Yankees superlatives
Now that it’s the offseason, I thought I’d take a little break from the analytics and write a more jovial article. We all need some fun, especially during the lull between the end of the World Series and the true beginning of free agency. Therefore, I created some Yankees superlatives and asked members of the BP Team to submit their responses. Here’s how those break down.
To be honest, when I thought of this question no one’s hair immediately stood out to me. There were many differing opinions among the BP Team with nine different players getting votes. But are we at all surprised that Brett Gardner’s beautiful chrome dome took the cake?
Winner: Brett Gardner
This one was a little more one-sided, with Didi Gregorius getting a majority of the votes. It makes sense - he an amazing artist, he speaks five languages, and he’s already a knight. In regards to some others receiving votes, I think that Aaron Judge’s size can allow him to do many things. One example is he can become a firefighter and get kittens out of trees. Or wash really high-up windows. Aaron Hicks is a great golfer, Adam Ottavino is into photography and all the analytics, CC Sabathia seems to be a multi-faceted guy, and DJ LeMahieu can do anything of course.
Winner: Didi Gregorius
Unfortunately, we had to witness this a few times this year, and the winner here may have lost his entire 2020 season because of it. Yes, Dellin Betances partially tore his Achilles is his season debut after hopping off the mound after his second strikeout, only the second out of the inning. Clint Frazier is a logical choice for second place, as a lot going on in that young man’s head.
Winner: Dellin Betances
This one surprised me a bit. Perhaps it goes along with the many former catchers who have become major-league managers, but I did not expect Austin Romine to garner the most votes. I would love to see DJ as a coach; as aforementioned, he’d probably win something like 140 games in his first year as a skipper.
Winner: Austin Romine
Let Brett bang! The 36-year-old is full of tricks up his sleeve. He’s the one banging on the dugout as well as the one providing the Gatorade showers after walk-off wins. You sometimes never know what Tommy Kahnle will do and Cameron Maybin is all smiles.
Winner: Brett Gardner
Another question that got mixed results. As just said, Tommy Kahnle surely is up for anything. Tyler Wade is probably your stereotypical frat guy. Meanwhile, I feel like Judge and CC would be on the calmer side, but you know you’re going to have a good time.
Winner: Tommy “Tightpants” Kahnle
Aroldis Chapman is built like a machine. DJ LeMahieu is an actual machine. It makes sense that those two guys would top the voting. The surprise here for me is Zack Britton. I wonder what special skill he would bring to the table. The same goes for Tyler Wade, but I suppose he can use his supreme speed and sliding abilities to get out of danger.
Winners: Aroldis Chapman and DJ LeMahieu
Once again we have a wide collection of players receiving votes. CC makes sense — he’s a big teddy bear that will go to war if you mess with him or his team. Gleyber Torres is only 22 and is already a superstar, making him very likable. I thought Judge would garner some more votes, but it is nice to see that people think so many different players on this team are likable.
Winners: CC Sabathia and Gleyber Torres
When I wrote this question my mind immediately went to Tyler Wade. It seems like the BP Team agrees as T-Wade runs away with this one. I just want to make it known that I would definitely watch the Bachelorette if all the contestants were Yankees players.
Winner: Tyler Wade
Who doesn’t like a good therapeutic session with a friend? J.A. Happ comes out of nowhere to get a couple of votes, but in the end it is Didi Gregorius who prevails. But once again we have Austin Romine sneaking in — must be a catcher thing.
Winner: Didi Gregorius
Who will follow in the footsteps of Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira? It appears that CC will be the most likely. He has already made a bunch of appearances on a variety of sports shows, so this is not far-fetched at all.
Winner: CC Sabathia
We got a bunch of different answers here, including some write-ins. Some seem to oppose getting a tattoo while one individual believes Ronald Torreyes should make a guest appearance on their body. But the face of the Yankees comes out on top.
Winner: Aaron Judge
Another diverse set of answers! I would be interested in seeing Greg Bird dance, but we all know that could cause him to strain his left lobulus auriculae (fancy name for earlobe). Same with Ellsbury. I would have to agree that Cameron Maybin seems like he could bust some nice moves among the stars.
Winner: Cameron Maybin
Yes, I’ll admit it: this one was a gimme for Jacoby Ellsbury to “win” something (but he did have a strong opponent in Greg Bird). I am curious as to how people think they would get injured. Maybe during an appearance on Dancing with the Stars? Giancarlo Stanton’s injury-riddled 2019 makes him an appropriate answer (injury by flexing too hard), while Tommy Kahnle’s unpredictable energy also makes him a prime target of the strange injury bug (keep him away from the sunflower seed container).
Winner?: Jacoby Ellsbury
CC is an obvious candidate here, which is why I asked to exclude him from consideration. I was a little surprised by Giancarlo coming in second, but if he can stay healthy he has the ability. But the baby of the squad has had a historic start to his career: he joined legends Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio as the only Yankees to make multiple All-Star teams before turning 23. Did you know Gleyber is only 22?
Winner: Gleyber Torres
Last but not least we have the best bromance. Once again we received a lot of answers, but two pairs came out on top: Gleyber Torres/Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres/Didi Gregorius.
Gleyber and Miggy came up together and double-play duos typically have a strong bond, so these two couples make sense. As for the others, Gracoby Bellsbury makes another appearance and Aaron Judge is a part of multiple. But how about Luis Cessa and J.A. Happ? I would love to lock those two in a room together for 24 hours and see what comes out of it.
Winner: Gleyber Torres/Miguel Andujar (Meyber Tandujar) and Gleyber Torres/Didi Gregorius (Sir Glidi Grorres)