After 3 years of extreme boredom, SU is finally getting excited about the Yankees 2.0 edition coming to a theater near you in 2017. Picture this line-up:
- Greg Bird – First Base
- Starlin Castro – Second Base
- Didi – Shortstop
- Ronald Torreyes – 3rd base (or Rob Refsnyder)
- Aaron Judge – right field
- Jacoby Ellsbury – center field (only because he could be the most untradeable player in MLB). Maybe Hicks will become something in his 2nd year and can be slotted there
- Tyler Austin – left field (Brett Gardner is tradeable)
- Gary Sanchez – catcher
OK, so they don’t have any starting pitching and the bullpen is lacking. But SU is willing to endure a couple of 75-win seasons to see these young guys develop. Torreyes is only 23 years old. Surely the braintrust sees that Chase Headley and his annual 50-rbis output is so bad. A young roster is much more fun to root for than the over-the-hill gang of the past three seasons.
SU is concerned that the Yankees may feel obligated to retire the numbers of A-Rod and Mark Texeiria in order to sell out the stadium for a couple of dates in 2017. Note to management: they are not worthy. If you feel the urge, just average A-Rod’s #13 and Tex’s #25 and retire #19. You save a number in the long run that way.
I thought the Mets might have a run in them but their players are dropping like flies. Now, Jay Bruce is injured. Some people are saying now that the deep playoff run last season took its toll on their young arms. Maybe the teams with the innings limits know something? The bottom line is that pitching is an unnatural motion and no matter how hard you throw, injuries are part of the game.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Are you kidding me about a couple of 75 win seasons? No way Yankee brass will allow that. They will spend the money and bring in 1, maybe 2 David Price like Starters, pay the money and then find another solid reliever….. and that’s all we need to be a World Series contender. The day of watching these “youngsters” develop is a thing of the past. Sanchez may be an exception, but I feel some of the other youngsters are not as green behind the ears as you think. The energy brought out by this revamped team is infectious and this karma will continue to help drive their focus toward the playoffs next year… and not just to slide into a spot… but to try to go all the way. Why not? Girardi will be their steady balance when required…. Mr Unemotional….
PS The ghost of George will finally kick in and the money will be flowing once again. LONG LIVE OUR PINSTRIPES…
Andy, I don’t disagree with you that they will go into the free agent market to fill some holes. Chapman could be brought back for starters. But they should spend the money on starting pitching; not the hitters. The young guys may not all pan out but still more interesting.
Because the youngsters are all on the cheap and all the heavy expenses between Tex and CC are coming off I agree replace them with 2 solid pitchers, one solid reliever and 1 experienced big bat. Trade Gardner tossed into this mix as well. Get these 4 pieces and we are as good as anyone. Yes, the big question mark is how will these youthful pieces perform. I’m feeling good about them collectively. They can handle NY because there is a core group of the,m to feed off and be nurtured as one unit. I’m less concerned of their frailness as a group.
Definitely exciting to see the Yankees playing the younger guys. At the same time there were two losses this week that would have been likely wins if Miller and Chapman were around. We’re still several years away from knowing if the trade deadline moves will pay off. You’d think they could have started this youth movement with or without the trades. It’s really Beltran and A Rod that freed up the space in the lineup. The pitchers they traded were more about the long term returns.
I don’t know if they sign a pitcher long term. How is Price not the same thing as Sabbathia 7 years from now. Speaking of Sabbathia I would try to resign him on the cheap. He likes the area and has been decent. Maybe he’d come back for a small one-year contract.
Somehow I’m finding Sanchez’ defense as encouraging as his offense. I know he’s not going to be a 60 HR guy but we kept hearing that his defense was poor. It turns out his defense is fine.
Out of your lineup I’m a little worried about Bird. He wasn’t one of their top prospects but was called up last year because nobody else could play first base. He did well but not extraordinarily well over a small sample size of games and next year he’ll be coming back from injury. Also, I kind of prefer first basemen who throw with their left hand. Still, I’ll be rooting for him if only to hear them play Surfin’ Bird at the stadium.
Somehow there’s more optimism about the Mets for this season even though they are sitting in pretty much the same position as the Yankees. The Mets are not a great team. In retrospect you can look at the things that helped them get to the WS last year and many of them were out of their control: really weak showing by the Nationals, ridiculous hot streak out of Murphy and a Cubs team that couldn’t get out of their own way. This year, the Nationals are playing like they should and Murphy is on another team while nobody expects the Cubs to look that bad in the playoffs again. What the Mets still have are all the Cy Young pitchers they thought they had except they’re either hurt or not looking like Cy Young candidates. Is it because they were overused last year? Who knows? You can’t blame the team for going for it. More likely, this group of starting pitchers isn’t as great as advertised. Not that it isn’t good. It’s just that the expectations were off the charts. Lots of pitchers get hurt. Many pitchers have great months or great seasons, only to revert to mediocrity or fall to injury. Mets fans thought they had 3 or 4 Tom Seavers. Now I think they’ll settle for 2 Frank Violas.