Pinstripe Alley: All Posts by Malachi HayesBig boi dinger enthusiastshttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/51961/pinstripe_alley_minimal.png2024-01-31T10:00:00-05:00https://www.pinstripealley.com/authors/malachi-zachary-hayes/rss2024-01-31T10:00:00-05:002024-01-31T10:00:00-05:00A farewell to Yankees nation
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<img alt="Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim v New York Yankees, Game 2" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/kscMEu8kuSKHaq5cA3V_jwWThKE=/0x154:2592x1882/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73100139/91971941.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>It’s been real, and it’s been fun (even if the baseball wasn’t always).</p> <p id="mhZAG5">Well folks, it’s been a hell of a ride, but it’s just about time for me to go. This will be my last appearance at Pinstripe Alley – for now, anyway. I jumped on board a year and a half ago knowing little but <a href="https://www.southsidesox.com/">Chicago White Sox</a> fandom, and while I have to apologize (first and foremost) for bringing the stink of my franchise onto yours in 2023, I’m really happy to have had the opportunity to share the <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/">Yankees</a> with you all, and grateful that you shared them with me. </p>
<p id="lZoKmN">Reading your comments, seeing your tweets, listening to your discourses, riding the highs, and waiting out the lows, if there’s one thing I’m coming away from it with, it’s that Yankees fans don’t take shit. In some respects, you have among the strongest of the love-hate relationship we all endure with the objects of our fandom. Few fans love harder than you do, none take more pride in their team and the identity it projects, and few will be quicker to put feet to the fire when things are going haywire. They’re not always the right feet, but nobody’s perfect! </p>
<p id="SXIt96">Above all, the thing about you guys that might have registered the hardest is the way that Yankees fans are always demanding better. As the <a href="https://www.truebluela.com/">Dodgers</a> are committed to showing us every year, nothing is guaranteed in baseball, and there’s always room for improvement because you could knock down the single-season wins record by 10 and still wind up three-and-out come playoff time. The White Sox being as bad as they are now is a relatively recent phenomenon, but even so, I’ve watched a lot of losing baseball in my life, and I couldn’t help but enter this sphere with an outsider’s “What are you all complaining about?” kind of attitude. A season later, I’m slightly embarrassed at how long it took me to figure out why, exactly, everyone seems to loathe Brian Cashman so much. Isn’t it as simple as winning and losing?</p>
<p id="B77WpI">Now, I must say, I get it. In pro sports, winning a championship requires a kind of single-minded determination that’s mathematically impossible for more than a handful of teams to muster every year. The Yankees are one of the few teams whose fanbase can genuinely say they bring that kind of energy to the table every year, whether the front office follows suit or not. Every team’s fans can bring the energy when the stakes are high, but the environment and energy that the Yankees and their fans cultivate day-in and day-out, on the internet and in real life, is hard to find anywhere else. Standing in the bleachers for an August game against Boston in even a mildly competitive race can leave even the most experienced sports-watcher jolted out of their shoes through the sheer passion they find themselves surrounded by. It’s worthy of respect. </p>
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<img alt="New York Yankees vs Boston Red Sox" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/jo8B1Ieh6ogyqd-eCgTdh1nX33E=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25258236/958905252.jpg">
<cite>Set Number: X161908 TK2</cite>
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<p id="plCI5H">Nonetheless, in shifting focus from the among the poorest to the wealthiest of franchises, one can’t help but laugh and appreciate at how many of the afflictions and neuroses we suffer from as fans are simply universal, no matter who we’ve hitched our wagon to. Analytics are, as a <a href="https://youtu.be/hUVwR0rw5fk?t=1">great philosopher</a> once said, both the cause of and solution to all of life’s problems. The manager has no idea how to handle a pitching staff or bullpen. The owner cares more about profits than winning. One of the announcers can be kind of a jagoff. The sixth-best prospect in the system is way too valuable to be included in that trade proposal floating around the internet. You can be a fan of the best organization in the league or the worst, but there are problems that touch us all!</p>
<p id="ZJm0lZ">As a writer, it’s hard not to be energized by a team like the Yankees. Things are simply always happening, even amidst the worst season on the field in nearly three decades. Most of the time, when a team is having the worst season a generation has ever seen, you don’t also get to cover the promotion of the one of the most hyped international signings of the last decade and a blockbuster trade for perhaps the best left-handed hitter in the game. Whether you’re good or bad, baseball is fun when things are happening, and there are a frankly gross number of teams content to simply opt out of participating in the hot stove activity that keeps us going during the dead periods of the season and offseason. The Yankees, though? Things are always happening with the Yankees, and that’s something I’ve developed a deep appreciation for over the last 18 months. </p>
<p id="JZhlN3">At the end of the day, the Yankees are still going to be the Death Star and Evil Empire to the rest of us, even if the analogies are a little bit less sticky than they were a couple decades ago. But it’s a position that’s well-earned and well-maintained. You’re the number one team in the biggest city in the country, with the history to match. As long as don’t allow complacency to set in and let things get embarrassing with more than a few 2023-like seasons at a time, you can act like it. Just keep on demanding better.</p>
<p id="VoZ84y">It’s been a pleasure writing for all of you! I’ll be following the 2024 as close as anyone else, and I sincerely hope it’s a less infuriating one in the comments section than the one they just put you through. Happy baseball season!</p>
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<p id="o86EG2"><em>Editor’s note: Our sincere thanks go out to Malachi, who was a huge help for us over the past year and a half and offered terrific perspective from the outside. Best of luck!</em></p>
https://www.pinstripealley.com/2024/1/31/24055904/baseball-fan-reflections-yankees-farewell-mlb-white-soxMalachi Hayes2024-01-29T08:00:00-05:002024-01-29T08:00:00-05:00Yankees Trade History: White Sox
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<img alt="Portrait of Baseball Player Ed Lopat" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/16TvUMZJtD0lvZmZNuV6hYcXsHE=/0x83:3042x2111/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73093468/515462602.0.jpg" />
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<p>The hits outnumber the misses in the deals between this historic pairing.</p> <p id="wDV1Cd">Despite both being original members of the American League, the <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/">Yankees</a> have a relatively limited trade history with the <a href="https://www.southsidesox.com/">White Sox</a>, swapping fringe players and executing low-impact purchases for most of their history. While the White Sox’s’s now-perpetual place at the bottom of the standings is a relatively new phenomenon, the Yankees have typically done the team pretty dirty on the trade market, giving me plenty to think about for the Best Trade category and not a lot for the Worst. Let’s get to it!</p>
<h2 id="ENfkuX"><strong>Best Trade</strong></h2>
<p id="Jq9uNC"><em><strong>February 24, 1948</strong></em><em>: The White Sox trade </em><em><strong>Fred Bradley, Aaron Robinson, </strong></em><em>and </em><em><strong>Bill Wight</strong></em><em> to the Yankees for </em><em><strong>Eddie Lopat</strong></em><em>.</em></p>
<p id="ZSDSBb">The first big splash between the two teams came before the 1948 season, when the second division and cash-strapped White Sox decided to sell high on their breakout star pitcher. Some things never change, huh. Anyhow, they sent him to New York as a 30-year-old for a package highlighted by right-handed pitcher Bill Wight, who gave the Sox an even 10.0 fWAR in three seasons before a trade to Boston. Neither Bradley, also a right-handed pitcher, nor Robinson, a catcher, contributed much of anything to the Pale Hose, and none of the three players had any real MLB playing experience at the time of the trade. </p>
<p id="NsyEPF">Wight might have been a solid contributor for a moment, but as we know, it pales in comparison to Lopat’s contributions to the Yankees. Lopat pitched eight seasons and nearly 1,500 innings in pinstripes, accumulating a 113-59 record, a 3.19 ERA (121 ERA+), and 19.5 fWAR. He picked up five rings along the way, making seven <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/world-series">World Series</a> starts to the tune of a 2.60 ERA. All in all, picking up a rotation stalwart for a team that ran the league for a decade — and the <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2023/11/13/23947563/yankees-top-100-players-eddie-lopat-80-biography-starting-pitcher-1950s-dynasty">80th-greatest Yankee overall</a>, according to all of us — for little of consequence ranks as the best trade ever (for New York, of course) between these two.</p>
<h2 id="fTobcd"><strong>Worst Trade</strong></h2>
<p id="IICksz"><em><strong>July 31, 2004:</strong></em><em> The Yankees trade </em><em><strong>José Contreras</strong></em><em> to the White Sox for </em><em><strong>Esteban Loaiza</strong></em><em>.</em></p>
<p id="iGAqoU">The overall trade history here is pretty banal, but when accounting for context, this probably sticks out as the worst thing on the record sheet. After a decorated Cuban career, Contreras arrived in New York amid much fanfare, signing a four-year, $32 million contract and making the team’s preseason <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2024/1/26/24051002/sports-illustrated-best-yankees-covers-mlb-retrospective-2024-layoffs"><em>Sports Illustrated</em> cover</a>. His first year with the team was truncated by injury but he looked worth the investing, picking up seven wins with a 3.30 ERA, 3.21 FIP, and as many strikeouts as walks.</p>
<p id="2XJ580">However, 2004 was a different story. The 31-year-old struggled mightily, attracting media ire as he posted a 5.64 ERA through 18 starts amid a heated division title race with Boston. Brian Cashman cut bait at the trade deadline. The Yankees needed pitching help, but as it turned out, Esteban Loaiza was not the answer. Loaiza was the Cy Young runner-up in 2003, putting together one of the wilder one-hit wonder seasons in recent memory with a 21-9 record, 2.90 ERA, and league-leading 207 punchouts. He never came close to doing that again, and he was a disaster down the stretch for the Bombers, getting lit up for 42 runs in 42.1 innings.</p>
<p id="liTo21">Nonetheless, Contreras broke out for the White Sox, playing a pivotal role in the rotation for the team’s 2005 championship and making an All-Star appearance in 2006.</p>
<div id="Rlbt1F"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/m/white-sox-win-al-pennant-c19971067" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" allow="encrypted-media;"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="ZTjgS6">The veteran accumulated 15.2 fWAR over parts of six seasons in Chicago, and won back-to-back AL Pitcher of the Month awards in September 2005 and April 2006. Loaiza was more or less done after 2004, and the Yankees spent subsequent years with names like Jaret Wright, Shawn Chacon, and Kei Igawa in the rotation. Sure could have used José.</p>
<h2 id="Geo4YY"><strong>Most Overlooked Trade</strong></h2>
<p id="wgHd7J"><em><strong>January 5, 1987:</strong></em><em> The White Sox trade </em><em><strong>Pete Fillson </strong></em><em>and </em><em><strong>Randy Velarde</strong></em><em> to the Yankees for </em><em><strong>Mike Soper </strong></em><em>and </em><em><strong>Scott Nielson</strong></em><em>.</em></p>
<div id="5ZCQBw"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/m/velarde-s-big-fly-extends-lead-c2444677783" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" allow="encrypted-media;"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="b1cQYi">Velarde is one of my favorite types of player: the solid-but-unexceptional bench morale guy who sticks in one place for a long time just because he makes himself useful and everyone kind of likes him. Velarde appeared in nine straight seasons for the Yankees to start his career despite only twice playing more than 95 games in a season. He played just about every position on the field, and despite struggling with the stick to start his career, turned into a more-than-capable hitter after establishing himself in the mid-1980s, running a 106 OPS+ in his last four years with the team. Buck Showalter called him something like the ultimate team player, and you can thank the White Sox for it. It cost virtually nothing, as Soper never reached the big leagues and Nielson gave them just 19 games of 6.24 ERA pitching. </p>
<h2 id="k9JfTD"><strong>Weirdest Trade</strong></h2>
<p id="9UN2Ad"><em><strong>April 5, 1977:</strong></em><em> The Yankees trade </em><em><strong>Bob Polinsky, Oscar Gamble, LaMarr Hoyt</strong></em><em> and $200,000 to the White Sox for </em><em><strong>Bucky Dent</strong></em><em>.</em></p>
<p id="hwiLHz"><em><strong>December 14, 1994: </strong></em><em>The Yankees trade a player to be named later and </em><em><strong>Keith Heberling </strong></em><em>to the White Sox for </em><em><strong>Jack McDowell</strong></em><em>. The Yankees sent </em><em><strong>Lyle Mouton</strong></em><em> to the White Sox to complete the trade.</em></p>
<p id="MZebo2">I’m putting these two together because first of all, whichever one didn’t make it here was going to wind up in <em>Other Trades of Note </em>as it is. It’s not because of Oscar Gamble, who came and went from New York in rapidity, being acquired in 1976, traded in 1977, and re-acquired in 1979. It’s not because of Bucky Dent, the <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2023/11/3/23940404/yankees-top-100-players-bucky-dent-89-biography-shortstop">89th-best Yankee</a>, and it’s not because of Lyle Mouton, who had a solid three-year run as a backup outfielder in Chicago. In fact, you can even bring the Loaiza trade down here. The weird part is that ever since the Cy Young Award split between leagues, two White Sox have taken home the trophy, and both were involved in trades with the Yankees. </p>
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<p id="Fab461">If it wasn’t for Dent’s legendary contribution to team history and overall solid production, this one might rank among the team’s worst, as Hoyt led the league in wins for two straight seasons and took home the 1983 Cy Young. A decade later, Black Jack McDowell repeated the feat in another division-winning year on the South Side, only to make his way to New York a year later amid a dispute with management. Sweet serendipity, huh?</p>
<h2 id="u2eKXe"><strong>Other Trades of Note</strong></h2>
<p id="CDehDL"><strong>June 1, 1913:</strong> <em>The Yankees trade </em><em><strong>Hal Chase</strong></em><em> to the White Sox for </em><em><strong>Babe Borton</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Rollie Zeider</strong></em><em>.</em></p>
<p id="FMXKja">Some of his contemporaries called Chase the best first basemen they’d ever seen. Known for being perhaps questionable in character and facing suspicions of throwing games, the Yankees unloaded Chase to Chicago. 1919 wasn’t the first time they picked up a Babe from the Sox!</p>
<p id="wxhPkh"><em><strong>January 10, 1992:</strong></em><em> The White Sox trade</em><em><strong> Domingo Jean, Mélido Pérez</strong></em><em>, and </em><em><strong>Bob Wickman</strong></em><em> to the Yankees for </em><em><strong>Steve Sax.</strong></em></p>
<p id="p9pmHV">One of the better moves on this list, Sax was a highly-touted acquisition for an ascending White Sox team, but the Yankees sold high at the best possible time. After an excellent three-year run in New York, itself after three All-Star appearances in Los Angeles, Sax flopped with the Sox, developing the yips and running a 69 OPS+ in two years on the South Side. Pérez gave the Yankees a six-win season in 1992, and Wickman was a solid bullpen contributor for parts of five seasons before becoming a <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2024/1/5/24025228/yankees-trade-history-milwaukee-brewers-graeme-lloyd-jim-bouton-garrett-cooper-michael-king">part of the deal</a> to land dynasty bullpen contributor Graeme Lloyd. Not too bad!</p>
<p id="hh3vQu"><em><strong>November 13, 2008</strong></em><em>. The Yankees trade </em><em><strong>Wilson Betemit</strong></em><em>, </em><em><strong>Jeff Marquez</strong></em><em>, and </em><em><strong>Jhonny Nuñez</strong></em><em> to the White Sox for </em><em><strong>Nick Swisher </strong></em><em>and </em><em><strong>Kanekoa Texeira</strong></em><em>.</em></p>
<div id="JF3VgD"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/m/swisher-s-walk-off-homer-c11849723" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" allow="encrypted-media;"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="jAklEy">Probably the <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2022/2/1/22911013/yankees-history-smartest-moves-nick-swisher-trade-world-series-all-star">second-best move</a> on this list, fan-favorite/<a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2023/10/23/23928027/yankees-top-100-players-nick-swisher-biography-right-field-2009">Top 100 Yank</a> Swisher was acquired by the White Sox for a set of top prospects prior to the 2008 season, but was essentially dumped by the team after his relationship soured with the clubhouse and temperamental manager Ozzie Guillén. Betemit lasted just one year in Chicago, but Swisher was a key part of the 2009 champions and is still an active presence in Yankees life today.</p>
<p id="9p9IDi"><em><strong>July 19, 2017:</strong></em><em> The White Sox trade </em><em><strong>Todd Frazier</strong></em><em>,</em><em><strong> Tommy Kahnle</strong></em><em>, and </em><em><strong>David Robertson</strong></em><em> to the Yankees for </em><em><strong>Ian Clarkin</strong></em><em>, </em><em><strong>Tito Polo</strong></em><em>, </em><em><strong>Tyler Clippard</strong></em><em>, and </em><em><strong>Blake Rutherford.</strong></em></p>
<p id="a88fhM">This one <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2022/2/14/22931940/yankees-history-smartest-moves-white-sox-trade-david-robertson-todd-frazier-tommy-kahnle">worked out pretty well too</a>. Frazier didn’t wind up being a difference maker, but Robertson (clearly) still had plenty of use in him just two-and-a-half years after leaving the Yankees, while Kahnle is still around today following a detour to LA. They were key to the 2017 club’s playoff run, and New York might never have escaped the AL Wild Card Game without them.</p>
<div id="9MzmNn"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-Uq-b6berRk?rel=0&start=142" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share;"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="HEYBWu">Nobody was particularly sad to see Clippard go, and the Sox turned around and traded him again after just 11 appearances. And for all the fanfare, Rutherford never even reached the big leagues. With the Kenny Williams/Rick Hahn braintrust out of the way, we’ll see if the Yankees can continue their habit on coming out on the better end of these deals.</p>
<h3 id="YMQVjk"><strong>Previously in the Trade Partner History series</strong></h3>
<p id="kQXSpa"><a href="http://www.sbnation.com/e/23816841">Pittsburgh Pirates</a><br><a href="http://www.sbnation.com/e/23784199"><strong>Full list to date</strong></a></p>
https://www.pinstripealley.com/2024/1/29/24053877/yankees-trade-partner-history-chicago-white-sox-eddie-lopat-todd-frazier-david-robertson-cashmanMalachi Hayes2024-01-26T10:30:00-05:002024-01-26T10:30:00-05:00Long live Sports Illustrated (and all the best Yankees covers)
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<img alt="Sports Illustrated 2007 Sportsman of the Year - Arrivals" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/0EtSun4DPlOYiig__B9_zOE9vw8=/0x33:2009x1372/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73087018/78264226.0.jpg" />
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<p>A look at Yankees on the iconic magazine’s cover over the decades</p> <p id="qgTDqS">As you may have seen, heard, or read about, a travesty in sports media occurred earlier this week, when the brand formerly known as <em>Sports Illustrated</em> <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516590&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheathletic.com%2F5214446%2F2024%2F01%2F19%2Fsports-illustrated-arena-group-layoffs-notice%2F&referrer=sbnation.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinstripealley.com%2F2024%2F1%2F26%2F24051002%2Fsports-illustrated-best-yankees-covers-mlb-retrospective-2024-layoffs" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">laid off their entire staff</a>, seemingly bringing the iconic publication’s run to a close after 70 years. The company sent out a vague press release indicating that it’s not dead yet, but the outlook is nothing if not grim. It’s the latest blow in a January that’s been rife with them, in what I can best describe as the ghoulish mass of venture capital’s ongoing assault on anything dear that would stand in the way of a slightly raised quarterly profit margin. Maybe that’s not actually my best, but you get the point. </p>
<p id="TkFQRM">The Yankees being the Yankees, they’ve graced more than their share of <em>Sports Illustrated</em> covers over the years. Nearly three dozen by my count, as I scrolled through their <a href="https://vault.si.com/vault/archives">archives </a>earlier today. There’s a lot to look at, but I picked out one from each decade of the magazine’s existence to show you all, not for any particular ranking or reason other than myself and my PSA colleagues thinking they’re cool. Let’s get going!</p>
<h2 id="7czb1v"><strong>1950s</strong></h2>
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<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/qtEt6hhtApX5_5kIlzPQ-QWatRQ=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25249333/Berra_7_11_55.jpg">
<cite>Sports Illustrated Archive</cite>
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<p id="v76MJF">The first issue of <em>Sports Illustrated</em> was published on August 14, 1954, and it was a little under a year later, on July 11, 1955, that a Yankee graced the cover for the first time. It feels fitting, somehow, that Yogi Berra’s homely visage is the first and only one of them to be a super-close-up. Yogi wouldn’t care about that too much though — he was featured in the midst of what would eventually be his second consecutive MVP-winning season, with the Yankees 55-29 and a comfortable five games ahead at the top of the standings. They’d famously lose the World Series to the Brooklyn Dodgers, and Berra’s MVP was closely contested (Cleveland’s Al Smith received an equal number of first place votes), but it’s not as if the Yankees would be lacking for more moments in the sun anytime soon.</p>
<h2 id="5N64fV"><strong>1960s</strong></h2>
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<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/0UZKkopfXmzeluyE4ieeHpqT_MU=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25249338/Mantle_7_2_62.jpg">
<cite>Sports Illustrated Archive</cite>
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<p id="XWyUQK">The ‘60s offered a LOT to choose from, and I went with this one for two main reasons. First, Roger Maris didn’t make an appearance until a relatively boring 1961 World Series edition cover. Second, I’m pretty sure this was the first time I’d seen a clear, bright, <em>color </em>photograph of Mickey Mantle in his prime. The Comet was 30 years old in 1962, and won his third and final AL MVP (after two consecutive runner-up finishes) despite missing a full month of the season with a leg injury. There’s a vibrancy in that cover that most action shots of Mantle at his best just don’t <em>quite </em>capture. I can only imagine how it might have registered with someone whose eyes <em>haven’t </em>been bombarded with digital photorealism for the entirety of their developed life.</p>
<h2 id="yklDul"><strong>1970s</strong></h2>
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<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ZI2S-afb3k5Cjp63QbxyUS6QMZM=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25249346/Reggie_5_2_77.jpg">
<cite>Sports Illustrated Vault</cite>
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<p id="rGl3t2">If you were making a list of the most <em>interesting </em>Yankees seasons ever, <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2022/1/10/22874870/yankees-history-1977-world-series-champions-reggie-jackson-billy-martin-ron-guidry-sparky-lyle">1977</a> would probably be somewhere near the top, and given what the earlier part of the ‘70s looked like for the club, there weren’t quite as many covers to choose from as in some other decades. So we get one from the most <em>interesting </em>of times. You wouldn’t know it from the cover, but at the time this issue was released on May 2, when Reggie Jackson was hitting .290/.400/.493. Remember, this well over a month and change <em>before </em>the infamous “straw that stirs the drink” and Fenway Park Fight Night incidents — that sure tells you something about the media environment Reggie dealt with, one way or another. </p>
<h2 id="zmmPdt"><strong>1980s</strong></h2>
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<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6c2f3J66L-E-SI3Xu9Mu-pjSyCQ=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25249355/Mattingly_Strawberry_7_13_87.jpg">
<cite>Sports Illustrated Archive</cite>
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<p id="pHtLfv">There wasn’t necessarily a ton to laugh or smile about in the Bronx in the 1980s, especially the latter half, but this is just two cool baseball dudes sharing space in a city and on a magazine cover. It really captures the era since <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2024/1/24/24047115/yankees-top-100-players-don-mattingly-14-biography-first-base-captain">Don Mattingly</a> simply <em>was</em> the man of the moment for the Yankees, and Darryl Strawberry certainly fit that bill for the Mets as well, alongside fellow embattled superstar Doc Gooden. The captions are, however, quite ironic. Although the Mets were 9.5 games out of first place at the time of publication, they went 45-30 from that point on, winding up with a respectable second-place finish. The Yankees, meanwhile, took the three=game lead they had in the division at the time and went 34-39 to finish off the year in a distant third. The ‘80s, right?</p>
<h2 id="a5gGrI"><strong>1990s</strong></h2>
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<cite>Sports Illustrated Archive</cite>
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<p id="KDK50J">Look, there was a <em>lot</em> to choose from for the nineties. I could’ve mixed-and-matched combinations of Yankees legends like a Wendy’s 4-for-4 deal. And then this appeared in front of me. There’s so much going on here. Why is he dressed like Napoleon if the reference is to King George? Are we acting like he left voluntarily, and not because of a pretty sizable scandal? Whose idea was this? Can we try Steve Cohen as Winston Churchill? What?</p>
<h2 id="c8L9A1"><strong>2000s</strong></h2>
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<cite>Sports Illustrated Archive</cite>
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<p id="fRRaXN">Hey, there’s George, looking a little more... subdued! This one is just fun to look at. Peak “remember some guys” fodder, you might say. It doesn’t quite lean into the absurdism of his previous appearance, but there’s plenty to like (and ask) about this one, too. The magic of photography is real, because I was alive in 2003 and I know that Roger Clemens did <em>not </em>look younger than Mike Mussina on <em>my </em>static-y television. Why is Jeff Weaver even here? Was David Wells still asleep?* And hey, look, it’s 2005 World Champion José Contreras! I once watched him warm up for a start with 12-inch softball that might as well have been a tennis ball in his hands. Anyway, back to the program. </p>
<p id="7IndPH"><em>*The boring actual answer: No, he was just </em><a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/2003/0322/1527850.html"><em>mad</em></a><em> at SI.</em></p>
<h2 id="gPBpfQ"><strong>2010s</strong></h2>
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<cite>Sports Illustrated Archive</cite>
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<p id="uwJuSB">There it is! You knew they had to be in there somewhere before the end, right? We’ll wrap up with this one, because at least a plurality, if not a majority, of the subsequent decade-and-a-half’s worth of covers involve Alex Rodríguez looking sad and/or reflective. 2010 was, of course, the last year of the Core Four, as Andy Pettitte hung them up after the season, and by the time he hit the comeback trail two years later, Jorge Posada had already followed him into retirement. One thing that this cover sure got right? You really won’t see that again in any sport. Just like we will never quite be able to fill the SI-sized hole in our memories. <em>Sports Illustrated</em> is dead, long live <em>Sports Illustrated</em>.</p>
https://www.pinstripealley.com/2024/1/26/24051002/sports-illustrated-best-yankees-covers-mlb-retrospective-2024-layoffsMalachi Hayes2024-01-25T16:00:00-05:002024-01-25T16:00:00-05:00Looking for contributions in unexpected places for the Yankees bullpen
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<img alt="Toronto Blue Jays v New York Yankees" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/beyfPzIjSRK0fG0QKbpFvm0iW9g=/0x0:3410x2273/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73085190/1691544128.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Will one of these relievers pitch their way onto fans’ radar in 2024?</p> <p id="mBXavg">I like writing about pitchers. Not necessarily just the good ones — the interesting ones, the forgotten ones, the ones you don’t think about until they’re suddenly sitting in your bullpen. Few teams manage to pull bullpen aces out of thin air quite like the <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/">Yankees</a> do, whether it be through internal development or finding a diamond in the rough on the trade or free agent market. </p>
<p id="Xin6EW">A few weeks ago, Estee Rivera took a look at some of the “homegrown” <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2024/1/11/24033531/yankees-bullpen-relief-ace-homegrown-breakout-pitching-prospect-gomez-beeter-boyle">candidates for a breakout</a> in the Yankees bullpen next summer. Here, I’m going to do the same, except coming from the opposite direction. These are the afterthoughts; the returnees from injury; the non-roster invites and minor league signings that you don’t even know are on the roster until they’re in the majors with a 1.26 ERA. There are a lot of names to choose from, but if I had to guess at who 2024’s Ian Hamilton might be, I’d probably put my money on one of these names.</p>
<p id="xfMZnC"><strong>Luis Gil</strong></p>
<p id="who9kQ">This isn’t the first time we’ve written about how Gil shouldn’t be written off, as <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2024/1/11/24033908/yankees-luis-gil-depth-option-starting-pitcher-rotation-offseason-rehab-tommy-john">Andrés Chávez called him a “dark horse” for a rotation spot just a few weeks ago</a>. All of his points stand firm here: he’s talented, he has MLB experience, he’s finally healthy, and he’s on the 40-man roster. No matter what role it’s in, Gil will almost certainly have a chance to make an impact in some regard in 2024.</p>
<p id="EtjW9q">Personally, I just think it’s almost certainly going to be in the bullpen. It’s really tempting to see if pitchers as gifted as Gil can stick as starters, but between his strike-throwing issues, his health issues. and the fact that he only has two real pitches, I’d just cut to the chase and stick him in the back of the bullpen. Because he has stuff that’ll play in the back of a bullpen, for sure.</p>
<div id="Ow4jOG"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/m/luis-gil-racks-up-six-k-s" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" allow="encrypted-media;"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="zRmslH">It seems like teams can spit out hurlers who throw in the high 90s with a biting slider with ease these days, but it’s still a small number who have shown even to an extent as limited as Gil that they can do it against quality MLB hitters. He’ll need to prove his health before anything else, but it’s worth taking a moment to watch that video and remind ourselves what he looked like when he first made the leap in 2021. If anything of that pitcher still remains, it’s hard to not to think there’s a path to making him a contributor next summer.</p>
<p id="KYe4xd"><strong>Yerry De Los Santos</strong></p>
<p id="lXsWfX">You know it’s the dog days of the offseason because I just cranked up MLB Film Room and binge-watched five appearances from Yerry De Los Santos, a 26-year-old right-hander formerly of the <a href="https://www.bucsdugout.com/">Pittsburgh Pirates</a> who signed a minor league deal with the Yankees in November, and I am simply <em>enthralled</em>. It’s a package that very much resembles what Jimmy Cordero brought to the table when the Yankees brought him in on a minor league pact. It’s a big sinker that, while falling a little short of Clay Holmes’ bowling ball, has some pretty heavy drop and run to it, and he can push it all the way up near the top of the velocity scale.</p>
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<p id="LxQbFj">Like Cordero, he pairs it with a slider, one that seems mostly gyro-oriented in nature but with a lot of inconsistency in how much up-down movement it generates on any given pitch.</p>
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<p id="RerGoI">That stuff was good enough for a 3.33 ERA and 54.2 percent grounder rate in 22 appearances last season, but the performance wasn’t enough to stop him from hitting the waiver wire when the Bucs needed to make some 40-man roster room. His mechanics up there are not pretty — there could be a <em>lot </em>more fluidity and athleticism in his torso and hip separation through his leg plant, and my untrained eye doesn’t love the angle that his upper body rotates at, either. If some of those kinks can be ironed out and he can start hitting spots consistently, though, the Yankees could have another sinkerballing monster on their hands.</p>
<p id="FdHFf2"><strong>Nick Burdi</strong></p>
<p id="jyb4Xq">Stuff isn’t the issue with Burdi. It’s never been. Burdi was a second-round pick out of Louisville in 2014, but he was the first pure reliever off the board, with only 22 starters being selected before him. That should tell you enough about the kind of talent he’s working with. Unfortunately, he’s also an excellent example of why teams don’t like using high draft picks on relievers, no matter how electric, as he’s simply been unable to stay healthy for more than a few months at a time. Between 2016 and 2022, he appeared in just 43 professional games (16 in the majors), none of which came after 2020. He finally managed a hard-earned return to the mound in 2023, when he appeared in 23 games for the <a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a>’ Triple-A affiliate, and three for the big club.</p>
<p id="Wd8EXX">Even with all that time off, the electricity was still there in 2023. His ERA with Triple-A Iowa was just 3.86, but he struck out 35 hitters (with 15 walks) in just 21 innings. His fastball still crackled at an even 98 mph in his brief MLB cameo.</p>
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<p id="WJEUzZ">Yeah, uh, that’s some hot stuff! He pairs it with a biting side-to-side slider that’s drawn whiffs 44 percent of the time hitters have swung at it in the big leagues. Probably the most confident prediction I’ll make in this article is that if the Yankees can keep Burdi healthy, he’ll wind up getting some high-leverage innings in the Bronx this summer.</p>
<p id="ZFf662"><strong>Nick Ramirez</strong></p>
<p id="ZCabtr">Ramirez was with the team last year, so this isn’t quite the same thing as the other three, but his performance last year shouldn’t be discounted. I’ve written about him a couple times here, first over the summer, then his postseason report card, and not much has changed. </p>
<p id="RMfmYo">Diametrically opposed to Burdi, the stuff that Ramirez brings to the table is wholly unexciting, but he has a combination of lefty funkiness and unorthodox pitch traits that both make it easy to see why the Yankees brought him in, and make me think the 2.66 ERA he posted in 32 apperances last year is, while not sustainable, not totally a fluke, either. He still has options remaining, so he probably won’t make the Opening Day roster, but with Wandy Peralta not currently in the fold, there are a lot of ground-ball-oriented-lefty innings to fill. Victor González seems likely to get the first crack at them, but it wouldn’t be absurd to see Ramirez get a shot at it as well.</p>
<p id="N11i4D">I have my doubts that the ink is dry on pitching staff changes for the coming season. Even with Marcus Stroman in tow, it feels as if the rotation and bullpen is still <em>just </em>a little bit short, maybe by just a name or two. Whether another big name joins the fray or just a few smaller ones, there will be plenty of rough for Matt Blake and the team’s pitching dev group to attempt to find a diamond in. </p>
https://www.pinstripealley.com/2024/1/25/24049516/relievers-on-the-fringes-of-the-yankees-roster-luis-gil-nick-burdi-yerry-de-los-santos-nick-ramirezMalachi Hayes2024-01-19T12:00:00-05:002024-01-19T12:00:00-05:00Top 100 Yankees: #19 Willie Randolph
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<p>One of the Yankees’ most low-key greats, Randolph had a career to make New York proud.</p> <p id="s4zdLv"><strong>Name: </strong>William Larry “Willie” Randolph<br><strong>Position: </strong>Second baseman<br><strong>Born: </strong>July 6, 1954 (Holly Hill, SC)<br><strong>Yankee Years: </strong>1976-88<br><strong>Primary Number: </strong>30<br><strong>Yankee Statistics: </strong>1,694 G, 7,465 PA, .275/.374/.357, 110 wRC+, 1,731 H, 48 HR, 259 2B, 58 3B, 271 SB, 54.0 rWAR, 51.4 fWAR</p>
<h2 id="NGO7B2"><strong>Biography</strong></h2>
<p id="kx9AIu">Willie Randolph has been a through-and-through New Yorker in close to everything but birth. Born in 1954 to Minnie and Randy Randolph, sharecroppers from Holly Hill, South Carolina, Willie came into the world smack in the middle of what came to be known as the Second Great Migration, and shortly after his birth, the Randolphs joined the ranks of millions of Black families leaving the rural South in favor of the urban North and West around the middle of the century. They settled in Brownsville, Brooklyn, where Willie would spend his childhood and adolescence, growing up in the Samuel J. Tilden Houses with his family, who later added more siblings into the mix, including a brother, <a href="https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/R/RandTe20.htm">Terry</a>, who briefly suited up for the <a href="https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/">Green Bay Packers</a>.</p>
<p id="FfwWzW">It’s also where he would get his first taste of sports stardom, dominating the infield at Tilden High School in neighboring Flatbush, where he was classmates with future NBA star World B. Free and the organizer Reverend Al Sharpton. New York isn’t necessarily much of a baseball hotbed, but his performance was enough of a standout to get the attention of the <a href="https://www.bucsdugout.com/">Pittsburgh Pirates</a>, who popped him the seventh round of the 1972 draft, the eighth year of the draft’s existence. Ironically, while the New York City high school ranks failed to produce any genuine big leaguers out of those first seven drafts, Randolph was the <em>second </em>City-bred star that the Pirates plucked out of Brooklyn in 1972, having already selected John Candelaria — born just eight months earlier and playing miles away at LaSalle High School — in the second round.</p>
<h3 id="fpXH1F"><strong>Through the minors</strong></h3>
<p id="OolLp5">Randolph and Candelaria were teammates in the minors for a time, though not initially. Randolph began his professional career soon after being drafted, reporting to the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League for 44 games as a 17-year-old. He acquitted himself quite nicely in that first taste of professional ball, batting .317 with five triples, 10 steals, and more walks than strikeouts as the youngest everyday player on the roster. The next spring, he joined Candelaria at Class-A Charleston, where he led the team in hits (120), doubles (25), triples (6), homers (8), walks (93), and defensive assists (307), again as one of the youngest players in the lineup. </p>
<p id="4n5oW5">While a defender as slick as he was might have stuck at shortstop at least a little longer had he come about more recently, Randolph moved to the keystone in Charleston after playing shortstop in rookie ball in deference to Dwayne Peltier, the team’s first-round pick in ‘72. Randolph, who in his youth had developed an affinity for <a href="https://www.amazinavenue.com/">Mets</a> second baseman Ken Boswell, played so well at second base that the Pirates kept him there moving forward. His .962 fielding percentage — I know, I know, it’s all we have to go on — was the best in the infield, and he repeated the feat at the Double-A level the next year, leading the Thetford Mines Pirates with 319 assists and a .966 fielding percentage. </p>
<p id="htLM8O">Randolph wound up near the top of almost every defensive leaderboard you can find for the duration of his career.</p>
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<p id="UUfFw8">Between 1976 and 1990, FanGraphs credits just seven players with more defensive runs than Randolph, and four of them (Cal Ripken Jr., Alan Trammell, Gary Carter, and Ozzie Smith) are in the Hall of Fame. Among the top 30 defensive players in that time by that measure, only Ozzie provided more value on the basepaths. Alas, the voting bloc of the time was more infatuated with the likes of Bobby Grich and Frank White, so Randolph never won a Gold Glove.</p>
<p id="mWQC3n">Willie’s speed and defense were evident from the beginning, but his bat still needed a bit of work. He struggled with the stick for the first time with Thetford Mines up in Quebec at the ripe age of 19, seeing his batting average drop down to .254, though his on-base numbers remained excellent with a career-high 110 walks. Sharing a lineup with future big leaguers Omar Moreno, Tony Armas, and Craig Reynolds, though, he still wasn’t a particularly impactful offensive contributor. </p>
<h3 id="01WvUy"><strong>Breakout & trade</strong></h3>
<p id="sxj7mU">That would change the next year. Getting bumped up to Triple-A Charleston of the International League (same city, different team), Randolph racked up 250 assists at second base in just 90 games, and more importantly, broke out in a <em>big </em>way with the bat, raising his average to .339 and, once again alongside Candelaria, earning himself a call-up to Pittsburgh midway through the 1975 season.</p>
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<img alt="Pittsburgh Pirates vs Atlanta Braves" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Nv1iuHnJijwVFR3dwMH_SbfQeiQ=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25236438/1160393469.jpg">
<cite>Set Number: X19776 TK1 R5 F13</cite>
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<p id="W4GShl">Randolph <em>truly </em>struggled for the first time in his initial taste of the big leagues, receiving sporadic playing time down the stretch for a competitive Pirates team after making his debut on July 29th. He finished his first season with just 10 hits, and only one for extra bases, across 30 games and 70 trips to the plate. He got two trips to the plate against Cincinnati in the NLCS, neither of which had resulted in hits. </p>
<p id="jfQQtV">Randolph would get a chance at revenge against the Reds soon enough. The <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/">Yankees</a> weren’t particularly happy about sitting out the playoffs for the 11th consecutive season, and conspired to shake things up quite a bit following its conclusion. On a December day in which the Yankees had already shocked baseball by sending Bobby Bonds to the Angels, Randolph was heading back home to New York as the centerpiece of a deal that also netted the Yankees Dock Ellis (“no-hit pitcher and clubhouse lawyer,” as the <em>New York Times</em> put it), and Ken Brett (“a left-handed pitcher with a good bat and a bad elbow”), in exchange for up-and-coming starter Doc Medich. No Pittsburgh player had generated more buzz at the Winter Meetings than Randolph, Pirates GM Joe Brown said at the time, and while the Yankees rotation took a minor hit to their rotation, they had their second baseman of a generation in hand.</p>
<h3 id="HyD1vi"><strong>Home, sweet home</strong></h3>
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<cite>Photo by Focus on Sport via Getty Images</cite>
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<p id="UmoEFT">Randolph was the Opening Day second baseman in the Bronx in 1976, and he never looked back. It would be 1989 by the time the Yankees would have another Opening Day starter at the keystone, the longest Opening Day streak at the position in team history. He started his rookie campaign looking more like the form he had flashed in Triple-A the year prior, hitting .314 through his first 43 games of the season and becoming the third second baseman ever—after Rod Carew and former Yankee <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2023/10/29/23935581/yankees-top-100-players-bobby-richardson-94-biography-second-base-1960s-dynasty">Bobby Richardson</a>—to make the AL All-Star team as a rookie. As rookies often do, Randolph lost some steam midway through season, finishing with a .267 batting average and just 20 extra-base hits, but with a nearly 2:1 walk-to-strikeout ratio and a low offensive bar at second base, it was still good for a 107 wRC+. Add his excellent defense, and he handily led all rookies with 4.6 fWAR and 5.0 rWAR.</p>
<p id="WwHnAM">Willie struggled in the ‘76 playoffs, though, collecting just three hits in 31 at-bats as he once again fell victim to the Big Red Machine, and with Reggie Jackson in the fold, expectations were high in 1977. For the most part, Randolph met them, making a second straight All-Star team (recording six assists in the field) and improving on most of his power numbers while seeing his overall offense and defense stay relatively stable. Stability, of course, is not what the 1977 Yankees season is remembered for, and Randolph saw his role begin to increase amid the chaos, spending much of the year at the top of the lineup after living in the 8-hole as a rookie. </p>
<p id="YArEK3">The third time was also the charm for Randolph’s playoff success, as he reached base 12 times in nine games and scored nine times, second on the team to Mr. October himself. He withstood a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIiYw53nGd0&pp=ygUJMTk3NyBhbGNz">vicious slide</a> from Hal McRae in the ALCS against Kansas City to hit .278 in that five-game series, though his biggest plate appearance was actually a sacrifice fly that <a href="https://youtu.be/X4yTZLkghyA?t=7345&end=7361">scored the go-ahead run</a> in the ninth-inning of the Yankees’ Game 5 rally to win the pennant.</p>
<p id="zaaENf">Willie’s performance in Game 1 of the <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/world-series">World Series</a> is the stuff legends are made of. His role in the Yankees’ comeback win over the <a href="https://www.truebluela.com/">Dodgers</a> starts with a game-tying home run in the sixth inning against a locked-in Don Sutton, and it continued an inning later, when he drew a walk and scored the go-ahead run from first base on a Thurman Munson double.</p>
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<p id="CGY4JH">Randolph was also responsible for sparking the <em>last </em>part of that game that people remember, doubling off of Rick Rhoden to start the 12th inning and scoring two batters later on Paul Blair’s walk-off single.</p>
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<p id="IVLLW3">Randolph only hit .160 for the series, but his mark was made. Unfortunately, it would be his last shot at the postseason for a few years. A year of continued growth and development in 1978, in which he was fourth among second baseman with a 117 wRC+ and led the position with 5.2 fWAR and 5.8 rWAR, was derailed by a hamstring injury in the the Yankees’ 160th game of the season.</p>
<p id="cFItxe">Thus, Randolph was forced to watch the Yankees’ AL East playoff victory over Boston and championship repeat against LA from the sidelines (though the <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2021/10/14/22724598/yankees-world-series-history-brian-doyle-reggie-jackson-bucky-dent-willie-randolph-dodgers">unsung Brian Doyle</a> more than capably filled in). And while he remained as stable as a 10-year vet in his age-24 season — staying healthy for the entire ‘79 campaign and setting then-career-highs across the board with five homers, 13 triples, 61 RBIs, 98 runs, 95 walks, and 478 assists at the keystone — nobody can blame him for not being enough to compensate for the loss of Thurman Munson and the expiration of George Steinbrenner’s patience with Billy Martin, and the fourth-place finish that came with it. But his playoff return would come soon enough.</p>
<h3 id="KA6R6l"><strong>Career years</strong></h3>
<p id="m88hiF">Entering his mid-twenties, Randolph took things to a new level in 1980, as he returned the All-Star Game and the Yankees re-grouped for 103 wins and an AL East title. Armed with a half-decade of steady big league experience, his already-excellent batting eye and plate discipline reached new heights, leading the league with 119 walks, a total only three second basemen (Joe Morgan, Eddie Stanky, and Max Bishop) have ever eclipsed. He did it all while striking out just 45 times across more than 600 plate appearances, a walk/strikeout combination that hadn’t happened since Ted Williams and has only been matched twice since, by Wade Boggs and Barry Bonds. Pretty good company!</p>
<p id="oJKeRM">At the same time, he also raised his batting average to a career-best .294, and it was the first of just two seasons in which he slugged over .400. The writers, prescient as ever, saw him fit for a 15th-place finish in MVP voting, though he was awarded a Silver Slugger at the keystone, the only such honor of his career. The career-high 6.6 rWAR and 6.5 fWAR he posted, though, were both top-10 marks between both leagues combine. Nobody’s taking that MVP away from George Brett and Rickey Henderson was a menace in his own right, but it was a better effort by Randolph than it was apparently given credit for. </p>
<p id="uPILaG">Fittingly, Randolph was the only Yankee hitter to make any kind of noise during their three-game ALCS sweep at the hands of the Royals. He went 5-for-13 with a pair of doubles that have probably been drowned out in memory of third-base coach Mike Ferraro making the ill-fated decision to send him home in the eighth inning of Game 2. That gave the rest of the country an opportunity to see George Steinbrenner at his most furious on national television.</p>
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<p id="NNGbdQ">Randolph’s fourth All-Star appearance in 1981 was, if nothing else, a true New York bump, as the fans voted him a starter despite the worst offensive season of his career, finding success on neither end of the players’ strike that carved out two months of the season. His career-high batting average was followed by a career-low .232, and for the first time ever, he was a below-average hitter relative to the rest of the league, running an OPS+ of 88 and a wRC+ of 94.</p>
<p id="R5OZWy">Nonetheless, Randolph was once again ready to go when his name was called in October, knocking four hits in each of the first two playoff rounds, <a href="https://www.mlb.com/video/yankees-win-1981-alcs-c31270281?q=Willie%20Randolph&cp=CMS_FIRST&qt=FREETEXT&p=0">catching the pop fly</a> to win the pennant in Oakland, and homering twice in the World Series, the only multi-homer playoff round of his career.</p>
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<p id="kWxRc2">The Yankees might have fallen to the Dodgers in that sixth game linked above, but the nine walks Randolph drew will live on in the record books as the third-most ever in a World Series at the time. Only Barry Bonds near the peak of his intentional-walk powers in 2002 has added himself to the list since. </p>
<h3 id="lgzDHg"><strong>Phenomenal consistency</strong></h3>
<p id="1j0BkV">Following the high of 1980 and low of 1981, Randolph spent the next half-decade embarked on a campaign that can only be described as phenomenal consistency. Despite being just 27 years old in 1982, by then, he was somewhat of an elder statesman in the Yankees clubhouse, as only he, Graig Nettles, and Ron Guidry remained from the team that had brought home pennants in the ‘70s. After 1983, Nettles was gone too, but as the team vacillated between non-first-place slots in the AL East for several seasons, Randolph’s steadying presence remained at the top of the lineup. Instead of the likes of Nettles and Jackson, he was now setting the table for new threats, like Dave Winfield and Don Mattingly.</p>
<p id="LbNDAN">Between 1982 and 1986, Randolph’s wRC+ remained firmly planted between 105 and 114. He never hit above .287, and he never hit below .276. His speed wasn’t what it once was, but he managed to steal between 10 and 16 bases every single year, and he remained healthy, playing between 140 and 144 games in all but one season. It wasn’t anything special, but only Bobby Grich and Lou Whitaker posted more WAR of any kind among two-baggers during that time. The Yankees don’t award their Captain title lightly, and Randolph sharing the duties with Guidry from the ‘86 campaign onward says plenty on its own.</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="MLB Photos Archive" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Yo1TLViWrjLRLXEbjfy3mwGyacc=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25235784/75996989.jpg">
<cite>Photo by Rich Pilling/MLB Photos via Getty Images</cite>
</figure>
<p id="Y2VtuP">The end of Randolph’s Yankees tenure mirrored some of his earliest ones. He reached free agency after 1986 but returned to the team and promptly turned back the clock for a career-high .305 average, the first of just two times he’d ever break the benchmark, while tying his 1980 high of seven homers and driving in 67 runs in just 120 games. he walked three times as often as he struck out, punching air just 25 times in nearly 550 trips to the plate. No player since has struck out so little while walking so much. It was good enough for his fifth All-Star selection, more than a decade after his first. </p>
<p id="KsxuFz">Unfortunately, just like earlier in his career, a career year was followed by a crash. Randolph, then 33, dealt with more injuries, playing in just 110 games while seeing his overall production slip to a 79 wRC+ and 1.8 WAR, handily the worst performance of his career. With the team in the throes of more Steinbrenner tumult, looking for a new manager after the conclusion of Lou Piniella’s tenure and Billy Martin’s final pit stop, the Yankees moved on from Randolph. He moved across the country and signed with the Dodgers on a two-year deal. </p>
<h3 id="z6o4Vz"><strong>Resurgence & late career</strong></h3>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Willie Randolph circa 1989" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/cQfAioG7gmONkVDtYIxmHncOyVY=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25235783/945942102.jpg">
<cite>Photo by Owen C. Shaw/Getty Images</cite>
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<p id="uh5zkL">He returned to the All-Star Game for the final time in his first year in Los Angeles, posting what can only be described as a classic Randolph season with a decent enough .282 batting average accompanying plenty of walks, a dearth of strikeouts, and an overall performance amounting to roughly 4 WAR.</p>
<p id="RhW4TI">Although the defending champion Dodgers missed the playoffs in 1989, Randolph got a chance to return the postseason in 1990. An early-season trade sent him to Oakland, where his hitting was lackluster in the regular season but once again came alive in the playoffs.</p>
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<p id="bS9w2p">Randolph went 7-for-23 (.304) in eight postseason games culminating in a sweep at the hands of — wait for it — the <a href="https://www.redreporter.com/">Cincinnati Reds</a>. I bet he just couldn’t get enough of those guys.</p>
<p id="8GOP1L">Willie had one more surge left in him, which he gave to the <a href="https://www.brewcrewball.com/">Milwaukee Brewers</a> on a one-year deal following his playoff run with the Athletics. You could say that in some ways, he saved the best for last, obliterating his previous career-high with a .327 batting average that was good for fourth in the AL. It was also his eighth season with at least 75 walks and fewer than 50 strikeouts, making him the 13th player to ever reach that mark. Ten of the other 12 are in the Hall of Fame, and Randolph is the only one to make their debut after 1953. A real throwback.</p>
<h3 id="h47PlC"><strong>Coaching days & later life</strong></h3>
<p id="4H3iz1">Randolph’s absence from New York wouldn’t last too long. Following his one-year stop in Milwaukee, he concluded his career on a one-year deal with his childhood Mets, riding off into the sunset after 90 games in a part-time role. At the time of his retirement, his 2,210 hits and 62 fWAR were both 10th all-time among second basemen, and while playing amid a second base cohort that included Grich, White, and Lou Whitaker meant he rarely got much in the way of award love, that wasn’t indicative of the respect he commanded around the game.</p>
<p id="palHUc">It only took a year away from the game before Randolph re-joined the Yankees in a front-office role in 1993, and then took over as a third-base coach under Buck Showalter in 1994. He was held in high enough esteem that he remained in the position even after Joe Torre took over in ‘96.</p>
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<img alt="BBA-WHITE SOX-YANKEES-2" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/oK2pKsOIX4Hn4IOUdPQ_Nunnar8=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25236580/1190269245.jpg">
<cite>Photo by STAN HONDA/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Willie Randolph and Bernie Williams</figcaption>
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<p id="qGs4K3">Randolph definitely made the most of his post-1960s Yankees experience. He got some World Series rings at the beginning, bailed out before things got <em>really </em>bad, then hopped back on board just in time to add four more rings. He remained on board as the team’s third-base coach for a decade, reportedly coming close to leaving to manage the Cincinnati Reds before failing to find agreeable salary terms. With his eye on managing, Randolph moved to a bench-coach role for the 2004 season, and the next winter, he was in the next borough, having been named manager of the Mets.</p>
<p id="3cvyta">This isn’t the place for a detailed recounting of the many ups and downs of Randolph’s 555 games in the dugout for the Mets, but in retrospect, they were probably better than the way he was treated at the time. Along with new GM Omar Minaya, a dream pairing of NYC-raised baseball men, Randolph raised the Mets above .500 for the first time in four seasons, and a year later, he finished second in Manager of the Year voting, winning 97 wins and getting the Mets excruciatingly close to the World Series. It’s an excuse to post this classic, at the very least.</p>
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<p id="p5aK7H">The rest, of course, it history. Always inclined for the dramatic, the Mets blew their seven-game lead in September of 2007, and ownership’s confidence in Randolph as a manager never recovered. Less than three months into the 2008 season, he was handed walking papers in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/sports/baseball/17cndmets.html">infamously unceremonious fashion</a>, ultimately ending his managerial career with a final record of 302-253.</p>
<p id="GtQiLg">Disappointingly, Randolph never got another shot at a manager’s office, spending 2009 and 2010 as Milwaukee’s bench coach before spending an additional year as a bench and third base coach for Buck Showalter’s first Baltimore staff in 2011. That was the last of his involvement with MLB, though he hasn’t left coaching completely, serving on Team USA’s staff for the 2013 and 2017 <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/world-baseball-classic">World Baseball Classic</a>, and leading Team USA in other tournaments.</p>
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<img alt="United States v Dominican Republic" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/XrBqbInRfbkLV8cViU8jklzT2pk=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25235779/655585756.jpg">
<cite>Photo by Andy Hayt/San Diego Padres/Getty Images</cite>
</figure>
<p id="RSitVw">It’s a shame, in some respects, that Randolph never managed again after the disastrous end to his tenure with the Mets, as history has more or less vindicated the idea that the organization itself was more of a problem than he ever was.</p>
<p id="1USOJw">Even with that being the only MLB managerial experience on his resumé, though, there aren’t many who have lived a more full baseball life than Randolph, who received a Monument Park plaque from the Yankees in 2015 and currently resides in New Jersey with his wife Gretchen. It was certainly one that can make New York proud. </p>
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<img alt="Detroit Tigers v New York Yankees" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/lh56KRPQc79ePAIJhDvTgjo-Elg=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25236594/479181048.jpg">
<cite>Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images</cite>
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<p id="8ovr5L"><strong>Staff Rank: </strong>19<br><strong>Community Rank: </strong>19<br><strong>Stats Rank: </strong>11<br><strong>2013 Rank: </strong>12</p>
<h2 id="VuFLau"><strong>References</strong></h2>
<p id="h90wv8">Araton, Harvey. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/sports/baseball/28araton.html">“Retrospect Puts Randolph In New Light.”</a> <em>New York Times, </em>September 27, 2010.</p>
<p id="Gjkv1J"><a href="https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=randowi01">Baseball Almanac</a></p>
<p id="FyQtHd"><a href="https://www.baseball-reference.com/managers/randowi01.shtml">Baseball-Reference</a></p>
<p id="VlVZse"><a href="https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Willie_Randolph">BR Bullpen</a></p>
<p id="a7Pbb9">Chass, Murray. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/05/sports/guidry-randolph-named-captains.html">“Randolph, Guidry Named Captains.”</a> <em>New York Times</em>, March 5, 1986.</p>
<p id="NNfUvI">Durso, Joseph. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1975/12/12/archives/yanks-send-bonds-to-angels-for-pair-and-medich-to-pirates-for-3.html">“Yanks Send Bonds to Angels for Pair And Medich to Pirates for 3 Players<em>,”</em></a><em> New York Times</em>, March 5, 1986.</p>
<p id="SEuGfM"><a href="https://www.fangraphs.com/players/willie-randolph/1010694/stats?position=2B">FanGraphs</a></p>
<p id="SPdSIl">Griffith, Nancy Snell. <a href="https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/willie-randolph/#sdendnote4anc">SABR Bio</a></p>
<p id="aYZWDV">Jenkins, Lee. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/03/sports/baseball/randolph-a-son-of-brooklyn-seeks-to-scale-one-more-pedestal.html">“Randolph, a Son of Brooklyn, Seeks to Scale One More Pedestal,”</a> <em>New York Times</em>, November 4, 2004.</p>
<h3 id="xnJGjj"><strong>Previously on the Top 100</strong></h3>
<p id="LNr1pZ"><a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2024/1/18/24040294/yankees-top-100-players-phil-rizzuto-20-biography-shortstop-broadcaster"><strong>20. Phil Rizzuto</strong></a><br><a href="http://www.sbnation.com/e/23691038"><strong>Full list to date</strong></a></p>
https://www.pinstripealley.com/2024/1/19/24040438/pinstripe-alley-top-100-yankees-19-willie-randolph-third-base-coach-manager-world-series-home-runMalachi Hayes2024-01-12T11:00:00-05:002024-01-12T11:00:00-05:00Marcus Stroman’s arsenal fits the Yankees mold
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<img alt="Cincinnati Reds v Chicago Cubs" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/60_mwKnHVH30GmIkQRzLM0iJyIg=/0x0:6765x4510/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73048914/1585647354.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Breaking down what the Yankees’ newest starting pitcher brings to the table.</p> <p id="6Ybn8p">Well folks, whether you like it or not, Marcus Stroman is going to be pitching for the <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/">Yankees</a> the next two seasons. And whether you like it or not, that’s probably a good thing.</p>
<p id="309vbI">Even if you were looking at just straight statistics, it would be a good thing. Stroman has a 3.65 ERA over 1,300 career innings. He’s a good starting pitcher, and the Yankees need good starting pitchers. Stroman is a lot of things, and “better than Clayton Beeter and Will Warren” is certainly one of them for a win-now ballclub. The enmity that seemed to have developed between Stroman and Yankees fandom — if not the organization, clearly — is more nuanced and complex than it might seem, but one thing that’s not complex is that he fills a need that absolutely needed to be met if the Yankees want to call themselves contenders entering the season.</p>
<p id="gStaPJ">Beyond the straight results, though, Stroman is a pretty strong fit for this particular iteration of the Yankees, because he’s a ground ball-machine who won’t be much affected by the dimensional oddities of Yankee Stadium’s outfield. If you take at face value the whispers that the team declined to pursue Shōta Imanaga because his fly ball tendencies might not play well at the Stadium, then the pivot to Stroman makes perfect sense.</p>
<p id="cGlOOu">As Peter noted <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2024/1/11/24035369/yankees-analysis-marcus-stroman-signing-free-agent-starter-rotation-pitcher-contract">last night</a>, Stroman’s ground-ball rate typically lives somewhere between the high forties and low sixties, with his 2023 rate of 57.4% checking in just above his career norm. He’s been well above league average in that regard for the entirety of his career, and with a Gold Glove winner at shortstop and competent or better defense around the remainder of the infield (including himself), enough of those grounders will be turned into outs to keep his ERA relatively pretty. </p>
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<img alt="Chicago Cubs v Atlanta Braves" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/kUP1KXi-MlopvcbD0DGrr9P29GU=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25221101/1718923364.jpg">
<cite>Photo by Matt Dirksen/Getty Images</cite>
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<p id="nXJD87">Of course, that same skill and approach is also the reason that Stroman’s performance has fluctuated wildly in the past. The pitfall of getting all those grounders is that it requires an arsenal that doesn’t necessarily induce a ton of whiffs, reflected in his average-or-worse strikeout rate throughout his career. The result is that when things go wrong, things go <em>really </em>wrong, because everything is being put in play. Case in point, as you’ve probably read by now, is Stroman’s 2.28 ERA through his first 16 starts of 2023, which was followed by a stretch of 30 earned runs in 30 innings pitched. Good defense, however, can minimize the chances of that happening, and the Yankees ought to be able to give that to him.</p>
<p id="Hcl1KE">At the same time, the Yankees’ pitching development staff ought to have a field day with the arsenal that he brings to the table. Stroman pushes for grounders over whiffs because his primary fastball is a sinker that possesses <em>significantly </em>more up-down movement than your typical two-seamer. It’s about four inches steeper and four inches straighter than the average sinker, accentuated by the <a href="https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/statcast_search?hfPT=SI%7C&hfAB=&hfGT=R%7C&hfPR=&hfZ=&hfStadium=&hfBBL=&hfNewZones=&hfPull=&hfC=&hfSea=2023%7C&hfSit=&player_type=pitcher&hfOuts=&hfOpponent=&pitcher_throws=R&batter_stands=&hfSA=&game_date_gt=&game_date_lt=&hfMo=&hfTeam=&home_road=&hfRO=&position=&hfInfield=&hfOutfield=&hfInn=&hfBBT=&hfFlag=&metric_1=&group_by=name&min_pitches=100&min_results=0&min_pas=0&sort_col=pitches&player_event_sort=api_p_release_speed&sort_order=desc&chk_stats_release_pos_z=on&chk_stats_release_pos_x=on&chk_stats_release_extension=on#results">relatively unique release point</a> given to him by his height. </p>
<p id="bV4Ao1">One thing to note is that he doesn’t just throw one sinker. Stroman is a notorious pitch tinkerer, and a look at his movement charts shows how varied the movement is within each pitch group. Some sinkers dropped 20 inches with five inches of arm-side run, and some sinkers dropped 35 inches with 20 inches of arm-side run. Those differences are intentional, and you can see it throughout his very wide arsenal.</p>
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<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/psYX0NFMenbCbROSVNiuNiK52FM=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25221082/ccd31938_7e89_4438_99b4_6a038e00b4dc.jpg">
<cite>Baseball Savant</cite>
</figure>
<p id="5sxhjo">Some are tighter than others — he doesn’t seem to manipulate his splitter or slider quite as much as his sinker or what Baseball Savant calls a slurve, for example. Those last two are also most frequently used pitches, which speaks to the game plan you’re going to see from him. Sitting in the low-nineties, he won’t blow any hitters away, but he’ll pull out every trick in the book to make sure they can’t square him up.</p>
<p id="7qx3Zr">With Stroman in a rotation alongside <a href="https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/1582385201225011203">Nestor Cortes</a>, one would have to imagine the Yankees will lead the league in average time to the plate. </p>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-dnt="true" align="center">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Marcus Stroman, Messing with Timing. <a href="https://t.co/iJALRCJHuC">pic.twitter.com/iJALRCJHuC</a></p>— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) <a href="https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/1397975511184416769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2021</a>
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<script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<p id="13yktr">Matt Blake likes heavy sinkers, and even if Stroman doesn’t have Clay Holmes or Jonathan Loáisiga-esque velocity, his ability to spin a breaking ball combined with his proclivity for tinkering with the rest of his arsenal ought to find a home in the Yankees system. One only needs to look at Holmes, Loáisiga, and Clarke Schmidt to find other examples of pitchers who possess wicked breaking stuff despite also throwing a heavy sinker, a trait often associated with pronation-biased pitchers who often have trouble spinning an elite breaking ball. Stroman’s arsenal probably won’t quite look the same with the Yankees as it did with the <a href="https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/">Cubs</a> — it’s just a matter of what they’ll decide to tinker with next. </p>
<p id="o3N1y9">Again, like it or not, Marcus Stroman is a New York Yankee for the next two seasons, and possibly three. It’s certainly possible that his tenure will be a disaster, but I think it’s more likely that his skillset will translate pretty well to what the Yankees have to offer. Let’s not forget that his 30-runs-in-30-innings stretch precipitated multiple injuries that more or less ended his season. With a full offseason of health and plenty of pitching resources at his disposal, this may wind up being one of the better investments of the offseason. </p>
https://www.pinstripealley.com/2024/1/12/24035464/marcus-stroman-yankees-sinker-slurve-pitch-design-cubs-mets-groundball-risksMalachi Hayes2024-01-11T08:00:00-05:002024-01-11T08:00:00-05:00Yankees Trade History: Diamondbacks
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<img alt="New York Yankees vs Houston Astros, 2017 American League Championship Series" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/aAI8d0TohTqi9f4hpQQeeaJygFw=/0x0:3885x2590/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73044733/863148708.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Set Number: X161474 TK1</figcaption>
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<p>You can find some interesting hits in this team’s brief trade history.</p> <p id="UKcywo">For a franchise that’s barely been around for a quarter of a century, the <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/">Yankees</a> and the Diamondbacks have hooked up on a surprising number of trades. There are 16 in total, a fascinating amalgamation of name-brand All-Stars and roster-fringer filler. You’ve got some big hits, and a lot of exchanges with names nobody will recognize. For such a limited history, it’s hard to be mad at some of these hits. </p>
<h2 id="dlFfH6"><strong>Best Trade</strong></h2>
<p id="8Gz1Sl"><em><strong>December 5, 2014: </strong></em><em>As part of a 3-team trade: The Tigers send </em><em><strong>Domingo Leyba</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Robbie Ray </strong></em><em>to the Diamondbacks. The Yankees send </em><em><strong>Shane Greene</strong></em><em> to the Tigers. The Diamondbacks send </em><em><strong>Didi Gregorius</strong></em><em> to the Yankees.</em></p>
<p id="Tc4Nso">It’s pretty simple: Didi Gregorius was given the nigh-impossible task of stepping into Derek Jeter’s shoes, and despite some bumps in the road early on, he filled the role with aplomb, averaging around 3 WAR per year over five seasons in the Bronx, a tenure that included its share of drama and playoff heroics.</p>
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<p id="DSHpsd">Wonderfully, all it cost the Yankees was Shane Greene, who was a breakout rookie starter in 2014 but was only a fine reliever in the end — albeit one who notched 67 saves and an All-Star appearance. That’s nothing of the magnitude of what the Detroit Tigers had to give up in this three-team trade, a young lefty named Robbie Ray. It’s a win-win, as far as the Yankees and Diamondbacks go!</p>
<h2 id="NZxolC"><strong>Worst Trade</strong></h2>
<p id="EH3Na9"><em><strong>January 11, 2005:</strong></em><em> The Yankees trade </em><em><strong>Javier Vázquez, Dioner Navarro, </strong></em><em>and </em><em><strong>Brad Halsey</strong></em><em> to the Diamondbacks for </em><em><strong>Randy Johnson</strong></em><em>.</em></p>
<p id="sKQHZb">The vibes here are just bad all around. Vázquez had arrived from the Expos with much fanfare the year before at the cost of a pair of quality young hitters in Nick Johnson and Juan Rivera, and halfway through the 2004 season, the four-year extension he signed looked like a fine deal. Then, as you might remember, things stopped going so well. He ran a 6.92 ERA in the second half and got repeatedly shelled in the postseason, and a few months later, the Yankees’ once-presumed ace had been turned into a 41-year-old Randy Johnson.</p>
<p id="AabhTC">Granted, Johnson was coming off a second-place Cy Young finish at the time, but age had already begun to catch up on him the year prior, and his salary was a fair bit higher than what they agree to with Vásquez. He delivered one strong season, good for nearly 6 WAR in 2005, but that was overshadowed by a failed pitcher/catcher relationship with Jorge Posada and an ugly start in a losing ALDS against the Angels. Johnson simply delivered a dud amid back injuries in 2006, and for the second year in a row, his Game 3 loss put New York in an ALDS hole that they couldn’t escape.</p>
<p id="zSqiYL">Thus, as with Vásquez, things turned sour, and the team found it better to send him packing <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2023/12/29/24015502/yankees-history-trades-randy-johnson-diamondbacks-rickey-henderson-athletics-hassey-proctor-wade">back to Arizona</a> almost two years later to the day, receiving the paltry return of Alberto González, Ross Ohlendorf, Luis Vizcaíno, and Steven Jackson.</p>
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<img alt="New York Yankees v Kansas City Royals" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ReL9uiG9-SLN_b-SAIPDzF61NFg=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25218414/53073040.jpg">
<cite>Photo by Tim Umphrey/Getty Images</cite>
</figure>
<p id="liTbH3">Throw in the few solid seasons behind the plate that Dioner Navarro gave a few different teams, and you’ve probably got a net negative on this deal. It could’ve been worse, I suppose?</p>
<h2 id="UY7DZH"><strong>Most Overlooked Trade</strong></h2>
<p id="lz8FF2"><em><strong>July 31, 2014:</strong></em><em> The Yankees trade </em><em><strong>Peter O’Brien </strong></em><em>to the Diamondbacks for </em><em><strong>Martín Prado</strong></em><em>.</em></p>
<p id="i1wnNl">Prado was Brian Cashman’s underwhelming attempt at patching midseason holes in a year in which it just wasn’t meant to be, and like Brandon McCarthy in the next blurb, it wasn’t for Prado’s best efforts, as he hit .317 and surged for seven homers — and a 145 OPS+ — in just 37 games after switching leagues, one of the biggest power surges of his career. Prado was a quality and often overlooked player, finishing with over 1500 career hits and a .287 batting average. One might wonder if the 2015 Yankees might have been more competitive with Prado manning the keystone than they were with Stephen Drew.</p>
<p id="i5MZUo">We’ll never know though, because more interesting than Prado’s performance for the Yankees is what he brought back in a trade. With half of his four-year, $40 million contract still remaining, Cashman sent him to Miami alongside David Phelps for a package that included Nathan Eovaldi and Domingo Germán. Not many of the trades on this list still had ramifications in 2023, but this is one of them!</p>
<h2 id="bFiDr3"><strong>Weirdest Trade</strong></h2>
<p id="ZZuBgo"><em><strong>July 6, 2014:</strong></em><em> The Yankees trade </em><em><strong>Vidal Nuño</strong></em><em> to the Diamondbacks for </em><em><strong>Brandon McCarthy</strong></em><em>.</em></p>
<p id="6AWH6O">You know what was weird? The two- or three-year stretch there when Tony La Russa and Dave Stewart were running the Diamondbacks. La Russa’s disastrous recent stint with the White Sox might have been more of a national embarrassment, but it wasn’t even the first time within the decade that he’d driven a team into the ground!</p>
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<p id="N9Gwv3">Anyhow, this trade was a product of that administration, as the out-of-contention Diamondbacks more or less gave away McCarthy for the stretch run, where he gave the Yankees a valiant 2.89 ERA in 14 starts of a futile playoff chase. It’s hard to believe the D-Backs couldn’t procure more than Nuño, a non-prospect who had dominated the lower minors as a 24-year-old and then endured a 4-19 record over his first three big league seasons, but that’s how it goes, I guess. In another year, it might have been a difference-maker.</p>
<h2 id="Cwu61W"><strong>Other Trades of Note</strong></h2>
<p id="vEdC2F"><em><strong>December 8, 2009:</strong></em><em> As part of a 3-team trade: The Tigers send </em><em><strong>Curtis Granderson</strong></em><em> to the Yankees. The Tigers send </em><em><strong>Edwin Jackson</strong></em><em> to the Diamondbacks. The Yankees send </em><em><strong>Phil Coke</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Austin Jackson</strong></em><em> to the Tigers. The Yankees send </em><em><strong>Ian Kennedy</strong></em><em> to the Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks send </em><em><strong>Max Scherzer</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Daniel Schlereth</strong></em><em> to the Tigers.</em></p>
<p id="vUAtyj">This one would probably qualify for “Most Interesting,” if that were a category under consideration here, though it’s admittedly more appropriate in our Tigers trade history article. Granderson did as much for the Yankees as anybody mentioned in this article, while Kennedy briefly fulfilled his early-career promise with a 21-win, fourth-place Cy Young finish season in 2011, the same year Grandy finished fourth in MVP voting. Jackson was the Rookie of the Year runner-up the year following the trade, and accumulated 20+ WAR for Detroit. The trade also saw Edwin Jackson change hands, going from Detroit to Arizona with Max Scherzer going the other way. There aren’t many other, but you could say this is “of note!”</p>
<p id="Hy4L2c"><em><strong>February 20, 2018</strong></em>: <em>As part of a 3-team trade: The Yankees send </em><em><strong>Taylor Widener</strong></em><em> to the Diamondbacks. The Yankees send </em><em><strong>Nick Solak</strong></em><em> to the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays send </em><em><strong>Steven Souza Jr.</strong></em><em> to the Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks send </em><em><strong>Brandon Drury</strong></em><em> to the New York Yankees. The Diamondbacks send players to be named later and </em><em><strong>Anthony Banda</strong></em><em> to the Rays. The Diamondbacks sent </em><em><strong>Sam McWilliams</strong></em><em> (May 1, 2018) and </em><em><strong>Colin Poche</strong></em><em> (May 1, 2018) to the Rays to complete the trade.</em></p>
<p id="QQr5f7">The Yankees sure do love their three-way trades with Arizona. That’s a whole lot of players moving around and accomplishing very little in their new uniforms, huh? </p>
<h3 id="I0CdQs"><strong>Previously in the Trade Partner History series</strong></h3>
<p id="Qf7qpP"><a href="http://www.sbnation.com/e/23796498">Cleveland Guardians</a><br><a href="http://www.sbnation.com/e/23784199"><strong>Full list to date</strong></a></p>
https://www.pinstripealley.com/2024/1/11/24033296/yankees-trade-partner-arizona-diamondbacks-granderson-robbie-ray-didi-gregorius-randy-johnsonMalachi Hayes2024-01-08T08:00:00-05:002024-01-08T08:00:00-05:00Yankees Trade History: Blue Jays
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<img alt="Toronto Blue Jays pitcher David Cone winds up to p" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/iZcWoBkclTxnMMTwHdUGKPbZ5I8=/0x0:1065x710/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73034321/51583618.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo credit should read PETER MUHLY/AFP via Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Big names have changed hands in the 40-year history between division rivals</p> <p id="uJPemq">The Toronto Blue Jays have existed for a little bit under 50 years, joining the league along with the <a href="https://www.lookoutlanding.com/">Seattle Mariners</a> in 1977, but that relatively short window hasn’t stopped them from making some explosive deals with the Yankees over the years. It’s been a while since anything <em>really </em>huge struck, but the 19 trades or purchases between the two sides include multiple Hall of Famers and a fair share of All-Stars. Here, you’ll get to find out who they are!</p>
<h2 id="tHH6uS"><strong>Best Trade</strong></h2>
<p id="i0gEDs"><em><strong>July 28, 1995</strong></em><em>: The Yankee trade </em><em><strong>Mike Gordon, Jason Jarvis</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Marty Janzen</strong></em><em> to the Blue Jays for </em><em><strong>David Cone </strong></em><em>.</em></p>
<p id="jC7JAX">There are a couple candidates for this category, and ultimately I’m going with this one over the 1999 deal that brought Roger Clemens to the Bronx for a few reasons. First, while Roger was the bigger star, Cone played a significant role on every team of the ‘90s championship run, perhaps the biggest of any non-Core Four plus Bernie member. Second, acquiring the Rocket did require giving up a very good player in his own right, with David Wells giving the Jays a top-three Cy Young finish a year later. The cost to acquire Cone, meanwhile, was negligible. Of the trio involved, only Janzen ever made it to the bigs, and that only for 27 games of 6.29 ERA pitching.</p>
<p id="GWzO0I">Part of the reason Cone was so relatively cheap to acquire — all three of them were solid but unspectacular prospects — was that he was a free agent at the end of the year, but after gong 9-3 down the stretch to secure a playoff berth after moving to the Bronx at the trade deadline in ‘95, they didn’t have much trouble retaining Coney outside of a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/22/sports/baseball-cone-makes-up-his-mind-3-years-in-pinstripes.html">brief flirtation</a> with the O’s. He ultimately finished with a 64-40 win-loss record over six years in pinstripes, good for 20.3 rWAR and 18.1 fWAR. He left with his share of memorable moments, too, spinning the 16th perfect game in MLB history and shining in the playoffs, allowing just two earned runs in 19 innings over a start each in the ‘96, ‘98, and ‘99 Fall Classics.</p>
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<h2 id="QMGu1V"><strong>Worst Trade</strong></h2>
<p id="ikVVAW"><em><strong>December 9, 1982</strong></em><em>: Yankees trade </em><em><strong>Dave Collins, Mike Morgan, Fred McGriff, </strong></em><em>and cash considerations to Blue Jays for </em><em><strong>Tom Dodd </strong></em><em>and </em><em><strong>Dale Murray</strong></em><em>.</em></p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Fred McGriff" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wa6zcQM6sULfQglgefpu212x7-4=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25209981/1402657.jpg">
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<p id="A1sqgN">If <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2024/1/7/24027509/yankees-trade-history-st-louis-cardinals-voit-willie-mcgee-slaughter-montgomery-bader-playoffs">dealing Willie McGee</a> was an <em>oof</em>, this one would be classified as a <em>mega oof</em>. It’s easy to see why it happened, to be fair. McGriff, a 17-year-old ninth-round draft pick, had hit just .238 with nine homers and 50 driven in over 92 games of Rookie-level action in 1980 and 1981. Further up the ladder, the Yankees also had a rising star named Don Mattingly set to occupy first base for the foreseeable future. Understandably, they probably dealt McGriff without much of a second thought. </p>
<p id="4RRHj6">Both Dodd and Murray were close to non-factors for the Yankees. The former never reached the majors for the Yankees, later collecting 16 plate appearances for the Orioles in 1986. The latter stayed with the team until midway through the 1985 season, posting a 4.73 ERA in 62 appearances covering 120 IP. Collins produced a solid 4.6 rWAR in two years with the Jays, but Morgan didn’t do much, making just 16 appearances with the club. (He’d fare better elsewhere and survive in the majors even after the turn of the century.)</p>
<p id="w2gjHt">McGriff, meanwhile, took a while to reach the big leagues, establishing himself in 1987, but boy did he do it with a bang. The seven seasons he had before reaching free agency produced a whopping 38.2 rWAR and 40.4 fWAR, 12th and fifth in the majors respectively during that span. He went on to club 493 career bombs and made the Hall of Fame in 2023. It may have been an understandable deal, but it doesn’t make that sting any less. Some of those ‘80s and ‘90s Yankees teams sure could’ve used those numbers.</p>
<h2 id="zCeDRH"><strong>Most Overlooked Trade</strong></h2>
<p id="A0TH0s"><em><strong>August 4, 2018</strong></em><em>: Yankees trade </em><em><strong>cash considerations</strong></em><em> to Blue Jays for </em><em><strong>Gio Urshela</strong></em><em>.</em></p>
<p id="qe4wFt">Quite a few big names pop up on this short but interesting list, and the role of Urshela on the Yankees’ most recent run of success shouldn’t be ignored. We are trying to avoid cash-only transactions, but <em>everyone </em>— perhaps even the Yankees — overlooked <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2022/2/16/22936737/yankees-mlb-offseason-brian-cashman-smartest-moves-gio-urshela-jays-cleveland-voit-next-man-up">this stunner</a>.</p>
<p id="MNuZlq">Gio’s pre-Yankees tenure is typically more associated with Cleveland, with whom he played 148 games split between 2015 and 2017. But it was the Blue Jays who got the first look at him when he became a Cleveland roster casualty, suiting up 19 times for Toronto in 2018. When they claimed Oliver Drake from the <a href="https://www.twinkietown.com/">Minnesota Twins</a> in August of that year, Urshela was once again a 40-man roster casualty, and the Yankees were able to get him for as close to free as you’ll get in baseball. He got his chance in April of 2019, and over a thousand plate appearances of .292/.335/.480 hitting later, the Yankees wound up with a pretty good deal out of it.</p>
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<h2 id="6FE4TJ"><strong>Weirdest Trade</strong></h2>
<p id="cl14wo"><em><strong>July 26, 2018</strong></em><em>: The Yankees trade </em><em><strong>Brandon Drury </strong></em><em>and </em><em><strong>Billy McKinney</strong></em><em> for </em><em><strong>J.A. Happ.</strong></em></p>
<p id="A8M4g5">There’s not necessarily anything super bizarre about this deal, and the rest of the teams’ dealings with each other have been relatively straightforward. Things just got a little bit weird here with everyone involved. Few would have anticipated that Drury’s stint with the Yankees would be so short. There wasn’t exactly fanfare when he arrived from the <a href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Diamondbacks</a> in a three-team deal following the 2017 season, but it had certainly piqued some interest, as Drury was generally expected to replace the underwhelming Chase Headley at the hot corner. </p>
<p id="XXTVtE">That ... didn’t happen. Drury hit the IL eight games into the season, and by the time he returned two months later, Miguel Andújar had a firm grip on his start. So, just a few months later, he found himself packaged with McKinney — who, funnily enough, made his way back to the Yankees, of course — in exchange for Happ, who was on an expiring contract for an out-of-contention Jays team. Drury was ineffective for the Jays before re-discovering himself in 2022, hitting 54 homers since then, a half-decade after he missed his chance with the Yanks. </p>
<p id="S7C2IS">On our end, Happ was excellent down the stretch, winning seven of 11 starts with a 2.69 ERA, and both sides found a reunion mutually attractive. As you might remember, the relationship ultimately soured when Happ accused the Yankees of intentionally limiting his workload in 2020 to prevent a $17 million option from vesting, as he finished with nine starts and 49 innings when 10 starts and 62 innings would have vested the option. The ALDS <a href="https://www.nj.com/yankees/2020/10/al-division-series-yankees-ja-happ-disagreed-with-controversial-role-in-game-2-loss.html">snafu</a> piggybacking Deivi García didn’t help, either. A useful trade, to be sure, but one that contained a strange kind of disappointment within it.</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Division Series - New York Yankees v Tampa Bay Rays - Game Two" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wKjdyNo3lJsl_tGQ0tD72da8tpg=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25210620/1278879066.jpg">
<cite>Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images</cite>
</figure>
<h2 id="7pm3Wb"><strong>Other Trades of Note</strong></h2>
<p id="SaDfHr"><em><strong>November 21, 1979</strong></em><em>: Yankees trade </em><em><strong>Chris Chambliss, Dámaso García</strong></em><em>, and </em><em><strong>Paul Mirabella</strong></em><em> to Blue Jays for </em><em><strong>Rick Cerone, Tom Underwood</strong></em><em>,</em><em><strong> </strong></em><em>and </em><em><strong>Ted Wilborn</strong></em><em>.</em></p>
<p id="ps8bPV">The first player-for player deal between these two, executed two years after the Jays’ inception, this one came as a part of the team’s late-’70s remodel, losing a lineup stalwart in Chambliss after six years at first base. He never played a game for Toronto, being flipped immediately to Atlanta in a second deal, where he’d spend the rest of his career. García at least became a two-time All-Star for the Jays and a familiar presence over the next decade.</p>
<p id="OawTDm">Cerone was gifted the unenviable task of replacing Thurman Munson behind the dish after the latter’s 1979 death, but he finished seventh in MVP voting with a four-win 1980 season, and played a solid part-time role in the subsequent three seasons. Underwood played his part with the team, working to a 3.77 ERA in 212 innings in parts of two seasons before being dealt to Oakland midway through the next season.</p>
<p id="6DpqFG"><em><strong>April 30, 1990</strong></em><em>: The Yankees trade </em><em><strong>Al Leiter</strong></em><em> to the Blue Jays for </em><em><strong>Jesse Barfield</strong></em><em>.</em></p>
<p id="2mPE9G">This one would merit consideration for the Worst Trade category, if it weren’t for the fact that Leiter wasn’t particularly successful for the Jays, and didn’t break out until the mid seasons of his career, six-plus years after the trade. Barfield had been a star for much of the ‘80s and delivered a few solid sub-star caliber seasons in the Bronx, hitting 60 homers with a 120 wRC+/OPS+ in his first three years before running out of steam and riding into retirement with 30 replacement games the next year. Leiter, 22 at the time of the trade, wouldn’t claim a roster spot with Toronto until 1994, and ran a 4.66 ERA in his first two seasons before a four-win walk year nearly six years post-trade set himself up for a memorable run with the Marlins and <a href="https://www.amazinavenue.com/">Mets</a> in free agency.</p>
<p id="QA26Lz"><em><strong>April 30, 1990</strong></em><em>: The Yankees trade </em><em><strong>Homer Bush, Graeme Lloyd</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>David Wells</strong></em><em> to the Blue Jays for </em><em><strong>Roger Clemens</strong></em><em>.</em></p>
<p id="IEGdNM">The <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2022/2/22/22944562/yankees-roger-clemens-world-series-cy-young-award-george-steinbrenner-hall-of-fame-brian-cashman">blockbuster of blockbusters</a>, Clemens had pitched himself back into superstar territory with his two-year Cy Young stint with the Jays, and used the bounce-back to set his sights on bigger stages than the mediocre Blue Jays. Boomer had a memorable stint in the Bronx, including a perfect game and <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/world-series">World Series</a> MVP, but with Cone, El Duque, and Andy Pettitte holding down the rest of the rotation, he was a price they were willing to pay — along with Bush and Lloyd, who combined for 3.9 rWAR in scattered playing time with the Jays — for the addition of the then-future Hall of Famer. </p>
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<img alt="Roger Clemens Of The New York Yankees." data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/0lWEERRgM2Pb7o3eBqjlUqGZh30=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25210816/1095140740.jpg">
<cite>Photo by Mitchell Reibel/Getty Images</cite>
</figure>
<p id="9cIQkr"><em><strong>July 1, 2002</strong></em><em>: The Yankees trade </em><em><strong>Scott Wiggins</strong></em><em> to the Blue Jays for </em><em><strong>Raúl Mondesi</strong></em><em>.</em></p>
<p id="G8eHIF">Just a funny little deal, executed midway through the 2002 season in a salary dump and one that shocked Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi so much that he nearly <a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=olney_buster&id=2051491">veered off the road</a> while taking the call. Mondesi was on the decline, but still a capable player, averaging 2.6 rWAR over his previous four seasons after being a borderline All-Star earlier in his career. Perhaps it’s notable because Mondesi was the first of what became a string of mid- or late-career veterans employed to fill the Paul O’Neill-sized hole in right field. Mondesi hit .250/.323/.450 in 169 games over two seasons, good for a 104 OPS+, but not good enough to stop him from being dealt at the deadline the next season.</p>
<h3 id="I0CdQs"><strong>Previously in the Trade Partner History series</strong></h3>
<p id="Qf7qpP"><a href="http://www.sbnation.com/e/23791233"></a><a href="https://www.batterypower.com/">Oakland Athletics</a><br><a href="http://www.sbnation.com/e/23784199"><strong>Full list to date</strong></a></p>
https://www.pinstripealley.com/2024/1/8/24028943/yankees-trade-history-toronto-blue-jays-roger-clemens-fred-mcgriff-hall-of-fame-all-starMalachi Hayes2024-01-04T14:00:00-05:002024-01-04T14:00:00-05:00Difficult decisions await Yanks regarding two top bullpen arms
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<img alt="Arizona Diamondbacks v New York Yankees" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Z58Fnq5Ryj_4HkHDRHrTyZs2VWk=/0x0:6000x4000/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73023304/1704204751.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Will the Yankees issue any extensions or ultimately bid adieu to these stalwarts?</p> <p id="4m1mkB">The baseball gods can be cruel sometimes. It doesn’t seem quite right that the joy of acquiring (literally) Juan Soto must be so tempered by the fact that the <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/">Yankees</a> only have him for one year before free agency beckons. That’s why he was acquirable for a package headlined by Michael King, of course. I suppose the anxiety comes with the thrill.</p>
<p id="ylbPmX">It’s not just the fact that it’s one year, unfortunately. Probably more important than that is Soto’s representation: the one and only Scott Boras, whose presence more or less forecloses on the possibility of agreeing to a new deal before next winter. Of Boras’ numerous star-powered clients in recent memory, only Jose Altuve has signed a pre-free agency extension, and needless to say, his relationship with the <a href="https://www.crawfishboxes.com">Astros</a> is not the same as Soto’s with his third team in as many years — no matter how long he’s been dreaming of hitting dingers at Yankee Stadium. He also doesn’t turn 26 until sometime during the <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/world-series">World Series</a>, and ought to be in a position to push Mike Trout’s position-player salary record. Free agency is a near-foregone conclusion. </p>
<p id="jUMt6V">That alone is enough to hang a cloud of uncertainty through the season about the direction the next Yankees offseason. Nothing will be more critical than retaining Soto into 2025 and beyond, but however they approach that won’t be the only interesting decision they’ll need to make. The team seems somewhat prepared to deal with the impending loss of Gleyber Torres, perhaps depending on the kind of season he has, but the key decision might be whether they can say the same about the back of the bullpen.</p>
<p id="8NI77k">Clay Holmes and Jonathan Loáisiga are both scheduled to reach free agency at the end of the 2024 campaign. It seems like only a blink of an eye ago that Loáisiga was a 23-year-old spot starter from the low minors, and that some fans were bemoaning the loss of Hoy Park in exchange for Holmes, but here we are.</p>
<div id="Mu5nmz"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/m/holmes-wins-reliever-of-the-month" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" allow="encrypted-media;"></iframe></div></div>
<p id="cgPpqy">That being said, neither Holmes nor Loáisiga are represented by Boras, and an extension for either might not be out of the question. But we do need to look at what kind of contract they might command.</p>
<p id="hTve6M">Unless he takes his dominance to yet another level in 2024, Holmes won’t be asking for prime Edwin Díaz/Aroldis Chapman money, or whatever Josh Hader is likely to get. We might consider Holmes at or near the top of a closer tier that includes recent free agents like Raisel Iglesias, Craig Kimbrel, and Kenley Jansen, who all got paid in the vicinity of $16 million per year.</p>
<p id="mc2Epx">Holmes might be hampered by only having a two-and-a-half-year record as a closer, but assuming another year in line with who he’s been since joining the team, his closest comparison might be current free agent Liam Hendriks, whose track record as a closer was even shorter when he signed with the <a href="https://www.southsidesox.com/">White Sox</a> for four years and $54 million. Holmes hasn’t quite been as good as Hendriks was — if the latter had an extra year before free agency, he might have commanded a Chapman-esque deal — but his performance and experience ought to be enough to land him in that same mid-teens salary range.</p>
<p id="Oug0hp">The issue is that, given how they’ve operated recently, it seems likely that a $16 million closer on the wrong side of 30 isn’t where the Yankees will want to allocate their resources in 2025. Keeping Soto is priority number one through nine, and his new salary will probably start with a four. That would likely push the payroll north of $230 million. Let’s also not forget that they’re quite likely to give a multi-year deal — and possibly a large one — to a starting pitcher this winter. Now we’re blowing past the first luxury tax threshold of $241 million, with Torres, Holmes, Loáisiga, Alex Verdugo, and probably Anthony Rizzo to replace. </p>
<p id="IWdZ40">I’m not one to worry about luxury tax thresholds, but it’s impossible to know to what degree, if any, Hal Steinbrenner feels the same.<em> Some </em>combination of Oswald Peraza and Everson Pereira and Spencer Jones and Jasson Domínguez and Austin Wells ought to pan out well enough to fill some of those holes. But probably not all of them. If Hal can take a gulp and push himself into Steve Cohen-spending territory, then sure, they can pay Holmes free market value. If he’s not, though, then it’s hard to see a world in which the Yankees will pay him what he’s worth in 2025. </p>
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<img alt="Detroit Tigers v New York Yankees" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5fI-FrRNe36DUgAbEgysBr-Bl8E=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25202324/1664291117.jpg">
<cite>Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images</cite>
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<p id="zDFr7A">That leaves us with Loáisiga. His next deal is more or less impossible to pin down, as it’ll probably depend entirely on whether he can make it through this coming season both healthy and without the crummy batted-ball luck that spoiled his ERA in 2022. For this reason, a Loáisiga extension seems unlikely, perhaps more so than Holmes.</p>
<p id="x3WEbo">Nonetheless, 2024 will be Lo’s ninth year in the organization, and if both sides are interested in continuing the partnership, a deal can find a way to come together quickly. Given his injury history, I’m not sure he’d be offered more than three years in free agency, even with another solid season. If the team has already made the calculation that Holmes will require too much of a commitment, I can see a world in which the two sides find common ground on a deal before the season is out. Merely tacking on an extra year to his upcoming contract to avoid arbitration is a possibility as well.</p>
<p id="7pYKeV">I’m not betting on it, though. The Yankees show as much confidence in their pitching development as any organization in the game, and it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if they simply make the determination that they can replace both back-end relievers without blinking too hard. It would just be a risky proposition. Beyond those two, there’s not a single reliever on the roster who’s ever been both healthy and good for two seasons in a row.</p>
<p id="QHIKov">I’m sure that by the time 2025 rolls around, the Yankees will have developed another batch of nasty relievers whose names I don’t even know yet. As of now, though, 2023 was the first time since 2014 the Yankees didn’t roster a highly-paid reliever, and 2024 is shaping up to be the same. Whether they feel they can compete while pulling that off for three consecutive years remains to be seen.</p>
<p id="WPV4a7">Hopefully 2024 brings us many good things. One thing it seems certain to bring us is one of the more interesting, and hopefully compelling, Yankees seasons in recent memory. By the time it’s over, we should have a clearer idea of just how easy or hard these decisions are going to be. </p>
https://www.pinstripealley.com/2024/1/4/24024592/yankees-reliever-extension-clay-holmes-jonathan-loaisiga-free-agents-juan-soto-luxury-tax-payrollMalachi Hayes2024-01-03T12:00:00-05:002024-01-03T12:00:00-05:00Top 100 Yankees: #34 Joe Gordon
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<img alt="Joe Gordon on the Baseball Field" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/MpoyE-KoqzSh5I8rtR9ng0XJ1tU=/0x585:3484x2908/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73019422/540348098.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>One of the game’s great slugging second baseman played his prime years in pinstripes.</p> <p id="aM63gE"><strong>Name: </strong>Joseph Lowell Gordon<br><strong>Position:</strong> Second baseman<br><strong>Born: </strong>February 18, 1915 (Los Angeles, CA)<br><strong>Died:</strong> April 14, 1978 (Sacramento, CA)<br><strong>Yankee Years:</strong> 1938-46<br><strong>Primary number:</strong> 6<br><strong>Yankee statistics:</strong> 1,000 G, .271/.358/.467, 186 2B, 153 HR, 481 BB, 508 K, 120 wRC+, 36.6 rWAR, 40.0 fWAR </p>
<h2 id="w0kClx"><strong>Biography</strong></h2>
<p id="pKiyng">Though his name lacks the nationwide recognition and cultural cachet of some other Yankee greats, Joe Gordon’s impact on the game outstripped his relatively short career. A man with broad interests, Gordon’s Yankees tenure was artificially shortened by World War II, but his baseball life was as interesting as anyone’s, placing him squarely in some of the sport’s most memorable moments and finishing his career as an icon of not one but two franchises. The war may have cost him a few counting stat milestones, but there were few hitters in the league feared more during his heyday; Leo Durocher <a href="https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/gordon-joe">once stated</a> that he was more afraid of Gordon than Joe DiMaggio.</p>
<h3 id="wFvVk0">Adolescence & Early Career</h3>
<p id="GGLiCa">Born in Los Angeles, Gordon lost his father to illness at a young age and relocated to Portland, Oregon, at the age of four, where he spent the rest of his youth. It’s not unusual for pro ballplayers to have been standouts at other sports growing up, and Gordon was no different, starring on his high school’s state championship football team in addition to excelling at baseball. But even by the standards of professionals, he was an exceptional athlete, competing in gymnastics at the University of Oregon and even participating in <a href="https://oregonsportshall.org/timeline/joe-gordon-baseball/">halftime entertainment</a> at their basketball games. </p>
<p id="CSjrTu">Many young athletes have options when it comes to choosing their career paths, but the doors open to Gordon were more unusual than most. Gordon was a talented musician, continuing to play in orchestras even as he starred on the field in high school and at the Oregon, where he dominated as the Ducks’ starting shortstop in 1935 and 1936. As fun as the violin is, though, baseball was his calling, and he signed with the Yankees as a 21-year-old after two years in Eugene.</p>
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<cite>Photo by Keystone/Getty Images</cite>
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<p id="g6okh4">Gordon wasn’t quite a phenom the caliber of DiMaggio, born four months prior, and spent his first season of professional ball in the Pacific Coast League, which Joltin’ Joe had run amok over as an 18-year-old several seasons prior. Gordon played shortstop for the Oakland Oaks, and while DiMaggio was ushered to the majors to fill the gaping hole in the outfield left by Babe Ruth, the middle of the Yankees’ infield was well-established between the defensive wizard <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2023/11/20/23968587/yankees-top-100-players-frank-crosetti-73-infielder-defense-totals-17-world-series-player-coach">Frankie Crosetti</a> and the still-productive Hall of Famer Tony Lazzeri.</p>
<p id="4ICYH6">Gordon hit an even .300 for the Oaks and moved to the International League in 1937, hitting 26 homers and playing a leading role on a memorable Newark Bears team that featured five other future All-Stars and won 109 games in 152 tries. </p>
<h3 id="0QsWu9">Instant Winner</h3>
<p id="qMksNI">When Lazzeri was released after the 1937 season, Gordon was given the keys to the keystone at Yankee Stadium. He quickly justified it, slugging 25 homers and driving in 97 in just 458 at-bats. If the Rookie of the Year Award had existed at that point, Gordon would have been in strong contention for it, tying for second among AL rookies with 3.4 rWAR and 3.9 fWAR. He had already picked up the nickname “Flash,” for <a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/W/MEDIAX_792452-T2/images/I/71zdUQ0oAUL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg">obvious reasons</a>, and it was a fitting name on the field, as both WAR totals were boosted by the stellar defense he’d become equally known for in the coming years.</p>
<p id="cVyMD6">There was no Rookie of the Year, but his teammates DiMaggio, Red Ruffing, and Bill Dickey all finished in the top-six of MVP voting, and New York cruised to the very first World Series three-peat, a feat that the Yankees would have an exclusive monopoly on were it not for the early-1970s Oakland Athletics. Gordon himself finished 12th in the vote, and played a pivotal role in the team’s easy sweep over Chicago, tying for the team lead with six hits and six runs driven in, including key RBI in each of the series’ first three games. The World Series MVP only dates back to 1955, but again, if it had been there in 1938, Gordon would have given Red Ruffing’s two complete games a run for their money.</p>
<h3 id="Cwh3FP">The Prototypical Slugging Second Baseman</h3>
<p id="RRm64Q">Gordon’s mark of 25 homers as a rookie second baseman stood as a record for nearly 70 years, until Dan Uggla finally cracked it with 27 (in more than 150 more trips to the plate) in 2006. Nobody else has done it to this day. It was much the same for Gordon in 1939, taking a step up in virtually every statistical category with 28 homers and 111 driven in, and when you throw in the stellar defense, he was between a six- and seven-win player according to both FanGraphs and Baseball Reference. </p>
<p id="QQUr8E">Gordon was the apotheosis of an archetype that’s grown in popularity in recent years: the once-rare slugging second baseman. From the dawn of time, the keystone has been the provision of hitters in the mold of Eddie Collins and David Eckstein, a place whose defensive requirements typically necessitate the kinds of hitters who aren’t going to light up the scoreboard. But there’s always an exception or two hanging around at any given time, and with the recent strategic bend of the game favoring power and fly balls, the number is increasing.</p>
<p id="C4emhh">Springing from Rogers Hornsby and alongside Bobby Doerr, Gordon molded the shoes into which the Bret Boones and Jeff Kents of the world would later step in, paving the way for the Ugglas, Pedroias, and Kinslers that would follow, with echoes even in players like Brian Dozier and Jonathan Schoop. Hornsby was one-of-a-kind, but Gordon was ahead of his time: respectable in batting average, high on walks, heavy on the strikeouts (for his time), and oodles of pop, he was the closest thing you’d get to a three-true-outcomes second baseman in the first half of the 20th century. Bravo.</p>
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<img alt="Spring Training - New York Yankees" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/pBpBaFDinZcFJHG3nvXzGv936YE=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25180600/73494929.jpg">
<cite>Photo by: Diamond Images/Getty Images</cite>
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<p id="LfyqNR">Fresh off his excellent postseason run, Gordon vaulted straight into stardom the next season, making the first of what would be nine consecutive All-Star appearances, discounting his war absence. The ‘39 Yankees won 106 games, and once again swept the World Series this time victimizing the Cincinnati Reds. The second baseman didn’t hit so well in that one, recording just two hits in 14 trips to the plate, but a win’s a win. He’d have more postseason fanfare soon enough.</p>
<p id="5l7SdT">The next season was a step back for the Yankees, as they won just 88 games and finished in third place, but it was a step forward for Gordon, whose power numbers increased again. He became the second two-bagger after Hornsby to reach the 30-homer plateau, a feat which remained accomplished solely by those two until Davey Johnson gave us one of the most bizarre 40-homer campaigns ever seen in 1973. He set career bests with 173 hits, 72 extra-base hits, and 18 steals, and once again cracked the six-win mark according to both metrics. </p>
<p id="ivF6FU">His layoff from the postseason was only one year, as the Yankees bounced right back to win 101 games and earn a matchup with the cross-borough rival Dodgers in the World Series. Gordon’s power numbers finally took a step back after three years of growth, batting .276 and cracking 24 bombs with 87 driven in. It was enough to make the All-Star Game, where he scored one of the winning runs on Ted Williams’ legendary walk-off homer in Tiger Stadium, and still worked out to 5-6 WAR with the excellent defense factored in.</p>
<p id="nl4Ujs">That defense is what separates him from the Ugglas and Schoops of modern times. His power didn’t come at the expense of his dexterity in the field, and he’d have made the record books even if you had cut his power in half: I trust retroactively applied defensive metrics as much as I trust milk a week past its sell-by date, but FanGraphs credits him for 209.5 defensive runs for his career, barely a half-run off of Frankie Frisch for the best <em>ever</em>. And that’s with about 800 fewer games played, to boot. He wasn’t quite Hornsby, but Gordon too was one-of-a-kind nonetheless.</p>
<h3 id="3vZPK7">World Series Heroics</h3>
<p id="UBCYiQ">The Yankees’ 4-1 series win over the Dodgers in <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2021/12/23/22847459/yankees-championship-1941-dimaggio-hitting-streak-mvp-world-series-rizzuto-pitching-dodgers-ww2">1941</a> was considerably more hard-fought than the final record indicated, and it put Gordon squarely in the midst of one of the most memorable World Series gaffes of all time. Brooklyn entered the ninth inning of Game 4 with a 4-3 lead, and came just a single strike away from knotting the series at two when All-Star catcher Mickey Owen failed to corral a swinging third strike that would have ended the game, allowing Tommy Henrich to reach base and extend the game. Joe DiMaggio singled to keep the inning alive, and Charlie Keller cleared them with a double to take a 5-4 lead. After Dickey walked, Gordon put the icing on the cake by smoking a double of his own, scoring two more runs and locking down a commanding 3-1 series lead. </p>
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<img alt="Portrait Of The Yankee Infield" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/FWzjnEUUuhMueUodIY8ulqX8r-E=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25180603/51766496.jpg">
<cite>Photo by New York Times Co./Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>The 1942 Yankees infield</figcaption>
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<p id="crNa48">It wasn’t the first time that Gordon had stepped up against the Dodgers. His solo homer in the second inning of Game 1, which the Yankees would win 3-2, was the first blood of the series, and he drew three walks in a Game 2 loss. Finally, he lit the spark for the Yankees’ Game 5 clincher, watching the opening run score on a wild pitch while at the plate and then singling home the runner who had advanced to second base because of it.</p>
<p id="UWF42o">All in all, Gordon batted an even .500 for the series, going 7-for-14 with the stick and piling up an additional seven walks for a slash line of .500/.667/.929. Accordingly, he was awarded the precursor of the World Series MVP award, and the third of an eventual five championship rings. </p>
<h3 id="HkJKkT">MVP & War Service</h3>
<p id="yUbTmU">For the second time in his career, Gordon followed up an outstanding World Series performance with a leap forward the subsequent spring, recording the hands-down best season of his career in 1942. He simply had one of those seasons where everything looked like a beach ball, wrecking the league with a .322 batting average that would wind up nearly 40 points higher than the second-best effort of his career. His power numbers dropped to 18 homers and 29 doubles, but both still handily led MLB second basemen. And by that time, the slick-handed Phil Rizzuto had replaced Crosetti at shortstop, forming the league’s premier double play combo and leading the Yankees (along with that DiMaggio fellow) to their second straight pennant, finishing nine games ahead of the Red Sox in first place.</p>
<p id="SQRcCa">That last bit probably went a long way towards Gordon earning the first and only MVP award of his career over Ted Williams, who /checks notes/ won the Triple Crown and put up what remains, as of 2023, the 15th-best season ever played, by fWAR. Once again, a win’s a win, right?</p>
<p id="LNqQAh">Unfortunately, Gordon couldn’t repeat his 1941 World Series performance in the 1942 Fall Classic, recording just two hits in 21 walkless trips to the plate. By his standards, some might say his slump extended into 1943, by his standards. His triple slash line fell to .249/.365/.413, alongside 17 long balls and 69 RBI, all represented career lows (though New York still won it all).</p>
<p id="2SXmdN">Those numbers can be a bit deceiving. Fully in the throes of World War II, the selective service had by that time severely watered down the quality of the league — Rizzuto and DiMaggio were already off of the roster — and those numbers were still good for a 128 wRC+, the second-best of his career. All in all, it wrapped up one of the most dominant six-year stretches we’ve ever seen out of a second baseman, a stretch in which only DiMaggio himself produced more fWAR. Entering 1938, Lazzeri’s 169 home runs were the most by a second baseman not named Hornsby; Gordon his 142 in those six years alone. </p>
<p id="Wc0Afm">Then, of course, the selective service came for Gordon, too. As I said, he was a man of many interests and had obtained his pilot’s license before the war, taking up flying as a personal hobby. As such, he was a natural fit for the Air Force, with whom he served for the remaining two years of the war, returning to game action for the 1946 season. Like so many of his cohort, it’s impossible to say what else he might have accomplished had he not lost two prime seasons to the conflict. He did pretty well with what opportunity he had, in any case. </p>
<h3 id="DEKnlG">Disappointing Return & New Beginning</h3>
<p id="wZQdGG">Unfortunately for everyone, Gordon wasn’t quite the same at the plate when he returned from the war. As just about everyone could understand, he was a bit rusty, and sustained severe injuries for the first time in his career, missing the first month of the season after rupturing a tendon in his hand and dealing with a cavalcade of fractures and tears as the season went on. He appeared in a career-low 112 games, and for the first time, he was simply subpar, seeing his batting average dip to .210 with a puny .338 slugging. The Yankees finished in third place, finishing below 90 wins for the third straight year, and a good time was not had by all.</p>
<p id="aPD0R7">It was also somewhat of a transitional time for the Yankees. 1946 saw Joe McCarthy’s departure early in the season, the first time in over 15 years that New York needed a new skipper. Red Ruffing called it a career at the end of the season, and fellow rotation stalwart Spud Chandler did the same a year later. Within five years, the careers of Gordon, DiMaggio, Keller, and Heinrich would also come to an end. Ready to set the table for the next generation of stars in pinstripes, Gordon was traded to Cleveland several weeks after the 1946 season. He finished his Yankees career with exactly 1,000 hits in exactly 1,000 games played, a serendipity that feels right for his tenure. </p>
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<img alt="Out in center field, Joe DiMaggio has just made the last put" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/GztguLtXGjnxMvC32HG7RAj77jM=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25180605/97336063.jpg">
<cite>Photo by NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Celebrating the last out of the ‘41 World Series</figcaption>
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<p id="crpmgN">Even in departure, Gordon did right by the Yankees, bringing back starting pitcher Allie Reynolds in return, who won 131 games in eight years in the Bronx, <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2023/12/1/23982635/yankees-top-100-players-allie-reynolds-pitcher-world-series-no-hitter-1950s-dynasty">earning himself a spot on this list</a> in his own right. Fortunately for Cleveland, Gordon wasn’t done yet either. He exploded back onto the scene in 1947 with 29 homers and 92 RBI. During this time, he also grew a reputation for his veteran presence and mentorship. Hall of Famer Larry Doby credited Gordon for helping ease his transition into what was, needless to say, a hostile environment as the American League’s first Black player. </p>
<p id="AftycQ">Improbably, he found another gear in 1948, setting new and final career bests at 33 years of age with 32 homers, second in MLB behind only DiMaggio, and 124 RBI. He improved upon a seventh-place MVP finish in ‘47, placing sixth in ‘48 after leading Cleveland to what remains their last World Series victory. He didn’t quite leave the mark on that one that he’d have liked, hitting just .182, but he did more than his part in getting them there.</p>
<h3 id="udqwdO">Retirement & Coaching Career</h3>
<p id="wObKKx">Age caught up to Gordon relatively quickly thereafter, unfortunately. His wRC+ dropped from 133 in 1948 to 106 the subsequent year, and a year later, he was below average by OPS (99 OPS+) for the first time in his career. Cleveland, which had fallen back to the middle of the league, had seen enough, and released Gordon after the the 1950 season. </p>
<p id="FvIabn">He wasted no time beginning his coaching career, returning to his roots in the Pacific Coast League as player-manager of the Sacramento Solons. Gordon dominated the league with his bat, dropping 43 bombs in 1951, but his managerial record was more suspect. When his offensive production fell off a cliff in 1952 on the way to a 66-114 record (the PCL played 180 game seasons at that time), his time as a player was finally over. </p>
<p id="iKjLUl">Gordon latched on with the Tigers organization as a scout shortly thereafter, but the dugout continued to call, and he returned to the PCL to manage the legendary San Francisco Seals in 1956. This try as manager went considerably better than his first one. The Seals won the league championship in 1957, which was enough to convince Cleveland to bring him back into the fold as manager of their big club in the middle of 1958, thus setting the stage for one of the most bizarre year-long sequences of events in managerial history.</p>
<p id="0PfN3e">Flash’s time at the helm at Cleveland was tumultuous, and marred by disagreements with “Trader” Frank Lane, the famously eccentric general manager who might be best described as a 1950s hybrid of Jerry Dipoto and A.J. Preller. Gordon’s teams were competitive enough by wins and losses — he took them to a 46-40 finish in 1958, and their 89 wins in ‘59 were good enough for second place in the AL — but the friction with his GM proved to be too much, with Gordon bristling at Lane’s repeated public questioning of his on-field strategy.</p>
<p id="RF6cGU">Lane fired Gordon late in 1959, after the latter had declared his intent to depart at the season’s end, only for the pair to reverse course and reconcile several days later. (Perhaps they served as a source of inspiration for George Steinbrenner and Billy Martin in the ‘70s and ‘70s.) This all led Lane to famously quip to the press, “We couldn’t think of anyone better to replace Gordon than Gordon himself.”</p>
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<img alt="Spring Training - Cleveland Indians" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/W-ApgQ4ZxKedl8POlWD-BCgItgA=/400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25180607/84890317.jpg">
<cite>Photo by: Diamond Images/Getty Images</cite>
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<p id="aMsJ7J">That wasn’t the end of the weirdness, though. Despite their reconciliation, both sides found themselves in much the same spot a year later. This time, the solution was different, as Cleveland and the Detroit Tigers engaged in what remains the only straight-up manager trade in big league history, letting Gordon manage out the final two months of the season in Kansas City while veteran Jimmy Dykes took his place on Lake Erie. Gordon’s journey wasn’t over yet, either, as he swiftly resigned in Detroit so he could take the helm for the Kansas City A’s .</p>
<p id="kd93PN">The ever-erratic Charlie Finley, however, had other plans, firing GM Parke Carroll before the season and replacing him with none other than Frank Lane. Gordon’s tenure in Kansas City, then, became one of the shortest in MLB history for a non-interim manager, lasting just 60 games (26 wins, 33 losses, and one tie) before Finley dropped the axe on him too. Gordon moved on to the expansion Los Angeles Angels, working as a roving instructor of sorts for the rest of the decade before taking one more shot as a skipper, taking control of the expansion Kansas City Royals for their inaugural season in 1969.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">A history of Royals managers: Joe Gordon <a href="https://t.co/MWvZTeKEOX">https://t.co/MWvZTeKEOX</a> <a href="https://t.co/zxBsNDqU1d">pic.twitter.com/zxBsNDqU1d</a></p>— Royals Review (@royalsreview) <a href="https://twitter.com/royalsreview/status/1335962280039747588?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 7, 2020</a>
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<p id="hWnSEz">Managing a squad that included future Yankees outfielder <a href="https://www.pinstripealley.com/2023/11/4/23939876/yankees-top-100-players-lou-piniella-88-biography-outfield-1970s-manager">Lou Piniella</a>, Gordon guided them to a fourth-place finish before shifting to a scouting role for the team. He held that job for several years before moving on to things beyond baseball. </p>
<p id="JQTpvz">Gordon spent the last of his days enjoying retirement, hunting, fishing, and working on real estate deals until his death from a heart attack at age 63 in 1978. He was posthumously elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 2008 and is also a member of the Hall of Fame at the University of Oregon, where he returned to finish his degree in physical education in 1940, and the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame. He may not be a household name, but at his peak, he was as good of a Yankee second baseman as any. </p>
<p id="6gWxUr"><strong>Staff rank:</strong> 34<br><strong>Community rank:</strong> 33<br><strong>Stats rank:</strong> 30<br><strong>2013 rank: </strong>27</p>
<h2 id="XH0HqP"><strong>References</strong></h2>
<p id="8tgTxE">Anderson, Dave. “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/sports/baseball/14anderson.html">Gordon, overlooked Yankee, gets his due</a>,” <em>New York Times</em>, 13<em> </em>Dec. 2008</p>
<p id="4eKsMH"><a href="https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gordojo01.shtml">Baseball Reference</a></p>
<p id="ssztc3"><a href="https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Joe_Gordon">BR Bullpen</a></p>
<p id="K8djre"><a href="https://www.fangraphs.com/players/joe-gordon/1004874/stats?position=2B">FanGraphs</a></p>
<p id="YnYGaz"><a href="https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/gordon-joe">National Baseball Hall of Fame</a></p>
<p id="1lhNAt"><a href="https://goducks.com/honors/hall-of-fame/joe-gordon/96">Oregon Ducks Hall of Fame</a></p>
<p id="FUFs6U"><a href="https://oregonsportshall.org/timeline/joe-gordon-baseball/">Oregon Sports Hall of Fame</a></p>
<p id="PXDfmt">Wanch, Joseph. <a href="https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Joe-Gordon/">SABR bio</a></p>
<h3 id="xnJGjj">Previously on the Top 100</h3>
<p id="LNr1pZ"><a href="http://www.sbnation.com/e/23781226">35. Dave Winfield</a><br><a href="http://www.sbnation.com/e/23691038">Full list to date</a></p>
https://www.pinstripealley.com/2024/1/3/24006527/yankees-top-100-players-joe-gordon-biography-34-hall-of-fame-second-base-1940s-mvpMalachi Hayes