If a trade for Sonny Gray was to happen, the A's have said (or strongly indicated) that they want ss/22 prospect Jorge Mateo to be the main piece. A's scouts have been seen at Thunder games watching Mateo and others.
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Gray sports a 3.66 era with a 1.18 whip and is under control until 2020. Yanks need SP help if they do plan to compete.
I know a lot of you do not like Gray but if this does happen it clears a lot of questions. Its better than a 1 year rental for a pitcher. We still have our corp of Torres, Didi, Castro (either 3b or 2b) Fraizer and Judge plus we have Hicks and Ellsbury (uggggggghhhhhh) until Florial is ready to play CF (he is our future cf).
I fine if we don't trade for Gray. But the trade for Todd Frazier was pointless if we don't add a pitcher some where.
I think that a second block buster Gray and Alonzo may be in the works, I just hope we don't do anything stupid and give up the farm.
THIS
People get fooled by the power, but we learned time and time again in the early 2000s that a team reliant on HR struggles in the playoffs when they face better pitching.
The Yanks need guys who will get on base and all big innings to develop while wearing down the SP and bullpen in a playoff series.
That is why I keep saying that this is NOT a team ready for contention- and we need to wait a year or two before going "all in." They have a number of key pieces working their way through the system- Torres, Mateo, and Frazier are going to play big roles in the "have power but get on base a LOT" group eventually. Bird will as well when he recovers.
The SP is coming fast too- along with power bullpen arms. The Yanks might NOT add Adams this year because he does NOT need to be protected from the Rule 5 draft this winter- and would take away a valuable roster spot from someone else.
Caleb Smith should be allowed to start as often as he can in the second half to find out if he is a SP- with the backup plan being a power lefty arm in the pen.
Acevedo is doing quite well in AA and AAA starts- and could be ready by mid-season next year. Best case is he might be a front-end SP. Worst case, he's the next Betances.
We won't know what they have in Kap and Schmidt until next spring- but once both knock the rust off in April, they will likely be in AA and less than a year from the bigs- with potentially very high ceilings.
The Yanks are going to make some very difficult decisions this winter and into next year- some will be very unpopular with the fan base. Nevertheless, the bottom line is that this season's goal has been- and remains- treading water in the AL until the next wave arrives in 2018 and 2019.
Plus he's a lefty which we are short on going into the future
One or both of them is definitely getting sold imo at some time in the next year. I'd much rather move Castro but if they move both I would think Didi would bring back a pretty damn good package
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Because he provides quality D at SS. I'd deal Castro in a heartbeat, though.
Plus he's a lefty which we are short on going into the future
One or both of them is definitely getting sold imo at some time in the next year. I'd much rather move Castro but if they move both I would think Didi would bring back a pretty damn good package
I could be persuaded if we could dump Headley and Ellsbury in the process however.
I don't want to go back to the old ways of signing FA for most positions, but realistically we can't protect all of oir good prospects from Rule 5, or find them MLB roster playing time. Some of them will be packaged to deal from strength to shore up weakness. In Cashman We Trust.
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But then again, the Yanks have a history of this type of hype when trying to trade their farm talent.
Exactly! Remember Montero? No? Me neither...
Sanchez - C
Judge - RF
Holliday - DH
Castro - 2B
Gregorius - SS
T. Frazier - 3B
Headley - 1B
C. Frazier - LF
Sabathia
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Agree. Don't love Danchez hitting in front of Judge. Too many swings and misses. I like Danchez better in the 6 hole with 1-5 of Gerdner, C Frazier, Judge, Holiday and Castro. I also like the flexibility of having Didi hit second and you can drop C Frazier to 5th or 6th.
That's amazing. Just in time for the top off too (Harper, Machado, Keuchel and Miller)
Arod 21M
Holiday 13M
Pimeda 7M
Clippard 6.5M
Carter 3.5M
about 75M coming off the books which would put them way below.
But the starting rotation is going to missing pieces and several arbitration players will get raises that could total 10 -15 million added together. Plus Robertson was added for 13M next year. Which cancels out Holiday who I do not expect back.
MLB Payroll at the start of 2017 was 196M. That doesn't include benefits etc which count and are about another 10%.
in order to get below the tax in 2019 payroll needs to be about 180 max at any time all year in 2018. 2018 tax threshold is 197M.