I Know It’s Still Early But….

I know it’s still early, literally and figuratively but good morning nonetheless, but what the New York Yankees have done thus far this season is nothing short of impressive regardless. The Yankees have been without Gary Sanchez for much of this run and have been without their starting shortstop Didi Gregorius for the entire season to date yet the team continues to battle, continues to put in the work and they flat out continue to win. Now while I am well aware of the fact that a division and pennant cannot be won in the month of April I am also keen to the fact that the division can be lost in this month, see 2016 as a great example of this, so I am excited to see what I am seeing. I am especially excited to see this since I pretty much predicted it before the season started when basically no one else did here in the Yankees blogosphere, I guess because it wasn’t the popular pick.

Honestly, and I am once again beating my own drum but I don’t mind it too much, I think the Yankees could be for real this season. Are they going to run away with the division? Not likely, but maybe, but I do think they will absolutely compete until the finals days of the season for one of the two Wild Cards. Again, I know that’s not saying much as teams with 80-something wins are in it until the end of the season but one must remember that this team wasn’t exactly built to win now. Sure they added Matt Holliday and Aroldis Chapman but they also traded away half their team last season and Brian McCann this winter all for prospects. This team was built to draw some fans to the yard and win some games that they probably shouldn’t have with that bullpen but I don’t think many, aside from myself, thought this team would be as successful as they have been. The best part is that the team actually has room to improve as well in 2017.

As I stated above the Yankees are doing this all without their best hitter in Gary Sanchez and a great hitter and defensive wizard in Didi Gregorius on the team. You would have to think that Ronald Torreyes’ bat would slow down sooner rather than later and when it does Didi will be there to step right in and pick up the slack. You also have to keep in mind that neither Austin Romine nor Kyle Higashioka are adding much to the team offensively meaning the middle of the Yankees order can and will produce more when Sanchez returns. That should scare American League pitching as New York is already beating up on pitchers on the regular right now.

Speaking of pitching the New York Yankees are also on this great run without much help from their best pitcher and ace Masahiro Tanaka. Tanaka will be better, history suggests that and his stat line shows you that he almost has to get better. Once he gets better the rest of the starting rotation can stabilize and improve and the Yankees can keep moving forward. Imagine what the Yankees record would look like had Tanaka been pitching like the Tanaka of old in his starts this season. They’d be in first place and beginning to run away with things already. Tanaka has seemingly found arm strength and velocity that he hasn’t had in recent years suggesting his elbow is healthier than it has ever been but has left him with a bit of an adjustment period. He will figure it out and he will be back to winning 15-20 games this season with an incredible offense and defense behind him.

Aaron Judge is on pace to hit 50 home runs this season and Aaron Hicks isn’t far behind him as he is on pace to hit around 30 this season as well. Will both Aaron’s reach those numbers? Not likely but I think the Yankees would be happy with around half that production from both men so that’s exciting when thinking about the state of the Yankees outfield.

New York has also been absolutely terrible with runners in scoring position this season. So many #RISPFails thus far and that has to improve. When it does, mixed in with the fact that almost every player on the team can hit a home run at any given time once Sanchez and Didi are back in the fold, this offense has the ability to really put up some gaudy numbers. Mix that with a pitching staff and bullpen that have been absolutely dominant aside from Tanaka and this Yankees teams has all the parts to be something special. And if they are missing a part to make the team special they have a loaded farm system that they can utilize to go get what they need to be special.

The Yankees are the underdogs of Major League Baseball in 2017 but I have a feeling if they keep playing the way they have thus far that they won’t be for long. They may be shocking you guys but I can’t say that they are shocking me, I had them doing this all along.

Go Yankees! Keep it up.

Game Preview: New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays 4/23

The New York Yankees signed Masahiro Tanaka out of Japan to be their future, their ace, their present and their stopper. The New York Yankees need a stopper and they need a defining win today in the Bronx and Tanaka just so happens to be on the mound. Tanaka had his best start of the season last time out in another “stopper” situation against the Seattle Mariners and will once again look to get the Yankees back in the win column today against the Rays. This is why we got the guy and today he needs to make good on the investment. Opposing Tanaka on the mound will be Blake Snell for the Tampa Bay Rays.

Tanaka is getting stronger and stronger with each start he makes this season and he looked especially sharp in his last start against the Seattle Mariners. Tanaka allowed three runs but only two of them were of the earned variety while scattering six hits in seven innings of work beating his former teammate Hisashi Iwakuma. Tanaka will be making his fourth career start against the Rays this afternoon looking to push his career 2-0 record and 2.70 ERA in three career starts up a bit.

Snell is the Rays top prospect overall and top pitching prospect by a mile and he makes his MLB debut inside Yankee Stadium against the New York Yankees. That's usually rough for a kid but New York has shown an ability to make a pitcher they are seeing for the first time look like Cy Young as well so there are a ton of unknowns in this start. 

The game will be played at 1:05 pm ET inside Yankee Stadium and can be seen on the YES Network, MLB Network and MLB TV. The Yankees need a win as they try to claw back to .500 and try to claw back into relevancy this season. It’s not all on Tanaka though as the offense needs to wake up, the defense needs to do their part and everyone needs to keep their head in the game. If you can’t get the big hit with runners in scoring position you don’t need to give out free outs on the basepaths. Get it together and get a victory.

Go Yankees!!

I’m Mad, Frustrated and a Little Pissed Off. What about You?

When was the last time I did a rant on the blog? I feel like it’s been a while, especially for me, and I also feel like it’s time. The time is right for one. I’m not asking for widespread change or unrealistic trades, DFA’s or anything like that. I’m just asking for some victories. Apparently that is too much to ask as a lot of things seem to be thus far this season.

It’s not like me to keep things bottled up inside, I have to get them out or I will explode, so I do so in a rant here on this lovely Friday morning. I’m mad, I’m frustrated and I am a little pissed off. I don’t even have to ask “what about you?” because I already know the answer. I see the tweets, I read the emails and I respond to almost every comment on the blog. We as a Yankees fan base are NOT happy about this start, not in the slightest. We as a collective group were not happy to see CC Sabathia “win” the 5^th starter job and we haven’t been happy very since.

Alex Rodriguez is struggling. How many times are we going to watch him swing at a low and inside fastball that he may not have been able to catch up to even ten years ago and then proceed to watch one right down the middle for strike three on the next pitch? Swing the bat Alex! A frontwards K is always better than a backwards one.

Don’t even get me started on RISPFails. The New York Yankees have failed with runners in scoring position so many times this season they are coming up with new and inventive ways to do it. Second and third with one out, ground into a double play. Runner on second and nobody out, don’t even advance the runner. Have a pitcher on the ropes and swing at the first pitch, especially when that first pitch is a bad pitch. The Yankees have been beaten about three times this season and beat themselves the rest of the losses, it’s crazy.

I only rant because I care and I only care because I love this team. This team is jam packed with talent and while there are a few areas of concern and a few areas that are in need of an upgrade, as I stare at you Chase Headley, I still believe in this team. It’s obvious to me though that this team doesn’t believe in itself and that is a huge problem. That’s a player problem, a manager problem and an organizational problem that needs to be fixed now before the standings tell us that it’s too late. Just win, please?