The Yankees traded for Andrew Benintendi late on Wednesday night, and it was a solid move. But it can’t be the only move.
The Yankees traded for Andrew Benintendi late on Wednesday night, and it was a solid move. But it can’t be the only move. The Yankees need a lot of help if they want to win the World Series, and they need to acquire that help by Tuesday afternoon.
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Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.
The Yankees got swept in the first half of the 2022 Subway Series, have lost five of seven since the All-Star break and are 17-16 since June 19. The comparisons to the 1998 team have finally stopped as the Yankees try to get back to winning consistently for the last two months of the season.
Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.
1. Back on April 21, the Yankees lost to the Tigers 3-0 in Detroit, falling to 7-6 on the season. It was the third time the Yankees had been shut out in 10 games. Coming off a three-game series loss in Baltimore the previous weekend in which the Yankees scored only three runs in 29 innings at Camden Yards, the 2022 season was a continuation of the 2021 season. Inconsistent, lackluster and disappointing play had become these Yankees.
Following that shutout loss to the lowly Tigers, the Yankees went off, winning 11 in a row and 22 of 26. They went from the most underachieving season in arguably the team’s history in 2021 to being compared to arguably the best team in the team’s history of 1998 in 2022. From the day after that loss in Detroit through June 18, the Yankees went 42-10, running away with the division and guaranteeing themselves a bye into the ALDS.
2. But since their 4-0 win over the Rays on June 18, the early-season Yankees have returned. The 2021 Yankees have returned. Injuries and underperformance have led to just a 17-16 record since June 19, and in that time, the Yankees lost five of seven to the Astros, blew three games to the now last-place Red Sox, split a two-game series with a Pirates team on pace to lose 96 games, lost a home series to a last-place Reds team on pace for 99 losses and got swept in the first half of the Subway Series.
The starting pitching has begun to show cracks and lost Luis Severino for an undetermined amount of time. The bullpen lost Michael King for the rest of this season and possibly next season, lost Miguel Castro indefinitely and is hoping Aroldis Chapman (who was on his way to being released before injuries) and Jonathan Loaisiga (who looks completely lost) can figure it out and fast. The lineup continues to go as Aaron Judge goes and when the big man slumps, the Yankees often lose.
3. After the Mets completed a first-half sweep in the Subway Series of the Yankees, Aaron Boone said, “We’re good. We know it. But we also know obviously we’re very beatable.”
Boone says a lot of dumb things. Most words that come out of his mouth in pre- and postgame press conferences are exactly that … or lies. But for one of a few times as Yankees manager, Boone said something accurate and truthful.
The Yankees are good, but yes, unfortunately, they are very beatable. I have written and said many times this year that the Yankees are where they are for three reasons: the starting pitching, Judge and the combination of King and Clay Holmes. Well, the starting pitching is no longer what it was in late April, May and the first half of June, and King is done. The Yankees need help and they need it between now and Tuesday afternoon.
4. The Yankees went out and got some help late on Wednesday night, trading for Andrew Benintendi. He’s not Juan Soto, who I still pray the Yankees land and will be distraught if they don’t, but he’s a solid player, and his presence means the end of Joey Gallo on the team and less Aaron Hicks, and no more Gallo and less Hicks is enough to make Benintendi already likable.
I could see Benintendi hitting just about anywhere in the Yankees’ order. First, second, third, fifth, sixth, seventh, who knows. I don’t think anyone knows because the logic and reasoning Aaron Boone uses to construct his lineups is unpredictable because there is no logic or reasoning. (He gave a breakdown of how he makes decisions on an offseason episode of CC Sabathia’s podcast and it was flat-out scary. I don’t know how the front office didn’t listen to how his brain works and not immediately let him go.) No matter where he hits, the Yankees improved their team and their offense with the trade.
5. The best possible lineup doesn’t include Josh Donaldson, who is officially washed up. I have questioned it all season, but it’s now official. He sucks. If he were on a one-year, prove-it deal for $5 million, he would likely no longer be a Yankee. But because the Yankees foolishly traded for him at the age of 36 and happily took on the entire $48 million owed to him, Donaldson isn’t going anywhere in terms of no longer being a Yankee. He should go somewhere though and that somewhere is the bench.
Donaldson can’t hit right-handed pitching (.239/.315/.396) because he can’t even hit left-handed pitching (.175/.284/.368). His numbers against power pitching are atrocious (.254/.303/.339) because his numbers against any kind of pitching are atrocious. And guess what type of pitching there is in October? Power pitching. How can the Yankees pencil his name into the lineup and expect anything other than strikeouts and ground outs to the left side against Justin Verlander, Christian Javier, Lance McCullers Jr., Alek Manoah, Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman, and any other hard-throwing, right-handed starter the Yankees may see.
6. I keep having people tell me “Yeah, but he plays great defense!” Who gives a fuck? Seriously, who gives a fuck? Defense grows on trees. You can find defense anywhere. Infield defense, outfield defense, you name it. It’s not hard to find. Defense-only players don’t get paid $24 million a season, and they don’t hit fifth and sixth for teams with championship aspirations.
Donaldson can’t be an everyday player for a team trying to win the 1-seed in the AL, and he can’t be an option as a starting player in the postseason, whether the Yankees are facing a lefty or not. This year is a lost year for him. If they’re unable to move him and dump even some of his salary in the offseason then try again next year (not that he will suddenly be better a year older). But for 2022, I have seen enough.
7. I have seen enough of Chapman as well, but because of the injuries to King and Castro, he’s not going anywhere. The Yankees are going to try to fix him between now and the ALDS, but if he’s needed in the ALDS, I think we all know how any outing of his will fare.
“It’s obviously tough right now for him,” Boone said of Chapman recently. “He’s going through a tough time and grinding.”
The “tough time” is now more than a year. Since June 10, 2021, Chapman has an ERA of nearly 6 and has allowed double-digit home runs. It’s rare when he pitches a scoreless inning and a near miracle when he pitches a 1-2-3 inning. Most of the time, he has no idea where the ball is going, walks at least one batter in an appearance and gives up the long ball when he has to come in the zone. He could not give up an earned run for the rest of the regular season and I would have zero confidence in him in a postseason appearance.
Loaisiga has been every bit as bad as Chapman, and possibly worse. Loaisiga has allowed 35 baserunners and 17 earned runs in 21 2/3 innings this season. He went from being in the conversation for best reliever in the majors in 2021 to on his way to pitching himself out of the majors in 2022.
8. The Yankees have a lot of bad options right now across all facets of the team. They are willing to give endless starting opportunities to Domingo German who should have been released from the team at the announcement of his suspension in 2019, and who continues to be really, really bad. They continue to roster Gallo, bat Donaldson in the middle of the order, act like it’s not a big deal that their starting shortstop can’t hit the ball in the air and is extremely shaky in the field, and their backup catcher doesn’t do anything well and rarely ever isn’t pinch hit for in a game he starts. In the bullpen, Albert Abreu seems like a ticking time bomb Boone will deploy at the most inopportune time in October and Wandy Peralta is the manager’s second-favorite reliever after all-world Holmes. As long as bad options exit on the roster Boone will find a way to use them, just like he did in inexplicably pinch hitting Gallo on Tuesday night.
9. Gallo hadn’t even walked out of the dugout before Buck Showalter immediately brought in Edwin Diaz. All Yankees fans know how inept Boone is at in-game management. But it’s pronounced when he goes head-to-head against managers like Showalter or Alex Cora or Kevin Cash. After the game, Boone said he wanted to “force” Showalter to use Diaz for a four-out save. The only chance the Yankees had in coming back on Tuesday was to come back before Diaz entered the game, yet there was Boone saying his goal was to get Diaz into the game as early as possible and for as many outs as possible. A true moron.
10. Boone isn’t about to get smarter between now and the first week of October. If it hasn’t happened for him at this point of his life, it’s not happening. And it’s not happening.
The only way to decrease the odds Boone ruins the postseason is by eliminating bad rooster options. Trading for Benintendi was the first step in doing so. It can’t be the only move. If it is, I can tell you right now how this Yankees season will end.
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Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.
The Yankees opened their second “half” with the worst possible day imaginable: swept in a doubleheader in Houston. The Yankees’ lead over the Astros for the best record in the American League is now down to two games in the loss column.
Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.
1. The only people left who don’t seem to think the 1-seed in the American League is important are the Yankees. Aaron Boone came back from the three-day All-Star break and couldn’t bring himself to play the best possible lineup in both games of the doubleheader in Houston. Giancarlo Stanton didn’t start the first game and DJ LeMahieu and Anthony Rizzo were left out of the starting lineup in the second game. The Yankees sat their 1- 2- and 4-hitters in the two most important remaining games of the regular season.
They also decided to give Domingo German his first start since July 31, 2021 in one of the two most important remaining games of the season, on the road, in Houston, against the Astros. I love John Sterling, but he’s wrong: you can predict baseball. German got lit up, allowing back-to-back home runs in the first inning, lasted only three innings and gave up on five runs on seven baserunners. It was the least surprising performance of all time, as the starting pitcher who isn’t any good, wasn’t good again, and the starting pitcher who averages nearly two home runs per nine innings allowed two in just three innings.
2. German should have been released by the Yankees in 2019 as soon as he was suspended. Instead, the Yankees have continued to roster him, even as the clubhouse wanted no part of him in spring training last year, and even as his performance has been abysmal. The Yankees couldn’t wait to get him back into the majors. They couldn’t wait to give him a start against a team they never beat in a stadium they never win at. They couldn’t wait for him to pitch them to another loss, and he did exactly that.
And yes, those two games were the two most important remaining games of the Yankees’ 70 remaining games (now 68). The Yankees entered the second “half” with a four-game lead in the loss column over the Astros, and that’s now down to two after losing 3-2 and 7-5 on Thursday.
3. As Boone was giving his postgame press conference following the second loss (a press conference in which he said he saw “some good” from German in what was his latest embarrassing evaluation), YES showed a graphic that read “Yankees never led in doubleheader.” Forget the doubleheader. The Yankees never led in any of the seven games between the two teams this season. In the two Yankees’ wins, the Yankees didn’t lead until Aaron Judge walked off the Astros twice. They never led in the entire seven games.
4. Here is a summary of the now-over season series:
Game 1: Yankees are no-hit from innings 2 through 8, and overcome three-run deficit in ninth inning to walk off.
Game 2: Yankees score one run in loss.
Game 3: Yankees are no-hit for first time in 19 years.
Game 4: Yankees are no-hit for first 6 1/3 innings, over come three-run deficit in seventh and eighth innings because Dusty Baker refuses to use his best relievers again, and Yankees walk off in 10th.
Game 5: Yankees score one run in loss.
Game 6: Yankees score two runs in loss.
Game 7: Yankees start pitcher who has thrown 1 1/3 innings since July 31, 2021, and lose.
That’s a lot of being no-hit, a lot of not scoring and a lot of losing. The Astros thoroughly own the Yankees. They own them in the regular season and they have owned them in the postseason. The only two Astros position players still on the team from their 2015 wild-card win over the Yankees are Jose Altuve and Jason Castro, and Castro is currently on the injured list and rarely ever plays. The only Astros position players still on the team from their 2017 ALCS win over the Yankees are Altuve, Castro, Alex Bregman and Yuli Gurriel. The Astros have changed their entire roster, they have let George Springer, Gerrit Cole and Carlos Correa walk, and they still own the Yankees. That’s because they have signed the right free agents (like Michael Brantley, who I begged the Yankees to sign after 2018), and continue to fill their roster voids with capable major leaguers who become All-Stars like Yordan Alvarez, Kyle Tucker and Jeremy Pena. At full strength, the Astros don’t have Isiah Kiner-Falefa or Joey Gallo in their lineup, and they aren’t wasting at-bats and money on Josh Donaldson. (Sure, Gurriel is having a down year, but he also won the batting title just last year and is making one-third of what Donaldson makes.)
5. Since the Yankees’ 2017 ALCS loss to the Astros, the Astros have moved on or traded pitchers like Charlie Morton, Dallas Keuchel, Mike Fiers, Collin McHugh, Joe Musgrove, Wade Miley and Zack Greinke. The only two constants have been Justin Verlander and Lance McCullers Jr., and when Verlander missed 2020 and 2021, and when McCullers Jr. missed 2021 the Astros still managed to get to the ALCS in both seasons and the World Series in 2021.
6. The only Astros starter the Yankees haven’t seen in 2022 is Jake Odorizzi, and it would take an inordinate amount of injuries for him to get a postseason start (like it did in 2021).
Here is how the Astros’ starters have fared against the Yankees in 2022:
Justin Verlander: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 HR
Christian Javier: 12 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 16 K, 1 HR
Luis Garcia: 10.1, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 12 K, 2 HR
Justin Verlander: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 HR
Jose Urquidy: 7 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 1 HR
Framber Valdez: 6 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, 1 HR
Total: 42.1 IP, 15 H, 9 R, 9 ER, 16 BB, 41 H, 6 HR, 1.91 ERA, 0.732 WHIP
McCullers Jr, who has always pitched well against the Yankees, is nearing a return, which means at least one of these starters is going to the bullpen. Or maybe McCullers Jr. will go to the bullpen, like he did when he threw four scoreless innings to close out Game 7 of the 2017 ALCS against the Yankees, throwing only breaking balls.
7. What happens if the Astros go out and upgrade their roster like they did at the 2017 deadline when they added Verlander (because the Yankees wouldn’t take on his salary and watched him single-handedly swing the ALCS), or prior to 2018 when they added Cole (because the Yankees wouldn’t trade Clint Frazier or Miguel Andujar, eventually releasing Frazier for nothing and still won’t give Andujar everyday playing time over Aaron Hicks or Joey Gallo), or like they did in 2019 when they added Zack Greinke (and the eventual 103-win Yankees didn’t make a single move and overused their bullpen in that ALCS with Zack Britton admitting the relievers were fatigued). What happens if the Astros trade for Luis Castillo?
8. The Yankees need to do something. The right play is to give up the farm for Juan Soto, because he not only helps the Yankees now, but would help them for the next 10-plus years if extended. The other option is to be the team that trades for Castillo, not the Astros (or Dodgers).
9. As currently constructed, the Yankees won’t get past the Astros in a possible ALCS matchup. Home-field advantage wouldn’t even matter. That has been made clear through the seven games the teams played against each other. The Astros are better than the Yankees in every facet of the game, aside from the back end of the bullpen, and one half of the Yankees’ back end of the bullpen lost the first game on Thursday, and the other half didn’t even pitch. The bullpen has been the Astros’ biggest flaw since 2017, but it hasn’t stopped them from going to five straight ALCS and three of the last five World Series. Because come October, they will just move starters to the bullpen once again to supplement Ryan Pressly, Rafael Montero and Ryne Stanek.
10. The 1-seed is in serious jeopardy. The Yankees had a double-digit lead over the Astros at one point, and now it’s down to two games in the loss column. While the Yankees will spend the next two-plus months battling their division opponents, all of which are at least .500 and all of which have a chance at the postseason, the Astros will play nearly one quarter of their schedule against the A’s and Angels, who are counting down the days until their miserable seasons are over.
The Yankees had an unbelievable opportunity to increase their odds at having home-field advantage on Thursday, and they blew it, with the days going as badly as possible. If they continue to not play the best possible lineup even once a week and continue to give extended rest to their starters and relievers and act like they have already clinched everything there is to clinch, they will continue to make it easy for the Astros to pass them.
With home-field advantage the Yankees will have a chance at representing the American League in the World Series. Without it, a Yankees-Astros ALCS is likely to play out the same way it did in 2017 and 2019.
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The two most important games of the second half for the Yankees came in a doubleheader on Thursday in Houston, and they lost both games. With the 0-2 day, the Yankees’ lead in the loss
The two most important games of the second half for the Yankees came in a doubleheader on Thursday in Houston, and they lost both games. With the 0-2 day, the Yankees’ lead in the loss column over the Astros for the best record and 1-seed in the American League is now at just two games.
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The All-Star break means the announcement of this season’s All-Animosity Team.
The All-Star break is here, which means the season is “half” over. For the Yankees, it’s actually 57 percent over with 70 games left.
Another All-Star break means another All-Animosity Team. I’ll always remember the teams which featured David Wright, Josh Beckett, Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz, Adrian Gonzalez, Chone Figgins, Kevin Youkilis, Robert Andino, Carl Crawford, Manny Ramirez, Matt Wieters, Delmon Young, B.J. Upton (when he went by B.J.), Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Jose Bautista, Magglio Ordonez and many others. But I also like having a new generation of players to have animosity for.
The standards to be considered for the team are simple and only one of the following three requirements needs to be met:
1. The player crushes the Yankees.
2. The player plays for the Red Sox or Mets.
3. I don’t like the person. (When I say, “I don’t like the person” or if I say, “I hate someone” I mean I don’t like the person who wears a uniform and plays or manages for a Major League Baseball team and not the actual person away from the game. I’m sure some of the people on this list are nice people. I’m glad we got that out of the way since I can already see Player X’s fan base in an uproar about me hating someone who does so much for the community.)
Here is the 2022 All-Animosity Team.
C: Christian Vazquez
Christian Vazquez is back on the team after being left off in 2021. This spot belonged to Danny Jansen last season, but this season he has only played in 23 games overall and none against the Yankees, so it goes to the Red Sox’ backstop.
Vazquez isn’t good at hitting a baseball. For a catcher, he’s OK, but in the overall picture of major-league hitters, he isn’t good. That hasn’t stopped him from hitting nine career regular-season home runs against the Yankees, more than than he has hit against any other team, accounting for 17 percent of his 52 career home runs. Let’s not forget his other home run against the Yankees, a postseason solo shot in Game 4 of the 2018 ALDS that ended up being the winning run in the Yankees’ elimination.
I shouldn’t be scared of Vazquez in the box against Yankees pitching, and I really only am against Yankees’ left-handed pitching, but I am, so he’s behind the plate on this year’s team.
1B: Pete Alonso
I will never get over Pete Alonso breaking Aaron Judge’s rookie home run record in a season in which the actual baseball was manufactured so differently that Brett Gardner hit 28 home runs. Alonso never should have hit 53 home runs and never should have broken Judge’s record of 52.
To be honest, I like Alonso. I like his personality, I like how he loves competing in the Home Run Derby, and I like how he won the 2021 Home Run Derby when I had him at +600 to win. I just don’t like that he plays for the Mets, and a Met had to make this team, and there’s surprisingly no room for Francisco Lindor on this roster.
2B: Jose Altuve
Jose Altuve used to be my favorite non-Yankees player. That was before October 2019 and the uncovering of the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal.
After hitting .320/.414/.560 with two home runs, four walks and a stolen base in the Astros’ 2017 ALCS win over the Yankees, Altuve hit .348/.444/1.097 with a double, two home runs, four walks and a stolen base in the Astros’ 2019 ALCS win over the Yankees. He’s also responsible for ending the Yankees’ season with a walk-off, pennant-winning home run in Game 6 of the 2019 ALCS.
I used to enjoy watching Altuve play (when not playing the Yankees) and admired his ability for his stature. Now I watch him hoping he will fail (though he rarely does, and certainly doesn’t against the Yankees). This season it’s been more of the same for Altuve against the Yankees: .278/.435/.722 with two home runs, two doubles and two stolen bases in just five games.
3B: Rafael Devers
The moment Rafael Devers hit that two-strike, opposite-field home run off Aroldis Chapman in 2017, I knew I had a problem. I also knew the All-Animosity Team had a third baseman for the next decade. With five home runs in only eight games against the Yankees this season, Devers now has 18 career home runs against the Yankees.
Devers will on this for a long, long time, unless the Red Sox don’t sign him and hits free agency and goes elsewhere. I can only dream that will happen.
SS: Carlos Correa
Carlos Correa should be the shortstop for the 2022 Yankees, especially given the short-term, high-salary contract he signed with the Twins made possible by the Yankees freeing up the money for the Twins to sign him by taking on washed-up Josh Donaldson’s $48 million.
That Correa is not a Yankee and Isiah Kiner-Falefa is only adds to Correa’s candidacy for the shortstop position on this team once again. Add in his ridiculous .967 career OPS against the Yankees in the regular season, his .913 OPS against them in the 2017 ALCS and his two home runs in the 2019 ALCS, including his walk-off in Game 2, and Correa is an easy fit to pencil in at short on this team. It’s going to be hard someone to unseat him on this roster.
LF: Enrique Hernandez
My wife is a Dodgers fan, so since 2013 I have watched nearly every Dodgers game. So I watched Enrique Hernandez’s entire Dodgers career from 2015-2020. He has never been a good player, and when the Red Sox signed him and made him their leadoff hitter, I did a dance, and I don’t dance.
The combination of Hernandez and Dave Roberts single-handedly gave the Red Sox the 2018 World Series. Hernandez went 2-for-15 in the series and kept hitting at the top of the order thanks to his manager, who also used Ryan Madson in every big spot as if it were 2009 and not 2018. So after helping the Red Sox win a championship as an opponent, he nearly helped them win one as a member of the team in 2021, as he went 20-for-49 in the 2021 playoffs. Thankfully, the captain of this All-Animosity team (Altuve) and his former double play partner (Correa) ended the Red Sox’ season.
Hernandez has missed half this season and when he has played, he’s been horrible. It’s good to see him return to the player he used to be when he has played.
CF: Kevin Kiermaier
Kevin Kiermaier is a career .247/.306/.408 hitter, but against the Yankees it seems like he’s Ken Griffey Jr. Thirteen of his 82 career home runs (16 percent) have come against the Yankees, and he always seems to be involved in every Rays rally, drawing game-changing walks, getting big hits and making unbelievable defensive plays.
Normally, I want Yankees pitching to face as many hitters with Kiermaier’s numbers as possible, but not Kiermaier. I’m looking forward to his contract with the Rays ending at the end of this season, and hopefully the team option for 2023 isn’t picked up.
RF: Anthony Santander
A first-time All-Animosity player. Sure, Anthony Santander has an unimpressive .188/.239/.423 slash line against the Yankees in 38 career games, but of his 28 hits against them, 10 have been home runs. This season alone, Santander has five home runs in 12 games against the Yankees.
Now that the Orioles are surprisingly alive in the postseason picture (3 1/2 games out of the final wild-card spot), the seven remaining games between the two teams will actually be important for the Orioles. They will also be important for the Yankees, who are looking to be the 1-seed in the AL. (They actually might not be looking to be, but I want them and need them to be.) There’s going to be a lot of big moments for Santander in those seven games to continue his home run prowess against the Yankees and further cement his place on this team for next season as well.
DH: Alex Bregman
The first thing I used to think about when thinking about Alex Bregman was how hard it is to retire him at the plate. Now when I think of him, I think of him standing there at the Astros’ fan fest after the 2019 season and giving the same rehearsed answer over and over about the team’s sign-stealing scandal with that smirk on his face and the sarcastic laugh he kept giving the media. The easiest of players to root against. Add in his 1.101 OPS against the Yankees in five games this season, and his place on this team is secure.
SP: Nathan Eovaldi
Never trust a pitcher who throws triple-digit fastballs and can’t strike anyone out and that’s exactly what Nathan Eovaldi is. The Dodgers gave up on him and then the Marlins gave up on him as a 24-year-old with incredible velocity because he didn’t have an out pitch and didn’t know where the ball was going. So the Yankees gave up Martin Prado and David Phelps because of the glamour of Eovaldi’s fastball, thinking they would be the ones who could fix him. They weren’t.
Eovaldi pitched to a 14-3 record in 2015, so every idiot who relies on wins and losses to determine a pitcher’s success thought he had a great season. It didn’t matter that he received 5.75 runs of support per game or that he routinely struggled to get through five innings and qualify for a win because he needs 20-plus pitches to get through each inning. In 2016, it was more of the same. Eovaldi pitched to a 4.76 ERA over 21 starts and 24 games before being shut down for another Tommy John surgery, ending his time with the Yankees as they let him leave at the end of the season.
When Eovaldi returned to baseball in 2018 and pitched well with the Rays, many Yankees fans started to think about a reunion, having not learned their lesson from the last time Eovaldi was a Yankee. When he was traded to the Red Sox, I laughed with excitement, envisioning him destroying the Red Sox’ chances at winning the division. Instead, he shut out the Yankees in the all-important August series (even if faced a JV lineup) and then shut them out against in September. I never thought he would be able to beat the Yankees in October in the Bronx, but he did, after getting more run support than any other pitcher against the Yankees in the team’s history.
Eovaldi beat the Yankees and the Astros in the playoffs, mixed in a few relief appearances and then became a hero for his bullpen work in Game 3 of the World Series, even though he took the loss after giving up a walk-off home run. (Only in Boston could a losing pitcher become a “hero.”) Now Eovaldi is a World Series champion, and I will never get over it.
RP: Garrett Whitlock
This team is heavy on Red Sox and Astros, so what’s one more? Another new All-Animosity Team member.
The only thing I don’t like about Garrett Whitlock is that he pitches for the Red Sox. I don’t dislike him as a pitcher. It’s not his fault the Yankees chose to not protect him prior to last season and chose to protect Nick Nelson and Brooks Kriske, gifting the Red Sox the best pitcher on their staff. Meanwhile, Nelson and Kriske are no longer Yankees (Nelson is on the Phillies and Kriske is in Japan) after putting a combined 94 baserunners on in 46 1/3 innings as Yankees.
Here is Whitlock’s career line against the Yankees: 14 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 20 K, 1 HR, 1.93 ERA, 0.643 WHIP.
With his recent four-year extensions and options for 2027 and 2028, Whitlock will have a place on this team for the foreseeable future.
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