Yankee fans, these last 2 games provided you with all you need to know for what the playoffs will be like in October – and it wasn’t pretty. SU is accused of being a spoiled Yankee fan and a naysayer, and that may be true. But if the goal is to get to the World Series (not necessarily winning it as there is luck involved in that) vs. winning 100 games in the regular season, well there are some flaws here. Consider:
- No hits with RISP vs. the Mets over 2 games. Sure, there were a couple of hard hit balls right at someone but when you have a team of .230 hitters, this becomes a lot harder. Even LeMahieu is a .200 hitter with RISP.
- Too much reliance on Judge. OK, he failed last night but he has totally carried this team all season. Rizzo and Stanton have had their short streaks. It can’t all be on Judge.
- They are still so right-handed. The stud pitchers in October – especially on Houston – tend to be right-handed like Verlander. The trade for Benintendi will help – A LOT – and if nothing else it allows them to jettison Joey Gallo who does not start and is not even an option off the bench now (apparently). You have to assume they don’t want him to get hurt now before they can move him. Seems like a good guy who is very stubborn in his approach to hitting. Be stubborn somewhere else.
- The King injury means that they need another arm in the bullpen if Boone is not going to trust Chapman (can you blame him?). SU says that Severino or German are options down the stretch. Look for Cashman to definitely make a trade now for a high end reliever.
- SU is fine with the starters but all signs point to the Yankees getting Castillo on the Reds. They will have to give up some top prospects but if you look at the history, the Yankee prospects are always overrated. Castillo seems like the real deal and would relish pitching in New York. The Yankees have the chips to move to get him and I think Cashman will get that done in the next couple of days.
SU knows that the record is great and the run differential is off the charts. But I have watched enough games now and this is a low hit producing team. They have to score via the home run as their .230 hitters get a hit a week. Hicks has finally made it to .240 but he swings so hard left-handed. The prize is the World Series and this team, as currently constituted is not beating Houston and will be overpowered by their pitchers. SU says make the moves now.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Totally fine moving on from all prospects other than Volpe and Dominguez. As we have seen with players like Florial and Deivi Garcia, and as you pointed out, these guys rarely if ever pan out anyway. You could certainly throw Clint Frazier into that group as well (although he was acquired)
We crossed out the need for an left-handed contact outfielder. We are a SP (as Cashman says- “our Game 2 starter”) and relief arm (or two) away.
Seeing Marte- a guy they should have signed who checks the speed/defense/contact boxes- beat us last night…as Joe G used to say “it’s not what you want.”
On the postgame last night Curry pointed out that the Yankees are 14-15 in their last 29. Hopefully the Royals coming to town and Benintendi are exactly what we need to reset.
Not really sure we should call two games a “series”, and for this to be the “Subway Series” shouldn’t there have been a game at Citi and a game in the Bronx? Otherwise it is a just two games amongst two teams who are relatively close to one another in stadium locations with their fans arriving primarily via public transportation. Or maybe call it a “friendly” since we saw all the Mets and Yankees fans interacting civilly in the stands for both games? Pretty sure Showalter wanted both of these badly not only because of his past history with the Yankees but because the Braves are right there in the rear-view mirror, and not going anywhere.
Since Castillo is not available now who else can we bring over.