Yankees – Page 141 – Keefe To The City

May 2, 2019

Off Day Dreaming: The Real Yankees Need to Return

The Yankees’ May schedule will be challenging and they are going to need some of their regular everyday players to return to the lineup to get through it.

The Yankees’ first of two West Coast trips this season is over. The next time the Yankees play a late game won’t be until August 20 when they play the A’s, Dodgers and Mariners to end summer. I think I speak for everyone when I say I’m happy Yankees baseball is back to being played at a normal hour.

There are only two off days in May with this being one of them, which means a lot of Yankees baseball and only one other Off Day Dreaming blog. Starting tomorrow, the Yankees will play 30 games in 31 days through June 2.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees on their second off day in the last four days.

1. If you have ever received a gift or news in life leading to a euphoric high then you know exactly how Aaron Boone feels today. Starting tomorrow, the Yankees will play 30 games in 31 games through June 2 and that means scheduled off days for everyday players, extra rest for the pitching staff and even more days off for players returning from the injured list even if they just missed weeks or months.

There’s only one thing Boone loves more than scheduling off days for his regulars weeks in advance regardless of their current play and that is bringing in mediocre relievers into game-changing situations.

2. Can Aaron Boone please stop bringing Jonathan Holder into game-changing situations? Please. I wrote last week how untrustworthy Holder has been as a Yankee, yet Boone keeps going to him in any close game as the first reliever out of the pen to immediately relieve the starter.

I thought Holder allowing both inherited runners to score in a tie game in the only loss in Anaheim might be the final straw for Boone electing to continue to use the mediocre reliever, but on Tuesday in Arizona, Boone went right back to him. Trailing by one run in the sixth with two on and one out, Boone took the ball from CC Sabathia and called on Holder. Holder immediately walked the first batter he faced load the bases and then got gifted a check-swing comebacker to the mound to begin an inning-ending double play. Boone stayed on 16 with the dealer showing a 7, and the dealer flipped over an 8 and pulled a 10 to bust, and Boone thinks he made the right decision based on the result.

Boone’s bullpen management helped send the Yankees to the wild-card game last season and then ruined the ALDS for the team, and he hasn’t shown anything to prove he won’t make more enormous mistakes in big games in 2019 as he continues to manage to the inning rather than the situation.

3. Here is my updated Yankees Bullpen Level of Trust (1-10 Scale)

Dellin Betances 9.1
Aroldis Chapman 8.4
Adam Ottavino 8.2
Zack Britton 7.1
Tommy Kahnle 5.2
Jonathan Holder 3.4
Luis Cessa 3.1
Joseph Harvey 2.8
Stephen Tarpley 1.9

4. Boone was ejected from Wednesday’s game and looked foolish in the process. He was upset about a challenge not going in his favor, even though the umpires don’t have control over the result of challenges, and then he was upset the umpires didn’t award Tyler Wade first base when he claimed to be hit a by a pitch on the foot, even though replay showed he didn’t get hit by the pitch.

If I was home plate umpire Paul Emmel, as soon as I turned around and Boone was standing in my face, the first thing I would say is, “Look, Aaron, I didn’t sit DJ LeMahieu even though he’s able to play and I didn’t bat Mike Tauchman fifth in the lineup and I didn’t start Tyler Wade.” I have a hard time believing Boone would have anything to say after that.

5. I understand the Yankees are as short as can be on available players, but can Tauchman not bat fifth anymore? I don’t care that he’s a left-handed bat against a right-handed starter. Tauchman isn’t the left-handed Luke Voit, and he’s not a diamond in the rough to make the Yankees front office look good for acquiring. If he has to play for the time being, fine, bat him at the bottom of the order and put Gio Urshela or Cameron Maybin or someone more deserving of being higher in the order in his spot for now.

6. As for Wade, I’m well past the point of being done with and over Wade. I can’t do it anymore. I can’t watch him go to the plate and roll over another weak ground ball to the right side. I can’t.

I saw a tweet on Wednesday that Wade has “barreled” one ball in his major league career. To be “barreled”, a batted ball requires an exit velocity of at least 98 mph. Wade has had 189 career plate appearances and has seen 738 pitches and only one of those 738 pitches has been classified as “barreled”. I’m not even sure how that’s possible. One out of 738. If you want to use only strikes then he’s “barreled” one pitch out of 468, which is still ridiculous. Apparently, whatever training Albert Pujols gave him in the offseason hasn’t stuck.

Wade is really fast and defensively can play all over the field, but his offensive ineptitude should be enough to keep him out of the majors. If the Yankees want him to be the 25th man on the postseason roster to be used a pinch runner, I’m OK with it, but that’s the extent of me being OK with him being a Yankee. The second enough regular everyday players are back, get Wade off the team.

7. For as fun, unexpected, improbable and exciting as this 11-4 run has been with the replacement Yankees, Zack Greinke quickly reminded Yankees fans why having actual everyday major leaguers in a lineup is important. Sure, Greinke is a very good pitcher and can shut down any team when he’s on, but he isn’t the Greinke of even a couple of years ago, and the Yankees had their chances against him and came up short.

The actual Yankees, batting 1 through 4, of Brett Gardner, Luke Voit, Gary Sanchez and Gleyber Torres went 4 for 15 with the only run scored and RBI, a walk and three strikeouts. The replacement Yankees of Tauchman, Maybin, Thairo Estrada, Wade and Urshela went 1 for 13 with an infield single and four strikeouts. After Sanchez and Torres hit back-to-back doubles to tie the game at 1 in the fourth inning, Tauchman, Maybin and Estrada left Torres stranded at second in what ended up being the difference in the game until Zack Britton gave up an insurance run for the Diamondbacks. Merrill Kelly, the 30-year-old major league rookie, followed Greinke’s performance with a gem of his own, allowing one earned run over 5 1/3 innings in a 3-2 Yankees loss.

8. I understand the road trip should be considered an overall success as the Yankees won six of nine, but it’s time for the real Yankees to return. The Rays lost both games of a doubleheader to the lowly Royals and the Red Sox swept the A’s, so the Yankees failed to make up ground on the Rays and also lost ground on the Red Sox. Enough is enough with sitting out DJ LeMahieu, despite him being available, and slowly, and I mean as slowly as possible, bringing back the other injured Yankees. We’re 30 games into the season.

9. Masahiro Tanaka has now had three crappy starts in his last four.

April 14 vs. White Sox: 4 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 1 HR
April 25 @ Angels: 5.2 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 2 HR
May 2 @ Diamondbacks: 4 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 1 HR

Tanaka always figures it out and I trust him more than anyone on the team in October (1.50 ERA in five career postseason starts), so I’m not worried about him, I just wish he would be more consistent, especially since the May schedule is going to be way more challenging than the April schedule was.

10. Back when the Yankees were 5-8, I wrote that I thought a 16-13 record at the end of April was doable. After losing Tuesday’s game, they finished April at 17-12, one game better than the goal I set for them. Looking ahead to May, they have 29 games this month, and outside of seven games against the Orioles (anything less than 5-2 against the Orioles will be considered a disaster), their schedule is full of games against potential postseason teams, including six against the Rays and two against the Red Sox.

Since my Yankees record goal magic worked so well in April, I’m going to say they should go at least 17-12 in May.

***

My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

Blogs • Yankees

May 1, 2019

CC Sabathia and His Improbable Journey to 3,000 Strikeouts

CC Sabathia became the 17th pitcher in history to record 3,000 strikeouts. It’s an accomplishment which seemed improbable three years ago when no one expected him to be in the league in 2017 given his performance and knee issues.

CC Sabathia didn’t want to be a Yankee. As a 28-year-old free agent, he wanted to move home to California to pitch. He initially turned down Brian Cashman’s lucrative six-year, $140 million offer, and after Cashman told Sabathia’s agents he would be willing to travel to California to meet with the left-hander and negotiate, he was on his way to Vallejo. They landed on seven years and $161 million. At the time, it was the biggest contract for a pitcher in history. The deal also included an all-important opt-out clause after three years.

Sabathia was a Yankee because the organization’s offer far exceeded any other teams, not because it was his first choice. But that no longer mattered to the left-hander or Yankees fans when he went 19-8 with a 3.37 ERA in the regular season, and then 3-1 with a 1.98 ERA in the postseason, earning himself ALCS MVP honors and helping the Yankees win the World Series for the first time since 2000.

Fearful of that opt-out clause after his third season, the Yankees extended him, adding two years and $50 million to his contract. He continued to pitch like an ace for the first season after the extension, going 15-6 with a 3.38 ERA, and winning Games 1 and 5 in the ALDS over the Orioles. In his first four seasons as a Yankee, Sabathia had gone 74-29 with a 3.22 ERA, being as close to a sure-thing for a win every five days as anyone in baseball, and living up to his $23 million annual salary more than any free-agent pitcher ever had.

In 2013, things took a turn for the worst. Sabathia went 14-13 with a 4.78 ERA and led the league in earned runs allowed as the Yankees missed the playoffs for just the second time since 1993. In 2014, Sabathia made only starts, and pitched to a 5.28 ERA over 46 innings. In 2015, it was much of the same, as he went 6-10 with a 4.73 ERA. Sabathia was no longer the hard-throwing ace of the Yankees, but rather a wasted roster spot making roughly $700,000 per start.

Sabathia had supposedly been best friends with Cliff Lee during their time in Cleveland and it was reported that Sabathia and Andy Pettitte had talked frequently as Sabathia’s velocity diminished. I wondered then if those two stories were true, how could Sabathia not seek out the advice of his two left-handed friends on how to succeed in the league without overpowering hitters? Were Sabathia and Lee no longer friends? Were he and Pettitte just “talking” and not talking about pitching? Was Sabathia too stubborn to reinvent himself, or could he just not do it?

Sabathia was going to make $25 million in 2016, the highest single-season salary of his career, after having gone 23-27 with a 4.81 ERA in the previous three seasons. And he was going to make another $25 million in 2017 unless he ended the 2016 season on the disabled list with a left shoulder injury or spent more than 45 days on the disabled list in 2016 with a left shoulder injury or didn’t make more than six relief appearances in 2016 because of a left shoulder injury. No Yankees fan wanted Sabathia to get hurt, they just wanted him to pitch better. Any Yankees fan would have signed up for a season of a 4.50 ERA from the once-dominant lefty.

Sabathia turned his career around in 2016. He no longer reared back for a mid-to-high-90s fastball which no longer existed. He scrapped the fastballs right by you for the cutters in on your hands and the offspeed pitches and breaking balls away. The reinvention I had yearned for had occurred and Sabathia made 30 starts and pitched to a 3.91 ERA. It wasn’t worthy of $25 million per year, but it was worthy of a spot in the rotation for 2017.

He got even better as a finesse pitcher in 2017, going 14-5 with a 3.69 ERA. It was his first double-digit win season and his first season over .500 in four years. He was no longer the ace of the staff, but he was no longer an over-the-hill pitcher representing an albatross contract either. In 2018, he pitched to a 3.65 ERA, proving his new-found success was sustainable after three straight years of it.

On Tuesday night in Arizona, Sabathia became the 17th pitcher in history to record 3,000 strikeouts. It’s an accomplishment which seemed improbable three years ago when no one expected him to be in the league in 2017 given his performance and knee issues. But Sabathia has defied the odds since his disastrous 2013-2015 seasons, reinventing himself on the mound, overcoming several disabled and injured list trips and even battling a heart condition this past offseason.

Back on June 26, 2015, I wrote “CC Sabathia Is Done”. At the time he was done. He could no longer throw hard and was seemingly too stubborn to turn into a finesse pitcher for what looked to be the final seasons of his career. Now in his fourth season pitching as CC Sabathia 2.0, let’s look back at what I wrote and see how it’s changed.

Next season, Sabathia’s salary increase to $25 million for the season, and when you consider his 2011 ERA (33 starts) was 3.00, his 2012 ERA (28 starts) was 3.38, his 2013 ERA (32 starts) was 4.78, his 2014 ERA (eight starts) was 5.28 and his 2015 ERA (15 starts) is 5.65, well, where is this going to go? It could go through the 2017 season, as Sabathia has a $25 million vesting option, which will vest if he doesn’t finish the 2016 season on the disabled list with a left shoulder injury or if he doesn’t spend more than 45 days in 2016 on the disabled list with a left shoulder injury or if he doesn’t make more than six relief appearances in 2016 because of a left shoulder injury. (There is a $5 million buyout if any of these things happen, so the Yankees will have to pay him $5 million to not pitch, which is better than $25 million to pitch and not be good). So the only way the Yankees are getting out of paying Sabathia $50 million in 2016 and 2017 is if he injures his left shoulder, and when he’s not even going five innings in starts, that’s not going to happen. The only way to not throw away $25 million in 2017 is for Girardi to start leaving Sabathia on the mound to throw 150-pitch complete games, or hope that he retires and walks away from the money, and that’s not happening. So if you think this season has been bad or 2014 and 2013 were bad, it’s not going to get better.

The biggest problem for Sabathia at the time (aside from not giving the Yankees a chance to win in most of his starts) was the money he was owed. No Yankees fan wanted Sabathia to get hurt, but everyone was hoping the Yankees would instead use the $5 million buyout on him for 2017 to pay him to go away.

Sabathia turned it around in 2016, just in time for the Yankees to decide to not buy him out. And in the span of two years, he went from looking at being bought out and retiring to starting Games 2 and 5 of the ALDS against the Indians and Games 3 and 7 of the ALCS against the Astros. Sabathia’s line in those four postseason starts: 19 IP, 16 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 10 BB, 19 K, 1 HR, 2.37 ERA, 1.368 WHIP. I still can’t believe the same person whose career seemed over when he made only eight starts in 2014 and pitched like his career was over when he did pitch was given the ball to start a game in 2017 with a trip to the World Series on the line.

I have written several times that Sabathia needs to find a way to get outs without overpowering hitters the way his former teammate Andy Pettitte and supposed best friend Cliff Lee were able to do. With the Yankees in Houston, it was made known that Pettitte and Sabathia have talked frequently as Sabathia’s velocity and repertoire has changed, and if this is true, when are the changes going to take place, or are they ever? And do we know Sabathia and Pettitte are even talking about pitching when they talk? They could be talking about anything.

It took three seasons of a 4.81 ERA and leading the league in earned runs allowed in one of those seasons for Sabathia to finally give up on trying to be the pitcher he had been since 2001. He finally went through with the advice of Pettitte, who he now mirrors in his starts, both with his stuff and his performances, and it has revitalized his career. Sabathia is consistently among the league leaders in soft contact, and while he might not be the hard-throwing, seven-plus inning ace anymore, he doesn’t need to be to get productive results.

At this point, I treat every Sabathia start like a trip to the casino. If you plan on spending $500 at the casino then you’re going into it assuming you’re going to lose that $500 and anything you don’t lose or if you happen to end up winning, it’s an unexpected bonus. When Sabathia takes the mound, I assume the Yankees are going to lose, and if they aren’t blown out, he will certainly blow a lead they have given him at some point in the game. If he comes out in a tie game, with the Yankees winning, it’s the unexpected bonus. That’s not how it should work for starting pitcher making $23 million this season, $25 million next season and possibly another $25 million in 2017.

Since 2016, the Yankees are 53-37 in games started by Sabathia, so he’s no longer an expected losing trip to the casino. In today’s market, as a No. 5 starter making $8 million, he’s more than living up to his current contract, and has made up for the money he “earned” from 2013 to 2015.

During the 2011 season, I said “Jorge Posada is like the aging family dog that just wanders around aimlessly and goes to the bathroom all over the place and just lies around and sleeps all day. You try to pretend like the end isn’t near and you try to remember the good times to get through the bad times, and once in a while the dog will do something to remind you of what it used to be, but it’s just momentary tease.” Well, that aging family dog has become Sabathia.

The aging family dog might be 21 now, but it still has a few years left!

The next time Sabathia puts the Yankees in a hole before they even come up to bat for the first time, I will try to remember his first four seasons with the Yankees when he went 74-29 with a 3.22 ERA. The next time, he lets the 7-8-9 hitters get on base to start a rally, I will try to remember his win in Game 1 of the 2009 ALDS, his dominance over the Angels and winning the ALCS MVP in 2009 and his role in beating the Phillies in the 2009 World Series. The next time he can’t get through five innings, forcing the bullpen to be overused, I will try to remember his Game 5 win in the 2010 ALCS against the Rangers to save the season. And the next time he blows a three-run lead the inning following the Yankees taking that lead, I will try to remember his wins in Games 1 and 5 against the Orioles in the 2012 ALDS to get the Yankees out of the first round.

No matter what happens for the rest of Sabathia’s final season, I will remember it in three parts. (Well, three parts as of now.) Part I being 2009-2012 when he went 74-29 with a 3.22 ERA, made 13 postseason starts and one postseason relief appearance and helped the Yankees win the 2009 World Series. Part II being 2013-2015 when he went 23-27 with a 4.81 ERA and made $69 million for 69 starts. Part III being 2016 until the end of this year when he made the transformation from power pitcher to finesse pitcher and saved his career. (Let’s hope there isn’t a Part IV where he becomes the 2013-15 pitcher again).

I get that after 20 years and pitching on an aching knee, Sabathia wants to retire and give his body a rest and spend time with his family. But if he wanted to keep pitching, I’m sure the Yankees would keep giving him one-year deals for as long as he wanted because this version of CC Sabathia can seemingly pitch forever.

I will try to remember the good times CC Sabathia once gave us nearly every time he took the ball because they hardly happen anymore and they are only to going to become more rare. I wish there were more good times to come, but there aren’t.

I don’t have to wish anymore because as long as Sabathia avoids the injured list, there’s a few more months of good times to come.

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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

Blogs • Off Day Dreaming • Yankees

Apr 29, 2019

Off Day Dreaming: The April Yankees Won’t Be Forgotten

Most of the current Yankees will be sent down once the regulars return. If the 2019 Yankees get to where they’re expected to go this season, the April Yankees won’t be forgotten for keeping the season alive.

It wasn’t too long ago I was in love with off days for the Yankees and praying and doing rain dances for games to be postponed until later in the season when the team would be at full strength or even half strength. But thanks to the team’s play over the last four series and two weeks, I once again hate off days.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees on this off day.

Back on the Yankees’ off day on April 11, I wrote The Yankees Are in Trouble, citing the lengthy injured list, blown leads, losses to awful teams, a weak lineup, bad starting pitching and an inconsistent bullpen. The Yankees then went on to lose

1. Back on the Yankees’ off day on April 11, I wrote The Yankees Are in Trouble, citing the lengthy injured list, blown leads, losses to awful teams, a weak lineup, bad starting pitching and an inconsistent bullpen. The Yankees then went on to lose two of three to the White Sox that weekend.

Four days later, on their April 15 off day, I wrote When Are the Yankees Going to ‘Turn the Corner’ Aaron Boone Keeps Talking About? The team was 6-9 and 0-3 in home series against the Orioles, Tigers and White Sox, and Boone gave his old BS answers in his postgame press conference following the Sunday loss to the White Sox.

That would be the last Yankees off day for two weeks with two games against the Red Sox, four against the Royals, four against the Angels and three against the Giants between then and today. The plan was to tread water and hover around .500 until the regulars could come back from the injured list, but as the Yankees waited around for their regulars to come back, more regulars joined them on the injured list. Instead of the Yankees treading water over the crucial two weeks, they went on an 11-2 run, winning all four series and climbing within 1 1/2 games of the Rays.

I don’t ever like to give Boone credit, but for as much as I criticize the manager for being in over his head and simply having no idea what he’s doing (which is true), I will give him a little, tiny bit of credit for the way the team has played since the Red Sox series. Sure, he’s made some nonsensical bullpen decisions over the last 13 games, nearly costing the Yankees a few games, but the team is winning, and it’s hard to completely destroy the manager when the win column keeps changing and the team has the second-best run differential in the league despite a daily lineup consisting of a combination of Tyler Wade, Mike Tauchman, Mike Ford, Gio Urshela, Austin Romine, Kyle Higashioka, Thairo Estrada and Cameron Maybin. So for now, I will lay off Boone.

2. Actually, scratch that. I have two things about Boone I have to mention.

The first is his usage of Jonthan Holder, who isn’t trustworthy. The Yankees’ only loss in Anaheim in the series finale. Masahiro Tanaka blew a 4-0 lead, and in a 4-4 game with two on and one out, Boone went to Holder, who immediately allowed both runners to score. Here is how Boone utilized his bullpen in that game:

Tie game, two on, one out: Jonathan Holder
Down two, cleaning inning: Stephen Tarpley
Down two, two on, one out: Joseph Harvey
Down six, cleaning inning: Tommy Kahnle

The Yankees went 11-2 over their last 13 with timely hitting, great starting pitching and a good enough bullpen. The team’s performance prevented Boone from getting his hands on the game too much, but when he did, he proved incapable of making sound decisions. I’m not scared, I’m petrified of Boone in another postseason.

The second Boone complaint is in regards to Gary Sanchez. Sanchez had two weeks off, came back and played two games and then had the day off against a left-handed starter (Madison Bumgarner) with an off day coming up on Monday (today) and again on Thursday. The Yankees should be embarrassed with how many everyday players are on the injured list to go along with their best starter and best reliever, and yet, they are sticking with their over-the-top off day schedule.

3. Speaking of Sanchez, I haven’t heard much from the Austin Romine Fan Club lately. After Sanchez struck out in seven of his nine at-bats, whispers from the Rominers began to grow, disregarding the fact Sanchez played in one rehab game after being on the injured list for two weeks. But then there was complete silence from the backup catcher brigade, probably because they were sitting in amazement when Sanchez nailed Mike Trout trying to steal second in Anaheim or staring in awe with their mouths open at the two majestic home runs he clobbered over the weekend against the Giants.

I will never understand how any Yankees fan doesn’t like Sanchez. Yes, he had a bad, injury-plagued regular season last year, but he’s come back from that to be the Sanchez we watched in 2016 and 2017. He’s the best catcher in the league (YES showed a graphic on Sunday showing since 2016, Sanchez leads all catchers by 50 points in slugging) and it’s not even close. So please stop your complaining, sit back and enjoy the luxury you have at catcher.

4. If Luis Severino doesn’t hurt his shoulder in spring training, Domingo German isn’t in the rotation. Michael Kay asked the question of what happens when Severino returns and we are a long way from that and I’m sure the rotation will take care of itself with injuries are underperformance, but if Severino were to return today, there’s no way you could pull German from the rotation.

Sunday was the first time German allowed more than three earned runs in a game, and all four of the runs came in the sixth inning, after he one-hit the Giants for five innings. The Yankees have won four of his five starts, and the only loss came against the Royals when he allowed three earned runs in six innings with nine strikeouts and no walks. With the expected Yankees offense against the Royals, that’s a win nine out of 10 times.

In the small sample size of five starts and one relief appearance (which he picked up the win in after pitching two shutout innings), German seems to have figured out how to throw strikes. He’s only walked nine in 31 2/3 innings (against 32 strikeouts) and five of those walks came on April 1, in his first start of the season, on a cold night in New York.

Maybe German will regress the way he did last season after a strong start to the season, but as of now, he’s been the Yankees’ most consistent starter this season, and after his turn in the rotation was skipped once already this season, it can’t be skipped again if he continues to pitch like this.

5. After DJ LeMahieu left Sunday’s game with knee inflammation and Gio Urshela left after being drilled on the hand, all I could do was laugh. The Yankees are waiting for Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Hicks, Didi Gregorius and Miguel Andujar, Clint Frazier and Troy Tulowitzki to return, and if anyone else gets hurt, I have no idea where they are going to turn. Thankfully, X-rays were negative on both LeMahieu and Urshela, though I’m sure they will undergo further testing and with the way other Yankees have been deemed fine only to end up on the injured list, you can’t help but assume neither will avoid a 10-day absence.

LeMahieu signed as a super utility guy on a stacked team, most likely wondering how he would get a full season of at-bats despite being a former batting champion and Gold Glove second baseman. After not being in the Opening Day lineup, he’s become the team’s leadoff hitter, batting .310/.363/.430 with long at-bats and an unbelievable contact rate and approach with two strikes.

Urshela came to the Yankees as a career .225/.274/.315 who had reached the majors solely because of his infield defense. He claimed to have made adjustments at the plate in the offseason and with regular playing time on these Yankees is batting .351/.415/.509 looking anything other than overmatched at the plate.

Hopefully, neither guy has to go on the injured list, but I won’t hold my breath with the Yankees’ handling of injuries.

6. Like the Rominers, be prepared for the Urshelas to speak out when Miguel Andujar returns and makes an error at third base. I love Urshela and what he’s done for this team, but let’s not forget what Andujar did last season as rookie the way a lot of people forgot about what Sanchez did for two seasons.

7. Thairo Estrada is doing everything he can to have a future in the majors as a Yankee and not part of another franchise. He’s doing his best to give the Yankees a backup plan if Didi Gregorius turns down a potential extension or leaves via free agency.

The second baseman, turned left fielder over the weekend, is 6 for 14 with a walk and three strikeouts in 16 plate appearances since his debut. The 23-year-old has looked smooth in the field and mature at the plate, and while I enjoy having Gregorius on the team, I can’t help but envision an Estrada-Gleyber Torres middle infield for a long, long time.

8. It’s now shocking when Luke Voit doesn’t reach base in an at-bat. He’s batting .283/.397/.935 with eight homer runs and 25 RBIs, having reached base safely in every game this season. He put up a .365/.468/.635 batting line with two doubles, four home runs, 11 RBIs and nine walks over the 11-2 run. His defense is a story for another day, but the Yankees’ interim 2-hitter is hitting the way the real 2-hitter (Judge) does.

9. Today is April 29. It’s now been 61 days since Aaron Hicks hurt his back on a 35-minute bus ride from Tampa to Lakeland in spring training. Supposedly, Hicks is close to playing in games, but who knows what is true and what isn’t when it comes to his timetable to return. This situation is long past ridiculous.

10. On April 11, when the Yankees were 5-7, I wrote going 11-6 for the rest of April and finishing the month at 16-13 was more than doable. With one game left in the month, the Yankees are 17-11, meaning they will pass my minimal win goal of 16 by at least one game, and possibly two.

It’s unbelievable the Yankees have been able to win the way the way they have with their injury situation. If the Yankees’ injury timetables are accurate (don’t count on it), we could see some semblance of their expected 2019 lineup start to take form in the next week.

Most of the current players (Tauchman, Ford, Wade, Estrada, Maybin) will be headed back to the minors once the regulars return. If the Yankees get to where they’re expected to go this season, the April Yankees won’t be forgotten for keeping the season alive.

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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

Blogs • KTTC Classics • Yankees

Apr 26, 2019

Aaron Boone Needs to Stop Treating Jonathan Holder Like an Elite Reliever

I don’t trust Jonathan Holder, but it’s not his fault he’s put into high-leverage situations when he’s not that kind of reliever.

You didn’t need to go to the bathroom or take a shower or get a beer. If you blinked, you might have missed Masahiro Tanaka erase a four-run lead in the fifth inning on Thursday night in Anaheim. Two starts ago, Tanaka blew a four-run lead to the White Sox by giving up a grand slam and this time he blew it with a pair of two-run home runs.

Tied 4-4 heading to the bottom of the sixth, Aaron Boone let Tanaka put two more baserunners on and with two outs, he finally went to his bullpen. With runners on first and second and a right-handed hitter up, I expected to see Adam Ottavino. Ottavino had made only two appearances and thrown 46 pitches over the last six days and this might be the highest-leverage situation the game would have. His slider repertoire against a light-hitting, right-handed 8-hitter? It was about as perfect of a matchup as you could ask for to get out of the inning. Boone didn’t think so, most likely opting to save Ottavino for later in the game, once again allowing the inning and not the situation determine which reliever he uses. Boone instead went to his personal favorite: Jonathan Holder.

Holder quickly got ahead of David Fletcher 0-1. Gary Sanchez then called for a slider and flipped his glove over expecting a slider low and away, but Holder threw a fastball, surprising Sanchez and getting by him to allow the runners to move up to second and third. A single now didn’t mean one run, it meant two, and sure enough, Holder missed his spot on the 2-2 pitch and gave up the inevitable two-run single.

I wasn’t surprised Holder allowed both inherited runners to score, effectively losing the game. I expected it. The moment YES panned to him walking out of the bullpen I knew what was going to happen. I feel like you shouldn’t expect the worst out of a reliever the organization continues to trust with games on the line, but there’s a lot that doesn’t make sense with the Aaron Boone Yankees.

Last season, Holder blew the the third game of the season when he allowed an inherited runner to score and followed that up by allowing six earned runs in his next two appearances over 2 1/3 innings, which forced him to Triple-A. Upon his return, Holder pitched to a 0.88 ERA over his next 35 games and 41 innings with hitters batting .148/.196/.230 against him.

Holder’s stock dramatically rose on May 9 when he entered in the eighth inning against the Red Sox at the Stadium with the Yankees trailing 6-5. Chasen Shreve left Holder with runners on second and third and one out (because of course he did) and Holder was able to get out of the inning unscathed. The Yankees scored four runs in the bottom of the inning and went on to win 9-6.

Despite Holder’s improbable run, I still didn’t trust him in a big spot, even if Aaron Boone and the organization did. On August 2 in Boston, my feelings toward for Holder were justified.

In the first game of the pivotal four-game series in Boston, the Yankees held a 4-2 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth. CC Sabathia had labored through three innings, throwing 77 pitches and putting seven runners on base, so Boone made the right decision to go to his bullpen to begin the fourth inning, but made the wrong decision of who he was going to: Holder.

Holder’s three-month stretch had earned him important innings and none to date would be more important than the ones he was about to pitch. The Yankees were trailing the Red Sox by 5 1/2 games in the division, needing to win the series to even think about winning the division over the final two months of the season.

Holder entered and walked the nearly-impossible-to-walk 9-hitter Jackie Bradley on five pitches. After that, what unfolded was the single worst relief appearance I have ever seen and will likely ever see in a Major League Baseball game. Including, the walk to Bradley, here’s how Holder’s appearance went:

Bradley walks
Mookie Betts doubles, Bradley to third
Andrew Benintendi reaches on fielder’s choice to pitcher, Bradley scores, Betts to third
Benintendi steals second
Steve Pearce three-home run
J.D. Martinez doubles
Ian Kinsler singles, Martinez scores
Kinsler steals second
Eduardo Nunez doubles, Kinsler scores

Holder faced seven batters and didn’t retire one of them, giving up four extra-base hits and seven runs and likely needed to change his underwear after being consumed by the Fenway Park crowd in the biggest game of the season. With a chance to get back in the division race for the last time, Holder rewarded the Yankees with a performance fitting of his level of trust to everyone outside the organization. His line for the game: 0 IP, 5 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 HR.

This season, Holder has been his usual self, which is the self the Yankees don’t feel he truly is. Rather than recognizing his three-month run last season as an unfathomable overachievement like we have seen in the past from a reliever like Brian Bruney or starters like Aaron Small and Shawn Chacon, the Yankees believe Holder is their next elite reliever, and they keep treating him as if he’s already one.

Holder’s line this season: 13.1 IP, 15 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 3 BB, 15 K, 2 HR, 5.40 ERA, 1.350 WHIP. He has made nine appearances this season, giving up earned runs in six of them and allowing four of six inherited runners to score.

I don’t trust Jonathan Holder, but it’s not his fault. The reason I don’t trust him is because I’m forced to in big spots and high-leverage situations, and he’s not that kind of reliever, rarely ever coming through. He’s good (at times), but he’s certainly not great, and he’s certainly not worthy of the spots Boone keeps using him in.

With Chad Green being sent down after Tuesday’s win, the Yankees are already down one formerly trustworthy reliever, leaving them with only Ottavino, Zack Britton and Aroldis Chapman until Dellin Betances returns. Unfortunately, there will be high-leverage situations in which Boone won’t go to his best relievers (for illogical reasons, like trying to prevent injuries which aren’t preventable or continuing to manage to the inning and not the situation), but he can’t go to Holder. Tommy Kahnle has started to look more like his 2017 self and Luis Cessa has proven he’s better suited as a reliever than a starter in the majors, and I now trust those two more than I do Holder.

Eventually, Boone and the Yankees will realize Holder isn’t their next 2017 Green and he’s nowhere near the level of Ottavino or Britton, let alone Betances. They just need to realize it before it costs them more games.

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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

Blogs • Yankees

Apr 24, 2019

Chad Green Can’t Be Trusted

Right now, the only situation for Green is mop-up duty, in a game it would take a miracle for the Yankees to come back and win, and only being able to pitch in such a situation isn’t worthy of a roster spot.

I was distraught when Luis Severino was removed from the 2017 AL Wild-Card Game. It was only the first inning and the Yankees were trailing 3-0 with just one out and runners on second and third. The season was on the brink of elimination and a base hit would most likely end it before the Yankees ever came to bat in the game.

Joe Girardi raced to the mound as if he tried the Stadium chili fries and needed to get back to the clubhouse. He immediately took the ball from Severino and called on Chad Green, and for a moment I felt a sense of relief.

Green had been the Yankees’ best reliever that season in his transition to the bullpen. In 69 innings, he allowed a measly 34 hits while striking out 103 to only 17 walks. I still trusted David Robertson as much as anyone in the worst of jams and I still believed in Dellin Betances despite his end-of-the-season decline, but this spot was perfect for Green. Green rewarded Girardi’s decision to go to the bullpen for 26 outs by getting out of the inning with the score still 3-0.

Three nights later in Cleveland, Girardi once again called on Green in Game 2 of the ALDS. This time Green entered with the Yankees leading 8-3 in sixth inning and a runner on first with two outs. Sabathia was only at 77 pitches and the bottom of the order was coming up for the Indians, but Girardi went to his bullpen for the last 11 outs of the game. Green had thrown 41 pitches in the wild-card game, and I knew something was off with Green from the very first batter.

Green had trouble putting away the easy-to-put-away Austin Jackson, as Jackson was able to foul away two two-strike pitches before flying out to right field on the seventh pitch of the at-bat. Then against the light-hitting catcher Yan Gomes, Green ran into the same problem, as Gomes fouled away three two-strike pitches before doubling to left on a line drive, also on the seventh pitch of the at-bat. With runners on second and third and one out, Green got ahead of 9-hitter Lonnie Chisenhall 0-2 on two foul tips, but Chisenhall was able to foul off four straight two-strike pitches before being hit by a pitch. Green had thrown 21 pitches to the Indians’ 7, 8 and 9 hitters and had been unable to get a single swing-and-miss.

Chisenhall had foul-tipped the first two pitches to fall behind 0-2, which was almost a bit of foreshadowing as the seventh pitch of the at-bat hadn’t hit him, but rather had been tipped off the bat and into Gary Sanchez’s glove. It should have been the third out of the inning, but home plate umpire Dan Iassogna missed the call and Girardi missed his chance to challenge the call for reasons I will never understand even with Sanchez repeatedly telling his manager the ball hit the bat. The bases were now loaded and the lineup was turning over. I felt like I was going to be sick and when Girardi decided to stay with Green to face Francisco Lindor I could feel my stomach rumbling.

Lindor took Green’s first pitch for a ball, and the second pitch — Green’s 23rd of the inning — he took for a ride. Matt Vasgersian screamed, “LINDOR WITH A SWING AND A DRIVE … AND IT’S GONE!” while Sanchez watched Lindor round the bases in disbelief. The Yankees still led 8-7, but no one thought the Yankees were going to hold on to win the game. Certainly not me.

The Yankees lost Game 2 before improbably winning three straight to win the series and shock the top-seeded Indians, though Green wouldn’t pitch in Games 3, 4 or 5. He did look more like his regular-season self in the ALCS against the Astros, allowing one earned run in his three appearances and stranding two inherited runners in Game 6.

But in 2018, even with his overall solid season (94 strikeouts in 75 2/3 innings with a 2.50 ERA), he wasn’t as dominant as he had been in 2017. His hits per nine innings rose from 4.4 to 7.6, he allowed more than double his home run total from the year before (four to nine) and his strikeouts per nine innings dropped from 13.4 to 11.2. He was still very good, but he was no longer unhittable, and while I trusted him more than Jonathan Holder, Luis Cessa, Tommy Kahnle or A.J. Cole (not that being more trustworthy than any of those four means much), I didn’t trust him nearly the way I did the year before. In the ALDS, he allowed one earned run in 3 2/3 innings on four hits and three walks, but didn’t strike out any of the 18 batters he faced, and it was clear something was off with him.

This season the slow decline for Green since the end of the 2017 regular season has taken another step in the wrong direction. A much larger step. He has allowed at least one earned run in six of his 10 appearances, giving up a crooked number in four of those. In four his last six outings, he has taken a loss against the Astros (0.2 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 0 K), put a game out of reach against the White Sox (0.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 2 HR), nearly ruined Easter Sunday against the Royals (0.0 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 0 K) and almost blew a six-run lead against the Angels (0.1 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 HR).

Green’s line for the season: 7.2 IP, 15 H, 14 R, 14 ER, 4 BB, 7 K, 4 HR, 16.43 ERA, 2.477 WHIP.

The 14 earned runs he’s allowed this season matches his total from 2017 when he made 40 appearances and pitched 69 innings.

With the current state of the Yankees lineup, the team needs to be able to rely on their starting pitching and the bullpen to win games. The starting pitching has lived up to expectations for the last week, but the bullpen continues to be an inconsistent problem, and Green is the biggest problem of all.

His high-leverage appearances have been taken away from him and in an attempt to get him right, Aaron Boone brought him in with a six-run lead on Tuesday night in Anaheim. After recording the final out of the seventh inning, Green loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth before giving up a grand slam. After not getting a single swinging strike on Sunday on 12 pitches, he did manage to get two in his 18 pitches on Tuesday, but in neither game did he record a strikeout, something he hasn’t done now in six of his 10 outings.

Thankfully, the Yankees will get Gary Sanchez back on Wednesday, but they will still be without Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Didi Gregorius, Miguel Andujar and Aaron Hicks. The Yankees have to play near-perfect baseball with their current roster and make any run they’re able to score stand up to win games and keep pace with the Rays in the division until their regulars return.

I understand success for relievers is year to year, but this isn’t that. Even if Green had declined in performance from 2017 to 2018, it was a small decline. This is his performance falling off a cliff. In the last two weeks alone, he has broken open a 3-3 game for a loss, put a one-run deficit out of reach, helped blow a five-run lead and nearly blew a six-run lead. Right now, the only situation for Green is mop-up duty, in a game it would take a miracle for the Yankees to come back and win, and only being able to pitch in such a situation isn’t worthy of a roster spot.

I expect Green to become the latest Yankee to land on the injured list, whether or not he’s really injured. He needs time to figure it out and the Yankees can no longer afford to let him figure it out at the major league level.

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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!