Yanks Beat Royals, Win Series

Mike Mussina gave up three runs in the top of the first, then protected it through six while his teammates scored 15, including a 3 run ARod blast in the bottom of the first and a Giambi grand slam in the bottom of the second, for his 16th win. He has 8 starts to make it to 20, and seems to have a better shot at making his goal than the Yanks do of making their's. After an off day tomorrow, the Yanks go up to Toronto for a series they must really sweep. They haven't had much luck against Toronto or their next opponent Baltimore this year, so it will be make or break.

As you probably know by now the Yankees failed to sign their first round pick, Gerrit Cole by Friday's deadline. It is unclear how they ended up taking a kid who some time between the draft and the deadline decided he only wanted to join a middling UCLA baseball program rather than hear an offer from the Yanks. Still between missing out on Cole, spending their supplemental pick on a kid they could sign to a below slot contract, and drafting a reliever who they could not sign because of concerns over his shoulder, the Yanks top three picks now look like an utter trainwreck.

Bleich may turn out to be okay, but trying to go underslot on a supp pick, when there were so many high ceiling kids still on the board seems pennywise and pound foolish. We must assume they were only looking for a bargain there cause they expected Cole to be so expensive. It's unclear how long the Yanks knew they weren't getting Cole before the deadline, but it is surprising that they didn't end up moving the budget around to sign more picks like Anders, Dwyer, McMahan and Monar.

Taking all of this into account, the Yanks did sign a lot of good picks including Brett Marshall and Garrison Lassiter, but in order to maintain the A I saw for them right after the draft instead of the C/C+ they deserve now, they had to sign their top pick, and show a better strategy for the top 3. They will receive a compensatory first and second for Cole and Bittle next year, but those picks cannot be developed while they wait to use them. If anyone had said in June that August 15th would pass and the Yanks would have neither Cole nor Michel Inoa under contract, I think it would have been met with laughter. I wonder what's going on over there.