7/14/2017 Michael Pineda Out For the Season and Now the Yankees Need Even More Starting Pitching HelpRead NowBy DjackWell, if you didn't think we needed to add a starter before this news broke, I'm sure your mind has changed. Michael Pineda, will miss the rest of the season with a torn UCL and will have to undergo Tommy John surgery. In other words, the Michael Pineda era in New York is finally over. What a long stressful relationship it was with Big Mike. It was mostly frustrating because you knew he was capable of great things, just watch the movement on all his pitches, but he could never quite keep it together mentally, and was inconsistent for all of his time in New York. It's safe to say he won't be missed by many, if any New York Yankee fans.
Pineda hadn't been awful this season like in years past. He actually was able to maintain an ERA under 4 and had 8 wins for us before the all star break. Now, the Yankees need someone to come in and either match that production or produce more than Pineda if the Yankees want to have any shot at making the postseason. Here's some options the Yankees have for boosting this depleted rotation. First off they can try to just promote a guy like Chance Adams to replace Pineda, although they already needed another legit starter before Pineda went down, so I think they'll have to promote Chance Adams regardless. Tanaka, Severino, Sabathia, Montgomery, and Adams might be what they go with going forward, however if they really want to make a run this year they'll look to add a big time arm to replace Sabathia or Adams if he doesn't prove he can shut down big league lineups like he has been at every level in the minors. Sonny Gray and Gerritt Cole seem to have drawn some interest by the Yankees, however getting either of them will cost the Yankees a number of prospects. I'd rather avoid that route, hope that somehow CC returns to early season form and that Chance Adams is a stud at the big league level. Unfortunately, that might not be a realistic expectation, and we may have to give up some prospects to acquire an already established pitcher to help us get to October. Cashman is yet to let me down in the past two season with any moves he's made improving the team, so I trust him to make the right move this time around as well. I'm in no rush to mortgage the farm to try and make a World Series run this year, I know we've already exceeded expectations this year, and I'm not going to rush a process that has been so good to us Yankee fans. Just enjoy the second half, watch our young guys continue to develop and improve, and hopefully the squad we have right now is enough to win the AL East or at least get a wildcard berth. It's all a learning process for these young guys so as long as we're playing competitive baseball I couldn't be happier with the direction of this team. Now, let's sit back and watch Cashman work his magic. By DjackLast night was a special moment in baseball, it was one of those nights where you were witnessing something impressive, all the while you're watching something even bigger happening without even realizing. I'm pretty sure Aaron Judge became the face of baseball last night and it only took him 3 months to do so. Bryce Harper, choose not to do the Home Run Derby and Mike Trout couldn't due to an injury. Even still both have had plenty of chances to in the past but chose not to. Well, it may have just back fired because baseballs new biggest superstar, literally and figuratively, put on an absolute show last night. This isn't like what Giancarlo Stanton did last year when he made serious noise at the Derby because it never quite translated to the field as much, but with Judge it translates on the field as well. Leaving me with the thought, did Aaron Judge become the face of baseball last night?
Now, I'm not saying Aaron Judge is the best player in baseball, that would just be stupid of me to say, he's a rookie that hasn't even played a full year, I would never disrespect Mike Trout or Bryce Harper like that, even though he is having a better year statistically than both. What I'm saying is Judge is the most marketable player in baseball and usually that gets you to be the face of the league. The guy looks like a football player, yet he plays baseball, and is actually really fucking good at it. Everyone admires what he's doing because it's shit they've never seen before. The guy literally looks like a super hero and that's what we want our athletes to be. Harper and Trout look like normal dudes, they're big in the baseball community, but outside of that they're kinda nobody's in the grand scheme of things. Last night, Judge left his first of many footprints on his way to becoming maybe the biggest star the sport of baseball has ever seen. People showing up to Marlins stadium in Judge robes with wigs and on social media all the rave was about Aaron Judge. You know someone is big deal when people that don't care about the sport are talking about it and everyone is talking about Aaron Judge today. If this kid stays on this path we're witnessing a guy that is revolutionizing baseball and maybe saving the sport in regards to gaining young fans interest once again. Thank you, Aaron Judge, what you're doing for the sport of baseball is bigger than anyone could've ever imagined. Mike Trout and Bryce Harper will still be loved and cherished throughout the sport, but they just took a backseat to the new biggest attraction in baseball. By MukClint Frazier is killllllling it so far since being called up, and is so far meeting, if not exceeding all expectations. In his debut, Frazier struck out in his first at-bat, which got some people slightly nervous, but he made sure to impress from there on out. He doubled, and hit a HR, going 2-4 with an RBI.
However, over the next three games, he went 0-9, with one walk, and saw his average dip from .500 in his debut all the way down to .154, but that didn't last long. In his fifth career game, Frazier went 1-3 with a triple, racking up another RBI while he was at it. Then, yesterday, Frazier got a taste of his first home run and his first walk-off at Yankee Stadium, going 3-4, with a HR, and a triple, racking up 4 RBI's on the day, and leading the Yankees to a win over the Brewers, and bringing his BA all the way back up to .300, in his best game yet. And once again today, Frazier did all that he could to help the Yankees get a win over the Brewers. Frazier blasted a 2-run HR, racking up his 3rd HR and 8th RBI on the season. I love this young man!! Red Thunder baby!! The baby bombers are turning into grown men right in front of our eyes. 7/5/2017 Logan Morrison Cries About Gary Sanchez Being in the Home Run Derby Instead of HimRead NowBy DjackSomeone call the wambulance, I think Logan Morrison has a hurt feeling. What a fucking bitch this guy is, you call yourself a man? Logan Morrison spoke out against Gary Sanchez being in the home run derby instead of him. Morrison argument was that he has hit more homers than Sanchez, which is very true, he even made a point that he had 14 home runs like a month and a half ago. That's cute, Gary also missed an entire month of the season, but you failed to mention that part now didn't you. He also forgot to mention that El Gary has hit more home runs than Morrison since entering the league. Therefore, shitting all over Morrisons sorry point because in actuality El Gary is the better power hitter since he's clearly hit more home runs than Morrison since being called up to the big leagues last August.
Morrison was more pissed off at the fact the MLB doesn't show any recognition to him or players on smaller market teams, but don't you dare use Gary's name in vain trying to get your point across. That shit doesn't fly with me, especially when he's 100x the player that he'll ever be. Logan Morrison has had one good half a season and expects the world, slow your roll, kid. Sanchez doesn't even have a full season under his belt and he's got a higher career WAR than you. Obviously the young star is going to get the nod instead of the middle aged one year wonder. Now, when El Gary wins the Home Run Derby, I'll cordially invite LoMo to suck it. By DjackThe Mets are not dead, I don't care how bad things have been, I don't care about the team's history of misfortune, all I care about are the facts, and the facts lead me to believe the Mets are going to turn this around. I know I've been saying it all year long, but this team is built on starting pitching, and that's been maybe the biggest problem they've had so far this season. The concern coming into the season was the lineup producing enough runs to win games, well turns out the lineup is just fine, and it's the pitching that has dug the Mets into this enormous hole that seems impossible to climb out of.
Once again, Mets fans have already begun to quit on there team before July. This has become somewhat on a past time for this organization and the sad sack of people that root for this franchise. Don't worry, I'm here to help sway your opinion of this team back the other way, so when the Mets do turn this season around you don't feel like a complete asshole for already quitting on your team months prior. The Mets backbone for the past 3 seasons has been the starting pitching. That's what won them the division in 2015, that's what got them back to the postseason last year, and that's what has dug them into this God forsaken hole this year. As the Mets look to turn this season around the way they are going to do it is through pitching. Jacob deGrom has been fantastic in his last few starts. He hasn't been trying to strikeout every batter so he's lasting much deeper into games, which couldn't be more important with how bad the Mets bullpen has been, along with cutting down the hefty workload they had in the beginning of the season. That gives the Mets one pitcher that essentially gives them an almost guaranteed win every 5 days. Unfortunately, one guy isn't enough, so they need help from their other young bucks. The addition of Steven Matz back into the rotation has been huge. The Mets now get a second legit starter back in the rotation, Matz has looked better than ever, and if he can stay healthy the Mets have a nice 1 2 punch at the top of their rotation. The addition of Seth Lugo back into the rotation is another huge cog in the Mets pitching machine. Lugo has had good stuff in his last few starts, he seems to struggle as he gets deeper into games, but that may just be due to fatigue. If Lugo can keep giving the Mets quality starts while building his arm back up to peak form he'll be another starter that consistently put's the Mets in positions to win. Hopefully, Noah Syndergaard will come back before August giving the Mets their most dominant ace back, reinventing this starting rotation single handily. Who knows when Thor will be back, though. Can't rely on him coming back to save the Mets season. Another unreliable guy is Matt Harvey. He's hurt again and honestly I think we've seen the best of Matt Harvey. He just doesn't have that dark knight chip on his shoulder anymore. The Mets were relying on him to return to peak form this season, so obviously this is a big blow to their original plans, but they'll just have to absorb the blow and move on. The two x-factors for the Mets will be Robert Gsellman and Zack Wheeler. Both these guys have shown flashes of being very good pitchers. Unfortunately, they've also shown flashes of being pretty poor pitchers that are also injury prone. Tough to say which guys the Mets will get with these two, but if they get the very good pitcher version they'll be in great shape. The Mets with a healthy rotation that is pitching effectively can reel of wins in streaks like no tomorrow. I know we haven't seen much of that, although when have they had a rotation of these 5 guys when they're all healthy and effective. Almost never, so we've never truly seen what they're capable of. All I'm saying is don't sleep on the Mets because they may just surprise you. It's also been reported the Mets are interested in signing Bartolo Colon since he was DFA'd by the Atlanta Braves. I know Colon has been atrocious this season, but he always seemed sharp with the Mets, and his presence alone in the clubhouse is worth the risk of picking him up. Sandy Alderson better make the right decision and bring back Big sexy. In a division with the Braves, Phillies, and Marlins the Mets have a ton of potential easy victories in their path the rest of the way. If the starting rotation can pull this together I believe Terry Collins will once again get credited for saving the Mets season after it seemed so far gone for the third straight year. Just gonna have to wait and see if the miracle Mets can pull off maybe their hardest task yet. Do you think the Mets are dead? Do you think they have a chance? How should the Mets approach the rest of the season? Let me know in the comment section. By Muk To say Cody Bellinger is on fire is an injustice to what he's accomplishing right now.
The Dodgers rookie 1B/OF has put on an absolute show in his first few months in the big's, blasting an astounding 24 HR's in 57 games, all while hitting .274 and adding 55 RBI's. In a season where it seemed that no player could take the spotlight off of Aaron Judge, Bellinger is doing all that he can to bring attention to the West Coast. With the Dodgers on fire as of late, winning 10 straight, and taking sole possession of first place in the best division in baseball, the NL West, the majority of their success can be attributed to Bellinger. He hit 2 home runs last night, notching yet another multi-HR game, and helped propel the Dodgers to a comeback 12-6 win over their division rival, the Colorado Rockies. Not only is Bellinger an absolute lock for the NL Rookie of the Year, he is making a serious case for the MVP award as well if he keeps this pace and productivity up. Hitting multiple HR's every other game is insanity, and while we expect his production to slow down, I can't see it completely falling off, and for that reason, he will be an issue for NL teams for the rest of this season, and likely for years to come. By DjackThe New York Yankees got slapped in the face with the cold hand of the baseball Gods this past week. A terrible west coast road trip that was filled with blown leads, injuries, and the realization our pitching staff can't maintain the level of play they've been providing for the entire season. Injuries, rough road trips, and players underperforming are all apart of the 162 game grind, fortunately the Yankees were able to avoid this for the first 10 weeks of the season. Unfortunately, an avalanche of these issues have swamped the Yankees all at once, and for the first time this season the Yankees are worrying some of their fans. The same fans that hopped on the bandwagon after we began dominating the division, but still, the point I'm trying to make is still the same. The biggest issues the Yankees have right now is health and the lack of quality pitching they're getting from their "ace" Masahiro Tanaka. The pitching staff was what worried fans coming into the season, however they had been exceptional up until this west coast road trip. C.C. Sabathia looked like a new man that had completely reinvented himself to start the season, talks of him making the all star team were starting to sprout, then of course he goes down with a hamstring injury that'll keep him out until after the all star break. Match that with more injuries to our starting lineup and the Yankees are a much easier lineup to maneuver around. Aaron Hicks, who has taken off this year as a delightful surprise for our offense and defense, went down with an injury on the west coast trip, and he shouldn't be out for too long, but you never know. Greg Bird, the guy that was supposed to bat third for us this season, has been out with a foot injury for almost two months now, that certainly escalated quickly. Who knows when he'll be back and if he'll be able to produce like he was expected to when the season began. The cherry on top to all the injuries the Yankees have run into lately was when Gleyber Torres was diagnosed with a torn UCL that will require Tommy John surgery. It's his non throwing elbow so it isn't too worrisome for his future, however the Yankees could've used him in August and September when they are trying to make a playoff push.
The biggest difference between when the Yankees were crushing everyone to now when they're losing to some of the worst teams in baseball is their pitching. When we are playing our best baseball the starting pitching and bullpen have been outstanding for us. Along that west coast nightmare they were both pretty atrocious. Pineda is untouchable at home, but is pretty much awful on the road, it's actually remarkable how much his stats vary from when he's at home and when he's on the road. Severino has been great, so I can't get on him. Montgomery is young and is learning how to pitch in the big leagues with every start, so I can't get on him either, especially since he's been pretty good for us this year. As for Tanaka, I have no words, the guy might be a lost cause at this point. On the mound you can see the body language he is displaying and it's not pretty. The guy has zero confidence in his stuff and as a pitcher that's pretty much everything. I really don't think Tanaka is hiding an injury, I just think he got shelled a couple times and now he just has no faith in his ability to pitch anymore. You rarely see this happen to a pitcher of his caliber, but what other answer is there? He's gotta figure this out or the Yankees have to stop putting him out there. Tanaka is basically a guranteed loss when he takes the mound at this point. Now, C.C. is down for at least a few weeks so the Yankees need another starter, which worries me beyond belief. We already needed starting pitching to begin with ,now with the injuries and Tanaka being God awful, we need more than one solid starter if we wanna continue to compete. I'm not going to panic yet, we've been too good for too long this season to let a little losing streak discourage me. It was a west coast road trip that the Yankees were thrown into after a long streak of tough divisional games with no rest inbetween, fatigue played a factor at some points I'm sure. Baseball is a season of streaks, just gotta hope your team has more winning streaks than losing streaks, something the Yankees have done a great job of this year, so let's not jump the gun getting all crazy that our season is completely falling apart. We still got Judge, Sanchez, Didi, Holiday, and Castro all raking, Chapman is back to give the bullpen a major boast, and Ellsbury is also starting his rehab assignment. Time to get back on track in the Bronx tonight with a win over the Angels. Still in first place after a 6 game losing streak, yeah I'm not worried whatsoever. Do you think the Yankees are in trouble? If you do tell me why in the comment section. If you aren't worried, tell me why in the comment section. By Muk
The Yankees are playing some of the best baseball in all of the MLB, and it seems that they're only getting better by the day.
After winning two of the three games against the Red Sox, and beating up on the Orioles Friday night, the Yankees blew out the Orioles last night 16-3, hitting five home runs. And now, with today's game against the Orioles as good as over, the Yankees now have won five straight and are heading to LA to face the struggling Angles, and will look to pad their AL East lead. Right now they're up 3 games on the Red Sox, and with the way this team is hitting, it seems that it will only get bigger this week. This team is so fun to watch it's unbelievable. I knew that the Yankees had big things in the making coming into this year, but I never expected it to be this soon. Judge, Castro, Sanchez, Gregorius, Hicks, Gardy, and so many more Yankees are red-hot. Their pitching is getting things together, Severino is bringing the juice, he's 5-2 with a 2.75 ERA and 84 strikeouts, and CC Sabathia is feeling himself as well, with a 7-2 record and a 3.66 ERA. Even Jordan Montgomery is getting in his groove, going 2-0 in June, with a 1.38 ERA and 13 K's.
Aaron Judge blasted his 20th, and 21st home runs of the season today, and the kid seemingly gets better every single day. He now has 21 homers, 47 RBI's and is hitting an incredible .344 on the season.
Gary Sanchez is starting to catch fire himself after missing much of the early part of the season. He's racked up 10 home runs, 28 RBI's, and is hitting .278 thus far, in only 35 games. The player having the most incredibly surprising, and low-key great season, is Aaron Hicks, who has 10 home runs, 34 RBI's, and is hitting a great .313 so far. I love this team, I can't wait for what the future holds, and I absolutely expect this season to continue to play out the way it is. World Series aspirations, and you best believe that we're getting another ring real soon. By MukLast night, Albert Pujols became the 9th player in MLB history to hit 600 home runs, and he did it in style, blasting a grand slam in the 4th inning against the Twins. Pujols is the 4th youngest player to ever hit 600 home runs, behind ARod, Babe Ruth, and Hank Aaron.
Pujols added another feat to his illustrious career, as the 37-year old joins an elite list of MLB superstars who have hit 600 home runs, along with becoming only the third player in history to hit 600 dingers and win 3 MVP's (Arod and Barry Bonds as well). On top of his 600 home runs, 3 MVP's, he's a 2-time World Series champion, 10-time All-Star, 2-time Gold Glove winner, as well as Rookie of the Year. His career batting average of .308, 600 home runs, 1,859 RBI's, along with 2,876 hits, are all incredible numbers, and he is a first ballot Hall of Famer undoubtably. With this season being slow for Pujols, as age has become a factor, but he still has hit 9 home runs this year, and it's likely that he will catch both Sammy Sosa (609) and Jim Thome (612), and Ken Griffey's 630 home runs are within reach for next season. Albert Pujols is absolutely one of the greatest baseball players of All-Time, and especially of our generation, and he continues to impress. By DjackThe only saving grace the Angels had was Mike Trout and now he will be hitting the DL for the first time in his career. The Angels with Trout this season were only 26-27, good for second place in the AL West, but they'd be a stretch to make the playoffs with the Astros already running away with the division and a tough wildcard race. Now, with him missing close to two months of baseball the Angels record is going to tank badly. Don't be surprised if the Angels are at the bottom of the AL West when Trout returns to the lineup sometime in late July.
Trout was marching to his 3rd MVP before he was hit with this freak injury. Trout was actually having his best season yet, and now the good fans of baseball are robbed of it. I'm sure no one is more upset than Trout about this, but it sucks for all fans that we're losing the best player in baseball for a third of the season. Trout will still hit 30+ bombs rack up a ton of RBI's, runs, hits, and stolen bases, although I think his MVP hopes are done for. Who knows this guy is such a machine he really doesn't need as many games as everyone else to put up the same stats. I mean just look at what he had done in just two months this season, Trout was on pace to hit 48 home runs, 108 RBIs, and score 108 runs. Throw that in with a .330 average and .450 OBP, Trout was about to have one of the best seasons since Miggy won the triple crown. I doubt the Angels will be able to stay a float without the greatest player in baseball, but if they can for 6 weeks I'm certain Trout will elevate them to the playoffs. However, that's not going to happen, so I shouldn't have even bothered saying it. RIP to the Angels season and Mike Trout winning the MVP because he somehow tore a ligament in his hand sliding into second base. Damn that's so ass. |
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AuthorDjack- Chief editor Archives
April 2018
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