2017 SEASON’S SUCCESS - THE YANKEES ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS!

Yesterday, the NY Yankees clinched their 53^rd playoff berth.  There are so many things out of sync in our world today; but, when the Yankees are about to participate in the playoffs, we at least have baseball seeming normal.  As almost all baseball fans know, the Yankees were not even supposed to have a season above .500 this year, much less qualify for the playoffs!  As a matter of fact, they even have a chance to win 90 games!

Their youth movement, which has been rapidly developing over the last 4 years or so, has produced many stars from last season into this season.  Key youth-movement contributors have included Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino, Chad Green, and Jordan Montgomery.  In fact, three of them (Judge, Sanchez, and Severino) earned their first years as All Stars this season. 

Besides those five young players, the Yankees certainly received major contributions from two backup players, Ronald Torreyes and Austin Romine.  Both of them have exceedingly provided seamless efforts to help the team win during injuries to Starlin Castro, Didi Gregorius, and Gary Sanchez.  Speaking of Starlin and Didi, they have both proven to be exceptional acquisitions during their first, and now their second season as Yankees. 

By the way, Didi is now my favorite starting player on this roster.  Aside from his impressive batting and defense, he has seemingly become a leader on the field.  Yes, Judge and Sanchez do get a lot of rightful acclaim, but Didi’s implementation of public postgame comical tweets and his physical lifts of vertically-challenged Ronald Torreyes during Judge’s high-fives has shown his leadership towards making the game fun.  He, unlike Judge and Sanchez, also offers more commentary during his interviews.  I’m sure even Derek Jeter is proud to watch his successor’s contributions as a player and as a person.

Another reason the Yankees overachieved this year was because of Brian Cashman’s July acquisitions.  He thankfully brought four key players to this team - Sonny Grey, Todd Frazier, Tommy Kahnle, and my favorite returnee…David Robertson.  Grey and Kahnle (also a returnee) are both young pitchers.  Behind Severino, Grey is probably our second best starting pitcher.  Kahnle is a lot like Adam Warren.  He is an excellent bullpen pitcher who can offer multiple innings for most of his mound appearances.

One final player who deserves recognition for his contribution is Chase Headley.  This guy has had so many ups and downs on this team in the past.  This year, he only had one poor month (May).  While his offensive numbers have been overly steady, it was his voluntary sacrifice to completely learn and ultimately play first base when Todd Frazier was acquired that really stands out.  Yes, he had played some games at that position, but only as a last-choice backup.  He knew that Frazier was a better option to continue as a third baseman and he spent a multitude of hours dedicated towards becoming a decent first baseman - several levels above the skills of a backup.  The best thing is - he really did it!

Lastly, this season’s surprise success would not have come together without the person who has clearly led this team, Joe Girardi.  It’s strange to me how many Yankees’ fans dislike Joe.  Many nitpick everything he does - especially after the results of Joe’s moves.  It’s easy to offer strong opinions “after” results, but Joe does not have that luxury as many of his decisions require instantaneous choices.  Joe has visibly corrected Gary Sanchez during games, but not in a humiliating fashion.  He’s also shown some sturdy managing by immediately offering his verbal explanation to Jaime Garcia as to why he removed Garcia from a game in the 5^th inning of a game, right before Garcia could have possibly qualified for a win.  With all of the injuries in baseball today, perhaps Girardi’s best quality has been his rotating of players, even veterans.

As it stands today, the Yankees will more than likely be one of the wildcard teams and their opponent will probably be the Minnesota Twins.  Anything can happen during one game.  It’s not the best measurement of teams, but it appears to be the only way of entry for the Yankees.  Severino is deservingly expected to be the pitcher for that game.  Hopefully, he’ll pitch like he has during most of his impressive starts and the Yankees will go onto the second round.  We’ll soon find out!

“STICK”

Today, in my opinion, the baseball world lost the most intelligent talent evaluator that ever existed in Major League Baseball, Gene “Stick” Michael.  During his tenure in the late 1960s through 1975, he played shortstop for the NY Yankees with a strong throwing arm and a quick glove.  Later, he held many baseball administrative positions including Manager, General Manager, Third-Base Coach, Scout, Vice President of Major League Scouting, and lastly Vice President/Special Advisor.

He was a key contributor towards the signing of the Core Four (Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, and Jorge Posada) and Bernie Williams.  Later, he was the sole reason for the avoidance of trading away each of them during their pinstripe years.  Opposing General Managers sought trades for them, but he wisely declined.  Those declinations involved George Steinbrenner’s concurrence in most cases, which was not an easy thing to achieve.  George would typically jump for any opportunity to acquire more well-known players to help draw the fans’ delight and grow attention to the Yankees.  Stick, instead, showed a lot of strength and guts by dissuading George.  It also endangered Stick’s job security if he proved to be wrong.  As time passed, Stick’s strategy of promoting and retaining such young promising players proved to George Steinbrenner that the Yankees’ fans were on board with supporting youthful unknowns - demonstrated by the fact that the stadium and television audiences continued to grow.  Of course, it helped that the dynasty Stick built with the Core Four players promptly produced 4 out of 5 World Series Championships from 1996 through 2000.  That was enough persuasion for George!

Stick clearly had an eye for talent.  He was the first scout to emphasize the importance of walks (which help wear out starting pitchers) - a major factor in the acquisitions of Wade Boggs, Paul O’Neill, and Tino Martinez.  Also, he didn’t just examine mathematical statistics; he saw values in players’ intangible characteristics, such as morality, desire, and personal family values - traits most teams fail to strongly weigh.  In fact, even Derek Jeter’s parents were indirectly assessed by the Yankees because of Gene’s influence, before the Yankees committed to drafting Jeter as a first-round pick.  The other 3 member of the Core Four also offer such characteristics.  As a result, many non-Yankees fans who speak about the Core Four seem to have trouble expressing any “hate” of them because it’s hard to lambast players who have displayed such high characteristic qualities for such a long period, while winning so many championships. 

Stick’s intangible weighted values are still contributing towards the Yankees of 2017.  For example, Brian Cashman reacquired David Robertson - one of the players who displayed that strong desire and moral characteristics during his previous years as a Yankee.  Even today’s oldest active Yankee, CC Sabathia, continues to offer his own unending desire to win as he goes out to the mound wearing a leg brace - ignoring as much pain as he can.  Both CC and Robertson have also done so many good things for their selected charities with the personal aid of their wives (again, the family value Stick appreciated).  Stick personally contributed to many charities including one he leads for blind people.

Earlier today, I heard both Joe Girardi and Buck Showalter use the word “trust” when describing Stick, something Stick also earned from George.  Ironically, many past Yankees offered to talk about Stick’s high-quality/moral characteristics.

Lastly, I heard many say that the origin of his nickname, "Stick", was inconclusive.  Some thought it may have been related to his slim shape and some though it could have been used sarcastically towards his weak batting statistics.  As I thought about it more and more, I realized that I will always have my own reasoning - which is not even related to his playing days, but instead to his longer-tenured administrative days.  I will consider Gene Michael as Stick because he proved that the moral qualities he held so high regarding players' characteristics were retained by players a lot longer than their positive statistics as illustrated in today's overused sabermetrics.  In other words, some players will produce great numbers in short spans; some players will produce very good numbers during long spans; but, the morals, true desire, and large hearts of players (with family values) will always "Stick" to produce those key intangible values throughout their careers (and lives).  Thanks, Stick - rest in peace.

SYNDER BLOCKHEAD!!!

I am obviously not a Mets’ fan nor am I a standard Mets’ writer - that’s why I’m obviously The NYY Writer, not The NYM Writer!  Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean that I can’t write about the Mets once in a while.  After all, they certainly offer many stories for any writer. 

Over the Mets’ history, their fans have had a lot of grief - beginning with their winning only 2 World Series championships in the span of approximately 55 years.  Imagine if the Yankees averaged only won 1 World Series every 27 years, or so?  We would then only have 4 championships!!!

Anyway, let me try and focus on their most recent blunders and the main subject of this article - the Mets’ mishandled health decisions of their supposed best hitter (Yoenis Cespedes) and their best starter (Noah Syndergaard).  Over the past 11 years, one of my best friends (a Mets’ fan) and I have conversed about the Mets’ failure to be precautionary about their players’ health conditions.  Yes, the Mets have mishandled such health decisions for way too many years.  If you want to learn more of their past mishaps, copy the following link into your browser where it highlights the Mets’ botched handling of their players almost 10 years ago including Ryan Church, Jose Reyes, and Carlos Delgado:

http://www.metstoday.com/3785/mets-injuries/mets-injuries-not-bad-luck/

In most instances, the Mets claimed that they listened to each affected player.  I’m sure it has nothing to do with selling tickets - after all, they are not known to cut every spending opportunity they get!  Excuse me, I  just have to uncross my fingers after awkwardly typing the previous sentence.

I can’t blame a player for showing his desire to play; but, all teams still have to use their brains and try to do what’s right.  No MLB team comes close to the Mets when it comes to misdiagnoses.   Even some who have been directly involved with MLB have stated as such most recently.

The Mets first let Cespedes dictate his hamstring condition.  He pulled his hamstring over a week ago and, instead of placing him on the disabled list (which now offers a reasonably short period of 10 days), they rested him for about half of that and then put him into a game after he “said” he was okay.  Of course, during batting practice he grimaced on a swing - looking at his leg; but, the Mets weren’t looking; only the cameramen - apparently!  (You can’t make this stuff up!!!)  So, of course, when Cespedes hit a double, he painfully reached for his hamstring area and hobbled to second base.  Now, he will end up being out a lot longer than remaining days the 10-day disabled list would have caused.  If only the Mets were watching him during batting practice and not their wallets.

As far as Synder Blockhead (aka Noah Syndergaard) is concerned, his story is even worse.  He apparently told the Mets that his bicep hurt and prevented him from lifting his arm.  The Mets, including their General Manager, Sandy Alderson, “suggested” for him to get an MRI done, but Synder Blockhead told them that he knows his body better than any medical test and refused their “suggestion”.  Although the Mets have an MLB contractual right to enforce players to get MRIs whenever they tell them, the Mets were instead too frightened of Synder Blockhead, or just scared that they wouldn't be able to continue promoting his upcoming cap day (with fake hair attached to it to look like Synder Blockhead). Alternately, Synder Blockhead got his way again when he agreed to take anti-inflammatory medicine.  Then, the Mets avoided telling the press what was going on and instead chose to lie to the media/press about Synder Blockhead’s next scheduled start (a lie tied to one of their other starters, Robert Gsellman - which I'll spare you).  The following day, when the medicine didn’t show a swift healing process, the Mets had to finally admit that there was an injury - a strained bicep which would delay Synder Blockhead’s next start by another few days. 

Right after that divulgence, Synder Blockhead went into his classless act after the Mets’ VP of Media Relations, Jay Horowitz, failed to stop the press from asking him about his injury.  Synder Blockhead was so angry with Jay’s failure to stop the reporters from asking him questions that he chose to verbally humiliate Jay Horowitz in front of the press.  Life is downright awful when a ballplayer is forced to answer questions about his own health…poor baby!

Then, yesterday, when Synder Blockhead was slated to start his newly schedule game (against the Nationals) he deemed that he was healed and proceeded.  This was just another round of Synder Blockhead dictating his own decisions, as if the team had no final say.  The Mets already experienced his disobedience this past winter when Synder Blockhead refused to obey the Mets' request not to work on adding muscle over his offseason workouts.  He not only disregarded their preference, but he ended up gaining 17 pounds of it!  That muscle gain is something that Nolan Ryan's former pitching coach/guru (Tom House) publicly stated would cause Synder Blockhead an injury before early June, mainly because he failed to pitch during the muscle building mass.

In the first inning of his "okay to start" game, Synder Blockhead gave up 5 runs.  After he got the first out in the second inning, there was an instance following a pitch he had thrown whereby he grabbed under his arm for a second or two; but, the Mets failed to see it - only the cameramen (again), thousands of television viewers, and me actually paid attention.  Then, after he threw the next pitch, he really grimaced - this time, enough for their catcher, Rene Rivera, to ask for time and trot towards the mound before calling for Terry Collins to join them.  Synder Blockhead then exited the game.

Today, Synder Blockhead finally had an MRI (someone sure taught him a lesson) and was later diagnosed with a partially torn lat muscle.  Ironically, the point of pain for a bicep injury versus a lat injury is varying enough where it would be have been very difficult to be misdiagnosed as a bicep injury instead of a lat injury originally; but, these are the Mets!  One medical person told me that the lat could have resulted from Synder Blockhead altering his delivery to compensate for alleviating his bicep.  Who knows?  In any case, no single representative of the Mets' brass ever seems to be the one "who knows".

GLIMMERING APRIL

Sometimes life throws its own curveballs at us, personally.  I’ve experienced that most recently, but decided it’s time to step aside from that (at least briefly) and write this article about the Yankees and one about the other NY baseball team today.  There’s been too much baseball news not to write; so, I’ve taken myself out of hiatus - at least today.  Here’s the first of 2 articles today:

The Yankees have been unbelievably great during their first month of the season.  Currently, they are tied with the Orioles for first place and the best record in the American League (15-8)!  Aaron Judge has basically replaced Gary Sanchez’ bat in respect to breaking rookie records, while Gary remains on the disabled list with less than a week to go.

Judge is currently hitting .303 with 10 homeruns and 20 RBIs.  Most of his homeruns are still orbiting the earth!  In fact, Judge presently owns the highest exit velocity record in baseball (a stat that has been recorded since 2015 by Statcast).  It happened this past Saturday when he smashed a homerun which was recorded at 119.4 mph.  Fans, please take my advice…if you are at the ballpark and attempt to catch a ball hit by Judge into the stands, not only should you wear a mitt, but you should also pad your palm and fingers under the mitt!!

Some of the other heroes who have helped the Yankees in April include their backup catcher (Austin Romine) and their backup shortstop/infielder (Ronald Torreyes).  Neither one of them is Gary Sanchez or Didi Gregorius respectively, but both have certainly offered more than enough offense and defense towards the team’s success.  With Didi back now and Sanchez about to return, it’s great to know that we certainly have superb “backups”. 

Without going through each and every player on the 25-man roster, I must acknowledge two other names who have demonstrated a lot of new reliance (so far) towards the team - starting pitchers Luis Severino and Jordan Montgomery.   Both offered hope during spring training and both carried over their performances into this early stage of the season.

It will certainly be interesting to watch the Yankees in May to see if they can continue on such a positive path.  If most of the Yankees’ players contribute similar contributions, Gary Sanchez returns with most of his historic offense and defense, and Greg Bird catches up to fastballs again, then May should be yet another great NYY month.

IT’S ALMOST THAT TIME AGAIN!!







With the 2017 Spring Training camp having opened about a week ago for pitchers and catchers and with the rest of the position players set to join them tomorrow, we Yankees’ fans all await the first official Yankees’ game of this coming season (set for April 2 against the Rays in Tampa Bay).  Just like last season, this team doesn’t seem destined for winning the World Series, but there’s still a great deal of anticipation of youthful progress towards achieving another World Series championship in the near future.

This past Yankees’ offseason has had slightly more activity than last season:

Key Subtractions

Brian McCann (Catcher/via trade)

Mark Teixeira (1B/via retirement)

Key Additions

Matt Holiday (LF, 1B, & DH/via free-agent signing)

Chris Carter (1B & DH/via free-agent signing)

Aroldis Chapman (Closer/via free-agent re-signing after a mid-season trade to the Cubs, helping them win the World Series)

In regards to the Yankees’ offensive players, the Yankees’ fans have now experienced more from very young hitters named Aaron Judge and Tyler Austin at their early stages and witnessed the unbelievable debut of their now-starting-catcher, Gary Sanchez - who came in second place for rookie of the year, even with a very late debut!

In regards to the Yankees’ pitching, the Yankees’ fans have seen more of their very young pitchers including Chad Green, Luis Cessa, Bryan Mitchell, and Luis Severino.  The latter pitcher, Severino, has offered us quite a roller coaster review.  As a starter in 2015, he demonstrated immediate expectations as a starter (5 wins/3 losses/2.89 ERA).  Unfortunately, last year, as a starter he didn’t even achieve 1 win (0-8 8.50 ERA)!  Thankfully, as a reliever, he demonstrated strong numbers (3 wins/0 losses/ 0.39 ERA).   Rookies tend to do that - offer us hope, let us down, offer us hope again, and so on and so forth.  In the end, the true hope is that the positive numbers are the ones that define them the most!  If he wants to succeed as a starter, Severino must learn command of his pitches (especially his changeup); but, most importantly, he must learn how to pitch his arsenal with the same delivery so the hitters can’t identify the incoming pitch.  If he doesn’t, we can all still hope that his lesser arsenal is still enough to enable him to become the same type of reliever he proved to be at the end of last season.

As for the other 3 (Green, Cessa, and Mitchell), they are also contending to become starters for the 2017 season.  At this point, all 4 (including Severino) are competing with Adam Warren for the last 2 starter spots to follow the Yankees’ established 3 starters for 2017:  Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia, and Michael Pineda.

Here’s a Quick-Glimpse Breakdown of the Aforementioned Relievers with Starting Potential

Luis Severino/3 wins/8 losses/5.83 ERA

Luis Cessa/4 wins/4 losses/4.35 ERA

Chad Green/2 wins/4 losses/ 4.73 ERA

Bryan Mitchell/1 win/2 losses/3.24 ERA

Adam Warren/4 wins/2 losses/3.26 ERA

Just like any other season, I expect the Yankees to continually explore strengthening opportunities for their team, especially during these upcoming weeks when all teams are feeling their way into the new season.  In the interim, let’s also hope that we get to see the likes of other very youthful Yankees rookies that can potentially join them this season - especially pitchers.  Due to the fact that pitching is this season’s biggest vulnerability this year, it’s reassuring to know some are within reach:  

Top 5 Pitching Prospects (from the Yankees’ Minor League System)

Justus Sheffield/10 wins/6 losses/3.09 ERA

James Kaprielian/2 wins/1 loss/1.50 ERA

Domingo Acevedo/5 wins/4 losses/2.61 ERA

Chance Adams/13 wins/1 loss/2.33 ERA

Albert Abreu/3 wins/8 losses/3.72 ERA

Their added power of Carter and Holliday, their more established youth, their other youthful top-tier players that could be added this season, and their anticipated funds for more upcoming contracts (such as CC) coming off the books by season’s end, will only help the Yankees continue to progress.  It’s about time!!

LET THE TRANSACTIONS BEGIN

Yesterday, the Yankees dealt Brian McCann to the Houston Astros for yet even more young prospects.  This time, they acquired 2 pitchers – Albert Abreu and Jorge Guzman.  Before you get ready for a potential Hip-Hip-Jorge chant, please notice that these guys are very young – 21 and 20 respectively.  It will take at least 2 years optimistically for them to establish any potentially true evaluations.  They both offer above-average velocity, especially Abreu.  Either could develop into a starter, but always anticipate reliever options if enough diverse arsenal is not nurtured over time.

This first major deal for the Yankees' offseason, to me, is a great start.  I feel this trade was very good for the Yankees and their fans for several reasons:

1) Youth – once again, the team got younger by dealing a 32-year old for two pitchers who are only 20 and 21 years old.

2) Payroll – the Yankees will pay a $5.5 million portion of McCann’s contract twice (once for the 2017 season and once for the 2018 season), but they are now saving $11.5 million for each of those same seasons and potentially saving $17 million for his optional 2019 season.

3) Roster Manipulation – if the Yankees don’t obtain a true DH-type player, such as bringing back free agent Carlos Beltran or initially signing free agent Edwin Encarncion, then Girardi will have the advantage of shifting players around to sharing DH duties – something that was done during some of their most successful years to help rest players or enable injuries to gradually heal for some.  (I prefer the team in that manner, but I also understand that this year’s pool of free agents may encourage the Yankees to obtain such players for some offense.)

4) Opportunity – the phenomenal  Gary Sanchez will no longer have to share time with veteran McCann.  Additionally, young catchers, especially Kyle Higashioka, will now get a respectable chance to make the 25-man roster as a the new back-up catcher in competition with Austin Romine who will probably get his last chance as the catching backup this year.  In any case, as a domino effect, others at lower levels in the Yankees’ system will also get chances for promotional opportunities such as Luis Torrens if he is not drafted and retained via the Rule 5 Draft by another team.

Stay tuned, there are a lot more transactions anticipated before the season begins.

CHICAGO, MY KIND OF TOWN (CONGRATULATIONS CUBBIES!!!)

Before I begin writing about the NYY, which will soon be in my next article, I’d like to take the time to congratulate the Chicago Cubs on their very long-awaited World Series Championship!!  I had visited the city of Chicago and both MLB ballparks six years ago and learned something that I didn’t think existed – the Chicago Cubs & White Sox fans are more competitive with (against) each other than the Yankees’ and Mets’ fans are!   I also experienced the nicest people in Wrigley Field – genuinely nice people.

Right before the 2012 season began, I was very happy when the Cubs hired Theo Epstein as their President of Baseball Operations, shortly after Theo had resigned from the Red Sox organization.   I had previously admired Theo during his very first season in 2004 as the General Manager of the Red Sox.  That is when I saw him execute some major and seemingly smart transactions for the Red Sox.  The following season is when the Red Sox finally achieved their first championship in 86 years, thanks to the major assistance of Theo and his swift architectural abilities.  For the Cubs, who hadn’t won in over 100 years, it seemed inevitable that Theo would once again be the executive to build a team that would eventually become strong enough to win it all.  It took him just 5 seasons to accomplish such a miraculous feat…again!   Additionally, Theo not only helped construct a team and hire the perfect manager (Joe Maddon) who would bring them this season’s championship, but a team that I believe will compete for years to follow this season.

Many executives tried to find ways for both the Red Sox and the Cubs to win it all year-after-year, but only Theo configured the perfect ingredients.  Building teams to win the World Series is hard enough, but building teams to win it after an 86-year drought and after a 108-year drought is so sensational!  It’s something that we will never see again!  As a result, in my opinion, Theo is currently the greatest current executive in baseball and can also be considered the greatest baseball executive of all time.

So, once again, congratulations Cubs’ fans, Theo, and all who were involved in this year’s World Series Championship; you deserved the championship like no other team ever has! 

TURNING THE PAGE

This season’s Yankees certainly failed my expectations - not that I was expecting them to win the World Series; but, in terms of wins and excitement at the end, it was a big letdown.  They only won 84 games (5 short of my prediction) and they didn’t even make it to the wildcard - which, I must admit, as the season winded down, was actually something I didn’t want them to achieve.  Yes, of course I’m a fan, but my reasoning was based on the structured team they had at that time.  That mainly included no true reliable starter.  For those who might argue that Tanaka was reliable, then I would pose this question for the other games, “Who would have pitched the following playoff games after the wildcard game?”  I just couldn’t bear to see us get further humiliated than we already did during the final weeks of the regular season.  It was clear that the youth movement of trades we made were strong stepping stones for the 2017 and 2018 seasons and beyond.

Elaborating on my last point, we truly should have a very exciting 2017 season with multiple youngsters!  As I’ve written so many past blogged articles, the Yankees’ youth movement is something that  brings us back to the same kind of plan that Gene Michael led with Brian Sabean and Buck Showalter  back in the early to mid 90s, something that historically paid off.  My last article talked about the sensation we’ve already witnessed that was provided by Gary Sanchez.  This offseason will help determine what other players will join Gary and the already-established MLB players they have on their 25-man roster.

I, for one, anticipate a better and more exciting team with the added youth onto next season's roster.  I'm anxious to see who else we add and what the team will look like as a whole within next 4 months!!

GARY SANCHEZ - WHAT A CATCH!

Well, as we Yankees’ fans all await the playoff outcome of “our” final 11 games to determine if our deficit of 2.5 games behind wildcard contention is too much to conquer at this stage, it’s about time that I brag about the guy everyone is drooling over…Gary Sanchez.  We all know, or have heard about, players that have begun their MLB careers on fire; but, the fact that this guy has demolished all sorts of records cannot be ignored.  Even when his offense finally simmers down (sorry, fans, but it’s improbable), his short-term accomplishments are already in the record books.  The key stat of the many that he’s now historically written for the record books is his 19 homers (as of last night) in just 45 games! 

Besides the homeruns that he has smashed, he’s also found a way to retain an unbelievable batting average (.337) which is very, very rare for any player who hits that amount of homeruns.  Oh, and of course, he’s also attained 11 doubles along his short journey so far!

He’s convinced me that he’s no Kevin Maas - or anyone else who proved to be a fluke as a Yankee or for any other team.  Even when his offensive numbers get reduced to that of an earthling, he has additionally demonstrated the other aspect as a true player - his defense.  From that standpoint, this youngster as a catcher (which, by the way, is the hardest defensive position of all) has thrown out 36% of attempted base-stealers and produced a .990 fielding percentage.

Gary Sanchez has made every single aspect as a professional MLB player seem way too easy in an at-ease manner.  It will be interesting to see what Gary becomes as time progresses into and through next season.  The last person with the initials G.S. that impacted the Yankees to a prevailing nature was a guy named George Steinbrenner.  Hopefully, this G.S. can help lead us in a different way (on the field) to more championships.  It’s certainly looking promising at this stage of the game!

GREATEST CLOSER/GREATEST PITCHER

Today, the Yankees dedicated a plaque to Mariano Rivera, which will be officially placed into Yankee Stadium’s Monument Park tomorrow.  As he has been my favorite Yankee in the last 35-plus years (the person that inspired me to write my first blog), I wanted to share some of my loving thoughts about not just a great Yankees, but (from everything seen and heard) one of the greatest people that has been put on this earth:

There aren’t many players in Major League Baseball who can be unquestionably deemed as the best overall player at that position.  For instance, Derek Jeter was one of the greatest shortstops of all time, but not unequivocally the greatest.  I would certainly argue that he’s the shortstop you want in any playoff game, though!  Some may say that Willie Mays was the greatest centerfielder, but others would have legitimate arguments supporting Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Duke Snider, Rickey Henderson, or (in recent times) Ken Griffey, Jr.  In my opinion, there are only 5 positions/roles that have very little room for disputing who the greatest overall performer was:

1st Baseman - Lou Gehrig
3rd Baseman - Mike Schmidt
Left Fielder - Ted Williams
Right Fielder - Babe Ruth
Closer - Mariano Rivera

I’ve felt, for many years, that Mariano was the best closer (even after loving the “Goose” back in the late 70s and early 80s).  While most Yankees’ fans loved Mariano, I kept underscoring his greatness beyond what he had been doing for the Yankees singularly.  I emphasized Mariano’s extreme greatness to many fans and non-fans over 10 years ago because it’s rare (very rare) that we get to witness the best of any role in baseball.  So, while it was happening in each of our lives, I wanted all baseball fans who I personally knew to realize Mariano’s extraordinariness, not just taking him for granted as he continued gaining save after save to his collective stats.

Based on the short list above, most of us were fortunate enough to see Mariano and some of us were additionally lucky to have also seen Mike Schmidt and possibly even Ted Williams.  I’ve spoken to many baseball fans about Mariano and the vast majority agree that he was the best closer of all time.  That opinion is even shared by the typically biased non-Yankees’ fans of the Red Sox and Mets!  

As time has passed, since Mariano’s retirement from baseball back in 2013, I’ve begun to think even further about Mariano’s dominance on the mound.  With that, I began analyzing who the most dominating pitchers of all time might be.  Fans would definitely have a dispute over that choice!  Some would select Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Bob Feller, Lefty Gomez, Whitey Ford, Tom Seaver, Greg Maddux, and even more in that argument.  I don’t even know which pitcher I would choose!  In my thought process (something that’s extreme) I began realizing that the greatest “pitcher” (not necessarily “starting pitcher) on the mound (again, in my opinion) was Mariano!

Of course, I realize that starting pitchers and closers are like comparing apples and oranges; but, segregating it to simply envisioning a pitcher on the mound facing the greatest hitters, Mariano’s numbers would certainly support him as the choice.  To bring this analysis to an outmost and ridiculous scenario (I told you my thought process was extreme), supposing one’s life was on the line and they had to choose one pitcher that could throw the ball past an enemy who happened to be the greatest hitter of all time (perhaps an evil Babe Ruth).  Would you choose one of the greatest starting pitchers or would you choose the undisputed greatest closer to get that hitter out?  I know who my choice would definitively be!

TRANSITION

Life waits for no one or nothing.  As hours, minutes, and seconds pass by, life transitions.  We can all relate to transition.  As a Yankees’ fan, I am overly excited for the huge transition we have been going through these past few years and especially these past few weeks.   I’ve written about the youth for a few years when the Yankees first began their aggressive International League acquisitions (players who are still progressing); about their resourceful draft picks (even though they always draft late due to their successes);  and, most recently about the youth we had acquired.

This past Friday, A-Rod played his last official game as a Yankee.  As soon as A-Rod’s vacancy became available, two Yankees were brought up from the farm system (Tyler Austin and Aaron Judge).  The latter is one name that most fans began to learn approximately 2 years ago.  Neither one of the newest Yankees wasted any time yesterday showing that they had MLB skills as they both hit homeruns in their very first MLB at-bats.  With that collective feat, they have already accomplished something never historically done!  Yes, they both already contributed a positive MLB record to the Yankees’ record books!  (Oh, and by the way, Judge’s homer traveled over 448 feet!!  The only reason it stopped at 448’ was because its travel was obstructed.)

Prior to Austin and Judge being added as new blood onto this season’s team, the Yankees had acquired Didi Gregorius (a year-and-a-half ago); acquired Ramon Castro and Aaron Hicks this past off-season; promoted Dellin Betances a few years ago; and promoted other youth-movement players most recently Rob Refsnyder, Luis Severino, Austin Romine, and Gary Sanchez.  Again, as I continue to personally be excited about our potential stars, keep in mind that there are still more getting close to joining the team soon.  In fact, by the middle of next year, the NYY will have youth represented all over the field!

We all typically resist transition; but, again, it’s inevitable.  For the most part, it offers much more that we initially see.  During 2009, the Yankees transitioned into a new, modern stadium with reservation about creating a jinx, leaving the spirits next door, and dispelling tradition.  Yet, that very year, the Yankees tossed every doubt aside by immediately winning their 27th World Series Championship!

The transitions  the Yankees have been making over the past few years, and aggressively transacted and demonstrated these past few weeks, will become a new chapter, but not a new book.  For the Yankees’ fans that are so tied to the Core-Four, don’t worry - it’s just a transition that's happening now.  We will win more championships with new names just like other past Yankees’ teams did.  Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig,  Tony Lazzeri, Red Ruffing, and Lefty Gomez transitioned throughout the last 80-plus years into players such as Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford , Mickey Mantle, Thurman Munson, Goose Gossage, Ron Guidry, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte, Derek Jeter, and Mariano Rivera.   I strongly believe some of these new names will achieve their first championship sooner rather than later.  One thing’s inevitable for sure…transition. 

A-ROD WALKS AWAY (with Hal’s persuasion)

Today, the NY Yankees and Alex Rodriguez (A-Rod) held a press conference to announce that A-Rod will play his last game in less than a week - on August 12.  They agreed on that date (as opposed to today) so A-Rod could have his family, friends, and members from his main charity group in attendance to see his last at-bats.

A-Rod mentioned that it was Hal Steinbrenner who approached him a few days ago suggesting such an arrangement.  Amongst his Advisor role in the United States, he will also “Advise” in the Dominican Republic.  All Yankees’ fans should be relieved that it was not Hank Steinbrenner who met with A-Rod because the last major conversation they had resulted in A-Rod’s current and ridiculous contract!  All fans should also be appreciative that Hal was the aggressor, reaching out to A-Rod because Hal showed that he’s listening to the fans’ rightful opinions which are backed up factually by A-Rod’s latest failing offensive numbers and his inability to play defense. 

With all of A-Rod’s steroid usage, along with his denial and lying about it, I have accepted that he certainly wasn’t (isn’t) the only one, not that such a thought makes it right; but, it does lessen the year-after-year sole focus on him by the media and the A-Rod-haters.  At least on the surface, A-Rod has really tried to play and act like he should have previously.

There is no denying that the man totally loves baseball and knows the intricacies and history of it better than most.  Many fans, media, and baseball professionals witnessed it in last year’s postseason when A-Rod performed commentary and provided more foresight than any of the veteran commentators.  Additionally, a lot of the rookies (currently and in the past) have praised A-Rod’s advice and inspiration.  Even Joe Girardi harped on that, and shared some of those stories during today’s press conference.

I am certainly appreciative of the positive things A-Rod’s done and for his contributions towards helping the Yankees win the 2009 World Series; but, I am and always will be disappointed in his wrongful acts and remarks of the past.  With that, for the future, I have seen and heard enough to know that A-Rod will definitely contribute towards the development of many, many young players in the Yankees’ organization.  He will already demonstrate his assistance towards the prospects when #13 vacates a roster spot appropriately on August 13th.

MARK TEIXEIRA RETIRES

As Mark Teixeira’s 8th season as a NY Yankee is about to end so, too, will his career.  That’s because today Mark announced that he will retire as a Yankee at the end of this season, which coincides with his contract term.  This year was certainly his worst offensively as he fought through various injuries - something that has become the norm over the past few years for him.

Earlier in the year, Mark had expressed his desire to play for at least 2 more years.  He also stated that he would love to end his career in Yankees’ pinstripes.  Well, half of his desire will now happen.   Mark mentioned his frustrations with the constant injuries as a major factor towards his retiring decision.  I also believe that, once he saw the Yankees’ commitment to bringing up the “kids” including the recent trades, he knew his chance of a contract renewal with the Yankees was not on their agenda.

I am one of those fans who constantly advocates the importance of defense and Mark certainly gave us that over his 8 seasons.  In fact, he was one of the best defensive first basemen in baseball for quite some time.  The scoops, the dives, and the 3-4-3 (or 3-6-3) double plays he began were one of the most dependable things I’ve watched with this team over Mark’s years as a Yankee.  I remember all the struggles the Yankees’ organization (mostly Brian Cashman) had over the years trying to attain or call up players to fill Mark’s cleats when he was injured or offered a day off.  Those awful moments sure made everyone realize how great Mark was defensively!

Mark will go down in history as one of the best switch-hitters in the game.  His 8 straight years with 30-plus homeruns and 100-plus RBIs per season is something he mentioned as his proudest personal achievement.  He also mentioned how, when he became a Yankee in 2009, he thought winning a World Series would be fairly easy to achieve with a team that wins so many championships.  He later learned how hard, even for the Yankees, it was to accomplish.  My favorite part of his press conference, from this afternoon, was the passion he demonstrated when talking about the fans.

In today’s blog, I publicly thank Mark for the years he produced many homers, RBIs, and defense for us.  I would particularly like to add my gratitude for his passion.  I know we’ll be seeing him at the stadium even after this season and I know I will personally applaud him every time.

TRADEWINDS!!!!

Well, the Yankees finally did it!  They aggressively traded with full focus on youth.  Over the past few years they have been adding so many pieces (mostly via the International Draft) for their farm system and now, with 5 trades this past week (yes, “5” trades), they have accomplished the finishing touches with additional top-tier prospects.  Even the so-called experts have conceded that the Yankees’ farm system has now positioned itself within the Top 3 (out of 30)!  That’s quite a turnaround for the Yankees, a team that has been constantly bashed as “old” with a farm system that was ranked in the middle range.  In fact, the Yankees now have a total of 7 Top Prospects from the Top 100 according to most key publications who rank MLB’s prospects.

Here are the Yankees’ 5 trades that were made over the past week:

Aroldis Chapman - traded to the Chicago Cubs for Gleyber Torres (SS); Billy McKinney (OF);  and Adam Warren (RHP/Reliever), who returns to the team after pitching in relief for the Cubs for only a half season.  Both Torres and McKinney have very high ceilings.

Andrew Miller - traded to the Cleveland Indians for Clint Frazier (OF); Justus Sheffield (LHP/Starter); Ben Heller (RHP/Reliever); and JP Feyereisen (RHP/Reliever).  Both Frazier (who owns one of the best bat speeds of all minor players) and Heller are AAA players who are expected to be on the MLB club by next year (Heller will probably be on the NYY club first).  I agree with the high praises from the press regarding Frazier and somewhat Sheffield, but I am apparently the only one excited about Heller!

Carlos Beltran - traded to the Texas Rangers for minor leaguers Dillon Tate (RHP/Starter/Reliever) who was the fourth overall pick in the 2015 MLB Draft mainly because his fastball & slider are well above average; Erik Swanson (RHP/Reliever); and Nick Green (RHP/Starter), a pitcher the NYY originally drafted during 2013 but didn’t sign.  Tate is exceedingly regarded by most, but his ERA this season was high.  That was supposedly attributed to a lingering hamstring injury that has reportedly healed now.

Ivan Nova - traded from the Yankees to the Pittsburgh Pirates for 2 players to be named later.  I’m sure one of them will be fairly decent and the other will probably be very young with slight hope - we’ll soon find out the projected worth of this deal; but, as a whole, Nova was way too inconsistent for all Yankees’ fans.

Tyler Clippard (RHP/Reliever) returns to the NYY - he was originally drafted by them in 2003 and played for their Major League club back in 2007 - as he was acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks for Vicente Campos.

By the way, Chapman, Beltran, and Nova are set to become Free Agents after this season.  That condition made each acquisition more challenging for Brian Cashman to acquire worthy talent.  Of course, all baseball fans know that most prospects don’t reach their projected potential; but, statistically (just like any other type of gamble) the more opportunities you align yourself with, the better chance you have to gain dividends.

Now that this season’s non-waiver trades are complete, the Yankees are still left with two players who are well below their prime years - CC Sabathia and A-Rod.  CC will probably remain on the team; but, as for A-Rod, he’s been rumored as a consideration to be released by the Yankees.  If that happens, the Yankees would still be obligated to fully pay his remaining contract (which has one-and-a-half years left @~$30 million, assuming he is unable to achieve 18 more homers which triggers his contract's clause for yet another extra $6 million for attaining 714 homers).

They also still have a handful of players underachieving for more than one consecutive season, now - Mark Teixeira (a free agent after this season), Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury, Bret Gardner, and Michael Pineda.  Additionally, Chase Headley’s hitting has been worsening rapidly.  Aside from Teixeira and Gardner, the high-priced multi-year contracts of McCann, Ellsbury and Headley would typically qualify each as potential candidates for “waiver” trades (allowable trades that continue through the end of the season only after the team places such players onto the waiver wire for the other 29 teams to claim, if they choose).  The penalty for such claiming teams would be risky because they could be obligated to take on the full remaining balance of such high-priced contracts if they cannot work out a dually agreed-upon deal with the Yankees.   If any one of these Yankees passes through waivers, then the Yankees’ team would have the right to offer the unclaimed player in a trade.

All of the above offers the Yankees’ fans a lot of hope for this year and for years to come as more and more open roster spots open for the Yankees’ rookies!   In reality, we weren’t going to win the World Series this year, anyway - even if we won nearly 90 games.  So, next year, we will have a full season that will allow many promising youngsters a chance to prove or disprove themselves.  That list should include some we’ve already seen at a decent sample size (such as Rob Refsnyder, Aaron Hicks, and Luis Severino) and some that we’ve barely seen or have not seen yet: 

Hitters:

Tyler Austin (OF/1B/3B), Aaron Judge (OF), Gary Sanchez (C), Ben Gamel (OF), Jake Cave (OF), Kyle Higashioka (C), Jose Rosario (2B), Donavan Solano (3B), Cesar Puello (1B), Mason Williams (OF), and now outfielders Clint Frazier and Billy Mckinney.

Pitchers:

Conor Mullee, Mark Montgomery, Giovanny Gallegos, Tyler Webb, and now Ben Heller.

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!