Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Well, That's One Way to Solve the Problem


The story so far: the Yankees are on the upswing, but the rotation's imperfect, and the hole at first base is so distracting that even prospects from 1st place teams are getting sucked in. Trade rumors are swirling, especially the one saying we're going after Sonny Gray, but other than a Yonder Alonso deal that I'm insisting isn't going to work out well for us, no real solution's been coming up.

Last night, before I went to bed, I read that the Yankees were looking at trading for Todd Frazier and David Robertson, and I went 'uhh...alright, sure. See if that works.'

It did.

Todd Frazier, David Robertson, and Tommy Kahnle landed in New York this morning, in exchange for Tyler Clippard, Ian Clarkin, Blake Rutherford and Tito Polo. I was uneasy about the trade until I heard the full specifics.

First of all, trading Tyler Clippard for Kahnle and Robertson is a great deal, because those two are having way better seasons than Clippard is. The way it'll probably work is that Robertson will probably fit into a four-headed-monster type of thing with Adam Warren, Dellin Betances and Aroldis Chapman. Kahnle will probably go for longer relief work, and 2017 has told us he can definitely do that. So in terms of bullpen support, I definitely get the trade.

In terms of Todd Frazier...look, loved him with the Reds, love his home run ability, but...the guy's been striking out a billion times this season. We'd already just released a strikeout machine in Chris Carter, and while Frazier hit 40 home runs last season and has already hit 16, he's got 70+ strikeouts, and he's not been having his best year.

My dad has made the argument that Yankee Stadium will be better suited to his needs, and the balls that are just barely missing the wall at Comiskey are gonna travel further in the Bronx. So hopefully my dad is right, and Todd Frazier's really gonna benefit from Yankee stadium. I hope he does, too, because he's a Toms River kid, and the folks in Toms River could use a local hero.

Right now I could be a little happier with the trade, but I'm hoping Frazier can outdo my expectations.

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