It is still way, way too early to assess how good RJ Barrett will be in his career.  He has had two pretty terrible games in the summer league and you don’t want to jump to conclusions.  SU has watched some of each game.  He is clearly trying too hard, forcing the action, turning the ball over and shooting terribly.  For SU, what is troublesome is his shooting form – just doesn’t look very smooth.  No doubt he will be a slasher and a creator but in the NBA, you do need to shoot it well unless you are Simmons on the Sixers.  Iggy Brazdeikis looked great last night for the Knicks – 30 points – and is someone to keep an eye on.

SU is happy for the USA Women’s World Cup team.  Just fun to watch this team play and they came through this year with a lot of pressure on them.  Good stuff.

Clearly Edwin Encarnacion did not get the SU message.  0 for 8 the last 2 games.  But good to read that he’s not feeling any pressure to do better.  That’s nice.  Average must be down to .120 now with the Yankees but life is good with a guaranteed contract.  When Luke Voit returns, watch out.

Aaron Boone must be happy to lose that last game vs. the Rays.  SU questions the logic of resting both DJ Lemahieu and Glayber Torres on the even of the All-Star Break.  Chances are that Torres won’t play at all, and LeMahieu is going to play one game in 4 days.  What am I missing here?  It’s fine to give guys a day off but not before a break and not against the 2nd place team.  And how do you bat Sanchez and Encarnacion back to back when Sanchez is slumping and Edwin is always slumping?  Puzzling…

Did you see Justin Verlander go off today about the juiced baseball?  Basically said that Commissioner Rob Manfred and MLB had Rawlings just make the ball tighter to help improve the offense.  He used some colorful language to make his point.  Is that really true?

SU has no problem with Kawi Leonard deciding on where he wants to play next.  He was traded to Toronto and brought a championship to that franchise.  Of course, he forced the Spurs to trade him as he wasn’t a free agent yet.  He was under no obligation to stay for another season with Toronto although SU says in terms of future success, that was the smart move.  But he’s from Southern California (home of all the earthquakes) and he wants to play there.  All good.  He’s a free agent and that’s how it’s supposed to work.

But now Paul George, who is not a free agent, wants to play with Kawi and Kawi wants to play with him.  Reports are, by the way, that Leonard first asked Durant about playing for the same team.  Then Kawi recruited George who told OKC they had to trade him — and it had to be to the Clippers.  GMs have it tough now.  You have the traditional recruiting of college kids, trades and free agents.  But now even when you have a star under contract, he can force your hand because he wants to play with his buddy.  SU says it kind of sucks.  I guess the good news is that the Clippers will have to give up a ton of draft picks and players of equal salary value so they will be limited in a similar way that the Lakers are now with LeBron and Davis.  For SU, I  hope they both miss the playoffs next season although unlikely of course.  And don’t forget all the Clipper players who were comfortable there and will now be traded to OKC.

SU says: make your mark with a team and win your championship.  Teaming up with your buddies just feels wrong.

Speaking of feeling wrong, SU is not happy with the Edwin Encarnacion trade.  Once Luke Voit returns, he creates a logjam and limits the at bats for Voit and Urshela.  It’s like having another Stanton out there wildly swinging for home runs and batting .200.  This is not how the Yankees have amassed a great record so far.  They don’t need him.  Naturally, SU checked his Yankee stats:  .140 batting average with 4 home runs and 7 rbis.  And yet Boone keeps slotting him into the line up 3rd, 4th or 5th.  If you need to play him (which you don’t), bat him 8th.  The dude is 36 and maybe, just maybe, his best days are behind him.

The Mets are in freefall.  Joe Girardi is warming up in the bullpen to take over.  You do have to feel a little bad for Brodie as Diaz has been awful – just hard to have anticipated that.  But they need to decide if they will be sellers and soon.

SU is not an expert on Achilles injuries (although I did tear mine about 5 years ago) but if you are the Knicks, how do you not offer Kevin Durant a max deal?  Were they seriously making their move this coming year?  Durant would have brought Kyrie.  Now they are both going to Brooklyn joining Caris LeVert and some other young players.  This will be a fun team for the next several years.  SU is all in.

But wait: the Knicks have signed Julius Randle for – 3 years, $63 million.  Sigh.  The action is in Brooklyn.

Meanwhile, despite Aaron Boone’s managing, the Yankees did sweep the Red Sox in London.   SU was curious today.  You have JA Happ and CC both lined up to start but instead, you go with the Opener Line up and throw the rookie Tarpley out there who has probably not started a game for the last several years in the minors.  Of course, he is lit up in the 1st inning.  Then, with the big lead, it’s Chance Adams time?  Let’s get the tying run to the plate in the 8th inning.  SU says: try and win the games.  You had 2 days off before the series and a day off on Monday.  Try and sweep the games against your biggest rivals – they count double head-to-head.

They won anyway, of course, and the Red Sox are reeling.  No bullpen at all.  And I get the logic that it’s a long season and sometimes you lose a game in order to win the war.   But not today when you had rested starters.  Was he afraid to pitch them in a fly ball friendly park?  Could be as Happ has already given up about 100 home runs this season.

Very curious.  Each game was 4 and a half hours plus.  Crazy.

Tomorrow evening is the opening of NBA free agency.  The latest rumors have Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant wanting to play together, and the Knicks and Clippers represent the two best places for that to happen.  SU is not loving how the NBA stars and their agents are able to dictate where they play and create these super teams.  While the Warriors played that game, they already had a nucleus in place with Thompson, Curry and Draymon, so it was just a sweetener to what was already a great home grown team through the draft.  LeBron’s agent engineered the trade of Davis to the Lakers – he’s a bad dude.  And now the League is faced with the three top free agents of this summer – Kyrie, Durant and Leonard – shopping themselves in pairs.  I suppose if you are the recipient of one of these signing deals you like the system but SU continues to be partial to teams that grow the roster through the draft and thoughtful signings and trades for supporting pieces to put together a line up that has staying power.  Clearly, the Knicks are not capable and SU can understand the potential glee from fans to make that happen now.  The Nets are more interesting as they may allow Russell to leave and sign Irving to take his place.  That feels like a wash to SU though.

The result is a few super teams and a lot of teams that either immediately move to rebuild mode or try and squeak by into the playoffs each year.  Not ideal.

SU has decided that Yankee fans will not be allowed to complain for the rest of the season.  Can’t have it.  For Cashman, the goal is to acquire one more starting pitcher who can stand up to Houston in October.  That will be the challenge – getting by Houston.  It doesn’t matter how many wins they end up with in the regular season.  SU says success this year is defined by making it to the World Series – you don’t have to win it all but I think you have to get there.

SU is pretty certain now that Cashman is putting out misdirection on Clint Frazier.  The word is that he is seen as the Yankees’ starting left field in 2020 and will not be traded.  SU says that the Yankees actually believe that their top prospect, Estevan Florial, who is just now returning from a broken wrist, is the guy they see for the future and Frazier will be dealt.  So, it almost feels like the reason they are leaving Frazier in the minors now rather than have him replace Stanton during July is not to have Frazier struggle in the majors.  He has already shown he can hit up here – his trade value is high right now.  They will keep him in Scranton in order to not risk a slump up with the parent team.  He will be gone by August 1st — but not for Madison Bumgarner.  If they move him, you need a younger guy with fewer injuries.  Not sure who that is but pretty sure the Yankees know right now.

Agree?  Disagree?  Knick fans: what say you?

SU is an NBA fan and these days, even more a fan of college hoops.  I tuned into the NBA draft last night – mostly to see if the Michigan players who declared for the draft got selected.  I was happy to see Jordan Poole actually go in the 1st round to the Warriors (good spot for him given their style and all the injuries although he will be in the G-League next season) and then Iggy Brazdeikis actually got picked by the Knicks in the 2nd round.  SU can check him out in White Plains at the County Center in the G-League next year.

But here is the issue: who are these other guys?  Sure, we know about the Duke players and even the North Carolina ones who went high up in the 1st round.  The problem is that so many freshmen opt out after one year and we never get to watch them to any great degree.  It was interesting to hear some of the commentary on ESPN regarding how certain players were whatever number in the ESPN 100 coming out of high school and then dropped down come draft day.  SU’s conclusions:

• The talent evaluators are just not that good.  It’s even worse in college football when you hear about the 5-star players who declare for a school and then turn out to be a bust.
• If players are going to opt out after one year, then let them go right from high school to the NBA or the G-League.  SU is not sure what the point is to play the one year in college.  They are clearly not there to get the education.  At least in the NBA they will get paid.  Sure, Zion Williamson was a phenom this year and by the way, Coach K had 3 of the top 10 picks and still didn’t win it all.  But you feel like others probably peaked last night on the draft stage and it will be all downhill from here out.
• Most of the guys picked last night are not going to make it in the NBA.  SU was thinking back to previous drafts and some players are just never heard from again.  Some leave too early and it costs them.  Others hang around for a few years but the League sours on them quickly for the next big shiny thing.
• Is the ability of the top 10-12 players really that much better than the next 20-30?  Or even 50?  Guys are athletic but if they can’t shoot (which by the way is a problem for a large percentage of the group), they will not make it in the NBA.  Better to play in college, hone your skills and show what you can do.  Let the top 15 go directly to the NBA each year if that’s what they want to do, and I will enjoy watching the next 40-50 top players in college.

There is a case to be made on both sides and SU gets that.  But I should be able to recognize more of the players as a fan.  There were players from Auburn and Tennessee who I watched in the NCAAs but the Kentucky players were a mystery to me.  The NCAA and the NBA need to fix the system.  The G-League was a good start.

Yankee fans feeling good this morning after they knocked around the Astros last night.  But let’s see how they do against Verlander and Cole.  That will be the true test of the all right-handed line up.

SU has been thinking.  For your consideration:

• If Kevin Durant does not stay with Golden State for one more year as he is able to do, NBA teams would be crazy to let the Achilles injury get in the way.  He will be fine once he recovers and has been a durable player his entire career.
• LeBron James’ friend and agent is not good for the NBA.  Having agents play kingmaker and force teams to trade star players is not good.  SU has always been neutral towards the Lakers and I do like LeBron.  But I will now root against them.  And keep in mind when you have 2 stars and lots of rookies or journeymen surrounding them, when there is an injury to one of the stars, well it’s not good.  SU is surprised that Vegas has the Lakers as the early favorite to win it all next year.  Assuming Kawi heads West to the Clippers, watch for Milwaukee to take the next step.
• The Knicks should think really hard about what to do this off-season….. and then do the opposite.  Worth the shot.
• Cameron Maybin is up to .300 now and will be the next highly productive player jettisoned from the Yankees’ roster to make room for the Generational One starting tonight.  First Frazier, now Maybin and Urshala’s at bats are disappearing quickly.  These 3 guys have been instrumental to the team’s hot start in 2019.  Boone will put Stanton right in the middle of the order because that’s what his baseball card says he should do.  He did the same thing with Hicks from day 1 and he is stuck at .210.  It almost seems like Boone closes his eyes and picks the players out of a hat for his line up.  Maybe bunch the players with higher batting averages at the top of the order as they will get up more times?  Just a thought from SU.
• Houston is coming to town for 4 games.  SU says pay attention to how the Yankees’ right-handed dominant line up performs as this will be a preview of October.  Didi, Hicks – that is it.  Not built for post-season success.  At least not yet.
• SU says the USA Women’s World Cup team is must see tv.  In men’s soccer, it takes about 6 perfect passes to score a goal.  Honestly, hard to watch for SU.  But the women’s game is slower, and there are more mistakes which makes for many more chances to score.  Very enjoyable and yes, they should be paid the same as the men’s team – for sure.

OK, I am done.  Feel free to agree, disagree or whine.  All comments are welcome.

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?

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OK, OK, now that SU has trashed him, he will go out and hit 2 home runs today.  But come on – look at these stats with the Yankees:

.151; 1 HR and 4 RBIs in 53 at bats.

And he is playing with his 3rd team this year.  He can also no longer run at all.  SU does not care about the analytics that say he is hitting the ball harder than what his average shows.  Must be the same guys that feel Brett Gardner will hit higher than .238 this year.  The team has done well this season playing hitters that put the ball in play.  They sent down Thairo Estrada but he has been good at the plate.  Until Judge returns (and I guess Stanton), SU says play the guys that hit – not the over-the-hill gang.  And don’t just keep a guy on the roster because he used to be good and because your analytics people feel this is the right move.  As a footnote, they transferred Troy Tulowitzki to the 60-day injured list – better known as the Jacoby Ellsbury injured list.  Who would have ever thought he would get hurt?

Return of Didi is great – they desperately need the left-handed bats.  At this point, get Judge, Severino and Betances back, and you are good to go.  Stanton will just limit the at bats for the players who have carried them the first two months – Voit, LeMahieu.

Am I right?

Brian Cashman is moving ever so closer to having to make a move to shore up the Yankees’ starting rotation.  The good news is that the team has over-achieved for 2 months and has won 8-9 series in a row.  SU has no complaints and this team is thoroughly enjoyable to watch.  But Houston is the team to beat in the AL and if your goal is to win the World Series, then you have to upgrade the starting pitching.  SU’s perspective:

• German has been great but the last few starts you are starting to see the rest of the League catch up.  His ERA is 2 runs higher when Sanchez is behind the plate (no doubt the entire staff is 2 runs higher as well).  SU says have Romine be his catcher the rest of the season.  This is a no-brainer.
• Severino is the wild card.  SU says you can’t count on him.  The Yankees’ training staff has been wrong all year on everyone.  They need to assume he will need surgery and find another starter.  SU believes that Keuchel is on the downside of his career or Houston would have re-signed him.  It will be tempting to sign him for 1 year but it’s a risk and no doubt a lot of money.
• While SU prefers the prospects, watching Clint Frazier play the outfield is just too scary.  I have no problem with him wanting to avoid the walls with all of his concussions.  I get that.  But why does he have so much trouble with anything hit his way?  He is also a very streaky hitter.  The smart move is to package Frazier, Bird and a higher end prospect for a middle aged starter who is in the top quartile in baseball.  Not sure who that is.  Pretty sure it’s not Madison Baumgartner.  They have plenty of analytics people.  Find that guy.
• Didi coming back next weekend is huge.  They desperately need another left-handed bat in the line up and he is a great presence in the clubhouse.  Certain guys will sit here and there but that’s ok.  Judge’s return will likely spell the end of Frazier.  Stanton’s return will likely spell the end of good karma.
• In case you were wondering, SU was on record back during the winter that the Red Sox pitchers would be all screwed up this year by having the starters pitch in between starts in the playoffs.  Their starting rotation is a mess.  Is the world championship worth it?  Most would say yes.  David Cone did.
• Batting Aaron Hicks 3rd, 4th, 2nd, makes no sense to me.  Put him 7th until he gets hot again.  Why the extra pressure?  He has one extra base hit since he returned.

Bottom line: Yankee fans cannot complain about anything this season given all the injuries.  However, like last year, they have a shot of winning it all but need to now start fine-tuning the roster for the post-season.  What moves would you make?

Clearly, others have been reading SU on a regular basis.  Note this article from NJ.com after SU had published earlier in the day:

https://www.nj.com/yankees/2019/05/mlb-rumors-heres-when-ex-yankees-manager-joe-girardi-could-replace-mets-mickey-callaway.html

And this in yesterday’s New York Post from an interview that Girardi did with the imperious one, Mike Francesa:

https://nypost.com/2019/05/21/joe-girardi-watching-mets-chaos-unfold-with-intrigue/

SU is a big Girardi fan and he would do well in Flushing with the Mets.  No doubt he can even learn to do the big hugs and soothing words for Robinson Cano to get him to run to first base 4 times a day.  SU is surprised no-one has picked him up to date but he is no doubt being selective.

SU is worried that Boone is going to tire out German on the Yankees.  Right now, he is their best pitcher and I am sure he has never pitched this many innings in a season.  They need to watch this closely – can’t afford to lose this guy.  SU says the athletic training staff should study this carefully and then do the opposite to give them a fighting chance of German not going on the IL.

Great exchange between John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman last night discussing the Orioles’ injured DH, Mark Trumbo.  Sterling said that the days of the big home run hitting DH are numbered in baseball as teams want more versatile players.  SU says the obvious contrast is with Giancarlo Stanton on the Yankees who is going to turn into that guy very soon.  But he will still be paid $30 million a year for the next 10 years.  Is he the last of the Mohicans?  A dying breed?  We will see if Sterling draws that conclusion for a player who is very much like Trumbo.