All MLB teams have now played
a handful of games beyond the 50% mark for this season. With that, at this point of the season, I can
only feel total disappointment towards the Yankees and their see-saw record in
which they now sit at 2 games below the .500 mark (42-44). So much for my prediction a few months ago -
at least at this point!
Of course, any optimistic
Yankees’ fan can relate to our great Yogi Berra’s “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
quote; but, a pessimist (or, perhaps in this case, a realist) would say that
they’ve seen enough of this team to put that belief to the side in this case
because these Yankees have not offered enough hope to even attempt to prove
Yogi right. I’ve watched so many games
in my life - even during the seasons where the Yankees were worse than this,
but most of those teams had more excitement to them. For instance, even though they never won a
World Series with Rickey Henderson in pinstripes during the mid-to-late 80s, he
certainly electrified the game with his exciting base-stealing success. Likewise, Don Mattingly and Dave Winfield
offered a batting title competition in 1984 through the last game of the
season. Our speedsters, Gardner and Ellsbury,
lure fans to sleep with their cautionary base-stealing and we certainly don’t
have any player that could come close to a batting title challenge.
This Yankees’ team overall
offense has been insubstantial and their starting pitching has offered opposing
teams batting practice launches. Certainly, their 1-2-3 punches of Dellin Betances,
Andrew Miller, and Aroldis Chapman have pretty much shown us what we all
expected, but they rarely get to perform with the Yankees ahead in a game by
the 7th inning. Other
positive contributors this season have included Carlos Beltran, Didi Gregorius,
and Starlin Castro. The accomplishments
of the aforementioned six players equate to about one-fourth of the team, or 25%
of positivity! No wonder I find myself
changing the channel way too often.
We’ve been waiting for
the older players (A-Rod, CC, Beltran, and Mark Teixeira) to reach the end of
their contracts and we’re getting closer and closer - thankfully. While Beltran has certainly over-performed
this year, he is still a detriment in right field. The Yankees need to trade him now, while his
value is high - and I mean trade him right now, before he ends up injured and
untradeable!
The Yankees have enough
assets to really make a splash and make their team solid enough for years to
come. As I’ve alluded to in the past,
they do indeed have a group of young players very near to reaching the majors
(Gary Sanchez, Aaron Judge, and Ben Gamel) - perhaps this August or September. Certainly, two reserve players, Austin Romine
and Rob Refsnyder, have contributed to the team this year. Sanchez, Judge,
and/or Gamel would offer so much promise towards excitement and hope - even
this season!
Basically, we need to
attain 2 solid starters and 2 solid hitters.
I don’t want to trade Andrew Miller - a player who many teams have expressed
interest to acquire. Let’s instead trade
Chapman even though the return would be less (because of his abuse charges and
his upcoming free agency). His 100-plus miles-per-hour
fastball and his closing record offer enough to bring back a very good return.
I'm not one of those fans who's ignorantly looking to gain great returns for devalued assets such as the Yankees' high-paid players who are under-producing (Jacoby Ellsbury, A-Rod, Chase Headley, or Teixeira) or even the lower-salaried players who have been under-producing (Nathan Eovaldi or Michael Pineda). The Yankees do have tradable assets with high enough values. That's why I believe that Beltran, Chapman, Gardner, and/or McCann could individually or collectively bring back worthy returns - some who can make the team immediately better. With the non-waiver trading deadline approaching (August 1), let's trade now before our trading assets get hurt!
