From Anthony Castrovince:
To win it all, the Dodgers had to give it all. Had to stare down an ugly early deficit. Had to empty their bullpen. Had to rally against Gerrit Cole and then against the Yankees’ best relievers. Had to get a World Series-clinching save from starter Walker Buehler, of all people.
With an unflappable team effort, the Dodgers claimed their second World Series title in the last five years and their first in a full season since 1988 by beating the Yankees in Game 5 on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.
And in this 7-6 victory, the Dodgers ushered in their champagne celebration the hard way, becoming the first team in a World Series-clinching win to come back from down five or more runs. They also became the first team in MLB postseason history to fall behind by five-plus runs, erase that deficit, fall behind again and yet still win the game.
Talk about earning your ring.
The featured image really tells the tale. The Yankees had made two astonishingly bad errors in the fifth inning (Judge just dropped an easy flyball, and then Volpe tried to get the lead runner on a groundball that instead was thrown away so that everyone was safe), but Cole then struck out the next two batters, and got a groundball, and Cole thought Rizzo was going to take it to the bag, and Rizzo thought Cole was going to run to the bag to receive his throw, and NEITHER went to the bag, and despite Betts obviously being far from first base in the above image, he beat Rizzo to the bag, and scored the Dodgers’ first run instead of ending the inning with the Yankees up 5-0. The Dodgers then scored FOUR MORE RUNS on hits by the next two batters, and the game was tied.
I mean, that’s it right there. That was the difference between getting out of the inning up 5-0, and a downward spiral that led to disaster. Sigh.
Then, after the Yankees actually battled back to take the lead again, Tommy Kahnle, the Yankees’ second-best reliever all season, came into the game to try to bridge the gap to Luke Weaver in the 8th inning, and promptly pitched about as poorly as you could possibly pitch. A clean leadoff single by that pesky Kike Hernandez (who was nearly a Yankee this season, but the Dodgers offered him more playing time), then one of those classic groundballs hit in JUST the wrong spot that have plagued the Yankees this postseason, and then, finally, a truly BIZARRELY AWFUL walk to the #8 hitter to load the bases, but more importantly, move the tying run to third base (and the go-ahead run to second base). Two sac flies later, the Dodgers had the lead, which they wouldn’t relinquish.
As I said in the thread, going into the season, I had one goal that the Yankees had to meet for me to consider this season a success. They had to make the World Series. They made the World Series. So this season was a success in my book. But holy shit, they sure decided to lose the World Series in as excruciating fashion as possible, huh? I obviously coped with the fact that, well, come on, they weren’t going to win the series ANYways, but boy, it sure would have been nice to get to Game 6.
Gerrit Cole pitched as well as you could possibly pitch in TWO World Series games, and the Yankees lost both games due to incredibly shitty decision-making by the defenders (plus whatever you call what Judge did. That wasn’t even thinking at ALL).
Oh well, I think the Yankees, if they re-sign Juan Soto, have enough guys to get right back to the World Series next year, especially now that they have a good closer in Luke Weaver (had Clay Holmes not sucked so much this season, the Yankees could have had home field advantage against the Dodgers. Hopefully next year they win closer to 100 games). They have the top end guys (if they re-sign Soto), Hal just has to let Cashman actually spend a little bit on the edges, like Andrew Friedman is allowed to do in Los Angeles (AFTER they signed Ohtani and Yamamoto, he was still allowed to sign Teoscar Hernandez, and take on salary in deals for Tommy Edman, Michael Kopech, and Amed Rosario, who he was then allowed to CUT because they had TOO MANY good players). Cashman, instead, is constantly pinching pennies on the edges, and it shows.
But still, the Yankees won the pennant, and I am generally pleased with this season. They just need to now WIN the World Series in one of these next few years. The 1976 Yankees were swept in the World Series. They then won the next seasons. The 2004 Cardinals sucked in the World Series, and then won in 2006. The 2014 Royals had a painful World Series loss, then came back and won it the next season. The Astros had a bad World Series loss in 2021, and came back to win it in 2022. The Yankees need to do that in 2025, 2026 or 2027.
And if they re-sign Soto, I think they CAN do it. But we will now get to be on pins and needles waiting to hear where Soto signs all offseason. “Fun”!
If only we lived in an age where the owner would be so pissed over this loss that he’d have the payroll up over $400 mill next season, where it should be.
Spending money on the supporting cast would be a big deal, yes.
But you’re missing the most important things this team can do to improve, and neither of them should cost much of anything.
1.) The single most important thing this team can do, maybe more important than signing Judge, is to get Boone his Zimmer. And it’s perfectly possible: Zimmer didn’t force anything on Torre, he just sat there and said the things Torre should have known anyway, so Torre surely thought he had come to those decisions himself.
(For this team, that really IS the new market inefficiency.)
_
2.) They HAVE to establish an actual major league program that trains their players in the most basic aspects of playing baseball. Including baserunning, where to be on any particular play in the field, all the things in which they just weren’t actual professional ballplayers. It can’t be so very difficult – almost every other team in the sport does it, and does it so much better than they have! Maybe EVERY other team. That alone might have been enough to win them this WS.
_
3.) They seem to have a staff that understands the pitching pretty well. But they have a big problem when it comes to the hitting. They need to bring in people to fix that. When their players go into slumps, they’re crazy extended slumps. And they’re crazy DEEP slumps. That’s not normal.
Add in their obvious problems developing young hitting talent (prospect after prospect looking so promising and then just tanking offensively) and you can see how desperately they need help in this area. This alone could radically change this team’s fate going forward.
This is what I’m left with:
Such a weird game. Somehow none of these teams were great teams. If they Yankees had won, I’d still have known this wasn’t a great team, that it was even a bad team in too many key ways. They don’t feel like Champions. None of these teams did – not the Phillies, not the Dodgers. The Mets could have been an inspiring kind of “team of Destiny,” that would have provided a kind of feeling of legitimacy. Barring that, though, somehow I don’t care that much, although I’d have liked the Yankees to win.
And the Yankees, being what they are, shot themselves in the foot repeatedly, with gusto and creativity. It was even interesting in its own way. There are things this team can do to become a team that’s like a heavyweight, that deserves to actually win the WS, rather than screwing up slightly less than some other competitors in the “pretty good” – I like the “welter” in “welterweight” – category.
I knew they would blow it.
What a fitting way to end the season. A season filled with come from ahead losses, gut punch losses, wins that felt like losses. Watching Judge and Soto hit was entertaining although muted by the fact that they were a 0.500 team for most of the year.
I still can’t forget Judge on the cusp of 60 home runs, maybe even a triple crown… sitting that game out after the clinch.
He couldn’t find the motivation to play the 3 f*ing games they had left – with a week’s rest coming up anyway?
There’s just something missing here.
That dropped fly ball … oof. That’s going to haunt him for a long time.
I don’t know what the Yankees do here this offseason. I don’t think keeping Judge in CF is a good move. They don’t have a lot of faith in Dominguez right now. If (and this is a big IF) they keep Soto, they need to find a place for him. Move Judge to LF? Stanton will be the 2025 DH when he’s healthy.
Pitching wise, the staff should return but I assume Cole will exercise his opt-out forcing more money out of the Yankees. Or he commits seppuku. Bullpen fine, whatever, find some more arms for Blake to turn into cromulent relievers. Gleyber moves on, Jazz takes on 2nd. So they’ll need a 1B and a 3B plus another outfielder if Hal’s checkbook gets lost at the yacht dealership.
There was one bad play in that inning by his teammates. Judge.
Volpe made the right play on a ball in the hole. He was rushed and couldn’t get his feet set. I have no problem with Volpe on that play.
Cole has to cover first. Has to. That is on him. If he does. He gets out of that inning with no runs and he would have done an amazing job picking up Judge’s error. Instead, he doesn’t cover 1st base and then melted down and let up 4 more runs.
Yeah if Cole covers first he probably could have gone at least 8 innings. It was amazing he could go as long as he did after that 5th.
Cole definitely should have run hard to 1st, but Rizzo also should have been fielding with urgency – especially with a runner as fast as Betts, neither of them have an excuse for not getting that out.
Rizzo is playing off the bag for a right handed batter, moving towards the line, and then had to go back towards 2nd base because of the spin on the ball. Ideally, yes, he does it all himself. I have no problem with him taking his time and assuming the pitcher is going to cover first. This isn’t C.C. out of shape, unathletic, and falling off the mound to 3B. A RHP has no excuse to not run to fist until the first baseman calls him off.
Concur. on that play, in a decisive WORLD SERIES GAME, especially after the missed play by Judge, both Rizzo and Cole should have been breaking for the bag and expecting to have to make the play. Instead they both assumed that the other one had it and half-assed it like a spring training game against the White Sox B-squad. Unacceptable bone-headed play. Maybe a lot of Boone’s fans in the clubhouse think he’s a great manager because he’s not a hard ass and lets this shit slide on the regular.
Yep and as they pointed in the post game where Tex like to make the plays himself, Rizzo usually looked to toss to the pitcher. That was on Cole primarily.
When all is said and done one can say they made the WS so it was a good season. The lost two winnable games because the bullpen guys you trusted – Cousins and Kahnle – stunk.
But they were an 500 team for most of the season, are poorly managed, have terrible fundamentals, and if they don’t sign Soto won’t even sniff the WS next year.
“We made too many wrong mistakes.” – Yogi Berra
What is really concerning is the Yankees going down 3-0 and then losing in 5 to a Dodger team that is really beat up. The had so many injuries, especially pitching. Even Ohtani wasn’t available as a pitcher and then then got hurt in game 2 and wasn’t healthy as a batter for most of the series either, and the Yankees STILL didn’t put up a competitive series.
Next year, with Cole and Judge a year further past their primes and Soto likely gone? Can Stanton continue to hit like this in the post-season forever as he starts the 2nd half of his 30s?
The way the first 4 innings went, it felt like the Yankees had a lot of momentum and it made me think that there was a chance they would take the game and go into LA with a lot on their side: Judge could have continued his resurgence, Volpe and Wells were hitting, Soto was consistently great at the plate, the pitching was lining up, and the Yankees were showing that maybe they wouldn’t get baffled by LA’s pitchers the 2nd time around …
And then wheels came off in spectacular fashion.
The Yankees DID put up a competitive series though, they just made critical mistakes at the worst times.
If Boone makes reasonable decisions in game 1, they likely win. If the Yankees spread those defensive gaffs out over even just 2 innings, they win last night. They never got blown out, and their pitching was fine. The offense just didn’t execute on a clear path to victory. They showed against Cleveland that they could just grind down a short rotation and expose the pen. They just didn’t bring that same approach to the first 3 games of the series.
Eh, a few of the games were close but the series wasn’t competitive.
I agree their pitching was mostly fine, as it has been most years in the Judge era. They still couldn’t score against a depleted pitching staff.
Overall, their path to the WS was a joke. This wasn’t a great team that had a few breaks go the other way. This was a sloppy team with deep flaws facing a very beat up Dodger team and the series wasn’t competitive.
That wasn’t a comeback, that was a giveaway. Big difference.
One question that was never covered on TV, was Volpe’s throw to third the easiest play? Up five you’re looking for the sure out, in a close game of course you try to get the lead runner. Volpe had unobstructed throws to 2nd and 1st. Where was the surest out? At the time I thought he would go to second.
Hernandez had a great jump on a slower groundball and Volpe was fading to third. I don’t really fault Volpe there. He had the play. A small amount of blame goes to Jazz who is not a third baseman yet and he wasn’t ready for a poorly thrown ball. Volpe’s throw would have had him.
Hey guys. Long time no see. It’s me, Weekly Journalist! Yeah that sucked so badly I had to re-register here to say how much I wanted to drink myself into oblivion last night. my god
Hey guys. Long time no see. It’s me, Weekly Journalist! Yeah that sucked so badly I had to re-register here to say how much I wanted to drink myself into oblivion last night. my god
Amen, brother. I was reminded of one of my favorite Futurama lines which basically said “that was so bad it gave me cancer”. That’s essentially how I felt after the travesty that was game 5.
Yankees final BA for the Postseason RISP 188, the Dodgers were 278. RISP 2 out 169, Dodgers 281. Sure this is on the players, and a lot of it is random, but does this team with a few exceptions lack an approach to hitting. Is the thinking part of hitting missing?
The Yankees overall hit 228 for the playoff, 40 points higher than RISP and 59 points higher than RISP 2 outs.
Judge hit two huge home runs in the postseason and the yankees lost both games. The secret next year is that Judge must not hit any home runs!
DFA… Judge?
@Clay it’s the only way to be sure!
Soto said he’s open to all 30 teams, no team has an advantage. His primarily motivation is winning. With Judge and Cole over 30, Volpe never living up to his potential, Wells last 2 months and a shit upper minors the Yankees probably need to go big to retain Soto. Will Hal go big?
he said exactly what Judge did entering free agency….I still think likelihood is he’s a Yankee.
Judge had always been a Yankee. Judge didn’t have Boras. I think Judge is our best asset for retaining Soto but the Yankees need to aggressively get better.
Andy Martino “ There’s speculation that the Yankees could look to extend Boone beyond next season since they don’t typically go for lame ducks, but for now 2025 is all that has been discussed.”
Oh good!
For all the gnashing of teeth Judge ended the World Series with like an .840 OPS. It’s too bad he didn’t get a hot a little bit sooner or get another game to ball out.
I have to say this didn’t feel like the gut punch it should have.
I was mentally prepared for this, ever since I went (cross country trip !!!!) to the Friday night game against the townies where they had the lead with 2 outs and 2 strikes in the 9th, and managed to lose the game. I new this was not the team of Destiny, but of Density.
And then they fell out of contention, and I was emotionally done with the year. Then all of a sudden they have the Division, and success in the ALDS/ALCS sweepstakes. But I knew. I KNEW. So I had no hopes of anything more. As Brian says, the season was a success just for the pennant.
If life has taught me anything – and I’m not saying it has, only “if” – it is this: don’t get emotionally invested in things you can’t control. Enjoy the show. Hell, don’t get emotionally invested in things you DO have control over, because….shit happens.
Enjoy the show, and I’ll see youse around, maybe next season, maybe next time they are in the WS. Health and happiness to all.
After the 2004 debacle which caused me to turn off my TV in extra innings of game 5 (Torre was in full Boone mode) and caused me tremendous angst told myself I will no longer be that invested…but being a real fan is like a virus truly goes away. I was able to fall asleep eventually last night so I’m in a better place than 2004 (and 2001) but I can’t just tune out. Can you Help me?
Words of wisdom from Pin. Good to know I’m not the only one who had trouble sleeping after that debacle last night. But yeah, I’ll try to avoid the depth of attachment next time.
The attachment is what brings the joy.
Not feeling things is not way to go through life. So you’re open to misery when it goes badly. Better to love something. No other point in watching.
I wrote this team off after game 1. It still sucked to watch, just wasn’t devastating.
Words of wisdom from Pete. Heh.
And yes, I know being fully invested is the only way to really experience the joy of victory. Fortunately I had that in spades in my younger years in the late 90s (was at the stadium for game 6 in 1996 for the best sports moment of my life) and again in 2009. I was hoping somehow they’d sneak another one in this year but alas, it wasn’t meant to be.
“game 6 in 1996”
That’s just awesome.
I got Game 1. Not the same feeling!
Didn’t feel like as much of gut punch to me either, basically I already felt that they lost the series, so this was par for the course.
whatever.
It felt like more of a gut punch than Game 1, because it was just SO pathetic, but yes, I do agree that the fact that they were down 3-1 definitely dampens a lot of the bad feelings about it. I see stuff like, “Yankee fans will always remember this” or “Yankee fans will be haunted by this,” and, it’s, like, dude, they were down 3-1, that’s not how this shit works. We barely remember the Jeff Weaver walkoff. This isn’t a thing. This isn’t Dave Roberts steal or the bloop against Mo.
And it just doesn’t feel like a great team that failed. They could have won, but they could as easily do what they did.
I mean, they’ve slung so many sickeningly awful games at us, it was hard to love and believe in this team unreservedly, attached and invested though we may be despite ourselves.
Can we get a solid bench for 2025?
• Buy out Rizzo.
• Do whatever with LeMahieu, only please, no more fantasy that he has anything left. So goodbye.
• Give an OF slot to Jason, as long as he’s healthy. If you were willing to play Volpe you need to be willing to play Jasson.
• Must get fewer games in CF from Judge. Maybe some first base?
• Honestly, three more years of Stanton. Yeah, he was great in the post season, but maybe that was his swan song. But he’s going to be here, when healthy, owning the DH slot.
• Please, please, please work on the fundamental aspects of the game.
• IDK what to think about Soto. He will highly likely go where the money is the highest, IMO. And at best 50/50 Hal will be willing to go there. No Soto, the lineup needs serious help already, it will need even more serious bolstering with no Soto. Since Soto is only now entering his prime, Hal must sign him, but at best 50/50.
I have no idea why we want fewer games in CF from Judge.
I’m all for having Judge in CF for as long as we don’t have a superior line-up that puts somebody even better in CF. The more he plays an elite-value position, the more value we’re letting him produce.
CF is a position that tires you out; Judge will turn 33 in April, and at ~280 pounds, that is asking a lot for 120 or so games in the regular season. And he is only okay in CF.
I think he’s a lot better than you think.
When he can’t take, then they can move him. So far, judging by his hitting, he can handle it more than fine.
I want judge out of CF because he’ just not that good of a fielder there. He’s not bad, and I’m fine with keeping him there if they can’t find a better option. But, the priority after retaining Soto should be finding a way to get judge back in a corner, ideally LF in DNYS and RF elsewhere.
The Yankees have a lot of holes to fill, but with judge and Chisholm’s ability to cover several positions they have some flexibility in how to approach it.
They cannot go into 2026 with DJLM penciled in as a starter.
I guess I rate his CF higher than you do.
at least alex verdugo (208/309/313) in the postseason and 0.8 war in the regular season is gone. right?
1-Hold a retirement party for DJ, give him a really nice watch.
This wasn’t a gut punch because they did it to themselves. I didn’t like Boone’s moves in game 1 but Freeman hitting a home run is baseball. Not executing three plays is historic stupidity.
Athletic Fred Snodgrass’ dropped fly ball in 1912. Mickey Owen’s dropped third strike in 1941. Don Denkinger’s blown call in 1985. Buckner’s error in 1986. Mariano Rivera’s wild throw on a bunt in 2001. The Fateful Fifth Inning in 2024.
Kay said once they used Holmes for the 7th if you bring him out for the 8th you can remove him after the first base runner, but with Kahnle you have to leave him in for 3 batters.
Also Blake never had a mound visit to give Cole a breather.
Someone mentioned elsewhere that they didn’t do a mound visit to calm Cole down. Give him a chance at a breather, as you say. So typical of this unserious organization.
Meredith and Kay’s sidekick brought it up. Weird.
Rizzo had a long conference after the Volpe “error” to give him a breather.
Kay talked to the Fox crew after the game even Ortiz said he was sick to the stomach.
That makes me feel (a little) better, I guess. It was tough to watch for any non-rooting-interest baseball fan. Sickening for Yankee fans.
yadi Molina as an empowered manager would be remarkable
RAB “Every truly elite, tippy top of the market free agent has blown away contract projections over the last 25-ish years (A-Rod, Cole, Ohtani, etc.). Whatever you think it’ll cost to re-sign Soto, it’ll cost more.”
If you saw Soto in the post game robotically declaring no team has an advantage, it makes you think this has been Boras’s Five Year Plan all along. No it’s too soon to think about these things from Soto after a tough loss as one might expect. Season over! Show me the money! When asked what he thought about the fans begging for him to return he said that’s for the FO.
Per Jon Heyman of the New York Post, Soto is seeking a deal of at least $700 million that would tie Shohei Ohtani for the richest in MLB History. According to Heyman, Soto’s camp is not looking for Ohtani types of deferrals in his contract. There’s good news however, Verdugo wants to return.
I just hope he doesn’t wind up in the AL East or on the mutts.
Well, hey, if they can’t get Soto Verdugo would be a great consolation prize.
Judge really didn’t with his deal. F*** the Dodgers for doing what they did.
It’s not on the Dodgers, it’s on Ohtani, and the PA for allowing it.
It’s really on the Yankees for not raising Atlantis and establishing a baseball culture there superior to that in Japan.
A scouting report on Gleyber.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5874781/2024/11/01/mlb-top-50-free-agent-ranking-keith-law/
https://nypost.com/2024/10/31/sports/yankees-world-series-failure-started-with-fundamental-issues/
what everyone knows except boone and cash!
if they can’t teach fundamentals they should really buy them. gleyber has to go. move jazz to a position he knows.
and sign soto, walker, bregman, sasaki.
Sasaki may not even e posted, his team has his rights for two more seasons. And, he has been injury prone with a maximum IP of 129 in a season. Also, he’ll sign, when available, with the Dodgers.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5874781/2024/11/01/mlb-top-50-free-agent-ranking-keith-law/
Bregman. Ugh.
As for Bregman.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5874781/2024/11/01/mlb-top-50-free-agent-ranking-keith-law/
bregman is a professional baseball player in every way. not just a guy that gets paid to play. they need the best people but they also need anti-gleybers. smart dudes that hustle and won’t forget their names at a bit of adversity.
it’s a 2008 kind of moment but hopefully they invest in quality and smarts. if they can do that, then it’s worth overpaying
and maybe getting a manager to hold these guys accountable, but that’s just dreaming.
Does
participant in a major and as-yet-unpunished cheating scandal
ring a bell?
at this point i care more about not having seen a parade since 2008 than 2017.
I don’t want to die with the Dodgers getting 28 before we do.
If the manager won’t hold the players accountable then the captain should…if he really wants to win a ring.
After they sign Soto, should they sign any of the top FA pitchers, and who? You can never have enough starting pitching.
Cole can opt-out, but the Yankee can say here’s another year at $36 million.
One year deal? He’ll be 39, but he plays great defense per OAA. Platoon with Ben Rice?
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5874781/2024/11/01/mlb-top-50-free-agent-ranking-keith-law/
Yeah, I could live with Santana/Rice at first. It all turns on whether Soto is back, though, of course. If he doesn’t come back, they need to do a LOT of moves. They bring Soto back, they’ll be in the mix for the World Series for the next few years. It’s crazy how much their near future title chances turn on just this one move.
Santana would be a good addition especially for the right handed bat and defense, but do the Yankees have enough roster flexibility to carry two 1Bs? With 13 pitchers, depending on the handedness of the opposing SP the bench would look something like:
Rice/Santana
DJLM/Cabrera*
Grisham
Trevino
*There’s no way they’re cutting DJ even if they should, and they need someone like Waldo who can play middle infield positions. 3B could be a black hole again next year.
I’d like to stay away from relying on more guys in their late 30s.
No surprise, Yankees pick up Weaver’s option.
The Yankees have declined their 2025 club option for INF Anthony Rizzo.
Thankfully.
Walker seems perfect for the Yankees, they generally valued 1B defense (at least from their primary) 1B when available. With Walker’s age, he shouldn’t be TOO expensive and might be available on a 3-year deal.
He’ll be 34.
Kiley McDaniel “ BREAKING: New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole opted out of his contract, sources tell me and @JeffPassan. The Yankees can void the opt-out by adding one year and $36 million to the four years and $144 million that Cole had remaining on his deal.”
RAB “Strong argument to be made they should just thank him for the last five years and let him walk. He’s in his mid 30s, velocity is slipping, whiff rates are declining, injuries popped up this year. The opt out is a chance to walk away from the worst decline years.”
I dunno?
“The worst decline years”
It’s ONE year.
The question is clear enough: for next year, is there something better available?
It’s an interesting idea. It’s hard to think of a better option for 2025, but the Yankees rotation is solid, if unspectacular without him. Of course, it really only makes sense if the Yankees would use that money/spot to acquire another similar, but younger, workhorse top of the rotation starter.
The Yankees only have a week or so to lineup a replacement via trade, so unless they had a plan already, it’s hard to see the Yankees letting him walk.
I don’t think the Yankees have the pieces to net a “replacement” for Cole via trade, FWIW.
Similar, top of the rotation workhorse starter, and younger.
Who, exactly, would that be?
Also, I wouldn’t say “solid, but not spectacular.”
These aren’t stable #3 starters.
They’re potential stars who haven’t locked it down. Volatile, unpredictable. Tremendous upside and unreliable.
I actually kind of prefer that to stable #3 starter, but I may be compulsively non-risk-averse.
Burnes, Flaherty if you believe his shoulder is fully healthy and will remain so.
Not convinced by Flaherty at all.
If they DON’T sign Cole for one year, but DO sign Burnes for 5 or so, sure.
Although I really like having playser in one place as long as possible.
Worst fundamentals of any team to compete in Williamsport this year.
this may be unpopular universally but if they don’t get soto i don’t mind provided they sign the laundry list of other players.
it’s wild how many positions could be upgraded.
the 90s teams did not have the biggest superstar at any position. the dodgers obviously do have mega stars but it’s the depth that made them so formidable.
if cash wants to turn this team into the angels then i’m out.
maybe even players that can do basic things like throw to a teammate for a double play
Volpe and Wells hitting like they hit when they hit, and not like they hit when the stop hitting utterly, might be the most important thing they can do.
If they can do it.
Stabilizing Gil and Schmidt would be huge, too. And less improbable.
Yep Volpe and Wells are big uncertains and Gil could be one of the best pitchers in the game or Michael Pineda.
Also, stop with the “the Dodgers did everything right.”
Yes, the Yanks gave this away, but the Dodgers had their share of screw-ups. One infielder flubbed two infield pop-ups in a single series. There were a few others.
__
And stop with “how much better the Dodgers were and why” malarkey. I wasn’t at all blown away by the Dodgers this series. They could EASILY have lost this series if it hadn’t been handed to them on a silver platter. They didn’t hit great, their fielding was a mixed bag, their pitching was pretty good, but you were hardly paralyzed with fear of it. They didn’t screw up in bunches, like the 5th inning of the last game. That’s about it.
When asked if the fans’ desire for him to stay would influence his decision, Soto acknowledged the impact of their support on the Yankees’ ownership.
“Probably, it will impact the decision of ownership,” Soto said. “I’m really thankful for the fans. They’ve been incredible.”
Ha-Seong Kim just opted out. I would love him as a target for the IF.
High end defense with a solid OBP focused bat.
He will miss the beginning of the season though.