Bryan Hoch of MLB.com joined me to talk about the similarities between today’s Yankees and the Yankees of a decade ago.
It’s been nearly a month since the Yankees’ season ended and spring training is only three months away. I know that feels like forever from now, especially with the recent temperatures in the Northeast, but baseball is closer than you think.
MLB.com Yankees beat writer Bryan Hoch joined me to talk about the book Mission 27 detailing the Yankees’ last championship season, the similarities between the current Yankees and those Yankees, leaving championship opportunities on the table, the Yankees’ inevitable re-signing of Brett Gardner this offseason, what will happen with Dellin Betances and the chances Yankees will sign either Gerrit Cole or Stephen Strasburg.
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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!
The Yankees have to have Gerrit Cole. The problem is the Yankees most likely won’t offer what Cole is looking for, and they could miss out on him for a third time.
The Yankees had to have CC Sabathia. They had to. The problem was Sabathia didn’t want to be a Yankee. As a 28-year-old free agent, he wanted to move home to California to pitch. He initially turned down Brian Cashman’s lucrative six-year, $140 million offer, and after Cashman told Sabathia’s agents he would be willing to travel to California to meet with the left-hander to negotiate, he was on his way to Vallejo. They landed on seven years and $161 million. At the time, it was the biggest contract for a pitcher in history.
The Yankees have to have Gerrit Cole. They have to. The problem is the Yankees most likely won’t offer what Cole is looking for, and after drafting him and losing him and then being unable to trade for him, the Yankees could miss out on Cole for a third time.
I have given up expecting the Yankees to better their team and fill necessary holes if it means paying significant dollars, and Cole is going to command significant dollars in what will most likely be the biggest contract ever given to a pitcher. Eleven years ago, the Yankees didn’t care about setting the record for giving Sabathia the largest pitching contract at the time, all they cared about was winning as they kept increasing their offer to Sabathia, outbidding themselves to make sure he chose the East Coast over the West Coast.
The Yankees were unwilling to take on Justin Verlander’s salary at the 2017 waiver deadline, and he single-handedly swung the 2017 ALCS in the Astros’ favor by winning Games 2 and 6. After coming within a game of the 2017 World Series, the 2018 Yankees’ payroll was cut by $50 million. After falling short again in 2018 because of their starting pitching, the Yankees were unwilling to give Patrick Corbin an additional year on his offer and he ended up in Washington. The Yankees have had several chances to drastically upgrade their rotation either through free agency or a trade over the last three seasons and they have come up short each time, unwilling to offer enough money or unwilling to depart with their prospects. And to no surprise, they have been eliminated by better starting pitching in each of the last three postseasons.
Cashman can defend the financial spending of his boss like he comically did at this end-of-the-season press conference, but everyone knows the Yankees don’t spend like they used to. Despite revenues being at an all-time high in baseball, the Yankees’ payroll has essentially stayed the same, or at times been less than it was 15 years ago when revenues were nowhere near what they are today. Cashman can keep preaching that the 2019 Yankees were “a play or two away” from going to the World Series and not “a player or two away.” Maybe so, but had the Yankees somehow been able to win Game 6 in extra innings and overcome Cole in Game 7, how were they going to actually win the World Series? Or has the goal changed to just getting there since the team has been unable to do that for 10 straight years. Zack Britton openly admitted the bullpen was exhausted after the ALCS and it was obvious with Chad Green laboring in Games 4 and 6 and Tommy Kahnle pitching like his elbow or shoulder might give at any moment. The Yankees’ bullpen-heavy approach to the postseason didn’t work again this October and it has yet to ever work for them. There’s a reason why the two teams with Verlander, Cole, Zack Greinke, Corbin, Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg were in the World Series and the team asking their bullpen to get 15 outs each postseason game wasn’t.
Hal Steinbrenner has already alluded to the idea of the Yankees not signing Cole or Strasburg or any available high-salary starting pitcher. He has already given a sneak preview to their excuse that getting a full season of Luis Severino and the return of Jordan Montgomery as in-house upgrades are just as good as upgrading through free agency. Cashman has told the media he is “interested” in Cole and Strasburg and Zack Wheeler and that he has already talked to their agents. The Yankees are making it known to their fan base that they are once again doing the bare minimum, but be prepared for the statements from Cashman and the front office about getting “outbid by a number they were comfortable with” sometime between now and spring training.
As it stands, the Yankees’ 2020 rotation will include Severino and Montgomery both coming off nearly an entire missed season, James Paxton who has never pitched more than 160 1/3 innings in a season and has never avoided the injured list in a season, Masahiro Tanaka, who has somehow avoided elbow surgery all these years later, and J.A. Happ, who will be 37-and-a-half years old in April and pitched every bit like his age last season. After those five, there’s a suspension yet to be determined, and the hope that Deivi Garcia will become a true front-end starter. If not, the Yankees could always use Nestor Cortes every five days again when one of their starters inevitably goes on the injured list.
Cashman likes to refer to “boxes being checked” when talking about newly-acquired Yankees or prospects. Well, Cole checks every box the Yankees need to be checked. He’s a durable, power, starting pitcher and true No. 1. He’s what Severino has been at times, except all the time, and what the Yankees haven’t consistently had since they signed Sabathia. Like Sabathia, all Cole will cost is money, which is something the Yankees used to use to their advantage to create the best possible roster.
It’s not that the Yankees aren’t a playoff team without Cole, it’s that they aren’t a championship team without him, and isn’t being a championship team the goal here? At least it used to be.
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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!
The regular season is more than halfway over and there’s not a lot of time to get the picks back on track. This week is all about simplifying things.
When I look back at my picks at the end of each week, I have no idea why I picked the way I did on multiple games. It’s a tradition like no other. No matter how much I try to simplify things, I’m still left questioning myself each week.
I shouldn’t have picked the 49ers to cover 10 on a short week on the road.
I should have listened to myself and my lack of trust for Kirk Cousins even if the Vikings were facing a backup quarterback.
I should have known the Jets would lose to Ryan Fitzpatrick and the winless Dolphins.
I should have recognized the Browns facing a rookie quarterback making his first NFL start wouldn’t suddenly make them not the Browns.
I should have followed my belief that the Chargers aren’t as bad their record and are the same team that went to the divisional round last year, especially at home.
I should have followed the easy storyline that the Patriots always struggle against the Ravens.
These were very avoidable mistakes, but they were mistakes nonetheless, and instead of starting to dig myself out of my under-.500 hole I dug further in the wrong direction. This week is about simplifying things. I need to treat each NFL week as the one-week season it should be treated as. I need to get back to the basics and put together a winning week. It’s already Week 10 and time is running is out to get back to respectability.
(Home team in caps)
Los Angeles -1 over OAKLAND I don’t think the Raiders are any good, no matter how many times they have screwed me this season. I do think the Chargers are good, no matter how many times they have screwed me this season. If the Chargers are going to return to the playoffs, they have to win this game. If they lose, they will be three games back in the loss column to the Chiefs for the division and three games back in the loss column for the second wild-card spot.
CHICAGO -2.5 over Detroit The Bears don’t deserve to make the playoffs, and they won’t. But it wouldn’t be a Bears season if they didn’t provide their fan base with an abundance of heartache. The four straight losses, 3-5 start and current last-place standing in the NFC North isn’t the type of heartache I’m talking about. I’m talking about doing enough to get back into the postseason picture in the NFC and then fall short in the final weeks of the season.
Baltimore -10 over CINCINNATI The Dolphins foolishly beating the Jets and going from having the first overall pick to the fourth at the end of the game led to a sideline celebration in Miami and Brian Flores getting drenched in Gatorade. But the real celebration was happening in Cincinnati where I like to think the Bengals front office was dumping Gatorade on each other following the Dolphins’ win. The Bengals are now the only remaining winless team in the league and control their own destiny to securing the first overall pick in the draft and having a chance to draft Tua Tagovailoa and change the future of their franchise. Let’s see how the Bengals handle their chance with the No. 1 pick.
Buffalo +2.5 over CLEVELAND The Browns are favored. The 2-6 Browns are favored to beat the 6-2 Bills. I had to check the line three times to make sure I was reading it right, and I am. The Browns are the favorites. It’s been very enjoyable watching the Browns be every bit as bad as the Giants and watching Odell Beckham once again be part of a losing team in a lost season. Beckham has become an afterthought in Cleveland with 575 yards and one touchdown through eight games. And while he might still eclipse the 1,000-yard mark, 1,000 yards for him was always a given. Like a band that once sold out stadiums and areanas and has been resigned to playing college campuses and small clubs, Beckham is no longer who he was a Giant. The non-performance stories like him wearing a watch during games or needing to change his cleats at halftime are now all anyone talks about with him because there’s no on-field performance or moments worth talking about.
NEW ORLEANS -12.5 over Atlanta There’s going to be a lot of cardboard boxes being packed in the Falcons’ offices in a few weeks. It should have happened the second the team blew the 25-point, second-half lead in the Super Bowl, and because it didn’t, it’s hard to feel sorry for the Falcons for their performance these last three seasons.
New York Giants -2 over NEW YORK JETS The Embarrassment Bowl. If the Giants win, they improve to 3-7 and the Jets fall to 1-8. If the Jets win, they improve to 2-7 and the Giants fall to 2-8. Even though there’s going to be a winner (though a tie would be a perfect result for this game), there’s no winner in this team. Both teams are losers, led by losers.
TAMPA BAY -4 over Arizona The Buccaneers are the best 2-6 team in the league. I don’t know that a 2-6 team can be the best anything, but I do feel like the Buccaneers are better than their record, even if Bill Parcells would disagree. The Cardinals franchise is historically bad when it leaves its time zone and dome and has to play on the East Coast and outside, even if that outside is in sunny Florida. This logic led me to pick against the Cardinals when they played at MetLife against the Giants even though it didn’t work out. Bruce Arians isn’t Shurmur and it will work out in this instance.
Kansas City -5.5 over TENNESSEE I’m picking the Chiefs under the assumption that Patrick Mahomes is going to play. If Mahomes weren’t going to play, I would still pick the Chiefs.
INDIANAPOLIS -10.5 over Miami The Dolphins did everyone who wants to tease the Colts this week a favor by beating the Jets last week. Had the Dolphins lost again, this line would have probably been at least two touchdowns. Instead, it’s a reasonable six- or seven-point tease.
Carolina +5 over GREEN BAY I think the quarterback controversy in Carolina was over before there ever got to be one. Cam Newton seems to be done for the season, and even if he he weren’t, how could the Panthers start him over Kyle Allen? Newton has most certainly played his final game for the Panthers, and that idea will become more and more real if the Panthers keep on winning.
Los Angeles Rams -3.5 over PITTSBURGH The Rams have gotten back on track after their unexpected three-game losing streak. Even if they got back on track at the expense against a bad Falcons team and a league-worst Bengals team, they still got back on track. With a congested NFC playoff picture, the Rams can’t afford another letdown against a truly inferior opponent like the one they had against the Buccaneers, and I don’t think they will have another one.
Minnesota +3 over DALLAS There isn’t a combination of two “good” teams I trust less. The only “good” win either of these teams has is over the Eagles and that’s not saying much given how the Eagles have performed in the first half of the season. I fully expect Kirk Cousins to screw this game up the way he screws up nearly every game for the Vikings, but the Vikings are the better, more complete team in this matchup and when the better, more complete team is getting three points, you take them.
Seattle +6 over SAN FRANCISCO It’s the head coach who OK’d a pass on the goal line in the Super Bowl despite having the best running back in the league on his team against the now-head coach who was the offensive coordinator for a 25-point blown lead in the Super Bowl. If only Dan Quinn could somehow be part of this game. He probably will have the chance to be next season when he’s looking for a coordinator job after he’s finally fired by the Falcons. Six points in a divisional matchup with the division essentially on the line is way too many.
Andrew Rotondi of Bronx Pinstripes joined me to talk about the Yankees’ roster moves and who they should sign.
It’s been a few weeks since the Yankees’ season ended in the most crushing way and there’s still a long way to go until there will be meaningful baseball. The offseason is here and free agency is here and the Yankees need to use their financial power this winter.
Andrew Rotondi of Bronx Pinstripes joined me to talk about if the pain of the ALCS loss has faded, if the Yankees need to rethink their postseason bullpen strategy, whether or not the Yankees should bring Didi Gregorius back, the Aroldis Chapman extension, the inevitable return of Brett Gardner, the chances Gerrit Cole signs with the Yankees and what will happen with Clint Frazier.
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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is available!
The first month of the season has been a rollercoaster ride of performance of production with mixed results, and it’s been exactly what’s to be expected of a rebuild.
The Rangers won their first two games of the season then lost their next five. They beat the talented Sabres and then looked like they didn’t belong in the same league as the Bruins. They upset the Lightning and Predators and then were embarrassed at home by the league-worst Senators. The Rangers have at times looked like a team capable of playing meaningful games in the early spring with the possibility of sneaking into the playoffs and at other times have looked like a team in the early stages of a rebuild and years away from contending.
So is life as a rebuilding team, which the Rangers are. Miraculously moving up in the draft to second and signing the offseason’s most-coveted free agent didn’t change the fact the Rangers aren’t expected to return to the playoffs for the first time in three years this season, and most likely won’t be back in the postseason next season either. The Rangers might have been able to skip the earliest phases of a rebuild by drafting Kaapo Kakko, signing Artemi Panarin and trading Jacob Trouba, while having three starting NHL goalies on the roster, and one of the better two-way centers in the league in Mika Zibanejad, but it’s still early in the rebuild. The Rangers were able to advance to GO without having to run through a gauntlet of hotels along the way because of some luck, good fortune and crafty trades, but they still have a long way before they can be taken seriously.
Aside from watching the fourth line scramble to clear the zone and prevent high-quality scoring chances in their limited ice time, this Rangers season has been enjoyable and I expect it to remain that way. Sure, I could do without the emotional and disciplinary meltdowns like the one against the Senators earlier this week in what was as winnable a game as they get though those kind of games are going to happen given the Rangers’ inexperienced roster, which is the second-youngest in the league when Henrik Lundqvist and Marc Staal are playing, and the youngest when they’re not.
The wins and losses ultimately don’t matter this season. Right now, they do because the Rangers are still months away from the expected separation from a wild-card berth and technically have a goal of playoff hockey, however in the big picture, they don’t. Experience and development is all that matters for this team. There will be impressive feel-good wins over contenders like those over Buffalo, Tampa Bay and Nashville, and subsequents depressing letdowns against the league’s lesser teams like those to New Jersey and Ottawa, but the main goal is experience and development.
The one constant needs to be effort. After a month of hockey, David Quinn has mentioned on more than one occasion about needing to deliver a message to his team, as has Lundqvist who spoke about the team’s performance not being close to good enough during their five-game losing streak. Without the veteran leadership the team once possessed during their true contending seasons from 2011-2015, it’s understandable the second-youngest (and at times youngest) team in the league will get away from what makes them dangerous like they were over the weekend and makes them vulnerable in all three zones and extremely beatable.
The first month of the season has been a rollercoaster ride of performance of production with mixed results, and it’s been exactly what’s to be expected of a rebuild. The Rangers are headed in the right direction even if it seems like it might take forever to get there.
