Jane Heller

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author

Not Happy About This

david price sox

I figured the Yankees wouldn’t touch Price, given how much money he’d command. I just hoped he’d wind up in the other league. Or even another division in our league. But no. The Red Sox needed an ace and they got one, and paid dearly. (“The seven-year, $217 million deal is the richest awarded to a major league pitcher and the largest in Red Sox history,” said Peter Abraham in the Boston Globe.) So now we’ll face Price a zillion times. Swell.

Where does that leave the Yankees in terms of a starting rotation? In the same place we were in last year. We’ll have Tanaka (arm trouble), Evo (doesn’t go deep in games), Nova (inconsistent), Pineda (inconsistent), Severino (prodigy or fluke), Warren (so-so) and CC (who knows). Is there an ace in that group? If healthy, Tanaka’s still my go-to guy, and I’m betting Severino will only get better. The others are question marks for me, but they’re ours for better or worse.

I’m wondering if Cashman intends to make any deals to strengthen this team. I get that he’s hamstrung by bloated salaries that are still on the books, but this is the Yankees we’re talking about. It’s not in our DNA to stand pat and do nothing. Or is it? Will Cashman really wait a few years to spend on Bryce Harper, etc? Doesn’t he have a Stadium to fill in the meantime?

I wouldn’t mind a shiny new player under my Christmas tree. Just saying.

I’m Furious

Angry_Woman_in_Comic_Book_Styl_25804979-242x300

…And so I’m going to vent. Stand back.

As of this writing, Cashman has made a trade for a utility infielder/outfielder from the Mariners who can’t hit and has no place to play. That’s it. Woohoo. The Jays got both Tulo and David Price. The Rangers got Hamels. And our pitching staff has fallen completely apart – Pineda to the DL with arm trouble, CC to the hospital with dehydration besides which he’s awful, Nova with arm fatigue that may or may not go away, Tanaka with a mysterious inability to locate his pitches or go deep into a game. Evo is now our ace. Scary thought. And yet Cashman’s latest venture is to go after Craig Kimbrel, the Padres’ closer. Like we don’t already have a closer? Or an 8th inning guy? So the idea is to “shorten” games for the Starter To Be Determined? What nonsense.

I do get that the Yankees don’t want to give up prospects the way they would have in the old days. I also get that Price will be a free agent after the season and would have been a rental. But the Yanks have gone from a real contender to win the division to a very iffy ball club. And all because of either Hal’s tight wallet or Cashman’s incompetence. Makes me nuts.

As everyone knows, I didn’t give this team much of a shot to win anything at the start of the season, but once they put distance between themselves and other teams and were winning series and scoring runs, I became a believer in the 2015 team. But after last night’s consecutive loss to the Rangers and no trade happening, I’m mad as well as mystified. If you’re a contender, why wouldn’t you do everything possible to push your team over the finish line by acquiring a front line starter? Why? Wasn’t it Cashman who said you can never have enough pitching?

Ok, I’m done. I wish I could say I feel better having gotten this off my chest, but I don’t.

Well, That Went Better Than Expected

-detroit

I didn’t think the Yankees would win their first series of the season in Detroit. The Tigers were a red-hot team and we were not. They had David Price and we did not. They had “winner” stamped on them by all the sportswriters and we did not. And yet, we came out of D-Town with the series win. The pitching was great. The hitting was alternately powerful and just crafty enough to score a couple of runs. And the defense seemed to have come together. All of which was remarkable given the cold weather there. (I must mention that it snowed today in CT. I was not amused. It’s April 23rd after all.)

Will the winning streak be a fluke? Will the even-hotter Mets cool us off? Or is this team, weaknesses and all, just good enough to stay competitive?

No idea, but the Detroit series made things interesting enough for me to stay tuned.

 

Close But No Cigar

Photo: AP
Photo: AP

(I love that pic. Just saying.)

I missed the last couple of innings of tonight’s game, but it didn’t matter. The damage was done when the Rays broke the 2-2 tied and the Yankees never answered back. CC was good except for one bad patch, but the offense had nothing much. David Price is an ace for sure, but they always looked on the verge of scoring more runs – and didn’t. Opportunities lost. Series lost. Mostly likely season lost.

I went out for a great dinner with friends and life went on, but this one hurt because so much was riding on it.

 

First Place Phobia?

Maybe the Yankees are afraid of leading the division. They sure had chances to be in sole possession of first tonight, given that the O’s lost to the Red Sox and that CC, although not perfect, struck out a whole lot of Rays.

But – sigh – David Price was dealing and our inability to get the big hit with runners in scoring position continued to be a problem.

The sloppy errors didn’t help, but I can’t get too riled up about that; the Yankees’ defense has been exemplary this year (not counting the Eduardo Scissorhands Era).

I guess A-Rod’s gazillion-pitch at-bat against Price with the bases loaded was emblematic of tonight’s loss. He worked the count brilliantly and hung in longer than I expected, only to strike out.

The main thing is we won the series. Yay.

And to celebrate, here’s a video that a twitter friend passed along earlier. It’s been making the rounds for awhile, so maybe I’m the only one who was late to the party, but in case anyone else missed it…

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