October 16, 2024

85 thoughts on “Yankees.com: Yankees to Host the Royals in the ALDS”

  1. In response to the idea that it’d be embarrassing to lose to the Royals:

    Why would it be embarrassing? Anything can happen in a short series. The results are random, what’s important is that they’ve put the PROCESS in place.
    And since you can’t question the process on the basis of (random) results, there’s apparently no possiblity that the process isn’t perfect and sacred. No way to argue that. You couldn’t argue the opposite, either, but that doesn’t seem to bother them.
    In reality, however… could it possibly be a flawed, even an untrustworthy process? (Gasps from the blackness of the auditorium.)

    1. Because they are a rebuilding team. It’s the same reason why it was so embarrassing for the Astros to be eliminated by the Tigers.

      One thing I love about the Royals, though, is that they lost 106 games last year, and then signed a few mid-level free agent starters, and that was enough to turn things around in a huge way for them. It shows other teams that they should just spend money. Spending money is good!

    2. Brian, that was… sarcasm.
      Parodying the view the front office so often seems to voice.

  2. Orioles Twitter has been in shambles the last 24 hours. The Astros are out. The Townies were never in. Once the Mets Mets this up, anything else in the postseason is going to be gravy.

  3. KC has a very good staff and two dangerous hitters in Witt and Sal Perez. The Yankees have a very good staff and two very dangerous hitters in Judge and Soto.

  4. Anne Rogers The #Royals rotation for the start of the ALDS…

    Game 1: RHP Michael Wacha
    Game 2: LHP Cole Ragans

    RAB Judge 1/18 with 11 Ks vs Wacha

    1. I don’t think KC is a good matchup. Ragans being both good and left handed makes it worse. Whats the price?

    2. Game 1 NYY -190/KC+170.

      Series NYY -215/KC +180.

      I’ve been working on making my own numbers. Decent backtest over 350ish games between the playoff contenders. I ran each game with probables through the model to get projected fair (no-vig) lines:

      Game 1: NYY -143
      Game 2: NYY -138
      Game 3: NYY -102
      Game 4: NYY -103
      Game 5: NYY -138

      I ran those through a Monte Carlo and got NYY -335 in the series (77%).

      I, uh. Probably need to work on my numbers. And also bet the farm on KC.

    1. Half of Cole’s was getting back up to speed. You know that number means Nothing. You take Cole over any pitcher they have.

    2. Sure but OTOH Gil is not the same dominant pitcher he was. The problem for us is everyone except Gleyber, Judge and Soto.

  9. The problem dear Hal is not in the other dugout but in ourselves. It’s not like any of the AL teams are the Dodgers who are clearly better or the mutts who clearly own us. There are no very good teams in the AL.

    3. Rob Refsnyder started seeing Schenck at the same time as Judge, but didn’t start to show signs of life in his bat for a few years after. So it’s possible that Schenck’s advice might be more effective for some hitters than others – eg Judge-sized hitters (like Jones), not Refsnyder-sized (or smaller, like Volpe) – and/or that not every player will be as quick a study as Judge.

  14. It’s been just 17 years since the last horrific public assault on someone named Buttó. Just based on recent geopolitics, I had expected a bit longer. And certainly hadn’t expected more than one bomb.

    1. I’m not watching but I saw 1st and 3rd, 1 out, and I sensed it. I was thinking hope they can hold it to two.

    2. It’s a NY thing, especially if you were around in the late 1960’s and going forward; the sports writers were in love with the Mets.

    3. well, those years predate me but even when every kid in my class was celebrating darryl and doc and i was the only yankee fan, i didn’t “hate” the mets.

      i was pretty lucky to have a cousin that worked for hojo and got to Shea more than once though.

      Any hatred I had of another team was always saved for Boston.

  23. The future is bright, 1 Yankee in the top 100, Martian at 14. townies with 3 in the top 10, mutts with 5 in the top 100. Yankees better hope phenom and Wells have big futures. Soto’s
    just gonna take the money and run.

    1. In all seriousness, that’s a shitty Top 100 right now. At least the top ten or so. I think we’ll see some major shakeups in that soon, as if Kristian Campbell is the #10 overall prospect, you’ve got some talent problems.

  24. Brian Cashman, past his use by date. Great defense? Great baserunning? He obviously doesn’t watch Yankees games.

    *********

    “We have a great shot but we only have a great shot if we play our best baseball,” the general manager said Thursday ahead of an AL Division Series against Kansas City. “I know that we have the capabilities, but at the same time I caution that we’ve had capabilities many times before and you have to match those capabilities with, obviously, great defense, great baserunning, tremendous offensive at-bats against extremely tough pitching and, obviously, the most important aspect is pitching to the best of your abilities.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/mlb/2024/10/03/yankees-playoffs-cashman/30746290-81d7-11ef-90f2-d1fc6303655d_story.html

    2. Not just meaningless utter drivel, but so transparently so that he’s almost challenging the audience to call him out for insulting them.

  25. In the craziest bit of nonsense I’ve seen in quite a while, Terry Francona is un-retiring to manage the REDS.

    What in the WHAT?! Terry, you’re one of the best managers of all-time, why in the world are you un-retiring to manage the REDS?!

  27. Never hated either of them.
    Well, I disliked the Pedroia era of whining. But some of the older Boston teams are very cool. And the coming in second to the Yankees was always endearing.
    The Mets are okay. A bit white trashy, maybe.

    I understand why KC or the Mets fans or Boston fans would hate the Yankees – it’s always that way looking from the bottom up. But I never understood Yankees fans hating anybody. It’s demeaning, really. No other team is really worth caring about.

    (Now, Houston is a different story – not as rivals, but as violators of the code who were never punished. The ghost of Shoeless Joe is pissed.)

    3. They were adorable with their idea that they, with all their zero championships since 1918, were the Yankees’ competition.

    2. With all of the rest days, I don’t see why you ever WOULD want to carry more than 11 pitchers. When in the world is Marcus Stroman ever going to be a realistic option to be used on this series? Or even Tim Mayza?

    3. The stupidest part is that the games almost certainly hinge on Torres/Soto/Judge hitting and the other 6 “hitters,” except maybe Wells, are just incidental.

      So, what’s the point of anything they do?

    4. Agreed – which is why they should just put Dominguez in LF.
      The chance that he could do something significant is not infinitesmal. It might not happen, but it MIGHT HAPPEN.
      And 3 threats in the line-up is a real upgrade.

    1. While Dominguez may not have WON the job, I think we can all agree Verdugo certainly LOST the job with his terrible, terrible season. And he’s no fabulous defender either, remember those games he single-handedly blew by sucking out there in LF? Whatever, this team is run by incompetent chimps.

  34. Simply put, between the two players, Dominguez is obviously the one more likely to make a horrific fuckup in the field (Verdugo’s one horrific fuckup in the field was all the more shocking because he’s a GOOD defender out there), while both will likely not hit, so you go with the guy who won’t obviously fuck you over. I’m not saying I LIKE it, but I get the approach.

    Give Dominguez a full Spring Training in left field and you’ll feel confident in him playing left every game next season. That’s what they SHOULD have done earlier this season. Since they didn’t, it left them in a spot where they (and us) don’t know if Dominguez can even be counted on to make a run of the mill catch. When losing any game could be the difference between getting eliminated or moving on to the next round, I get it. I don’t LIKE it, but I get it.

    Torres
    Soto
    Judge
    Wells
    Stanton
    Chisholm
    Rice
    Volpe
    Verdugo

    Maybe you swap Verdugo and Rice. It’s really not a huge deal having them at the bottom of the order. This series will turn on what Soto and Judge do. Verdugo was a much bigger deal when Giancarlo Stanton and Jazz Chisholm weren’t here, and Verdugo was batting, like, leadoff or cleanup. Burying him in the back of the lineup isn’t terrible. I’d personally still just go with Dominguez, but I get the logic.

    1. dominguez’s bat is really tremendous though, absent of woba. xwoba on the other hands suggests bad luck.

    2. How about Yankees who didn’t play 1000 games but it seemed like they did. Or most games played by someone who should’ve been gone before they were?

    1. Curry The Yankees are carrying 11 pitchers, which makes sense with the ALDS schedule. Stroman and Leiter, Jr didn’t make the cut. Duke Ellis, who stole 62 bases at various levels, is on. With the way he was feverishly working on SB attempts late yesterday, expected that.

  38. Kirschner Yankees’ main pitching acquisitions in 2024:

    Victor Gonzalez, DFA’d
    Caleb Ferguson, traded
    Marcus Stroman, not on postseason roster
    Mark Leiter Jr., not on postseason roster
    Enyel De Los Santos, DFA’d
    Lou Trivino, out for the year
    Luke Weaver: de facto closer

    As Meat Loaf said one out of seven ain’t bad.

  40. This was my guess

    Lineup
    G Torres (R) 2B
    J Soto (L) RF
    A Judge (R) CF
    A Wells (L) C
    G Stanton (R) DH
    J Chisholm Jr. (L) 3B
    A Volpe (R) SS
    O Cabrera (S) 1B
    A Verdugo (L) LF

  42. Look who the Mets’ manager starts.
    I was going to write: their manager is so much better than ours, even if you don’t agree with the move.
    But then again he’s ANY OTHER MANAGER, so of course he’s so much better than ours.
    Duh.

    1. NYA is 10 out of 30 in MLB for 2024, so well in the top half.
      Last season – SECOND TO LAST in BA with RISP.
      2022 – 21 of of 30
      2021 – 27 out of 30
      2020 – 13th
      2019 – 1st in all baseball.
      Weird.
      2018 – 12th.
      2017 – 16th.

      So in 2021-2022 they were abysmal. Other than that, they’ve been in the top half.

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