What About Kurt Suzuki?

Brian McCann has been traded away to the Houston Astros and is gone for good. Austin Romine is here but he’s less than inspiring and Gary Sanchez is currently slated to be the Yankees starting catcher. The Yankees could, and more than likely should, look to upgrade behind the dish in my opinion this winter which brings me to one man, Kurt Suzuki.

I am looking merely at a candidate to be the Yankees backup catcher and mentor in case the young Sanchez goes through the growing pains that almost every young rookie goes through at the Major League level. In no way do I believe that Suzuki should be a starting catcher for the Yankees but it would make me feel better about the situation in 2017 if he were sitting on the bench on Opening Day instead of Romine. Don’t get me wrong, I love Austin Romine as he is a product of the Yankees farm system but his career .222/.256/.329 triple slash simply leaves me less than enthused about the entire situation.

Kurt Suzuki was an All-Star for the Minnesota Twins just two years ago in 2014 and truth be told he may be considered to be average at best defensively as recently as 2016 but his veteran presence and right-handed bat should not be slept on. Suzuki would provide some pop off the bench that Romine does not, and truth be told Romine isn’t winning a Gold Glove Award anytime soon either, and would provide a veteran leadership and insurance policy that the Yankees currently lack with Romine.

It is little moves like this that can make or break a season. Look back at the 1996 season and dynasty when the Yankees had Joe Girardi and Jim Leyritz behind the dish. Neither were All-Stars but both played a role and played it well while both played huge and integral parts in the postseason and World Series. I’m thinking along those lines for Suzuki and Sanchez in 2017.

Make it happen Cashman. Get something for Romine in a trade if you have to, although why not try and pass him through waivers before just to be sure. He’s passed through before and he may pass through again. 

Three Home Runs Hurt Nuno, Yankees in 6-1 Loss to Twins

After taking two of three from the Cardinals earlier this week, the Yankees looked invincible.

The Bombers, who came into tonight's game against the Twins 4-1 over the last five days, had gotten the injured Mark Teixeira back in their lineup, to go along with a weak opposing starter in Ricky Nolasco.

Still, nothing went their way in the contest, causing them to fall in overall non-competitive fashion, 6-1.

For Yanks Pitcher Vidal Nuno, the game started out well, but with one out in the top of the second things began to fall apart.

At that time, Oswaldo Arcia homered on an 0-2 pitch, giving the Twins an early 1-0 lead.

It wouldn't last long, as Jacoby Ellsbury would tie the game in the bottom of the third with an RBI Double, but from then on it was all Minnesota.

To lead off the fourth, Josh Willingham homered to left-center, immediately followed by a bloop single from Arcia and another, two-run shot to Monument Park from Trevor Plouffe, quickly making it 4-1.

That would be all the Twins would get off Nuno on the night, although it was more than enough, knocking #57 out after 6.2 frames to drop his record to 1-2.

At that point, the game was over, although the Twins weren't quite done scoring yet, knocking in another two late off Preston Claiborne thanks to a duo of RBI Singles from former Yankee Eduardo Nunez and new Catcher Kurt Suzuki. 

Nunez, who was traded from the Bombers to Minnesota back in April, hit eighth and DH'd in this one, unsurprisingly not getting any cheers or jeers when he stepped up to the plate for the first time. Overall, Jeter's former replacement went 1-for-4 in the W, bringing his 2014 batting average down to a low .256.