As we all know, Twitter can be one of the best (and worst) places to talk about sports. With such a wide range of opinions, Twitter can be a great place for intelligent analysis, yet at the same time, is the go-to source for absolutely ridiculous ideas and proposals. The offseason continues to drag on for the Yankees, but that certainly hasn’t stopped Yankees Twitter from staying strong through the cold winter months.
I’ll be releasing this new weekly series called, Yankees Twitter Reacts. It will be filled with the best and worst takes, the funniest tweets, Yankees news, and other odds and ends from our beloved Yankees Twitter. Of course, I couldn’t possibly find all the best (and worst) tweets myself — which is why I want the BP Crew to help me out! Going forward, if you see a tweet that you think belongs in this column, reply to it with the hashtag #BPYankeesTwitter or tag me at @T_Danks_.
Without further ado, here is the first edition of Yankees Twitter Reacts for the week of January 5-11.
What CC Sabathia thinks about Yankees Twitter
In case you all were curious what CC Sabathia thinks of #YankeesTwitter 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/uafIYb1H8X
— Justin Diamond (@justinddiamond) January 10, 2019
There is no better way to kick off this column than with the Yankees very own CC Sabathia giving his honest opinion of Yankees Twitter. In case you don’t read between the lines, it sounds like CC doesn’t pay too much attention to it — and he doesn’t hold back either.
News of the week – DJ LaMahieu
Source confirms: Free-agent second baseman DJ LeMahieu heading to #Yankees on two-year deal. Believed to be in $24M range. First reported: @JackCurryYES.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 11, 2019
While the Yankees did re-sign Zach Britton, their biggest splash was undoubtedly their surprise signing of DJ LeMahieu. The former All-Star and Gold Glove winner will certainly be playing an important role next year, especially on the defensive side.
Yankees Twitter Reacts to the signing
There’s the good…
20 minutes ago the Yankees back utility guy was likely Tyler Wade or re-sign Neil Walker or Adeiny HechavarrÃa. They now swap in DJ LeMahieu. #NYY pic.twitter.com/Nl0satRJaw
— Steve Angelovich (@angelsteve89) January 11, 2019
DJ LeMahieu has been worth 17.7 WARP since 2015. Here is how some other second basemen have produced in the same timeframe:
Jose Altuve – 16.4 WARP
Brian Dozier – 14.8 WARP
Ian Kinsler – 13.3 WARP
Daniel Murphy – 12.0 WARP
Robinson Cano – 11.1 WARPLeMahieu has been the best.
— Devan Fink (@DevanFink) January 11, 2019
Trying to be logical about this DJ LeMahieu signing. Trying. pic.twitter.com/9PbKcrVI2i
— The BP Show (@YankeesPodcast) January 11, 2019
The bad…
Signing DJ LeMahieu instead of Manny? pic.twitter.com/TJRn5E1M5B
— YRB💸 Metro🦑 (@metro_boonin) January 11, 2019
The undecided…
I still have no idea if DJ LeMahieu is any good, but the Yankees are about to find out.
— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) January 11, 2019
Our very own Andrew Rotondi wraps it all up pretty well.
DJ LeMahieu reading Yankees Twitter today pic.twitter.com/Lsqew6ShuE
— Andrew (@Andrew_Rotondi) January 11, 2019
Nonetheless, Yankees Twitter welcomes you to the Bronx, DJ!
Worst take of the week
CC: @DanClarkSports pic.twitter.com/tK8iSzAIX7
— Freezing Cold Takes (@OldTakesExposed) January 11, 2019
You know it’s bad when “Freezing Cold Takes” gets involved. These may have been tweeted a few weeks ago (and it isn’t officially wrong just yet) but it catapulted into relevancy yesterday afternoon. Once the Yankees signed LeMahieu to that two-year deal, they virtually removed themselves from the Manny Machado sweepstakes.
This was clearly a huge surprise to @DanClarkSports, who all but guaranteed that Machado would end up sporting pinstripes for the past few weeks. Soon after his tweets went viral, Clark deleted his Twitter account entirely.
However, despite his awful takes and awkward Twitter deactivation, I’ll give some credit to Clark as he was a man of his word (ya know, except for the whole fake sources thing), and donated $150 to The American Cancer Society. At least something good came out of it.
Best take of the week
Yankees view DJ LeMahieu as a Ben Zobrist-type of athlete–can move around to different spots,+ defender, helps address the manager's daily lineup challenges. They love Manny Machado as a player, but idea of another huge contract a concern, with Stanton, and Judge payday looming.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) January 11, 2019
After reading the above, it’s clear that opinions on the LeMahieu signing are coming in all over the board. Overall, this is probably the most realistic and best take on it. The Yankees didn’t sign LeMahieu to come in and be a superstar, they signed him to be a guy who can play plus-defense at multiple positions.
Of course Machado is better, but they are clearly uneasy about handing out another 10-year, $250M+ contract.
Props to Buster Olney for the solid take.
Funniest tweets of the week
I think we should send Greg Bird to check it out https://t.co/MtYDKWkDNT
— Eric Hubbs (@BarstoolHubbs) January 9, 2019
Sending Greg Bird to a galaxy 1.5 billion light years away? Forget signing Machado, let’s make this the offseason priority. Ironically, the Yankees actually signed Greg Bird to a one-year, $1.2 million arbitration deal this week, but I’d definitely prefer the “send-1.5 billion-light years-away-deal” that Eric Hubbs suggests here.
How many Yankee fans are starting GoFundMe’s right now as a last-ditch effort to get Manny?
— Phil Hughes (@PJHughes45) January 10, 2019
Yes, you are reading that correctly. That is Phil Hughes, former Yankees pitcher, and a Twitter connoisseur. If you don’t follow him already, be sure to do so as Hughes has a great presence in the Twitter-sphere.
Of course, this tweet was before all of the LeMahieu drama, but he wasn’t wrong on his take — because look what popped up less than a day later:
Is this serious? #Yankees #Machado pic.twitter.com/XOyAI1SgYx
— Sefket (@ShefDrake1) January 11, 2019
Sorry, guys. Hope everyone at least gets their money back!
Yankees Twitter… Let’s wake up!!
SOURCES: 2018-2019 #YankeesTwitter sucks. I miss 2017 (and even trade deadline-2nd half 2016) Yankees Twitter
— Eric (@Eric_M888) January 10, 2019
I miss those days too, Eric. Let’s end this inaugural edition of Yankees Twitter Reacts with a call to action — let’s make the rest of this offseason fun, Yankees Twitter. And keep checking out this series week to week… who knows, you could end up in it!
Remember, if you see something that you think deserves to be in the column next week, be sure to hashtag #BPYankeesTwitter or tag me on Twitter @T_Danks_ ! And be sure to listen to the most recent episode of The Bronx Pinstripes Show:Â http://smarturl.it/YankeesPodcastÂ