Yankees – Page 133 – Keefe To The City

Aug 26, 2019

Yankees-Dodgers Weekend Was First True Test of My Marriage

My wife and I traveled to her native Los Angeles for the first West Coast Yankees-Dodgers meeting in six years. Because of the occasion and World Series potential, it made sense to recap it all in an email exchange.

Six years ago, I did a Yankees-Dodgers email exchange with my then-girlfriend Brittni Michaelis. The teams played a pair of two-games series in the Bronx and Los Angeles and we attended the entire four-game season series. The last time the two teams met in Los Angeles, the Yankees’ lineup included Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano and Alfonso Soriano as well as Vernon Wells, Brent Lillibridge, Jayson Nix and Chris Stewart.

A lot has changed since my first trip to Dodger Stadium in August 2013, including my then-girlfriend Brittni Michaelis becoming my now-wife and Brittni Keefe this June in New York City. But one thing hasn’t changed: neither team has won a championship.

For the third straight season, there’s a very real possibility the Yankees and Dodgers could meet in the World Series. The Yankees failed to hold up their end of the bargain the last two seasons, while the Dodgers ended up losing both World Series. This past weekend in Los Angeles, we got somewhat of a preview of what a World Series between the two teams would look like.

Brittni and I traveled back to her native Los Angeles for the first West Coast meeting between the teams since our last email exchange. Because of the momentous occasion and their possible postseason reunion, it only made sense to recap the Yankees’ series win in another email exchange.

Neil: Who knew all it would take for Aaron Judge to come out of his slump was a weekend against the team with the best record in baseball, and a couple of games against the National League All-Star Game starting pitcher and the best pitcher of his generation and possibly the best pitcher of all time? I would like to thank the Dodgers for turning Judge back into Judge for the final 30 games of the season leading into the postseason.

And who knew all it would take for James Paxton to realize his potential and find himself for the first time in more than four months would be a game against the NL’s top run-scoring offense and the best home team in the majors? I would also like to thank the Dodgers for potentially turning Paxton’s season around and giving the Yankees a comfort and confidence boost for their postseason rotation.

Despite winning two out of three (and what might have been a sweep if not for the most egregious umpiring decision of the season), the Yankees getting their 2-hitter back on track for the final the month of the season and getting a dominant performance from their potential Game 1, 2 or 3 postseason starter was just as important as trimming the Dodgers’ home-field advantage lead to one game. Thank you, Dodgers. After taking on all the Red Sox’ bad contracts seven years ago and then putting together an embarrassing performance against the Red Sox in the World Series last year, you have finally done something to help the Yankees.

It was a near-perfect weekend in Los Angeles. The only things that prevented it from being perfect were the Players Weekend uniforms and the ninth-inning umpiring on Saturday.

Brittni: I only wish the Dodgers could have played the Yankees when they didn’t have a 20-game division lead and didn’t have a significant lead for the best record in the National League. Maybe then Dave Roberts would have managed to win and the series could have had a different outcome. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough In-N-Out or Micheladas to cure my baseball hangover from the weekend.

Hyun-jin Ryu’s performance on Friday was the real Ryu that Dodgers fans have come to know. The second you expect greatness from him, he lets you down. Fatigue is being cited as the reason for his performance on Friday night, but what do you expect? It’s late August and he’s pitched more innings this season than he has in any season in five years.

As for Kershaw, I can’t say enough about him and won’t say anything bad about him. He is the Dodgers. He pitched well and more than good enough to win on Sunday (7 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 12 K, 3 HR), but he got beat by three solo home runs because his offense didn’t show up, which pretty much summarizes his entire career. Everyone expects a complete-game shutout from him when he starts because he’s set the bar so high over the last decade, and when he doesn’t, he gets unfairly criticized. Kershaw has had to be near-perfect to win for most of his Dodgers career and Sunday was another example of that.

Neil: I have been fearful of the Yankees and Dodgers meeting in the World Series this season and the Dodgers ending their 30-year championship drought and you getting the first Dodgers championship of your lifetime at my expense. Not only that, but after losing to the Astros and Red Sox in back-to-back World Series, it’s supposed to be the Yankees’ turn of the AL powerhouses to win a championship against the Dodgers, so it would be more than painful if they lose to the Dodgers. I have been fearful of that possible outcome because of the Dodgers’ dominant starting pitching, but after this weekend, I’m no longer fearful. Starting pitching is all the Dodgers have going for them and with the now right-handed heavy Yankees lineup, left-handed starting pitching no longer matches up well against them in the postseason.

When it comes to the Dodgers’ offense, I laugh at those who think it’s top-notch because of the numbers they see on paper and the stats they have padded against the crappy NL West where the second-best team is the .500 Giants. As someone who stays up late each night watching the Dodgers with you, and someone who has lost many, many times on inflated Dodgers money lines, I know the real Dodgers offense and it sucks.

As for the Dodgers’ bullpen, unless Kenley Jansen finds his cutter, who is getting important outs for them in October? Joe Kelly?! Pedro Baez?! Yimi Garcia?!

How could you or any Dodgers fan feel good about this roster?

Brittni: It was three games and the smallest of sample sizes. You aren’t scared of the best starting pitching in baseball? You’re taking crazy pills. You should be petrified. The Yankees’ bats will be silenced this October like they were last October and in Games 6 and 7 the previous October when they were one win away from playing the Dodgers in the World Series.

I’m not the biggest fan of this roster, but I don’t have a choice. The front office refused to make any moves at the deadline, so this is what I’m stuck with. I’m not sure this roster has what it takes to finally win the World Series, though if they get a couple of breaks in the postseason, like the one in the ninth inning on Saturday, they could.

The Dodgers are going to be able to coast through September, rest their everyday players and allow their pitchers to get their work in as needed. You might not be scared of the Dodgers’ starting pitching in a potential World Series matchup, but you should be scared of the Yankees’ starting pitching for the entire postseason. Even with Paxton and Domingo German shutting down the Dodgers and giving you comfort and confidence, do you really trust them? Or Masahiro Tanaka or CC Sabathia or J.A. Happ? If Luis Severino doesn’t come back and come back as his usual self, you better stock up on your lifetime “Ladies and gentleman” immunity passes for Twitter. You’re going to need them.

Neil: I don’t feel good about the rotation, but I don’t need them to pitch seven-plus innings in the postseason like you need Kershaw, Ryu and Walker Buehler to. I just need them to get through four innings and get 12 outs with either a lead or a close game. Then it’s 15 outs from Chad Green, Tommy Kahnle, Adam Ottavino, Zack Britton, Aroldis Chapman, and hopefully the best reliever in baseball: Dellin Betances.

Unfortunately, the Dodgers are probably going to have the best record in baseball this season and have home-field advantage for a potential World Series meeting. Aside from five games against the Rays and Mets, the Dodgers don’t have another game against a team with a winning record this season. Ladies and gentlemen, the NL West! So if the Yankees and Dodgers do meet again, it will be on Tuesday, Oct. 22 in Los Angeles for Game 1 of the World Series.

Don’t worry, if the Yankees end up winning the World Series, whether it’s against the Dodgers or another team, I will still let you have some champagne since I will need someone to celebrate with, and you can still attend the parade with me, since I will need someone to take pictures.

I would say I would do the same for you if the Dodgers win the World Series, but we’re talking about a team whose manager batted a career .242 hitter third in the World Series, didn’t start Cody Bellinger or Max Muncy in postseason games because of left-handed starters and kept using the same middle reliever in high-leverage situations in the World Series even though he allowed every inherited runner to score in the series. As long as Roberts is the manager of the Dodgers, I don’t think I have to worry about them ending their World Series drought.

If there’s no World Series meeting between the Yankees and Dodgers, we’ll have to do this in 2022 when the teams meet again. Maybe by then Andrew Friedman will have built a bullpen for you and Brian Cashman will have built a rotation for me.

Brittni: Roberts might be the only thing we have ever agreed on regarding the Dodgers. As long as he’s in charge, my path and the Dodgers’ path to a championship is impeded.

Roberts is a very zen, Cali-forn-i-a-style manager. He isn’t scary, he never gets upset and it’s very “Yeah, bro … life is good … I live in sunny SoCal where it’s always 70 degrees” with him. I need heat, I need passion, I need a manager who is fearful. I need this because in the last two years I’ve watched the Dodgers lose back-to-back World Series and it a lot of it had to with Roberts’ in-game decisions and his nonchalant demeanor after the losses.

We may be getting ahead of ourselves when it comes to a Dodgers-Yankees World Series meeting. I know you don’t believe in jinxes, but they do exist. A Dodgers-Yankees World Series didn’t work out the last two years and the Astros and Braves could easily prevent it from happening again. It would be great to finally get this matchup and it would be even greater to have it go seven games, it’s just that a lot of things need to happen to get there.

I’d like to think we are older and wiser now since our last email exchange six years ago, but we placed a bet in which the loser of the weekend series has to eat two Dodger dogs from the ampm store. It makes me wonder what our bet will be if our teams do end up playing each other in the World Series.

But the more and more I think about it, I’m not sure I want a World Series against you, let alone one that goes seven games. If the Dodgers were to lose, you would hang that over my head for our entire marriage. I thought the rides home from Dodger Stadium on Friday and Sunday nights were bad enough, I don’t know how I would handle a Yankees championship at the expense of the Dodgers and a championship for you at the expense of me.

***

My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is available!

Blogs • Yankees

Aug 22, 2019

2019 J.A. Happ Has Been Every Bit as Bad as 2018 Sonny Gray

Last season, Sonny Gray was every bit as bad as J.A. Happ has been this season. So why is it that Happ continues to start games, while Gray was removed from the rotation and eventually traded?

Between his disastrous starts, inability to adjust and unwillingness to take responsibility or be accountable for his own pitching, Sonny Gray wasn’t going to work out in New York.

When you combine Gray’s time with the Yankees for the last two months of 2017 and first four months of 2018, he was only given the equivalent of one full season for the Yankees to determine he wasn’t a fit for New York. After he was removed from the rotation, Brian Cashman openly admitted he was looking to move Gray right up until the day he was finally traded. Cashman said, “I don’t feel like we can go through the same exercise and expect different results” in regards to holding on to Gray for 2019 and beyond, so eventually, he dealt him to the Reds.

There’s a reason why the Yankees gave up three of their better prospects at the time for Gray and there’s a reason why the team let him start Game 1 of the 2017 ALDS and Game 4 of the 2017 ALCS. There’s a reason so many teams were connected to him this past offseason and why the Reds ultimately decided to trade for him and give him a $30.5 million extension upon acquiring him, completely disregarding his awful 2018 season. And there’s a reason why David Ortiz said the following about Gray back in 2015:

“The last few seasons, the toughest guy I’ve faced is Sonny Gray from Oakland. This kid’s stuff is legit … the first time I see this Gray kid on the mound, I can’t help but notice he’s 5’10” and skinny. He looks like the guy who fixes my computer at the Apple Store. I’m thinking, Here we go. This is gonna be fun. Then he took me for a ride, man. Fastball. Sinker. Slider. Curve … Whap. Whap. Whap. You have no idea what this kid is going to throw. He drives me crazy.”

The reason for all these things is because Gray has the ability, talent, stuff and repertoire to be a perennial Cy Young candidate. The pitcher Ortiz was talking about is the one who pitched to a 2.88 ERA over 491 innings in his first three seasons in the league and who shut out the Tigers over eight innings in Game 2 of the 2013 ALDS. That’s the pitcher the Yankees thought they were getting. That’s the pitcher I thought the Yankees were getting.

Last August, the Yankees pulled the plug on Gray as a starter after his embarrassing start against the eventual 47-win Orioles sent the Yankees into a downward spiral heading into their eventual four-game sweep at the hands of the Red Sox in Boston. When the Yankees finally had enough, Gray had pitched to the following line through 21 starts: 103.2 IP, 112 H, 65 R, 64 ER, 46 BB, 99 K, 13 HR, 5.64 ERA, 1.524 WHIP.

In his first season with the Reds, Gray has returned to the pitcher he was with the A’s, the pitcher the Yankees thought they were trading for. An All-Star for the first time in four years, Gray has a 2.92 ERA in 25 starts, a career-low hits-per-nine innings (6.6) and a career-high strikeouts-per-nine innings (10.6). Outside of New York, Gray has been the young, durable and controllable front-end starter Cashman has failed so many times to trade for in over decades, but while in New York, Gray was every bit as bad as J.A. Happ has been this season.

Once again, on Wednesday night, Happ put the Yankees in an early hole they were unable to climb out of, and for the 19th time in 25 starts, he failed to go six innings, something he has done once since June 6. Happ lasted only four innings in Oakland, giving up another pair of home runs, and making it now nearly a month since he provided the Yankees with one of his six quality starts.

Only a few times has Happ looked like the pitcher who went 9-0 in 11 starts for the Yankees after the deadline last season as he’s mostly looked like a soon-to-be, 37-year-old with a low-90s fastball whose only chance at success is with pinpoint control. In a season in which 20 percent of his starts have come against the Orioles, you would think his overall numbers would be somewhat respectable, but he has a 6.85 ERA against the team on pace to win 52 games. Here’s Happ’s season line after Wednesday’s loss:

129 IP, 141 H, 79 R, 79 ER, 37 BB, 105 K, 31 HR, 5.51 ERA, 1.380 WHIP.

Look familiar? Again, here’s Sonny Gray’s line when the Yankees pulled him from the rotation:

103.2 IP, 112 H, 65 R, 64 ER, 46 BB, 99 K, 13 HR, 5.64 ERA, 1.524 WHIP.

Happ has a better walk rate and a slightly better ERA, but his strikeouts-per-nine innings are lower and his home run rate is absurd. The lines are similar and everything about their seasons has been as well. So why is it that Happ continues to get the ball every fifth day, while Gray was banished to the bullpen and then dealt to Cincinnati with his value at an all-time low?

The answer can’t be because Happ’s under contract for next season because so was Gray, who was under contract for less money, is seven years younger than Happ and still has a future. The Yankees gave up on Gray for good after one calendar year and with two months left in the season, yet there haven’t been any rumors, whispers, rumblings or inklings of Happ losing his rotation spot.

The answer can’t be because there aren’t other starting options because going with an opener two days a week is better than Happ once a week, and there wasn’t any depth last season when Gray was removed either. When the Yankees stopped letting Gray start, they didn’t have pitching depth to turn to and had yet to steal the Rays’ opener strategy. But they still made the move knowing they would be taxing their bullpen and starting pitchers with much less ability and much weaker career resumes than Gray.

The answer can’t be because the division is locked up because home-field advantage is every bit as important as the division. The most likely scenario in the AL playoffs is a Yankees-Astros ALCS. They are going to be the 1- and 2-seeds and they are the two best teams in the league. Two years ago in the ALCS, the Astros went 4-0 at home and the Yankees went 3-0 at home. The Astros outscored the Yankees 15-3 in Houston and the Yankees outscored the Astros 19-5 in New York. This season the Astros are 45-16 at home and the Yankees are 49-20 at home, the best two home records in the AL. At the same time the Astros were about to lose on Wednesday night and give the Yankees a chance to create further separation in the standings, Happ was busy giving two-run home runs in the second and third innings in the eventual loss. The Yankees might have the division won, but the goal isn’t to win the division, it’s to win the World Series, and unless the Yankees have home-field advantage in the playoffs, that goal is going to be nearly impossible to accomplish.

Happ brings no value to the team right now. He’s not eating innings, he’s not keeping the team in games and he’s not working toward anything like a postseason start. There’s no way Happ can get a postseason start. No way. I would rather watch Luis Cessa get the ball in the postseason or have Cessa team up with Nestor Cortes for the first few innings of a playoff game than watch Happ ruin an October game for the second straight year.

The Yankees gave up on Gray for the season in 2018 and then gave up on him for good before 2019. The Yankees aren’t going to give up on Happ for good because of the money he’s owed, his stock being at an all-time low and him simply being untradeable given his age and contract. But they should give up on him for the season.

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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is available!

Blogs • Off Day Dreaming • Yankees

Aug 19, 2019

Off Day Dreaming: Yankees Only Have to Worry About Home-Field Advantage and Health

It’s going to be difficult to come out of the American League playoffs this season, but it’s going to be nearly impossible if the Yankees aren’t the No. 1 seed and don’t have home-field advantage throughout.

There’s less than six weeks left in the Yankees’ season. On Tuesday, the Yankees will begin their third-to-last road trip and last trip to the West Coast of the season.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees on this off day as usual.

1. The division has been long over. It’s been over for nearly two months now. But if anyone out there is still worried …

The Yankees are 83-43. If they play .500 for the rest of the regular season and go 18-18 in their final 36 games, they will finish with a 101-61 record. The Rays would have to go 28-9 to tie them and the Red Sox would have to go 34-2. The question isn’t if the Yankees win the division, it’s when, and the sooner the better to rest their position players and line up their rotation accordingly.

2. At least the last two weeks of the season are going to be meaningless from a division standpoint, but they are going to mean everything from a home-field advantage standpoint. It’s going to be difficult to come out of the American League playoffs this season, but it’s going to be nearly impossible if the Yankees aren’t the No. 1 seed and don’t have home-field advantage throughout.

The most likely scenario in the AL playoffs is a Yankees-Astros ALCS. They are going to be the 1- and 2-seeds and they are the two best teams in the league. Two years ago in the ALCS, the Astros went 4-0 at home and the Yankees went 3-0 at home. The Astros outscored the Yankees 15-3 in Houston and the Yankees outscored the Astros 19-5 in New York. This season the Astros are 43-15 at home and the Yankees are 49-20 at home, the best two home records in the AL. Home-field advantage matters, especially in this postseason, and the Yankees can’t take their foot off the gas once they clinch the division. The goal is to win the World Series, and having home-field advantage will greatly increase their chances of accomplishing that goal.

3. CC Sabathia wasn’t good again on Sunday in his return from his second injured-list stint. He gave up four earned runs on four hits and three walks in three innings, including a three-run home run. He was on a limited pitch count and was pulled after 67 pitches.

Why is Sabathia on a pitch count? He’s retiring at the end of the season and has roughly six regular-season starts left in his career. There’s absolutely no way he can be given a postseason start unless the Yankees didn’t learn their lesson from last season and want to relive that misery. So Sabathia’s six-or-so remaining regular-season starts are the last of his career. There’s no need to protect his arm for October or for 2020. He’s done after Game 162. There’s no need for him to save pitches for retirement or leave anything in the tank. When it’s his turn to start, let him pitch until he wants to come out of the game. Let him eat innings, so I don’t have to watch Nestor Cortes or Luis Cessa anymore.

4. When it comes to the postseason rotation, Sabathia isn’t the only one who can’t get a start. J.A. Happ can’t either. That means the Yankees’ postseason starting pitcher option are currently: Masahiro Tanaka, Domingo German, James Paxton or an opener.

I haven’t updated the Yankees’ Postseason Rotation Power Rankings since July 23 because they remain the same. Tanaka in Game 1, German in Game 2, Paxton in Game 3 and an opener in Game 4. The only way that will change is if Luis Severino comes back.

5. I’m getting more and more excited that Severino is going to return. I realize any setback now means his season is over with only five-plus weeks left in the regular season, but he threw off a mound over the weekend and said he felt great and is now very, very close to pitching in rehab games. Because of the end to the minor-league regular season in a couple weeks, it’s likely Severino will pitch a couple of games in the minors and then really build up his pitch count with the Yankees.

If Severino were to come back as his old self, to me, he would be the Game 1 starter in the postseason. But I could see the Yankees starting Tanaka in that game no matter what, given his postseason success (1.50 ERA in five starts) and having Severino pitch the second game. Either way, Severino is seeming more and more like an actual option this October, which will make me feel a lot better about the Yankees’ rotation and chances in the postseason.

6. The return of Dellin Betances is as important as the return of Severino. Aroldis Chapman is going to pitch the ninth inning no matter what, but I have trust issues with Chad Green, Tommy Kahnle and Adam Ottavino, and I don’t have any trust in Zack Britton. Betances was the best reliever in baseball for the last five years before this season-ruining injury, and I expect him to be the same Betances once he returns. That pushes everyone down in the bullpen pecking order and takes some of the high-leverage situations away from those who have trouble navigating them.

The Yankees are 40 games over .500, going to win the division with at least two weeks left in the season and could win the World Series right now, as currently constructed, and they’re close to having their best starting pitcher and best reliever back for the first time this season. I wish I could bottle this emotion to feel this way every day.

7. Luke Voit is nearing a return, Giancarlo Stanton is rehabbing his way back from yet another lengthy injured-list stint and at some point, Edwin Encarnacion could return as well. The Yankees aren’t going to have any roster issues with September 1 less than two weeks away, but they’re most likely going to have some problems come October. Let’s say the Yankees were at full strength for the postseason, who would be on the postseason roster?

Gary Sanchez and Austin Romine are two roster spots. Voit, Encarnacion, DJ LeMahieu, Gleyber Torres, Didi Gregorius and Gio Urshela are another six. Aaron Judge, Aaron Hicks, Brett Gardner and Stanton bring the total to 12. Severino, Tanaka, German and Paxton make it 16. Chapman, Betances, Ottavino, Britton, Kahnle and Green equal 22.

That leaves three spots for Mike Tauchman, Cameron Maybin, pinch runner Terrance Gore, CC Sabathia and J.A. Happ, not to mention the possibilities of Clint Frazier, Jonathan Loaisiga or Deivi Garcia. (I’m assuming Luis Cessa and Nestor Cortes have no chance at making the roster.)

8. The actual postseason roster isn’t as much an issue as to who will be in the starting lineup. Either LeMahieu, Voit or Encarnacion will play first. Either LeMahieu or Torres will play second. Either LeMahieu or Urshela will play third. Either Torres or Gregorius will play short. One of the two odd men out could be the designated hitter, but then that would mean Stanton plays left field and Gardner is on the bench.

The Yankees are going to have a real lineup issue in October if everyone is healthy and there’s no consensus lineup to make everyone happy. On top of that, because there are too many good, worthy players for not enough spots, whichever lineup they go with is going to need to work because there will be equal or possibly even better players not in the lineup making everyone wonder what could have been if it doesn’t work out.

For this to happen, the Yankees would have to be completely healthy for the first time this season, which isn’t something I would count on. But because they haven’t been healthy all season, I could easily see the postseason being the first time they are finally at full strength to make things complicated.

9. I’m happy to see the Yankees have a “thing” again with Judge pretending to be Gardner hitting his bat against the dugout roof when he reached base via a hit yesterday. It seems like that motion is going to be the 2019 version of the 2017 “thumbs down” which the Yankees used through the end of the season.

What started out as Gardner’s frustration over striking out might be his way of rallying the team now, which is why he was confused over his ejection on Saturday. If Gardner is going to use the bat banging as a way to get a rally started, I’m all for it, but if he’s going to do it following called third strikes, it’s embarrassing.

10. In the last Off Day Dreaming on the Yankees’ last off day back on August 1, I wrote that my expected record for the Yankees in August is 17-13. They are currently 15-4 and would have to go only 2-9 for the rest of the month to achieve my expected record (by expected record, I mean a record I would be content with them having).

Between this off day and the next off day on Thursday, Aug. 29, the Yankees will play nine games on their West Coast trip against the A’s, Dodgers and Mariners. The Yankees have a 3 1/2-game lead over the Astros for home-field advantage in the AL and a one-game lead over the Dodgers for home-field advantage in the World Series. Home-field advantage and health. Those are the only two things the Yankees have to worry about now.

***

My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is available!

Blogs • Yankees

Aug 13, 2019

Brett Gardner Is Going to Get Another One-Year Contract for 2020

I didn’t think there was a chance Brett Gardner would be an option for next season. But this recent resurgence has me easily seeing a path to Gardner getting another one-year deal.

When Brett Gardner cleared the bases with a three-run triple in the first inning of the second game of Monday’s doubleheader, I wasn’t thinking about the Yankees’ early 3-0 lead, that they were on their way to their 14th straight win over the Orioles or that they would have the best record in baseball at the end of the night. I was thinking about the 2020 season.

I didn’t want Gardner back for 2019. I had seen enough from the then-35-year-old outfielder and his career-worst season to want the Yankees to go in a different direction. Entering the first true season of this group’s championship window of opportunity, I wanted a younger and better left field, with the assumption Giancarlo Stanton would be primarily used as the designated hitter. I wanted the Yankees to sign Michael Brantley.

I’m not sure if the Yankees ever even gave a thought to signing someone other than Gardner because in the first minutes of free agency, they brought him back on a one-year, $7.5 million deal, believing his career-low .690 OPS wasn’t indicative of who he was at what’s now considered to be an advanced age in baseball. Gardner was said to be the team’s “fourth outfielder”, a position which might have gone to Clint Frazier if not for a lost season due to unfortunate injuries, and as a reserve player with extra rest, maybe he would be more productive than he was the season before.

Gardner went from being the fourth outfielder to being an everyday player before Opening Day as Aaron Hicks started the season on the injured list and Stanton joined Hicks before April 1. On April 20, Aaron Judge joined them both. In what was supposed a season in which Gardner would transition from an everyday player to a role player, he’s played in 104 of the team’s 120 games, playing in nearly 90 percent of the games despite his own recent trip to the injured list.

Through the first quarter of the season, the Yankees’ decision to bring back Gardner was a disaster. He’s one of the media’s go-to postgame guys and said to be a strong and trusted clubhouse presence, but from strictly a baseball standpoint, he was looking every bit his age on the field. In mid-May, he was batting .197/.287/.381 and his production wasn’t doing anything to dispel the idea he could no longer play every day. Through June, he had been able to prop his OPS up to .760 with a few home runs, though for someone who could always fall back on his ability to get on base, he wasn’t doing that anymore either with just a .319 on-base percentage. Gardner had been horrible offensively for a 907-plate appearance sample size, still looking like the player in 2019 who lost his spot as the leadoff hitter before losing his job completely to Andrew McCutchen in 2018.

During the Fourth of July weekend series in Tampa, at the same time Mike Tauchman was becoming the best hitter in baseball, Gardner was beginning his own career resurgence. Gardner homered in each of the last three games against the Rays, going 7-for-15 with two walks in the four-game series to end the first half on a high note. By the end of July, he had raised his average (.243) and on-base (.325) to respectability and had an impressive .785 OPS. August has been much of the same, as he returned from his end-of-July injured-list stint by batting .375/.444/.725 in his first 12 games this month.

I realize Gardner’s career has been defined by hot and cold streaks (whether or not Aaron Boone and the Yankees actually believe in hot and cold streaks), and it’s why I nicknamed Gardner “The Streak” years ago. I’m not about to think he has become his old self or that he might now suddenly be the best version of himself at this point in his career, though he has shown he’s still capable of putting together these ridiculous runs. (If only the cold streaks weren’t so cold.) It’s why I found myself thinking about 2020 as he motored into third on Monday night.

There’s still a quarter of the season left for Gardner to not become an automatic out again and for him to give the Yankees a reason to bring him back, but with the Yankees’ full outfield nearing a return and September call-ups a few weeks away, Gardner will get the rest the necessary rest he needs to combat his career history of decline in late-season production.

If the Yankees re-sign Gardner for 2020, he’s going to play, and play a lot. He might once again be considered the “fourth outfielder” on the team, but he will get much more than fourth outfielder at-bats, the same way he did this year. As much as I wish the trio of Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Hicks would give us a full season, chances are they won’t because their careers and injury histories say they won’t. You can write it in stone that Hicks will make at least one injured-list trip in 2020, as he’s never played in more than 137 games in a season, and for someone who has had nearly every conceivable non-surgery baseball injury, I doubt his 30s (he will turn 30 in October) will be less marred by injuries than his 20s were. Even if the trio of Judge, Stanton and Hicks were completely healthy for a full season, the Yankees would still implement a four-man outfield rotation with the amount of extra and unnecessary rest they provide their players. The player they pick to fill the “fourth outfielder” role will be much more than a once- or twice-a-week player.

Should that player be Gardner (who will be 36 on Opening Day 2020 and will turn 37 during the 2020 season)? If the Yankees were willing to bring him back for 2019 following the kind of season he had in 2018, I find it hard to believe they wouldn’t bring him back in 2020, coming off a much better season. Six weeks ago, I didn’t think there was a chance Gardner would be an option for next season, with his roster spot going to Frazier, Tauchman or someone else, anyone else. But this recent resurgence has me easily seeing a path to Gardner getting another one-year deal.

We’re a long way from this decision having to be made, but with each day of Gardner’s resurgence, it’s more and more likely he’ll still be the longest-tenured Yankee in 2020.

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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is available!

Blogs • Yankees

Aug 12, 2019

Monday Mail: Everyone Is Talking About Mike Tauchman

This week’s questions and comments are focused on Mike Tauchman, who has been the best hitter in baseball over the last month.

Mike Tauchman has become the face of the 2019 Yankees. The Replacement Yankees have played more than the expected and real Yankees this season and Tauchman’s breakout over the last five weeks has made him a household name in the Tri-state area.

Tauchman is batting .300/.381/.579 with 12 home runs and 41 RBIs in 65 games and 215 plate appearances. Those numbers translate to 30 home runs and 102 RBIs over 162 games, and with a .960 OPS, Tauchman would be an MVP candidate, and a nine-figure contract candidate if he were entering free agency.

This has all essentially happened since July 4 and over his last 95 plate appearances, as he’s batting .417/.484/.821 with eight home runs and 27 RBIs in that time and a ridiculous 1.306 OPS.

This week’s questions and comments are focused on Tauchman, who has been the best hitter in baseball over the last month.

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.

It’s important to apologize when we are wrong. But don’t feel ashamed. We as Yankees fans expect more out of our players than your average baseball fans. – Christina

Thank you, Christina. I appreciate the kind words in regards to my apology to Mike Tauchman last week for anything negative I have written or said about him this season.

Since his first day as a Yankee, I do not see how anyone had any doubt about his ability, desire and team focus. Maybe if they like controversy, loud mouths or flowing hair and jewelry, would one not like him, but from an understanding of baseball, no doubts. – Jim

Unless you’re Tauchman, a family member of his, the front office employee who suggested or recommended the Yankees acquire him or the biggest Yankees homer of all time, it’s tough to believe you didn’t have doubts about his ability. Tauchman has been the best hitter in baseball for the last month, but in his first 120 plate appearances this season, he was hitting .208/.300/.387. It was impossible not to doubt Tauchman earlier this year as a 28-year-old with minimal major league experience and no success at this level.

As for the comments about Clint Frazier without naming Clint Frazier, there was a debate between the two when it looked like the Yankees were giving away everyday at-bats to Tauchman (when he couldn’t hit) over Frazier (and his .843 OPS in the majors), but now that Tauchman’s hitting, he’s deserving of playing every day, while Frazier continues to work on his defense in Triple-A.

I don’t really think the Yankees have a problem with Frazier. They went with Tauchman at the end of June because they needed a fourth outfielder and they would rather have the 24-year-old Frazier playing every day. Then when Giancarlo Stanton got hurt, Tauchman was given a chance to play more and he ran with it. Had Tauchman continued to hit the way he had in April, May and June, Frazier would have been back up.

Right now, Frazier doesn’t fit on the roster. The four-man rotation is Aaron Judge, Brett Gardner, Cameron Maybin and Tauchman. Judge is Judge, Gardner isn’t going anywhere and Maybin is playing the best baseball of his career. The next time we’ll see Frazier is in September.

Mike Tauchman has completely surpassed the punk Clint Frazier on the Yankees, in my opinion. – John

Tauchman’s roster spot in 2019 shouldn’t be about Tauchman vs. Frazier anymore. It was briefly when Stanton went back on the injured list before the London series, but it’s no longer. If another everyday spot in the outfield opened up, Frazier would get the call.

The Tauchman-Frazier debate will be back for the 2020 season, and it will be one wild and controversial debate, if both players are still Yankees then.

Tauchman should be a starter along with Frazier, Maybin and Urshela. – Keith

If your wish came true, the Yankees’ defensive alignment would be something like this:

C: Gary Sanchez
1B: Luke Voit
2B: DJ LeMahieu/Gleyber Torres
3B: Gio Urshela
SS: Didi Gregorius/Gleyber Torres
LF: Clint Frazier
CF: Cameron Maybin
RF: Mike Tauchman

That would mean one of LeMahieu, Torres or Gregorius wouldn’t start, and the one not starting would be up for the DH spot against Stanton, Hicks and Judge. That would be a lot of money and talent sitting on the bench.

We needed a lefty in this lineup. And once again Cash found a guy with no big name to make a big splash and I think could be our next year everyday left fielder to replace Gardy. – AJ

Brian Cashman and his team have done an outstanding job in recent years of finding diamond-in-the-rough position players like Tauchman, Luke Voit and Gio Urshela. If only Cashman and his team were as good at finding, acquiring, signing or developing starting pitching.

If you’re the general manager of one of the other 29 teams (or 27 really since the Yankees won’t do business with the Red Sox or Mets, or those two teams won’t do business with the Yankees) and Cashman calls asking about one of your Triple-A position players, you might want to hold on to that player and give them a chance to play.

Tauchman being a left-handed bat has helped balance the lineup with Hicks and Gregorius being the only other two left-handed options. If the Yankees ever get completely healthy for the playoffs, I don’t think Tauchman will be in the lineup despite how good he’s been. Stanton would be in left field and Edwin Encarnacion would be the designated hitter. Unless the Yankees go with right-lefty and lefty-righty matchups, Tauchman is going to be on the bench in October for bigger names and owed money.

As for next season, I will believe Gardner isn’t getting another one-year deal when he finally doesn’t. I was all for Michael Brantley over a Gardner return this season, and the Yankees went with Gardner as soon as free agency began. Gardner isn’t hitting like Brantley, but does have a career-best .817 OPS. There’s a good chance Gardner will be signed to be the Yankees’ “fourth outfielder” for 2020, and he will end up being an everyday player again since the Yankees’ outfield can’t stay healthy.

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.

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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is available!