Yankees’ recent trade only creates more questions about the state and direction of the roster.
A day later I still feel the same way about the Yankees’ trade for Josh Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, which has only created more questions about the state and direction of the roster.
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“Neil, are you awake? Neil? Are you awake?“ “I am now,” I responded to my wife. “The Yankees traded Gary Sanchez.” “Yeah, right.” “No, really. To the Twins.” That’s how my Monday began, shortly after
“Neil, are you awake? Neil? Are you awake?“
“I am now,” I responded to my wife.
“The Yankees traded Gary Sanchez.”
“Yeah, right.”
“No, really. To the Twins.”
That’s how my Monday began, shortly after 2 a.m.
Beginning at 7 p.m. on Friday night I began updating every possible news outlet by the minute. That was the official start time to the 2022 MLB season and that was when the supposed madness would take place, especially for the Yankees, who would be in search of a shortstop, first baseman, starting pitcher and possible outfielder. I spent the weekend attached to social media in between Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Cocomelon episodes only to be disappointed when the Yankees’ lone move was bringing back Tim Locastro on a major-league deal to give them outfield depth.
I passed out shortly before 10 p.m. on Sunday night in the middle of scouring social media for any inkling of positive Yankees news or potential acquisitions. The moment I fell asleep, Brian Cashman and Co. swooped in as if they were waiting for me to let my guard down, sending Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela to the Twins.
My Sanchez fandom is well known. As one of the few surviving members of the Gary Sanchez Fan Club, of course I’m disappointed he’s no longer a Yankee. When right, he presented the biggest position advantage the Yankees had over any opponent. The problem is he hadn’t been right often over the last few years and I spent an inordinate amount of time defending him to Kyle Higashioka believers, who have nonsensically looked past the 32-year-old backup’s career .183/.234/.385 batting line and bottom-of-the-barrel arm, while at the same time being fed up with Sanchez, who in a down year in 2021 hit three more home runs than Higashioka has hit in his career. In the end, Aaron Boone and Higashioka Fan Club won out and now the Yankees boast the worst catching tandem in Major League Baseball. Congratulations!
As for Urshela, I wrote at the end of last season that he was the easiest piece of the roster to move to give the appearance of a new-look roster, and so the Yankees moved him. He was a good Yankee. A product of the 2019 super baseball, but a good Yankee nonetheless.
The Yankees moving on from Sanchez and Urshela isn’t surprising. The return for Sanchez and Urshela is what kept me up from 2 a.m. until 5 a.m. this morning, tossing and turning, trying to go back to sleep, but wondering, ‘Why this trade?’
Prior to the 2019 season, the Yankees had the chance to sign Bryce Harper and/or Manny Machado. They courted Machado enough to sell it to the fanbase that they “tried” to sign the 26-year-old left-side-of-the-infield superstar. They didn’t even meet with Harper, the 26-year-old, left-handed-hitting outfielder with already one MVP to his name.
Why weren’t they even remotely interested in the generational talent Harper? Because they already had Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Hicks, and had Clint Frazier waiting for an everyday role. Since not signing Harper, the Yankees haven’t extended Judge, they don’t let Stanton play the outfield, Hicks has missed 239 of a possible 384 regular-season games (62 percent) and Frazier was released this offseason for nothing. Harper has gone on to hit .281/.402/.556 for the Phillies, averaging 38 home runs and 105 RBIs per 162 games, while winning the 2021 NL MVP and playing in 356 of a possible 384 regular-season games.
All Harper would have cost the Yankees money. Their greatest resource and the thing they make more of than every other team. He ended up getting an average annual salary of $25.3 million, which would cover his age 26-38 seasons.
In Sunday night’s trade, the Yankees acquired Josh Donaldson … and the $48 million owed to him. An average annual salary of $24 million for a 36-year-old third baseman who has played two “full” seasons in the last five years and in one of those “full” seasons (last year), he missed 27 games.
Once upon a time, acquiring Donaldson and paying him that much money would have made sense. That time was five years ago. And while it’s not my money, the idea the Yankees are willing to pay essentially the same average annual salary for the age 36 and 37 seasons of an oft-injured former superstar, while choosing on multiple occasions to not pay for the age 36 and 37 seasons of other current superstars when they would also be getting their prime years is beyond puzzling. The Yankees are choosing that same path at shortstop.
Prior to the lockout, the Yankees had their choice at shortstop: Corey Seager, Carlos Correa or Trevor Story. Seager signed with the Rangers, leaving them with the 27-year-old Correa or the 29-year-old Story. The Yankees chose instead to trade for Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
They chose to do this because their No. 1 and No. 3 prospects are both shortstops excelling in the minors. So in win-now mode with the majority of their “core” approaching or on the other side of 30, rather than commit their future on an already-proven major-league shortstop in their prime, the Yankees are choosing to commit to either a 20-year-old who has never played above High-A or a 21-year-old who has only played 87 games above High-A. Only one of them can be the shortstop of the future, and it’s likely the Yankees choose Volpe, meaning the New Jersey-born native will basically have to become the other New Jersey-born former Yankees shortstop. The Yankees are banking on Volpe being Derek Jeter 2.0. A very reasonable expectation. Kiner-Falefa is a decent player, but the Rangers also signed Seager and Marcus Semien rather than commit to Kiner-Falefa. The Rangers. The same team that released Rougned Odor, who the Yankees happily traded an actual person to acquire, rostered him all season and even let him get two at-bats in the one-game playoff against the Red Sox. Only one person can bat ninth and the Yankees now have multiple candidates for that spot.
There’s this idea the Yankees aren’t done yet, but I don’t know how anyone could truly believe that. That trade could very well be it. They could go into the season praying for a miracle that Hicks (who has missed 44 percent of regular-season games since 2018), Stanton (33 percent), Donaldson (27 percent) and Judge (23 percent) all stay healthy and productive for six-plus months. They could think an infield combination of Donaldson, Kiner-Falefa, DJ LeMahieu, Gleyber Torres and Luke Voit is good enough to get them back to the World Series for the first time in 13 years. They could very well think the duo of Higashioka and Ben Rorvedt isn’t the worst catching tandem in the league. (Sorry, it is.)
In mid-October, Cashman said:
“I’m going to be looking to upgrade. There are some areas of weakness that have popped up in a lot of categories.
“Here’s the biggest key: Go to the marketplace, whether it’s the free-agent marketplace, or go to the trade market and see how we can solve that with what’s available in the marketplace. And obviously there will be some legitimate choices to reconfigure in certain categories.”
The roster that needed upgrades still hasn’t gotten them. It still hasn’t added any one of the “legitimate choices” Cashman mentioned. If this is it for the Yankees’ offseason, it’s going to be a long 2022 season, and likely a wasted one at that. On Monday morning, the Yankees’ roster is worse than it was on Sunday afternoon, and it was pretty awful then.
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The odds I look back at the 99-day lockout with a smile on my face improve each day. The lockout prevented Yankees baseball from existing and being a part of my life, and those three-plus
The odds I look back at the 99-day lockout with a smile on my face improve each day. The lockout prevented Yankees baseball from existing and being a part of my life, and those three-plus months were care-free, stress-free and rather beautiful. The lockout hasn’t even been over for 72 hours and I already miss it.
On Sunday, Aaron Boone opened spring training and the 2022 Yankees season in the only way he knows how: by lying.
“We can win now with what we have,” Boone told the media.
“What they have” is a roster that has added zero pieces since they were embarrassed in the one-game playoff by the Red Sox. A roster that was the favorite to win the American League in 2021, and instead finished fifth in the AL and third in their own division. A roster core that wasn’t good enough in 2018, 2019, 2020 or 2021, failing to get back to the World Series in all four seasons under Boone, while progressively getting worse each year.
“What they have” is a rotation whose No. 2 starter hasn’t started a game in 29 months; a starting catcher they don’t actually let start in the season’s biggest games; a starting first baseman who was benched for the final six weeks of last season; a starting shortstop who they were so reluctant to play at short they waited until the 144th game of the season to do so; a starting third baseman who is a Gold Glove-winning second baseman and a starting center fielder who has had his elbow and wrist surgically repaired over the last two years. “What they have” is a roster that is nowhere near good enough to win their division, let alone a playoff series or the World Series.
What makes Boone’s season-opening lie more infuriating is that his own general manager (the one person in the world outside of his own family who believes in him as a major-league manager) said the exact opposite at the team’s end-of-the-season press conference in the middle of October. On the same day Cashman announced a ridiculous three-year extension with an option for a fourth year for Boone, he also spoke at length about the current roster.
“At times it looked unstoppable,” Cashman said, “But many other times unwatchable because of the streakiness and the lack of consistency.”
“I’m going to be looking to upgrade,” Cashman added. “There are some areas of weakness that have popped up in a lot of categories.”
“Here’s the biggest key,” Cashman explained, “Go to the marketplace, whether it’s the free-agent marketplace, or go to the trade market and see how we can solve that with what’s available in the marketplace. And obviously there will be some legitimate choices to reconfigure in certain categories.”
Since Cashman said that, the only moves the Yankees made at the major-league level have been to lose Clint Frazier (for nothing) and Tyler Wade (for essentially nothing), get rid of Rougned Odor (thankfully), watched Corey Kluber sign with the divisional-rival Rays and saw Anthony Rizzo become a free agent. They have added zero position players or pitchers, and yet, Boone feels a roster Cashman has publicly admitted wasn’t good enough and hasn’t changed at all is capable of winning a championship. Cashman has been browsing the marketplace five-and-a-half months, and his cart is still empty. Nearly all of the “legitimate choices” he spoke about in mid-October are no longer available.
Since the announcement of Boone’s new contract, I have tried to talk myself into believing in Boone with better players. All he needs is a better roster! Because that will prevent him from batting Brett Gardner third (once Gardner inevitably re-signs), using Brooks Kriske (or now someone like him) in extra innings in Fenway Park and choosing Albert Abreu over his entire bullpen with the season literally on the line in Game 161 of the regular season. Just give him better players! Unfortunately, with the way the offseason has played out, the idea of Boone with better players is turning from an idea into a dream.
There are two actual starting shortstop options remaining: Carlos Correa and Trevor Story. Correa is by far the better player, but he’s also a jerk who comes with a lot of baggage. Like CC Sabathia said on his podcast this offseason, Correa has set himself up to be Alex Rodriguez if he comes to the Yankees in terms of being a dividing figure in the clubhouse and being booed on the field following any plate appearance that doesn’t end with him reaching base. I don’t think that’s a 10-year commitment this Yankees front office wants to make, and I don’t see why Correa would want to make it either.
I really don’t know what type of commitments the Yankees want to make. One would think the Yankees would be all about big-money, short-term deals, like the one Max Scherzer signed with the Mets, but the Yankees were reportedly not even involved in talks for Scherzer. How is that even possible? How is it possible that the Yankees weren’t interested in the best available free-agent pitcher and arguably the best pitcher in the game who would only cost money, something they make more of than any other team? Oh, that’s right, the owner of the Yankees voted to lower the luxury-tax threshold, which would in turn damage his team’s ability to use the financial might and strength they used to use to their advantage.
Not only were the Yankees not in on Scherzer, but they let the reigning Cy Young winner in Robbie Ray sign with the Mariners on what I think is a favorable contract for the Mariners. They watched Kevin Gausman sign with the Blue Jays, and even Jon Gray (who the Yankees once drafted and have always been connected to) was signed by the Rangers. The Rangers also signed two of the available shortstops in Corey Seager (who was my No. 1 choice for the Yankees to sign) and Marcus Semien.
It keeps me up at night to think who will play shortstop for the 2022 Yankees. (I think they would be more inclined to sign Story since he will be cheaper and they were unsuccessfully tried to trade for him last July, essentially admitting midseason they didn’t have an everyday major-league shortstop on their roster, while continuing to play Gleyber Torres at the position for another six weeks) and then call it an offseason. This team isn’t a shortstop away from a championship. They are many, many pieces away from that.
If the old adage holds true that you want to build up the middle, then the Yankees’ current middle is Gary Sanchez (whose name made headlines this offseason just for being tendered a contract), Torres (who was removed from shortstop and is now being forced back to second base), no one at shortstop and Aaron Hicks (who has played 145 games in the last three years and in that time has suffered a back injury, a hamstring injury and has had his throwing elbow and left wrist both surgically repaired). That’s the Yankees’ middle: Sanchez, Torres, no one and Hicks. Yes, Boone, these Yankees can definitely win now with what they have!
Both Correa and Story make the Yankees much better simply because they’re breathing and the Yankees don’t currently have an actual shortstop on their roster. That sentence reads like a joke, but it’s far from a joke. However, they need a whole lot more than one of those two. Aside from LeMahieu, they essentially need an entire infield since I have given up on Torres, whose mere presence is screwing up the infield alignment, and they need someone who can be trusted to play a full season in the outfield whose name isn’t Brett Gardner.
On top of that, they need starting pitching. They have Gerrit Cole and Jordan Montgomery. Luis Severino has pitched 27 2/3 innings since the end of 2018 and hasn’t started a game in 29 months. Corey Kluber is now a Ray. Jameson Taillon is recovering from ankle surgery. Domingo German flat-out sucks. Clarke Schmidt is always hurt and has put 31 baserunners on in 12 2/3 innings in the majors. In six months, Deivi Garcia went from looking like the future of the rotation to having a future in an independent league. Michael King is a reliever.
Scherzer is a Met, Ray is a Mariner, Gausman is a Blue Jay and Gray is a Ranger. The Yankees didn’t want to go to a second year for Justin Verlander (just like they didn’t want to take on his salary in 2017), so he’s back with the Astros. Eduardo Rodriguez went to the Tigers, Steven Matz to the Cardinals, Noah Syndergaaard to the Angels, Alex Wood back to the Giants and Yusei Kikuchi to the Blue Jays. Even Alex Cobb (who signed with the Angels) or a reunion with James Paxton (who went to the Red Sox) would have been viable depth options. The Yankees signed none of them. I thought a trade with the A’s for Chris Bassitt would have made a lot of sense. The Mets made the trade for Bassitt.
I really hope there’s a multi-player return trade coming any minute now because that seems like the only way the Yankees improve their roster. The remaining free-agent pitchers all might as well be J.A. Happ (who happens to also be a free agent) because there’s no one left who will improve the rotation. And unless the Yankees are going to sign Correa and Freddie Freeman, there’s nothing left in free agency to get excited about.
Still wearing his uniform long after the wild-card loss to the Red Sox, Gardner said, “There’s a lot of uncertain, uncharted waters with this team heading into the offseason … Hopefully we’ll have a chance to run it back.”
Well, a scenario that seemed impossible to fathom after that embarrassing “postseason” loss is very close to coming to fruition, and Gardner may just get his wish. The same roster that has never been good enough to win in the postseason and is now not even good enough to get into the actual postseason and play a series is still intact more than five months later.
The last game the Yankees played and the next game the Yankees play will come against the team that humiliated them in that postseason game ( a game that was over four batters into the bottom of the first). The roster that wasn’t good enough to win the last game will likely be the same roster that plays the next game. As of now, it will be worse.
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The Rangers going to need Alexandar Georgiev to play frequently in their remaining 25 games, and they’re going to need to him play well when he does.
After beating the Devils and Jets over the weekend, the Rangers lost to the Wild on Tuesday night. It was “one of those games” you can expect over an 82-game regular season.
Here are 10 thoughts on the Rangers.
1. The Rangers weren’t going to win every game for the rest of the season, and Igor Shesterkin wasn’t going to play every game for the rest of the season. After three straight wins over the Blues (5-3), Devils (3-1) and Jets (4-1) and three more wins to add to Shesterkin’s historic season, the Rangers were due for a letdown performance. Alexandar Georgiev was due to play at some point. Both of those things happened on Tuesday and the Rangers lost to the Wild 5-2.
Here is what I wrote about Georgiev nine days ago:
Georgiev isn’t Shesterkin. I don’t trust him and assume the worst for the Rangers when he’s in net. But that doesn’t mean he can’t be a starting goalie somewhere. It just means he’s likely unable to be the Rangers’ backup. It’s not easy to go weeks without seeing game action, like Georgiev does, and be expected to step in and play at your best. It’s an art, and it’s an art that Georgiev hasn’t come close to mastering and maybe he never will. When Shesterkin was out for an extended period of time and Georgiev was able to get consistent starts, he was at his best. But prior to Sunday (February 27), Georgiev hadn’t started since January 27.
Georgiev’s last three starts came on January 27, February 27 and March 8. That’s three starts in 40 days. I don’t expect anyone to be on top of their game when used that inconsistently, especially not someone who has been accustomed to starting or at least very regular playing time for their career. Georgiev was extremely shaky on Tuesday night when Ryan Hartman found the back of the net from the top of the circles to give the Wild a 1-0 lead and again when a fluttering Joel Eriksson shot beat him to give the Wild a 2-0 lead.
2. You now have to go back to January 8 for Georgiev’s last win (a 4-1 victory in Anaheim), and the Rangers have lost his last five starts (which came across eight weeks). Georgiev will only return to the goalie who at times made people question if he should be the heir to Henrik Lundqvist if he is to get consistent playing time. But that can’t happen and won’t happen with the Rangers over a full season. Not with how good Shesterkin has been, not just this season but in his career.
3. Barring a monumental collapse, the Rangers are going to the postseason. They could play under-.500 hockey for their remaining 25 games and still finish with 100-plus points. Because of this, and because their remaining 25 games will be played over 51 days beginning on Thursday, there’s going to be a lot of Georgiev over the final seven-plus weeks of the season. There are four back-to-backs left and only a handful of times are there two days of rest between games. It’s not outrageous to think Georgiev could play 12 games the rest of the way. Maybe even more depending on when the Rangers clinch.
4. The Rangers are going to need Georgiev to play and they are going to need him to play somewhat well to avoid the monumental collapse and to avoid having to overuse Shesterkin when they will need to ride him for hopefully an extended period of time beginning in May. Georgiev will get his chance to be the 1A some thought he might be to Shesterkin, and more importantly (for him), he will get a chance to show the rest of the league he could be some other team’s No. 1 for 2022-23.
5. Last week, I wrote that Shesterkin should not only win the Vezina (he’s going to), but also the Hart. Normally, you have to actually play to help your candidacy for league MVP, but the best thing Shesterkin has going in potentially winning both awards is not playing. The drop-off from Georgiev to him is startling and after Tuesday’s loss, the Rangers fell to 0-8-1 against teams currently holding a playoff spot when Shesterkin doesn’t play. They are 12-6-1 when he does.
6. While Shesterkin was sitting on the Rangers’ bench watching his backup allow as many goals as Shesterkin has allowed in his last three starts, Auston Matthews, who seems to be Shesterkin’s biggest competition for the Hart was scoring a hat trick in Toronto against the Kraken. Matthews leads the league in goals (43) and is fourth in points (75), but he’s having the same season that has been had many times in league history. Shesterkin is having a season that has never been had. Ever. And he’s single-handedly the difference between the Rangers being in the Islanders’ position right now or being where they are: headed to the postseason.
7. Shesterkin wasn’t the only important piece of the Rangers on the bench. Alexis Lafreniere found himself watching Ryan Reaves taking his playing time with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider as the game went on. Yes, Reaves. Yes, playing top-six minutes over Lafreniere. Gerard Gallant decided a sloppy 30 or so minutes of one game against a very good home team was enough to screw with the lines and shuffle things to the point that a player who should more often than not be a healthy scratch is taking ice time from the first overall pick who has been scoring 0.50 goals per game over the last few weeks.
“They were playing the matchup game with their guys and I wanted Reavo to be on that side,” Gallant said. “Laffy did nothing wrong. Laffy has played great and I’m happy with him and I told him that. It was just the matchup for tonight and things will be back to normal.”
8. When Gallant made this inexplicable move, the Rangers were trailing. Not that it would have been acceptable or sensical if he had made the move to start the game or early in the game, but he waited until the game was essentially out of reach. Again, Gallant is extremely fortunate Shesterkin is having a season no one in history has ever had otherwise he would have to answer for a lot more of his decisions at more length than being able to brush them aside as final questions in his postgame press conferences.
9. Dryden Hunt scored, so that’s good. The goal breaks a 30-game drought. A 30-game drought for someone who plays top-six minutes and has Artemi Panarin as a linemate. It borders on the impossible of what Hunt just accomplished, but hey, that’s Gallant’s lineup. He can thank Shesterkin for being able to make decisions like that for nearly half a season.
10. In 163 games as a Ranger, Panarin has 215 points. He has averaged 108 points per 82 games and has done so with Hunt, Ryan Strome and Jesper Fast being his linemates the majority of the time.
Panarin should have been league MVP in his first season with the Rangers, the same way Shesterkin should be this season. In Panarin’s situation, while he was the league’s most valuable player, you could have argued the other finalists. In Shesterkin’s situation, you really can’t. And with each game Shesterkin does or doesn’t play, the argument against him becomes less valid.
Adam Rotter of NY Rangers News joined me to talk about the Rangers’ potential trade deadline decisions.
The Rangers are headed to the postseason. The final 28 games are about playing well and staying healthy going into the playoffs. March is about using the trade deadline to upgrade the roster for those playoffs.
Adam Rotter of NY Rangers News joined me to talk about the Rangers’ win over the Blues, Gerard Gallant’s first season as head coach, if the Rangers should go for it at the deadline and who would they should avoid trading.