This Week on the Blog
Yankees: Greg Bird is back!!! This is huge. Though Tyler Austin and Neil Walker have done yeoman's work in his absence, this is a core guy who's had ridiculously bad luck, And bad luck for Bird is bad luck for the Yanks. As we expected the Yanks sent Toe to AAA. I have no idea why Twitter is so upset. Suzyn can't have that many false handles. And while I believe they're carrying too many pitchers, once Walker found his bat and Torres came up, this was the only move that made sense. Now, perhaps, Tyler Austin can relax. He's homered about as frequently as Gleyber and the Yanks need that. Especially since the top of the order is struggling. Maybe Booney will put the names in a hat like Billy did once or twice. Big homestand and they have to keep winning.
Giants: The Giants have gone througb 3 of a scheduled 10 OTA's. They have their 4th one Tuesday and it will be open to the press. I guess the best news out of the practices is that Eli has looked great. Could it be that they finally have an offense that makes the most of what he can do, instead of hanging out at the extremes of his skill set? Anyway, that's exciting and the tapes look good. Now we just need them to get through the mini-camp without incident. Thing are feeling Gianty again, like they used to under Tuna and the Colonel.
Rangers: So the Rangers hired David Quinn, who was one of the best candidates in their chosen pool. Now he's got to hire a staff (which might include an offensive coordinator and a European), and right after this weekend they have to attend the NHL Combine that starts on Tuesday. I'm sure there will be a lot of rumors since they are loaded up for a tradeup, but the Gordy/Gorton combo has always been a big fan of guys who kill the combine. That's how they targeted Kreider and McDonagh. So we'll have to see if they are associated with any names.
Knicks: Fiz talked to KP and got him so excited he tweeted about it. A face to face meeting is coming and that might just heal his knee. Seriously, Coach is killing this part of the job. The draft is still over three weeks aways and the Knicks haven't had any private work outs yet, so that's something else to keep and eye on.
So there we have it. Bird is the word and their is quiet competency being shown throughout the domain. What else is possible?
Have a great one.
posted by Kalel9 @ 10:40 AM
86 Comments:
Move Didi down, way down.
Lindsey Adler: Brian Cashman says Jacoby Ellsbury is still dealing with a back issue and is not doing baseball activities but added that “everything he’s had has been diagnosed legitimately by a doctor.”
Anyone taking bets on whether or not we ever see him in a Yankee uniform again?
Follow the Six model.
They're getting his money back in insurance while he's injured and would have to eat it he he were outrighted.
Yes, but they couldn’t have known he would keep getting injured. They need a decision in place if he ever gets healthy and it should be to move on. He was never tradable from the time of contact formation.
Gray MUST pitch well tonight.
I have < 0 patience with Gray.
As long as he's injured there's no opportunity cost to having him until the offseason when there is no DL and he has to be on the 40.
Bad defense so far.
Woo hoo!
Now let's score some runs!
GARDY GOES YARDY!
ALL RISE!!!!!!!!!!
Play him in CF every day.
I’m saying Ellsbury will be healthy eventually. Have a plan in place.
JUDGE!
Stanton's a mess.
He is but Didi offers less hope for sustained improvement.
Not worried about Stanton. Didi should no longer bat 3rd.
Sonny's got some funk.
Gray settled down.
ROMINE!!!!
Pass the stuff, Romine!
Closing his stance has unlocked his cheat code.
Just two guys he can't get out.
Yanks were gonna take Trout with the pick they forfeited for Tex. Then they were praying he'd fall to their later first round pick because they nobody knew his as well as they did. Then the Angeld took him with our pick.
Trout is ridiculous
Once they signed Tex it was over.
C'mon, Sonny.
His pitch count is terrible
Ugh. Get a double play!
Now let's score more!
I don’t think he will ever be great here unless they get a great pitching coach, but if he treads water he can be a trade chip.
Gled they are talking about how the umps routinely screw Judge.
Didi stopped grinding.
UGH!
Stanton gets an assist!
Gray picking up his pace.
Just walk Trout.
Gutless.
If you want to plat Romine because he’s hot lately, I get it. If you want to say it’s because Gray feels more comfortable with him, bullshit.
Pitiful outing
Dustin Fowler is the starting CF for Oakland.
We'll come back now.
Bird caught looking after an extended AB.
Gleyber misses one.
Judge with an infield hit!
Didi is just one bad AB after another now.
Unfortunate.
Gleyber with another error.
Dammit. Wake up Yankees.
Kahnle looks like crap.
Boone's got to do a better job.
I believe we can still win this, even down 5.
Holder has sort of earned a bigger role given how bad the pen can be.
It’s becoming an issue whether or not Gray can remain in the rotation. The knock on effects are costly.
Down 7... Shreve
Is Gray hurt?
Because I am skeptical that this is a handles NY thing.
He was good when he got here (no run support), and is/was known to be a competitor.
Is there a mechanical issue? IDK. Is Rothschild missing it?
Something is badly affecting his command.
It's impossible to tell. We all wanted new pitching and bullpen coaches.
Getting screwed on balls and strikes.
Leave the bases loaded.
As good as they have been they can be better. The lineup is too inflexible, which is weird because early in the season, he moved Didi up and Stanton down very quickly. Now, nothing.
And some players play that shouldn’t. Others don’t and should.
Yep. Clint Frazier being chief among them.
I do think New York has gotten into Gray’s head, even if it wasn’t at first. Problem is, there aren’t really any alternatives.
Davidoff killing Boone over not walking Trout with a man on 3B.
If Hal would be willing to go all out to sign Machado, and the Os had interest in Didi as a major piece (I’m skeptical) they should engage in trade talks.
The O’s aren’t trading Machado to an AL East team, and Didi is better than he’s shown, just like he wasn’t as good as he showed in April. He needs to be moved down the order and told to refocus on his patient approach.
They need a big lefty bat, not Machado, if we’re talking the offseason.
Better yes, good enough to give a big contract to, no.
Good top of the first
When Gray gets traded, can we see Gray fades to black?
Stanton still a mess, but that called third strike was borderline.
They actually need Frazier’s bat. Instead they will trade him in yet another bad trade for a SP.
That call was even more borderline.
Tanaka with a great start.
Ridiculous wind keeps Bird in the park. But he's having good AB's.
Also keeps Gleyber in the park.
Credit where credit is due: Chapman has avoided the struggles of the other relievers and has been mostly money. Hope he keeps it up through the end of next year so he’ll opt out.
Team needs SP...maybe 2 arms. They have enough offense and the best chip with any value is Frazier.
Team needs Frazier
And Cashman sucks at SP trades
Sheffield is the best solution and we already traded for him.
Call me on it if I’m wrong. If they stupidly trade Frazier they will regret for 10-15 years.
See what pitchers are available for Hicks, Drury, even Didi. They are all expendable and flawed.
They sort of don’t have a choice, as the present rotation is at best mediocre. I’ll reserve judgment until if/when the trades are actually made.
Mostly because the Gray trade sucks.
So they created the choice issue.
Tanaka will battle, as will CC. German will likely better if they are patient.
Emphasize your strengths. Stay away from your weaknesses.
We haven't made a good trade since we sold..
The Gray trade was for mostly broken parts. It hasn’t worked out, but I can’t really fault Cashman for wanting to cash in (no pun intended) on those assets while they still had at least some value.
Cashman’s biggest weakness is more meta in nature, in that he’s failed to put together a top-tier rotation to compliment the offense. But I put at least part of that on Hal for not wanting to spend when aces were available as free agents.
But it didn't have to be made at all, those parts are now all healing and could have been used for a better target.
If Hal had spent when those free agents were available they likely would have been too competitive to trade Chapman and Miller for top prospects, which are Cashman’s best trades.
If they can go through this season with being disciplined enough to trade only expendable pieces (Gray, Hicks, Didi) then Hal can be criticized if he doesn’t spend in the offseason (although spending in and of itself is not a dealbreaker imo).
I include Didi because we are seeing why he may age so poorly. If his approach continues to suck as his bat speed declines, he may become a significantly below average hitter. I was willing to acknowledge I was wrong about him based on his Bondsian April. But to be this bad for so long while swinging at so many first pitches even the pitcher he is facing has been demonstrating poor command, that’s a big red flag.
Encouraging reports on Flowers at RT.
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