Yankees – Page 157 – Keefe To The City

Sep 30, 2018

Yankees’ AL Wild-Card Game Starter Is an Impossible Decision

The Yankees have three good options to start the wild-card game, but no really great options. There’s no consensus pick on who should start against the A’s and that’s a problem.

Last season, the decision of who would start the wild-card game was easy: Luis Severino. He was the best pitcher on the team (and one of the best in the entire league, finishing third in the Cy Young voting), and it wasn’t even close. Had the offense not been able to overcome his disastrous one-third of an inning performance, it would have been a disappointing end to the season, but no one could have faulted the team for going with their ace in the game. He was the unanimous choice among the organization and Yankees fans, and if the Yankees were eliminated in that game, it could have easily been excused as the textbook example of how anything can happen in a single baseball game.

This season is much different. The Yankees have three options to start the wild-card game, but no true option. There’s no consensus pick on who should start on Wednesday, Oct. 3 against the A’s and that’s a problem.

It won’t be a problem if the offense goes out and scores eight runs the way they did a year ago. But it will be a problem if the starting pitcher lays an egg the way Severino did in last year’s game and the offense goes into one of its familiar funks and the season ends at home after triple-digits wins in the regular season.

The Yankees have to be right their in their decision because if the season ends with a home loss in the wild-card game a year after they came within one win of the World Series, the season is a complete failure. That’s not some Steinbrenner mentality either, that’s fact. It doesn’t matter how many games the team won in a season in which six AL teams lost at least 88 games and a team in the Yankees’ division is one of the worst teams in the history of baseball. The Yankees have to at least reach the ALDS for this season to be anything but a wasted one in their current window of opportunity. If the Yankees are wrong with their decision and the starting pitcher is the reason for a loss in the game, it will be second-guessed forever.

If it’s Severino and they lose, it should have been Masahiro Tanaka or J.A. Happ. If it’s Tanaka and they lose, it should have been Severino or Happ. If it’s Happ and they lose, it should have been Severino or Tanaka. They’re all good options, but none of them are great options.

Severino was the best pitcher in the American League for the first half of the season and after shutting out the Red Sox 6 2/3 innings on July 1, he was 13-2 with a 1.98 ERA. But over his next 11 starts, he allowed 89 baserunners in 55 2/3 innings and 13 home runs, pitching to a 6.83 ERA as opposing hitters batted .323/.360/.574 against him. He has returned to form of late though, pitching to a 2.04 ERA and a 1.019 WHIP in his last three starts spanning 17 2/3 innings.

Tanaka had a 4.54 ERA at the All-Star break, but after the break he pitched to a 2.09 ERA and 1.036 WHIP over 10 starts from July 24 to Sept. 14. His second-half performance had made him the front-runner to start the wild-card game. But then, on Sept. 20, he was knocked around by the Red Sox (4 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 HR), and then knocked around by the Rays in his next start on Sept. 26 (4 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 HR).

Happ has been exceptional since coming to the Yankees at the trade deadline, going 7-0 with a 2.69 ERA and 1.052 WHIP in 11 starts and 63 2/3 innings. He’s only had one bad start as a Yankee and that came on Aug. 30 against the White Sox (4.1 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 3 HR). Aside from that, he’s been outstanding, including his Sept. 4 win over the A’s (6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HR).

The Yankees have said recently they don’t know who they are going to pitch in the game and that they would have those discussions over the weekend, but barring injury, we all know that’s not true. They have known for a while who they want to start the game. At this point, they’re just waiting to announce it.

If their decision is based on who’s the best pitcher, it’s Severino, who is still the ace and future of the rotation and when on, he’s one of, if not, the best pitcher in the majors. If they’re going with with the best postseason pitcher, it’s Tanaka, who pitched well in the wild-card game in 2015 and then was dominant in three starts in last year’s postseason against the Indians and Astros, allowing two earned runs in 25 innings. If they’re going off recent performance, it’s Happ, who has done nothing but win and pitch well since putting on the pinstripes aside from that one game over a month ago

There’s this idea that the Yankees are only going to allow the starter, no matter who it is, to go through the lineup once, and then turn it over to the bullpen. But that’s hard to believe because if any of the three are pitching a three-hit shutout through four innings, are they really going to be relieved? And while the Yankees do boast Aroldis Chapman, Dellin Betances, Zach Britton, David Robertson and Chad Green, the goal shouldn’t be to use all of them, the goal should be to use as few of them as possible. The more relievers used in the game, the better the chance one of the pitchers entering for the Yankees might not have it that night and the game could be lost in the middle or late innings because of it. It’s nice to have a plan and strategy going into the game, but baseball very rarely lets you plan ahead.

I honestly don’t know who I would pick. When I lean toward Severino because he’s the best pitcher on the team, I get worried that he might try to do too much and make up for last year’s first-inning debacle. When I lean toward Tanaka because of his postseason resume, I start to envision the home run-hitting A’s against the home run-prone right-hander and the game getting out of hand. When I lean toward Happ because of his Yankees tenure, I worry that if his location and command are off, he doesn’t have the stuff to get through the game.

I don’t know who should start the game. All I know is I’m happy I don’t have to make the decision. But whatever the decision is, it better be right.

***

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

The book details my life as a Yankees fan, growing up watching Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams through my childhood and early adulthood and the shift to now watching Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino, Aaron Judge, Greg Bird and others become the latest generation of Yankees baseball. It’s a journey through the 2017 postseason with flashbacks to games and moments from the Brian Cashman era.

Click here to purchase the book through Amazon as an ebook. You can read it on any Apple device by downloading the free Kindle app.

Blogs • Yankees

Sep 27, 2018

No Urgency from the Yankees with Four Games Left

The Yankees gave away another game on Wednesday in Tampa Bay with poor management and poor play and the possibility of the wild-card not being at Yankee Stadium is now very real.

Masahiro Tanaka

The way the Yankees have played over the last few weeks, or the entire season really, you would think they were the 107-win team in the AL East waiting for Game 1 of the ALDS on Friday, Oct. 5. Instead, all the Yankees have clinched is a wild-card berth. With now four games to play (one in Tampa Bay and three in Boston), we still don’t know where the wild-card game will be played. How is that even possible?

It’s possible when the team is managed as if everything has been wrapped up for weeks or even months. It’s possible when Aaron Boone continues to let starting pitchers stay in too long or when his wildly unsuccessful batter-to-batter strategy backfires time and time again or when he elects to give players unnecessary days off when so much remains on the table. There have been countless examples of this throughout the season and Wednesday’s loss to the Rays was just the latest.

When Neil Walker hit a three-run home run in the first inning on Wednesday, I figured the game would be a laugher. Then the Yankees were held scoreless until the ninth when they produced another failed comeback. (Yankees blue balls as I like to call them.) Between Walker’s home run and the Yankees eventual 8-7 loss, Masahiro Tanaka gave the three first-inning runs right back in the bottom of the first and got knocked around for his second straight start, most likely taking himself out of the wild-card starter conversation; Giancarlo Stanton, who has had maybe four big hits all season, failed to produce any runs with the bases loaded and one out, hitting into an inning-ending double play; Miguel Andujar, Gary Sanchez, Adeiny Hechavarria and Gleyber Torres combined to go 0-for-12 with a walk (Sanchez) and six strikeouts; Boone decided to keep letting David Robertson try to get out of the eighth inning when he clearly didn’t have it, throwing 24 pitches and giving up four runs (three earned); and Boone decided to let Tyler Wade bat, the career .168/.227/.487 hitter who has had two at-bats in September and whose last hit in the majors came on July 28, as a pinch hitter with the game on the line in the ninth.

The least egregious of those things are the four hitters combining to get on base once in 13 plate appearances because that will happen. But nothing that happened on Wednesday night surprised me. That has been Yankees baseball since the end of June and that has been Boone all season.

Despite Boone saying Torres was healthy enough to play on Wednesday, the Yankees manager wanted to give him another day off because of the turf. Thursday’s game would also be played on turf. Would Boone then give Torres a second unnecessary day off because of the playing field? Boone ended up using Torres anyway, completely negating his entire plan. So Torres was able to play on Wednesday, just not start. With Didi Gregorius and Aaron Hicks banged up and unavailable, Boone took one of his few remaining trustworthy bats out of the lineup for what? To prevent a 21-year-old from playing baseball on a hard surface, even though Torres plays the middle infield, which is played on dirt.

There’s nothing Boone could say or a move he could make at this point that would surprise me. It was just Sunday when he let A.J. Cole destroy a lead against the historically-bad Orioles and it was only last Thursday when Chad Green struck out the side against the Red Sox in the sixth to hold a one-run lead and Boone decided to run Green back out there in the seventh, despite every Yankees fan knowing to not let him pitch a second inning. Green allowed a leadoff home run in the seventh to the light-hitting Jackie Bradley Jr. to tie the game and then was allowed to give up a single to the next batter, the ninth-hitting catcher. It was only then that Boone took the ball from Green, after he made sure he let him put one more runner on. That runner came around to score. After the game, Boone said the Red Sox “weren’t going to be denied”, believing his bullpen management had nothing to do with the loss that clinched the division for the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium.

Friday’s loss to the Red Sox, Sunday’s loss to the Orioles and Wednesday’s loss to the Rays all happened in six days. Six days with the first wild card still not clinched following months of the same style of nonchalant managing and accountability.

It’s been 15 days since I wrote The Yankees Are in Trouble and back then I said the following:

If the A’s do pass the Yankees for the first wild card and the Yankees somehow win the game in Oakland, they will have to fly from Boston following Game 162 to Oakland for one game then fly back to Boston to begin the ALDS. They will have used the starting pitcher the organization deemed their best starting pitcher in the one-game playoff and then will face the well-rested Red Sox, who clinched a playoff berth on Tuesday, in a best-of-5 series knowing that the team’s likely best starter won’t be available until Game 3.

With the way the Yankees are playing, I would almost rather have them lose the AL Wild-Card Game than have them win it only to be embarrassed by the Red Sox in the ALDS. Like I have always said, there’s nothing to gain from the Yankees ever playing the Red Sox in the postseason. If the Yankees win, they’re the Yankees and they’re supposed to win. And if the Yankees lose, it’s the end of the world. Even in a season in which the Red Sox might win 110 games those rules still apply. I want no part of a postseason series with the Red Sox, especially given the huge travel and personnel disadvantage the Yankees will be in following the one-game playoff.

I have kept telling myself that there’s no point in getting upset with any losses for the rest of the regular season because the next game that matters is on Wednesday, Oct. 3, but that was when it seemed like the first wild-card spot was a given. Now it’s anything but a sure-thing and all I envision is Mike Fiers shutting down the Yankees for six scoreless in Oakland and the A’s bullpen putting an end to the 2018 Yankees season, a season that was supposed to end with a trip to the World Series.

The Yankees are in even bigger trouble than they were when I wrote that over two weeks ago. The magic number to clinch the first wild card sits at 2 and the Yankees have to play in Tampa Bay on Thursday and then in Boston the next three days where the Red Sox will be playing their actual lineup for at least a couple of the games before a four-day layoff leading into the ALDS. The A’s, meanwhile, have Thursday off and then play their last three regular-season games against the Angels, who haven’t had anything to play for in months, and can taste the finish line and end of the season and the four-plus month break before spring training.

There’s a good chance the A’s won’t lose any of their final three games. I don’t think they are going to lose any of three games in Anaheim, which means the Yankees will have to go 2-2 in their final four games against the Rays, who desperately want to screw up the Yankees’ season, and the Red Sox, who after clinching the division at Yankee Stadium can give the Yankees one more big EFF YOU by sending them across the country for one game. The Red Sox would certainly rather play the A’s, who are without any real postseason starting pitching option, and by sending the Yankees to the West Coast, they would be assured that whichever teams win the wild card would have to fly across the country and then play a well-rested best team in baseball about 36 hours later.

If the Yankees end up as the second wild card, I really would rather have them lose in Oakland. They will have burned a starting pitcher, likely have used their best bullpen arms, will have had to fly to California and back and will have then been on the road for 11 days before first pitch in the ALDS. It would be a miracle if they were to upset the Red Sox under those circumstances and I can’t bank on a miracle when I know what it feels like to lose to the Red Sox in the postseason. If the Yankees are playing in Oakland next Wednesday, they should end the season there as well.

The Yankees are in real trouble now. They went from World Series favorite to potentially the second wild card in the span of three months all while playing as if they have had everything locked up over that time period.

I have waited for Aaron Boone to manage with any sense of urgency this entire season. I waited while he gave games away with his bullpen management all summer and when he frequently gave players days off in an attempt to prevent injuries that arose anyway (Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Gregorius, Torres and Hicks have all missed significant time). I waited some more while he let fringe major league pitchers let one-run deficits become four-run deficits and when he would create nonsensical lineups with his best hitter at times batting ninth and batting behind the pitcher in interleague games.

Thankfully, I don’t have to wait much longer to find out if the Yankees are in fact going to completely collapse and head to Oakland for one game, in which we will already know the outcome. Unfortunately, there’s now only four games for Boone to manage and the Yankees to play with urgency and avoid having this seven-day road trip become a 10-day road trip and a 13-day road trip if they were to win the wild-card game in Oakland. The Yankees haven’t managed or played with any urgency for 158 games, I doubt they will now.

***

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

The book details my life as a Yankees fan, growing up watching Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams through my childhood and early adulthood and the shift to now watching Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino, Aaron Judge, Greg Bird and others become the latest generation of Yankees baseball. It’s a journey through the 2017 postseason with flashbacks to games and moments from the Brian Cashman era.

Click here to purchase the book through Amazon as an ebook. You can read it on any Apple device by downloading the free Kindle app.

Blogs • Yankees

Sep 12, 2018

The Yankees Are in Trouble

The Yankees’ lead for the first wild-card spot is down to 2 and with the A’s having an easy remaining schedule, it’s looking more and more like that the AL Wild-Card Game will be in Oakland.

Since the Yankees’ four-game sweep in Boston six weeks ago, I have been planning on being at the Stadium on Wednesday, Oct. 3 for the AL Wild-Card Game. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that game will be played in New York.

The Yankees’ lead for the first wild-card spot is down to 2 games. Two. T-W-O. With the A’s playing the Orioles the next two days and with none of the A’s remaining 17 games against postseason teams, it’s now more than likely that it will be the A’s hosting the AL Wild-Card Game. So the only way I will be attending the one-game playoff for the third time in four seasons is if I fly across the country for it, which is a brutal trip the Yankees will have to make.

If the A’s do pass the Yankees for the first wild card and the Yankees somehow win the game in Oakland, they will have to fly from Boston following Game 162 to Oakland for one game then fly back to Boston to begin the ALDS. They will have used the starting pitcher the organization deemed their best starting pitcher in the one-game playoff and then will face the well-rested Red Sox, who clinched a playoff berth on Tuesday, in a best-of-5 series knowing that the team’s likely best starter won’t be available until Game 3.

With the way the Yankees are playing, I would almost rather have them lose the AL Wild-Card Game than have them win it only to be embarrassed by the Red Sox in the ALDS. Like I have always said, there’s nothing to gain from the Yankees ever playing the Red Sox in the postseason. If the Yankees win, they’re the Yankees and they’re supposed to win. And if the Yankees lose, it’s the end of the world. Even in a season in which the Red Sox might win 110 games those rules still apply. I want no part of a postseason series with the Red Sox, especially given the huge travel and personnel disadvantage the Yankees will be in following the one-game playoff.

I have kept telling myself that there’s no point in getting upset with any losses for the rest of the regular season because the next game that matters is on Wednesday, Oct. 3, but that was when it seemed like the first wild-card spot was a given. Now it’s anything but a sure-thing and all I envision is Mike Fiers shutting down the Yankees for six scoreless in Oakland and the A’s bullpen putting an end to the 2018 Yankees season, a season that was supposed to end with a trip to the World Series.

The Yankees are probably going to win 100 games this season (they have to finish 10-7), but in this 2018 season in which seven of the AL’s 15 teams are on pace to lose at least 88 games, it means nothing. There’s no silver lining for having the second- or third-best record in baseball, but being eliminated in the wild-card game. If the Yankees don’t reach the ALDS, the entire season was a failure. Reaching the ALDS means they reached the actual postseason, and given the uncertainty of a five-game series, reaching the ALDS is all you can really ask for.

This season feels a lot like the 2015 season. The 2015 Yankees held a seven-game division lead on July 29 and two weeks later they were trailing by a 1/2 game and by the end of the regular season they were six games back in the division. They finished the regular season losing six of seven, including three straight at home to a last-place Red Sox team and the final three games of the season to a .500 Orioles team. If not for the Diamondbacks win over the Astros in Game 162, the Yankees would have had to go on the road for the AL Wild-Card Game. Not that it mattered anyway since Dallas Keuchel and the Astros bullpen pitched a three-hit shutout in the game at Yankee Stadium.

Everyone knew the Yankees were going to lose that game with the way they limped to the finish line and with Keuchel, their kryptonite and Cliff Lee 2.0 at the time, starting that game. There’s no 2015 Dallas Keuchel on the A’s this season, but whether it’s Mike Fiers or Trevor Cahill or a bullpen game, I have that same bad feeling about these Yankees and the one-game playoff with the game three weeks from today.

***

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

The book details my life as a Yankees fan, growing up watching Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams through my childhood and early adulthood and the shift to now watching Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino, Aaron Judge, Greg Bird and others become the latest generation of Yankees baseball. It’s a journey through the 2017 postseason with flashbacks to games and moments from the Brian Cashman era.

Click here to purchase the book through Amazon as an ebook. You can read it on any Apple device by downloading the free Kindle app.

Blogs • MLB Trade Deadline • Yankees

Jul 27, 2018

Zach Britton and J.A. Happ Are Yankees

The Yankees should have two general managers the way some football teams have two kickers. One GM could do the free-agent signings and Brian Cashman could do the trades.

I have always said the Yankees should have two general managers the way some football teams have two kickers. One GM could do the free-agent signings and one could do the trades, the way one kicker does kickoffs and one does field goals. Brian Cashman could be the Yankees general manager who conducts the trades, and he could let someone else take care of the free-agent signings since the majority of them have been failures.

Going back to the offseason in preparation of this season, Cashman has done the following:

Got rid of Chase Headley and his $13 million by attaching Bryan Mitchell to the deal
Turned Starlin Castro, Jorge Guzman and Jose Devers into Giancarlo Stanton and got the Marlins to pay $30 million of his contract
Turned Tyler Widener and Nick Solak into Brandon Drury

Now Cashman has added Zach Britton to the best bullpen in the majors and J.A. Happ to a rotation in desperate need of veteran stability. He did so by trading two Triple-A prospects and a Double-A prospect whose paths to the majors was blocked, Drury, who is blocked by Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar, and Billy McKinney, who is blocked by the current Yankees outfielders and Clint Frazier. The Yankees gave up five players who were only ever going to be Yankees following a series of unfortunate events and injuries.

I would think the Yankees are done with their pre-deadline deals unless Cashman looks for stopgaps for either Gary Sanchez or Aaron Judge for the next month. But if he doesn’t, there’s no room for another bat, the bullpen is already one pitcher too many, and with Happ, the rotation is full once again. Andujar has been rumored as the centerpiece in a trade for a starting pitcher, but now that Drury is gone, Andujar isn’t going anywhere. The same had been reported about Clint Frazier as well, but he’s back on the disabled list with concussion issues. I think it’s safe to say the Yankees team you see against the Royals right now (plus Sanchez and minus Kyle Higashioka) is the Yankees team you will see on Aug. 1 and through the rest of the season, and that’s a good thing.

Britton gives the Yankees a second left-hander and a dominant one at that out of the bullpen. I would be shocked if Chasen Shreve is a Yankee much longer, but maybe getting out of that bases-loaded jam against the Mets last Saturday bought him another season of DFA immunity. I thought Shreve was one his way out long ago, but he has continued to survive, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he survived again. At least if he does remain a Yankee, he won’t be the only other left-handed option for Aaron Boone to go to. The more elite relievers the Yankees can obtain, the less bad decisions Boone will make.

Happ gives the Yankees a veteran presence and rotation stability. He has AL East and postseason experience, he’s left-handed, and most importantly, he’s dominated the Red Sox for his entire career, outside of his last start against them. Happ had been good this season as the Blue Jays’ lone All-Star representative, and it’s not like he needs putting on the pinstripes and pitching in a pennant race to rejuvenate himself or revitalize his career like past Yankees deadline deals for starting pitchers. He just needs to continue to pitch the way he has.

The Yankees are better than they were when they left Tampa Bay, since they couldn’t have been much worse outside of Masahiro Tanaka. They have a team that can win in October the way last year’s team did, and a team that could get that elusive fourth win in the ALCS the way last year’s team couldn’t. But first, they need to do everything they can to avoid the wild-card game for the third time in four years. The additions of Britton and Happ help them do that.

***

My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook! Click here to purchase the book through Amazon as an ebook. You can read it on any Apple device by downloading the Kindle app.

Blogs • Yankees

Jul 9, 2018

Yankees Need a Starting Pitcher Not Named Nathan Eovaldi

The Yankees tried to fix Nathan Eovaldi for two seasons and weren’t able to. The last thing the team needs is a reunion with the hard-throwing failed starter.

I think people forget how much Nathan Eovaldi sucked as a Yankee.

Yes, Eovaldi had an impressive 23-11 record in two seasons, 51 starts and three relief appearances for the Yankees, but that win-loss record is very deceiving. In 2015, Eovaldi received 5.75 runs of support per start, and only 10 of his 27 starts were “quality”. In 2016, it was much of the same, as he received 5.54 runs of support per start, and only eight of his 24 starts were “quality”. As a Yankee, Eovaldi pitched to a 4.45 ERA and 1.387 WHIP and only struck out 218 in 279 innings (despite throwing 100 mph), but somehow posted a .676 winning percentage. He was as average as average can be, and anything other than the “Nasty Nate” nickname the Yankees gave him on social media. With an arm like his, there’s a reason why the Dodgers and Marlins gave up on him, allowing him to become a Yankee: because he isn’t good.

If missing nearly two years and then having a few good starts against the worst teams in the majors can completely erase the rest of your career, then every mediocre starter should sit out for a couple years. The perception of Eovaldi as a starting pitcher has changed so much because of 48 1/3 post-Tommy John surgery innings that a lot of people are willing to completely disregard his other 739 career innings.

Since his return on May 30, Eovaldi no-hit the A’s for six innings, one-hit the Nationals in six innings, allowed two earned runs over six innings to the Marlins, and on Sunday, he one-hit the Mets over seven innings (and carried a perfect game into the seventh in that performance against the Mets). Supposedly, the Yankees had a scout at Eovaldi’s dominant outing at Citi Field, so naturally some Yankees fans want a reunion with Eovaldi because he has been unhittable against two of the worst two teams in baseball, an underachieving disaster and a respectable .500 team. Unfortunately, the Yankees don’t need another start can shut down teams counting down the days until the end of the season. They need a starting pitcher who can beat other playoff-bound teams. A starting pitcher who can win in the postseason. Eovaldi is far from that.

In his other four starts, Eovaldi was his usual self, needing nearly 100 pitches and sometimes more to get through five innings. In three of those starts, he faced the Yankees, Mariners and Astros, all of which will be in the postseason. His line in those games: 18.1 IP, 19 H, 12 R, 12 ER, 1 BB, 13 K, 7 HR, 5.89 ERA, 1.093 WHIP. That’s the real Eovaldi, and I’m going to pass on the guy who gave up seven home runs in three games to actual Major League hitters. I think the Yankees will too.

On Saturday, the Yankees faced J.A. Happ, another name the team has been connected to because of his expiring contract and because of his success against the Red Sox. Like Cole Hamels’ start earlier this season against the Yankees, Happ had a chance to show that he can handle a real lineup in a pressure situation. The pressure in this situation being the Yankees needing to win every game to keep pace with the Red Sox and Happ needing to pitch well in an audition to join a contender. Happ’s audition didn’t last long.

The Blue Jays’ left-hander gave up back-to-back home runs to lead off the game and then walked the next two batters. After back-to-back strikeouts, he gave up a two-run double, and the Yankees had a 4-0 lead. Happ needed 34 pitches to get through the first inning. In the second inning, he loaded the bases with two walks and a single before bouncing back to get out of the jam unscathed. But in the the third, after a leadoff walk, a lineout, a strikeout and another walk, he was removed. Jake Petricka came in and further ruined Happ’s day and ERA by giving up a two-run triple on his second pitch. Happ’s line: 2.2 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 6 BB, 5 K, 2 HR.

I know Happ is better than that. I have seen him be better than that. But he’s 35 now and has a 4.44 ERA and unless he gets traded to a postseason team, he won’t pitch in a bigger game in 2018, and he was awful. Yes, one start is the smallest of sample sizes, but the postseason is all about small sample sizes, and the Yankees can’t afford to add the wrong starter for the final two months of the season and the postseason. He’s still a better option that Eovaldi.

Domingo German has been the answer to Jordan Montgomery’s rotation spot, but his inconsistency might end that, and Jonathan Loaisiga looked he might be the answer to Masahiro Tanaka’s before suffering shoulder inflammation. I don’t think Luis Cessa is the new answer to that spot, and I don’t trust him to be either. That would leave Justus Sheffield as the next starting option. I’m all for Sheffield being given a real chance to be part of the rotation, but with the way the Yankees have babied their starting prospects over the years, I know I can’t count on that idea (even if has the ability the biggest difference-maker the Yankees could potentially add).

I definitely don’t want Eovaldi to a Yankee again since I didn’t want him to be one for the first time. I also don’t want Happ or another rental pitcher like him to be one if the price is anything other than a couple prospects that are nowhere near the majors and most likely will never reach them either. A trade for Jacob deGrom isn’t happening and I don’t think I want to give up current Yankees and more Major League-ready prospects for someone who could be done every time he throws a pitch. The same goes for Madison Bumgarner. But even if I did want either, they are both most likely unavailable.

The Yankees’ best bet is either Happ or Cole Hamels, who I petitioned for earlier this season. Either will be a salary dump and the return would be players without a spot on the Yankees prospects nowhere near helping the Yankees. Either will be better than Sonny Gray (who’s the reason the Yankees need to add another starter), and will be more reliable and stable than Luis Cessa or their other in-house options.

Outside of the Gray trade last year, rarely, if ever, has someone been connected to the Yankees and they eventually trade for them. Usually, out of nowhere, the Yankees are reported to be close to acquiring a player, and five minutes later, a deal is done. Neither Happ or Hamels has been connected to the Yankees of late. One of them needs to be their guy, and they should go out and get one of them.