MLB 2018-19 Offseason Thread

I don't think it is a desperation move. I think they thought this through. I am not sure I like it, just because I am not sold on Paxton, but it was the move of a team that sees itself as right on the doorstep and saw the starting pitching that was the weak spot last year. Paxton can be dynamic. He gets lot of strikeouts, and the Yankees seem to favor that kind of starter. My concerns are, 1) Whether he will durable, 2) how he handles NY (i.e. -- I always prefer a player who chooses to walk into the pressure), 3) The fact that he is prone to giving up home runs, and he isn't going to be playing at Safeco for his home starts anymore.

That said, I heard a lot always about Sheffield being the great prospect, but he's still really an unknown. It is telling when a prospect who is that prized supposedly gets shuttled around the way he has.

Paxton might be fine. Especially if they add another starter to the mix.

One thing became clear to me last year. I was getting really excited about Severino duing the first half of the year, but with how he fell apart during the second half of the year and during the playoffs, I am not sure he is ever going to be a number 1 starter in the mold of a Pedro Martinez. ... where my head had started to go. His arm is amazing, and he has developed several good pitches. At his best he has batters so off balanced. But when one or two of his pitches aren't working, mentally he seems to lose focus. And too many disasters happened. The great pitches find a way through that. I wasn't entirely happy with them bringing Sabathia back, but if you could take Sabathia's mental ability to go out there with very little in his arm and still find a way to get hitters out, and add that to Severino's arm, it would be an amazing thing for Yankees fans. Even Tanaka has that. His arm is a shell of what it was when he first came over, with the arm injury, but he has adapted to become the kind of pitcher he needs to be. Tanaka gives up a ton of home runs, but you notice that a lot of them are solo home runs, which is why they aren't super costly for him usually.

Their lineup will score runs. That bullpen is ridiculous. Their starting pitching, unless they can stock pile options (and jettison Sonny Gray) is always going to be the potential achilles heel for them. Paxton is a definite upgrade. I just hope they don't look back and see Justus Sheffield becoming a Hall of Famer. With regard to the lineup, I hope they don't do a Manny Machado signing. It's not what they need. They have built a fantastic, very young core that could be there for years to come (Gary Sanchez, who I think is bad news, notwithstanding). Let it work.