jacksonianmarch

Good to see the offense come around

Because the Astros have knocked us out of the playoffs the last two times we got there. Last year, we were outclassed in Houston and would have to play them without home field again. Outside of Sale, this Yankee team when healthy can beat your other starters. The Astros have Verlander and Keuchel who typically dominate us as well as Morton and Cole who have dominated us in the recent past. They also acquired Osuna, who we don’t hit at all. I want none of that club. It clearly looks like the A’s will be playing us in the play in and the winner will face the Sox. After that, I hope the Guardians can pull a rabbit out against Houston

Disagree. I'd rather face the sox than the stros

If Sevy doesn’t get his act together, that’s a distinct possibility

I’m going to love watching your ALDS exit this year

I’m sure you’d love to face the Yankees now. When Judge and Sanchez return, maybe not

The biggest work has to be on pitching staff. We know 3 guys who should be pencilled in. We have a reinforcement in JMont coming back after the ASB. But we’ve got two slots we will need to fill 1. Severino 2. Tanaka 3. ?? 4. ?? 5. Sheffield I’m pretty sure we will deal Gray. He just can’t handle NY. I wouldn’t be surprised if we held onto Happ or Lynn for the 4 slot. For FAs, Morton and Keuchel will be prime targets. Morton would be a good target as he’s older and likely won’t get the same length as Keuchel should. That’d be a good rotation for sure assuming we don’t deal for Bumgarner or DeGrom. The pen would lose KRob but we have a ton of guys who throw gas in the minors who could spring up to replace him

You guys don’t need him. Beni has been better this year and Mookie is Mays. JBJ complements due to defense. Your OF needs no upgrade

I think with us wiping out some depth at the big league level in our recent deals, that is a precursor to bigger additions going forward. I definitely think the Yankees will be getting a guy who can play both 3b and 1b next year. Bird has gotten his chance and while he has had some big moments, he hasn't been consistent enough at a power position to be useful. Machado makes a ton of sense. We will also have a clear need in the OF especially if the Yanks don't think Frazier is ready for prime time. Harper makes sense there, albeit I anticipate the Yankees will probably use Sanchez at DH and that means Stanton will be our LFer. Maybe that's where we use Frazier as a part time DH/OFer. Now, lets say the Yanks get Harper instead and sign Donaldson on a prove it deal, this lineup would be ridiculous 1. Hicks CF 2. Judge RF 3. Harper LF 4. Stanton DH 5. Gregorius SS 6. Sanchez C 7. Donaldson 3B 8. Andujar 1B 9. Torres 2B Use that lineup with Romine, Torreyes, and Frazier as backups and we can roll with it

Bryce was as bad as he could be until a month ago and his OPS is almost at .900 right now. This is a guy with insane skill. He will go to a deep pocketed team and he will likely dominate for them

If Judge and Sanchez return and are in good form, then this lineup will take off. If they don't, then we will be a quick exit out of the playoffs. I think this is a good lesson for Cashman. Now squarely under the tax for 2018 and likely to shed $40+ mil in salary without much in the way of extra expenses, we should look to shore up the squad. One thing I would look into would be to sign Donaldson to a prove it deal and see if he can play 1B. Or get Harper for LF.

Our problem right now is being out of synch. When our pitching is on, our bats go quiet. When our bats are running well, our pitching blows. This will correct itself assuming we get healthy. Right now, we have Shane Robinson playing meaningful innings while hitting .129. Instead of having Sanchez hitting and starting and having super backup Romine playing, we are giving PT to Higashioka who cannot hit. Greg Bird looked to be breaking out and then he went back into the tank for August. With Judge and Sanchez on the shelf and Frazier not there to fill in, our OPS for August is .710. That's 19th in baseball. That sucks.

The sox filled one black hole with Kinsler, granted he's on the shelf. JBJ had two good months, but his overall line still sucks. Leon's line sucks. The bottom of the order is still a problem, but teams continue to pitch to JDM for some stupid reason.

Torres is struggling. It’s not shocking that a rook would do so. The problem is, a lineup needs to have 4 or 5 guys doing well to run well. We’ve got two. It looks like Judge will start swinging Tuesday if the cortisone worked. Sanchez will be back in 2 weeks

Our offense is lost without Judge. Stanton is putting on a hell of a show of late, but he and Andujar are carrying this lineup. If Bird doesn’t break out again, we will need to make some changes come next year

Exactly. We are 7-2 in our last 9 and on pace for 102 wins. This is far from an underachieving team. We have a couple all stars on the shelf and our ace on the fritz. We've got 7 weeks to figure it out When the playoffs come, we will align our pitchers so our pen can shine. Right now, we just need to get Britton figured out as Chap is back to his dominant self. Once he’s squared away, we go Green-Britton-Robertson-Betances-Chapman. If Holder is right by the , we add him to the mix. We won’t need much from our starters

Shreve couldn’t get lefties out either

That’s dumb

https://nypost.com/2018/08/13/its-been-a-while-since-yankees-farm-system-was-this-underrated/ This is the article I am referencing where the NY Post interviewed Norris and Callis. I don't know how you can say a farm system is among the deepest in the game then rank them in the bottom half. I don't get that comment. I understand that proximity is important, but making that comment is confusing Here is Callis' quote “I still think they have one of the deepest systems in baseball,” said MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis How do you say that then rank them 17th? I don't understand it Here is a Norris quote. “They have so many guys who throw mid- to upper 90s, it’s kind of insane,” Norris said

I’m perplexed by the BA ranking of our system then the write ups. They don’t jive. We have one of the deepest systems in baseball. We have low minors guys breaking radar guns. High velocity kids at young ages, so many it’s insane per Josh Norris. Yet because we graduate Torres and Andujar, we drop to 17th? MLB pipeline has us at 10, which I think is a bit more reasonable. BA has separated itself out by listing farm systems as listing farm systems with the most proximal impact. I get that, but say that outright. Don’t just slam a farm for having graduated players and having a really deep lower level pool that hasn’t had the chance to move up yet. Either way, the pundits are saying what I’ve been saying here. The depth is ridiculous and part of the reason why we parted with some prospect who were at the upper levels so we could make room for those guys coming up

The problem is still Sevy. He continues to struggle with command. I think a phantom DL run like the Sox did with Sale would do him wonders

Gwynn owned the 5.5 hole as they called it. Shifting against him would have been stupid. He’d hit .500

We have an easy schedule for the rest of the way except for games vs the Sox and one west coast trip. Other than that, we’re facing wastelands of teams. I think the rescheduling of some of these games was a great idea after the deadline. The Mets don’t have Cabrera. The Jays dealt away their pen and their best pitcher. The O’s literally have nobody left with any value. The Tigers dealt off some players who didn’t entirely suck. We still have the White Sox at home. The fact is, we are set up and should win 100+ games. We can no longer look at the Sox and their wins and losses. If we win 103 games or so and end up in the WC, just win the playin game and show them who’s better. It’s what you gotta do

The Sox are now 50 games over .500 and there are 42 games left. Insane

Did Chris Davis just stop using the juice this season? Kimbrel threw that second strike down the middle and Davis couldn't hit it. A big leaguer crushes that pitch