This Day In New York Yankees History 5/25: Mariano 1K

On this day in 2011 Mariano Rivera became the first pitcher to appear in 1,000 games for the same team. The 41 year old right handed pitcher compiled 572 saves and 75 wins during his 17 seasons in New York at the time.


Also on this day in 2002 former major league pitcher and former Yankee David Cone was hired as a part time television analyst by the YES Network. Cone'd deal included covering five games for the Class A Staten Island Yankees, he would be a radio announcer with WCBS for the June 14th game between the Yankees and the Mets, and would be a pregame and post game show announcer.


Finally on this day in 1922 Babe Ruth was called out at second base trying to stretch a single into a double and started a tirade. Babe Ruth threw dirt in an umpire's eyes and then went after a heckler in the stands. Ruth finished by standing on the roof of the dugout and calling the crowd yellow cowards. Ruth would receive a one game suspension, a $200 fine, and would lose his captaincy.

This Day In New York Yankees History 5/25: Mariano 1K

On this day in 2011 Mariano Rivera became the first pitcher to appear in 1,000 games for the same team. The 41 year old right handed pitcher compiled 572 saves and 75 wins during his 17 seasons in New York at the time.


Also on this day in 2002 former major league pitcher and former Yankee David Cone was hired as a part time television analyst by the YES Network. Cone'd deal included covering five games for the Class A Staten Island Yankees, he would be a radio announcer with WCBS for the June 14th game between the Yankees and the Mets, and would be a pregame and post game show announcer.


Finally on this day in 1922 Babe Ruth was called out at second base trying to stretch a single into a double and started a tirade. Babe Ruth threw dirt in an umpire's eyes and then went after a heckler in the stands. Ruth finished by standing on the roof of the dugout and calling the crowd yellow cowards. Ruth would receive a one game suspension, a $200 fine, and would lose his captaincy.

This Day in New York Yankees History 2/28: Cocaine is a hell of a Drug

On this day in 2000 Yankees outfielder and DH Darryl Strawberry is suspended for one year after testing positive for cocaine last month. Bud Selig would not allow Strawberry back early from the suspension based on good behavior. This would essentially mark the end of Strawberry's career.

Most Popular Article of the Week: Why Alex Rodriguez Is A First-Ballot Hall Of Famer

By IBWAA owner and founder Howard Cole. Check it out and give him a view. Howard teases "it's not what you think" when he passed his article around to us. Here is a very short blurb from the article that can be seen HERE. 

Save the date. On Monday January 18, 2022, hours into an MLB Network broadcast (by this time long enough to rival the Super Bowl Pre-Game Show), BBWAA Secretary Treasurer Jack O'Connell will step to the microphone and announce that Alex Rodriguez has been voted into the Hall of Fame.

(AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

That's right. A-Rod makes it to Cooperstown on the first ballot, and will be enshrined in a ceremony on Sunday, July 31, 2022.

The iconic numbers will be cited. The 3115 hits (20th all-time), the 696 home runs (fourth), the 2086 RBIs (third), along with the .295/.380/.550/.930 lifetime line. The three Most Valuable Player Awards, the 10 Silver Sluggers, the 14 All-Star Games, and the 2009 World Series championship.

But that's not why.

Why Alex Rodriguez Is A First-Ballot Hall Of Famer

By IBWAA owner and founder Howard Cole. Check it out and give him a view. Howard teases "it's not what you think" when he passed his article around to us. Here is a very short blurb from the article that can be seen HERE. 

Save the date. On Monday January 18, 2022, hours into an MLB Network broadcast (by this time long enough to rival the Super Bowl Pre-Game Show), BBWAA Secretary Treasurer Jack O'Connell will step to the microphone and announce that Alex Rodriguez has been voted into the Hall of Fame.

(AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

That's right. A-Rod makes it to Cooperstown on the first ballot, and will be enshrined in a ceremony on Sunday, July 31, 2022.

The iconic numbers will be cited. The 3115 hits (20th all-time), the 696 home runs (fourth), the 2086 RBIs (third), along with the .295/.380/.550/.930 lifetime line. The three Most Valuable Player Awards, the 10 Silver Sluggers, the 14 All-Star Games, and the 2009 World Series championship.

But that's not why.

This Day in New York Yankees History 11/28: Steinbrenner Suspended

Just one short tidbit of news on this day in Yankees history as on this day in 1974 George Steinbrenner was suspended from Major League Baseball for two years. Then Commissioner Bowie Kuhn made the controversial decision after Steinbrenner was caught and convicted of making illegal contributions to the re-elect Nixon campaign. Whoops.

Weekly Prospects Check In: Jorge Mateo

You know I would really like to be a fly on the wall in some of the rooms the Yankees and their top executives make decisions in. Jorge Mateo screwed up and he was suspended for two weeks for it while missing out on the XM Futures Game this season. Mateo paid his dues yet it seems like the Yankees want to really send the message home that standing up, speaking out or whatever it was that mateo did to warrant the suspension will not be tolerated.

Mateo has done enough, in my opinion anyway, to warrant a promotion to Double-A Trenton Thunder yet the Yankees haven’t given him that. Fine. Now the team is sending Gleyber Torres to the Arizona Fall League to represent the Yankees and the Scottsdale Scorpions while Mateo’s season will be over here in a few weeks altogether. You have to wonder if this has anything to do with the Yankees still trying to send that message from the suspension, whether there is something we don’t know about (i.e an injury that he is nursing) or what is really going on that led to Mateo not being there.

Tyler Wade is going as an outfielder, although I’m sure he’ll play some middle infield as well, yet Mateo is going home for the winter. I don’t get it ladies and gentleman, I just don’t. 

Year	Age	Tm	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2016	21	Tampa	111	497	64	117	16	8	47	35	33	106	.258	.310	.385	.695

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Yankees Minor League Pitcher Suspended & the Game is Still Not Clean

Ladies and gentleman this game that we all know and love called Major League Baseball is not clean and it likely never will be. No matter what penalty you associate with a failed test for drugs, alcohol, steroids or behavior human beings are going to continue being human beings and I think that fact needs to be remembered when the new collective bargaining agreement is talked about and presumably agreed upon this winter. This game is not clean and I don’t believe doubling or even tripling the suspensions again will make it clean. Keep reading.

Four more minor league players have been suspended this week for failed drug tests including one member of the Yankees farm system. Jean Peralta is a pitcher in the Yankees organization and he, Angelo Almonte (Arizona Diamondbacks) and Jose Pinales (Chicago White Sox) all received 72 game suspensions while Wally Vrolijk of the Baltimore Orioles received a 50 game suspension.

Almonte, Peralta and Pinales all tested positive for metabolites of Stanozolol while Vrolijk tested positive for the stimulant Methylhexanamine. With these four suspensions, which all come from the Dominican Summer League just as an FYI, the grand total of minor league suspensions climbs to 61 while under the Major League program there have been 13 suspensions in 2016.

And those numbers will continue to climb. Why? Because 61 have gotten caught in the minor leagues and only 13 in the Major Leagues and you can possibly double, triple or quadruple that and get the amount of players who haven’t been caught and may never get caught. The risk is worth the reward, look at Alex Rodriguez’s annual salary and lifetime earnings if you disagree with that.

This game is not clean ladies and gentleman and it never will be. 

Gary Sanchez Trade Rumors & Jorge Mateo Suspended

Here is a quick post to get you caught up before tonight's opener with the Cleveland Indians.

Reportedly the Chicago White Sox have at least asked for Gary Sanchez in a trade with the New York Yankees. The talks never went far as the Yankees asking price for Sanchez was deemed "far too high" but the discussions were had nonetheless. Chicago needs a catcher and the Yankees don't have to trade Sanchez so it makes sense that the asking price was substantial, because it should be. It's about time other teams get to overpay New York rather than the other way around.

Jorge Mateo has been suspended for two weeks. That suspension is due to a violation of team policy, although nothing specifically has been released, and it will cause the young shortstop/second baseman to miss the XM Futures Game. Mateo has been reportedly frustrated with his lack of a call up from High-A Tampa to Double-A Trenton and who could blame him? He's tore up the affiliate and deserved the promotion. That doesn't mean what he did was right, not at all, but still I am merely saying I can relate to his frustration and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Mets Fans Logic: Signing Jose Reyes is Okay, Acquiring Aroldis Chapman is Not

Excuse me as I rant a little bit this Monday morning because the amount of hypocrisy going on right now is simply too amazing to ignore. Remember back this winter when the New York Yankees traded for Aroldis Chapman after the Cincinnati Reds closer was accused of domestic violence and potentially faced a suspension from MLB's domestic violence policy? More importantly do you remember the outrage not only from the Yankees fans but the outrage from the local and national media and sports outlets? I read somewhere that the Yankees even "sold their souls" to acquire Chapman yet I haven't heard a word out of anyone after the New York Mets signed another player with domestic violence issues, Jose Reyes.

Where are the fans proclaiming to never watch a game again or buy another jersey or head to the ball park ever again? Where are the media outlets jumping all over the Mets for changing their character and selling their souls to acquire a player with talent but a colorful past?

Let's recap what happened with both players this offseason. Chapman was accused of hitting his girlfriend and firing a registered gun in an unattached garage in his registered home that he owns. Despite recantations and possible evidence and testimonies that Chapman may have been the one assaulted and not his girlfriend the league strong-armed him and held his impending free agency over his head to get him to agree to a 30 game suspension without pay. Reyes on the other hand was heard arguing with his wife in a hotel in Hawaii and the argument turned physical. Medics even treated his wife on the scene in Hawaii for injuries. Later on the wife denied any recollection of the incident and Reyes received a 51 game suspension.

So Chapman can be assaulted, allegedly, and fire a gun in an unattached (that means it was not attached to the house before anyone brings up the fact that a child was in the house) out of anger and frustration and you have to sell you soul to sign him but the Mets can sign a guy who choked and shoved his wife into a glass sliding glass door and people are actually excited about his return?

I'm done. I just don't get this, I don't get this league and I don't get this world. What's good for one should be good for the other. Whatever Mets fans, enjoy your Angel while we enjoy the Devil with the 105 MPH fastball and remorse. What a joke.

This Day In New York Yankees History 5/25: Mariano 1K

On this day in 2011 Mariano Rivera became the first pitcher to appear in 1,000 games for the same team. The 41 year old right handed pitcher compiled 572 saves and 75 wins during his 17 seasons in New York at the time.


Also on this day in 2002 former major league pitcher and former Yankee David Cone was hired as a part time television analyst by the YES Network. Cone'd deal included covering five games for the Class A Staten Island Yankees, he would be a radio announcer with WCBS for the June 14th game between the Yankees and the Mets, and would be a pregame and post game show announcer.


Finally on this day in 1922 Babe Ruth was called out at second base trying to stretch a single into a double and started a tirade. Babe Ruth threw dirt in an umpire's eyes and then went after a heckler in the stands. Ruth finished by standing on the roof of the dugout and calling the crowd yellow cowards. Ruth would receive a one game suspension, a $200 fine, and would lose his captaincy.

Chapman Feels Latino Players are “Easy Targets” in Domestic Violence Cases…. RANT!

Yes I realize this “news” is a couple days late by now but the more I read this and the more I thought about it the more it just made me angry. Aroldis Chapman returned to Major League Baseball on Monday after serving a 30 game suspension brought down by Commissioner Rob Manfred using the league’s new Domestic Violence Policy. Now we ranted and raved all winter long about insufficient evidence, making an example out of people and trying to save face so I’ll save you those arguments here and instead focus on an exact quote from Chapman himself suggesting that Latino players are “easy targets” in domestic violence cases. What?

Four players were under league investigation and faced a possible suspension this winter after being part of some sort of domestic violence accusation or incident and yes all four were Latino born players. Aroldis Chapman, then of the Cincinnati Reds, was one and the other three were Jose Reyes, Yasiel Puig and the Braves Hector Olivera but I struggle to see what being Latino has to do with anything here. Are they easy targets because they are Latino or are they targets because they are dumb asses, my opinion, who made themselves targets when they hit their wives, shoved their sisters and/or a bouncer or shot a registered firearm in an unattached garage that he legally owned?

Chapman went on to say “we make a lot of money, everyone wants a piece of it, and we end up looking bad.” Interesting because if you look at the top paid salaries in MLB right now, regardless of race, they aren’t going to court over domestic violence accusations. Alex Rodriguez isn’t beating women. Miguel Cabrera isn’t shooting guns into his garage. Neither is Giancarlo Stanton, Albert Pujols, Robinson Cano, Felix Hernandez or any of the other top paid players in the game. Weird, huh?

The Aroldis Chapman Countdown Has Officially Begun Yankees Open Thread

The countdown has officially begun for the return of the Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman. Chapman was suspended for 30 games after agreeing to not appeal any suspension levied under the new domestic violence policy in Major League Baseball. I'll save you the trouble of getting out your pocket schedules or looking it up on Google, the Yankees 31st game comes on May 9th against the Kansas City Royals, meaning we are one week away from Chapman's 103 MPH fastball debuting in Yankees pinstripes.

So with yet another off day tonight I leave you with some Aroldis Chapman highlight reels to salivate over rather than our normal musical recommendation. Enjoy and anticipate Dellin Betances becoming the best 7th inning man in the history of baseball, Andrew Miller pitching in the 8th and Aroldis Chapman nailing down the final three outs of every game.

ICYMI: The Aroldis Chapman Rant You All Knew Was Coming

I know I’m going to catch flak for this but truly I don’t care. I left my Yankees bias at the door and I am looking at this as a fan of Major League Baseball. The fact that he wears a Yankees uniform means nothing to me, I’ve also spoken up for Ryan Braun, Barry Bonds and others as the owner of this blog. This whole Aroldis Chapman thing has me pretty upset, pretty angry, and pretty furious. I’m sure you could tell in the way I’m writing. I’m not shoot a gun in a garage furious bit I’m pretty agitated and I’m here to tell you why.


First and foremost I am all for punishing anyone, sports players or not, for committing domestic violence. I am also for punishing an idiot, my opinion, with a gun shooting it off in his garage with a baby in the house. Call it what it is though and it’s not semantics. You cannot, well apparently you can, suspend a player under a domestic violence policy when there is little to no evidence that domestic violence occurred. Witnesses changed their testimonies, there were no marks on Chapman’s girlfriend the night the cops came out to his home and there were no files charged. The police declined an easy opportunity to book, arrest and get some money through fines and probation (at minimum) from a celebrity who would pay it without blinking an eye because why? Because they are fans? They are nice guys? No, because they are upholding their oath to uphold the law and to serve and protect. There was no evidence that there was any protecting that needed done.


Depending on what you read Chapman may have been the one assaulted, not the other way around. The last thing I read was that her brother pushed Chapman down sparking the whole incident. So you get potentially pushed, the cops are called and they are told a story about domestic violence and the police find zero evidence of the fact. The police don’t press charges and no one was arrested, etc. and yet Commissioner Rob Manfred believes he has the power to suspend a guy for domestic violence under his new policy? Stop me when any of this makes sense.


I am not ignorant to the fact that something happened that night but it shouldn’t be on Chapman to prove it didn’t happen it should be on the police and the authorities to prove that it did. The cops took pictures, investigated and followed through with the protocol for a domestic violence case and found nothing. If Manfred wants to show up Ray Rice, the NFL and Roger Goddell then lay it on Jose Reyes, someone who is actually going to court and has charges filed against him for what he did. Not Chapman, not without evidence. And no I don’t believe the decision to waive his right to appeal shows any evidence of wrongdoing and I don’t hear any evidence of that in his statement. The league told Chapman, according to Joel Sherman anyway, that he could reduce his suspension by 10-15 games if he didn’t appeal. If he appealed and got a 45 game suspension he is delaying his free agency by another season, why would he do that?


Chapman is taking the month off, will look to build his value and his character back in 2016 and hit free agency again in 2017. Not appealing does not show any evidence of wrongdoing it shows that he is making the best business decision for him and his family. Manfred had to know that if he was suspended for 45 days that the Yankees would get another year of control over Chapman and he used it against the left-hander. This is rotten all the way around and it’s crap. If you want to suspend the guy for endangering the lives of others for shooting his registered gun that he owned in a garage that he owned then call a spade a spade. If you have evidence that he hurt his girlfriend, pointed the gun at her, etc. then suspend him for domestic violence. Don’t hide behind some policy that you just enacted and don’t hide behind the fact that you’re trying to send a message and make an example out of Reyes, Chapman and Yasiel Puig.



Don’t piss on me and tell me it’s raining, especially after you just pissed on Aroldis Chapman.

The Aroldis Chapman Rant You All Knew Was Coming

I know I’m going to catch flak for this but truly I don’t care. I left my Yankees bias at the door and I am looking at this as a fan of Major League Baseball. The fact that he wears a Yankees uniform means nothing to me, I’ve also spoken up for Ryan Braun, Barry Bonds and others as the owner of this blog. This whole Aroldis Chapman thing has me pretty upset, pretty angry, and pretty furious. I’m sure you could tell in the way I’m writing. I’m not shoot a gun in a garage furious bit I’m pretty agitated and I’m here to tell you why.

First and foremost I am all for punishing anyone, sports players or not, for committing domestic violence. I am also for punishing an idiot, my opinion, with a gun shooting it off in his garage with a baby in the house. Call it what it is though and it’s not semantics. You cannot, well apparently you can, suspend a player under a domestic violence policy when there is little to no evidence that domestic violence occurred. Witnesses changed their testimonies, there were no marks on Chapman’s girlfriend the night the cops came out to his home and there were no files charged. The police declined an easy opportunity to book, arrest and get some money through fines and probation (at minimum) from a celebrity who would pay it without blinking an eye because why? Because they are fans? They are nice guys? No, because they are upholding their oath to uphold the law and to serve and protect. There was no evidence that there was any protecting that needed done.

Depending on what you read Chapman may have been the one assaulted, not the other way around. The last thing I read was that her brother pushed Chapman down sparking the whole incident. So you get potentially pushed, the cops are called and they are told a story about domestic violence and the police find zero evidence of the fact. The police don’t press charges and no one was arrested, etc. and yet Commissioner Rob Manfred believes he has the power to suspend a guy for domestic violence under his new policy? Stop me when any of this makes sense.

I am not ignorant to the fact that something happened that night but it shouldn’t be on Chapman to prove it didn’t happen it should be on the police and the authorities to prove that it did. The cops took pictures, investigated and followed through with the protocol for a domestic violence case and found nothing. If Manfred wants to show up Ray Rice, the NFL and Roger Goddell then lay it on Jose Reyes, someone who is actually going to court and has charges filed against him for what he did. Not Chapman, not without evidence. And no I don’t believe the decision to waive his right to appeal shows any evidence of wrongdoing and I don’t hear any evidence of that in his statement. The league told Chapman, according to Joel Sherman anyway, that he could reduce his suspension by 10-15 games if he didn’t appeal. If he appealed and got a 45 game suspension he is delaying his free agency by another season, why would he do that?

Chapman is taking the month off, will look to build his value and his character back in 2016 and hit free agency again in 2017. Not appealing does not show any evidence of wrongdoing it shows that he is making the best business decision for him and his family. Manfred had to know that if he was suspended for 45 days that the Yankees would get another year of control over Chapman and he used it against the left-hander. This is rotten all the way around and it’s crap. If you want to suspend the guy for endangering the lives of others for shooting his registered gun that he owned in a garage that he owned then call a spade a spade. If you have evidence that he hurt his girlfriend, pointed the gun at her, etc. then suspend him for domestic violence. Don’t hide behind some policy that you just enacted and don’t hide behind the fact that you’re trying to send a message and make an example out of Reyes, Chapman and Yasiel Puig.

Don’t piss on me and tell me it’s raining, especially after you just pissed on Aroldis Chapman. 

This Day in New York Yankees History 2/28: Cocaine is a hell of a Drug

On this day in 2000 Yankees outfielder and DH Darryl Strawberry is suspended for one year after testing positive for cocaine last month. Bud Selig would not allow Strawberry back early from the suspension based on good behavior. This would essentially mark the end of Strawberry's career.

Defined Roles Won’t Matter in this Yankees Bullpen

Earlier this week Yankees manager Joe Girardi was interviewed and finally closed the door on a subject that was undoubtedly bothering many, whether Aroldis Chapman would be the Yankees closer or not. Many of us, myself included, thought that Chapman being the closer in a free agency walk year (suspension pending) was enough information to make the determination that he would be the closer but some would rather hear it from the horse’s mouth rather than speculate, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The horse has spoken and entering Spring Training camp this season Chapman will be the Yankees closer and the first question I got on twitter was whether Andrew Miller should pitch the 7^th inning or the 8^th inning in 2016? My response? What does it matter?

Defined roles are not going to be a thing in the Yankees bullpen in 2016. Chapman is the closer on the depth chart and on Yankees.com, sure, but that doesn’t mean he is necessarily going to close out every game that he’s available to close in my opinion. Plus it doesn’t matter if Miller, the reigning Mariano Rivera Award winner for being the best relief pitcher and closer in the American League in 2015, pitches the 6^th, the 7^th, the 8^th or the 9^th. It doesn’t matter to him, his words, and it doesn’t matter to the team.

What does it matter that you’re stacking up left-handed arms in the 8^th and 9^th or spreading them out in the 7^th and 9^th with Dellin Betances sandwiched between when all three of them can get left-handed hitters out as equally as they can right-handed hitters out?

Dellin Betances:

Split	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
vs RHB	70	179	19	27	3	4	12	23	74	.175	.285	.273	.558
vs LHB	71	153	7	18	4	2	5	17	57	.135	.243	.211	.454

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Aroldis Chapman

Split	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
vs RHB	65	202	17	34	2	3	8	22	78	.194	.297	.257	.554
vs LHB	49	76	2	9	2	0	0	11	38	.143	.276	.175	.451

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Andrew Miller

Split	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
vs RHB	60	199	11	23	3	4	0	17	79	.131	.227	.217	.444
vs LHB	31	47	5	10	1	1	1	3	21	.233	.277	.326	.602

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

As you can see by the stats above it doesn’t matter who pitches the 7^th, who pitches the 8^th and who pitches the 9^th. The game, more times than not, is over either way. Personally I’d like to see Miller pitch the 8^th and Betances pitch the 7^th only because Betances can be a multiple-inning reliever. Limiting him to a single inning in the 8^th was fine last season when the Yankees didn’t have a pitcher like Miller behind him but this season you may need to see Dellin pitch the 6^th and 7^th while Miller and Chapman knock down the 8^th and 9^th. There will be lots of mixing and matching and frankly there should be, that’s what keeps the opposing team and manager guessing.

It’s a game of cat and mouse and the Yankees have the cheese to win. Cheesy analogy I know but it works in this situation for some odd reason. 

Aroldis Chapman vs. Craig Kimbrel – The Ultimate Fantasy Showdown

The American League East Division boasts some of the best relief pitching and closers in all of Major League Baseball. The Toronto Blue Jays have an up-and-coming closer in Roberto Osuna while the Yankees bumped the reigning Mariano Rivera Award winner to the 8^th inning after acquiring Aroldis Chapman from the Cincinnati Reds. Meanwhile the Boston Red Sox added a new 9^th inning guy themselves this offseason trading four top prospects to the San Diego Padres for Craig Kimbrel completing the AL East closer trifecta. While Osuna is good, and no disrespect is intended towards him, he’s not on the same playing field as Kimbrel and Chapman. While I cannot predict how it will play out on the field for these two and their respective teams I can take a guess at how it will work out for them in the fantasy world.

I told you fantasy baseball talk was coming to the blog and I meant it. Chapman and Kimbrel are both top closers in baseball and in fantasy but which is better? If we’re looking at strictly the career numbers on the back of a baseball card you have to think that Kimbrel is better, he’s been the best closer in the league since he came bursting onto the scene, but that doesn’t necessarily make him the better fantasy option in my opinion. Keep reading.

The Boston Red Sox starting rotation and bullpen were big suspects in 2015 and the team, led by Dave Dombrowski and company, did what they could to patch up those holes with the Kimbrel acquisition and the free agent signing of David Price. While I think the team will be better in 2016 I can’t see them simply winning the division after finishing in last place in the division last season because of just two guys. The bullpen is still weak behind Kimbrel, although I personally like Koji Uehara, as is the starting rotation. Wade Miley is gone from Boston, at worst a 200 innings eater, and in his place is “Cy Young Award winner from 2015” Joe Kelly. Rick Porcello, in my opinion, is overpaid and Clay Buchholz, again in my opinion, is overrated because of the uniform he wears. Both are nice pieces, don’t get me wrong, but they aren’t the top of the rotation guys that Boston is paying them, expecting them to be and needing them to be. You can have the greatest closer on the planet but if he only gets 30-35 opportunities to close out a game a season it kind of nerfs his ability to be a dominant closer, fantasy baseball and statistically speaking. I’m also not convinced that the offense can be loads better than it was in 2015 for Boston leaving the Red Sox to love many 3-2 or 4-3 ball games.

Meanwhile in New York the team was built around a strong bullpen and locking down saves. The offense is good enough, despite what they showed in the last month of the season and in the playoff game against Houston, to match almost any offense in the league despite the score. The Yankees offense will win an 11-10 game and then win a 1-0 game the next night. The starting rotation is built to give you 5-6 strong innings, seven on a good day, before handing it over to a shutdown bullpen. When the Yankees had a lead after 7 IP and after 8 IP the game was basically over every single time. This will equate to a ton of saves for Chapman and a ton of opportunities. Lots of K’s, lots of saves and lots of fantasy points for whoever owns him.

If you have the opportunity to grab Chapman I think you almost have to, even if it means grabbing him in the 5^th-7^th rounds. It’s a risk, especially with the suspension looming, but it’s a risk worth taking. Kimbrel is a good consolation prize but in this battle he is just that, a consolation. Maybe it’s the Yankees fan in me talking or maybe I’m making a ton of sense. You decide and let me know how he does for your fantasy team. 

This Day in New York Yankees History 11/28: Steinbrenner Suspended

Just one short tidbit of news on this day in Yankees history as on this day in 1974 George Steinbrenner was suspended from Major League Baseball for two years. Then Commissioner Bowie Kuhn made the controversial decision after Steinbrenner was caught and convicted of making illegal contributions to the re-elect Nixon campaign. Whoops.

Commissioner Manfred’s First Year on the Job a Success

The 2015 Major League Baseball season marked the first season under the new tenure of Commissioner Rob Manfred and with the season just about in the books you have to label this first season as a success. Manfred took over for former Commissioner of Major League Baseball Bud Selig with the promise to change the game, maybe not radically but change nonetheless, while improving the game and keeping the most progressive and old school fans happy at the same time. It seemed impossible at the time but it looks like Manfred may have pulled off the impossible.

Manfred’s first agenda was to speed up the game with his new pace of play rules in both the minor leagues and the Major Leagues. Pitching clocks were installed in the minor leagues and experimented with in the Arizona Fall League with varying degrees of success while television time outs, commercials and the annoying “stepping out of the batter’s box to adjust your batting gloves, read the signs from the third base coach and spit in your hands even though you took a ball a foot off the plate” were eliminated from the majors. Excluding the postseason and the month of September, due to rosters expanding to 40 players from 25 players leading to a slew of pitching changes night in and night out, Manfred and his pace of play rules shaved about 15 minutes off a game every single night.

Attendance is up across the board once again in MLB and television deals are fruitful and as plentiful as the oceans on Earth. Baseball is a business and the money is definitely here and definitely being spent. Manfred also introduced a domestic violence policy to train and potentially stop a domestic violence case before it happens and Manfred has enjoyed a spike in youth and exciting young players to hit the game this season. Manfred watched as Alex Rodriguez made his comeback tour, the Yankees (which love them or hate them you have to admit that it’s good for the game when they are relevant) return to the postseason and the return of the Chicago Cubs as a power house team in the league.

What Manfred did not deal with is any major steroid suspensions, Ervin Santana maybe being the biggest name to be suspended this season, or fall outs of any kind. Manfred wasn’t a part of discussions to contract a team or two in the league, instead he is spear-heading a movement to play games in Cuba and Mexico while potentially adding another team or two somewhere down the line. When a manager leads his team to the World Series, much like Ned Yost and Terry Collins have in 2015, you have to push the right buttons more time than not and the same can be said for a Commissioner. Manfred pushed the right buttons this season but his job is far from done. He has the second base collision rule to work on and the collective bargaining agreement ends when the 2016 season does, but if the past is any indication of the future than Manfred, and Major League Baseball, will be just fine.