Wednesday, July 27, 2016

"The Yankees Have Been Great!" Really?

The Yankees have won three straight, had won four straight as of a week ago, and threw in another win for good measure. So in their last 10 games that makes them 8-2. And for those of you that think records are not a good gauge of how good a team is, their run differential over their past ten games is +18.

Oh, you poor fools.

Sounds good, doesn't it? Unless, of course, you're on Team Sell and are afraid this winning streak means the Yankees won't do anything else before the trade deadline.

But I have a few more stats for you...

Over the past ten games the Yankees have scored a grand total of 35 runs (3.5 runs/game), which means the offense is still as bad as ever. Actually, seeing as how they've scored 4.11 runs per game throughout the season, the offense is actually worse.

But the defense/pitching has been great, right? Why, yes it has! Over the past ten games the Yankees have only given up 17 runs, or just 1.7 per game. That's awesome! Unfortunately, it's also totally unrealistic that that pace will continue. Especially for a team that's given up 4.32 runs per game all season.

You see, winning is great. I don't think that's a secret. But what may be a secret to some is that this team is still very much flawed. There are still changes that need to be made in order for this team to even get a whiff of the postseason.

And when it comes to building a team for next season, and even seasons after that, change has to come sooner than later.

Daniel's already pointed out that this coming offseason's free agent list is hardly "great". Hell, this upcoming class is closer to "bad" than anything else. So if you think Brian and Hal can just buy some more talent, you're sadly mistaken.

Yes, Cashman can make trades in the offseason. He can wait and trade Michael Pineda and/or Nathan Eovaldi then. But he's not going to get as good a return for those guys, because teams will have other options for middle to bottom of the rotation pitchers to add to their squads (see the aforementioned free agent list).

And you know what else? Brian Cashman can not trade Carlos Beltran and Ivan Nova in the offseason, because they won't be Yankees any more!

Sure, I understand not liking the idea of selling. It basically means giving up. And the Yankees never say "no".

Seriously? A reference to The Game Plan? Ugh!

Well, besides trying the "buy and sell" thing. But to be honest, I'm not sure Cashman could pull that off (mainly because other teams are more desperate to win this year, and therefore willing to give up larger packages of players/prospects). Besides, he'd have to get rid of some top prospects for that type of thing, and that seems counter-productive to me. Yeah, you can trade guys like Gary Sanchez and Gleyber Torres, due to guys like Luis Torrens and Jorge Mateo, and get nice returns. But when it comes to prospects depth is pretty darn important, as few of them will pan out.

Like Bernie Sanders at the DNC last night, it's time to face facts. It's time to accept that a run at the 2016 postseason is but a dream. It's time to accept that we can make sure 2017 is better, to accept that we can make a deep run in 2018, and to accept that we can make 2019 a championship season.

9 comments:

  1. The good folks at River Avenue Blues informed me, via Twitter, that the Yankees have a +7 run differential (322-315) over their past 74 games.

    But don't get your hopes up, because that works out to 4.35 runs scored per game, and 4.26 runs against. And that's with having a three-headed monster in the bullpen instead of a two-headed one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They are playing much better, I'll give them that. Screw the stats, which I know is weird coming from me, and use the eye test. They are scrapping together victories. I can't see this streak lasting though, especially if they start selling off more pieces.

      Delete
    2. I don't think that has to be the down turn of this club if we sell off players. Remember, we will get some players back also. And we have a Farm system that will give us hungry players.

      Delete
    3. I think if the team deals away Carlos Beltran, then there would be trouble. He is just one of three regulars hitting above average, so his loss surely would hurt their run production.

      But I would love to see guys like Aaron Judge, Ben Gamel, Luis Severino, and Rob Refsnyder become regulars. At the very least you're giving them experience for next season.

      Delete
    4. Ken, just because they are hungry doesn't mean anything. They need to be given an opportunity to eat! Why can't they eat? Because losers like aaron hicks still play (I wont say teix, because he'll smack a homer every week. but he should totally be on there too). Its nearly August, and he's playing regularly- clearly, he sucks at switch hitter, if batting .150 from one of the sides is even considered switchhitting... A broken clock is right twice a day.

      Sevs is a different story, but like bryan said, every listed player could get a chance (not just a chance, hicks is playing EVERYDAY) to play if aaron hicks just disappeared...

      Delete
    5. All of last year, yankee fans flipped over Stephen drew batting 0.180. Who should have been removed after 2 months of that shit. so what's the genius move? Give us 2 f-ing morons batting 0.190. Fantastic.

      Delete
    6. I like the way you think Bryan!
      I would have written the article above myself if I could write as well as you guys do. We do what we can and those that can write, do the writing.
      Thank you and Daniel, for making things look like our message has gotten thru to the right people....Cash and Hal.

      Delete
    7. Can't say I disagree with you Daryl, and if I remember, I said give Hicks a few days /weeks and see what he does before we hang him. Well I think it is time for a Hanging.

      Delete
  2. I jest about not being around for the remake of the team and another Gold ring!
    An old man I was visiting at the VA once told me, "One never runs out of time, time runs out on you!

    ReplyDelete

Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)