Yankees Progress Report – 60 Games

Posted on by Charlie Ricker

When we left off after the Yankees 50 game report, the team was playing much better. The offense was still lagging but they were getting good pitching and just enough offense to win seven of their ten games from May 17 through the 27th. To quote a worn-out cliché from manager Aaron Boone, it looked like the Yankees were turning the corner.

Fast forward another ten games later, and the team is back where they were three weeks ago, treading water and playing barely over .500 ball. The Yankees played three games against the Tigers in Detroit and got swept. They returned home to play a four-game set against the Rays, which they split, followed by three games at home against the Boston Red Sox. In any case, it ended in a demoralizing sweep in front of the Yankee Stadium faithful.

Let’s go over the carnage.

The offense – let’s just say it was offensive. To save the aggravation of re-living it, I’ll just summarize. Yankees hitters need to be better. When they weren’t striking out, which was often, they were hitting into double plays. When they weren’t hitting into double plays, they were making dumb outs on the base-paths. And that’s only when they were finding ways to get on base. 

Yankees beat-writer Sweeny Murti summed it up well.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Honestly, it’s been painful. To save space, I’ll just say that Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres and Gio Urshela are really the only hitters that are performing as expected. The rest are spinning their wheels in the mud. 

Pitching – the rotation and pitching staff as a whole suffered a tremendous blow when Corey Kluber went on the injured list. He left his start against the Blue Jays after three innings on May 25. Just six days prior, he pitched a no-hitter against the Texas Rangers in Arlington. Diagnosed as a shoulder strain, Kluber has reportedly sought 2nd and 3rd opinions.  Kluber played catch on June 4 and felt good, which is encouraging.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Gerrit Cole was roughed up at home against the Rays on June 3, giving up five runs in five innings. Uncharacteristically, a pair of lead-off walks in the 4th and 5th innings ended up scoring. Additionally, his spin-rates were down, which made some ask if he was curtailing his supposed use of sticky substances in the wake of MLB’s announcement that they are going start randomly checking pitchers for illegal use.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

The bullpen is beginning to show signs of wear, with Chad Green and Justin Wilson suffering poor recent outings. Green let in four runs against the Red Sox while recording just a pair of outs in a 7-3 loss on June 5. Wilson was walked off in the 10th inning in Detroit on May 28, when Robbie Grossman hit a two run shot. In essence, Wilson should have been out of the inning with a save and a Yankees win. Home plate umpire Vic Carapazza had other ideas. According to MLB Gameday, Wilson hit his spot which should have been called strike three. Carapazza called it a ball.

Murphy’s law took over and Grossman ended the game on the very next pitch. 

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

To be sure, it was a tough 10-game stretch, with the Yankees losing five out of seven at home. The Yankees started an eight game road trip with an 8-4 win against the Twins, with the offense looking much more like themselves. By and large, it’s a good head start for the next ten game stretch. Like YES Network broadcaster David Cone says, “Home runs are a great deodorant”. So is winning!

See ya next time!

Advertisement

Yankees 40 Game Report

Posted on by Charlie Ricker

The New York Yankees and Major League Baseball are through forty games, roughly the first quarter of the 2021 season. After starting out 5-10, the Yankees have won 17 of their last 25 games. The bats have warmed along with the weather, and the team has gotten good pitching more often than not.

In this installment of “Yankees xx Game Report”, we’re going to cover games 32 through 40. We got a little off kilter the last couple times, and I want to get back on track covering games by full ten game increments. So let’s get started!

The Yankees won all three series against the Nationals, Rays, and Baltimore Orioles, for a 6-3 record in those games. Yankees fans tend to be a greedy bunch (in a GOOD WAY), so there was some disappointment when the team failed to complete the sweeps against Tampa Bay and Baltimore.

  • Pitching

Gerrit Cole started only one game during this span of games, but he made it a beauty. On May 12, the unquestioned rotation leader delivered eight scoreless innings, allowing just four hits and a dozen punchies. He threw 73 strikes over 106 pitches.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Jordan Montgomery has been uneven, and his two most recent starts has been more of the same. Six innings of one-run ball in Tampa on May 11, and yesterday he went just three innings (76 pitches) and let in five runs in Baltimore. On the season, Monty is sporting an ERA of 4.75 and hasn’t gone past six innings in his eight starts. 

Corey Kluber has also made eight starts in 2021. His first four starts were less than impressive, but I will chalk it up to rustiness after pitching one inning last year. The Klubot locked it in since, reeling off 26.1 (7 ER) innings reminiscent of his Cy Young years. The Yankees won all four starts, and Kluber has lowered his season ERA to 3.48.

Domingo Germán pitched well in his two starts against the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees won both games and Germán got his team to the seventh inning each time (3 runs over 12.1 total innings). He’s throwing strikes and seems to be back to form after missing all of 2020 under suspension for his role in a domestic abuse incident.

Jameson Taillon, the Yankees fifth starter and newest addition to the rotation, has struggled. He missed most of the past two seasons while recovering from Tommy John surgery. Many pitchers who have had this surgery say command is the last thing to return to normal, so this isn’t unexpected. The stuff is there, as Taillon has struck out 43 in his 33.1 innings. What’s hurt Jamo is not being able to put hitters away, resulting in getting into deep counts and raising his pitch totals. Taillon also seems to have one bad inning where things start to go sideways. Patience is going to be key, but I believe it will be rewarded in the long run. For now, Taillon sports a 5.40 ERA and a record of 1-3.

As for the bullpen, the guys are still getting the job done. Aroldis Chapman has converted all nine save opportunities, striking out 31 in his 15 innings and allowing only one unearned run. Jonathan Loaísiga has two saves of his own, filling in when Chapman was unavailable while touching 100 mph. Chad Green has been dependable, while lefties Lucas Luetge, Justin Wilson and Wandy Peralta have been excellent. On the injury front, Zack Britton is throwing simulated games with Triple-A Scranton, and should be ready to begin a rehab assignment any day now.

**UPDATE** Yankees clubhouse reporter Meredith Marakovits reports Britton has some “general soreness” after the simulated game. The plan was to have him make a rehab appearance with Somerset on Wednesday, but will push that back for now.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  • Position Players 

Aaron Judge is getting hot, and it’s coming at a great time. In the Baltimore series, Judge swung his gavel to the tune of six hits and 4 HR’s in ten at bats. He’s 13-29 with five bombs over the past nine games. With Aaron Hicks and Giancarlo Stanton hitting the injured list, the Yankees need him. 

Luke Voit is back after finishing a week-long rehab assignment with Scranton Wilkes-Barre. It took a few days for him to get going, but Voit drove home a pair of runs in Baltimore while collecting four hits in nine AB’s.

Gio Urshela returned he sat out a few games with a sore knee. He’s back to hitting the ball (7-22 – .318) and being his dependable self, including a clutch three-run HR in Baltimore that proved to be the winning runs.

After DJ LeMahieu carried the Yankees in 2019 and 2020, we became used to him raking like a man-possessed. He’s not hitting .350, but he’s been extremely dependable. On the season, LeMahieu’s slash-line is .272/.364/.364. Over the past nine games, it’s .286/.375/.457 – which is more indicative of the hitter he is.

Gleyber Torres has been out since May 11 after testing positive for COVID-19. The diagnosis came at a tough time, as Gleyber was starting to hit after a slow start to the season. Torres was 13 for his last 43, including his first home run of the year on Mother’s Day. The Yankees are hoping he will be back soon.

In the catching department, Kyle Higashioka and Gary Sánchez are holding their own. They each have five home-runs, but are also hitting under .200. I can live with it, as long as the guys are handling the pitching staff and defense.

And I have to give Tyler Wade some love. When Torres went down, Wade stepped in with six starts at shortstop. He has 5 hits in his 16 at bats, and drew a pair of walks. Everyone seems to hate on the guy, myself included at times. He deserves credit for some good at bats.

It’s hard to believe we’re a quarter of the way through the 2021 season. The Yankees play four games in Texas against the Rangers before heading back to the Bronx to face the White Sox and Blue Jays.

Yankees Ten Game Report – Games 22-31

Posted on by Charlie Ricker

The New York Yankees have blown through another ten game chunk of the 2021 season, so here we are again. The Bronx Bombers finished series vs. the Orioles, Tigers, and those lovable Houston Astros. The Yankees split a four-game set with the O’s, swept three against the Detroit and took two of three against Houston. All in all, they won seven of ten, so things are looking up in the Bronx.

Often the object of Yankees fans’ wrath, no one has been hotter than Giancarlo Stanton the past two weeks. His numbers for the past twelve games are mind-numbing. His slash line – .481/.509/.904 for an OPS of 1.413. Over that span, Stanton has gone 25-52, with 6 HR and 4 doubles. He sent another missile into the Yankees bullpen yesterday.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Aaron Judge isn’t hitting at the same clip as Stanton (I mean, who can?), but he contributed three home runs of his own to go with ten RBI over the past ten games. By the same token, he played in nine of those games. Staying healthy is important.

Speaking of health, there’s cause for concern. Third baseman Gio Urshela came up gimpy in yesterday’s series finale against the Astros. Gio banged up his knee in on a diving play late in the game. The team is awaiting results of an MRI as of this writing. The timing is unfortunate, as Urshela went 12 for his last 33 AB’s while bringing home seven baserunners.

Second baseman Rougned Odor was fortunate to not have any structural damage in his left knee after a scary home plate collision with Astros catcher Martín Maldonado. Still, Odor went on the 10 day IL.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Gleyber Torres has picked up the pace over these three series. He has 10 hits in his last 30 AB’s, with three doubles and seven RBI. Even better, he walked five times and only struck out three. His at bats have been quality. No HR’s yet, but this approach is better. Really, Gleyber doesn’t need to be a power bat. This is good.

Gerrit Cole and Corey Kluber each delivered a pair of strong starts. Kluber especially opened eyes with a dominating performance against the Tigers. In that game, he gave eight innings of two-hit shutout ball, punching tickets for ten Detroit hitters. Domingo Germán shut out the Orioles over seven innings and gave five effective innings vs. the Astros (2.25 ERA, 12 IP). In the second game, Jordan Montgomery ground out six innings of three-run ball against Houston, not having his best stuff. At the same time, he’s growing as a pitcher, and those games are character builders.

The bullpen has been lights out, and Aroldis Chapman is putting up video game numbers. Over his eleven appearances (11 innings), the Yankees closer has allowed five baserunners (two hits, 3 BB) and struck out 26. His FIP is -0.81 (yes, MINUS).

Chad Green has done his job well, but the Astros got to him yesterday with Jose Altuve hitting a three-run HR that was the difference in the game. These things happen. We don’t like it, but “that’s baseball, Suzyn”. Just have to turn the page and move on.

Darren O’Day went on the injured list with a right rotator cuff strain, necessitating Michael King‘s return from Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre. From the left side, Lucas Luetge and newcomer Wandy Peralta (obtained from the Giants for OF Mike Tauchman) have done the job. Justin Wilson has not pitched well in his return to the team, with an overall ERA of 7.04 – and 16.88 over his past three games. To be honest, the Yankees need more from him.

But reinforcements are coming. Luke Voit played a pair of games in Syracuse for Triple-A Scranton, scorching the ball. Him and Miguel Andújar had quite the game on May 6 against the Triple-A Mets.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Voit was expected to play again in Syracuse last night, but when I scanned the field during batting practice, he was noticeably absent. Of course, given the uncertainty for the injury to Urshela, I suspect he was scratched and is on his way to New York. However, we’re still waiting for official word.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Andújar DID play last night for and only went 4-5 with a pair of home-runs in a 17-11 win for the RailRiders. There was some confusion last night, after he was moved mid-game from first base to third. This created a false alarm, thinking he may have been pulled. He’s making his own case for a return to the Yankees.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

So that’s it for this Yankees Ten Game Report. The Bombers are looking better, more like the team we expect to see. See ya next time! 😎👋🏽

**UPDATE**

Luke Voit was not recalled from his rehab assignment, and yesterday was a scheduled day off as part of the plan. However, Miguel Andújar was called up after his big performance in Syracuse.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

 

Who Gets the Final Yankees Roster Spot?

Posted on by Charlie Ricker

As spring training wound down, New York Yankees beat writer Bryan Hoch sent a tweet saying INF Tyler Wade and pitcher Michael King made the team’s Opening Day roster.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Yes, one spot remains. With lefty reliever Justin Wilson out for the short-term, it could make sense to replace him with another pitcher. Lucas Luetge immediately comes to mind. The 34 year old Luetge hasn’t pitched in the bigs since 2015, but he had an impressive spring. He struck out 18 over 10.2 innings and allowed only a pair of runs. The Yankees could do much worse than Luetge.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

 

On the other hand, with everyone fresh, the team could decide to add an extra bench player for a few days until the team needs an additional arm. Thairo Estrada may be a good option, adding another infielder to the mix. Estrada made his presence known at the end of camp, hitting home runs in back to back games. As of this moment, Wade is the only backup infielder on the squad.

The rest of the team is ready to go, the Yankees are back in New York. And FANS WILL BE THERE! I love Opening Day. 😎

UPDATE – According to Max Goodman of Sports Illustrated, Luetge appeared to be at Yankee Stadium with the team this afternoon. Stay tuned.

And it’s officially official. Lucas Luetge has indeed made the Yankees 26 man roster.

What a Relief? Yankees Hurlers Looking for Roster Spots

Posted on by Charlie Ricker

A few days ago, we looked at position players looking to find a spot on the Yankees bench on the Opening Day roster. This time, we will focus on the back end of the starting rotation and relievers searching for spots in the team’s bullpen. Let’s get after it!

  • Rotation

The top four spots of the Yankees rotation are accounted for. Gerrit Cole, Corey Kluber, Jameson Taillon and Jordan Montgomery are cemented in the starting rotation. That leaves Deivi Garcia, Michael King and Domingo German to vie for the fifth spot until Luis Severino returns. All three are having very solid springs to this point. Based on performance in spring games so far, I would give Germán the early edge in this competition. However, with a full 162 game schedule on deck, the Yankees may go with a six-man rotation for the bulk of 2021. With a 60 game schedule, nobody reached close to 100 innings last year. The team will not overwork their valued arms. We will see if the team wants to hang on to the embattled Germán. He missed the 2020 season while suspended for a highly publicized domestic violence incident.

    • Bullpen

Aroldis Chapman, Chad Green, Darren O’Day and Justin Wilson have solid footing. Also established is Zack Britton, who will miss most, if not all, of the season’s first half while recovering from elbow surgery. This leaves three spots to fight for, plus Britton’s spot for the first few months. Let’s reveal the candidates.

Luis Cessa – The soon to be 29 year old Cessa is a nice guy most Yankees fans seem to hate. Not because he’s a bad guy, but because he always seems to give up runs. In reality, Cessa had a pretty good 2020 season. Over his sixteen appearances, he allowed runs in only four. But when he’s bad, he’s BAD. In his lousy four outings, he gave up a total of ten runs. He’s probably not going anywhere. Every team needs a guy to mop-up, and Cessa is out of options.

Jonathan Loaisiga – “Johnny Lasagna” is having himself a spring so far. Six scoreless innings, two hits allowed and 5 K’s. The stuff has always been there for the 26 year old Loaisiga. It’s been a matter of harnessing it. I have always seen a bit of 1996 Mariano Rivera in Loaisiga, especially with the rising fastball. I think it’s time to focus on keeping him in the bullpen because his stuff plays better in relief. He can give multiple innings, which gives him even more valuable.

Lucas Luetge – The lefthanded Luetge hasn’t pitched in the bigs since 2015, but seems to be opening eyes this spring. In four exhibition game appearances, the soon to be 34 year old, has struck out ten hitters over 4 innings. With Zack Britton sidelined, the Yankees could use another lefty to step in. Luetge is a guy to keep watch of.

Nestor Cortes, Jr. – I’ll admit it, I’m a fan of Nestor. His fastball MAYBE touches 90-91, but the life it has on it makes it look closer to 95. Cortes has proven himself in Triple-A, but the success hasn’t translated in the majors in any way. As a member of the Mariners, he was hammered to the tune of a 15.26 ERA (13 ER in 7.2 innings) in 2020. If the Yankees have him on their roster during the regular season, it’s not a good sign. He’s filler for Triple-A.

Albert Abreu – It’s hard to believe the 25 year old Abreu has only one option year remaining, and the Yankees are surely taking a long look at him this spring. It’s been rocky going so far (5 ER over 1.2 innings), but there’s still plenty of time to assess. I am guessing the Yankees will use that last option to let him get reps and stretched out in Scranton. If injuries hit like last year, he could be an option for the rotation.

Nick Nelson – Nelson, also 25 years old, made his big league debut in last year’s tire-fire of an abbreviated season. He made it into eleven games, mostly in mop-up duty. Still, these reps are valuable. Nelson posted a 4.79 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 20.2 innings. Like Abreu, Nelson are destined be a member of the RailRiders rotation to get experience and stretched-out as a starter.

Kyle Barraclough (R), Tyler Lyons (L), and Nick Goody (R) are options for the Yankees if everything goes to hell in a handbasket. All are better suited as Triple-A filler.

Thanks for reading, have a great day! 😎