O's supposedly want Sheffield for Manny. No way am I doing that. Sheff can be a number 3 or 2 in the rotation by this time next year.
....returning from the All-Star break only to be force fed more of this inter-league "who cares?" bullshit?!!
German then Gray are you kidding me how about CC or Tanaka they just had at least 4 days rest, Red Sux 20-4 last 24, Yanks 12-12
Chapman couldn't throw a strike today. Luckily, Shreve bailed him out. Need another SP even if Gray turns his season around.
matt aside from German and Gray, the Yankee offense (for all their 'HR hype') has been an inconsistent yo-yo that's sputtered with RSP.
When you have an HR-centric offense, this is what happens. You have to either (1) develop a Plan B to score when the HRs aren't coming or (2) pray real hard that the droughts don't come in the post-season.
I disagree with the premise. They are eighth in all of MLB in OPS with RISP or runners on. Now, they are first in all of MLB with no one on. But the team OPS with no one on, runners on, and RISP goes as follows: .799/.786/.779. That's pretty steady. They Yankees hit like they hit, regardless of who's on base or not. I would argue they have been nothing if not consistent, and they've been doing it with some key injuries, as well - look at the game log: https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYY/2018.shtml Interestingly, Boston's OPS jumps from .770 to .869. And Houston's jumps from .727 to .845. This is not just a product of a HR-centric offense. Look at it this way: The Yankees average 5.19 runs per game; the Red Sox average 5.36. If you measure how much the teams runs per game varies relative to the average, the Yankees and Sox have the same variation (CV=0.58).
If you're Aaron Boone, what do you do about Sanchez? His lack of hustle cost the Yankees the game last night. I can't figure him out. He had a great offensive year last year, even though passed balls were a problem. This year, he's hitting under .200, passed balls are still a problem, and he's loafing. How much slack does his potential give him? After he loafed in the first inning, it looked like Severino tore him a new asshole in the dugout. https://nypost.com/2018/07/23/struggling-ace-gary-sanchezs-lack-of-hustle-do-in-yankees/
Bench him tonight and tell him behind closed doors that these mental lapses are unacceptable. If he was hitting ~.270, I could live with the occasional passed ball, but hitting below .200 will not give him a pass for other issues. And I say this as a big fan of Sanchez. Also speaking of Sevy, , h's struggled in his last 3 starts. Hopefully it's just a bump in the road.
Last time out, it looked like Severino was tipping his pitches because the batters were laying off the sliders they usually chase. This time, that didn't appear to be the case, so I don't know what the issue is. Unless it's 1978 and you're Ron Guidry, however, you have to expect a starter, even an ace, to go through some rough stretches. As for Sanchez, this is nothing new. He's never hustled to first on ground balls. His passed-ball problem is based on his refusal to get down and block pitches in the dirt. He swipes at them like a first basemen. I doubt he'll change his ways, so the question becomes whether his potential and his offensive production outweigh his shortcomings. Romine is a solid back-up, but I don't think he's an everyday player.
Seems like everything's gotten worse for him this year other than the power. He had similar problems in the minors where he was disciplined for mental lapses IIRC. Maybe he needs a little tough love once in a while. As bad as Gary has been this year, Romine as an everyday player wouldn't be fun to watch.
Also, Boone is facing his real major adversity as manager. The Sox are pulling away and his starting catcher, who's hitting below .200, isn't hustling. Let's see how he handles this.
They're claiming he reinjured his groin, and are putting him on the DL. This explanation smells because right after the game, he told the writers his groin injury was all healed and wasn't a problem. I'm skeptical of excuses a player makes only after he has had time to talk to his agent. The guy caught the entire game, so I can't believe the injury showed by the MRI prevented him from running. He could squat and bounce up and down in his catching stance but couldn't run? Since he caught the entire game, I can't believe this injury prevented him from hustling in the first inning. He certainly put it into gear when he saw the baserunner heading home. I'd believe that this injury prevented him from running hard to first in the ninth a lot more readily if he didn't have a history of loafing to first on ground balls and if he had mentioned this injury before he had time for a damage-control session with his agent. I guess we'll have to wait to see if Cashman says anything about the nature and severity of the injury. http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24184249/yankees-catcher-gary-sanchez-going-dl-not-hustling
It's fishy for sure. But, if a 10 day DL stint clears his head and he returns focused and willing to work hard to be the player he was 2 years ago and last year, it will be a blessing in disguise. I can only hope.
No, but don't leave your common sense at the door. It's a 162-game season, and catching is a brutal job. I'm sure by this time of the year, most starting catchers have some injury that would show up on an MRI. What's missing is any contention by anyone -- Sanchez, Cashman etc. -- that the injury that showed up on the MRI prevented Sanchez from running hard the other night. He was able to bust it when he saw the runner rounding third in the first inning and when he saw that Hicks had beat the throw at second in the ninth. What's weird is that right after the game, he told the writers has groin was fine. Only later that evening, maybe after he had time to have a damage-control phone call with his agent, did he mention to Boone any injury. Read Bill Madden's column in today's Daily News. This kind of lack of effort isn't anything new for Sanchez. It's a shame because Sanchez may have more raw talent than any Yankee catcher since Yogi came up in 1946. http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b...yankees-sanchez-dl-madden-20180724-story.html
Many doctors will tell you they can find something wrong any given adult by looking at an MRI scan I think he was perfectly healthy during the game, otherwise he wouldn't have had that second gear when he saw he could have been safe at first. Not to mention he dogged it on a passed ball and a double which he downgraded into a single
I'm not leaving my common sense anywhere, thanks. Common sense is what prompted my question. Bill Madden (and nearly all sports writers for that matter) is a platitude-wielding hack; a marginal step above a sports talk radio caller. Professional athletes always say they are fine. They always say they can play through it. They always think they can do more than they actually can and only admit to injury/discomfort when they run out of other excuses. (Carl Pavano and Jacoby Ellsbury are excepted.) In any case, yes, Sanchez could have run faster. He could've hustled more. He didn't. Was part of the reason he was dogging it because he re-aggravated the groin injury? Probably. Does that make dogging it okay? Nope. If he was that hurt, he should've come out of the game. (Although see previous point about most players not offering that up.) Point being: you don't have to invent some nefarious cover-up in this case. Both can be true. He reinjured the groin. And did the wrong thing by not hustling. Unless you think that they are going to DL the starting catcher for a couple of weeks in the middle of a pennant race to "teach him a lesson"? Or Sanchez is lying (via his agent) and going on the DL to protect his rep? Because that's common sense? That's not how any of this works.
