Off Topic · Yankees Talk thread (page 510)
In almost as happy news, Chris Scrappuono got sent down. Hopefully far far away. 
Simmons is a heck of a SS..Man he can play the position..
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/30/sports...
ATLANTA — The first time Andrelton Simmons set eyes on Didi Gregorius, what he noticed was not Gregorius’s strong throwing arm, his fleet feet or anything he did with a bat in his hands. They were, after all, only 5 years old.
“It was the green shirt,” Simmons said with a laugh.
The reason it stood out is because it was long-sleeved, and in Curaçao, the Caribbean island where they grew up, the weather was so warm that all year round there was rarely a reason to wear a shirt with short sleeves, let alone long ones. So the new kid, who had just moved from the Dutch mainland to the island, an autonomous Dutch territory, stood out.
“Nobody wears long sleeves at home,” Simmons said. “I guess it was cold in the Netherlands.”
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Just as Simmons cackled when recounting the story in the home clubhouse at Turner Field, Gregorius chuckled when it was relayed to him in the visitors’ clubhouse. He still wears long sleeves, even earlier this summer when the weather was sweltering during a visit to Texas.
Photo
Didi Gregorius has begun to fulfill his considerable promise in his first season with the Yankees. Credit Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press
When Gregorius and Simmons reunite, old stories are not all that they share. There is also the satisfaction of the journey they have taken coming from an island of 154,000 — about three-fourths the population of Yonkers — to establish themselves as starting shortstops in the major leagues.
Simmons, who has won two Gold Gloves with the Atlanta Braves and is widely considered the best defensive shortstop in baseball, and Gregorius, who has begun to fulfill his considerable promise in his first season with the Yankees, formed a double-play combination on most of the youth teams they played on while growing up.
“I mean, it’s crazy,” Simmons said. “The guy right next to you, we’re right here together.”
It was with a point of pride that Gregorius interrupted an interview to scroll through his phone to find an old newspaper clipping that he had photographed and posted on his Twitter account a couple of years ago. It is a list of the top hitters in their youth league, with their batting averages, from 1998, when the boys were 8. It also includes Jonathan Schoop, now with the Baltimore Orioles. They also played with Dodgers reliever Kenley Jansen and the former major league pitcher Jair Jurrjens.
“For me, it’s awesome, because we’ve been playing with each other since we were little,” said Gregorius, who, like Simmons, is 25. “The same thing when I see Jonathan Schoop. We see how hard we worked to get here, so it’s always great to see each other and talk a little before the game and during the game.”
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There was plenty for Gregorius to talk about Friday night, when he drove in a career-high six runs with four hits, including a three-run home run, in the Yankees’ 15-4 victory.
It was the latest sign that Gregorius could be blossoming into the type of shortstop that the Cincinnati Reds envisioned when they signed him as a 17-year-old, or that the Arizona Diamondbacks did when they gave up pitcher Trevor Bauer in a three-way deal to land him.
Simmons remembered seeing Gregorius when they were working out last December, the day after the Yankees landed him in a three-way trade with Detroit and Arizona. “Everybody was all over him,” Simmons said.
The scrutiny would not stop, of course, when he arrived in spring training as the shortstop who was replacing Derek Jeter. Gregorius made a base-running blunder on opening day, hovered around .200 for the first two months and looked uncertain in the field.
“Anybody that would have been in his shoes, that would have had to replace Derek Jeter, would have had a rough start,” Simmons said. “All eyes are on you, and you’re trying to impress, so you’re going to press a little bit.”
A newspaper clipping listed the top hitters in Simmons’s and Gregorius’s league in 1998, when they were 8.
Simmons called Gregorius at one point to chat.
It was an easy conversation. Each player says the other has changed little since the days when they alternated pitching and playing shortstop. (Gregorius played second base when neither was pitching.) They were both passionate about other sports in high school — basketball for Gregorius and soccer for Simmons. They are also both bowlegged, Simmons pointed out.
Simmons, who weighed 140 pounds when he finished high school and said he could barely hit the ball out of the infield at the time, did not draw any interest from scouts until he moved to the United States and attended junior college.
His ascent since then has been rapid.
“Everything he does now, he did when he was young,” Gregorius said of Simmons. “Since we were 6 years old, all the guys always said if you hit a ground ball to short, it’s an automatic out. Right now, guys are saying the same thing. He hasn’t changed.”
That was the message Simmons delivered to Gregorius.
Don’t do too much. Play your game. Everything will get better.
It may not have been much different from what his teammates and coaches were telling Gregorius. But there was some comfort in hearing it from someone who knew him so well — all the way back to that green long-sleeved shirt.
Correction: August 30, 2015
An earlier version of the headline with this article misspelled the surname of the Yankees’ shortstop. He is Didi Gregorius, not Gregorious.
jrodmc wrote:Can we just play the Braves every day?
LOL. We need Toronto to lose though
Bonn1997 wrote:jrodmc wrote:Can we just play the Braves every day?
LOL. We need Toronto to lose though
Okay, we can stop to play Toronto every other weekend. At their place.
jrodmc wrote:Hey Finestrg, what's the deal on Severino? We are not trading him to get David Robertson back, right?
Thought you were messing around but just saw that we indeed did put in and were award the waiver claim on D-Rob:
http://nypost.com/2015/08/31/yankees-mak...
Now what? Odd.. But hey, maybe not. We were supposedly involved for Kimbrel at the deadline--they obviously feel that bolstering an already strong bullpen with a 3rd standout backend arm would be beneficial. It would help, no question--you can see their thinking here: starters go 5-6, then you have 3 shutdown guys--legit ML CLOSERS--to go the rest of the way, or enough depth to shuffle a bullpen "big 3" where they should have 2 available at all times, while the 3rd guy rests. Not many teams can say that. That could be huge down the stretch and in playoffs, esp. in a one-game do or die scenario to get in should we end up with a wildcard spot. Is it worth the payroll hit though? Article say D-Rob's owed $36mm over the next 3 yrs. You know that if they do this [add Robertson's salary], that'll be it for the foreseeable future--they won't be adding any other significant salary anytime soon--and that could be huge because we may wind up needing a big bat, a position player, an experienced lefty bullpen specialist and/or maybe even a starting pitcher at some point over the next couple of years. We could kiss any idea of that goodbye if we elect to take on D-Rob's salary. There's no salary cap in place but I definitely get the feeling that this isn't the Yankees of the past--with Hal running things, they'll spend money but there's definitely a limit on how far they're willing to go. They're obviously conscious of trying to get down to around $200mm (I think we're at $219mm right now), not paying too much luxury tax, etc.. And then, yeah, what do we give up to get him? Just like they supposedly weren't willing to give up a top prospect to get Kimbrel, I feel the same way about D-Rob, even more so. NO WAY you give the Chi Sox Severino to bring back D-Rob. I wouldn't give them any of our top prospects for that matter. I personally feel it's a little shortsighted and misguided...At least by winning the claim, we blocked him from going to other playoff-bound teams -- maybe that was the extent of our interest here. Stay tuned -- deadline's coming up at 2pm to either make a trade for him or not.
Whatever happens, Bonn hit the nail on the head -- we need Toronto to start losing some games here. We swept ATL but I don't think we picked up any ground.. So glad we face these guys another 7 games. They don't look like they'll be doing us any favors. Just gotta keep it close and take care of business when we face them again head to head.
Can't believe the run Drew's been having. WFAN is almost giddy talking about his .200+ batting avg...