Perspectives: ALCS (Games 1 and 2)

by Paul Semendinger

October 16, 2024

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I am enjoying this postseason run by the Yankees.  I'll enjoy it as long as it continues. My goodness, a World Series is within reach. The World Series!!! The 2024 Yankees have been inconsistent, erratic, and frustrating, but they're only two games from the World Series. This is very very exciting.

As I watch these playoff games, I get the very real sense that the Yankees' only real opponent is... the Yankees. I did not think that the Royals would beat them. And I don't think the Guardians can beat them. But, I do think the Yankees can beat themselves. In Game Two, especially, it seems that they tried to do exactly that many times.

During the telecast last night, the announcers noted that the Yankees are the worst team in baseball at base running. With late nights and early mornings and a lot of content to prepare for the site, I don't have time to look up the exact numbers (maybe a reader can do this for us), but the facts are the facts. And this is not surprsing. When fans talk about poor managing and coaching, that's a big example of what they're talking about. Good base running teams can win games they should lose. It seems the Yankees lose games they should win due to all sorts of mistakes on the bases. There is no one to blame for that other than the manager and his coaches. The lack of fundamentals has hurt this club throughout the Boone Era. That is just a fact.

I know so many people now love Giancarlo Stanton and so many say, "I knew it all along. I knew he'd be great."  I get it.  It's fun to be correct. It's fun when a player rises up. But, come on.  Yes, he's been great, but the evidence, based on his performance over years and hundreds of games, was not that he'd be this good right now.  Hey, I am as happy as anyone.  I loved the Stanton trade when it happened.  Ethan and I started the Kit Kat thing years ago as a way to stay close when he was away at college.  I root for Giancarlo Stanton.  I always have.  But, that does not mean he's been an especially productive player these last many years.  At all.  He hasn't been.  We all know that.  I hope Stanton keeps it up.  I hope he has a huge ALCS and an even better World Series.  I hope he secures his Yankees legacy.  And, after all of that, I hope he's wearing a different uniform in 2025. 

As great as Stanton has been, it is very likely that he will again turn into the player he has been most of these last few years. He's not Superman. We love to live in the imaginary world where players can be super human, but most often, over time they become the players they were.

I can root for the player, I can like the player, I can appreciate what he's doing right now, but none of that means that I think Giancarlo Stanton be a productive player in 2025 or 2026 or 2027....  Smart teams look to the future and move players when they have value.  Stanton has some value right now. He will never be this valuable again.  Another team just might want to bank on his post season excellence, and experience, and might be willing to take him from the Yankees.  The Yankees should not be blinded by his postseason success.  If a taker comes, they should deal Stanton.  Absolutely.  And 100%.  It's not even a question.  

In a similar way, while Gleyber Torres has saved his own free agency, and he's been so so so good, the Yankees should, in no way, give him a qualifying offer or a new contract.  He's been great for the Yankees since August.  That's great.  I am happy for him. I am happy for the team. But, he is not a player to invest $20 million on in 2025 or to sign long-term.  Like Giancarlo Stanton, we have seen what kind of player Gleyber Torres is for years.  We cannot let his recent success blind us from the frustrations that have been present throughout much of his career.

After his first two years as a Yankee, the team was infatuated with D.J. LeMahieu.  They said after his first contract was up that resigning him was their main priority.  I saw this as foolhardy.  I did not see how LeMahieu would continue to perform at such a high level.  All I needed to do was look at his career numbers.  He had over performed in 2019 and 2020.  It was great.  It was fun. The Yankees won the deal by signing him to that first two-year contract.  But then they lost the deal by signing LeMahieu to a new six-year deal.  That just wasn't smart.  The short term success blinded their thinking.  I hope they don't make the same mistake with Gleyber Torres or even, if they can move him, Giancarlo Stanton.  

Plenty of postseason heroes have been traded, not re-signed, and etc...  Sentimentality is great, but winning is better. 

If the Yankees wish to be sentimental, they should have a day for Roy White.  They could have a day for Graig Nettles.  They could bring back the 1976-78 Yankees to be honored.  There's a million ways to be sentimental.  Bringing back players because they had a few good weeks (yes, in the biggest moments, but still) is not a smart way to run a baseball team.  

I know so many want to say that Giancarlo Stanton always gets it done in the postseason.  "He's so clutch."  Except...

• In 2018 against Boston, in the post season, he hit .222 with no homers and no runs batted in over four games...

• In 2019 against Minnesota, he hit .167 with no homers and one RBi in three games...

• In 2022 against Cleveland, he hit .125 in six games... (yes with 2 homers and 6 RBIs).

This idea that Stanton is always great in the postseason simply isn't true.  He's been so good in so many games this year, but let's also remember that there have been times when he's been a big reason why the Yankees haven't advanced in the playoffs. Again, he's not Superman.

For years, and I think I was the first to say it and right here on these pages, I said that Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton should not hit bat back-to-back in the lineup. Now that idea is taken as conventional wisdom. "Of course you can't do that..." so many say. Well, it was noted on these pages first - years ago.

No one will ever confuse me with a fan who supports Aaron Boone, but, this far, through the playoffs, he has done a very good job.  I agree with playing Alex Verdugo in left field.  I wish he would hit more, but I value his defense.  I want Verdugo in the lineup.  I agreed with bringing Tim Hill in relief in Game One of the ALCS.  It was the right move to try to close out the game without using the team's best relief pitchers when they had a four run lead.  Hill wasn't effective and he got a quick hook.  That was also the smart move.  (The Yankees should have done something similar with a four run lead last night.) I agreed, also, with playing Anthony Rizzo at first base.  In short, there hasn't been much for me to complain about.  I'm finding that Mr. Boone and I have been on the same wavelength.  I am as surprised as anyone.

That being said, I did not agree, at all, with using Luke Weaver in last night's game to close out a four-run lead. There was no reason to use him there. There was no reason to give the Guardians an extra look at him. Every single Major League pitcher should be able to hold a four run lead. Every one. A pitcher that gives up four runs an inning has an ERA of 36.00. No MLB pitcher is that bad - not even close. Last night's ninth inning was the perfect time for Ian Hamilton, Luis Gil, or Marcus Stroman to get an inning in. Luke Weaver is not Mariano Rivera. His success is amazing and surprising and fun and wonderful, but overusing him could spell disaster, if not in the immediate game, but over time due to overwork or over exposure.

In Game Three, Austin Wells should not be batting cleanup. He should start as catcher, but he's killing the Yankees in the four spot right now.

Jazz Chisholm, one hit notwithstanding, is also hurting the Yankees. If a lefty is pitching, the smart play is to give Jon Berti some playing time at third base. Chisholm has been bad defensively, on the bases, and at bat.

Lost in the elation of his sacrifice fly and home run last night, and the Yankees win, is the fact that the Guardians intentionally walked Juan Soto to load the bases for Aaron Judge. That fact deserves a much deeper dive. I cannot imagine a team ever walking a hitter to face Hank Aaron or Barry Bonds or Mickey Mantle or Reggie Jackson or Babe Ruth or Ted Williams or.... I don't know how one would find that information, if it's even available, but... wow. Teams do not walk any player to face the team's best hitter with the bases loaded. That move spoke volumes about the slump Judge has been in and the confidence the Guardians have that he cannot hurt them. It's not a great look for Mr. Judge. At all.

The Yankees must hit better with runners on base. They are making these games too close. But, boy, when the final out is recorded, it is all so much fun. They are two wins away from the World Series. This is fun. It's stressful and horrible and the games are on too late and all of that, but it is fun.

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Let's Go Yankees!!!!!