The Yankees are about to embark on a week that may change the course of their history. The Winter Meetings start today in Las Vegas and many expect for Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman to make a splash. One that comes with truckloads of green in name of Bryce Harper or Manny Machado. The question is which one is a better fit in the Bronx. What if I told you neither was the answer? Would if Cashman agreed with me and didn't sign either of them? Let's take a look at both.

Manny Machado would seem as the obvious target for Cashman given that the everyday shortstop (SS) Didi Gregorius is out until June. The Yanks are shopping Miguel Andujar as early as this week for a front end Starting Pitcher. It's a puzzle that Cashman needs to put together. The way he puts it together could lead to a World Series championship or two, or three or none!

The question here is definitely a puzzling one. How much better can you make a 100 win team? A team that went to Game 7 of the ALCS two seasons ago. They already added a 10 year superstar contract in Giancarlo Stanton last offseason, so why is another one needed? The Red Sox has a magical season. If Aaron Judge doesn't get hurt for two months this summer then maybe just maybe the Yankees finish with 105 wins and the Red Sox 104.  Maybe the Sox play the one game Wild Card against the A's. Maybe the Sox don't win that game. It's a lot of what-ifs but the fact is the Yankees in my opinon took a step back in 2018 and they added a reigning MVP. How much better can Manny make the Yankees?

Bryce Harper is intriguing because he's a lefty and he could easily hit 50 home runs a year in the Bronx. It was reported that he was willing to play First Base (1B) if he came to the Bronx. I like that idea alot more than Manny replacing Didi and/or Andujar. If he was added to the mix then it adds to his value. Although much like Manny, he's going to command a 10 year deal in order to get a deal done. That in lies the problem. The length of the deal.

Ten years. Ten years. Ten Years. It's going to take the Yankees or someone to go that far in order to land one of these generational talents. I think both Machado and Harper are unbelievable talents and they should go out and get as much as they can but that doesn't mean the Yankees should be the one to give it to them. The Yanks are already loaded with talent, perennial MVPs and bloated contracts, they don't need another.

Stanton's contract is already looking like an albatross judging by how his October went. 9 more years of that? Oy vey. He was supposed to be the missing piece to get them to their 28th championship. He didn't get them to a game 5 in the ALDS, much less the ALCS, where they were a year prior. He didn't get them the division. He only played Aaron Judge over the summer when the slugger went down. I don't see Manny or Bryce being the savior in NY. I see just another overpaid superstar chasing stardom, headlines, late night shows, and shadows of their former selves.

Maybe I'm wrong but the Bronx doesn't need Manny and the Bronx doesn't need Bryce. The Bronx needs the $30-35 million a year for the next 10 years for pitching, for our home grown stars, for our bullpen, for our scouting, for whatever our team needs in order to win a championship. It doesn't need to go to someone to hog up a roster spot.

I'll take pass on these two generational talents....we already have them.

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Tags: Aaron Judge, Boston Red Sox, Brian Cashman, Byrce Harper, Didi Gregorius, Giancarlo Stanton, Manny Machado, Miguel Andujar, Yankees

Last night was the end of the 2018 Yankees season, at least a week earlier than expected. Losing the ALDS wasn't in the plans this year in the Bronx, much less losing it to the Boston Red Sox. In a season that saw the Yankees win 100 games, I saw one of the most frustrating seasons in recent memory.

Maybe I'm caught up in the recent hype that's surrounded this team the last couple seasons, or I was begging to see a winner after so many years of mediocrity after the 2009 championship. What I saw this season was the best Yankee team since that '09 championship team and then I saw a team that was debatably worst than the crosstown rival New York Mets. A tale of two seasons, complete opposites of one another. A team that went 22-1 at one point to a team who couldn't beat a 110 loss Baltimore Orioles team. A team with Aaron Judge and a team without him. Much of the last 3 months I spent saying the Yankees wouldn't see past the Wild Card game..if they even got lucky to play that game.

Yes, the Yankees were in danger of not even playing that game. But then the Seattle Mariners became the Seattle Mariners and fell out of contention. The Oakland A's closed the gap to 1.5 of getting home field advantage in the Wild Card game and the Judge returned to the lineup. Then the Yanks took off and started playing close to the first half  Yankees. That went all the way to Game 3 of the ALDS. Then the second half Yankees showed up. I saw the "ace" Luis Severino pray he could pitch four innings, FOUR! Guess what, he didn't even know what time the game was starting. That's a problem. I saw a rookie manager in Aaron Boone be so quick to go to the bullpen when his real ace Masahiro Tanaka was dealing on Saturday night, but fails to go to the best part of his team when he needed to (Game 3). To top it off when he did, he brought in Lance Lynn! A starter...with the BASES LOADED and NO ONE OUT! And his proven commodity Chad Green who's speciality is that exact situation, sit in the bullpen! Then 16-1 happened.

Last night was similar to Game 3 in which Boone couldn't make the right move when he needed to. He should be criticized  and second guessed, but as a rookie manager, he gets a pass because he had a mostly successful season. But last night's failure falls on the hands of Giancarlo Stanton. How does a 4-3 loss fall soley on him? After Judge and Didi Gregorious got on base and re-ignited what was left of the sellout Yankee Stadium crowd, Stanton KILLED any momentum that was built in the previous two at bats.

Much like he did with the game on the line in Game 1 (bases loaded and no one out, he struck out. A base hit would have changed the game to the Yankees favor), he struck out. Painfully, embarrassingly, and pathetically. First pitch was a hanging slider on the inside corner which should have been mashed. For a single, a sac fly, a double, a HR, anything. But it was taken for a strike. Ok, let's be patient in this at bat and make Boston closer Craig Kimbrel continue to crumble under the pressure of the bright lights of the Bronx. Instead Stanton chased TWO sliders out of the zone that he was FEET away from making ANY sort of contact. Inexcusable and unacceptable. Not a clue of what to do with the season on the line. No urgency, no plan, no approach, no clue. Work a walk, continue the rally. Instead he gave Kimbrel a life preserver that he so desperately needed. It was only the first out, but it was an important confidence booster for Kimbrel. JUST enough to get him by Gary Sanchez and Gleyber Torres. Sanchez missed a game winning Walk-off Grand Slam by a few feet and Torres missed extending the inning by half a step. Can't fault either in that situation. Sanchez put on a great at at-bat and did get an RBI out of it and Torres busted it down the line faster than his average speed to first base.

They tried, Stanton didn't. I have a problem with that. He just thought free swinging was going to get him a Yankee moment for the ages. Wrong. For 30 mil a year, I need better. I want better. I invest in this team all year, so I expect you to invest your best effort in the biggest at bat of the season. You're not a rookie, you're a reigning MVP! You don't get a pass. Now I have 5 months to replay that 9th inning last night and wonder what-if.

"We're all going to come together and use this as fuel for next year." Said Stanton after the game.

All we needed was a single. A single. A single not ONE Yankee produced in the biggest inning of the year with the season on the line. That's mind boggling. It truly was a season to forget in the Bronx.

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Tags: Aaron Boone, Aaron Judge, Boston Red Sox, Chad Green, Didi Gregorius, Gary Sanchez, Giancarlo Stanton, Gleyber Torres, Lance Lynn, Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, Yankees

On Tuesday night the Yankees made their first big move of the offseason. They sent pitcher Adam Warren and infielder Brendan Ryan to the Chicago Cubs for Second Baseman/Shortstop Starlin Castro. This is a good move for both sides and gives the Yankees another young solid infielder. Gone are the days of overpriced aging players. I love this!

There are many things to like about this. But first lets say goodbye to Adam Warren. He was the most consistent pitcher the Yankees had and most reliable in 2015. Wherever they put him, he was dependable. In the rotation or in the bullpen, he was good. He always gave the Yankees just what they needed that day and there's a lot of value in that, especially with a team full of question marks. Warren seemed to fit the role of 4th or 5th starter just fine but he was pushed to the bullpen after 17 starts in '15 because Ivan Nova came back from Tommy John surgery. Warren then filled the gap from starter to the trio of Justin Wilson-Dellin Betances- and Andrew Miller. THAT role he filled proved to be so vital because once he was inserted back in the rotation late in the season, his absence in the bullpen was felt. Manager Joe Girardi tried replacing Warren's absence with kid after kid from the minors in BIG spots. They rarely delivered. It ended up costing them the division. Warren now joins a World Series contender and probably one of the best rotations in the National League.

With Castro, the Yankees get a 25 year old 2B/SS with 6 years of major league experience. He hit just .237 through the end of July, but hit .335 in the final two months. For the Yanks, he fits the profile of their recent targets as a young, cost-controlled player in a buy-low opportunity. Castro is signed through 2019 with a team option for 2020. He has $38 million guaranteed left on his contract. The idea of him and Didi Gregorious as the Yankees new double play combo lights up my eyes and gets me excited to see what they can do

“You could be greedy (at second base),” manager Joe Girardi said at today’s Winter Meetings before news of the Castro trade went public. “You look for outstanding defense and offensive production. I mean, that’s the greedy part of it; that you can get a lot of production, too, offensively."

 The move gets the Yankees younger, cheaper and hungrier. GM Brian Cashman went on the Michael Kay Show last week and said he was focusing on acquiring players through trades as opposed to signing the usual big free agent contract. Today we see that Cashman and company have a plan they're sticking to. The Yankees are getting younger and more athletic....and I'm ok with that. Good job!

This post is presented by Stan's Sports World. Order online now and receive FREE SHIPPING!

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Tags: Adam Warren, Andrew Miller, Chicago Cubs, Dellin Betances, Didi Gregorius, Joe Girardi, Justin Wilson, Starlin Castro, Yankees

The Yankees have played terrible baseball in the opening week of the season. At 1-4 it's very easy to see how bad this team can be. If it weren't for a few miscuses by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 8th inning on Wednesday night, the Yanks could be 0-5. Yikes!

What I've seen is a team that is making mental mistakes left and right resulting in errors on the field, pitches getting left over the strikezone and runners getting picked off the bases at an alarming rate. Some of these mental mistakes are just inexcusable. You can not get picked off at first base in just about every game. Where is the focus of the team? New shortstop Didi Gregorius got thrown out on Opening Day trying to steal 3rd base to end the 8th inning with Mark Teixeria at the plate having a chance to get the Yankees back in the game. Inexcusable!

19 innings on Friday night meant MANY squandered chances at winning the game in extra innings but continous mental errors and lack of focus denied the Yankees of a classic victory in the wee hours of the morning. Stephen Drew and Gregorius had countless opportunities to win the game with runners in scoring position and failed to send EVERYONE home. Granted Chase Headley, Teixera both homered when the Yankees needed them most and Carlos Beltran came through with a clutch double in the late late innings, it's the lesser impactful hitters in the lineup who came up short. Everyone was swinging for the fences when all was needed was a hit or a sac fly. Boston won on a sac fly in the 19th btw. 

“We have to play better,” Headley said. “It’s as simple as that. We’re better than that. We have to get it cleared up.”

The sentiment resides all throughout the clubhouse. As I've stated, this Yankee team can be and should be MUCH better than this but most people outside of the Bronx will tell you, this IS what the Yankees are. Right now, it's hard to refute that point but it's 5 games in. Everyone will go through bad streaks like this throughout the season

“I think we’re a much better team that how we’ve played,” Joe Girardi said. “If you were to play at this pace the whole year, you wouldn’t have many wins. And I think we’re much better than this.”

A bad week certainly puts a lot of doubt in people's mind, especially when the offense is sporting a .193 average at the plate. The best part of the young season is the emergence of Alex Rodriguez as the most reliable hitter. Who would've thought that?  Alex has looked good all spring and has continued it during the the opening week. He even saw time at first base yesterday, how bout that?!

The Yanks send Masahiro Tanaka to the hill tonight to salvage the final game of this aweful series against the Red Sox. All eyes will be on Tanaka as he rebounds from a poor Opening Day start. All breaths will be held as they will be anytime he takes the mound this season as we all hope his right elbow holds up and doesnt require season ending Tommy John surgery. If the Yanks keep playing at this pace, thet might as well send him under the knife now. Let's hope this was just one really bad week.

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Tags: #TanakaTime, Alex Rodriguez, Boston Red Sox, Carlos Beltran, Chase Headley, Didi Gregorius, Mark Teixeira, Masahiro Tanaka, Stephen Dreew, Toronto Blue Jays