Sunday, December 4, 2016

The Essential Question: Do we want to lose our first round pick for five years of Encarnacion?

Let's be straight here: The Yankees should deathly fear that Boston signs Edwin Encarnacion.

The Redsocks are already faves in the AL East. Encarnacion would instantly, seamlessly replace Big Papi, maybe even outhit him. It's hard to imagine the 2017 Yankees toppling them and it's easy to picture Boston winning three straight divisional titles. Fuckin-A.

But is that reason enough to lash ourselves for five years to a DH who will be 40 at the end - especially after our esteemed boy owner has now gone four years blaming his mediocrity on just such deals?

If we sign Encarnacion... we lose our first pick in next June's draft. Last summer, we chose Blake Rutherford. He's already considered untouchable by our scouts. Two years ago, we took James Kaprielian. He remains our top starting hope. Three years ago - drafting in the second round, because we'd lost our pick - we selected Jacob Lindgren. This week, we waived him. If we give up our top picks, we give up all pretenses of a long-term strategy. And for the record, the one we launched last August will have lasted exactly five months. This is why we compare our owner to Dan Quayle.

If we sign Encarnacion... he'll play every day at 1B or DH for five years. That's 2,500 at bats that our youngsters will not get. Next spring, it means Greg Bird will lose playing time. He could end up platooning. Wasn't he going to get a shot as 1B of the future? Simultaneously, the probational try-out period for Aaron Judge will shrink. We hope Judge is the real deal but won't know until July. By then, if he's not hitting, would we trade him and cross our its fingers that the biggest make-or-break Yankee prospect in this millennium doesn't become a star in another city? With Encarnacion, we will seek to win now. We won't have the luxury of letting Clint Frazier, Tyler Austin, Mason Williams, etc prove themselves.

If we sign Encarnacion... we will have quickly forgotten the dark side of long term contracts, which dragged down the last three Yankee teams. Last year, despite the failings of Tex and A-Rod, they could not be pried from the center of our lineup. Then there is the albatross in CF, whom we will have for four more years and who could force the trading of Brett Gardner. It will be the same old, same old, same old Yankees.

If we sign Encarnacion... well, yeah... at least Boston won't. They would likely move on to sign Matt Holliday or someone else, for one or two years. And they would still be odds-on faves to win the 2016 AL East. We have one true hope: That 2019-2022 will bring a new era of Yankee stars. Do we really see Encarnacion, age 40, anchoring those teams?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

NO DISRESPECT EL DUQUE, (AND TOM), BUT!!!...
1.) ANY DAY OF THE WEEK, I RATHER HAVE A GUY WHO HAS AVERAGED 38 HOMERS AND 110 RBI OVER THE LAST 5 YEARS, THAN OUR FIRST ROUND PICK. (AND YOU SHOULD TOO-ALONG WITH HAL AND CASH).
2.) ENCARNACION IS 34....IT'S NOT LIKE HE IS 38 OR 39 YET....WE WERE READY TO GIVE BELTRAN $13-$15 MILLION DOLLARS FOR 1 YEAR AT 40 YEARS OLD.
3.) I THINK IT IS A SAFE BET HE WILL PUT UP AT LEAST 3, OR EVEN 4 VERY PRODUCTIVE SEASONS (OUT OF 5)....OF COURSE, NOBODY EVER DELIVERS EVERY SINGLE YEAR ON A LONG TERM CONTRACT....IF HE AVERAGES A DROPOFF OF 27 HOMERS AND 92 RBI'S, THAT STILL SOUNDS PRETTY DAMN GOOD TO ME!
4.) SIGNING ENCARNACION AS DH WILL NOT TAKE ANY AT BATS AWAY FROM AARON JUDGE....(BUT AARON HICKS WILL)!
5.) IF GREG BIRD GETS HURT OR DOESN'T PERFORM, WE WILL START SCRAMBLING AROUND TO FIND A FIRST BASEMAN...(SORRY, BUT I DON'T SEE TYLER AUSTIN AS THE ANSWER, EVEN THOUGH I WISH HE WAS)...HELLO CHRIS PARMALEE, AND IKE DAVIS!.....IF WE SIGN ENCARNACION, AND BIRD FLOPS OR GETS HURT, HE CAN SLIDE RIGHT OVER AND PLAY FIRST BASE.....PROBLEM SOLVED.
6.) GUYS...WE DO NOT HAVE A LEGIT CLEANUP HITTER ON THIS TEAM...AND WE NEED ONE BADLY TO TRULY COMPETE.....DON'T FORGET, DIDI (OR CASTRO) ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE CLEANUP HITTERS!....THEY WERE LAST YEAR!!
7.) BY FINALLY IMPROVING OUR OFFENSE, OUR STARTING PITCHERS WILL BENEFIT, (WATCH FOR PINEDA ESPECIALLY), WE JUST NEVER SCORED ANY RUNS FOR HIM, OR ANYONE FOR THAT MATTER.
8.) THE YANKEE FRANCHISE, AND THEIR FANS, NEED A JOLT OF EXCITEMENT (AND OFFENSIVE TALENT), TO GO ALONG WITH ALL THE EXCITING YOUTH WE HAVE COMING UP.....SIGNING ENCARNACION AS A DH WILL NOT HURT OUR YOUTH MOVEMENT AT ALL.....BUT IT SHOULD HELP IT.
9.) I LOVE THE YANKEES.....AND THIS SITE.

Unknown said...

I agree 100%. EE has shown no signs of slowing down and the Yankees putrid offense just got worse losing Mcann and Texeira. If Hal Steinbrenner wants to run this team like it's a small market, then sell the team!! Does this moron realize attendance has dropped the last 3 years?!?!? Wake up Hal. His team is worth at least 4 billion dollars but yet he's crying that the payroll has to be under the 196 tax. Great, we got a lot younger, now it's time to add a couple of superstars to the young core. Beltran wasn't the answer nor is Holiday or Napoli. U don't want to spend brain dead Hal, fine sell the team!!

Anonymous said...

I LOVE YA JOE....BUT WE MAY HAVE SPIT THE BIT, AND SIGNED A FADING, 37 YEAR OLD, MATT HOLLIDAY............. LET US PRAY HE HITS FOR US.....LET US ALL PRAY....AND PRAY HARD......

JM said...

Mr. Gambella, I have to take issue with half of this statement: "the Yankees putrid offense just got worse losing Mcann [sic] and Texeira."

To get worse by losing Texeira at this point in his life we would have to sign several Steven Drews to long-term contracts.

Even McCann is debatable, but without anyone else coming onto the roster, I supposed that is decidedly true.

Otherwise I agree with the gist of your Hal diatribe. Although a one-year contract for a vet is, I think, precisely the answer at this stage of the rebuilding process. Your mileage may differ.

Alphonso said...

I am with ALL CAPS ANONYMOUS, all the way.

Our ability to select impact players with number one picks is pretty close to zero. We draft guys who told us they were going to college. People remember we drafted Derek as our top pick, but he was the last top pick anyone can recall. And we had a different talent evaluator then.

Give up all our picks. Who cares?

Matt Holliday, sadly, costs nothing and is worth nothing.

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