Reporter critiques Yankees for ‘crazy idea’ about star slugger
Nothing that occurred throughout spring coaching erased considerations had by New York Yankees reporters akin to Bob Klapisch and Randy Miller of NJ Advance Media relating to slugger Aaron Decide patrolling heart discipline following the offseason acquisition of All-Star outfielder Juan Soto.
For the outlet’s 2024 season preview, Klapisch wrote that having the 6-foot-7, 282-pound Decide routinely play heart is “a loopy concept” and “an damage listing ready to occur” for the staff captain who turns 32 years previous subsequent month.
“There are simply too many bodily calls for on a middle fielder who’s performed most of his profession in proper and has often been injured,” Klapisch defined. “…That’s why the Yankees have to handle his enjoying time fastidiously. In any other case, we’re taking a look at the opportunity of a breakdown by late summer season. And even when he’s not injured, the every day grind may change into an element over the summer season months.”
Klapisch and Miller aren’t alone. Former Yankees hitting coach Sean Casey,
team play-by-play announcer Michael Kay,
retired Gold Glove center fielder Lorenzo Cain and Yankees legend Bernie Williams are amongst those that voiced related considerations even earlier than Decide handled what turned a curious core injury in March.
The Bronx Bombers hope that subject will not come up once more this spring or summer season, as they doubtless have not forgotten what occurred final June after they improved to 35-25 the identical day Decide suffered a torn ligament in his large proper toe.
He in the end missed almost two months of motion due to that setback, and the Yankees completed the marketing campaign out of the American League playoff spots.
“You’re taking your greatest participant, the face of the franchise, the participant who in all probability sells extra tickets than anybody in baseball outdoors of perhaps Shohei Ohtani, and making him transfer for Soto, who will probably be gone in a 12 months,” Miller added (Soto is on track to succeed in free company this fall). “I like Decide in proper. That’s his greatest place although he can deal with heart. Additionally, I’ve seen Decide carrying ice packs on his knees after video games.”
As of Thursday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Yankees tied for fourth among the many betting favorites at +1100 odds to win the World Sequence. If Klapisch and Miller are proper concerning the Decide resolution going poorly, logic suggests New York’s World Sequence drought that started after the 2009 Fall Traditional will continue by means of not less than the summer season of 2025.
“His knees are creakier,” Klapisch mentioned concerning the 2022 AL Most Helpful Participant. “So until the Yankees are cautious, the potential for breakdown is actual.”