When Brian McCann signed with the New York Yankees he was almost universally considered a “good fit”. Both the media and his new teammates saw his left-handed swing and the short porch at Yankee Stadium and assumed McCann was in for some big seasons in the pinstripes. So far the veteran backstop has posted a 3.5 WAR in […]
Tag: New York Yankees
Jacoby Ellsbury can’t find holes in the infield forever
Jacoby Ellsbury has played the role of “prototypical leadoff hitter” to a tee so far this season. The 31-year-old outfielder has gotten on base at a gaudy .419 clip, he’s been a menace on the basepaths swiping 12 bags, and his 27 runs scored are tied for 4th in the major leagues. These are the […]
Should He Shave?
On the road in Tampa Bay a few weeks ago, Brett Gardner started a fad bigger than Beanie Babies, Silly Bandz, or those demon children Furbies; he grew a pitiful excuse for a moustache. In the coming days, the rest of his Yankees teammates followed his lead, sprouting whiskers of their own, in an expression of misguided masculinity, superstition, and […]
Brett Gardner’s “pest” pedigree could be on the decline
Brett Gardner is a pest. That may same like an insult, but it is both a compliment and a matter of fact. The idea of a pest is widespread in sports, but rarely applied to baseball. For the uninitiated, it is a label applied to a player who is loved by teammates and local fans, […]
The Prodigal Son: Alex Bonds-riguez
During most weeks, the primary Yankee focus is the performance of the team on the field in the form of wins and losses. We’d care about Beltrán’s bat going through menopause, Chris Young’s MVP candidacy, wins, and losses. In the words of a frustrated and impassioned Herm Edwards, “You play to win the game!” But this is not most weeks; […]
Lady Luck could help soften the loss of Masahiro Tanaka
Losing Masahiro Tanaka to a forearm strain was scary for the New York Yankees for two reasons. Firstly, any injury to Tanaka’s arm is a scary one, even if it is considered a mild one. Reports of the Japanese ace’s arm hanging by a thread may be slightly exaggerated, but his health issues do warrant […]
Recap: Yankees 2 Rays 3
The Yankees were bound to lose a game to the Rays eventually and it happened for the first time this season in a 13-inning one-run Wednesday matinee in the Bronx. New York starter Michael Pineda nearly provided his club with a quality start as he went five and 2/3 innings while allowing two earned runs […]
Getting Offensive
As the first tenth of the baseball season concludes this week, the annual transition from screams of “small sample size!” to admissions of “that’s a real trend!” begins. Right now, I like to think we’re somewhere in between these two, in a “well, maybe that means something” phase of the season. For analysts, being able […]
The role of Adam Dunn will be played by Alex Rodriguez
Coming into the 2015 season Alex Rodriguez was one of the most difficult players in baseball to project. He was clearly one of the best talents of all-time, but that talent was tainted by his checkered past. Father Time was catching up to him, but he had also been forcibly given a year off to rest […]
Yankees could get a taste of their own medicine this year
The “New York Yankees” name is arguably the most evocative in North American sports. The team brings to mind a variety of images to both diehard baseball fans and the unfortunately souls who are barely aware of the sport alike. Whether it’s the pinstripes, the financial might, 27 World Series titles, or even just the […]