JULY START COULD HAVE THE YANKEES AT FULL CAPACITY

Source: USA Today

I realize we are just days from Memorial Day Weekend, the unofficial or official start of summer depending on your perspective.  I love this weekend for many reasons, but of course at the center of it all is baseball.  I don't want to get my hopes up too high, and I certainly don't want to rush summer, but if the players and owners can agree, we are only about six weeks away from the start of the season.  Even better is that the Yankees will be at full capacity, giving all of us a reason to be hopeful.

Source: Tampa Bay Times

"A season that possibly starts in July would provide the Yankees an opportunity to retool their outfield that wouldn’t have included Hicks in center, Stanton in left and Judge in right. None would have been ready for the March 26 opener in Baltimore. Instead, Brett Gardner would have been in center, Mike Tauchman in right or left and possibly Miguel Andujar or Clint Frazier in left," reported the New York Post.  Look I like Gardner, Tauchman and perhaps Andujar or Frazier, but having our team back at full strength gives the Yankees options.  Best guy in, earned opportunities versus who we are stuck with because he is available.

The Yankees say that Judge looks like his rib is healing nicely, Stanton's issues seemed to be resolved, Hicks is taking "dry swings" and Paxton is throwing simulated games in Wisconsin.  This is all positive news for the Yankees and for fans.  Although we will likely not get to see these guys in person, it will be great to watch all 80+ regular season games and hopefully a very successful post season.  But it is all an"if" at this point.

Source: Sports Illustrated

"If Major League Baseball and the players could come to an agreement on how to adjust the economics for that reality, I think that would be a good thing. We have to start to move to normalcy and people have to start to see some hope and light,” said NY Mets COO Jeff Wilpon on CNN Prime Time.  Yankees President Randy Levine hopes that baseball could be an exemplar of how the new normal of the post-COVID sports world will exist.

Source: Associated Press

"The most important thing is keeping our fans and our employees safe, so everything has to run off of that,” Levine said. “But I think this is an opportunity, based on what Dr. Fauci said, to balance. The sports industry could be an example for all industry for us to work with health experts and the people who run baseball teams and all associated businesses to reach that compromise," Levine said according to NJ.com.  But Levine added that to do the whole season without spectators is just not economically feasible.

“How can we get into our parks as soon as we can with all the appropriate mitigation? Social distancing, taking temperature checks, wearing masks, wearing gloves. I think it’s all doable because I think that to have games just on TV for the whole season for many, many reasons is not practical," said Levine.

Hopefully the players and the owners can come to terms and the clock on the new season plan will begin to tick.  As we near the start of this new season, the Yankees appear to be ready to go, at full strength and with the added bonus of a powerful starting rotation! Decisions will need to be made over the next week, so stay tuned, stay positive and let's go!

--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof