Many subscribers are demanding that SU finally come clean that the Yankees are a legitimate playoff team and are better than SU has said all year long.  They lead the division by 5.5 games and are hot coming out of the All-Star break.  The AL East, while close in ability, is pretty mediocre and there are no world beaters in the AL or MLB in general.  Is it time to say the Yankees are actually good?

A. Grossman has been emailing SU directly but a few snippets here: “I can’t see the Yankees falling apart as their entire roster has chipped in during keys times of a game. No one is really carrying this team besides Betonces. Yes, Arod and Texeria have been surprises but we haven’t even seen the real upside yet of Beltran and Ellsbury yet as they are just getting back into shape. With McCan solid and Gardner, admittedly having a really good year….. everyone seems to be fairly balanced… with no one really HOT for a noticeable length of time now-a-days.  Right now they are on track to win 90 games. This is only 7 games more than what Las Vegas predicted. Only 60% of the season is over.  How many more games will it take for you to reassess them currently being a 500 team. They have faced many ACES and have come up victorious so far.”

OK, I agree that they have over-achieved but they have also been hot and cold all year.  The reason I believe that they will still finish with a wins total in the mid-80s is that they are very exposed if there are any type of injuries to either Teixeira or A-Rod or both of them.  Garrett Jones is a below average sub at 1st base and A-Rod is your #3 hitter.  Their full season projected numbers are just too inflated in this era of hitting.  When you combine that with how many 1-run games they play and a bullpen that has been almost flawless to date, I don’t believe it’s sustainable at this rate.  Too many things have to fall into place.

I think the pitching is actually good enough.  You only need 5-6 innings out of your starters with a strong bullpen.  Their need is more offense, more speed and Refsnyder at 2nd base.  I am pleased with the recent success but just do not have the confidence in this roster that I have had in past Yankee teams.  But SU will be more than happy to admit I was wrong if they win the division by 10 games.

Anyone want to disagree?  Feel free to respond.  The floor is open.

Under the category of “No-one Cares Other Than SU”, I just read that long-time SU fave Richard Jefferson will sign a 1-year deal to play with LeBron.  I like it and will add Cleveland to teams that I will follow next season on the NBA Season Pass along with Charlotte (Jeremy Lin).

Long-time SU subscriber T. Potter sent along this tidbit late yesterday about Omar Minaya from the New York Times:

“…his legacy with the Mets looks better and better. Minaya, who was fired in 2010, oversaw some costly major league contracts, but he also left the Mets with a foundation of players he drafted, including Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Steven Matz, Jon Niese, Daniel Murphy and Lucas Duda, as well as players he signed on the international market, like Juan Lagares.  Minaya also acquired Carlos Beltran and R. A. Dickey, who were used in trades for Zack Wheeler, Noah Syndergaard and Travis d’Arnaud.”  Met fans got all excited when Sandy Alderson came to town but in hindsight, it appears that they had a good thing with Omar.

Met fans: do you agree?

SU is taking some level of satisfaction that the Red Sox were swept out in LA over the weekend and are now 9 games back.  They will now become sellers at the trade deadline.  Sometimes the big ticket free agents just don’t get it done.

The Yankees now have a chance to create some separation with the Orioles but SU just does not see that happening.  Their margin for winning is so small.  Over the weekend against a bad Seattle team, they won 2 out of 3 games but all 3 games were decided by one run.  Baltimore was great at this 2 years ago but the odds say that you will end up closer to .500 in the end if you keep playing games this close.

Stephen Drew is officially on the clock for SU.  No way he is here past July 31st.

When we last spoke, Rob Refsnyder had enjoyed his first Big League hit, first Big League homerun and first error of his young career.  All the talk was that he was here to stay and SU was among the Yankee faithful that saw allowing him to play everyday at 2nd base as a no-brainer.  But alas, it was not to be.  After playing Friday and Saturday, he was demoted yesterday.  Joe Girardi said that he needs to continue working on getting better.

SU asks: is this just another bad move by Brian Cashman who was upset that the team average age might dip below 29.5 if Refsnyder stayed on the roster?  Or is he being clever here?  SU actually believes the plan, now, is to get Refsnyder back to the Major League roster within the next 2 weeks.  Cashman wants the other teams to believe that he is comfortable finishing out the year with Stephen Drew and Brendan Ryan, and leaving Refsnyder in the minors.  But in reality, this is a head fake.  Cashman doesn’t want to appear desperate but he is going to move Drew now to some team that needs a shortstop for the rest of the year.  The sportswriters are all missing this.  They think that Refsnyder was sent down for “seasoning.”  Not so: he is ready now and showed nothing in his audition that he isn’t ready.  Drew will be dealt in the next week or so and Brendan Ryan, who they probably want to keep but just is another injury waiting to happen, will go back on the DL.  Refsnyder will return and give SU a 2nd player on the team other than A-Rod to get excited about.

Yankee pitching is actually fine.  The American League is truly mediocre.  There is no team that you would be scared on in the playoffs.  SU says do not give up any of your top prospects to rent a pitcher for the 2nd half as you will then be stuck with CC in the bullpen.

SU caught the end of the Met game yesterday (as in the 14th – 18th innings.  Man, they are bad offensively.  But… the pitching continues to hold up and they remain only 2.5 games back.  If ownership makes a couple of moves and the Mets stay in the race, SU predicts the City will rally behind the Mets more than the Yankees because they are younger.  They are poised to take over the town but it’s not clear if ownership will seize the moment.  Clearly, Met fans need to buy more hot dogs and beer at the game to make it happen.

Big sports weekend and SU is here to comment on the latest:

First, I must say I laughed out loud when I just read this headline on espn.com: “Nets Swoop in to Sign Bargnani Ahead of the Kings.”  Er, as in Andreas Bargnani of your New York Knicks?  Surely it was a day off in Brooklyn and the office was close and one of the interns sneaked into the GM’s office and pulled a fast one.  Some people will never learn.  SU says good luck on that one.

SU watched the Djokovic – Federer final today and it was as expected great tennis.  SU knew that Federer could not replicate his serving success from Friday against Murray and that Djokovic would raise his level of play.  It was high quality tennis and Federer likely beats anyone else today based on how he played.  SU continues to maintain that Djokovic will be in the conversation of “Greatest of All Time” when his career is all said and done.  Watching Djokovic is, right now, my favorite sports viewing event of any sport.  Federer had 99% of the fans on his side today and Djokovic was able to tune that out for the most part.  In fact, in the last 3 games, he grew angry with a couple of hecklers which seemed to only motivate him to raise his game to an even higher level as he ran away with it in the end.  Great stuff.

The Yankees finally, finally, finally (did I say finally?) brought up Rob Refsnyder to play second base to replace Stephen Drew over the weekend in Boston.  Clearly, this was a difficult decision as Drew was nearing the .180 mark for the season and Cashman did not want to slow his momentum.  All Yankee fans in unison said, “Refsnyder, please don’t suck this weekend.”  And lo and behold, he didn’t!  in fact, today he collected his first hit, first homerun and first error on an errant throw from Miller in the 9th inning.  The Yankees have 4 days now to figure out what to do.  Clearly, this is a tough decision.  Do you finally play a youngster who is ready to take the next step and at the same time energize the snoozing Yankee faithful?  Or do you say, good job kid, we will make a note of this and see if you should be recalled in August or September?  Surely, this is a no-brainer.  Some team out there needs Stephen Drew for the 2nd half of the season.  He only makes $5 million this year.  The time has come to inject youth and enthusiasm into the line up.  SU will be watching.

Jordan Spieth wins yet another tournament and comes into the British Open red hot.  He is making the fans forget about Tiger Woods.  It’s great to have a young American to root for as well.  We will see how he handles the pressure overseas.

In case you weren’t watching, Porzingis made his debut for the Knicks in Las Vegas and was pretty good.  Again, something to get excited about – a youngster finding his way.  Enough of the boring veterans.  If he can stay healthy (and that is not a given), something to look forward to in November.

Finally, the Mets enter the All-Star Break in 2nd place – 2 games out of first behind the Nats.  Could we have 2 NY playoff teams this year?

SU has been following the DeAndre Jordan saga.  He had a handshake deal with the Mavericks for $80 million over 4 years and then had 2nd thoughts about perhaps returning to the Clippers.  He was not feeling the love from Chris Paul and the Clippers made a house call to Houston to change his mind.  Mark Cuban of the Mavs flew to Houston but didn’t know where Jordan lived plus apparently Blake Griffin had barricaded the door to the house.  The Clippers brass and players stayed until midnight last night which is when teams can officially sign free agents.  You can’t make this stuff up.

SU says it’s a bad precedence.  Look: the road is littered with teams that are spurned by free agents (see your NY Knicks for the past 700 years).  But if a player agrees to sign with a team, and then that team starts to make other moves given that “agreement”, it’s really not fair to then back out like this.  And there is likely a ripple effect on other teams that made moves as a reaction to what Dallas was doing with their other players.  Jordan was not even man enough to talk to Mark Cuban to explain himself.  Dallas had already let Tyson Chandler leave and is now a mish mosh of players that look like the Knicks roster from last season.  The NBA may need to reconsider this moratorium period and just let players sign after some date end of story.

Meanwhile, and more importantly to SU (and likely no one else that reads this), Jeremy Lin has signed a 2-year deal with the Charlotte Hornets.  Per usual, the social media experts were not in the know of what was actually going on here as there were no rumors to this effect.  SU has mulled it over.  Charlotte traded Lance Stephenson (very good as he is a wild man), drafted Frank Kaminsky (okay move) but also has Kemba Walker at the point.  However, it seems likely that Lin and Walker could play together at times.  SU likes the move and is encouraged that the Hornets’ coach wants him there.  Of course in the NBA, you always run the risk of the coach getting fired and Byron Scott being hired to replace him thus ruining your career chances.  SU is officially on board and will re-up for the NBA Season Pass to watch Lin.

Stephen Drew hit another homerun last night thus committing the Yankees to play him for the next 25 games.  That’s how it works with Drew.  Just when you are about to let him go, he hits a homer and you are stuck with him another month.  I can see him playing with the Yankees until he is 47 years old under this scenario.  And now he is even saying that he has been hitting in tough luck with lots of line drives being caught.  SU says when you hit .160 last year and .178 this year, it’s more than “tough luck.”  And by the way, let your manager make that excuse for you – fans don’t want to hear it from him.

Met fans continue to moan and groan but you are half way through the season, in 2nd place, and only 3 games out of 1st place.  You have a great young pitching staff and the Nationals have lots of injuries and are not world beaters.  Ownership just needs to throw the fans a bone now and sign a bat or two.  Surely they can rent a couple of players for half a season right?

SU made its Yankee Stadium debut last night with long-time subscriber J. Levine.  It was a warm, humid night – a good night to lose some weight sweating.  As always, SU has some thoughts to share with the intergalactic subscriber base:

• Before the game and in between innings, the Yankees play a series of video highlight clips from the season to fire up the fans.  It is interesting that A-Rod is nowhere to be seen on any of these.  It’s as if he is not even on the team.  Last time I checked, he was a key cog of the offense and had hit a few milestone homeruns.  I guess because of the Yankees’ ongoing legal battle over his milestone bonuses, they have decided to delete him from any promotional highlights for the fans.  Very odd and very noticeable to SU at least.
• Continuing a proud tradition, no matter what you order at the Stadium to eat, it is $27.50.  And that is the barebones price for your burger, fries and a beer.  It could be a barbecue sandwich or it could be a couple of Nathan’s hot dogs.  SU says it’s always $27.50.  A steal.
• As SU subscriber S. Goldman reported over the weekend, the Stadium is largely dead.  The attendance was 32,000 and change but aside from the loud goings on in between innings, the fans sit back.  No rhythmic clapping with 2 strikes and no batters to get excited about other than A-Rod.  What you feel watching on TV is what you feel at the Stadium.
• The bullpen is very good, the starters generally don’t make it out of the 6th inning and the offense is all or nothing.  They can score via the homerun but no one steals, no one hits and runs and Stephen Drew is always playing.  SU believes they would benefit much more from a younger/lively bat before the trade deadline vs. another starting pitcher.  Paging David Justice.
• Final thought on the Yankees: as a fan, you root for the laundry but you also want to be entertained and excited by your team.  The Met fans out there will say SU is spoiled but this team continues to be dull.  And for me, they are one A-Rod injury away from being unwatchable.

SU has no issue with A-Rod not making the All-Star team.  It’s an exhibition game and he can use the rest at 40 years of age.  It’s fodder for sports talk radio for a week or so but time to move on.

As previously mentioned, SU was totally into the US women’s team’s World Cup Soccer run.  They seemed to play better with each successive round and capped it off last night with their best effort.  For SU, what was most striking was how much of a team these women are.  It’s refreshing after watching months of NBA basketball which as we all know is a player’s league and baseball which is as individual as you can get in a team type sport.  Abby Wambach, arguably the best to ever play the sport, doesn’t even start and only gets in for a cameo at the end.  Doesn’t complain, supports her teammates.  Carli Lloyd gets all the acclaim for the hat trick but even non-fans like SU can appreciate how good the defense was for the US in this whole tournament.  As a fan, it makes you appreciate the best of sports which is about team effort, chemistry and selflessness.  We do not see it very often and you have to enjoy the moment.

There will be much talk about how this will boost women’s soccer in the US at the professional level and there will be buzz for a couple of weeks but as in 1999, it’s very hard to get people interested for a sustained period.  That day may come but we are years and years away from it.  SU will enjoy this for the moment.

As the MLB trade deadline approaches, you have to think that Brian Cashman will finally pull the plug on Stephen Drew.  SU cannot listen anymore to Joe Girardi say how much tough luck he is hitting in with all his line drives being caught.  I have watched enough at bats.  .180 is .180.  And going back to last year, it’s probably .165 for that time period.  SU would definitely not give up any top prospects to get an established player for this year.  Just bring up your top studs and slot them into the line up.

Stephen Matz had his 2nd strong start for the Mets.  Now for them, they likely need to move one of the young starters for an established bat.  Their fan base needs a pennant or playoff run this year.  Time to increase the payroll.  You can raise the price of beer and hot dogs to cover it.

SU is perplexed why DeAndre Jordan would leave the Clippers just because he doesn’t get along with Chris Paul.  That was a great situation for him with a good, players’ coach and teammates in their prime.  Surely the money would have been close.  Of course, no one has ever accused NBA free agents of making the right decisions (see Melo in NY).  Jeremy LIn is now heavily rumored to be coming to Dallas.  That will be a great spot for him and he could start there.  That will be SU’s team to follow for 2015-16.  I will save you all seats on the bandwagon.

The dust has pretty much settled for many of the NBA bigger name free agents.  D’andre Jordon is going to Dallas and apparently that triggers a move where the Knicks will sign Robin Lopez for something like $12 million a year for 4 years.  Say what??  That is the big name free agent signing?  The Knicks are apparently looking to beef up their defense but the way SU sees it, they are going to be average 72 points a game next season.  This is embarrassing.  SU officially gives the ok for Melo to average 35 shots a game next season.  I mean, who else can even score on this roster?

Other names finding a home.  Corey Brewer returns to Houston as does Patrick Beverley.  Richard Jefferson returning to Dallas (SU fave – I know no one else cares).  The most amusing signing of the day has Rajon Rondo going to Sacramento to play with Demarcus Cousins.  It proves that any of us can be an NBA GM.  How do you put a guard who can barely keep it together with a center who is in the same boat?  Unreal.

Clearly, Phil Jackson is not able to attract anyone to the Knicks.  It’s one thing if you are the coach – another if you are the President.  SU says they are striving to get back to the point where they had Amare playing with a bunch of youngsters just before the Melo trade.  Jeremy Lin is still out there and where he lands will be a big factor in who I root for next season.  The Knicks are on the unwatchable list – it’s official now.  OK – enough.  I’ll stop.

Looks like CC has been taken partially out of the rotation.  He will be starting 1 time in the next 15 games it appears.  Girardi is a tough guy.  Except for Jeter, he has not been afraid to do what is best for the team at the expense of some of his former stars’ egos.  The Mets are running on fumes offensively.  It will be interesting to see if ownership decides to move one of the young pitchers to get a bat for this year.

SU just saw this on the ESPN web site:

Arron Afflalo, Knicks agree on 2-year, $16M deal

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/13186096/arron-afflalo-new-york-knicks-agree-2-year-16-million-deal

Really?  This is the best they can do?  Clearly trying to follow the Yankees’ model of building a boring team.  As Mark Jackson would say, “Come on Phil.  You can do better than that!”

So, Kevin Love decided to go all in and is signing a long-term deal to stay with Cleveland.  He had his pow-wow with LeBron who no doubt translated his tweet this year when he wrote that Love shouldn’t worry about fitting in but should “fit out.”  Hmmm, seems perfectly clear to me.  So, why is that good for the Knicks?

Carmelo is already dying.  None of the top free agents want to come to NY to play with him.  Love will find that he still doesn’t “fit out” after this season and his agent and others will be whispering in his ear that he needs to be the man and not a complimentary piece.  That will enable Phil Jackson to swap Melo for Love at the end of next season.  LeBron will want his buddy Melo playing with him who at age 32 will finally be aching for that championship ring.  Love is younger and can be a major piece to win in NY.  Equal salary more or less.  SU says it’s a perfect fit.  One year from now you can congratulate SU as being right – yet again.

Note that no-one wants to play with Kobe in LA either.

David West who has been rumored coming to the Knicks put that one to bed as we read this comment on Twitter: “West said the rumors about him going to the Knicks are ridiculous; he wants to be with a contender; the Knicks don’t qualify.”  On to Plan B.  SU says the perfect storm is that Monta Ellis is still out there.  He puts the “hog” in “ball hog.”  How smart was Golden State trading Eliis and keeping Curry when they had both of them a few years ago?  Championships are won and lost on those types of decisions.  The most fun scenario would be that the Knicks sign Ellis in a desperation move to appease Melo, Jackson leaves and Isiah Thomas becomes President.  Then it’s 7 years of famine in the waste land.

SU also saw that Nik Stauskus was traded by Sacramento to the Sixers.  I would like to see a study of how undergraduates have fared in the NBA in terms of longevity, career earnings, productivity.  I know many of them come from nothing and want the money because the risk of major injury is out there in college.  But so many guys get their $1 million rookie deal and then just flounder and drift.  Adam Silver and the NBA are considering a 2-year minimum out of high school now before kids can play in the NBA.  That would be a good thing.