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!

I wanted the Yankees to go 4-3 against the Rays and Rockies, but would have settled for 3-4, since as long as they keep playing near .500 baseball, the division is over. The Yankees went even better, going 5-2 and creating even more separation in the standings between them and the Rays and Red Sox.

This week’s questions and comments are focused on the division, Domingo German’s innings limit, the starting pitching market at the trade deadline and whether or not the Yankees will do whatever it takes to win a championship this season.

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.

A wise man once said, “It ain’t over til it’s over.” We need a quality starting pitcher before the well runs dry. – Bill

That wise man must not have been good at math. The division is over. It’s been over. I said it was over before the London games and then the Yankees swept the weekend. I said it was over before the four games against Tampa at the Stadium last week and then the Yankees took three out of four.

The Yankees are 64-34 and have 64 games left. If they go 32-32 and play .500 for the rest of the season, they will finish at 96-66. The Rays would have to go 39-21 and the Red Sox would have to go 42-20 to tie them. But the Yankees aren’t going to play .500 baseball for more than two months, not when they still have 23 games left against the Orioles, Blue Jays, Mariners and Tigers.

You can put the Yankees in the postseason as the AL East champions and you can do so with permanent marker. The rest of the season is about clinching home-field advantage.

We need Domingo German for the future. Please don’t burn him out. – Robert

Domingo German has been the team’s best starting pitcher all season. Masahiro Tanaka would still get the ball in Game 1 of the ALDS, but if the playoffs started today, it would be hard not to give German the ball for Game 2. Unfortunately, the playoffs don’t start today, and by the time they do start, German might not be pitching at all.

At some point, the Yankees are going to figure out a way to limit German’s innings. That might be by skipping his starts, pulling him after four or five innings, sending him to the bullpen or shutting him down completely. The Yankees believe they have to keep German’s innings total to some unspecified number, even though they have proven they have no idea how to handle young pitchers and prevent injuries. Aside from Andy Pettitte, the Yankees have been unsuccessful in developing a young pitcher who can avoid injury, so I wish they would stop thinking they are going to find the answer.

If the Yankees allow German to pitch uninterrupted for the remainder of the season and they win the World Series and he never pitches again, he did his job. His job is to pitch for the New York Yankees. The Yankees’ job is to win the World Series. The goal isn’t to grow careers. The goal is to win. Sadly, the Yankees’ effort to achieve this goal for the last decade hasn’t been what it once was.

Boone continually bats four or five right-handed bats in a row. Any power right-handed pitcher will destroy them in the playoffs. – Russ

Aaron Boone bats four and five right-handed bats in a row because that’s what the Yankees have: right-handed bats. The only left-handed bats are Didi Gregorius and the switch-hitting Aaron Hicks and neither of them belongs in the top half of the lineup. Though I’m sure Hicks’s big weekend against the crappy Rockies pitching will keep him near the top of the order for a while now to do exactly what Russ is pointing out in breaking up the order with a left-handed bat.

There is a good chance the Yankees are shut down by Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole in the playoffs because they are both power right-handers and the Yankees’ entire lineup is essentially right-handed. The Yankees are going to need some timely home runs if they want to win it all, but that holds true for every team in the postseason every year.

If the entire team was available right now, this is the batting order I would want for Game 1 of the ALDS, whether the starting pitcher is right-handed or left-handed:

DJ LeMahieu, 3B
Aaron Judge, RF
Luke Voit, 1B
Gary Sanchez, C
Giancarlo Stanton, LF
Edwin Encarnacion, DH
Gleyber Torres, 2B
Didi Gregorius, SS
Aaron Hicks, CF

That lineup will never ever happen, but it should.

The Yankees definitely need at least one starter, maybe two. – John

The Yankees can’t sit idle at the trade deadline and think Luis Severino is going to come back. It would be awesome if he did, but the season is too far along that if he sustains one more setback, his season is over. The Yankees have to plan as if he isn’t going to come back, and if he does, then they have themselves another front-end starter.

I have written and preached about the Yankees trading for Madison Bumgarner. To me, he’s the guy they should go after. They don’t need a controllable starter over the next few years, they need to win the World Series now, while they’re the best team in baseball. The division is over so they don’t need Bumgarner to help them win it, they need him to win Game 2 or 3 of the ALDS and then pitch well in the ALCS and World Series.

Bumgarner is the guy. The Yankees need to forget about 2020 and 2021 and worry about 2019, or they will still be trying to win their first World Series since 2009 in 2020 and 2021.

Will Brian Cashman’s track record of holding on to prospects cost the Yankees again in 2019? – Mark

It could and I’m scared it will. The Yankees haven’t gotten “the guy” over the last near decade because they have overvalued their own prospects and many of them became nothing. That hasn’t been the only problem though, as the Yankees have also avoided taking on salary or increasing payroll at the trade deadline. The combination of the two has led to them losing out on players and pitchers would might have put them over the top in the postseason.

The Yankees could win the World Series as currently constructed, but it’s hard to say they would be a true favorite. Right now, they are just part of the pack and another team in the field. They have an opportunity here to enhance their rotation, obtain home-field advantage throughout the entire postseason and put themselves in the best possible position to win a championship for the first time in going on 10 years. If they aren’t willing to do whatever it takes to win now, when will they?

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!

The Yankees keep on winning series, and I keep on being happy as a result of it. I wanted the Yankees to go at worst 3-3 against the Rays between the three games this past weekend and the three games this coming weekend, and to already be 2-1 with the home series still to be played is everything any Yankees fan could ask for. With four games against the Orioles and then the three against the Rays, all at home this, this week, by next week’s Monday Mail, the Yankees could and should be in first place in the AL East.

I got back from my weekend in Tampa and Tropicana Field late last night, so it’s an abbreviated Monday Mail this week.

This week’s questions and comment are about Gio Urshela being the starting third baseman, the resurgence of Tommy Kahnle and the back injury of Aaron Hicks.

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.

Gio Urshela needs to play third base. He’s the best fielder on the Yankees and knocking the crap out of the ball. – Chris

Miguel Andujar is making it easy for Aaron Boone to keep penciling in Gio Urshela as his starting third baseman. Andujar is now down to .088/.114/.203 in nine games and 35 plate appearances since returning from the injured list, and in only two of those games did he play third base, and not play it well.

Urshela, on the other hand, continues to both hit and play outstanding defense, batting .341/.396/.505 this season. He only went 3 for 12 over the weekend in Tampa, but he made those hits count, driving in two runs in Friday’s 4-3 win and broke up Sunday’s game with a two-run double.

As the Yankees get healthier, some very hard decisions are going to have to be made between both roster spots and lineup spots, and unless Andujar turns it around significantly at the plate, it will be impossible to start him at third over Urshela or make him the designated hitter with the other more proven bats on the roster. I believe in Andujar and believe he will turn it around and return to his 2018 self, but he better start doing do very soon.

Tommy Kahnle was drinking five Red Bulls a day. I’m assuming making him nervous or jittery and not making pitches. He looks right now. – AJ

I’m not sure how much Red Bull truly impacted Tommy Kahnle, but it’s definitely not a good look for the energy drink given how different he has pitched without it in his body.

Kahnle has now appeared in 18 games this season and has allowed earned runs in one of them (April 10 at Houston). In his last 14 games and 12 innings, he has given up three hits, while striking out 16 and walking two. The velocity and strikeout numbers might be down from his dominant 2017 year, but 2019 Tommy Kahnle is every bit as good, if not better than 2017 Tommy Kahnle.

Here is my updated Yankees Bullpen Level of Trust (1-10 scale), which was last updated on May 2.

Dellin Betances 9.1
Aroldis Chapman 8.4
Adam Ottavino 8.2
Tommy Kahnle 7.9
Zack Britton 7.1
Luis Cessa 3.1
Chad Green 3.0
Jonathan Holder 2.1

Hicks is good for 120 games a year, if that. He fleeced the Yankees in his contract extension, a contract not even an injury-prone cupcake like Hicks is worthy of. I’ll lay 20-to-1 odds he doesn’t play out this contract on the Yankees. – Mark

Tonight is supposed to be the return of Aaron Hicks to the lineup. I will actually believe he’s returning when I see him standing on the field, in uniform, during the game.

Hicks hurt his back on February 27 on a 35-minute bus ride from Tampa to Lakeland in spring training. That was 75 days ago. He was originally supposed to return for the first game of the second series of the season on Apri 1, which was now 43 days ago. This whole back injury situation has been ridiculous, but hopefully it’s finally over.

As for his contract, it’s essentially a steal for the Yankees to pay a center fielder $10 million per year for seven years. It’s not ideal that six of those years will be when he is 30 or older, which is very similar to the Jacoby Ellsbury deal, but Ellsbury was given $153 million, and Hicks will receive half of that. Given Hicks’ injury issues throughout his entire career and 20s, I have no idea how anyone can think he will somehow be less injury-prone on the other side of 30 and out of his prime, so I agree I don’t think he will finish out his contract as a Yankee. But at that rate, if the Yankees have to eat any or even all of it, it’s still a bargain.

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!