Like a reliever stretching his arm out to join the rotation, you need to stretch out your life to watch the Yankees play on the West Coast.
The Yankees still have one game in this three-game series left against the Astros and then a nine-game homestand before they go on a nine-game, 10-day West Coast trip. While there are still nine games until the Yankees’ lengthy road trip, it’s time to start planning for it.
What happens when the Yankees play on the West Coast? Their games start three hours they would normally start. On the upcoming trip that begins on April 22, the Yankees will play four games starting after 10 p.m. ET and two starting after 9 p.m. ET. Most people will try to stay up to watch them, but will likely end up falling asleep in the second inning and wake up to the highlights on YES or the encore presentation in the middle of the night. But if you plan on staying up for those games, the plan starts now.
You wouldn’t ask a middle reliever to start a game and expect him to throw 100 pitches or go six-plus innings and you wouldn’t ask the normal Yankees fan who has a job to get up for to suddenly sleep three less hours. That’s where the plan comes in. Like a reliever stretching his arm out to join the rotation, you need to stretch out your life to watch the Yankees play on the West Coast.
Let’s say the average Yankees game gets over at 10:30 and you go to sleep right at the end of the game at 10:30. If you start staying up 15 minutes later per night starting tonight, you will be awake to see the Yankees play the Angels, Giants and Diamondbacks, and you will be awake to see Mike Trout play baseball.
Wednesday, April 10: 10:30 p.m. Thursday, April 11: 10:45 p.m. Friday, April 12: 11:00 p.m. Saturday, April 13: 11:15 p.m. Sunday, April 14: 11:30 p.m. Monday, April 15: 11:45 p.m. Tuesday, April 16: 12:00 a.m. Wednesday, April 17: 12:15 a.m. Thursday, April 18: 12:30 a.m. Friday, April 19: 12:45 a.m. Saturday, April 20: 1:00 a.m. Sunday, April 21: 1:15 a.m. Monday, April 22: 1:30 a.m.
Follow this plan and get stretched out for the next 12 nights. Or if the Yankees are unable to take care of business against the White Sox this weekend and the Royals next weekend, there won’t be a need to stay up and watch them anyway.
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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!
Is Aaron Boone in over his head? Why are players getting scheduled off days in the first week of the season? Why is Brett Gardner batting leadoff? This week’s Monday Mail.
That’s how you take care of business against the Orioles. After losing two of three to the Orioles a week ago, the Yankees swept the will-be last-place team this past weekend. Now at 5-4, the Yankees aren’t where I thought they would be following nine games against the Orioles and Tigers, but they appear to be headed in the right direction.
This week’s questions and comments are heavy on Aaron Boone and then there’s the problem with who leads off and why the Yankees didn’t take advantage of the best free-agent class ever and possibly the last star-packed free-agent class ever.
Email your questions to KeefeToTheCity@gmail.com or engage on the Keefe To The City Facebook page or on Twitter to be included in the next Monday Mail.
Aaron Boone needs to go back to calling games for ESPN and the Yankees need to Willie Randolph in as manager so that he can direct this team into the playoffs and beyond! – Mario
No, I didn’t want Aaron Boone to be named the manager of the Yankees prior to 2018. At the time, I thought the Yankees did the right thing by replacing Joe Girardi after 10 years, but had I known the first 176 games (regular season and postseason included) would go the way they have, I would have preferred to just retain Girardi.
Despite winning 100 games last year and the wild-card game, Boone didn’t do a good job. Winning 100 games isn’t much of an accomplishment in a season in which two other American League teams did the same, in a season in which five AL teams lost 89 games or more. The same goes for this season. Which teams are really trying to win in the AL in 2019? The Yankees, Red Sox, Rays, Astros, A’s and Angels? Every other team either shed payroll, tried to move their star players to shed payroll, failed to sign any worthy free agents and basically went along with the idea that it’s more profitable to lose than win in baseball’s current state.
This season, Boone has once again gotten off to a rocky start, either unable or unwilling to make changes to his in-game management and actual baseball strategy to improve. Yes, the Yankees have an unheard of amount of players on the injured list, including four of their everyday players, two-fifths of their rotation and their best reliever. But that doesn’t excuse some of the moves Boone has made in the season’s first nine game. None of the simple decisions he could have made were related to the team’s injury problems, rather they were basic baseball moves.
I don’t trust Boone. This team is going to the playoffs in some capacity, and I’m petrified another year will be wasted because of his bullpen management. Boone helped throw away the ALDS last season and he has six months to get this team back there and then manage the way he’s expected to once they get there. I won’t count on him pushing the right buttons until I actually see him to do it.
I also don’t think Willie Randolph is the solution and I don’t think he would ever be considered for the position in the future either.
Are you kidding me? After five days of baseball Aaron Boone believes players need a rest, really? – Rob
It’s pretty ridiculous. The Yankees had two off days after their last exhibition game, played one game and had a day off, played five games and had a day off. And oh yeah, they basically had six months off before all of that.
Guess what? Injuries happen and there’s nothing you can do about them. Having scheduled off days won’t prevent a player from pulling an oblique in the next game or jamming their shoulder sliding back to third a week later. Pulling a starting pitcher after 85 pitches doesn’t mean he won’t tear his elbow on the first pitch of his next start and not using a reliever three days in a row doesn’t mean he won’t land on the injured list at some point anyway. There’s absolutely nothing that can be done to prevent injuries and there’s no exact amount of rest which will help players perform over the course of a season and in the postseason. The Yankees should know this better than any team.
When Aaron Judge said there needed to be more urgency I think he meant Boone. Boone doesn’t manage to win every game. – Stan
Here is the Aaron Judge quote:
“Every game is important because you can go at the end of the year and look back at how many missed opportunities and games that we should have won, but we just didn’t come up with the big hit, a costly error, stuff like that. Every single game is important.”
No, I don’t think Judge was referring to Boone with his words, but he should have been. Judge was simply frustrated with all the men left on base and the errors and sloppy play from the team in the second game of the season.
After coming within a win of the World Series in 2017 and then being embarrassed last October, I’m sure Judge is sick and tired of not getting the job, the way the fans are. Given that it was his gesture which turned “New York, New York” into the Red Sox’ victory song after their ALDS win, I’m sure he wants to erase that backfire as quickly as possible. The way the Red Sox’ destroyed the memory of the 2003 ALCS by beating the Yankees and winning the World Series the following year, the Yankees can erase the embarrassment of the 2018 ALDS by winning the 2019 World Series.
The easiest way to win the World Series is to avoid the one-game playoff and win the division. So Judge’s urgency makes all the sense in the world. The division will be won by which teams beats up on all the crap in the AL. The Yankees have to do a better job than they did last season against the last-place teams.
Fans who watched the moves in the offseason knew they didn’t do enough. Starting pitching not enough, lack of left-handed bats, same hitting coach that couldn’t fix it last season, same pitching coach who time has passed by. – James
I tend not to put too much stock into what the hitting and pitching coaches do, though I believe the pitching coach is more important than the hitting coach. The only hitting coach I ever really cared about or paid attention to was Kevin Long because he seemed to get all the credit whenever a player performed well, and was of any criticism when the team didn’t perform.
The Yankees could have done better this offseason. They could have signed one or both of the 26-year-old generational stars or the best pitcher on the free-agent market. Instead, they spread the money out after getting under the luxury tax and paying all their core players close to league minimum. It was an odd offseason plan and considering all young star players are getting long-term extensions, it might have been their last chance to ever make a significant difference through free agency.
I believe the Yankees missed an enormous opportunity to lengthen their current championship window and put the best possible team on the field. No, they don’t necessarily need any of the Top 3 free agents to win the World Series, but it sure would have helped.
The Yanks are the only team in the majors that Gardner could beat leadoff. He never swings at the first pitch and pitchers know this so they groove a fastball that he could make decent contact on but know he will take it … I was against bringing him back because of his diminished skills, now with the injury-riddled roster he has to bat somewhere, but leadoff? Boone has no clue, the computer spits out the lineup and he posts it. Don’t you just love analytics? – Mark
Brett Gardner has actually been better over the last few games since this question/comment was written, but that doesn’t change the fact that he should never lead off on this team. I hate to get on Gardner because this whole ordeal isn’t his fault. He didn’t offer himself the one-year, $7.5 million deal when there were better options to take his place. And he’s not the one penciling himself in as the leadoff hitter every game. But I need to know who is.
If it’s Boone, it’s strictly incompetence for a manager whose only redeeming quality seems to be that he’s a good buddy for the players. If it’s the front office and analytics team, we have much a bigger problem. The Yankees are driven by analytics and if it’s somehow analytics recommending Gardner as the leadoff hitter then find new math guys because any person, stat or formula saying Gardner should be at the top of the order can’t be trusted. We can’t have someone who creates an algorithm suggesting Gardner bats leadoff on this team also determining which players to target in trades and in free agency free agents the Yankees should target. But Maybe that’s why they passed on Manny FA and Corbin. Maybe it was the stat guys telling Boone who to bring in with the bases loaded in Game 3 of the ALDS.
Either the Yankees have a manager so far in over his head despite having a season under his belt or they have an analytics team which needs a complete overhaul and either way it’s a problem.
Want to be included in the next Monday Mail? Email your questions to KeefeToTheCity@gmail.com or engage on the Keefe To The City Facebook page or on Twitter.
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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!
Chris McMonigle of WFAN joined me to talk about our differences in regards to Aaron Boone’s managerial style and, early-season overreactions from Yankees fans.
This past weekend was certainly better than the Yankees’ opening weekend. After losing two of three at home to the Orioles to begin the season, the Yankees swept the Orioles on the road to improve to 5-4 on the season. It’s not exactly the record I envisioned the Yankees having after nine games against the Orioles and Tigers, but they are above .500 though things are about to get tougher with a road trip to Houston.
Chris McMonigle of WFAN and Mike’s On joined me to talk about our differences in regards to Aaron Boone’s managerial style, the scheduled off days for players in early the season, early-season overreactions from the Yankees fan base, the Yankees’ need to win the division and when to officially evaluate the season.
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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!
It’s Aaron Boone’s job to put his players and the team in the best possible position to succeed and he hasn’t done that.
There is a commercial frequently playing during Yankees games this season in which Aaron Boone jokes about not really doing anything during games other than pointing to the field and touching his face. The commercial is clearly made in jest, but I’m not so sure it’s far from the truth.
I have joked in the past that since Brian Cashman is so good at trades and so bad at free agency, the Yankees should have Cashman conduct the trades and have a second general manager handle free agency, the way some NFL teams have a kicker for kickoffs and another for field goals. I think the Yankees need to follow this setup for their manager as well. Boone can be the clubhouse manager since he was hired for his personality and ability to communicate with the players. He can be the one who jokes in the room and keeps things loose with his impressions of the team’s roster. He can go out drinking with the guys after games, set up dinner plans on road trips and lead the card games on the team plane. Then, the Yankees can hire an actual game manager because after 174 major league games and another two months of spring training games, it’s clear Boone can’t handle in-game strategy and management.
I thought things would be different for Boone in his second season. At times last year, it appeared as though Boone was new to baseball rather than soon someone who has spent his entire life not only in baseball but in Major League Baseball. The combination of oddly-constructed lineups, poorly-timed scheduled off days for regulars and disastrous bullpen management received anywhere from average to failing grades from the fan base, even though he received “A’s across the board” from Brian Cashman. But if you were the one who replaced Joe Girardi with an unknown at manager to lead a championship-caliber team, you would be hesitant to criticize your managerial selection as well.
Boone’s shaky rookie season came to a head at the worst possible time: the postseason. His bullpen decisions in the final two games of the ALDS made those two games the final two games of the season as his moves were far from questionable and more irresponsible than anything. After initially defending his idiotic and egregious moves in the two losses with excuses which nearly made Girardi’s 2017 ALDS Game 2 non-challenge excuse look good, Boone returned for his end-of-the-season press conference and recognized he could have made better choices. It was the first time all year he acknowledged screwing up rather than citing one of his overused positivity phrases to summarize an embarrassing performance. That alone gave me promise his second year might be different.
Unfortunately, 2019 has been a continuation of 2018 for the entire team, including Boone. The lineup is still using the home run-or-nothing approach with an inability to hit with runners in scoring position or even put the ball in play. After setting the Yankees record for strikeouts through the first five games of a season with 47, the offense stuck out a franchise-record 18 times in the sixth game. While injuries are a major part of the team’s mediocre start, Boone’s managing hasn’t helped matters.
Boone isn’t the reason the Yankees are 3-4 this season and against the lowly Orioles and Tigers, two teams which will finish in last place in their respective divisions. He’s not failing to hit with runners in scoring position or striking out or throwing away balls or misplaying line drives in the outfield, and he’s not on the injured list. But it’s his job as a manager to put his players and the team in the best possible position to succeed and he hasn’t done that.
The Yankees haven’t been routed and they have yet to lose one of the many games they will inevitably lose this season in which it just wasn’t their day. Rather, their four losses have all been close games and all very winnable games. That’s not to say if Boone made different decisions the Yankees would be 7-0 instead of 3-4, but it’s not outrageous to think they could be 4-3 or 5-2 if he manages a little differently and the moves pan out.
Each of the four Yankees losses could have been wins. Not only because they were against crappy teams the Yankees are supposed to beat, but also because the Yankees were in all four of the games with a chance to come back, tie or take the lead. They didn’t, and Boone deserves some of the blame in three of them.
LOSS 1 This is the only one of the four losses in which Boone gets a pass. After loading the bases with walks in the first inning, Miguel Andujar decided he would swing away at a 1-0 pitch and grounded into an inning-ending double play. From there, the Yankees never really had a chance. Boone brought in Chad Green and Jonathan Holder and they allowed a tie game to become a loss. This game could be chalked up as missed opportunities and the exact type of performance the 2018 Yankees gave us too many times.
LOSS 2 On Sunday, J.A Happ put the Yankees in a 4-0 hole early in a start which was eerily similar to his ALDS Game 1 start. But the Yankees fought back and by the seventh inning, they were trailing 5-3.
Boone had Zack Britton up in the bullpen with a two-run deficit, but never brought in the lefty. When the Yankees got within a run at 5-4, he still didn’t bring in Britton. Instead, he brought in Stephen Tarpley, who immediately served up a three-run home run to destroy the Yankees’ chances at completing the comeback. Why was Britton warming up with a two-run deficit, only to not come in once it became a one-run game? Did Boone think his offense couldn’t score one run over the course of two innings against the vaunted Orioles bullpen if the bullpen were able to hold the deficit at one run?
To make matters worse, in the ninth, the Orioles loaded the bases with no outs against Tommy Kahnle, and Boone got Chad Green up in the bullpen. Green, apparently, is able to warm up and come in for mop-up duty in the ninth inning of a four-run game, but is unable to come into a one-run game? This is the type of bullpen management Boone nonsensically used in 2018 and the type of bullpen management which helped eliminate the Yankees in four games in the ALDS.
LOSS 3 On Tuesday, a day after the Yankees put Giancarlo Stanton and Miguel Andujar on the injured list to join Didi Gregorius, CC Sabathia, Luis Severino, Aaron Hicks and Dellin Betances, Boone posted this lineup:
Brett Gardner, CF Aaron Judge, RF Luke Voit, 1B Gleyber Torres, SS DJ LeMahieu, 3B Mike Tauchman, LF Clint Frazier, DH Tyler Wade, 2B Austin Romine, C
Boone decided being down 119 home runs from 2018 in his lineup wasn’t enough, so he had Gary Sanchez and Troy Tulowitzki on the bench as well. He picked Tuesday to give Tauchman the start in left field and have Frazier, Wade and Romine all make their season debuts, creating a formidable 6 through 9 in the order. With this lineup, the Yankees scored one run over nine innings and lost 3-1.
The icing on the cake came in the ninth when Boone allowed the bottom of the order to bat, electing not to use his bench, which included Gary Sanchez and Troy Tulowitzki.
LOSS 4 On Wednesday, the Yankees’ once again managed to score a single run in the game. That run was a product of DJ LeMahieu, who should be leading off every game until Aaron Hicks is back, getting on base and being driven in by Aaron Judge. (It’s amazing how when the leadoff man is actually on base, the Yankees are able to score runs.) LeMahieu was only leading off because Brett Gardner, who will apparently be the Yankees’ leadoff hitter in the absence of Hicks no matter what, had a scheduled day off.
Trailing by a run in the eighth, Luke Voit reached base to lead off the inning. Immediately, David Cone said Gardner should be in the game to run for Voit, but Boone stayed with Voit, and then after an out was made, Voit remained on first. It wasn’t until two outs were made that Boone decided to use Gardner a pinch runner. And then with two outs, Boone had Gardner attempt to steal second and he was thrown out to end the inning.
Why wasn’t Gardner jogging onto the field to run for Voit the second Voit’s foot touched first base? At that point, Gardner’s presence on first alone might have led to a mistake pitch for extra bases in which Gardner would have scored. Or maybe his presence creates a wild pitch and he moves into scoring position. Or maybe he can attempt to steal second when the Tigers aren’t sure when he will run. The possibilities were endless with no outs, but with two outs the Tigers knew Gardner was in the game to steal, and they had no trouble throwing him out.
When Gardner didn’t come into the game, I thought maybe Boone was in the bathroom taking a dump or in the tunnel being told by the analytics team exactly what to do. But when Cone mentioned bringing Gardner in to run, the YES cameras showed Boone in the dugout, so the only explanation is he didn’t think to do it. Needing Voit if the game were to go into extra innings isn’t a valid reason since you have to actually get to extra innings before you can manage for them. Boone simply froze with the leadoff man and an opportunity to create offense to tie the game.
Maybe the Yankees are 3-4 even if Boone changes the way he managed in the four losses, but there’s a good chance their record is better.
I didn’t think Boone could be worse in 2019 than he was in 2018, and it’s possible he isn’t, but he’s certainly not any better. The Yankees, these Yankees, in the middle of a championship window need their manager to be better. Boone has to be better.
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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!
Off days suck. At least they usually do. Right now, though, the Yankees can use as many off days as possible. For the first time in my life, I would gladly welcome a slew of rainouts and postponements.
Off days suck. At least they usually do. Right now, though, the Yankees can use as many off days as possible because a day off means a day of getting healthy for the lengthy injured list, and a day off now means a game later when some of the injured players might be back. For the first time in my life, I would gladly welcome a slew of rainouts and postponements.
The Yankees are a week into the 2019 season and are a painful 3-4, considering their first-week opponents. All seven of their games have been winnable and if not for the team’s inability to hit with runners in scoring position or their manager’s lack of doing everything possible to win, their record would be much better than a .429 winning percentage.
Here are seven thoughts on this off day for the team’s first seven games played.
1. The Yankees are in trouble.When you have Didi Gregorius, Aaron Hicks, Giancarlo Stanton and Miguel Andujar out of your lineup, it’s hard enough to overcome. (Even the loss of Troy Tulowitzki is problematic because it means Tyler Wade plays every day.) Couple those injuries with already losing four out of seven “easy” games against the Orioles and Tigers and you have a recipe for disaster. The Yankees’ remaining April schedule is still very favorable as they play the Astros three times and the Red Sox twice, and the rest of the month they will play against very bad to mediocre-at-best teams. That’s good because the current Yankees lineup is mediocre at best, but it’s bad because these are games they are supposed to win and games they need to win for the final standings and they are now anything but sure-wins as we have seen through the first week.
To be completely honest, I would sign up for the first wild card right now. That’s not an overreaction or me giving up on the season. I know we’re seven games into the season, but none of the injured everyday Yankees are expected back any time soon. Gregorius’ best-case scenario is the All-Star break. Hicks just started baseball activities, which means he’s a few weeks away. Stanton is shut down completely for two weeks and Andujar might need season-ending surgery. The Yankees have already exhausted their depth and batting Tyler Wade and Mike Tauchman is basically the equivalent of playing shorthanded in a Central Park softball league and having to take automatic outs at the end of the batting order. Everyone keeps talking about the Yankees’ need to stay afloat until they can get healthy, but they aren’t going to be healthy for a long time. At least if they were guaranteed the first wild card, they would most likely be healthy by then.
2. Everyone keeps talking about how “it’s early” and how the Red Sox are 2-6 and the Astros are 2-5. Thankfully, the Red Sox are 2-6 and not off to their 2018 start or the wild card would actually be the Yankees’ only postseason path, but the Red Sox’ start shouldn’t make the Yankees’ start any less unacceptable. The injuries have played a major role, but they had Stanton and Andujar for the opening series and still played like crap.
The Red Sox are a healthy 2-6 and the Astros are a healthy 2-5, which is embarrassing, but they are both healthy, and they are both about to start playing at home for the first time. A week from now, they will likely both be over .500 for good for the rest of the season. I’m not sure you can say the same for the Yankees given the lineup they will be running out there every day for the foreseeable future.
3. Aaron Judge is the man. He hits for average, hits for power, gets on base, takes the extra base and open steals, makes diving plays in the field and leaping catches at the wall, holds runners with his arm and is a great team leader as seen by his “urgency” quote after the first loss of the season. He’s a true five-tool player, the best player on the team and truly a perfect Yankee.
It’s a pleasure to watch him play every day and considering he’s yet to hit his first home run, there’s a power streak coming (even if Boone doesn’t believe in streaks), and he can carry this team for games at a time, which is something they desperately need right now. The Yankees need a Didi Gregorius April 2018 out of someone and Judge is their best option to provide that type of production.
4. I would once again like to thank the 2016 Yankees for their four-game losing streak right before the trade deadline, which resulted in Gleyber Torres becoming a Yankee.
Torres’ ability to play second and short (he can also play third as he would have taken over for Chase Headley mid-2017 if not for the collision at home plate resulting in season-ending Tommy John surgery) has become a necessity in the absence of Gregorius and now Troy Tulowitzki as well. Without that four-game losing streak in July 2016, there’s a good chance Torres isn’t a Yankee, and games like Thursday don’t happen.
Torres’ 4-for-4 Thursday with a double and two home runs helped the Yankees avoid falling to not only 2-5 overall, but 1-3 against the Orioles. It was his three-run home run which gave the Yankees a one-run lead in the eventual 8-4 win and maybe in a week or two we will look back at that three-run home run as the turning point of the season.
5. Luke Voit’s Opening Day three-run home run made everyone once again laugh at the Cardinals for trading him to the Yankees for essentially nothing. But after struggling through the next four-plus games with some of the ugliest at-bat you will ever see, I was beginning to question whether or not Voit was worthy of hitting in the middle of the order or if he was still the 27-year-old career .240/.307/.432 hitter the Cardinals gave up on. His three-run home run on Thursday put the game out of reach in the ninth inning, and after being 0-for-15 going into that insurance home run, I needed that home run as much as Voit and the Yankees.
Voit most likely wouldn’t have batted fourth on Opening Day if Gregorius and Hicks were healthy. Hicks would have been leading off, followed by Judge then Gregorius because Boone has to separate the righties in Judge and Stanton. At best, I think Voit would have batted fifth, and he would have batted that solely off his short time as a Yankee last season.
Right now, Voit has to hit in the middle of the order because there are no other options. Clint Frazier still looks like a player who lost nearly a full season, Tauchman is barely on the team and Wade is still trying to prove he belongs in the majors. Those three have to hit in the bottom third of the order, leaving the top six places to established major leaguers. When you start to shake it out from there, Voit is one of the only real options to bat third or fourth consistently, but he’s going to have to produce like he did when he initially became a Yankee to hold that spot when the injured list starts to dwindle.
6. The four Gary Sanchez throwing errors in six games played are a bit alarming, though at least one and possibly two of those should have been caught at second base. There is a good portion of the fan base waiting for every Sanchez mistake the way my dog sits next to me praying I drop food while I eat. I don’t get it. Sure, Sanchez has some ugly passed ball history, was awful at the plate last season and has made some errant throws this season, but he’s still a franchise catcher, and the best overall catcher in the majors.
I don’t understand why people are so quick to discount what he did at a young age in 2016 and 2017, but aren’t quick to discount someone like Voit whose career is essentially one month of what Sanchez did for a year and a half. It’s almost as if Sanchez’s horrendous 2018 season is all he has to show for his career on the back of his baseball card.
Sanchez has once again run into some bad luck this season with hard-hit line drives right at fielders this season. However, I’m happy to see him get off to a much better start from a power perspective with a team-leading three home runs in only six games so far.
I believe in Sanchez and everyone should too. (I’m looking at you, Brittni.)
7. Aroldis Chapman’s implosion on Wednesday could be seen from a mile away. Chapman is far from trustworthy in a save situation and when you put him into a tie game, the level of trust drops considerably. So it came as no surprise when a 1-1 game in the ninth turned into a 3-1 loss thanks to Chapman.
Right now, I put the Yankees’ bullpen order of trust as follows:
1. Adam Ottavino 2. Zack Britton 3. Aroldis Chapman 4. Chad Green 5. Jonathan Holder 6. Tommy Kahnle 7. Stephen Tarpley 8. Luis Cessa
(The drop-off from 3 to 4 is big and the drop-off from 5 to 6 is even bigger.)
Dellin Betances throwing means he’s getting closer to a return, which means the Yankees will have two lights-out firemen in Betances and Ottavino. Most teams don’t have one and some teams never have one. I look forward to the team’s strength getting stronger and the chance of holding leads and turning tie games and extra-inning games into wins increasing.
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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!
