People flock to SU for wisdom and insight, and on a day like this, where else do you want to be? Tough loss last night and the season ends in sudden fashion. Older Yankee fans like SU have been there before, e.g., 2001 in game 7 vs. Arizona. It’s tough to take but we need to reflect this morning.
Many will refer to SU’s post on October 2nd for the playoff preview:
“Earlier in the season, SU felt it was necessary to get to the World Series to say this season was a success but I revised my thinking to just getting to the ALCS and play Houston. This is a bad match-up for the Yankees. Too many hard throwing, right-handed starters. Losing German is a problem. Getting Stanton back is a problem. But playing a long, competitive series would be great to see. Losing in 6 feels like the outcome there and SU can live with that.”
And 3 weeks later, SU can live with that. My thoughts:
- I think in a post-season series, like in tennis in a Grand Slam final, you win and lose on the margins. It’s the little things that do you in and it comes down to a few points in tennis and a few plays in baseball. If you live and die with the home run and that is your strategy, you will have to hit home runs in the post-season against the elite pitchers and that is harder to do. Of the runs that the Yankees scored vs. Houston, only 1 or 2 came not via the home run. Not a formula for success.
- Enough of the opener strategy. Enough. Face it, in the National League, this would never work – you would not have enough position players to do the double switches. Sure, there is more strategy and second-guessing but I have no desire to watch any more 4+ hour games. Not that interesting.
- The Yankees overcame so many injuries. Credit to Cashman and credit to Boone. Well done. Even being here was an achievement.
- The suspension of German was enormous and not talked about enough. The Yankees could have avoided the opener strategy if they had one more reliable starter and he was that guy. For 2020, you have to hope he can get his life together, accept his suspension and learn from it. Or not…
- If you want to win it all which is the Yankees’ mission statement, then get your players to play like DJ LeMahieu. It’s that simple. The Yankees have some players who see that and play that way and they are not the starters/everyday players. For this season, the team was the most enjoyable to watch when they were in the line up and over-achieving (Romine, Tauchman). It wasn’t a joy to watch Gary Sanchez and his .235 average hit the occasional home run. SU is not putting this series on his shoulders but I do not want to watch his passed balls, wild swings and confused looks anymore. I am sure I am in the minority and he is an All-Star but he more than anyone needs to change the way he hits. SU says he is the key to 2020. Either come to camp with a new approach or move on.
- Do not bring back Encarnacion. Good guy, great career, time to go. Gardner is an interesting decision. If he comes back, he is the 4th outfielder. Keep Tauchman – SU favorite player at this point. Keep Didi but SU is worried they will let him go at 30 years of age. Big mistake. Great guy in the clubhouse and really was recovering from Tommy John all year. Overpay him for 3 years but he needs to return.
- Stanton: there is not time or room to whine here so I won’t. He will be back as he is now untradeable. Get used to it and get comfortable. He can spend the off-season planning out his injury schedule for 2020.
- Voit and Clint Frazier: interesting choices there. Encarnacion put Voit off the roster and that was too bad. He struggled down the stretch but is a good guy and should return. SU is ready for Frazier to move on.
The question is do the Yankees pursue Gerrit Cole. Long-time subscriber J. Gross has already weighed in that they need to get him. SU does not like the expensive, long-term contracts. They just never go well. Clearly, the Yankees need the next great thing but they do have Devi Garcia ready to make the next move up from AAA. It’s not my money but how do you pay both Stanton and Cole when guys like Judge, Sanchez are coming up right behind them and you want to lock in LeMaheiu for a couple more years?
Final thought: SU enjoys the journey – not just the outcome. This was a great season – like 1998 – when they won every day. The team was fun, had personality and good guys. Chapman hung an 84-mph slider and that was that. He was very good all year – can’t get too down on him other than who called that pitch? Even if they won last night, they were not set up for game 7 the right way with pitching. The Astros were the better team and the World Series will be a classic match-up of baseball’s best starting pitchers. And that is the bottom line.
OK, here is your chance to weigh in. Good season? Disappointment? Want to blame someone? SU welcomes all comers.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Interesting that all the runs last night were given up by the “high leverage” relievers- hopefully Cashman will realize that they need to keep/add left-handed batters so they resign Didi- also need to make room somewhere for Andujar, who would be a perfect DH if they could just somehow move Stanton
An amazing finish. DJ is a true star. Hard to believe the Yanks got him at 2/24. What a bargain. And Altuve proves again that he is on a HOF track. Imagine how good he would be at 6 feet tall.
Yanks should sign Cole. A stud starting pitcher is worth his wait in gold.
Would it be possible to trade Stanton even at the expense of including a young player as enticement. After all, Seattle was able to move Cano. He may be ready for a fresh start. Maybe a rebuild but win now Giants team would be willing to take a shot? Perhaps even the Dodgers?
Any thoughts from the peanut gallery?
Jeff, Stanton has a no trade clause in his contract. It would be very hard to move him.
A few things I’ve thought about as I’ve been very disappointed in last night’s result:
1. Who calls the same pitch twice in a row to a guy that dangerous? He got the timing down and the hanging slider was in the exact same spot as the previous pitch he took. Bad game management. Understand Marisnick is batting next and if you can’t trust your fastball move on to the next one. Don’t let the obvious guy beat you.
2. Sanchez’s past ball on the strikeout looked large as it gave Houston extra at bats which was why Altuve was up there in the first place. Additionally, not getting that double play when they scored their fourth run was horrible. Either play in or you better be absolutely certain of the double play. Again a situation where we have them extra at bats.
3. Overall, DJ’s homerun into Altuve’s walk-off speaks to the theme of the series for Yankee fans- brief happiness followed by abrupt sadness & disappointment.
Really is no sport like baseball. I’m already itching for pitchers and catchers to report.
Losing a nineteen game winner in German was the difference. I don’t think major additions need to be made. 1) Starting pitching- Jordan Montgomery will be a major addition next year. Mike King and Deivi Garcia could also be difference makers.
2) Bullpen- Sign Betances. Since Boone/Chapman love the bullpen, I would save any major signings for the bullpen, especially if Chapman opts out. I would not chase after him. That sock grin on his face after Altuve’s HR, reminded me of Vic Hatfield in the penalty box grinning, as the Rangers lost in 7 to the Flyers many decades ago.
3) Infield and catcher- I would resign Romine. I would get rid of Encarnacion and Gregorius, move Torres to Ss, DJ to 2nd, and find a spot for Andujar, whose bat could have made a difference instead of Encarnacion. I would try and convince Sanchez to hit the ball to the opposite field, it’s allowed in his contract.
4) OF- I would get rid of Gardner, better a year early than a year late. I would platoon Tauchman and Frazier. I also would replace the training and medical staff.
The Asros won 2 games with the long ball. We had more hots that they had in this series. They had a few hitters who did nothing until the 3 run homer in the 1st inning of game 6 by one of those non performers.
It boiled down to 2 things.
1. Timely hitting to win 2 games by them.
2 Their bullpen was just as good as our bullpen.
Sanchez and Encarnacion hurt us but I won’t dwell on that because the Astos had issues with some players as well. I’ll call that a wash.