Anyone else watching the Yankees....

[Déjà Bru]

What is wrong here? This offseason, all I am hearing about in this town are the Mets, Mets, Mets! Mets sign McCann. Mets re-sign Syndergaard. Mets trade for Lindor and Carrasco. Mets sign Drury. Mets still in the hunt for Springer and LeMahieu.

Oh sure, there has been some Yankee news. Today's lineup of Yankees-related headlines are as follows:

KJZ Hour 3: Mets land a Big Fish - what is this meant to be, "in your face" on ESPN's Yankees page?

Buster Olney's top 10s for 2021: Ranking MLB's best teams - the first paragraph is "Many of baseball's traditional rivalries are dormant. The Red Sox are retooling, and the Yankees, unpressured by Boston, haven't made any aggressive moves yet this winter."

Ex-Angels staffer: Cole, others doctored balls - good grief. Let's hope this story doesn't get any traction.

Yankees acquire OF Allen in trade with Padres - this deal is not even on the local newspaper's website's main local sports page. You have to drill down on "Yankees" to find it. They gave up a minor league pitcher who is struggling to rise above AA ball the past few years for Allen, a career .239 hitter who was DFA'd by the Padres. Yawn in both directions. For one thing, as the newspaper points out, "The Yankees currently have Allen, Aaron Judge, Aaron Hicks, Clint Frazier, Giancarlo Stanton, Mike Tauchman and Estevan Florial as outfielders on their roster."

Hughes retires more than 2 years after last pitch - Remember Phil Hughes?

And last, but not least:

'I didn't know why I wasn't playing': Gary Sanchez on getting benched in the playoffs -- and his future with the Yankees - Really? You know, when I play OOTPB, I always look for intelligent catchers. It's probably an illusion, but to me, the best catchers are those who are team leaders and savvy about the game, their teammates, and themselves. Based on that comment, Sanchez would have a red rating for IQ in my game.

What a state of affairs. Are the Yankees that good to be standing pat? Perhaps. Still, I can imagine what George Steinbrenner would be doing and saying as he sees the cross-town rival New York Mets stealing the limelight this offseason.

[Westheim]

You forgot one:

Trevor Bauer praises Mets' move, while wearing Mets hat

[Déjà Bru]

Gosh, I thought you were kidding, but here he is:



P.S., Get a load of his t-shirt. Only "FOR SALE" would be more appropriate.

[Westheim]

If we can get Bauer and Springer, we'll make this town ours again!

(talks like he doesn't live six time zones away from New Jorvik)

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Westheim

If we can get Bauer and Springer, we'll make this town ours again!

(talks like he doesn't live six time zones away from New Jorvik)

Nah. For your devotion to the Mets, I dub thee honorary New Yorker. (Whether you are thrilled or not.)

[Déjà Bru]

In the end, it wasn't that much of a raise. Essentially, LeMahieu will go from $12 million to $15 million a year over the next six years.

Sure, as an erstwhile and not lamented former colleague of ours pointed out, the back end of these contracts is not meant to be paying for performance then, but functions as additional compensation for performance now.

LeMahieu will turn 33 in July, so I'm thinking he's getting something north of $20 million for maybe 4 more years of productivity. That doesn't seem unreasonable these days.

The other consideration is that the money is spread out more so that the Yankees get more room under the luxury tax threshold.

[Déjà Bru]

The Yankees are reportedly about to sign Corey Kluber. It's a one-year deal worth $11 million. Even that is a long shot; he's 34 now and coming off of two years of bad injuries.

Here's a keeper photo. It's Kluber in a Rangers uniform for only 1 inning last year before suffering a season-ending shoulder tear.

[Déjà Bru]

Yankees traded four minor league prospects for another comeback-of-the-year candidate, Jameson Taillon. He's five years younger than Kluber and, like Kluber, had his last excellent season in 2018. You have to figure that one of these guys will have a comeback in 2021. Well, not "figure," but "hope."

[ThatSeventiesGuy]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

The Yankees are reportedly about to sign Corey Kluber. It's a one-year deal worth $11 million. Even that is a long shot; he's 34 now and coming off of two years of bad injuries.

Here's a keeper photo. It's Kluber in a Rangers uniform for only 1 inning last year before suffering a season-ending shoulder tear.

Good lord, the powder blue! It's like the late '70s/early '80s exploded all over the poor guy.

[Déjà Bru]

Speaking of Taillon,

Along with the two Tommy John surgeries, he’s survived testicular cancer, taken a line drive off the head and needed a sports hernia repair in a five-year span that ended in 2019. During that time, he had a 3.67 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and 8.1 K/9 rate in 82 starts.

By his own admission Monday, Taillon is not that same pitcher. He’s completely rebuilt his delivery to fix the flaws that blew up his elbow twice — not only to save his career but ideally to make him that much better. While Taillon is relieved to be going through a more normal offseason prep this time around, he still hasn’t test driven his significant physical adjustments in a major league game.

"I kind of had a coming-to- grips moment where I said, you know what, my current set of mechanics and what I’m doing isn’t working," Taillon said. "That’s just the cold, hard truth. I need to change something or else my career is going to be over. So I stripped it all the way down.

"With rehab, all you have is time. I had 16 months to strip it down and kind of revamp my mechanics and revamp my career, so I’ve changed a lot in the way I throw. I’m extremely excited to show everyone what I’ve changed and what I can do right now.

"The main goal is to take pressure off my elbow, and ever since surgery, I haven’t had to take an anti-inflammatory or a pain pill. It’s the first time in my career where I’m excited to throw. I’m really fired up to get on the mound and recovering extremely well right now."

What this means is, while he may remain healthy with these changes, he may not enjoy the same success that he had when he wasn't injured. Who is to say that these changes will mean he is still an effective pitcher? This is an interesting gamble.

[Déjà Bru]

After Ottavino's terrible year in 2020, I'm not missing Mr. "0." Clue: "Ottavino's cutter velocity dropped from an average of 91 mph in 2017 to 86.5 mph last year." That's a big difference, considering he's 35.

[Déjà Bru]

Just caught the news about Tanaka returning to Japan to play for the Rakuten Golden Eagles. Must have been napping!

Well, it's a loss but not a major one. Tanaka was good, very good at times, but not great. Would I spend Steinbrenner money to keep him on the staff as a middle-to-low end of the rotation starter? Sure. He was good insurance.

But I would not have handed him the bank and his departure may not be the calamity that some Yankee fans envisage. Like I said, he was good, no denying, but he was not an ace.

The Yankees have a number of irons in the fire now with more possibly to come.

[Déjà Bru]

You have to be rooting for this guy now, after all that he has overcome: injury, defensive yips, seemingly arbitrary demotions and his own failure to deal with them properly.

[Déjà Bru]

Gardner will now retire a Yankee, which is welcome news (despite a dim recollection of what I said earlier in this thread). Sometimes a clubhouse presence is much more valuable than a player's on-field performance. Frazier will likely start in LF with Gardner a backup but, at age 38, this is the way that Gardner wants to finish his career. A lifelong Yankee.

[Caporegime]

Lovely...Zach Britton needs arthroscopic surgery to remove a bone spur in his left arm. He'll be out 3-4 months, probably longer.

https://www.mlb.com/news/zack-britto...ore-left-elbow

But everything will be just fine. At least Adam Ottavino won't be around to "throw over the plate too much", or whatever ridiculous official rationale Cashman offered as a reason for trading him to our principal division rival, as penance for having a one bad season in a year where the whole of humanity had a bad season.

If Shane Greene is still available Cashman would do well to contact his agent forthwith. That bullpen is looking mighty thin right about now.

[Caporegime]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Just caught the news about Tanaka returning to Japan to play for the Rakuten Golden Eagles. Must have been napping!

Well, it's a loss but not a major one. Tanaka was good, very good at times, but not great. Would I spend Steinbrenner money to keep him on the staff as a middle-to-low end of the rotation starter? Sure. He was good insurance.

But I would not have handed him the bank and his departure may not be the calamity that some Yankee fans envisage. Like I said, he was good, no denying, but he was not an ace.

The Yankees have a number of irons in the fire now with more possibly to come.

Well, say what you will about Tanaka not being an ace, but at least he was a proven and reliable quantity. Check out his 162 game average over his 7-year Yankee career for proof: https://www.baseball-reference.com/p...anakma01.shtml

After Cole, the Yanks have nothing but question marks in their rotation. I can see taking a flier on one starter coming off major arm surgery, but when it's anyone's guess if 3/5ths of your projected rotation will even be able to pitch a full season that's too much.

[Déjà Bru]

The way that it's going these days, look for MLB to come up with a pitching cannon to replace all of these brittle pitchers. The players union will be up in arms, no pun intended, until they are mollified by some concession like mandating four outfielders, or five infielders, or both!

[Déjà Bru]

It's amazing how far they have gone, how patient they have been, with Gary Sanchez. Two terrible years, 2018 and 2020, sandwiching an OK season in 2019 (34 HRs and 77 RBIs but a .232 BA) but now, he's looked better in spring training and the Yankees are breathing a sigh of relief. "He's back!"

Good catchers must be a rare breed if this defensively-limited fellow continues to be their only viable alternative at the position. Sure, I am rooting for him but I want him to STAY at a decent level of offensive production. His glove and savvy are not enough to offset another season of .147 futility.

His track record would suggest the following: He finishes ST with his current .286 and several homers and RBIs. Then he starts the regular season 0 for 10, which seems to affect his mind.

Then it's 2 for 21 and 7 for 36, etc. He struggles all year long to get above .190.

The season ends, spring training 2022 begins, and once again we hear about how the Yankees are hoping to turn Sanchez around.

I hope I am wrong, believe me.

[Leo_The_Lip]

Jay Bruce made the opening day roster.

This has me depressed.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Leo_The_Lip

Jay Bruce made the opening day roster.

This has me depressed.

You got to be kidding me. I must check this out. (By the way, Leo, I should have given you credit for being another guy who drops by in this thread occasionally.)