It's not like giving up Castro wont hurt the Yankees. We should be worried that because the prospect cost was so low that a guy like Frazier could be traded in a package for a pitching prospect that's comparable Whitley.
It depends on whether you’re talking about defense versus hitting at catcher. Defense, the nod goes to McCann. See playoffs, Sanchez for details. Otherwise, the Yankees aren’t that great and unless they go out and get a guy, have significantly downgraded at 2nd. I’m not worried.
The Astros last year won 10 more games than them despite starting some combo of Fiers, Musgrove, Martes, Paulino and Diaz for 54 games. Even if you assume that ridiculous situation repeats itself and that Gray/Verlander is a wash, if you believe in WAR, Stanton in his best season (last year) was worth 7.6 wins over a replacement-level player. Given that he's not going to be replacing a replacement-level player in the Yankees lineup, he'd be projected to increase their win total by less than that, even if he duplicates his 2017 season, right? (full disclosure: I think WAR is a dumb stat, but I'm going with what people argue it represents)
They really need to hit on Whitley, Buskauskas/Tucker/Fisher. This yr doesn't worry me as much, due to a full year of Verlander/better health for Kuechel/ improvement from Correa/Bregs etc... Luhnow does need to work on the BP though. Im not worried about getting a LHRP this offseason as much as getting one in July.
The idea is that NY will now make other moves to further improve their roster. How good will they be if they use Frazier and others to trade for Chris Archer and sign Brandon Phillips as a cheap stopgap for Torres at 2B? No matter what NY does, Houston will have a great team. But to now Houston was easily the best team in the AL, and this move makes it at least debatable.
The Yankees aren't done making moves. They haven't really dipped into their prospects at all and we know they need a SP real bad. To Major's point, we were 10 games ahead of the Yankees but we also owned our division. I expect the Rangers and the Angels to be better come 2018. Overall, Houston will need to make some moves. We know they want to add relief pitching but I still think they need to get another bat. A full season of Justin Verlander, a healthy starting pitching rotation, and the growth between Correa and Bergman from the off-season could lead to a better 2018.
That could be offset by Marwin and Reddick. Those two guys had career years in 2017 (regular season). Anyone besides me think these guys could falloff next year? As for the rest, the Yankees are getting better. We better also.
My concern as well Jim. Reddick was terrible in the World Series. Marwin's homerun did change everything for us in the World Series. Agree about the Yankees part...
I don't know why people assumed other teams weren't gonna try to get better to compete with the champs. Dynasties don't come easy.
I doubt anyone expects MarGo to put up 4.1 WAR ever again. Reddick hit well but it wasn't his career year. I don't see him regressing significantly unless he unlearns how to hit lefties.
Guzman was an Astro to start his career... traded in the McCann deal. I wonder how the cash part of this deal works - if Stanton opts out, do the Yankees still get $30 million?
http://www.espn.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/30195/josh-reddick 2017 was his career high for hits, doubles, ave, and slg%, 2nd in obp% and rbi. How was it not his career year?
For a dumb stat, WAR and projected WAR correlate very well with wins with most of the error being context (i.e., sequencing of hits, sequencing of runs, bullpen usage) and catcher projections. It is easy to see that an upgrade from Gardner to Stanton should improve Yankees by about 3 games (5 WAR - 2 WAR) by what was expected prior to trade in the OF with a marginal improvement at the DH as well. Granted sequencing matters a lot, but likely range of Yankees wins likely went up by 3-4 for the floor and the ceiling. Fangraphs projection had the Astros at about 7 wins ahead in WAR.
Why do you consider WAR a dumb stat? Not looking to argue, just curious what your thoughts are on it.
Yeah...I'd have to agree that 2017 was Reddick's best overall offensive year he's had. His 32 HR year was offset by poor batting average and OBP.
Wonder if NYY bit the bullet in part to hedge because they think Bryce Harper is going to CHC? NYY is still very beatable. Nat'l media is obviously slobbering all over 'em. Great core with Sanchez/Judge/Stanton, no doubt. But the rest of their offense is meh. Didi doesnt scare me. Bird is a good hitter, as is Gardner, but neither are really all-stars. SPs are okay and the bullpen is nice. How their young SS develops will be key. If he busts, man that'd be great. Good team, but nowhere near LAD IMO. Stanton/Sanchez/Judge is a very nice core, but it's not blowing us out of the water. FWIW, in his first 7 seasons, Stanton averaged just over 100 games played. Maybe the plan is to slot him in the DH, but we've seen some players struggle with that adjustment. Either way, we'll be just fine. NYY needs to take a risk like Stanton, we dont.
