It Has Been Too Long

Since my last post!  Busy schedule, I went to the HOF to see the Genius Maker inducted and then had a vacation, but I watched most every game.  I will discuss the yesterday's double header and then go back to some of the notes I took:

Baltimore does not have a good pitching staff, but it is ridiculous what the team has done to Baltimore pitching and even more so (what is more than ridiculous?) what Torres has done to Baltimore!  He has hit 13 HR's against Baltimore this year which is a record since 1969 (divisional play).  He also has 13 homer runs against every other team this year.

This is Torres's stat line against Baltimore (I could be slightly off)

24-54 .414/.492/1.138 for an off the charts OPS of 1.630!

So when Baltimore faced Torres again with 1st and 2nd 2 outs in the bottom of the 8th inning, it made statistical sense to intentionally walk him to load the bases (as absurd as that is).  It did work as Gardner who has been swinging well, grounded out.  It looked even smarter when Baltimore rallied to score 2 runs and have bases loaded with 1 out and the score 11-8 Yankees.  The winning run stepped to the plate, but Ottavino struck out Villar and then got Mancini, and his 29 HR's to fly out to end the game.

Other Notes from over the past week:

• It is amazing that we keep plugging on with so many players still on the IL.  Sanchez is back now and that helps (assuming he will hit better than our backups who stepped up and hit great).  Need Sanchez to hit like he is capable as he is a difference maker.
• While on Sanchez, the other day he took a foul tip off his throwing hand because he had it hanging on his leg rather than behind him.  I have harped on this for all catchers for 20 years as it makes ZERO sense to not have your hand behind your leg/back when there is nobody on base.  There is no excuse to get a foul tip off the hand with nobody on; it is just dumb (with 2 strikes on the batter you may bring the hand out to block a pitch in the dirt).  Many catchers do the same thing and it is mind boggling to me.  Even if he could play afterward, it has an impact as you are not 100% (a catcher is never 100% but you are less than whatever % you are at).  I argue, even with runners on base you keep it behind and you react to move it if the runner is stealing  or if the ball is in the dirt.
• Sanchez has an OPS of .797 which is still a lot better than Romine (.698) but needs to be at least .825 and should be mid .800's
• Judge has been swinging very poorly for a long period of time.  It shows how great a player he is that his OPS is still .860, but his path to the ball has too much of an uppercut and he is just not hitting it is consistently as he should.  He missing very hittable pitches and this has been going on for a long time.  It looks to me that he is dipping his back shoulder too much, but someone needs to compare his swings as he has not been swinging well at all.  In his last 65 plate appearances (15 games) he has a .189/.348/.283 stat line for an OPS of .631.
• Ford is not really a major league player.  He has not been awful, but he is just not able to hit at the major league level, especially for a slow footed 1B.  We need one of our three 1B back soon (it will be Edwin and/or Voit)
• Tauchman - What can you say about this guy?  He has been a huge help to us, supplying very good defense (including making an outstanding leaping catch to steal a HR where his shoulder was above the wall on his leap) and a very surprising OPS of .941, which is 2nd on the team!  Tauchman has about 225 plate appearances as well so it isn't just 50 or 100 AB's.  He has played outstanding and is a large part of why we have been so good.  He has an odd swing that I don;t think plays as well as he has played, however, he does hit to all fields which could keep him in many AB's and is harder to pitch to.  He will come down some as teams adjust, but he has the ability to adjust as well.  He is 28 and a late bloomer as he started to hit well in the minors at the age of 26.   Great pickup!
• The other surprise has been Maybin.  A 32 year old who likes to hug, has been a mediocre at best MLB player, who had around a .695 OPS coming into this year and has an OPS of .917 for us in almost 200 PA's.  His defense is fairly decent, but he is weaker than any of our other OF'rs not named Frazier (who should be better than he played)
• The biggest surprise so far this year has been Urshela.  He has played excellent defense and has our best OPS at .963!  He also stepped in after Andujar went down and has been a fantastic player.  The only question right now is whether he has been the MVP so far or whether it is ...
• LeMahieu - .916 OPS and has been so valuable playing good defense at 3 infield positions.  This flexibility out of he and Torres has been huge to whether our absurd amount of injuries.  Also, while hitting with RISP is not a repeatable skill (stats tell us this), you can perform well in those spots and DJ has been excellent with runners in scoring position (1.078 OPS with a .418 BA in 113 Plate Appearances).  He has an OPS of only .697 in late and close situations (57 PA's), but his avg is .298 which is fine.  Urshela has an OPS of .901 with RISP and an OPS of .835 in late and close, but you can choose either one if you ask me.  Urshela was unexpected so I would say he has performed much better than expected.
• Switching gears, I was Surprised that Houston has the highest OPS of any team at .839, then Minnesota (expected) at .833 and then the Yankees at .832.  In the playoffs, anyone can win a series, but Houston has an excellent team.
• This Yankee team can play better.  Yes, we have had people step up and play better than expected, but we still have our best starting pitcher (Severino), our 2nd/3rd best reliever (Betances) and we have two huge upgrades at 1B waiting to get back into the lineup.  I would rest players as needed, but in the meantime, I would play DJ at 1B most of the time until they come back.  We also have Hicks and Stanton to come back while Sanchez and Judge have room for improvement.  
• The above is why I was 100% fine that we didn't mortgage the future for a pitcher that MAY have been better than what we have, but was no sure thing.  I gave my opinions on going after an ace, but getting another 3rd type of starter didn't make sense to me and clearly not at the price we were being shaken down for.  I think Cashman has done a great job as we have a team that can win the World Series and we are poised to be a playoff team for many years.