Once again a ridiculous column has surfaced on tsn.ca’s website, and this time it appears they’re taking shots at the New York Yankees.
Of course, the Detroit Tigers and Oakland Athletics made the big headlines by improving their pitching rotations with the additions of David Price (Tigers) and Jon Lester (A’s), respectively, and since the Yankees didn’t do anything significant, it is assumed the New York has given up on the season.
According to former Mets general manager Steve Phillips, who contributes weekly to tsn.ca, “the Yanks and Rays and Red Sox are going to retool for next year” – implying the American League East race is only between Baltimore and Toronto.
Really.
That means it is assumed that the Yankees have given up on the 2014 season, huh? That the club is just going to let Derek Jeter’s final big-league season be a non-playoff year, where the Yankees will simply play out the string and not compete for a shot at the postseason?
C’mon, let’s get serious.
So, was New York supposed to get either Price or Lester? Or maybe the Yankees were supposed to get a broken-down Cliff Lee, right?
First of all, the top pitchers who got moved – Price and Lester – came from the American League East. Did anyone seriously believe the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox would trade their left-handed ace to a division rival? (Obviously, the writers at tsn.ca did so, with a couple of them writing nonsense in recent weeks about how the Blue Jays were seriously involved in talks with the Rays and Red Sox for those two pitchers – with the distinct possibility of landing either one of them. Yeah, as if those two clubs were really going to make that kind of a trade within the division. Again, let’s get serious here.)
Secondly, the Yankees didn’t trade for the Phillies’ Lee, which is a good thing because he might be gone for the rest of the season. Lee, who had just came off the disabled list after the All-Star break and would have drawn interest from several clubs in an August waiver deal, might not throw another pitch in 2014. Speaking of Philadelphia, it appeared the Phillies wanted a king’s ransom for outfielder Marlon Byrd, so the Yankees were wise to not pull the trigger on that deal.
Third, the Yankees DID make deals to improve their roster days earlier, when they picked up third baseman Chase Headley from San Diego (July 22) and right-hander Brandon McCarthy (July 6) from Arizona. A week prior to the trading dealine, they also acquired veteran lefty Chris Capuano from Colorado. The point is, New York general manager Brian Cashman is always trying to make his team better. When the Yankees had some pitching holes to fill earlier in the month, they picked up Jeff Francis from Oakland as a stop-gap measure, and when that deal didn’t work out, they shipped the left-hander out of town. Cashman then picked up righty Esmil Rogers off waivers from Toronto, as well as Martin Prado in a separate trade with the Diamondbacks, with the versatile Prado able to play outfield for the Yankees.
So far, McCarthy has pitched well for the Yankees (3-0 with a 2.55 ERA in four starts), and Headley has delivered some big hits since his arrival (.429 in his first four games with New York, helping the Yanks win each contest, and .270 overall). Who knows? Perhaps Stephen Drew (picked up from the Red Sox for second baseman Kelly Johnson) might deliver a key hit down the stretch. Maybe the same thing for Prado.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the Yankees – a team that I don’t even like or root for – finished ahead of the Blue Jays in the East. And perhaps they might even pick up a few more pieces in August to bolster the lineup. But to suggest that New York has given up for the season….that’s simply ridiculous. Only according to tsn.ca.
A Life of Knuckleballs 