Back to the Drawing Board.... Again.....

HEYYYYOOOOOOOO!!! Sorry for the abnormally long break, but welcome back to Furn Talk Volume 7. This is going to be my analysis on the postseason and potential moves during the offseason for both the Yankees and other MLB teams.

So, unless you live under a rock, you know that the Yankees once again did not make it to the world series. If I am being honest, we did not deserve it. To the Yankees credit we steamrolled the Minnesota Twins in an ALDS series that looked like we were playing a minor league team. Houston moves on as everyone expects. On the National League Side the Dodgers are out again on a hot Washington Nationals team, and the Braves won against the Cardinals in 5 games.

Then the CS comes about. The Red- Hot Nations and their stellar Starting Pitching Rotation, which we will get into later, got through the lackluster Cardinals. But on to the more important series. The Yankees were not the team of the Regular Season. They were stranding runners, striking out in big situations, making errors. It was really hard to watch.

Into Game 6, I was not confident. Down 4-2 in the Top of the 9th, LEMACHINEEEEEEEEEEEE hits a home run off of Roberto Osuna to tie the game. Then in the Bottom of the 9th Jose Altuve hits a walk off homer to win the game. My first and honest reaction was disappointment, and frankly I knew that this conclusion was inevitable. We did not deserve to win that series at all, despite accomplishing the near impossible feat of scoring runs off of Cy Young candidates Verlander and Cole.

The Astros went on to lose to the Nationals in the World Series that nobody would ever predict. But they say hindsight is 20/20, and it was the Nationals' rotation that won them the series. They had a bullpen that was as trustworthy as one of those spam gift card websites. But they won because of the unbelievable combo of Corbin, Strausburg, Scherzer, and Anibal Sanchez. The Astros thought they were going to cruise to another title, but no sir, they (as well as the rest of the world, including myself) underestimated the Nationals. Congrats to them.

Now. The Yankees. We dealt with a lot this year. Over 30 injuries, domestic violence, among so many other things. But there were bright spots. DJ Lemahieu, Gio Urshela, Cameron Maybin, Gleyber Torres, Aaron Judge. From a pitching perspective German, Paxton in the 2nd half, Britton, Chapman, Green, Kahnle. This team is talented, very talented.

So how do we not end up like we did last year, and what moves have we made so far. Chapman did not opt out, so he will be here for 2020. The Yankees did not extend a qualifying offer of 17.8M to Didi Gregorius. And that's it so far. It has only been 2 weeks into the offseason but there are moves that we need to make.

IF WE DO NOT SIGN A STARTING PITCHER DURING THE OFFSEASON, WE WILL END UP IN THE SAME PLACE AS LAST YEAR!!!!!!!!!!! Brian Cashman, the greatest GM to ever live, SIGN A DAMN PITCHER. I do not care how much it costs, sign a Frontline starter that can win in the Postseason! We maybe need 1 good contact hitter, almost like DJ Lemahieu. And for the love of God, Brett Gardner should not play baseball next year. We have too many good outfielders this year.

Here is my idea for my Starting Lineup on Opening Day:

C Gary Sanchez
1B Luke Voit
2B DJ Lemahieu
SS Gleyber Torres
3B Gio Urshela
LF Mike Tauchman/ Stanton
CF Aaron Hicks (injured)/ Stanton/Tauchman
RF Aaron Judge
DH Stanton/ Andujar/ Voit (Rotation)

+ One contact bat (Rendon Potentially) to insert into the lineup
-Andujar and Frazier might be used as trade pieces this offseason

Rotation
SP1- (Cole/ Strausburg)
SP2- Paxton
SP3- Severino
SP4- Tanaka
SP5- German (probably still suspended)/ Montomergy/ Garcia/ Bullpen/ Happ

Bullpen
Chapman
Ottavino
Britton
Green
Kahnle
King
Tarpley
Cessa
Johnny Lasagna

Bench
Frazier
Ford
Romine/ Higashioka
Among Others

I will try to update the blog frequently with new signings and acquisitions over the offseason.

Thanks for reading.

-Furns