Keefe To The City

Aug 2, 2018

Yankees Need a Miracle to Catch Red Sox

The Yankees trail by four in the loss column and if they don’t make up ground this weekend, it’s back to the wild-card game.

This October will be 14 years since the Yankees and Red Sox last met in the postseason. It looks like that drought won’t reach 15 years as the rivals are headed for a best-of-5 matchup in the ALDS if the AL East runner-up can win the AL Wild-Card Game. The problem is that as of now the Yankees are the team headed for the one-game playoff.

The Yankees are in trouble. Their poor play against the league’s worst team has them trailing the Red Sox by four games in the loss column (the only number that matters) entering a four-game series in Boston this weekend. They have 10 games left against the Red Sox, so they technically control their own destiny, but it’s going to take a lot of winning in August and September.

It’s been a while since I have done an email exchange with longtime “friend” Michael Hurley of CBS Boston for a Yankees-Red sox series. But with the two meeting for a big series this weekend I thought now was as good of a time as any to bother him.

Keefe: Michael, it’s been a long time. A very long time. So long I can’t even remember the last time we did one of these. All I know is the last time we did one of these and the many times before that, none of them came in August with a meaningful series between the two teams. Usually by now, one of the two has run away with the division, and it’s just another boring Yankees-Red Sox weekend. But not this time. Not this August. This August we have a four-game series with the division actually on the line.

The Yankees head to Boston trailing the Red Sox by four games in the loss column, and they head there without Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez and with Didi Gregorius batting third and Aaron Hicks batting fourth and the idiot that is Aaron Boone waiting to put together illogical lineups and make ridiculous in-game decisions. They also might be without J.A. Happ, who they traded for specifically because of his success against the Red Sox, but he contracted hand, foot and mouth disease, which I thought was something that was last present when the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock. The Red Sox will be without Chris Sale and possibly without Xander Boegarts, Brian Johnson will open the series for them, and former Yankee and Yankees fan whipping boy Nathan Eovaldi will see his old team.

Some of the rivalry’s biggest names will be missing this weekend, but unfortunately, both Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez will be playing. The duo has become what I thought Judge and Giancarlo Stanton could be (and Sanchez too, but Boone has refrained from ever stacking the three together, opting to divide them up with the big bats of Gregorius and Hicks). I believe when both teams are 100 percent healthy that the Yankees are the better team top to bottom and I think we will see that if Betts and Martinez ever come back to earth.

They might not hit back-to-back, but the two seem to be this Red Sox team’s version of David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. Maybe even better?

Hurley: It has been a long time. Maybe we’re being forgetful but it does feel like there hasn’t been this much intrigue on the Red Sox and Yankees in August for a long time. Don’t check the records on that.

Betts and Martinez are statistically like Ortiz and Ramirez, sure. But they’re also not at all like Ortiz and Ramirez. That era is over, and I know that if you’re like me, it’s tough to adjust. I prefer the early-2000s game much better than whatever is going on now. And for as great as Betts is and as great as Martinez has been — and even, say, how good Mike Trout is on a regular basis — there’s just something to be missed about having massive power hitters filling slots 3-7 in a lineup every night. Steroid Era for life.

I mean, you’ve told a million stories in your life, but the one you’ve probably shared the most was how you sat in Fenway for Game 5 (?) of the ALCS, whizzing down your leg as you watched the little asterisk on the Sox’ lineup board make its way back around to Ortiz and Ramirez. For as good as Betts and Martinez are, I don’t think you’ll ever feel that way about them, right?

It does kind of feel like we’re all getting robbed a little bit by this four-game series. A month ago this looked like it’d be a showdown of two teams tied for first place. Maybe some leftover feelings from Tyler Austin’s insane overreaction to spiking someone would surface. But instead the Red Sox lead by 5.5, Chris Sale was put on the DL even though this series was upcoming, Aaron Judge broke his wrist, Xander Bogaerts probably won’t play, and as you said, there will be Brian Johnson be and Nathan Eovaldi starts. Kind of a thud of a four-game series.

It kind of feels like the only way this series can bring some excitement will be if the Yankees can pull a 2006 and rip off a jumbo series sweep. But we all know that was a once-in-a-lifetime event. The Red Sox and Yankees are destined to split every series and every season series for the rest of our lives.

Keefe: Ah, the 2006 five-game sweep. What a glorious weekend that was. Now all I can think about is how the Yankees didn’t win the World Series that season against the weakest playoff field of all time. Instead they lost to the Tigers in four games, despite having this lineup:

Johnny Damon, CF
Derek Jeter, SS
Bobby Abreu, RF
Gary Sheffield, 1B
Jason Giambi, DH
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Hideki Matsui, LF
Jorge Posada, C
Robinson Cano, 2B

The team was so stacked they had to play Sheffield at FIRST BASE, A-Rod was batting SIXTH and Robinson Cano batted NINTH despite hitting .342 in the regular season. I guess pitching matters in the postseason, and you can’t expect a 42-year-old Randy Johnson and Jared Wright to win playoff games for you. Good job by Brian Cashman not addressing that need that season.

But you’re right about the lineups. Those 2003-2005 Yankees and Red Sox lineups ridiculous. We now know why they were so ridiculous, and unfortunately, that era of baseball is gone because performance-enhancing drugs are bad! So bad in fact that if you’re suspended for using them you can’t play in the postseason, but if you’re suspended for domestic violence, you’re cleared for October! Major League Baseball is great.

Another great decision of Major League Baseball’s is your favorite topic: the wild-card game. Most likely, the Yankees are headed to that game for the third time in four seasons. The previous two times (2015 and 2017), they would have advanced to the ALDS in the old format, but instead played nine playoff innings one time and catapulted to the ALCS the other time. This time will be the biggest atrocity of them all.

The Yankees are on pace to win 104 games, and will then play the Mariners or A’s in ONE GAME to determine if they advance to the ALDS. They will burn Luis Severino in that game in order to advance and then face the Red Sox in a five-game series in which their best starting pitcher will only pitch once.

But hey, “Win your division!” is what everyone says.

Hurley: You’re probably the only person on earth who feels similarly about the one-game playoff as I do. (Except for when the Yankees benefited as the second wild card that one time. I know you enjoyed that. Briefly.)

At this point I’ve basically given up the fight. People just don’t care about what’s fair or reasonable, and there will always be the reply of “JUST WIN YER DIVIZION!” even when one division has a pair of 100-game winners and another division *cough AL Central* is straight butt. Just pure buttock. The Twins are in second place in the AL Central. They’re 11 games under .500. The Rays are two games over .500 and yet are 19.5 games out of first place in the East. BUT JUST WIN YOUR DIVISION AND STOP YOUR WHINING!

The Indians can win the AL Central if they start their relievers and pick their positions out of a hat every inning.

What I’ve come to terms with is the fact that baseball has always been a little unfair. Back when only one team “won” the AL and made the World Series, that likely wasted the efforts of a great 104-win team or two, without even giving them a chance. Before the wild card was introduced in ’94, some good teams were probably left out of the postseason field. Fine. Whatever.

Doesn’t change the fact that MLB using ONE GAME — nine innings — to determine anything of substance is insane. Maybe I’ve done this with you before, but in case I haven’t, here’s the percentage of the regular season accounted for in the first round of each league’s playoffs:

NFL (1 game; 16-game regular season): 6.25%

NBA/NBA (4-7 games; 82-game regular season: Between 4.88% and 8.54%

MLB (1 game; 162-game regular season): 0.6%

Zero-point-six percent! Makes sense.

Anyways, that’s only part of the idiocy this year. Because this year, as every year, the winner of the wild-card game will play the best team in the league. Let’s assume the current standings hold, and let’s assume that the Yankees beat the Mariners. The Yankees will then have to face the Red Sox in a five-game ALDS. The Indians (sixth-best record in the AL) will get the Astros (6.5 games worse than the Red Sox) in the ALDS.

Why on God’s green earth would you want the teams with the two best records to face each other in a five-game ALDS? Why, Neil? Why?

It was idiotic before when divisional opponents couldn’t meet in the ALDS. It’s idiotic now that there’s nothing to prevent the two best teams from playing each other in the ALDS.

Why are there only idiots in charge of these things? Why? Why? Why?

I’m mad now.

Keefe: I wish I knew the answer. But we’re talking about a league in which half of its teams have the pitchers hit and the other half do. It doesn’t matter that some pitchers haven’t had to hit since they were in high school and some even longer than that. What other professional sport asks its players to do something they aren’t a professional at? Major League hitters have a hard enough time hitting Major League pitching, but pitchers are supposed to be able to?

I know one pitcher who Major League hitters, most importantly, the Yankees, don’t have a problem hitting: David Price.

In April, Price lasted one inning, allowing four earned runs on three hits and two walks against the Yankees. During the May series, I jokingly tweeted that the Red Sox would announce Price wouldn’t make his scheduled start against the Yankees because he was too scared to face them. Sure enough, he was scratched from his start due to a video game-related injury. In July, he faced them again, allowing eight earned runs on nine hits, including five home runs, in 3 1/3 innings.

I’m waiting for the announcement that Price has a mysterious injury or an excuse to arise so he can miss his start on Sunday night. Maybe he will hurt his hand playing video games again. Maybe he will text Alex Cora from his couch and say he is stuck in an elevator. Maybe he will hold a thermometer up to the light in the trainer’s room before the game or make himself throw up so it seems like he has the flu. I have a hard time believing he will actually take the mound on Sunday Night Baseball, especially if the game means what it ccould potentially mean.

The Red Sox gave Price $217 million not knowing if he could handle Boston or win in the postseason, and he hasn’t been able to do either. I wouldn’t say his tenure has gone as bad as Carl Crawford’s, but it’s right there. Price just needs to blog about how the Boston media is mean to him.

With his poor performance, his elbow seemingly on the brink of tearing over the last two seasons, and $127 million owed to him from 2019-2022, I feel like Price is basically going to have to stay healthy and be Curt Schilling in the 2001 postseason to change his image.

Hurley: Wow, sounds like somebody in this conversation has weasled his way out of a junior hockey game or two with a little tomfoolery. Not surprising.

I’m actually in the middle of writing now why Price has a lot to prove on Sunday night. Not that I think he will actually prove it, or that one start can really “prove” anything grand, but he at least has the opportunity to do something somewhat positive against the Yankees. It definitely has all the makings of a potential disaster. Can you imagine if the Yankees take the first three games and the Red Sox put all their eggs into David Price’s basket to prevent the division lead from dropping to 1.5 games? That would qualify as must-see TV.

But one thing you overlooked in all of that (credit to you for not overlooking the video game injury) is that Price has got to be furiously refreshing his weather app all week long here in Boston. The weather on Saturday looks dicey. I don’t know how much it’s going to rain, but it is supposed to rain. And with a 4 p.m. scheduled start time, the teams lose three hours they otherwise could have waited to start the game. And we know that the Yankees will refuse to start any game after, I don’t know, 8 o’clock, or they’ll have to start boycotting ESPN or whatever it is they do when they lose out on some sleep and rest. (Very nice homage to Adrian Gonzalez by the Yankees this year, I will give them that.) So Price may be sitting inside his 8-billion-dollar condo right now doing some sort of rain dance, hoping against hope that Saturday’s game gets rained out and he can get pushed back a day. After the last Sunday night outing against the Yankees, I can’t imagine he wants anything to do with that game.

I actually wouldn’t mind that happening, just to see the Yankees react to having to potentially play another double-header this season. You’ve just got to feel terrible for those guys, you know? Poor babies.

On Price, one last thought: This might qualify as a crazy HOT TAKE or whatever, but I don’t consider it out of the realm of possibility at all that Price still opts out of his contract at the end of this season, knowing he won’t get nearly the $127 million left on his current deal. The guy just seems M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-E here, and I don’t ever see it getting better. I just don’t. He signed this deal with the idea of opting out like Sabathia or A-Rod and somehow making even more money. Last offseason’s dry market obviously changed that, as did Price’s “unique” elbow situation, as has his 3.77 ERA in Boston, as have his outbursts at the media, etc. etc. etc. If he becomes a free agent this winter at age 33, he’ll be lucky to find a two-year deal that will pay him $30 million total. But he’s already made $144 million, and aside from owning a random Batmobile, he seems like a gym shorts and T-shirt kind of guy.

What I’m saying is, David Price, future Atlanta Brave. Book it now. (Please.)

Keefe: That’s actually a very reasonable and intelligent theory. I’m surprised it came from you. I could easily see him being a Brave and pitching to a 2.50 ERA in the NL East.

So with the Red Sox sitting at 75-34 with the best record in baseball, what are people in Boston mad about? Here, the Yankees might be 68-38 with the second-best record in baseball and would be winning any other division other than the AL East, but because they are trailing the Red Sox and moving closer and closer to the wild-card game it feels like they are a .500 team.

Injuries have prevented the Yankees from having their entire lineup for even a single month of the season, and that coupled with Boone’s lineup decisions and in-game management, has given Yankees fans enough reason to complain. But no storyline has drawn more attention than Sonny Gray.

On Wednesday, Gray made Yankees history by becoming the first Yankee ever to allow five or more earned runs in less than four innings for the sixth time in a season. The Yankees are now 10–11 when Gray stars and 58-27 when he doesn’t. He has single-handedly put the Yankees in their current hole in the division.

The Red Sox don’t have a Sonny Gray, but there must be something Red Sox fans are complaining about. This is a fan base that was upset after the team’s 2005 ALDS loss despite what happened the year before.

Hurley: I actually laughed out loud when I heard that Sonny Gray became the first person to do that six times in a season “since earned runs began being kept as a statistic.” What a brutal low blow that was by whoever worded that.

In Boston, people aren’t “mad,” per se. It’s kind of weird. When I was growing up, everyone in Boston was sharply negative and critical toward the team. Rightly so; they always blew it or were terrible. But since they’ve won their titles, that sort of nasty side of the fan base has really dissipated. It’s sad. Going to Fenway now feels like going to Disney Land. Everything is just so wonderful!

The most negative things you can find these days are basically A) David Price and B) nobody gives a rat’s patoot about the regular season anymore. Even with Price, there are large swaths of fans who fight back against any negative coverage of him, because … I don’t know? The guy has given no effort to even pretend to care about anyone else, but … I don’t know. But sure, I think a lot of Red Sox fans in a perfect world would like to see Price give up 8 runs in 1 inning but still have the Red Sox win the game. That surprisingly doesn’t happen too often.

The regular season thing is legitimate, and this year it’s bolstered by the fact that so many baseball teams FREAKING STINK. The Red Sox are 51-11 against the Orioles, Rays, Blue Jays, Royals, Angels, Marlins, Rangers and Nationals. The average record of those bum-ass teams is 46-62. That gets a big old whoopity-do from the fan base. And I don’t really blame them.

The Red Sox won 93 games in 2016, won the division, and got swept by Cleveland. The Red Sox won 93 games last year, winning back to back AL East titles for the first time ever, then lost to Houston in four games. Granted, those were obviously two powerhouses that they ran into, but the point is that nobody’s getting overly thrilled about regular-season success right now.

It’s kind of funny because the Red Sox are on pace to win 111 games. The most they’ve ever won in a season is 105. They haven’t won 100 or more games in a season since 1946. 1946! Here they, potentially becoming one of like six or seven teams to ever win 110-plus games, and everyone here is just kind of like, ” …. cool. The bullpen still STINKS before Kimbrel. Good luck in October.”

In that sense, I kind of respect the way people are looking at it. Maybe it’s the glut of championships in the city combined with the Red Sox’ postseason flops in recent years that just has everybody waiting for a series victory before really getting excited about this team.

Keefe: CC Sabathia has a podcast and he has his teammates as guests on it and a lot of times they talk about potentially winning the World Series. Recently, Boone was a guest on it and he talked about being annoyed that the Red Sox keep winning, but not being worried because the Yankees need to take care of their own business, which they haven’t. Sabathia has said he isn’t worried about the Yankees’ division deficit because the Yankees play the Red Sox 10 more times. This happy-go-lucky sentiment has been echoed through the Yankees fan base by fools.

Let’s go to my favorite math game. The Red Sox gave played .688 baseball for 109 games. Let’s say they play one game over .500 for the rest of the season and go 27-26. They would finish at 102-60. The Yankees would have to go 34-22 just to tie them, which isn’t crazy, but it’s crazy to think the Red Sox will suddenly become a .509 team.

If that doesn’t wake up Yankees fans, who think everything Boone and Brian Cashman does is right, then maybe this will.

The Yankees and Red Sox have 10 games remaining. Seven of those 10 are in Boston. Going off CC’s plan of beating Boston to erase the deficit, the Yankees would have to go 7-3 in those 10 games to even the loss column and then win three other games without losing one. If the Yankees don’t win the division, but do win the wild-card game, they would see the Red Sox again in a five-game series with Games 1 and 2 in Boston, and also Game 5, is necessary. So if the Yankees don’t win the division, and an ALDS between the two goes five games, 10 of the 15 games between the two will be played in Boston.

A four-game difference in the loss column right now might not seem like a lot to some overly-positive Yankees fans, who can’t do simple math, but it’s a big deal. Even if the Yankees were to split the series this weekend and leave Boston still four games back, well that’s four more games off the schedule with the Red Sox not losing any ground. Unless he Red Sox give us a 2006 or 2011 collapse, the Yankees are going to have to win at least three games this weekend. It’s going to take a miracle for that to happen.

Hurley: Do you ever sleep? With that level of panic and worry, I’m guessing no. I picture you in front of a corkboard, the ashes of a Camel hanging off your lower lip, your 37th cup of coffee getting cold on the desk, as you connect strings to all the different potential timelines that might develop and then doing the accompanying math. It’s kind of funny. Not that you’re wrong. But it is funny.

I guess through the course of this conversation we’ve been reminded that despite our great many differences (for example, you are a dirtbag and I am a kind fellow; I am exceptional at Wiffle Ball (Editor’s Note: I made one bad pitch to him out of thousands in my career) and you are dreadful; and so on and so forth) we really have similar baseball philosophies. Namely we understand that those who value games in August and September more than games in April and May are crazy and wrong.

I do think the 2011 Red Sox collapse does leave open the door for the Yankees. Plus, who knows if Sale’s injury actually becomes an issue? And if, say, Kimbrel blows out his shoulder, the Sox are in trouble. If Bogaerts is out for a long stretch then the infield from second to third becomes Kinsler, Holt, and Nunez. Yeesh.

So it’s maybe not exactly as dire as you portray it, BUT you definitely kind of need to see three Yankees wins this week in order to feel any level of good about it. Let’s just hope for your sanity that you knew enough not to book a trip to Boston for some of these games. We all know how that turns out. It’s usually hilarious for me, but I feel like there’s probably only so much you can take before you just collapse into a puddle on a Fenway concourse, never to be heard from again.

Blogs • MLB Trade Deadline

Jul 31, 2018

The One That Got Away (Twice): An Oral History of the Yankees’ Near-Trade for Cliff Lee

It’s been eight years since the Yankees’ near-trade of Cliff Lee that cost them the AL pennant and a trip to the World Series, and they haven’t been back to the World Series since.

Three pitches into the bottom of the first inning of the 2009 World Series, I knew the Yankees were in trouble. Derek Jeter fouled away a 90-mph fastball and then fouled away a 76-mph curveball. Down 0-2 in the count, Jeter swung through an 84-mph changeup. It was obvious Cliff Lee was on.

Johnny Damon followed Jeter’s strikeout with an ill-advised bunt attempt for an easy second out and Mark Teixeira did what he did for the majority of his postseason career with the Yankees and struck out swinging. The inning was over after 11 pitches in what was as easy of an inning of as you will ever see in the first inning of a World Series game, and it never got much better from there.

Lee went the distance, pitching the Phillies to a 1-0 series lead with a complete-game win on the road. He allowed six hits, walked none and struck out 10. The lone run against him came in the ninth on his 114th pitch with the Yankees trailing 6-0.

I was nervous after the Yankees’ loss in Game 1. It had been six years since they had been in the World Series and nine years since they had won it, and here they were, completely shut down in Game 1 at home, needing to win Game 2 to avoid being down 0-2 with the next three games on the road.

Thankfully, after Lee, the Phillies’ rotation consisted of a 38-year-old Pedro Martinez whose velocity had left him long ago, Cole Hamels, who had talked about wanting his season to be over, and Joe Blanton, who, well, he’s Joe Blanton, and you don’t want Joe Blanton starting a World Series game for you.

Lee provided the Phillies with their only two wins in the series in Games 1 and 5 as the combination of Martinez, Hamels and Blanton helped the Yankees’ to their 27th championship. The following season, Lee was a Mariner after having been traded to Seattle to open the door for the Phillies to trade for Roy Halladay. The Yankees appeared built to defend their championship with the franchise’s 28th, and that was even before the events of July 9 and July 10 when it was reported that they were going to acquire Lee from Seattle.

Unfortunately, the trade fell through, and Lee ended up going to Texas. A little over three months later, Lee was back on the Yankee Stadium mound shutting down the Yankees in Game 3 of the ALCS.

I left the Stadium following the Yankees’ Game 5 win of that series to pull close the series gap to 3-2, knowing that even if the Yankees could win Game 6 in Arlington, Lee was waiting for them in Game 7 and it was going to take an actual miracle to win that game.

The Yankees lost to the Rangers in six games, and it was probably better that way since Lee would have likely dominated them in Game 7 and losing a winner-take-all game to advance to the World Series to the starting pitcher you thought your team had traded for probably would have ruined my life in a way that could only be trumped by the 2004 ALCS.

The near-trade for Lee did still ruin my life though, as his presence in the Rangers’ rotation changed the course of that series and swung the AL pennant. He had been the difference in deciding the ALCS, and Brian Cashman’s reluctance to trade a couple of prospects, who never amounted to anything for the Yankees, cost the Yankees a second straight trip to the World Series and potentially a second straight championship.

The Yankees haven’t won the World Series since beating the Phillies in the non-Lee starts in 2009. That could have been avoided if the trade for Lee had gone through.

Let’s go back to the near-trade that cost the Yankees the World Series with quotes from the prominent people involved in the actual trade and the reporting of the trade.

***

On the morning of July 10, I woke up, rolled over and grabbed my phone to find out the Yankees were close to acquiring Cliff Lee. I couldn’t believe it. It was the happiest non-game related moment of my life as a Yankees fan. The Yankees were going to get the best left-handed pitcher and the best postseason pitcher in the majors for a few prospects. The Yankees were going to win the World Series.

Joel Sherman, New York Post: Around 9 p.m. ET on July 8, Seattle agreed with the Yankees to accept Jesus Montero, David Adams and Zach McAllister for Cliff Lee, and the sides swapped medical info.

Chuck Armstrong, Mariners President: I went home Thursday night, thinking we had a deal with the Yankees. Pending an exchange of the physical information of the players involved. The next morning, when we got into the details of the physicals of the players involved, one of the players that was coming to us from the Yankees was disabled, and based upon the best medical information that our team medical director, Edward Khalfayan, had, he recommended that we not proceed.

At the time, no one knew who David Adams was. He was still three years away from making his Major League debut for the Yankees as part of the forgettable 2013 team.

Joel Sherman: Around 3 a.m. Zduriencik called Cashman to say Seattle’s team doctors were concerned about Adams’ right ankle.

Brian Cashman, Yankees General Manager: He’d been on the DL for two months and the Mariners were bugging me about him for a week. I finally said yes and it turned out they didn’t know he was hurt. They came back and asked for either Eduardo Nunez or Ivan Nova.

Adams would go on to bat .193/.252/.286 with two home runs and 13 RBIs in 43 games in the majors, but it was his right ankle that was the first holdup in the Yankees’ trade for Lee. The second was Cashman’s unwillingness to trade Nunez or Nova.

Chuck Armstrong: Jack Zduriencik and his people then spent some time with the Yankees trying to come up with an alternative player, or players, to replace that player. Or even players to be named later. If we could come up with that. In the meantime, other clubs became involved. The White Sox, Minnesota and Texas to name a few.

Brian Cashman: We see Nunez as a starting shortstop in the big leagues, and Nova as a starting pitcher with great potential. I couldn’t do that for a three-month rental. There was no guarantee what would happen going forward. It was too much to give up.

Nunez ended up playing 270 games for the Yankees, batting .267/.313/.379 with 10 home runs and 76 RBIs and providing some of the worst infield defense anyone has ever seen, leading to the Yankees trying him in the outfield. Prior to the start of the 2014 season, the Yankees released Nunez, giving his roster spot to career minor leaguer Yangervis Solarte. Cashman’s infatuation with Nunez’s potential ultimately cost the Yankees a trip to the World Series, and though he wouldn’t include him in a trade for Lee, he eventually let him go for nothing.

Nova, on the other hand, actually had some quality seasons for the Yankees. He won 16 games in 2011, becoming the team’s most reliable starter heading into the postseason, where he would win the rain-suspended Game 1 of the ALDS over the Tigers before losing Game 5 in that series. He was bad in 2012 (12-8, 5.02 ERA), solid in 2013 (9-6, 3.10), horrible in 2014 (2-2, 8.27) before needing Tommy John surgery, bad upon his return in 2015 (6-11, 5.07) and bad again in 2016 (7-6, 4.90) before being traded to Pittsburgh at the deadline.

Two Cashman prospects that never lived up to their expected potential and the general manager’s reluctance to trade them turned out to be the difference in the ALCS.

Cliff Lee, The One That Got Away (Twice): Obviously, when I woke up this morning, the media had kind of caught on to something. It was all over SportsCenter and everything. I saw the Yankees and that it was on the verge of happening.

At 1:55 p.m. on July 9, Joel Sherman tweeted Lee had been traded to the Rangers. Justin Smoak would be the centerpiece of the Mariners’ return.

Jack Zduriencik, Mariners General Manager: We had a lot of talks with Texas and Smoak is the player that we desired. And they threw different things around and yes, there was a point in time this morning when, through the conversations, I said, ‘Look, there are other opportunities. If you want to do this deal, this is the player we want.’ And they said yes.

Cliff Lee: Obviously, I called CC Sabathia to see what he thought and if he knew anything. I called my agent. It seemed like it was real close. It nearly happened. But it’s not what happened. It’s definitely not what happened. I’m a Ranger now.

Jon Daniels, Rangers General Manager: Cliff was a No. 1 guy on our board that we wanted to acquire. We haven’t won anything yet, but we feel like we’re in position to put our best foot forward. It’s going to be very competitive in our division.

Cliff Lee: They’ve got a great team, they’re in first place and I’m going to try and go there and do everything I can to help them head in the direction they’re heading. They’re already in a good spot, have a great team and I just want to be one of the guys.

Justin Smoak, Rangers/Mariners First Baseman: Lee is a great pitcher. They want to take it to the next level here. This can always happen in baseball. It’s tough, being new to this business. You think you’re going to be on a team for a while and then things change overnight.

Cliff Lee: It’s kind of like what happened last year going to Philly. They had a six-game lead or so and that’s a good place to be, and they got that without me having anything to do with it.

Jack Zduriencik: It was a pleasure to have Lee here. We all wish things would have gone a little better. We felt we were at the point where something had to be done for the long-term good of the organization.

Brian Cashman: They had a huge asset and a major decision and I have no problems with what they did.

Jack Zduriencik It’s hard for me to sit here and go into specifics. We had ongoing talks with several clubs. And at the end, when you’re finished and you go another direction, before you consummate a deal, you always go back and tell the other club, ‘Hey, look, this is the direction we’re going, this is the decision we made.’

Joel Sherman: In actuality, once Justin Smoak was put into the offer by Texas, it is possible the Yankees never had a second chance on Cliff Lee.

Jack Zduriencik There are issues here and there; we certainly do it. You never do a deal without exchanging medicals, and that was certainly an issue in this deal … A deal is not final until it is final.

Brian Cashman: We had him. We had a deal in principle pending physicals.

***

Prior to Game 6 of the ALCS with the Yankees facing elimination for the second straight game, Cashman spoke about his decision to hold on to Nunez and Nova, and reiterated his stance by saying, “It was too much for a rental.”

The Yankees lost the ALCS and then lost out again on Lee, as a free agent, in December when he chose to return to the Phillies, who had traded him to the Mariners. It was the second time in five months the baseball world expected Lee to become a Yankee, only to be spurned again. While the midseason trade that wasn’t was tough to take, Lee’s decision to not sign with the Yankees might have been more tough with CC Sabathia’s opt-out clause looming and Andy Pettitte headed for retirement. Lee had been the Yankees’ Plan A and really their only plan and he turned them down. In return, the Yankees’ 2011 rotation consisted of Sabathia, Phil Hughes, Ivan Nova, Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia, and they would lose in five games to the Tigers in the ALDS.

I don’t think I will ever get over the near-trade for Lee and Cashman’s decision to not include Nunez or Nova to land the ALCS difference-maker. Actually, I know I won’t.

Blogs • MLB Trade Deadline

Jul 30, 2018

Chasen Shreve, Adam Warren and Tyler Austin Traded Away

I didn’t see Sunday or Monday’s trades coming, which is the way most Brian Cashman trades happen. The Yankees traded away Chasen Shreve, Adam Warren Tyler Austin.

I didn’t see Sunday or Monday’s trades coming, which is the way most Brian Cashman trades happen. The Yankees traded Chasen Shreve and Giovanny Gallegos to St. Louis for first-base depth, traded Adam Warren to Seattle for international bonus pool money and traded Tyler Austin to Minnesota for Lance Lynn.

A day after trading Chasen Shreve to St. Louis, the Yankees got rid of another bad bullpen option in Warren. The less bad options Aaron Boone has to ruin a game, the better off the Yankees will be. No, Warren wasn’t as untrustworthy as Shreve, but to me, he was the next in line of relievers I don’t want to see in games (not counting A.J. Cole, who only pitches in blowouts one way or the other).

I will always be thankful to Shreve (along with Dellin Betances) for keeping the 2015 season afloat while Andrew Miller was hurt. After Shreve got knocked around at the end of 2015, I never thought he would still be a Yankee nearly three years later. He had a good run, but it’s time to move on from him. Aside from his heroics against the Mets a couple of Saturdays ago when he got out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam to save Aroldis Chapman and the game, his season was full of disappointment.

Warren’s time with the Yankees was weird. He pitched to a 3.40 ERA in 20 starts and 246 relief appearances, and while he was actually mostly reliable, it never felt that way. It always felt like he was letting inherited runners score, or blowing a lead, or turning a one-run deficit into a two-run deficit, or losing a game in extra innings. He should have most likely been a starter since he performed well in that role in 2015 before losing his rotation spot to the return of Ivan Nova (good decision by the organization) due to the Yankees’ lack of starting depth in recent years.

The Yankees already traded him once to acquire Starlin Castro and then got him back in the trade Aroldis Chapman-Gleyber Torres deal. Now Warren is off to his third team in as many seasons, and I’m petrified of the thought of him setting down Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez in the eighth inning of the AL Wild-Card Game.

There are a lot of things not to love about Cashman, but I love his obsession with trading for international bonus pool money. I have a feeling the rules are going to change when it comes to these types of trades, but as long as it’s allowed, keep doing it. Torres, Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino and Miguel Andujar were all international signings, and the more bonus pool money you have, the more players you can sign, and the more players you can sign, the better chance you have of hitting on a few of them.

I will always remember Tyler Austin for being the front end of the back-to-back home runs with Judge in their Major League debuts in 2016 and for charging the mound against Joe Kelly in Boston in April. Austin wasn’t very good, batting .230/.287/.459 in 85 games for the Yankees, didn’t really have a position, was often injured and needed injuries to create everyday playing time for him in the majors. He could always run into one here and there, which he did eight times early this season, to help the Yankees’ offense in the absence of Greg Bird, but Austin was never going to get a chance to play consistently with the Yankees. Much like the trades of Brandon Drury and Billy McKinney, who also were never going to be everyday players for the Yankees, Austin is better off somewhere else.

I’m not a fan of Lance Lynn. Mainly, because he isn’t good. That, and his poor performance, allowing three earned runs in 5 2/3 innings in two appearances in the World Series against the Red Sox, taking one of the four Cardinals’ losses in that series. I’m not a fan of anyone from that Cardinals team, which helped explain my opposal of Matt Holliday being a Yankee in 2017.

Supposedly, the Yankees plan is to use him as both a starter and reliever, though I’m not sure how that will work since once he’s relieving, he would need to be stretched out as a starter. And I don’t see how he’s better than any rotation option they have now, and that includes Sonny Gray. If the Yankees plan on skipping starts to give their starters extra rest over the last two months, which wouldn’t surprise me since they are more concerned with rest than winning games, then that’s an even worse plan than trading for him. Ultimately, this move made little sense for the Yankees.

The Yankees got better after they traded for Zach Britton and J.A. Happ. They made the best bullpen in the majors even better and they added veteran stability and a left-hander to the rotation, who has had solid success in the AL East. The moves from Sunday and Monday don’t really make the Yankees better this season. They make them better for after the season by clearing 40-man roster spaces and giving them even more international bonus pool money to use to help the future of the organization. The Yankees are just as good today as they were 48 hours ago, and that needs to be good enough to catch the Red Sox and win the AL East.

Blogs • MLB Trade Deadline • Yankees

Jul 27, 2018

Zach Britton and J.A. Happ Are Yankees

The Yankees should have two general managers the way some football teams have two kickers. One GM could do the free-agent signings and Brian Cashman could do the trades.

I have always said the Yankees should have two general managers the way some football teams have two kickers. One GM could do the free-agent signings and one could do the trades, the way one kicker does kickoffs and one does field goals. Brian Cashman could be the Yankees general manager who conducts the trades, and he could let someone else take care of the free-agent signings since the majority of them have been failures.

Going back to the offseason in preparation of this season, Cashman has done the following:

Got rid of Chase Headley and his $13 million by attaching Bryan Mitchell to the deal
Turned Starlin Castro, Jorge Guzman and Jose Devers into Giancarlo Stanton and got the Marlins to pay $30 million of his contract
Turned Tyler Widener and Nick Solak into Brandon Drury

Now Cashman has added Zach Britton to the best bullpen in the majors and J.A. Happ to a rotation in desperate need of veteran stability. He did so by trading two Triple-A prospects and a Double-A prospect whose paths to the majors was blocked, Drury, who is blocked by Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar, and Billy McKinney, who is blocked by the current Yankees outfielders and Clint Frazier. The Yankees gave up five players who were only ever going to be Yankees following a series of unfortunate events and injuries.

I would think the Yankees are done with their pre-deadline deals unless Cashman looks for stopgaps for either Gary Sanchez or Aaron Judge for the next month. But if he doesn’t, there’s no room for another bat, the bullpen is already one pitcher too many, and with Happ, the rotation is full once again. Andujar has been rumored as the centerpiece in a trade for a starting pitcher, but now that Drury is gone, Andujar isn’t going anywhere. The same had been reported about Clint Frazier as well, but he’s back on the disabled list with concussion issues. I think it’s safe to say the Yankees team you see against the Royals right now (plus Sanchez and minus Kyle Higashioka) is the Yankees team you will see on Aug. 1 and through the rest of the season, and that’s a good thing.

Britton gives the Yankees a second left-hander and a dominant one at that out of the bullpen. I would be shocked if Chasen Shreve is a Yankee much longer, but maybe getting out of that bases-loaded jam against the Mets last Saturday bought him another season of DFA immunity. I thought Shreve was one his way out long ago, but he has continued to survive, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he survived again. At least if he does remain a Yankee, he won’t be the only other left-handed option for Aaron Boone to go to. The more elite relievers the Yankees can obtain, the less bad decisions Boone will make.

Happ gives the Yankees a veteran presence and rotation stability. He has AL East and postseason experience, he’s left-handed, and most importantly, he’s dominated the Red Sox for his entire career, outside of his last start against them. Happ had been good this season as the Blue Jays’ lone All-Star representative, and it’s not like he needs putting on the pinstripes and pitching in a pennant race to rejuvenate himself or revitalize his career like past Yankees deadline deals for starting pitchers. He just needs to continue to pitch the way he has.

The Yankees are better than they were when they left Tampa Bay, since they couldn’t have been much worse outside of Masahiro Tanaka. They have a team that can win in October the way last year’s team did, and a team that could get that elusive fourth win in the ALCS the way last year’s team couldn’t. But first, they need to do everything they can to avoid the wild-card game for the third time in four years. The additions of Britton and Happ help them do that.

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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook! Click here to purchase the book through Amazon as an ebook. You can read it on any Apple device by downloading the Kindle app.

Blogs • Yankees

Jul 9, 2018

Yankees Need a Starting Pitcher Not Named Nathan Eovaldi

The Yankees tried to fix Nathan Eovaldi for two seasons and weren’t able to. The last thing the team needs is a reunion with the hard-throwing failed starter.

I think people forget how much Nathan Eovaldi sucked as a Yankee.

Yes, Eovaldi had an impressive 23-11 record in two seasons, 51 starts and three relief appearances for the Yankees, but that win-loss record is very deceiving. In 2015, Eovaldi received 5.75 runs of support per start, and only 10 of his 27 starts were “quality”. In 2016, it was much of the same, as he received 5.54 runs of support per start, and only eight of his 24 starts were “quality”. As a Yankee, Eovaldi pitched to a 4.45 ERA and 1.387 WHIP and only struck out 218 in 279 innings (despite throwing 100 mph), but somehow posted a .676 winning percentage. He was as average as average can be, and anything other than the “Nasty Nate” nickname the Yankees gave him on social media. With an arm like his, there’s a reason why the Dodgers and Marlins gave up on him, allowing him to become a Yankee: because he isn’t good.

If missing nearly two years and then having a few good starts against the worst teams in the majors can completely erase the rest of your career, then every mediocre starter should sit out for a couple years. The perception of Eovaldi as a starting pitcher has changed so much because of 48 1/3 post-Tommy John surgery innings that a lot of people are willing to completely disregard his other 739 career innings.

Since his return on May 30, Eovaldi no-hit the A’s for six innings, one-hit the Nationals in six innings, allowed two earned runs over six innings to the Marlins, and on Sunday, he one-hit the Mets over seven innings (and carried a perfect game into the seventh in that performance against the Mets). Supposedly, the Yankees had a scout at Eovaldi’s dominant outing at Citi Field, so naturally some Yankees fans want a reunion with Eovaldi because he has been unhittable against two of the worst two teams in baseball, an underachieving disaster and a respectable .500 team. Unfortunately, the Yankees don’t need another start can shut down teams counting down the days until the end of the season. They need a starting pitcher who can beat other playoff-bound teams. A starting pitcher who can win in the postseason. Eovaldi is far from that.

In his other four starts, Eovaldi was his usual self, needing nearly 100 pitches and sometimes more to get through five innings. In three of those starts, he faced the Yankees, Mariners and Astros, all of which will be in the postseason. His line in those games: 18.1 IP, 19 H, 12 R, 12 ER, 1 BB, 13 K, 7 HR, 5.89 ERA, 1.093 WHIP. That’s the real Eovaldi, and I’m going to pass on the guy who gave up seven home runs in three games to actual Major League hitters. I think the Yankees will too.

On Saturday, the Yankees faced J.A. Happ, another name the team has been connected to because of his expiring contract and because of his success against the Red Sox. Like Cole Hamels’ start earlier this season against the Yankees, Happ had a chance to show that he can handle a real lineup in a pressure situation. The pressure in this situation being the Yankees needing to win every game to keep pace with the Red Sox and Happ needing to pitch well in an audition to join a contender. Happ’s audition didn’t last long.

The Blue Jays’ left-hander gave up back-to-back home runs to lead off the game and then walked the next two batters. After back-to-back strikeouts, he gave up a two-run double, and the Yankees had a 4-0 lead. Happ needed 34 pitches to get through the first inning. In the second inning, he loaded the bases with two walks and a single before bouncing back to get out of the jam unscathed. But in the the third, after a leadoff walk, a lineout, a strikeout and another walk, he was removed. Jake Petricka came in and further ruined Happ’s day and ERA by giving up a two-run triple on his second pitch. Happ’s line: 2.2 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 6 BB, 5 K, 2 HR.

I know Happ is better than that. I have seen him be better than that. But he’s 35 now and has a 4.44 ERA and unless he gets traded to a postseason team, he won’t pitch in a bigger game in 2018, and he was awful. Yes, one start is the smallest of sample sizes, but the postseason is all about small sample sizes, and the Yankees can’t afford to add the wrong starter for the final two months of the season and the postseason. He’s still a better option that Eovaldi.

Domingo German has been the answer to Jordan Montgomery’s rotation spot, but his inconsistency might end that, and Jonathan Loaisiga looked he might be the answer to Masahiro Tanaka’s before suffering shoulder inflammation. I don’t think Luis Cessa is the new answer to that spot, and I don’t trust him to be either. That would leave Justus Sheffield as the next starting option. I’m all for Sheffield being given a real chance to be part of the rotation, but with the way the Yankees have babied their starting prospects over the years, I know I can’t count on that idea (even if has the ability the biggest difference-maker the Yankees could potentially add).

I definitely don’t want Eovaldi to a Yankee again since I didn’t want him to be one for the first time. I also don’t want Happ or another rental pitcher like him to be one if the price is anything other than a couple prospects that are nowhere near the majors and most likely will never reach them either. A trade for Jacob deGrom isn’t happening and I don’t think I want to give up current Yankees and more Major League-ready prospects for someone who could be done every time he throws a pitch. The same goes for Madison Bumgarner. But even if I did want either, they are both most likely unavailable.

The Yankees’ best bet is either Happ or Cole Hamels, who I petitioned for earlier this season. Either will be a salary dump and the return would be players without a spot on the Yankees prospects nowhere near helping the Yankees. Either will be better than Sonny Gray (who’s the reason the Yankees need to add another starter), and will be more reliable and stable than Luis Cessa or their other in-house options.

Outside of the Gray trade last year, rarely, if ever, has someone been connected to the Yankees and they eventually trade for them. Usually, out of nowhere, the Yankees are reported to be close to acquiring a player, and five minutes later, a deal is done. Neither Happ or Hamels has been connected to the Yankees of late. One of them needs to be their guy, and they should go out and get one of them.