Pinstripe Alley 4 hours ago
NYY news: Planning and plotting the offseason
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports Yankees begin offseason planning; Gregorius compares managers; Boone approves of some rule changes New York Post | George A. King III: The Yankees began their organization meetings last week, reports King. These meetings set the tone for the entire offseason, as Brian Cashman rarely deviates from the plans laid out in October. For example, two offseasons ago, we learned during the organization meetings that the team only wanted Manny Machado if the price was right, and they had no real interest in Bryce Harper. Last year, the club made it clear they would...
Pinstripe Alley 12 hours ago
2021 is a make-or-break year for these Yankees in arbitration
Photo by Mike Ehrmann/ Aaron Judge, Gary Sánchez, and Gleyber Torres are the nucleus around which this Yankees team is built. How they perform in 2021 will determine whether that core remains intact. The Yankees’ current championship window was opened on the backs of the Baby Bombers. The fact they received incredible production out of such young, cost-controlled stars developed through the farm system allowed them to invest in other areas of the roster. Aaron Judge, Gary Sánchez, and Gleyber Torres represent the offensive core of this team, and it was hoped such a talented trio...
Pinstripe Alley 14 hours ago
The nuances of the Yankees’ and Dodgers’ opener strategies
Photo by Tom Pennington/ Dave Roberts copied Aaron Boone’s Game Two bullpen kerfuffle for no good reason. The Dodgers did a questionable thing on Wednesday. With a 1-0 lead in the World Series, they decided to turn to the pen for Game Two, opting not to hand the ball to arguably their best pitcher, Walker Buehler, albeit on short rest. After hanging on to a 1-0 deficit through three innings, the dam broke behind rookie Dustin May, allowing three more runs across an inning and a third. The Dodgers ended up scoring in the contest’s latter half, but lost the game 6-4. Of course, May...
Pinstripe Alley 16 hours ago
This Day in Yankees History: Pettitte pitches Yankees to World Series lead
The Yankees won a critical World Series game on this day in history. Welcome to This Day in Yankees History. The 2020 Yankees season may have come to an end, so let’s dig into the history books. These daily posts will highlight two or three key moments in Yankees history on a given date, as well as recognize players born on the day. Hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane with us! ★ ★ ★ 81 Years Ago Joe DiMaggio is named AL MVP after a season where he hit .381/.448/.671 with 30 home runs. He was just 24-years-old and in his fourth major league season. It would be the first of...
Pinstripe Alley 18 hours ago
The Yankees’ five best performers in 2020 according to WAR
Photo by Christian Petersen/ Four hitters and a pitcher round out the top five, with free-agent-to-be DJ LeMahieu as the leader for the second consecutive year The 2020 season brought a little bit of everything for the Yankees: records, breakout stars, underperformers, unexpected results, and a Division Series exit against the Tampa Bay Rays, among several other things. Now that we are reviewing the season, let’s see who were the best performers on the Yankees according to FanGraphs’ version of Wins Above Replacement, or fWAR: DJ LeMahieu: 2.5 fWAR For a second consecutive season,...
Pinstripe Alley 20 hours ago
Reckoning with Gleyber Torres’ baserunning in 2020
David Richard-USA TODAY Sports How should the Yankees evaluate Gleyber’s progress on the base paths? Gleyber Torres’ defensive shortcomings in 2020 are well-documented. But as worrisome as his bungling routine plays at short is observing Gleyber’s regression in other areas of his game. Many players underperformed during the weird, truncated 2020 season. But as a young player who’s still developing, Gleyber’s fundamental skills should look more refined than they did last year. The backslide in Torres’ baserunning is especially noticeable. Everyone knows Torres has a ton of...
Pinstripe Alley 22 hours ago
Saturday’s open thread
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports In the next few days, possibly even tomorrow night, the 2020 season will come to an end. The Dodgers took Game Three of the World Series last night, and now stand just two wins away from securing their first title in 32 years. A journey that began in earnest all the way back in, let’s see here, July is almost complete. In any event, we’re still reflecting on the Yankees’ 2020 season. Andres looks at the Yankees’ top five performers by WAR, Erica digs deep on Gleyber Torres’ baserunning, Cooper delves into the nuances between the opener...
Pinstripe Alley Oct 24, 2020
NYY News: Don’t dust off those Didi jerseys yet
Photo by Mitchell Leff/ Don’t hold your breath on a Gregorius reunion; Getting creative with the Yankees’ payroll; The one new MLB rule Aaron Boone didn’t like New York Post | Zach Brasiller: Gleyber Torres was not good in his first full year as the Yankees’ shortstop, but it’s probably not time to push the panic button. An old friend is available in free agency in the form of Didi Gregorius, but he doesn’t see the Yankees being interested. Gregorius expressed confidence in Torres after the rough year, saying he’s the “future” at shortstop in New York. As for Didi’s...
Pinstripe Alley Oct 23, 2020
The strange, short career of Dan Tipple
Photo by Jim McIsaac/ It’s not every day that a career ends after two straight complete games. Dan Tipple did not have a very long Major League Baseball career. The Yankees signed him in 1915, he made just three appearances, and then never played for them or any other MLB team again. He had been spotted and signed to a sizeable for the time deal by Yankees co-owner Tillinghast L’Hommedieu Huston. The other co-owner, Jacob Ruppert, would use his lack of success as a reason against Huston whenever he wanted to get involved in player personnel moves. All of that makes it sound like...
Pinstripe Alley Oct 23, 2020
The Yankees need to get more talent, not become more “balanced”
Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via When is it a good idea to replace good players with worse ones? Just about everyone has a plan on how to “fix” the Yankees. After four years of contention but zero World Series appearances, there is fear around Yankees Universe that the “window” could be more closed than open, especially with several of the supposed core pieces hitting free agency in two years or less. Some of these plans are simple — spend more money. Others involve trading from a position of strength to address a position of weakness, or cutting payroll and embracing...
Pinstripe Alley Oct 23, 2020
This Day in Yankees History: The greatest World Series comeback
The Yankees stun the Braves at home, knotting up the 1996 World Series Welcome to the relaunched This Day in Yankees History. As the offseason has begun much sooner than anyone has ever hoped for, the Pinstripe Alley team has decided to continue the revived program in its new format. These daily posts will highlight two or three key moments in Yankees history on a given date, as well as recognize players born on the day. Hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane with us! ★ ★ ★ 41 Years Ago A lot of ink is spilled every winter over who should manage the New York Yankees. Fans didn’t...
Blogging the Bombers | New York Daily News Oct 23, 2020
Yankees biggest surprise of 2020 season was Clint Frazier
Thursday, Frazier was recognized for one of the biggest defensive turnarounds in baseball.
Pinstripe Alley Oct 23, 2020
The three biggest surprises of the Yankees’ 2020 season
Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via In a season full of surprises, what were the biggest for the Yankees? The glory of a baseball season is that, no matter how much time you spend reading projections, analyzing rosters, and researching the league, there will always be something that surprises you. In a year where the world turned upside down, that was truer than ever. So let’s take a step back and look at this season’s biggest surprises. The hope of young arms Since Deivi García emerged on everybody’s radar as a potential top prospect last year following comparisons to Pedro...
Pinstripe Alley Oct 23, 2020
Yankees Mailbag: Addressing defense, handedness and extensions
Photo by Sean M. Haffey/ Here’s the answers to the latest edition of the mailbag. Good morning everyone, let’s tackle some more of your questions about the offseason. Remember to send in your questions for our weekly call by e-mail to pinstripealleyblog [at] gmail [dot] com. Range Rider asks: Will the Yankees address the elephant in the room this offseason? Statistically, the most glaring team weakness is defense. Will the Yankees try to upgrade the defense or just continue to try and outscore their opponents? If so, what position is most in need of an upgrade? I don’t think this...
Pinstripe Alley Oct 23, 2020
Friday’s open thread
Photo by Christian Petersen/ Start off your Friday with an open thread. Welcome to the last weekend with baseball in it until 2021. The World Series resumes tonight, as Game Three will tip the scales back in favor of either the Dodgers or Rays. The commissioner’s trophy could be handed out by the end of the weekend, or we could get a seven-game classic. At this point, who knows what will happen to conclude such a wacky year? That’s all well and good for fans of the teams still in it, but we’ve got more content about the Yankees to get to. The mailbag returns today, and it’ll...
