench, get ready for anything. I’m going to get ready during the season to do my job.' "
I don't think you're supposed to be quite that gracious about it.
Think about the meaning of words that you are using:
"Alex Rodriguez's 2017 retirement plan − this is, if he really does retire
− means he’ll be eligible for baseball’s Hall of Fame ballot in late
2022, but it’s unlikely he’ll get into Cooperstown if previous voting
patterns hold true."
Agreed.
In a way, this is old news ... tired news ... in another way, it's irrelevant because we're talking about 2022.
"That’s because A-Rod, like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, has
first-ballot baseball numbers but a close association with
performance-enhancing drug use that tends to alienate Hall of Fame
voters. The voters have repeatedly rejected Bonds and Clemens since they
became eligible in 2013."
I just coughed. It sounded like "Mike Piazza," but it was a cough.
"With 75% of the vote necessary for inclusion, Bonds got on 44.3% of the
ballots last year and Clemens got on 45.2. Those numbers could rise if
voters become more forgiving about doping, but A-Rod took doping, and
the effort to cover it up, to the next level."
1) ARod almost undoubtedly did not take doping to the next level. I'd say ARod took doping to the normal level.
2) As for the degree of ARod's cover up, does Nathaniel Vinto know something the rest of us don't know? I'd say ARod had one of the most ineffective steroid cover ups in MLB history. You know how I know? Because he's one of the few MLB players who was caught.
The numbered list of Daily News ARod stories, intended to prove ARod's unique stature as the PED King of the Hill, merely highlights the journalistic deficiencies of the Daily News.
Where are the rest of the players on the Mitchell list? Nobody is willing to give them up? Or you're just not searching?
You have the nerve to bring up the Hall of Fame, when you know that steroid users have already been inducted? If you don't know, then you should know. You're the journalist, right? Right???
I mean, here is a list from Wikipedia. ARod doesn't stand out. The Daily News says he stands out, but that's just because the Daily News decided he stands out.
Like, did you even know that Wally Joyner took steroids? Say it ain't so,Wally World!
We don't know how many players actually took the cover up to the next level ... that's because they were never caught. That is kinda what "cover up" means.
I know it's Spring Training, but I can instantly think of two similar botched plays by Cespedes while he has played for the Mets ... and one of them was in the World Series ... and Cespedes has only played about 60 games for the Mets.
"Alex Rodriguez was doing so well staying out of the headlines too,
rehabilitating his image, but now out of nowhere he looks and sounds
like the old A-Rod, letting the world know that he’s retiring after the
2017 season.
What, a one-year retirement tour wouldn’t have been enough?"
That report has already been disputed, but who cares?
Nobody, that's who.
"Yes, he’s inviting snark again, something A-Rod seemingly had worked
hard to avoid by staying on message since his return from suspension."
Worked hard at avoiding snark?
Or worked hard at avoiding inviting snark?
That sounds like quite a burden in either case. I'd hate to avoid snark ... or invite snark, for that matter ... or even avoiding inviting snark.
"So it’s possible he answered the question from an ESPN reporter on
Wednesday without really thinking of the stir it would create. A-Rod did
make a point later to backtrack a bit, telling Daily News beat writer
Mark Feinsand that nothing regarding retirement was a certainty.
Whatever he meant to say, the retirement talk raises the obvious
question about whether his image rehab can affect his Hall of Fame case."
It has been a long time since Sabathia has been a good pitcher.
The entire time, he has been talking endlessly about how he is emulating Pettitte and adapting his pitching style to accommodate a lack of a mid-90s fastball.
"Major League Baseball rescinded Chase Utley’s two-game suspension Sunday so you can pretty much circle May 9 as the date when Utley will get the real penalty for the dirty slide that broke Ruben Tejada’s leg last October.
That’s when the Mets start a four-game series in Los Angeles with Utley’s Dodgers. Think there’ll be another installment of baseball’s particular brand of frontier justice?
You bet.
By not suspending Utley — he deserved something, didn’t he? — you could argue MLB has passed the buck on disciplining Utley and made the Met pitchers mete it out. There’ll be pressure on them to adhere to one of baseball’s old codes. That’s the way players think."
So if Utley had served a two-game suspension and missed two games against, let's say the Colorado Rockies.
That two-game suspension would have satisfied the Mets?
Jacoby Ellsbury hit a stand-up triple in Spring Training:
"The two most important legs in the Yankees’ universe carried Jacoby Ellsbury from home plate to first base, on to second and then third for a stand-up triple.
As the leadoff hitter and center fielder toured the bases in the fifth inning against the Red Sox at George M. Steinbrenner Field on Saturday, manager Joe Girardi had a degree of concern."
Jaromir Jagr is having a good year at an advanced age. Gretzky recently marveled and pointed out, when asked, that, sure -- if Jagr had stayed healthy and whatnot, he could have broken Gretzky's goal record.
Which is why the hard part is actually doing it.
Kal Daniels was on the path to the Hall of Fame after his second season.
"Teixeira acknowledges he is not getting to 3,000 hits, but has his eyes on 500 homers (he is at 394). He has finished in the top 11 in MVP voting just twice. His OPS-plus is much like other excellent two-way first basemen Keith Hernandez and John Olerud, neither of whom ever reached even 11 percent in Hall voting.
Teixeira says he wants to play another five yearsand will have to produce a lot of greatness in what should be his twilight to have a strong Hall shot.
'It’s a natural thing as a baseball player to at least think about the Hall,' Teixeira said. 'It is, after all, the ultimate goal.' "
Yes.
I believe Mark Teixeira will absolutely enter the Hall of Fame if he wants to.
I even found a website that will help him accomplish this ultimate goal.
Randy Levine met today with Scott Cutler, President of StubHub, and had a good
and productive meeting. It lasted about an hour and they agreed to
continue talking. There is nothing to announce at this current moment.
But this is ridiculous: "When Ortiz, 40, makes his final Yankee Stadium appearance on Sept. 29, this is what he wants, and it speaks volumes about Ortiz the player, the competitor, the enemy, the star.
'You know what I want most of all?' Big Papi told The Post on Tuesday at JetBlue Park. 'I would love it if the fans at Yankee Stadium gave me a standing ovation.' "
...
Ortiz deeply respects the fans, even those from other teams who boo him, because it shows how much they love the game and their team. Yankees fans can show Ortiz respect in that final game.
Cheer for Big Papi. Chant his nickname. Send him out with class."
The writers sure love David Ortiz.
I am not sure why ... an obvious steroid cheat, not really classy by any useful definition of the term ... just a pretty good interview sometimes. Maybe that's why.
Tormented the Yankees for a while. That might be the real reason.
Like that Reese's peanut butter cup commercial ... except you substitute rancid sushi for a chocolate bar:
"It is a good thing that sports doesn’t work the way politics does. If it did, the Carolina Panthers would have flown straight back to Charlotte after the Broncos threw them down the stairs in the Super Bowl and thrown themselves a victory parade."
Nah. That would be silly. That would be the Mets, of course:
"You know the moment I’ll remember most in New York sports, before the last night of the baseball season went wrong?
I’ll remember what it felt like and sounded like at Citi Field when the
Mets were still ahead in Game 5, and they were three outs away from
going back to Kansas City.
I’ll remember what it felt like and sounded like when Matt Harvey came
out of the dugout to pitch the top of the 9th, because I would have done
the same thing Terry Collins did that night, and send him the hell out
there.
Harvey walked the leadoff guy, of course, and should have been gone right there.
Before long Duda was throwing wide and Hosmer was on his way home, and you know what happened later.
The other team was just better.
Not a lot better.
Just enough.
This was the time in baseball New York when Citi Field finally sounded the way old Shea did across the parking lot.
It would have been great to win it all, of course it would, are you kidding?
But how could you ever walk away feeling like losers after a run like that?"
Probably because the other team scored more runs. Not that I'm a sabermetrician or anything, but isn't that how it works?
You didn't even win the World Series. Imagine how much he'd run his mouth if he had:
"I'm not going to sit there today and look at all of these (expletive)
numbers and try to predict this guy is going to be a great player. OPS
this. OPS that. GPS. LCSs. DSDs. You know who has good numbers? Good
(expletive) players.
"That's why to me the (Yoenis) Cespedes signing was good for us. He
changed our team last year. He makes our lineup legitimate. This guy is
going to hit 25 to 30 homers. He's going to drive in 100 runs. That's
what he does.
"Those are the numbers I like.''
As if Yoenis Cespedes had a bad OPS.
OPS is just on-base percentage plus slugging percentage, for crying out loud.