A Visit To Tom's River, Nj... So What?

As I entered the city limits of Tom’s River, New Jersey Saturday evening, it hit me like a ton of bricks: We have to sign @FlavaFraz21 aka Todd Frazier or better yet, he has to sign with us.  I visited Frazier’s hometown in South Jersey to be a spectator and track mom as my daughter Kate ran in the infamous Tom’s River Bubble or the John Bennett Indoor Athletic Complex.  It is basically an indoor track where teams from all over the state come together to compete.  Frazier’s picture is featured on the entrance of the complex and as I pushed through the revolving doors into the track, I again said to myself, we need to sign him.

During the off season Todd Frazier has made a number of appearances, perhaps making his case that he is a permanent fixture of the Yankee redesign.  He met Mr. Thumbs down last week, he has done additional events for Steiner Sports and he weighed in on the whole Trenton Thunder Pork Roll story this week.

“I’ve called it pork roll my life big man,” Frazier tweeted to the Trenton Thunder, the Yankees Double A team.  The Trenton Thunder then adopted Frazier by including him on their #TeamPorkRoll.  See the series of tweets below:

The point of all of the chatter, have I failed to mention there’s a hashtag #bringback29 floating around Twitter, is there are guys who contribute to a team far more than by way of a bat or a glove.  The Toddfather contributes life, something that has been absent since the days of Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera.  Sure Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez gave us hope, but not necessarily life.  Frazier breathes life and passion into the team along with a never give up attitude, which is something we need as we enter 2018, a critical, must-win season for the Yankees.

According to NJ.com, “Frazier is local, he’s durable and he won’t be nearly as expensive as Mike Moustakas. He’ll get a multi-year deal, but if the Mets can structure it more like Jay Bruce‘s and get him to sign a backloaded deal in the three-year range, the payroll would still be manageable this season.”  Frazier has said he had some offers, for which he would be entertaining.  Are the Mets one of those deals?  Would his agent suggest he go to the Mets where he would take a leadership role and an everyday position at third, something the Mets have not had since 2014?  He might.  But should Frazier give up an opportunity to win a championship with Yankees?  Hell no!

Todd Frazier should be offered a contract with options and opportunities to sign a multi-year contract should he meet certain milestones throughout the year.  At the end of the day, Frazier should want to be in a winning lineup versus a lineup where he would be a baby sitters to babies.  “The Mets often need an adult in the room, especially when David Wright isn’t around,” reported NJ.com.

My visit to Tom’s River gave me time to reflect on Frazier’s contribution to the clubhouse and the lineup and both yield a good amount of benefits and win-wins.  Perhaps Frazier drove around his old digs to reflect on where he came from and will use that gathered information to make the right choice- take a deal with the Yankees and be a champion, something he knows all too well from his early years at the Little League World Series.  Plus, he could have unlimited pork roll this summer.  See what I mean…it’s a win-win.

–Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof