Two days, two trades for the New York Yankees during this year’s Winter Meetings. Yesterday, the Yankees shipped the reliable Adam Warren and exuberant Brendan Ryan off to Chicago in exchange for the services of soon to be 26-year-old Starlin Castro. Today, they’ve traded reliever Justin Wilson to the Detroit Tigers for righthanded pitching prospects Luis Cessa and […]
Author: Kenny Ducey
Solving the Yankees’ bullpen conundrum
The Yankees’ bullpen was the subject of much chatter last fall. A small, effective cluster of relievers was suddenly pegged as overachieving, and serious doubt was cast on its future. For a month or two following the trade deadline, many questioned Brian Cashman’s inability to score a big-time arm to help secure games, and ultimately, their bullpen […]
Ranking potential offseason targets
Projecting offseason free agent targets is always an arduous task, because price tags will fluctuate over the winter, and needs will change unexpectedly. Keeping that in mind, there is a decent crop of players that the Yankees could sensibly choose from. I am arriving fashionably late to the party. We have already broken down the Yankees’ outfield […]
Yankee Purgatory
NEW YORK — That’s why the Yankees wanted, and needed, the AL East so badly. At times, home plate umpire Eric Cooper’s strike zone was forgiving to Dallas Keuchel. Other times, the Astros’ defense was menacing; in the fourth, George Springer ranged to his left to rob Alex Rodriguez of a double, and in the […]
Both optimism and uncertainty surround Yankees’ playoff berth
Considering the tumultuous nature of the Yankees’ 2015 season, it’s only fitting that their playoff-clinching win was wrapped in both buoyancy and anxiety. On the one hand, here were the Yankees, who the masses counted out back in April, cracking beer cans and submerging their teammates in alcohol. Here was Alex Rodriguez, who wasn’t even expected to […]
Yankees take Subway Series, look like a playoff team
NEW YORK — Anxiety. Conflict. Noise. Remove all context from Yankees-Mets on Sunday night and you would have thought you were witnessing playoff baseball at Citi Field. This felt different. This was the culmination of a season-long journey the Mets and their supporters have navigated through for months on end. Under the lights. A nation […]
Subway Series Preview: Can CC keep rolling?
The Yankees are preparing to play what might be their most anticipated regular season series of the year, against the Mets in Queens. While Aubrey “Drake” Graham might disagree with this sentiment, the city of New York is in wholehearted agreement. They will run into a Mets squad that’d won eight in a row before dropping their […]
Yankees’ depth proves vital down the stretch
Barring a drastic collapse, the Yankees are going to make the playoffs. That doesn’t mean things aren’t stressful this time of year. “I don’t know what happened over there in Boston,” Brendan Ryan said after a 2-1 loss to Baltimore on Tuesday. He was quickly informed that the Blue Jays were wrapping up a 5-1 win over the […]
Can Ivan Nova hold up down the stretch?
With the exception of Brendan Ryan’s two shutout innings on the mound, there was absolutely nothing positive to take from the Yankees’ blowout loss to the Astros on Tuesday. Ivan Nova started for the Yankees, and Houston shelled him to the tune of seven runs, seven hits, and four walks over four innings. “It was not a […]
The Ragin’ Avian
For months, we heard from the Yankees that Greg Bird was “untouchable” via trade. On Wednesday, Greg Bird personified that sentiment. It started as an average day for the 22 year-old. He grabbed coffee and breakfast with his folks. They drove him to the park from the hotel they’re staying at. He got in his […]