Elvis Andrus – Keefe To The City

Jul 29, 2014

The Joe Girardi Show: Season 5, Episode 3

The Yankees lost another winnable game in the middle of a pennant race and Joe Girardi’s decision making once again played a prominent role in the loss.

On Sunday afternoon, Paul O’Neill said the following about Joe Girardi, which left me with the same blank stare Dave Kujan had when he realized “Verbal” Kint was Keyser Soze.

“I think that Joe Girardi realizes where this team is. You have to win every single game you have an opportunity to win. You have an opportunity to win this game, you go all out. You don’t worry about tomorrow.”

What shocked me is how anyone, let alone Paul O’Neill, could think that about Joe Girardi. No one plays for tomorrow more than Joe Girardi, always worrying about hypothetical situations that will most likely never take place.

I did the first episode of the fifth season of The Joe Girardi Show back on April 21 and then I didn’t do the second episode until July 22 (one week ago). I finished last week’s episode by saying the following:

I always hope that my latest version of The Joe Girardi Show is the last one I will ever have to do because it would mean he wouldn’t have given me a reason to write another one. Unfortunately, I know that won’t be the case.

Here we are, seven days later and I’m writing the third episode. Like I said, I don’t want to have do these, but I especially don’t want to have to be doing them at the end of July with the Yankees in the middle of both a division race and wild-card race.

The Yankees could have won on Saturday if Joe Girardi didn’t carelessly and irresponsibly let Jeff Francis pitch the ninth inning of one-run game against a division opponent the Yankees are battling to win a playoff spot. But he left Francis pitch and the Blue Jays turned their one-run lead into a four-run lead rendering Carlos Beltran’s two-run home in the bottom of the ninth worthless.

On Sunday, Girardi let David Huff (DAVID HUFF!!!) pitch the seventh inning of a tie game against the Blue Jays. Well, he let him start the seventh inning and once Huff put the first two hitters of the inning on base then Girardi brought in Dellin Betances, who eventually escaped a bases-loaded jam, most likely making Girardi believe in his own head that he made the right decision. Like I have always said, Girardi is the guy who stays with a 16 in Blackjack with the dealer showing a 7 and when the dealer flips over a 9 and then pulls a 10 to bust, Girardi thinks he made the right decision.

But even after some inexplicable moves over the weekend against the team the Yankees are currently battling for divisional and wild-card position, Monday was the boiling point once again. I couldn’t take it anymore when on Monday, for the second time in as many Mondays, his decision making was at the forefront of a Yankees loss to the Rangers — the worst team in Major League Baseball.

So once again, it was necessary to fill in for Michael Kay on my version of The Joe Girardi Show.

Why did David Phelps face J.P. Arencibia?
The better question here might be “Why did David Phelps throw the 0-2 pitch that he threw to J.P. Arencibia?” but if Phelps hadn’t faced Arencibia then he never would have been able to throw that 0-2 meatball.

Here was David Phelps’ line for the game before the fifth inning started: 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 55 pitches. He gave up a single on five pitches to start the inning and then retired the next two hitters on four pitches. His updated line: 4.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 64 pitches.

After that, Elvis Andrus singled (first pitch), Alex Rios singled (third pitch), and Adrian Beltre doubled (third pitch). His updated line: 4.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 71 pitches.

At 8 p.m. last night in Arlington it was 88 degrees with 40 percent humidity and at 9 p.m. it was 86 degrees with 41 percent humidity. After giving up three hits in four innings, Phelps, who usually pitches in much different conditions, had just allowed four hits to the last six batters and after having thrown 37 pitches in the first three innings, he had now thrown 34 in the last 1 2/3 innings. Phelps was tiring and losing control of his pitches and the game, so what did Girardi do? He let him face Jim Adduci. And what did Phelps do? He walked him on four pitches.

Let’s recap: Phelps was cruising, having pitched four shutout innings and allowing just three hits and no walks on 55 pitches. He had now put five of the seven batters he faced in the inning on base and after giving up three consecutive hits, he had just walked a 29-year-old career minor leaguer, who entered the game with 73 career plate appearances in the majors, on four pitches. Would you say that David Phelps was fatigued, had lost control and should be removed from a tie game with one of the game’s best pitchers going against the Yankees? I would.

I know why Joe Girardi left David Phelps in the game. Arencibia entered the game hitting .147/.194/.305, and more importantly, he entered the game 1-for-11 with five strikeouts against Phelps, but this is where the binder backfires. Arencibia’s stat page against Phelps in Girardi’s binder says that he is 1-for-11 with five strikeouts against him, but it doesn’t say that the sun was melting Arlington on Monday night with Phelps laboring over the last four hitters and now having thrown 20 pitches already in the inning. Phelps had fully unraveled before he threw an 0-2 fastball to a hitter who loves fastballs, but Girardi decided a tired Phelps running on fumes was his best option in a pennant race with a rested elite bullpen. If Arencibia, having a horrible offensive year, has had so much trouble making contact against Phelps, who isn’t exactly a strikeout pitcher, wouldn’t he have even more trouble against a true strikeout pitcher out of the bullpen?

Single up the middle. 4-2 Rangers.

Why did Jacoby Ellsbury get the day off?
Before Monday’s game there were 58 games left in the season and the Yankees trailed in the division by 4 games and in the wild card by 1 game. On Monday, the Yankees were playing the worst team in the league with one of the best pitchers in the game on the mound, so you would think you would want to put your best offensive lineup together. If you want to rest someone, maybe give them a rest on Tuesday against Nick Martinez or on Wednesday against Colby Lewis. But against Yu Darvish? Why? Whyyyy?!?! WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Ellsbury was eventually used as a pinch hitter to lead off the ninth, so his “day off” wasn’t a day off. But he wasn’t used as a pinch hitter with two on and two out in the eighth. Instead he used Zelous Wheeler in that spot because you have to have a right-handed hitter face a left-handed pitcher!

Jacoby Ellsbury signed a seven-year, $153 million deal in the offseason. He is making $21.1 million this season and is hitting LINE with HR and RBIs. He last stole He is one of several reasons that Robinson Cano is now playing in Seattle. He should be playing EV-ERY SING-LE GAME. Every one. He is 30 years old, not 40 and even if he has a history of freak injuries, and then babying those injuries, you can’t plan for freak injuries, and he needs to play every day.

Mike Francesa has repeatedly called Ellsbury “the Yankees’ best player” and in 2014 with a 40-year-old Derek Jeter, a bad Carlos Beltran, an inconsistent Brian McCann and Mark Teixeira being softer than ever, that’s not much of an accomplishment for Ellsbury. But if he is “the Yankees’ best player” he needs to play every day. That’s what “best players” do. Ask Robinson Cano.

If Mark Teixeira could pinch hit, why didn’t he play the whole game?
Mark Teixeira is the fraud of all frauds. He has received a free pass as a Yankee because the team won the World Series in his first year with the team thanks to Alex Rodriguez, who from 2004-2009 had to deal with the postseason ridicule that Teixeira should also have to deal with. If the Yankees were still looking for a championship since 2000, Teixeira wouldn’t be making appearances in Entourage and trying to be Johnny Carson for YES while on the disabled list.

Last February, Teixeira foreshadowed that he is breaking down despite at the time still being owed $90 million. He then got hurt preparing for the World Baseball Classic and played in just 15 games before undergoing season-ending wrist surgery. This season, Teixeira has missed time due to hamstring, wrist, rib cage, knee and lat injuries and also tired legs. The last time he played in a game was the series finale against the Reds last Sunday (July 20). After successfully taking on-field batting practice on Monday night in Texas it was made known that he was healthy enough to return to the lineup on Tuesday night.

Joe Girardi has this “rule” where once an injured player appears healthy enough to return to the lineup, they are given an extra day before returning. That would be a good “rule” to follow if there were a lot of off-days in baseball, but there aren’t and there aren’t any days that can be wasted when you’re chasing 4 (now 4.5) in the division and 1 (now 2) in the wild card. So if Teixeira was deemed eligible to play on Tuesday night, that means Monday was his “Girardi Day” where he would sit for no reason other than as an extra precaution like someone setting an alarm clock for their alarm clock.

One on, two out, trailing 4-2 in the eighth inning and Brian Roberts, who should no longer be on the team let alone in the lineup against Yu Darvish, is called back to the dugout for pinch hitter Mark Teixeira. He singled. What if Joe Girardi had played him the entire game?

I hope Paul O’Neill was watching Monday’s game because he would have seen how wrong he was on Sunday. Joe Girardi always plays for tomorrow. If he doesn’t stop, at the end of September, there won’t be a tomorrow to play for.

Blogs • Yankees

Jul 22, 2014

The Joe Girardi Show: Season 5, Episode 2

Joe Girardi blew Monday night’s game for the Yankees with his bullpen management in the sixth inning and his decision making set up another episode of The Joe Girardi Show.

I can’t remember the last time I was this devastated, upset, frustrated, embarrassed, angry, disappointed, sad and pissed off over a regular-season loss. Looking back, I’m laughing at myself for calling the June 24 loss to the Blue Jays the worst loss of the season because when you put it next to Monday night against the Rangers, it’s about as close as comparing the willingness to play through injury of Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira.

Monday night had it all. It was like a never-ending diner menu for every kind of negative feeling baseball can emote from a person, featuring five Yankees errors, two runs against a pitcher with a 10.05 ERA, one disastrous inning of managing and one big loss to the worst team in the entire majors. But because I can’t do anything about the physical mistakes (the errors) and can’t make the Yankees score runs against a horrible pitcher, I decided to focus on what could have been changed to prevent the Yankees from losing the game: the sixth inning.

It’s now been over three months since the last episode on April 21, but I felt after Monday night that it was necessary to fill in for Michael Kay on my version of The Joe Girardi Show.

Why did Shane Greene face Geovanny Soto?
Shane Greene threw 113 pitches on Monday. One hundred and thirteen. In his last start on July 12 he threw 106 and on July 7, in his only other start in the majors before that, he threw 88. How unusual was it for Joe Girardi (Mr. Conservative) to let a pitcher throw 113 pitches in a game? Well, the Yankees have played 98 games this year and here are each of their starting pitchers with the number of pitches they have thrown in each of their starts:

Masahiro Tanaka: 97, 101, 107, 105, 105, 108, 113, 108, 114, 88, 118, 106, 104, 110, 104, 106, 116, 85, 99.

Hiroki Kuroda: 91, 92, 97, 99, 91, 94, 108, 95, 98, 100, 94, 93, 90, 93, 107, 102, 109, 105, 103, 99.

David Phelps: 87, 70, 100, 104, 109, 92, 93, 102, 115, 94, 101, 107, 103, 98.

Vidal Nuno: 69, 72, 80, 82, 78, 81, 101, 101, 92, 92, 75, 107, 91, 89.

CC Sabathia: 99, 93, 111, 107, 106, 98, 77, 107.

Chase Whitley: 74, 71, 91, 83, 87, 82, 95, 87, 81, 74, 68.

Michael Pineda: 83, 94, 89, 37.

Ivan Nova: 88, 61, 97, 80.

Brandon McCarthy: 101, 99.

Greene’s 113 on Monday night represented the fifth time in 98 games (5.1 percent) that Girardi has left his starter in long enough to reach that number.

With the Yankees leading 2-1, Greene retired the first two hitters in the sixth and then gave up a single to Jake Smolinski on his 105th pitch of the game. At that time I expected Girardi to come out to get Greene. He didn’t. Greene walked Jim Adduci on five pitches to put two on with two outs and then I was certain Girardi would come get Greene at 110 pitches. He didn’t. Instead Larry Rothschild came out and talked to Greene briefly and turned around and went back to the dugout. Girardi stayed in the dugout and the bullpen door never opened. Three pitches later, Geovanny Soto singled to left. Tie game.

Why is Matt Thornton still being considered an “A” reliever just because he is left-handed?
The obvious answer to this question is that Matt Thornton is the left-hander in the bullpen and will face left-handed hitters. Some would say, “If you’re not going to bring Thornton into the game in that spot, then why is he on the team?” And to that I would answer, “He shouldn’t be.”

Matt Thornton is not good. Once upon a time Matt Thornton was good, but the last time he was good was in 2010. Since 2010, he has been “OK” and the last thing you want your left-handed “specialist” who will only be called on for one hitter or maybe two hitters in huge spots is to be “OK.” This year, lefties are hitting .277/.340/.277 against him and he has only struck out eight of the 55 lefties he has seen (14.5 percent). There’s a reason the Red Sox left him off their postseason roster last year and there’s a reason the White Sox traded him to the Red Sox in the first place and there’s a Red Sox didn’t care to re-sign him: he isn’t good.

But there was Matt Thornton being called on to face to face two lefties with runners on first and second and two outs in the sixth. And there was Matt Thornton giving up an RBI single to 20-year-old Rougned Odor and his 197 career plate appearances and there he was giving up another RBI single one a 1-2 pitch to Shin-Soo Choo.

Thornton left the game after failing to retire either lefty he faced and allowing both inherited runners to score to give the Rangers a 4-2 lead. Only in Major League Baseball, where Thornton is getting paid $3.5 million this year (and next year!), is it OK to not do your job in any capacity and then leave your workplace without holding yourself unaccountable for your actions. And that’s what Thornton did as he was nowhere to be found in the Stadium when the media went to ask him about his horrible performance. If Thornton worked a real-life, 9-5 job, an equivalent work day to his Monday night effort would have been showing up to the office at lunch time, eating fish that smelled up the entire place, taking a dump in the handicap stall in the bathroom and then going home for the day.

Why did Adam Warren relieve Matt Thornton instead of Shane Greene?
Who comes in to relieve Matt Thornton? Why it’s Adam Warren! You know him. He’s the supposed seventh-inning guy — the first reliever to be used in a big spot after David Robertson and Dellin Betances. The guy Girardi trusted more than Betances earlier in the year because he had been in the league longer despite having inferior ability and numbers to Betances (which is odd since Girardi didn’t trust Betances to be his setup guy earlier in the season because he’s a rookie while Warren and Shawn Kelley ruined games, but here he is trusting rookie Shane Greene to throw 113 pitches in his third career start).

So Warren, who Girardi didn’t turn to for either of the two right-handed hitters Greene was allowed to face at 105 and 110 pitches, comes in to face right-handed Elvis Andrus in an inning where the game has already changed and the Yankees have already given up the lead.

This entire inning was part of a much bigger problem, which is set innings for relievers because in real life (which is where games should be managed), the game needed to be saved in the sixth inning. Worry about the seventh and eighth innings (where the bases will be empty) when you get there and worry about how you will protect the lead in the ninth when you get there. Girardi went against his own formula by bringing in seventh-inning guy Warren in the sixth inning after he already let the game get away by overusing his starter and calling on a “B” reliever. So now, the same way Betances was likely unavailable on Monday night because of his 1 1/3 innings on Sunday, Warren is now likely unavailable for the following game after being wasted to hold a deficit rather than protect a lead or keep the game tied, which are both things he could have and should have been asked to do on Monday.

I always hope that my latest version of The Joe Girardi Show is the last one I will ever have to do because it would mean he wouldn’t have given me a reason to write another one. Unfortunately, I know that won’t be the case.

Blogs • Email Exchanges • Yankees

Aug 13, 2012

Yankees and Rangers Share Identical Situations

The Rangers are in the Bronx for a four-game series and possible playoff preview and the meeting between the AL’s top two teams called for an email exchange with Adam J. Morris of Lone Star Ball.

The Yankees and Rangers haven’t met since April 25 in Texas when the Rangers took the rubber game of a three-game set early on in the season. This week the Rangers make their first and only trip to the Bronx for a four-game series, which will be the last four games this two teams play against each other in 2012 … unless they meet in the postseason.

Right now the Yankees and Rangers are the top two teams in the American League and are jockeying for position to stay out of the dreaded and nonsensical one-game playoff and trying to clinch home-field advantage. The Yankees still lead the AL East by five games, but some inconsistent play combined with a Tampa Bay winning streak has started to make things a little uncomfortable for the Yankees and Yankees fans in August.

Adam J. Morris of Lone Star Ball joined me for an email exchange to talk about the current state of the Yankees and Rangers, how they are very similar with their rosters and problems and the possibility of another postseason meeting between the two teams.

Keefe: I’ll never forget what Michael Kay said after the Yankees’ comeback in Game 1 of 2010 ALCS on YES’ postgame show. “I said it after Game 1 against the Twins and I’m saying it again … this series is over.” Sure, the Yankees had just completed an epic postseason game comeback against C.J. Wilson and the Rangers bullpen, in very similar fashion to what they had done against Francisco Liriano and Twins in Game 1 of the ALDS, and they had Phil Hughes (who shut down the Twins in Game 3 of the ALDS and who always pitched well in Texas) going in Game 2 against Colby Lewis the next day, along with all of the momentum on their side. It seemed like the Yankees were in a great position to head to the Bronx up 2-0 in the series. That’s when everything changed.

Hughes got lit up in Game 2, and would get lit up again in Game 6, turning in disastrous performances that mirrored Chien-Ming Wang’s awful 2007 ALDS against the Indians. The Yankees were shut down by Lewis in Game 3 and again in Game 6, and between those games, Cliff Lee quieted Yankee Stadium (again) in Game 3, and a combination of Joe Girardi, A.J. Burnett and Yankee killer Bengie Molina cost the Yankees Game 4. Even though the Yankees were able to get to Wilson again and win Game 5, as I was sitting in the Stadium for Game 5, it felt like a tease to extend the series. Even if the Yankees could take Game 6, Cliff Lee was waiting for a potential Game 7, and all he had done is embarrass the Yankees in the last two postseasons.

I said that everything changed for the ALCS after the Yankees’ Game 2 loss, but really it changed when they didn’t get Cliff Lee that July. Had the Yankees successfully traded for Lee, he would have pitched Game 2 of the series and not Hughes, and he wouldn’t have been available for the Rangers to shut the Yankees down with a two-hit, complete-game shutout in Game 3.

When the Yankees lost to the Tigers in last year’s ALDS, it sucked the way that the end of any Yankees season sucks. But knowing that the Rangers were waiting in the ALCS to likely walk through the Yankees again lessened the blow of losing to a Tigers team that the Yankees had a chance to beat every game if they could just get one hit with runners in scoring position.

Right now I look at the Yankees’ potential playoff matchups and the one that scares me the most is still your Texas Rangers for now the third straight year. I know Cliff Lee isn’t there and the vaunted (at least to Yankees fans) Colby Lewis is out for the season, but that lineup is as good as its been and the bullpen still boasts names you don’t want to see in the late innings.

As a Rangers fan, how do you feel about my fear of the Rangers? Are you as confident about your team as I am about not wanting anything to do with them this October?

Morris: I feel good about the Rangers’ chances in 2012. After the last couple of seasons, it’s hard not to have confidence that the Rangers are going to do well in the postseason. This is, for the most part, the same team that has reached the World Series the past two years. With Texas now up 6 1/2 games on the A’s and eight games on the Angels, we should be looking at having home-field advantage for the ALDS, and if they can hold off the Yankees, it would mean home-field advantage in the ALCS as well.

The biggest concern right now for Rangers fans is the state of the starting rotation. Yu Darvish was brought in to be the staff ace, and he essentially replaced C.J. Wilson. Darvish has been up and down all season, looking at times like a guy who is worth the $110 million the Rangers have spent and committed in the future to land him, while looking at other times like a guy who has no idea where the ball is going. Colby Lewis, who was slated to be the team’s Game 1 starter in the playoffs, is down for the year with a torn flexor tendon, and the team is going to miss his steadying influence. Roy Oswalt, given $5 million to pitch for a half-season, was bumped to the bullpen in favor of Scott Feldman, the guy whose job he was supposed to take. Derek Holland has been erratic, and there are still questions about whether Ryan Dempster can adjust to the AL. The team’s best starter has been Matt Harrison, a guy who was left off the 2010 postseason roster entirely. So the rotation is in flux, and while Texas will probably roll out four starters who won’t embarrass them in the postseason, they don’t have that legitimate No. 1 guy to head up the playoff rotation.

That being said, the bullpen is strong and deep, and the lineup is solid. There are concerns that the offense has gone into funks from time to time this year, but all in all, I think Rangers fans should be feeling pretty good about this team heading into the postseason.

Keefe: Well, when you put it that way, maybe I shouldn’t be so concerned with the Rangers. Then again, I have seen the Yankees struggle against even mediocre starting pitching in the playoffs to get too excited about the Rangers’ rotation issues.

I wanted to talk more with you about Cliff Lee because to me he has always been The One That Got Away, and the one that I believe was the missing piece to what would have been back-to-back championships in 2010.

After the Rangers went “all-in” for a chance to return to the postseason in 2010, and you swooped in to get Lee for Justin Smoak from the Mariners, I was devastated. I had woken up that July to a flurry of texts and emails about a report that the Yankees were close to getting Lee for Jesus Montero and the deal seemed to be at the one-yard line and just needed some t’s crossed and some i’s dotted. Obviously the t’s never got crossed and the i’s remained dotless, and Lee did what he did in Game 3, and put a dagger into the Yankees’ season. But I was reassured that he would be part of the rotation in 2011 before Ruben Amaro and the Phillies had to join the party as Jon Heyman’s “mystery team” and make a play for him. This move basically ruined the Christmas hype for me and led to me writing this.

This season, with the Phillies tanking, and rumors of Lee being available and placed on waivers, I thought this was the Yankees’ third chance to get Lee and fate along the lines of Matt Damon and Emily Blunt in The Adjustment Bureau. But with the Steinbrenner’s being serious about staying under the luxury tax, and the Dodgers’ new money trying to make a statement to the league, the Yankees lost out on the chance to trade for him or claim him.

I still haven’t gotten the chance to have Lee take the ball for the Yankees every fifth day, and at this point, maybe I never will unless something miraculous happens in the offseason. I want him now just as much as I did two summers ago when he joined your team. But I need to know what it was like to have maybe my favorite non-Yankee (before he torched them) pitch for your team.

Morris: Having Lee in Texas, even for a short period of time, was something special. He is an artist on the mound. I think watching him on a regular basis was probably like being a Braves fan in the mid-90s and watching Greg Maddux every fifth day. The weird thing is that the Rangers didn’t actually win all that much with Lee on the mound during the regular season, as he had some outings where he had bad luck with the defense or balls in play, or the offense wouldn’t score for him. But despite all that, when it came to be playoff time, I had no doubts that the Rangers would win with Lee on the mound.

I’m sad he’s gone. He’s a special pitcher. But at the same time, the amount of money that the Phillies committed to him is onerous, and I don’t know that it would be a good business decision to match that, given his age and the fact that he’s had a hard time staying healthy. His impeccable command is based on him being in terrific physical condition, and I’m worried that the nagging injuries that keep slowing him down will take their toll on him sooner rather than later.

Keefe: The Rangers’ rotation isn’t necessarily what it has been the last two years. But as a Yankees fan, with Andy Pettitte still rehabbing his ankle, CC Sabathia hitting the DL with an elbow problem that appears to be much more serious than Joe Girardi led on to believe and Phil Hughes and Ivan Nova being hit or miss right now, that leaves us with Hiroki Kuroda as a reliable starter. (Sorry, Freddy Garcia.) So it looks like if we meet in the ALCS for the second time in three years, it could be an offensive gongshow in two stadiums built for high-scoring games.

And that’s what scares me about the Rangers team. The lineup from top to bottom can go toe-to-toe with the Yankees’, and that’s always been the Yankees’ one advantage. Their mentality since 2004 has always been, you might outpitch us, but we’ll outhit you. And that idea has only turned into one title. Hopefully, CC will be fine, Andy will come back, and I won’t need to pray for A-Rod, Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher to get timely hits in big spots with runners in scoring position.

As I look up and down the Rangers’ lineup, there’s Ian Kinsler and Andrus and Hamilton and Beltre and Cruz, and Yankee killers Michael Young, and the most-feared power-hitting catcher in the league in Mike Napoli. Over the last decade I had grown used to worrying about the Red Sox and their lineup and when David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez would be due up. There were other guys in their lineup that bothered me, but not to that extent. In the Rangers’ lineup, every guy makes me uneasy and this week at the Stadium (and possibly in the playoffs) that level of discomfort and fear will only rise.

As a Yankees fan, when Teixeira is up, I envision a pop-up. When Swisher is up, I see a called third strike in a full count. When A-Rod’s up, I see a long drive that would have been out in year’s past before his decline. Am I just thinking like this because I know these hitters so well, or are fans like Rangers fans petrified of the Yankees’ lineup? My friends that are Red Sox fans used to tell me they were scared of A-Rod and Gary Sheffield and petrified of Hideki Matsui, and I really only understood the Matsui thinking. Are you scared of the Yankees’ lineup, and which opposing players scare you the most?

Morris: I think the Yankees have an impressive lineup. Other than Robinson Cano, there isn’t one guy who’s having a dominant offensive season, but the Yankees’ lineup is solid from top to bottom, with no real weaknesses (other than maybe third base now that A-Rod is out).

Between the Rangers and Yankees, I think it’s just about a coin flip as to which team is stronger offensively. Like the Yankees, the Rangers are pretty solid top to bottom (with the exception of DH, where Michael Young has been drowning all season), and they have dangerous hitters throughout who can give you the opportunity for a big inning. If I had to pick someone on the Yankees who scares me, it would probably be Cano or Curtis Granderson. Both are quality hitters who (based on just my memory) seem to hit the Rangers well.

Keefe: If the Yankees do what I want them to do then Nick Swisher won’t be playing right field for the Yankees starting in 2013. As an impending free agent and with the Yankees set on staying under the luxury-tax threshold that is ruining my life, it looks like they will save money to make offers to both Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson. Maybe they will try to bring Ichiro back if he continues to hit and doesn’t show signs of decline in the outfield or on the basepaths. But the one name that is the most intriguing is Josh Hamilton.

I really don’t think the Yankees will make a play for Hamilton, though I have said that about a lot of other big-name free agents that they decided to join and win the bidding on. But I think in Hamilton’s case, with his checkered past and problems with substance abuse, New York City doesn’t seem like the best place for someone who can’t have more than $20 in their wallet (even though that won’t even get you a sandwich and a subway fare in the city, let alone a beer) and for someone who needs another adult to shadow them. I can easily see Hamilton enjoying the short porch in right field if he were to call Yankee Stadium his home starting in 2012, but I don’t think it’s realistic.

How badly do you want Hamilton to remain a Ranger? And if he’s not back in Texas, where else could you see him ending up?

Morris: I’d like Hamilton to stay in Texas, but I’m expecting him to leave after the season. The biggest concern that I have with Hamilton is that I don’t think he’s going to age well. He has an extensive injury history which is worrisome, but his approach is also a big red flag. His tendency to swing at almost anything, whether it’s a ball or a strike, has generally served him well thus far, but it’s not the sort of approach which appears to be sustainable for a player as he gets older and he starts to slow down.

As great as Hamilton is now, I fear that his decline phase will be steep, and I don’t think that he’s someone you want to commit big money to for his mid- and late-30s. Eight years, $200 million is the number that gets bandied about, and he’s not going to get that in Texas.

I thought before the season that the Dodgers made sense, given that they are committed to spending money and want big names. I’m less certain that the Dodgers will be players on Hamilton, given that they’ve locked up Andre Ethier, and I don’t know that they want to have $60 million per year committed long term to a Matt Kemp-Josh Hamilton-Andre Ethier outfield, but I still think they’ll at least kick the tires. The Mariners, who have lost Ichiro, would also seem to be a good fit.

Keefe: I didn’t want Ryan Dempster on the Yankees and with less than an hour to go in the trade deadline it looked like the Yankees might be the favorite to land him and some places were reporting that in fact the Yankees were close to getting a deal done with the Cubs. But like Cliff Lee, your Rangers stepped in and traded for Dempster. But unlike Cliff Lee, I wasn’t disappointed that the Rangers stepped in.

So far out of Dempster you have seen why I didn’t want the Yankees to trade for an aging NL pitcher in his start against the Angels, but you have also seen why the Rangers made the move for him in his start against the Red Sox. I’m not really sure which Dempster you will see over the final six weeks or so of the season and the postseason, but I can only hope on Monday night at the Stadium, we get to see the Ryan Dempster that showed up to the AL and got rocked by the Angels.

What was your initial reaction to the Rangers getting Dempster? Were you happy with the move?

Morris: My initial reaction to learning we had traded for Dempster was mixed. The Rangers were in a position where they could have used a solid starter, but I didn’t see it as a need, and was concerned that the cost in terms of prospects would be too high.

But when I learned that the Rangers had given up just Christian Villanueva and Kyle Hendricks, and that Neftali Feliz was going to undergo Tommy John surgery and thus wouldn’t re-join the rotation, I was happy with the move. I would have liked a No. 1, but the price for would have been prohibitive.

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