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Rays 3, Yankees 1: An even more frustrating loss to the Rays

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The Yankees have had a lot of lackluster defeats against the Rays this season, ranging from all three games of a sweep at the Trop to Wednesday’s 6-1 listless affair. Thursday afternoon’s loss may take the cake as the Yankees showed little fight until the end and squandered a golden opportunity to steal a win.

(Al Bello/Getty Images)

Two rallies, one run

Let’s start at the end with this one: The Yankees entered the final two innings down 3-0 after the offense went cold yet again. In fact, to that point, they only had three hits, one of which was a bunt single by Aaron Hicks.

To start the eighth inning, Brett Gardner flew out in a pinch-hit appearance against Ryne Stanek before Austin Romine subbed for Shane Robinson by hitting a single to right. Hicks hit a would-be double play, but Willy Adames threw the ball too high and it ended up in the seats, giving the Yanks a man on second and two outs. That set the stage for Giancarlo Stanton, who hit what was initially ruled a home run.

As you can see, the ball hit the yellow line, but not the foul pole. The umpire signaled and the Rays players, including right fielder Mallex Smith, didn’t pursue the ball. The play was reviewed and ruled an RBI double. You could quibble and say Stanton would have gotten to third on the carrum, but he wasn’t about to get an inside-the-parker on a bad hamstring.

Sergio Romo retired Miguel Andujar and brought a 3-1 Rays lead into the ninth inning. That’s where the Yankees created their best opportunity of the game. Didi Gregorius got ahead and grounded a ball up the middle of a single. Gleyber Torres fought tooth and nail to bloop a 2-2 slider into the shallow outfield.* Neil Walker lived up to his name with a four-pitch free pass.

Kevin Cash removed his closer and went to rookie Adam Kolarek with the bases loaded and none out. First pitch to Greg Bird? A harmless foul out to third. Four pitches later, Gardner had an ugly swing and miss for the second out. Four more pitches and much of the same from Romine. That was it and the Yankees looked helpless with the tying and winning runs on base. The win expectancy graph at the end of this post tells it all.

Classic Tanaka

Single. Double. Single. Double. Two runs and a runner on third. After four batters, one might have wondered if Masahiro Tanaka would even last past the first inning. Despite an ugly start, Tanaka pushed through and ended with a more-than-decent start.

The first four Rays batters tagged Tanaka with the only runs he’d give up as they used a combination of three line drives and a single up the middle to give the Rays the early advantage. They might have done more damage if it weren’t for one of the two peculiar plays on the afternoon.

Tommy Pham doubled in Joey Wendle while Jake Bauers tried to go first to third. Robinson — playing left field — had other ideas, firing the ball ahead of him to Andujar, who tried to tag out Bauers. Bauers rolled over, avoided the tag and, instead of submitting to the out, neglected to touch third and ran for home. Andujar eventually pursued him, tagged him out, but not before allowing Pham to reach third. Here’s the video. It was one of two questionable plays in the field by Andujar on the game (more on that in leftovers), but it was also a situation I’ve never seen. Can’t blame Andujar for reacting as he did, especially when it didn’t cost the Yankees.

After that, #TANAK struck out the next two batters and scattered five more hits over his last five innings. In all, he struck out six, walked none and looked like his normal self. The 29-year-old got 10 swinging strikes with four of his six strikeouts coming on his slider. And no obligatory homer!

Tanaka especially excelled in the field. He did a nice job covering first base to get Kevin Kiermaier on a soft grounder in the fourth. The veteran righty also picked off not one but two batters! Caught Wendle napping in the fifth before getting Ji-Man Choi at second base to close the sixth. Give this man the Gold Glove he deserves!

(Al Bello/Getty)

Snell gives ’em hell

Blake Snell is a bonafide Cy Young candidate and he finally pitched like it against the Yankees. They had roughed him up for nine runs over 8 1/3 innings heading into Thursday’s start. Needless to say, he was much better this time around.

The 25-year-old held the Yankees to two hits and a walk over five shutout innings while fanning six. Giancarlo Stanton doubled in the first inning on an inside fastball — It was an impressive ball for the closed-stance batter to hit — but Snell struck out the other three batters he faced. He ran into a little more trouble in the third after a single and a walk, but he retired Stanton and Andujar on grounders to the left side.

Snell had everything working for him, particularly his curveball, and only needed 76 pitches to get through five. However, this was his third start since returning from the disabled list and he hasn’t built back up to 100 pitches yet. The sooner this southpaw is dealt away from the division, the better for the Bombers.

Leftovers

*Back to Torres’ single in the ninth: That was his best at-bat in a little while. He didn’t necessarily look comfortable at the plate, but he battled and earned a key single. You can’t ask for much more against the slider-heavy Romo. Hopefully a sign of things to come after he went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts otherwise.

Stanton had two hits and the lone Yankees’ RBI while Kyle Higashioka, Romine, Hicks, Gregorius and Torres had the remaining hits. Walker and Hicks drew walks. Bird looked overpowered with two pop outs, a fly out and a weak groundout. Welp.

Hicks tweaked his ankle reached base in the eighth inning. It’s sore, but he believes he’ll be ready for Friday’s game.

David Robertson allowed an unearned run in the eighth inning. He gave up a leadoff single and then Andujar threw a sacrifice bunt off the runner heading to first, setting up first and third. A squeeze bunt later and the run was in. Bird could have done a better job getting off first, but it was a routine play that Andujar also botched.

Zach Britton looked more like his old self with a 1-2-3 inning. Two groundballs and a strikeout on 11 pitches (eight strikes). Tommy Kahnle pitched around a walk for a scoreless inning.

Box Score, WPA Graph & Standings

ESPN has the box score, MLB has the video highlights and ESPN has the updated standings. Here’s our Bullpen Workload page and here’s the win probability graph:


Source: FanGraphs

Up Next

The Yankees finish out their homestand with a three-game set against the Blue Jays, starting Friday night. It’ll be a 7 PM ET start on WPIX. Lance Lynn and Marcus Stroman are the probable pitchers for the series opener.

8/6 to 8/8 Series Preview: Chicago White Sox

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Who do I have to pay for the White Sox to wear these unis every game? (David Banks/Getty Images)

After a demoralizing series with the Red Sox, the Yankees get their first taste of the lackluster White Sox this season. They’re the only AL team the Yankees have not yet played.

The Last Time They Met

The Bombers traveled to Chicago for a four-game set and had a disappointing split from June 26-29, 2017.

  • Jordan Montgomery and Masahiro Tanaka picked up wins in Games 1 and 3 of the series, backed by homers from Tyler Austin, Aaron Judge and Didi Gregorius.
  • In Game 2, Luis Severino went toe-to-toe with Jose Quintana and the Yankees grabbed a 3-1 lead off Tommy Kahnle. However, Domingo German, Tyler Clippard and Dellin Betances blew it in a walk-off loss.
  • Game 4 was a lackluster 4-3 loss lowlighted by Dustin Fowler’s knee injury in what ended up being his only appearance as a Yankee.

For more information, check out Katie’s Yankeemetrics post on that series.

Injury Report

Yankees nemesis Miguel Gonzalez is out for the year with right shoulder surgery while reliever Nate Jones has a muscle strain in his throwing arm. Danny Farquhar is recovering from his brain hemorrhage in April.

Their Story So Far

At 41-70, the White Sox are surprisingly not in last place in the American League Central, though that’s simply because the Royals are historically bad. The White Sox are in the midst of a rebuild and surely look like it. They’re in the bottom 10 in WAR on offense and in the starting rotation, though their bullpen is in the middle of the pack.

Lineup We Might See

1. 2B Yoan Moncada (.222/.305/.400, 93 wRC+)
2. 3B Yolmer Sanchez (.244/.301/.383, 87 wRC+)
3. 1B Jose Abreu (.270/.331/.485, 119 wRC+)
4. DH Daniel Palka (.236/.281/.504, 109 wRC+)
5. RF Avisail Garcia (.269/.290/.523, 117 wRC+)
6. LF Nicky Delmonico (.232/.333/.377, 100 wRC+)
7. CF Leury Garcia (.280/.310/.394, 92 wRC+)
8. SS Tim Anderson (.246/.294/.405, 89 wRC+)
9. C Omar Narvaez (.282/.356/.425, 116 wRC+)

Matt Davidson will likely get the start at DH against CC Sabathia while Adam Engel often gets starts in center.

Lucas Giolito is really tall, folks. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty)

The Starting Pitchers We Will See

Monday (8:10 PM ET): RHP Lance Lynn vs. RHP Dylan Covey
Covey is a second-year righty who, despite below-replacement-level performance, has received the chance to stick in the rotation for much of the season. He enters Monday with a 5.57 ERA (4.64 FIP) and a 10 percent walk rate. After throwing 8 1/3 innings of shutout ball three starts ago, he’s coming off two starts where he failed to get through five and allowed 6-7 runs.

Covey throws in the low-to-mid 90s and attacks with his sinking fastball that he throws 5/8ths of the time. He also works in a high-80s slider, mid-80s changeup and low-80s curveball. The sinker has been his best pitch.

Last Outing (vs. KC on Aug. 1) – 4.1 IP, 5 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 1 K

Tuesday (8:10 PM ET: LHP CC Sabathia vs. RHP Reynaldo Lopez
Lopez is coming off one of his best starts of the season as he held a lackluster Royals lineup to two runs over seven innings. However, that came after three starts in which he allowed a combined eight home runs, 18 runs and eight walks over 17 innings. That’s why after a strong start to the year, his ERA is up to 4.47 with a 5.17 FIP over 129 innings.

Like Covey, Lopez has a high walk rate (10.2 percent). He goes at hitters with his mid-90s fastball 60 percent of the time while relying on his slider and changeup as his main offspeed pitches.

Last Outing (vs. KC on Aug. 2) – 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 4 K

Wednesday (8:10 PM ET): RHP Luis Severino vs. RHP Lucas Giolito
If you’re sensing a trend with these young White Sox starters, it’s that they are wild. Giolito is the wildest of them all. He leads AL pitchers with 68 walks issued and 12 HBPs. That recipe is why he has a 5.97 ERA (5.92 FIP) over 120 2/3 innings. He also has allowed 19 homers and only struck out 77. Yikes.

The 6-foot-6 righty sits in the low 90s and works in a four-seam fastball and a sinker. He also contains a mid-80s slider, low-80s changeup and high-70s curveball in his arsenal.

Last Outing (@ TB on Aug. 3) – 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 6 K

The Bullpen

After trading Joakim Soria, the team doesn’t have a set closer with three different pitchers getting saves the last four games. Lefty Luis Avilan has been solid recently while fellow lefties Hector Santiago and Jace Fry get plenty of work. Juan Minaya, Jeanmar Gomez and Thyago Vieira are some of the main right-handers while former Rays lefty Xavier Cedeno has cooled off after a strong start to his season.

Yankees Connection

Danny Farquhar, who is on the DL, was one of two players the Yankees traded for Ichiro. MiLB OF Trayce Thompson was in the Yankees’ system for all of two days this year. Former NYY prospect Ian Clarkin is on the 40-man roster.

Who (Or What) to Watch?

  • Walks. There’s a chance these games take a while if the Yankees show patience and let this pitching staff beat itself.
  • Rookie Daniel Palka is a powerhouse with 17 homers in 270 plate appearances. Let’s see if he can have the same success vs. the Bombers.

Scouting the Trade Market: J.A. Happ

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The Hot Stove is Happ-ening. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

The hot stove is scorching. Though J.A. Happ wasn’t moved on Wednesday night, he’s likely to be traded at any minute. The Blue Jays lefty is in the midst of a fine season, though he’s struggled recently. How does he fit the Yankees? Let’s look!

Current performance

James Anthony Happ carries a 4.18 ERA (3.84 FIP) over 114 innings and 20 starts into play Thursday, though he had a 3.62 ERA (3.64 FIP) heading into July. His early season performance, particularly his May and June results, earned him his first All-Star bid as the Blue Jay’s lone representative.

To start this month, the 35-year-old southpaw suffered three consecutive lackluster starts, allowing 18 runs (13 earned) while walking eight and striking out 15 over 12 innings. He gave up four homers as well. Yikes. In his first start after picking up a save in the All-Star Game, he returned to form with one run over five innings.

Why is he an attractive asset? He sports a career-high strikeout rate of 27.4 percent without having the corresponding rise in walk rate (7.4 percent). While he’s inducing fewer groundballs, he’s creating more pop outs and fewer line drives. The concern is that he’s allowing home runs at a hefty rate, surrendering 17 this season after giving up just 18 a year ago.

Happ has seen a rise in his swinging strike rate from 9.4 to a personal-best 10.5 percent despite throwing fewer pitches in the zone. Batters have swung and missed on pitches out of the zone more often and his overall contact percentage has improved from 80.1 to 77.7.

Like most lefties, Happ has always had a normal split, though he’s been even better against same-sided batters this season. Only two of his home runs were hit by left-handers. He’s been much better away from Rogers Centre (2.60 ERA on road vs. 5.22 ERA at home). Despite struggling at home, he’s enjoyed a late-career revival since his brief stint with the Pirates in 2015 and his subsequent return to Toronto.

Current stuff

Happ used to be a 4-5 pitch pitcher, but now he comfortably relies on just 3-4 pitches, depending on if you consider the sinker a separate pitch from his fastball. He has mostly phased out his curveball and now uses his low-90s four-seam fastball and sinker more than 70 percent of the time. For off-speed offerings, he sits in the mid-80s with his slider and changeup, combining to use them in 25 percent of his pitches.

He throws his four-seam fastball around 93 mph and is in the midst of his highest velocity month for his fastball in his career, according to Brooks Baseball. The sinker around 91 mph.

Happ’s fastball remains his best pitch, hence why he relies upon it. His struggles in July have been due to batters hitting his sinker more for average and his four-seamer for power.

When he’s at his best, he hides the ball well and can blow his low-90s fastball by hitters.

Injury History

Happ has been a workhorse in recent seasons, but he did miss a month and a half with an elbow injury last season. However, he hasn’t missed a start since May 30 of last season.

He’s over five years removed from foot surgery and a scary line drive that hit him in the head and knocked him out for much of the 2013 season.

Contract Status

The southpaw is a rental, so no more years or control or money beyond this season. He’s in the final year of a three-year, $36 million contract and has a little over $4 million remaining on his deal. The Yankees have around $8 million to play with before bumping into the luxury tax, so Happ fits their budget.

What Would it Take?

With the Blue Jays not in the midst of a full rebuild, they’ll likely want controllable players near the majors. Joel Sherman reported that the Jays’ brass likes Brandon Drury, who the Yankees have reportedly floated in trade offers.

If not Drury, I’d expect a package that splits the difference between the Red Sox’s haul for Nate Eovaldi (one Triple-A pitcher with six years of control) and the Zach Britton package (one Triple-A starter, a Triple-A reliever and a Double-A starter). The Yankees have pitching depth from which to deal.

Does He Make Sense for the Yankees?

The Yankees are looking to stabilize a rotation that is currently tossing out Luis Cessa and Sonny Gray two out of every five days, so Happ would do just fine. His price may be a little high considering his contract status, but the Bombers can afford to splurge with a 40-man roster crunch looming in the offseason. Happ could also audition for a deal with the Yankees next season.

It doesn’t hurt that the Red Sox struggle with lefties and the Yankees have them on the schedule nine more times this year. Happ isn’t perfect in this regard, having gotten shelled by the Sox earlier this month. But at the very least, he could be a stable addition to replace the rotating cast of younger players at the back-end of the rotation.

Comebacks, walk-offs and photo finishes from the first half

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(Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

When you win 62 games in the first half, there’s going to a wide variety of victories. Blowouts, nail-biters, walk-offs and everything in between. In this post, I take a closer look at five of the Yankees’ most dramatic victories from the first half before checking back in with a peek at some easy-going wins next week.

April 27: Didi’s curtain call in Anaheim

Player of the Game: Didi Gregorius’ wild April was essentially capped off with his 10th-inning homer off Blake Parker to give the Yankees a 4-3 win. It’s easy to forget now with their recent woes, but the Angels seemed poised to contend at that point in the season and were two outs from getting a win off the Bombers and Luis Severino.

Play of the Game: Parker went up and in with a fastball to Gregorius and it simply caught way too much of the plate. Didi was on fire at that point (batting .368/.459/.828), so he didn’t miss. All that was left was the home run trot and a rare road curtain call.

The Play(s) before the Play: This game frustrated the heck out of everyone. Shohei Ohtani took a 99 mph inside fastball from Severino and deposited it into the seats. Neil Walker nearly hit multiple homers but was robbed by Kole Calhoun. Giancarlo Stanton looked to have won the game in the eighth inning, but his ball died on the warning track.

The Yankees won this game because they put together a rally in the ninth inning down by one. A Gary Sanchez walk and Miguel Andujar double set the stage for a Brett Gardner sacrifice fly. Gardner is someone you want up in the clutch every time.

May 1: Gary Sanchez ruins Ken Giles’ season

Player of the Game: Domingo German stepped up in a tremendous way. Jordan Montgomery went down with a UCL injury after one inning and German was called into action. All he did was throw four shutout innings and keep the Astros’ potent lineup quiet. The Yankees’ bullpen would combined for eight scoreless innings, but German’s were the most impressive and unexpected.

Play of the Game: Gary. Freaking. Sanchez. Scoreless in the ninth with two guys on, Sanchez clobbered a first-pitch hanging slider, the second time in seven months he’s knocked Giles out of a game with a decisive blow … though Giles also decided to knock himself out.

The Play(s) before the Play: Aaron Judge isn’t clutch, they said. Well, they were lying. Judge led off the ninth with a single before Gregorius lined a double to set the Bombers up. The Yankees had no answers for Justin Verlander so it was merely a matter of outlasting him.

May 6: Gleyber Day in the Bronx

Player of the Game: Gleyber Torres only had one hit in this game, so he’s got to share the honors with German. After all, the rookie righty threw six no-hit innings in his first MLB start! He was truly untouchable until he ran up against his pitch limit. German set ’em up, Gleyber knocked ’em down.

Play of the Game: The most impressive thing about Torres is how he adjusts within a game or at-bat. Dan Otero threw him a few 88-89 mph sinkers over the plate that Torres fouled away. On the sixth pitch of the at-bat, he did not miss when Otero went to it again on 3-2.

The Play(s) before the Play: After Cleveland got four runs off Dellin Betances and Jonathan Holder, the Yankees looked cooked. But Neil Walker drew a six-pitch walk to start an eighth-inning rally capped by a Gardner RBI single and Judge two-run double. In the ninth, Hicks doubled and Walker doubled him in. This was a two-week stretch where the Yankees put together a plethora of rallies and Walker seemed to have a big role in all of them.

May 9: Gardner gets to Kimbrel

Player of the Game: Gardner and Judge each had three hits and three runs scored while combining for five RBI. Hard to choose between them, so I’ll do the cowardly thing and not.

Play of the Game: After Walker doubled and Torres walked against Matt Barnes to put the tying and go-ahead runs on the corners, the Red Sox brought in Craig Kimbrel to face Gardner. Gardner ground Kimbrel to a pulp over seven pitches, fouling off fastballs on 3-1 and 3-2 before getting the meatball he needed.

Side note: Mookie Betts was playing waaaaaay too far in.

The Play(s) before the Play: After Chad Green gave up a two-run shot to Hanley Ramirez, Holder kept the Yankees in the game by working out of Chasen Shreve’s jam. It seemed like the first moment he really belonged in a high leverage situation. Judge’s laser home run off Kimbrel sealed the game.

June 20: Stanton’s walk-off

Player of the Game: Stanton had two hits and a HBP in the game, but the only thing that really mattered was that walk-off homer. It came an inning after Sanchez tied the game on a powerful two-run shot of his own. Big game from the big boppers.

Play of the Game: A lesson for everyone out there: Don’t leave a hanging slider to Giancarlo Stanton on an 0-2 pitch. Don’t do it in any count, but especially 0-2. Let Ryan Cook serve as an example.

The Play(s) before the Play: Another game where Holder excelled and came in after Shreve struggled. As for Sanchez, he had been hitting lasers all series and you could tell he was locked in heading into his key at-bat against Alex Colome in the eighth inning.

Honorable Mentions

The Yankees already have six walk-offs this season to go with some other comebacks and late road wins. Here are some of the ones could have received the deeper dive in this post:

April 26: Gary Sanchez’s walk-off three-run homer against the Twins
May 3: Yankees blow lead, come back in ninth vs. Astros in series finale
May 4: Andujar walk-off after Shreve, Robertson and Chapman blow lead
May 12: Walker walk-off vs. Athletics
May 25: Torres’ go-ahead homer to beat the Angels
May 29: Gardner ties it, Torres walks it off against Houston
June 6: Judge, Stanton give Yankees 13-inning victory
July 8: Gardner wins it off Clippard in Toronto
July 14: Romine’s Little League homer

2018 Midseason Review: The Depth Players

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Austin and Drury: Scranton Bash Brothers (Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)

A team is only as good as its weakest link, so the saying goes. The Yankees have had a series of bench players, mop-up relievers and forgettable characters so far this year. Why not grade them?

Ronald Torreyes

The skinny: Torreyes got the chance to start plenty of games at second base until Gleyber Torres was called up and Toe did nothing but rake in that interim. It was mostly singles, but he finished April with a .390/.405/.488 line. He has been sent down and called up twice with the Yankees not having room on their infield for even semi-regular time. Gotta love Toe.

Best game/highlight: He’s had a trio of three-hit games this season, but one of his one-hit games stands out. On Apr. 19, he knocked in a run early before walking and scoring the go-ahead run in a 4-3 win vs. Toronto.

Midseason Grade: A

Brandon Drury

The skinny: The Yankees acquired Drury with the idea he’d be their starting third baseman, but vision problems and the emergence of Miguel Andujar have kept him away from the big league club. He has just eight hits as a Yankee thus far, though he excelled in Scranton. Hopefully, he’ll receive a larger chance now that his vision is better and he can make an impact in the second half.

Best game/highlight: In the second game of the year, he drove in two runs while going 2-for-3 with a walk. His double in the second inning came mere inches away from going out of the park.

Midseason Grade: C/Incomplete

Tyler Wade

The skinny: Wade’s first stint with the Yanks in 2018 was seriously disappointing. Though he provided the Yankees with stable defense at second, he simply didn’t hit. He had a real chance to win playing time at second base to start the year and blew it. His second opportunity in replacing Gleyber has been much better with six hits in his last 13 ABs with some good defense as well. He’s going to play a role down the stretch, even if it’s just as a pinch runner.

Best game/highlight: Last week, Wade came a triple short of the cycle, knocking his first career home run to right field at Camden Yards. It’s surprising a player that fast doesn’t have a triple in his career yet.

Midseason Grade: D

Clint Frazier

The skinny: Frazier is a victim of the Yankees having one of the best outfield rotations in baseball. He’d be starting in a corner for most other teams. When he’s been with the big league club, he’s shown strong patience and sports a .390 OBP. He was robbed of a game-winning home run by the monstrosity that is Tropicana Field. He’ll get an opportunity soon if he’s not traded for a top-line starting pitcher.

Best game/highlight: His first game of the year came on May 19 in Kansas City and he lined a double, drew two walks and scored a run. Always nice to see him show off both a strong approach and his Legendary Bat Speed.

Midseason Grade: B+

Tyler Austin

The skinny: Austin was the fill-in first baseman for Greg Bird for the first month and a half and was perfectly adequate. He hit eight home runs and put up a .471 slugging percentage. However, he didn’t get on base often enough and was prone to prolonged slumps. The 26-year-old remains a solid contingency plan waiting in Triple-A, though you’d rather see Bird out there for sure.

Best game/highlight: He has two two-homer games this year and the second one was an impressive day in Kansas City. He drilled a pair of two-run shots to knock starter Eric Skoglund out of the game and begin a blowout win.

Midseason Grade: B-

Billy McKinney

The skinny: Two games. Four at-bats. One hit. One injury. That’s a basic summary of McKinney’s big-league career thus far. He was called up for Game No. 2 after Aaron Hicks went down with an injury and was sidelined himself in his second start by banging into the left field wall at Rogers Centre. Not ideal. He’s been good once again in Scranton.

Best game/highlight: Obviously, it’s his one full game where he recorded his first career hit. March 30 in Toronto, a win to boot.

Midseason Grade: Incomplete

Cessa time. (Getty Images)

Luis Cessa

The skinny: Anyone else forget Luis Cessa was in a mop-up role in mid-April? He apparently threw four innings that month before suffering an oblique strain. He came back up in June, threw two innings of relief and then had a forgettable spot start in Philly. He then started in Baltimore during last Monday’s doubleheader with further detail below.

Best game/highlight: July 9 in Baltimore wasn’t a pretty day for the Yankees, but Cessa helped them salvage a win against the last-place O’s with six shutout innings. He put on six baserunners but pitched well and had two double plays turned behind him. Not bad!

Midseason Grade: B

David Hale

The skinny: Hale was up and down as a mop up reliever, taking almost exclusively the lowest leverage innings and saving the rest of the bullpen, all before receiving an unceremonious DFA. He threw exclusively multi-inning outings and also had one game with the Twins. While his last outing was impressive, he won’t be making another with the Yankees this season as he has signed with the Hanwha Eagles of the KBO.

Best game/highlight: He saved the best for last in relief of Sonny Gray. He threw 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball against the Blue Jays in a 6-2 loss. While he gave the team a chance to win, it was more important that he simply absorbed innings.

Midseason Grade: A

Gio Gallegos

The skinny: Like Hale, Gallegos has come up to take on mop up innings. In four multi-inning outings, he hasn’t come in with a leverage index higher than .30. It’ll be tough for him to earn any sort of permanent role with the Yankees this season, so it’s the up-and-down role the rest of the way. He’s one of three Yankees with a save as he threw three innings to close Cessa’s win in the doubleheader.

Best game/highlight: In Cessa’s other start vs. the Phillies, Gallegos came in out of the bullpen and dazzled hitters with his stuff. Three innings, two hits, no runs and six strikeouts. Six! It was his best outing as a Yankee. Two of the Ks were the opposing pitcher, but he also punched out Cesar Hernandez and Rhys Hoskins.

Midseason Grade: B

Jace Peterson

The skinny: McKinney, Hicks and Jacoby Ellsbury all were on the disabled list in early April, thus giving Peterson a shot. He got a chance to play three games (two starts) in the outfield, going 3-for-10 with a walk over 10 days. He joined Baltimore afterwards and, funny enough, has played as many games against the Yankees as he has for the Bombers.

Best game/highlight: He manned left field in his first Yankee start on Apr. 7 and saved the game with a nice catch to rob Pedro Alvarez of two go-ahead RBI in a game the Yankees would go on to win.

Midseason Grade: B+

Shane Robinson

The skinny: With the Yankees still short on outfielders and facing lefties in Boston, Robinson got the call-up in place of Peterson. He went 1-for-3 with two walks and a stolen base in his two games in pinstripes.

Best game/highlight: He pinch ran for Tyler Austin and stole second base on Apr. 11 in Boston. I guess that counts as a highlight?

Midseason Grade: Incomplete

7/12 to 7/15 Series Preview: Cleveland Indians

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Lindor and Ramirez. Notice the patch? 2017 ALDS, baby! (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

After splitting in Baltimore, the Yankees get a much tougher opponent, a challenge with which they seem to thrive. The Bombers swept the Indians in May, but it was a close series and Cleveland is no longer a complete zero at the plate, scoring 19 runs on Wednesday night.

The Last Time They Met

As I mentioned, that the May 4-6 sweep was closer than most sweeps. Two walk-off wins and a victory that came from just one big inning. Still, it was a big part of the Yankees 17 wins out of 18 stretch in April/May.

  • After Gleyber Torres, Aaron Judge and CC Sabathia handed the bullpen a 5-0 lead, Chasen Shreve, David Robertson and Aroldis Chapman conspired to cough up the lead. Miguel Andujar salvaged the game with a walk-off single.
  • Conspiracy theory time: Didi Gregorius got whacked on the head making a play in the eighth inning of Game 1. He stayed in the game, but his 0-for streak began that night. Please ignore all of my conspiracies as they are of the crackpot variety. (H/T Wendy Brandes)
  • In the middle game, Sonny Gray outdueled Trevor Bauer, though the Yankees benefitted from a double error by Francisco Lindor that broke open the game.
  • Gleyber Day! Domingo German no-hit Cleveland for six innings, the Yankees fell down by four runs and staged an epic comeback capped by Gleyber’s three-run homer.

For more information, check out Katie’s Yankeemetrics post on that series.

Injury Report

This team has an army of pitchers on the disabled list. Nick Goody, Ryan Merritt, Cody Anderson and Danny Salazar are on the 60-day DL while Andrew Miller, Evan Marshall and Josh Tomlin are on the 10-day. Miller should be back after the All-Star break as he recovers from knee issues but Salazar is out for the year.

On the hitting side, Lonnie Chisenhall is out until September with a calf strain.

Their Story So Far

Normally, a 50-41 team wouldn’t have their division locked up. Most teams don’t play in the AL Central though. The Indians are up 8.5 games on the scuffling Twins and should be facing the lesser of the AL East and AL West division winners in October. Indians-Astros is the likely outcome.

Lindor and Jose Ramirez have carried this team with borderline MVP seasons while their rotation is once again formidable led by Corey Kluber. The change this year is a shockingly poor bullpen, in part due to Miller’s absence.

Lineup We Might See

1. SS Francisco Lindor (.295/.370/.571, 153 wRC+)
2. LF Michael Brantley (.307/.352/.488, 127 wRC+)
3. 3B Jose Ramirez (.293/.392/.609, 167 wRC+)
4. DH Edwin Encarnacion (.227/.309/.458, 105 wRC+)
5. 1B Yonder Alonso (.255/.324/.438, 106 wRC+)
6. 2B Jason Kipnis (.223/.314/.366, 88 wRC+)
7. C Yan Gomes (.251/.314/.447, 104 wRC+)
8. RF Tyler Naquin (.280/.316/.371, 85 wRC+)
9. CF Greg Allen (.215/.254/.300, 47 wRC+)

ALDS Game 4 was lovely. (Mike Stobe/Getty)

The Starting Pitchers We Will See

Thursday (7:10 PM ET): RHP Luis Severino vs. RHP Corey Kluber
Kluber is the same machine on the mound that he’s always been. The two-time Cy Young winner is striking out fewer batters this year, but he’s made up for it by walking just 3.1 percent of batters. Pitching to a 2.49 ERA (3.31 FIP) makes him less of a Cy Young candidate this year, yet I still don’t know how you beat him. He averages 6.5 innings per start.

His one weak spot may be the home run ball. He’s given up 17 this year after allowing just 21 last season. That’s how the Yankees beat him last time… IS THAT DIDI GREGORIUS’ MUSIC?

Last Outing (vs. OAK on July 7) – 7.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K

Friday (7:10 PM ET): RHP Domingo German vs. RHP Shane Bieber
While not nearly the dominant force that Kluber is, Bieber has made his mark in a similar way by controlling the strike zone. In the first 36 1/3 innings of his MLB career, he’s struck out 23.1 percent of batters while walking just 3.9 percent. The 23-year-old rookie has done this at every level: walking very few batters, striking out a decent clip and keeping the ball in the ballpark. Not a bad combination.

Definitely-not-Justin Bieber sits in the low 90s with his fastball and throws it nearly 60 percent of the time. He throws his low-80s slider and high-70s/low-80s curveball a combined 37 percent of the time, leaving room for the occasional changeup. The slider and curveball have been his most effective pitches thus far.

Last Outing (vs. OAK on July 8) – 6.0 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 7 K, 1 HR

Saturday (7:15 PM ET): LHP CC Sabathia vs. RHP Mike Clevinger
No longer the forgotten guy in the Indians’ rotation, Clevinger has made a name for himself this season and shed the swingman role of past seasons. The 27-year-old righty is 7-4 with a 3.34 ERA (3.19 FIP) over 116 innings, striking out 110 batters and walking 39. Clevinger’s been quite stingy with the home run ball, giving up just 0.62 per nine innings.

The Yankees saw him in May and Clevinger one-hit them for 7 1/3 innings before the bullpen blew his lead. It was one of four starts this season for the righty where he struck out 10 or more batters, something he hadn’t done before 2018.

Last Outing (vs. CIN on July 9) – 6.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 11 K, 1 HR

Sunday (1:10 PM ET): RHP Masahiro Tanaka vs. RHP Trevor Bauer
The most scientific pitcher in baseball has been pretty dominant this season and has the numbers to show for it. He carries a 2.30 ERA (MLB-best 2.15 FIP) into Sunday’s action, striking out 11.7 batters and allowing 2.9 walks per nine innings. He also leads baseball in home runs allowed per nine, surrendering just five in 129 1/3 innings. He hasn’t given up a homer since June 2.

Bauer has struck out 11 or more batters in six of his last nine starts. The other three starts? Eight strikeouts. He also consistently pitches deep into games. He’s pitched into the seventh inning in each of his last seven starts and has completed six innings in all but three starts this year.

Last Outing (vs. CIN on July 10) – 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 12 K

The Bullpen

After having the best bullpen ERA last season, the Indians now have the worst in baseball this year at an unseemly 5.37 mark. They’ve produced -0.8 WAR and have surrendered 1.66 home runs per nine.

Closer Cody Allen has a 4.66 ERA this season and Miller has been on the DL. They also lost Bryan Shaw and no one has filled the gap. RHP Dan Otero hasn’t been quite the same and has been lit up by left-handed batters. Righty Neil Ramirez has emerged in a middle relief role while Zach McAllister works mostly in low leverage situations.

Cleveland has a pair of lefties in the pen and both have Yankee connections: Oliver Perez and Tyler Olson. RHP Adam Plutko made a series of starts for the team and is now in long relief, absorbing four innings on Wednesday.

Yankees Connection

Goody and Miller, who are on the DL, each pitched for the Yankees in 2015-16 (Miller must more memorably) while Olson pitched all of one game in pinstripes. McAllister was a strong performer in the Yankees’ farm system for a while before he was dealt for Austin Kearns in 2010. Lol. Perez spent two months in the Scranton this year and his Baseball Reference photo is him in a Yankees hat.

Who (Or What) to Watch?

  • Kluber vs. Severino! We got this matchup last August and it was pretty darn good for 5-6 innings.
  • Ramirez and Lindor are just unreal. They’ve combined for more than 50 home runs and are sure to pop a few this series. If it weren’t for Mike Trout, these guys would be battling assorted Red Socks for the MVP.

Scouting the Trade Market: Nathan Eovaldi returns?

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Ready for more Nasty Nate? (Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

With the Mets an improbable trading partner, the Yankees are left with very few options to find top-of-the-line starting pitchers on this summer’s trade market. In all likelihood, the Bombers will have to search on the next tier for a middle-of-the-rotation starter who can stabilize their current group.

Rising towards the top of that next tier of non-aces on the trade market is an old friend: Nathan Eovaldi. Is the Tampa Bay Rays’ right-hander a desirable option for the Yankees? Let’s take a look.

Injury History

Let’s get this out of the way up front. Eovaldi has a track record of elbow injuries. He had his first Tommy John surgery in high school and missed the end of the 2015 season with elbow inflammation. He needed both a second Tommy John procedure as well as surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon to end his 2016 season and knock out his 2017. He also missed the first two months of this season with a procedure to remove loose cartilage in the elbow.

Considering that the surgery and beginning of his rehab for the second TJ were on the Yankees’ dime, they surely know more about Eovaldi’s elbow than most potential suitors. If they’re pursuing him this month, that’s a good sign for where he’s at health-wise.

Current Performance

This may be Nate Eovaldi like we’ve never seen him before. In eight starts for the Rays this season, he’s thrown 48 1/3 innings — a career-best average of six innings a start — and pitched to a 3.35 ERA (4.16 FIP). He’s struck out 44 batters and walked just six, good for his best strikeout (24.3%) and walk (3.3%) rates of his career.

Nasty Nate has three starts this season of at least six innings with no more than one hit allowed. While the most recent of those was against the Mets, the first two were vs. the Nationals and Athletics, no slouches on the offensive spectrum.

The 28-year-old is tied for the third best K/BB ratio in baseball among pitchers with at least 40 innings pitched and has the fourth-lowest walk rate, one spot behind Corey Kluber and one spot ahead of Bartolo Colon.

How has he done this? By throwing more balls over the plate. His Zone % has increased from 52.2 to 55.7 percent and his Zone Swing % has gone from 64.0 to 74.1 percent. However, at the same time, his zone contact rate has gone down and his chase rate has gone up. Less contact in the zone while getting more swings (and contact) out of it. He isn’t inducing more swings and misses percentage-wise, but he’s inducing more swings overall.

More swings lead to more strikeouts. Fun fact: Eovaldi has struck out at least five batters in five consecutive starts, a feat he never accomplished in pinstripes.

Eovaldi’s results on balls in play have also looked strong, albeit somewhat suspect. He’s held opponents to an impressive .190 average and .198 BABIP. His groundball rate is down slightly from his time in New York, though it’s still at a healthy 48.8 percent. Exit velocity against isn’t down significantly from 2016, though his launch angle is up considerably from 7.8 to 12.0 degrees. That’s led to a large increase in infield popups. That’s the type of thing you want to see if a pitcher is going to sustain a low BABIP.

Home runs are still an issue for Evo. He’s given up nine so far this year, including four in one start vs. Houston. His HR/FB rate (18.8 percent) is nearly identical to 2016, which was over 10 percent higher than his first season with the Yankees.

Current Stuff

Despite missing a season, Eovaldi is still a flamethrower. He’s third among starters in average fastball velocity at 97.4 mph, which is down 0.5 mph from 2016 but is up from his Marlins days. He actually throws his slider and curveball harder than previously. He has the second fastest average speed on his cutter in baseball behind only Sonny Gray.

As Mike pointed out yesterday, he’s upped his cutter usage significantly. He didn’t throw it at all in 2013-2015 and utilized it just 7.2 percent of the time in 2016. Now it’s his second most-used offering at 26.1 percent. He’s cut down on the splitter Larry Rothschild worked on with him as well as all his offspeed offerings. Here’s a look at him getting a strikeout on the cut-fastball from his most recent start vs. the Mets.

While the cutter usage is easily noticeable, the reason for his success may have as much (if not more) to do with his improved four-seamer. He has lowered the spin rate on the fastball by 183 RPM. He’s getting whiffs on 25.7 percent of four-seamers compared to 14.7 and 17.9 percent of the time in 2015 and ’16, respectively. Hitters have just a .175 BAA and .158 ISO on it vs. .273 BAA and .181 ISO in 2016. Hitters have similar numbers against most of his offspeed offerings according to Statcast, though his slider has been more effective than it has been in six years based on Fangraphs numbers.

Contract Status

Evo is set to become a free agent after this season after spending two years on the Rays’ 40-man roster. He’s playing for $2 million this season, so he’s highly affordable when you consider the Yankees’ luxury tax tightrope.

What Would it Take?

Reports say the Blue Jays’ asking price for J.A. Happ, a fellow rental starter, is too high for the Yankees’ liking right now. That price will surely come down, but the Jays may demand more out of a division rival when they may consider re-signing Happ. However, the Rays may be even more motivated to get a return on Eovaldi, who could get a multi-year deal this winter, and they can’t quite demand a top-notch prospect for someone who’s thrown fewer than 10 starts since coming back from a second Tommy John surgery.

Unlike Cole Hamels, I’d guess a package similar to what the Yankees gave up for Jaime Garcia makes sense for Eovaldi. An upper minors pitcher and a second piece that’s either further away from the majors or with considerably less upside. The Yankees may be able to acquire him with players they’d lose to the Rule 5 draft in December anyway.

Does He Make Sense for the Yankees?

Yes. With any trade, it depends on price. But Eovaldi is one of the few pitchers on the market whose flaws are easy to overlook. Even with natural regression from his sterling start to 2018 leaves you with a reliable back-end of the rotation starter, something the Yankees are lacking. His injury concerns are less of a risk on a rental than acquiring a pitcher with multiple years of control. Furthermore, his rental status makes him cheaper than a pitcher like Sonny Gray was last year.