Old Friends Reunited: The Yankees & the ALCS…

 

The Yankees celebrating ALDS Success (Photo Credit: NY Daily News)

Yankees Advance to Next Round by Royally Winning…

The Yankees are back where they belong…the American League Championship Series. The Yankees have made more ALCS appearances than any other American League club. Their total of nineteen appearances leads the Boston Red Sox, the team with the second most, by seven. The team is 11-7 in the eighteen completed championship series. They have won fifty total ALCS games, leading Boston by eighteen wins. Unfortunately, the Yankees have not won the ALCS since 2009 despite appearances in 2010, 2012, 2017, 2019, and 2022. The sixth time is a charm!

Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, & Jazz Chisholm, Jr (Photo Credit: NY Post/Charles Wenzelberg)

The Yankees now await the winner of the deadlocked ALDS battle between the Cleveland Guardians and the Detroit Tigers. On Saturday, they will play their winner-take-all ALDS Game 5 finale in Cleveland, Ohio. If the Tigers advance (likely…considering Tarik Skubal will be on the mound), the Yankees will get a chance to avenge the ALCS sweep by the Tigers in 2012. Cleveland last advanced to the World Series in 2016 before they made Anthony Rizzo and his then-Cubs teammates immortal in Chicago for the rest of their lives.

I do not care who the Yankees face. To be the best, you beat the best, so let the best team emerge from the final ALDS, whichever team that may be. Not that facing an awakening Jose Ramirez would be fun, but trust the men in Pinstripes. If the Yankees are the best team, they will beat whoever shows up for Game 1 of the ALCS in the Bronx.

With no disrespect to Captain Aaron Judge, the Yankees are in the ALCS, thanks primarily to Giancarlo Stanton, Gerrit Cole, Gleyber Torres, Luke Weaver, and Jon Berti. Berti’s name looks like an outcast in this group, but he stepped in and did an admirable job at first base for a non-first baseman. He could have quickly (and excusably, without experience) butchered the position. Clay Holmes was dominant in his new bullpen role. I am happy that he has rediscovered magic, but it does not mean that I would want him to reclaim his old job as the closer. I am 100% behind Luke Weaver and his quirky personality, zany sense of humor, and electric arm as the team’s designated closer. I was a little surprised in the offseason when the Yankees re-signed Weaver. I had no complaints about his work last year, but I thought the pitcher and the team would part ways in the offseason. There was nothing special about his 2023 performance, at least not what stood out to make him a “must sign” player. Yet, he stepped up to fill a tremendous void in the bullpen, first through setup and, lastly, through the back end of games. People say the Yankees should sign Kenley Jansen this winter through free agency. I like Kenley, even if he has many miles on his arm, but Weaver should be the man until he proves he cannot sustain the position. In other words, I would rather have Weaver over Jansen or virtually any other potential replacement. If the Yankees had a chance for an elite closer, Weaver should not stand in their way, but I do not believe the current Yankees regime will pay top dollar for the bullpen like they once did. So, the combination of the team’s current fiscal conservatism in the bullpen and Weaver’s emergence led me to believe Weaver was the right man at the right time.

Oswaldo Cabrera & Luke Weaver (Photo Credit: AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

It is too early to talk about next season, but I hope the Yankees can find it in their budget to sign Gleyber Torres to a new contract. He took so much heat early in the season, and a poll of Yankees fans would have favored letting him go in free agency. But his placement atop the batting order later in the regular season coincided with a resurgence that has made him a vital player for October. He will always botch a routine play now and again, but even the great and legendary Derek Jeter was not immune from making those. The hustle concerns are correctable, and he has shown improvement. Players like Aaron Judge help to elevate Gleyber’s play and performance. The body of work, at least what Gleyber showed over the second half of the season, warrants his return.

Gleyber Torres (Photo Credit: Brad Penner/Imagn Images)

Caleb Durbin may be an All-Star second baseman one day. Good for him. He has yet to prove it at the Major League level. Gleyber is playing like he wants to be the team’s starting second baseman today, tomorrow, and next year. Let him. If he suddenly becomes Daniel Jones after he gets the big money, that is the risk you face with anybody. If it happens, the team will have to deal with it at that time, but it should not stop the team from bringing him back based on what he currently means to the organization and the players he has gone to war with. Juan Soto will be a Yankee next season if the team pays him the most money in free agency, yet I think how they treat other players, like Gleyber, in the offseason will draw Soto’s attention. If Gleyber is treated poorly, it could be a deciding factor if, for example, the Yankees and Mets offered the same amount of money, causing Soto to jump to Queens. That might be an unlikely scenario, but Soto cares about his friends.

There were times this season when Gerrit Cole disappointed me. His late start out of the gate for health reasons (not his fault) was the primary cause. He certainly was not the ace he was in 2023 when he won the AL Cy Young Award, but he showed up for the series clincher against the Kansas City Royals. That is why he is paid big bucks. I always fear a Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde performance by any pitcher, ala Carlos Rodón, but Cole brought his “A” game (despite tiring late) when it mattered most. I am sure I will have anxiety in his upcoming starts, but he did what he needed to do against the Royals. I hope it continues when he faces either the Guardians or the Tigers.

I hope we get the best of Aaron Judge and Juan Soto for the ALCS. I am happy when the team wins, regardless of who makes the necessary hits, plays, and pitches, but the world is a better place when Aaron Judge and Juan Soto are the Kings of the World. For Judge’s Yankees legacy, I want to see him come up huge in the postseason. Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte, and Mariano Rivera will forever be remembered for what they did in October. Judge will never match their number of rings, although I certainly would not complain if he did, but he can make a name for himself in the franchise’s long history of postseason success.  He is in a position that the great Don Mattingly could never reach. I loved Mattingly as a Yankee and feel the same about Judge. I do not want to see Judge come up short and never experience the feeling of being a World Champion in Pinstripes.

Aaron Judge (Photo Credit: NY Daily News)

Is this the year we can quit talking about 2009? I hope so. Keep it going, guys. Eight more wins to your destiny.

As always, Go Yankees!

Drafting Yankees and the Juan Soto Trade Tree

The New York Yankees acquired star left-handed hitting outfielder Juan Soto from the San Diego Padres in the offseason prior to the 2024 season in a seven-player deal. Coming to the Yankees alongside Soto was fellow outfielder Trent Grisham while the Yankees sent five prospects/players including RHP Michael King, catcher Kyle Higashioka, and arms Jhony Brito, Drew Thorpe and Randy Vasquez. Unlike the Aaron Judge trade tree that showed a flurry of under the rader type moves that led the Bronx Bombers to their current Captain, the New York Yankees can thank their drafting and development teams for the acquisition of #22. 

Looking at the trade package the Yankees gave up, every single player can be linked to the Yankees and their team in charge of the MLB First Year Players Draft. Higashioka was drafted by the Yankees in the seventh round of the 2008 MLB Draft while Thorpe was drafted by New York in the second round of the 2022 Draft. 

The Yankees can also thank their international scouting department for the acquisition of Soto. Brito was signed as an International Free Agent on November 9, 2015, while Vasquez was signed as an IFA three years later in 2018. 

For the Yankees to send King as the centerpiece of the deal, New York can look back at a "won" trade between them and the Miami Marlins on 11/20/17. In that deal, New York sent infielder Garrett Cooper and LHP Caleb Smith for King and $250K in international bonus pool money. 

New York acquired Garrett Cooper from the Milwaukee Brewers just four months prior, sending LHP Tyler Webb to the NL Central. Webb was another product of the Yankees draft and development team, adding the LHP in the tenth round of the 2013 round, four rounds before Smith was drafted in the same round. 

The road to Juan Soto in Pinstripes can be directly linked to the International and Domestic drafting, scouting and development teams employeed by the Yankees under Brian Cashman. There were a few key trades involved, highlighted below, but the pieces came from within. 

The Yankees have been known as the Evil Empire since the early 2000s, but imagine how "Evil" the team could be if they were more willing to dip into the treasure trove of young prospects that continually go through the Yankees system. Soto could stay with the Yankees for one season, or for the remainder of his career, that remains to be seen... but the Yankees farm system and development team will look at this as a victory regardless of the tenure. Juan Soto, for at least one season, wore the Yankees pinstripes and marched the team into the postseason. 

What more could you ask for?

Ricky Ledee to Aaron Judge Trade Tree

 

Don't call it a comeback.... but we're back for the first time in what feels like forever with possibly a new set of content for all the Yankees fans reading today. How in the world did Ricky Ledee, I'll give you all a minute to Google the former Yankees left fielder in the dynasty years, lead the Yankees to their captain, Aaron Judge? That's what we are here to discuss with you all today.

The New York Yankees selected outfielder Ricky Ledee in the 16th round of the 1990 MLB Draft. While with the Yankees, Ledee spent parts of the 19998  - 2000 seasons in the Bronx winning two World Series rings with the club. After 62 games with the club in 2000, the Yankees needed an outfield upgrade for the postseason, which led New York to trade Ledee to the Cleveland Indians (Guardians) along with Jake Westbrook and Zach Day for popular star David Justice. 

Justice would stay with the Yankees for the 2000 season, winning a World Series against the New York Mets, as well as the 2001 season, seeing the team fall to the Arizona Diamondbacks in seven games, before being traded to the New York Mets prior to the 2002 season. Justice was traded in a rare cross-town trade with the Mets for third baseman Robin Ventura. 

Ventura was an All Star with the Yankees in 2002, falling short of the ultimate crown of World Series champions, before being flipped to the Los Angeles Dodgers halfway through the 2003 season. On July 31, 2003 the Yankees shipped Ventura off to the Dodgers for RHP Scott Proctor and outfield prospect Bubba Crosby. 

Proctor quickly became one of Joe Torre's favorite and most relied upon reliever during his stint with the Yankees, pitching in a league high 83 games in 2006. Proctor would throw in an identical 83 games during the 2007 season, but only 52 of those innings came with the Yankees, interrupted by another midseason trade back to the Los Angeles Dodgers. For what it's worth, New York didn't do much with Bubba Crosby after the trade aside from using him as our "starting center fielder" in the negotiations with then-Boston Red Sox free agent center fielder Johnny Damon. 

Another July 31 trade for New York saw the addition of infielder Wilson Betemit to bolster their bench, while the Dodgers added back Proctor to strengthen their bullpen. Betemit would spend two seasons in the Bronx, including the final year of the old Yankee Stadium in 2008, before the Yankees, who missed the playoffs for the first time since the 1994 strike-shortened season, went out and aggressively began adding to the team. Betemit was traded to the Chicago White Sox before the 2009 season, along with Jeff Marquez (draftyed and developed by the Yankees) and Jhonny Nunez (who was acquired in a separate trade involving Alberto Gonzalez from the Yankees side) for outfielder Nick Swisher and reliever Kanekoa Texeira. 

The Yankees would go on to win the World Series in 2009, behind Swisher and their flury of new additions, and were back on top of the baseball world. The team could not repeat their successes in 2010, nor in 2011 or 2012 before Swisher left the Yankees via free agency. Swisher would sign with the Cleveland Indians (Guardians) prior to the 2013 season, thus giving New York a compensation pick between the first and second rounds of the 2013 MLB First year Player's Draft. 

With the 32nd pick overall, the New York Yankees selected Aaron James Judge and the rest, as they say, is history. Judge has had a 62 home run season, breaking the American League single-season home run record, along with a 58 home run season in 2024, but the World Series trophy has eluded Judge since breaking through with the team in 2016. 

Imagine a world where the New York Yankees didn't have Aaron Judge playing in their outfield in the Bronx, kind of hard to picture right? Well that would have certainly been a reality had the Yankees not drafted Ledee way back in 1990. A lot of chips had to fall a certain way to lead the team to where they are today and I, for one, am happy with the progression. Judge will presumably spend his entire year with the Yankees as their captain of the squad and we all, as fans, have the likes of Ledee, Ventura, Proctor, Betemit and Swisher, to name a few, to thank for it.