The whispers in Yankeeland have begun that the return of A-Rod off the DL will hurt their offense and recent success on the field. The premise is that Carlos Beltran hits much better as the DH vs. when he is playing right field.  Allowing Beltran to DH also frees up Hicks to play the outfield where he has been hitting about .285 for the past few weeks since he has seen more regular at bats.  Andrew Marchand of espn.com weighed in recently:

http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/yankees/post/_/id/92877/a-roag-its-time-the-yankees-made-alex-rodriguez-a-part-time-player

The reality is that the Yankees started winning when Ellsbury was also out for several games.  They are winning due to better starting pitching and enough offense to eke out some wins.  Mark Texeiria is now having neck spasms and will miss several games.  Can you say psychosomatic symptoms of stress due to being in the walk year of his contract?  SU is all over this one.  He is seeing millions of dollars evaporate before his eyes and having 12 rbis through 40+ games is a bit embarrassing.  A-Rod had started to hit before his hamstring injury and hit a homerun last night in his rehab assignment.  You don’t have to bat him 3rd and you don’t have to play him every day.  But Beltran runs hot and cold and there is no reason to think his hot streak will last for a long time.

There are rumors now that Andrew Miller will be shopped before the trade deadline.  SU is not following this one.  He is in the 2nd year of a reasonable 4-year contract and has proven he can play in NY.  Chapman is great but will be a free agent after this year.  There are also rumors about trading Beltran before the deadline.  SU would keep Miller and move Beltran.  This team may get a wild card but won’t go anywhere in the playoffs and they are incredibly boring to watch.  If you are looking to put fans in the seats and watching on YES, it’s time to rebuild and might as well get started.  But let’s do it more thoughtfully please.

Met fans panicking about Matt Harvey.  SU says calm down and keep rolling him out there until he figures it out.  You may not want to sign him long-term but you do need him this year and it’s important to maintain his confidence and stroke his ego.  It’s likely that his medical issues are a bigger deal than is being let on.

Cleveland will put away the Raptors in game 6 and that will be that.  But SU says do not give up on the Warriors just yet.  OKC is combustible and Golden State just has to win game 6 on the road.  I know it’s rare to see anyone come back from down 3-1 in the NBA playoffs but this group won over 70 games this year.  Steve Kerr needs to make an adjustment – let’s see if he is up to the challenge.  SU loves having a game on each night for this round.  The post-season has been terrible til now – record number of blowout games which is odd.  Home court seems to count for too much – certainly more than it should.