Off Topic · Yankees Talk thread (page 500)
The deadline will be the time for bigger deals (teams most likely won't become sellers until after they think they're out of whichever divisional race/wild card), but in the meantime, I'd like to see a couple of smaller moves to get better: call up Burawa and/or Jose Ramirez for bullpen help soon if they prove they're both over their oblique problems; ride Zoilo Almonte--see if he can get hot otherwise re-establish Ichiro soon if Beltran's out for an extended period (hopefully the cortizone shot does the trick, otherwise we might need another full-time OFer); re-acquire Jorge Vazquez and add him to the 40-man roster (plays 1st & 3rd and has great pop -- currently hitting .355 in the Mexican league -- would be a real cost-effective move for corner infield/DH depth, all we'd need to do is create a spot for him); maybe call up Seattle and see if they'd consider dealing that young lefty that did a number on us at the Stadium a few games back, Roenis Elias. I like this kid -- he's young, throws 93-94 mph and has an OUTSTANDING curveball. I'd put this guy's curveball up with the best in baseball. He could be a good starter or and awesome lefty specialist out of the pen. I don't think the price would be too high for him and really like the versatility he could bring. Then continue monitoring some of the better young starting pitchers around MLB -- Yordano Ventura, Danny Salazar, Jarred Cosart, Jeff Samardzija, Gerrit Cole (we're gonna see this guy today in game 2 of the doubleheader. Big-time talent. Too bad we couldn't have signed this kid when we drafted him a few years ago. Decided to go back to college and then the Pirates took him #1 overall a few years later). Someone like that -- see if we could shake a guy like that loose...These type of young power starters probably aren't for sale but you never know. What could a Manny Banuelos/Gary Sanchez/Slade Heathcott package get us? Maybe a lot. Maybe something worth pulling the trigger on...Also look at a vet starter or two to solidify -- a Bronson Arroyo-type, etc. Cover all bases...All easier said than done, I know, but that would be my plan as of right now if I'm Cash...Keep assessing what's already here within the organization while also working the phones trying to make this team better. Broken record but I'll keep saying it -- this AL East is right there for the taking and probably will be all year. I'd like to see us do a few things to get better and separate us from these other 3-4 teams we're currently clustered together with in the division.
Bottom line for me -- swapping out Claiborne and the soft-tossing Matt Daley for 2 power arms in Burawa and Ramirez would be a major upgrade for the bullpen. The stuff's definitely there with Burawa from what I've read and seen with my own eyes this past spring...Control may continue to be an issue though. Can't have a guy come in late and issue free passes. I get that.. That might be the only issue on why Burawa's not up with the big club. That and the fact that he's had oblique injuries 2 years in a row now. Might be why Ramirez looks to be slightly ahead of him in the pecking order at this point...I like this kid a lot though, man. Wouldn't it be something to have an entire bullpen comprised of nothing but power arms with shutdown stuff? I'd love to see that...It could go a long way in helping out our decimated starting rotation (i.e. if a guy like Nuno, Phelps, Whitley, etc. only go 4-5 innings, no problem. Hopefully we're still in the game at that point--we then turn it over to standout short man after standout short man, piecing together wins that way if need be. It all started with Mo to Wetteland, turning it into a 7-inning game. That pretty much became known as 'the formula.' Then much later, D-Rob to Mo, same thing basically. How 'bout we try to shorten games even further to 5 or 6-inning affairs? AND have enough good options down there where everybody gets proper rest (Betances and Warren were used 2 days in a row? No problem, now let's piece together this game with Kelley, Thornton, Burawa, Ramirez, etc..). If we're gonna have starters injured and/or underperform to the degree that we've seen and not have the options to improve the rotation from within or via trade this early on in the season, bolstering the bullpen to the max is another way we could maintain success. Maybe we strive to have the best bullpen in the game, controlling what we can control. There looks to be a lot of pieces already here we can work with to achieve this.
Tanaka no longer invincible, against the Cubbies of all people.
And we can't hit for $hit.
Oh well, first place in May...
mattshaw78 wrote:I think teams are still figuring out Tanaka. Right now the Cubs are the only team that faced him twice.
Yeah, they were trying to play that fact down big time, explaining the issue in terms of "control of pitches over the plate". Not terribly convincing.
Feel good win last night; yoot relief pitcher gets the perfect bunt down, when it counts, in his first MLB at bat! Robertson looks good.
Bonn1997 wrote:I just noticed that the 3 major offensive signings last off-season (Beltran, Ellsbury, McCann) all are in negative territory for Wins Above Average. Each of them is producing less than the average mlb player right now!
Love the Ellsbury signing -- just coming out of a little slump, dude's an awesome player. You don't really realize how good this guy is until you see him play everyday. Good hitter, plays the hell outta centerfield and he's great on the bases. I like McCann -- he's a good player in his prime, not nearly as bad a hitter as his current average suggests (would love to see him start to hit like he capable---hopefully we see the average & power climb as the weather starts to get warmer) and he's a lot better defensively than I realized (calling a game, blocking balls). Noticed McCann always talking to Girardi near the top step of the dugout -- makes me wonder if he gets into managing when he hangs up the spikes. Also like the signing because it now makes any of our young catchers (Sanchez, Romine, Cervelli, Murphy, Peter O'Brien) available for trade. Didn't care for the Beltran signing and I said so at the time. Just don't understand how we let a guy go that we traded for (we surrendered A-Jax, Ian Kennedy AND Phil Coke for Granderson -- now we have ZERO to show for it), a guy that hit 40+ bombs for us back to back years and a very good defender with CF range (imagine a defensive OF left to right of Gardy, Ellsbury and Grandy).. They both got the same money, $15m a year, only Alderson gave Grandy the 3rd year. I know he whiffs a lot but to me, Granderson > Beltran. About 4 years younger, 40-HR potential, very good defender (still has centerfielder-type range and a more than decent throwing arm that would've been more than adequate enough for RF). Said it the day the Mets signed him and I still feel that way. He wasn't worth the extra year for the same money? I don't get that one at all. I don't ever remember the Yanks even making this guy and offer during the off-season..
Speaking of Peter O'Brien, anyone check out the numbers this guy's putting up this year in the minors? Splitting time between Class A Tampa & the Trenton Thunder this year -- combined in 48 games (185 ABs) he's hitting .292, 9 doubles, 19 HRs, with 42 RBI and a .676 slugging %. Looks like he never walks and Ks a lot but man, those are some impressive power numbers. A catcher by trade, I read the Yanks are open to playing him at 1st, 3rd and in the OF too. Definitely a guy to keep an eye on. He could move quickly -- I could see a promotion to the RailRiders and then up to the bigs at some point soon, esp. if he keeps hitting HRs at that pace.
Finestrg wrote:Bonn1997 wrote:I just noticed that the 3 major offensive signings last off-season (Beltran, Ellsbury, McCann) all are in negative territory for Wins Above Average. Each of them is producing less than the average mlb player right now!Love the Ellsbury signing -- just coming out of a little slump, dude's an awesome player. You don't really realize how good this guy is until you see him play everyday. Good hitter, plays the hell outta centerfield and he's great on the bases. I like McCann -- he's a good player in his prime, not nearly as bad a hitter as his current average suggests (would love to see him start to hit like he capable---hopefully we see the average & power climb as the weather starts to get warmer) and he's a lot better defensively than I realized (calling a game, blocking balls). Noticed McCann always talking to Girardi near the top step of the dugout -- makes me wonder if he gets into managing when he hangs up the spikes. Also like the signing because it now makes any of our young catchers (Sanchez, Romine, Cervelli, Murphy, Peter O'Brien) available for trade. Didn't care for the Beltran signing and I said so at the time. Just don't understand how we let a guy go that we traded for (we surrendered A-Jax, Ian Kennedy AND Phil Coke for Granderson -- now we have ZERO to show for it), a guy that hit 40+ bombs for us back to back years and a very good defender with CF range (imagine a defensive OF left to right of Gardy, Ellsbury and Grandy).. They both got the same money, $15m a year, only Alderson gave Grandy the 3rd year. I know he whiffs a lot but to me, Granderson > Beltran. About 4 years younger, 40-HR potential, very good defender (still has centerfielder-type range and a more than decent throwing arm that would've been more than adequate enough for RF). Said it the day the Mets signed him and I still feel that way. He wasn't worth the extra year for the same money? I don't get that one at all. I don't ever remember the Yanks even making this guy and offer during the off-season..
Speaking of Peter O'Brien, anyone check out the numbers this guy's putting up this year in the minors? Splitting time between Class A Tampa & the Trenton Thunder this year -- combined in 48 games (185 ABs) he's hitting .292, 9 doubles, 19 HRs, with 42 RBI and a .676 slugging %. Looks like he never walks and Ks a lot but man, those are some impressive power numbers. A catcher by trade, I read the Yanks are open to playing him at 1st, 3rd and in the OF too. Definitely a guy to keep an eye on. He could move quickly -- I could see a promotion to the RailRiders and then up to the bigs at some point soon, esp. if he keeps hitting HRs at that pace.
+1
You ever think about taking your posts here and applying for Susan Waldman's job? Please? You would save us Yankee radio listeners from a world of hurt.
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/writer/jon-...
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/05/29/r...
I like the idea personally. Dude's a bonafide middle of the order bat and he's a legit first baseman (when Tex is out we've been playing guys with little to no experience over there -- Kelly Johnson, McCann, Brendan Ryan, etc.). Morales is only 30 too, not like he's one of those guys pushing 40. He could probably produce at a high level with the bat (30 HR potential/year) well into his mid to late 30s. Great insurance for the rest of the year (you know right now injuries will continue to be a problem with Tex's wrist -- hope to God I'm wrong) and then next year, he slides right into the DH role should we decide not to bring Sori back. Isn't my money but if it was, I'd consider this guy for a 2-4 yr contract. That might separate us from the rest of the pack... And if we can get him w/o giving up that pick, great. All the better.
It's either this or we look for cheap alternatives for some more power/1B/3B insurance elsewhere -- how 'bout we bring back Jorge Vazquez? Hitting .345 with 6 HRs in the Mexican League. Dude hit 32 dingers for Scranton a couple of years ago and we cut him loose. I thought at the time he had the best power potential in our entire minor league system. We could probably go get this guy for nothing right now -- just open up a spot on the 40-man and then the active roster...Also like the look of this Peter O'Brien. C/1B/3B/OFer who's got 20 HRs in less than 200 ABs splitting time between Class A and Trenton this year. Maybe bypass a AAA promotion altogether and bring this kid up right now. We're still 2.5 games behind Toronto, Boston's getting hot, Buck's got Baltimore right there, etc.. I'd love to see us do some things to solidify and get better.
Bonn1997 wrote:Wow, this team sucks. 29-29, and statistically, they've played at a 26-32 level (expected W-L based on own and opponent run production). I think in MLB there is no substitute for growing your own players. By the time you can get a great player as an FA, he's probably at the end of or past his prime. And you don't even know if he's going to keep that play up or if he built a great track record using steroids. I'm assuming Ellsbury and McCann are untradeable but if Beltran comes back playing great, they should see what kind of prospects they can get for him. The team isn't going to be great during his contract anyway. And they should see what they can get for Kuroda too.
I hear ya man, very frustrating, although I think I might give it to the deadline or at least another couple of weeks to see if we can right the ship. As bad as we've been we're still what, 4-5 games out of 1st? And this division isn't great at all. I think we still have a pulse...But yeah, if we still suck a little further down the road, absolutely see what we can get for some of our older vets -- Soriano, Kuroda, Beltran, etc. I just wanna make sure we're really out of it before it comes to that.
In the meantime, let's try to get better. Glad to see they finally gave this kid Jose Ramirez a shot -- he gave up a big HR and lost the game last night but I like what I see (93-96 mph sinkers and a good changeup). Stick with him now. Hopefully Danny Burawa's the next bullpen call up -- I like his stuff even better than Ramirez's. Ashame about Aceves -- looked like he still had some life on his pitches but you can't argue designating him for assignment. How many more times could we watch this guy get smacked around? Was giving up runs every time he went out there...I just don't know if Wade LeBlanc's the answer. Another lefty for the pen which is a plus but this journeyman soft-tosser's nothing special at all. As a spot starter I see someone along the line of Vidal Nuno, maybe not even that good. And then he doesn't have the crisp breaking stuff to be a specialist and get lefties out in a tough spot either...I see nothing more than a mop-up guy here..I dunno -- maybe you need a guy like that I guess (we can probably get some length outta this dude if a game gets out of hand either way). Just wish we went for more of a quality arm...At least they're trying to shake up the bullpen. Don't know why it took so long...Stick with Ramirez, bring up Burawa and wait for Kelley to get back. Not much more we can do there.
Before we throw the flag, I'd just love to see moves like this:
• Bring up Jose Ramirez. ✓
• Bring up Danny Burawa.
• Bring up Peter O'Brien. Power potential. If we brought this kid up and he caught fire he'd be the toast of the town. Could really jumpstart this team.
• Create a spot on the 40-man and sign Jorge Vazquez. Power/1B/3B depth.
• Make the move for Morales as soon as giving up a draft pick no longer applies (any day now, right?). He's only 30, a real good offensive player and legit 1B. Give the guy a 2-4 year deal. I'm concerned about Tex's wrist and he could slide into Soriano's DH spot next year (Sori looks like he's toast---he's a FA after this year and definitely not playing like a guy I want back).
• Look to put together a package for another good starting pitcher -- Jeff Samardzija, Jason Hammel?? Samardzija just got smacked around the other day but he's been real good this year. Hammel too. The Cubs are going nowhere -- I doubt Boy Wonder even waits to the deadline to make a deal. He's probably ready to wheel & deal right now. I think either one of these guys can be had and I think we have the pieces to get something done.
• Stretch out Manny Banuelos a little bit more in the minors. Seems like every outing he goes out there and throws no more than 2 innings. I know he's coming back from TJ surgery but the guy did make it back right? What gives here? I feel like they're babying him a little. I wanna start seeing 3,4,5+ innings pitched. Kinda surprised he's not there already..
Bonn1997 wrote:I'd like to have hope that the team just needs more time. But given how weak the division is, coming in first isn't really that meaningful. They could come in first and still be *very* far from championship level.
Agreed but all we have to do is get into the playoffs, Bonny. Even a wildcard berth I'll take. Post-season is an accomplishment, however you can get there...And then what if things started to click? What if Tanaka stayed hot and dominated all the way through a-la Orel Hershiser in '88? What if one or 2 more starters started showing their worth and excelled? What if we made a couple of small moves to fortify the rotation, bullpen & the lineup (Jeff Samardzija, Danny Burawa/get back Kelley, Kendry Morales)? There's a lot of baseball yet to be played...Nice win today btw..