Post by Strategist on Jan 7, 2020 0:54:19 GMT
2018 Review:
Record: 89-74 3rd in AL East 1 GB in WC. R/G Scored: 5th (AL) R/G Against: 7th (AL)
Starting the Offseason:
Lineup: Starting the 2019 offseason the Yankees had heart of the lineup stalwart Anthony Rendon as the anchor. Then the diminished but still very solid Buster Posey at catcher. Solid players Brandon Crawford at SS, Jose Abreu at 1B, Ryan Braun in LF, Manny Margot in CF, Enrique Hernandez in RF and Willie Calhoun at DH. The Yanks did have a major hole at 2B that needed to be filled. They moved Hernandez to make room for Eloy Jimenez and traded for Scooter Gennett to fill their 2B hole. After that they had a solid lineup top to bottom with average to above average hitters filling every spot.
Rotation: Perennial Cy Young contender Zach Greinke lead the pitching staffed followed by the well on his way to being an ace Walker Buehler then followed those guys 3 very young but very promising Shanke Bieber, Caleb Ferguson and Ryan Yarbrough. They did make a few trades to bring in veteran depth in Trevor Richards and Dylan Bundy. Neither of whom pitched well. They also signed C.C. Sabathia.
Bullpen: The back in with Josh Hader and Wade Davis was already an elite combo. Maybe the best left/right combo in the league. After those 2 though it need an infusion of depth. The Yankees would trade for the elite Felipe Vazquez and Ken Giles (flipped for Trevor Richards) to add to Shane Green, Kyle Zimmer and Xavier Cedeno in the middle relief spots. Overall a very strong bullpen to start out the season.
Early/Mid Season:
It was a very rough start to the season for the Yanks. Maybe more accurate to say rough 1st half as they went 36-45 the 1st 3 moths of the season. This lead Jeremiah to post a trade block that included most of his top players to see what was out there. The only move he made was to move Buster Posey for James Mccann and Victor Caratini and some prospects. Mccann and Caratini were both good IRL so next year should pair to form a solid catching duo. I think Posey was moved in part to get out of his large contrace that still has 2 yr 42.8 Mil left. About a week later with several teams looking to move top end talent the Yanks reversed course and made trades for Charlie Blackmon and Paul Goldshmidt for Abreu and prospects. These were major upgrades to the lineup.
Late Season:
The moves sparked the team winning and astounding 26 out of 27 games form mid July to mid August. Coupled with a 16-9 September they had a record of 44-18 after the all start break and saw them finish with an overall 89-73 record finishing in the 2nd WC spot. Unfortunately they could't hold a 4-2 advantage going into the bottom of the 9th of the WC game. Davis eventually giving up a 3 run HR with 2 outs to Trevor Story.
Lineup: 7th (NL) in runs scored. I don't think that ranking quantifies how good the Yankees lineup was 2nd half of the season. They lead the AL in runs in September and were top 5 in August. Rendon was an MVP candidate the whole season finishing with .297/.389/.544 33 HRs and 105 RBIs 150 OPS+ and 7.7 WAR. Several other players played very good but one that I want to point out is Tony Kemp hit .352/.411/.510 for 148 OPS+ in 361 ABs. Great 2nd half of the season for this lineup and solid overall.
Rotation: 8th (AL) in starters' ERA. Rotation struggled a bit. with only Ferguson below 3.96 ERA but overall solid. Buehler did have a bad year as did Richards and Bundy in short stints as starters.
Bullpen: 9th (AL) in bullpen ERA. I think the bullpen underperformed it projections as Hader and Davis were solid but not great and Vazquez was just downright bad with a 5.02 ERA. Their bullpen had the talent it just didn't live up to the billing.
In Conclusion:
After the first half of the season I think that Jeremiah would be happy how the lineup and the rotation performed and that he had elite talent in his bullpen but sometimes they just have down seasons. He has a great young core to build around in Bieber, Buehler, and Jimenez to build around. This offseason will be a challenge as both Rendon and Goldschmidt are FAs and with 145 mil in guaranteed contracts already on the books are going to be hard to sign both. Even if he is only able to resign 1 of them he should still be very competitive in a tough AL East.
Trades Overview:
SP Martin Perez, C Francisco Cervelli, Justis Sheffield and Cylan Cease for RP Ken Giles, 2B Scooter Gennett, and RP Felipe Vazquez - a move to fill the 2B hole and provide some elite depth in his bullpen. Gennett hit .274/.307/.470 23 HRs and 107 OPS+. As noted previously Giles was moved and Vazquez performed poorly. The Yanks did include 2 of their top prospects to complete this trade but they have a lot of starting pitching depth in the Majors and their farm system. No one could have known that Vazquez was a pedifile that would get caught this year and I would think pretty much end his career because of that this trade doesn't look good in hindsight.
UT Enrique Hernandez to TB for Kyle Farmer, Ryan Helsley, and Austin Dean - I think this was a move to get talent back as Helsley and Dean were pretty good prospects as well as making a spot in the lineup for Eloy Jiminez.
RP Ken Giles to SEA for SP Trevor Richards, and SP Elvis Luciano - NYY already had 3 elite bullpen arms so I guess they decided to go ahead and move giles who had lost some of his luster the previous season with HOU IRL. Richards didn't pitch well with a 5.40 ERA in 7 starts. Richards pitched well enough IRL that he should be a useful swing starter. Luciano pitched in the majors all last season even though he only turned 19 2 months before the season started. He was a rule 5 draft pick that had to be on the major league roster for the entire season. I am sure that he will go back to the minors to start out next season as he didn't pitch particularly well.
SP Beau Burrows to SD for SP Dylan Bundy - Burrows a mid tier prospect. Bundy was waived after making 3 starts for NYY with a 9.28 ERA.
C Buster Posey, to TB for C James McCann, C Victor Caratini, 2B Roman Urias, 3B Rylan Bannon and CF Tristan Pompey - Posey while still a good catcher is on the down slope of his career with his numbers dropping every season and with another 42+ Mil guaranteed the next 2 years and the already high level of their salary cap was smart to move him. Got a solid catching duo that should get average projections next season at least. The prospects are mid to low end prospects. Solid return for Posey.
C MJ Melendez, and 3B Alec Bohm to CHW for RF Charlie Blackmon - Bohm was a top 50 prospect on everyone's lists. Blackmon hit .238/.326/.345 2 HRs and a 77 OPS+ but only got to play 22 games because he got hurt for 6 weeks. Still has 5 yr 145 Mil left on his contract so I think a full season hitting in Yankee stadium will see his number improve dramatically. At this point in his career he is not a good fielder and better suited for the DH spot. I worry about the contract in 3 to 4 years but I think he should provide elite production for at least a few years before that.
1B Jose Abreu, 2B Shedric Long, and 1B Edwin Rios to OAK for 1B Paul Goldschmidt - A big time upgrade at 1B and played like it. Hitting .288/.413/.571 with 16 HRs 40 RBIs and a 164 OPS+ in 55 GP. Did give up some talent to get him but you have to sometimes.
Free Agency Overview:
SP C.C. Sabathia 1 yr 8 mil - Got hurt for 6 months in spring training and never played for the Yanks. Tough when that happens. D-
Yankees didn't have much cap space to work with so that explains there limited signings and the one they did have didn't work out but no long term damage. D-
Record: 89-74 3rd in AL East 1 GB in WC. R/G Scored: 5th (AL) R/G Against: 7th (AL)
Starting the Offseason:
Lineup: Starting the 2019 offseason the Yankees had heart of the lineup stalwart Anthony Rendon as the anchor. Then the diminished but still very solid Buster Posey at catcher. Solid players Brandon Crawford at SS, Jose Abreu at 1B, Ryan Braun in LF, Manny Margot in CF, Enrique Hernandez in RF and Willie Calhoun at DH. The Yanks did have a major hole at 2B that needed to be filled. They moved Hernandez to make room for Eloy Jimenez and traded for Scooter Gennett to fill their 2B hole. After that they had a solid lineup top to bottom with average to above average hitters filling every spot.
Rotation: Perennial Cy Young contender Zach Greinke lead the pitching staffed followed by the well on his way to being an ace Walker Buehler then followed those guys 3 very young but very promising Shanke Bieber, Caleb Ferguson and Ryan Yarbrough. They did make a few trades to bring in veteran depth in Trevor Richards and Dylan Bundy. Neither of whom pitched well. They also signed C.C. Sabathia.
Bullpen: The back in with Josh Hader and Wade Davis was already an elite combo. Maybe the best left/right combo in the league. After those 2 though it need an infusion of depth. The Yankees would trade for the elite Felipe Vazquez and Ken Giles (flipped for Trevor Richards) to add to Shane Green, Kyle Zimmer and Xavier Cedeno in the middle relief spots. Overall a very strong bullpen to start out the season.
Early/Mid Season:
It was a very rough start to the season for the Yanks. Maybe more accurate to say rough 1st half as they went 36-45 the 1st 3 moths of the season. This lead Jeremiah to post a trade block that included most of his top players to see what was out there. The only move he made was to move Buster Posey for James Mccann and Victor Caratini and some prospects. Mccann and Caratini were both good IRL so next year should pair to form a solid catching duo. I think Posey was moved in part to get out of his large contrace that still has 2 yr 42.8 Mil left. About a week later with several teams looking to move top end talent the Yanks reversed course and made trades for Charlie Blackmon and Paul Goldshmidt for Abreu and prospects. These were major upgrades to the lineup.
Late Season:
The moves sparked the team winning and astounding 26 out of 27 games form mid July to mid August. Coupled with a 16-9 September they had a record of 44-18 after the all start break and saw them finish with an overall 89-73 record finishing in the 2nd WC spot. Unfortunately they could't hold a 4-2 advantage going into the bottom of the 9th of the WC game. Davis eventually giving up a 3 run HR with 2 outs to Trevor Story.
Lineup: 7th (NL) in runs scored. I don't think that ranking quantifies how good the Yankees lineup was 2nd half of the season. They lead the AL in runs in September and were top 5 in August. Rendon was an MVP candidate the whole season finishing with .297/.389/.544 33 HRs and 105 RBIs 150 OPS+ and 7.7 WAR. Several other players played very good but one that I want to point out is Tony Kemp hit .352/.411/.510 for 148 OPS+ in 361 ABs. Great 2nd half of the season for this lineup and solid overall.
Rotation: 8th (AL) in starters' ERA. Rotation struggled a bit. with only Ferguson below 3.96 ERA but overall solid. Buehler did have a bad year as did Richards and Bundy in short stints as starters.
Bullpen: 9th (AL) in bullpen ERA. I think the bullpen underperformed it projections as Hader and Davis were solid but not great and Vazquez was just downright bad with a 5.02 ERA. Their bullpen had the talent it just didn't live up to the billing.
In Conclusion:
After the first half of the season I think that Jeremiah would be happy how the lineup and the rotation performed and that he had elite talent in his bullpen but sometimes they just have down seasons. He has a great young core to build around in Bieber, Buehler, and Jimenez to build around. This offseason will be a challenge as both Rendon and Goldschmidt are FAs and with 145 mil in guaranteed contracts already on the books are going to be hard to sign both. Even if he is only able to resign 1 of them he should still be very competitive in a tough AL East.
Trades Overview:
SP Martin Perez, C Francisco Cervelli, Justis Sheffield and Cylan Cease for RP Ken Giles, 2B Scooter Gennett, and RP Felipe Vazquez - a move to fill the 2B hole and provide some elite depth in his bullpen. Gennett hit .274/.307/.470 23 HRs and 107 OPS+. As noted previously Giles was moved and Vazquez performed poorly. The Yanks did include 2 of their top prospects to complete this trade but they have a lot of starting pitching depth in the Majors and their farm system. No one could have known that Vazquez was a pedifile that would get caught this year and I would think pretty much end his career because of that this trade doesn't look good in hindsight.
UT Enrique Hernandez to TB for Kyle Farmer, Ryan Helsley, and Austin Dean - I think this was a move to get talent back as Helsley and Dean were pretty good prospects as well as making a spot in the lineup for Eloy Jiminez.
RP Ken Giles to SEA for SP Trevor Richards, and SP Elvis Luciano - NYY already had 3 elite bullpen arms so I guess they decided to go ahead and move giles who had lost some of his luster the previous season with HOU IRL. Richards didn't pitch well with a 5.40 ERA in 7 starts. Richards pitched well enough IRL that he should be a useful swing starter. Luciano pitched in the majors all last season even though he only turned 19 2 months before the season started. He was a rule 5 draft pick that had to be on the major league roster for the entire season. I am sure that he will go back to the minors to start out next season as he didn't pitch particularly well.
SP Beau Burrows to SD for SP Dylan Bundy - Burrows a mid tier prospect. Bundy was waived after making 3 starts for NYY with a 9.28 ERA.
C Buster Posey, to TB for C James McCann, C Victor Caratini, 2B Roman Urias, 3B Rylan Bannon and CF Tristan Pompey - Posey while still a good catcher is on the down slope of his career with his numbers dropping every season and with another 42+ Mil guaranteed the next 2 years and the already high level of their salary cap was smart to move him. Got a solid catching duo that should get average projections next season at least. The prospects are mid to low end prospects. Solid return for Posey.
C MJ Melendez, and 3B Alec Bohm to CHW for RF Charlie Blackmon - Bohm was a top 50 prospect on everyone's lists. Blackmon hit .238/.326/.345 2 HRs and a 77 OPS+ but only got to play 22 games because he got hurt for 6 weeks. Still has 5 yr 145 Mil left on his contract so I think a full season hitting in Yankee stadium will see his number improve dramatically. At this point in his career he is not a good fielder and better suited for the DH spot. I worry about the contract in 3 to 4 years but I think he should provide elite production for at least a few years before that.
1B Jose Abreu, 2B Shedric Long, and 1B Edwin Rios to OAK for 1B Paul Goldschmidt - A big time upgrade at 1B and played like it. Hitting .288/.413/.571 with 16 HRs 40 RBIs and a 164 OPS+ in 55 GP. Did give up some talent to get him but you have to sometimes.
Free Agency Overview:
SP C.C. Sabathia 1 yr 8 mil - Got hurt for 6 months in spring training and never played for the Yanks. Tough when that happens. D-
Yankees didn't have much cap space to work with so that explains there limited signings and the one they did have didn't work out but no long term damage. D-