There’s a reason why the Yankees gave up three of their better prospects for Sonny Gray and there’s a reason why the team let him start Game 1 of the 2017 ALDS and Game 4 of the 2017 ALCS. There’s a reason why the Yankees let him keep starting all the way until August even though he was nearly a guaranteed loss every time he took the ball. There’s a reason so many teams were connected to him this offseason and why the Reds ultimately decided to trade for him and give him a $30.5 million extension following the trade, disregarding his awful 2018 season. And there’s a reason why David Ortiz said the following about Gray in 2015:

“The last few seasons, the toughest guy I’ve faced is Sonny Gray from Oakland. This kid’s stuff is legit … the first time I see this Gray kid on the mound, I can’t help but notice he’s 5’10” and skinny. He looks like the guy who fixes my computer at the Apple Store. I’m thinking, Here we go. This is gonna be fun. Then he took me for a ride, man. Fastball. Sinker. Slider. Curve … Whap. Whap. Whap. You have no idea what this kid is going to throw. He drives me crazy.”

The reason for all these things is because Gray has the ability, talent, stuff and repertoire to be a perennial Cy Young candidate. The pitcher Ortiz was talking about is the one who pitched to a 2.88 ERA over 491 innings in his first three seasons in the league and who shut out the Tigers over eight innings in Game 2 of the 2013 ALDS. That’s the pitcher the Yankees thought they were getting. That’s the pitcher I thought the Yankees were getting.

The Yankees essentially did get that pitcher … when they were on the road. When Gray was away from Yankee Stadium, he was his usual self, but when the Yankees were home, it was like watching Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS every start.

HOME (15 games, 11 starts)
59.1 IP, 78 H, 47 R, 46 ER, 35 BB, 45 K, 11 HR, 6.98 ERA, 1.904 WHIP

AWAY (15 games, 12 starts)
71.0 IP, 60 H, 26 R, 26 ER, 22 BB, 78 K, 3 HR, 3.17 ERA, 1.155 WHIP

At Yankee Stadium, opposing batters teed off on him like a collective MVP candidate (.318/.406/.527), while on the road, opposing batters hit him like a backup catcher (.226/.295/.320). Unfortunately, the Yankees couldn’t destroy the rest of their rotation by moving everyone around to accommodate Gray’s inability to pitch in the Bronx, so they instead made Austin Romine his personal catcher as if Gary Sanchez was the problem. When the hopeful magic trick of having Romine turn around Gray’s season proved ineffective, the Yankees continued to stick with the meaningless experiment. Two months into the season, Gray allowed five earned runs and put 11 runners on base in 3 2/3 innings against the Angels, and after the game, he said:

“I thought I commanded my two-seam well. I think it was my four-seam that every time I threw it, it kind of leaked back over the middle of the plate. Slider was good. Yeah, I think the stuff was good.”

Despite his actual performances and lack of accountability for his performance, the Yankees continued to let him start every five days in June and July, thinking somehow he would get back on track. It wasn’t until the day after the trade deadline (which happened to be the year to the day the Yankees made the deal to acquire him) that the organization said enough was enough.

In the middle of a three-game winning streak after finding out Aaron Judge would miss the majority of the remaining regular season, the Yankees had an afternoon game in the Bronx against the Orioles before going to Boston for a four-game series, which would decide the division. A win against the 23-59 Orioles would make the Yankees four games back of the Red Sox with a chance to erase the entire deficit over the coming weekend.

Gray started for the Yankees against the Orioles, having already beaten them three times during the season, and he began the game with a perfect 13-pitch first inning. In the second inning, Yankee Stadium Sonny Gray arrived:

Danny Valencia singled.
Chris Davis walked.
Trey Mancini singled and Valencia scored.
Caleb Joseph singled on a bunt.
Renato Nunez doubled and Davis and Mancini scored.
Breyvic Valera struck out.
Tim Beckham singled and Joseph and Nunez scored.
Jace Peterson singled.
Adam Jones lined into a double play.

Gray had given up a five runs in the second to a lineup featuring one player (Jones) who might start on any of the winning teams in the league and to a team who had recently traded away its best player in Manny Machado en route to a 115-loss season. Not only that, but it was a day game after a night game, and a day game after another loss for the the Orioles, who were going to have to fly to Texas after the game for a four-game series in the August Texas heat with 53 games left in their miserable season. In a must-have game and about as winnable of a game against about as a bad of opponent as there will ever be in Major League Baseball, Gray got absolutely rocked. The Yankees offense wasn’t out of the game yet, not against the Orioles pitching staff, but together, Gray and Aaron Boone pushed the game out of reach.

Gray returned for the third inning, probably because Boone didn’t want to burn his bullpen ahead of the Boston series, but also possibly because Boone displayed an inability to know what he was doing when it came to bullpen management all season, ultimately ruining the ALDS for his team. After retiring the first two batters, Gray allowed a solo home run, followed by a walk and a single. Boone went out to take the ball from Gray and that game marked the end for Gray as a Yankee.

Gray spent the last two months of the regular season in the bullpen, making just seven relief appearances and two spot starts over the final 56 games. He finished the season with 23 starts, only eight of which were “quality starts”. And in those 23 starts, seven times he allowed five or more earned runs and seven times he failed to pitch at least four innings. The Yankees went 11-12 when Gray started and 89-50 in all other games, winning 100 games despite Gray’s miserable season. He was left off the postseason roster, and the second the season ended, Brian Cashman went to work openly showing his displeasure in Gray’s performance and ending his Yankees tenure by saying things like “It hasn’t worked out thus far” and “I think that we’ll enter the winter, unfortunately, open-minded to a relocation” and “It’s probably best to try this somewhere else” and “Our intention is to move Sonny Gray and relocate him”. On Monday, Cashman finally traded Gray to the Reds for a prospect and a draft pick.

What started back on July 31, 2017 as the Yankees getting two-and-a-half years of control for a potential ace at a bargain price for three players who might never reach or be regular players in the majors, ended with Gray pitching to a 4.51 ERA in 195 2/3 regular-season innings for the Yankees to go along with a loss and no-decision in two postseason starts.

Sonny Gray’s tenure with the Yankees has ended. I’m happy it’s over.

***

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

The book details my life as a Yankees fan, growing up watching Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams through my childhood and early adulthood and the shift to now watching Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino, Aaron Judge and others become the latest generation of Yankees baseball. It’s a journey through the 2017 postseason with flashbacks to games and moments from the Brian Cashman era.

Click here to purchase the book through Amazon as an ebook. You can read it on any Apple device by downloading the free Kindle app.

The moment David Robertson signed with the Phillies, the Yankees were going to sign Zach Britton. They didn’t have a choice. The Yankees went into the offseason knowing they would need to re-sign or replace both Robertson and Britton, and once Robertson was off the board, it was inevitable Britton would become a Yankee again, the same way J.A. Happ became a Yankee again after the team let Patrick Corbin sign with the Nationals.

The foundation of Britton’s contract is for three years and $39 million, but it also includes a club option and player opt-out, which could increase the total to $53 million. In this new, weird way of free agency, which will most likely lead to a strike, the options and opt-outs are the new way of doing business. It’s a fair deal for a once-dominant reliever who still might not be all the way back from rupturing his Achilles, and it’s a bargain compared to what I thought he might get as a free agent with the potential of being some team’s “closer”.

Last year, in 25 games and 25 innings as a Yankee, Britton was only the Britton Yankees fans grew to hate about half the time, maybe a little more than half the time. His strikeouts were down and his walks were up and his sinker, which made him an elite closer in 2016-17, didn’t have its usual sink. It was all expected from a player essentially rehabbing his Achilles injury in actual games in the middle of a pennant race.

The Yankees aren’t getting the 2016-17 version of Britton, who pitched to a 1.22 ERA, striking out 153 in 132 2/3 innings, while racking up 83 saves. But they need to not get the newer version of Britton, whose strikeout numbers have declined by over three per nine innings and whose walk totals have gone by about two per nine innings since his back-to-back All-Star seasons. And I think they will get a better version Britton in 2019. I expect Britton to be better in 2019 than he was in 2018. He has to be better in 2019 than he was in 2018.

The bullpen was the so-called strength of the 2018 Yankees even if it seemed like one of the “A” relievers was having an off night every night. But that bullpen featured both Britton and Robertson and now it has only Britton, which means Robertson needs to be replaced. When you consider Britton isn’t that far removed from rupturing his Achilles, the inconsistent last season for Aroldis Chapman, the fact Dellin Betances can get out of whack at any second and the dramatic decline in strikeouts and performance from Chad Green from 2017 to 2018, without Robertson, the bullpen has the potential to be the biggest question mark on a team, which boasts a right-handed dominant lineup and a rotation full of injury history. Add in an inconsistent Jonathan Holder, the frustrating Tommy Kahnle, an inexperienced Stephen Tarpley and the possibility of everyone’s favorite Yankee Luis Cessa joining the bullpen , and there are going to be a lot of cocktails being made in the late innings in homes throughout the Tri-state area this season.

Britton was always part of the offseason bullpen plan and when Robertson signed with the Phillies, he became the offseason bullpen plan. But the Yankees can’t replace Britton and Robertson with just a one-year-older Britton. They need another elite reliever. They have to have another elite reliever.

***

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

The book details my life as a Yankees fan, growing up watching Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams through my childhood and early adulthood and the shift to now watching Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino, Aaron Judge and others become the latest generation of Yankees baseball. It’s a journey through the 2017 postseason with flashbacks to games and moments from the Brian Cashman era.

Click here to purchase the book through Amazon as an ebook. You can read it on any Apple device by downloading the free Kindle app.

I have called David Robertson “David ‘Copperfield’ Robertson” since he got out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the 11th inning of Game 2 of the 2009 ALDS, leading to the Yankees’ walk-off win in the bottom of that inning. Robertson’s ability to pitch out of any jam became his best attribute, more than his long delivery, deceiving fastball and knee-buckling breaking ball.

After becoming a full-time Yankee in 2009, Robertson became the team’s primary setup man in 2011, pitching to 1.08 ERA and striking out 100 batters in 66 2/3 innings. He went on to do a nice job taking over as Yankees closer in 2014 (3.08 ERA, 39 saves, 96 strikeouts in 64 1/3 innings) in the first year without Number 42 and I thought the Yankees would do everything possible to bring him back. They didn’t, opting to sign Andrew Miller instead, even though I thought the Yankees should have re-signed both Robertson and Miller to go along with Dellin Betances rather than just signing Miller. And so Robertson signed with the White Sox for four years and $46 million.

Robertson was good for the White Sox in two-plus seasons, but when it was announced he was part of the trade for Todd Frazier to phase out Chase Headley, I was incredibly happy. Not only were the Yankees getting Frazier and essentially getting rid of Headley, but Robertson was returning to where he belonged.

After coming over from the White Sox, Robertson was nearly unhittable in 30 games for the Yankees. In 35 innings, he allowed only 14 hits and just four earned runs, while walking 12 and striking out 51, pitching to a 1.03 ERA and 0.743 WHIP. For as good as he was for the Yankees in his 2011 breakout season, he was even better in 2017 despite being six years older.

Robertson played a big part in saving the Yankees’ season in the 2017 AL Wild-Card Game, throwing a career-high 3 1/3 innings and 52 pitches to earn the win in the Yankees’ first postseason victory since CC Sabathia’s dominant performance in Game 5 of the 2012 ALDS. With the Yankees leading 4-3 in the third inning of the wild-card game, Robertson came on in relief of Chad Green, who left him with a bases-loaded, one-out situation. Robertson got the final two outs of the innings, allowing only one run, and in the bottom half of the inning, the Yankees took the lead for good on their way to the ALDS.

Robertson was great again in 2018, striking out 91 in 69 2/3 innings with the second-lowest WHIP of his career (1.033). His ERA rose to 3.23, though his 2.97 FIP and his strikeouts- and walks-per-nine showed he was better than that.

I thought after Robertson returned to the Yankees he would be a Yankee for as long as he continued to pitch the way he always had. It was hard to see him never leaving the team again because a once-dominant reliever can always find a one-year deal somewhere after his elite days are over, but I didn’t think he would be leaving the team, while he was still pitching the way he did at the end of 2017 and in 2018.

But now, for the second time, Robertson is no longer a Yankee. Four years after the Yankees let him leave for the White Sox, they have let him leave for the Phillies. Despite Robertson wanting to return to the team, despite him succeeded for so many years in New York, despite his ability to both set up and close games and despite his performance showing no signs of decline even as he nears his 34th birthday, the Yankees still chose not to re-sign him.

Robertson made $12 million in 2017 and $13 million in 2018. He will make $10 million in 2019 and $11 million in 2020 with a $12 million option or $2 million buyout for 2021. Even as one of the best relievers in all of baseball, and therefore, one of the top relievers in this free-agent market, Robertson is essentially taking a pay cut after a strong 2017 and 2018.

Two years of a healthy Robertson at $25 million, and the possibility of a third year at $12 million, appears like a steal. At his age, Robertson is looking for what could be his final payday in the league, and that means the Phillies’ offer was the best he received, which means his former team, the one he said he wanted to remain apart of either didn’t make him an offer or didn’t meet the Phillies’ number.

Robertson already passed a physical, so there’s no underlying injury or elbow ligament about to tear, which could have scared off the Yankees from committing to him for another two or three seasons. And the 69 2/3 innings he pitched in 2018 were a career-high for him, so it’s not as if he’s coming off of an injury-plagued season. The Yankees’ decision to not bring back Robertson makes no sense, unless the playoff shares story is a bigger deal than originally thought to be.

The Yankees reportedly held a team meeting in St. Petersburg before the end of the season in which the team voted on playoff shares for coaches and staff and the results of the vote included a few members of the organization not receiving full or even half shares. Robertson was supposedly the leader of the meeting, and while some thought the story was fabricated or leaked to hurt Robertson in free agency and a return to the Yankees, it’s hard not to think what happened affected his chances at a new contract with the Yankees.

It’s not the end of the world in a free-agent relief market which still boasts Craig Kimbrel, Zach Britton and Adam Ottavino, and it’s now a certainty the Yankees will sign at least one of those three. But the Yankees knew what they had in Robertson in their bullpen and they knew what they would get with Robertson in their bullpen. Now they have to hope whichever reliever they sign pitches like David Robertson.

***

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

The book details my life as a Yankees fan, growing up watching Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams through my childhood and early adulthood and the shift to now watching Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino, Aaron Judge and others become the latest generation of Yankees baseball. It’s a journey through the 2017 postseason with flashbacks to games and moments from the Brian Cashman era.

Click here to purchase the book through Amazon as an ebook. You can read it on any Apple device by downloading the free Kindle app.