Sunday, October 20, 2019

Yankees: Keep Or Dump?

God only knows what the Arsenal fans interested in "body language"
would make of Chapman's reaction to the Altuve home run.

It's time to do a "Keep Or Dump" for the 2019 New York Yankees.

Keep, Easy Choice
17 Aaron Boone, manager: Given the restrictions on him, and the injuries he's dealt with, winning 203 games in 2 seasons is phenomenal. He made some bad choices, but many of those were forced on him. And, unlike the last 3 Yankee managers before him -- Joe Girardi, Joe Torre and Buck Showalter -- he does a great job of standing up for his players. Face it: Before Boonie, when was the last time you heard a Yankee manager refer to his players as "my guys" to an umpire? Was it Billy Martin?

11 Brett Gardner, outfielder: The fact that he's the last remaining player who played home games at the old Yankee Stadium is a nice distinction, but it should be irrelevant. He should be kept because he's our fastest runner, showed surprising power this season, and provides leadership.

18 Didi Gregorius, shortstop: He had a horrid ALCS, but he's a very good hitter, a good fielder, and a positive presence in the clubhouse.

19 Masahiro Tanaka, pitcher: He is a definite Number 2 pitcher, if not the ace we so desperately need.

24 Gary Sanchez, catcher: He needs to be more selective at the plate. If he is, he can once again be a gem.

25 Gleyber Torres, 2nd baseman-shortstop: At times, these last 2 seasons, he's made the trade of Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs look justified. And, certainly, he bore hardly any responsibility for the Yankees flop in the 2018 ALDS against the Red Sox. But in the 2019 ALCS, he had a spectacular Game 1, and then disappeared. When it truly matters, he has proven nothing. Still, he's not quite 23. His best years should be still to come -- but for that trade to be fully justified, he's going to have to help us win at least 1 World Series.

26 DJ LeMahieu, infielder: Given his hitting and his defensive versatility this guy was, hands down, the most valuable player in the American League this season, not counting any Astros.

29 Gio Urshela, 3rd base: He and DJLM were big surprises that I don't think anybody expected to do as well as they did.

31 Aaron Hicks, outfielder: He was plagued with injuries, but he can flat-out play when he's healthy.

36 Mike Ford, 1st baseman: He could be an odd man out, and therefore trade bait, but he's a good hitter.

38 Cameron Maybin, outfielder: He's a good hitter, he's got some power, and, aside from Gardner (2009) and Chapman (2016), he's the one guy on the team with a World Series ring (2017 Houston Astros).

39 Mike Tauchman, outfielder: He's a good backup, and it's too soon to give up on him.

40 Luis Severino, pitcher: We need to see if he's all the way back from injury. If he is, he can be a solid Number 2 pitcher, if not the ace we so desperately need.

41 Miguel Andujar, 3rd baseman: No athlete should lose his job because of injury. And, before getting hurt, he was, like Torres, looking like a prospect for whom a controversial trade might have worked out after all.

45 Luke Voit, 1st baseman: Like Ford, he could be an odd man out, and therefore trade bait, but he's got lots of power.

47 Jordan Montgomery, pitcher: No athlete should lose his job because of injury.

48 Tommy Kahnle, pitcher: He came through for us a lot this season.

53 Zack Britton, pitcher: He's not a closer, but he's a good setup man.

56 Jonathan Holder, pitcher No athlete should lose his job because of injury.

61 Ben Heller, pitcher: No athlete should lose his job because of injury.

65 James Paxton, pitcher: His ALCS matched his regular season: Bad 1st half, very good 2nd half. He's about to turn 31, and probably has at least 5 good years left in him.

66 Kyle Higashioka, catcher: He's better offensively and defensively than Romine.

67 Nestor Cortes Jr., pitcher: He showed us a little, especially as the 2nd man in Green's "starts," and deserves another chance.

68 Dellin Betances, pitcher: No athlete should lose his job because of injury. Besides, if he can come back to full strength, maybe he can become the closer to replace Chapman, or at least the co-closer with Chapman.

73 Mike King, pitcher: It's too soon to judge him.

87 Albert Abreu, pitcher: It's too soon to judge him.

90 Thairo Estrada, infielder: He's a versatile backup.

99 Aaron Judge, outfielder: He showed us some good glove this season -- he made a play in Game 6 of the ALCS that would have been compared to Lou Piniella's play in the Bucky Dent Game if we had won it. -- and his power hitting makes him the face of New York baseball, no matter what the Flushing Heathen say.

Keep, Tough Choice
14 Tyler Wade, infielder: He doesn't yet offer anything that better players don't already offer, but it may be too soon to give up on him.

33 Greg Bird, 1st baseman: A very tough call. No athlete should lose his job because of injury. But when he has played, he hasn't hit. He batted .261 in half a season in 2015, but has batted .194 since. I like the guy, but personal feelings, good or bad, should be irrelevant. He's about to turn 27. He deserves one more chance.

34 J.A. Happ, pitcher: Yes, he's inconsistent. But until we get an ace, or at least a more solid starter than Happ, we have to keep Happ.

43 Jonathan Loaisiga, pitcher: He was shaky this season, but he's young, and it's too soon to give up on him.

54 Aroldis Chapman, pitcher: This may be the toughest call of all, as his meltdowns have been bad, and he did give up a Pennant-losing home run. Not that anybody who's watched the Yankees since the retirements of Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera expected them to win the Pennant, anyway. But what elite closer is available? Until one is, or until we develop one in our farm system, we have to keep Aroldis.

55 Domingo German, pitcher: His status is up in the air, due to legal issues. That suspension really hurt us in the ALCS: Instead of having a rotation of (not necessarily in this order) German, Tanaka, Paxton and Severino, we had one of Tanaka, Paxton, Severino, and all-bullpen. Brian Cashman's refusal to buy an ace starter wasn't necessary as long as German was going 18-4. But with German unavailable, it was obvious that Cashman had blown it. It doesn't look good to have 2 guys on our pitching staff accused of domestic violence (Chapman is the other), and in each case we may never know his level of guilt. But if German can be cleared to play (if not exonerated), I think we have little choice, competitively, but to keep him, however reluctantly.

57 Chad Green, pitcher: We need a reliever who can go at least 2 innings. Unfortunately, he can't go any more than 2 innings. Not even 2 1/3rd.

Dump, Tough Choice
28 Austin Romine, catcher: Awful hitter, and not a major league catcher, either. I'd say Keep, but only if we didn't have Higashioka. That's what makes this a tough choice: We need 3 catchers, but Romine really shouldn't be any of them.

52 CC Sabathia, pitcher: It's out of our hands, as he's retiring, anyway, and it appears to have been right on time: He had half a good season left.

61 Jake Barrett, pitcher: No athlete should lose his job because of injury, but even when healthy, he didn't offer our staff anything that better pitchers weren't already offering.

Dump, Easy Choice
0 Adam Ottavino, pitcher: He is our least consistent pitcher, and he's a head case.

22 Jacoby Ellsbury, outfielder: As recently as May 2015, he was one of the best players in baseball. But he's battled injuries ever since, and hasn't played an inning since September 30, 2017.

27 Giancarlo Stanton, outfielder-designated hitter: This will be the most controversial of my choices, but when we needed him most, the man was invisible: Either injured, or ineffective. He's now gone through 2 postseasons for the Yankees, and has made 2006 Alex Rodriguez look like 1977 Reggie Jackson. If we offer to pay his salary, he can be great trade bait. But we can't keep him. He's like Jack Clark: He feasted off National League pitchers, but, with the Yankees, he was an injury-prone strikeout machine who couldn't play any position well, and wasn't exactly a stabilizing presence in the clubhouse. Some team would improve with him on their roster, but it won't be the Yankees.

30 Edwin Encarnacion, 1st baseman-designated hitter: He's a one-dimensional player who provided power but little else. He didn't put the ball in play enough. That kind of hitting used to be called "oafish clout."

35 Cory Gearrin, pitcher: He is not a major league pitcher.

70 Tyler Lyons, pitcher: He offers us nothing that better pitchers don't already offer.

71 Stephen Tarpley, pitcher: He offers us nothing that better pitchers don't already offer.

72 Chance Adams, pitcher: He is not a major league pitcher.

77 Clint Frazier, outfielder: He is the easiest trade bait we have, and he has to go, because he's got a million-dollar bat, a five-cent glove, and a five-cent head.

85 Luis Cessa, pitcher: In spite of a good ALCS performance, his regular-season performance was atrocious.

Brian Cashman, general manager: The easiest choice of all. To paraphrase the evil Chancellor in V for Vendetta, We are being buried beneath the avalanche of your inadequacies, Mister Cashman!

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