Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Maybe Stanton Can Pitch?

This is my "I know it, you know it,
but what am I supposed to say?" face
With the non-waiver trade deadline approaching, baseball insiders have flooded us with impending trade rumors.  Some haven't panned out, but as an actual trade gets closer, the information becomes more reliable.  So it was with a grain of salt that I read the Yankees were making a push for Zach Britton, the Orioles closer.

A closer?  Did I miss the season-ending injury to Aroldis Chapman? No, okay, so another setup man?  Are the Yankees such a perfect machine that the only part that needed tinkering was to improve their bullpen from the left side?

Brian Cashman spent the off-season by trading for Giancarlo Stanton, to upgrade their already outstanding right-handed power-hitting and stacked outfield.  In other words, nice, but decidedly unnecessary.

Instead, the Yanks went to war with a rotation of Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia, Sonny Gray and Jordan Montgomery.  As we know, Montgomery was quickly injured, and his replacements pitched about as well as Sonny Gray.  With Tanaka on the DL for a stretch, Yankee starters were stretched thin.  Enter... Britton?

After the game, news of the deal reached the manager's office.  A bemused Aaron Boone had this to say of his club's most recent acquisition:
"Any time you can add to a strength, cover up a weakness or whatever, when you can add good players to your team, obviously that's a good thing."
Or, roughly translated, "Whatever this was, even though it doesn't actually address a need we have, it's not a bad thing.  Besides, I'm not going to sit here and second-guess my boss."

Meanwhile, the team with the best record in baseball and an already formidable starting rotation added another piece: the Red Sox traded for former Yankee Nate Eovaldi.  Now, I won't sit here and tell you that Eovaldi is that much better than Gray, since neither one has excelled in pinstripes.  Nor do I think that Eovaldi makes the Red Sox much better, though how much better can you be than on pace for 111 wins?

Acquiring Britton does not preclude the Yankees from getting that missing starter.  And a Britton-fortified bullpen is a better bullpen than it was yesterday.  But I don't think that this trade alone helps the Yankees catch Boston.  We'll see what the future holds in New York.

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Mach-ado About Nothing

I have a lot of respect for Ken Rosenthal, even for his choice in neckties.  But like so many baseball beat writers these days (or for any sport, really) the prime directive is to publish.  Whether or not it makes any sense doesn't seem to matter.  Much of what is said or written will be quickly forgotten if the information doesn't pan out.

To wit: apparently Rosenthal, the MLB Network Insider, thinks that the Yankees are stepping up their interest in Manny Machado.  Now, don't get me wrong: Machado is the top target at the trade deadline, an All-Star who's having a career season going into his walk year.  But the Yankees?  Why?

Anyone watching the Yankees play this season knows a few things: they hit a lot of homers.  They score a lot of runs.  They have a lockdown bullpen.  They have suspect starting pitching.  So as the Yankees look to shore up the team heading towards the deadline, they are looking at a shortstop?

I thought the trade for Giancarlo Stanton was somewhat nonsensical, trading for a player you already had to "improve" an area of overwhelming team strength.  That they gave up barely nothing to get him certainly mitigated most doubts.  But somehow I think the price tag for a superstar in your own division will be higher in the thick of a pennant race.

But even if you could get Machado for a reasonable price, WHY WOULD YOU?  At short, they have Didi Gregorious, a player so loveably likable that even a slump for the entire month of May didn't diminish his appeal.  In the unlikely event that Machado would agree to move back to third base (something he said he's unwilling to do) the Yanks have one of the leading candidates for Rookie of the Year, Miguel Andújar.    

Meanwhile, once you move past Cy Young candidate Luis Severino, the Yankees rotation looks shaky at best.  Masahiro Tanaka has been good but is injury-prone, while we wait for C.C. Sabathia to show his age.  Though it seems like Sonny Gray is trying to pitch his way out of pinstripes, he still takes the ball every 5 days.  As does Domingo German, a serviceable but unreliable youngster.  But by all means, let's go send a bunch of top-level prospects to fill the hole we don't have at short or third.

Again, no offense to Ken.  Maybe he did hear that the Yankees were interested.  Maybe the Yankees are just trying to drive up the price for some other team.  Either way, I don't foresee Manny Machado in Yankee pinstripes any time soon.