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Author: Neil Keefe

Blogs • Yankees • Yankees Offseason

Feb 18, 2020

If You’re Not Worried About Aaron Judge Being Injured, You Should Be

It’s not so much Aaron Judge being shut down that has me worried about his shoulder, it’s more the way Aaron Boone explained and reacated to Judge’s injury that has me worried.

I was worried early on Tuesday morning when it was announced that Aaron Judge wouldn’t be hitting on the first official day of spring for position players because of shoulder discomfort. Even if it is only Feb. 18, nothing good could possibly come from the team’s best player having a shoulder issue of any kind. But my worrying level was a mild 4 out of 10 Later in the day when it was announced that Judge would be shut down completely for the next week, my worrying escalated to a 7.

Judge hasn’t exactly been the most healthy player in his three-plus seasons as a major leaguer. He was shut down for the final two weeks of the 2016 season with an oblique injury. In 2017, he battled a second-half shoulder injury which cost him the AL MVP (along with Jose Altuve and his teammates knowing which pitches were coming). He missed one third of the season in 2018 after getting drilled by a pitch on his wrist, which certainly was a freak injury, and then he missed two months last season after suffering another oblique injury. Judge has missed 25 percent of the last three seasons due to injury. So when a player who had a signifcant shoulder injury two-and-a-half years ago complains of shoulder discomfort or soreness on the very first day of spring training workouts, you better believe I’m worried.

It’s not so much that Judge has to be shut down in the Yankees’ conservative effort to make sure whatever this is doesn’t turn into somehing more the way every injury seemed to last season that has me worrying so much. It’s more the way Aaron Boone has explained and reacted to Judge’s inury that has me worried of Mike Tauchman or Clint Frazier now being an everyday player to begin the 2020 season with Brett Gardner already once again thrust into a season-opening everyday role because of Aaron Hicks’ latest injury.

“Just dealing with some crankiness,” Boone said rather nonchalantly about Judge. “I guess a little soreness in shoulder.”

Boone’s lack of emotion is a main reason why he is the Yankees manager and Joe Girardi is now with the Phillies. But when it comes to injury news, Boone’s even-keeled temperment comes off as comical when injuries go from a player being day-to-day to missing two months, and that happened all of last season.

“I feel like it’s a pretty minor thing,” Boone said. “Probably in the next couple days, start ramping him back up.”

I didn’t think we would get our first “ramping” reference from Boone on Feb. 18, but here we are. “Ramping” became most used by Boone when talking about Aaron Hicks and Giancarlo Stanton last season.

Hicks, if you forgot, injured his back on a 35-minute bus ride on Feb. 27 during spring training last season. (The entire history of the injury is detailed here.) Boone said Hicks would be ready for Opening Day and that he would avoid an injured list stint before later changing the timetable to being ready for the fourth game and second series of the season. Hicks returned on May 15.

Stanton played in the first three games of last season before surprisingly going on injured list before the fourth. He wouldn’t return until Game 72 on June 18 and was back on the injured list after being removed from a game on June 25. Stanton finished the season playing in 18 games and missing most of the ALCS. (The entire history of his biceps strain turned shoulder strain turned calf strain is detailed here.) Like Hicks, Boone constantly talked about Stanton being close to resuming baseball activities or “ramping” up his workload to return to the team. Each time it was delayed as the injury either was more serious than Boone led on or there was a setback along the way.

The word “minor” is what really got me. Nothing is “minor” when it involves the team’s best player and nothing is “minor” with the Yankees until they prove they can accurately diagnose and successfully heal injuries. Not playing baseball since Oct. 19 and implementing sweeping changes on the team’s medical staff didn’t just erase what happened last season. A four-month layoff didn’t magically build trust between the team’s handling of injuries and the fans. So for Boone to describe this as “minor” then Judge better be 100 percent ready to resume every type of baseball activity in exactly one week since that was the timeline given for this “minor” thing. The botched timelines by Boone and the Yankees last season eventually led to Boone simply not giving timelines for any injured Yankees, and there were a lot of them as the team set the single-season record for most players to land on the injured list. In many of the cases, Boone made it seem like everything was fine only to have the player land on the IL later that day or in the following days. So when Boone refers to an injury as something “minor” and uses the word “ramping” to describe Judge, you better believe I’m worried.

“We did put him through a battery of tests,” Boone said. “He had the MRI.”

Normally, an MRI means an issue is significant enough to warrant an MRI, but not when it comes to the Yankees. The Yankees aren’t worried about their players absorbing an abundance of magetic imaging. When I was in elementary school, the school nurse would take your temperature no matter. You could break your collarbone in gym class and the first thing she would be to take your temperature. Cut your knee open? “Let me take your temperature.” That’s sort of how the Yankees operate when it comes to MRIs. If a player speaks up about not feeling 100 percent, they’re getting an MRI. I’m not overly worried that Judge had to receive an MRI. If anything, I’m more worried that Boone said, “It was kind of what his shoulder has always been” in regards to the MRI results, which made it seem like Judge’s shoulder isn’t great to begin with.

Spring training will continue for the next week without Judge. As long as this doesn’t turn into what every seemingly minor injury last season, I will be OK. But for now, I’m more than worried.

***

My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

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Blogs • Monday Mail • Yankees

Feb 17, 2020

Monday Mail: MLB Has Left It to Opposing Teams to Punish Astros

The league decided not to punish Astros players for what the league determined was a “player-driven” cheating scheme, so now opposing teams will have to punish the Astros players in the batter’s box.

Spring training has gotten off to a good start, unless you play for or are a fan of the Astros. If you’re either of those then spring training hasn’t been the welcoming sign of baseball it has always been in the past.

This week’s questions and comments are related to the Astros’ sign-stealing scheme and their public “apology” last week.

Email your questions to KeefeToTheCity@gmail.com or engage on the Keefe To The City Facebook page or on Twitter to be included in the next Monday Mail.

Here we go. It’s going to be a wild season. Look out Astros. – Henry

I have no idea what Major League Baseball was thinking when they punished the Astros by punishing the general manager, manager, owner’s wallet and draft picks. The commissioner called the scheme “player-driven” and “player-executed” and then didn’t punish the players. He spoke openly about his investigation at spring training and said he wish he could have punished the players, but he needed to grant them immunity in order to find out what really happened in terms of sign stealing. Rob Manfred could have easily found out what was going on while also punishing the players.

In no way do I feel bad for Jeff Luhnow or A.J. Hinch since the former was clearly a much larger part of the entire scheme than depicted in the commissioner’s report and the latter was in the dugout while it was all taking place, but they’re sitting home, while the millionaire Astros get to continue to play baseball and make their millions. No one has looked worse than Jim Crane, who made millions upon millions from the team winning the World Series and who has tried to play the part of an old, naive fool in all of this. His unfathomable comment that sign stealing didn’t help the team win was contested by his own franchise shortstop. Each time Crane opens his mouth he makes things worse than they were before. I hope he continues to open his mouth.

How ugly could it potentially get when Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and company stand in the batter’s box with an aggrieved pitcher on the mound with a ball in his hand? – Mark

Oh it’s going to get ugly. It was going to be ugly even if the players had been punished. But now that they weren’t punished by the league, other players and pitchers are going to take the punishment into their own hands. Pitchers have already admitted they are going to throw at the Astros and I hope we see it as soon as the first inning of Opening Day. Alex Rodriguez was drilled by Ryan Dempster (what a loser Dempster is) after appealing his season-plus-long suspension for performance-enhancing drugs and he was one person doing something a lot of players were also doing for decades. Now we have a whole team that won the World Series and potentially ruined careers and altered the history of baseball from an elaborate and illegal sign-stealing operation. Every Astro should have an uncomfortable at-bat this season. There’s a long line of pitchers ready to throw at the Astros and many of them are among the game’s hardest-throwing.

Dusty Baker comes off like an idiot asking MLB to protect his players. Baker has been Astros manager for five minutes and wasn’t part of the team’s disgusting past and now he’s trying to get people to move on. For someone who has been a part of baseball for 200 years like Baker has, he more than anyone should realize and expect his players to eat more than a few fastballs this season. This story isn’t going away. It will always be tied to the Astros. Any success the Astros have will be questioned for cheating, and if they aren’t successful, people will say it’s because they’re no longer cheating.

I have the over/under on bench clears involving the Astros this season at 3.5. I think they will take their medicine at first, but eventually they will get tired of it all and do something about it. They have 19 different opponents who will all want to have a hand in serving the Astros justice and that’s a lot of team and a lot of pitchers to go through.

Unfortunately, the Astros don’t come to New York until the last week of the season from Sept. 21-24. So just when the season is winding down and they have spent six-plus months hearing and answering for their cheating, they will have to hear about it and answer for it more than they have all season in Games 156, 157, 158 and 159.

The lies are very comical. I’m enjoying this. – Tom

Days after the report was released, Alex Bregman was asked questions at the team’s fan fest and he sarcastically laughed while reciting the same answer over and over, telling everyone to refer to the commissioner’s report. Not even a month later we were all supposed to accept his somber mood and statement apology? I don’t think so.

It’s not so much lies that made this all enjoyable as much as it is the answers and reasoning given by Astros players. Justin Verlander, arguably the most outspoken player in baseball against cheating, doesn’t think his World Series ring is tainted. Jose Altuve, who won the AL MVP in the year the Astros were banging on a trash can like a street performer outside of the stadium to alert batters of what pitch was coming, answered nearly every question by questioning reporters. According to Altuve, if you don’t believe his answers then you don’t believe the commissioner and the commissioner’s report. Sorry if not everyone is quick to believe the commissioner who wasn’t able to uncover the “Codebreaker” story that the Wall Street Journal was able to after his report came out with his report supposedly including everything about the 2017, 2018 and 2019 Astros.

Then there’s Carlos Correa. To Correa’s credit, he has talked and given detailed answers when asked questions. He hasn’t hid behind some ghostwritten statement like Bregman or Altuve and he hasn’t come off like a hypocritical asshole like Verlander. Correa has tried to give the media what they want and that’s answers that don’t tell reporters to reference the investigation and report. The problem is Correa, whether truthful or not, has come off as either lying or greatly exaggerating in regards to Altuve possibly wearing a buzzer for his walk-off home run in Game 6 of the 2019 ALCS.

When the buzzer rumors surfaced, it was because Altuve was clutching his jersey as he approached home plate, not wanting his body exposed after hitting a pennant-clinching home run. Rather than celebrate with his team on the field, Altuve quickly ran into the dugout and disappeared into the clubhouse, returning with his jersey off and an AL champions shirt on. It’s more than suspicious t Altuve would be so aware to not let his uniform be torn off in the moment. The reason of him being shy was quickly proved wrong by all of the other images of his tearing his jersey off following other games and the latest reason from Correa of an ugly, unfinished tattoo seems more than ridiculous.

Three minutes and 14 seconds after Aaron Boone hit his 2003 ALCS Game 7 walk-off home run, he looked overwhelmed, not understanding the magnitude of what he had done. Boone couldn’t even complete full thoughts or sentences when talking to Curt Menefee on FOX.

“Wow … I can’t even talk … Silver lining … It’s unbelievable … Mo … So many heroes today and I just happened to run into one … You’ve gotta be kidding me … This is awesome.”

Boone had trouble speaking more than three minutes after hitting a pennant-winning home run, yet Altuve, before even reaching home plate, already had thought about not anting his jersey torn off and his first celebratory action was to go right to the clubhouse to change.

Sorry, Correa, I’m going to need a better story than an ugly, unfinished tattoo as the reason why Altuve acted the way he did following his home run.

The Astros should be banned from baseball. This will give baseball a black eye for years to come. – Jack

I don’t think they should have banned from baseball, but suspended or fined would have been better than nothing. Now if there’s any truth to the buzzer rumors and if those rumors are ever turned into fact, then yes, players need to be banned. If the buzzer rumors were to ever come to fruition, it would mean the commissioner and baseball were unable to discover it in their detailed investigation and it would mean every single member of the Astros would have lied to both the league office and the public about it. And oh yeah, it would also mean major league players were receiving vibrating signals on their body to know which pitch was coming. Aside from the White Sox throwing the 1919 World Series, it would be the worst scandal in the history of baseball. The steroid and performance-enhancing drug era would be nothing in comparison to cheating involving players wearing electronic devices.

Want to be included in the next Monday Mail? Email your questions to KeefeToTheCity@gmail.com or engage on the Keefe To The City Facebook page or on Twitter.

***

My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

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Podcasts • Rangers

Feb 14, 2020

Rangers Podcast: The Four-Point Swing

Blue Jackets team reporter Jeff Svoboda joined me to talk about the team’s unexpected success this season.

It’s losses like the one the Rangers suffered to the Blue Jackets at the Garden a few weeks ago that keep bubble teams out of the playoffs. It’s games like the one between the Rangers and Blue Jackets in Columbus on Friday night that could be the difference in playing an 83rd game or not. The all-important, four-point swing within the division and wild-card race will be present, and the Rangers have to win to keep their postseason dream alive.

Blue Jackets team reporter Jeff Svoboda joined me to talk about the surprising play of this season’s Blue Jackets, the void left by Artemi Panarin, the decision to not sign Sergei Bobrovsky, the team’s never-ending injury bug in, the differences between John Tortorella in New York and Columbus and what the roster will look like after the trade deadline.

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Blogs • Rangers • Rangers Thursday Thoughts

Feb 13, 2020

Rangers Thursday Thoughts: Recent Turnaround Could Ruin Trade Deadline

The Rangers are doing a good job making it as hard as possible for the front office to conduct a third straight selloff.

The Rangers are doing a good job making it as hard as possible for the front office to conduct a third straight selloff. With five wins in the last seven games, Rangers fans aren’t going to accept a selloff the way they have the last two years if the team keeps winning the way they have been since their 10-day layoff.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Rangers as usual.

1. Igor Shesterkin is the real deal. Everyone expected him to be good and the heir to Henrik Lundqvist’s throne, and when you have the expectations he’s created over the last few years, anything other than greatness will be criticized and questioned. Shesterkin has given the Rangers greatness so far becoming the first goalie in the team’s history to win six of his first seven starts and beating Colorado, Toronto and Winnipeg on the road in those games. I’m still the biggest Henrik Lundqvist supporter and defender there is and think he needs to play more than he has since Shesterkin was called up, but I won’t complain if Lundqvist is on the bench because Shesterkin is in the net. I will only complain if Lundqvist is on the bench because Alexandar Georgiev is in the net.

2. The biggest moment of Tuesday’s win in Winnipeg came when Shesterkin had to come out of the game for the final minutes of the first period. A cold Henrik Lundqvist, who hadn’t seen game action in eight days was forced into a 0-0 game with the Jets buzzing immediately after a power play. Shesterkin had actually hurt his ankle, but replay showed him getting hit directly in the head by a Tony DeAngelo-created collision and he was rightfully removed from the game to be evaluated. I was of the same thinking as the spotter who determined Shesterkin needed to be checked out for a head injury, and while he turned out to be fine, the replay was worrisome and him lying face down on the ice after should have been enough for him to be pulled out of the game then and not a few minutes later. But the biggest moment came when Lundqvist had to make a remarkable save with his left pad right away. If Lundqvist lets that shot by him or any other shot, it’s a much different game with possibly a different end result and an important win might have become a loss. I’m sure the idiotic fans who have been quick to forget what Lundqvist has done for this team for 15 years were also quick to forget that that save might have saved the game.

3. The longer the three-goalie carousel drags on, the better the chance it doensn’t get solved until the offseason and the better the chance Lundqvist is the odd man out and not Georgiev. I don’t think it makes it more likely that Lundqvist is out and Georgiev stays, I just think the odds move less in Lundqvist’s favor than where they are between now and Feb. 24. One more year of Lundqvist at $8.5 million isn’t the worst thing. Yes, a combination of Shesterkin and Georgiev is much cheaper than a combination of Shesterkin and Lundqvist, but Georgiev is due a raise as a restricted free agent at the end of this season, and I believe Lundqvist is still a better goalie at 37 than Georgiev. I don’t see why the option of Shesterkin as No. 1 and Lundqvist at a much less salary as the No. 2 for 2021-22 and beyond isn’t being talked about. One of the biggest reasons being mentioned for extending Chris Kreider even though his game will most likely age poorly is because of his veteran leadership and presence. Lundqvist is the longest tenured Ranger and the best and most important Ranger of the post-lockout era. He might not be what he was a decade ago, but what 37-year-old goalie is? He’s still very, very good and given his reluctance to waive his no-trade clause over the last few seasons when he was younger and had a better chance at chasing the Cup, I feel like he would be on board with being the 2 and not necessarily the 1B going forward if it meant staying in New York and being a Ranger. Is having Lundqvist, even at 38 or 39 or 40 years old playing 20-30 games per season really the worst thing? I think it’s the best solution.

4. The only game keeping Shesterkin from an undefeated start to his career is the third-period collapse against Columbus a few weeks when it looked like he might post his first career shutout, only to lose 2-1 in heartbreaking fashion. I felt sick after that loss to Columbus, writing a blog titled A Season-Crushing Loss for the Rangers. That four-point swing in the standings is still holding up as the Rangers trail the Blue Jackets by 10 points (with two games in hand). The deficit would be only six if not for the ugly turnovers, which cost the Rangers the game, especially the one in the final seconds that cost them at least one point. There will be another four-point swing available on Friday night in Columbus when the Rangers play the banged-up Blue Jackets.

5. The Rangers have 27 games left and are currently on pace for 89.45 points. Philadelphia holds the second wild card and the Flyers are on pace for 99.26 points. It’s games like the one Friday night in Columbus and the other game left against Columbus this season at the Garden as well as the three remaining against Philadelphia which will determine the wild-card situation in the Eastern Conference. The Blue Jackets’ injury situation coupled with the Flyers’ upcoming guantlet schedule (Florida, Tampa Bay, Columbus, Columbus, Winnipeg) before they play the Rangers could open the door for the Rangers to make the playoff picture in the East more cluttered than it already is.

6. The Rangers came out of their 10-day layoff needing to win 75 percent of their remaining games. So far, they have done so. Well, they will have done so if they can win on the road again in Minnesota on Thursday. They’re 5-2 right now since the break. If you divide up their remaining games into four-game schedules in which they need to win three of four, they went 3-1 in their first four against Detroit (twice), Dallas and Toronto, and they are currently 2-1 in their next four against Buffalo, Los Angeles and Winnipeg. A win on Thursday keeps them on pace. It’s still going to take a miracle for them to make the playoffs in a season in which they were never supposed to make the playoffs, but at least for now, they are keeping their slim postseason dreams alive.

7. The postseason dream has stayed alive because the Rangers have played a much more complete game of late. The team we saw put together lengthy losing streaks early in the season and the team we watched end 2019 and begin 2020 with three straight ugly losses in Western Canada looks nothing like the team we have seen go 9-5 (a 105-point pace over 82 games) since that miserable Edmonton-Calgary-Vancouver trip. Yes, there are the occasional letdown performancs like the third period against Columbus or last Friday’s loss to Buffalo, but there are always going to be letdown performances in an 82-game season. Boston leads the NHL in points and lost to 14-win Detroit on Sunday after having already lost to the Red Wings earlier in the season. Weird, bad losses happen. The Rangers have been able to minimize those losses over the last month after having too many of them in the first three months of the season.

8. If this Rangers team were to continue to play this way for the rest of the season and miss the playoffs, I would feel very confident about them ending their postseason drought next season. The problem is this Rangers team isn’t going to be the team we see next season, and probably won’t be the team we see play the Islanders on Feb. 25. The trade deadline is now 11 days away and while the names and suitors continue to change, the Rangers’ third straight selloff is still going to happen. Maybe Kreider unexpectedly gets extended, but that only means other players would then have to go to clear eventual cap space for him.

9. I have already accepted Kreider getting traded, but all these extension reports involving the Rangers and his agent have me confused and conflicted. The safe play is to move Kreider now. He’s the top available player on the trade market and he would acquire the most possible future assets for the Rangers in what is expected to be the last selloff. The money saved could go to some of the restricted free agents or be used to extend some of the young core of this team, and it will save us from complaining about a mid-30s Kreider in a few years screwing up the Rangers’ finances when he’s no longer the player he is now.

10. The more Kreider plays the way he has this season (with another two goals in Winnipeg and four goals in his last three games), the more it will hurt to see him go at a time when it looks like the Rangers might be ready to take the next step. I understand it’s been one consistent month of hockey, but that’s the most consistent hockey we have seen from the Rangers in which the results weren’t based solely on luck and elite goaltending in three years. I think this recent Rangers play is for real and removing Kreider from this roster will hurt next season when this team will have more than a single-digit perent chance of reaching the playoffs in mid-February. While the Rangers will lose yet another veteran and one of the last pieces remaining from their previous core, I still think they have to move Kreider. It will hurt in the short term, but it’s the right decision for the long term, and the reason the Rangers are in the middle of a rebuild and needing to trade Kreider is because they didn’t make decisions for the long term the last time they had to.

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Blogs • Spring Cleaning • Yankees • Yankees Offseason

Feb 12, 2020

Spring Cleaning: Pitchers and Catchers

Spring is here! Not spring in the sense of 60-degree days, outdoor happy hours and walking your dog without the fear of frostbite, but spring in the sense that baseball is back.

Spring is here! Sure, the high in New York City is 45 today and it’s been gray outside for days and the temperature on Friday is expected to get close to single digits, but spring is officially here. Not spring in the sense of 60-degree days, outdoor happy hours and walking your dog without the fear of frostbite, but spring in the sense that baseball is back.

Pitchers and catchers report today in Tampa and that means the start of the season. There will be a meaningless baseball game to watch next week and a meaningful game to watch in six weeks. Welcome back, baseball!

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees as usual.

1. It felt like minutes after I published last week’s Spring Cleaning the James Paxton injury announcement was made. It wouldn’t be a Yankees season without an injury to start the season and really before the season even started since today is the first day of the season. While it isn’t ideal that Paxton underwent a back procedure and will miss at least the first month of the season, I’m not upset about it. Paxton gets injured, that’s what he does. He has never pitched a full season in the majors with his career-high innings coming two years ago at 160 1/3. Paxton’s injury history is the No. 1 reason why I was skeptical about the trade for him and he proved me right when he missed a month of last season with a knee injury then pitched through that knee injury all summer before hurting his back in his final start of the season in Texas. I already planned on Paxton missing time this season, it just happens to come at the beginning of the season. But as long as he returns healthy and effective then this early-season obstacle won’t matter.

2. The Paxton injury means J.A. Happ is now the No. 4 starter. That is problematic. Happ had the worst year of his career last season and is now a year older with another year of innings on his arm. If the ball is the pre-2019 regular-season ball and more like the 2019 postseason ball, Happ has a chance to rebound and be the pitcher the Yankees traded for in 2018 and signed as a free agent before last season. I don’t think we’re going to see the guy from 2018 that went 7-0 in 11 post-trade deadline starts for the Yankees, pitching to a 2.69 ERA and 1.052 WHIP, but he doesn’t need to be that guy anymore. He just needs to not be a four-inning, bullpen crusher like he was last year. But if the super ball is used again in 2020, well, bet the over anytime Happ starts and at least make some money off of his career decline.

3. Unfortunately, Gerrit Cole is going to have to answer a lot of questions about his time with the Astros. Even though he wasn’t part of the 2017 championship team, he was part of the 2018 and 2019 teams, and even though he’s a pitcher, he’s still going to be asked if he knew about what was going on. Cole knows this is coming and the Yankees know this is coming and they have had a month to prepare for it. I could care less what Cole knew or didn’t know and don’t expect him to give any real insight into what went on in Houston. I only care about what he does for the next nine years. Whatever happened in Houston is over with and isn’t going to bring back the Yankees’ chances at winning a championship for the first time since 2009.

4. I saw a picture of Mike Ford showing up at spring training on Tuesday and without the caption I wouldn’t have known it was Ford. It just looked like some big (and I mean big), sloppy guy standing in front of the Yankees’ Tampa complex for a picture to post on social media. Nope. It was the Yankees’ only left-handed power bat on his way to work. I love Ford. He’s the easiest of guys to root for, made even easier by his .259/.350/.559 line last season and his 12 home runs in 143 at-bats. He should have been in the postseason lineup when it was evident Edwin Encarnacion was either injured or rusty and an automatic and Giancarlo Stanton was taking himself out of the lineup due to injury. Instead, the Yankees left a left-handed.909 OPS off the postseason roster in favor of a laughable amount of strikeouts. But this is the same team that thought it was a better idea to have Chase Headley and Jacoby Ellsbury share DH responsibilities in the 2017 postseason rather than carry Clint Frazier on the postseason roster. Right now, the only left-handed bat in the Yankees’ lineup is Brett Gardner, and no one benefited more from the super ball than Gardner in 2019, resurrecting his career and getting another year from the Yankees for it. Aaron Hicks won’t return until the middle of the season at best, and knowing Hicks’ injury-recovery history, if you think you’re seeing him back when expected, you probably though he would be back in time for the second series of last season as reported. I think Ford is going to be part of the Opening Day roster even if he’s limited as only a first baseman/designated hitter.

5. It’s either Ford is on the Opening Day roster or both Frazier and Mike Tauchman are on the roster. With Tyler Wade presumably being on the team on March 26, I can’t see the Yankees carrying both Frazier and Tauchman since Wade can play the outfield. Here’s my first prediction at the Opening Day roster:

  1. Gary Sanchez
  2. Luke Voit
  3. DJ LeMahieu
  4. Gio Urshela
  5. Gleyber Torres
  6. Giancarlo Stanton
  7. Brett Gardner
  8. Aaron Judge
  9. Miguel Andujar
  10. Mike Tauchman
  11. Tyler Wade
  12. Mike Ford
  13. Kyle Higashioka
  14. Gerrit Cole
  15. Luis Severino
  16. Masahiro Tanaka
  17. J.A. Happ
  18. Jordan Montgomery
  19. Aroldis Chapman
  20. Zack Britton
  21. Adam Ottavino
  22. Chad Green
  23. Tommy Kahnle
  24. Jonathan Loaisiga
  25. Luis Cessa
  26. Jonathan Holder

(Unfortunately, the Goof Troop duo of Cessa and Holder are back for another season.)

6. Now that Austin Romine is no longer a Yankee, the Rominers (his fan club) will have to hitch their wagon to Higashioka in their quest to have Sanchez replaced and removed from the Yankees. I have been a Higashioka fan and he is deserving of finally getting a chance to be the team’s full-season backup catcher. But I can already see the stories calling for him to be the starting catcher with the first Sanchez passed ball or slump. The Rominers will now be the Higashiokians.

7. We’re going to hear a lot about Andujar and how he looks at first base and in left field, especially over the next week. There has already been video of him taking grounders at third and position players haven’t even had to report yet. Andujar is one of three Yankees players who generate negative responses whenever they are mentioned with the other two being Stanton and Sanchez. The dislike for a player who hit .297 with an .855 OPS and 27 home runs as a rookie because of his fielding is one of those things that will never make sense. After listening to other third baseman talk about how they had to grow defensively from where they were early in their careers, it seems like Andujar could as well. Unfortunately, most Yankees fans have already given up on him as a third baseman as if he’s a six-year veteran who has been unable to improve. I’m rooting for Andujar to win back his position.

8. With pitchers and catchers reporting all across baseball on Wednesday, it’s the Astros’ chance to actually seem apologetic for their sign-stealing schemes which resulted in their manager getting fired despite the commissioner calling it a “player-driven” operation. I highly doubt any Astros pitcher or player is ever going to really say anything even remotely interesting about the whole thing. I’m sure their communications team has been working nonstop for a month to make sure each player in camp knows exactly what to say and how much to say. Astros like Justin Verlander, Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa and George Springer and now hated everywhere outside of Houston and that’s not going to change no matter what they say. The hate will only grow if they continue to give nonsensical answers like Altuve and Bregman did last month. The Astros will hear about it from the fans and be asked the questions about it in all 81 road games and any success they have will be questioned like their last few seasons are. The Astros don’t play in Yankee Stadium until a four-game series from Sept. 21-24. So just when the season is winding down and they after six-plus months of hearing about it and answering about it, they will have to hear about it and answer for it more than they have all season in Games 156, 157, 158 and 159. That’s too bad.

9. Mookie Betts and David Price are officially no longer Red Sox. I was getting nervous for a few days there that the Red Sox had backed out of the deal after getting crushed by the media and their fans since the initial trade was announced. But rather than back out of a deal to trade possibly the second-best player in the sport and a No. 2 or 3 starter, the Red Sox went through with it, acting like a small-market team and waving the white flag on 2020. The Red Sox front office can say all they want that they expect to be competitive in 2020 as if there’s anyone dumb enough in New England to believe them, but they’re not going to be competitive. They will once again win in the mid-80s and will likely finish somewhere around 20 games out in the division. The Red Sox will still be paying a portion of Price’s contract and they owe Nathan Eovaldi three more years and $51 million and Chris Sale five more years and $145 million. So long, Red Sox. See you in a few years.

10. I wrote about the idiotic playoff format which was leaked on Monday, and I’m still not over it. I’m even more angry about it the more I think about it. Even if this format never comes to fruition, and I don’t see how it could with the negative feedback and backlash it has endured since coming out, just the idea that the league sat around and worked on it enough that is was worthy enough of being leaked is disturbing. If you’re the Mariners, you probably love the idea of seven playoff teams since it might be the only way for them to erase their postseason drought. If you’re an owner who pockets the team’s revenue sharing money and doesn’t invest back into his team, you probably love the idea since you can continue to not spend and hope to be .500 and sneak into the playoffs and make even more money. A team like the 2020 Red Sox would be a perfect candidate for either that third or fourth wild card. What better way to reward the Red Sox for trading their best player and being able to get some finacial help on the remaining money from a $217 million than to give them an undeserved postseason berth!

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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

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