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Monday Mentions

Blogs • Monday Mentions

Dec 21, 2015

Monday Mentions: Giants’ Latest Last-Second Loss

Another week, another last-second Giants loss. It’s actually become funny at this point the way Louis CK talks about how being broke becomes funny at some point. Just when you think it can’t get any

Odell Beckham Jr. and Josh Norman

Another week, another last-second Giants loss. It’s actually become funny at this point the way Louis CK talks about how being broke becomes funny at some point. Just when you think it can’t get any worse it does. The Giants couln’t just lay down and continue to get blown out when already down 35-7 in the third quarter to the Panthers. They had to fight and claw their way back to a 35-35 tie game only to have their defense let yet another team march down the field in the final minute and win the game.

Here is another installment of “Monday Mentions” focused on a mix of questions and comments from Twitter about the Giants’ 38-35 loss to the Panthers, which all but eliminated the Giants from reaching the playoffs for the fourth straight season.

https://twitter.com/DanielFango/status/678655309884297216

This tweet came in long before the Giants overcame a 35-7 deficit to tie the game before suffering another excruciating last-second loss. But the Panthers’ 35-7 lead never happens if the Giants don’t give away chance after chance to put the game away and none bigger than Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie’s dropped interception that would have gone for a touchdown and given the Giants a 14-7 lead and would have completely changed the momentum of the game. Instead, DRC drops the easiest interception of his career and the Panthers follow by going down the field with ease and scoring a touchdown to go up 14-7 and create a 14-point swing the other way for the Giants.

The idea that that play or any missed opportunity didn’t matter once they were down 35-7 is as insane of an idea as the rules in the NFL that change in the final two minutes of a half as if the final two minutes of a half are any more important than the first two minutes of a game or any two minutes at any time of a game. Every play and every second of every game matters in the outcome of the game. The Giants proved that when they were able to overcome a 28-point deficit when it looked like they might lose by 50. The DRC dropped interception changed the entire game, comeback or no comeback.

Unfortunately, losing must-win games and losing in the last minutes or last minute or last second has becoming the usual for the Tom Coughlin Giants. If you look at the 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2014 seasons, it’s nearly the same story every season. It’s either a story about a second-half collapse or a story about what could have been. Outside of the 2013 season, which started with six straight losses before the Giants played for a chance to lead the division in November against the Cowboys, the Giants have been a team that has been in contention for a playoff spot in the final weeks of the season every year. The problem is they have “finished’ (Tom Coughlin’s favorite phrase) just once in the last seven regular seasons. The Giants have played five playoff games in the eight years since winning Super Bowl XLII and four of those came in the same year (2011).

https://twitter.com/Shane_Corey/status/678656503088209920

Rashad Jennings has had a very sub-par two seasons with the Giants. Last season he only played in 11 games and this season his early-season performance forced him into a four-man rotation (a four-man running back rotation is the equivalent of a baseball team using an eight- or nine-man rotation). But in the last two games as the main back, Jennings has rushed for 81 yards and 107 yards in back-to-back games, which can only make one wonder why he wasn’t the go-to option all season. In 14 games this season, he has had single-digit carries five times. I like the idea of Orleans Darkwa becoming the Giants’ out-of-nowhere star, but it’s unlikely to happen, so I need to know why Jennings wasn’t used more all season.

Tom Coughlin’s clock management this season has made me question whether he had an incredible amount of money spread across Vegas at every sportsbook on the Giants’ under for wins because some of his decisions make no sense. Whether it’s the season-opening losses to the Cowboys or Falcons or his decision to go for it against the Jets, he always seems to make a decision that doesn’t work out and then gives sports radio five days of content to beat on 24 hours a day. His decision to not use any of his timeouts while the Panthers marched down the field for a game-winning field goal was his latest blunder.

Did Coughlin think using his timeouts would help out the Panthers’ offense more than it would his own if the Panthers kicked a field goal. Did he think the Panthers might go three-and-out against his defense that hasn’t made a game-winning stop all season (outside of Miami if you can even count that) and that he would need his timeouts for his offense to go the other way? Or did he think he could exchange those timeouts at the end of regulation to force overtime? I’m open to ideas because I have no idea what he was thinking.

The back and forth between Odell Beckham Jr. and Josh Norman on Sunday was entertainment. The helmet-to-helmet hit from Beckham was dangerous and an unnecessary play, but everything else that happened on the field was fine with me. Beckham’s personal foul penalties offset with Norman’s and the one time they didn’t, the Giants were so backed up it didn’t make a difference. But the idea that Beckham is going to get suspended while Norman gets a joke of a fine and a slap on the wrist is absolutely ridiculous. If one gets suspended, they both should get suspended for the sum of their actions.

The best part about the whole situation has been people saying that their play was disgusting and has no place on the football field. This is football we’re talking about. The most violent and dangerous sport. Some pushing and shoving and taking swings at helmets and facemasks are the least of the NFL’s worries. People who are horrified that two FOOTBALL players could possibly act the way Beckham and Norman did probably shouldn’t be watching football because outside of Beckham’s unnecessary run at Norman, nothing either of them did was a real issue.

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Blogs • Monday Mentions

Nov 2, 2015

Monday Mentions: Thank You, Royals

I would like to take this time to thank the Kansas City Royals for saving myself and other Yankees fans and all non-Mets fans really from living in a world where the Mets are the

Kansas City Royals

I would like to take this time to thank the Kansas City Royals for saving myself and other Yankees fans and all non-Mets fans really from living in a world where the Mets are the champions of baseball. It wasn’t easy, but the Royals only let the Mets hang around for five games in the World Series and capped off ending the Mets’ season by winning against Matt Harvey and Jeurys Familia at Citi Field and in front of Mets fans.

Here is another installment of “Monday Mentions” focused on a mix of questions and comments from Twitter about the Mets playing in the World Series, the Yankees and the Giants.

After the Mets making the World Series, this was the most disgusting part of the entire World Series. It was worse than David Wright possibly becoming a champion or Matt Harvey becoming a postseason hero or Daniel Murphy becoming a postseason legend or Mets fans enjoying happiness.

Johnson was one of the worst Yankees of all time. I mean it’s not fault that Brian Cashman went into the 2014 season with Johnson as his everyday third baseman, but Johnson was so bad the Yankees eventually traded him in a garbage-for-garbage deal to the Red Sox for … Stephen Drew! Not only did Johnson hit .219/.304/.373 in 77 games with the Yankees, but he is the reason Drew became a Yankee. And after playing himself off the Yankees and then off the Red Sox, he was traded to the Orioles and ended up playing in the ALDS and ALCS with the Orioles with the Yankees and Red Sox not reaching the playoffs. Then this year Johnson gets to play in the World Series? Come on, Baseball Gods.

https://twitter.com/SluggerBro/status/659161450993291264

Harold Reynolds is incredibly bad in the booth. For all the people who complained about Tim McCarver over the years, and rightfully so at times, in three innings Reynolds could outdo a full season of Saturday and postseason games of McCarver. Some of his lines were so remarkable that I still can’t believe he said them and can’t believe FOX executives could listen to him and continue to run him out there and have him botch the World Series on national TV.

Reynolds was so bad that he overshadowed Tom Verducci’s corny jokes and constant reminders of storylines and anecdotes every single person, even casual fans, already knew. The majority of people don’t like Joe Buck, but would it be so bad to have Buck call games by himself? He doesn’t feel the need to always talk, lets the game breathe and rarely makes a mistake. Letting Buck get the Vin Scully treatment wouldn’t be the worst thing.

For a while I was starting to wonder why the teams I hate won’t lose. The 2014 Patriots won the Super Bowl. The 2013 Red Sox won the World Series. The 2007 Red Sox won the World Series. The 2004 Red Sox won the World Series. Why can’t any non-New York teams stop these teams from winning championships? The Mets beat Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke and Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta and had the lead in every World Series and needed to blow three of their four losses in the eighth inning or later. I’m glad I can always count on the Mets to keep things in check.

https://twitter.com/RobDEVS/status/661212101122355202

Same here. For the first time since leaving Yankee Stadium following the wild-card game loss, I’m ready to talk about the Yankees. The depression and devastation of the season ending in such miserable fashion has passed and now it’s time to begin the real offseason and get fully into the hot stove and all of the rumors and nonsense that comes with it along with the beat guys enjoying this part of the baseball calendar more than the actual season.

There’s only three-plus months now until the Yankees head to Tampa for spring training to being the 2016 season and there’s no doubt in my mind that there will be at least one significant trade in the coming weeks to shake up a stale roster.

https://twitter.com/Fgerlando/status/660154686037708801

It’s beginning to look like it. It’s insane that Victor Cruz initially injured his calf on Aug. 17 and now it’s Nov. 2, which means Cruz has had an injured calf for 77 days. That’s 11 weeks for a calf “strain.” Jason Pierre-Paul had his index finger amputated and damaged other parts of his hand on July 4 and will be playing in possibly a little over a week.

I’m not saying Cruz isn’t really hurt, and maybe his knee is actually the issue and they’re telling us it’s his calf, but this is bordering on absurd. I don’t want to hear about Cruz catching balls on the sidelines at practice or the release of any of his latest acting or documentary endeavors until he plays in a game.

That was the meanest thing anyone has ever said to me.

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Blogs • Monday Mentions

Oct 26, 2015

Monday Mentions: The Deal with Daniel Murphy

The Mets are headed to the World Series. There’s a sentence I hoped I would never have to write, or at least not write without saying they would be headed to the World Series to play the Yankees.

Daniel Murphy

The Mets are headed to the World Series. There’s a sentence I hoped I would never have to write, or at least not write without saying they would be headed to the World Series to play the Yankees. But after beating up on the worst division in baseball, getting past the best 1-2 starting pitching punch in the games and the 97-win Cubs, the Mets are four wins away from a championship and it’s up to the Royals to stop them.

Here is another installment of “Monday Mentions” focused on a mix of questions and comments from Twitter about the Giants, the Yankees and the Mets being in the World Series.

Yes, yes he does. It’s actually remarkable how often Eli takes an intentional grounding penalty. If it’s not once a game then it’s at least every other game. I watch a lot of football and at least part of every game every week. (Yes, I know that’s disgusting, but at least I know I’m not alone.) And in all of these other games, I rarely ever see an intentional grounding penalty, so I wonder what non-Giants fans think when they watch Eli take one seemingly every game.

But that’s not the only thing the Giants do that other teams don’t. No one takes delay of game penalties like the Giants and no one gets to the line slower following a close play that will likely be challenged by the opposing team like the Giants. All of these things are what make the Giants the Giants and what makes them the most frustrating and best good/bad team in professional sports. It’s who they are and they’re never going to change.

In Slap Shot, the following exchange takes place between Tim McCracken and Ned Braden after Reggie Dunlop puts a bounty on McCracken’s head.

Tim McCracken: Hundred bucks says you’re gonna crack my skull.

Ned Braden: I wouldn’t crack your knuckle for a hundred bucks.

Tim McCracken: So, he’s bluffing.

Ned Braden: Someboy’s gonna kill you, ya dumb son of a bitch, but it’s not gonna be me.

That last Braden line is how I feel about Daniel Murphy and hope it’s true when it comes to Brian Cashman and the Yankees. “Someone is going to overpay for Murphy, but it’s not going be the Yankees you dumb son of a bitch.”

Daniel Murphy is nowhere near the player he was offensively, defensively and on the bases in the NLDS and NLCS. It’s almost as if he were suddenly using Alex Mack-like powers to become Babe Ruth in the playoffs. It’s going to be bad when Murphy gets $85 million to hit 10-14 home runs and play bad defense and prove himself to be nothing more than a light-hitting designated hitter.

I will never get over this. Like, the Yankees not completing the trade for Cliff Lee in July 2010 or going incredibly over the top to sign him in December 2010 or Joe Torre letting Jeff Weaver lose Game 4 of the 2003 World Series with Mariano Rivera in the bullpen or the Rangers blowing two-goal leads in Games 1 and 2 and losing all three overtime games in the 2013-14 Stanley Cup Final, I will never get over Pete Carroll’s decision to throw the ball on the goal line of the Super Bowl. Thank you for ruining my day by bringing this up.

https://twitter.com/JSC2100/status/657204247755366400

Brian Cashman has his work cut out for him this offseason. The roster is pretty much locked right now outside of maybe one or two bullpen decisions and one bench player spot. The Yankees weren’t good enough to get to the ALDS this season, so the same roster one year older in 2016 certainly isn’t going to get them there unless the pitching stays completely healthy, which isn’t likely given the injury histories of the rotation.

The Mets built their current team through the draft and trades and it took them nine years to get back to the playoffs. I don’t think they’re a team of destiny. They got a Dodgers team with no offense and no bullpen in the NLDS and an inexperienced and young Cubs team in the NLCS and without Daniel Murphy turning into a player he has never been in his career for both series, the Mets might not have played more than four playoff games. They won’t beat the Royals.

https://twitter.com/boredstupid12/status/658444224564719617

I was very, very, very obnoxious to the Red Sox fans I know. My friend Brendan is a huge Red Sox fan and so is his whole family. We spent a lot of our childhood mimicking the Yankees and Red Sox hitters and pitchers of the 90s while playing Wiffle ball and watched nearly every big Yankees-Red Sox game together, including the 1999 ALCS, while playing series in MLB 99 on Playstation along with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. I can remember watching Pedro Martinez shut down the Yankees while Roger Clemens got embarrassed in Game 3 of the series, but it was the Yankees and I who got the last laugh with a 4-1 series win. It was Brendan, who I called minutes after Aaron Boone’s 2003 ALCS Game 7 home run only to have him hang up on me. And it was Brendan, who took the bus down from the University of Vermont to watch the 2004 ALCS in my dorm in Boston. For as obnoxious as I was following the 1999 and 2003 ALCS, he matched it after the 2004 ALCS.

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Blogs • Monday Mentions • Yankees

Sep 28, 2015

Monday Mentions: Bad Pitching, Hitting, Managing and Contracts

The good news is that the Yankees are going to the playoffs for the first time in three years. The bad news is they’re going to be in the one-game playoff.

Joe Girardi

The Yankees are going to be hosting the one-game playoff next Tuesday thanks to what happened last week in Toronto. The good news is that they’re going to the playoffs for the first time in three years. The bad news is they’re in the one-game playoff. The worse news is if they win the one-game playoff, they’re likely going to have to go to Toronto and not Kansas City for the first two games of the ALDS.

Here is another installment of “Monday Mentions” focused on questions and comments from Twitter about what happened over the last week to the Yankees.

I’m a Chasen Shreve fan, so it’s hard for me to talk badly about him, considering he was good for and only recently fell apart. I’m not sure if it’s fatigue or that the league has adjusted to him or a combination of the two, but something is certainly off with him. Look at these two pitching lines from him:

First 50 appearances: 53.1 IP, 33 H, 12 R, 11 ER, 27 BB, 60 K, 6 HR, 1.86 ERA, 1.125 WHIP.

Last seven appearances: 4.1 IP, 11 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 5 BB, 4 K, 3 HR, 12.46 ERA, 3.695 WHIP.

The guy was lights out for nearly the entire season and helped save the bullpen and essentially the summer when Andrew Miller was on the disabled list. Outside of Shreve and Dellin Betances, and I guess Justin Wilson, there was no one and I mean no one else who could get an out in the bullpen. That’s when Esmil Rogers and David Carpenter were still being asked to pitch regularly. Here’s to hoping Shreve bounces back quickly and these last seven appearances goes down as nothing more than a bad stretch at a bad time.

https://twitter.com/Thereal_ktex/status/646513736316923905

After playing in the one-game playoff, the next scariest part of the postseason is that Joe Girardi will sit down and try to decide which pitchers not named Masahiro Tanaka, Luis Severino, Michael Pineda, CC Sabathia, Andrew Miller, Dellin Betances and Justin Wilson he is going to carry in the playoffs. After those seven, there really isn’t anyone worthy of a spot, but five or six more pitchers are going to make it.

If the Yankees win the one-game playoff and reach the ALDS and trail in any of those games are in any of the games in the postseason at all, Girardi needs to realize the game is not lost. You would think this would be obvious, but in the 2011 ALDS, he brought in Luis Ayala twice before bringing in David Robertson once, in games the Yankees started to mount comebacks in. In the 2009 World Series, he brought in Brian Bruney and Phil Coke into the ninth inning of Game 1 and they gave up two runs to increase their deficit from 4-0 to 6-0. In the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees had two on with no outs to start the inning. They only scored one run, but they were one swing away from being back in the game. Don’t bring B and C and D relievers into a playoff game. The division was already lost partly because of this.

https://twitter.com/MattyinMaine/status/646467891886452736

I never wanted Jacoby Ellsbury. I wrote about it the second Robinson Cano signed with the Mariners and the Yankees turned around and threw their Cano money at Ellsbury. It was the exact type of signing the Yankees preached about avoiding in the future because they were going through the effects from the contracts given to Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia and what they had previously endured with Jason Giambi. But that doesn’t mean I want to call Jacoby Ellsbury “The Thief”. I would much rather call him something that resembles him earning his $130,511.46 per game.

Outside of one great season in Boston, Ellsbury has been Brett Gardner. You could even say Gardner has been better than him. So why did the team give Gardner $13 million a season and give Ellsbury $21.1 million per season? They essentially bid against themselves since the Red Sox supposedly didn’t even make an offer to Ellsbury and none of the other big spenders were about to give that kind of money to a player whose entire game is based on speed and who is on the other side of 30.

It’s not out of the question that Ellsbury was given the worst contract in Yankees history. Everyone will always point to Carl Pavano, but he made his entire deal in less than two years of Ellsbury’s, and Ellsbury’s is a seven-year deal. If he’s this bad and this unproductive and this injury prone as a 32-year-old center fielder, what exactly is he going to be when he’s 36 and 37?

Hey, if me calling Ellsbury “The Thief” and Chase Headley “The Bum” could in any way turn around their seasons with a week to go and the one-game playoff waiting next Tuesday, I will gladly create a negative name for every player on the team. Though it will be hard to think of one for Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller.

I gave Chase Headley the nickname “The Bum” recently because he perfectly fits the description of a “bum.” Well, so does Jacoby Ellsbury, but he’s already “The Thief,” so I have to spread the names around.

I remember the rumors that Headley’s agent started that he had an offer for five years and $65 million on the table. I know this was a rumor and never actually a real offer because his agent wouldn’t have had time to leak this number to the media because Headley would have been signing it as fast as humanly possible. Headley received four years and $52 million from the Yankees because they were desperate for a third baseman and there was nowhere else to turn on the free-agent market. If the team willing to spend the most money needed to fill a position and they gave you one year and $13 million less than you reportedly were offered, well, it never happened.

Headley has been horrible. He hasn’t hit for average, he hasn’t fit for power, he has played some of the worst defense in the league, he has no speed and his throws are wild. Is there an opposite of a five-tool player because that’s what Headley is.

https://twitter.com/Shane_Corey/status/646854052203102208

Joe Girardi definitely had a hand in the Yankees losing the division over the last week-plus when he turned to Triple-A relievers and made questionable decisions in the biggest games of the season. But for as bad as Girardi has been recently and for as much as I have crushed him, there are two real reasons why the Yankees lost the division:

Chris Capuano
The Yankees gave Capuano $5 million to return this season after he pitched to a 4.25 ERA in 65 2/3 innings last year for them (after he was released by the last-place Red Sox on July 1). You know who else got a one-year, $5 million deal? Stephen Drew. (We’ll get to him.) I guess a one-year, $5 million deal is the going rate for pitchers and players that aren’t good and that no one else wants. I’m pretty sure neither of those players was going to get that much money from any other team in baseball.

But it’s not about the money with Capuano. It’s about the fact that he was given three starts in May and lost all of them. And then he was brought into an extra-inning game against the Nationals on June 10 and lost that. And then in his next and what was his last start (to this point), he gave up five earned runs and got only two outs in the first inning in Texas, but luckily, the offense backed him with a 21-run game.

Second Base
All season we had to watch Stephen Drew and Brendan Ryan struggle to get base hits and at times struggle to field despite supposedly playing because of their defense. Everyone in the world had a theory as to why the two were being given unlimited chances to succeed while Rob Refsnyder kept on playing in Triple-A. Eventually, I gave up and just figured there was no chance Refsnyder would be given another chance, even after September call-ups, and had to settle for the idea he would have to win the job in spring training next year (though he should have won the job in spring training this year). Then, with a postseason berth on the line, Refsnyder started a game, and another one and another one and kept on starting. Between Refsnyder against left-handed pitchers (and sometimes against right-handed pitchers) and Dustin Ackley against right-handed pitchers, the Yankees suddenly had an unacceptable Major League platoon and weren’t giving up an out every time that spot came up in the order.

Now Ackley hadn’t been on the team all season and once he was traded to the Yankees at the deadline he instantly went on the disabled list after about 15 minutes. But Refsnyder has been with the organization and wasn’t allowed to play nearly the whole season until the stretch run with the team trying to clinch a playoff spot? How does that make any sense? If the Yankees really wanted him to wait until next season, they would be giving him at-bats here and there over these final weeks to continue to get his feet wet in the majors. But to make him the starting second baseman as part of a platoon with Ackley, while Drew and Ryan continue to sit goes against everything we have been led to believe by the Yankees this season.

Now that #GiveRobTheJob has worked and Capuano no longer hurts the team as a member of the rotation and barely a member of the bullpen, the Yankees are a better team. But they could have been this team all season and because they weren’t, they have to play in the one-game playoff.

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Blogs • Monday Mentions

Sep 7, 2015

Monday Mentions: Mark Teixeira vs. Jacoby Ellsbury

Who is tougher between Mark Teixeira and Jacoby Ellsbury? That questions leads off another week of Yankees-related questions for the stretch run.

Mark Teixeira and Jacoby Ellsbury

Unfortunately, the seven games left against the Blue Jays are going to decide the division. For as well as the Yankees have played for the last two weeks, they haven’t been able to overtake the Blue Jays in the AL East. And since it seems like no team is really going to give the Yankees enough help to get past the Blue Jays and create separation to avoid the one-game playoff and avoid me having to experience a one-game playoff, well, the Yankees are going to have to do it themselves.

Here is another installment of “Monday Mentions” focused on questions and comments from Twitter about the Yankees in the final month of the season.

This is the hardest question I have ever been asked and there probably isn’t a right answer to it, but surprisingly, I’m going with Mark Teixeira.

For the most part, Teixeira has suffered some injuries over the last few years that have been real. He really had wrist surgery in 2013, he really hurt his hamstring at the beginning of 2014 the way he tore it in the 2010 ALCS and he really fouled a ball off his leg a few weeks ago that his left him with a bone bruise. If these had been the only injuries that had kept Teixeira off the field, I wouldn’t even have a problem with anything other than him not trying at all to hit the ball to all fields since 2011. But when you include the time he missed for rib cage, knee, lat, tired legs from being on the bases(!), light-headedness, pinky and neck injuries, which were all since the beginning of 2014, well, it’s ridiculous. Even after compiling this list, I’m somehow calling him tougher than Jacoby Ellsbury.

Ellsbury has yet (knock on wood) a significant injury with the Yankees. Last year, he played in 149 games, missing 13 for a few Girardis (these are unnecessary days for healthy players) and some minor things, but playing 92 percent of the season when you’re known as an injury-prone player is impressive. This year, however, Ellsbury has been the softest player in the league. He missed nearly two months with a mysterious leg injury and when trying to come back he kept getting fatigued from running, which postponed his return. He has missed games for getting the wind knocked out of him(!), running into the wall on a catch in which he claims he wasn’t hurt and most recently for a sore hip after an innocent sliding catch.

My choosing Ellsbury is also about him hitting .271/.335/.371 with seven home runs, 30 RBIs and 17 stolen bases this season and playing in just 64 percent of the team’s games this season. Ellsbury already isn’t good and this is his age 31 season. The next five years should be awesome.

How could I have forgotten this one?! Ellsbury left Friday’s game because he was sick and then Girardi gave him Saturday off only to use him from the seventh inning on. Five more years!

My favorite part about CC Sabathia being on the disabled list is the way YES has covered his rehab like it’s 2009. The videos they have shown of his bullpen and simulated game work as if anyone is anxiously waiting for his return to the rotation has been remarkable.

Sabathia has made 24 starts this season. He has won four of them. Four. FOUR. F-O-U-R. He is 4-9 with a 5.27 ERA, which is .01 points worse than his career-worst 5.28 ERA in eight starts last season. He hasn’t just been bad, he has been horrible and if his name were anything other than CC Sabathia or if his contract didn’t still have $25 million on it for 2016 with a $25 million vesting option for 2017, well, Sabathia would not only not be in the rotation, he wouldn’t be on the team.

The problem with Sabathia is that you can’t just take him out of the rotation and then hide him in the bullpen because he has never been a reliever and has one relief appearance in his career, which came in Game 5 of the 2011 ALDS. He pitched two innings out of the bullpen in that game, and gave up the run that would turn out to be the game-winning run.

When Sabathia comes back on Wednesday, it’s not going to help the team. It’s hard to imagine that a couple of weeks on the disabled list made him turn some corner and that he will return finally realizing how to pitch with diminished velocity. I guess the only good thing to come out of this is that he will miss facing the Blue Jays in the four-game series at the Stadium that starts on Thursday.

https://twitter.com/StephenDrewsAvg/status/639860626584694784

Every time Stephen Drew is about to get benched or possibly even designated for assignment, his bat comes alive. Every single time. And with September call-ups waiting, surely enough, his bat came alive on Aug. 30.

In four straight days, Drew went 9-for-12, with two doubles, two home runs and nine RBIs. He raised his average from .192 to .211. This led everyone to say he finally turned it around, that Rob Refsnyder and Jose Pirela weren’t needed and that Drew was getting hot at the right time. No one said he was beating up on pitching of two last-place teams in the Braves and Red Sox. Instead of thinking that might be the reason for Drew’s four-day success, I saw countless headlines and stories suggesting the Yankees should already bring him back for 2016. So yes, Mugatu, I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.

Since the series finale at Fenway, Drew has returned to being himself, going hitless on the current homestand with his average dropping back down to .203 and headed home to south of the Mendoza Line again.

I understand that Refsnyder and Pirela are unknowns and defensive liabilities, but at worst they would be Drew with the bat and considering he’s as low as it gets offensively, they could be better. Just because the Yankees have managed to stay within a game of the loss column against the Blue Jays for five months with essentially a pitcher hitting in their lineup every night isn’t a good thing. I’m willing to trade some defense for offense in a lineup that seems to score only one run every three games and could use anything that remotely resembles consistency at second base.

We are six days away from Giants season, so I have started to think about football, and how I was forced to turn to it the last two seasons in early September because even though the Yankees were in the playoff race mathematically, they weren’t really in it. This season, the Yankees are going to the playoffs, so I won’t have to count down the minutes until the next Giants game while the Yankees play somewhat meaningless baseball.

The scary thing about the 2015 Giants is that once again no one expects them to be good. In 2013, even after they went 9-7 in 2012 and blew the chance to win the NFC East, the expectations turned out to be right with a 7-9 season. In 2014, it was the same way with a 6-10 season. If the Giants are going to continue to rack up the injuries and be a bad, non-playoff team for the third straight year then the Yankees have to make it to the ALDS. If they’re going to the one-game playoff, they better win it because I don’t want the Giants and Rangers to be the only things to watch in October.

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