No Sonny II: The Yankees should stick with J.A. Happ

Somebody's recent Internet list ranked the Reds sixth among MLB rotations. Sixth. Go figure. Granted, Internet lists are crapola, merely ways to kill time during impeachment proceedings. They have no place in an intellectually trenchant, empirical journal such as this. (BTW, the Yankees fuckinay ranked second, behind Washington, gaaaaaahhhh!) But the reason for Cincinnati's #6 ranking was rather interesting. It was based on the Reds' looming ace: Mr. Sonny Douglas Gray. 

Yeah, our Sonny Gray, whom the Death Star last winter traded for Shed Long and a draft pick. (Days later, they dealt Long to Seattle for a 22-year-old OF named Josh Stowers, who stole 35 bases last year for Charleston.) 

Gray last year threw 175 innings with an ERA of 2.87. Before you scream that it was against NL lineups, where pitchers hold bats, let those numbers marinate a bit - because we didn't have anybody come close. (Our "ace," James Paxton threw 150 innings at 3.82.) If you want to scream at the cosmos, tell it that if the Yankees had simply shown faith in Sonny Gray, they might have lost to the Astros in seven games, rather than six, because - let's face it - Houston was still going to cheat. The Rob Manfred Washing Machine arrived too late to save baseball's soiled reputation.

Today, the Yankees have a 2020 edition of Sonny Gray - that is, a supposed "ace" who was vastly disappointing last year, and who should be ashamed of himself. It's J.A. Happ, and we could banish him to San Diego for a can of sardines, just to teach him a lesson: Nobody disappoints a Death Star. Yep, we can feel good for a week. We showed him. 

Or... we could keep Happ as a #5 starter and see what happens? If Jordan Montgomery or Deivi Garcia bust down fences in Tampa, we can use a six-man rotation, or maybe ease in the newcomers for a long year. 

Here's a thought: Maybe we should give Happ a chance to redeem himself.

Yeah, redemption - a word the Yankees don't use often.

I raise this to piggyback on a point made yesterday. As spring training nears, it will become a central point of this blog. 

This has to be our year. If we don't win in 2020, by this time next winter, Hal will be chaffing to dump payroll and cut luxury taxes. If we don't win this year, Tampa and Toronto could be on the verge talent surges, of whooshing past us in the AL East. If we don't win this year, can we reasonably expect Giancarlo Stanton, Brett Gardner, Aroldis Chapman, Masahiro Tanaka, Luke Voit and DJ LeMahieu to get better in 2021? 

Listen: This has to be our year. If the Yankees are going to restore past glory, it must start in 2020. Second place gets us nothing. The Yankees owe it to J.A. Happ - and themselves - to see what he's got. 

God help us if next winter, right around now, we're looking at Happ - the ace of some other team - and wondering what might have been. It's now or never, folks. I choose now.