This Week on the Blog
Giants: The Giants play the 49ers tonight. I've despised the 49ers since the Walsh era, and I hope the Giants make quick work of them tonight. Really, I don't want to see another game where the outcome is in question in the final 10 minutes. The 49ers are a bad team now, and the Giants have to step on them. So no mistakes and keep your foot on the gas. Then the Giants have to think about re-integrating Will Beatty and maybe even JPP.
Rangers: The Rangers are off to a strong start, and some of their best players, like Kreider and Nash, haven't even scored goals yet. We should see those guys join the party any minute now, but I'm not sure that life isn't setting the groundwork for a Rick Nash trade. I remember talking about trading Gaborik a few years ago and being told "no way." But the Rangers are and will be desperate for cap room, and Nash has not really won over the crowd, and isn't even wearing a letter, even after St. Louis' retirement. Just a thought that he's the most obvious place to find more cap space.
Knicks: The Knicks have really looked like a team in the early going. Unlike last year's team, everyone seems to be on board, and there's no weird vibe about it, and no JR Smith's. Kristaps Porzingis was nervous in game one, then began to show his all around abilities in game two. Both he and Jerian Grant look like ringers. This is an exciting time to be a Knick fan, even if they won't contend.
Yanks: The AFL starts this week. The hitters the Yanks have sent are pretty ho-hum, but the pitchers they've sent are anything but. Domingo Acevedo and Ian Clarkin are probably the Yanks 1 and 2 pitching prospects now that Severino has gradutated to the majors. They both need innings. Acevedo was limited to around 50 this year because of a blister problem, and Ian missed the whole season, so those two will be worth the price of boxscore tracking - at least. And, of course, there are a million other things they need to do.
Have a great week, everyone!
posted by Kalel9 @ 2:10 PM
15 Comments:
Vujacic looks good so far and is apparently helping Zinger's transition.
Hell yeah
Lawyer, following up on your post in the other thread: I would hold onto McCann for another year then offer him up to the Braves while agreeing to pay a chunk of the remaining salary. After the 2016 season, they'll be opening their new ballpark and might could use McCann as an attraction (Braves fans like him). As far as his NTC goes, I'd tell him going forward Murphy and Sanchez are the future catchers and he would be regulated to backup 1B/C.
What if he has a worse year or gets hurt,?
Branch Rickey:
"Trade a player a year too early rather than a year too late."
If I felt Sanchez were ready, I'd agree. But I think he needs a little more seasoning in AAA; plus, Teix and Beltran will be off the roster after next year, which gives the team a bit more flexibility should they have to make McCann a bench player if he refuses to be traded at first.
They wont do it anyway, but they are almost certainly not winning the WS next year so why not start transitioning the roster so that they can win it as soon as possible, and that requires trading veterans when they can get the biggest return.
Porzi has s less severe version of quad he pulled in pre-draft workout out until Friday.
I agree with LINJ, except that their veterans are all signed to such bad contracts as to render them untradeable, with the exception of people they shouldn't want to trade like Miller. Of their younger players who have attractive contracts, I wouldn't want to trade Betances, Warren, Eovaldi, JR, or Did I and would be reluctant to trade Pineda unless someone made an offer I couldn't refuse.
Why do people pay Heyman for so little substance?
While the Yankees may be disinclined to go for the big-ticket pitching items (i.e. David Price, Greinke, etc.), there is expected to be real interest in free agent right-hander Jeff Samardzija. We have more details on that here ... Cashman is correct in that the Yankees didn't "over-achieve" this year. Frankly, they were simply much better than they were given credit for. The winter pickups all worked, including Andrew Miller, Didi Gregorius, Nate Eovaldi and Justin Wilson (though Francisco Cervelli was obviously very good in Pittsburgh)... Second base was a rough spot this year, but it appears the Yankees are leaning toward going with Rob Refsnyder and Dustin Ackley next year. They do like both Ben Zobrist and Martin Prado, who provide the type of versatility they loves, as Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported ... One reason Ellsbury would have been a better choice than Brett Gardner to play the Wild Card Game is Ellsbury's excellent postseason history. The front office was in agreement with Joe Girardi's call to go with Gardner due to a better year this year and more productivity over the last two years. Ellsbury was said to be healthy, but he wasn't the same player after injuring his knee in Washington in the first half ... Assuming Mark Teixeira heals, he is the first baseman next year, which means Greg Bird, who has options, may have to go back to the minors. There wouldn't appear to be room as things stand now for Aaron Judge, either, so it's possible they could use these players to get the ace pitcher they'd like to have.
This typifies what is wrong with the Yankees, the idea that they have to "get guys going" when it's almost a certainty that it's not going to happen for an entire season. They say that one definition of insanity is doing the same thing that doesn't work over and over again ...
They have to trade Gardner, anything less would be a cosmetic change:
http://yankees.lhblogs.com/2015/10/14/meant-set-table-ellsbury-gardner-became-drain-yankees/
I get the sense that at least someone in the Yankee organization is using the lohud blog to float the idea of trading Gardner or Ellsbury, as well as that of having Refs start or platoon at 2B. From the moment they signed Ellsbury right when they knew they were losing Caon, it seemed at least possible that they rushed to get him signed before the news came out that they had lost Cano and that PR considerations (however misplaced) played a significant role in the decision to sign him, perhaps outweighing baseball considerations. Were that the case, someone coming from a purely baseball perspective might well have opposed the Ellsbury signing and be trying to undo it (or get even) now. I don't know enough about the dramatis personae to have a firm opinion as to who is doing what, especially given how close things are played to the chest post George III, but I wouldn't be surprised if Levine were playing the PR side given his role in resigning ARod.
The the Yankees have two problems with free agents: 1) they often spend the money poorly (I put that primarily on Cashman); 2) they largely only spend when they have money coming off the books and then they spend it all (I put that on Hal).
Think about how stupid the later is in term of a business plan. Great opportunities may arise and even though they have a cash cow revenue producing franchise, they demur because their financial strategy is so skewed.
So people in the media may be willing to run with the meme that Hal is a business man, but the facts demonstrate otherwise.
They better hope the Mets lose Game 5 because they have a young mostly cost-controlled core that isn't going away for at least a few years.
Via LoHud, this breakdown supports the idea that continuing to play nose diving veterans over younger players demonstrates the kind of intransigence that should result in a firing.
But not here, because Hal isn't hungry enough to care. If Murphy, Refs, Slade, and Ackley had been given everyday jobs in early September, they may have had at least a chance to advance in the playoffs.
JACOBY ELLSBURY
Before August 1: .286/.357/.366
After August 1: .227/.277/.324
BRETT GARDNER
Before August 1: .291/.373/.462
After August 1: .203/.288/.290
ALEX RODRIGUEZ
Before August 1: .282/.386/.544
After August 1: .191/.300/.377
MARK TEIXEIRA
Before August 1: .269/.375/.585
After August 1: .175/.242/.333
CARLOS BELTRAN
Before August 1: .261/.316/.435
After August 1: .297/.365/.520
BRIAN McCANN
Before August 1: .252/.324/.459
After August 1: .199/.312/.398
CHASE HEADLEY
Before August 1: .273/.324/.393
After August 1: .233/.325/.325
DIDI GREGORIUS
Before August 1: .256/.305/.350
After August 1: .278/.338/.400
STEPHEN DREW
Before August 1: .192/.264/.377
After August 1: .224/.291/.393
JOHN RYAN MURPHY
Before August 1: .284/.327/.389
After August 1: .267/.328/.433
CHRIS YOUNG
Before August 1: .266/.319/.494
After August 1: .210/.323/.333
BRENDAN RYAN
Before August 1: .314/.351/.543
After August 1: .180/.231/.213
Beltran and Didi are the only ones on that list that improved as the season went on. (OPS-wise, Headley was about the same.) That's alarming.
Yup, and if they didn't have any better alternatives, then fine, then you live with it, but they did, and that makes me fear that the 2016 season will be about smoke and mirrors while some young players stagnate until/unless veterans have significant injuries.
I hope I am wrong.
Post a Comment
<< Home