A DREAM COME TRUE:  “YANKEE FAN TODAY TOMORROW FOREVER”

Finally, the Yankees signed an ace!!  Every offseason and every trading deadline most Yankees’ fans (including me) have expressed a strong desire for the Yankees to sign a premium starting pitcher.  Well, the Steinbrenners and Brian Cashman have finally inked such a deal for one of the best 3 starting pitchers in today’s game…Gerrit Cole.  The deal is generically valued at $324 million for 9 years.  Last year, Gerrit had a 0.895 WHIP (anything below 1.0 is superb) and struck out 326 batters!  He just turned 29, so he’s just begun his prime years as a starting pitcher. As for the playoffs, his performance is amongst the best of all time, including a WHIP of 0.868.

With Paxton supposedly resolving his pitching flaws (briefly demonstrated in the latter half of last season once he was forced to use his overwhelming curveball), with Tanaka also proving to be a top-notch playoff pitcher, and with the “potential” of Severino’s health bringing him back to where he was prior to the injuries, the Yankees have a heck of a starting pitching rotation.  In fact, many of the so-called experts have already judged them to have the best starting pitching in the game!  When’s the last time you ever heard that declaration from them?

Also, remember that every major additional transaction to a team also creates a subtraction from the team he left.  In this case, it’s the cheating Astros who suffer the consequences.  The Yankees coveted Gerrit Cole since 2008 during the MLB Draft and tried to trade for him in 2017.  Now, thankfully, he’s a Yankee! 

PEEK-A-BOOOOOOOOOO!

Well, another year whereby the Yankees lost to the Astros – this time 4 games to 2.  Most of the games were close, but the Yankees did discover one key thing that would inevitably disable the Astros when they ultimately faced the Nationals for the World Series Championship.  That key thing was the Yankees’ accusation (which later became fact) that the Astros were cheating via the usage of a TV camera and then a manual signal to their hitters identifying the pitches.  Coincidentally (cough, cough), right after the Yankees accusation, the Astros would only then win one more game in their own ballpark, which ended up being a nail-biter.  The Nationals would later win every World Series game in Houston (and vice-versa).

The Astros, by the way, are currently being investigated by the MLB Commissioner’s Office based on several of their former players (initially identified by one of their former pitchers, Mike Fiers) who have confirmed that the Astros used a TV camera and other accompanying tools to identify pitches to their batters.  MLB has since interviewed almost 60 witnesses and reviewed over 70,000 emails!  The Commissioner (Rob Manfred) has already admitted to a “discipline” being weighed.  They are investigating this past season and the two prior seasons (yes, that obviously includes 2017 when the Astros, again, had defeated the Yankees in the playoffs.

While I am clearly and rightfully griping about the Astros’ cheating efforts, the Yankees certainly contributed to their own demise during the playoffs this past October.  Mainly, they continually failed to hit in the clutch during the series.  For that to have persistently happened, there’s no excuse!  Yes, the Astros cheated, but if the Yankees had produced RBIs with the multitude of runners who were left stranded, they may have overtaken the cheating.

CAN THE NYY “ASTRO”NOMICALLY DEFEAT THIS SEASON’S WINNINGEST TEAM?

Earlier this week the Yankees swept the Minnesota Twins and won the American League Division Series Championship.  Now, beginning tomorrow, they will face their most adverse competitor this season, the Houston Astros.  I have believed for several months that the Astros are the best team in all of baseball.  I’ve also believed that the Yankees have been the second best.

At this point in time, I actually think (for this series) that the Yankees are slightly better than the Astros only because the Astros used a lot of their ammunition to ward off the Tampa Bay Rays during their full 5-game series.  While the Yankees might have too much rest (it will be 4 full days), the Astros had panicked in Game 4 against the Rays and used their ace, Justin Verlander, on only 3 days of rest in which the Rays scored 3 runs in his first inning.  It was clear that he was exerting himself to throw fastballs. 

Too often, managers tend to make erroneous decisions during the playoffs.  If a team has a decent bullpen, why not use them?  Why change it up and slight the bullpen pitchers who got you to the playoffs?

Besides the fact that the Astros ended up losing Verlander’s short-rested game, the other negativity for them is that they can’t use him in tomorrow’s first American League Championship Series.  Instead, they are forced to use their third best starter (Zack Greinke).

Additionally, because the Astros had to start their second-best pitcher (Gerrit Cole) last night, he is also not available right away for their series against the Yankees.  He will now not be able to pitch until the third game of the series. 

So, yes, the Yankees have had way too much rest this week and, yes, the Astros will have a collectively potential homefield advantage; but I believe those conditions are not as disadvantageous as the Astros’ misaligned opposing starting pitching.  It was only 2 years ago when the Astros defeated the Yankees in the playoffs (4 games to 3).  I am hoping that the Yankees can win this time – which may again take 7 games because of the tight matchup.

NY YANKEES' RESILIENCY

At the beginning of this season, the Yankees have led the league in a category that no one should lead…injuries!  Most of the injuries are worse than something like a pulled hamstring.  Over half of their standard 25-man roster players have been out of action for lengthy periods, too.  I’m not going to bore you with a list of the minor injuries, but here are 11 players who have/had been out for lengthy periods:  Luis Severino, Domingo German, Jordan Montgomery, Dellin Betances, Didi Gregorius, Gary Sanchez, Miguel Andujar, Greg Bird, Troy Tulowitzki (no longer a Yankee), Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton.  Most of them have been All-Stars.  Judge recently returned to the team, as well as Sanchez.  Yet, key players such as Luis Severino (their former ace) and Dellin Betances (their main setup reliever) are still on the Injured List (IL) since the beginning of the season!  Now, all teams have injured players, but even the media recognized the number of Yankees injured players as utterly preposterous.

With all of the aforementioned, this season’s Yankees have found ways to not only perform decently, but to exceed all expectations, perhaps even more than they were given at the beginning of the season before the injuries.  How have they managed to currently be 29 games over 500 at 64 wins and 35 losses?  The answers are simple, but not usually feasible…they have over 25 qualified players (to support the 25-man roster) and some from the originally-planned roster have exceeded expectations.  For the latter, DJ LeMahieu has proven to be even better than he was on the Colorado Rockies and Luke Voit has proven to be much better than he was for the St. Louis Cardinals.  Many have stated that LeMahieu has been the MVP of this Yankees’ team thus far and I certainly wouldn’t disagree.

Now, it’s time to continue on this awesome path.  Will Severino or Betances be back in time before the playoffs?  Both have started some throwing, so maybe – although each will certainly need some form of spring training.  In the interim, as usual, there’s always the trade deadline to acquire at least incremental improvements for the stretch.  With this year’s one and only trade deadline being July 31, it’s time for the Yankees to go after their biggest need – an above-average starting pitcher.  My votes are for either Matthew Boyd (currently pitching for the Tigers) or Mike Minor (pitching for the Rangers).  Both are lefties and both have a WHIP (my favorite pitching stat) below 1.2.  By the way, WHIP stands for Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched.

2019 - A SEASON FOR THE DECADE

Well, here I go again, one game late, with my review of this season’s initial team and my prediction of the anticipated end-result after game 162.  First of all, as I’ve mentioned in the past, the Yankees have won a World Series every decade since their existence except during the 1980s.  Obviously, if they don’t win this year, that would result into a failed season and a failed decade!  Ultimately, there’s a lot riding on this team, especially since winning the World Series is not a given as there are a lot of teams that have very good talent besides the Yankees.

Here’s the Yankees’ initial 25-man roster (minus the anticipated soon-to-be-activated replacements of Starting Pitcher, Luis Severino & Outfielder, Aaron Hicks who are on the “Injured List”, formerly known as the “Disabled List”):

Pitching

Starting Pitchers

Masahiro Tanaka (righty)

James Paxton (lefty)

J.A. Happ (lefty)

CC Sabathia (lefty) - currently suspended for thrown pitch last season

Relief Pitchers

Aroldis Chapman (lefty)

Adam Ottavino (righty)

Chad Green (righty)

Zack Britton (lefty)

Jonathan Holder (righty)

Tommy Kahnle (righty)

Stephen Tarpley (lefty)

Luis Cessa (righty) - also, a backup starter

Domingo German (righty) - also, a backup starter

Hitting

(Catchers)

Austin Romine (righty)

Gary Sanchez (righty)

(Infielders)

Miguel Andujar (righty)

Greg Bird (lefty)

D.J. LeMahieu (righty)

Gleyber Torres (righty)

Troy Tulowitzki (righty)

Luke Voit (righty)

(Outfielders)

Brett Gardner (lefty)

Aaron Judge (righty)

Mike Tauchman (lefty)

Giancarlo Stanton (righty)

This year’s team has significant enough changes to anticipate varying strategies during this upcoming season.  Let’s look at the players who are no longer Yankees:

(Hitters)

Adeiny Hechavarria

Andrew McCutchen

Ronald Torreyes

Neil Walker

(Pitchers)

Lance Lynn

Sonny Gray

David Robertson

A.J. Cole

On the other side of the spectrum, here are Brian Cashman’s acquisitions or renewed contracts for this season so far:

(Hitters)

DJ LeMahieu

Troy Tulowitzki

Mike Tauchman

(Pitchers)

James Paxton

Adam Ottavino

Gio Gonzalez

J.A. Happ (re-signed)

Zack Britton (re-signed)

I will certainly miss Robertson, but the others will not be overly missed, especially Sonny Gray!  My favorite acquisitions this season are that of Ottavino, Paxton and LeMahieu.  I really expect a lot from each.  Ottavino’s WHIP of 0.99 last season was superb!  (Ironically his WHIP began with a “0” just like the number he wore for the Colorado Rockies and will now wear for the Yankees.)  I believe his stats last year was just the first of his peaking years as a reliever.  As a starting pitcher in the American League for the Seattle Mariners, Paxton has been a pretty consistent starter.  As long as he stays healthy (he’s had some minor, but a multitude of injuries in his past), he should win at least 16 games.  As for LeMahieu, his gold glove as a second baseman should help him become an above-average utility infielder and his 2016 batting title should help him prove to be an excellent hitter, even outside of the Colorado atmosphere.  Additionally, the retention of J.A. Happ and Britton were great deals for Cashman.

This year, already, the Yankees have begun with too many on the Injured List.  Hopefully, Luis Severino’s injury is not anything serious in terms of inactivity.  As for Didi Gregorius, who is one of my favorite Yankees, his defense, hitting, and intangible character to help lead the team will surely be missed.  In the interim, newly acquired Tulowitzki and our main second baseman, Torres, will play shortstop (with LeMahieu on standby, especially with Tulowitzki’s ridiculous history of being injured).

Now for the prediction:

I anticipate this team (who we all know will change somewhat by July 31) to win the same number of games that’s on the back of Aaron Judge’s uniform.  Of course that’s 99!  Many fans will not like the fact that I am actually predicting one less game than the team won last season, but I have some of my own significant reasons.  The subtraction of Didi and not enough to replace him; the balancing of CC’s limited availability during his final season (one which he even admitted not having the same ability); the iffiness of Luis Severino’s health & full-season velocity; and (like the last few seasons) the lack of enough quality starters as Gio Gonzalez is not exactly going to provide anything above a decent starter consistently.

99 wins is not bad!!  The only key for this team is to overtake the Red Sox, who are increasingly having some issues including their depleted minor league system, as the Yankees still remain in the Top 7.  For the fans and for this Decade, let’s hope to win our 28^th World Series this year as this season is already more significant that next year’s season!

FREE AGENTS AND AGENTS’ AGENTS

The top free agents this offseason, Manny Machado and Bryce Harper, are still unsigned with spring training games about to begin this week!  It’s very strange because both Harper and Machado are only 26 years old.  Additionally, at the current moment, over 100 free agents remain unsigned.  Similarly, last offseason, many of the free agents were also unsigned until the season was about to begin, but it didn’t happen to the top 2 free agents.  Because free agent signings have lagged last offseason and this offseason, the Players Union has insinuated, “Collusion!”  I personally don’t believe it’s collusion, but I do believe the lack of owners aggressive spending sprees has been caused by a combination of things:

The first main culprits, in my opinion, seem to be the free agents’ agents.  (This is beginning to seem grammatically wrong, isn’t it?)  Such agents and the law firms that some of them work for have gotten overly greedy.  It’s gotten worse and worse for each of the past 30 years, or so; but, certainly accelerated over the past 2 years in particular.  Most baseball fans know the name Scott Boras.  He’s one of the main agents who has represented many players over the past 35 years, including A-Rod at one point.  This year, he represents one of the top two free agents, Bryce Harper (and a few more of the top 20 free agents).  Ironically, Boras used to represent Manny Machado, but Manny has since replaced him with his current agent, Dan Lozano.  Rumor has it that decent deals were offered to both of these free agents, but their greedy agents preferred record-shattering contract offers instead.  The Washington Nationals offered Harper $300 million before Harper began exploring other teams.  That would have been a record contract, but Boras felt he could help get Harper more.  At this late point, it seems like that rejected offer may come back to bite Boras and Harper.  Likewise, Lozano and Machado were said to have been offered $175 million for 7 years from the White Sox (which would have averaged $25 million per year), but Lozano was quick to dispute that the $175 million divulged to the press from the White Sox organization was not accurate.  Lozano claimed it was supposedly a lot higher.  That said, he’s insinuating that they are seeking close to approximately $30 million per year.  How can $30 million per year offered to Harper and to Machado be considered “Collusion”?

Secondly, various MLB players have historically caused a lack of confidence in long-term deals.  Recently, the Yankees’ fans are very familiar with the overpaying contract the Yankees signed for Jacoby Ellsbury back in 2014 for a 7-year deal worth $153 million.  His productivity and injuries have proven that his contract was not even close to its worthiness!  Prior to Ellsbury, A-Rod was overpaid by Hank Steinbrenner, who brought A-Rod back to the Yankees before forcing him to find another suitor.  It got so bad that the Yankees had to make A-Rod an offer to work in the front office for his final two seasons instead of playing on the field.  A front-office job of over $20 million is not too shabby!  On the other side of town, the Mets overpaid for Yoenis Cespedes who seems to do very well playing golf when he’s on the Disabled List for the Mets.  They also overpaid for David Wright whose injuries curtailed his final years for them and he has also since been shifted to the front office as an overpaid executive.  The list of examples of failed contracts that have cost teams excessive millions has become way too common as of late.  Since such contracts are guaranteed money to the players, it’s rammed bad tastes in the mouths of the owners.  So, who could blame them for “only” offering ~$30 million annually?

Hopefully, Harper (recently negotiating strongly with the Phillies) and Machado will be signed soon.  It will help the other free agents have a stronger wheeling and dealing precedence for their greedy agents’ negotiating tactics and, more importantly, it will help teams’ fans to have more players to root for by April.

THE CLOSER

In 1936, the National Baseball Hall of Fame inducted such players as Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Walter Johnson, and Christy Mathewson.  For 83 years, not one player received all of the votes unanimously (obviously, not even the aforementioned Babe)! That’s astonishing!  Now, in the Hall of Fame’s 84^th year, Mariano Rivera fittingly “closed” that wait.  The man who wore number 42 (a number that represents one-half of the 84-year wait) has accomplished gaining the most respect from the baseball writers; and, that’s for a man who showed the most respect to others during every minute in the game of baseball and in the game of life.

My very first blog was about Mariano, back in 2012.  I purposely chose him as my first topic because he was my favorite player and hero since Thurman Munson.  I remember during the 90s, people would constantly praise Derek Jeter - even more so during 2003 when Jeter was named, “Captain”.  Don’t get me wrong, I thought Jeter (who will be voted into next year’s induction) was one of the best shortstops I had ever seen; but, choosing him as the best shortstop ever could be debated.  Choosing who was the best “closer” in the history of baseball could never (logically) be debated!  Even the majority of Mets’ and Red Sox fans seemingly and reluctantly have declared Mariano as the best closer!   

Mariano certainly accomplished phenomenal numbers throughout his career, including being the Most Valuable Player in the 1999 World Series.  He threw the same pitch for 19 seasons (the cutter), breaking so many bats and perplexing every hitter.  His achieved numbers are overwhelmingly impressive.  Here are just some his record-owning key stats:

652 saves

0.70 E.R.A. in the playoffs

42 (there goes that famous number again) saves in the post-season

25 saves (or more) for 15 consecutive seasons

An E.R.A. below 2.00 for 11 seasons
A career E.R.A. of 2.21

Even with such dominating stats and even with his 100% supporting votes from the baseball writers today, it is clearly the humbleness that places Mariano above the rest.  I couldn’t be more ecstatic to write this article today and I am certainly overly proud to call Mariano Rivera one of my favorite players and heroes!