Yankees – Page 188 – Keefe To The City

Aug 12, 2014

The Everybody Gets To Be A Yankee Once Team

Everybody gets to be a Yankee once. It’s true. Just ask current Yankees Stephen Drew and Rich Hill, who will one day get to be a part of this version of the Yankees.

On Monday night, the Yankees lost to the Orioles 11-3 in a game they once led 3-1. Two of the Yankees’ three runs scored on a play that will likely be shown between innings on stadium big screens as part of a blooper reel for the rest of time thanks to a couple of errors from the Orioles. Without those two runs, the Yankees have scored two runs in the last 29 innings. And even with those two runs, they still have only four.

If the Yankees are going to make the playoffs, they are going to need a lot of their low-risk, high-reward and rental players to step up and play above their heads, and on this Yankees team, there are a lot of those players. If Brian Cashman puts someone on the roster, Joe Girardi is going to use them, whether or not they deserve to be in the majors, let alone playing in the middle of a playoff race.

Since Cashman’s tenure as general manager of the Yankees started in 1998, he has traded for and signed a lot of former All-Stars and even Hall of Famers well past their prime looking to either hang on to their baseball careers are hoping to cash in one more time. Sometimes Cashman’s plans to squeeze one more season or half of a season or a couple of weeks out of these players worked out, but more times than not, it didn’t.

After talking with JJ of Barstool Sports New York about this concept and the idea of an Everybody Gets To Be A Yankee Once Team on a podcast, I decided to write mine out. It was a grueling process that left many worthy names off the roster. But like Herb Brooks said, “I don’t want the best players … I want the right players.” And while these weren’t the best players to have a cup of coffee with the Yankees, they were the right ones to show some of the decisions Cashman has made over the years.

The rules were that the player couldn’t have been drafted or debuted with the Yankees, they couldn’t have played in more than three seasons with the Yankees and they couldn’t be a current player (sorry Stephen Drew). So let’s take a trip down memory lane and remember 25 Yankees (13 positions players, 12 pitches), who can say they put on the pinstripes.

C – Ivan Rodriguez (2008)
The arrival of Pudge in the Bronx came with the departure of Kyle Farnsworth and tears were flowing down Farnsy’s face, devastated he wouldn’t be able to blow more games for the Yankees.

A future Hall of Fame catcher and former MVP, Rodriguez was a disaster in 33 games for the Yankees. He came over to try and solidify catcher for a team that lost Jorge Posada to a labrum injury and was shuffling a variety of names in and out of Posada’s spot, but Pudge might have been the worst of all the catchers the Yankees used in 2008, which included Jose Molina, Chad Moeller, Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart. Pudge hit .219/.257/.323 with two home runs and three RBIs in 101 plate appearances for the Yankees.

1B – Doug Mientkiewicz (2007)
Michael Kay would tell us every chance he got that Mientkiewicz played wide receiver on the same high school football team quarterbacked by Alex Rodriguez in Florida because Michael Kay doesn’t like to give any Yankees fans credit for watching multiple games in the same season.

Mientkiewicz was a 2004 World Series champion with the Red Sox, caught the last out in Game 7 of the ALCS and Game 4 of the World Series. He was supposed to bring the type of defense at first base the Yankees hadn’t had in the Jason Giambi era, but with his defense came a weak bat for a corner infield spot and a concussion and broken wrist suffered in a collision with Mike Lowell kept him out of the lineup from June 2 until Sept. 4.

2B – Tony Womack (2005)
He was the Opening Day second baseman for the Yankees, but starting on May 3 he would no longer play second base after a 22-year-old kid named Robinson Cano was called up. Womack signed a two-year, $4 million deal with the Yankees, but only lasted one season and was traded to the Reds along with cash in December. In 108 games and 351 plate appearances, he hit zero home runs as a Yankee.

3B – Kevin Youkilis (2013)
I wasn’t sure how I would feel about Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuk being a Yankee, but anything that would put another dent in the Red Sox’ championships and take away from the culture that was built there in the 2000s worked for me.

Youkilis hit.219/.305/.343 in 28 games for the Yankees before being sidelined with the same back problems that caused his career to come crashing down and crated red flags for anyone looking to sign him after 2012. He got $12 million ($428,571.43 per game) to play for the Yankees and never actually played in a game on the same team as Derek Jeter.

SS – Angel Berroa (2009)
The 2003 AL Rookie of the Year, who stole the award from Hideki Matsui because some writers felt he wasn’t really a rookie just two years after thinking Ichiro was enough of a rookie to win the 2001 AL Rookie of the Year. Berroa hit .136/.174/.182 in 21 games with the Yankees and was released on July 7, 2009. Four days later he signed with the Mets, played 14 games with them and then was released after just 27 days a Met. He signed with the Dodgers for 2010, was released in spring training and signed with Giants and was released by them. Then he signed with the Diamondbacks in 2011 and was released by them.

LF – Rondell White (2002)
Rondell White could be the captain of my dad’s most hated Yankee team, if he could beat out Nick Johnson, Raul Mondesi and Nick Swisher for the title.

White played in 126 games for the ’02 Yankees and hit .240/.288/.378, numbers he could never get away with in that many games in 2014 with only 14 home runs 62 RBIs. He did homer for his only hit in three postseason at-bats in the ALDS loss to the Angels, so at least he had that. And like the right fielder on this team I have created, White resurrected his career the following year in San Diego when he was an All-Star for the only time in his 15-year career.

CF- Kenny Lofton (2004)
Ten years ago, the sports radio baseball offseason in New York was centered around who should play center field for the Yankees: Bernie Williams or Kenny Lofton? For me to even type “Bernie Williams or Kenny Lofton?” was hard enough. Imagine having to actually argue and debate that concept.

I was at Fenway Park on Friday, April 16, 2004 for the first Yankees-Red Sox game of the season. Javier Vazquez against Tim Wakefield in the first of an unusual four-game wraparound series from Friday to Monday. Vazquez gave up four first-inning runs and the Yankees lost 6-2, but what I really remember from the game was standing near the Yankees dugout during batting practice when Kenny Lofton came out of the dugout on to the field and some fans were asking him for his autograph and he pretended like he didn’t hear anyone because he’s Kenny Lofton, and Kenny Lofton is too good for that. One fan yelled, “You should sign now Kenny while people still want your autograph.” Lofton should have listened.

Lofton ended up becoming a bench player with the Yankees (83 games) and aside from his Opening Day leadoff triple in Japan, his only other highlight moment was hitting back-to-back home runs with Hideki Matsui in the bottom of the ninth inning in this game (a game in which I had to give up my tickets too LINK because I had to get stitches in my knee from playing Wiffle ball).

RF – Lance Berkman (2010)
Ah, Lance “The Dance” Berkman. I wrote a lot of words about Berkman in 2010. A lot. When the Yankees traded for him on July 31, I told my friend of the deal and he responded by asking, “We got Lance effing Berkman?!?!” I had to remind him that it was no longer 2003 and Berkman had aged seemingly overnight, hitting just .245 with 13 home runs for the Astros in 85 games. He was even worse the Pudge Rodriguez was as a Yankee, hitting just one home run in 37 games and 123 plate appearances for the 2010 Yankees.

Berkman looked like the Berkman of old against the Twins in the ALDS, but showed his age against the Rangers in the ALCS when he was asked to take over for Mark Teixeira’ torn hamstring. Of course, Berkman went on to be an All-Star in 2011, hitting .301 with 31 home runs for the Cardinals, saving their season in Game 6 of the World Series and becoming a champion for the first time, beating the same Rangers he played poorly against as a Yankee the year before.

DH – Jose Canseco (2000)
Canseco called his 37-game Yankee tenure “the worst time of his life” in the Orange County Register on March 26, 2001 and didn’t think he would even receive a ring for the World Series win over the Mets because he was barely even part of the team. The Yankees didn’t want Canseco and placed a waiver claim only to block him from going to Toronto, but Tampa Bay let him go when the Yankees placed the claim, so while he was a Yankee, he was never really wanted.

BENCH – Brian Roberts (2014)
I was all for the Brian Roberts signing thinking that now healthy he could return to at least his 2009 self and possibly overachieve in an attempt to get a chance to play somewhere else next season and continue to play baseball. Unfortunately, Roberts was every bit as bad as a 36-year-old player who hasn’t played a full season in five years should be. And on a day when he was designated for assignment, the Yankees traded Kelly Johnson for Stephen Drew and signed Martin Prado, all of which could appear on this team.

BENCH – Vernon Wells (2013)
The Yankees are paying Wells $2.4 million this season to not play for them. The Angels are paying him $18.6 million to not play for them. So $21 million this year for Vernon Wells to not play baseball? What a life. I’m not playing baseball this year either. Where’s my $21 million?

Once upon a time Wells was one a three-time Gold Glove center fielder with a power bat and a good sport about the heckling from Section 39 and the Bleacher Creatures at the Stadium. I understand why the Yankees took a chance on him last season because they needed to take a chance on a lot of players due to injuries and after hitting .301/.357/.538 with 10 home runs and 23 RBIs in 38 games through May 15, Wells hit .199/.243/.253 with one home run and 27 RBIs in 92 games through the end of the season.

When the Yankees traded for Alfonso Soriano, Wells switched from number 12 to 22. When the Yankees signed Jacoby Ellsbury, he tweeted that he would be switching his number again, except everyone but him knew he wouldn’t be wearing a number or the Yankees anymore.

BENCH – Richie Sexson (2008)
I remember Richie Sexson doing one good thing in his 22 games and 35 plate appearances with the Yankees and that is hit a grand slam off C.J. Wilson on Aug. 8 in Texas. He was released on Aug. 15.

BENCH – Kelly Stinnett (2006)
Not only did Kelly Stinnett get to be a Yankee, he got to be Randy Johnson’s personal catcher. I have always loved the idea of personal catchers the way John Flaherty also was for Johnson or Jose Molina was for A.J. Burnett. It’s one of the most ridiculous precedents to be set on a team in a given season and the Yankees set it a lot and let it carry over into the postseason a few times.

SP – Kevin Brown (2004-05)
Kevin “Game Seven” Brown. The man responsible for ruining my freshman year of college, sending me into a downward spiral and causing me to not eat for nearly a year. If I ever had a chance to talk to him in real life, I don’t even know what I would say.

I remember being in Florida with my family in 2005 and watching his May 3 start against Tampa Bay on TV. Here’s how his first inning went: single, wild pitch, single, double, out, single, double, single, single, single, out, out. Brown lost that game to fall to 0-4 with an 8.25 ERA.

In two years with the Yankees he went 14-13 with a 4.95 ERA in 35 starts. He made $31.4 million as a Yankee.

SP – Jaret Wright (2005-06)
After collapsing against the Red Sox, the Yankees decided, “We are going to sign EVERYONE!” If you had a slightly above average 2004, you were going to be a Yankee in 2005. Prior to 2004, Jaret Wright was 37-37 with a 5.68 ERA in the majors and hadn’t pitched a full season since 1999. But in 2004, Wright went 15-8 with a 3.28 ERA for the Braves in 32 starts. That classified as slightly above average, so that made Wright a Yankee for three years and $21 million.

Wright didn’t pitch from April 23, 2005 to August 15, 2005 because of injury and made just 13 starts that season going 5-5 with a 6.08 ERA. In 2006, he went 11-7 with a 4.49 ERA and never pitched more than 6 1/3 innings in 27 starts. He started Game 4 of the 2006 ALDS against the Tigers, pitching 2 2/3 innings, allowing four runs, three earned on five hits, one walk and two home runs. The Yankees lost 8-3 and were eliminated.

SP – Denny Neagle (2000)
Denny Neagle was traded from the Reds to the Yankees on July 12, 2000 in a deal headlined by Drew Henson going the other way. Neagle went 7-7 in 15 starts and 16 games for the Yankees with a 5.81 ERA. The Yankees won the 2000 ALCS in six games over Seattle and the two losses were both Neagle’s. He appeared in one game in the World Series and pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowing two earned runs, but he became a champion and has a ring.

Despite his time with the Yankees, the Rockies still gave him a five-year, $51 million deal after the season.

SP – Sidney Ponson (2006, 2008)
It was embarrassing enough that Ponson was a Yankee in 2006, but to bring him back in 2008 and have him round out the rotation with Darrell Rasner for the majority of the season was the most demoralizing thing Cashman had done to Yankees fans since starting the 2007 season with Carl Pavano and Kei Igawa making uo 40 pecent of the rotation.

Here is Ponson’s 2006 line with the Yankees: 16.1 IP, 26 H, 20 R, 19 ER, 7 BB, 15 K, 3 HR, 10.47 ERA, 2.020 WHIP.

In 2008, pitched in 16 games (15 starts) for the Yankees. Here was his line: 80 IP, 99 H, 53 R, 52 ER, 32 BB, 33 K, 11 HR, 5.85 ERA, 1.638 WHIP.

I think those two lines sum it up Sidney Ponson the Yankee nicely.

SP – Sergio Mitre (2009-11)
As Bald Vinny would say, “Did somebody order a meat-tray?” Unfortunately, the Yankees ordered one three times.

Mitre was a Yankee in 2009, 2010 and 2011 and the worst part is that the 2010 ALCS went six games and Mitre appeared in three of the games. If you think Joe Girardi’s bullpen management is overrated when he’s resting Dellin Betances and David Roberton in favor of David Huff and Shawn Kelley while fighting for a playoff spot, him pitching Mitre in three ALCS games might be the worst thing he has ever done and he let Luis Ayala pitch in the 2011 ALDS twice before bringing ina well-rested David Robertson.

CL – Armando Benitez (2003)
The Mets’ closer responsible for blowing Game 1 of the World Series with the walk to Paul O’Neill became a Yankee less than three years later. Traded to the Yankees from the Mets on July 16, 2003, the Yankees quickly turned around and sent Benitez to Seattle to bring Jeff Neslon back to the Yankees on Aug. 6.

Benitez only allowed two earned runs in his 9 1/3 innings as a Yankee, but did give up eight hits and six walks in that time. Insanely enough, he led the league in saves the following year in 2004 with 47 for the Marlins as an All-Star closer with a 1.29 ERA and 0.818 WHIP.

RP – Buddy Groom (2005)
One of two lefties out my pen for this team, Buddy Groom became a Yankee in 14th and final season in the league at the age of 39. He appeared in 24 games, pitching 25 2/3 innings. Lefties hit .265 against him and righties hit .339 before he was sent to Arizona at the trade deadline.

RP – Scott Erickson (2006)
In 1991, Scott Erickson was a 20-game winner, All-Star and finished second in AL Cy Young voting. In 2006, he was throwing his last pitches in the majors for the Yankees as a reliever.

Erickson appeared in nine games for the Yankees, pitching 11 1/3 innings to a 7.94 ERA and 1.765 as he walked seven and struck out just two.

RP – LaTroy Hawkins (2008)
Between being the reason for several emotional and nervous breakdowns and wearing number 21 after it hadn’t been worn since Paul O’Neill retired in 2001, LaTroy Hawkins was one of the worst things about the 2008 season. At the time he was 34 and it looked like his career was over, but it’s 2014 and Hawkins is still in the league and pitching well, which only makes me dislike him more.

RP – Chan Ho Park (2010)
Chan Ho Park blamed his 2010 Opening Night meltdown at Fenway Park on diarrhea and that should have been a sign that things weren’t going to work out. Well, actually everyone saying his numbers in Philadelphia were deceiving (and his numbers weren’t even good) should have been a sign that he wasn’t going to work out in New York for the Yankees in the AL East. Park lasted 27 games and 35 1/2 innings, which was enough time for him to give up seven home runs.

RP – Chad Qualls (2012)
A very underrated pick for the worst Yankee ever, Qualls was a bad idea from the moment I heard he had become a Yankee. Qualls somehow found his way into eight games for the 2012 Yankees. Here was his line: 7.1 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 6.14 ERA, 1.773 WHIP.

RP – Jesse Orosco (2003)
When Jesse Orosco made his Yankees debut on DATE, he was 46 years old. I said “46 years old.” His first pitch in the majors was in 1979 and here he was in 2003, trying to get lefties out for the Yankees. He didn’t do a very good job of it, but who could blame him? He was 46 years old! Here was his line in 15 games for the Yankees: 4.1 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 6 BB, 4 K, 10.38 ERA, 2.308 WHIP.

Podcasts • Yankees

Aug 12, 2014

Podcast: JJ Barstool Sports New York

JJ of Barstool Sports New York joins me to talk about our own versions of the Everybody Gets To Be A Yankee Once Team.

Two weeks ago, I did a podcast with JJ of Barstool Sports New York and during it, he made a joke that “everybody gets to be a Yankee once,” and it got me thinking about all of the players during the Brian Cashman era (1998-present), who have gotten to be Yankees. So JJ and I started throwing around some names and some more names and then some more names to the point where it made sense for both of us to make our own 25-man rosters of former Yankees using the rules that the players couldn’t have been drafted or debuted with the Yankees, couldn’t have played in more than three seasons with the Yankees and couldn’t currently be on the team.

JJ joined me as to unveil our versions of the Everybody Gets To Be A Yankee Once Team, which included some forgotten names and brought up both good and bad memories of the Yankees going back to 1998.

Blogs • Yankees

Aug 8, 2014

Sign Me Up for the Second Wild Card

I haven’t been this excited about the Yankees since the moment right before Nick Swisher misplayed a ball that became a Delmon Young doubled, which led to Derek Jeter breaking his ankle on the next

I haven’t been this excited about the Yankees since the moment right before Nick Swisher misplayed a ball that became a Delmon Young doubled, which led to Derek Jeter breaking his ankle on the next play, just five pitches later. Because at that moment the Yankees had overcome a 4-0 ninth-inning deficit in Game 1 of the 2012 ALCS. But Swisher misplayed that ball, Jeter broke his ankle, I nearly broke down in tears in Section 230 at the Stadium and aimlessly wandered home. Then the 2013 season happened and the first 114 of games of the 2014 season happened. And that’s where we are now after coming off a 3-1 series win against the Tigers, but more importantly, a 3-1 series win against Max Scherzer, David Price, Justin Verlander and Rick Porcello.

Even though I’m excited about the Yankees, I’m embarrassed to say so. In the ninth inning of Thursday’s 1-0 win, John Sterling said the win could be “a great Yankee moment of the year,” and sadly, he’s right. Winning three of four games against the Tigers has been the brightest spot on a season marred by injuries and underachievers as if the 2013 season still hasn’t ended. There was a time when winning a four-game series at home against the Tigers was business as usual and the feelings I felt on Wednesday would have been feelings felt by Tigers fans if they were able to take a four-game set from the Yankees. But that’s no longer the case.

The Yankees are 60-54, six games over .500, which matches their high-water mark for the season. (Six games over .500!) Aside from last year when they were 58-56 after 114 games, it’s their worst record through 114 games since 1995 when they were 54-59. (They were 85-29 through 114 games in 1998, in case you wanted a good laugh.) So why I am excited about the second-worst Yankees team through 114 games in 20 years? The second wild card, that’s why.

When the five-team, two wild-card format was announced, I was the President of the I Hate the Second Wild Card Club. At the time (2012) the Yankees were on their way to another division title and the thought of them having to play a one-game playoff if the Orioles had caught them made me sick. I mean really sick. Like emotionally, physically and mentally sick. I spent a few hours one day on eBay looking at respirators and oxygen tanks in the event the Yankees’ 162-game grind would be decided by one nine-inning game. Luckily, I didn’t need to purchase either.

Last season, the Yankees never really made a run at leading for the second wild card and never got in legitimate striking distance of the division, so any talk of making the playoffs was me trying to tell myself that the Yankees wouldn’t miss the playoffs for the second time since 1995 the way I will be telling myself on Opening Day 2015 that Derek Jeter will be playing shortstop. But there isn’t any delusion this year. The second wild card is real and the Yankees might win it, which is exactly the opposite of what Bud Selig and Major League Baseball wanted when they made a postseason backdoor, thinking the Royals, Blue Jays, Mariners or Indians could take advantage of the additional playoff berth. And oddly enough, it’s those four teams the Yankees are jockeying for position each night with to have the opportunity to go to Anaheim for one game. So I have turned in my letter of resignation as President of the I Hate The Second Wild Card Club and as of Friday morning, I’m officially a card-carrying member of the I Love The Second Wild Card Club.

In the new postseason format, you have to really, really, really, really, really suck to not be in contention for at least the second wild card. The 2013 Yankees had Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay in the middle of the order for nearly the entire season, CC Sabathia turned in the worst season of his career, Hiroki Kuroda ran out of gas, Phil Hughes turned into Sidney Ponson and devastating injuries to Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixiera couldn’t be overcome and even still they weren’t eliminated until Game 158. If you can sit at .500 or just better for five months, you’re going to be in a September playoff race with the current playoff format and that’s what the Yankees have done.

The division is still in play with the Yankees sitting five games behind the Orioles, but with the Yankees just one game back in the loss column for the second wild card, if there is going to be postseason baseball for the Yankees, it’s likely going to result in them playing in the one-game playoff and me googling respirators again. Right now, I would sign up for the one-game playoff right now even if it meant taking the division out of play because mathematically it makes more sense.

If the Orioles play .500 baseball the rest of the season, they would finish at 89-73. The Yankees would have to go 29-19 (.604) just to tie them, which isn’t unreasonable since they are 13-7 (.650) since the break, but it’s unlikely the Orioles will play .500 baseball the rest of the season. Unless of course the Yankees could do enough damage to them in the 10 games the two teams have left against each other.

Last Friday night, I was in Boston for the Yankees series and a woman (and a Yankees fan) sitting next to my girlfriend and I at that game said to us, “The Yankees used to be such a good team and now it’s like … (shrugs her shoulders).” Sure, she was drunk and asked my girlfriend for her phone number so they could hang out and probably never heard of Brian McCann or Michael Pineda let alone Brandon McCarthy or Chris Capuano, so her baseball knowledge was that of the scalpers outside Fenway asking $100 for bleacher seats to see the 12 ½-games-back Red Sox, but she had a point. I’m not sure where the future of the Yankees is going to take me. It’s not likely to be where they took me from ages eight to 26, so they will need every postseason entrance they can get. Second wild card? Sign me up.

Blogs • Email Exchanges • Yankees

Aug 8, 2014

Nick Swisher Is Still Not Missed

The Yankees have a chance to put away the Indians and make the second wild-card standings a little less crowded by ending Cleveland’s chances in the Bronx.

The Yankees are rolling. Well, they’re rolling well enough to be in contention for the second wild card and have a chance to reach the postseason. The only problem is the standings for the second wild card are currently a mess with a handful of teams in position to earn the playoff berth. But with a big weekend against the Indians, the Yankees can get rid of one of the teams in the second wild card mix.

With the Yankees and Indians meeting for the second and last time this season, I did an email exchange with Jason Lukehart of Let’s Go Tribe to talk about the 2008 trade of CC Sabathia, what it’s been like to have Nick Swisher on the Indians and the emotional stress of having your team in the one-game playoff.

Keefe: CC Sabathia threw his last pitch of the 2014 season on May 10 and some believe it might have been the last pitch he ever throws given the unknown nature of his leg. After thinking he could continue to be a staple in the Yankees’ rotation for a few years and be maybe the last, or one of the last pitchers, to reach 300 wins, at 208 that now seems impossible.

Living in New York, I don’t know many Indians fans. Actually, now that I think of it, I don’t know any. So I’m asking you as an Indians fan what it was like to watch Sabathia drafted and developed for seven-plus seasons in Cleveland before being forced to trade him to the Brewers in the summer of 2008?

Lukehart: The Indians are almost never in a position to add a top level starting pitcher through free agency or a trade, so if they’re going to have one, they’ve got to draft and develop him, or trade for him before he reaches the majors.

Sabathia was drafted in 1998, which was before I had any real awareness of the draft. It was the middle of 2000 when I first heard of him, when he was promoted to Double-A while still a teenager. He was on the Indians at the start of the 2001 season, and he went on to finish second in the AL Rookie of the Year voting that year. I remember finding it really cool that he was the first player born the same year as me to play for the Indians.

He took a big step forward in 2003, and made his first All-Star team that season, and because Bartolo Colon had been traded away, that was the year Sabathia first felt like the ace of the rotation. He wasn’t quite as good the next couple years though, but then in 2006 he was great, probably one of the five best pitchers in the American League. That was the year I started picking which games to go to based on whether or not Sabathia was pitching.

In 2007 he improved again, and suddenly he was maybe the best pitcher in baseball. The Indians were awesome that season, and after being spoiled by the 90s teams, five straight season of missing the playoffs felt like an eternity, so it was a delight to have the team playing so well, and Sabathia was front and center in that. The Indians had never had an MVP or Cy Young winner in the 20-plus years I’d been a fan, so having Sabathia win the Cy Young was a big deal to me. At the same time, it felt inevitable that 2008 would be his last year with the Indians, and when the team couldn’t recapture the magic from the year before, it was inevitable that he’d be traded. Bring a Tribe fan, you sort of get used to losing the team’s best players after a few years, but it’s still a bummer every time.

Keefe: When the Indians traded CC Sabathia to the Brewers they received Matt LaPorta, Zach Jackson, Rob Bryson and a player to be named later. That player to be named later ended up being Michael Brantley.

The centerpiece of that deal was LaPorta, who became a bust, but it’s Brantley, who has turned into a franchise player, showing consistent growth in production each season and now hitting .320/.378/.509 with 16 home runs and 72 RBIs as an All-Star outfielder.

What happened to LaPorta and how refreshing is it to see a young player like Brantley grow within the organization?

Lukehart: LaPorta was a bust. A lot of highly-rated prospects are busts. He wasn’t even the most highly-rated prospect the Indians have had in the last decade who didn’t pan out, so while of course I wish he’d turned into the slugging first baseman many predicted he would become, I never lost much sleep over it. I’ve liked Brantley for a while, and there’s real value in a slightly above average young player who can hold down a spot in the lineup for a few years. I certainly didn’t see a season like this one coming from him though. The Indians have a solid core of hitters, all fairly young and under team control for another three to six years, a group that includes Brantley, Carlos Santana, Yan Gomes, and Jason Kipnis.

Kipnis is having sort of a down year, possibly because of an oblique injury, but he was one of the best second baseman in baseball last year, and Santana has successfully transitioned from behind the plate to first base (after a short stint at third base, which didn’t go so well). Santana moved because Gomes is a great defensive catcher who also hits well, and now Brantley looks like maybe the best of the bunch. This core isn’t on the same level as the Belle/Lofton/Ramirez/Thome/Vizquel group from 20 years ago, but they’re good, and if the Indians can find a way to build a better starting rotation, the team should be competitive over the next few seasons.

Keefe: Nick Swisher might be my all-time least favorite Yankee, and that’s saying a lot because of Kevin Brown’s tenure with the team and Javier Vazquez’s and Raul Mondesi’s. But Swisher carried himself in a way that made Yankees fan dislike aside from him going 21-for-130 (.162) in four postseasons with the Yankees. Swisher was playing himself out of town long before his defensive lapse in Game 1 of the 2012 ALCS that lost the game for the Yankees in extra innings and caused Derek Jeter to break his ankle, and before his meltdown with the Bleacher Creatures in Game 2 of that same ALCS. I wanted Swisher out of town as fast as possible and I got my wish when the Indians signed him to a four-year, $56 million deal after the 2012 season.

The last time the Yankees and Indians met (July 7-9), Swisher entered the series hitting .197/.287/.317 with five home runs and 29 RBIs. But sure enough, he hit two home runs in the four games, including one off Masahiro Tanaka, to stick it to Yankees fans.

What are your thoughts on Swisher as an Indian now that he has been with the team for almost two years? And what are, or were, your thoughts on his contract?

Lukehart: Yankees fans may have the luxury of turning up their nose at good hitters, but for the last decade in Cleveland, we’ve had to take what we could get! Swisher posted four very good seasons at the plate in New York, hitting 23 home runs with an on-base percentage of .374 in the worst of those four seasons. He’d been healthy too. I didn’t expect him to be an MVP candidate or anything, but he certainly looked like an offensive upgrade for the Indians when they signed him, and the contract, while pricey for a team without the revenue streams teams like the Yankees and Red Sox have, was probably a bit below the market rate for a guy with Swisher’s numbers.

Whether it was going from a hitter’s park to a (slight) pitcher’s park, or suddenly being the biggest name in the lineup after years of being overshadowed by better known players, or just getting older (I think it was probably just getting older), thing have not worked out in Cleveland. A strong September gave him okay numbers in 2013, but he’s been one of the worst regular players in the league this year, which makes the remaining two seasons on his contract look pretty grim.

Keefe: In 2011, Justin Masterson looked like he was becoming the front-end starter the Indians hoped they had traded for from Boston in 2009 when he put together a 12-10 season with a 3.21 ERA. He regressed in 2012, but bounced back in 2013, going 14-10 with a 3.45 ERA, making the All-Star Team as well. But this season between bad pitching and injury, Masterson was a mess for the Indians (4-6, 5.63) and eventually was traded to the Cardinals for prospect James Ramsey, who tore up Double-A this season before getting moved to Triple-A.

What happened to Masterson and why was he never able to find consistency from year to year? Do you agree with the trade?

Lukehart: Masterson has said he injured his knee during his second start of the season, but that it didn’t keep him from pitching. I don’t know, I guess it just kept him from pitching well. In terms of his inconsistency from year to year, I don’t really know that there is an explanation. I think what makes the great one great is their ability to do it game after game, year after year. The minor leagues are littered with pitchers who could throw a great game here or there, and most starters who last at the MLB level have a particularly good year or two somewhere along the way. I think Masterson was a good pitcher, but not a great one, and that’s what you’d get if you took his overall numbers from his years with the Indians.

In terms of the trade, I was fine with it. Masterson is going to be a free agent at the end of the season, and after the two sides were unable to work out an extension this spring (despite Masterson reportedly being willing to sign for three years, $45 million… maybe the front office knew something we didn’t!), there wasn’t really any way he was going to come back in 2015, unless it was on a qualifying offer, and after his walk rate spike dramatically and he went on the DL for the first time, I don’t know that the front office was thrilled about the idea of making him a qualifying offer. I suspect his numbers will look better in St. Louis, in part because he’s probably bit healthier after a few weeks off, and in part because pitching in the National League is easier. I think the Indians did the right thing though, getting something for him while they could.

Keefe: I was the President of the No Second Wild Card Club the moment it became a possibility that Major League Baseball might institute a one-game playoff to decide a spot in the division series. My voice wasn’t heard as they went with the idea anyway and here we are in the third year of the playoff format where any team .500 or better is technically still in the race until the end of the season.

Now that the Yankees are no longer an annual lock to win the division or win what used to be the only wild card, I have started to come around on the second wild card because for them, especially this season, it might be their only way into the playoffs. I always said I don’t know if I could emotionally or physically handle a one-game playoff at the end of the season to get into the postseason, but this year I might find out.

You had to deal with the one-game playoff last year when your Indians played the Rays. What are your thoughts on the second wild card?

Lukehart: It’s funny how your favorite team’s circumstances can change your view on the second wild card, isn’t it? Last season I was happy about the second spot, because it seemed like it gave the Tribe a much better chance of reaching the postseason. Then they won their last 10 games of the regular season, and won the first wild card, and suddenly a bemoaning the existence of the second spot. “The Indians should be going straight to the ALDS!”

The wild card game’s merit will change year to year. In 2013, there were three teams all bunched together, and it made sense that they all still had a chance after 162 games. This year it looks like the Angels might be forced to play a do-or-doe game against a team with eight or nine fewer wins, which doesn’t seem so fair. I like that it places an increased value on winning the division, but I don’t like that it increases the chances that a team with a record barely above .500 might get into the playoffs.

As for the one-game nature of it, think of it as going straight to Game 7, which the Yankees have played their fair share of. If you can survive losing four straight to Boston in 2004, you can survive the wild-card game!

Blogs • Email Exchanges • Yankees

Aug 1, 2014

The Rivalry Continues to Unravel

The Yankees and Red Sox haven’t played a meaningful summer series in a while, so I decided to talk to Mike Hurley of CBS Boston about the fading rivalry.

On Friday morning on YES, the July 1, 2004 game between the Yankees and Red Sox was playing on Yankees Classics (otherwise known as the Derek Jeter-goes-diving-into-the-stands game). That game happened just over 10 years ago and I can still remember where I was when watching it, having attended the Yankees’ win over the Red Sox the night before. But as the rivalry half-heartedly coasts through another season, it makes me realize how far removed we are from the battles of 2003 and 2004, and even 2005, 2006 and 2007. If I wasn’t going to be at Fenway Park this weekend, there’s no chance that 10 years from now in 2024 I would remember where I was for an August Yankees-Red Sox game.

With the Yankees still fighting for a playoff berth and the Red Sox trading off nearly their entire team and completey changing their roster for the second time in two years, I emailed Mike Hurley of CBS Boston because that’s what I do when the Yankees and Red Sox play each other.

Keefe: Nine months ago the Red Sox completed the most improbable season in major sports history by winning a World Series they had no business winning. The real Impossible Dream season of 2013 was sandwiched between a 93-loss 2012 season and what might be another 93-loss season in 2014.

Aside from Jacoby Ellsbury signing with the Yankees and Jarrod Saltalamacchia signing with the Marlins (but who cares?) the Red Sox returned basically the same team, position-player wise in 2014 and the same rotation. But since last week the Red Sox have now traded Jake Peavy, Felix Doubront, Jon Lester, Jonny Gomes and John Lackey. All three pitchers responsible for the four wins in the World Series are gone.

Is this August 2012 all over again? Are the Red Sox going to hit a 16-team NFL parlay in 2015 and win the World Series again?

Hurley: Wow, a presumptuous Neil Keefe just fires off an email on trade deadline day and expects me to have the time to respond. So bold. So typically Neil.

The answer to your question is yes, obviously the Red Sox are going to win the World Series in 2015 behind Yoenis Cespedes and Joe Kelly. Don’t worry about the starting rotation — starting pitchers aren’t important! That’s the Red Sox’ new philosophy, I guess. Either that, or they really like their pitching prospects. We’ll see at least one of them this weekend against New York.

Keefe: To be honest, I didn’t think you would answer. I thought you would be too upset about the Red Sox trading off every player on their team including their 30-year-old, left-handed ace and franchise staple. Then I remembered that you don’t care about the Red Sox the way you used to and that’s because of the ownership group.

Sure, you make jokes from time to time about my love for Derek Jeter, but like we have talked about countless times, he has been the shortstop of the Yankees for basically our entire we-can-understand-baseball lives. The Red Sox don’t have that player. They haven’t had that player in a long, long time. For any Red Sox fan that’s a child to about mid-to-late 30s, they haven’t had that player. Roger Clemens left. Mo Vaughn left. Nomar was traded. The closest thing I guess would be David Ortiz, who started his career with the Twins, but Jon Lester had a chance to be that guy.

I don’t get why Lester and the Red Sox couldn’t come to an agreement and I’m guessing that it had to do with the team and not the player. The Red Sox were adamant about not wanting to pay pitchers who were 30-plus years of age, but when it came to their ace and a two-time World Series champion, you would think they would have made an exception. The Red Sox have a bajillion dollars and could have afforded to blow some money on a guy that helped bring them two titles in seven years. But money is also why they didn’t do because they know that even Lester were to be traded (which he was) and signs elsewhere in the winter, they are still going make money. People in Boston aren’t going to stop going to Red Sox games and buying merchandise and singing “Sweet Caroline” whether Lester is on the team or not. This ownership group has taken so many negative PR hits over the years and shrugged them off only to make more and more money and sell more and more Fenway Park bricks that they must have thought, “What’s another bad story about us?”

Please tell me you still have a soul and are upset that Lester isn’t going to be a lifetime Red Sox. Please don’t tell me some BS about how it’s a business and they got a good return for him.

Hurley: Well I think you’re wrong to say that Red Sox fans are going to keep filling Fenway Park and keep spending money by the buckets. It’s true that Fenway is still jammed full of idiots screaming “SWEET CAROLINE!!!” in the middle of the eighth inning when the Sox are getting trounced by a sorry-ass team like the Cubs. Yes, that happens. But what’s happened over the past few years is that the Red Sox are getting less and less cool.

You’re aware that I turned 21 in 2007, so I obviously started going to bars on a regular basis that year. You’ll also recall that the Red Sox won the World Series that year. The Red Sox were on top of the world. Everywhere you looked, the Red Sox were there — on hats, shirts, TVs, tattoos, everything. They owned the region.

From 2007-2011, you could not find one television in a bar NOT tuned to the Red Sox in the Boston area.

But in the past few years, I’ve been in a lot of bars and restaurants during Red Sox games, and the TV hasn’t been showing the game. It’s been showing random things — nothing, really — and nobody in the bar seems to care. This may seem like a small thing, but I think it’s pretty indicative of the Red Sox’ current state in the area. They’re just not hot anymore.

And, as you point out, they’re shipping away a guy who grew up with the organization, won two World Series, beat cancer and has simply been the man for the past nine years. All because they’re afraid he won’t be spectacular for six years? It’s pretty weak.

I understood why they let Ellsbury walk for big money last winter, and I understand the business decision to not take the risk on Lester. At the same time, if you don’t extend yourself for Lester, who on earth do you extend yourself for?

(Unless the Red Sox have a secret plan to sign him in the offseason, no matter what. If so, that would be nuts and hilarious and awesome.)

Keefe: I don’t think Jon Lester is going to sign back with the Red Sox as much as some delusional Red Sox fans do. The whole point of him extending his contract for a “hometown discount” would have been that he would remain a Red Sox for life. Now that he is with Oakland, the lifetime Red Sox part of the equation is gone and with him being an impending free agent, he is going to chase the money. Some team is going to offer him seven years (Hello, Yankees!) and when Jon Lester sees some $150-plus million deal starting him in the face he is going to take it. Let’s not forget that Lester is finishing up a five-year, $30 million deal and from 2009 through this season it’s taken him the same amount of time to earn nearly what CC Sabathia is this season to pitch horribly and then not pitch at all.

The best-case scenario for the Yankees was that Lester would end up with a team that has no intention of extending or re-signing him and that’s what happened. Instead of landing with the Dodgers or Cardinals, he’s in Oakland. So I want to thank the Red Sox for trading him there and not to a big-market team where he might have stayed.

You should come down to New York next season for his first start in the Bronx.

Hurley: I might do that. I like Jon Lester. That’s really rare for a baseball player, I feel. They’re all self-absorbed, rich-out-of-their-minds awful people, for the most part. Lester is a decent guy, the kind of person that makes you wonder what the hell he spends all that money on. I don’t see Lester cruising in a Ferrari during the offseasons, you know?

Any way, I’m glad you didn’t really ask me anything in that email, because I have an important topic I need to bring up here.

The New York Yankees. Big team, lots of fans, right? Lots of people care about the Yanks, safe to say? Large following? People want to see them win and everything? OK.

Then how in God’s name is everybody OK with having the Ghost of Derek Jeter play shortstop down the stretch while putting Stephen Drew at second base, a position that a trained monkey can play?

Derek Jeter is not as awful at shortstop as everyone in America likes to make him out to be, but he is still most definitely bad at it. He’s old, and he’s just gotten worse and worse at the position for the past seven years. Yet because he’s JEETS, and because of Re2pect, the Yankees are going to waste literally the only useful thing Stephen Drew can do on a baseball field? That’s insane.

You’re going to have a second baseman who hits .170. That’s solid. There weren’t any big-name second basemen on the free-agent market last winter, were there?

Keefe: I kind of sort of remember there being a big-name second baseman being available last winter. What was his name? Brian Roberts? Kelly Johnson? Ah, I forget it. It will come to me though.

The Yankees should have signed Robinson Cano for 10 years and $240 million. Who cares? I don’t. It’s not my money. Anyone who doesn’t have ownership in the Yankees shouldn’t care either. The Yankees are in the mix for the AL East despite having 80 percent of their Opening Day rotation on the disabled list and a middle of the order that is a disaster. WAR or math or science might suggest that even with Cano the Yankees wouldn’t be leading the division, but I know they would. Roberts and Johnson left every person on the base imaginable and played a collective horrible defense costing the Yankees several games. They should have signed Cano and worried about him sucking at the end of his deal later on. Instead we have Jacoby Ellsbury, who needs days off here and there and has given new meaning to the word “streaky” and Carlos Beltran, who might be softer than Mark Teixeira.

Derek Jeter should be playing shortstop over Drew because he’s Derek Jeter and I don’t care if mid-90s Omar Vizquel walks through the door, Derek Jeter is playing shortstop. Have some effing RE2PECT would you, Michael?

The Drews are like the Weavers to me in that I picture their family driving around in a station wagon yelling, “WHO RULES? DREW RULES! WHO RULES? DREW RULES! DREW RULES! DREW RULES!” like the O’Doyles in Billy Madison.

I’m not happy the Yankees got Drew and that they might re-sign him and he could be playing shortstop next season, but things could be worse. They could have traded for John Lackey.

Hurley: I legitimately laughed out loud at the DREW RULES scenario. It’s very likely the case.

I just feel like there is RE2PECT, and then there is stupid. And if you really RE2PECT Derek Jeter and want to send him out a champion, you should field the best team possible. That means Jeter gets penciled into the lineup with the letters “D” and “H” next to his name every night. To do otherwise is pretty delusional, to borrow a term from you.

I looked it up for you — Brian Roberts hit .242 with RISP. Johnson hit .280.

Do you know what Drew has hit with RISP? He’s hit .154, Neil. One-fifty-four. He also hit .111 last year in 16 playoff games.

So hey, enjoy Stephen Drew. I’m sure he’s going to be awesome.

Keefe: Well then it must have been my imagination that Brian Roberts and Kelly Johnson were as bad as they were, but I know they were. But thanks for sharing Drew’s average with RISP for me to make me feel even better about the Yankees’ trade deadline moves.

One of the biggest takeaways from deadline day was how ecstatic Red Sox fans were about Yoenis Cespedes coming to Boston. Unless I missed the news that Major League Baseball will no longer decide the season based on 162 actual games and will use Home Run Derby to determine the champion, I’m not sure failing to re-sign your 30-year-old left-handed ace and trading him for a .250 hitter who strikes out a lot, but can hit mammoth home runs is the best move, but hey, starting pitching in baseball isn’t that big of a deal. I also find it odd how many people were instantly fine with Lester being traded for a bat, considering what Lester meant to the team and the fact that Cespedes will be a free agent after 2015.

Yoenis Cespedes woke up on Thursday morning on the best team in Major League Baseball. Now he is on the worst team in the AL East with nothing to play for over the next two months.

Good times never seemed so good!

Hurley: Yeah, I mean, I think the initial excitement was based on the fact that:

A) Everyone knew Lester was getting traded, and
B) Everyone expected the Red Sox to simply receive a package of prospects in return.

To see the Sox get an established big league hitter who can mash, it provides some excitement. I don’t think anyone thought, “Holy crap, we got Cespedes! Next stop – championship!” I think it was more, “Holy hell, the Red Sox actually got someone I’ve heard of! And he doesn’t suck!”

Cespedes has more home runs this season than all Red Sox outfielders combined. (Even more if you factor in HR Derby dingers, like Jayson Stark did yesterday!) He provides the Red Sox with something they desperately need. If it works out this year, he’s someone they can sign long term to hit bombs. Or maybe they can move him down to Miami, where he’ll be the biggest star in the history of Miami, for Giancarlo Stanton, or something wild like that. You never know. There’s reason to be excited for Cespedes, even though none of it has to do with being competitive at all this year.

Me personally, I was pissed off that they got Cespedes. There I was, ready to see everyone traded away and ready to see tickets for the next two months become cheaper than dirt. (I bought tickets in April for $3. THREE DOLLARS!) I was so ready for a summer like 2012 again, where the stands are filled almost entirely with just baseball fans and not yahoos who think going to the ballgame is cool. Alas, adding Cespedes should keep people interested for a few extra weeks, and I might not get my cheap seats until mid-September. These are the things I care about.