I am concerned about Torres strikeout rate and McKinney’s lack of power.

If Torres is going to swing and miss that much at High A, what’s going to happen when he gets to more advanced levels? And, McKinney is now on his third organization in a very short period of time.

It seems that the Yankees could have done better, in my opinion.

I would have rather seen one solid prospect in return who was proven at the Double- or Triple-A level and just about ready for the big leagues – rather than a package of four players that only contained two reach prospects.

Let us see if the Royals trade Wade Davis and see what they get in return. That might be an interesting yardstick.

A younger Ken Phelps. Just what we need. No wonder Cashman lusts for him.

Yup, since August 1st of last year, the New York Yankees are 73-75.

In fact, since June of 2013, they are 269-251 (which is just .517 baseball).

So, yeah, they are 44-44 at the All-Star break of 2016. But, based on what we have seen in the past, combined with this year, why would a reasonable person expect them to win more than 37 more games this year?

Sell, Yankees. Sell.

So far, this season, the Yankees are 12-5 in games started by Masahiro Tanaka. In games started by anyone else, they are 29-38.

Murray Chass talks about the Yankees – with a h/t to Ben M!

Brian Cashman is in his 19th season as general manager and has been incapable of using an asset that, until recently, no other team has had. He has been allowed to spend outrageous amounts of money, and he has squandered millions and millions of dollars.

All right, it’s not my money or yours. Why should I or we care how much money Cashman squanders? I suppose it’s the feeling of fairness in us. It’s also the incredulity. How can one man have so much money to spend and not be able to produce a consistent contender, if not winner?

The Yankees have spent a total of $679 million on their payrolls the previous three years, but they have reached the playoffs only once in that period, and then only for a cup of coffee, going down meekly in the American League wild-card game last season without scoring a run.

With Cashman’s $225 million payroll this year, the Yankees have shown no indication that they can attain a post-season perch. A contender? They’ve had trouble maintaining a .500 record. After two losses in San Diego they went into Sunday’s game with a 39-41 record.

The Yankees have no such pitching depth. They don’t have much depth at all because they have done a poor job of developing players. Renowned for the Core Four of Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada, the Yankees cannot claim credit for developing top major league prospects since.

Any team that has had the same general manager for 19 years and has not developed a strong minor league system has to be suspect. Cashman had the same development executive for 15 years and never saw the need to replace Mark Newman, who finally retired two years ago.

Newman owed his extended employment to Cashman. Cashman, who did not respond to telephone requests for an interview, owes his extended employment to Hal Steinbrenner, son of George, who is the Yankees’ managing partner.

The Steinbrenner son seems to be intent to run the Yankees 180 degrees from the way his father operated. If the elder Steinbrenner were alive and operating the team, he would have fired Cashman long ago. No Steinbrenner general manager survived if he didn’t produce a championship team in a period of a few years, if that long.

Amen Murray.

You tell me.

.

There’s probably 10 teams out there who would want to trade for him. Maybe 15? A smart GM would leverage those teams against each other and get one great package in return. There’s no need to keep him. He’s a free agent at the end of the season. You just going to let him walk in 3 months? Plus, the Yankees are not going anywhere. (Please, stop with those fantasies of getting the 2nd wildcard!) Then again, I did say “Smart GM.”

…was 1982. That season, the Yankees went 79-83, and finished 5th in AL East.

Will the Yankees lose 42 of their first 81 games in 2016? We’ll have that answer later today.

…for this.