Cole Yanks #1 target.

 

Team’s brass has “ownership-level approval to offer him a record deal.”

 

8 yr,. $275 MM? That is my guess. Just under $35 MM a year for 8 years.

Is that the offer? Apparently the Yanks are all in, but what enables all-in?

 

D.J. 4, Gleyber 17th in MVP vote.

Mike Trout of the Angels won his 3rd MVP—narrowly— over Alex Bregman of Houston. Trout got 17 of the 30 first place votes, Bregman the other 13.

Trout is the second youngest ever to win 3 MVP awards. The youngest being Stan Musial.

In the last eight years, Trout has 3 MVP awards, four runnerups and a fourth-place finish. If he retired NOW, he’d be in the HOF.  So close to 7 MVP Awards already.

He is tied for most in AL history. Barry Bonds won 7******** in the NL. (Asterisks necessary).

The Yankees’ D.J. LeMahieu finished 4th in the voting. Gleyber Torres finished 17th.

In the NL, Cody Bellinger won with 19 first place votes to 10 for defending MVP Chistian Yelich and one for Anthony Rendon of Washington.

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Will Smith became an early free agent signing, going to Atlanta from SF for 3 yrs. $39MM.

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Taking the Q.O. and NOT becoming free agents: Jake Odirizzi of the Twins and Jose Abreu of the White Sox.

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Ron Fairly dies at 81. Dodgers/Expos player spent 21 years in majors.

Ron Fairly, a 2x All-Star (Expos) and 3x WS Champ (Dodgers) died Wednesday at the age of 81.

Fairly played with the Dodgers (1958-1969), being part of WS Champs in 1959, 1963 and 1965 as well as the 1966 NL Champs.

He was with the Expos 1969-1974, Cardinals 1975-1976, A’s 1976, Blue Jays 1977 and Angels 1978. His career spanned 21 seasons.

Primarily a 1B, he also played all three OF positions.

He hit .266 with 215 HR in his career, OPS+ 117. His 162 g. average was .266-14-69.

In 20 WS games, he hit .300 with 2 HR and 6 RBI. In the 1965 WS he went 11 for 29 (.379) with 3 doubles, 2 HR and 6 RBI vs. the Twins.

Yanks fire pitching coach Rothschild.

The Yankees fired pitching coach Larry Rothschild Monday and will begin the search for a new one.

No other changes to the coaching staff have been announced as of yet, nor is it known whether there will be other changes.

Rothschild was the pitching coach for the past nine seasons.

 

 

The game has changed, but Yanks got to get closer to this figure ….

This is a followup to what I wrote before about how Yankees pitchers need to go longer in postseason games.

From 1996-2003 the Yanks won 6 out of 8 pennants and 4 WS titles.

They played 103 postseason games. The starter went over 6 innings in 65 of those games. 63%

Since Game 2 of the 2012 ALCS, the Yanks have played in 30 postseason games. In only 7 of those games has the Yankees starter pitched six or more innings. 23%

Yes. I know the game has changed, and I think not for the better. But for the Yanks to get better than just losing in the ALCS, I think that percentage has to be closer to that 1996-2003 rate.     \

Your thoughts?

Game 158. Yanks lose in 12th, 2-1.

Cory Gearrin gave up a HR to the first batter he faced, Ji-Man Choi, in the bottom of the 12th as the Yanks lost to Tampa Bay 2-1 in a game that featured 20 pitchers.

Thank God for the changes coming next year regarding September callups. Ridiculous. Gearrin was the eleventh pitcher the Yanks used in the game.

When you use all those pitchers, eventually you find the guy who has nothing on that given night.

The only Yankees’ run came on a HR (10) by Cameron Maybin in the third inning. The bats were silent. In 12 innings, the Yanks got only 7 hits, and struck out 13x.

Maybin is the 14th Yankee with 10 or more HR this season, a MLB record.

CC Sabathia came out of the bullpen and pitched a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts.

The Yanks escaped a disaster when X-rays on Gio Urshela’s hand came up negative after he was HBP.

Kevin Kiermaier homered in the fifth for the Rays to tie the game, and it stood at 1-1 until Choi’s walkoff HR.

Maybin’s HR was #299 for the Yanks this season. The Twins didn’t homer, so they are still at 297 in the race for the new team HR record in a season. The Twins have one more game to play than the Yankees do.

With the loss, the Yankees (102-56) fall 1 1/2 behind Houston for the majors’ best record with just four games to play. Houston has the tiebreaker. It doesn’t look like the Yanks can catch Houston for the best record in the majors. Rather, it looks like they’ll be the AL’s #2 seed and play the Twins in the first round, with the Yanks having the home field advantage. With all those homers between the teams, it could be a shootout. Should the Yanks make it to the WS, they are 1/2 game ahead of the NL’s best team, the Dodgers, and the Yanks hold the tiebreaker over LA.

Maybin solo HR (10)

Montgomery 2 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 0 W, 3 K.  6.75
Heller 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K.  1.69
Sabathia (H, 1) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K.   4.95
Tarpley (BS, 1) 1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 W, 1 K. Gave up 1 HR.   7.43
Lyons 0 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 0 K.   7.36.  Faced one batter, walked him.
Cessa 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 W, 2 K.  3.62
Kahnle 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.  3.45
Britton 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.  1.94
Ottavino 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.  1.79
Green 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 5 K.  4.24
Gearrin (L, 1-3, 4.25) 0 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 0 W, 0 K. Faced one batter, gave up HR.

Yankees’ pitchers struck out 17.

 

Game 156. Good days for Paxton and Stanton in Yanks’ 7-2 win. Gleyber OK.

Gleyber Torres’ MRI came back negative, and the Yanks (101-55) got great performances from James Paxton and Giancarlo Stanton in a 7-2 win over Toronto Saturday afternoon.

Torres slipped on the outfield grass Friday night and at first appeared seriously injured. This was good news for a team that has had to overcome so many injuries this season.

Paxton won his tenth straight decision and Stanton, just off the IL, doubled and homered in the victory.

With the win, the Yanks have won more games in one season (101) since they last won the WS in 2009.

Houston lost, so the Yanks are 1/2 game behind them for the best record in baseball (Houston has the tiebreaker). Should the Yankees make the WS, they have a 1 1/2 game lead over the Dodgers, and the Yanks also own the tiebreaker against LA.

With Stanton’s HR, the Yanks have 295 on the season, one ahead of the Twins in the race for the new team HR record. The Twins have played one less game, however.

Toronto scored first, getting an unearned run in the second.

The Yanks scored two in the fourth. Aaron Judge led off the inning with a double and one out later Stanton doubled him home. An out after that, Mike Ford (good day for him too) singled in Stanton to make it 2-1.

The Yanks put the game away in the sixth when they scored four runs. Stanton led off the inning with his second HR of the season. After an out, Ford doubled. Clint Frazier doubled in Ford to make it 4-1. Tyler Wade singled and moved up on the throw, Frazier holding at third. Kyle Higashioka singled in two runs to make it 6-1.

Toronto got a run in the top of the seventh to cut it to 6-2, but the Yanks came right back in the bottom of the seventh with a run of their own. With one out, Cameron Maybin walked and moved up on a groundout. He scored on a Ford single. 7-2.

Aaron Boone and hitting coach Marcus Thames were both ejected early in the game for arguing about the strike zone. A carryover from Cowboy Joe West’s bad call Friday night. West, 66, has an arrogance about him. He’s also getting up in years, and isn’t in the best shape to umpire anymore. It’s time to retire, Joe.

Hopefully the umpires don’t carry grudges though. The Yanks’ problems with umpires’ strike zones (and the umps are wrong, they don’t adjust the zone as they should for tall guys like Judge and Stanton) could bite them in the playoffs if there is a close call.

Stanton 2 hits, 2 RBI, solo HR (2)
Ford 3 hits, 2 RBI
Wade 2 hits (hot lately)
Higashioka 2 RBI

Paxton (W, 15-6; 3.73) 6 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 H, 0 W, 7 K.
Loaisiga 2 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 0 W, 5 K.  4.25 (Wouldn’t mind him on postseason roster)
Green 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 3 K.   4.36  (2.78 since recalled from AAA in mid-May).