1. Make Dellin Betances a starter. The advantage: We end up with a potential ace, a guy who throws 180 innings rather than 100. (Frankly, Betances' workload as a reliever has been way too heavy for comfort. He might even benefit from a five-day schedule.) Of course, we supposedly have seven starters - (most of them crappy, as in Ivan "Super" Nova) - but if Betances moved into the rotation, we could trade a few for somebody - well - I said this was crazy - but maybe for...
2. Launch the inevitable full-court press for Bryce Harper. In the 1980s, last time the Mets ruled NYC, the Yankees went out and got Rickie Henderson. Like father, like son, eh? Harper seems fated to become a Yankee someday, and I already think Prince Hal is marshaling his pennies for the financial doomsday when Harper comes to Gotham. It would cost us the best prospects in our system, plus a couple pitchers and maybe Brett Gardner. But we'd have Bryce Harper until the 2027 asteroid hits, right?
3. Put A-Rod back at third, full time. For starters, we'd have to do something with Chase Headley, but let's not worry about that. Last year, we handled A-Rod with kid gloves. Yes, he led the team in HRs. But we fielded an opening day lineup with five full or part-time DHs - Beltran, A-Rod, Garret Jones and several players - Gardner, Tex, Ellsbury, McCann - who needed a lot more rest than they got. This was because A-Rod is a DH-hog. This year, we tell dear Alex that we're not signing on. He's got to play a position. If he breaks down, well, he breaks down. We have rookies who can come up from Scranton and bat .240. We cannot have a full time DH.
4. CC to the pen. Of course, this cannot happen because he's a great "team leader," right? That's crapola. Look - I'm glad the guy is getting help, but collapsing on the eve of the post-season is not the legacy of a team leader. Sabathia has been a mediocre starter for four years. I'm not saying we punish him. I'm saying give him a fresh start. He could be a huge bullpen component, the eighth inning guy or maybe even a closer, if and when Miller goes down. And he wouldn't have four days to sit around and think about a glass of beer.
Crazy, eh?
But is is crazier than playing John Ryan Murphy at third, which we're discussing or - gulp - signing Howie Kendricks?
I support the 8 starter plan. So: you sign one ace (Price, Cueto, Greinke). And that gives you 5 front line starters: i.e., Price, Tanaka, Pineda, Severino, Eovaldi. Then you have three guys in the bullpen for spot starts, long relief when the starter sucks, and fill-in duty when one of your glass-arm starters goes down with an injury. Or they can give you 1 or 2 innings when you need them. These 3 swing men allow you to eat up the innings necessary to compete: Sabbathia, Nova, Warren. Then you have 4 true relievers behind them.
ReplyDeleteI'm serious about this. We need to accept that we have a staff where no one gives you 200 innings. You've got to plug the gap and you can't do it with a bunch of guys who go 1 or 2 innings. With three guys who can go 1 to 5 innings, that gives you the flexibility you need.
And how about a real bullpen with 4 guys you can trust: Miller, Bettances, Kimbrell, and Wilson.
You make these 2 little moves (add Price and Kimbrell - it's Hal's money anyway) and suddenly this team starts to look pretty good.
YES!....GET KIMBREL!....PRICE IS WISHFUL THINKING THOUGH....WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO BE HAPPY WITH SAMARDJIA, I BET....
ReplyDeleteI ALSO HAPPEN TO THINK CC WOULD ACTUALLY BE GOOD OUT OF THE PEN...HE'S STILL TOUGH ON LEFTIES....AND I THINK WE ARE CRAZY NOT TO LET AROD PLAY THIRD ONCE IN A WHILE!...IT WAS CRAZY TO LOSE HIS BAT IN ALL THE INTER-LEAGUE GAMES!....IF WE SOMEHOW MADE IT TO THE WORLD SERIES, HE WOULDN'T PLAY IN ANY OF THE "AWAY" GAMES???....THAT'S NUTS!...EVEN "PAPI" THREW A GLOVE ON IN THE WORLD SERIES A FEW YEARS AGO, AND THEY WON......THINK CASHMAN!...THINK!!!!
ReplyDeleteBut A-Rod would make more errors at 3B than Headly.
ReplyDeleteOh, wait. Never mind....
I can't see A-Rod doing some 3B as a negative. He can still play the position part time. Batting.240 and third in the order is rediculous.
ReplyDeleteI say he plays third and bats 6th gives us some real lineup strength.
I will support every single decision Cashman makes on the condition that he takes Girardi and Nova to dinner and do to them what Michael Corleone did to Sollonzzo and McCluskey.
ReplyDeleteFirst, let me say that I find your comment about CC collapsing on the eve of the post-season EXTREMELY ignorant. Getting the help you need is absolutely the move a leader makes. "Toughing it out" through an addiction for a freaking play-in baseball game you're not going to pitch in anyway and the chance to maybe make it to another series when you're arguably not one of the three or four best SPs on your team anyway is not leadership in any meaningful way.
ReplyDeleteAnyway... I believe that Cashman was saying "I'm open to anything (that I think would make the Yankees better)." I'm not sure most of your ideas are likely to make them better.
CC to the BP probably does make them better, unless he re-finds himself after rehab. It's something that can be a game time decision in spring training, though. Generally you want to bring anyone with a shot at starting into camp prepared to start and stretch them out, because you can stick them in the pen stretched out but can't stick them in the rotation not stretched out.
If the Yankees thought Dellin could start or A-Rod could play the field, it would already be happening. I'm sure they'll evaluate the possibility, but making decisions you don't think will work out hoping for the best is not the way to run a business. Dellin struggles a bit with control even out of the pen and that's likely to get worse as he gets deeper into games and has to throw a wider variety of Ps to turn a line-up over multiple times. It's worth evaluating, but doing it is really playing with fire. A-Rod isn't just on the bench to keep him healthy, he's on the bench because he's a lousy defender. Maybe another year out from surgery he can handle 3B or 1B a bit better this season, but I really doubt you actually want to see him in the field every day. As much as Headley had a down season, I'd still take him at 3B over the current A-Rod.
The Yankees can inquire about Harper, but that doesn't mean they have any shot at getting him.
Other than the CC thing, these come across more as video game or fantasy sports moves. They're worth the Yankees evaluating (and I'm sure they are evaluating or have evaluated these possibilities), but probably not actually good ideas to act on.
"We have rookies who can come up from Scranton and bat .240. We cannot have a full time DH."
ReplyDelete"Batting.240 and third in the order is rediculous."
Batting average is not comprehensive measure of offensive output. By using it as such, you are both making the inherent assumption that drawing walks is not a skill, that a single is as good as a double, a triple, or a HR, plus ignoring base-running. Most people believe that walks, XBHs, and base-running have value to an offense. That's why stats like wRC+ and wOBA (both available on fangraphs.com and OPS+ (baseballrefence.com) were created.
So, while his .240 BA is weak... A-Rod walks a lot and hits for a good amount of power. His wRC+ last season was 29th among qualifiers. Right next to guys like Braun, A-Gon, and Abreu. A top 30 offensive producer is who you want hitting in the middle of your line-up.
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