Most Yankee fans were sorry to see Andrew Miller be traded in July as Brian Cashman went to the youth movement. SU had no issue with the trade. You need to move talent to get talent, and the hope is that the youngsters acquired in that deal from the Indians will be up in the Bronx soon. But he has been amazingly dominant in the post-season so far and has established himself as a real difference maker in these first two rounds.
The Indians are a great team to root for. A bunch of contact hitters who seem to have a game plan with their at bats. It’s such a contrast with the 2016 Yankees whose hitters took their at bats in a vacuum. You don’t see the Indian hitters futilely hitting into the shifts over and over again. You know Joe Girardi is losing what little hair he has on his head watching the Indians. They are basically trying to get a small lead through 6 innings and then turning the game over to a dominant bullpen. The Yankees had that for the first half of the year but the combination of Chase Headley, Slugger Ellsbury, Brian McCann and Mark Texeiria just didn’t allow for any offensive production or flow. The fact that they contended in September was just a function of Gary Sanchez, not these dudes. While this season was an opportunity lost due to offensive ineptitude, as a Yankee fan, it’s all good as Cashman is blowing up the team now. But you still wonder about what could have been with that All-Star bullpen.
The Jets hit a new low last night and you can already see the QB controversy developing. But their season is already over. The Giants are still in the mix at 3-3 but are deeply flawed and fooling no-one. The League has so many mediocre teams this year. And is Dallas that good?
SU is worried about long-time fave Novak Djokovic who melted down in China last week in the semi-finals of a tournament in Shanghai. Tore off his shirt in the middle of a game and broke his racket in an upset loss. He is struggling with motivation right now. Andy Murray won both China tournaments and has a real shot to finish #1 this year. SU has some new found respect now for Murray who has always been a nut job on the court yelling at himself and his team in the box along the court. He was quoted as really understanding what Djokovic is going through after winning the French Open this year and how hard it is to maintain a high level of passion and motivation year after year. He also spent time talking to Kyrgios about learning how to be a professional at 19 years of age and acting like an adult on tour. I must say that Murray has evolved as a player and as a person. Impressive.
We are one week away from the start of the NBA season. Knick fans have high hopes. SU has not watched any of their preseason games but unless Porzingis is featured in the offense, I will wait to get on board. I will also wait to bash Carmelo as he may surprise us all this year and look to be a distributor on offense with a stronger roster around him. Or not.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Murray still has his own meltdowns – I like him, but want to see this more grown up Murray for a sustained period. I do admit that I want to see one more Federer victory!
Sasha, I agree about Murray but I have to give credit where credit is due. He has re-engineered his game. Now he still has some room to go to re-engineer his on-court demeanor but he is making progress I think. Not sure if Fed has one more in him.
Beltran and Rodriguez were at odds with the Yankees plans for the future. Miller wasnt in the same category. He is in the prime of his career, was a lynchpin of the bullpen and they had him for another year at a reasonable price. Also, they may have been in the playoffs if they could have avoided more than a couple late season bullpen meltdowns. We also now know that he may need to be replaced by someone who will most likely be inferior and more expensive. The other trades the Yankees made paid off already in the sense that they allowed the team to change direction. The Miller trade only pays off if the players they got in return pan out as quality major leagues or can be traded for quality major leaguers. Time will tell.
Seth, I continue to be optimistic that Cashman got value for Miller. But you are correct: we need to wait and see. I still liked the move and I am not always a fan of Cashman’s (see Chase Headley and Slugger Ellsbury who by the way, has the 9th worst contract in MLB according to an article that I recently stumbled across).