The Yankees won back-to-back games and a series for just the second time since mid-June. After beating the Red Sox 11-8 on Saturday and 8-2 on Sunday, the Yankees have stabilized their collapse for the time being.
Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.
1. With two outs, trailing by one run and Trent Grisham in an 0-2 count against Kenley Jansen on Saturday night, it was hard to like the Yankees’ chances of tying the game, even with the tying run on second base. Down to their last strike, the Yankees were on the verge of losing a fourth straight game and watching what was a 13-game lead in loss column for a playoff spot on June 14 fall to just one game. But Grisham battled back, fouling off a pitch and taking back-to-back cutters that nearly grazed the bottom of the zone before hitting a game-tying double off the Green Monster. The Yankees went on to win the game 11-8 in 10 innings for their best and most important win of the season.
2. Eight innings before Grisham improbably tied the game, the Yankees had staked Marcus Stroman to a three-run, first inning-lead. Alex Verdugo singled (it should have been a double, but he didn’t run out of the box thinking he hit a home run) and Juan Soto and Aaron Judge followed with back-to-back home runs. Five batters into the bottom of the first, Stroman had erased the early 3-0 lead. He ended up putting together his worst start of the season (3.1 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 HR), allowing 10 baserunners in just 3 1/3 innings and not getting a single swing-and-miss on any of his 60 pitches.
Stroman has given the Yankees one quality start (June 22 against the Braves) in his last nine starts going back to May 31. In that time he has pitched to a 5.28 ERA with opponents hitting .291/.373/.514 off him.
3. A few hours before Stroman laid an egg at Fenway Park, the Yankees traded for Jazz Chisholm. The slightly-above-league-average career hitter (102 OPS+) wasn’t going to come and single-handedly save the Yankees’ sinking ship, but he was going to make them better, faster and more versatile, something that the old, slow, station-to-station team desperately needs. The shortstop-turned-second baseman-turned center fielder is still only 26 and is under contract through 2026.
The trade for Chisholm was both a trade for now as well as 2025 and 2026. Gleyber Torres is a free agent after this season as is Alex Verdugo, and DJ LeMahieu is now unplayable. Chisholm makes the 2024 Yankees better and gives the roster some stability going into next season and the one after.
Since Torres’ benching at the beginning of July and with the trade deadline approaching, the impending free agent having a miserable season is hitting .321/.410/.509 in his last 14 games and 62 plate appearances. It’s almost as if having consequences for poor play and needing to be accountable for your performance work as motivational tools.
The same goes for Verdugo. With talks he would go to the bench for Chisholm or Jasson Dominguez or be traded, Verdugo went 7-for-15 with five runs and three doubles over the weekend. Maybe Verdugo is finally going to get back being the league-average hitter he has been for his career, or maybe he’s just a great Fenway Park hitter. (Likely the latter.)
“Get a couple of guys at the trade deadline that are going to freshen it up in here,” Verdugo said, “and we’re excited man.”
I hate to break it to Verdugo, but there’s a very good chance he will be traded for one of the “freshen”-it-up guys. Because even with the recent upticks in performance from Torres or Verdugo, I do think one or both of them should be traded before Tuesday’s deadline. The Yankees are going to need to replace names on the major-league roster to create roster space for the return of Giancarlo Stanton, eventual call-up of Dominguez and potential returns for Anthony Rizzo and Jon Berti.
4. Brian Cashman has opened admittedly to trying to trade Torres at past deadlines and that was before Torres had 55 games left in his contract. However, the Yankees will likely buy into Torres’ recent rebound, thinking he will finish the season strong and play well in the postseason, when in all likelihood, the moment the deadline passes he will revert back to being an absolute nothing at the plate and a disaster on the field and on the bases. (Just two weeks ago, Cashman sat in the visitors’ dugout at Tropicana Field and said Torres was the Yankees’ second-best hitter last season and they are “waiting for him” to be that player again.) On Sunday night, it was Torres’ two-run single in the first inning that extended the Yankees’ early lead from 1-0 to 3-0, but of course he had to get thrown out trying to advance to second to end the inning. He always has to negate a positive in some way.
I have long said Torres is a losing player, and he is. On Sunday, Aaron Boone said he would like both Torres and Chisholm to take balls at third base to get acclimated with the position since the Yankees don’t have an everyday third baseman.
Here is how the newly-acquired Chisholm responded:
“I went out there and played center field for the first time last year. It was pretty difficult at first, but I feel like I can go and play anywhere and help my team win. Especially a winning team, if they’re asking me to go somewhere and help them win, I’m definitely going to do it.”
Here is how Torres responded:
“I don’t like it. I’m a second baseman. I play second.”
The Yankees reportedly had concerns about Chisholm’s personality before trading for him, and yet, they continue to roster and play Torres, who they apparently have no personality issues with. Again, Torres is a losing player.
5. Torres came up as a shortstop. He started playing third base in 2017 to set himself up for an eventual call-up because Chase Headley was so bad, but then Torres blew out his arm at home plate and missed the rest of the season. He made his major-league debut as a second baseman in 2018, and played the position through 2019. Then in 2020 he was moved to shortstop through mid-September 2021 until the Yankees finally gave up on him there and moved him back to second. He only plays second because he couldn’t handle short, and he’s barely capable of playing second. I would like for nothing more than for him to no longer be a Yankee by 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
6. The Yankees haven’t lost since trading for Chisholm, sitting at a perfect 2-0. To make room for Chisholm on the roster, the Yankees designated J.D. Davis for assignment. To continue with the tradition of Yankees who provided little-to-no value getting released or designated for assignment, here is Old Timers’ Day 2034:
Michael Kay: “This next Yankee was only in pinstripes for a short time. After being released by the Giants in March 2024, the last-place A’s gave up on him in June of that year, but the Yankees were waiting with open arms. He appeared in seven games as a Yankee, at times serving as the cleanup hitter and protection for Aaron Judge. He went 2-for-19 in those seven games with nine strikeouts, grounded into two double plays and posted a .385 OPS. Please welcome back, J.D. Davis!” (Stadium organ plays.)
Five days ago, Boone was asked about using Davis as protection for Judge and benching Ben Rice. Boone said, “This is a guy that recently has had a good amount of success.” Boone also gave this nonsensical, ridiculous answer when asked about playing Davis over Rice for a second straight day:
“Yeah, I mean, also want to get where you’re trying to leverage situations. I think you look at Manaea too, pretty small sample like you look at his career, it’s pretty stark the other way. So you kind of peel the onion back a little bit and is that what he’s going to be moving forward? We’re not trying to predict what happened yesterday. We’re trying to what happened moving forward, and the reality is we brought J.D. Davis, especially when Rizz went down, to be this kind of, and this is a guy that recently has had a good amount of success. So, but also trying to get young players in positions to where they can be successful as well. And to have, you know, leverage situations as the game unfolds too.”
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Boone and the Yankees thought Davis was worthy of hitting cleanup and being a starter. By Saturday afternoon, he was no longer worthy of being on the team. It makes complete sense.
7. After taking a month off from earning his $800,000-per-start paychecks, Carlos Rodon shut down the Rays last Monday (7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 10 K, 1 HR) and then held down the Red Sox on Sunday (6.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 2 HR). Rodon is still giving up way too many home runs, having give up at least one in each of his last seven starts and 12 overall in that time, but it’s nice to see him stop his season ERA from climbing with each consecutive start.
8. Is it too early to start a Jake Cousins for Closer petition? Cousins is the only Yankees reliever capable of consistently getting strikeouts and given Clay Holmes’ performance since mid-May, it’s completely acceptable to want someone else in that role. I don’t think the Yankees should have a set closer, but since they are going to, it should be someone other than Holmes, even if he did his job on Saturday night.
9. Judge and Soto continue to do their jobs (a combined 8-for-23 with eight runs, a double, three home runs, nine RBIs and nine walks over the weekend), as does Austin Wells. Wells is hitting .269/.354/.487 since April 27. An .841 OPS with great defense for a catcher for three months? Take your time healing, Jose Trevino. Take all the time you need.
10. The mood as a Yankees fan today is much different than it would have been had Grisham not battled back to save the game on Saturday night against Jansen. Two straight wins and just the second series in in more than six weeks has me feeling like the Yankees are on a 12-game run. It’s a dangerous feeling because the roster still needs vast upgrades by Tuesday at 6 p.m. and because three games with the Phillies over the next three days await. Momentarily stopping the free fall that began on June 14 is enjoyable, but stopping it completely is what’s needed.
Last modified: Jul 29, 2024
