Editor’s Note: Written on 7/19/19
Yankees fans are known for a lot of things but one thing we aren’t known for is patience. We are all expecting a deal for a starting pitcher, a top, ace level starting pitcher but it hasn’t happened yet and that is concerning.
As we have waited ever so patiently on this trade deadline, we’ve watched the San Francisco Giants creep back into wild card contention. Is Madison Bumgarner still even going to be available in 13 days?? Making matters worse, the Giants have a 4 game homestand this weekend against the freakin’ Mets. I think we all know that series isn’t going to go the way Yankees fans will want.
(Side note: The Mets are so bad that their play will negatively impact the Yankees, I would bet those idiots the Wilpons will actually take some joy in that.)
Besides the possibility that Bumgarner won’t be available if San Francisco keeps winning. I am getting more and more anxious over the possibility that Bumgarner gets traded to Houston, which would be the absolute worst possible outcome for the Yankees regarding this year’s trade deadline. Allowing Bumgarner to bolster that Houston rotation would be detrimental to the Yankees postseason hopes.
The Yankees are a great team this year but so is Houston. Houston’s lineup can match the Yankees’ lineup so starting pitching will be a game changer if these two teams meet in the postseason. Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, and Madison Bumgarner have the skill set and talent to take the Yankees deep into games where the Astros bullpen would not be as much of a factor. The Yankees analytics department works under the belief that a pitcher facing a line up a 3rd time in one game greatly increases the lineups ability to score runs on that pitcher. Yes, the numbers indicate that to be true but these are 3 top pitchers, whom can go deep into games when they have their best stuff. I would not count on the Yankees being able to touch any of those guys a third time through the lineup in a postseason game. They are just too good. We aren’t talking about facing Andrew Cashner a 3rd time. We are talking about facing one definite Hall of Fame pitcher (Verlander), one very likely Hall of Fame pitcher (Bumgarner), and one really good pitcher (Cole) who is having a great season. All three of those pitchers scare me and it would be foolish to assume the Yankees would hit and score off these guys just because they are facing them for a third time. No way. Not a risk I want to take.
Cashman and his analytics team NEED to make the decision to overpay for Bumgarner. I know it’s not ideal but they have to prevent Bumgarner going to Houston. If they need to deal both Clint Frazier and Miguel Andujar for a rental, then they need to do it. I know it’s not the best deal and I LOVE Frazier and Andujar but we are talking World Series or bust right now. Anything less than a World Series Championship constitutes as a failed season therefore it’s time to take a risk. Deal the highly touted prospects for a guy that we not only know can help the Yankees in the postseason but we also know could absolutely terrorize the Yankees in the postseason. If there was ever a time to take a humongous risk, this is the time and situation to do it.