I Want To Believe... But I Can't: The Official 2023 New York Yankees Off-season Thread

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I'm one of the few people who still thinks there's something in the tank for Carlos Rodon. A guy who throws that hard doesn't suddenly forget how to strike guys out.

I think the Yankees have to ask themselves....why do so many pitchers look SO GOOD before and after they come to the Bronx lately?

Carlos Rodon
Jordan Montgomery
Sonny Gray
Frankie Montas (even in a small sample looked horrible)

Even Andrew Heaney looked like an average pitcher on the Angels, looked like total crap in a few innings with the Yankees, then looked like a borderline stud with the Dodgers.

If Luis Severino looks much improved in Queens this summer, it will further confirm that the Yankees simply do not know how to manage pitchers.
 

Mantis Toboggan M.D.

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I'm one of the few people who still thinks there's something in the tank for Carlos Rodon. A guy who throws that hard doesn't suddenly forget how to strike guys out.

I think the Yankees have to ask themselves....why do so many pitchers look SO GOOD before and after they come to the Bronx lately?

Carlos Rodon
Jordan Montgomery
Sonny Gray
Frankie Montas (even in a small sample looked horrible)

Even Andrew Heaney looked like an average pitcher on the Angels, looked like total crap in a few innings with the Yankees, then looked like a borderline stud with the Dodgers.

If Luis Severino looks much improved in Queens this summer, it will further confirm that the Yankees simply do not know how to manage pitchers.
Monty shouldn’t be on that list. He was perfectly fine. Pitched to a mid 3’s ERA his last 2 years here and he was an innings eater. His record was bad because he had the worst run support in the majors. He was up there with Jacob DeGrom in terms of the sheer number of games where he went 6 innings or more and gave up 2 runs or less but ended up with a loss or left with the game tied. At one point he went 5 straight starts without the offense scoring a single run.

Sonny was great on the road (ERA in the low 3’s) but pitched to a near 7 ERA at home. Dude straight up melted down under the pressure of playing in front of us. The home/road splits were staggering with him.

Montas was injured when they traded for him (Cashman knew he was hurt too). He also has a career ERA of nearly 4.50 outside of the Oakland coliseum.
 

Mantle Drunk

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Shows you all they cared about in getting Soto is to try and get back in the fans good graces because they were ready to revolt.

Not actually to be competitive.

You can book mark this I already know what the excuse is gonna be at the end of the year.

Oh well we paid Rodon to be a number two and we thought that's what he had. We thought year one was a fluke due to injury.

That's why we didn't pick up anyone of real value. Guaran fukking tee
 

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That Spencer Jones kid...I hope he becomes a solid player.
With his size, I think fans may unfairly expect him to be an Aaron Judge-lite, but that's really not his game.

He looks more like a tall gap hitter.
 

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TMKS discussing Wandy heading to SD, some funny banter in the 2nd half of the video :russ:
 

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The 2024 lineup looks only marginally better than 2023.

Judge and Soto will be expected to carry the load, and then you really need Gleyber Torres to have a solid year because after him the lineup gets mediocre or outright bad.

Stanton and Rizzo provide value only insofar as they draw walks and might get you 20 HR this season. But Stanton still strikes out a lot and neither he nor Rizzo will hit any better than .230 or so.

Verdugo is there mostly to serve the role LeMahieu served in 2021 -- don't strike out too much and try to put the bat on the ball.

The stinker in all of this, in my opinion, is the injury to Jasson Dominguez. Had he been healthy, he'd likely be the starting CFer and would probably be asked to play a similar role to Verdugo. They wouldn't have expected a lot. Just hit .260-ish and don't strike out 30% of the time. Instead, the Yankees had to go out and get Trent Grisham. Grisham gets walks and has power but he strikes out a ton. Essentially you have a worse Giancarlo Stanton in the lineup when he plays.

I'm not yet a believer in Anthony Volpe, but we will see. Honestly I think his value comes in the fact that he can steal bases. But the 2nd coming of Derek Jeter? I don't see it. This kid will never hit .300 in the bigs and despite the fans and media loving him, I think the Yankees look elsewhere for their SS of the future. But it's Volpe's job for the next 2 years or so.

I do think this team reaches the playoffs. But they're not WS contenders. Not unless a lot of things go right for them. It's not so much that I think the AL is so difficult as much as I think there are NL teams that are stronger.
 
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