Baseball pictures don’t get better than this…
Austin Jackson / Icon SMI
Austin Jackson caught this fly ball over the wall in the bottom of the first inning in an August game against the Royals. Alex Gordon, the Royals’ leadoff hitter, hit the long drive against Justin Verlander.
Probably yes, or perhaps not. : -) If they had put in a higher bid on Darvish and won, would that have also stopped the trade of Montero, or would it encourage them even more, planning to build a front-end, power rotation around Sabathia, Darvish and Pineda. If they kept Jackson, would they have also played Gardner? Great defense, mighty weak with the bat. That means they might have moved Gardner to center, and then packaged Montero, Jackson and other prospects for Justin Upton, inserting him in right and Swisher in left. It’s a never-ending domino effect. Yet back to… Read more »
I responded to this once already, but the system ate the note! Hopefully I don’t get a double post, so I’ll phrase it differently just in case. Kennedy probably rates out at about 3.75-4.00 ERA in the AL East. Not sure that would stop the Yankees from trying to upgrade and adding in Pindea. Same thing if they added Darvish. They might have decided that a power rotation led by Sabathia, Darvish and Pineda was still too tempting. More likely, however, is they’d have to get another impact bat in the OF if they didn’t have Granderson. There is zero… Read more »
My guess is none of the three teams would undo the deal if they were given the chance. Certainly not the Diamondbacks nor the Yankees, and while the Tigers so far don’t have one clear stud to point to in the deal, they got the most volume, with three productive players. All three teams got what they were looking for, and all three made the postseason last year with key contributions from the players in the deal. As for Montero, I’ve been skeptical he would remain with the Yankees. I have no doubt they love his bat, but it was… Read more »
