When I first saw the current standings in the American League East, with the Yankees sitting 4.5 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays, I shook my head in disgust. On August 1st the Yankees were 5 games in first place... ahead of the Baltimore Orioles (now there's an ugly story). The Blue Jays were actually 6 games back at the time.
"Ahhhhh!"
But then I remembered that Toronto's future is not good. For starters, they are unlikely to re-sign David Price. Until they traded for Troy Tulowitski, the Jays' largest contract was Russell Martin's 5 years and $82 million. $82 million to $200 million? I don't see that, especially now that they'll be paying Troy $94 million through 2020 (not including the 2021 club option, which has a $4 million buyout).
So I decided to do what Daniel does a lot of, and start a Twitter Poll.
I asked our followers... "Would you rather the Yankees did little or went all in on a World Series push like the BlueJays?" Here are a few replies...
When it all comes down to it, this is exactly what I was thinking. Toronto fans can beat their chests now, but sooner or later we're going to be the one's laughing.
While I agree with Terry that the Yankees could have added a little something to the bench, I disagree with the bullpen part. The team's bullpen was fine at the time. I say "was", because injuries have taken away the depth the bullpen had.
I can see the Yankees building something close to another dynasty. No, I don't expect four more World Series titles in five years, but a few titles within the next ten years is feasible.
A compliment to Brian Cashman? Wow!
Whether or not I complained would depend on who they traded for who. If the Mateo for Kimbrel/Gyorko trade happened, I would have complained a little because Jedd is almost worthless. But while losing Mateo would have stunk, having a three-headed monster in the bullpen (Betances-Miller-Kimbrel... WOW!) would have been awesome.
When I said "sooner or later" in response to Sean Manning's tweet earlier, the "sooner" referred to this.
While I don't agree with going all-in this season, I don't blame some fans for wanting them to. The Yankees could always buy more players in free agency, but my issue with this comes from the fact that free agency is not what it used to be. So going all-in could mean hurting the future. I want a nice run of seasons, not a great season followed by a few "meh" ones.
Thanks for the replies. Daniel has done a bunch of these Twitter Polls, and I'm probably going to have some here or there. So be on the look out, and get your opinion heard.