NFT: Yankees Thread Aug 13th

If passed balls were an issue before for Gary, catching Britton will be a challenge.

Bird is clearly a worry moving forward. The sample size is now large enough where you have to start thinking of backup options. No idea if that means Andujar or not, but it is atleast interesting think about.

In comment 14037770 UConn4523 said:

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Bird is clearly a worry moving forward. The sample size is now large enough where you have to start thinking of backup options. No idea if that means Andujar or not, but it is atleast interesting think about.

Just looked up heights. Andujar is 6'00". Oddly the list Walker at 6'3"????

And Andujar to 1st would be an awesome lineup. Have to imagine Andujar would be a better glove at first too. Machado, Didi, and Torres might be the best fielding infield in baseball.

In comment 14037783 adamg said:

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And Andujar to 1st would be an awesome lineup. Have to imagine Andujar would be a better glove at first too. Machado, Didi, and Torres might be the best fielding infield in baseball.

Andujar has trouble with short hops, how would that play out at 1st??? He is also the shortest starter in the infield according to the Yanks.

swing or if he's just rusty. But the production is just not there. The Yankees once again have some of the worst offensive production at first base in all of MLB. It's definitely something they need to figure out.

Maybe Bird comes around? Maybe a platoon with Voit is the answer? Maybe moving Andujar over is the right call? Whatever the solution, this production can't be acceptable in the long term.

and said the Yanks may put in a claim for Donaldson and I am assuming he'd play 1B. That doesn't mean he would definitely come here. I don't know what his contract is like beyond this year. I also have no idea if he is even healthy.

In comment 14037786 section125 said:

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In comment 14037783 adamg said: Quote: And Andujar to 1st would be an awesome lineup. Have to imagine Andujar would be a better glove at first too. Machado, Didi, and Torres might be the best fielding infield in baseball. Andujar has trouble with short hops, how would that play out at 1st??? He is also the shortest starter in the infield according to the Yanks.

You brought up the hypothetical. Andujar's glove is a problem anywhere it seems. I don't think they move Andujar to first. If they bring in Machado, Andujar is gone.

a bit cursory but pretty accurate - graduations have thinned, some of the top prospects have been hurt, but a lot of exciting new players, especially arms, on the way up.
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In comment 14037799 adamg said:

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In comment 14037786 section125 said: Quote: In comment 14037783 adamg said: Quote: And Andujar to 1st would be an awesome lineup. Have to imagine Andujar would be a better glove at first too. Machado, Didi, and Torres might be the best fielding infield in baseball. Andujar has trouble with short hops, how would that play out at 1st??? He is also the shortest starter in the infield according to the Yanks. You brought up the hypothetical. Andujar's glove is a problem anywhere it seems. I don't think they move Andujar to first. If they bring in Machado, Andujar is gone.

I agree with this. Harper can play first if we go in that direction. Machado can play 3B until we have to make a commitment on Didi. I wonder if we sign him to an extension when his contract is up. But at that point I think Torres would be the likely next SS and not Machado.

a corner OF would probably make more sense than a move to 1B, though neither is warranted at this point. I like Machado, but is he $300 million more valuable than Andujar?

In comment 14037799 adamg said:

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In comment 14037786 section125 said: Quote: You brought up the hypothetical. Andujar's glove is a problem anywhere it seems. I don't think they move Andujar to first. If they bring in Machado, Andujar is gone.

Davidoff brought up the hypothetical and also guessed he would be moved for a SP....I would hate to lose the bat. I was thinking aloud about Andujar at 1st which of course brings up fielding.

but they don't go after both Harper and Machado. That would be $700 mill in contracts with Judge and Sanchez coming up.

I briefly thought of Judge at 1st.....

I've been sort of stubborn on Bird but I still feel like I need to see more before I really form an opinion on him or give up on him.

If you total his AB's over the last 3 years, the results aren't good and it's a fair sample size - but they're so scattered that I don't feel like there's enough consistency.

This is the first year he's even eclipsed 50 games. I think he needs to just keep playing so that we can figure out what he is or isn't. I'm not sure anyone can reliably draw that conclusion on him just yet.

In comment 14037803 Dunedin81 said:

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a corner OF would probably make more sense than a move to 1B, though neither is warranted at this point. I like Machado, but is he $300 million more valuable than Andujar?

No, he isn’t. While I like Machado more than Harper, it’s for this reason why Harper makes more sense for the Yanks. Adding his walks and HRs out of the leadoff spot and giving us a 3 headed monster in the OF just makes more sense if I had to pick one and assuming costs are relatively even.

but it would be wasting his arm and + athletic ability.

What about Stanton??

In comment 14037816 section125 said:

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but they don't go after both Harper and Machado. That would be $700 mill in contracts with Judge and Sanchez coming up. I briefly thought of Judge at 1st.....

Of course. It would be one or the other or neither.

In comment 14037826 arcarsenal said:

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I've been sort of stubborn on Bird but I still feel like I need to see more before I really form an opinion on him or give up on him. If you total his AB's over the last 3 years, the results aren't good and it's a fair sample size - but they're so scattered that I don't feel like there's enough consistency. This is the first year he's even eclipsed 50 games. I think he needs to just keep playing so that we can figure out what he is or isn't. I'm not sure anyone can reliably draw that conclusion on him just yet.

Yes, I agree. He needs to play the year out and maybe even next year. Sometimes the light just comes on. No way Cash says he is the best pure batter in the organization without seeing something.

Keep Andujar and live with the growing pains while he continues to hit. The stupidest fan in the world has become the new Yankee fan, the spoiled brat new fan.

I would rather a team of kids coming up and going through all the growing pains and let them mature and gel. In the meantime get a fucking pitching staff and the yanks would be fine.

Next year the moves I would make is Corbin, that is a good starter, that is what we need. I would resign Haap also. Then let Gardner move on and give Frazier a shot, he makes it great, if not you are paying pennies anyway. I would also resign Britton, he will be okay. We don't need Machado, nor harper, nor any of these big free agents. Corbin will be big enough.

he's not going to play CF much, he's below average even as a corner OF (though the bandboxes of the AL East would probably take a chunk out of that). The lineup would be amazing, no doubt, but you'd have to commit to DHing one of the three each and every day, and that's a tough sell for a $30 mil or so pricetag.

In comment 14037831 Jay in Toronto said:

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but it would be wasting his arm and + athletic ability. What about Stanton??

Judge is so much better a fielder. Judge looks smooth and controlled. Stanton looks stiff to me. Not sure how that translates to ground balls and short hops....

I think we can spend the money elsewhere and get the rotation back in business along with additional depth. But if we were getting one I think I’d prefer Harper.

In comment 14037848 PaulN said:

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Keep Andujar and live with the growing pains while he continues to hit. The stupidest fan in the world has become the new Yankee fan, the spoiled brat new fan. I would rather a team of kids coming up and going through all the growing pains and let them mature and gel. In the meantime get a fucking pitching staff and the yanks would be fine. Next year the moves I would make is Corbin, that is a good starter, that is what we need. I would resign Haap also. Then let Gardner move on and give Frazier a shot, he makes it great, if not you are paying pennies anyway. I would also resign Britton, he will be okay. We don't need Machado, nor harper, nor any of these big free agents. Corbin will be big enough.

This. The starting pitching is the issue and that needs to be the focus.

days of 250M payrolls.

We already have ascending players at their positions, and more glaring needs at others, why create a logjam while restricting our ability to maneuver? Just because we have 30M coming off the books doesn’t mean we can add 30M a year for the next 10.

Sheffield is a start, and Corbin seems to be a likely target. I'm not so sure I go back to the well with CC, but he's certainly pitched better than I expected for the second straight season.

We'll be in the market for a reliever, too - Britton will probably want to close somewhere and Robertson's a free agent.

he also doesn't strike out. He would be a fantastic addition to the Yankees team of 3 outcome hitters. But not as SS. He's not a good SS. The Yankees are about 10 million under the tax right now. The tax goes up 10 million next year. Robertson, CC, Gardner, Walker, McCann & Headley are over 40 million coming off the books. The Yankees will have plenty of money to spend this winter and still stay under the tax if that's Hal's order.

now I'm not so sure. Sub-.240 since July 1, .228 with a .618 OPS since. Defense is still stellar but he doesn't steal bags the way he used to and he's on pace for 14 or 15 HRs.

that should read.

but I think it's getting near to turn the page. His defense will be missed. He gets as good a jump on the baseball in any direction as any outfielder. His slumps at the plate are longer and more often.

But only as a spare OF/late inning defensive replacement type. I don't think he gets many starts if he returns.

favorites, but I'm beginning to see cracks in the wall. He is still the fastest Yankee (by statcast) and I think he is still their best defensive OF, if weakest arm. But the bat is getting inconsistent even if he is a tough out.
Really going to be hard to play him over Frazier next season.

As much agonizing as we've gone through in Yankee threads over the past month, they still have the second best record in baseball.

BTW, for those who are assuming the Sawx will just keep on sailing along straight into the playoffs - the Dodgers were actually ahead of the Sawx pace at this point last year before going 13-17 in their last 30 games, and that was a roster that had fewer holes than this Boston team.

In comment 14038046 section125 said:

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favorites, but I'm beginning to see cracks in the wall. He is still the fastest Yankee (by statcast) and I think he is still their best defensive OF, if weakest arm. But the bat is getting inconsistent even if he is a tough out. Really going to be hard to play him over Frazier next season.

I'm a Gardy fan as well and think he's still a really good OF. However, both Hicks and Judge track and get to just as many balls as Gardy does and given their arm strengths I think they've surpassed him as being their best defensive OF.

I think they're all excellent and it's close but the arms put them ahead for me. Nice problem to have with three really good defensive OF's and here's hoping we get Judge back out there soon.

wouldn't view them as some overwhelming World Series favorite. When healthy, we've played them even, and Cleveland and Houston have pitching staffs built for postseason play.

In comment 14038057 Greg from LI said:

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As much agonizing as we've gone through in Yankee threads over the past month, they still have the second best record in baseball. BTW, for those who are assuming the Sawx will just keep on sailing along straight into the playoffs - the Dodgers were actually ahead of the Sawx pace at this point last year before going 13-17 in their last 30 games, and that was a roster that had fewer holes than this Boston team.

2nd best record in all of baseball and you'd think the team was .500 based on some of the narratives. It's crazy.

I don't even just mean BBI - when I listen to the radio, so many of the Yankee calls are NEGATIVE and this team is on pace to win 103 games!

Crazy.

In comment 14038075 bceagle05 said:

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wouldn't view them as some overwhelming World Series favorite. When healthy, we've played them even, and Cleveland and Houston have pitching staffs built for postseason play.

I think Happ and Lynn are a substantial upgrade over Gray and whomever. I agree that full lineup vs full lineup I like the Yankees vs the Sox. Not really concerned too much by Cleveland as the hitting is not on par with Boston, New York or Houston.

But right now I'd still go:
Boston (just a great hitting team)
Houston (starting pitching advantage)
New York
Cleveland
Oakland
Seattle

In any other year, being 74-43 would be great, but no one sees 74-43. They only see "9.5 games back".

Whatever. Get healthy, get Sanchez and Judge hitting again, and I'll take my chances in the postseason against anyone.

Yeah. I am still skeptical about Boston just pushing this pace all the way through October. I guess we'll find out....

...have 3-4 total zeroes in them, dreck like Bradley, Leon, Swihart, Nunez. They're being carried by two guys hitting like Barry Bonds. If either of them goes into a slump, that's going to be a major problem for them.

That hasn't worked out well for the Yanks in recent years.

I think you have Sevy as the ace, Tanaka as the #2 and then fill in the rest from there. Gray just cannot stay next year. CC should be let go.

Sheffield should be ready next spring- though they may decide to pull a Torres and hold him back in AAA long enough to prevent him from getting a full season on ML service to delay his FA clock by a year.

I think they stand a decent chance of being able to convince Lynn to stay on a one-year deal. He had a really poor start to the season and will need a good season in 2019 to get the multi-year contract he likely wants. I think he and his agent probably conclude that pitching with the Yanks in 2019 probably increases the chances that he can put up a big win total to sell in FA after 2019.

Keep in mind that Montgomery probably returns sometime around July next season- maybe August.

I suppose the Yanks can try and get Happ to come back, but he has pitched well enough this season to get a very good contract somewhere. I suppose the Yanks can overpay and keep him, but I am not as sure that they would match any multi-year offers. Happ is going to be 36 next season, but some desperate team may well make him a 2-3 year offer. I don't think the Yanks go there.

The Yanks have some VERY good SP coming through the minors very quickly. They might not want to tie up a lot of years or money in older vets.

I think they test the trade market for high end SP- but I don't think that they will be very successful there.

Things are not as bad as many here portray as far as SP goes.

I think everyone realizes that Ellsbury will be moved in some way or form this off-season. While simply releasing him is an option, I think that if the Yanks are willing to take a bad deal in return, they can make a trade and save at least a few million dollars.

One idea- trade Ellsbury to the M's for Felix Hernandez. King Felix is not the SP he once was- in fact, he's struggling to even be a SP anymore. However, he is due just under $28M in 2019 (though it only counts as $25M for luxury tax purposes). Ellsbury is due just over $21.1M in 2019 and 2020, with a $5M buyout (though it counts as $21.857M for luxury taxes).

The Yanks could agree to pay half of the difference between Ellsbury and Felix's salaries. The difference is somewhere around $19M. So, say the Yanks agree to pay about $10M- or offer to add a prospect and the M's take on the difference- the Yanks would basically break even in 2019- and save about $15M in luxury tax in 2019.

If King Felix is done, the Yanks have plenty of young SP in AAA who just need a bit more time to develop- and they could eat that contract, if necessary. If Felix can find one more decent season, it is an overpay, but saves them from dealing with Ellsbury, while buying more time for the young high-upside SP coming up.

one dud at Fenway and I'm not sure the NYY faithful would be clambering for another year of Happ or Lynn.

It's an interesting SP market. Kershaw opting out would create some very interesting decisions. He can't stay healthy, but when he is healthy he's easily a Top 10 pitcher in baseball.

Keuchel will be 31, has had some injury concerns, and is not the pitcher he was a couple years ago, but he's still pretty good.

Gio is coming up on 33 and has been good but not great this year.

Corbin had that velo drop earlier in the year (he has recovered some but not all of that velocity) but is still getting outs. Still, something about him just screams (irrationally, to be sure) Carl Pavano. Inconsistent results until his walk year, then turns it on, cashes in.

Charlie Morton and his magical fountain of success is a hard pass for me, unless the price is bargain basement (and it won't be).

CC on a one or even a two-year deal probably makes the most sense.

Let's assume he does. So that gives you

Severino
Tanaka
Sheffield

You can't count on anything from Montgomery next season, and I don't think they're bringing back more than one from the group of Sabathia/Happ/Lynn. My guess would be Sabathia, because he's probably not interested in playing elsewhere for more money and has been the best pitcher of the three this year. So that gives you four. They will still need to come up with another starter.

Felix Hernandez?

Yuck - hard pass. He's been absolutely awful this year and has progressively gotten worse each year since 2014.

TONS of mileage on that arm - over 2500 innings.

Wouldn't touch him. He's done.

In comment 14038147 Greg from LI said:

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Let's assume he does. So that gives you Severino Tanaka Sheffield You can't count on anything from Montgomery next season, and I don't think they're bringing back more than one from the group of Sabathia/Happ/Lynn. My guess would be Sabathia, because he's probably not interested in playing elsewhere for more money and has been the best pitcher of the three this year. So that gives you four. They will still need to come up with another starter.

Happ is healthier and after a bad start has been pretty good.
CC fights his butt off and that knee ain't getting any better, but he's a #5 at best.

That's my guess.

but Sabathia has the 9th best ERA in the AL this year.

If CC wants to come back for one more I would do it. He's reinvented himself in a way where I think he'll still be effective. He's pitching very well this year. Obviously not the horse he once was - but he's a rock solid mid-rotation guy right now.

6 innings is pretty much his max now, and often he leaves after 5. That does tax the bullpen.

It does, but I think you're going to get that with a couple of starters regardless. As long as 3-4 of the other guys in the rotation can give you better length, I think we can swim with CC for another year.

lets him pass Pedro on the career K list. Do it for Zimm!

- Jonathan Loaisiga threw his first live action in the Gulf Coast League over the weekend. Only 1 2/3 innings, but Boone says he threw well and they now need to build up his endurance again.

- Gary Sanchez is getting close. He has taken both hitting and catching practice and may start rehabbing soon

- Clint Frazier is making progress and hitting in the cage, but still hasn't cleared protocol or played outdoors in the sun.

by rain, so they may have intended him to throw longer.

Thanks for the chuckle using the "word" dreck.

Looks like the heavy stuff is going to miss NYC until at least 8PM. That's as far as the projection runs. But it will be overcast and probably misting.

In comment 14038288 njm said:

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Looks like the heavy stuff is going to miss NYC until at least 8PM. That's as far as the projection runs. But it will be overcast and probably misting.

I hope you're right about the heavy stuff, we don't need another rainout.

We had some crazy, heavy storms this AM down here in Ocean County, including a water spout in the ocean off LBI.