Yankees & White Soxs 5/12-15

[rrzubnyy]

I'd love to see .225. If he plays like he has the last few weeks, I agree I'll be very happy with that for the rest of the yr

Same with JD, he's playing phenomenal defense and been getting on base. I think the bat will probably heat up more as the weather warms up

Hicks is the weakest link so far. The good news is that Flo looks like he's figuring it out and could easily do as well as what Hicks is doing offensively with better defense and speed

Hard to trade anybody when the team is playing .750 baseball.

[dayners81]

Hard to trade anybody when the team is playing .750 baseball.

I mention that earlier in the week. Hard to make big trades when this team is playing this well.

That said, giving Flo a shot wouldn't change the chemistry much because he's already been around and on this team. Hicks becomes your 4th Ofer

[Webslinger]

I agree I'd rather the $50 million go yo Verlander. That being said... the Yankees' pitching really could not be better this season, and Donaldson has been better with the bat than Urshela, though I am surprised about this. Sanchez and Urshela have been dreadful. Sanchez has truly been addition by subtraction. Also, the Yankees got IKF in the deal. He has been decent but not great so far. If they didn't make that trade, they would have had to do something to address shortstop. I'm not sure what the answer would have been, but all of them would have cost at least $30 million per. None of those guys, btw, are outperforming IKF at this time other than probably Seagar.

I was vocally opposed to the approach Cashman took this offseason, and I'm still skeptical... but it's not as simple as get Verlander instead of Donaldson. You'd still have to address SS and get Sanchez out of town somehow. I'm warming up to this deal as time goes on.

I'd have loved it if they signed Verlander, Freeman, and Seagar. I think they'd have a dominant team if that was their offseason. In fairness though, that would have been one of the most expensive offseasons of all time, and that's a little much to expect from your front office. It's not my money.

Strictly talking about the Yankees Twins trade vs get Verlander and call it a day... I would have said get Verlander at the beginning of this season. I feel differently now. I acknowledge that could easily change if IKF and Donaldson flop.
though. It's just hard to criticize something that has worked out pretty well so far.

Jose Iglesias, who is a carbon copy of IKF was available. If the yankees just wanted a stop gap they could have simply signed him for very little money. SS problem solved. I think Cashman, for as long as we've known him, has always had a love for projects and broken players that he thinks he can "fix" using his team of coaches, etc. Heck, he'll try to fix them even if they don't need fixin. IKF was probably one of those players he was hoping would become a 2018 version of Torres. Going this route, especially in the last 2 or 3 offseasons has cost the yankees real major league talent and possibly the WS. Ironically DJ might have been considered a "project" player for Cashman, but he didn't really want him, and he turned out to be the best pickup ever, by accident.

[Webslinger]

It's not like JD was a FA, he was the cost to get rid of Sanchez(huge win) and get IKF and Rortvert. JD certainly isn't a 25M aav player anymore, but he's playing great defense and the bat is getting hotter. IKF was meant to be a stop gap, he's not great but he's a hell of a lot better than what we had a SS last yr.

We haven't seen Rortvert yet, but when he comes back it's very likely he's our best all around C. He a very good defender, strong arm and can handle the bat better than Higgy or Trevino (which I realize isn't saying much). Thats the wait and see part of the deal but if he pans out overall that trade was a win.

In the past I agree Cashman hasn't been good at finding starting pitching, but the last 2 yrs have been much better. We have the best rotation in the AL, Nestor and Taillon have shown to be very good finds( Blake should get most of that credit)

I don't know if Blake should get most of the credit or the scouting department, but they are finding undervalued pitchers and turning them into huge assets. They are being able to do that in the MLB, MILB, the draft and IFA. We are really becoming a pitching factory

They offered Verlander 25m, which was the only big offer they made in FA. So obviously they wanted him because offering that kind of money to a 39yr old coming off TJS who hadn't pitched in a season and a half is a lot of money. Verlander wanted to go back to Houston because he felt loyalty to Crane. It's not liked they passed on him like they very foolishly did when he left Detroit. They made him a big offer and he passed, not much you can do about that.

100% agree about Hicks and giving Flo a shot

Is Sachez so bad we need to take on 50 million dollars for a 37 year old player? I don't think so. This was simply another example of Cashman trying to be clever only to outsmart himself. This trade was completely unnecessary. If they wanted to get rid of Sanchez that badly some team would have been willing to part with a reliever, lottery ticket, or whatever prospect for him.

Rortvedt has never displayed any aptitude for hitting even at the minor league level. I don't care if we ever see him. He's just another Higgy and Trevino to me. I guess the only positives is that he's young so there's potential.

Taillon is a decent middle rotation guy, but he's not what they need. They passed on potential TORPS for a guy with two TJ surgeries because Cashman loves his vanity projects.

Right they made their offer, but it wasn't the one Verlander wanted, even though it easily could have been. At the time I was fine passing on him because in my mind there were other TORPS on the market and I initially thought they'd cost much less than him. This didn't turn out to be necessarily true, but who knew Cashman would pass on all of them only to spend the exact same amount Verlander was asking for, on a 37 year old Josh Donaldson! LMAO. This logic reminds of when they wouldn't sign Cano, only to give Ellsbury some ridiculous contract instead.

[Phoba Rama]

Is Sachez so bad we need to take on 50 million dollars for a 37 year old player? I don't think so. This was simply another example of Cashman trying to be clever only to outsmart himself. This trade was completely unnecessary. If they wanted to get rid of Sanchez that badly some team would have been willing to part with a reliever, lottery ticket, or whatever prospect for him.

Rortvedt has never displayed any aptitude for hitting even at the minor league level. I don't care if we ever see him. He's just another Higgy and Trevino to me. I guess the only positives is that he's young so there's potential.

Taillon is a decent middle rotation guy, but he's not what they need. They passed on potential TORPS for a guy with two TJ surgeries because Cashman loves his vanity projects.

Right they made their offer, but it wasn't the one Verlander wanted, even though it easily could have been. At the time I was fine passing on him because in my mind there were other TORPS on the market and I initially thought they'd cost much less than him. This didn't turn out to be necessarily true, but who knew Cashman would pass on all of them only to spend the exact same amount Verlander was asking for, on a 37 year old Josh Donaldson! LMAO. This logic reminds of when they wouldn't sign Cano, only to give Ellsbury some ridiculous contract instead.

That Ellsbury move was one of his worst of all time in my opinion, especially in the wake of letting Cano go.

This Twins trade was not nearly as bad as that. The move itself was all upgrades. At the time I felt Donaldson was a downgrade from Urshela but that's not turning out to be true. The biggest problem with the move was the opportunity cost, what they chose to forego by making this deal. Verlander aside, there were, IMO, many things they could have done with that $25 million which would have improved this team more. These moves would have probably amounted to more than $25 million though (or more accurately, $10 million because Gio + Gary made $15 million this year). It's not really $25 million they took on, so the Verlander comparison isn't entirely fair. I'm not so sure the Yankees could have sufficiently improved their offense with $10 million to work with.

[dayners81]

Is Sachez so bad we need to take on 50 million dollars for a 37 year old player? I don't think so. This was simply another example of Cashman trying to be clever only to outsmart himself. This trade was completely unnecessary. If they wanted to get rid of Sanchez that badly some team would have been willing to part with a reliever, lottery ticket, or whatever prospect for him.

Rortvedt has never displayed any aptitude for hitting even at the minor league level. I don't care if we ever see him. He's just another Higgy and Trevino to me. I guess the only positives is that he's young so there's potential.

Taillon is a decent middle rotation guy, but he's not what they need. They passed on potential TORPS for a guy with two TJ surgeries because Cashman loves his vanity projects.

Right they made their offer, but it wasn't the one Verlander wanted, even though it easily could have been. At the time I was fine passing on him because in my mind there were other TORPS on the market and I initially thought they'd cost much less than him. This didn't turn out to be necessarily true, but who knew Cashman would pass on all of them only to spend the exact same amount Verlander was asking for, on a 37 year old Josh Donaldson! LMAO. This logic reminds of when they wouldn't sign Cano, only to give Ellsbury some ridiculous contract instead.

Yeah, Sanchez was that bad that they had to get rid of him, pretty much no matter what. Proof is in the pitching results this yr to last yr. Another aspect your forgetting is we didn't take on an extra 25 M alone. Sanchez was making 10 Gio was going to make 6-7. With Rortvert and IKF making about 5m combined and JD's making 21.75 they took on 10-12m this yr

If Cashman had an unlimited budget, sure other moves would have made far more sense but thats not realistic. If he had the same budget like when George was around he should have gone out and got Verlander or Rodon, Seager and Freeman. George and Hal are 2 different animals unfortunately

The logic behind the deal was they only had to spend 10-12m to upgrade C, SS and 3B and didn't have to take on any long term contracts. He also had to save payroll for 1st base , Judge, save a little for the deadline and not go over 270. Right or wrong in our opinions, that was Cashman's goal and he did just that.

Rortvert is a project, but he was drafted in the 2nd round because he projected to have middle of the order power while playing elite defense. He has huge power, it just hasn't translated into games, yet. Catcher, right now, is pretty much the hardest position to fill with any kind of bat in baseball. For the most part they either are good offensively and suck defensively or are good defensively and suck offensively. The AS catcher in 21 from the AL was batting close to .200 when he was selected is a prime example of what to expect from that position.

The Yanks don't have a realistic C specs thats close. So they got one they control for 5yrs, hits LHed, so if the power ever shows up it will play up in YS and is excellent defensively. The most important thing to Cashman, right or wrong, he's controllable long term and cheap. Catchers always are the oldest to figure it out of the position players, so maybe he develops into the hitter he projected to be when he was drafted.. Either way he's controllable, cheap, very good defensively and probably about league avg offensively for that position.

How has the Taillon deal been bad or not what they needed? He's been more than what they needed or expected, he's becoming the guy they hoped he'd be. What they expected him to be was a 4th-5th starter for less than 3m. They didn't have 20M to spend last yr, so Cash got the best he could for 2.25M last yr. So far he's far out performed his salary. Since July last yr he's been far, far better than than a backend starter. His arm has stayed healthy and he's pitching like a 2-3 starter and he's making less an 6m

If they signed Verlander or any other TORP, they wouldn't have Nestor in the rotation. Cole, Sevy, Monty and Taillon were always going to get a shot. The results kinda speak for themselves don't they? We have the best rotation in the AL. If Sevy gains some consistency, which i think he will, a 1-2-3 of Cole, Nestor and Sevy is as strong as a playoff rotation in the AL for sure, probably only 2nd to the Mets. Kinda hard to argue with what Cashman and Blake have do with the pitching based on the results.

Cano? seriously didn't the Mets just pay him 40M to go away? Cano is why you never sign guys over 30 to 10 yr deals. Jakes deal was horrific, but paying Cano for 10yrs would have been, far, far worse. He'd still be here making 24m a yr.

Its very easy to complain about this move or that move, when you only look at that move. When you start putting it into the context of building a complete team on a very specific budget, it takes on a different look. Cashman had about 35M to figure out SS,C, 3rd base, 1st base and pitching. Seeing that were playing over .700 baseball and have the best pitching in the AL, its hard for me to argue the results

The deals that are killing us aren't any that you mentioned, It was resigning Chapman for 19m a yr and Britton for another 14. If you had half that money to spend elsewhere, maybe they could have afforded a Freeman, Seager or something else better than what they got.

[Stevemil505]

Yeah, Sanchez was that bad that they had to get rid of him, pretty much no matter what. Proof is in the pitching results this yr to last yr. Another aspect your forgetting is we didn't take on an extra 25 M alone. Sanchez was making 10 Gio was going to make 6-7. With Rortvert and IKF making about 5m combined and JD's is making 21.75 they took on 10-12m this yr

If Cashman had an unlimited budget, sure other moves would have made far more sense but thats not realistic. If he had the same budget like when George was around he should have gone out and got Verlander or Rondon, Seager and Freeman. George and Hal are 2 different animals unfortunately

The logic behind the deal was they only had to spend 10-13m to upgrade C, SS and 3B and didn't have to take on any long term contracts. He also had to save payroll for 1st base , for Judge and to save a little for the deadline and not go over 270. Right or wrong in our opinions, that was Cashmans goal and he did just that.

Rortvert is a project, but he was drafted in the 2nd round because he projected to have middle of the order power while playing elite defense. He has huge power, it just hasn't translated into games. Catcher right now is pretty much the hardest position to fill with any kind of bat in baseball. For the most part they either are good offensively and suck defensively or are good defensively and suck offensively. The AS catcher from the AL was batting close to .200 when he was selected as a prime example of what to expect from that position.

The Yanks don't have a realistic C spec thats close. So they got one they control for 5yrs, hits LHed, so if the power ever shows up it will play up in YS and is excellent defensively. The most important thing to Cashman, right or wrong, he's controllable long term and cheap. Catchers always are the oldest to figure it out of the position players, so maybe he develops into the hitter he projected to be when he was drafted.. Either way he's controllable, cheap and very good on 1 side or the ball and probably about league avg offensively for that position.

How has the Taillon deal been bad or not what they needed? He's been more than what they needed, they expected him to be a 4th-5th starter for about 3m. They didn't have 20M to spend last yr, so he got the best he could for 2.25M last yr. So far he's far out performed his salary. Since July last yr he's been far, far better than than a backend starter His arm has stayed healthy and he's pitching like a 2-3 starter and he's making less an 6m

If they signed Verlander or any other TORP, they would have Nestor in the rotation. Cole, Sevy, Monty and Taillon were always going to get a shot. The results kinda speak for themselves don't they? We have the best rotation in the AL. If Sevy gains some consistency, which i think he will, a 1-2-3 of Cole, Nestor and Sevy is as strong as a rotation in the AL for sure, probably only 2nd to the Mets. Kinda hard to argue with what Cashman and Blake have do with the pitching based on the results.

Cano? seriously didn't the Mets just pay him 40M to go away? Cano is why you never sign guys over 30 to 10 yr deals. Jakes deal was horrific, but paying Cano for 10yrs would have been, far, far worse. He'd still be here making 24m a yr.

Look at the difference in the WAR they added in that deal, if you believe in anals the won that deal.

Its very easy to critize this move or that move when you only look at that move. When you start putting it into the context of building a complete team on a very specific budget, it takes on a different look. Cashman had 40M to figure out SS,C, 3rd base, 1st base and pitching. Seeing that were playing over .700 baseball and have the best pitching in the AL its hard for me to argue the results

The deals that are killing us are any that you mentioned, It was resigning Chapman for 19m a yr and Britton for another 14. If you had half that money to spend maybe they could have afforded a Freeman, Seager or something else better than what they got.

The way that Lo has pitched thus far this year, its a good thing the Ysnks didn't annoint him as their closer over the winter.

[dayners81]

The way that Lo has pitched thus far this year, its a good thing the Ysnks didn't annoint him as their closer over the winter.

Your right about that. After last yr I thought it would be Lo or Holmes. Holmes looks even better than last yr now he's improved the SL.

In another thread I posted an article about what the problem with Lo has been. The stuff is the same, it's just the release point on his sinker that is different. With all the other elite arms we have, i'm not concerned about Lo. I think Blake, who is very good at helping pitchers fix issues on the fly. As long as Lo gets it figured out by the playoffs, we should be fine

[Webslinger]

Yeah, Sanchez was that bad that they had to get rid of him, pretty much no matter what. Proof is in the pitching results this yr to last yr. Another aspect your forgetting is we didn't take on an extra 25 M alone. Sanchez was making 10 Gio was going to make 6-7. With Rortvert and IKF making about 5m combined and JD's making 21.75 they took on 10-12m this yr

If Cashman had an unlimited budget, sure other moves would have made far more sense but thats not realistic. If he had the same budget like when George was around he should have gone out and got Verlander or Rodon, Seager and Freeman. George and Hal are 2 different animals unfortunately

The logic behind the deal was they only had to spend 10-12m to upgrade C, SS and 3B and didn't have to take on any long term contracts. He also had to save payroll for 1st base , Judge, save a little for the deadline and not go over 270. Right or wrong in our opinions, that was Cashman's goal and he did just that.

Rortvert is a project, but he was drafted in the 2nd round because he projected to have middle of the order power while playing elite defense. He has huge power, it just hasn't translated into games, yet. Catcher, right now, is pretty much the hardest position to fill with any kind of bat in baseball. For the most part they either are good offensively and suck defensively or are good defensively and suck offensively. The AS catcher in 21 from the AL was batting close to .200 when he was selected is a prime example of what to expect from that position.

The Yanks don't have a realistic C specs thats close. So they got one they control for 5yrs, hits LHed, so if the power ever shows up it will play up in YS and is excellent defensively. The most important thing to Cashman, right or wrong, he's controllable long term and cheap. Catchers always are the oldest to figure it out of the position players, so maybe he develops into the hitter he projected to be when he was drafted.. Either way he's controllable, cheap, very good defensively and probably about league avg offensively for that position.

How has the Taillon deal been bad or not what they needed? He's been more than what they needed or expected, he's becoming the guy they hoped he'd be. What they expected him to be was a 4th-5th starter for less than 3m. They didn't have 20M to spend last yr, so Cash got the best he could for 2.25M last yr. So far he's far out performed his salary. Since July last yr he's been far, far better than than a backend starter. His arm has stayed healthy and he's pitching like a 2-3 starter and he's making less an 6m

If they signed Verlander or any other TORP, they wouldn't have Nestor in the rotation. Cole, Sevy, Monty and Taillon were always going to get a shot. The results kinda speak for themselves don't they? We have the best rotation in the AL. If Sevy gains some consistency, which i think he will, a 1-2-3 of Cole, Nestor and Sevy is as strong as a playoff rotation in the AL for sure, probably only 2nd to the Mets. Kinda hard to argue with what Cashman and Blake have do with the pitching based on the results.

Cano? seriously didn't the Mets just pay him 40M to go away? Cano is why you never sign guys over 30 to 10 yr deals. Jakes deal was horrific, but paying Cano for 10yrs would have been, far, far worse. He'd still be here making 24m a yr.

Its very easy to complain about this move or that move, when you only look at that move. When you start putting it into the context of building a complete team on a very specific budget, it takes on a different look. Cashman had about 35M to figure out SS,C, 3rd base, 1st base and pitching. Seeing that were playing over .700 baseball and have the best pitching in the AL, its hard for me to argue the results

The deals that are killing us aren't any that you mentioned, It was resigning Chapman for 19m a yr and Britton for another 14. If you had half that money to spend elsewhere, maybe they could have afforded a Freeman, Seager or something else better than what they got.

Why not simply get rid of Gio and Sanchez individually instead of absorbing 4x in salary, in return? You can't legitimately make an argument that getting rid of 14 million by adding 50 million is somehow budget friendly or absolutely necessary. Taking on salary dumps of that size typically require the team absorbing it to ask for something of value back in the form of top prospects or young players with a lot of a lot of potential, instead the yankees got a light hitting SS, a 37 year old third baseman, and a rule 5 catcher. Not to sound like some know it armchair GM, but that's not a good gamble or argument for not spending it on a potential TORP, that you need desperately. Rortvedt could have been had for next to nothing, free agents, jose iglesias and Donovan Solano could have been the cheap one year ss stopgap that they were looking for. Even Freddy Galvis, who's sitting at home right now. DJ could have simply moved over to third base since Cashman had no intention of trading Torres.

[Phoba Rama]

Why not simply get rid of Gio and Sanchez individually instead of absorbing 4x in salary, in return? You can't legitimately make an argument that getting rid of 14 million by adding 50 million is somehow budget friendly or absolutely necessary. Taking on salary dumps of that size typically require the team absorbing it to ask for something of value back in the form of top prospects or young players with a lot of a lot of potential, instead the yankees got a light hitting SS, a 37 year old third baseman, and a rule 5 catcher. Not to sound like some know it armchair GM, but that's not a good gamble or argument for not spending it on a potential TORP, that you need desperately. Rortvedt could have been had for next to nothing, free agents, jose iglesias and Donovan Solano could have been the cheap one year ss stopgap that they were looking for. Even Freddy Galvis, who's sitting at home right now. DJ could have simply moved over to third base since Cashman had no intention of trading Torres.

I have to agree with you here. They could have gotten rid of Sanchez for free and kept Urshela. If they really wanted to get some kind of return, trade them for some low level lottery tickets. Then spend that $25 million on Verlander or even less on Rodon and $5 million on Iglesias. The only part of this plan that I'm not sold on is at catcher. I'm still not sure what they have in Rortvedt. There seemed to be a lot of excitement around him despite the lack of production. Almost seems like they were expecting a breakout or that their hitting coaches had singled him out as a guy they could turn into a very good hitter with a small change. Until I see that though, I have to agree with you Webslinger. I'd rather have Verlander or Rodon with DJ at 3b, Torres at 2b, Iglesias at SS, and Rizzo at first than the current lineup.

Only thing I'd say is that IKF does have more upside than Iglesias. There is a chance he breaks out and becomes more than he currently is, whereas Iglesias is what he is at this point in his career. Also, if Rortvedt truly is a breakout player then he makes the deal well worth it. I'm willing to give it time before passing complete judgment on this trade, however I have to agree with you web, if I was GM that is the approach I would have taken.

Solano, btw, is on the DL. I'm glad the Yankees did not go that direction.

[Webslinger]

I have to agree with you here. They could have gotten rid of Sanchez for free and kept Urshela. If they really wanted to get some kind of return, trade them for some low level lottery tickets. Then spend that $25 million on Verlander or even less on Rodon and $5 million on Iglesias. The only part of this plan that I'm not sold on is at catcher. I'm still not sure what they have in Rortvedt. There seemed to be a lot of excitement around him despite the lack of production. Almost seems like they were expecting a breakout or that their hitting coaches had singled him out as a guy they could turn into a very good hitter with a small change. Until I see that though, I have to agree with you Webslinger. I'd rather have Verlander or Rodon with DJ at 3b, Torres at 2b, Iglesias at SS, and Rizzo at first than the current lineup.

Only thing I'd say is that IKF does have more upside than Iglesias. There is a chance he breaks out and becomes more than he currently is, whereas Iglesias is what he is at this point in his career. Also, if Rortvedt truly is a breakout player then he makes the deal well worth it. I'm willing to give it time before passing complete judgment on this trade, however I have to agree with you web, if I was GM that is the approach I would have taken.

Solano, btw, is on the DL. I'm glad the Yankees did not go that direction.

It'd be very odd if Rortvedt influenced that trade at all. He's the type of player you might ask for as a thrown in. You don't build an entire trade around a rule 5 guy, so I think they just wanted a good glove and hoped they might help his hitting but aren't necessarily counting on it. If I had to guess, IKF was probably the centerpiece of the trade, and the yankees were willing to absorb 50 million and risk Donaldson becoming the next Todd Frazier in order to make that happen. There's no way you can objectively count on a 37 year old producing for you, so they essentially gambled 50 million on IKF instead of Verlander. Both Rodon and Verlander look like they're on their way to top cy young finishes if not outright winning it all.

Cashman has spent an entire career making one "high upside" gamble after another and has lost all his money on nearly every bet, if not on the bet itself, then on the opportunity lost using it on something much more worthwhile. I look at this as another example of those.

Btw, not sure if you heard the news but Rortvedt badly injured his knee while waiting for his oblique to heal and had knee surgery. This guy is a walking disaster. I did not know what became of Solano. I can only imagine if they had gone after him and he went down that Galvis would be starting for us right now lol.

[EAGLES3658]

It'd be very odd if Rortvedt influenced that trade at all. He's the type of player you might ask for as a thrown in. You don't build an entire trade around a rule 5 guy, so I think they just wanted a good glove and hoped they might help his hitting but aren't necessarily counting on it. If I had to guess, IKF was probably the centerpiece of the trade, and the yankees were willing to absorb 50 million and risk Donaldson becoming the next Todd Frazier in order to make that happen. There's no way you can objectively count on a 37 year old producing for you, so they essentially gambled 50 million on IKF instead of Verlander. Both Rodon and Verlander look like they're on their way to top cy young finishes if not outright winning it all.

Cashman has spent an entire career making one "high upside" gamble after another and has lost all his money on nearly every bet, if not on the bet itself, then on the opportunity lost using it on something much more worthwhile. I look at this as another example of those.

Btw, not sure if you heard the news but Rortvedt badly injured his knee while waiting for his oblique to heal and had knee surgery. This guy is a walking disaster. I did not know what became of Solano. I can only imagine if they had gone after him and he went down that Galvis would be starting for us right now lol.

The trade didn't make much sense but overall it has worked out ok so far. Won't look too bad if Donaldson keeps hitting. The two biggest things that were major failures even before the year started IMO was, keeping Gallo and going into the season with Higgy as the starting catcher. Gallo is very very obviously not a fit for this team. He 100% should have been moved this offseason for a better fit. Higgy just flat out sucks. He is pretty good at framing pitches and sucks at everything else. It is insane for a contending team to go into the season with a guy like that as the starting catcher. I also think people are seriously overstating how much impact these catchers have on the starting pitchers as well. The dead ball likely makes a much bigger impact than the guy catching the ball. Sanchez sucked and the Yankees pitching staff was still towards the top of the league in the past. Catchers also get traded every deadline and are catching the new pitchers within days. It isn't a big deal. They need to add a catcher. Trevino can stay and play a few times a week.

[johnnyi]

The trade didn't make much sense but overall it has worked out ok so far. Won't look too bad if Donaldson keeps hitting. The two biggest things that were major failures even before the year started IMO was, keeping Gallo and going into the season with Higgy as the starting catcher. Gallo is very very obviously not a fit for this team. He 100% should have been moved this offseason for a better fit. Higgy just flat out sucks. He is pretty good at framing pitches and sucks at everything else. It is insane for a contending team to go into the season with a guy like that as the starting catcher. I also think people are seriously overstating how much impact these catchers have on the starting pitchers as well. The dead ball likely makes a much bigger impact than the guy catching the ball. Sanchez sucked and the Yankees pitching staff was still towards the top of the league in the past. Catchers also get traded every deadline and are catching the new pitchers within days. It isn't a big deal. They need to add a catcher. Trevino can stay and play a few times a week.

I've always felt that Higgy is a part-time catcher, who hits better the less he plays. For a lot of fans, he's Fools Gold. Now that he's caught more games on a regular basis, he's exposed for what he is. Yankees were somewhat stuck with him, since Cole is their ace and he liked pitching exclusively to him. However that was not sustainable and when the team got Trevino, Cole has pitched to both of them and they now no longer have an added motivation to keep Higgy.

On the positive side, Trevino continues to credit his success this year on learning about the hitters from Higgy, refining the approach for the day before games, etc., so there is some value. Still, I view Higgy as a throw in on any trade for a catcher.

[Webslinger]

The trade didn't make much sense but overall it has worked out ok so far. Won't look too bad if Donaldson keeps hitting. The two biggest things that were major failures even before the year started IMO was, keeping Gallo and going into the season with Higgy as the starting catcher. Gallo is very very obviously not a fit for this team. He 100% should have been moved this offseason for a better fit. Higgy just flat out sucks. He is pretty good at framing pitches and sucks at everything else. It is insane for a contending team to go into the season with a guy like that as the starting catcher. I also think people are seriously overstating how much impact these catchers have on the starting pitchers as well. The dead ball likely makes a much bigger impact than the guy catching the ball. Sanchez sucked and the Yankees pitching staff was still towards the top of the league in the past. Catchers also get traded every deadline and are catching the new pitchers within days. It isn't a big deal. They need to add a catcher. Trevino can stay and play a few times a week.

Sure it worked out so far, but the problem is you can't base a strategy for winning on dumb luck. As for the catching situation, the yankees had an opportunity to sign Yan Gomes but I'm sure Cashman balked at his 6 million AAV asking price for 2 years. Nothing Cashman does makes sense.

[Phoba Rama]

Sure it worked out so far, but the problem is you can't base a strategy for winning on dumb luck. As for the catching situation, the yankees had an opportunity to sign Yan Gomes but I'm sure Cashman balked at his 6 million AAV asking price for 2 years. Nothing Cashman does makes sense.

Yankees Gomes? I'd rather see them spend the $12 million elsewhere.