The Yankees Started Selling So Of Course They Beat The Reigning Cy Young Winner
HOUSTON – The Yankees certainly aren’t playing like a team in sell mode.
Hours after Aroldis Chapman was shipped to the Cubs in a five-player trade, Michael Pineda allowed one run over seven innings to lead the Yankees past nemesis Dallas Keuchel and the Astros, carrying the momentum from the home stand with a 2-1 win at Minute Maid Park.
“I think maybe it’s good that there’s no let-up,” said Andrew Miller, who survived a hairy ninth in his first save opportunity after regaining the closer’s role. “There’s no feeling in here that it’s time to move on or give up in this year because that’s certainly not tonight. Hopefully we showed that with our fight tonight.”
Austin Romine snapped a tie score with an RBI double off Keuchel in the eighth inning, turning the lead over to All-Stars Dellin Betances and Miller (eighth save), who slid into their old eighth and ninth-inning roles to lock down the victory.
The Yankees have won seven of their last nine, moving three games above .500 for the first time all season. They remain 4.5 games behind the Blue Jays for the second AL wild card spot, though they moved one game closer to Houston in those standings.
What a time to be alive as a Yankee fan. About a week ago we were the deadest team in baseball but now we’re one of the hottest, having won seven of nine against playoff caliber teams. For Yanks fans this is a tricky situation because most of us don’t remember the last time we were sellers so just getting to the point where we accepted the inevitable was a journey. Then once we got to acceptance, getting excited about the possibility of loading up on prospects took some time. Over the last week, we went through all those stages and were ready to plan for the future, and now we can’t lose. Not only can we not lose but we’ve gotten by Madison Bumgarner and Dallas Keuchel, two of the most dominating pitchers in baseball, in the last 4 days. So what happens in the next 6 days?
Trading Chapman was a no brainer and had to happen, but what do we do with Beltran, Miller and the handful of starters who have been discussed? As of today the Yankees should still be looking to sell or at least listening to offers. Beltran has continued to be on fire over the last week, batting .375 with 2 home runs. That production and teams getting desperate for a bat that can contribute for a playoff run only drive up the price if the Yankees start to falter.
With a surplus of “starters”, with Adam Warren back in The Bronx, we can move Nova or Pineda for prospects with little worry that we’ve thrown away a future star. Odds are that these guys aren’t going to pan out the way we would hope so with the extra arm in Warren and Severino getting called back up, we can still move one of our current starters, while still trying to make a playoff push, at any moment this week.
As for Miller, I want the Yankees to keep him. Not only is he lights out, but he has a great team first attitude and showed that this year by not complaining about his demotion. On the other hand, though, with Chapman off the market and teams still needing a closer, his price just went up. I’m not saying the Yankees will or should move him but to not even listen would be ignorant. Hal still has the final say about which way we go but Cashman should continue to listen like he has said he is doing.