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Blogs • Spring Cleaning • Yankees • Yankees Offseason

Feb 12, 2020

Spring Cleaning: Pitchers and Catchers

Spring is here! Not spring in the sense of 60-degree days, outdoor happy hours and walking your dog without the fear of frostbite, but spring in the sense that baseball is back.

Spring is here! Sure, the high in New York City is 45 today and it’s been gray outside for days and the temperature on Friday is expected to get close to single digits, but spring is officially here. Not spring in the sense of 60-degree days, outdoor happy hours and walking your dog without the fear of frostbite, but spring in the sense that baseball is back.

Pitchers and catchers report today in Tampa and that means the start of the season. There will be a meaningless baseball game to watch next week and a meaningful game to watch in six weeks. Welcome back, baseball!

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees as usual.

1. It felt like minutes after I published last week’s Spring Cleaning the James Paxton injury announcement was made. It wouldn’t be a Yankees season without an injury to start the season and really before the season even started since today is the first day of the season. While it isn’t ideal that Paxton underwent a back procedure and will miss at least the first month of the season, I’m not upset about it. Paxton gets injured, that’s what he does. He has never pitched a full season in the majors with his career-high innings coming two years ago at 160 1/3. Paxton’s injury history is the No. 1 reason why I was skeptical about the trade for him and he proved me right when he missed a month of last season with a knee injury then pitched through that knee injury all summer before hurting his back in his final start of the season in Texas. I already planned on Paxton missing time this season, it just happens to come at the beginning of the season. But as long as he returns healthy and effective then this early-season obstacle won’t matter.

2. The Paxton injury means J.A. Happ is now the No. 4 starter. That is problematic. Happ had the worst year of his career last season and is now a year older with another year of innings on his arm. If the ball is the pre-2019 regular-season ball and more like the 2019 postseason ball, Happ has a chance to rebound and be the pitcher the Yankees traded for in 2018 and signed as a free agent before last season. I don’t think we’re going to see the guy from 2018 that went 7-0 in 11 post-trade deadline starts for the Yankees, pitching to a 2.69 ERA and 1.052 WHIP, but he doesn’t need to be that guy anymore. He just needs to not be a four-inning, bullpen crusher like he was last year. But if the super ball is used again in 2020, well, bet the over anytime Happ starts and at least make some money off of his career decline.

3. Unfortunately, Gerrit Cole is going to have to answer a lot of questions about his time with the Astros. Even though he wasn’t part of the 2017 championship team, he was part of the 2018 and 2019 teams, and even though he’s a pitcher, he’s still going to be asked if he knew about what was going on. Cole knows this is coming and the Yankees know this is coming and they have had a month to prepare for it. I could care less what Cole knew or didn’t know and don’t expect him to give any real insight into what went on in Houston. I only care about what he does for the next nine years. Whatever happened in Houston is over with and isn’t going to bring back the Yankees’ chances at winning a championship for the first time since 2009.

4. I saw a picture of Mike Ford showing up at spring training on Tuesday and without the caption I wouldn’t have known it was Ford. It just looked like some big (and I mean big), sloppy guy standing in front of the Yankees’ Tampa complex for a picture to post on social media. Nope. It was the Yankees’ only left-handed power bat on his way to work. I love Ford. He’s the easiest of guys to root for, made even easier by his .259/.350/.559 line last season and his 12 home runs in 143 at-bats. He should have been in the postseason lineup when it was evident Edwin Encarnacion was either injured or rusty and an automatic and Giancarlo Stanton was taking himself out of the lineup due to injury. Instead, the Yankees left a left-handed.909 OPS off the postseason roster in favor of a laughable amount of strikeouts. But this is the same team that thought it was a better idea to have Chase Headley and Jacoby Ellsbury share DH responsibilities in the 2017 postseason rather than carry Clint Frazier on the postseason roster. Right now, the only left-handed bat in the Yankees’ lineup is Brett Gardner, and no one benefited more from the super ball than Gardner in 2019, resurrecting his career and getting another year from the Yankees for it. Aaron Hicks won’t return until the middle of the season at best, and knowing Hicks’ injury-recovery history, if you think you’re seeing him back when expected, you probably though he would be back in time for the second series of last season as reported. I think Ford is going to be part of the Opening Day roster even if he’s limited as only a first baseman/designated hitter.

5. It’s either Ford is on the Opening Day roster or both Frazier and Mike Tauchman are on the roster. With Tyler Wade presumably being on the team on March 26, I can’t see the Yankees carrying both Frazier and Tauchman since Wade can play the outfield. Here’s my first prediction at the Opening Day roster:

Gary Sanchez
Luke Voit
DJ LeMahieu
Gio Urshela
Gleyber Torres
Giancarlo Stanton
Brett Gardner
Aaron Judge
Miguel Andujar
Mike Tauchman
Tyler Wade
Mike Ford
Kyle Higashioka
Gerrit Cole
Luis Severino
Masahiro Tanaka
J.A. Happ
Jordan Montgomery
Aroldis Chapman
Zack Britton
Adam Ottavino
Chad Green
Tommy Kahnle
Jonathan Loaisiga
Luis Cessa
Jonathan Holder

(Unfortunately, the Goof Troop duo of Cessa and Holder are back for another season.)

6. Now that Austin Romine is no longer a Yankee, the Rominers (his fan club) will have to hitch their wagon to Higashioka in their quest to have Sanchez replaced and removed from the Yankees. I have been a Higashioka fan and he is deserving of finally getting a chance to be the team’s full-season backup catcher. But I can already see the stories calling for him to be the starting catcher with the first Sanchez passed ball or slump. The Rominers will now be the Higashiokians.

7. We’re going to hear a lot about Andujar and how he looks at first base and in left field, especially over the next week. There has already been video of him taking grounders at third and position players haven’t even had to report yet. Andujar is one of three Yankees players who generate negative responses whenever they are mentioned with the other two being Stanton and Sanchez. The dislike for a player who hit .297 with an .855 OPS and 27 home runs as a rookie because of his fielding is one of those things that will never make sense. After listening to other third baseman talk about how they had to grow defensively from where they were early in their careers, it seems like Andujar could as well. Unfortunately, most Yankees fans have already given up on him as a third baseman as if he’s a six-year veteran who has been unable to improve. I’m rooting for Andujar to win back his position.

8. With pitchers and catchers reporting all across baseball on Wednesday, it’s the Astros’ chance to actually seem apologetic for their sign-stealing schemes which resulted in their manager getting fired despite the commissioner calling it a “player-driven” operation. I highly doubt any Astros pitcher or player is ever going to really say anything even remotely interesting about the whole thing. I’m sure their communications team has been working nonstop for a month to make sure each player in camp knows exactly what to say and how much to say. Astros like Justin Verlander, Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa and George Springer and now hated everywhere outside of Houston and that’s not going to change no matter what they say. The hate will only grow if they continue to give nonsensical answers like Altuve and Bregman did last month. The Astros will hear about it from the fans and be asked the questions about it in all 81 road games and any success they have will be questioned like their last few seasons are. The Astros don’t play in Yankee Stadium until a four-game series from Sept. 21-24. So just when the season is winding down and they after six-plus months of hearing about it and answering about it, they will have to hear about it and answer for it more than they have all season in Games 156, 157, 158 and 159. That’s too bad.

9. Mookie Betts and David Price are officially no longer Red Sox. I was getting nervous for a few days there that the Red Sox had backed out of the deal after getting crushed by the media and their fans since the initial trade was announced. But rather than back out of a deal to trade possibly the second-best player in the sport and a No. 2 or 3 starter, the Red Sox went through with it, acting like a small-market team and waving the white flag on 2020. The Red Sox front office can say all they want that they expect to be competitive in 2020 as if there’s anyone dumb enough in New England to believe them, but they’re not going to be competitive. They will once again win in the mid-80s and will likely finish somewhere around 20 games out in the division. The Red Sox will still be paying a portion of Price’s contract and they owe Nathan Eovaldi three more years and $51 million and Chris Sale five more years and $145 million. So long, Red Sox. See you in a few years.

10. I wrote about the idiotic playoff format which was leaked on Monday, and I’m still not over it. I’m even more angry about it the more I think about it. Even if this format never comes to fruition, and I don’t see how it could with the negative feedback and backlash it has endured since coming out, just the idea that the league sat around and worked on it enough that is was worthy enough of being leaked is disturbing. If you’re the Mariners, you probably love the idea of seven playoff teams since it might be the only way for them to erase their postseason drought. If you’re an owner who pockets the team’s revenue sharing money and doesn’t invest back into his team, you probably love the idea since you can continue to not spend and hope to be .500 and sneak into the playoffs and make even more money. A team like the 2020 Red Sox would be a perfect candidate for either that third or fourth wild card. What better way to reward the Red Sox for trading their best player and being able to get some finacial help on the remaining money from a $217 million than to give them an undeserved postseason berth!

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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

Feb 11, 2020

Proposed MLB Postseason Format Will Badly Hurt Yankees

There are talks of the postseason field being increased again and that’s bad news for the Yankees.

When Major League Baseball changed the postseason format from four teams in each league to five, I wasn’t happy. Why change something that wasn’t broken? Why turn a 162-game season for a team deserving of a postseason berth into one nine-inning game? Why make the postseason even more of a crapshoot for teams which had to play well for six months? Money, of course.

I understood why financially baseball wanted to increase their postseason field. It meant more teams in the playoff picture later in the season and it meant TV money for two more postseason games. But to me, it meant a harder path to a championship for the Yankees. I was right as the Yankees have been screwed over by the two wild-card format more than any other team.

The five-team, wild-card format has done nothing but severely hurt the Yankees since it was implemented in 2012. It gave the Yankees false hope, and stalled their rebuild in both 2013 and 2014, as they were close enough to a wild-card berth for long enough in both seasons to not sell at the deadline, only to miss the playoffs both times. In 2015, the format prevented them from automatically reaching the ALDS without having to play in the one-game as the best non-division winner in the AL. Instead of playing the Royals in the ALDS, they had to face their ultimate kryptonite at the time in Dallas Keuchel. In 2017, it screwed them over again, as they once again were forced to play in the one-game playoff rather than go straight through to the ALDS and play the Indians. And in 2018, for a third time in four years, they had to survive the one-game playoff rather than advance to the ALDS to play the Astros.

It’s bad enough in a season like 2015, the 98-win Pirates and 97-win Cubs had to meet in a one-game playoff, while the 92-win Dodgers and 90-win Mets received free passes to the division series. Under the new format, only the top team in both leagues will receive that free pass to the division. Every other team will have to play best-of-3 to reach the division. So the 2019 103-win Yankees would have had to play a best-of-3 against either the 96-win Rays, 93-win Indians or 84-win Red Sox. A 103-win team wouldn’t have earned an automatic berth in the division series.

I see why this new format is appealing to average teams like the 2019 Red Sox (84 wins) or somewhat decent teams like the 2018 Mariners (89 wins) or crappy teams like 2017 Rays (80 wins) because it rewards medicority (all three of those teams would have reached the postseason under the new seven-team format). If this system were already in place in 2017, the two additionals team in the AL would have both been 80-82. What are we even doing here?

The simple fact the league and its owners are talking about expanding the postseason means it will most likely get expanded. It means more teams with something to play for in August and September, which means better attendance and TV ratings, and it means more postseason games. Right now, the wild-card round only has two games. That would be increased from the lowest possible 12 games to the highest possible 18 games, and that means more ticket sales and concessions and it means more for broadcast money. The only reason to introduce this new format is the same reason the 2012 format was created: money. The league and the owners don’t care if the postseason product is damaged and if an eventual champion was the sixth- or seventh-best team in the league for six months. The actual baseball and fairness of the postseason are a far distant second to the money that could be made by ruining October.

I have never thought a one-game playoff made sense. If anything, I would have done something similar to what MLB wants to do now without adding more teams. I would have the first wild card host the second wild card with the first wild card needing to win one game and the second wild card needing to win two games to advance to the division series. The first wild card would host both games. This format would fit under the current schedule where the Monday after the final day of the regular season is an off day and the games could take place on Tuesday and Wednesday (if needed) with the division series then beginning on Friday. It’s an idea that makes too much though, and that’s why it will never come to fruition.

Whatever new format comes of this might not be as drastic as the idea leaked of having the top teams pick their first-round opponents, but it means there will be more playoff teams in a sport that needs fewer. Nearly half the league (47%) will now get into the playoffs, turning the sport into the NHL and NBA. And whatever new format comes of this, the Yankees will be hurt more than any team with teams being rewarded even more than they currently are for not spending money. Why would you spend more money on your payroll when 80 wins could get you a postseason berth and will at least be enough to keep you in postseason contention to create the perception that you tried to win? Baseball was never meant to be turned into a one-game series or a best-of-3. It’s why it’s played nearly every day for six months and why only four teams at most should have ever been allowed in the postseason.

It was bad enough when a second wild-card team was added. It will be the worst thing ever if a third and fourth wild card are added. Not for the average, medicore, under-.500 teams, but certainly for the Yankees.

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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 10, 2020

Monday Mail: Is the Yankees’ Roster Complete?

Spring training has yet to officialy begin and already the Yankees are once again proving you can never have enough pitching.

Wednesday is the big day. Wednesday is when pitchers and catchers officially report to spring training for the Yankees (though many of the Yankees are already in Tampa and have started their spring training). There’s still more than six weeks until Opening Day and real, meaningful baseball, but spring training is here.

This week’s questions and comments are related to the current roster and if the Yankees did enough this offseason to improve it.

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.

We need another bonafide starting pitcher. – Mario

Last week in the blog Spring Cleaning: A Fresh Start for Giancarlo Stanton, regarding J.A. Happ, I wrote:

I understand you can never have enough pitching, except when you’re talking about a 37-year-old coming off the worst season of his career and set to earn $17 million.

What felt like minutes after writing those words, it was announced that James Paxton will be out for the next three to four months after undergoing a back procedure. It was almost as if the Baseball Gods were upset with me mocking the idea that you can never have enough pitching.

The Paxton news certainly isn’t ideal, but it’s not the worst thing ever either. Paxton has never pitched a full season in the majors. Not one. His career-high innings came in 2018 when he threw 160 1/3. In his first season with the Yankees, he only managed 150 2/3 when he missed nearly four weeks and then admittedly pitched with a knee problem for most of the season before being shut down in his final start of the regular season with a back problem, which he eventually needed this recent surgery for.

The Yankees won’t have Paxton for at least the first month of the season and I would expect him to miss at least the first two months of the season. So now, instead of having Happ as the team’s fifth starter in what needs to be a bounceback season, Happ moves up to the No. 4 spot and Jordan Montgomery, most likely, becomes the No. 5 starter.

There isn’t really an available free-agent starting pitcher the Yankees could go out and sign at this point like the comment suggests. If Happ sucks again and Montgomery proves to be not ready as he separates himself from his Tommy John surgery, I would rather see what Deivi Garcia or Mike King or someone else within the organizatio can before giving an opportunity to the scrap heap.

So it’s true, you can never have enough pitching, even when you’re talking about a 37-year-old coming off the worst season of his career and set to earn $17 million.

Nolan Arenado is the best third baseman in baseball. You get the best when you can. No need to be concerned with costs. If they don’t mind paying the luxury tax, I’m not complaining. – Vinny

I couldn’t agree more, Vinny. I wrote about this extensively in the blog If the Yankees Can Get Nolan Arenado, Go Get Him.

The problem is while we aren’t worried about the luxury tax, Yankees ownership certainly is. It’s why they held back the last few years on free agency. The Yankees are the best team in baseball right now and good enough to win the World Series as currently constructed and ownership likely looks at Arenado as a luxury and not a necessity. They know they can win with a third base combination of Gio Urshela at $2.5 million and Miguel Andujar at somewhere around the league minimum, so there’s no need for them to go take on another nine-figure contract.

The franchise can more than afford to take on Arenado’s contract, but they know they can win with a third base making $32 million less.

I don’t get this obsession with Nolan Arenado, what the Yankees actually need is to lock up and secure our infield with Francisco Lindor. The kid makes perfect sense across the table. We need left-handed punch and to fill the hole that Didi Gregorious left at short. Gleyber Torres with all due respect is a much better second baseman than he is a shortstop. – El

The obsession with Arenado is that he’s the best all-around third baseman in baseball. As for Lindor, if the Yankees could somehow trade for him I would also be all for it. The difference is Arenado would cost only money as the Rockies are looking at moving him in a straight salary dump the way the Marlins moved Giancarlo Stanton, while Lindor will cost actual players.

As for the knock on Torres, I disagree. I would expect Torres to be a better second baseman than shortstop the same way I would expect any major leaguer to be a better second baseman than shortstop since it’s an easier position to play. But Torres came up as a shortstop (except for the brief time he playing third base in the minors before a season-ending injury in 2017, so the Yankees could stop playing Chase Headley), and he was only playing second because of Gregorius. Gregorius is gone, so Torres is the shortstop the way he was before Gregorius came back last season, and he’s going to be playing shortstop for a long, long time … unless the Yankees do something like acquire Lindor.

I’d like to have the best player in baseball at every position, but there are financial implications. They got in trouble chasing every free agent and came back to prominence developing their farm system. They laid out big money with Gerrit Cole, and huge payouts lie ahead for Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres and Luis Severino. – Michael

There are financial implications to signing big-name free agents, but the Yankees are the Yankees and have more financial resources than any other team in the sport and should use that to their advantage. It was disgusting when they came one win away from the World Series in 2017 and then cut payroll by nearly $50 million for 2018, and their decision to sit out on every free-agent pitcher not named J.A. Happ for 2019 cost them the AL pennant once again.

The Yankees have returned to prominence by building up their farm system, but when you have a young core making the league minimum or in arbitration years, that’s when you should add free agents to the roster before the young core needs to be paid. Judge and Sanchez both got significant raises this season and Severino got a four-year, $40 million contract last season. Those numbers are only going to continue to go up, and that’s why it’s more important than ever for the Yankees to win a championship as soon as possible before ownership decides to go back into a signing freeze due to an increasing payroll they can more than afford.

I predict Giancarlo Stanton will have a banner year. Hope he has a great year and opts out. – Jack

Last week, I wrote that I’m going to give a clean slate to Stanton for 2020. No sarcasm to start the season, no snarky comments, no “Ladies and gentlemen” tweets on Opening Day. I’m going to be positive when it comes to Stanton for as long as he lets me be positive.

The response to that blog hasn’t been great. Either people don’t believe me, saying I won’t be able to last through the fourth inning of Opening Day, or they despise Stanton so much that they’re appalled that I’m willing to be positive when it comes to him.

I really do believe Stanton is a luxury for the Yankees. He was a luxury when the Yankees were able to acquire him for nothing and he’s become even more of a luxury with the team proving it can win without him. They don’t need him to be his pre-Yankee self to win. Last season, they were able to win 103 regular-season games and get to within two wins of the World Series without him. But even though he’s a luxury, I would very much welcome him returning to his pre-Yankee self and being an MVP candidate, especially with Aaron Hicks out for most of the season and the unpredictability of what Brett Gardner, Mike Tauchman and Clint Frazier will provide.

When it comes to his opt-out clase though, you can forget about that. Even without a 2017-like season, on the open market, Stanton wouldn’t come close to getting what he’s owed as a 31-year-old who will obviously spend his later years as a DH. Even if he thought he was worth more and could get more, who would pay him? The Yankees would be out on him. The now small-market-operating Red Sox would be out on him. The Astros? No. Unless the NL adopts the DH, I can’t see any NL team wanting him. He will be three years removed from his historic season with one good season (2018), one nine-game season (2019) and whatever he does in 2020 since his MVP campaign. Stanton isn’t going anywhere. He’s going to be a Yankee.

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 6, 2020

Rangers Thursday Thoughts: Leave Henrik Lundqvist Alone

I understand Henrik Lundqvist’s age and his salary and cap hit for 2020-21. I also recognize what he has done for the organization for nearly 15 years and I will never not feel indebted to him as a Rangers fan.

The Rangers returned from their long layoff and won three of four. It’s what they need to do keep their playoff dreams alive and prolong a third straight deadline selloff from the front office. The Rangers still have nine games left before the deadline to showcase their available players while at the same time try to prove they can make a miraculous run to the playoffs.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Rangers as usual.

1. The only person who was happier for Henrik Lundqivst than Lundqvist following his 1-0 shutout on Saturday in Detroit was me. More than two years since his last shutout, a feat that used to be accomplished weekly it felt like, Lundqvist once again posted a zero. The Rangers’ defense was never anything special when it featured Ryan McDonagh, Marc Staal, Dan Girardi, Anton Stralman, Dan Boyle, Keith Yandle or Kevin Klein as Lundqvist routinely made that group and many others appear much better than they actually were from a scoreboard standpoint. But I’m sure Lundqvist longs for the days when he had some of those names given the current state of the Rangers’ defense and what he, Igor Shesterkin and Alexandar Georgiev, need to do each game to prevent lopsided results.

2. To see Lundqvist get pulled against Dallas in the game immediately following his shutout was disheartening and rather unfair, but the reason for the goals didn’t matter to many Rangers fans, just that there were goals. The franchise legend was turned on as the reason and not the unnecessary penalties, slot deflections, odd-man rushes and defensive-zone turnovers, which set up the goals. The loss was hardly Number 30’s fault.

3. The three-goalie situation has now been going on for a month. Here’s how it’s gone since Shesterkin’s debut:

Shesterkin
Shesterkin
Lundqvist
Georgiev
Georgiev
Shesterkin
Georgiev
Shesterkin
Lundqvist
Lundqvist
Shesterkin

Sometimes the next game’s starting goalie has been based on the previous game’s performance, sometimes it has been based on being already scheduled and sometimes it’s been based on past performance against the next game’s opponent. It’s been hard to predict who will start from game to game, but I’m going to make a prediction for the games between now and next week’s Thoughts.

Friday vs. Buffalo: Georgiev
Sunday vs. Los Angeles: Shesterkin
Tuesday at Winnipeg: Lundqvist

4. Toronto was seen as the favorite to land Georgiev in a pre-deadline deal and then Los Angeles had to step in and trade them Jack Campbell. After ruining Lundqvist’s chance at the elusive Cup, it might be the Kings who once again ruin his legacy. With Toronto no longer in need of a goalie, the odds on Georgiev getting traded this season take a hit and it makes it more likely Lundqvist is somehow talked into waiving his no-trade clause or is bought out in the offseason. I hate the Kings.

5. Georgiev getting moved is still the most likeliest outcome of the three-goalie issue, but with each passing day and especially with Toronto no longer a suitor, it’s not as likely as it was just a few days ago. The cold, rainy winter days coupled with all of these Lundqvist trade and buyout rumors are depressing. I understand the Rangers’ love for Georgiev and their reluctance to trade him for anything less than their seemingly over-the-top demands, but it’s still the right move. I also understand Lundqvist’s age and his salary and cap hit for 2020-21. I also recognize what he has done for the organization for nearly 15 years and I will never not feel indebted to him as a Rangers fan. An offseason buyout would be even worse.

6. On the topic of buyouts, how many buyouts are the Rangers doing to need to do? They bought out Brad Richards and Dan Girardi and Kevin Shattenkirk, and should have bought out Staal. (Maybe start rethinking the organization’s handling of contracts and when extensions should be made?) If the Rangers do decide to extend Chris Kreider, there’s a good chance I will be writing about the Rangers needing to buy him out in a few years as well. I get that Kreider makes the Rangers better right now and next season as well and the season after that, but they’re not even a playoff team this season and next season they won’t be close to contending and might still not be ready in 2021-22. Realistically, the Rangers are three years at best from possibly being one of the elite teams in the league and by then Kreider will be 31-32 and getting paid to do things he did on the other side of 30. Given the weak expected rental class for this deadline, let some team overpay for his services for two months and use the return to actually help the team win in three and four years from now.

7. Given Artemi Panarin’s recent drop in even-strength production, I gladly welcomed Ryan Strome being removed from his line. It didn’t last long though as David Quinn put the two back together during Wednesday’s win over Toronto. One day I will get my dream of a Panarin-Mika Zibanejad-Kaapo Kakko line. One day.

8. I was a fan of the trade for Jacob Trouba and still am, but I completely understand why he is a potential trade asset. He’s signed long-term at a solid number and he’s now a luxury for the Rangers. Given the abundnace of young defense and the eventual need to pay that young defense, Trouba isn’t needed the way he was when they traded for him. I will still happily have him as a Ranger, but I now almost expect him to be traded before his no-trade kicks in this offseason. When it comes to trading young defensemen with long-term deals, how about Brady Skjei? There has to be a landing spot for Skjei is his $5.25M cap hit through 2023-24. After Georgiev (because it helps Lundqvist remain a Ranger) and Kreider (because extending would be a mistake for when the team is ready to contend), I most want Skjei to be traded.

9. The best day of the season will be the day the day Greg McKegg, Brendan Smith and Micheal Haley no longer play. We’re getting closer to that day. With the deadline approaching and the Rangers’ playoff odds on the brink, it’s only a matter of time until the Rangers start to implement more young players into the NHL lineup and stop wasting valuable regular-season minutes and icetime on three players who should have never been a part of this season’s roster.

10. The Rangers came out of their 10-day layoff needing to win 75 percent of their remaining 34 games, and they have done that so far, going 3-1 against Detroit, Dallas and Toronto. They are now on pace for 88 points, and the second wild card is on pace for 99 points. That’s a lot of points to make up and every projection I have seen gives the Rangers a single-digit percentage of reaching the playoffs. The Rangers are going to need a 21-6-3 finish to play an 83rd game.

Blogs • Yankees • Yankees Offseason

Feb 5, 2020

I’m Going to Miss David Price Pitching Against the Yankees

Unfortunately, the Yankees will no longer have the luxury of seeing David Price multiple times during the regular season. There won’t be anymore video game-related injury excuses or last-minute scratches or early exits for the $217 million pitcher against the Yankees.

Early in the 2018 season, David Price was scheduled to start against the Yankees before being mysteriously scratched. The reasons for the surprise missed scheduled start varied from wrist tightness to hand numbness to tenderness, but when Price was able to return to the mound and start just a few days later, it was obvious what the reason for him being scratched was: the Yankees.

Not even a month prior to his scratch on April 11, Price lasted only an inning against the Yankees, and not even two months after the scratch, Price would have his worst performance against the Yankees on July 1 on Sunday Night Baseball. Price’s line from that July 1 start: 3.1 IP, 9 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 5 HR. The Yankees produced five home runs without Gary Sanchez, who has hit Price better than any other major leaguer. Price would pick up a no-decision against the Yankees on Aug. 5 and then was embarrassed once more by them on Sept. 19 (5.1 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 3 HR).

That season, his miserable history against the Yankees culminated in Game 2 of the ALDS when he was once again lit up. Ten pitches into the game Aaron Judge sent a 1-2 pitch high over the Green Monster in left-center where few have ever hit a ball, and then leading off the second, Sanchez crushed the third pitch of the inning over the Monster as well. Price didn’t make it through the second inning as he was pulled after recording only five outs (1.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 2 HR), leaving the game with two runners. After his departure, Judge barreled up Joe Kelly, but the 109.8 mph line drive was hit directly at Betts otherwise Price’s final line would have been much worse than it already was.

The last time the Yankees got to face Price as a Red Sox was on Aug. 4 of this past season, and he put together his usual performance, unable to last three innings at Yankee Stadium (2.2 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 2 HR).

Price leaves Boston and the American League with the current Yankees roster having a .317/.383/.639 line against him in 231 plate appearances. That’s a 1.022 OPS. Within the overall performance are some memorable individual performances:

Gary Sanchez (21 plate appeances): .500/.619/.1625, 6 HR, 12 RBIs
Aaron Judge (16 plate appearances): .308/.438/1.000, 3 HR, 3 RBIs
Luke Voit (10 plate appearances): .444/.500/1.444, 3 HR, 4 RBIs

(Aaron Hicks, Gleyber Torres, Gio Urshela Miguela Andujar and Kyle Higashioka have also homered off Price.)

Unfortunately, the Yankees will no longer have the luxury of seeing Price multiple times during the regular season. There won’t be anymore video game-related injury excuses or last-minute scratches or early exits for the $217 million pitcher against the Yankees.

The Yankees won’t have a chance to see him until 2022 — in the last year of his contract — when the Yankees next play the NL West in the regular season, unless the Yankees and Dodgers meet in the World Series. If they do finally meet in the World Series, the Dodgers will want to begin whichever game he starts with their bullpen up.

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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!