STAMFORD, CT – Just like that we’re out of the doldrums of February/March and into March Madness, a belated baseball Hot Stove, NFL Free Agency, a tough-to-figure trade by the Yankees, the Polar Bear in a car accident, and a fast approaching NHL Trade Deadline. Not to mention, my wife put together a tasty meatloaf tonight. So there are a lot of ways I could go. One thing is for sure, I won’t be going toward the soccer pitch, I’ll leave that to my man Junoir Blaber or Grinding Ax Walt. Maybe I’ll focus on baseball. How does that sound?
Gone Gary
The Yankees trade was a bit of a puzzler. I can see them wanting to pull the eject handle on Sanchez, and I think Donaldson can still play. But taking on that big contract for a player who has injury issues, and kicking in Urshela, seems a bit odd. Not to mention, Donaldson has that beef last season he had with the Yankees ace in the SpiderTac thing. Isiah Kiner-Falefa (easy for you to say) has a ton of range and won a gold glove in 2020, but did make some errors last season and is not a great hitter.
One thing is for sure, naming an athlete “Sanchize” dooms them to failure.
I guess the Yankees got better on defense at SS and catcher, and added intensity/clubhouse presence in Donaldson. Plus there’s the benefit of getting Sanchez out of the lineup. I can’t decide if I will miss the helpless half-swings at 0-2 curve balls or the surprise passed balls on ordinary pitches.
Freddie Can You Hear Me?
The other big news was Matt Olson getting traded to the Braves. Does that mean Freddie Freeman still has a chance to come to the Bronx? The Dodgers are still the favorites, but that short porch in the Bronx must be tempting to a guy with a sweet lefty swing like his.
The story is that the Braves didn’t want to sign Freeman to the long deal he wanted because their analytics people thought the value at the end would be poor. No one wants a broken down Albert Pujols making $25 million at 40 years old. “Analytics” punches the fans in the balls again.
As for the Yanks, I can see they don’t want to sign one of the big name free agent shortstops with two young studs waiting in the wings in Volpe and Peraza. ISK is ideally a placeholder.
Even without Freeman, there is an extra infielder in the mix. There’s has got to be another move coming, right? Right?
Michael Kay just said the Blue Jays are suddenly pushing for Freeman, who apparently has dual citizenship. Holy Joe Carter, those guys are building a roster. They were looking strong without Freeman. Yikes.
Cohen Curse
Pete Alonso revealed he was in a serious car accident on the way to spring training. Luckily, the Polar Bear is okay, but it’s not a good omen for the new-look Mets. It is too early to wonder about the Cohen Curse?
One thing is for sure, Cohen could rack up a $6 trillion dollar payroll and our own Short Matt would still bitch about the Yankees buying championships.
Pitchers Can’t Hit
There has been a lot of moaning around here about the addition of the DH in the NL. Trust me, you won’t miss watching hapless pitchers flail at curve balls four feet outside or sacrifice bunts with one out. The occasional memorable hit or smooth double switch does not make up for the mass ineptitude 98% of the time.
From a purity perspective, I get it. in theory, the pitchers *should* hit. But they can’t. So why make them? Pitchers have been getting worse at hitting in a near linear fashion for decades. It’s a train wreck. Should we make quarterbacks in football play defense? Or kickers? For every deGrom there are 30 guys who can’t hit better than a guy off the street. Let it go.
That’s it for me. Come back tomorrow for Angry Ward. Follow us on Twitter at @benwhit, @MeetTheMatts, @Matt_McCarthy00, Instagram @MeetTheMatts and like our Facebook page, Meet The Matts.
