It was a big weekend for MLB with the Hall of Fame inductions of Pedro, The Big Unit, Smoltz, and Biggio. These guys were all prevalent in the 90s and 2000s. Three of those guys also have major ties to the Yankees: Pedro was at the center of the Yankees/Sox rivalry, and even though you probably hate him, he made the game one-thousand percent more exciting. Randy Johnson killed the Yanks in the 1995 and 2001 playoffs, and then killed them again when he pitched for the Yankees in the 2005 and 06 playoffs. Smoltz was on the Braves teams that the Yanks beat in 1996 and 99. Biggio, while a very good player, is a borderline HoFer in my book. Regardless, they are some of the best ballplayers we saw during the “steroid-era”.
We are also approaching the MLB trade deadline on July 31, 4pm ET. Kazmir and Cueto were already moved, and some other big pieces like Hamels and Price will probably be moved over the next couple days. The baseball trade deadline is always the most exciting time of the summer, so brace yourself for a fun week. The Yankees are still rumored to add a bullpen arm, and potentially a back-end starter. Scott and I are unsure if they’re going to grab a bat, but you never know what Cashman has cooking.
Onto the games… The Yankees continued to win series this week and now sit 6.5 games up in the division, which is remarkable. Earlier this week they swept Baltimore, who came into the Bronx in second place. Then over the weekend they took 2 of 3 in Minnesota after getting blown out in game 1 of the series.
ARod had a huge week again with 4 home runs. Headley is also heating up; he’s hitting .333 with a homer and 11 RBIs in July. Tanaka pitched well against Baltimore but is still giving up a lot of HRs, which is something to keep an eye on. Eovaldi finally went deep into a ballgame vs the Twins on Sunday by getting ahead of hitters and using his split and curve as an out pitch. If he can pitch like that, he’s a clear number 3 starter in this rotation.
It was not all roses and sunshine for the Yanks this week however. Pineda and CC both got roughed up. Pineda is a mystery. He’ll look dominant for 3 starts and then have a blowup game like we saw Friday. CC is no mystery. He is a mediocre pitcher who will sometimes give you 5-6 solid innings and sometimes give up 5 runs in 3 innings. There is nothing more we can really say about CC.
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