Goose Gossage, New York Yankees
(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

While New York Yankees pitchers and catchers will be reporting to Tampa today for Spring Training, a Hall of Famer didn’t get an invite.

Every season when Spring Training comes, the New York Yankees invite some of their more notable alumni to camp to serve as special guest instructors. However, the invitation was not extended to Hall of Famer Goose Gossage.

Over the last few years, Gossage has been very vocal about his disagreements with the direction baseball has taken. Topics he has publicly expressed disdain towards include players for flipping their bats after home runs and way baseball has become analytically driven.

When asked about not being involved in this year’s training camp, Gossage went after the man he blames for it all, general manager  Brian Cashman.

“He would’ve been gone 10 years ago if George was still around,” Gossage told Mike Mazzeo and Amara Grautski of the New York Daily News about Cashman. “He’d have been gone when he jumped out of that f–king airplane. Do you think he’s a good f–king baseball guy, really? He doesn’t believe in f–king coaching.”

He added: “Well, with power, is that what happens to you, you turn into a f–king a–shole. Is that it? I don’t know.” Gossage remarked that he had tried to clear the air with Cashman last year, but that Cashman refused to answer him.

“You’d have to ask Cash what the deal is with him. I spoke my mind. But you can’t do that anymore,”

Invited Instructors

While Gossage wasn’t asked to come to Spring Training, several other Yankees greats were asked to come.

They include Monument Park members and World Series champions Ron Guidry, Willie Randolph and Tino Martinez, seven-time All-Star Alfonso Soriano and 2009 World Series Champions Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher.

Montgomery’s Mindset

In 2017, Aaron Judge had a breakout rookie season that took baseball by storm. While Judge was hitting bombs to all parts of the park, Jordan Montgomery quietly put together a respectable rookie campaign.

Montgomery finished with a 9-7 record, 3.88 ERA and 144 strikeouts in 155.1 innings pitched.

According to Montgomery, this came as a surprise due to him not using his changeup that frequently. However, he has made it clear that he will focus on that pitch and staying consistent in Spring Training.

Anthony Swarzak throws shade at Yankees

Current New York Mets (and former Yankees) reliever Anthony Swarzak would love to see another October Subway Series. He’s just not sure that both New York teams will be in a position to participate.

“Both teams got to be there,” Swarzak, an ex-Yankee, said when asked if he was looking forward to the Subway Series, per Matt Ehalt of NorthJersey.com. “I know we will.”

Swarzak, who signed as a free agent with the Mets in December, pitched for the Yankees in 2016, going 1-2 with a 5.52 ERA and 1.13 WHIP over 26 relief outings.

While the banter is fun heading into spring training, it’s hard to believe Swarzak wants to face the lineup the Yankees are going to be trotting out on a regular basis—especially if they’ve got a chip on their shoulders because of his remarks.

Other Yankees News, Stories

  • ESNY’s Rick Weiner says that if the Yanks are intent on adding another starter, then trading for Houston’s Collin McHugh is the way to go.
  • ESNY’s Allison Case examines Didi Gregorius’ brand new role with the club heading into 2018.
Contributing Yankees Writer | Sports Reporter for Centenary University’s “The Quill” | Centenary University ‘19