LACKING CELEBRATION

Back in 1980, a group known as, “Kool & the Gang” released a song entitled, “Celebration”.  The year before that, Queen released “We Are the Champions”.  Frustratingly, neither song has fit the Yankees in quite some time!

Shortly after humiliatingly losing the Wildcard game 6-2 back on October 5 this past season to the appalling Red Sox, both Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner strongly indicated that the Yankees would spend again (as the luxury tax was reset).  Over the past 10 days, many teams including the Mets (who signed several good players including one of the best pitchers in baseball, Max Scherzer) have done what “they” were supposed to do.  On the other hand, the Yankees have only re-signed one so-so relief pitcher (Joely Rodriguez) and added one utility infielder (José Peraza) through free agency who is set to report to their AAA team!  During the last 10 days, the Yankees have also lost Clint Frazier, Roughned Odor, and Tyler Wade who were each exposed to the Rule 5 Draft.  Additionally, both Hal and Brian mentioned that a shortstop was their number one target.  Really?  We just saw the Texas Rangers sign the second-best shortstop (Corey Seager) in the game yesterday.  Another very good offensive hitting shortstop, Javier Baez (formerly of the Mets), just signed with the Tigers (his numbers were good, but his attitude is questionable).  The Rangers also recently signed Marcus Seiman, another very good shortstop.  The best shortstop, Carlos Correa is still a Free Agent, but who knows how good he really is without cheating?  I believe he is still an excellent player who didn’t need the cheating (sort of like Barry Bonds was before steroids).  Correa has also shown plenty of immaturity including attacking Derek Jeter by stating that Jeter did not deserve any of his six gold gloves.  Not many Yankees’ fans are eager to add him and his arrogance to our team!

That makes Trevor Story as the only decent free-agent shortstop available.  He has been playing in Coors Field for the Rockies, which typically adds a lot of offense to players’ numbers.  Story is no different hitting just .241 on the road.  On the other hand, numbers per  

https://www.lonestarball.com/2021/11/29/22804648/trevor-story-home-road-splits-adjustments-colorado-rockies-coors-fieldm 

demonstrate that many players have actually produced decent offensive stats once they get readjusted by the second or third game away from Coors Field.  At 29 years old, Story would be a very good fit for the Yankees, especially as they have three shortstop prospects (Anthony Volpe, Oswald Peraza, & Trey Sweeney) who are 1-2 years away from potentially playing in the big leagues.

Some more free agents will be made available by 8:00 pm tomorrow when non-tendered players become obtainable.  (The deadline was moved a few days earlier due to the possible (and more than likely) upcoming MLB lockout, as the players’ union and the owners are seemingly too far apart on a new deal for the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.)  Luke Voit, Gary Sanchez, and Miguel Andujar could each be affected if the Yankees fail to offer them a tendered contract.  I doubt Voit or Sanchez will be simply let go by the Yankees without a return.  They both offer at least some value to others, should a trade be proposed.  On the other hand, Matthew Boyd of the Detroit Tigers is a starting pitcher who is expected to become available – mostly due to his ongoing flexor tendon recovery.  He’s certainly a worthy Free Agent selection, should the Yankees be able to sign him.

The Yankees’ fans have been waiting long enough for some major improvements.  It’s time to give up on Gary Sanchez and, yes, Brett Gardner.  Neither has led us to a championship.  Gardner has been a very good player for us in the past but over the last few years, he’s just been “okay” and has basically been our fourth outfielder in way of offense, even though he has technically acted as our third outfielder in way of substituting for others (mainly Aaron Hicks) defensively.  I don’t think any Yankees’ fan wants to see Hicks being counted on as our 2022 centerfielder.  He’s almost as bad as Ellsbury in terms of injuries!

Hey, Brian and Hal, WAKE UP!!!  We need a lot of Celebration from the two of you!!!

SALVAGEABLE SEASON?

As of today, the Yankees are 53-48.  With 61 games to go, that projects to become a season-ending record of 85-77 which is 8 wins less than I had projected back in the beginning of this season.  Like it or not, there are always logical reasons for failures to attain achievements.  In the Yankees’ case it’s been mainly their lack of timely hitting.  Embarrassingly, they are amongst the worst in the Majors! 
 
Yes, they’ve had a lot of COVID-19 issues in the early part of the season and most recently, but even with them experiencing more conditions than most teams, it’s not a qualifying excuse for them during this season.  All of their hitters have failed.  While Aaron Judge is having an “okay” season, he too has failed too many times with runners in scoring position.  Not only do they fail to drive runs home during such cases, but they also often ground into rally-ending double plays.
 
With all of that said, the Yankees’ front office has finally offered their fans hope for this season.  In the past 2 days, they’ve acquired 2 great lefty-hitting All Stars, Joey Gallo (from the Texas Rangers) and Anthony Rizzo (from the Chicago Cubs) without spending any great deal of money and without giving up any foreseeable great talent.  For years, all of the true Yankees’ fans have known that our lineup has been lacking lefty hitters.  As I’ve mentioned in the past, from the time of Babe Ruth, our original stadium’s dimensions were designed purposely to offer an advantage of lefty hitters and lefty pitchers.  Our new stadium was built with the same continuing concept.  Gene Michael built our last dominating championship team with the stadium dimensions as part of his analyses of players.  We finally produced a fitting lineup for our stadium – something neglected for too many years recently.  It will also offset the opposing pitchers’ ability to pinpoint their pitches easily.
 
Joey Gallo
I’ve already heard the rumblings that Gallo strikes out too much and is just like a lot of our players because of that aspect.  Well, yes, he does strike out a lot, but in his case those strikeouts ARE the bulk of his outs.  In other words, he will simply have less groundouts or fly balls.  With less groundouts, he will also ground into less double plays!  Furthermore, he has more walks (currently 74) than anyone in the league!  Earl Weaver (a former Hall of Fame manager of the Baltimore Orioles) used to preach that he’d rather have a hitter strike out (causing one out) than hitting into a double play (causing two outs).  He’s an excellent right fielder who won a Gold Glove in 2020 who also offers versatility with his ability to also play left or center field and even some first base. 
 
In summary:  Gallo is only 27 years old; his contract is very affordable with another season left on it; he’s an All Star; he’s won a Gold Glove; he’s a power hitter; hits lefty which will help our top righty hitters gain better pitches; and his swing will fit Yankee Stadium’s dimensions for added homeruns.  Joey Gallo will add a lot of value to this current lineup.
 
Anthony Rizzo
Someone must have forced Brian Cashman to drink a lot of caffeine this week!  He pulled off his second presumable steal-of-a-deal within a few days with the acquisition of Anthony Rizzo.  The Yankees have not only lacked lefty hitters, but they’ve also lacked a first baseman who has won Gold Gloves.  To find the last Gold Glove first baseman in pinstripes you’d have to go back to 2012 when Mark Teixeira won the award (he also won Gold Gloves as a Yankee in 2009 & 2010).  At first base, to win a Gold Glove you have a great start with being a lefty, something we’ve lacked in our lineup and at first.
 
Rizzo not only offers to be a premium defensive first baseman, but he also offers to be a very good hitter!  Currently, he his hitting .248 with 14 homeruns and 40 RBIs.  He’s already been on a World Series Championship Team (the Cubs in 2016) where he hit .410 with 3 homeruns.  Of course, all Yankees’ fans appreciate players who can produce during the most challenging games – those of the post-season.  Rizzo’s power has been diminishing somewhat, but (just like Gallo) Yankee Stadium’s right field will help him gain a few more back.
 
Rizzo is about to turn 32 years old, which is not as young as Gallo, but he’s not as old as Gardner either.  He offers a decent batting average during a year in which pitchers have been proven to be “enhancing” their spin rates; has won 4 Gold Gloves (2016, 2018, 2019, and 2020); offers fun character to the clubhouse (this dude supposedly ran around naked to the Rocky theme to rile his team); hits lefty which will (just like Gallo) help our top righty hitters gain better pitches to hit and add a few more homeruns to his individual total; and is still one of the best overall hitters in the game.  Rizzo being a Yankee has certainly added value to our 2021 team.

[Note:  The Yankees also attained lefty starter Andrew Heaney (from the Angels) and lefty reliever Joely Rodriguez (from the Rangers in a package with Gallo).]

 BACK TO NORMAL?

Well, this season begins with more hope than last - but, still with COVID-19 reservations.  Such reservations didn’t hesitate to show up on the first day of baseball with the Washington Nationals having 4 players who tested positive for COVID-19 and 5 others who were within contact.  It ultimately postponed the Nationals’ opening series against the Mets.  We can only hope that this season has many less obstacles than last, especially with high volumes of vaccines continuing to be administered each day.  At least this season will begin with up to 20% of each stadium’s capacity of fans rooting in the stands.

With that topic out of the way, I want to concentrate the rest of this article discussing…THE NY YANKEES!

 

Yesterday, we lost our opener in Yankee Stadium.  Our lack of timely hitting reminded me too much of our failures over the last few years.  On paper, our lineup is scary - mostly loaded with power threats.  This team needs to improve upon their RBI success during periods that demand it. 

 

HITTING:

Most Yankees’ fans are quick to critique the failures from Yankees with the initials, "G.S" - George received similar critique when he was the owner. In this case it's players, Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez.  Well, it’s time for the Aarons, not named Hank, to come through!  Aaron Judge and Aaron Hicks are very talented, but it’s time for their heroics to happen at the right times.  Don’t get me wrong, I am a fan of both, especially Judge.  I love his defense (although not so much yesterday) including his quarterback-like arm.  His power scares opposing pitchers, which is why they pitch all around the strike zone.  Unfortunately, he doesn’t stop them from that strategy anymore than Hicks does.  They are often looking for the home-plate umpire to call a ball here and there and accept walks way too gracefully.  They should instead study some videos of players like Yogi Berra.  It didn’t matter where the ball was, when he needed to bring a runner home, he took on the ball, not the pitcher.  If these two Aarons did that once in a while, the pitchers would no longer have a successful strategy against them!  Our lineup looks and should be great, they just have to hit in the clutch more often!

 

STARTING PITCHING:

As for our starting pitching this season, I feel confident we have a very good group.  The staff isn’t exactly filled with 5 aces, but it is filled with very capable starters.  Of course, just like any pitching staff, health matters.  Gerrit Cole, Corey Kluber, Domingo German, Jameson Taillon, and Jordan Montgomery are a force to be reckoned compared to any other 5 starters in all of baseball, even with the lack of innings pitched from the middle of our pact over the past two years.  On top of that, they have Luis Severino due back by mid-season.

 

BULLPEN:

The bullpen is good, but not great.  Aroldis Chapman, whose 100+ MPH fastball used to be unique, is not as effective as it was a few years ago because more-and-more pitchers have also reached above 100 MPH on their fastballs.  That has given the hitters more practice at catching up to that speed - and they have proved it.  Still, we have a group in the bullpen that is better than most of our competitors.

 

DEFENSE:

Lastly, our defense has to be measured.  For the outfield, as mentioned, Judge in right is typically excellent, Hicks in center is decent, and Frazier in left is better than it used to be by him.  Our infield begins with our first-baseman, Voit (when he get back in a few weeks from the IL).  He is good defensively - of course no where nearly as good as Don Mattingly!  LeMahieu is very good at second, Gleyber Torres is somewhat weak as a shortstop, and Gio Urshela is a great third baseman, nearly as good as Graig Nettles!

 

PREDICTION:

Our division is not too strong this season.  That alone will help the Yankees win many games.  If the season successfully reaches 162 games, I predict the Yankees could win at least 93 games as long as they withstand decent health.

2020 - A SEASON FOR IMPLEMENTING ASTERISKS

Games or No Games

This is the year in which our country led other countries in something no one would ever want to lead - deaths.  Over 120,000 Americans died from the world’s most tragic viral pandemic, COVID-19 (RIP to those souls).

As a result, this baseball season has yet to begin.  This past March, cautionary measures were put into place throughout the United States aimed to lessen the transmission of COVID-19, including staying at least 6’ away from one another.  With that restriction, alone, fans would not be able to sit or walk near each other, the players would also have to stay away from each other, and the umpires would have to position themselves at least 6’ from the players and the bases.  Many other obstacles became apparently concerning such as touching the baseball.  For instance, if the virus is transmittable via touch, how could the players throw the ball after it was touched by another player?  The same concern is with fielding the ball.  Regular gloves are not made for professionals to grip and complete their expected accurate throws.  (Perhaps that need could be an idea for inventors and entrepreneurs to consider.)

Recently, some of the restricted measures by well-governed states had indeed lessened occurrences of COVID-19 related deaths, including New York State, which originally had, by far, the most incidents.  Since March, New York’s stringent restrictions apparently worked.  In contrast, some states lightened up on their restrictions and have since incurred increased cases and deaths.  Over the last few months, other sports began considering opening their seasons as their owners and players worked together.  But, most recently, about half of the United States began having increased cases of COVID-19, so the other sports began reconsidering their plans to restart (at least for now).

MLB’s team owners and players’ union also thought about starting the season, but they did what “they” always do, argue with each other over revenue and salaries.  Their biggest obstacle became themselves, not COVID-19.  Due to the lack of any peaceful resolution between the two parties, the commissioner of MLB (Rob Manfred) implemented his right to force 60 games to take place this season, beginning July 23.  Of course, that condition could (just like the other aforementioned sports) be changed if COVID-19 gets too far out of hand.

My opinion, which I felt for at least two months, was NOT to have a season this year.  I do not want teams playing 60 regular season games and then having to play 10 or more games of that total for playoff games.  To me, the ratio is asinine!  Additionally, the World Series winner would be discredited by almost everyone except the awarded “Champion Team’s” fan base.

No matter what happens, THE 2020 SEASON SHOULD NOW HAVE AN ASTERISK.

Conventional Sign-Stealing in Baseball

Before I even begin talking about the fines & penalties received by the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox over the past few months, I need to explain what happened back in 2017 with the Yankees and the Red Sox.  Each were accused of sign-stealing by one another.  The Red Sox used an Apple watch to transmit their opposing teams’ signs to the Red Sox players while the Yankees used the YES Network replays to help decipher patterns.  That practice by the Yankees was not considered an issue with MLB as other teams do that, too.  Also, some of the Yankees’ players and coaches used their bullpen phone as a form of communication from the bullpen to the dugout in a similar attempt to help decipher pitch patterns.  The investigation of the Yankees determined that the “substance of the communications was NOT A VIOLATION”.  In the end, both teams were reprimanded by the Commissioner and issued a fine.  Then, ALL teams were warned not to utilize any form of electronics or any other unconventional sign-stealing and, if they did, strong penalties would be implemented including the loss of draft picks.   [Recently, a group of Draft King users have requested for the secured investigational findings against the Yankees to be reopened as betting fans are trying to make an alleged case that they lost money because the Yankees may have had an advantage to win.]

Of course, as most baseball fans know, “conventional” sign-stealing has taken place by ALL MLB teams for over 125 years.  An example would be an opposing team’s third base coach deciphering their catcher’s signs to their pitcher and, in turn, immediately sending the batter a signal identifying what pitch was about to be thrown.  Predetermined signals from the third base coach are then illustrated to the hitter such as the coach touching his cap twice or turning his body in a certain direction.  Conventional sign-stealing is also attempted without any electronic devices.

VERY UNCONVENTIONAL CHEATING

Remember what I said above?  “ALL teams were warned not to utilize any form of electronics or any other unconventional sign-stealing and, if they did, strong penalties would be implemented including the loss of draft picks.”  Well, both the Red Sox (the first team that initiated the cause of the threat) and the Astros completely ignored that warning and executed very unconventional cheating.  After the warning was issued, they both used electronics and other means to not only decipher patterns of pitches, but to also signal the information to their batters in a LIVE manner. 

The Astros, for instance, orchestrated the use of their centerfield camera to read the opposing catcher’s signals and then communicated directly to the area outside of the dugout where garbage pails were placed to act as drum instruments.  The amount of times the drums were pounded represented a sound to the hitter to know what pitch was coming his way.  The punishment, after a very long investigation, was for their manager (AJ Hinch) and General Manager (Jeff Luhnow) to be suspended for a year without pay.  The team, instead, decided to subsequently fire them.  Their Assistant General Manager (Brandon Taubman) received a lifetime ban.  The Astros were also fined a mere $5 million and stripped of their 2020 & 2021 first and second round draft picks.  They won the World Series that year so many feel they should have been stripped of their title or, at least, THE 2017 SEASON SHOULD NOW HAVE AN ASTERISK.  During the beginning of Spring Training this year (before the COVID-19 stoppage), opposing teams were drilling them with pitches.

As for the Red Sox, they also orchestrated the usage of electronics (in 2018) to transmit live data to their batters even after only 1 year of their previous fine and warning by the commissioner!  The details of their wrongdoing were not made public.  They too won a World Series and, like the Astros received a lot of hate from ticked off players and coaches from opposing teams and retired players.  Many of them also felt they should have had their title stripped.  Instead, they were probably going to receive a suspension of their Manager (Alex Cora), but they quickly mutually agreed to part ways to avoid further scrutiny and bad publicity.  Their Replay Operator (J.T. Watkins) was suspended for a year and they lost their second-round draft pick for 2020.  During that year, Carlos Beltran was also involved so the Mets fired him shortly after they hired him to be their Manager, to avoid any more bad publicity for them.  As usual, MLB treated the Red Sox gently – what a surprise!

Just like the Astros won the World Series in 2017 and was found in violation, the Red Sox won the World Series in 2018 after being found in violation.  So, likewise, THE 2017 SEASON SHOULD NOW HAVE AN ASTERISK.

In summary of this lengthy article, in the last 6 months between two severe investigation outcomes and the scheduled shortened season there are now 3 World Series Championships that deserve asterisks - the 2017, 2018, and 2020 seasons.  You may look at that and see one glimmer of hope, the 2019 season.  Well, I hate to disappoint you, but that one is currently in question.  That's because the Astros (yes, them again) have been accused by many that they cheated during the 2019 season and especially during the playoffs.  In fact, it was during the winning playoff game against the Yankees which incurred the main cause of doubt by many baseball fans (not just Yankees' fans) because the video replay of the winning homerun by José Altuve against Aroldis Chapman became very controversial.  As he rounded the bases, he shouted and illustrated to his teammates not to touch his shirt.  Once he crossed home plate, scoring the winning run, he avoided his teammates somewhat (like he was a breakable piece of glass) and ignored the broadcaster while scurrying to the dugout to change his shirt before immediately returning to the field for the interview.  The video also showed some type of bump under his shirt.  Many feel he was wired with cheating devices divulging what pitch was coming!

Wow, a lot of asterisks alongside World Series' notations are needed!!

HEALTH

Now that Spring Training has begun, each of the 30 teams has a refreshed hope.  The Win/Loss counter is set to 0/0 again.  With MLB considering adding more “qualifying” teams to the playoffs soon, the best teams should currently expedite their World Series’ goal before sub-.500 teams qualify as playoff teams.  Adding failing, undeserving teams will water down the matchups and factor more luck into the odds of winning.  Obviously, I completely dislike the new proposal as I feel failed seasonal teams don’t deserve to be rewarded (a story for a future blog).

The Yankees are already favored as either the top team or one of the top teams.  Last year, the Yankees had 30 different players on the Injured List (IL) and they’re already off to another awful injury trend with James Paxton (who just had back surgery about a week ago) and Luis Severino (who announced today that he will undergo the infamous Tommy John Surgery).  Paxton is expected to be pitching sometime around June and, now, Severino will not be able to pitch until sometime next season.

Just like last season, the Yankees do have some reserve players (in this specific case, pitchers) including Clarke Schmidt and Michael King (both righties who seem to be the closest rookies to being ready for the big leagues).  King is said to be slightly ahead of Schmidt in terms of reaching the majors first.  His two-seam fastball induces many of his outs via groundballs, which would surely be an advantage if the (superball) baseball is wound as tightly as it was last season.  Additionally, Jordan Montgomery returned at the end of last season from his Tommy John surgery and should be ready as a starter this season.  By the way, ironically, it was Tommy John who (before his forever-known surgery) was well known to have an awesome groundball-inducing pitch, too!  I love his 12-to-6 sinking pitches (envision a pitch going from the 12 of an analog clock to the 6).  Other pitchers have been in queue for more than a year, but none of them have been overwhelming enough, at least at his point, to enthusiastically qualify, if fans (including me) were the decision-makers.  Hopefully, the new crop of rookies and Montgomery will shine!

As for the NYY’s offense, we will always have to worry about the 3 big (physically) guys:  Gary Sanchez, Giancarlo Stanton, and Aaron Judge.  Their large, physical structure is seemingly more vulnerable to injuries (just like a lot of the large-physique players in the game, now and in the past).  Adding to their IL chances is the fact that Sanchez is a catcher and that Judge dives viciously into the ground during his defense and during his base-stealing efforts.

Even though we’ve already begun showing health issues, the key for this talented team is to be a lot healthier this season than last and to not overwhelm our reliance on too many of our reserves.  If that improvement is significant enough this season, then we will certainly be playoff bound, once again.  Decent health will definitely help the Yankees have a very good chance of achieving their 28^th World Series Championship in 2020 with this phenomenal team.

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

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

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

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

PEEK-A-BOOOOOOOOOO!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NY YANKEES' RESILIENCY

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

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

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

2019 - A SEASON FOR THE DECADE

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

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

Pitching

Starting Pitchers

Masahiro Tanaka (righty)

James Paxton (lefty)

J.A. Happ (lefty)

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

Relief Pitchers

Aroldis Chapman (lefty)

Adam Ottavino (righty)

Chad Green (righty)

Zack Britton (lefty)

Jonathan Holder (righty)

Tommy Kahnle (righty)

Stephen Tarpley (lefty)

Luis Cessa (righty) - also, a backup starter

Domingo German (righty) - also, a backup starter

Hitting

(Catchers)

Austin Romine (righty)

Gary Sanchez (righty)

(Infielders)

Miguel Andujar (righty)

Greg Bird (lefty)

D.J. LeMahieu (righty)

Gleyber Torres (righty)

Troy Tulowitzki (righty)

Luke Voit (righty)

(Outfielders)

Brett Gardner (lefty)

Aaron Judge (righty)

Mike Tauchman (lefty)

Giancarlo Stanton (righty)

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

(Hitters)

Adeiny Hechavarria

Andrew McCutchen

Ronald Torreyes

Neil Walker

(Pitchers)

Lance Lynn

Sonny Gray

David Robertson

A.J. Cole

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

(Hitters)

DJ LeMahieu

Troy Tulowitzki

Mike Tauchman

(Pitchers)

James Paxton

Adam Ottavino

Gio Gonzalez

J.A. Happ (re-signed)

Zack Britton (re-signed)

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

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

Now for the prediction:

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

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

FREE AGENTS AND AGENTS’ AGENTS

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

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

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

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

THE CLOSER

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

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

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

652 saves

0.70 E.R.A. in the playoffs

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

25 saves (or more) for 15 consecutive seasons

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

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