Baseball Q&A with Matt Michael
Baseball Q and A with Longtime Baseball Historian/Former Syracuse Chiefs Beat Reporter Matt Michael
ML: Sure, it’s the dog days of the game, but the question is still valid. Are you buying into the 2024 NY Yankees?
MM: Yes…and no. Yes, because they built the best record in baseball at one time without arguably the best pitcher in the game, Gerrit Cole, who is making his season debut on the day I’m writing this. And yes because they’ve been able to generate more runs this season without hitting home runs, something they will absolutely need to do to win in the postseason. And yes because other than the Orioles and maybe a team that emerges from the West, the competition in the American League is weak.
No because three starters – Carlos Rodon, Nestor Cortes and Marcus Stroman – pitched limited innings last year because of injuries and they’re going to hit a wall eventually. And no because a burned-out bullpen is an annual right of passage for manager Aaron Boone, plus how many of these relievers are proven over a full season? And finally, no because other than Juan Soto (and Alex Verdugo), it’s the same cast of characters who have failed repeatedly in the past several postseasons. If the Yankees reach the World Series for the first time since 2009, it’ll likely be because Soto carried them there.
ML: The recent Hall of Fame Class of 2024. What player stands out from the group the most to you and why?
MM: I would have to say former Twins catcher Joe Mauer, who was selected in his first year of eligibility. I don’t necessarily think he’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer – that’s a discussion for a different day – but I do think people forget Mauer’s offensive peak from 2006-13 because he spent his last five years as a first baseman and retired at 35.
Not to get too analytical on you, but through Jay Jaffe’s JAWS system, which measures a player’s career WAR averaged with his seven-year peak WAR (a good way to measure catchers because of their shorter careers), Mauer ranks seventh all-time among catchers – behind the likes of Johnny Bench and Yogi Berra and ahead of Hall of Famers Bill Dickey, Mickey Cochrane, Gabby Hartnett and Ted Simmons.
ML: What do you like most/least about the game right now?
MM: There’s a lot of great, young talent in the game right now and I enjoy watching teams such as the Orioles and Braves who have been built through the farm system the way the Yankees were in the mid-90s.
We would need a book to cover all the things I don’t like, but at the top of the list is a commissioner, Rob Manfred, who has no feel for recognizing and honoring the history of the game. The World Series trophy used to be the ultimate prize in all of sports, not just baseball. In 2017, a team cheated to win that trophy and was penalized so softly by Manfred that it was able to win that trophy two years later. A trophy that Manfred flippantly called “a piece of metal.” I guess it doesn’t matter as long as you can keep selling your product to the streaming networks.
ML: For someone who covered the Minor Leagues forever, it must make you sick to see what’s happened. From a lack of fundamentals and coaching to a shrinking of the leagues to analytics galore like MLB, it has become unrecognizable. Am I right?
MM: For the shrinking of the leagues, see above about Rob Manfred. But yes, the game has changed dramatically – I think for the worse but I’m also an old guy! But when I was kid, the games were 2:15-2:30 without a pitch clock and rules on throwing to first base and 3-batter minimums for relievers. Back then, there was plenty of action and strategy with balls put in play more regularly and I really miss that about the game.
ML: What Yankee, in your lifetime, looking back now, do you appreciate the most?
MM: There are many, but as time has gone by, I would say Reggie Jackson. No Yankees free agent – and maybe any free agent – talked the talk and then walked the walk like Reggie, despite all of the problems he caused in the clubhouse. Reggie took the money and produced when it mattered the most. I think of all the Yankees who signed as free agents or were acquired in trades since then who took the money and said they went to New York to win, but never came through in the way that Reggie did in his five years with the Yankees. It took Alex Rodriguez nine postseasons to finally deliver for the Yankees, and we’re still waiting for Aaron Judge. Jason Giambi, Mark Texeira, Giancarlo Stanton and many others have had their moments, but they were paid to do Reggie-like things and never did.
ML: Thanks, Matt.
MM: You’re welcome, Mike.
Matt Michael covered the Syracuse Chiefs for 20 seasons for the Syracuse Post-Standard. He also covered multiple baseball postseasons, All-Star Games, Spring Training and Hall of Fame Induction ceremonies.
Mike Lindsley has been in sports media for over 25 years and is the host of the ML Sports Platter Podcast. Subscribe to him on YouTube @mlsportsplatter.
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