Yankees Daily News writer John Harper has become a source for concern

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The New York Yankees continue to try to improve their team for 2018, according to all sources. But, with so little actual activity, one cannot help but wonder who these sources really are.

Writing about the New York Yankees and their off-season is supposed to follow a familiar pattern.

The team almost always adds a free agent or trades for an upgrade while resting on the hot stove. But that can take a few weeks. So, writers with contacts inside the organization try to find out which players are most coveted, writers such as John Harper and Jon Heyman.

These writers then ride these pieces until the team makes its actual moves. If the writers are right, they look like prognosticators with their fingers on the pulse of the team.

If not, no one cares while they bask in the euphoria of whomever the team acquires. But this year is a bit different. This year, the hot stove has been so cold that almost no writers’ predictions have come true.

That alone must make readers skeptical of these inside informants. And the writers. Many of them must be questioning their sources.

Now, we will too.

Source Material

For instance, John Harper of the Daily News recently wrote this:

All indications are the Yankees seem to be willing to wait out the Pirates on trade discussions to acquire Gerrit Cole at their price, and an informal poll I took of scouts and executives on Monday found that most believe patience will pay off for Brian Cashman.

Common ground became a common theme on Monday, as five of the six people I polled offered a similar opinion, that Cole will be a Yankee before the start of spring training.

Hmmm. Look, the Yankees might very well end up with Gerrit Cole. But isn’t it time that we all admit that no one really knows for sure? I mean, this has been written about by everyone from good writers to me.

So, and I’m just guessing here, I think it possible that John might have used sources that required less effort. Notice he says he polled five or six people, some of the scouts. But what does it take to gain that designation from Mr. Harper?

Because I believe he just asked the people around him, like the kid who delivered his pizza that day. Young Andre loves the Yankees, and he is sure the Yanks are gettin’ that Cole guy from Pittsburgh and he has extra red pepper flakes already on him.

The Yankees Source Awards

And he really should think about picking just one set of sources. In the very next sentence after Harper shares the opinion that, “…Cole will be a Yankee”; they offer this priceless insight:

But they also admitted the news of the day, that the Astros were also talking to the Pirates about Cole, could change those opinions.

That in total is not very helpful. At least come to a consensus on what the word, will, means. And he says that,

On Monday there was no indication, however, that anything had changed on the Yankees’ end.

Exactly what would those indications be? Does Brian Cashman send white smoke up the chimney when he’s given up on a player?

Mr. Harper wraps up his read on the Yankees’ desires by again turning to the scouts. One firmly believes Cole can go back to being a front-end starter, while another said,

“I saw him leave a lot of fastballs over the middle,” one scout said. “He’s got high-end velocity but not a lot of movement on his fastball. I’m not sure what the command issues were, but they worry me. I’m not sure he’s more than a No. 3-type starter.”

Still, how does that help us? Got it, he might be a frontline starter, or a number three; he needs to be a Yankee.

John, do you need sources to write that?

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

The Source of All Your Problems

At least pick one source and stick with her opinion. Decide on Andre or Joey the elevator repair guy in your building, whom I assume is your other source. Look back at their other predictions and pick the one who has been more right.

That won’t give you any more of a reliable source, but at least we can get more straightforward predictions.

John Harper is not the only one with questionable information. His homophonic partner in crime, Jon Heyman, recently reported this in a piece entitled, Yankees Eyeing Yu Darvish:

The Yankees also are believed to like Cobb, but sources suggest they haven’t given up the idea of Darvish — though it might be a tight squeeze to sign him and stay under the $197 million luxury tax threshold.

Jon, who exactly did you turn to gauge this, “belief”? Did you need someone to confirm that hot lead? Cobb is available and would help the Yankees; so, yeah, of course, the team likes him.

And that is doubly true for his sources. Wow, the Yankees have not given up on Darvish. How would you know if they had? Does Cash come out and say even if Darvish agreed to play for free, they still would not want him?

Also, Mr. Heyman, what does it mean that the Yankees are “eyeing” Darvish? It sounds kinda creepy. At a minimum, Jon should provide some sort of Yankees Level of Interest Conversion Chart.

Primary Source

That chart, by the way, would come in handy when deciphering Joel Sherman’s sources.

The Orioles actually like Ellsbury a little, but indications are he might consider waiving his no-trade to be closer to his Scottsdale, Ariz., home with maybe the Diamondbacks or Giants making some sense.

The Orioles like him a little, but, how do we translate that? Does that mean they would be willing to take on $10 million of his contract, or 12.5?

Or, that the Yankees would have to throw in an extra prospect, or that the O’s would just trade for him straight up for Machado?

And how are Sherman and the others finding these, “indications”?

I see it like this. Joel goes up to Ells with a map; he starts pointing at random team cities. For most, Jacoby does not react. But when Sherman points to San Francisco, Ellsbury grunts softly. When J-Sherm points at Phoenix, Ells grunts and raises his eyebrows.

Obviously, he did not just say he was willing to move to either team. That would have been far beyond indications. So, who did the indicating? Was it Hal Steinbrenner, because he might not be the best source on this.

Did you ask Andre? Now that’s a good source. Just ask John Harper. Because this is not only a Yankees thing.

Secondary Source

Harper turned to even more trustworthy sources for his Mets information.

…sources with knowledge of the Mets’ plans are telling me the front office will do more to improve the team this winter than is being portrayed publicly.

People with knowledge of the Mets plan? Who doesn’t know their plan by now? Seriously, I think Ol’ John was just sitting around the office with the other sportswriters/sources and just asked them what they thought.

How else would he get this kind of Deep Throat level of inside information:

However, sources make the case that it’s more about seeing potential value in a free-agent market moving so slowly that players will eventually sign for significantly less than they were asking at the start.

So, highly placed officials with intricate knowledge of the team’s long-term plans, locked deep in a vault in Queens, have informed Mr. Harper that the Mets secret plan is to wait out the free agent market?

Damn, that Andre is good. And the pizza is delicious, too.

A Source Inside of Russia

The New York Yankees and the rest of Major League Baseball continue to slog through a winter so long, even Dostoyevsky would have been bored. And no one can blame writers for trying to keep and report the pulses of the local teams.

More from Call to the Pen

The least we can do in thanks is to help them out. To that end, and to give Andre a break, here are a few key pieces of inside info for the Yankees.

Cashman might or might not trade for Gerrit Cole (who is rumored to be on his way to Houston) or Patrick Durbin. Or they will sign Yu Darvish, although I doubt they will. And they are willing to include Miguel Andujar in a trade for Manny Machado.

Sources tell me the only hold up in the deal is that the Yankees are reportedly set on not including Andujar in any trade.

That should be good for at least three articles a piece from Joel and both Jo(h)ns. Now run with it boys.

Next: MLB Signs Ten Year Contract to Grow Baseball in China

And feel free to quote me as a “source.”

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