Yankees sign a Gerrit Cole...

[mvp 78]

Price is a string bean. Cole is built sturdier and throws harder. Either way, we won’t know until 2020 concludes, but I’m sure as hell gonna enjoy the ride

 

And Ellsbury was made of glass until he was signed by the Yankers.

[mvp 78]

Flags might fly forever, but most fans forget about them in a coupe years. I don't see anyone touting the 2013 banner anymore...

 

Mike Napoli will always live in my heart. Johnny Gomes too.

[harmony]

Jax you know I'm right on Cole .The guy has never faced a league like he's facing the next 9.....Cole is a stud no question

he will get shelled like many before him early and often especially coming from the no pressure environment he's been coddled in .The AL east eats players alive .

Gerrit Cole has been dominant the past two seasons playing in the league's toughest division. The righthander will welcome the opportunity to face the Orioles and Blue Jays 18 times a season instead of remaining in the AL West where the improving Rangers and Angels may join the Astros and Athletics as top contenders.

[Bellhorn04]

Flags might fly forever, but most fans forget about them in a coupe years. I don't see anyone touting the 2013 banner anymore...

 

You'll have to speak for yourself there.

[Bellhorn04]

Gerrit Cole has been dominant the past two seasons playing in the league's toughest division. The righthander will welcome the opportunity to face the Orioles and Blue Jays 18 times a season instead of remaining in the AL West where the improving Rangers and Angels may join the Astros and Athletics as top contenders.

 

The pressure of playing for the Yankees comes from within. You saw what happened with Sonny Gray.

[notin]

The pressure of playing for the Yankees comes from within. You saw what happened with Sonny Gray.

 

And yet a lot of players seem to emerge there and do even better than expected. Gio Urshela, Aaron Hicks, Didi Grigorius, Cameron Maybin, Luke Voit. If this "pressure" in Yankee Stadium is so debilitating, why is it Mike Tauchman could hit there but couldn't hit in the most hitter-friendly park in MLB?

[notin]

You'll have to speak for yourself there.

 

When was the last time you saw anyone mention the 2013 championship? I see a lot of people questioning Bloom's lack of activity, and even questioning the moves he has made so far. But no one has said "It's OK. We won in 2013 and 2018."

[notin]

Gerrit Cole has been dominant the past two seasons playing in the league's toughest division. The righthander will welcome the opportunity to face the Orioles and Blue Jays 18 times a season instead of remaining in the AL West where the improving Rangers and Angels may join the Astros and Athletics as top contenders.

 

I don't think Cole is going to face either the Orioles or the Jays 18 times this year, let alone both. That seems like a very stupid way to deploy their ace.

 

Also, the Jays problem this year will likely be the pitchers, but their lineup might actually be very intimidating...

[mvp 78]

When was the last time you saw anyone mention the 2013 championship? I see a lot of people questioning Bloom's lack of activity, and even questioning the moves he has made so far. But no one has said "It's OK. We won in 2013 and 2018."

 

Bloom's been fine so far. We won in 2013 and 2018 so I don't care if they have to take a short term hit. I just don't want them to replicate 2012, 2014 and 2015.

[harmony]

I don't think Cole is going to face either the Orioles or the Jays 18 times this year, let alone both. That seems like a very stupid way to deploy their ace.

 

Also, the Jays problem this year will likely be the pitchers, but their lineup might actually be very intimidating...

Good point.

[jacksonianmarch]

Cole shut us down and our offense was far superior to pretty much everyone’s. Listen, Cole is going to be deployed like an ace, but he’s still just a cog in the wheel and will be used every five days. It’s not like the Yanks are gonna look at the schedule and hand pick his starts. He’s going to face Baltimore when his turn comes up. He’ll face Toronto. He’ll face the Sox. He’ll face TB. Outside of that, who knows which teams will miss him by sheer chance and which ones won’t.

[mvp 78]

And yet a lot of players seem to emerge there and do even better than expected. Gio Urshela, Aaron Hicks, Didi Grigorius, Cameron Maybin, Luke Voit. If this "pressure" in Yankee Stadium is so debilitating, why is it Mike Tauchman could hit there but couldn't hit in the most hitter-friendly park in MLB?

 

Need to check out the trash can situation in the Yankers tunnel.

[notin]

Mike Napoli will always live in my heart. Johnny Gomes too.

 

Make that your signature line...

[notin]

Need to check out the trash can situation in the Yankers tunnel.

 

I'm sure they wealthy Yankees have far better communication techniques. They probably use the same earpieces used by the cast of Impractical Jokers...

[mvp 78]

Make that your signature line...

 

Is it any less true if it's not in my sig line?

[notin]

Is it any less true if it's not in my sig line?

 

I have no idea. I just think it would be a nice signature line...

[S5Dewey]

When was the last time you saw anyone mention the 2013 championship? I see a lot of people questioning Bloom's lack of activity, and even questioning the moves he has made so far. But no one has said "It's OK. We won in 2013 and 2018."

 

The last time I saw anyone mention the 2013 championship (by reference) is the last time I read a post by Bellhorn.

 

Time (and more WSC's) keep any single one from being focused on. It's the WSC's taken in the aggregate now that we talk about. Flags DO fly forever.

[notin]

The last time I saw anyone mention the 2013 championship (by reference) is the last time I read a post by Bellhorn.

 

Time (and more WSC's) keep any single one from being focused on. It's the WSC's taken in the aggregate now that we talk about. Flags DO fly forever.

 

Yeah but we really focus on th current or upcoming season. And for a good reason - that's what is next on the entertainment docket...

[Bellhorn04]

And yet a lot of players seem to emerge there and do even better than expected. Gio Urshela, Aaron Hicks, Didi Grigorius, Cameron Maybin, Luke Voit. If this "pressure" in Yankee Stadium is so debilitating, why is it Mike Tauchman could hit there but couldn't hit in the most hitter-friendly park in MLB?

 

Obviously different guys react to pressure differently. But the guys you mentioned are a bunch of no-names who had low expectations, so it's a little different from Sonny Gray or Gerrit Cole.

[Bellhorn04]

Yeah but we really focus on th current or upcoming season. And for a good reason - that's what is next on the entertainment docket...

 

That's what we focus on with all this forum jibber jabber, sure. But it doesn't mean what happened in the past is so quickly forgotten. If we just keep wiping the slate clean it makes it all kind of a futile endeavor.

[mvp 78]

We haven't talked about the '99 ALDS Pedro game lately.

 

Do people not think Pedro was good anymore?

[notin]

Obviously different guys react to pressure differently. But the guys you mentioned are a bunch of no-names who had low expectations, so it's a little different from Sonny Gray or Gerrit Cole.

 

I think the whole "can't handle City X" thing gets thrown around too often. And it becomes the reason for every bad season.

 

For example, slasher and I argued that Travis Shaw clearly could not handle the "pressure of Boston," despite his being a relative no name player himself much like many of the names you mentioned. While he did better in Milwaukee, was it really because of the reduced pressure, or because that tiny bandbox of a ballpark sees a lot of home runs that were really just routine flyouts at Fenway? Yelich also did much better there, but it wasn't because he escaped the high pressure Miami team. Despite what many Sox fans think, Milwaukee is not some little podunk town where professional athletes mingle with the normies at a random corner tavern, and the press is far more concerned with local zoning ordinances than with the Brewers, Bucks, and Packers.

 

And many of the Yankee players I mention - Hicks and Grigorius being two prime examples - were actually fairly highly touted prospects who also struggled in some markets we would consider to be "low pressure." But they excelled in NY. In both of those cases, the ballpark itself was probably a bigger factor, as it worked with their left-handed power strokes (although Hicks, being a switch hitter, didn't get to exploit it full time).

 

I think most of the Yankee success stories were also helped by the deeper lineups. You can't pitch around everyone, so once pitchers have avoided Judge/Stanton/Sanche,. they might not have even strategized on how to handle the Urshela's and Tauchmann's s of the world, and those hitters feast on lesser or a complete lack of preparedness.

 

There are far too many factors in why a player struggles or succeeds in one city versus another, and pressure is probably rarely a factor, or at least one that occurs less often. In fact, Cole arguably faces less pressure. Worst case scenario - he goes down as the biggest free agent bust in professional sports history who still makes nearly a third of one billion dollars. That's a pretty soft cushion to land on when you fail.

 

If Cole has a downfall, it is going to be his over-reliance on a very hard slider taking a toll on his elbow (no pitcher in MLB throws a slider as hard as he does with the same or greater frequency). And even then, he still makes $324 million dollars. He's clearly a strong-willed competitir who wants more than just the money - but they all are. And the truly great players treat failure as a motivator, and that attitude is a big factor in even reaching the majors. The minor leagues are loaded with amazingly talented players who get in their own way and therefore barely ever crack the ranks of being one of the best 750 players in the world.

 

If people are couting on Cole fading under the bright lights- something he didn't do in the postseason, you're very likel;y to be disappointed. If you think after 1 or 2 seasons, tthat he is going to start seeing the IL a lot more often and see his velocity drop into very hittable numbers, you have a much better chance at being right about him.

 

I believe that players actually face the most pressure in the minors. Because if you fail there, you stay there. Think about the best players you played with in high school or college. How many made MLB? And then how many saw their careers just end in some obscure minor league city you might not have even known had a team?

[Bellhorn04]

I think the whole "can't handle City X" thing gets thrown around too often. And it becomes the reason for every bad season.

 

Maybe so. But there's no getting around what happened with Sonny Gray. Cashman didn't just trade him, he told the press virtually the moment the season was over that he was going to trade him because it 'won't work here'.

[notin]

Maybe so. But there's no getting around what happened with Sonny Gray. Cashman didn't just trade him, he told the press virtually the moment the season was over that he was going to trade him because it 'won't work here'.

 

Even then, you're looking t one year of one guy. And not even an elite consistent pitcher. He struggled massively the season before in Oakland, too...

[notin]

We haven't talked about the '99 ALDS Pedro game lately.

 

Do people not think Pedro was good anymore?

 

 

 

It's not a matter of changing recollections of the past as much as it is keeping it in the forefront.

 

If this Sox team is maybe 75-80 win team, will you be thinking "It's ok. We still have 2018."?

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

We haven't talked about the '99 ALDS Pedro game lately.

 

Do people not think Pedro was good anymore?

 

Only the posters who keep insisting that size matters in a sport where a 5'6 second baseman edged a 6'7 outfielder for MVP (it was a few short years ago).

 

Martinez was only able to coax his slight frame into making All-Star teams or getting Cy Young votes in 10 of 11 straight years -- the other one in the middle he missed too much time on the DL; I guess they were right...

[Bellhorn04]

Even then, you're looking t one year of one guy. And not even an elite consistent pitcher. He struggled massively the season before in Oakland, too...

 

I'm looking at the one year PLUS the facts that Cashman made those comments and traded him. His view counts a lot more than mine.

[Bellhorn04]

It's not a matter of changing recollections of the past as much as it is keeping it in the forefront.

 

If this Sox team is maybe 75-80 win team, will you be thinking "It's ok. We still have 2018."?

 

The past, present and future all matter, right?

 

If it's a 75-80 win team but Bloom has positioned us well for 2021, don't you take that into account?

[mvp 78]

It's not a matter of changing recollections of the past as much as it is keeping it in the forefront.

 

If this Sox team is maybe 75-80 win team, will you be thinking "It's ok. We still have 2018."?

 

As long as there is a plan that I believe in going forward, sure.

[notin]

The past, present and future all matter, right?

 

If it's a 75-80 win team but Bloom has positioned us well for 2021, don't you take that into account?

 

Yes, but it won't make watching the games in 2020 any easier.

 

Remember, while I like titles, I would prefer a competitive team every season over 1 or 2 titles followed by prolonged mediocrity...