The Yankees broke from the Chase Headley strategy of signing “gritty veterans” to supplement the roster of young, exciting players with high upside. Instead of bringing back Todd Frazier, they held firm and allowed him to move to Queens to join the Mets at Citifield.
The Mets will be getting a great guy in the clubhouse who loves playing baseball. He will be a leader on the field, hit .217, with 32 home runs and 71 rbis. Of course, you also get the 179 strikeouts and Met fans will get to the point where just putting the ball in play will feel like a successful at bat – especially with a man on 3rd base and less than 2 outs. As long-time SU subscriber D. Harmon said, pairing Frazier with former Red teammate Jay Bruce adds a lot of strikeouts to the line up and is not a good strategy. Now in this day and age, maybe that is the strategy. You no longer worry about putting the ball in play. Rather, nothing wrong with strike outs as long as you get the occasional home run thrown into the mix. The Yankees are actually set up that way as well with Judge, Sanchez and Stanton.
SU prefers seeing the ball put into play and moving runners along with speed. The Yankees went in a different direction and time will tell on that front. Aaron Boone will be on the hot seat if they get off to a slow start – say 2-4 (just kidding, the media and Yankee fans will allow him 9 games to get comfortable). The expectations will be very high this year – a totally different feel from last season.
Tough injury last night for KP on the Knicks. But that was an injury that was bound to happen as he is often in the air given his style of play. A torn ACL takes 10 months to rehab and this will likely cost them next year as well. The good news is that they can now move some players off the roster before the trade deadline and give Trey Burke more minutes to see what they have there.
Finally, SU provides this public service announcement to men riding on Metro-North trains in the middle seat. When you slide in there, do not put your computer bag on your lap – that widens your area and you end up infringing on the space of your neighbor. And please, don’t feel the need to send 87 texts from the train where your elbow is flapping wildly into the side of your neighbor. It just doesn’t feel good for 38 minutes of train time. Women riders may ignore this public service advice – they keep to their personal space. But men, get with the program. You know who you are – knock it off.
We now return you to your original programming.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Yes the Yanks will have those 3 players collectively average 175 strikeouts, along with 40+ homeruns, 105-115 RBI’s, 95-110 runs with an OBA around 380-410. I’ll take it. The Big 3 on the Mets will also average 175 strikeouts but with 30+ homers, 75-85 RBI’s, 75 runs, with an OBA around 340. Big difference.
Yes, Poor Porzingus…. but he was a disaster waiting to happen. He will never be the same. I’m thinking now by the time I hit 70 might be the next time the Knicks become relevant. OBJ will be a year away from retirement as he is traded to the Jets and Labron James will be a part time basketball analyst with a road named for him in Cleveland… as he breaks all the regular season statistics but remain haunted as the #3 greatest player in basketball lore behind Jordan and Russell.
To be fair, Frazier averages 141 strikeouts per 162 game season, topped out at 163 in 2016, and had 125 last year in 147 games.
Jeter averaged 109 strikeouts per 162 games which is one more strikeout every 5 games. In that context, it doesn’t seem like a lot. However, I agree that a low BA, mediocre OPS player (with good hands) who will be 32 when the season starts is not the type of player that is a huge difference maker – certainly not even close to David-Wright-in-his-prime caliber.
Happy to welcome Todd Frazier to the Mets. Good baseball player, great guy. If the Mets can be GOOD, I’d be happy. If their pitching miraculously stays healthy they could be great, and that would make me very happy. Compared to the rest of MLB the Mets have been active and at least trying to improve the team, all be it, while shopping at the discount rack. Hey, they have always been more TJ Max than Neiman Marcus! Now let’s add RA Dickey or Jason Vargas from the bin near the check out counter!
So Howard, what do you think about the lack of free agent signings? There does seem to be a confluence of circumstances that are holding salaries down this year. I’m sure Todd Frazier was hoping for 4 years/48 Million but it just isn’t happening. Like so many other industries, technology and quantitative analytics have conquered the world. Long term contracts for older players generally do not work out well. Adding a veteran player to put you over the hump in July makes sense, otherwise, why not go with an inexpensive kid given similar marginal return?
I do think the players have a legitimate beef with teams purposely tanking and not being competitive. We have a salary cap in effect with the luxury tax. We should have a salary flaw as well! How about 50% of the mean for a floor and 150% as a cap? It takes two to tango! We need some competitive balance to keep the games interesting. Who the heck wants to head out to Citi Field this year to see the Marlins play? Might as well save some money and go see the Ducks!
Beyond the numbers, there is something incredibly frustrating about watching Todd Frazier play every day. I’ve only experienced this during his brief time with the Yankees but wouldn’t wish it on anyone. He will strike out swinging with a swing that looks like he does not belong in the Major Leagues. A swing that looks like the very worst kids on a Little League team. A swing that makes you want to look away. This is not captured in the stats or the box score but it will take a toll on fans. He makes up for it a bit with defense, some homeruns and good post-game interviews but it’s a net negative when it comes to fan frustration.
Despite decline in overall production, Frazier walks a good amount and posted a .344 OBP last year and a .365 OBP with the Yanks. Pair that with his good D (desperately needed from the Mets and good pairing with Rosario) and I think it’s a great signing.