Email Exchanges – Page 6 – Keefe To The City

Apr 24, 2015

The Subway Series Once Again Has Significance

For the first time in years, the Subway Series will actually mean something for both teams in what is a renewed rivalry in the city.

For the time in Subway Series history, both the Yankees and Mets enter the series with at least a share of first place in their respective division. It’s crazy to think this is the first time that has happened considering how competitive both teams were in the early- and mid-2000s, but apparently it’s true and as a result we have the most hyped Subway Series in years.

With the, I did an email exchange with Eric Simon of Amazin’ Avenue to talk about if the Subway Series still has meaning, the result of the Lucas Duda-Ike Davis Debate and the Mets taking the best record in baseball into the Bronx.

Keefe: I have always been a fan of interleague play and the Subway Series. In years when both teams were good it was fun because, well, both teams were good. And in years when the Mets weren’t good, it was fun because it meant some easy wins for the Yankees. A lot of people have complained about the series losing its luster in recent years, but I have always enjoyed it. In a 162-game season, you need games like this to break up the monotony of playing the same divisional opponents every series.

This year, we’re back to the mid-2000s when both teams were competitive, and when both fan bases cared about the series and got up for the series. This Subway Series has the first feeling of a big series since probably 2009. While I don’t enjoy the Mets being good or riding an 11-game winning streak entering the series, I’m happy their relevance has brought the Subway Series back to life.

Are you a fan of the Subway Series?

Simon: I’m pretty ambivalent about the Subway Series at this point. I’m not generally a fan of interleague play to begin with and would favor a return to the balanced intra-league schedule of years past. That, of course, can’t happen now that each league has an uneven number of teams, so we’re stuck with interleague play for better or worse.

Mets-Yankees games do still have a little more excitement than your average games. I can’t say I loathe the Yankees the way I once did, but something about reading the local scribes celebrating a Yankees victory over the Mets probably does get under my skin a little bit.

Keefe: Mets fans are the most optimistic they have been in years with the hot start to the season. It seems like every Mets fan I know has taken to social media in some regard to hint at a future World Series parade this coming fall. I wish the Mets were doing as well as they are, but it’s a welcome sight to have both New York teams playing well at the same time again to increase the hype for the weekend. However, there are some still-pessimistic Mets fans waiting for the other shoe to drop and trying not to get ahead of themselves with April success.

Which type of Mets fan are you?

Simon: I’m pretty realistic about the Mets. This means I don’t dash for the nearest bridge when things are going badly, but I also tend not to overstate the Mets’ case when things are going well.

So I guess I’m neither of the Mets fans you describe.

Keefe: The Mets’ rotation is one of the best in the league and the Yankees will see Jacob deGrom and Matt Harvey in the first two games of the series and then they get Jon Niese in the finale, which isn’t exactly a picnic since the Yankees aren’t the best against lefties.

Bartolo Colon has been called the leader of the rotation, and this season he has certainly pitched like it. There was a lot of talk about the Mets using him as a trade chip last season, but they ended up keeping him and he his having another impressive year at age 42. His return to the majors and to prominence came in 2011 with the Yankees when he turned back the clock for most of that summer and looked like the 2005 Cy Young Award winner. After initially being disgusted that he had made the team as a reliever and then being annoyed that he would join the rotation, watching him pitch every five days became one of the best parts of that season.

What has Colon meant to the young rotation?

Simon: Ballplayers will tell you how this or that veteran is a great leader or clubhouse presence or guiding hand or whatever. I suspect Colon is all of those things, but I’m not particularly interested in the details.

Colon has been great for the Mets this season and utterly entertaining nearly every time he starts. That’s good enough for me.

Keefe: I remember when Ike Davis made his debut and it was an event for the Mets and Mets fan. But over time, he fell out of favor, got injured and also sick and then was eventually traded to Pittsburgh. The Mets picked Lucas Duda over Davis in the great Davis-Duda Debate and it worked out for them last year when Duda hit 30 home runs with 92 RBIs.

It always seemed like they were very close to same player and that’s what made the debate even harder because no one really had a real grasp on which of the two would end up having better career. Now this season, both are off to hot and almost identical starts with Davis now in Oakland and it makes the comparison between them even crazier.

Were you on the Davis or Duda side of the debate? Were you upset that Davis didn’t become the next icon for the Mets?

Simon: I was a big Ike Davis supporter when he came up and looked like Keith Hernandez with power, and I soured on him like everybody else did when he stopped hitting altogether and his defense deteriorated. Lucas Duda might be my favorite Met at the moment, and I’m thrilled that he’s been playing so well since the Mets traded Davis.

Especially now that he’s in the American League, I’m happy to root for Davis and I hope he has his career back on track in Oakland.

Keefe: A lot of people thought the Mets would be competitive this year and if everything broke right they could be in the mix for a wild-card spot and somewhere around 90 wins. Through the first 15 games of the season, they have exceeded expectations with a perfect 10-0 start at home, incredible starting pitching and timely hitting. Basically everything that has gone wrong for the Mets in recent years since the 2007 collapse has gone right for them in the first two-plus weeks of the season.

What were you expectations for the Mets before the season started and have they changed at all after the 13-3 start?

Simon: I thought the Mets would be a little better than .500 and that if a few things went their way they’d be competing for one of the two wild cards in the National League. They’re not going to win 80 percent of their games all year, but they’ve been a lot of fun to watch through these first 16 games and certainly my expectations for them have changed a good deal—perhaps more than they should—after their hot start.

I’d say they’re now more likely than not to make the playoffs in one way or another, but I wouldn’t quite pencil them in as NL East champs at this point.

Blogs • Email Exchanges • Yankees

Apr 20, 2015

The Shane Greene Trade Has Been an Atrocity

The Yankees picked up a much-needed sweep of the Rays over the weekend to get back to .500 and showed some consistency for the first time this season. Thanks to A-Rod’s impressive start to the

The Yankees picked up a much-needed sweep of the Rays over the weekend to get back to .500 and showed some consistency for the first time this season. Thanks to A-Rod’s impressive start to the season and the zeroes put up by the back end of the bullpen, the Yankees are 6-6, but have played bad enough to be much worse. Things aren’t going to get any easier on this 10-game road trip with the next stop being Detroit where the Tigers have gotten off to the best start in the league.

With the Yankees and Tigers meeting for the first time this season, I did an email exchange with Rob Rogacki of Bless You Boys to talk about David Price’s impending free agency and future, the three-team trade with the Yankees that brought Shane Greene to Detroit and the end of the Austin Jackson era with last season’s trade to the Mariners.

Keefe: David Price has allowed one earned run in 22 1/3 innings over three starts. Incredibly, he has only won one of those three starts because of a lack of run support, but at age 29 (he’ll be 30 in August), Price is off to his best start in any season. Coincidentally, he is a free agent at the end of the season.

I have long wanted Price on the Yankees and it seems like he is following the CC Sabathia 2008 blueprint of having a career year in a contract year and with the money Max Scherzer (who is one year older than Price) got from the Nationals (seven years, $210 million) this offseason, Price is easily going to match that number and likely exceed it. Hopefully, it’s the Yankees giving him that offer.

What do you think happens with Price after 2015? What offer do you want the Tigers to make him?

Rogacki: There were whispers about the Tigers and Price negotiating a long-term extension during spring training, but those voices have all but died, and the two sides are reportedly nowhere close to an agreement. The Tigers haven’t issued a press release like they did with Max Scherzer last season, which leads me to believe that there is hope that he could end up back in Detroit in 2016. Price seems to be much more comfortable with the Tigers this year, and has made fast friends with rotation stalwart Justin Verlander. If Price does not re-sign with the Tigers, it will probably be because of money, not a desire to leave the organization.

I cringe at the thought of giving a 30-year-old starter the kind of contract that Scherzer got, but I think that this is the bare minimum it will take to retain Price. The lefthander checks off all the boxes you want in an ace, and his game should age as well as one could expect out of a pitcher in today’s era. I think a lot of Tigers fans were more amicable to the idea of extending Price over Scherzer, and I have a hard time imagining that the Tigers won’t put together a serious offer this offseason.

Keefe: Miguel Cabrera is off to another MVP-candidate start to the season, which is to be expected from the best hitter in the world. It’s been just over a year since he signed the 10-year, $292 million deal with the Tigers and while it seemed like too long and too much money for a player at his age with his build with his future projection, I loved the deal.

Sure, people are going to complain about it because people complain about every deal in every sport, so it didn’t surprise me that people had an issue with overpaying the back-to-back AL MVP for his 30s. Like I always say with the Yankees, “It’s not my money,” and it can keep a player like Cabrera on your roster for the rest of his prime, then worry about his later years when they come.

What were your thoughts on the Cabrera deal?

Rogacki: While the Tigers have one of the higher payrolls in the game, their budget is still a step or two below the eye-popping numbers that the Yankees and Dodgers are paying out, and $30 million per year for an aging hitter — even one as good as Cabrera — is going to put a strain on their budget going forward. They would have more roster and financial flexibility without Cabrera, especially in the later parts of the decade.

That said, I love that the Tigers went out of their way to retain Cabrera, who is well on his way to Cooperstown (and the requisite statue at Comerica Park that comes along with it). Cabrera is one of the best hitters in MLB history and a joy to watch everyday, and his playful personality makes him all the more entertaining for Tigers fans and opponents alike. Hall of Fame players generally stay very productive well into their 30s, and Cabrera has definitely fit into that mold so far throughout his career.

Keefe: I miss Shane Greene. A 2009 15th-round draft pick, he finally reached the majors last year and struck out 81 in 78 2/3 innings. He looked like he might be a future staple of the rotation and maybe one of the first reliable homegrown starters the Yankees have produced with Brian Cashman as general manager. Instead, he was traded to the Tigers in a three-team deal with the Diamondbacks that brought back Didi Gregorius in return.

Gregorius has been awful through his first 12 games as a Yankee. He is hitting .189/.225/.189 without an extra-base hit, several baserunning blunders and for all we heard about his exceptional Gold Glove-caliber fielding, he hasn’t made a play yet that 40-year-old Derek Jeter couldn’t make.

Is there any chance we can redo that trade? What are your thoughts about Greene and his 3-0 start?

Rogacki: I have been a fan of the trade that brought Greene to Detroit from the start. I was very impressed with his two performances against the Tigers last season, and after going back to watch a few more of his outings during the offseason, my optimism had not waned one bit. Greene pounded the lower half of the strike zone and showed flashes of a developing changeup, one that has served him very well throughout his first three starts in 2015. Greene has an underrated cutter and changeup, and has also started elevating his four-seam fastball in two-strike counts.

This trade isn’t going to look this lopsided for long. Greene is due to regress from his microscopic ERA, and Gregorius’ batted ball profile indicates that he has been somewhat unlucky early on in 2015. His above average defense will start to shine through at some point. I think the Tigers are clear winners in this trade simply because they gave up the least to get what looks to be a mid-rotation starter in Greene, but I think the move was a necessary one for the Yankees (though not the splashy one their fanbase would have liked).

Keefe: Last year at the trade deadline, the Tigers traded Austin Jackson to the Mariners in the three-team deal that landed them David Price. Jackson, another former Yankee who was traded to the Tigers for Curtis Granderson before the 2010 season, never really lived up to the expectations that were placed on him, struck out a lot and struggled to get on base the last few years.

I remember being upset that he wouldn’t reach the majors with the Yankees after he was traded and wondered why they would want to give away a 21-year-old future center fielder for an aging one. But looking back on it, I would have to say both teams came out even on that aspect of the trade and we were able to get rid of Phil Coke and you were able to get Max Scherzer, so it was a win-win all around.

What were your thoughts when the Tigers traded Jackson to the Mariners?

Rogacki: While Jackson struggled for long stretches with the Tigers, his first few seasons made Tigers fans all but forget about Granderson. Jackson was an elite defender in center field during his first four years in Detroit, ranking among the very best centerfielders in baseball in nearly every advanced defensive metric in the book. His penchant for striking out was frustrating at times, but he was an above average leadoff hitter whose value far outweighed his cost to the organization. Jackson was a fan favorite, and the standing ovation he got when he was removed from a game after being traded was one of the most surreal baseball moments I have ever seen.

Personally, I was ecstatic for the deal. It’s not every day that you land an elite talent like Price, and while the cost was steep (Jackson and cost-controlled Drew Smyly were both shipped out), the chance to see Price pitch in the Olde English D was exciting. I have continued to follow both former Tigers with their new teams, and am surprised at how much Jackson has struggled with the Mariners. I think the trade will be unfairly judged on whether the Tigers win a World Series this year, but I think the move was the right one to make for this team.

Keefe: The Tigers are off to a hot 10-2 start in a year in which I thought they would have a down year. They lost Max Scherzer to free agency, Justin Verlander has yet to pitch and I didn’t think their offense was as deep as it had been in years past. But the Tigers have kept on rolling despite the roster turnover and despite the question marks in the bullpen. It seems as though Dave Dombrowski has done it again in what was supposed a deep and hard-to-win AL Central.

What were your expectations for the team entering the season and have they changed after this 10-2 start?

Rogacki: Expectations for this team have definitely skyrocketed after such a strong start to the season. The last two times the Tigers started a season off this fast, they won the World Series, a fact that is not lost on Tigers fans. The starting pitching has been the biggest surprise, both for positive and negative reasons. I already touched on Greene’s hot start, but Alfredo Simon is coming off the best start of his career (and will start tonight’s opening game). Anibal Sanchez, on the other hand, has already allowed more home runs this season than he did in all of 2014. The Tigers definitely need an effective Verlander if they are going to reach the playoffs, but they have been able to withstand his absence so far.

There have been some surprising contributions from the offense as well, but overall I thought that this unit had the potential to be one of the very best in baseball. Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez might be the best one-two punch in baseball, and J.D. Martinez was coming off a red-hot spring training. Yoenis Cespedes was hitting like his usual self prior to last season’s trade to Boston, and I was very bullish on Nick Castellanos taking a step forward in season two. All of those things have happened so far, and more. Jose Iglesias is translating one of the best contact rates in baseball into a not-gonna-stay-that-way .436 batting average, and Anthony Gose and Rajai Davis have become an effective platoon at the top of the order. This lineup is deeper than many people expected, and will make life difficult for many a pitcher in 2015.

Blogs • Email Exchanges • Yankees

Apr 17, 2015

Evan Longoria Is the Rays’ Derek Jeter

The Rays lose players to big-market teams seemingly every year, but Evan Longoria has been the exception and is the one true icon in the team’s short 18-year history.

The Yankees are in trouble. With three straight series losses to open the season, the Yankees have to get back on track before their remaining seven-game road trip ends. If they don’t, the season could be lost before it even begins.

With the Yankees into Tampa Bay for their first series against the Rays, Daniel Russell of DRaysBay joined me to talk about losing Andrew Friedman to the Dodgers, having a rookie manager in Kevin Cash take over for Joe Maddon and the frustration of watching the roster turn over due to finances.

Keefe: This offseason you lost general manager Andrew Friedman to the Dodgers and manager Joe Maddon to the Rays. Both men played an integral part in the success of the Rays from shedding their Devil Rays image to becoming a consistent winning and postseason team.

What were your feelings on the two leaving for big-market teams?

Russell: There’s so much I could say about each of these men, in appreciation, in admiration, and in heartfelt sorrow that they are gone. The Rays only had a few faces of the franchise, and these two were the primary names on that list.

Andrew Friedman’s departure was at some level expected, far back in my mind I thought he’d leave one day. His interviews and dinners about town had come and gone in the past, but after 10 years with the franchise (nine as de facto GM), his leaving didn’t add pain the the surprise.

Friedman is gone but the franchise is in a great place. The brain trust he built stayed in tact when he left for L.A., and his departure freed up the staff to make some moves that other wise might not have happened, like getting value for Joel Peralta or Wil Myers, who both looked pretty busted last season, despite their pedigrees.

Joe Maddon was different, just a week prior he was adamant about his commitment to the franchise, and once he was gone the front office was legitimately stunned. As were the players, and the coaching staff. The Rays believe some tampering occurred on the part of the Cubs, who hired him seven days later, and that investigation is still ongoing, even though Manfred said it would conclude by Opening Day. So there’s something fishy to the situation.

I don’t blame Joe Maddon for leaving, the opportunity to become a legend with the Cubs is something I think I would have pursued if I were in his position. It just happened in the wrong way.

Keefe: With Maddon leaving, Kevin Cash became a rookie manager and sort of under-the-radar selection for the Rays as their new manager. Just four years removed from the league, Cash, who had a short stint with the Yankees in 2009, was suddenly a manager in the majors after serving as part of Terry Francona’s Cleveland staff for two years.

Who did you want to be the Rays manager after Maddon left?

Russell: I’m not sure I had an opinion on who the manager would be among the list of first round finalists, but once it was narrowed down to Don Wakamatsu and Kevin Cash, I’m glad it was the latter.

Cash is a feel good story, a local kid who played Little League and went to high school in Tampa, then played in multiple College World Series at Florida State before becoming a Devil Ray. Coming back is a welcome home.

He scrapped his way into a major league career, transitioning to catcher in Cape Cod ball before joining the Blue Jays, and he won World Series rings with Boston (2007) and New York (2009) as the third catcher. He’s got the right mind and is super relatable in the clubhouse. He’s ridden those busses and he’s also found success.

Cash was an advanced scout for the Blue Jays, then the bullpen coach for the Indians, his second turn under Terry Francona (the guy who beat Joe Maddon for the job in Boston). He identified Yan Gomes for them, and helped turn around the careers of guys like Carlos Carrasco and Corey Kluber. He’s the kind of guy who destined to be a manager, and his hiring (while the youngest in the game with no true managerial experience) lends itself to the underdog role this Rays team needed to embrace.

Keefe: Tampa Bay was my favorite non-Yankees team before 2008, which is before they got good, and I don’t have a favorite non-Yankees team. Maybe it was because they were an easy win for the Yankees and a standings-padding opponent, which helped the Yankees to the division title year after year. But I enjoyed watching the Rays’ young talent and Lou Piniella manage that young talent even if it seemed like they would never put it together.

In 2008 they did it put it together. The Yankees missed the playoffs for the first time since 1993 and I rooted for the Rays in the postseason, mainly because I knew they could beat the Red Sox. Whn you look at the 2008 Rays roster, the only player left is Evan Longoria, who has been the face of the franchise and is the one true face of the franchise since the team’s inception.

Seven years ago when you thought about the Rays’ future, did you think Longoria would be the only player still with the organization from that World Series team?

Russell: I’m glad we’ve been able to fall out of your good graces, because the Yankee fan presence in Tampa can be quite unbearable.

Roster turnover is an expectation, and seven years later who could I have reasonably expected to remain? David Price and James Shields might be the only clear answers, maybe Carlos Pena if he’d kept his career in tact.

James Shields was the only type who had the talent and mindset to take on a second contract extension like Longoria, and David Price’s control ran through this season. Perhaps starter Matt Garza could have remained, but he was volatile and valuable to the market, so his departure was a bit more expected.

It’s worth mentioning that Ben Zobrist was a part of that 2008 team’s bench, but using a 2008 mindset I don’t think he was expected to become one of the five most valuable hitters in the game, so his mention would be unfair. As for other big ticket names, Upton and Crawford were destined to leave after long turns with the franchise far before 2015 rolled around.

If I may, this is probably a good moment to say kudos to Longoria for signing two team-friendly deals with Tampa Bay.

Speaking to a fanbase that has enjoyed several long Yankee careers, you need to understand he’s all we’ve got. Our franchise is only nearly 20 years old, that’s not a long time to retire the same numbers you all have in that cemetery or whatever that garden at Yankee Stadium is called.

Longoria knew he wanted to be a one-franchise man. He’ll be the first bronze statue one day as well. I’m looking forward to it.

Keefe: After Longoria, David Price was the second face of the team (at least from an outsider’s perspective). His trade was inevitable and now he is doing for the Tigers what he did for the Rays.

Is it hard to watch Price pitch for another team after being a homegrown player for the Rays, or are you used to the idea of superstars leaving because of finances?

Russell: It’s an unfortunate reality, truly it is. Your perception isn’t wrong, he really was the hearbeat of the team in a lot of ways. He’s still texting the Rays starters before they take the mound and offering encouragements. Losing him was hard.

The Rays don’t have the money to lock down many players, and the farm system has not been well stocked through the draft lately, so trading players has been the best avenue to bring the future to bear without going into an Astros re-build, or having to constantly trade away what remains like the Athletics.

So here we are in 2015 without David Price. I’m used to the idea, yes, but it’s no less frustrating. That excitement to watch him take the mound never really goes away. You always knew he was likely to give you something special.

Keefe: The Rays entered the season with an over/under win total of 79 after a 77-85 season in 2014. The turnover on the roster since last season has been immense and the 2015 Opening Day Rays are basically unrecognizable from the 2014 Opening Day Rays.

However, the Rays have gotten off to a strong 6-4 start despite some tough first-week opponents to once again prove that no matter who the Rays lose, they seem to find a way to stay competitive.

What are your expectations for this season?

Russell: Always take the over on the Tampa Bay Rays. This team has pressed into the playoffs in all but two seasons since 2008.

That said, injuries are a bear, and this year we might have 10 players on the disabled list before the week is out. The Rays starting depth is limited to the No. 2, No. 4, No. 7 and No. 9 starters from the depth chart, if we’re counting Matt Moore (recovering from Tommy John – returning in June) as the No. 5. The current fifth starter is the long man, and he’s laid an egg in both of his outings thus far.

Meanwhile, the Rays are going through an AL East bloodbath – only one series (already played against the Marlins) from Opening Day to May 6 is against a team outside the division. Right now the Rays just need to tread water, without their 1B, 2B, DH and maybe even without Longoria for one or two games after a hit-by-pitch last night.

It’s not going to be easy, but if this team can break even through April, I think they stand a decent chance of remaining competitive in the division, and following the projections from Baseball Prospectus to place second in the division around 85 wins.

Blogs • Email Exchanges • Yankees

Apr 10, 2015

A New Chapter of Yankees-Red Sox

The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry isn’t what it used to be, so to remember the glory days, it’s time to look back at some of key moments in recent seasons.

It has never made sense to me to have the Yankees and Red Sox play so early in the season. Sure, there was Opening Night on Sunday Night Baseball in 2005 and Opening Night on Sunday Night Baseball in 2010 and Opening Day in 2013, but if you’re not going to have the teams open the season, then wait until a little later in April rather than the first weekend of the season.

It would have made more sense to have the Yankees and Red Sox both open in warm-weather places or in domes, but that didn’t happen, so they will play three more games in nasty early-April conditions. And with the Yankees and Red Sox meeting this weekend in the Bronx, I emailed Mike Hurley of CBS Boston because that’s what I do when the Yankees and Red Sox play.

Keefe: I have tried to avoid you since Feb. 1 after Pete Carroll made the worst big-game decision in the history of sports. THE HISTORY OF SPORTS. Instead of Jermaine Kearse’s wild catch going down as being even more ridiculous than David Tyree’s en route to a Patriots Super Bowl loss, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick get their fourth Super Bowl win and Boston fans get to celebrate. Disgusting. Just absolutely disgusting.

But that’s not why I’m emailing you today. I’m emailing you because the Yankees and Red Sox are playing for the first time in 2015. And nothing says Yankees-Red Sox like Games 4, 5 and 6 of the season in freezing rain and win in the Bronx.

On Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, I sat in the worst weather imaginable for baseball and the only other time I was so cold at the Stadium was for Rangers-Islanders on Jan. 29, 2014 at 8 p.m. Yes, I not only sat outside in late January at 8 p.m. to watch a hockey game I could barely see, but I paid an exorbitant amount of money to do so. At least I got to watch CeeLo Green sing between periods, so I can tell my future grandchildren about that.

Why is it that MLB doesn’t just make it so 15 teams always open at home? Those teams are the Rays, Blue Jays, Royals, Angels, Rangers, Mariners, Astros, Braves, Marlins, Cardinals, Brewers, Dodgers, Giants, Diamondbacks and Padres.

This almost seems too easy and I guess that’s why it hasn’t happened.

Hurley: It’s appropriate that you’re emailing me before this weekend, because unless I’m mistaken, I believe you and I are the starting pitchers for Saturday’s game. Right?

I was actually just saying Thursday night, watching the Red Sox playing in freezing cold Philly for the second straight night, that there should be zero games north of the Mason-Dixon line until May 1st. There’s just no reason games should be played in Boston, New York, Philly, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh or Washington D.C. until May. The weather here sucks oh so bad, and watching guys from the Caribbean try to play through the elements is brutal. It’s terrible baseball. Freddy Galvis let a line drive go in and out of his glove on Thursday because he was wearing a full freaking ski mask. It was a joke.

But hey, at least the schedule makers are smart enough to utilize the two weekend games in the Bronx this weekend to play during the day, when the weather has a chance to be somewhat decent, right? It’s not like they’d give the Red Sox an 8 p.m. ESPN game on the night before their 3 p.m. home opener, right? Right??

Man, good thing Adrian Gonzalez isn’t on this year’s Red Sox team. He probably would have fainted and suffered a concussion after seeing the schedule.

Keefe: Adrian Gonzalez’s season-ending excuses in 2011 will go down as a Top 10 all-time Boston sports moment for me. And speaking of Gonzalez, he has five home runs in three games to start the season. How insane is that? Mark Teixeira probably won’t hit his fifth home run until June and maybe even later than that if he spends time on the disabled list with light-headedness or tired legs.

When you think of Gonzalez, do you ever miss him being on the Red Sox?

Hurley: Well, I’ll be honest, I really liked him for the first half of 2011. He seemed like a baseball savant, and his swing was beautiful. It was effortless, and he crank dingers over the bullpen at Fenway with ease. It seemed like the only thing he did was smoke the baseball, and that was cool with me.

But he really showed his true colors in the second half of the season, when the pressure ramped up and his batting average dropped 40 points, his OPS dropped more than 100 points, and he hit just 10 homers (compared to 17 in the first half). Then when they were amazingly eliminated on that final night of the season, him talking about God’s plan and the tough schedule was just ridiculous.

So no, I don’t miss him. He was an amazing hitter, and it was cool to see his work ethic in the video room and stuff like that play out in game situations. But he couldn’t handle the pressure here and was miserable and angry through 2012. He’s in a perfect place now. If he hits homers, people cheer. If he goes on a prolonged slump, I’m not sure anyone will notice out in L.A.

When you think of 2011 and the “Best Team Ever” storyline, do you ever miss it? Was it the best time of your life?

Keefe: The 2011 season was glorious time. The “Best Team Ever” headline, the September collapse and listening to Felger and Mazz rip the entire organization every day along with having “Carmine” and also John Henry on the show was a great time to be a Yankees fan. Actually 2009 through present day minus 2013 has been an amazing time to be a non-Red Sox fan, and that’s why 2013 gets me upset.

The 2009 season was full of Brad Penny and John Smoltz starts and David Ortiz hitting .188 with one home run on June 5. In 2010, the Red Sox missed the playoffs again and then the magical 2011 season. 2012 was the Bobby Valentine disaster and a 93-loss season. And then 2014 was another last-place finish and a 91-loss season.

I know in Boston you have the Impossible Dream season in which the team didn’t even win the World Series, but 2013 was the Impossible Dream. Actually, it was the Miracle of All Miracles.

Now with this revamped lineup in 2015, I’m a little worried this era of bad Red Sox baseball might be ending. The only thing giving me hope is that the rotation is full of No. 3 and No. 4 starters.

Hurley: You bring up the Impossible Dream, and it raises a topic I’ve never understood for my whole life. I was born in ’86, obviously the year the Red Sox screwed up by letting the freaking Mets win a World Series. It would be so much funnier if both the Mets and the Jets hadn’t won since 1969. Alas …

But what I don’t understand is how prior to 2004, the Impossible Dream and Fisk home run were held in the highest possible regard by Red Sox fans. Like, how bad were things that getting bent over by Bob Gibson three times (27 IP, 3 ER, 26 SO, 0.704 WHIP) didn’t spoil the postseason run, or where losing in the ninth inning of Game 7 in 1975 didn’t stop people from celebrating a homer to win Game 6? That’s insane. They lost! But if you entered any Boston sports museum during the ’90s, or if you’ve ever talked to an old person in Boston, they’d talk your ear off about those glorious times. It’s pretty nuts.

Anyway, it doesn’t take too long of a look at the Red Sox current roster to know what they are. They are going to hit dingers. So many dingers. And their pitching is going to be bad. If they were allowed to face quadruple-A lineups like Philly’s all year, they’d be fine, but I think against real offenses, the Red Sox will see themselves in a lot of 11-9 ballgames.

That being said, it’d be hard to put together a great starting rotation using all of the AL East, so I do think they should be competitive in that race.

Keefe: I miss the days when Red Sox fans only had a game-winning home run in a World Series they lost to get nostalgic about. These last 11 years have ruined all of that. But what if 11 years ago, the MLBPA didn’t care about the idea of A-Rod giving money back to leave a last-place Rangers team to join the Red Sox? What if A-Rod had gone to Boston and not New York and were still on the Red Sox?

People like to say that the Red Sox wouldn’t have won in 2004 or since if A-Rod is a Red Sox, but not only do they win in 2004 and after, but they are unstoppable in 2004 and the 3-0 Yankees collapse never happens. The Red Sox were top to the bottom the better team that year and if you put A-Rod in that lineup and remove Manny, not much changes. The Yankees probably don’t win the AL East and they certainly don’t beat the Twins in the ALDS, which they only did because of A-Rod.

If A-Rod is part of the team that brings the Red Sox their first world championship since 1918, he is a sports legend and a hero in Boston. Instead, he is A-Rod and the most hated man in Boston sports history, for really no reason since he was willing to go to the Red Sox.

Hurley: I love talking to you about baseball because inevitably, at some point you are going to go into an absolute mental breakdown due to the events that took place between Oct. 17 and Oct. 20 in 2004.

Seeing you send yourself into psychotic fits of rage, anger and confusion is my favorite pastime.

The failed A-Rod trade is one of the craziest and most quickly forgotten sports stories in Red Sox history. Manny was gone. Nomar was gone. A-Rod was in. Magglio Ordonez was in. Everything was WEIRD.

It’s actually why — and I’m not sure if you know this — when Manny accepted his World Series MVP Award live on Fox that night in ’04, after Boston had won its first World Series since before mos people drove cars, he was asked a softball question by Jeanne Zelasko. “What do you say to the fans who have waited 86 years?” The first words out of his mouth were, “We want Alex! But you know, now I’m in Boston, and I love you guys! You guys are the best!”

Just the biggest moment in franchise history, and the MVP is basically saying, “Eff you guys, you wanted me traded for A-Rod.”

But nobody really paid attention to that because of the whole World Series thing. In Boston, we are really good at ignoring the dumb stuff you say, so long as you keep socking dingers.

Keefe: In no other city can an athlete call the city he plays in a “shithole” and still be loved! But hey, it’s just David Ortiz being David Ortiz, so we’ll let it slide. If he wants to call the city that is home to the fans that pay his salary a “shithole” or complain about his contract every spring or “write” essays for The Players’ Tribune about why anyone who says he used PEDs is a fool, so be it. David Ortiz can do whatever he wants!

I never understood why fans in Boston weren’t at least a little upset by the way Ortiz acts, but I guess helping the team to three World Series in 11 years will give him a pass. I won’t lump you into those “fans” though since I know your fandom is long gone and 18-year-old Michael Hurley celebrating a Red Sox World Series win in his dorm room is long gone too. But I guess having a sixth-month old baby and being around millionaire athletes who wouldn’t call AAA for you if you were stuck on the side of the road will do that.

Hurley: I actually spit out the peanut butter cracker I was eating when I read your last line. That is just so true. I could be lying on the clubhouse floor, nerd-ass shirt tucked into my nerd-ass khakis while holding my nerd-ass recorder and my nerd-ass notepad, and I could be convulsing, in dire need of medical attention, and those dudes would just step right over me. And probably laugh about it.

That’s obviously an exaggeration. But like, not that big of an exaggeration.

But hey, I’m not going to let the inherent weirdness of the player-reporter relationship stop me from talking about what kind of guy some of these people are. That’s a totally normal thing to do. Did you see the DEVASTATING Milton Bradley story this week?

I’m sure plenty of baseball writers over the years said he was misunderstood and wasn’t that much of a hot head. Good stuff, guys!

Keefe: I love when writers and reporters wish a player a “Happy Birthday” or congratulate him for a milestone on Twitter as if they care. I’m going to write, “Happy 41st Birthday, Derek Jeter!” this June 26 even though Jeter doesn’t have Twitter.

On Thursday, Mike Francesa had Jim Nantz on (because they are best friends) to talk about The Masters and Nantz told Francesa about Tiger Woods’ state of mind entering the tournament and how Woods’ kids seem happy as if he has seen inside Woods’ head or if he is one of his children. And you know that Nantz 100 percent believes he knows exactly what is going on in Tiger Woods’ life or what it’s like to be one of Tiger Woods’ kids after all that has happened over the years. Jim Nantz is the worst.

But back to baseball … I’m not sure where the 2015 season is going to take us. The Yankees have pitching and no hitting. The Red Sox have hitting and no pitching. The Blue Jays have hitting and no pitching and the Orioles are pretty much in that same boat with a little more pitching than the Blue Jays. As for the Rays, well they should probably stick “Devil” back in front of their name because it’s going to be 1998-2007 in Tampa Bay. But maybe that’s not such a bad thing because I miss the days when the Rays would give the Yankees an easy 15 wins a year.

As for now, hopefully the Yankees can score more than three runs total in the three games this weekend and Mark Teixeira remembers to drink water and stay hydrated and I’ll be sure to bother you again in three weeks when the Yankees head to Boston for the weekend.

Hurley: Pretty bold of you to claim the Yankees have pitching as they enter a series where they’ll start Nathan Eovaldi and Adam Warren for the first two nights and then hope Masahiro Tanaka can flirt with 90 mph in the finale. Pretty bold. But I’d expect nothing less from you.

I have put in a mass order of popcorn for the weekend. I’m ready to see some dingers.

Blogs • Email Exchanges • Yankees

Apr 6, 2015

Jealous of the Blue Jays’ Power

The Blue Jays’ lineup is what the Yankees’ lineup once was and the middle of the order is going to be hard to navigate through this season.

Last week it snowed in New York and this Monday, the Yankees are opening the season in the Bronx against the Blue Jays. It would make more sense to probably play this three-game series in Toronto where there is a dome, but for the first time in forever there is some good weather in the forecast for Opening Day at the Stadium. Either way, baseball is back and that’s all that matters.

With the Yankees and Blue Jays opening the season in the Bronx, I did an email exchange with Tom Dakers of Bluebird Banter to talk about the Blue Jays’ powerful 3-4 combination, the new additions of Russell Martin and Josh Donaldson to the lineup and the state of the Blue Jays’ rotation with Marcus Stroman out for the season.

Keefe: It seems like for a while now it’s been common for preseason predictions to say this is the Blue Jays’ season. And once again that’s the case. The Blue Jays might have the best offense in the league. With a heart of the order that includes Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Josh Donaldson, it’s going to be a nightmare for any pitcher to navigate through that every game and that’s not including Jose Reyes at the top of the order or the pesky and former Yankee Russell Martin, who seems to get the biggest of hits.

How excited are you for this Blue Jays lineup?

Dakers: Every spring for the past several years, we thought that the offense was going to be a “world beater”-type offense. A team that would lead the league in scoring. And each year, due to injuries and players not living up to their potential, we ended up with a good, but not great offense.

This year, we are going to have that great offense. One through five, we are better than anyone in the AL. With Donaldson taking the spot of the always-promising, but never-quite-living-up-to-that-promise Brett Lawrie, we should be so much better. Russell Martin’s ability to take a walk won’t hurt. Six through nine in the order doesn’t strike the same amount of fear in opposing teams, but I think they will be better than most imagine.

I think Michael Saunders and Justin Smoak will be helped a bunch by moving from the rather large Safeco Field to the far more offensive friendly Rogers Centre. And I think rookies Dalton Pompey and Devon Travis will do their part to get us back up to the top of the order again, quickly. I’d be very surprised if we aren’t in the Top 2 or 3 in runs scored this year.

Keefe: The Yankees haven’t had a truly formidable 3-4 combination since 2009-2010 when Mark Teixeira and A-Rod were still productive and healthy and could be counted on for their usual power numbers. The Blue Jays have 3-4 combination that every team in the league envies and dreams of in Jose Bautista and Ediwn Encarnacion and each time they don’t hit the ball a mile in an at-bat it’s a sigh of relief. It seems like both of them get their best swings in against the Yankees and both of them seem to be good for a couple of home runs each series against the Yankees.

I miss the days of having steady and reliable production from the middle of the order. How much fun is it to watch those two every day? (I ask because I forget what it’s like.)

Dakers: It’s pretty good. We know that, barring injury, we have 30-plus home runs coming from both Bautista and Encarnacion. If we can get guys on base in front of them, they should both have 100 RBIs easy. This year, for an added bonus, we have Josh Donaldson following them. Donaldson, moving from Oakland to Toronto, might end up hitting the most home runs of the three.

As a Blue Jays fan, I’ve been blessed with getting to watch some great 3-4 hitters over the years. We’ve had Carlos Delgado-Shawn Green, Delgado-Vernon Wells and George Bell and Jesse Barfield, but I think we might end up looking back Bautista and Encarnacion as the best 3-4 hitters in team history.

Keefe: On the other side of the ball, the Blue Jays aren’t set up as nicely. The devastating torn ACL to Marcus Stroman, leaves the Blue Jays without a front-end starter. They still have R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle, and Drew Hutchison, which is better than the.

Aside from the Roy Halladay years, the Blue Jays have lacked a true ace in recent years. Maybe Dickey was supposed to be that when he went to Toronto from the Mets before the 2013 season, but he hasn’t been able to continue his 2010-2012 success over the last two years in the AL.

Does the Blue Jays’ pitching worry you?

Dakers: As the pitching sits, on Opening Day, I think we are OK. Many are picking Drew Hutchison to have a breakout season. Mark Buehrle and R.A. Dickey keep giving us 200-inning seasons. And Aaron Sanchez and Daniel Norris have tons of potential and look ready to deliver on that potential. The problem really is that, with Marcus out, forcing both Sanchez and Norris into the rotation, we are paper thin at the position. If one of the starting five were to be injured for any length of time, we would be left with hoping someone like Johan Santana or Randy Wolf can remember how to get guys out or be treated to the likes of Liam Hendriks or Marco Estrada.

Now, we can live with the odd spot start from any of those guys, but multiple starts from anyone one of them could really derail our season. So, Jays fans have to hope for something that we never seem to get, the baseball gods to bless our rotation with health. Maybe this will be the season it happens.

Keefe: Last year, when we did an email exchange for the first Yankees-Blue Jays series in April, you said you weren’t a fan of the Dickey trade and it didn’t work out, but that you were hoping he could be a good member of the rotation.

What are your feelings on Dickey after two years of watching him with the Blue Jays?

Dakers: The good part about Dickey is he takes the ball every five days and will give us six decent innings. Not great innings, but he usually will keep the team in the game. This year, with our offense, that should be enough. But, if you are expecting him to be the guy that outduels the opposition’s ace, it’s not going to happen.

If you have an understanding of what he can give you, 200 of slightly above average starting pitching innings, well, there is a value to that. Unfortunately, the Jays traded for (and gave up pieces that should have got them) the NL Cy Young winner, and what they got was an innings eater and someone that’s OK, but is definitely not ace material.

Keefe: The Blue Jays won 83 games last year, but haven’t finished higher than third place since 2006 and haven’t made the playoffs since 1993. They made what seemed to be a franchise-changing trade with the Marlins two years ago and that didn’t work out. Now they have signed Russell Martin and traded for Josh Donaldson.

The AL East is wide open with no clear favorite this season. You could make a case for any team other than the Rays to win the division this year and every team other than the Rays could win it.

What are your expectations for the Blue Jays this season?

Dakers: I expect them to contend. I think they can be win around 89-90 games, and in a fairly weak-looking AL East, that should be enough to contend. I think their offense is a couple of notches better than last year, I think the team defense is much improved and I think the pitching staff can be better (in large part because I think that Russell Martin is a far better defensive catcher and massively better at framing pitches than Dioner Navarro was).

What they need is health and lots of it. They aren’t deep at any position on the diamond, so an injury or two might have us using Munenori Kawasaki far more than any of us would want, yet again. I mean, I don’t want to knock Munenori, he’s a great guy and a cult favorite in Toronto, and if you are going to have to use a replacement level player, it might as well be a very entertaining one. But if he ends up getting 250 plate appearances again this year, it will be tough to contend.