Who is going to take Ellsbury's contract?
Pineda and other losers need to try their luck elsewhere.
The owners need to swap Chessman for the man running the Cubs. He did well for Boston.
Theo Epstein is a winner.
The Yanks need to set a new course.
The owners need to swap Chessman for the man running the Cubs. He did well for Boston.
Theo Epstein is a winner.
The Yanks need to set a new course.
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Is Ken Phelps available?
I've been a Yankees fan since 1960. I bleed Bronx blue, so don't label me as a Sawk lover. Lets be real. This team has a slim chance of limping into the post season. Unlike last year against the Astros, can they win a one game playoff and play deep? Highly unlikely. Can the Steinbrenners please give Cashman a directive to set up this team for years to come that mirrors the Torre years? It is not like the fans are throwing their money away this season to see this hybrid mess. The empty seats should tell them that.
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The Yankees are in a rebuilding mode. IMHO if they can make a deal to keep the bullpen intact with Betances, Miller and Chapman for a couple of years, it buys time to retool the rotation and the offense.
The other team can't win if it can't score. The "Three" have shown lights out capability and IMHO, Girardi can mix them up in the 7th, 8th and 9th. You've got three closers and situationally, that doesn't bode well for the opposition.
The other team can't win if it can't score. The "Three" have shown lights out capability and IMHO, Girardi can mix them up in the 7th, 8th and 9th. You've got three closers and situationally, that doesn't bode well for the opposition.
But with their rotation, having three great closers isn't as great as it might seem. The coming free agent class of starting pitchers isn't impressive. Trading partners are going to want something of value in return, and the Yankees' most valuable chips are the three relievers - and Chapman will be an FA at the end of the season anyway. Their best move may be to trade Chapman now and then try to resign him as a free agent.
The trade deadline is baseball's equivalent of a crapshoot, much as is the major league draft. Caveat emptor.
The Yanks aren't going to be buyers. They'd be selling high with assets that a middling club doesn't need, hoping to build a stock of controllable arms and young position players with promising bats. That's how you turn a system around or get good quickly. If you're warning buying teams because you think there's something wrong with the Yankees' goods, then sure, caveat emptor. But I haven't seen anything to that effect.
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The Yankees are currently 6.5 games out of first place and 5 games out of the last AL wild-card spot. Those make for challenging but not hopeless odds. Their posture at the trade deadline will depend on how they do from now heading into next weekend. If they tread water between now and then, they will at least stand pat and may look to buy. If they hit a hot streak, then they will definitely buy. If they hit the skids, then they might sell, but even that is not certain. The Yankees have 23 consecutive winning seasons at their backs, not to mention all of the history and success before that. They will not sell until and unless it gets totally hopeless for them.
Tanks made a deal trading the likes of Heathcliff Slocumb for the likes of young players like young Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek?
NO WAY! The Yanks work the other way, and have for, what 15 years?
The last time they made a great deal was, when? Getting Tino (along with Jim Mecir and Jeff Nelson) for Hitchcock (and Russ Davis? Or maybe Sparky Lyle for Bernie Carbo?
NO WAY! The Yanks work the other way, and have for, what 15 years?
The last time they made a great deal was, when? Getting Tino (along with Jim Mecir and Jeff Nelson) for Hitchcock (and Russ Davis? Or maybe Sparky Lyle for Bernie Carbo?
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I believe the trade to get Gregorious was a great deal and the trade for Castro looks good at this point.
That was Lyle for Danny Cater...if it had been for Carbo it wouldn't quite make the Red Sox Worst Trades Ever List.
The Cubs, Giants, Indians and especially the Giants aren't matches for the Yanks. Houston and Pittsburgh have minor league systems that have outfielders and pitchers they could offer. Houston has Martes, Musgrove and Gustave as pitchers, and Fisher and Kyle Tucker as outfielders. Pittsburgh has Meadows and Bell as outfielders, plus Charlie Hayes son at third base.
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When you have one piece of the puzzle solved you don't blow it up and hope you can duplicate the magic next year. The Yankees need hitters and outfield arms. Period! We have the best closing trinity in both leagues. Why mess that up?
If Cashman holds true to form, he'll unload some great prospects in return for some over-the-hill money pits. Whatever the Yankees do, the first thing ought to be to can Cashman, and get someone who actually knows baseball, talent, and how to develop it, to take over.
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Chapman, of course, is no Heathcliffe Slocumb. No amount of saves can overcome a 5.76 ERA. Yes, the teams who traded for the pitiful relievers mentioned in the column who had absolutely no body of work to show for themselves should have gotten their GMs fired. But the team that trades for Chapman will not be doing it in a panic. He's a genuine stud, not the beneficiary of cheap saves. The good in it for the Yankees is that they could get Schwarber from the Cubs and then pick Chapman back up again next season on the free agent market.
Theo isn't stupid, Chapman is a rental and won't get the Yankees a large return, Schwarber isn't going anywhere. The rest of baseball is enjoying the Yanks foreseeable future in baseball hell, good day.
Let's hope the Yankees' idea of a clearance trade is not Ricky Henderson for Erik Plunk and Greg Cadaret.
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It was Plunk, Cadaret and the OF kid who ended up in a Milwaukee jail. I'd say that trade was a good one for the Yanks. It gave them two young arms and a full time position player instead of a single hotshot clubhouse headache. I recall that as being one of the first moves that helped the team turn around.
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