Yankee fans, you have seen Clint Frazier in pinstripes for the last time. With the addition of Edwin Encarnacion, someone had to go and you could not see Frazier getting any at bats now. Combine that with Giancarlo Stanton returning on Tuesday and then Judge probably next weekend, well, his time is up.
Although Frazier is a liability in the outfield, he was great with RISP and the Yankees will miss his bat in the line up. It also looks like Urshela will see his at bats sharply reduced even though he was also terrific with RISP for the first half of the season.
SU gets it. Stanton is the $30 million man and Judge is their best player of course. SU is surprised that the Yankees didn’t decide to bring Stanton back on Monday – a day early – as he went 0 for 4 last night with 3 strikeouts – clearly in mid-season form and why wait another day? OK, OK, I know – I am too harsh. He was only 0 for 4 today with 2 strikeouts so not quite there yet.
Yankee fans will quickly need to transition from a team that hits with RISP (the Yankees led the League up til now) to the 2018 version which is lots of strikeouts, lots of home runs and lots of flailing against the top pitchers. We will quickly get a taste of that this week with the Rays and Astros coming to town.
Clint Frazier will now be packaged in a trade for a top tier starting pitcher. That is a no doubter. SU does not get the Encarnacion trade as more offense is not the issue here. But he was gettable and it’s possible that Cashman obtained him to block one of the other contenders in the AL to get him. Or not.
The Yankees will be putting a Fantasy type line up out there every game soon enough but you can forget about the hits to the opposite field and the timely hitting with RISP. Those days are gone now.
Am I being too tough on Stanton? Will he be an upgrade?
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Don’t know. My gut says I agree with you. But whatever I think I’m seeing on the field, Francesca says they are #8 in offense and were #1 last season…or something like that. Anyway, maybe there’s something to be said for all the HRs and strikeouts. Still, I’m with you. The team they’ve been fielding holds up better against good pitchers.
The Yankees got a hitter as that is the only thing they know how to do. They have failed miserably at trading for pitchers under the Cashman reign, from Weaver to Gray. Their only success was picking up pitchers cheap, like Chacon and Small.
They are exactly back to where they were last year, with not enough pitching, and too many right handed hitters, all swinging for the fences. Stanton and Encarnacion, won’t solve that problem, but maybe Yelich, the lefty they needed instead of Stanton, could have.
Encarnacion is a head scratcher but I will assume they know more than I do and even if an unnecessary add, it keeps him from joining another contender. There current outfield (Stanton, Hicks, Judge), if healthy, will be here a long time so not much room for Frazier who is not a great 4th outfielder because of his defense. Yeah they will package him in a trade for a pitcher but boy do we have a terrible track record for picking up pitchers since we signed CC. I would like to win the division and hopefully not see Houston until the AL championship and then hope one or two of our starters get hot and provide some great starts. Does feel like deja vu all over again.
I don’t get it either. he may not strike out as much as Stanton, but its like having 2 Stanton’s now on the team. Can this guy play any defense? I liked the upside of Frazier a lot more. He can slide right into the #1 Hole if LeMahieu isn’t there. Frazier’s fast, young, improving, has a chip on his shoulder and most importantly has red hair.
PS Now that Anthony Davis has gone to the Lakers and Durant may be damaged goods going forward I’d rather get 3 stars… t super stars but non ego type stars. We need balance not just having 2 great players and a bunch of role players. We are still one full year away. So embarrassing.