Keefe To The City

Sep 13, 2021

Yankees Thoughts: Gleyber Torres Will Never Again Be Team’s Everyday Shortstop

Thanks to a monumental collapse since their 13-game winning streak, The Yankees now need to win nearly all of their remaining 18 games to reach the postseason. If they don’t, changes are coming. Some of the changes have already come.

Thanks to a monumental collapse since their 13-game winning streak, The Yankees now need to win nearly all of their remaining 18 games to reach the postseason. If they don’t, changes are coming. Some of the changes have already come.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.

1. After their’ 8-2 win over the A’s on August 27, the Yankees were 76-52. To get to 96 wins, which would put them in a great position to win the AL East (and also win my preseason over 95.5-win wager), the Yankees only needed to go 20-14 in their remaining 34 games. They have gone 4-12.

It’s been an explicable 16 games since the 13th win of the 13-game winning streak. The Yankees lost two of three to the Angels, lost two of three to the Orioles, got swept in a four-game series at Yankee Stadium and then lost two of three to the Mets. The collapse has been an embarrassment and it has seen the Yankees go from holding the first wild-card spot to being out of the playoff picture and now chasing both the Red Sox and Blue Jays.

2. In the collapse, Chad Green has pitched in six games, allowing runs in four of them and home runs in three of them. Green is the last person I want to see in a big spot, but the problem is there is no one else. Jonathan Loaisiga is injured, Zack Britton is out for this season and likely all of next season. Darren O’Day’s season ended after 12 appearances. Justin Wilson and Luis Cessa are in Cincinnati. To me, Clay Holmes is the best available Yankees reliever, and after him, there’s no one I trust.

Green’s knack for allowing home runs in high-leverage situations has been unbelievable. His season has been a collection of giving up home runs in high-leverage spots and blowing late leads. The Astros’ two wins against the Yankees this season came after Green gave up a three-run home run to Jose Altuve in both games and it was Green who had the post-All-Star break meltdown in Boston to blow a two-run, ninth-inning lead. The home run he allowed on August 29 in Oakland turned a 1-1 game into a 3-1 deficit. The home run he allowed on Saturday at Citi Field turned a 5-4 lead into a 6-5 deficit. The home run he allowed on Sunday at Citi Field turned a 6-6 game into a 7-6 deficit. Green has now allowed 15 home runs in 59 games and 74 innings. He allowed 13 home runs in 144 2/3 innings in 2017 and 2018 combined.

With limited options and no real trustworthy options, Green is going to continue to see high-leverage situations over the remaining 18 games. The Yankees’ season will likely hinge on whether or not he can revert back to his old self.

3. Green isn’t the only one who needs to revert back to his old self. Gleyber Torres’ error on Sunday in the series finale against the Mets was apparently the final straw for him as shortstop. After sitting by and watching Torres boot routine play after routine play both last season and this season, Boone finally announced Torres would be playing second base indefinitely. It’s good Boone and the front office are willing to improve the most important position in the infield, however, it’s likely too late for the change as the Yankees’ postseason chances are no longer great. By accommodating Torres (whose bat isn’t good enough to make accommodations for) it’s screwing up the rest of the infield.

Torres playing second means DJ LeMahieu isn’t. LeMahieu is a three-time Gold Glove-winning second baseman who will now play third base, a position he had never played prior to joining the Yankees. It also means Gio Urshela, who never played shortstop in the majors prior to this season will now play shortstop. So by improving the defense at short, the Yankees have downgraded their defense at both second and third. Again, this is to accommodate Torres, who isn’t nearly good enough to be getting this kind of accomodation. It would be in the Yankees’ best interest to not play Torres rather than shuffle 75 percent of the infield to keep him in the lineup.

4. Two years ago, Torres looked like he would be the team’s best player in the near future and the most important player on the team for years to come as a 22-year-old, superstar middle infielder. Instead, in his last 602 plate appearances, he has 10 home runs and a .688 OPS.

I would be ready for the Yankees to move on except for his value being so low. But maybe his value will never recover. Maybe the Yankees holding out hope he will return to the player he was in 2018 and 2019 or hoping his stock will rise, so they can move him will only hurt the team in 2022 and for however long they continue to play him.

5. The Yankees made it clear Torres is no longer the shortstop of the future for them when they reportedly tried to trade for Trevor Story in July. Now, needing to win every game down the stretch, the Yankees have decided to move Torres off of shortstop and to a position he hasn’t played since the 2019 ALCS. His time as the Yankees’ everyday shortstop is over. With the Yankees’ top prospect (Anthony Volpe) being a shortstop, as well as their No. 3 prospect (Oswald Peraza), I don’t see them going out and signing Story or Corey Seager or Carlos Correa to a long-term contract. But they are going to have to do something. They can’t go into 2022 planning on Torres being their everyday shortstop, and I don’t think they’re even considering it.

6. The Yankees won for just the fourth time in their last 16 games on Monday, overcoming a 5-0 deficit to beat the Twins 6-5 on a Gary Sanchez walk-off hit. The comeback was made possible thanks to a Judge game-tying, three-run home run in the eighth inning.

The Yankees have had a knack for hitting a late-inning, game-tying home run during the collapse. The problem is they usually don’t take the lead after tying the game with a big home run. In Anaheim, it was Stanton who tied the game at 7 with a two-run home run in the seventh before the Yankees lost 8-7. Against the Orioles, it was Joey Gallo tying the game at 3 in the eighth before the Yankees lost 4-3. Against the Blue Jays, it was Brett Gardner with a game-tying, three-run home run on Wednesday and Anthony Rizzo with a game-tying, two-run home run on Thursday, both coming in Yankees losses. On Sunday, it was Stanton again with a game-tying, two-run home run against the Mets in an eventual Yankees loss. (Only once during the collapse did the Yankees hit a late, game-tying home run and go on to win: Saturday against the Mets.)

7. The Stanton home run created a bench-clearing argument between the Yankees and Mets after Stanton stopped rounding the bases to have words with Francisco Lindor, who earlier in the game had words for the Yankees dugout while rounding the bases on a home run. Nothing came of the Stanton and Lindor exchange other than a bunch of yelling and hand gestures. It seemed like a moment that could lead the Yankees to a much-needed win and potentially serve as the starting point for a late-season run to the postseason. Instead, Lindor answered Stanton’s home run with his third home run of the game. When Stanton came up with two outs in the ninth and had the tying run at third and go-ahead run at second, he popped up to Lindor to end the game.

8. When these Yankees chirp their opponent, it never ends well.

After the Yankees won Game 2 of the 2018 ALDS in Boston, Aaron Judge walked through Fenway Park with a boom box blaring “New York, New York.” The Yankees followed that up with the worst home postseason loss in franchise history in Game 3 and were eliminated in Game 4, while the Red Sox went on to win the World Series, playing “New York, New York” in their clubhouse after each win.

Earlier this season in Houston, Judge mimicked Jose Altuve clutching his jersey on his way to home plate after his walk-off home run against the Yankees in the 2019 ALCS (the moment that cerated the Astros’ buzzer controversy). In the series finale, Altuve got the last laugh, like he always seems to go against the Yankees, hitting a three-run, walk-off home run to cap a six-run ninth in the final game of the first half.

Then there was Sunday with Lindor, who like Altuve, got the last laugh.

9. The only way for the Yankees to get the last laugh in 2021 is to win nearly all of their remaining 18 games. If they do so, they will have a chance to go on a revenge tour throughout the postseason. Either they will outlast Boston for a wild-card berth and end their season or have the opportunity to eliminate them in the wild-card game. If they win the wild-card game, they will have the chance to avenge their 2020 ALDS loss to the Rays in the 2021 ALDS. After that, they could see the Astros in the ALCS and repay the Astros for the 2017 and 2019 ALCS. The only way for this happen is for the Yankees to win each series from here on out and it might take even more than that.

10. The Blue Jays’ schedule is so easy the rest of the way. Ten of their remaining 19 games are against the Twins (7) and Orioles (3). The Red Sox’ schedule is also very easy. Nine of their remaining 17 games are against the Orioles (6) and Nationals (3).

The Yankees are in a bad spot. A very bad spot. That’s what happens when you lose the season series to the Angels and Mets, can’t beat the Orioles and get swept at home in a four-game series by the team chasing you. They now have 18 games left to avoid completing a collapse, which should result in vast organizational changes.

Subscribe to the Keefe To The City Podcast. New episode after every game during the season.

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

Giants • Giants Podcast • Podcasts

Sep 13, 2021

Giants Podcast: Week 1 Beat Down by Broncos

The Giants lost to the Broncos 27-13 and have once again started a season 0-1 after an embarrassing performance.

It didn’t feel like football season on Sunday until the Giants lost. A Giants season-opening loss is as “It’s football season” as it gets. The Giants lost to the Broncos 27-13, needing a time-expiring touchdown, the ultimate garbage-time touchdown to avoid scoring in single digits.

Nick Falato of the Big Blue Banter podcast joined me to break down the Giants’ loss to the Broncos and what expectations are going to Washington on a short week.

Subscribe to the Keefe To The City Podcast. New Giants episode every Friday and after every game during the season.

Giants • Giants Podcast • Podcasts

Sep 10, 2021

Giants Podcast: Home Underdog to Broncos in Week 1

Giants football is back! I don’t know if that’s necessarily a good thing, but it’s back with the Giants hosting the Broncos.

Giants football is back! I don’t know if that’s necessarily a good thing, but it’s back nonetheless. Relative to the rest of their schedule, the Giants have a comfortable matchup at home against the Broncos, even if the Giants are a home underdog in the season opener.

Ian St. Clair of Mile High Report Radio and Play Colorado joined me to talk about the Broncos and their expectations this season and the Giants being a 3-point underdog at home in Week 1.

Subscribe to the Keefe To The City Podcast. New Giants episode every Friday and after every game during the season.

Podcasts • Yankees • Yankees Podcast

Sep 10, 2021

Yankees Podcast: Worst Lineup Aaron Boone Has Ever Created

Despite there only being 22 games left in the season, it doesn’t seem like Aaron Boone is trying to win.

The Yankee are tied in the loss column with the Blue Jays for the final playoff spot in the American League. The Yankees have lost nine of their last 11 games and six in a row, losing seven games of ground on the Blue Jays in the last 10. Despite this and despite there only being 22 games left in the season, it doesn’t seem like Aaron Boone is trying to win.

Subscribe to the Keefe To The City Podcast. New episode after every game during the season.

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

Blogs • Giants

Sep 10, 2021

This Giants Season Needs to Be Different

This Giants season needs to be different. It has to be different. If it’s not, it will mean the end of Daniel Jones as a Giant.

I went into the 2020 Giants season wanting things to be different. Deep down, I didn’t actually think they would be, but I just really wanted a football season. Not a season that’s over when there are still leaves on the trees in the Northeast, and not a season that ends before the Major League Baseball postseason begins. I wanted what I have had twice in the last nine years, and that’s a football season that carries into December. I wanted something I have had once in the last nine years: a Giants postseason game.

The Giants kicked off their 2020 season as I was entering my 16th consecutive hour sitting in a hospital chair waiting for my wife to give birth. Just as the game and the season were starting, it was time for the baby to come out.

Five or six hours later, I’m not sure exactly what time it was, other than that it was the early hours of Tuesday, Sept. 15, I was sitting in the dark eating saltine and graham crackers and chugging water out of Dixie cups like I was Tom Hanks’ character in Castaway returning home, not having seen food in a very long time. The hospital cafeteria was closed and my only options were to either wait a few more hours for breakfast before crushing the hospital’s surprisingly exceptional French toast or to try to make a meal out of the airplane-like snacks the nurse was able to gather for me.

I wasn’t tired, and with the blinds drawn in the room, without a clock I would have had no way of knowing what time of day, or even what day it was, as if I had been in trapped in a casino. The last nearly 24 hours were a blur. I had been up for nearly all of them. It was now early Tuesday morning, and I had essentially been up since Sunday morning.

On Sunday afternoon, during the Week 1 “Witching Hour” of the 1 p.m. games and right as the 4 p.m. slate was about to begin, we were instructed to go the hospital as it appeared as though my wife was in labor. We raced to the hospital, I dropped my wife off at the entrance and then while flying around the parking lot looking for an empty space, of which there was one, I tried to force my car into a into a very tight window, like an inexcusable Daniel Jones throw, and hit the car to my right. The car ended up belonging to my wife’s delivery nurse who couldn’t have been nicer about the incident, and a few weeks later, it was resolved for only $250, which I likely would have lost anyway on the 4 p.m. games if I hadn’t been in transit to the hospital as they were being played.

My wife wasn’t going to be admitted until they ran some tests, and because she had yet to be admitted, under COVID precautions, I couldn’t enter the hospital until she was admitted. The woman in the hospital lobby told me I could wait outside. So I did that, pacing the sidewalk for 30 minutes before going to the car. I ended up spending the next four-and-a-half hours in the car (good thing I didn’t “wait just outside the door” like the hospital front desk woman suggested), before it was determined my wife was in very early labor, but wasn’t far enough along to admit her.

We got back home at 9 p.m. and by midnight the contractions started to pick up. I spent the next three hours meticulously timing them as if I were the one holding the stopwatch at the NFL Combine, and around 3 a.m., it was back to the hospital. By 4 a.m., we were in the delivery room. They had my wife doing squats on a exercise ball, while I sat in the corner trying not to suffer the same type of back injury Aaron Hicks would have if he had had to sit in that same chair for as long as I did.

Fast forward nearly 24 hours and there I was sitting in the dark in a slightly upgraded hospital chair. Despite being in the previous chair which made a Metro North seat seem like the recliners Joey and Chandler had in their apartment for upwards of 16 hours, I had avoided the type of back injury Hicks had suffered from a 27-minute spring training coach bus ride that kept him out for nearly three months of the 2019 Yankees season. I tried to quietly chew and crunch on my packets of crackers while my wife slept in an enormous and luxurious-looking hospital bed (which I would find my way into for a few quicks naps over the next two days), and next to her, our newborn son was out cold, swaddled tightly with a winter hat on, somehow full off less than a shot of Similac. I curled up in my folding chair bed to watch Giants-Steelers, which I had recorded.

The Giants lost. They could have won, and should have won, but they didn’t, in what has become the never-ending theme with the franchise for just about an entire decade. They couldn’t punch it in on first-and-goal from the 3 after a Steelers’ muffed punt in the first quarter, then with a seven-point lead and a chance to make it a two-score game, Jones threw an interception, and later in the game, while trailing, with a chance to take the lead back, Jones threw another essentially game-ending interception. It was the type of loss that led ownership to inexplicably move on from Tom Coughlin, got Ben McAdoo fired midseason and ran Pat Shurmur out of town after two atrocious seasons. On their fourth head coach in six seasons, the Joe Judge era was starting the same way the previous three had their eras end. A head coach I finally liked or wanted to like was overseeing yet another 0-1 start to the season, while Jones, who I was against the Giants drafting and have remained against, ruined yet another game.

Six days later, the Giants lost in Chicago by four points and lost their best player for the season. 0-2. A week after that they were blown out by the defending NFC champions by 27 points. 0-3. A week after only managing to score nine points at home against the 49ers, the Giants scored nine points for the second straight week in a loss in Los Angeles to the Rams.

The Giants were 0-4 and I couldn’t have cared less about them. I desperately wanted things to be different under Judge and I wanted things to be different knowing for the foreseeable future my family’s life would indefinitely be spent at home with only occasional and necessary trips out of the house. Once the Yankees season would end (and it ended early again), I knew the 2020-2021 NHL season might not start on the planned Jan. 1 date and might never start at all. I was relying on the Giants to provide a sports world escape and the only source of entertainment that didn’t require wiping spit-up or newborn poop, and instead, they were the laughingstock of the NFL, having become the worst team in the league over the last four seasons. I decided, like in recent seasons, I would watch the games with no actual emotional or monetary investment in them. My only reason for watching them had become wanting everyone to progress other than the quarterback to progress, so that maybe by spring 2021 they would have another general manager and another quarterback.

At 1-7, the Giants put together a four-game winning streak to “save” the season, highlighted by a road win in Seattle with Colt McCoy as the Giants’ starting quarterback. The winning streak and upset of the Seahawks reeled Giants fans back into believing they could win the NFC East. Some team had to win this embarrassing NFC East, why couldn’t it be the Giants?

After that four-game winning streak, I wrote:

I’m fully prepared to have my dream of Giants postseason football crushed. That’s what the Giants do. And if they are to go 1-3 or 0-4 between now and Week 17, it won’t surprise me. I won’t be upset with them. That’s who they are. I’ll be upset with myself for caring about them again this season when I should have known better.

I did know better. I wrote exactly what would happen, and despite predicting how the Giants’ season would finish, I still let them suck me back in only to crush me. After the four-game winning streak, the Giants lost three straight before winning what ended up being a meaningless win in Week 17 over the Cowboys only to have the Eagles throw their Week 17 game against Washington. Unlike many, I wasn’t upset with the Eagles for purposely losing a winnable game. The Giants had lost 10 regular-season games, blowing leads in many of them. Win one of those 10 games and they wouldn’t have had to rely on their rival to win a game for them.

So the 2020 season ended wasn’t different. It ended the way every season but one in the last nine years has ended: postseason-less.

This season needs to be different. It has to be different. If it’s not, it will mean the end of Jones as a Giant, the sixth overall pick in 2019 was wasted and these last three years were nothing other than a waste. It will be back to the beginning of yet another “rebuild” and it will undoubtedly happen with a new general manager. It won’t necessarily mean the end for Judge as he’s not tied to Gettleman or Jones, but it certainly won’t be good for his future with the team if the team is essentially no better results-wise than where they were when McAdoo and Shurmur were fired.

This Giants season needs to be different even if expectations are that it won’t be.

Subscribe to the Keefe To The City Podcast. New Giants episode every Friday and after every game during the season.