TRADE NOW!

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 7^th 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!

2016 PREDICTIONS - YANKEES & METS

Last year, I predicted the Yankees would win 87 games and they won exactly that!  I also predicted the Mets would win 83, but that prediction was off, as they won 90!  Of course, I’m satisfied with my Yankees prediction, but I’m mostly proud because it was totally against almost every baseball critic, who felt they’d be much worse.  Baseball, like any sport, is all about playing the game, not just relying on past stats.  Predictions should also include analyses of team chemistry, health, players’ contract statuses/incentives, evaluations of each team’s competitors (especially those who they play most), trade power (money & talented assets), etc.  Of course a lot of that can’t be evaluated without failure and a lot of it is pure luck!!!

Still, we all love to predict and love to opinionate.  I’m no different on that front!  So, here are my insightful predictions of both NY teams again…

The New York Yankees (89 wins)

This year, I’m also including the roster to help as a visual aid and to offer an interesting reflection later during the season because we know that the rosters never stay the same.  Here is the roster as of today:

Starting Pitchers

Masahiro Tanaka

Michael Pineda

Nathan Eovaldi

Luis Severino

CC Sabathia

Relievers

Andrew Miller

Dellin Betances

Chasen Shreve

Ivan Nova

Johnny Barbato

Luis Cessa

Kirby Yates

Aroldis Chapman (domestic abuse - suspended through May 8)

Bryan Mitchell (fractured toe/disabled list)

Hitters

Brett Gardner

Jacoby Ellsbury

Carlos Beltran

Mark Teixeira

Alex Rodriguez

Brian McCann

Starlin Castro

Chase Headley

Didi Gregorius

Aaron Hicks

Austin Romine

Dustin Ackley

Ronald Torreyes

Greg Bird (shoulder labrum tear surgery/disabled list)

Well, another year of the critics loving the Red Sox and hating the Yankees.  In my opinion, the American League East is a crapshoot.  The Blue Jays have great hitting (again), but no pitching; the Rays have great pitching again, but no hitting; the Orioles have awful starting pitching, but great homerun power; the Red Sox improved by acquiring an ace and a closer, but still did not do enough to bring them from last to first; and the Yankees got slightly younger and improved their bullpen flame-throwing intimidation, but still carry the most injury-prone team within the AL East.

I believe that since the whole division is vulnerable, that most will play with a .500 record against each other.  That is a key reason why I feel the Yankees will slightly improve compared to last year’s record.  While the Yankees were the only team in the Majors that did not “buy” a free agent this past offseason, they may be on the cusp of going on a spending binge by year’s end - especially with the upcoming termination of both Teixeira’s and Beltran’s contracts.  That may help them show very little resistance towards acquiring an expensive contract by August’s trade deadline.  Except for Toronto, the other AL East teams seem to have exhausted their opened wallets for this year.

Last year, the Yankees had an awesome bullpen and this year may have improved it even more.  Certainly, they will be feared by all teams when it comes to their late-innings trio of Betances, Miller, and Chapman (when he is activated in May).  For games that offer all three flamethrowers, expect great breezes coming from the mound.  Even with their great bullpen, it is the acquisition of Castro as their new second baseman that excites me the most.  If Castro stays healthy, he will prove to be a vast improvement over the second basemen we had last year - especially Stephen Drew.  I don’t think there was even one Yankees’ fan that liked him!  The defensive tandem of Gregorius and Castro at shortstop and second respectively will certainly be fun to watch on the baseball diamond.  I can’t wait to see them and the bullpen!  Hopefully, watching the team as a whole will be fun, too.  I believe it will because their comradery is strong - something that I weigh heavily when I analyzed “teams”.

The New York Mets (89 wins)

That’s right, for the very first time I am predicting that the Mets will win the same amount of games as the Yankees!  Here’s a view of the Mets’ roster:

Starting Pitchers

Matt Harvey

Noah Syndergaard

Jacob deGrom

Bartolo Colon

Steven Matz

Zack Wheeler (Tommy John surgery/disabled list)

Relievers

Jeurys Familia

Addison Reed

Antonio Bastardo

Jerry Blevins

Hansel Robles

Jim Henderson

Logan Verrett

Josh Edgin (Tommy John surgery/disabled list)

Hitters

Curtis Granderson

David Wright

Yoenis Cespedes

Lucas Duda

Neil Walker

Michael Conforto

Asdrubal Cabrera

Travis d'Arnaud

Kevin Plawecki

Wilmer Flores

Eric Campbell

Juan Lagares

Alejandro De Aza

Unlike the American League’s Eastern Division, the National League’s Western Division is not evenly distributed at all.  The Mets have their great starting pitching, with suspect hitting and the Washington Nationals offer very good hitting and good pitching.  The rest of the teams in that division are very weak.  That means that every time the Mets (and the Nationals) play the Atlanta Braves, Florida Marlins, and Philadelphia Phillies they have a chance to add more wins than losses to their standings.  That is similar to last year.  The biggest difference with the Mets’ inter-division play is the Nationals.  They lost a few key players, but they added the best acquisition within the division - they hired Dusty Baker as their manager.  He is such a better manager than Matt Williams!

The Mets also improved this year with the acquisitions of Neil Walker (2B) and Asdrubal Cabrera (SS), but they needed to do much more offensively and with their bullpen.  Their starters are the same group, but other teams will now have stronger scouting reports on them.  The Mets should have spent some damn money!!

They also lost heart this past offseason - twice.  First, they removed Wilmer Flores from their starting lineup and alternately made him their utility player.  Second, they released Ruben Tejada to save $1 million.  Both players had unintentionally formed comradery and heart for the team.  Flores, when he cried last year thinking he had been traded and Tejada when he was hit hard by Chase Utley’s aggressive slide during the World Series. In order for them to be a good team they have to become more bonded and not so individualized.  Their starting pitchers are somewhat bonded, with the exception of Matt Harvey.  He seems to be an outcast, mostly by his own doing.  Even their captain, David Wright, is at a loss for words when it comes to Harvey.  Speaking of David Wright, his everyday back condition will certainly be a cause of alarm for this team.

So, there you have it - my 2016 predictions.  It's a long way to game number 162.  Ironically, the Mets will face the defending World Series' Champions (the team that beat them) tonight and, tomorrow, the Yankees will have to face the same dominating pitcher (Dallas Keuchel) from the Astros - the team that beat them in the wildcard playoff game.  From a baseball perspective, this will certainly be an interesting year in New York.

♫♪ HERE COME THE YANKEES ♪♫

Later this week, MLB begins its workouts for pitchers and catchers and the following week the rest of the squads will join them.  Once March begins, this year’s spring training games will also begin.  Before you know it, in approximately 1½ months (on April 4^th) the NYY are scheduled to open/play their first official 2016 MLB game against the Astros at Yankee Stadium.  From my own personal perspective, this year’s offseason passed by rather quickly; yet, I can’t wait for baseball’s return.

It’s hard to fathom that the Yankees were the only team in MLB that didn’t sign a free agent!  All of their new acquisitions came via trades.  That certainly doesn’t fit the mold of the late George Steinbrenner!  It’s clear that the NYY are waiting for this season’s expiration of both Mark Teixeira’s and Carlos Beltran’s contracts before they commit large sums of money into any free-agent.  Next season, they will also have the contracts of both A-Rod and CC Sabathia coming off the books.  There is no doubt to me that by the time all 4 contracts expire, the Yankees’ farm system and the youth they’ve acquired will be fully lined up with a comparable ammunition that they had back in 1996 when their last great generation began for years to come.

In the interim, I look forward to seeing some of our new acquisitions play - particularly, Aroldis Chapman, Starlin Castro, and Aaron Hicks.  Chapman offers a very intimidating 1-2-3 punch at the end of games (along with Betances and Miller); Castro offers a great up-the-middle duo with Didi Gregorius (one of last year’s youthful acquisitions); and Hicks offers a great deal of speed to join Gardner and Ellsbury in the outfield, while also offering an alternative to either of them without compromising defense.

Of course, health is always a concern for all teams; but, the Yankees have already experienced a big blow before this year’s first official pitch was thrown!  Greg Bird (Teixeira’s potential 2017 replacement) was diagnosed with a torn labrum to his right shoulder and had surgery that will typically require Bird to miss this season (with a small possibility of returning by August or September this year).  Bird wasn’t expected to be more than a backup player for Teixeira this year, with the possibility of playing mostly for their AAA (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre) team.  In either instance, Bird’s injury will offer the Yankees less time to definitively conclude whether or not he will irrefutably become their starting first baseman for their 2017 team.

Besides the ramifications of Bird’s injury, I also (unfortunately) reserve my jubilance for this season because, as most feel, the Yankees' health concerns are well beyond first base.  Their health concerns mostly evolve around their starting pitchers.  They have 5 of their potential 6 starting pitchers with recent historic health issues (Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova, Nathan Eovaldi, and Michael Pineda).  Their farm system holds many players that are 1-2 years away, but just a few that could potentially step right into the majors during the first half of this season - especially a starter.  They really need to acquire either a decent major-league-ready starter or one that is a AAA player on the cusp of making the majors this season!  Brian Cashman has, thus far, failed to make such an acquisition.  He also failed to pick up a decent first-base backup to Teixeira.  He’s relying on too many middle infielders to have that ability - a past reliance that has customarily failed too many times.

The Yankees are not the only team in the American League East that have health or even composition issues…they all do!  I can only hope that the Yankees can acquire a decent starting pitcher and backup first baseman.  In the interim, they should still be competitive and, who knows who they might add to the team from now until August 1?  With that, and also my love for baseball, I’m certainly excited that baseball is about to begin.  Play ball!!

THE NYY 2015 OFFSEASON TRANSACTIONS

A lot of MLB transactions have taken place thus far.  The New York Yankees have been one of the most active teams in the trade market, but not the free-agent market.  As they wait for the expiration of this upcoming season's contracts of Mark Teixeira and Carlos Beltran, they have stated that they won't spend crazily for this year's roster.  Yet, they've already made enough low-costing transactions that it's starting to get to the point where it's hard to keep up; so, I decided to assess their transactions before the year ends:

Aroldis Chapman LHP

Yesterday, the NYY acquired Aroldis Chapman in a trade with the Cincinnati Reds for four minor league players - 1B/3B Eric Jagielo, 2B Tony Renda, RHP Caleb Cotham, and RHP Rookie Davis.  While Jagielo and Davis are considered decent prospects, neither are in the Yankees’ top tier and the other two prospects presumably have lower ceilings than either of them.  Chapman is considered the best closer in the game today.  He throws the most dominant fastball in the majors, averaging 99.3 miles per hour.  Chapman threw 100 mph or above with 300 of his fastballs.  In fact, many times his pitches were clocked/recorded at 103 mph and he even attained one pitch in his past against the Pirates that was officially clocked at 106 mph!  Brian McCann might have to add a lot of cushion into his catcher’s mitt to prevent a hand injury!  Chapman produced a 1.63 ERA last year and, on a losing team, was still able to save 33 games.  His strikeout ratio of 15.7 per 9 innings (41.7% of outs produced) was easily the best in baseball.  While Chapman had the best strikeout ratio, the Yankees’ Andrew Miller produced 14.6 strikeouts per 9 innings (40.7%) and Dellin Betances produced 14 strikeouts per 9 innings (39.5%) had the second and third best strikeout ratios respectively.  On paper, that would collectively give the current Yankees' bullpen the top three relief flamethrowers of all time!  I state, “current” because many believe that the Yankees’ general manager, Brian Cashman, may trade Andrew Miller.  Cashman has recently suggested that he is not looking to do that; however, he insinuated that if another team made a very attractive offer, he may consider a trade.

Away from baseball, Chapman has apparently not epitomized anything close to being phenomenal.  His character was recently degraded when the Dodgers discovered (during their own Chapman trade attempt a few weeks ago) that Chapman was initially accused by his girlfriend this past October for an alleged domestic violence incident.  At that time, she claimed that he choked and pushed her after she reacted to something he had on his cell phone.  She supposedly then hid in the bushes.  He admittedly proceeded into the garage (not after her) and shot his gun within the garage, but not towards her in any way (which the police verified).  Since, the police investigation did not show any conclusive evidence supporting violence towards the girlfriend, and (legally) since the girlfriend also chose not to press charges, no arrest was enacted and no further investigation was required.  Still MLB is gathering all of the facts they can find to help them determine if it is viable for them to suspend Chapman, or not.

The Yankees, and every other team for that matter, are fully aware of the allegations.  Again, they are “allegations” and not considered factual (at least at this time).  While the Dodgers feared the allegations and backed out of their trade for Chapman, the Yankees (and supposedly other teams including the Marlins) continued their pursuit.  The whole incident certainly devalued Chapman’s worth and the Yankees pounced on the diminished demand from the Reds.  Certainly, from a baseball standpoint, the Yankees landed themselves a steal of a deal.  Here’s why:

- If Chapman gets suspended for more than 46 games from MLB for his domestic violence incident, it will mean that, instead of him becoming a free agent after the 2016 season, he would have to wait another year for a qualified filing.  Then, the Yankees would have gotten themselves a player for more than 1 season.

- If Chapman does not get suspended for more than 46 games (perhaps even to the extent of no suspension), then Chapman would become a free agent at the end of 2016 (unless the Yankees & him uncommonly agree to extend his contract).  As a free agent, the Yankees would presumably make Chapman a qualifying offer, enabling them a 2017 draft pick.

- As mentioned above, the Yankees only traded players that were not considered (by them) as top-tier.  Yet, at least for 1 year, the Yankees would have just constructed the best 1-2-3 late-innings punch in baseball.  That would shorten their starters’ innings and intimidate all of their opponents.

Starlin Castro (2B)

Besides yesterday’s Aroldis Chapman acquisition, the Yankees also made some other transactional moves this offseason, thus far.  Similar to last year’s acquisition of Didi Gregorius as their future shortstop, they recently attained their future second baseman when they traded reliever/starter Adam Warren and utility infielder Brendan Ryan to the Chicago Cubs for SS/2B Starlin Castro.  I am even more excited about this deal than I was last year in the transaction for Didi, especially since Castro has already achieved himself as a past multi-year All-Star player (and he's only 25 years old).

Aaron Hicks (OF)

In another transaction this offseason, they attained speedy outfielder Aaron Hicks (a student of Torii Hunter) from the Minnesota Twins for their backup catcher, John Ryan Murphy.  Hicks will either serve as their fourth outfielder (replacing departed free agent Chris Young) or Hicks can replace any of the current starting outfielders (Gardner, Ellsbury, or Beltran) if any of them are traded before next season begins.

Ronald Herrera, Luis Cessa, & Chad Green (RHPs)

This offseason, the Yankees traded second baseman, Jose Pirela to the San Diego Padres for a right-handed starting pitching prospect, Ronald Herrera who is already throwing a 94 mph fastball in AA and has recently developed a nice curveball.  Considering they later acquired second baseman Castro and they still have their other second-base prospect, Rob Refsnyder, the Yankees merely traded away a player-type that was very expendable for a much-needed, potentially decent starting pitcher, who is projected to start in the majors by the 2016 or 2017 season.

The only trade that didn’t excite me was the trade the Yankees made with the Detroit Tigers.  They traded Justin Wilson to the Tigers for minor-league right-handers Luis Cessa and Chad Green.  Both Cessa and Green are expected to pitch for the Yankees’ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders AAA team.  While I was not an extreme Justin Wilson fan, and he was also expendable based on several lefty relievers they have in their AAA, I believe his left-handed value for other clubs with impressive 2015 stats could have brought back more in return.  Hopefully, either Cessa or Green improve their numbers immensely in their final developing years, making the trade more worthwhile than it looks.  Time will tell.

Year-end Conclusion

Collectively, I am very proud that each player the Yankees attained were young players (in their 20s) and that the Yankees were simultaneously able to retain their entire pool of top prospects throughout each transaction!  There’s still approximately 3 months before the 2016 season begins and I expect the Yankees to make 2 or 3 more transactions.  Hopefully, they’ll at least attain an additional starting pitcher that has a healthy background, in comparison to their typically unhealthy 5 out of 6 starting pitchers (CC Sabathia, Masahiro Tanaka, Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Pineda, and Ivan Nova).  If they are able to land another superstar, I anticipate that they will have to finally trade one of their supposed untouchable top-tier farmhands, Andrew Miller, or Brett Gardner.  Let’s see what happens next; stay tuned!

THE PRESTIGEOUS WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP

The 2015 World Series consisted of the Kansas City Royals and the New York Mets.  I had hoped we’d see the Rangers versus the Cubs, but that was my wishful thinking, as opposed to my baseball instinct.  (I really want the Cubs to win one of these years!)

 

The Royals made it into the World Series for the second consecutive time, as they barely lost to the San Francisco Giants in 7 games last year.  Since then, the Royals’ team hasn’t changed too many players; so, it’s not a surprise that they were able to make it back to the World Series.  Their manager, Ned Yost, has publicly stated that each of the retained players have targeted winning this year from the minute they lost last year.  Additionally, the Royals learned a lesson that the Yankees and their fans have known for a very long time:  Don’t over-celebrate on the path to the World Series, hold in your main outbursts until you (hopefully) win the World Series because that’s the ultimate prize.  It’s similar to a boxer being told to avoid sex until after the fight so that he gains even more drive to accomplish the championship.  Sorry, but the rest of this article is “not” about sex.

The Mets, unlike the Royals, were a surprise team to have made it to this year’s World Series.  There are many reasons for that, but the main reason that most (including me) would rationalize from is based on the Nationals who were, without question, this year’s most disappointing team.  As for the Mets, there’s no disputing their starting pitchers are amongst the best, especially when it comes down to velocity and age; but, as anyone who knows baseball very well can tell you, great pitching is reliant upon great (or at least good) defense!  The Mets not only lacked that, but they have also lacked quality in their collective bullpen and in their collective offense; yet, they were somehow able to defeat the Dodgers and then sweep the Cubs in the playoffs.

I do feel that this year’s AL (American League) was overly stronger than the NL (National League).  Of course, I’m not just basing that on the fact that the AL defeated the NL in this year’s All-Star game 6-3.  That would be silly because as recent as last year, the AL also defeated the NL; yet, it was the NL’s San Francisco Giants who won the World Series.  Still, statistical results do support the AL’s dominance this year over the NL.  In 2015, the AL defeated the NL in head-to-head outings with its third highest winning percentage (.557) during the 13 years since the interleague games were incorporated.  As for the Mets, they lost 11 games and only won 9 in interleague play, while the Royals won 13 and only lost 7.  Also, I watch a lot of baseball (not just the Yankees) and I witnessed the AL’s dominance in most of the games I had watched.  It just seemed inevitable that this year’s World Series championship team was going to come from the AL.

Even with the aforementioned stats, I believe that the Mets could have defeated the Blue Jays.  That’s because, overall, the Blue Jays were a lot like the Cubs - they depended on the homerun and didn’t have a strong bullpen.  The Royals, on the other hand, had the best bullpen in the Majors and typically don’t swing for the fences - they swing for singles and doubles.

In the end, most of the stats did indeed support the game results.  The Royals hit, especially in the latter innings, as they always had this year.  The Mets’ starters did fairly well, but none of them were dominant enough to avoid at least a few runs for each of their outings (although Matt Harvey’s effort in Game 5 was great through his first 8 innings) in the World Series.  Besides Yoenis Cespedes lacking base-running skills, the Mets’ defensive flaws were magnified during the Series.  These highlights each led to a Mets loss:

- David Wright bobbled a ball in the 14^th inning in Game 1 (now I know why the Mets made a bobble head of him).

- Daniel Murphy, in Game 4, reminded the Mets’ fans of Bill Buckner as Murphy similarly failed to get in front of a ground ball.

- David Wright cut off Wilmer Flores in the 9^th inning of Game 5 with Eric Hosmer threatening to charge for home plate and Wright then made a sidearm throw to first which led to…

- Lucas Duda threw wildly to home plate to allow the Royals to tie the game in the 9^th inning of the same (last) Game 5 play!

- Daniel Murphy failed again in Game 5’s final inning (12^th) when Paulo Orlando grounded a simple 1-hopper to him!  I guess they tried really hard in Game 5 to avoid traveling back to Kansas City!

- Travis d’Arnaud in Games 1 through 5 not only failed to throw “any” runner out in 7 attempts, his throws were downright awful.  Furthermore, his throw-out record during all of the playoff games totaled to ZERO on 11 attempts!  That's enough to make the Mets’ fans “throw up”.

The Royals didn’t exactly look great defensively either, but they didn’t as many untimely mistakes.  The Mets’ bullpen, as anticipated failed them.  In fact, their best bullpen pitcher during the World Series was not their closer Jeurys Familia (who had 3 blown saves and gave up 2 runs) but, ended up being Bartolo Colon who was a “starter” for them during the season!  On the other hand, the Royals’ bullpen lived up to their high expectations.  In all, the Royals’ starters and bullpen collectively kept the Mets to a .193 batting average.

As a Yankees’ fan, I am overly disappointed that the Yankees failed to go deeper into the playoffs, but I also know that a failed World Series to most of us Yankees’ fans equates to a failed season.  Perhaps, this year, the current Mets learned that bottom-line point.  Their team and their fans were way overconfident, especially after sweeping the Cubs.  It’s understandable that celebrations were in order for the Mets, after not being in the playoffs for 9 years and not winning a World Series for 29 years; but, they celebrated way too much and became overly cocky.  For instance, after their wins in each step towards the World Series, they publicly enjoyed spraying and drinking champagne, which is not uncommon, but they seemed to do it to no end - I’m not sure if it helped the TV ratings or hurt them.  Then, after sweeping the Cubs, they extended their celebratory ways by appearing on Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show - led by the captain, David Wright.  We all know (because we witnessed it) that Derek Jeter would have done everything he could to avoid such premature celebrations.  Even Sports Illustrated jumped on the Mets’ band wagon before the World Series began, as they promoted Daniel Murphy’s photo on their cover.

Hopefully, the Mets learned that a hero, such as Murphy, during one round of playoffs is not necessarily a hero in the next round.  Likewise, a hero in the regular season, Cespedes, will not necessarily be hero in a World Series.  Perhaps the Mets and Noah Syndergaard learned that purposely throwing a 98 MPH “weapon” towards an opponent’s head (Alcides Escobar) was not the smartest thing to do, especially just for the ridiculous, senseless reason that Escobar swung at first pitches during the Series - wow, that’s a sin!  That act may have been the final stamp of team unification the Royals needed to win the final two games.  Lastly, perhaps the Mets’ fans learned that evaluating their team’s starters is not enough of an evaluation; that they should analyze the whole team and they should also analyze and give kudos to their opponents.

Winning a World Series, especially with all of the layers of playoffs in front, is something that should be recognized as the hardest and highest sport achievement.  It should be honored with so much prestige that the “championships” that lead up to it should be treated with noticeably less hurrah.  This was the Mets’ 5^th time to the World Series, but they’ve still only won twice.  By the way, does anyone remember who they lost to during the 2000 World Series?  Sorry, I just couldn’t resist…again!!!

2015 PLAYOFFS

Well, the Yankees followed exactly what I had predicted in the beginning of the season, as per my following quotes which I had posted in two of my spring articles, “I predict the Yankees to win 87 games” and “this year’s team will at least make the playoffs”.  With that, I am still disappointed that they only made it to the Wildcard playoff and lost to the Houston Astros in an all-or-nothing game!  I recently hoped they would have at least gone a little further, but I still knew this team was not strong enough to make it to this year’s World Series.

We all know that the so-called experts predicted the Yankees to only win 81 or even less games without making the playoffs.  Most of them also picked the Red Sox to win the division!  Could anybody be more wrong?  The Red Sox only won 78 as they finished dead last!!  It looks like the Yankees aren’t the only American League team that needs to enhance themselves next season!

Speaking of my predictions, the one that I failed to correctly make was relating to the other New York team - the Mets.  I had predicted that they would only win 83, but they won 90!  Most of that surprising success came from their late July acquisitions and the failure of trading away their shortstop, Wilmer Flores - as I detailed two articles ago.

Now that the final 8 teams have all been set for the non-wildcard playoffs, it’s time for another set of predictions as I pick 1 team from each league:

American League:

Houston Astros in Kansas City versus the Royals

Texas Rangers in Toronto versus the Blue Jays

None of these teams have been on fire lately, but the Blue Jays were collectively on fire the most; the Royals look a lot like they did last year, which is a positive thing for them; the Astros beat the Yanks, but offer a lot of inexperience; and the Rangers offer a good overall team with a good 1-2 punch in their starting pitching.  Personally, I least want the Blue Jays or Royals to win.  I think the Blue Jays’ lack of a number 2 pitcher offers a disadvantage to them, but their hitting easily makes up for that.  My bold American League prediction:  Rangers

National League:

Chicago Cubs in St. Louis versus the Cardinals

New York Mets in Los Angeles versus the Dodgers

Just as I stated that the Yankees weren’t going to go too far, I don’t expect much more from the Mets.  Their starting pitchers have been very good most of the year, but they don’t typically pitch 9 full innings and that, together with their weak 7^th & 8^th inning bullpen pitchers, along with their shaky defense makes them vulnerable.  The Dodgers have not been great this year and have lost to the Mets more than they won; the Cardinals have the best record in the Major Leagues with 100 wins and offer the best overall team; and the Cubs won their Wildcard game against the tough Pirates giving them a slight momentum with the second best record amongst the 8 teams.  Personally, there’s no way I can truly root for the Mets and, I’ve stated for the longest time, I have rooted for the Cubs ever since I visited their great city years ago.  It was 1908 since the Cubs won a World Series.   My love for their truest fans and that over 100 years’ sentiment forces me to root for and select my National League prediction:  Cubs

I know the experts are picking the Cardinals and the Blue Jays, but why should I ever agree with them?

YOGI - AS CLOSE TO “PERFECT” AS A MAN COULD BE

Yesterday, the Yankees and the world lost Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra, as he died at the age of 90.  He died on the same exact date that he first wore a Yankees’ uniform in 1946, playing his first game for them shortly after serving in the United States’ Navy during World War II (where he was a heroic gunner's mate on the USS Bayfield, Dwight Eisenhower’s nautical headquarters during the D-Day invasion of France).

As much as I love the Yankees, there are only a few that I place on top of a pedestal and Yogi was certainly one of them; that’s because he was not only one of the greatest catchers of all time, but he was one of the greatest human beings.  I have personally heard many positive words supporting that from a friend of a close family member of Yogi's.  Plus, whenever you listen to interviews with his former teammates, coaches, or even any of his opponents, you hear the passion in their supporting words.  He was so famously loved that  many felt that Hanna-Barbera capitalized on his popularity by naming one of their most successful cartoons, "The Yogi Bear Show", after him - something they later declared to be a coincidence.

From a pure baseball standpoint, here are just 10 of his accomplishments and keep in mind that, for most of them, he is still the only player to have accomplished such feats:

- won 10 World Series Championships (all as a NY Yankee)

- won 3 World Series Championships as a coach (Yankees 1977 & 1978 / Mets 1969)

- achieved the first pinch-hit homerun in a World Series (1947)

- fielded without an error for a full season (only 3 other catchers have achieved that)

- caught & called Don Larsen’s perfect game during the 1956 World Series (no other perfect game has been thrown in a World Series)

- caught & called 2 other no-hitter games - which were thrown by one pitcher, Allie Reynolds (1951)

- played 18 times as an All-Star, doing so for 15 consecutive years

- won an MVP award 3 times (1951, 1954, & 1955) during years Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams played

- had more home runs than strikeouts in a season 5 times (including striking out just 12 times in 597 at-bats during 1950)

- led the Yankees in RBIs for 7 consecutive seasons (1949-1955) during years Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle were on the team

As a man, he was a long-lasting husband for 65 years until his wife (Carmen) died last year. He was also successful as a loving brother, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather; earned a Purple-Heart as a war veteran; and, as noted, was clearly one of the greatest ballplayers in the history of the game.  Yogi’s accomplishments epitomized an American symbol, perhaps more than any other ballplayer has ever done.  Those accomplishments came after his immigrating parents came from Italy to America and struggled for many years, even asking Yogi to quit school in 8^th grade in order to help them survive financially.  I’m sure that upbringing helped develop Yogi’s humbleness throughout his triumphant life.  He opened the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center, Montclair, NJ with the goal of it helping to teach children important values such as sportsmanship and dedication on and off the baseball diamond.  (I’ve been to that museum and it’s creditable to Yogi’s intentions.)

Yankees’ fans will never forget his second Yogi Berra Day in 1999 (he was also honored 40 years earlier) when he caught the ceremonial first pitch from none other than Don Larsen.  Yogi then returned and handed Joe Girardi his glove back.  It was eerie because Girardi’s glove went on to symbolically catch yet another perfect game - this time by another Yankees’ pitcher, David Cone.  The Cardinals’ organization should never forget how their general manager (Branch Rickey) chose to sign Joe Garagiola, not Yogi Berra.

Today, I mourn the loss of Yogi, with the constant vision of his leap into the arms of Don Larsen to celebrate a perfect game; but, I can now envision his present leap into the arms of an eternal life even more perfect.  Thanks Yogi.

Of course, I have to end this article with some of the infamous Yogi-isms attributed to Yogi’s clever quotes; enjoy:

“It ain’t over till it’s over.”

“No one goes there anymore because it’s too crowded.”

“It's déjà vu all over again.”

“Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't go to yours.”

“If you see a fork in the road, take it.”

“The future ain’t what it used to be.”

“You can observe a lot by watching.”

“We made too many wrong mistakes.”

“You can observe a lot by watching.”

“I really didn’t say everything I said.”

“90 percent of the game is half mental.”

NEARING THE FINISH LINE

With approximately 20 games left for the MLB teams, it’s time for a last review of what is anticipated in the final weeks of regular-season baseball.  Of course, we’ll start with the Yankees:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Eastern Division:  The Yankees not only lost Mark Teixeira for the season, (so much for the Atlanta & NY doctors determining the bone wasn’t broken), but they’ve just finished losing 3 out of 4 to their only American League East competitors, the Toronto Blue Jays.  Tonight, after avoiding Toronto’s 4-game sweep, the NYY are 3 games behind the Blue Jays in the all-important loss column.  The NYY are looking way too lethargic.  They are lucky that they still have 3 games left to face the Blue Jays, but it may be too late if they don’t find a way to physically energize themselves!  Plus, the Blue Jays look unstoppable as they have been defeating everyone in sight ever since their major acquisitions (especially David Price) right before the trading deadline.  Ironically, as of now, the Yanks are just as far ahead in the wildcard race as they are behind in the division race.  So, their chances of making the playoffs are still above fair as long as they go back to winning more games than they lose!

Western Division:  The Houston Astros are barely leading this division over the Texas Rangers, while the Los Angeles Angels are hovering under a few games below the top.  It’s still anybody’s lead to be had and this division offers the only true 3-team race.

Central Division:  The only team with a comfortable first-place lead within the American League is the Kansas City Royals.  They currently lead their division by a whopping 11 games! 

The other contenders in the American League besides the Yankees, Blue Jays, Astros, Rangers, Angels, and Royals include the Indians and Twins - that’s because MLB has 2 wildcard opportunities.  Of course I’m rooting for the Yankees to win but, based on today’s records, the Royals have the advantage and if no one calms down the Blue Jays’ massive offense, they will homer their way into the pennant.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Eastern Division:  Of course, I have to start with New York’s other team, the Mets.  They have completely turned their season around thanks to the moves they made prior to the trading deadline and the “move” they chose not to make for the wrong reason.  The main players they acquired were Yoenis Cespedes, Juan Uribe, Kelly Johnson, and Tyler Clippard and each have contributed (especially Cespedes); but, what really woke them up was the last-minute decision by their GM, Sandy Alderson, to pull back their attempted trade of their second baseman/shortstop, Wilmer Flores, for centerfielder Carlos Gomez.  Most believe, including me, that they finally realized the prospective acquisition of Gomez was going to cost them too much money (a noun that affects the Wilpons like kryptonite affects Superman).   After Flores found out from the fans that he had been traded, he cried and eventually (during that game) his manager/uninformed Terry Collins had to take the emotional Flores out of the game.  Once the Mets changed their mind and pulled back the pending deal (claiming health concerns with Gomez), the Mets united as a “team” and the fans began to go nuts every time Flores came to bat thereafter.  Collectively, with the Flores issue and the acquisitions, the Mets have become one of the most winning teams.  While they have successfully beaten up on such weak teams as the Braves and the Phillies, they have also annihilated the Nationals (the most disappointing team in all of baseball).  As of today, the Mets have practically won their division with a dominating 9-game lead in the loss column.

Western Division:  The Los Angeles Dodgers are currently leading the defending champions, the San Francisco Giants, by 8 games in the loss column.  That gives them a most-probable position of victory.

Central Division:  The National League’s Central competition is between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Pirates.  While the Cardinals have been maintaining the best record in baseball for long time, they have not been playing too well lately.  On the other hand, the Pirates have been playing very well.  The Cardinals’ 2-game lead (again, based on the loss column) over the Pittsburgh Pirates makes the NL Central a very tight race.

The only other contender in the National League besides the Mets, Dodgers, Giants, Cardinals, and Pirates is the Chicago Cubs.  The Mets have been the hottest team as of late, but they haven’t proven that they can dominate strong teams as they’ve had their way with the Braves, Phillies, and Nationals.  I personally like the Pirates as a whole team, but no one can discount the fact that the Cardinals have the best record in baseball, or the fact that Giants have excelled in the last few years during playoff contention time.  

ENABLE THE DISABLED LIST

As most MLB fans know, if a Major League player incurs an injury, his team has the option to place him on one of the designated disabled lists.  The activating date/term would standardly qualify the day after the injured player last played.  If the player continues to be inactive (essentially becoming a spectator) since he last played, his team would then have the option to begin the disabled list’s timeframe in a retroactive manner, but the retroactivity cannot exceed 5 days prior to the date they place the player on the list. 

For instance, if a player last played on August 15th, but the team contemplated their decision until August 23rd, then the team can’t choose to begin the player’s disabled time from August 15th because more than 5 days have passed.  The team would have to instead begin the activation date within the current 5 days.  In the aforementioned example, the team could either choose August 23rd as the activation date or they can choose any of the 5 days prior to August 23rd (in other words, no earlier than August 18th).

MLB has 3 disabled lists for teams to choose from:

7-day disabled list:

This option offers a 7-day period which can only be used for players diagnosed with concussions or concussion-like conditions.

15-day disabled list:

This option is most commonly used by teams. It is typically utilized for what is believed to be a minor injury.

60-day disabled list:

This option is obviously used for major injuries or conditions.  Common examples include broken bones, surgeries, or severe bruises or sprains.

Placing a player onto any of the above lists correlates to one or both of the team's rosters, where the player would be transferred from the roster(s) to the disabled list.  Then, upon the vacated spot, the team would gain an opening/inclusion spot for an uncounted player.

To expound more about the rosters, here are basic definitions of the two types:

25-man roster:

This roster comprises of the 25 players officially listed to the umpires before the start of each MLB game.  Most teams will typically designate 12 pitchers and 13 hitters to form the total, but teams are not confined to any specific integers to form the sum.  They can interchange the breakdown of players named before each game.  Since I am writing this in September, it's worth noting that the 25-man roster can actually have more than 25 players only from September 1st through the last day of the 162-game season.  That allows teams to include some minor league players to help rest their regulars and also offers teams and their fans to see some of their potential stars in a Major League game.

40-man roster:

This is basically the 25-player team as described above with an additional 15 players.  This roster is crucial for the present and future of a team as it designates the 40 players a team considers their best.  Players that aren't included on this roster are vulnerable to other teams' acquisitions, in certain conditions.

Now that you've (hopefully) read and (with aspirin) understood the above, I can begin my gripe.  Why do teams constantly avoid placing players onto the 15-day disabled list?  If a player's injury is questionable and he can't physically play for more than a few days, the team becomes somewhat crippled.  Of course, teams that aren't competing don't overly care; but, to competitive teams it's a huge disadvantage in close-scoring or extra-inning type of games.  They are essentially playing with only 24 players.  Additionally, if the injured player is a pitcher, being a player short could consequentially strain the pitching staff in a domino effect for their team’s forthcoming games.

Now, at last, I get to write about my disabled list gripe:  Today, the Yankees finally placed Mark Teixeira on the 15-day disabled list (retroactive to August 27th).  His injury occurred all the way back on August 17th, when he fouled off a pitch into his right leg/shin.  That day, the doctors took x-rays and declared that Teixeira did not have a broken bone.  As days/games passed, the Yankees continued to analyze Teixeira’s condition on a daily basis, while playing games without the 25th player, so to speak.  Then, on August 25th (over a week after the incurred injury) Teixeira convinced the Yankees that he was able to play.  The Yankees foolishly obliged, later finding out that Teixeira’s judgment was wrong as he couldn’t bear the pain that day.  Listening to Teixeira, was the Yankees second mistake!

Their first mistake was much worse!!  They failed to place Teixeira on the disabled list initially.  8 days is way too long to compete with essentially 24 players while their opponents had 25.  Then, as a third mistake, they continued to play even more games without Teixeira able to play.  Again, the 25-man roster did expand a few days ago, but one can argue that the Yankees disabled themselves for the 17 days Teixeira was unavailable as a player!

While the Yankees are usually overprotective when it comes to reinstating or enabling their potentially recovered players, this was an instance where they uncharacteristically and clearly misjudged Mark Teixeira’s condition…twice.  As a Yankees’ fan, their failed actions clearly disappointed me.  Even if the doctors’ diagnoses are at fault regarding Teixeira’s condition, the final playing decision ultimately falls under the Yankees’ responsibility.  I expected them to act with over-precaution, as they usually do, especially for a player like Teixeira who has a medical history of taking longer than most to heal.

The Yankees and almost all of the MLB teams constantly fail to utilize the 15-day disabled list and, instead, contemplate too long.  We all make mistakes and so do our favorite teams; but, repeating the same mistake is unfathomable to me.  As a fan of a competing team (and especially as a fan of the Yankees), every win/loss can factor into making the regular or wildcard playoffs and can sometimes determine home-field advantage.  I'd rather take a chance on the negative repercussions of placing a player on the 15-day disabled list too early than the much greater repercussions of not!!!  Enable the disabled list!