Coppola: Where Will Your Team Stand In October?

By William Coppola/ Contributor Columnist Bronx Chronicle

The Yankees just made a trade with the Kansas City Royals Wednesday and obtained outfielder Terrance Gore for cash considerations. He is 28 -years old and has a total of sixty seven at bats in the majors  Yet with only fifteen hits and nine walks, he has forty stolen bases and was only caught stealing nine times.

Gore is a player with speed. Dave Roberts, 2004 ALCS Game 4, bring back any memories? Roberts, then of the Red Sox, in that series with the Yankees, had 38 steals in 41 attempts that year. This is kind of we will see from teams before the end of the month as the front runners try to create depth by the trade deadline.

The fact that teams only have until the end of this month to make trades forces them to have to do things now for the possibility of a post season run. Teams have less than two weeks to decide if they are making a run or dumping players. 

In Queens, the Mets have some serious decisions to make. Their dilemma is that they are now winning in a division, I believe they can’t win this year. Interesting, because If they trade any of their starting rotation they could be looking a disaster for the future.

The Mets only have Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, and Steven Matz. Zack Wheeler, currently on the injured list with a shoulder issue, and Jason Vargas are free agents this winter. Do they trade Syndergaard and go ala Tampa Bay with two starters and an open pitching concept? Do they even have a bullpen who can accomplish that? Do they look for a return of stronger arms for their bullpen to do that?

Well the clock is ticking, the train is about to leave the station, the horses are at the gate and your ship is about to sail. I’m sure you get the point but does the Mets organization and more importantly GM Brodie Van Wagenen have a good plan? He doesn’t need to make a block buster trade. Brodie needs to make a savvy one here and a calculated one there etc, etc.

The Yankees and GM Brian Cashman do make big trades but think about all those under the radar and assuming deals they have made since the Boss was out of the picture. They are not looking to make a big splash in the headlines by making a block buster trade. Their headlines are about winning a World Series.

Brodie Van Wagenen needs to study the Yankees way. He should read “Inside The Empire” by Bob Klapish and Paul Solotaroff (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) the book about how Cashman and the Yankees stay at the top. 

Don’t get me wrong here. They have had their share of things that were blunders. What was that guys name? Oh yea, Jacoby Ellsbury. Does Carl Pavano ring a bell? Will Giancarlo Stanton one day make this list?

But here’s the difference between the Yankees and other teams, they figure it out and stay competitive. They never allow a move that didn’t work out to put them in a tailspin. It’s like when a pitcher gives up a home run.

Does he allow it to make him lose his concentration and give up more runs or does he put his nose to the grindstone and strike the next guy out.?

What happens in the next two weeks with teams making trades will in some cases make a significant impact on how their season ends this year. Sometimes it is the little under the radar deals that can send a team over the top.

Some will find themselves in the post season and others will watch the ship sail without them. Some will sail on the “Queen Mary” and others will be on the “Titanic”.

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