PREDICTIONS Forecasting the future in sports is always risky, but Manor Ink’s “Aaron Judge” and “Juan Soto” clearly have the inside track. wikimedia photos
A season preview from the Bronx and Flushing
By Manor Ink Staff
Fear not Manor Ink readers, the winter may be far from over for us, but bats and balls are at play in Florida. The Ink sat down with Aaron Judge and Juan Soto for some thoughts on the upcoming season.
Soto: Well, we’re coming off a disappointing 83-79 season in Flushing where we failed to make playoffs, so the upstairs brass has pivoted to a fairly significant retool. Over the off-season, we waved goodbye to long time stalwarts Brendon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil, Edwin Diaz and most notably fan favorite Pete “Polar Bear” Alonzo. Incomings are Bo Bichette, Jorge Polanco, Luis Robert, Jr., Freddy Peralta, Devin Williams and Luke Weaver. We hope the changes will improve a below-average fielding team (hey, I’m being moved to left field!) and lower the swing-and-miss rate throughout the line-up.
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Judge: Got hit hard, so to speak, with ace Gerrit Cole and other starters spending more time with doctors in Manhattan than on the mound in the Bronx. Nevertheless, we had our usual 90-plus wins season. However, the Blue Jays were just better. Mostly running things back with my outfield buddies Cody Bellinger and Trent Grisham returning to the fold. And with Cole coming back at some point and late-season sensation Cam Schlittler joining the rotation, we should have a cure for last year’s pitching woes.
Soto: I have some concerns that Bichette and Polanco will be at new positions (3B and 1B respectively), so how this will play out remains to be seen, and Polanco especially will be under the fans’ intense scrutiny, trying to replace the beloved Alonzo.
But Peralta should provide a boost to a rather uninspiring starting rotation, while Williams and Weaver have been imported over the RFK (formerly Triborough) Bridge from the Yanks (good gracious!) to try to replace Diaz in the bullpen.
Judge: I guess my worry is that, aside from myself and my buddy Stanton, we’re very left-handed – we even have three lefty hitting catchers, which must be pleasing to our late great Yogi Berra. And a lot of new faces in the bullpen, but one thing we seem to do well is develop hidden gems there.
The Ink’s too-early prognostications: Both teams will be improved by the off-season changes, with the Mets making the playoffs in a rather weak NL East but not going much farther. The Yanks, on the other hand, will get to the Series against the most hated Dodgers.