Yankees Daily News writer John Harper has become a source for concern
By Cory Claus
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.