Blogs – Page 189 – Keefe To The City

Apr 1, 2015

The Season of Optimism for the Yankees

The only way to think about the 2015 Yankees is positively or it’s going to be a long summer, which makes it easier to do over/unders for the season.

I’m officially declaring the 2015 Yankees season as the Season of Optimism. Right now there are so many question marks and unknowns surrounding this team at every position other than left field (Brett Gardner), center field (Jacoby Ellsbury) and third base (Chase Headley).

Every starter in the rotation is either a health or performance concern. First base, second base, shortstop, right field and designated hitter are the same. The bullpen is the one clear strength that no one should worry about, but even there, a closer hasn’t been named and aside from Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller, none of the other hard-throwing relievers have pitched for the Yankees before. Knowing all of that, the only thing to be about this team is optimistic because if you’re not then you might in for a long season. How long this optimism will last? Well, I guess that depends on the health of Masahiro Tanaka’s right elbow and Michael Pineda’s right shoulder.

This optimism has led me to create some over/unders for the 2015 Yankees and for most of the numbers I created, my picks for each are about being as positive as possible.

CC Sabathia – 4.50 ERA
Did I set the ERA for a pitcher making $23 million this season (and $25 million in 2016 and possibly 2017) at the equivalent of a quality start? Yes. Yes, I did. That’s a big drop off from the pitcher who averaged 18 wins and a 3.22 ERA per season in his first four years with the Yankees (2009-2012).

Just being healthy isn’t going to cut it for Sabathia. He needs to be healthy and good. Not great like he once was, just good and that means better than he was in 2013 and 2014. His numbers this spring have been bad and the three home runs allowed in 4 2/3 innings is reminiscent of what made him bad in 2013 and 2014. With this offense, he’s not going to rack up the wins despite pitching poorly like Randy Johnson did in 2006 when he won 17 games with a 5.00 ERA. Sabathia is going to need to find a way to get outs without overpowering hitters the way his former teammate Andy Pettitte and supposed best friend Cliff Lee were able to do. (Let’s hope he talked to them.) Given the health concerns of Tanaka and Pined every pitch they throw, Sabathia is going to need to be relied on. That makes me uncomfortable, but … optimism! Under.

Mark Teixeira – .245 AVG.
Mark Teixeira hit .216 last season. .216! The year before coming to the Yankees he hit .308. In his first season with the Yankees, he hit .292. I thought it was bad when he dropped to .256 in 2010 and started transforming into Jason Giambi 2.0 with only the short porch in right on his mind and no care for ever attempting to the hit the ball the other way as a left-handed hitter. But now we’re way past being Jason Giambi 2.0 and Teixeira is looking more like Adam Dunn or Mark Reynolds with less power.

For Teixeira to hit over .245, he will have to remain healthy, not miss games with wrist or other varying injuries, be willing to hit the ball to the left side of the field when he’s hitting left-handed and not think that he can take any pitcher over the 314 FT. sign in right field. There’s a better chance that the Yankees replicate their 1998 season than there is that Teixeira does those things. Under.

Jacoby Ellsbury – 16.5 HOME RUNS
I used to talk about Brady Anderson and ask which one of these doesn’t belong: 21, 13, 12, 16, 50, 18, 18, 24, 19, 8? Those are Anderson’s home run totals for his full seasons in the majors and that 50 from 1996 looks more out of place than the Martini Bar inside Yankee Stadium.

When it comes to Ellsbury, you can ask the same question about which of these doesn’t belong: 9, 8, 32, 9 and 16? I’m not sure how Ellsbury hit .321/.376/.552 with 32 home runs and 105 RBIs to finish second in the AL MVP voting to Justin Verlander, but I really wish he would become that player again. Ellsbury got a pass last year despite having a down year because he was the “best” hitter on a team full of bad hitters. I don’t think that .271/.328/.419 is what the Yankees thought they were going to get for Ellsbury’s 30-year-old season when they gave him seven years and $153 million.

Everyone kept saying that Ellsbury’s swing combined with the short porch would mean at least 20-25 home runs playing 81 games at Yankee Stadium. I’m hoping that 2013 will be Ellsbury’s version of Carlos Beltran’s 2005 or he will become Johnny Damon’s 2006 and 2009. Over.

Brett Gardner – 30 STOLEN BASES
Brett Gardner’s baserunning career has been a disappointment. After stealing 47 and 49 bases in 2010 and 2011 respectively, he only stole 24 in 2013 and 21 in 2014. He’s supposed to be the cheaper version of Jacoby Ellsbury and not the power hitter he thinks he became thanks to three nights in Texas last July. Gardner needs to get back to being a threat on the bases and not someone who is scared of every pickoff move in the league. Over.

Alex Rodriguez – 100 GAMES PLAYED
I have big plans for A-Rod. Not the kind of plans that include the 54 home runs and 156 RBIs from 2007. But something better than 2012 when he 18 home runs and 57 RBIs (though I would sign up for that right now). In order for A-Rod to make my plans happen, he’s going to need to stay healthy and play a lot and that means more than 100 games, which he has only done once (2012) in the last four years.

But this is the Season of Optimism and that means thinking A-Rod is going to play a full season and be productive and be everything that every writer from the Daily News and Post didn’t think he would or could be. Over.

Stephen Drew – STILL A YANKEE ON JUNE 1
I like how Brian Cashman was so adamant this spring about how Drew is the Yankees’ starting second baseman no matter what while he said Alex Rodriguez had to earn a spot on the team. Unfortunately, for my DFA Stephen Drew, #GiveRobTheJob and #SayOkToJose campaigns, Stephen Drew has started hitting a little and is now up to .244/.306/.444 this spring.

Drew is going to be a Yankee on Opening Day. He is going to get announced in the starting lineup and jog out to the first-base line, which is something I wished I wouldn’t have to see given that he hit .150/.219/.271 for the Yankees last year.

If Drew doesn’t hit the way he hasn’t most of March and the way he didn’t in 46 games for the Yankees last year and the way he didn’t in 39 games for the Red Sox last year and the way he didn’t in the 2013 postseason, then the Yankees will release him and eat the remaining money of his $5 million. And then we will finally get to see Rob Refsnyder or Jose Pirela play second base, which is what we should have seen all along. The Yankees have been trying to patch up the holes on their sinking boat with players like Drew for the last three years, but at some point you just need a new boat. Rob Refsnyder and Jose Pirela are that new boat. Under.

Chase Headley – .350 OBP
When the Yankees traded for Chase Headley, everyone looked at that .286-31-115 season from 2012 and hoped that he would find that hitting as a Yankee. But it was the Padres’ willingness to trade an impending free agent hitting .229/.296/.355 with cash for just Yangervis Solarte and Rafael De Paula.

What stuck out the most about Headley’s time with the Yankees in 2014 was his .371 on-base percentage, which was 24 points better than his career .347 on-base percentage and close to his 2011 (.374) and 2012 (.376) seasons in San Diego. If Headley can get on base the way he did for 58 games last year, it will make up for the lack of power the Yankees have at third. (Unless their former third baseman and now DH can make up the difference.) Over.

Carlos Beltran – 20.5 HOME RUNS
Carlos Beltran is one year removed from hitting 24 home runs and two years removed from hitting 32. The last time he didn’t hit at least 22 home runs in a full season was when he hit 16 in his first season with the Mets (2005), which could have been him trying to live up to and prove his his $119 million contract since he hit 41 the following year.

The Yankees signed Carlos Beltran 10 offseasons too late, he’s going to turn 38 on April 24 and after his elbow injury last season that kept him from playing the field and from hitting for power and needed surgery on in the offseason, I’m not sure that believing in Beltran is the best use of anyone’s energy. Under.

Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller – 40.5 SAVES
The Yankees still haven’t decided who their closer is and maybe that’s because Joe Girardi has decided to go with no closer and use whichever reliever a particular situation calls for? OK, so there’s no chance of that happening, but I can dream.

It would make the most sense to have Betances and Miller ready for any and all situations and not just save opportunities for one or both of them in order to shorten games for a team whose rotation is shaky past Tanaka and Pineda and is shaky even with them given their health histories.

Taking the over here means the Yankees are winning games. Sure, they’re winning close games, but they’re winning them. Over.

Nathan Eovaldi – 11.5 WINS
This is Nathan Eovaldi’s line from this spring: 13.2 IP, 10 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 14 K, 0.66 ERA, 0.732 WHIP. Eovaldi isn’t going to keep those kind of numbers up since that would translate to the best starting pitching performance in the history of baseball and the best season of any athlete in any sport in the history of sports. Wayne Gretzky’s 92-120-212 season from 1981-82 wouldn’t even be in the same stratosphere. Since Eovaldi isn’t going to go the entire season without walking a batter, it’s time to think more realistically.

Those 14 strikeouts in 13 2/3 innings this spring is what everyone should be looking for from Eovaldi. He has never come close to striking out one hitter per inning in his five seasons in the league and as a hard-throwing starter, it’s a little odd. One Mets fan told me he’s going to be the Yankees’ Mike Pelfrey as someone who throws mid-to-high-90s and doesn’t strike anyone out. But after trading Martin Prado, who was looking to be a vital piece to the 2015 Yankees and David Phelps, who the organization has loved, for Eovaldi, let’s hope they’re right that time with Larry Rothschild can get the most out of his untapped potential. Over.

Michael Pineda – 160 INNINGS PITCHED
In the last three years, Michael Pineda has thrown 76 1/3 innings in the majors. But like the Yankees’ other front-end starter, if Pineda doesn’t stay healthy, well, there are a lot of other things to do from April to September other than watch Yankees baseball. Over.

Masahiro Tanaka – 27.5 STARTS
Masahiro Tanaka made 20 starts last season. In Japan, starting in 2013 and going back to 2007, he made 27, 22, 27, 20, 24, 24 and 28 starts (as part of a six-man rotation). So if Tanaka is going to make more than 27.5 starts this season, he’s going to do something he’s only ever done once in his life and he’s going to to do it in the season following a season in which every prominent surgeon had to examine an MRI of his right elbow. Thinking Tanaka is going to pitch the full season is a little overly optimistic, but that’s the only way to be with this team or it’s going to be a long summer. Over.

Blogs • Opening Day • Yankees

Mar 26, 2015

The Most Ridiculous Yankees Memorabilia

A Mark Teixeira-signed baseball for $199.99 seems overpriced until you realize what other Yankees memorabilia is for sale.

Everyone knows that Steiner Sports will sell everything and anything they can. Whether it’s Yankee Stadium dirt, a piece of gum chewed during the seventh inning of a home game by Andy Pettitte, a cardboard box that Bernie Williams’ bats were delivered in or a toenail that Derek Jeter clipped in the Yankees clubhouse during his final season, they will stop at nothing to try obtain and sell memorabilia, which you would think no one would actually buy.

On Wednesday, Steiner Sports tweeted the following:

If this tweet gets 80 RTs we will release a code to buy this @teixeiramark25 signed baseball for $80! (reg $199.99) pic.twitter.com/AB0e8taqyQ

— Steiner Sports (@steinersports) March 25, 2015

I wasn’t sure if it was more ridiculous that Steiner Sports thought 80 people might want a Mark Teixeira-signed baseball enough to retweet it, that Steiner Sports thinks that $80 for a Mark Teixeira-signed baseball is a good deal or that Steiner Sports normally sells Mark Teixeira-signed baseballs for $199.99. But what I did know was that it was the best unintentionally funny tweet of all time.

If Steiner Sports could sell a Mark Teixeira-signed baseball for $199.99, what else could they sell at insane prices and think that people might want to buy? Well, I went to the Steiner Sports site to find out, and it only got worse.

Vidal Nuno spent parts of two seasons (2013 and 2014) with the Yankees trying to get through five innings before he was traded to the Diamondbacks for Brandon McCarthy in what will go down as an all-time low-risk, high-reward trade for the Yankees that panned out. Now you can remember Vidal Nuno’s 25-pitch innings with this 2014 Opening Day Game-Used Locker Room Nameplate for just $39.99, which is 75 percent off the valued price of $160.00!

Hey, remember when Brian Cashman decided to let reigning World Series MVP Hideki Matsui walk in free agency because he wanted to sign Nick Johnson for a second go-around? Matsui signed with the Angels for one year and $6 million and the Yankees got Johnson for one year and $5.5 million. Matsui played in 145 games for the Angels and hit .274/.361/.459 with 21 home runs and 84 home runs. Johnson played in 24 games for the Yankees and hit .167/.388/.306 with two home runs and eight RBIs. Now you can commemorate Cashman’s decision to try and justify Johnson as a baseball player by replacing Matusi with him with this Nick Johnson Certified Authentic Dirt Collage for just $69.99!

David Adams has played 43 games in the majors, all coming with the 2013 Yankees, and hit .193/.252/.286. Adams is best known for being the reason the July 2010 trade with the Mariners for Cliff Lee fell through because of his ankle injury and instead of the Yankees acquiring Cliff Lee, the Rangers did, and Lee shut out the Yankees in Game 3 of the 2010 ALCS to swing the series. Never forget the trade that fell through and cost the Yankees a trip to the 2010 World Series by purchasing this David Adams Autographed MLB Baseball for $89.99!

The last memory of Nick Swisher as a Yankee is him turning on the Bleacher Creatures and going 5-for-30 (.167) with 10 strikeouts in the 2012 postseason. You can be reminded of Swisher’s time in New York by adding this Nick Swisher Action Photo to your collection for the cheap price of $99.99!

After the 2007 season, Brian Cashman traded 21-year-old starter Tyler Clippard to the Nationals for 25-year-old reliever Jonathan Albaladejo. Clippard went on to become one of the elite relievers in the league with 2.68 ERA and 530 strikeouts in 464 innings in seven years with the Nationals. Albaladejo pitched 59 1/3 innings with a 1.601 WHIP over three seasons with the Yankees before signing with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan after the 2010 season. You can feel exactly the way Albaldejo did when he was pitching to contact if you buy this Jonathan Albaldejo 2008 Game-Used Home Batting Practice Jersey on sale for only $119.99!

Between 2009 and 2010, Sergio Mitre appeared in 39 games (12 starts) for the Yankees and pitched to a 5.03 ERA. The Yankees traded him to the Brewers at the end of spring training in 2011 and purchased his contract from the Brewers on June 29 to bring him back for four more appearances. Mitre did get into three of the six games against the Rangers in the 2010 ALCS because Joe Girardi always makes sure to get everyone into games in the playoffs and posted this memorable line: 2.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 2 HR. Cherish every one of Mitre’s 42 apperances with the Yankees with this Sergio Mitre 2011 Team Issued Hat for $135.00!
Want to relive the 2013 season? Have all of your stuff smell like Travis Hafner, hit .202 and land on the disabled list just like the former 82-game Yankee by bringing home this Travis Hafner 2013 Game-Used Equipment Bag for $260.00!

Most of the players I have used here were members of the Everybody Gets to Be a Yankee Once Team and those who didn’t make it were just barely left off of it. It was difficult to not pick Kelly Johnson to be on the team after he gave us 77 games and 227 miserable plate appearances in 2014 before being traded to the Red Sox for Stephen Drew and then ending up in the postseason with the Orioles. I’m not sure if I dislike Johnson more for how poorly he hit as a Yankee or for bringing Drew to the Yankees. But with this 6/23/14 Game-Used Lineup Card, you can always be reminded of Kelly Johnson’s 200th career double for $360.00!I’m pretty sure I have written more about A.J. Burnett than any other person in my life. He gave me three roller-coaster seasons with the Yankees and was only traded once the Yankees were willing to pay him to pitch for the Pirates. But now you can look back on his three tumultuous seasons and his five-year, $82.5 million contract with this A.J. Burnett Autographed Replica Jersey for $384.99!Stephen Drew is going to be the 2015 Opening Day second baseman for the Yankees, but at some point he will be designated for assignment. Why wouldn’t the Yankees just go into the season with either Rob Refsnyder or Jose Pirela as their second baseman instead of wasting $5 million on Drew ($5 million that could have been used to better their chances at winning the bid for Yoan Moncada)? I guess the answer is that the same person making that decision also once signed Nick Johnson instead of Hideki Matsui. Before Drew’s inevitable release, cherish his 2015 spring training, in which he’s hitting .167, and make sure you purchase this Stephen Drew 2015 Spring Training Opening Day Game-Used Jersey for $449.99!

I try to forget that the 2013 season happened and that after Robinson Cano, Lyle Overbay was the Yankees’ next best hitter. Yes, the Yankees second-best hitter in 2013 hit .240/.295/.393 with 14 home runs and 59 RBIs. Go on an all-inclusive vacation with airfare, hotel, food and drinks in a tropical place or buy this Lyle Overbay Game-Used Batting Helmet for $1,010.00!

Blogs • Rangers

Mar 23, 2015

The Scared of the Rangers Playing Them in the Playoffs Power Rankings Part II

We’re a month closer to the Stanley Cup playoffs, so it’s time to update who Rangers fans shouldn’t want to play in the postseason.

The Rangers are still going to the playoffs. Since the first time I put out these rankings on Feb. 24, the Rangers have gone 10-2-1 and now sit in first in the Metropolitan Division and share the lead league in points (99) with Montreal and Anaheim. However, they have two games in hand on Montreal and three games in hand on Anaheim. So, yes, right now the Rangers are technically the best team in the entire NHL.

I don’t know that anyone could have seen a 35-8-3 run coming after they lost to Detroit on Dec. 6 to fall to 11-10-4. And certainly no one saw the Rangers going 17-3-3 after losing Henrik Lundqvist at the beginning of February. But here we are on March 23, a day after the Rangers embarrassed the Ducks with a 7-2 win at the Garden with the Rangers sitting atop the NHL.

Some things have changed over the last month since the original rankings came out and with 12 games and 19 days left in the season, I thought it was time to revisit them and put out the second installment of The Scared of the Rangers Playing Them in the Playoffs Power Rankings.

1. MONTREAL CANADIENS
Because I follow some Canadiens fans on Twitter, I’m not as scared of the Canadiens as I was a month ago. Yes, they’re still the biggest obstacle between the Rangers and getting back to the Stanley Cup Final, but hearing Canadiens fans complain about how the team isn’t as good as their record indicates, but rather it’s the Vezina- and MVP-like performance from Carey Price that has them in first in the Atlantic and tied with the Rangers in points has me less worried.

After losing six of eight to start March, the Canadiens have gotten back on track with three straight wins and back-to-back shutouts from Price. Price currently has a 1.86 goals against average and .938 save percentage. To put that in perspective, during Henrik Lundqvist’s memorable 1.97/.929 he was unbeatable and Price is having an even better season than that.

I don’t care how upset Canadiens fans might be or appear to be about their team’s recent play. The Canadiens are the team to beat for the Rangers.

2. TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
The Rangers went 0-3 against the Lightning this year and haven’t seen them since Dec. 1 when the Rangers were a completely different team. So now there is a lot of mystery and unknown in how these two teams match up, but like I said a month ago, losing a playoff series to a team with Ryan Callahan, Brian Boyle and Anton Stralman isn’t exactly how I want this Rangers season to end.

3. BOSTON BRUINS
I know this doesn’t look right having the Bruins this high up when they only have a one-point lead on Ottawa right now for the 8-seed and Ottawa has a game in hand on the Bruins, but this team never dies and the last thing I want them to do is get hot over the next two-plus weeks and then be the Rangers’ first-round opponent. The Bruins are the hardest team to put away in the third period and they seem to always tie up any game once Tuukka Rask heads to the bench in the final minute. They are playoff-tested and still have 11 players from their 2010-11 Cup-winning team and 13 of players from their 2012-13 Cup-losing team on their roster. While New York could use a series win over the Bruins to start to tilt the city rivalry back the right way, I’m not sure the reward is worth the risk.

4. OTTAWA SENATORS
The Senators moved into eighth place in the East on Monday night with a win over San Jose. I watched the third period because of a financial investment in the game and the Senators went into the third trailing 2-1 before turning into Team Canada and scoring four goals en route to a 5-2 win. The Senators opened February with five losses in seven games, but since they are 15-1-1. That’s insane. The Rangers will see them twice in the next two weeks and I will have a better feel for what Rangers fans could be in for in a seven-game series with the Senators, but they are peaking at the right time and after the seven-game scare from them in the 2011-12 playoffs, I don’t want any part of them.

5. NEW YORK ISLANDERS
That sound you hear is nothing. It’s silence. It’s every Islanders fan that chirped Rangers fans with the “Best Team in New York” title for the first four-plus months of the season with nothing left to say.

6. PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
Since 2007-08 everyone has been riding the Penguins and since then they have two Stanley Cup Final appearances (2007-08 and 2008-09) and one Cup (2008-09). There’s a good chance we are looking at a 30 for 30 in the future being made about how much of a disappointment the Sidney Crosby Penguins era was. Here is what the Penguins have done since winning the Cup in 2008-09.

2009-10: Blew 3-2 series lead in first round to Canadiens and lost Game 7 at home.

2010-11: Blew 3-1 series lead in first round to Lightning and lost 1-0 in Game 7 at home.

2011-12: Lost in first round in six games to Flyers and allowed 30 goals in the series.

2012-13: Swept in conference finals by Bruins and scored two goals in the series.

2013-14: Blew 3-1 series lead in second round to Rangers and lost Game 7 at home.

For the first time in the last eight years, no one seems to be backing or hyping or believing in the Penguins and that’s what makes them dangerous. They still have Sidney Crosby and they still have Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury is having the best year of his career. The Penguins are playing without any pressure with a new head coach/general manager regime and without everyone expecting them to play for and win the Cup and that might be the scariest thing of all.

7. DETROIT RED WINGS
Ryan Brandell of Barstool Sports Chicago has been telling me about the Red Wings all year on every podcast we have done. And because the Red Wings are sort of a mystery team because of their move to the East last year coupled with their abundance of injuries in 2013-14 and their first-round, five-game exit in the playoffs, I started to worry about them because I felt like I didn’t know enough about them and hadn’t seen enough of them and wondered how they were having such a remarkable season. But then I watched the Rangers go to Detroit without Henrik Lundqvist and thoroughly dominate the Red Wings for 60 minutes and lose 2-1 in overtime on a fluky goal.

Jimmy Howard was the only reason the Red Wings were even in the game and I would be willing to bet against him having that type of performance for an entire seven-game series because nothing he has done in his career to this point suggests he will. So unless Howard turns into 2002-03 Jean-Sebastien Giguere then I like the Rangers’ chances against the Red Wings.

8. WASHINGTON CAPITALS
The Rangers have played the Capitals since the first installment of these rankings. The game was on March 11 and the Rangers beat them 3-1 in Washington. It was a pretty easy win for the Rangers and despite the Capitals tying the game at 1 in the first period, it felt like the Rangers would win all along, and they did.

A series against the Capitals means the Rangers will play another series after it. Give me the Capitals.

Blogs • Opening Day • Yankees

Mar 20, 2015

The Face of the Yankees

For the first time since 1996, the Yankees have a new face of their team and it’s somehow not every fan is going to be happy about. It’s A-Rod.

My whole life someone has been the “Face of the Yankees”. I worn born in 1986 and back then it was Don Mattingly. When he retired after the 1995 season, Derek Jeter was the starting shortstop, Rookie of the Year and World Series champion in 1996, so it was a nice seamless transition from one era of Yankees baseball to the next. But now that Jeter has retired (or so he says since I’m still holding out hope he will be in the Opening Day lineup), the Yankees need a new face.

Brian Cashman was recently asked about who would be the next captain of the Yankees and he said, “As far as I’m concerned, and I’m not the decision-maker on this, that captaincy should be retired with No. 2. I wouldn’t give up another captain title to anybody else.”

Being the captain of a team doesn’t make you the face of it, but it’s just worked out recently that it has been the case for the Yankees. I’m not sure that the Yankees should never have a captain again. I mean if somehow the Baseball Gods give us another Derek Jeter (please) then that’s one thing, but for now, I do agree with Cashman. The Yankees don’t need a captain. They do however need a face. The Yankees can’t be faceless. They can’t be the Blue Jays or A’s.

On the 2015 Yankees, you can eliminate Stephen Drew, who will be designated for assignment at some point this season and hopefully by Opening Day, from being the face of the team. Drew will be part of the Everybody Gets to Be a Yankee Once Team the second he is released, so at least he has that going for him.

You can eliminate Didi Gregorius, who hasn’t played a game for the Yankees, and you can also eliminate Chase Headley, who is just a guy on the team and not “the guy” on the team. I’m a Headley fan, but he isn’t the reason people are going to spend their nights watching the team on YES or spend their hard-earned money going to the Stadium.

Aside from winning an MVP award, it’s equally as hard for a starting pitcher to be the face of a franchise since they will at most play in 21 percent of the team’s games (based on 34 starts) and only having the face of the team play once every fifth day isn’t an easy sell. Well, unless you’re Clayton Kershaw or Felix Hernandez. The only starting pitcher that even comes close to that level is Masahiro Tanaka and while he comes close to that level, he isn’t there yet and deeming someone whose right arm status is being treated as a ticking time bomb isn’t the most sound decision.

Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran were all free-agent signings in the same offseason, so they’re out of the question because they were free-agent signings. But that’s not a bad thing since I don’t want a player who won two World Series with the Red Sox, a catcher who hit .232/.286/.406 last season or a soon-to-be 38-year-old oft-injured outfielder the Yankees signed nine years too late to be the face of the team.

CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira were free-agent signings in the same offseason, so like the pre-2014 class, this pre-2009 class is also eliminated. But also like the pre-2014 class, it’s not a bad thing since I don’t want a 34-year-old starter coming off a serious knee injury, who has made 40 starts in the last two seasons, going 17-17 with a 4.87 ERA to be the face of the team. As for Mark Teixeira, or “The Mailman” as I have decided to call him since he has mailed it in for the last three years despite making $22.5 million, I obviously don’t want him to be the face of the team.

That leaves us with Brett Gardner and Alex Rodriguez, the two longest-tenured Yankees. Gardner isn’t “face of the team” material despite being homegrown and having been in the majors with the Yankees since 2008. And when it comes to A-Rod, he is loved and hated by the fan base, is coming off a full-season suspension for PED use and is somehow still viewed as a postseason failure and unclutch even after he single-handedly carried the Yankees to the 2009 World Series.

But also when it comes to A-Rod, he’s been the focal point of every Yankees story since the last out of 2014. He’s the reason people have paid attention to spring training since Joe Girardi has made it clear there aren’t any position battles to follow. He’s the reason people will go to the Stadium this spring and summer. He’s the only Yankee that has the Yankees star power that every era of Yankees baseball has had. With Jeter gone, A-Rod is the first person someone names when you ask them “Who do you think of when you think of the Yankees right now?” A-Rod is the face of the Yankees.

Having 2015 A-Rod as the face of your team isn’t exactly the most exciting idea and maybe not the proudest moment of being a Yankees fan, but every team needs a face, and for now the Yankees’ is a 39-year-old, who has played 265 games in the last four seasons. A-Rod represents what the Yankees have become, which is an old, broken-down, non-homegrown, overpaid player trying to stay healthy enough to play out of the rest of a bad contract.

Aside from October and the beginning of November 2009, very little has gone the way I envisioned it going when A-Rod was traded to the Yankees in February 2004 when he was still viewed as a face of the game. But in this new era of Yankees baseball, I want to add 2015 to the very little that has gone right for A-Rod in the last 11 years.

Mar 10, 2015

Stephen Drew Is ‘That Guy’ for the 2015 Yankees

Every Yankees season comes with “that guy” and you don’t want to be “that guy”. Right now, Stephen Drew is “that guy” for the 2015 season.

Sometimes there’s more than one “that guy”. Last year, we were blessed with two of them in Brian Roberts and Kelly Johnson. And when they were finally released and traded respectively, Brian Cashman was nice enough to give us a handful of bad relievers to fill the void. In 2013, the entire team was built of “that guy” with Lyle Overbay, Vernon Wells, Travis Hafner, Kevin Youkilis (when he played), Chris Stewart and David Adams playing for the Yankees, and I’m being nice by only including those names. In 2012, we were treated to a second year of Freddy Garcia and with him came a 5.20 ERA, Andruw Jones’ .197 average and we also got 39 appearances from Cory Wade and his 6.46 ERA. Get the picture?

I wish I could say that A.J.Burnett, Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira could be classified as “that guy” in recent years, but they can’t. See, to be “that guy” your contract has to be reasonable enough that the Yankees could release you at any time without eating a ridiculous amount of money. Actually, I guess you could call A.J. Burnett “that guy” since the Yankees were willing to trade him for two minor leaguers and pay the Pirates $20 million over two years just so he wouldn’t have to throw another pitch for the Yankees. Every “that guy” should have been released long before they finally were and in some cases never should have been signed to begin with. Stephen Drew matches both criteria.

In 2013, Drew “helped” the Red Sox win the World Series by going 2-for-15 () in the ALDS, 1-for-20 (.050) in the ALCS and 3-for-19 (.158) in the World Series. Then in the offseason, he turned down the Red Sox’ $14.1 million qualifying offer for 2014. He went unsigned and then re-signed with the Red Sox in May for about $10.2 million for the year, missing two months of the season and costing himself about $4 million by turning down their offer. He hit .176/.255/.328 in 39 games for the Red Sox and then was traded to the Yankees for Kelly Johnson. An historic “that guy” for “that guy” trade. (I’m still upset that Kelly Johnson ended up with the Orioles last year and got to play in the postseason.)

As a Yankee, Drew hit .150/.219/.271 in 46 games. So of course the Yankees re-signed him to a one-year, $5 million deal (with incentives it could get up $6.5 million) for 2015. A month after acquiring Didi Gregorius to be their shortstop of the future, the Yankees signed Drew to be their second baseman, blocking a path to the majors for both Rob Refsnyder (who hit .342 in Double-A and .300 in Triple-A in 2014) and Jose Pirela (who Reggie Jackson called the best hitter in the organization this spring training). But I guess when you have the chance to block two of the best position player prospects the organization has seen in a while to make a roster spot for Stephen Drew, it’s a move you have to make. On Monday, Joe Girardi made it clear that Drew is the Yankees’ second baseman.

“We signed (Stephen Drew) to be our second baseman,” Girardi said. “We didn’t sign him to struggle. We signed him to play at a very high level, and we expect that he will.”

Well, Joe you did sign Drew to struggle because that’s all he’s done. Actually, you traded for him to struggle in a garbage-for-garbage trade with Kelly Johson and then after he struggled, you signed him again anyway despite having traded for a shortstop and with depth at second base in the minors.

I have always pictured the Drews (like the Weavers) driving around Georgia in the early 90s with J.D. and Stephen in the back and the “O’Doyle Rules!” family scene from Billy Madison taking place. The fact that both Drews have World Series rings and both with the Red Sox is so effed up it makes me hate sports. But Drew is making it easier and easier as a case to unanimously be “that guy” for this season because it seems like with each out he makes this spring, Refsnyder and Pirela add another hit to their March stats.

If Drew continues to play this way, hopefully the situation will take care of itself before Opening Day and I won’t have to worry once the games actually count. Girardi will likely recite his story about Raul Ibanez during 2012 spring training and how bad he was entering the season, trying to make believers out of Drew’s critics, as if what happened three years ago with a player offensively better than Drew has any relevance to Drew’s struggles.

On April 6, I will have no choice but to root for Drew and be a Drew fan. Once Opening Day comes, if Drew is going to be a Yankee then I will want him to do well to help the team win since that’s all the matters. But if Drew continues to struggle the way that Girardi says he isn’t here to do, he will eventually be released the way “that guy” each year has been before. If that happens, I hope the Yankees haven’t lost too many games before it does.