The Fall of the Kraken...

Photo Credit: J Conrad Williams, Jr / Newsday

Gary Sanchez’s days may be numbered…

Mid-November and we continue to wait for the baseball off-season to kick it into gear. I know, nothing ever really happens until after Thanksgiving and often not until the Baseball Winter Meetings in early December. It’s always fun for something to happen in November if for no other reason than to give us something to write about. I don’t really care about the Chicago White Sox hiring a geriatric manager with DUI issues (other than the safety of others when he is on the road).

With word the Yankees are listening to offers for Gary Sanchez, the realism that he is never going to reach his potential is starting to set in with me. I know many of you gave up long ago, but I always held out the slight hope that the way he burst onto the scene in 2017 was going to set the standard for years to come. I think I was a little overly optimistic on that one. I am still not 100% ready to shut the door on El Gary. I don’t want Kyle Higashioka, sorry, as the starting catcher, Austin Wells (who should be the future) is still a few years away, and I don’t see the Yankees paying the bucks it will take to get J.T. Realmuto to sign on the dotted line. I hope there’s NO fire to the Yadier Molina rumors. I respect Yadi and he’s most likely headed for the Hall of Fame as the best of the Molina brothers. At 38, Yadi has seen his better days. He has had a tremendous career in St Louis. Yet, I do not see him as a potential bridge to Austin Wells. If Brian Cashman does trade Sanchez, he’s going to have to get us a younger catcher with more upside.

I also have no interest in shortstop Andrelton Simmons. A wizard with the glove, sure, but signing Simmons, to me, is a clear signal D.J. LeMahieu will not return. I’d rather have D.J. or if the Yankees do feel strongly about moving Gleyber Torres back to second, then go all-in for an elite shortstop like Francisco Lindor. The Yankees have the pieces to get a deal done. While you could argue Simmons is a better shortstop, I’d probably prefer a reunion with Didi Gregorius on a one-year deal. Yes, a sentimental choice, but I have always felt Didi has as much value in a clubhouse as he does on the field. You cannot underestimate the intangibles Didi brings with his personality, talent, and charm.  I’ve always felt Didi was a team player and not a “me” player. Then, after the 2021 season, go after one of the premium shortstops who will be free agents, including Lindor and Corey Seager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

Photo Credit: Josh Lefkowitz / Getty Images

Back up the truck, Hal, and sign Trevor Bauer. I’d do it if I owned the Yankees. I think he’d be an outstanding #2 behind Gerrit Cole, and would help form an incredibly strong trio when Luis Severino returns next summer.  World Series can be won when you have three elite starters.  I still want the Yankees to re-sign Masahiro Tanaka but as long as he is on the open market, we have to be prepared for anything to happen. The Yankees may have the money but they’ve proven to play hard ball in contract negotiations as we all know too well. They never seem to go after their own free agents with Gerrit Cole-like fervor. If Derek Jeter had taken his late career contract negotiations personally, there is a real chance that he would not have finished his career as a Yankee and that would have been a major disappointment.

Speaking of Jeter, congratulations for the hire of former Yankees assistant GM Kim Ng as the new general manager of the Miami Marlins. I have long felt Kim was the most qualified general manager candidate, male or female, in the game. I had been a proponent to elevate Brian Cashman to President of Baseball Operations, and hire Kim as the Yankees general manager. I am very excited about the move and I think it was a brilliant hire by Derek. He obviously knows Kim from their time together with the Yankees but I know this hire is about the best candidate and not about hiring the first female or first Asian-American general manager.

Photo Credit: Marcelo Maragni / MLB Photos via Getty Images

I am tremendously excited for the NL Manager of the Year Don Mattingly who did a terrific job last season with young talent. Kim will be charged with helping get more talent to Mattingly and that will be so very fun to watch. Mattingly was my favorite Yankee during the Donnie Baseball years, and he has retained my respect in his post-Yankees career. I kind of wonder what the last decade would have been like if the Yankees had hired Mattingly over Joe Girardi after Joe Torre. I know Mattingly’s inexperience worked against him at the time, but he’s grown every year as a manager and continues to get better. I thought the Dodgers were too quick to give him the hook but I get Donnie was not their guy (he preceded the current Dodgers ownership and front office).  I have no qualms with Dave Roberts, fresh off a World Series championship, and perhaps Mattingly is better off with the Marlins for the long term. When Mattingly first joined the Marlins, I had my doubts (the team, not him) and then the previous ownership stripped the team, selling off the All-Star outfield and others after the tragic and untimely death of the great Jose Fernandez. But after Jeter and the current ownership group acquired the Marlins, raided the Yankees of front office talent, they have the team pointed in the right direction. It’s a good time to be a Marlins fan even if I am not. 

But back to the original point, congratulations to Kim Ng! I am so very happy for her and I look forward to the stamp she’ll put on the greatest sport in the world. The NL East may have a new billionaire owner sitting in Queens, a great Yankees manager in Philly, a one year removed World Series champion in Donald Trump’s soon to be former neighborhood, but I like the Marlins’ chances on a go-forward basis. Derek Jeter always did kinda like playing in October.

It is looking like former Yankees prospect Caleb Cotham may be close to getting a new job with his first MLB manager, Joe Girardi. Girardi, the Philadelphia Phillies manager (did I really need to tell you that?) lost his pitching coach when Bryan Price retired after the season. Cotham retired after playing with the Cincinnati Reds a few years ago. Cotham is apparently the favorite to land the job as Price’s replacement. Good for him. It’s always wonderful to see former Yankees get good opportunities. I half expected the Yankees to lose bullpen coach Mike Harkey, a good friend of Girardi, so Cotham’s hire would be a nice block to keep Harkey with the Yankees. 

I hope everyone is staying healthy and safe.

As always, Go Yankees!

Waiting Until Next Year...

 

Baseball is no fun without the Yankees…

I miss the Yankees.

 As the AL and NL Championship Series play themselves out, we, the fans of the greatest franchise in the history of baseball, can only sit around and wonder what could have been. Or, like many of the self-appointed GM’s on Twitter, we can deconstruct the Yankees for an imaginary rebuild. 

What rebuild? This team doesn’t need to be rebuilt but they do need to make some changes. I know that many called for the head of Manager Aaron Boone, but even before Managing General Partner Hal Steinbrenner proclaimed that Boone would be back next year, it was apparent Boone has a long leash. I was disappointed with some of the manager’s moves in the playoffs, but I am convinced he can and will get better. I am not ready to close the door on Boone’s career with the Yankees. Unlike some Yankee fans, I am certainly not pining for the return of Joe Girardi. Look, I liked Girardi when he was the Yankees manager and I had been hopeful the team would have re-signed him when his contract expired after the 2017 season. But they didn’t and I trust the decision-making process in the Yankees’ hierarchy, and I’ve moved on. I wish Girardi well, and I hope his stay in Philly cements his legacy as good Major League manager, but you won’t find me looking for a reunion. My desire for manager reunions lived…and died…with Billy Martin.  

Maybe you can say GM Brian Cashman has been on his job too long. Perhaps. If I was Hal Steinbrenner, I’d probably re-structure the front office and basically kick Cashman upstairs. In other words, make him the team President and send Randy Levine on his way. Then, appoint a new GM to work with the analytics team and serve as the face of the organization. I don’t know if I have a specific candidate in mind. It could be an insider like Tim Naehring, a former insider like Billy Eppler, or maybe a fresh, new voice from the outside. I am a little disappointed that Kim Ng has never gotten an opportunity to be the first female GM. The last part of that sentence, in my mind, is irrelevant. Kim deserves an opportunity because she knows baseball and will be an elite general manager if she is ever given the chance. Maybe the Phillies hire her to replace the fired Matt Klentak, but I’d love to see her come back to the Yankees. It won’t happen as Hal Steinbrenner seems devoted to Cashman in his current role. “Obviously, I’ve known Brian forever, and the way he goes about doing things in a very objective way,” Steinbrenner said recently. He went on to say, “He listens to everybody—pro scouting and analytics and anybody else that wants to get into his hear. I know the people that work under him respect him, and Boone respects him, and it’s been good. We’re just going to have to keep plugging away.” It is Hal’s money.  As long as Hal is happy, it doesn’t really matter what you or I think.

The first order of business must be re-signing DJ LeMahieu. I love DJ as a Yankee, and I was a big fan of his when he played for the Colorado Rockies (I lived in Denver at the time). But for as much as I’ve called for the Yankees to re-sign him (almost with each post), the talk of a five-year contract does put me off a little.  I am completely fine with a three-year deal but five years seems to be pushing it a little too far. LeMahieu will be 33 next July. Maybe he ages well, but the thought of a 38-year-old second baseman bothers me. If the Yankees have proven anything in recent years, they’ve generally avoided extended-length contracts (unless your name is Gerrit Cole, of course). I think a three-year deal is fair for both player and team. You can build the necessary dollars into the contract to provide long-term financial security for the player, while keeping the team’s options open should the player regress with age, or if the Yankees were to go five years, I’d want to see some options in those latter years so the Yankees would have an ejection button without the contract becoming an albatross.  So, now that some dollars are being tossed around as ideas, I’ll modify my position to say I want the Yankees to re-sign LeMahieu as long as it makes financial sense to do so. I’d be devastated if he leaves, but I do believe the team needs to protect its flexibility to make future roster enhancements without the dead weight of bad contracts. 

Exercising the team option to bring back Zack Britton is a no-brainer and a must move. I’d be in favor of moving Britton into a co-closer’s role with Aroldis Chapman. Chappy seems to be getting more vulnerable with each passing year. Unfortunately, not everyone…well, in fact, no one…is Mariano Rivera.  But to make Britton the co-closer, the Yankees must make bullpen improvements. I honestly do not know what to expect with Adam Ottavino. I’ve always thought he was a great player, even when he had his struggles in Colorado, but it was difficult to have any trust in him after last year. Can he rediscover himself like he once did in Colorado? I wouldn’t bet against him, but like LeMahieu, he is older now. It gets harder.  Given Tommy Kahnle will miss the 2021 year, the Yankees have to find an elite replacement.  This isn’t a job for the young arms in the farm system. Team Cashman needs to find their next gem with a reliever that is ready to explode. The next Josh Hader is preferable. I don’t know who that is, but I am sure the Yankees have a board of non-Yankee prospects they rank for target acquisition purposes. The Tampa Bay Rays have had great success with their seemingly shot-in-the-dark acquisitions which have turned out to be brilliant discoveries. 

I don’t like Mark Teixeira’s idea of trading Luke Voit to move LeMahieu to first, Gleyber Torres back to second, and re-sign Didi Gregorius to play shortstop. I wouldn’t be opposed to Didi coming back but I don’t want LeMahieu pushed to first to make it happen. Conversely, I’d hate to see LeMahieu leave in order to bring Didi back. I think all of us were disappointed with Gleyber’s results at shortstop this year but like Aaron Boone, he will get better. Gleyber has proven to be a player who puts in the time, the commitment, the work to get better. He’s not just living the high life as a wealthy young man…he is dedicated to his craft and I think he will be successful. I get Teixeira’s belief that Luke Voit’s value has never been higher, but I am hopeful the next Yankees championship includes Voit.

Photo Credit: Rich von Biberstein, Icon Sportswire

With the disappointment of Masahiro Tanaka’s October starting performances starting to fade, I think the Yankees bring him back. They almost have to given the current state of the rotation. I’d love to see the Yankees sign a guy like Trevor Bauer despite the baggage he brings, but I don’t think they’ll spend that type of money in free agency this year. They’ll spend the money on guys in-house, and they’ll use potential trades over making any big splashes in free agency. Luis Severino offers hope but of course we won’t see him until next summer and then there’s always the caveat that it takes some guys a year to get back to their previous level. If he could provide at least the stability of a #3 starter when he returns, I’d be very happy.  It will most likely be 2022 before we can talk about him being second only to Gerrit Cole. By then, I am hopeful Clarke Schmidt and/or Deivi Garcia have fully blossomed into Major League starters.  Through all this, Tanaka offers some glue (stability) so I am convinced he’ll be back. 

I wish I had a crystal ball to see the state of Yankees’ catching in 2021. I am not sure Gary Sanchez is long for life in Pinstripes. I had hoped the new catching coordinator, Tanner Swanson, could work some magic with Sanchez, but the results were less than ideal to say the least. Losing the trust of his manager and the team’s best starting pitcher does not bode well for Gary unless he has a miraculous off-season and comes into Spring Training on a mission to awaken the Kraken. I am starting to give up hope we will ever see it happen. I am not ready to hand the keys to Kyle Higashioka yet, so I really hope this is an area the Yankees figure out this winter. I want Gary to succeed and I want him to do it as a Yankee. But if Cashman has made the determination it is not a salvageable situation, then I’ll trust him to make the decisions to make catching a strength once again. This will certainly be something I’ll be watching closer as we move into the final months of the year. 

J.A. Happ, please don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

I don’t have a grand map for how the Yankees can improve. I trust Cashman and his team to make those decisions. It will be interesting once the World Series is over and off-season planning begins to take shape. Early November moves can often be a precursor to the team’s off-season blueprint. I think at that point, we can start to make better projections for potential moves. I think the Yankees WILL be better next year. I certainly don’t think they will tear it down a year after signing Cole to the monster contract. They need to maximize the potential of the team during the best years of Cole’s contract. There is talent on the roster and there must be a focus to address the team’s weaknesses. With the right moves, the Yankees, on paper, will be among the greatest teams in MLB. Throw in the right chemistry, and 2021 could be a very special year for Yankee fans…the year we’ve been waiting for.

As always, Go Yankees!