Adios, Arrivederci, Au Revoir, Cheerio, and Goodbye to Stephen Drew

What a sad day in Major League Baseball and in the Greedy Pinstripes world, former Boston Red Sox player, New York Yankees player, and Major Leaguer Stephen Drew has announced his retirement from the game this week. We have given Stephen a hard time over the years after his short tenure with the Yankees and even have an award named after him in his honor that we give out here on the site. The news of his retirement hit me hard and it left me with just one thing to say… Stephen Drew still sucks.

On a serious note the former 15^th overall pick in the 2004 Major League Baseball First Year Players Draft has announced his official retirement from the game after not finding a job this winter. Drew had spent the last two seasons with the Washington Nationals in their organization where he enjoyed a strong 2016 season, before injuries robbed him of his 2017 and final season.

Drew was drafted and developed by the Arizona Diamondbacks where he spent parts of seven seasons with the organization. Drew was ultimately dealt to the Oakland Athletics in August of 2012 where he finished strong before hitting free agency for the first time in his career. Drew signed with the Boston Red Sox for the 2013 season where he put in a mediocre .253/.333/.443 triple slash. Boston extended Drew a qualifying offer for the 2014 season, but Drew declined the offer and ultimately sat out until June 1, 2014 when he was eligible to be signed without the signing team giving up draft pick compensation for his services. Drew ultimately went back to Boston on a one-year deal but was later traded to the New York Yankees where he finished his 2014 season.

Drew was back with the Yankees for the 2015 season further frustrating and infuriating fans of the Bronx Bombers slashing just .185/.257/.347 over the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Drew landed with Washington in a utility role for the 2016 season where he bounced back a bit slashing .266/.339/.524 with eight home runs before injuries robbed him of his 2017 season, and any chance of erasing his legacy with us here at the site.

Drew will coach his children now that his playing days are over. Never forget, and always remember… Stephen Drew Sucks. Enjoy your retirement, and no hard feelings. It is all in fun.

Opening Day at Yankee Stadium, Take 2...

Photo Credit: NJ Advance Media for NJ.com (John Munson)

Let’s Try This Again…

Here we are…Opening Day at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, New York! Of course, it’s not a certainty the game will be played given the rain currently in the forecast. According to my weather app, there is an 85% chance of rain at scheduled game time of 4 pm Eastern. Decreasing rains are expected throughout the evening.  Will the game be played or not?  Stay tuned.

If the game is rained out, there is a possibility the Yankees could play a double-header tomorrow. More rain is anticipated, however, the likelihood decreases later in the day. The Rays do not return to New York until Thursday, June 14^th for the start of a four-game set. Monday, June 18^th is an off day between home series.  Hopefully, the weather cooperates and there is no need to strategically alter the schedule for a makeup game.  

  

The way the schedule has played out, the Yankees will face the two best (healthy) Rays starters, Chris Archer and Blake Snell. Meanwhile, when the Rays travel to Boston this weekend, they’ll use the bullpen for at least one of the starts with their current four-man rotation. Sure, they go easy on Boston. The Red Sox have clearly benefited from the schedule early. They opened with a four-game set in St Petersburg, FL against the Rays, winning three of the games. They traveled down to Miami yesterday to beat the Marlins in front of Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada, with another game scheduled for today and their best starter, Chris Sale, on the mound. Then, they’ll fly back to Boston to face the lowly Rays again. The Red Sox do not face a playoff caliber team until they see the Yankees at Fenway Park next Tuesday. Aside from another series at Yankee Stadium in May, the Red Sox do not face a 2017 playoff team again until the end of May/first of June when they travel to Houston. Meanwhile, during that time in addition to the two Boston series, the Yankees face the Minnesota Twins, Houston Astros, Cleveland Indians, and Washington Nationals.  It doesn’t get any easier for the Pinstripers. Manager Aaron Boone needs to improve his bullpen management in a hurry and the big guys need to hit.

Photo Credit: USA TODAY Sports (Kevin Sousa)

Entering play today, the Red Sox lead the American League East by one game over the Toronto Blue Jays and a game and a half over the beloved Yankees. The Sox have won four consecutive games after losing the season opener against the Rays. I am looking for the Yankees to be aggressive in their series with the Rays and the upcoming weekend set with the Baltimore Orioles before next week’s showdown in Boston. Time to show the Sox the better team wears Pinstripes. 

Former Yankee Stephen Drew has called it quits. I am not quite sure what Daniel Burch will do now with his Stephen Drew Sucks Award. He may have to find a new player to recognize although the Yankees bullpen…presently…is giving him plenty of candidates to choose from. For his Yankees career (2014-15), Drew played in 177 games. He swatted 20 home runs and drove in 59 RBIs. His batting line was a horrific .187/.257/.352. He struck out 107 times in 583 plate appearances, managing to draw only 50 walks. Farewell, Stephen. I hope your post-playing career accomplishments exceed those on the baseball field.

Photo Credit: USATSI 

How good would Bryce Harper look in Pinstripes right now? He belted a three-run homer last night against the Atlanta Braves, and has three home runs on the year and seven RBIs. His batting line is .417/.550/1.167. Here’s $400 million, Mr Harper. Please sign here. We’re keeping #34 warm for you (please don’t pay any attention to the A.J. Burnett stains). 

Photo Credit: Getty Images (Kevin C Cox) 

I saw some tweets yesterday that the Yankees had reacquired Minor League LHP Daniel Camarena, however, I’ve been unable to confirm it. Wikipedia states that he was traded back to the Yankees organization on April 1^st. Camarena, originally drafted by the Yankees in 2011, had signed with the Chicago Cubs in January as a minor league free agent. The Yankees could certainly use more lefties at Triple A, but Camarena is still showing on the Iowa Cubs roster and there have been no announcements through either the Cubs website or the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders site. Camarena did not have a great training camp for the Cubbies. He pitched in five games covering 4 1/3 innings. He gave up eight hits and six runs for an inflated 12.46 ERA. He walked two and struck out four. To his defense, he did register two saves. But until his acquisition is confirmed, I don’t know whether to say ‘Welcome back’ or ‘Good luck with the Cubs’. I’ll gladly take any decent left-handed options over the newly signed Oliver Perez.

Well, here’s hoping there is a break in the afternoon’s storm clouds so that we can play nine. 

Go Yankees!

And the 2018 “Stephen Drew Sucks Award” Goes To….

The 2018 season and the annual “Stephen Drew Sucks Award” given out here on The Greedy Pinstripes has a little bit of a different feel to it. Last year and in years past we have always given this award to not only one of the players on the roster that we expected to fall far below expectations, but we also prefaced the award presentation by stating that this player would receive far too much playing time than he deserved because of manager Joe Girardi’s insistence on playing a veteran over a rookie or young guy at all costs. With the hiring of new manager Aaron Boone I am not entirely sure anyone really knows what to expect going forward in terms of bullpen usage and how production will or will not dictate playing time. With that said we will simply have to use the thought process and prediction power that we clearly (and sarcastically) possess to predict, and subsequently award, the player we think that will most live up to the name, Stephen Drew Sucks. Congratulations, I think, go out to the newest member of the New York Yankees, Neil Walker.

Now before I get too far into this post I want to preface this by saying that after the news that Greg Bird would start the season on the disabled list and would miss six-to eight weeks (which in Greg Bird terminology means six-to-eight months) I felt pretty fortunate to have Walker on the team. The guy is a veteran than can play all over the field, literally, and is a player that was once thought of as a middle-of-the-order type hitter that signed for a measly $4 million plus incentives on a one-year deal. I am not terribly upset to have him for depth purposes, but it doesn’t mean I think he is going to excel here in 2018 either, and for more than a few reasons.

Walker is very injury prone and has been for quite some time now at the Major League level. Playing in the American League should only help him as he can potentially take “half days off” at the designated hitter position whenever necessary, but I still can’t bring myself to really feel confident that he can hold up over the course of a 162-game season. I won’t feel confident in that until he proves he can do it for a season or two, who could blame me?

Walker posted a combined 1.4 WAR in 2017 according to Baseball Reference, and that was playing every day with the New York Mets and the Milwaukee Brewers. Walker could conceivably see his playing time reduced in 2018, which would ultimately see his WAR and overall production numbers drop as well. It isn’t like a 1.4 WAR is all that great anyway, well unless you consider players like Manny Pina, Jordy Mercer, Evan Gattis, Rafael Devers and Cameron Maybin to name a few who all put up similar or close WAR’s in 2017 as well to be “great” players. At this point in his career Walker is just average, if even that, and he is line to take a huge step back, even if he stays healthy.

I am not meaning to talk bad about Walker, and again I am grateful for his presence on the team with the loss of Bird… I just can’t bring myself to be excited about him being here though. I usually have high hopes, but I picked Walker over players like Brandon Drury (who Bryan Van Dusen is not high on this upcoming season if you read his most recent post), Jacoby Ellsbury, CC Sabathia and others… so that should tell you something about how I feel about the prospect of having him in Pinstripes here in 2018. Prove me wrong, Neil, but if you do you have to give the award back. “Thems the rules”

And the 2017 “Stephen Drew Sucks” Award Goes To….

Every single season there seems to be this one player that Yankees manager Joe Girardi loves no matter how terrible he does. To name a few from years past, in no particular order, we have suffered through Andruw Jones every day in center field, Sergio Mitre far too often in the rotation and in the bullpen, Stephen Drew stinking up the joint for multiple seasons at second base and most recently Chase Headley at third base in 2017. So who will win the now aptly named “Stephen Drew Sucks” Award from us here at The Greedy Pinstripes?

I have a feeling that we will be saying “Jacoby Ellsbury Sucks” a whole lot this season. Now I have to admit that this is all contingent on the health of Ellsbury, which is never a guarantee, and I also have to admit that I have been one of Ellsbury’s biggest fans since his signing but enough is enough. The guy is a speed demon that refuses to steal bases. The guy is a leadoff type hitter that seems more worried about getting a catcher’s interference call than roping a single over the infielder’s heads and getting on base. Ellsbury just seems to be on cruise control after signing that mega seven-year deal worth $153 million and it makes me sick to even think about it.

I know some don’t like these awards and they don’t like the constant “Stephen Drew Sucks” tweets after every out he made at the plate or every error he made in the field but that’s just me being a fan. Just because I’m a fan with a blog doesn’t mean I am not a fan first and cannot express my fandom in a way that I deem fit. Stephen Drew did suck and Jacoby Ellsbury does too so why should I be made to feel bad for saying so just because I am on a platform or held to a higher standard or whatever. I don’t put myself on that platform and I don’t hold myself to a higher standard. I’ll get down and talk baseball with anyone, anytime, anywhere. I’ve always been big on putting the social aspect back in social media and I try to acknowledge and respond to every tweet and comment we get in some way, shape or form unlike those other publications.

So yeah, before I get too far off topic here as I like to ramble from time to time, it’s going to be a long season for Jacoby here at TGP. Fair warning and there’s only one way (well two or three ways I guess as he could get injured or traded) to reverse the Stephen Drew Sucks curse…. By performing! Good luck Jacoby, I’m truly rooting for you. 

Was Starlin Castro Better Than Stephen Drew (Sucks)?

You guys know me, you read my stuff and you follow us @GreedyStripes on Twitter, so you know that I was never a fan of Stephen Drew. I clamored for what felt like years to get the Yankees to let go of Stephen Drew and to plug Robert Refsnyder in at the position to no avail so you can understand how ecstatic I was when New York acquired Starlin Castro in the offseason from the Chicago Cubs. I was skimming through other Yankees blogs and new publications lately like I always do when I ran across a post that boggled my mind, the post was explaining how the Yankees got nothing from Castro this year that they didn’t get from Stephen Drew last year. Their basis for the post? One stat. Albeit one pretty heavily weighted stat in the sabermetric community but still just one stat. No stat, however liked or heavily used across the board, tells the whole story so I will look to tell the whole story here for you today in hopes of seeing whether Castro was better than Drew in 2016. 

In 146 games Starlin Castro has played an awesome second base committing just 11 errors while posting a .981 fielding percentage. Castro was a part of 68 double plays this season along with Didi Gregorius and while these were all career bests for the Yankees second baseman there is no reason not to think he cannot keep up this pace defensively. Drew on the other hand? In his final season in pinstripes in 2015 Drew posted 131 games played with seven errors and a .984 fielding percentage. The numbers are comparable yet no one gushes over Castro’s defense like they did for Drew. No one is using Castro’s defense as a reason to keep Robert Refsnyder out of the discussion for the second base job either. Two Robert Refsnyder references in one day. One more and you have to free him. 

In those same 146 games Castro hit 21 home runs, seven more than his career high, with a .273/.301/.434 triple slash, 69 RBI and a 1.2 WAR. Drew on the other hand? .201/.271/.381 with 44 RBI, 17 home runs and a 0.4 WAR. Castro gets the slight edge. 

One thing that was definitely not suggested or mentioned in the article that I will not link because it doesn’t deserve the attention and the views is age. Castro is 26-years old and entering the beginning of his prime while putting up these numbers. This was also Castro’s first season in the American League and the first year in front of the bright lights of Yankee Stadium. The pressure, the fan scrutiny, the media questions, etc. This is all something that Drew was used to by 2015 after heading to the World Series with the Boston Red Sox and playing with the Bronx Bombers the season prior after coming over in a trade. These are things you can’t put a stat on and this is what, in my opinion of course, sets Castro apart from Drew across the board in every category. 

Castro is the man and will continue to be the man while Stephen Drew still sucks! And you can tell him I said that too. 

Brian Cashman's Trade History on July 31st

Brian Cashman has been the General Manager of the New York Yankees since the 1998 season so you would think that he has made his fair share of last-minute July 31st trade deadline trades. Right? Well, not really. While he hasn't made an absolute ton of trades on this day he has made a few notable ones and some trades that ended up being big in the grand scheme of things. Let's showcase those here as we wait for the Yankees and Rays game here in a couple of hours.

July 31, 2003 traded Brandon Claussen and Charlie Manning to the Cincinnati Reds for Aaron Boone

Hello 2003 ALCS against the Boston Red Sox.

July 31, 2003 traded Robin Ventura to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Scott Proctor and Bubba Crosby

Joe Torre thanks you for Proctor and Cashman used Crosby to kind of get Johnny Damon to sign. Well that and a blank check. 2009 World Series regardless.

July 31, 2006 traded Shawn Chacon to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Craig Wilson

For a long time Chacon was my favorite Yankees pitcher. Don't know why I just like the way the guy threw the ball and got guys out. Rooting for the underdog maybe?

July 31, 2007 traded Scott Proctor to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Wilson Betemit

Joe Torre cried a bit inside...

July 31, 2008 traded Alberto Gonzalez to the Washington Nationals for Jhonny Nunez

Who and who?

July 31, 2009 traded Chase Weems to the Cincinnati Reds for Jerry Hairston

See above from the 2009 World Series. That's Jerry Hairston Jr.

July 31, 2010 traded Mark Melancon and Jimmy Paredes to the Houston Astros for Lance Berkman

DUMB move here but you take the good with the bad I guess with Cashman.

July 31, 2010 traded Matt Cusick and Andrew Shive to the Cleveland Indians for Kerry Wood

This guy was amazing for us in a small sample size.

July 31, 2012 traded Chad Qualls to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Casey McGehee

Minor. Yet Effective.

July 31, 2014 traded Kelly Johnson to the Boston Red Sox for Stephen Drew

Stephen Drew Sucks!

July 31, 2014 traded Peter O’Brien to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Martin Prado

Good, for a while.

You know how many trades Brian Cashman has made on August 1st during his tenure as a Yankees GM? None. Zilch. Nada. Hopefully that changes tomorrow.

Selling Pieces Now Can Help in 2017?

The New York Yankees seem to be in sell mode before this year’s August 1^st trading and while we may not be seeing a fire sale by any stretch of the imagination we could see a few key pieces moved before it’s all said and done. This is important not only for the 2016 season with eyes on the 2018 season and beyond but there is one key component that many are missing in regards to the 2017 season as well. The Top 10 picks every season are protected when offering contracts to players who received qualifying offers and if the Yankees fall a bit more they could potentially get one of those protected picks and get a free pass this winter in free agency.

Entering play on Monday 13 teams have records worse than the Yankees record right now and one team, the Seattle Mariners, have an identical record as the Bronx Bombers. The Yankees had the 14^th worst record in Major League Baseball with the dominating bullpen of No Runs DMC, a resurgent season from Carlos Beltran and great performances from the likes of CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova, Brett Gardner, Brian McCann and others. If some of these players fall by the wayside and/or get traded this month or next month that record could fall, and fall fast.

Now looking at the potential free agent class for the 2017 season you can see if it’s even worth it to “tank” the season for one of those protected picks. Thanks to MLB Trade Rumors you can see that the cream of the crop as far as the 2017 free agency market goes are Jonathan Lucroy (he has a club option for 2017 that will likely be exercised), Wilson Ramos (like we need another catcher), Edwin Encarnacion, possibly Yoenis Cespedes if he opts out of his contract with the Mets, Ian Desmond (see my above comment about needing a catcher), Jose Bautista (we need guys who can throw punches, not take them), Andrew Cashner and a plethora of relievers you can read about at MLB Trade Rumors. Oh and Stephen Drew. Stephen Drew sucks.

I don’t know about you but that list doesn’t necessarily intrigue me all that much. There are only a handful of players who are under that magical 30-year old mark and only a handful of players that I would actually want on the Yankees going forward. Mark Melancon would be nice and would definitely be worth the second round pick that New York would have to give up presumably if Pittsburgh offers him a qualifying offer but aside from that I’m just not blown away.

So would selling now help not only the 2017 season but also the 2018 season and beyond? No, I don’t think that it would. Right now it looks like there is no helping this 2016 club or the 2017 club either unfortunately and in my opinion. 

The Case For and Against Trading Nathan Eovaldi

If you’re going to trade Carlos Beltran this summer, and we made the case for and against any hypothetical or potential trade earlier today on the blog, then you also have to at least consider trading Nathan Eovaldi as well, right? Eovaldi is one of the few young, tradeable and attractive pieces the Yankees could potentially move this summer but a trade of the man some on this blog nicknamed the “Water Pistol” would come with some haters and some supporters like anything else. In this blog we will look to compile a list of pros and cons to trading Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Eovaldi this summer to see if it ultimately makes sense for the Yankees.

The case for trading Eovaldi:

Teams like the Chicago Cubs have reportedly already talked about acquiring Eovaldi and boy would I like to dip into their deep farm system. 

Eovaldi was also discussed in a trade this winter and I believe the right-hander from Texas could bring a substantial amount back with one-plus years of team control remaining. 

The Yankees aren’t going anywhere in 2017 with a team full of flaws. No matter how good the pitching is you can’t win a game without scoring a run. If Yogi Berra didn’t say that then he should have. 

The case against trading Eovaldi:

The Yankees are in the thick of things in a crowded chase for a second Wild Card spot in the American League. I don’t know about you but I’d rather be in the dance with a chance to catch fire at the right time than sitting on my couch watching in October. 

The Yankees admit defeat and admit they are rebuilding with this trade, something the organization has been seemingly unwilling to do to date. 

Unless New York turns Eovaldi into an absolute haul this makes the trade of Martin Prado, the suffering through of Stephen Drew, and the disrespect of Robert Refsnyder look all that more blatant. 

He’s still young enough to extend and build around when we have a new-look team in 2018 and 2019. 

Eovaldi is signed through 2017. 

I, as a fan, simply don’t want to trade him. 

If there is even a minute chance that the Yankees could make a second half run and get hot heading into the postseason I can’t bring myself to agree to trading Eovaldi. It may make the most sense, truth be told, but my fandom gets in the way of my writing sometimes. If there isn’t a chance this season or next then it makes too much sense not to trade him. I’m torn, what say you?

Jorge Mateo, Jose Reyes & Further Proof that Brian Cashman is a Moron

The old saying “sometimes the move you don’t make is the best move you can make” or something along those lines have never been truer than with the New York Yankees. The New York Yankees on more than one occasion attempted to trade all of Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera and they tried to trade another top Yankees prospect and stud last summer as well. News broke yesterday that Brian Cashman tried, and almost did, trade top prospect and shortstop Jorge Mateo and half of his $22 million in salary to the Colorado Rockies for Jose Reyes.

If you needed further convincing and proof that Brian Cashman should not be running the show here in New York any more than look no further. Now to be truthful if this deal were true, and according to Jon Heyman it is, I can’t see a scenario where Colorado doesn’t immediately take the trade so you would think it was the Yankees that backed out for whatever reason but still. For Mateo to even be mentioned in this deal along with $11 million is ridiculous, Stephen Drew’s struggles or not.

That’s all the Yankees need is another aging veteran who is long past his prime attached to a huge deal that is weighing down the team and the checkbook. Reyes, between Toronto and Colorado, batted just .274/.310/.378 with seven home runs and 24 stolen bases in 2016 which granted was better than Stephen Drew but not worth the organization’s top prospect. By the way, and yes this is comparing apples to oranges, Mateo slashed .278/.345/.392 last season and stole 82 bases down in A-Ball. Just saying. He’s only 20-years old too and just now beginning to grow into his frame and his body.

Oh and boy did the Yankees dodge a bullet with the domestic violence incident and suspension, huh? Reyes hasn’t even played this season because of his suspension and now finds himself in Triple-A “getting back into game shape.” Yeah that’s code for we’re going to delay this as long as we can. The best move the Yankees made all summer in 2015 was the move they didn’t make, the move where they trade Mateo to the Colorado Rockies for Jose Reyes. What a moron Brian Cashman is. 

Where the Hell is Johnny Barbato?

You heard me, where the hell is Johnny Barbato? At one point this season the New York media, bloggers and such were calling Barbato the Yankees “secret weapon” and now these same journalists are writing about how thin the Yankees middle relief is outside their three-headed monster. So I say again, where the hell is Johnny Barbato?

Barbato made the Yankees out of spring training this season and pitched many meaningful and effective innings for Joe Girardi at the beginning of the season. In an extremely limited sample size Barbato, ignoring the small sample sizes in ERA and FIP and instead focusing on things that aren’t ballooned up by one or two bad innings of relief, Barbato struck out over 10.0 batters per nine innings while limiting his walks and hits allowed. Does he have the Robert Refsnyder going on or something?

Listen. I fully realize that Barbato only faced 53 batters in 15 appearances and I am fully aware of his 4.14 FIP and 5.54 ERA and I am in no way saying that he will be the savior and the absolute answer to the Yankees middle innings relief problem. What I am saying is why do you give a guy a shot and he proves himself only to snatch the rug out from under him after a bad outing or two? That doesn’t happen when Stephen Drew goes a season and a half and couldn’t hit water in an aquarium and that doesn’t happen when Esmil Rogers, Chris Capuano and other veterans couldn’t strike out a little league team but it seems to happen to the Yankees prospects and I’m fed up.

I say one last time. Where the hell is Johnny Barbato?

Weekly Check In: Nick Swisher

I hate to say I told you so but I also don’t shy away from saying I told you so. I know that may not make sense to some but it makes sense to me. I hate being right and furthermore I hate being right when it comes to making moves involving the Yankees. I suggested numerous times in these weekly check in posts that the Yankees needed to ride out Swisher’s hot streak in the Major Leagues and not waste it down in Scranton. I said many times that I believed Swisher would accept another minor league assignment if the Yankees needed to send him down and I said many, many times that a regression was coming. The regression is here.

Swisher was seen hitting well over .400 with power when the drum beating began for his call up and lately he’s been seen hanging below the Stephen Drew Line of .150. Shoulda, would, coulda Yankees family. The Swisher with bulky knees that has no power or bat speed that we’ve been hearing about since the Yankees signed him may finally be rearing his ugly head. 

Year	Age	Lg	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
2016	35	AAA	25	104	5	25	3	3	10	0	3	28	.253	.269	.374	.643

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Joe Girardi & His Hypothetical Leash

In the immortal words of George Steinbrenner, before presidential nominee Donald Trump made them cool, the words “you’re fired” came out far more times than the Yankees would like to admit in the 70’s, 80’s and into the 90’s. Steinbrenner was a passionate fan and the Yankees were his passion and his hobby, he had made his money before buying the team and regularly operated in the red due to payroll, and when a manager wasn’t cutting it then he got cut. Simple as that. The only constant was change but ever since the Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman regime took over in the Bronx right around the 2008/2009 timeframe there has been one man at the helm and in the dugout for New York but on a long enough timeline everyone moves on or gets fired so after this putrid start in 2016 you have to wonder how long Joe Girardi’s leash is with the club.  

Obviously this is all pure speculation as I am not an insider, contrary to popular belief Hal does not have me on speed dial and I know no more than you. Again, I like to use common sense, history and a little bit of speculation and predictions in posts like this. The Yankees are a well-oiled business marketing machine that makes the Steinbrenner family an absolute ton of money but if history has told us one thing about this team it’s this, they don’t make as much money when they are losing as they do when they are winning. When a team is losing and when the management wants to shake things up the first person to go is usually the manager and you have to wonder how much patience the AL Wild Card Round trip to the postseason last season bought Girardi from the Steinbrenners. 

I know I sound like a spoiled brat right now but this is the worst start and possibly the worst team I have ever seen in my lifetime. I started watching religiously in 1994 at just eight years old, I would later turn nine after the World Series, and I’ve been spoiled and come to expect the best out of this team. I was crushed when Girardi took over and the Yankees missed the postseason in the final year of Yankee Stadium and I am even more crushed thus far this season because this team is so loaded down with talent. What frustrates me is that the team had obvious needs this winter, the middle of the lineup and the starting rotation specifically, and the GM did nothing to address either. That’s not as much Girardi’s doing and fault as it is Cashman’s but we all know how this works. The manager goes first and so does his coaching staff before the organization realizes it was the GM’s fault all along so if Girardi wants to remain in pinstripes he needs to turn things around quickly, preferably now, or he may be headed to the free agent market. My opinion only. 

Listen I like Joe Girardi. Sure he frustrates the hell out of me with his constant veteran over prospects decisions, see Stephen Drew and Andruw Jones as recent examples of this, and I would be a liar if I said I didn’t want to take his binder (which is now an iPad) and light the thing on fire before breaking it into a million pieces. I do. The thing is though he has shown an uncanny ability to work with a bullpen and piece together a game for a victory that the Yankees had no business winning. He took the same exact bullpen that fell apart time after time in 2007 for Joe Torre and turned them into a powerhouse in 2008 and has in every single season since and that I will miss. I have to say though, there isn’t a whole lot more that I would miss. Especially when Girardi gives me a day when I’m ready to pump out another two or three articles. 

It Has Begun, Chase Headley Sucks

Ladies and gentleman it has begun. I thought we could go a whole season without donning a new Stephen Drew, which used to be a Sergio Mitre and used to be a Chris Stewart and used to be an Andruw Jones and used to be a whole plethora of people, but we were not that fortunate. Ladies and gentleman, Chase Headley sucks.

When the New York Yankees acquired him at the trading deadline in 2014 I have to admit that a big part of me was ecstatic. Yangervis Solarte had ridden his hot streak and wave and had been at the low point in the tide for the better part of a month at the time of the trade while Chase brought a clutch switch-hitting bat and some stellar defense with him. His defense was immediately compared to that of the great Graig Nettles and after some research I salivated over his clutch hits and huge seasons he had in an even huger ballpark in San Diego. What New York got in return though was a shell of that man with throwing problems and a bad back.

I’m not making this personal and I’m trying not to be down on the guy but something has got to give. New York gave him a huge contract over four seasons and the first year the Yankees got in return was littered with throwing errors and a total zap of any sort of power. This season, and yes I am still preaching the small sample size, he has somehow found new ways to get worse with the bat. The defense has been solid, maybe even great, but he’s making Stephen Drew look like a .300 hitter right now, hence the honor of my “Chase Headley Sucks” tweets.

I’m rooting for Headley, I truly am and I truly mean that, and I’m borderline hoping that this can be used as motivation to get better or do whatever it is you have to do to get better. I don’t want to tweet four or five times a night that he sucks, I don’t I want Headley to have the monster seasons he had inside Petco Park and I want him to lead the Yankees back to the promised land but as a fan that not only supports the Yankees from afar but a fan that buys the merchandise, purchases tickets when they are close, purchases this television subscription and that television subscription to see them etc. I feel like I have the right to at least say something.

And this is what I say. Chase Headley Sucks. Prove me wrong. I like being wrong.

As the Top Goes, the Offense Goes

It sounds simple enough and it could be said for any of the 30 MLB teams around the league but it seems to be especially true for the New York Yankees. As the top of the order goes so does the rest of the New York Yankees offense. This was on full display this weekend in the Bronx against the Seattle Mariners and it has been especially true over the past two or three seasons, well since the Yankees signed Jacoby Ellsbury to be their leadoff hitter for $150+ million. If the top of the order is doing well and getting on base it seems to take the pressure off of the middle of the Yankees lineup and the runs seem to come in bunches but when the top of the order isn’t doing so well, well we don’t like to talk about that too much out loud.

Ellsbury lived up to expectations in the first year of his new Yankees contract and has fallen short ever since dropping his Yankees average to just .265 before the start of the 2016 season. Ellsbury is hovering around the Stephen Drew line already this season, yes I changed the name… no disrespect to Mr. Mendoza, and has been just as mediocre in the field as he’s been at the plate. Ellsbury is not only not hitting but he’s also failing to reach base at a respectable clip leaving many to wonder why he is still leading off rather than the next man that needs to step things up in order to get the Yankees offense going, Mr. Brett Gardner.

Gardner has always hovered around the .260 - .280 mark with good defense but a weird fascination with striking out. That’s the Gardner we drafted and that’s the Gardner we developed and handed a contract extension to. That hasn’t changed thus far in 2016 and neither has his seemingly inability to get a good jump, judge a pitcher or steal a base consistently throughout a season. If Gardner can improve his on-base percentage and average a bit, marginally or at all he could unseat Ellsbury in the leadoff spot. If he doesn’t though Mr. Alex Rodriguez will be coming up a lot this season in the first inning with nobody on and two outs.

Alex struggled out of the gate this season before responding in the final game of the Seattle Mariners series. Alex only responded after being moved down in the order as apparently he takes offense to hitting sixth in the Yankees lineup. A Rod went 0-21 after hitting his home run in Detroit and is creeping up on 41-years old. Does he have anything left or are the Yankees doomed to see another hitter rely on home runs only with a .220 average? If he hits the latter it’s going to potentially be a long summer in the Bronx. 

New York Finally Has a Second Baseman

How convenient is it, spoiler alert it's not a coincidence, to make a blog post about the New York Yankees finally finding a potential second baseman not only for the present but for the future as well while the last second baseman the team thought that about is in town for a three game series? After just two weeks of the MLB season, and after many rants from myself a self-professed Robert Refsnyder fan boy and his biggest fan, it seems like the Yankees may have finally found their second baseman to finally replace Robinson Cano in Starlin Castro.

The Yankees tried multiple people at the position including Brian Roberts, Yangervis Solarte, Kelly Johnson, Martin Prado, Brendan Ryan, Jose Pirela, Dustin Ackley, Robert Refsnyder and Stephen Drew before finally settling on Castro after an offseason trade. The Yankees seem to be a fan of having Castro at the position and Cano himself does to as he revealed in an interview this weekend. Cano said Castro was "fun to watch" in an interview with Chad Jennings of LoHud.

Castro is still new to the second base position, I think a lot of people forget that defensively, and is still just 26-years old despite playing in his 7th MLB season in 2016. Castro already has surpassed the 1,000 hit plateau for his career and has already made three All-Star Games in his career with the Chicago Cubs. Castro may not even be into his prime yet and he currently sits here with some impressive stats and achievements already in his career.

Castro may be the second baseman of the present and he may be the second baseman of the future. He may grow out of the position and grow into the third baseman of the future and his bat seems good enough to possibly be the Alex Rodriguez type DH of the future. Either way Castro has a future and the Yankees may have finally found a second baseman after Robinson Cano left via free agency for Seattle and it's finally a beautiful thing to say out loud.

MLB Trade Rumors Offseason in Review

It's an off day, the first off day of the season, so let's get caught up on some reading shall we? Let's start off with MLB Trade Rumors offseason in review post for our beloved New York Yankees. See below for a small snippet from that post and click HERE to see the entire post. Give those guys some clicks, and enjoy.



Do not adjust your screens — the Yankees did, in fact, actually go the entire offseason without signing a Major League free agent. New York instead relied on the trade market for upgrades as the team looks for a much lengthier postseason visit even as it continues to keep a close eye on future payroll commitments.

Major League Signings
None
Total spend: $0

Trades And Claims

• Acquired RP Aroldis Chapman from Reds for 3B Eric Jagielo, RP Caleb Cotham, SP Rookie Davis and 2B Tony Renda
• Acquired 2B/SS Starlin Castro from Cubs for SP/RP Adam Warren and IFBrendan Ryan
• Acquired OF Aaron Hicks from Twins for C John Ryan Murphy
• Acquired SP Luis Cessa and SP Chad Green from Tigers for RP Justin Wilson
• Acquired RP Tyler Olson and IF Ronald Torreyes from Dodgers for IF Rob Segedin and cash/player to be named later (Torreyes was later re-claimed off waivers after a brief stint with the Angels)
• Acquired RP Kirby Yates from Indians for $78K
• Acquired SP Ronald Herrera from Padres for IF Jose Pirela
• Claimed OF Lane Adams off waivers from Royals

Notable Minor League Signings
Donovan Solano, Carlos Corporan, Anthony Swarzak, Chris Parmelee,Pete Kozma, Vinnie Pestano, Jonathan Diaz, Tyler Cloyd

Notable Losses
Chris Young, Stephen Drew, Chris Capuano, Chris Martin, Andrew Bailey, Warren, Ryan, Murphy