It’s an NFL day, but there’s time enough for some quick hits in MLB…
- Gio Urshela projects as the Opening Day third baseman after a breakout year in the Bronx. He put up 3.4 rWAR while Miguel Andujar missed the year with injuries, and since Andujar has minor league options remaining, Urshela’s case looks even stronger. Urshela could even expand his portfolio to include backup shortstop duties in 2020, per MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch, though Thairo Estrada and Tyler Wade are the more likely options to take that on should Gleyber Torres need a day off.
- Second-year Orioles’ manager Brandon Hyde will have a veteran voice in his ear this season now that Fredi Gonzalez has joined his staff. Gonzalez is listed as a general Major League Coach, but the veteran manager looks forward to being freed up to contribute in a lot of different areas, per MASN’s Roch Kubatko. Gonzalez will team with Major League Field Coordinator Tim Cossins to fill the duties traditionally assigned to a bench coach – but the important thing for the Orioles is that Hyde has another influence that he trusts as he looks to build on the development of a very young Orioles’ squad. Gonzalez certainly knows the terrain, having spent the last few seasons as the third base coach for the Miami Marlins. When the 2019 season came to a close, Gonzalez didn’t know exactly what would await him, but he decided it was time to move on from Miami and make himself a free agent. Hyde, meanwhile, managed the High-A and Double-A affiliates in Florida during Gonzalez’ managerial tenure from 2007 to 2010, and he didn’t wait long to add Gonzalez to his staff.
- As they say, the ball don’t lie, and that’s good enough for Joel Sherman of the New York Post, who marks the Nationals as the winners of last year’s offseason thanks to their championship in October. Of course, a year makes all the difference, as Sherman names the Red Sox the top loser of last year’s offseason for their ill-fated attempt to keep the good vibes going after their 2018 World Series title. Sherman makes this particularly interesting note about the fates of those giving multi-year offers to relief pitchers: “There were 11 relievers who signed for multiple years last season. Six had zero or negative WAR (Baseball Reference version). Just two improved on their WAR from 2018 to 2019, and just three ([Zack] Britton, [Adam] Ottavino and Justin Wilson) improved their ERA.” For what it’s worth, the Nationals can be counted among the group of team’s handing out multi-year deals to a reliever this offseason.
yeah, i think the Yankees are fine at SS. silly question.
Really it’s a NFL Day?? Who cares I want MLB news as the site I logged in to is MLBTR not Wait for the NFL, but thanks for taking time out to inform us how important American Football is allowing us some of your important football time
If Hyde is listening to Fredi, I hope he’s renting in Baltimore, and didn’t buy. He’d be better off setting up a text poll, and letting fans vote on his next managerial move. It’d at least be engaging for the audience.
The NY hype machine never stops…
Yes, there are soooo many Yankees’ snippets. Not.
With this juggernaut team, why should it?
lmao this team is barely a contender, calm down
You’re tied with another commenter on this site for biggest, most distorted Yankee hater on this site.
I think he’s been eating shrooms for the holidays
“tHis tEaM iS bArElY a cOnTeNdEr”
HAHAHAHAHAHA
@strikefour…..very apt name if I must say so…..If your obvious jealousy of the Yankees is bothering you so much, then exit the site and take up knitting or some other worth while hobby other than offering up idiocy every time you post.
What’s the NFL
Norwegian Foosball League
Northumbrian Fossil Looters
Nigerian Frito Lickers
Not For Long
that is so true. good one !
now that’s 3rd degree
Andujar can play 2 days at third, and DH 3 days. This team is loaded for bear!
The Yankees are loaded and a lot of that talent is younger players. They are certainly in an enviable position. They will probably make the playoffs at the very least. However, there have been “super teams” who haven’t made the playoffs before. Anything can happen.
If they were “loaded” they would have legit All-Stars on the bench and 65 grade prospects up and down the farm, which they do not. They have a few superstars and a lot of guys who “came from nowhere” who are doomed to regress. They lack depth on the farm and have massive injury questions already.
Sure they will beat the Orioles 20+ times for soft wins to get them to 100, but there’s nothing scary about this Yankees team like, at all.
Judge, Torres, Stanton, Sanchez, Cole, Severino, Chapman are all legit All-Star contenders. Paxton could easily be, too. If he’s healthy Voit could be too. He was leading the league with 17 HR’s before he went down to injury. That’s plenty to form a juggernaut, whether they all hit as All-Stars in one season or not. You’re just setting the bar for juggernaut so high no team could match it so you can make a wild, unhinged imaginary point. Again.
Ooops. And I forgot LeMahieu, another solid All-Star contender. That’s 8-10 contenders.
Mo.. Those Yankees haters are so funny. The more they make fools of themselves, the more I love being a Yankees fan.
Like Reggie said “They don’t boo nobodies.”
@Mo4ever….hey man, don’t even offer up any fact or actual proof to dissuade that hater @strikefour……stupid is as stupid does….and he does it well.
Just ask Minnesota.
@Strike Four I can imagine you saying that out loud while you’re sticking pins and needles into a voodoo doll resembling a Yankees Babe Ruth.
Evacuate? In our moment of triumph?
never could I have imagined there could ever be a MLB player ( Gio Urshela ) who bears a strong resemblance to Ricky Ricardo
Babaloooooooooooo!
Gio ushela was a fluke
We’ll see. That’s why they play the games. He did get injured last year and came back and did just fine. If he does just fine this year will you publicly eat crow or is this just another meaningless proclamation thrown out there as a backhanded dig at the Yankees?
Is eating crow worse than eating their hat?
dynamite: good question. Should I give them the option from now on?
Mo: I don’t think it s should be their option; it should be an informal poll on the thread and let the traders choose!
Urshela had a .349 BABIP, no way he puts up numbers like that again. Pure small sample luck. He is however, a decent-gloved 3B, much better than Andujar, so he will be the everyday guy, but yeah, .349 BABIPs are not sustainable, his 2019 was pure small sample luck due to having no plate discipline and swinging and hitting them to bad-fielding OF etc.
Will you eat crow or your hat if he does fine?
and Tauchman, and Ford, and Voit, and DJLM (26 homers lol), and Frazier and and and….
But shhhh these Yankee fans are having trouble even remembering what a title-winning team even looks like, we can’t rub it in their faces that they are still irrelevant no matter how hard they run the unbalanced schedule.
NYY would be an 84 win team in the AL West, believe it.
Because your A’s have been a real juggernaut. I’ll take one tile every ten years if that’s what I get from here on out. I’ve had eight in my lifetime. I’m good. How about y0u, Strike Four? A’s had enough titles for you? As for the AL West, yeah, the Angels, Rangers, and Mariners have been soooo threatening.
You are a one-man community killer. Look how you’ve shat across this thread, sowing nothing but discord, as usual, with your wild, vicious accusations and proclamations.. MLBTR should ban you.
Didn’t know he was an As fan. I should just leave him alone. He’s suffered enough. HAHAHAHA!!!!
Ah, you’re an A’s fan. That explains a lot, a franchise that spends very little money and always loses to better teams. I’d still rather see Oakland in the playoffs than the cheating Asstros though
He never hit over .300 even in A ball. To think at 28 he magically is an above avg hitter now is nonsense
Fake ball made half the yankee scrub players into all stars. Real ball and they revert to the .220 hitters they all are. Fake ball? Real ball? What’s it going to be MLB?
Didn’t that ball make everyone better? How could it only make the NYY better? When the Yankees revert with a regular ball, though, so will everyone else. Let’s be intellectually honest about this. I see you’re back to shat in another thread with whatever unhinged nonsense you can muster..
Yup, yanks and the twins made the roster adjustments for the “juice ball”. 100 win teams. They bombed away.
To say that everyone benefits the same from the fake ball is the absolute pinnacle of ignorance.
Did you grow up under power lines?
If everyone is hitting against the juiced ball, then how would just the Yankees and only the Yankees regress to mediocrity if everyone returned to an un-juiced ball? Please explain this logic.
@whyhayzee
So the “juiced balls” were just issued to the teams the Yanks faced and no one else, huh? That’s what you’re running on? Stupidity at it’s highest.
I hate the yanks as much as anyone else but comments like this are just an embarrassment
Pretty cool the Yankees got to use different balls than everyone else.
or maybe they just have bigger balls too ?
There is no contest between Urshela and Andujar at 3B. While he may not maintain his great 2019 offensive production, Urshela is an outstanding 3rd baseman. Andujar is a great hitter, but a disaster at 3B. He catches the ball, but has slow transfer and a poor sidearm throw that was bad before his shoulder surgery. The ball will find him and the NYY cannot afford to have him at 3B.
Could be a tough situation if Urshela fields and Angujar hits… We’ll just have to see.
DH
Teams pay big for good offensive players, regardless of their defense.
good bat+bad glove > bad bat+good glove
Just look at Castellanos, JDM, 2016-2018’s Khris Davis if you dont believe me. If Urshela hits like he has his whole career besides the 2019 campaign and Andujar hits similarly or better in comparison to his 2018 campaign they’ll trot Andujar out to 3B for the majority of the season. Defense is important but everyone here seems to drastically overrate it. If defense was as important as people make it out to be, Brendan Ryan wouldve gotten a $200MM contract and David Ortiz wouldve retired in 2009. Its so silly to imagine that Urshela would start at 3B over Andujar even if he reverts back to his .589 OPS self from 2015-2018. The only way Urshela keeps his job is if he can maintain his 2019 offensive numbers. The Yankees can definitely afford to have a terrible thrower but great hitter at 3B if its indeed the case that Urshela’s 2019 was a fluke.
.225,.224,.235,.314
.222,.084,.277
.246,.182,.280
Three guys who couldn’t hit A LICK suddenly become super major league hitters? Give me a break, it’s the fake ball. If everyone benefitted equally guys who actually can hit would be hitting .400.
Stop. Get some help.
seek help please
There there now child, get all those tears out now. We’re here for you.
@whyhayzee
Wow…you doubled down on the moronic thought huh?
Would the Yankees look at Brandon Crawford? He does have a full NTC but going to a contender and being with Cole could persuade him, his bat has dropped off but he’s an elite (or was) defender at SS and a lefty swinger.
I don’t see the reason they need a another utility guy with Estrada and Wade in the fold. DJ can also roam around.
No please don’t let Tyler Wade near New York
Damn those Vikings, I really had the Saints winning that game
I’m just here to comment about the orioles nothing in particular just because all but one of these comments are about the Yankees GO Os lol
Baltimore Orioles NUMBER ONE
No baseball talk today no articles in like 7 hours
Maybe you could read The Iliad
Andujar and Torres together on the left side would not be recommended. Andujar was awful even before the shoulder injury and scouting reports suggest Torres does not have the range for SS. Urshela is error prone and will likely return to his minor league hitting projections, but he’s a better option with a glove than Andujar obviously.
Yankees need to watch out for the White Sox.
No it’s very much the reverse Catherine. ChiSox get Keuchel and Grandal and suddenly they’re challenging for the pennant? Nope
The white sox? insane really, But hey everyone is entitled to an opinion.
Mine is- i would be delighted to see that Yanks and White sox in the ALCS.
please people. i cant believe Im at the point where i have to defend the Yankees, who ive so long disliked. but really though, dislike them for valid reasons. no they arent all juiced, yes they have at least a top 3 WS shot at this point, if they aren’t the favorites. suck it up and admit it – your team is, at best, only slightly better than the Yankees.
I think the Yankees addressed their biggest need this offseason in the biggest way possible. Wouldn’t expect a Lindor type deal but with the Yanks you never know what all in means to them.