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Feb 20, 2020

Rangers Thursday Thoughts: Right Move Is Still to Sell

While the front office has yet to make any drastic changes to the roster through trades, the team continues to make it harder for the front office to do so with their recent play.

The Rangers have won eight of 11 since their 10-day layoff and have doubled their postseason odds over the last week. While the front office has yet to make any drastic changes to the roster through trades, the team continues to make it hard for the front office to do so with their recent play. If the way the Rangers have played for the last three weeks is the way the Rangers are going to play in 2020-21, the postseason drought will be over next year.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Rangers as usual.

1. Another week of Thursday Thoughts and another week without the Rangers’ roster being really any different at the NHL level prior to the trade deadline. The only difference is the addition of forward Julien Gauthier from Carolina, who the Rangers acquired in exchange for defenseman Joey Keane. Keane was essentially blocked on the organizational depth chart, and barring injury or him turning out to be Nicklas Lidstrom, he was most likely never going to be a full-time defenseman for the Rangers. So the Rangers traded from their organizational strength and helped their organizational weakness, and Gauthier was immediately inserted into the lineup in Chicago. The Gauthier-Keane deal has been the only “real” move the Rangers have made so far, and that means between now and Monday at 3 p.m. ET, there’s going to be a lot of moving pieces on the Rangers’ roster. I have written about the players who could be moved and the endless options the Rangers have to approach this deadline over the last few weeks of Thursday Thoughts, and they all still hold true. The only Rangers who seem untouchable are Artemi Panarin, Kaapo Kakko, Filip Chytil, Adam Fox and Igor Shesterkin. (Henrik Lundqvist is untouchable because of his no-trade clause.)

2. Lundqvist was the backup again in Chicago and it’s now been more than two weeks since he last started a game on Feb. 3. I wish I could go back in time three years to show Lundqvist what the 2017-18 Rangers season would become, how miserable the 2018-19 season would be and how he would be treated in the 2019-20 season. If I could go back in time and show him all of this, there’s no way he stands firm on his decision to not waive his no-trade clause. Advanced stats still show Lundqvist is an above-average NHL goalie and would be a better starting option for most teams in the league. Lundqvist’s lack of play has been because of Shesterkin’s emergence and because if the Rangers are going to play for the future on forward and defense then they need to also in net. Aside from Lundqvist’s shutout of Detroit, his last five other starts have all come against postseason teams, so he has drawn the toughest opponents of the three goalies. When Shesterkin doesn’t play, Lundqvist should be playing. Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s going to happen. Lundqvist should waive his no-trade if it means going to Colorado. The West is awful, the Avalanche are stacked and are a goalie short of making a run to the Cup Final with only St. Louis a threat to them. Sitting on the bench for the final seven weeks of this season and then, at best, sitting on it again next season can’t be how Lundqvist wants his career to wind down, especially since he can still play. Go to Colorado (if it’s an option), and every Rangers fan will have a team to root for in the playoffs this season.

3. Chris Kreider has been the No. 1 trade target in the entire league and that was before Tyler Toffoli came off the board. Now for a team looking for a Top 6 forward rental, Kreider is the last true option. No matter how much Kreider helps the Rangers win now and no matter how many points he has accumulated in recent weeks (and he has been doing both since the 10-day layoff), the right move is still to move him. Yes, he helps the Rangers now and will in 2020-21 and 2021-22, but who knows really how long after that. Acquiring assets in a third straight selloff is the better long-term decision rather than extending him and being in a cap crunch or buyout situation a few years from now, which the Rangers will inevitably be in given how all of their other lengthy contracts and extensions have turned out in recent years.

4. There have been reports of many teams wanting Kreider, including Boston, Colorado, St. Louis and the Islanders, and while the last option would be the least appealing, the Rangers need to make the best move for their future, regardless of what team it is. The Rangers can’t operate like the Mets, who have turned down better offers from the Yankees in order to not see their player wear pinstripes and potentially win with their city rival. Would it suck for Kreider to be an Islander? Yes, it would, though for anyone who has watched the Islanders this season, they’re not going anywhere. Kreider might help the Islanders avoid the type of monumental collapse they seem to be in the middle of and will help them reach the playoffs, but there’s no fear of watching Kreider hold the Cup above his head with blue and orange on. The Islanders need a pure goal scorer. They have since before the season, which is why they were all in on Panarin before he took less money to be a Ranger. Their lack of scoring has never been more evident than it is now as they keep on losing, having scored two goals in their last 12 periods. The Islanders would be foolish to think Kreider puts them over the top and can get them past the type of second-round defeat they suffered last season as the second round seems to be this Islanders team’s ceiling again. For Kreider, it would be convenient to stay in the metro area, and for the Rangers, they would have a chance to ruin the Islanders’ future. If the Islanders offer the best deal, the Rangers have to take it.

5. In hindsight, the win in Chicago on Wednesday was rather easy. Yes, the game was tied at 1 entering the third, and yes, the Rangers played like they did for most of the first four months of the seasons in the first two periods, but the game never felt in doubt. Five third-period goals erased any doubt as did Shesterkin’s once-again remarkable play. The Rangers’ money line for the game was +110 and I gladly took it as I have been since they returned from their 10-day layoff. I will be taking it again in Carolina on Friday.

6. Not long ago, in back-to-back seasons we nearly had a Rangers-Blackhawks Stanley Cup Final. The first season, the Blackhawks lost Game 7 in their conference finals and the next year the Rangers lost Game 7 in their conference finals. Now with the state of the Blackhawks, it looks like it will be a long, long time until both teams are contenders in the same season. It’s hard to believe how far the Blackhawks have fallen in recent seasons with back-to-back first-round exits after their most recent Cup and now a third straight season missing the playoffs. They have lost pretty much every trade they have made in the last five seasons, fired the best coach in the sport and have handed out cap-ruining contracts along the way. The Blackhawks did take advantage of their championship window as well as any team ever has, but it feels like they could have won even more than they did when they had the chance.

7. Jack O’Callahan dropping the puck for the ceremonial puck drop was awesome for a Miracle on Ice junkie like me. The most interesting part of the moment wasn’t “OC” in his Number 17 jersey back in Chicago where he was a Blackhawk, it was the exchange between Panarin and his former Blackhawk linemate Patrick Kane. Panarin tapped Kane on the shin pads upon approaching him and Kane was distracted at the time. When Kane turned his head and saw Panarin, there was a brief pause as I’m sure all the glorious moments of the two seasons Kane had Panarin on his line and what could have been had the Blackhawks kept Panarin ran through Kane’s mind. It still doesn’t make sense why the Blackhawks moved Panarin when they didn’t have to and why they moved him for Brandon Saad(!). I’m happy they did because had the Blackhawks kept Panarin, he wouldn’t be a Ranger today. For all the bad moves Stan Bowman and the Blackhawks’ front office have made since 2015, the Panarin-Saad trade is the worst.

8. The addition of Gauthier to the Rangers’ lineup created a fourth line of Gauthier, Brett Howden and Brendan Lemieux, giving the Rangers a fourth line that can actually play. The days of a fourth line featuring Greg McKegg, Micheal Haley and Brendan Smith are gone. It took basically three-quarters of the season for the Rangers to dress and play only NHL-caliber players. I think the days of the Rangers building a fourth line the way fourth lines used to be built are over. If they’re not, they need to be if this rebuild is ever going to turn into contention.

9. The Rangers returned from their 10-day layoff needing to win 75 percent of their remaining games to have a chance at the postseason. They have nearly done that so far, going 8-3 (727 winning percentage). If you divide up the Rangers’ remaining schedule into mini four-game schedules, they have to go 3-1 in each. They went 3-1 in each of the first two since the layoff and are 2-1 in their current four-game set. If they win in Carolina on Friday, they will be exactly on pace. The problem is the pace was always going to be hard to keep because playing .750 hockey for two months isn’t necessarily realistic for this Rangers roster. It’s more of something the current Tampa Bay or Boston or Washington or Colorado or St. Louis could do. It’s going to get even harder as the team if the team is dismantled as expected within the next four-plus days.

10. The Rangers are 31-24-4 with 66 points and are on pace for 92 points. The Islanders hold the second wild card and are on pace for 100 points. The Rangers have done a surprising job keeping themselves in the postseason for as long as they have, and if the team looks drastically different a week from now for the next Thursday Thoughts and returns to playing like a rebuilding team rather than a postseason team, I can say I have had a lot of fun this season watching them this season. Rangers fans can finally see the the light at the end of the tunnel which began two years ago this week with the letter from the front office.

Feb 19, 2020

Spring Cleaning: Rob Manfred Can’t Protect the Astros in the Batter’s Box

We’re a week into spring training and that means we’re a week closer to Opening Day.

We’re a week into spring training and that means we’re a week closer to Opening Day. Six weeks from Thursday is Opening Day in Baltimore when Gerrit Cole will pitch a complete-game, two-hit shutout of the Orioles in his Yankees debut. (No big-name Yankees pitcher seems to do well in their debut, so it will probaly be a grind.) The Yankees are already down a starting pitcher and now their best player has been shut down from hitting for a week. The injuries need to stop and the investigation about the Red Sox’ cheating needs to be released.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees as usual.

1. Yes, I’m worried about Aaron Judge’s shoulder. How can I not be? I don’t care that there’s video of Judge running around at spring training on Wednesday and fielding balls in the outfield. He’s been shut down from hitting and really throwing, and whenever your best player is shut down from hitting, even if it’s 37 days before Opening Day, it’s not good. Not good at all.

Judge has been in the majors for three-plus seasons and has suffered injuries in all of those seasons. He was shut down for the final two weeks of the 2016 season with an oblique injury. In 2017, he battled a second-half shoulder injury which cost him the AL MVP (along with Jose Altuve and his teammates knowing which pitches were coming). He missed one third of the season in 2018 after getting drilled by a pitch on his wrist, which certainly was a freak injury, and then he missed two months last season after suffering another oblique injury. Overall, Judge has missed 25 percent of his three full seasons in the league.

Aaron Boone led us to believe the injury is “minor” but how many times did Boone do the same last season only to have the Yankees set the single-season record for most players on the injured list?

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

Boone was very nonchalant in speaking about Judge’s shoulder and I can’t help but have flashbacks to spring training of last year when he talked about Luis Severino’s shoulder or Dellin Betances’ shoulder or Aaron Hicks’ back or during the regular season when he talked about Miguel Andujar’s shoulder or Giancarlo Stanton’s bicep, shoulder and calf. Most likely this is nothing and Judge will be fine in a week, but it’s going to take a long time for me to trust the Yankees when it comes to injuries. A long time.

3. Seeing Dellin Betances in a Mets uniform is disgusting. Seeing him on an actual field with the whole uniform on is much different than it was seeing him put on a jersey at his introductory press conference. There was no reason for the Yankees to not sign Betances. Believing they don’t need him because they have Aroldis Chapman, whose declining velocity and control and inability to put away hitters is frightening, Zack Britton, whose control is a real problem and isn’t who he once was, Adam Ottavino, who helped ruin the ALCS, Tommy Kahnle, who is a year removed from spending the season in the minors, or Chad Green, who was demoted last season for the worst stretch of relief appearances possibly ever, is more than risky. I will never get over Betances not being a Yankee.

4. Seeing Didi Gregorius in a Phillies uniform barely fazed me. Gregorius was already a Red and Diamondback before becoming a Yankee, so him wearing other colors isn’t anything unusual. Betances was only ever a Yankee, a New York native and homegrown Yankee and the best reliever in baseball for five straight years, and now he wears blue and orange. Gregorius was a nice player, but it was time to move on from him and it doesn’t make me sad to see him with another team.

5. Seeing Joe Girardi in a Phillies uniform was a little weird. It wasn’t as weird as Betances or not weird at all like Gregorius, but it was weird. Girardi was a Cub, Rockie and Cardinal aside from being a Yankee as a player and managed the Marlins before the Yankees, so he’s been in other uniforms. It’s not like he’s Don Mattingly wearing a Dodgers or Marlins uniform. For all of the critcism I directed at Girardi in his 10 years as Yankees manager, and I feel like he got screwed over at the end of his tenure. Boone has been OK, but I wish there was a way to see or know how 2018 and 2019 would have played out with Girardi.

6. Add Aaron Judge, DJ LeMahieu and Giancarlo Stanton to the ever-growing list of players speaking out against the Astros. Each day it seems like some new big-name player has an opinion on the Astros and the story seems to be gaining traction the more removed we are from the initial release of the investigation. That’s not usually how it works. The commissioner’s embarrassing press conference in Florida was only made worse by his press conference in Arizona, and I have no idea when this story will begin to fade.

The Astros have dealt with their own contingent of beat reporters and national reporters, but they have yet to travel and be asked questions by other team’s media, and they have yet to travel to opposing stadiums. I think MLB believes eventually when real games begin and there are actual games to watch and talk about that the story will slow down, though everything that has happened over the last month suggests differently. I think the regular season is going to be worse for this story than spring training has been despite there being actual games to watch and talk about it.

7. There’s no protecting the Astros players once games start and the commissioner knows it. He protected them in terms of suspensions and fines by granting them immunity in the sign-stealing investigation, but he can’t protect them once they step into the batter’s box. Pitchers who want to throw at the Astros are going to throw at them. The commissioner can’t give out a warning to anyone who throws at the Astros since that would take away the inside for pitchers and that would be advantageous to the Astros, and they have been playing with enough of an advantage over the last few years. I think we will see beanball issues as early as Opening Day. I know teams want to win and get off to a good start, but the backlash from all of baseball (aside from loser J.D. Martinez) makes me believe the Angels are going to answer the bell on the first day of the season.

8. I don’t like Martinez because of the team he plays for, but now I don’t like him because of the team he plays for and because of his Astros-related comments earlier this week.

“I understand players’ frustrations and stuff like that, but I think, in my opinion, it’s already getting a little bit too much,” Martinez said. “We have to move past it at some point. We can’t continue to talk about it.”

In a time when nearly every star player in the sport, including the sport’s biggest name in Mike Trout, has spoken out against the Astros, Martinez has become the first non-Astros player to speak out against the backlash against the Astros. Martinez is the first Red Sox player to openly speak about the subject since the investigation into the Red Sox’ own cheating has yet to be released, and as the first Red Sox to talk about the Astros, he chose to side with the Astros.

9. I’m excited for the Red Sox’ investigation to be released the same way I get excited for the release of a TV show, movie, album or the MLB schedule. The Astros have to be wondering where the Red Sox’ report is since it will take some momentary heat off of them, but it’s only going to keep cheating at the forefront of baseball. Normally, I would be sick and tired of a story which didn’t happen on the field getting this much attention, however, when it involves a team that eliminated the Yankees in two of the last three postseasons and is about to invole the team that eliminated in the other of the last three postseasons, I can’t get enough of it.

10. The Yankees didn’t play a single game in 2019 with their entire expected lineup. As of now, they’re going to begin 2020 without their starting center fielder, so there’s a chance they don’t play a game in 2020 with their entire lineup for a single game either. Is it too much to ask for the Yankees to not lose any other players or pitches between now and Opening Day? James Paxton is already going to miss at least the first month of the season and Judge is working through a shoulder issue. Let’s not have 2019 be a repeat of 2020 both in terms of injuries and the end result of the season.

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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!

Blogs • Yankees • Yankees Offseason

Feb 18, 2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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!

Blogs • Monday Mail • Yankees

Feb 17, 2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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!

Feb 13, 2020

Rangers Thursday Thoughts: Recent Turnaround Could Ruin Trade Deadline

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

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

Here are 10 thoughts on the Rangers as usual.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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