00:00Joel Sherman back with three things, still on the west coast of Florida.
00:03So yesterday, Tuesday, that meant going to Dunedin for a Yankee-Toronto spring training game.
00:12It was the first time the two teams saw each other since the Blue Jays eliminated the Yankees in the
00:18division series last year, three games to one, and dominated that series.
00:23This obviously is a spring training game.
00:26The Yankees brought most of their A squad positionally because they're getting a lot of those guys like Judge and
00:34Caballero and Goldschmidt and Jazz Chisholm ready for the World Baseball Classic.
00:38The Blue Jays did not play that kind of team.
00:41Who cares what the final score is?
00:43It's spring training.
00:44But it did trigger in my mind something that I want to talk about for three things.
00:50And so I'll start here with number one.
00:51The Yankees, under Aaron Boone, have had a similar success and a similar problem.
00:58They are almost always good, almost always very good.
01:02They've made the playoffs seven of his eight years.
01:04In those seven playoffs, they've played 14 series in all.
01:10In six of them, they had the better record during the regular season against the opponent.
01:16They're 6-0 in those games.
01:18Against the ones, the eight that there were not, they are 1-7.
01:23The one win came in 2020 during the COVID year.
01:28Cleveland had 35 wins.
01:30The Yankees had 33.
01:31So I almost throw that one out the window.
01:33And I just look at the other seven in full 162-game seasons.
01:37And in those, the Yankees are 0-7.
01:39And that includes last year when they won 94.
01:42Toronto won 94.
01:44Toronto won the division because they won the season series eight games to five.
01:48And then they dominated the Yankees in the postseason.
01:51They scored 34 runs in 34 innings.
01:55And this has been the Yankee bugaboo.
01:58It feels a little bit like bully ball, which is when they could bully an opponent, an inferior
02:03opponent, they do, both during the regular season and during the postseason.
02:07But when someone stands up to them, they haven't been able to overcome that and get all the
02:12way and win it all.
02:15Let's get to more of that in a moment.
02:17But we'll move to number two, which I think we have to talk about the division.
02:21Because they're going to see a lot of teams that feel really strong in this division.
02:26Let's take Tampa Bay out of it.
02:27They just sold ownership change there.
02:29It feels even more like they're in a transition period.
02:32Though they're the Rays, they're going to try to map their way to as many wins as possible.
02:36This is about the other four teams in the division.
02:39The Orioles certainly did a lot this offseason.
02:43As Mets fans know, they got Pete Alonzo.
02:45They've also brought in Ward from the Angels.
02:50That's two big right-hand hitters, power hitters at a time where it's hard to find right-hand
02:54power.
02:55They've added them to the lineup.
02:57Shane Boz, they brought back Zach Eflin.
03:00Trevor Rodgers, Kyle Braddish, who I think is one of the more underappreciated starting
03:05pitchers in the major leagues, is there.
03:08And they brought in Chris Bassett.
03:10So they have a much better rotation.
03:11I suspect that all those young players will benefit from having more veteran guys around
03:17with expectations.
03:19The Red Sox did not do the big thing that their fan base keeps wanting them to do and that
03:25they keep hinting they're going to do.
03:26And they didn't even keep Alex Bregman, which I think is a bad move by them.
03:30I think he's such an important winning player on and off the field.
03:33But you're about to get a whole season of Roman Anthony, who I think is going to be one
03:38of the 10 best players in baseball.
03:40And they have a lot of pitching, starting pitching, obviously led by Garrett Crochet.
03:46And so I expect them to be good.
03:48But let's really home in here on Toronto, coming off of 94 wins.
03:55They really targeted a top of the rotation guy.
03:58They had Dylan Cease as high as anyone on their board.
04:00And they were very aggressive in going out and getting him as a starting point.
04:04They brought Cody Ponce back from Asia.
04:07He had played in Japan and Korea.
04:09Looks like maybe he's gotten his career back on track.
04:13Akimoto is probably going to be their pretty regular third baseman.
04:16He kind of fits in if he translates from Japan.
04:19He was a high-level contact hitter with some power.
04:22That was kind of who the Blue Jays were last year.
04:25And they added Tyler Rogers, the sidewinder who played late last season with the Mets,
04:29who's one of the most durable and ground ball-heavy relief pitchers there is.
04:34So they turned what was the AL champions, who came just about as close as you could possibly
04:39come to winning the World Series without actually winning.
04:41It feels like they've done some stuff to make them stay the same or better.
04:48And they're going to be a force, I believe, probably to reckon with.
04:52And I just think you could look at the AL East and believe the four teams, the three I just
04:56mentioned, plus the Yankees, plus Seattle, plus Detroit.
05:00Those are the six best teams in the American League.
05:02Four are in the Yankees division.
05:03So why don't we get to number three here, which is the Yankees in their division.
05:07The reality is, this division, in a time where people are worried about competitive balance,
05:13all five teams have won the division in the time that Aaron Boone has been the Yankee manager.
05:19All five.
05:21Starting in 2018 with the Red Sox, who then went on to win the World Series.
05:26Every team has been under 500, except the Yankees.
05:30Like, the good news about the Yankees, in that time, the only team to win the division three
05:34times is the Yankees, the most in Tampa Bay is two, the Yankees are three, everyone else
05:39won.
05:40The Yankees haven't finished last, and they haven't finished under 500.
05:45They are consistently a strong team, and I would expect that that's going to be true
05:49this season.
05:50I know in comparison to Baltimore and to Toronto, the knock on the Yankees has been that they
05:58rolled it back.
06:00I don't really buy that theory.
06:04They made substantial trades at the deadline last year in July, and part of their theory
06:10in July last year was to try to get players who's had service years and control beyond
06:16last year, and guys like Bednar and Caballero and McMahon fit that category.
06:21I would not give up yet on Jake Bird, who is a very good relief pitcher with Colorado.
06:26Can the Yankees reclaim that guy?
06:28He's came back.
06:29The Yankees re-signed Ahmad Rosario, who I think is a very important bench player for
06:33them, both on the field and off the field with his energy and leadership.
06:37So I think he's been very, very good for the team.
06:40They traded in the offseason for Ryan Weathers, who's an interesting pitcher and has real upside.
06:46Do the Yankees get to it?
06:47I don't know.
06:48And look, the most important thing is, do they get Garrett Cole back for three months,
06:52four months?
06:53And does Garrett Cole pitch like he has through the breadth of his career?
06:57If he does, the Yankees are better than last year.
07:00And I think it's what's missed when they got eliminated by Toronto.
07:04And it goes back to what I was saying in number one.
07:07In 2024, the Yankees got to the World Series, but it was like an NCAA tournament bracket where
07:13they got an easy draw into the final four.
07:16They got Cleveland and Kansas City, they overmatched them, they were way more talented, and then
07:23they got the Dodgers in the World Series and lost.
07:25I thought last year's Yankee team was far better than that team.
07:29It was more well-rounded.
07:30It was a plate cleaner.
07:32It was more daring on the bases and could create runs that way.
07:38I just think they faced this hurdle in the postseason.
07:42A team as good as them, and they collapse.
07:44And now, if we all went into a think tank and try to figure out why does that happen?
07:49Is it coincidence?
07:51Well, it has been seven playoff series under Aaron Boone.
07:55Is it Aaron Boone?
07:56Does something happen in the postseason where he's not making great decisions?
08:01I would say that last year against Toronto, with everything that happened, the biggest
08:08thing that happened is Max Freed pitched terribly.
08:11Well, Max Freed, I don't think anyone thinks Max Freed is like a postseason dog.
08:15He pitched one of the biggest games in the history of the Atlanta Braves to clinch a championship,
08:20you know, on the road.
08:21And I just, actually that might not have been on the road, but he pitched one of the biggest
08:26games to win a championship for the Atlanta Braves.
08:30Uh, and, uh, I think he, he was great last year.
08:35He was, uh, you know, a Cy Young contender most of the season.
08:38You wouldn't want to undo it.
08:39He had a bad day in October.
08:41I think most Yankee fans, and I certainly know the Yankee administration, wants Max Freed
08:45on the team.
08:46John Carlos Stanton, with everything injury-wise that's happened to him, had been a great postseason
08:51player for the Yankees.
08:52Last postseason against Toronto, he hit the ball hard and had no success.
08:57Just didn't get hits.
08:59I don't think you wouldn't have wanted Stanton in the lineup.
09:02So I'm not exactly sure, even if I was to give a kind of like a free pass, like who
09:07do
09:07you want on the team, uh, that would change the narrative.
09:11I think when the Yankees were a dynasty, they had a cheat code.
09:14I think Mariano Rivera gave them an advantage that nobody else had.
09:18And then on a somewhat lower level, I thought Orlando Hernandez was like that.
09:22And Derek Jeter was like that.
09:24The ability to just play well at this time of year.
09:26They had guys like that.
09:27I'm not sure you snap your fingers and go, there's that guy in the major leagues who
09:31they should go get, who's always good in the postseason, who's been available.
09:35So I think that this is about this internal group that is core group has been together
09:39for a long time under Aaron Boone.
09:41Do they have the ability to be more than bullies?
09:45Because it is going to be called upon this year.
09:47They have a very tough division that they really need to win.
09:51And then it's going to be a postseason again, where I think if they stay relatively healthy,
09:55there'll be a well-rounded team.
09:57Can they get the chip?
09:59Can they get to the Canyon of Heroes?
10:01Can they be more than bullies?
10:02And they're going to be chasing me.
10:02For our videos, let me prepare TRADE-SAUPPY.
10:03And we'll be before you then.
10:03Bye!
10:03Bye-bye.
10:03Bye-bye.
10:03Bye-bye.
10:04Bye-bye.
10:06Bye-bye.
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