Official 2018 Yankees Thread

Phish Tank · Post #1 » by **Phish Tank** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 12:04 am

Figured to make a thread for the current season as the old thread was going well past 100 pages now.

With that said, Yanks just made a trade,

Read on Twitter

Essentially a three-way deal to facilitate a Rays selloff while also allowing the Yanks to get an insurance policy to either start or play 3B, SS, 2B, and even 1B at times.

Drury was a name considered for a while and might be another D-Back who could be a useful Yankee. He's also only 25 too, so not too young.

The prospects given up (Solak and Widener) were at positions where we had excess depth so we didn't lose much.

Post #2 » by **Rich Rane** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 12:40 am

Yanks have Judge, acquired Drury, and now all they need to do is sign Bernard Hopkins to a deal.

Post #3 » by **magnumt** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 12:42 am

Dynasty!

--Mags

KnicksGadfly · Post #4 » by **KnicksGadfly** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 1:06 am

Seriously, I've been using the Yankees to balance out all my Knicks angst. I have a friend who is a Nets, Jets and Mets fan. I don't know if he enjoys the pain or what.

KnicksGadfly · Post #5 » by **KnicksGadfly** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 1:15 am

Also, not that impressed by Drury from what I've read. Anyone got any counterpoints?

Phish Tank · Post #6 » by **Phish Tank** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 1:24 am

knicksh20b wrote:Also, not that impressed by Drury from what I've read. Anyone got any counterpoints?

he's a utility infielder. Think of a better hitting Luis Sojo or a poor man's Martin Prado

thebuzzardman · Post #7 » by **thebuzzardman** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 1:27 am

I'd have been more excited if they got Ian Drury

thebuzzardman · Post #8 » by **thebuzzardman** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 1:33 am

So, what's the Yankees batting order?

Gardner
Judge
Bird
Stanton
Sanchez
Didi
Hicks
Drury
Torres/Wade

?

Post #9 » by **Rich Rane** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 1:39 am

knicksh20b wrote:Also, not that impressed by Drury from what I've read. Anyone got any counterpoints?

Isn't really spectacular at anything, but as far as placeholders go, I can't argue too much.

I'm guessing he starts at second if the Yanks want another year of control of Torres and Andujar starts the season at third if he beats out Torreyes.

Knicksfan20 · Post #10 » by **Knicksfan20** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 1:43 am

Rich Rane wrote:
knicksh20b wrote:Also, not that impressed by Drury from what I've read. Anyone got any counterpoints?

Isn't really spectacular at anything, but as far as placeholders go, I can't argue too much.

I'm guessing he starts at second if the Yanks want another year of control of Torres and Andujar starts the season at third if he beats out Torreyes.

Eventually Andujar should be playing 3rd with Torres at 2nd if everything works out how it should.

Post #11 » by **Rich Rane** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 1:50 am

Knicksfan20 wrote:Eventually Andujar should be playing 3rd with Torres at 2nd if everything works out how it should.

This season, yes. Hopefully by midseason that's what happens. If Torres kills it in Spring Training, do the Yanks really keep him at AAA for the year of extra control?

Then next season, maybe Machado winds up with the Yankees and slot him at third. If he wants to stay at short, that's another scenario to figure out.

Fury · Post #12 » by **Fury** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 1:55 am

knicksh20b wrote:Also, not that impressed by Drury from what I've read. Anyone got any counterpoints?

He was better in the minors than what he’s shown, was pretty strong in a hitter’s park but not so much on the road, but he has a correctable swing. I see the Yanks doing their hw and buying low kinda like with hicks and Gregorius and fixing a few things

Also plays a lot of positions well

NBA Fan 1234 · Post #13 » by **NBA Fan 1234** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 1:57 am

magnumt wrote:Dynasty!

--Mags

Moose · Post #14 » by **Moose** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 8:02 am

Fury wrote:
knicksh20b wrote:Also, not that impressed by Drury from what I've read. Anyone got any counterpoints?

He was better in the minors than what he’s shown, was pretty strong in a hitter’s park but not so much on the road, but he has a correctable swing. I see the Yanks doing their hw and buying low kinda like with hicks and Gregorius and fixing a few things

Also plays a lot of positions well

He improved his defense last season, but not sure how reliable he is since he mostly just played 2b in 2017. Drury hits the ball hard, makes decent contact and has good raw power, but doesnt hit enough fly balls.

That may be something that can be corrected, however.

I like solak, but I think this was a solid trade for the Yankees. It gives them insurance at second and third base and also the corner outfield spots if necessary.

In 2019, I can see him getting some time at 3b, 2b, corner OF, and maybe 1b (and DH). But if he has a 20+ homer campaign with a 330 OBP in 2018, he may find himself in a bigger role for the future.

I cant say how Drury will do across the board, but I tend to believe he can tap more into his power.

Knicksfan20 · Post #15 » by **Knicksfan20** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 11:06 am

Rich Rane wrote:
Knicksfan20 wrote:Eventually Andujar should be playing 3rd with Torres at 2nd if everything works out how it should.

This season, yes. Hopefully by midseason that's what happens. If Torres kills it in Spring Training, do the Yanks really keep him at AAA for the year of extra control?

Then next season, maybe Machado winds up with the Yankees and slot him at third. If he wants to stay at short, that's another scenario to figure out.

Yankees arnt cheap skates and have no issues retaining their own players. I doubt they keep him in the minors longer for the extra year of control.

He was supposed to be called up last season but then he got injured.

I can see Andujar starting in the minors and being called up mid season. We have Torreyes also and he will probably be starting at 3B this season.

levendis · Post #16 » by **levendis** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 11:27 am

Knicksfan20 wrote:
Rich Rane wrote:
Knicksfan20 wrote:Eventually Andujar should be playing 3rd with Torres at 2nd if everything works out how it should.

This season, yes. Hopefully by midseason that's what happens. If Torres kills it in Spring Training, do the Yanks really keep him at AAA for the year of extra control?

Then next season, maybe Machado winds up with the Yankees and slot him at third. If he wants to stay at short, that's another scenario to figure out.

Yankees arnt cheap skates and have no issues retaining their own players. I doubt they keep him in the minors longer for the extra year of control.

He was supposed to be called up last season but then he got injured.

I can see Andujar starting in the minors and being called up mid season. We have Torreyes also and he will probably be starting at 3B this season.

They've been consistently spending less and less money for years now. And having him down in the minors for a couple weeks is what they should do no matter how he does in ST. An extra year is worth it, for just a couple weeks. Besides hes coming off major surgery missing half the year. He's also not played that much at 2nd. He needs consistent ABs, get into the grind of a baseball schedule, to shake off some rust. Can't really replicate that in ST. With Drury they have a fine replacement in the short term. Wade offers nice backup as well.

Knicksfan20 · Post #17 » by **Knicksfan20** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 11:38 am

It’s more then just a couple of weeks. Consistently spending less money? Yankees were in a rebuild. Of course they spend less money. Look what they spent for Jakobi and what they were willing to spend for Cano. We just traded for the most expensive contract in the league lol.

BadNewsBarnes · Post #18 » by **BadNewsBarnes** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 11:58 am

That looks like in case of Gleybar Torres sucks insurance.

thebuzzardman · Post #19 » by **thebuzzardman** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 12:15 pm

BadNewsBarnes wrote:That looks like in case of Gleybar Torres sucks insurance.

Torres and/or Andujar. Possibly Austin as well.

thebuzzardman · Post #20 » by **thebuzzardman** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 12:22 pm

Knicksfan20 wrote:It’s more then just a couple of weeks. Consistently spending less money? Yankees were in a rebuild. Of course they spend less money. Look what they spent for Jakobi and what they were willing to spend for Cano. We just traded for the most expensive contract in the league lol.

I think he's trying to say the Yanks have been trying to exercise some level of fiscal restraint and smarts for a while now.

Even though the Yanks say they won't hold a player back if he tears it up in spring, I think for the most part, like most teams, they'd rather get that extra year of control etc. Whatever it comes out to - 5 million, 8 million, added it up here and there it, well, adds up.

Yanks had a few missions - they wanted to get younger and cheaper - mostly in terms of the impact on the tax etc. Basically, the Yanks went all in to make a "run" with contracts for ARod, Tex, CC, and yet, at some point, that didn't stop them from laying out money for McCann, Ellsbury, Tanaka. I still think the Yanks saw themselves somewhat hamstrung by all that salary that wasn't contributing at a high level and decide to take about 3-5 years to reset, while fielding a decent team, with a target to being "ok" and being players in FA next year. They'd been rebuilding the farm for a while internally and when they fell out that year they took prime advantage of being sellers and boosted the farm that much more.

Long story short, Yanks did (baseball is different) what we say we want the Knicks to do. Retool, with a plan, while being decent.