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Yankees

PodcastsYankees

Podcast: Dan Shaughnessy

The Boston Globe columnist joined me to talk about the fading Yankees-Red Sox rivalry, his relationship with David Ortiz, covering the Red Sox before and after 2004 and the Red Sox’ fluky 2013 championship.

Six years ago this week, the Yankees and Red Sox played a four-game series at Yankee Stadium with first place on the line. The Yankees swept that series on their way to winning the AL East and the World Series and that was basically the last time the Yankees and Red Sox played a meaningful late-season series.

Back in 2004, I thought the two teams would meet in the postseason every year forever, but they haven’t seen each other in the playoffs since Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS. The Yankees and Red Sox have only been in the postseason at the same time in three seasons (2005, 2007 and 2009) since and they won’t be once again this season.

The Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy joined me to talk about the fading Yankees-Red Sox rivalry, his relationship with David Ortiz, covering the Red Sox before and after 2004, the Red Sox’ fluky 2013 championship, the evolution and state of sports media, if Larry Lucchino stepping down is good for the Red Sox and how his book, Francona: The Red Sox Years, came together.

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BlogsYankees

I Miss the Yankees-Red Sox Rivalry

Six years ago this week, the Yankees and Red Sox played a four-game series at Yankee Stadium with first place on the line. That was the last time the teams played a late-season meaningful series.

2003 ALCS

Six years ago this week, the Yankees and Red Sox played a four-game series at Yankee Stadium with first place on the line. The Yankees swept that series and went on to win the AL East and World Series. That was the last time the teams played a late-season meaningful series.

On Monday night at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees played and beat the Red Sox. And by beat, I mean dominated and embarrassed in a 13-3 rout that included a nine-run seventh inning. It might as well have been a Yankees-Rays game from 1998-2007 because that’s what it felt like. That’s what Yankees-Red Sox has become: Yankees-Rays from 1998-2007.

In 2004, I expected the Yankees and Red Sox to meet in the ALCS every year forever. They were the two best teams in baseball with never-ending financial resources to ensure competitive rosters for years to come. But since Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS, the teams haven’t met in the playoffs, and in the 10 postseasons since then, they have only been in the playoffs at the same time three years (2005, 2007 and 2009). With the Red Sox going nowhere this season, it will be 11 straight postseasons without them meeting in the playoffs heading into 2016.

The rivalry still exists, it’s just dormant. A sleeping giant waiting to wake up from the sort of deep sleep it went through for most of the ’80s and ’90s. It can be rejuvenated and a new chapter of the rivalry can be created and probably will be at some point, but it’s mainly the Red Sox’ fault it’s in a bad place.

The Red Sox suck. They’re on their way to their third last-place finish in four seasons and sandwiched in the middle is the most miraculous, fluky, unfathomable championship in the history of sports. When I think about 2013, I start to feel the same way I do when I don’t eat for 12 hours or when an Amtrak train is delayed for multiple hours or when my girlfriend wants to watch House Hunters or House Hunters: Renovations or House Hunters: Where Are They Now or House Hunters International or House Hunters: Million Dollar Homes when the Yankees are about to be on. Outside of 2013, the Red Sox have been a bad team for a long time and it’s almost as if the Baseball Gods gave them 2013 for the heartache of Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS and the 1978 one-game playoff and the 1986 World Series.

The rivalry really started its decline in 2012 and it’s been falling fast ever since. The 2011 Red Sox, known as “The Best Team Ever”, collapsed in September and the 2012 Red Sox followed up their chicken and beer season by hiring Bobby Valentine and losing 93 games. The 2013 Yankees missed out on the playoffs, and in 2014, for the first time since 1993, neither team made the playoffs. Now here we are with the Yankees trying to win the AL East for the first time in three years and the Red Sox are playing out the string and waiting to go home for the winter.

Fans who grew tired of the five-hour long games between the Yankees and Red Sox would complain if the teams met in early April or if they had already played a couple series before the first of May. But now, those series are the only ones that mean anything because when the schedule rolls around to the second half, one of their seasons is usually over. Before 2012, any Yankees-Red Sox meant something and a weekend series meant clearing your schedule. It meant watching Friday night’s game from 7 until midnight. It meant watching Saturday’s game from 4 to 9 and Sunday night’s game from 8 to 1. It meant being worried about how horrible a series loss would feel and how satisfying a series win would be. It meant being petrified of getting swept and making sure to contact every Red Sox fan I know if the Yankees did the sweeping. This week has served as a reminder of how the importance of these games has disappeared since the result only matters for one team.

I never want the Red Sox to be good and they can’t lose enough. But part of me wants them to suck less than they do. I don’t need them beating the Yankees in a postseason series or winning the World Series, I just want them to not be the 1997-2008 Rays. I guess I kind of/sort of miss the Red Sox being good because I miss everything that comes with both teams being good at the same time.

I miss the buzz in either city with the other team in town. I miss the hatred in the crowd. I miss the fights and verbal abuse in the right field bleachers at Yankee Stadium. I miss going to Fenway Park and wondering if I would make it out alive. I miss the punches and beers thrown in the Stadium and the explicit chants that would increase as everyone’s blood alcohol level did. I miss scouring the Internet for hours to avoid paying $100 for standing room and obstructed view seats at Fenway. I miss how enjoyable the wins were and how devastating the losses were.

I miss what Yankees-Red Sox was and hate what it is.

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PodcastsYankees

Podcast: Rob Bradford

The WEEI Red Sox writer joined me to talk about another last-place season for the Red Sox, how they were able to win the 2013 World Series and whether it’s better to cover a winning or losing team in Boston.

Ben Cherington and Pablo Sandoval

When the Yankees’ schedule comes out, the first thing I do is check to see when they are playing Boston to figure out what could be the most meaningful series of the season. I think it’s time I stop doing that. The Yankees and Red Sox haven’t played a truly meaningful late-season series since either 2011 or 2009 (depending on how you look at it) and they haven’t reached the postseason together since 2009 and won’t again this season. It’s time to stop thinking the early-2000s are coming back.

Rob Bradford of WEEI joined me to talk about another last-place season for the Red Sox, how they were able to win the 2013 World Series, if Ben Cherington is keeping his job because of one fluky season, Pablo Sandoval and his disastrous contract becoming Carl Crawford 2.0, Hanley Ramirez no longer being able to field, longing for the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry and whether it’s better to cover a winning or losing team in Boston.

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PodcastsYankees

Podcast: Bald Vinny

The face of the Bleacher Creatures joined me to talk about the hype around Luis Severino’s debut, the Yankees’ decision to hold on to their prospects at the trade deadline and believing in Didi Gregorius.

Luis Severino

After their 10-game road trip to Minnesota, Texas and Chicago, the Yankees won’t play another game outside the Eastern Time Zone this season. For a team with a 5 1/2-game lead as they return home to Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, the Yankees are in a perfect position for the stretch run and to lock up a spot in the ALDS for the first time in three years.

Bald Vinny of the Right Field Bleacher Creatures and Bald Vinny’s House of Tees joined me to talk about talk about the Yankees’ recent 10-game road trip, the hype around Luis Severino’s debut on Wednesday, the Yankees’ decision to hold on to their prospects at the trade deadline, believing in Didi Gregorius and not believing in CC Sabathia, missing the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry, the Yankees-Mets rivalry gaining steam for September, who the Yankees’ MVP is through four months and Tanyon Sturtze and Charlie Hayes’ visit to the bleachers this coming Friday.

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BlogsMonday MentionsYankees

Monday Mentions: The Post-Trade Deadline

The trade deadline has come and gone and it was uneventful for the Yankees unless you like adding former highly-touted prospects that turned into busts and now can’t hit and have no position.

The trade deadline has come and gone and it was uneventful for the Yankees and Yankees fans unless you like adding former highly-touted prospects that turned into busts and now can’t hit and have no position. If you like players like that then you must like the Yankees’ trade for Dustin Ackley.

Here is another installment of “Monday Mentions” focused on questions and comments from Twitter about the Yankees now that the trade deadline is over.

The answer is three since that’s how many the Yankees have now.

I’m not sure why the trade for Ackley was made. Is it because he was the second overall pick in 2009 and the Yankees think he will now develop into that talent at age 27? Is it because he hit two home runs against Masahiro Tanaka after the All-Star break? Is it because he is a lifetime .296/.397/.481 hitter at Yankee Stadium?

The most puzzling part of the Ackley trade is that the Yankees don’t see him as a second baseman, but rather as a first baseman and outfielder. As long as Robinson Cano was sad when Ackley informed his teammates that he was being traded to the Yankees then I’m OK with the trade since I want Cano to feel the pain I have felt with him in Seattle and the Yankees starting Brian Roberts, Kelly Johnson, Stephen Drew, Gregorio Petit and Brendan Ryan at second base since he left.

Apparently, you’re not aware that Stephen Drew’s dad and Brian Cashman’s dad were roommates in college and Brendan Ryan is married to Brian Cashman’s cousin. That’s the only explanation I have for these two to still be on the team at the SAME TIME while everyone else around them gets designated for assignment. Here’s to hoping Stephen Drew never touches .200 this season.

The Yankees definitely had an odd trade deadline strategy. They weren’t willing to give up any of their top prospects, which is fine, but then they were targeting Craig Kimbrel rather than a starting pitcher. Unless their plan was to pitch Kimbrel, Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller for three innings each every fifth day, I’m not sure how not going after a starting pitcher helped improve their shaky rotation.

If Kimbrel had been traded to the Yankees, it would have been intereting to see how the Yankees handled the ninth inning. Kimberl has always been a closer and has led the National League in saves the last four years, which were his first four full seasons in the league, but Miller has been a perfect 23-for-23 in save opportunities this season and dominant in the role. It’s an impossible decision and I’m happy it’s one that doesn’t need to be made now.

That’s a good way to make me cry. The Yankees could have had Johan Santana for three pitchers that are no longer with the organization.

Santana won 16 games in 2008 for the Mets with a 2.53 ERA. The Yankees went 89-73 and missed the playoffs by six games. Darrell Rasner made 20 starts for the Yankees, Sidney Ponson made 15, Joba Chamberlain made 12, Ian Kennedy made nine and Phil Hughes made eight. Those five pitchers won 12 games combined with Kennedy and Hughes winning none.

Santana gave the Mets three great years from 2008-2010 before missing 2011 and then making 21 starts in 2012, and he hasn’t pitched since. I would have gladly paid Santana to not pitch in 2011, 2013 and 2014 if it meant having him for 2008-2010.

On another trade note, remember when Brian Cashman wouldn’t include Eduardo Nunez in a deal for Cliff Lee in July 2010, so the Rangers got Cliff Lee, beat the Yankees in the ALCS and then Lee signed with the Phillies in December 2010? I don’t remember it either.

CC makes about $700,000 per start. That’s a seven followed by five zeroes. Here is what he has done in his last two starts:

5.2 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 2 HR

5.0 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 3 HR

In years past, it would be an automatic loss with Sabathia facing the Red Sox at the Stadium like he is on Thursday, but it’s actually a blessing. The Yankees play the Blue Jays on Friday at the Stadium and the new-look Blue Jays missed out on facing Sabathia by one day. On Monday, the first four hitters for the Blue Jays were Troy Tulowitzki, Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista and Edwin Incarnation. However, the Yankees and Blue Jays have 13 games left this season, so while the Yankees might be able to hide Sabthia from the Blue Jays this weekend and next weekend, it’s going to be hard to hide him forever against the Blue Jays unless they remove him from the rotation.

Mets fans are always so quick to go from a laughingstock to the most overconfident irrational fans in the world. I was at Citi Field on July 23 for Clayton Kershaw’s near perfect game against the Mets and the team was an embarrassment and the fans couldn’t have been more quiet and Citi Field couldn’t have been less full with the best pitcher in the world pitching. Fast forward to Sunday Night Baseball with the Mets looking to sweep the Nationals and the Citi Field crowd chanting “OVER-RATED” at Bryce Harper, who is hitting .330/.454/.667 with 29 home runs and 68 RBIs, which are as bad and ill-timed as the “Yankees suck” chants that will be coming at the end of the month at Fenway Park with the Red Sox a million games behind the Yankees.

I remember the good old days of “Reyes is better than Jeter” debates, which were equally as funny as the “Nomar is better than Jeter” debates I had to listen to growing up. Reyes is 32 years old, now playing for his fourth team in five years and is owed $22 million in 2016 and 2017 with a $22 million team option of $4 million buyout in 2018. There’s a 100 percent chance that option gets bought out when Reyes is 35. When Jeter was 35, he won his fifth World Series. Good debate.

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