Big early season test for the Yankees and their right-handed line-up. The Astros are throwing Morton tonight (1.86 ERA), Verlander tomorrow (1.36 ERA), Yankee killer Keuchel on Wednesday and then McCullers on Thursday who shut them down in game 7 in the playoffs. SU has these observations to share:
- Didi Gregorius looks tired. He should be DH in one of these games this week.
- Giancarlo Stanton looks tired. Of course, that is a joke as he is DH in most games. The truth is that he looks bad. The Yankees are 18-9. What would their record be without Stanton? Hint: 18-9. Non-impactful player for a month now. I know they gave up almost nothing to trade for him but his $30 million salary could have been used on starting pitching. Now, he may break out this week but for SU, with his swing, whenever he gets a hit I am surprised. We are talking Todd Frazier territory here.
- Brandon Drury is raking down in Scranton and is ready to return. The Yankees carry an extra relief pitcher – unnecessary although with Sonny Gray starting tonight, they likely need 2 extra relievers. Neil Walker can be designated for assignment – this was a bad pick-up and just eat the $4 million salary. That is a rounding on Stanton’s contract. SU continues to be concerned that Cashman is going to send down Andujar or possibly Torres. Tyler Austin is ready to return and Greg Bird is taking batting practice. The smart money says that once Bird returns and is hopefully healthy, you package Austin and prospects (Clint Frazier?) for a starting pitcher.
- The line-up continues to be too right-handed. Many are not worried about this but let’s see how it looks this week against playoff contender pitching. Gardner is hitting about .100 for the last few weeks but we know he will then hit .500 for 2 weeks before reverting to .100 again. He will be at .260 come October.
- Judge is starting to strike out a lot now after a solid start. SU must say that he does not get the calls for those low strikes which are clearly below his knees. The umpires don’t make the adjustment calling those pitches.
- It was heart-warming to sweep the Angels and Mike Scioscia. The Yankees have also won 3 of the last 4 games by 1 run. Good sign as last year they lost many of those games.
SU knows the NBA is a superstar league but must James Harden and LeBron get every call? LeBron initiates so much contact on his drives as does Harden. SU says make them non-calls if that’s the case. Otherwise, how do you play defense?
Carmelo finally voiced some complaints about how he was used this year in OKC. While SU is clearly no fan of his, I actually feel a little badly as he was marginalized playing with Westbrook. Did you see Westbrook took 43 shots in game 6? What is that?
The Pacers had a shot yesterday but their offense became entirely one-on-one in the 4th quarter. SU says since when did Mike Woodson’s offense become all the rage in the NBA? Coaches just find it easier to coach offense this way. You don’t see it at the college level as much but come playoff time, many NBA teams resort to this style.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Tough 10 games ahead with Astros, Indians and Bosox. Wish we had Bird with his left hand bat. Like to see split with Astros and win other two series but settle for 5 and 5. Need Gardner to get on a little more and Sonny Gray to throw 6 innings if 2 rum ball. Also flip Sanchez and Stanton for a while
I agree about moving Stanton down in the order. If he’s not walking, he’s not doing anything else. Sanchez is hitting .200 but coming through with RISP. Didi’s hot streak has covered for other players who need to start producing.
Nothing like starting an important series with Sonny Gray- yikes! Would be nice to win at least one game here so they know they can do it- Keuchel seems to be the weak link in their rotation so far this year.
Andujar on a per bat basis has hit the ball more squarely than anyone else on the team since he has been here. Why a 130 average in neil Walker is batting ahead of him is a mystery. i don’t care if he can bat lefty. If it wasn’t for gardner taking sooooo many pitches and getting on with some walks he wouldn’t be playing. Move Anjujar up #1 or at least ahead of Walker. Maybe give Torrez a shot at the #1 slot. Yes, Gardner is still great in the field. How is Andujar out there?
Good idea in offering Austin in a package to get a solid pitcher. I’m all in for that.
Grey is lost. Mot one good outing yet. CC pitched his best game last night with the Ump calling inconsistently all night. Keeping trout in check was excellent. We definitely need another Starter though. Montgomery is no better than a #4 or #5 pitcher.
Excellent point about Didi looking tired. I think you can add Gardner and Judge to that list as well.
We knew this would be the toughest span of games we’d have to go through. Coming out 8-5, starting with the LAA would be great. Currently we are 3-0 If we go 2-2 against Houston I’ll consider that a victory against the best collective pitching staff in baseball and then 3-3 against Celeveland and the Red Sox we would have accomplished our mission. Of course being greedy after this past weekend and then after we spilt with Houston I want to go 4-2 against the Indians and Red Sox.
Its even more important now that we gain a 1-2 punch knowing what Houston ad the Red Sox have for starting pitchers. Its Severino and ???? Is it Warren? I don’t think so.
Drury is a career .270 hitter with 32 HRs in 2+ seasons. Bird is a career .227 hitter with flashes of power and a left handed bat. Are these guys who can contribute? Sure. But you don’t upset the apple cart for these types of players just because they’re doing well in minor league rehab assignments. They should let things play out and go to these guys if the league starts to figure out Andujar or Tyler Austin proves to be overmatched. (With limited sample sizes for both, it is very hard to look at Bird’s career vs. Austin’s and expect Bird to be a huge upgrade.)
The idea of packaging some players for a top starter is a good one. I’m not sure who is available but I’m sure the Yankees will be shopping. While they’re looking, maybe they can look for a first basemen as well. I feel like it’s been a long time (maybe since the first half of Teixiera’s tenure) that I’ve felt really good about a Yankee first baseman. It would be nice to get that position nailed down again and it would make the rest of the team better, particularly on defense. It was ugly watching Walker and Sanchez look at each other while a foul ball dropped between them. And you can only imagine what’s going through the head of the infielders as they get ready to let the ball fly in the direction of whoever happens to have the first baseman’s glove that day. This team needs a first baseman who can play 125+ games. Preferably someone who bats and throws left-handed. This doesn’t need to be a middle of the order guy. There are plenty of those on the roster. But a serviceable hitter and good defender would do wonders.
Off topic prediction: Knicks should offer their head coach job to Coach Bud. The only downside is that he’ll screw up their attempt to tank next year to pick up a new young piece. He does seem to do a good job of making players better so it is probably worth it regardless.