Phil Hughes allows a couple of runs in 8 innings of work, a nice day for any pitcher, but particularly for someone as inconsistent as Hughes. Course Derek Holland goes out and masters the Yankee hitters and shuts their asses out on 92 pitches, giving up only 2 hits.
Go fuggin’ figure.
Final Score: Rangers 2, yanks 0.
[Photo Via: Lomography]
The yanks don't even deserve capitalization anymore
This team keeps lingering without shouting distance, which is a very dangerous place to be because the temptation will be to try to add and improve for this season. But look at that lineup: there is no amount of help available that can reasonably help. I still say the organization should be looking to sell before the trade deadline, not buy.
[2] if you're within 5 games coming up on the deadline, you owe it to your fanbase to either a) stand pat or b) buy
[3] Not if you have anything resembling today's line-up. Just look at them. Five guys have sub-.300 OBP, and two of those are sub-.200. I guess the bright side is that replacing David Adams with a good hitter could be one of the greatest upgrades of all time.
[3] That's the very thinking I'm warning against. Five games back at the deadline is in fact difficult to overcome, historically speaking. But teams get suckered into giving up prospects for part-season rentals. A shrewd organization would exploit this situation and sell what they have to stockpile talent for the coming years.
But I think we all know that's not gonna happen.
[5] Do your sources up above the border tell you of a long line of suitors waiting for JobaPhil? There is no one to sell..
In other news, looks like Youk ain't coming back this year either.
[7] Au contraire, there would definitely be a market for Phil. Joba, not so much. Gardner is a valuable asset and they should consider trading him (I love Gardner, but he's turning 30 this year---he's not a player they can look to build around). Nix has small value for a contending team looking for utility help. Ichiro might have value if the Yankees eat most of his salary and he approves a trade. Kiroda has major value if he approves a trade.
More importantly, even if there are no suitors, the Yankees should *not* be looking to buy. They's closer to last place right now than first, have a negative run differential, and their play is finally catching up to their talent (i.e., lucky April is long gone). The cavalry is not going to save the day; this team is going to tread water at best, more likely they keep sinking.
When I'm treading water and in danger of sinking, I will not expect the cavalry to save the day.
Trading Gardner is the worst idea I've heard since re-signing ARod.
[10] Why?
He's a good but not great, slow through the organization soon to be 30 y.o. player who is probably at his peak right now. If you're trading to build for a year or two or three from now, he's the ideal player to trade. He's not going to be much of an asset in a couple of year, but he is likely to fetch relatively value from a desperate contender who will overpay for help this year.
In fact, it's the exact opposite of re-signing A-Rod at age 32 to a longterm contract extension.
[9] Well to be fair, horses can swim. Unless they're dead.
Well, he's our best defensive player. He's a truly outstanding defensive outfielder, and I feel like he adds a lot offensively with his speed. He needs to stay healthy but I think he's going to be good value for at least a few more years. Still, I take your point about getting someone to overpay. It's just that these prospects are always a gamble, as we learned in dealing Jesus - not that it was necessarily a bad deal, just that Pineda was almost a miss (and I guess might still be).
Perhaps more to the point, we have so many other great candidates to be overpay bait.
The nats might want Gardiner- they asked for him before they traded for that dope in CF, who is not lighting anything. Nats need some O that Gardy could provide, and they are DEEP in pitching prospects.