2K24: New York Yankees

[Sour Masher]

What are the chances Miller closes for the Yanks this year? I'd have put it at 1% or less assuming a healthy and productive Betances a month ago, but their roles still haven't been 100% defined. So, what does that do to the price of Miller? Is he getting chased up a few extra bucks with possibility, however slim it might be, that he might close?

[Bob Kohm]

What are the chances Miller closes for the Yanks this year? I'd have put it at 1% or less assuming a healthy and productive Betances a month ago, but their roles still haven't been 100% defined. So, what does that do to the price of Miller? Is he getting chased up a few extra bucks with possibility, however slim it might be, that he might close?

I still think that Betances is the heavy favorite. I was lucky to be pickign in the 12 (last) spot of our draft in a league that counts holds... I just took them both at the turn

[joncarlos]

What are the chances Miller closes for the Yanks this year? I'd have put it at 1% or less assuming a healthy and productive Betances a month ago, but their roles still haven't been 100% defined. So, what does that do to the price of Miller? Is he getting chased up a few extra bucks with possibility, however slim it might be, that he might close?

It makes some sense for Miller to close. Betances has proven he can throw a ton of innings. Giving him saves makes his arbitration price expensive. Miller is already getting paid and might have a better chance of staying healthy and dominant if he pitches 60-70 innings.

That said, I don't think Girardi is that progressive.

[swampdragon]

Jacoby Ellsbury (oblique) took dry swings, ran, and played catch on Wednesday in Yankees camp.

good thing they were not WET swings

[bryanbutler]

girardi says betances and miller may share closing duties. per cbssports.com:

Yankees manager Joe Girardi said Friday the team will discuss their closer situation Saturday, per The Wall Street Journal. Although, Girardi hinted Friday at leaning toward using Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller in the closer's role.

Girardi added there can be advantages to not naming a closer, particularly to allow flexibility to use Miller and Betances against left-handed and right-handed batters when needed.

"My thought has been more like with a power lefty who strikes out a lot of guys and a power righty, the lineups just might match up where one day he's the eighth-inning guy and then one day he's the ninth-inning guy a little bit better," Giradri said, per The Journal News. "… I think you start managing who you're going to use (in the ninth) in about the sixth inning, because you try to prepare them."

Betances entered the spring as the favorite for the closer's role, but he has struggled this spring amid reports of diminished velocity. He has a 6.14 ERA and nearly as many walks (five) as strikeouts (six) in eight appearances.

Miller is 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA and eight strikeouts in eight relief outings.

"I've talked to both (Miller and Betances)" Girardi said. "They're concerned about winning more than (roles), in the sense of I'm this guy, I'm this guy. That's the sense I've got from them. Now, could it iron itself out and you start to do it one way? Yes.

"I'll continue to talk about it with my coaches and (pitching coach) Larry (Rothschild) and his feelings about it as they get a feel, and Gary Tuck who's in the bullpen, what do you think the importance of it is that we actually set a role? But as of right now, we haven't felt that we have to."

[fuhrdog]

Masahiro Tanaka just said we should not expect much in the way of velocity this year. Said he is changing his style. Hmmm.

https://twitter.com/DavidWaldstein/status/584384236230221824

[Hornsby]

Masahiro Tanaka just said we should not expect much in the way of velocity this year. Said he is changing his style. Hmmm.

https://twitter.com/DavidWaldstein/s...84236230221824

Yep, that's what the Yankees paid for...

[The Feral Slasher]

Masahiro Tanaka just said we should not expect much in the way of velocity this year. Said he is changing his style. Hmmm.

https://twitter.com/DavidWaldstein/s...84236230221824

Glad I didn't bid $114 for him after all

[Bodhizefa]

Masahiro Tanaka just said we should not expect much in the way of velocity this year. Said he is changing his style. Hmmm.

https://twitter.com/DavidWaldstein/s...84236230221824

Just get the damned surgery and be done with it. It's crazy that he'd even think that was an answer to this problem -- let's just redefine my pitching and become a 4th/5th starter type?! Yikes. I'm running far away from this one. You've gotta believe the Yankees are trying to coax him into having the surgery, right?

[Judge Jude]

They'll open with Drew at 2B while Refsnyder works out his fielding kinks-- the infield defense should be very good (Tex, Drew, Headley, Gregorious) so they'll see what Drew has for a couple of months and hope that Refsnyder, who is converting for a corner OF position, can get the glove right.

the Yankees - insisting that good-hitting middle infielders also play passable defense since 2015!

[madducks]

Just get the damned surgery and be done with it. It's crazy that he'd even think that was an answer to this problem -- let's just redefine my pitching and become a 4th/5th starter type?! Yikes. I'm running far away from this one. You've gotta believe the Yankees are trying to coax him into having the surgery, right?

I agree Bodz. Tanaka is slowly pissing away his 2016 season by delaying the inevitable TJ surgery. Maybe he should consult with Darvish to alleviate his fears.

[Bob Kohm]

Maybe he should consult with Darvish to alleviate his fears.

...or Adam Wainright?

[revo]

...or Adam Wainright?

....who also ultimately had TJ surgery, albeit after five seasons. As did other pitchers who also tried to rehab partial tears of the UCL and were moderately successful in holding off TJ surgery, like Danny Duffy and Luke Hochhevar. But you can count the number of pitchers who never needed TJ surgery after a partial tear of the UCL (that we know of) on one hand.

So then the questions are:
- if the data suggests that even with rehab a pitcher with a UCL tear will ultimately need TJ surgery, why delay the inevitable at a greater risk to the player's career and future earnings?
- from the Yankees perspective, why delay the inevitable during a season that is likely to be without the post-season to one where making the post-season is a greater possibility? In other words, doesn't it make more sense for Tanaka to have missed the 2015 season, where the likelihood of a post-season run is small, rather than the 2016 or 2017 seasons, when it likely will be much higher? Is Yankee management just deluding themselves?

[joncarlos]

I was hoping Tanaka was just trolling us in spring training and would come out throwing 96 in the regular season. So far, not so much, but he struck out Jose Reyes on one hell of a splitter.

[revo]

It seems everyone but Yankee brass is admitting the inevitable:


"By the fourth inning, when Masahiro Tanaka had stopped throwing his fastball entirely in favor of sliders, splitters, and changeups, it seemed fair to ask, in all seriousness:

How soon can the Yankees schedule him for Tommy John surgery?

I mean, if Tanaka is making significant concessions to the ligament tear in his elbow, as it appeared on Monday, throwing 90 mph two-seamers as a way of protecting himself from further injury, is it worth delaying the inevitable in the hope that he can survive as a finesse pitcher?

You have to believe that somewhere in their boardroom the Yankee decision-makers were asking themselves such questions after Tanaka took a pounding in Monday’s season-opening 6-1 loss to the Blue Jays, looking nothing like the pre-injury ace of 2014.

Essentially this was a worst-case scenario for the Yankees, considering that whatever hope they have of contending is built around Tanaka’s every-fifth-day dominance. To see him look so vulnerable on Opening Day had to be felt deep in the clubhouse, even if nobody was about to admit it. Instead everyone tried to paint it as simply a bad day at the office, more the result of getting in bad counts in the third inning, when the Blue Jays scored five runs, than anything to do with his elbow.

Joe Girardi, in fact, disagreed with any suggestion he looks like a different pitcher now, relying more heavily on his off-speed stuff than last year."

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/harper-tommy-john-inevitable-masahiro-tanaka-article-1.2175661