ONE MARLIN'S STAR DOES NOT A CHAMPIONSHIP MAKE

I love Bleacher Report. Have I ever told you that?

But this story, while fair in regards to just how good Caleb Smith is, is just off base for one simple reason. 1 player does not make a championship. And the Marlins and Derek Jeter are just not there yet. In fact, let's face it... they'll never be there.

BR has a good story about Jeter and how the Marlins got Caleb Smith from the Yankees and all of that.  Here's some of that:

"In November 2017, the Marlins acquired Smith, along with first baseman Garrett Cooper, from the Yankees for right-hander Michael King and $250,000 in international bonus-pool money.

King has yet to make his MLB debut or throw an inning in 2019 after he suffered a stress reaction in his throwing elbow prior to spring training.

Smith, meanwhile, owns a 2.11 ERA, a ludicrous 0.89 WHIP and has averaged 11.8 strikeouts per nine innings for the Marlins.

It's only May, but the 27-year-old is building an NL Cy Young case."

And that's all fine and good... but what does that mean for the Marlins team itself? I mean, the whole reason why Jeter wanted this team was so he can make some big changes and bring the team a championship. But since taken over, he's managed to release any iconic management or front office name, sell off their top stars to just shine elsewhere... um Christian Yelich and Giancarlo Stanton to name a few… and look at the standings...

So yeah BR, say that Derek Jeter fleeced the Yankees when they got Smith all you want. Isn't the whole idea of getting good players is so you can win? They're not winning.  Hell, I was at Marlin's Park when I was in Miami a few weeks ago. There were more Cubs fans than Marlins fans. They play like a Triple A team. There's no life.

There's actually no reason to go there. I walked up to the ticket office and spent 20 bucks on good seats. They are hemorrhaging money and there isn't 1 solid star to root for. It was embarrassing.

Look, I come off harsh here. Smith is good, there's no question. But it doesn't matter. If the Marlins can't win, no one cares about Caleb Smith. No one... except for Smith himself, Smith's mom and Bleacher Report.

YANKS MAKING ROOM FOR THE OHTANI PUSH

Photo: MLB.com

It's Otani... then it's Ohtani, but it was always Ohtani, but Ohtani doesn't translate well in the U.S.... and so it was Otani. And now it's not. Doesn't matter... The Yanks are gearing up to get Ohtani.

I found it interesting when the Yankees made that trade with the Marlins yesterday.  As I wrote in YANKEES SCORE ANOTHER PITCHER! GARRETT COOPER IS GONE!...

Photo: Caleb Smith / New York Daily News

"It's being reported tonight that the Yankees have traded Caleb Smith and future star first baseman Garrett Cooper for right hander Michael King and some 2017-18 International signing bonus money."

And the part about the International signing bonus money peaked my interest.  Now Pete Caldera of the Bergen Record maps it all out...

Photo: Getty Images

"The Yankees also added some international bonus pool money for their anticipated pursuit of two-way Japan League star Shohei Ohtani... And there’s likely to be a Kentucky Derby-sized field of suitors for Ohtani, the hard-throwing right-handed pitcher and lefty power hitter who is intent on playing in the majors in 2018... Also on Monday night, the Major League Players Association announced that it had agreed to a 24-hour extension – until 8 p.m., Tuesday - for a new posting agreement to be reached between MLB and Nippon Professional Baseball.

And Yankees’ icon Hideki Matsui is ready to assist in delivering his fellow countryman to the Bronx. 'If he’s allowed to come here and the Yankees are interested, then I expect to be involved in that process as maybe trying to convince him or recruit him to the Yankees,’ Matsui told MLB.com on Sunday."

And that's the gist of it... positioning themselves with a shot at Ohtani.  We will know more tonight.  For now... we wait.  More Ohtani-Yankee Wonder.

Stay tuned.

YANKEES SCORE ANOTHER PITCHER! GARRETT COOPER IS GONE!

Courtesy BC Athletics

And just like that, the Yankees have made 3 moves and got a crap load of pitching in just a few days.  Pretty damn incredible.  Go Cashman, go!

Source: Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images North America

It's being reported tonight that the Yankees have traded Caleb Smith and future star first baseman Garrett Cooper for right hander Michael King and some 2017-18 international signing bonus money. And I found this interesting. According to FanRagSports.com...

"Miami already has 6-foot-3 first baseman Justin Bour on the roster. Adding the 6-foot-6 Cooper could potentially spell Bour against left-handed pitching, despite Bour hitting six home runs in 87 at-bats versus lefties in 2017."

Now, what about King.  I'll tell you... King is a righty,  minor leaguer and 22 years old.  He was 11-9 with a 3.15 ERA last season.

Great youth movement happening here folks.  Get on board. A ton of young Yankee future coming your way.

I can't wait to find out what happens next.

TAKING A CHANCE ON SMITH & CHANCE

The Yankees win the Series! The Yankees win the Series!

July 22, 2017 - Source: Stephen Brashear/Getty Images North America

No, not THAT Series. But after going 0-for-18 in games that could've clinched a series win against 10 opponents over the last month and a half, the 19th game against the 11th opponent, the Mariners on Sunday, turned out to be the streak-busting charm.

It was a game that was started by raw rookie Caleb Smith, who came within an out of finishing the fourth inning (one inning fewer than Sabathia in Game 2 of the series)  but got the hook from Joe after allowing his fourth run of the frame to cross the plate (as many as Tanaka in Game 3 of the series) -- a disappointing end that began with three eye-popping innings of command and control that saw only one Mariner reach base.

Photo: Getty Images

A month ago, when Smith was still a nearly unknown (to most Yankee fans as well as most beat writers) Triple A All-Star-in -the-making sporting an 8-0 record and a 2.07 ERA in 15 starts, I drew a ton of flak among friends and  Yankee fans on social media for predicting he'd be the next new face to start a game in pinstripes despite all the allegedly expert rumors suggesting more recognizable arms were imminent or forthcoming.

But as a strong believer in Brian's commitment to his blueprint for the rebuild, I felt strongly there was no way he would make a move before evaluating everyone they already have that can help them both now and in the  future.

"He may not be the Chance anyone wants the team to take. But he looks like a safer bet to pitch at Yankee Stadium than anyone else I'm hearing rumors about," I wrote back then. And I was right.

Unfortunately for Caleb and for evaluation purposes, the Yankees did what they almost always do with their young starters and instead of keeping him on his regular rotation schedule when they brought him up from Moosic, they stuck him in the Yankee pen for awhile as binder fodder for Joe  -- and worse, held him back from his last start on the farm before doing so.

(July 16, 2017 - Source: Hannah Foslien/Getty Images North America)     

So the rook had to wait 20 days between his last start as a RailRider and Sunday's as a Yankee, with just one relief appearance of work in between to keep him sharp -- a three-inning spot a week ago that included five strikeouts, one walk and two perfect innings before giving up two runs in the third.

In Joe-speak, that's not what you want if you're trying to get  a true read on a young starter's stuff, and it sure as hell isn't what you want if you're the young starter wanting to make a best impression.

Therefore, thanks in no small part to the crappy Yankee Way of bringing up young starters (he's still 25 and only nine months older than Aaron Judge) Smith is now tattooed with an ugly 8.10 ERA after his first 6.2 innings in the Bigs.

However, he who dies by the small sample size may also may live by them.  Caleb only allowed one baserunner in four of those innings, and he's got seven strikeouts against just two walks. And he's allowed no dingers. Seven strikeouts. Two walks. 6.2 innings.  No dingers... Let that sink in a moment.

Joe sucks at developing young pitchers. But Joe likes pitchers with "presence" who challenge hitters and can throw strikes instead of nibbling around the edges and walking a ton, and can keep the ball in the yard -- and the length they can give him is of secondary importance to him, as he explains in this clip about what he likes about Smith but which could apply to virtually all Yankee pitchers.




This kid has a valuable arm and is under team control just as long as Judge and the rest of the new kids on the block. He just needs to be allowed to battle through tough innings and learn to finish -- and also not to be dicked around and Joba-cized like a bouncing ball between the the rotation, the pen and Pennsylvania.

So what he needs is to be in a rotation in one place or the other and kept on a regular starting schedule. In the end that can only make him more valuable -- either to the Yankees or as a trade chip to another club.

If he stays on schedule, his next start would be Saturday against the Rays.  If he's not on the mound against them, hopefully he'll be liberated from Joe's binder brigade and  in Charlotte that day whiffing the Knights for the RailRiders.  For the sake of both Smith and the Yankees strategic future handling its young arms, I sincerely hope they dont blow it with him.

In the meantime, I'm donning my flak jacket  because I have another prediction to make.

(Photo By: Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports)

It's been awhile since the beat writer-fueled buzz surrounding a potential Chance Adams promotion was squashed hard by Yankee management, and ever since then the beats mantra has been he's not ready for the bright lights of the Bronx.

But I spotted something Saturday on Twitter from an all-too-often ignored "Yankee insider" that tells me management may have changed its tune, so I'm going out on a limb here like I did on Twitter that day and call it like I feel it.

Between Montgomery closing in on his inning limit for the season and CC's brutal home/away splits (5.29 ERA in six starts at the Stadium vs. 2.29 in 10 starts elsewhere), the team has got to be seriously considering either a six-man rotation or, at the very least, skipping turns for both in the coming weeks, creating even more gaps in the rotation to be filled beyond merely Pineda's.

I was right about Smith, so please don't hit me with the flak quite so hard this time -- or make fun of my Adams "insider", who beats the heck out of Bill Madden's imaginary rumor-mongering Bird-hating sock puppet insider any old day.

Just remember, when it happens, you read it here first in Bleeding Yankee Blue!

--Barry Millman
BYB Writer
Follow me on Twitter: @nyyankeefanfore

 

SOX SPLIT DIDN'T STOP THE BLEEDING

They came. They played. They split.

Photo: Getty Images

Never have so many Yankees and Yankee fans seemed so relieved to depart Boston just as buried in third place as they were the day they arrived for a four-game series -- one that saw them lose yet another starter to the DL (likely forever);  yet another first-base replacement player who went 0-for-the series with five Ks in seven trips to the plate;  their leading slugger become a poster boy for the home run derby blackout theory; and the first total shutdown of the batting order all year.

Still, strangely, there seemed to be a lot of upbeat vibes radiating at its conclusion.

Photo: Getty Images

“We’re going in the right direction,” Manager Joe Girardi said per the Times' Billy Witz, “and I think part of that was getting our bullpen back on track and getting some people healthy,” he said, referring to the return of Matt Holliday and Starlin Castro to the lineup."

Then there was the little matter of the disappearing Judge who went a startling 1-for-18, managing only a rolling mistake in the grass that traveled about six feet from the plate he managed to beat out.

"Judge said between games that he felt fine, even though he understood why some might suggest that the trip to the All-Star Game had left him tired," wrote Witz. " “I could see that, but I’m feeling good,” Judge said with a smile. “I didn’t look fatigued at the Home Run Derby, did I?” "

Photo: Getty Images

Still, as ESPN's Andrew Marchand pointed out, it was at best a momentary "tourniquet" for a bleeding team that's now lost 20 of its last 29, hasn't won a series in nine tries now and is about to hang its hopes against the Twins  who are breathing down their necks for the second wild card spot on Bryan Mitchell (1-4 in eight MLB starts with an opponent slash of .305/.380/.440/.819) and Luis Cessa, the bouncing swingman who in three starts for the big club this year (all losses)  has only lasted five innings once.

Photo: Getty Images

Hey,  I get why some might celebrate not losing ground to the first-place Red Sox, and even might be overjoyed by seeing solid outings from CC and the pen, for a change; not to mention by Tanaka, albeit in a losing effort. It certainly beat slipping further into the tank, especially against those crybabies on their home turf.

It could've been worse, I keep seeing, hearing and reading everywhere. Damn right it could've been worse. And it will be, if we're lucky.

These Yankees are neither built nor are they building to make a run at anything meaningful  this year, and at this late date have wasted too many games, still possess too many question marks, and were the beneficiaries of too much positive regression from the mean in the first half to start plotting short-term roster upgrades and expending significant resources now even if making a run was a preferable objective.

Trading for journeyman farmhand Garrett Cooper as a response to the team's sub-par first base production was only the latest revolving blue beacon signaling  Brian's next Kmart sell-off is about to commence, and it was a welcome one indeed.

Photo: Getty Images

This team is running with the ones they brought this year according to a blueprint that was chiseled in stone way back before spring training when Chad Green became the first contestant disqualified from Joe's sham race for two open rotation spots despite being the leader of the pack. And that blueprint says farmhands and not free agents are going to be the reinforcements in this campaign, no matter how high the casualty count.

When recent call up LHP Caleb Smith steps onto a mound this week,  he'll be the 12th farmhand to make his debut this season.  In their relentless march toward a younger, self-sustaining roster that can at long last shuck the luxury tax penalty, the Yankees are on track to shatter the franchise record for 17  debuts in a season set in 1912 and tied in 2015.

September call-ups will see a bunch of kids called up who need to be evaluated ahead of the winter meetings, not to mention those Brian may be giving last looks or showcasing over the next two weeks ahead of the deadline.

That's a recipe for a rough ride and the likelihood a full-on run will take a back seat to even more knuckle-crunching, acid-inducing,  ulcer-inflaming  ups and downs for Yankee fans.

But don't howl for Brian and Hal to dial 911 for help. In fact, if you love this team, keep your fingers crossed they don't try and just let the blueprint and roster tough it through.

The deadline should only matter to this Yankees team as an opportunity to add depth and trade chips to the system -- not as a dash to the drug store for more Band-Aids and tourniquets to stabilize the patient and keep the bleeding  under control.

This season's supposed to be all about the future, and it will be a waste if Brian and Hal don't maintain their grit and resolve to stay the course and finish what they started. No matter how bloody it gets.

Just let it bleed.

--Barry Millman
BYB Writer
Follow me on Twitter: @nyyankeefanfore

NEVER HEARD OF MR. SMITH? WHEN HE STARTS FOR THE YANKS, YOU WILL

Meet Caleb Smith, the Yankees' Triple A leader in wins, strikeouts and being upstaged by bigger names.

Photo: MiLB.com / Stephen Pellegrino

He's got the 2nd best WHIP, 3rd best ERA and he's tied for 8th most strikeouts in the entire International League, as a matter of fact. He was good enough to help lead the Yankee's  Double A Trenton Thunder to a run at a championship last season. Good enough to prompt the Cubs to pull a winter bait-and switch with the Brewers when the Yankees left him unprotected just to get a close-up look-see at him in spring training.

Photo: Times Leader

This year his numbers stack up favorably to everyone else -- and I mean everyone -- who's passed through Scranton on their way to the Bronx.  And unlike the rest of them, he hasn't  lost a single game all year.

MLBTradeRumors.com, which produces a weekly report entitled 'Knocking Down The Door'  identifying minor leaguers making strong cases for promotion to their major league clubs, spotlighted five prospects Tuesday that fit that bill. One of them was Smith.

Photo: New York Daily News

"With Chance Adams still waiting for a much-deserved and much-anticipated MLB call-up, Smith’s work in Triple-A has gone relatively unnoticed," MLBTR's Jason Martinez said. "The 25-year-old lefty has made 14 starts in 2017 and has allowed two earned runs or less twelve times, including back-to-back gems (13 IP, 0 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 13 K) to lower his ERA to 2.84 with impressive peripherals across the board (6.5 H/9, 2.3 BB/9, 8.5 K/9)."

“He’s been great,” says Railriders pitching coach Tommy Phelps said. “Shoot, he’s been commanding all his pitches and using them in any count. He’s really been able to keep the hitters between speeds and he’s done a nice job.”

"He’s had games, man, where the punchouts just keep on coming,” said RailRiders catcher Eddy Rodriguez. “And some of the games are not even incredibly great pitches, but there’s some deceptiveness there that guys are really having a hard time picking up.”

"Rodriguez said Smith has the coveted ability to throw all of his pitches out of the same arm slot. Hitters might gear up for a fastball, then swing over the top of a slider. Sit slider, then chase a changeup. “The ideal scenario for a guy is all his pitches come out of the same slot, and the fingers have kind of the same movement,” Rodriguez said. “So, I think that’s where the deception is coming from."

“The changeup is getting there, definitely. It’s definitely getting there,” Smith said. “But slider’s been my go-to for the most part.”

Photo: Presswire

Drafted by the Yankees in the 14th round of  the 2013 draft, the 6' 2" Sam Houston State product was left unprotected after a stellar season in which he helped lead the Thunder on a championship run and the organization had collected so many new hot prospects it couldn't shield them all. So he got snatched in last December's Rule 5 draft by the Brewers who held the seventh overall pick and they immediately flipped him to the Cubs for cash considerations in a routine maneuver familiar to most Hot Stove watchers -- an odd little dance that clubs sometimes do to kick the tires on another club's merchandise.  In Smith's case, it was under the guise of filling out a bulging field of spring training competitors for a potential LOOGY role  with the defending World Champs.

Under Rule 5 guidelines, though, the Cubs couldn't keep him unless they were ready to guarantee him a spot on their  major league roster all season or offer the Yankees an acceptable trade piece in return.  The word out of Cubs camp at the time was they wanted to make an offer for him but the Yankees weren't biting.

So, as frequently happens in Rule 5 dealings, four days before Opening Day they returned him to the Yankees who then promoted him to the RailRiders rotation.  And he hasn't lost since, going 6-0 after 14 starts to date, sporting a nifty .200 BAA and a 0.97 WHIP.

With the Yankees rotation beaten up and requiring reinforcements, every big name major league pitcher on a losing team is being floated as a potential trade target.  I'm not buying it and I don't think Hal and Brian will either. Frankly, I don't believe either of them are ready to part with the prospects they've collected or their dream of getting under the luxury tax threshold.  I think they'll stick with the rebuilding blueprint, and any reinforcements that are forthcoming will be from within -- and they won't want to rush Chance into the fray prematurely (or start his service clock) until there's a bonafide rotation vacancy and not a just a temp job with all the potential controversy and bad press that can bring.

Smith isn't a heralded prospect. He's been under the radar in the system for several years, a late bloomer. He's had experience as both a starter and reliever. If he crashes and burns, nobody will care. If he flies high, he'll be  another system success story fans and media can love with a part to play in the blueprint. If he's somewhere in between, he may be able to help put out some fires in the burning bullpen. 

He may not be the Chance anyone wants the team to take. But he looks like a safer bet to pitch at Yankee Stadium than anyone else I'm hearing rumors about.

--Barry Millman
BYB Writer
Follow me on Twitter: @nyyankeefanfore