Tonight the Yankees begin a 17 games in 16 days stretch, though it’s really more like 16.5 games in 17 days because one of those games is the completion of the suspended game in Washington. I’m sure this stretch will be broken up by a rainout or three though (sobs). Anyway, I have some thoughts on the Yankees’ current state of affairs, so let’s get to them.

1. The Yankees have the best record in baseball at 42-19 — they have the second most wins in baseball despite playing the fewest games because of all the postponements — and it still feels like they have so much room for improvement. We haven’t seen the best of Giancarlo Stanton yet. We haven’t seen the best of Sonny Gray either. We certainly haven’t seen the best of Gary Sanchez. Greg Bird has been active for two weeks. The offense is in a little funk right now — the Yankees scored 20 runs in their last six games, or 3.33 per game — but I am not anywhere close to being concerned. The highest scoring offense in the game (5.54 runs per game) having a subpar week is just part of baseball and part of the 162-game season. Besides, the Yankees won four of those six games anyway. Point is, the Yankees have been no worse than the third best team in baseball, and there are still so many ways they can be better. And we’re not talking squint your eyes and things can improve either. Expecting Stanton and Sanchez to perform at or close to their career averages the rest of the season isn’t outlandish, and neither is expecting Bird to contribute more as he gets further away from ankle surgery.

2. Speaking of Sanchez, he’s currently hitting .190/.291/.430 (96 wRC+) on the season, which is better than the .230/.305/.376 (86 wRC+) league average for catchers, but far below what we all expect from Gary Sanchez. We’re at the point now where his season numbers can’t recover. My quick math says that if Sanchez hits .300 the rest of the way and finishes with the same number at-bats as last year, his end-of-season batting average will be .252. Meh. The season numbers are going to be whatever they’re going to be. No saving them now. Getting Sanchez to hit like Gary Sanchez the rest of the year is the most important thing. To me, he is so very clearly pressing at the plate, so this is beyond a normal baseball slump or a mechanical funk. Ken Singleton says you can tell when a hitter is starting to come out of a slump by the outs he makes, and Gary ripped a line drive right at Todd Frazier to end Sunday’s game. Maybe that’s a good sign? As long as Sanchez is healthy, I don’t expect the slump to continue much longer at all. He’s too talented and too good a hitter. His chase rate (32.9%) is a career low and, if you’re believer in expected wOBA, Gary is due to see better results (.355 xwOBA vs. .308 wOBA) based on the quality of his contact. Or heck, maybe Sanchez is having a 2008 Robinson Cano season and forgot how to baseball for a year. It happens. That the Yankees have been this good while Sanchez has been this bad should scare the crap out of other teams.

3. As for Bird, gosh, I really don’t like that he’s already been anointed the No. 3 hitter. The Yankees love him — who doesn’t love Greg Bird? — and we’ve heard several people in the organization — including Aaron Judge — call Bird the best hitter on the team. First of all, I don’t buy that one bit — Judge is the Yankees’ best hitter and best all-around player, full stop — and secondly, how about we actually see that “best hitter on the team” version of Bird at some point before treating him like the best hitter on the team? He’s a career .222/.308/.470 (108 wRC+) hitter in 399 plate appearances spanning parts of four seasons now. Yes, the injuries likely play a part in that, but injuries are part of the Greg Bird story. He just came back from another surgery and is hitting .191/.255/.426 (82 wRC+) with crummy strikeout (27.9%) and walk (3.9%) rates in the early going. He needs time to get settled in after the layoff? Okay, fine. Why can’t that happen lower in the lineup? Drop him down, let him start hitting, then move him up if his performance warrants it. Hard to remember another player this injury prone and this unproven being treated like hitting royalty.

4. It’s becoming commonplace in baseball now but I just can’t get on board with the whole pitcher hitting eighth thing. Aaron Boone has done it in every game the Yankees have played in a National League park this season. Research has shown that, over the course of a 162-game season, batting the pitcher eighth equals a few more runs because having a real hitter hit ninth means more men on base for the top of the order. That’s for an NL team that does it every single game though. The Yankees are an American League team that will play ten scattered regular season games in NL parks this year. They’re not getting the long-term benefit. In an individual game, I want the pitcher hitting as low as possible to get the fewest at-bats as possible. Pitchers are hitting .112/.146/.142 (-24 wRC+) this season. AL pitchers are hitting .096/.115/.106 (-40 wRC+). Yeah, let’s give that dude as few at-bats as possible. This is total nitpicking, I get it. We’re talking about flipping the Nos. 8 and 9 hitters. I just don’t like the strategy at all. Pitchers stink at hitting and I want to delay that near certain out as long as possible.

5. The Yankees have played sloppy defense more often than you’d like so far this season and I think that’s the best way to describe it. Sloppy. They’re in position to make plays and they just … don’t. Didi Gregorius flubbed the transfer on a double play ball the other day. We’ve seen Gleyber Torres let some fairly routine grounders clank off his glove. Believe it or not though, the Yankees have a .727 Defensive Efficiency this season, fourth best in baseball. (That means they’ve turned 72.7% of batted balls into outs.) Only the Cubs (.738), Brewers (.731), and Athletics (.730) have been better. Anyway, I bring this up because I want play this game again: Game Seven of the World Series, one-run lead with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and the batter hits a rocket. Who do you want it hit to? I rank ’em:

1. Brett Gardner
2. Aaron Judge
3. Didi Gregorius
4. Aaron Hicks
   (Giancarlo Stanton in right field would slot in here)
5. Gleyber Torres
6. Greg Bird
7. Miguel Andujar

Hitting a rocket to the catcher isn’t a thing that happens and I’m sparing the pitcher in this exercise. (I do think Masahiro Tanaka is a Gold Glove caliber defender though. He’s excellent.) That leaves seven other defenders, and even at age 34, Gardner remains an excellent outfielder and I want the ball hit to him over anyone, regardless of whether he’s in left field or center field. Judge is ultra-reliable in right, and both Gregorius and Hicks are capable of spectacular plays. At the bottom of the list is Andujar, who I love, but can be shaky in the field. That order seem right to you?

6. Clint Frazier has played 14 of his 31 Triple-A games this season in center field, and they are the first 14 games he’s played in center field since the trade. Frazier played lots of center field with the Indians way back when, but, after the trade, the Yankees stuck him in the corners full-time. Now he’s playing center field again. To me, this is 5% getting reacquainted with the position in case he’s needed there in the Bronx, and 95% a trade showcase. It’s no secret Frazier is the team’s best trade chip (among guys they’ll actually trade) as a highly regarded young player with no clear path to playing time in the big leagues, and making him play some center field can only increase his value. If it works, great! If not, well he just goes back to being a corner outfielder. I’d love love love the Yankees to find a way to keep Clint and get him into the lineup next year. Realistically though, I just don’t see how it happens. Gardner remains very productive and a team leader, and I would bet the farm on him being a Yankee next season. Unload Hicks? Okay, but then who plays center? Frazier or soon-to-be 35-year-old Gardner? Clint just doesn’t fit. He is the team’s top trade chip and I think the whole center field thing in Triple-A is a showcase. I don’t see the Yankees using him out there unless it’s an emergency.

7. Man, the Shohei Ohtani injury really stinks, doesn’t it? He’s a great and fun player, and I am pro-fun. The Angels say they are hopeful he will play again this season, but when a pitcher goes from a Grade I elbow sprain in the offseason to a Grade II elbow sprain at midseason, it’s easy to assume the worse, which in this case means Tommy John surgery. Hopefully Ohtani gets healthy and plays again this year. For the Yankees, the Ohtani injury means the AL Rookie of the Year race is suddenly very wide open. They had the 2016 AL Rookie of the Year runner-up (Sanchez) and the unanimous 2017 AL Rookie of the Year (Judge). It is entirely possible Torres and Andujar will finish first and second (in either order) in the 2018 AL Rookie of the Year voting now that Ohtani is going to be out a while. The AL rookie crop after Torres, Andujar, and Ohtani stinks right now. Joe Jimenez and Joey Wendle are the best of the rest. I suppose someone like Dustin Fowler or Fernando Romero could play their way into AL Rookie of the Year consideration come September, but right now, those three dudes are clearly a cut above the rest. Ohtani’s injury could very turn the AL Rookie of the Year vote into a two-man race between Andujar and Torres. That’d be neat even though the Ohtani injury totally sucks overall.

Monday, in Detroit, the Yankees split a doubleheader with the Tigers as the two clubs made up a pair of rainouts from April. Well, it was actually one rainout and one snowout, but the end result was the same. The Yankees had two games postponed in April and they were made up Monday.

Postponements and doubleheaders are part of baseball and pretty much every team deals with them each season. The Yankees have had an inordinate number of postponements already this year though. This past Saturday was the one-third point of the season for the Yankees and they’ve had six rainouts already. I guess it’s five rainouts and one suspended game, but you catch my drift.

Generally speaking, all the postponements and makeup doubleheaders are bad news for the Yankees. They have to play a condensed schedule the rest of the season. As of Monday, there were 119 days remaining in the regular season and the Yankees will squeeze 108 games into those 119 days. The Red Sox, the team they’re competing with for the AL East title, only have to play 102 games in those 119 days.

All the postponements and the condensed schedule stinks, and there’s nothing the Yankees can do about it. They have to bite the bullet and play. But, for the sake of taking a glass half full look at things, here are four silver linings to all these postponements and doubleheaders.

1. The starters get some extra rest. The Yankees go to great lengths to avoid overworking their starters and for good reason. Masahiro Tanaka (elbow) and CC Sabathia (knee) have physical concerns and Sonny Gray has visited the disabled list a few times himself. Luis Severino? He might be the most valuable pitcher in baseball given his age (24), his effectiveness (+8.8 WAR since Opening Day 2017), and his team control (through 2022).

The Yankees want to keep their starters healthy like every other team in baseball, though the early injuries to Luis Cessa (oblique) and Jordan Montgomery (elbow) took a bite out of the rotation depth chart. Calling up a spot sixth starter isn’t as easy as it would’ve been with Cessa and Montgomery. And yet, thanks to the rainouts, the starters have been well-rested so far this season:

• Gray: Four starts on normal rest, seven starts on extra rest.
• Sabathia: Four starts on normal rest, seven starts on extra rest.
• Severino: Five starts on normal rest, eight starts on extra rest.
• Tanaka: Two starts on normal rest, ten starts on extra rest.

Aaron Boone and the Yankees talked about calling up a spot sixth starter at various points this season to give the regular starters extra rest, which is nothing unusual these days. The Yankees haven’t been able to do that, largely because Cessa and Montgomery are hurt, but they haven’t needed to either. All the rainouts have helped the Yankees give their starters extra rest without having to plug other pitchers into the rotation.

2. More games with Bird (and others). Monday the Yankees played two games against the Tigers that were originally scheduled for April 14th and 15th. Greg Bird was still recovering from ankle surgery those dates. But, because the games were postponed and pushed to yesterday, Bird was able to play. And he hit a homer. It mattered. Bird will also be able to play in the makeup games against the Nationals despite being on the disabled list for the originally scheduled games.

That’s four games — well, three and a half given the suspended game — Bird will be able to play that he wouldn’t have been able to without the rainouts. It’s not just Bird either. It applies to Adam Warren and maybe Tommy Kahnle too. Also, it means two more games with Gleyber Torres, since he had not yet been called up for the originally scheduled Tigers series. Sure enough, he went deep Monday. It mattered! Point is, the rainouts equal more games with a full strength roster, at least in theory.

On the other side of the coin, the two rainouts against the Orioles this weekend are potentially two fewer games the Yankees will see Manny Machado this year. He could be traded before the makeup doubleheaders. He should be traded by time the August 25th doubleheader rolls around. The July 9 doubleheader is less likely. Machado has torched the Yankees this season — he’s gone 10-for-26 (.385) with four homers against them this year — and the less they see him, the better.

3. The Yankees get to use their depth. At the moment, the Yankees legitimately have more good players than roster spots. There’s no way baseball will let that continue — depth has a way of disappearing quickly — but, right now, the Yankees have lots of good players sitting in Triple-A who, in a vacuum, deserve to be in the big leagues. It’s a good problem to have.

Monday the Yankees were able to use Clint Frazier as the 26th man in the doubleheader. The remaining doubleheaders equal more 26th man opportunities and thus more chances for the Yankees to show off their depth. It was Frazier yesterday. Maybe it’s Brandon Drury in two weeks. Or Justus Sheffield! Or Cody Carroll! The 26th man is a chance for the Yankees to use players who otherwise wouldn’t be in the big leagues given their roster situation, and that’s pretty cool.

4. They lost “only” two off-days. The MLBPA pushed for more off-days in the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement and they got them. That’s why the season started on a Thursday this year. To accommodate the four extra off-days that were built into the season. Four doesn’t sound like much — it’s not even one extra off-day per month — but hey, that’s better than nothing.

Anyway, despite all these rainouts, the Yankees have only — “only” — lost two off-days to makeup games this year. One was Monday, the doubleheader in Detroit. The other is two weeks from Monday, for the makeup games with the Nationals. The two Orioles doubleheaders will be played on days the Yankees and Orioles were already scheduled to play. Last Thursday’s rainout will be made up July 9th. Last Sunday’s will be made up August 25th. No lost off-day. That’s not too bad.

* * *

The Yankees have enjoyed more off-days than usual so far this season and at some point they’re going to have to pay the piper. These games need to be made up, these doubleheaders will be played, and they’ll create problems. Players will have to deal with all that added fatigue and playing three doubleheaders in a month’s time will do a number on the pitching staff. The postponements are bad overall. At least they came with some short-term benefits.

The Yankees have an off-day today, then tomorrow they’ll begin one of their more grueling stretches of the season. Fourteen games in 13 days thanks to a makeup doubleheader in Detroit. They aced their last grueling stretch, those 18 games in 18 days against really good teams. I look forward to watching them ace this stretch as well. Let’s get to some thoughts on the current state of Yankees’ affairs.

1. Obvious statement is obvious: David Robertson has been struggling lately so Aaron Boone should keep him away from high-leverage spots for a bit. I’m not worried he is permanently broken at all. This hasn’t been a season-long thing — Robertson went 16.2 IP, 10 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 23 K in the 16 appearances following the Justin Smoak grand slam in the opening series — it’s only been the last few outings. He looks a little out of sync with his delivery — he seems to be cutting himself off and finishing more upright rather than having that usual big follow through for whatever reason — and it’s causing him to lose location. Maybe he got old quick and is at the end of the line. It could happen! I don’t think we’re anywhere close to saying that yet. We went through What’s Wrong With Mariano Week™ twice a year (usually in April and August) every year like clockwork. Sometimes good pitchers string together a few bad games. Shrugs. Let Dellin Betances and Chad Green handle the important late-inning situations for a bit while Robertson sorts things out. Betances worked low-leverage spots earlier this year until he figured things out. Now it’s Robertson’s turn. All part of the long 162-game season.

2. The Jacoby Ellsbury situation is starting to get comical. He hurt his oblique in Spring Training and, well, whatever. It happens. Then he hurt his hip while doing his rehab work for the oblique. Then he came down with plantar fasciitis. Then he missed time with an illness. Now his back is acting up. Good grief. The Yankees don’t have a roster spot for Ellsbury right now, so it’s not like they miss him, but still. It’s absurd how there’s one injury after another. I’m not a conspiracy theorist and I don’t think the Yankees and/or Ellsbury are making up injuries to keep him on the disabled list. First of all, if they have insurance on his contract and are recouping salary, it would be insurance fraud. Secondly, healthy players are better than injured players. The Yankees don’t have much center field depth and one injury will have them wishing Ellsbury was healthy and available. Remember when Jace Peterson and Shane Robinson were playing left field? Things can go south quick. For now, the Yankees don’t miss Ellsbury. The outfield is good and there’s no room for him on the roster. Will he ever get healthy? Eventually, maybe. But right now the second highest paid position player on the roster has been a total non-factor, and the Yankees don’t miss him one bit.

3. I wrote the other day about the bottom of the lineup and how it’s helped the Yankees have the highest scoring offense in baseball. By a lot, too. They’re at 5.91 runs per game. The Red Sox are second at 5.33 runs per game. The Yankees have some incredible hitters in their lineup and yet the lineup is not top heavy. Take the Red Sox, for example. They have a very good offense and both Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez are playing out of their mind. The rest of the lineup? Meh. Here, look at some numbers heading into yesterday’s games:

Betts and Martinez: .355/.419/.722
All other Red Sox hitters: .249/.307/.398

Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres: .297/.405/.571 (two best qualified Yankees hitters by OPS)
All other Yankees hitters: .249/.327/.449

I’m not trying to knock the Red Sox here. They’re really good and I expect the AL East race to be neck-and-neck all season. I’m just trying to show the depth of the Yankees’ lineup. Their best hitters have been great and their other hitters have been really good too. It’s awesome, not having to rely on that one guy or those two guys to carry the offense. The Yankees can let Giancarlo Stanton work through his slow start, they can let Didi Gregorius work through his May slump, and they still have more than enough offense to keep winning. It’s not often the offense fires on all cylinders. There’s always one or two guys slumping. The Yankees are better able to deal with those inevitable slumps than just about any other team because the lineup is so deep.

4. Did Clint Frazier change his batting stance at all? I thought so during his one game with the Yankees over the weekend, so I went back and pulled up some video. I apologize in advance for the GIFs. His playing time is limited and there isn’t much video available:

The GIF doesn’t capture it well, but it seemed Frazier had a little more waggle in his bat this year, and it looks like he’s getting his front leg up just a hair earlier. I’m not sure whether that is significant in any way, or is just a random occurrence on the pitches I arbitrarily chose to GIF. While with Triple-A Scranton a few weeks ago, Frazier told reporters he’s been working to fine tune his hitting mechanics, specifically making sure his hands and leg kick are in sync. For whatever reason I thought Frazier had more going on with his swing the other day in Kansas City than he did last year, but based on the GIF, I guess not. Either way, Frazier has been crushing the ball in Triple-A since returning from the disabled list. I wish the Yankees had a way to get him into the lineup without someone else getting hurt.

5. I’ve seen the Mariners speculated as a potential trade partner given their roster needs. I don’t see it. Yeah, Neil Walker makes sense for them given Robinson Cano’s suspension and Dee Gordon’s toe injury, but I am pro-keeping Walker. He’s a really good part-time player and I want him as a depth player. An outfielder like Billy McKinney could be a fit for Seattle too, I suppose. I just have no idea what the Mariners can offer the Yankees. They’re in the Wild Card race. They’re not trading James Paxton. Even if they fall out of it, I think they’re more likely to gear up for another run next year rather than tear it down. Cano’s not going anywhere, Felix Hernandez is not going anywhere, Kyle Seager isn’t going anywhere. Add some pieces and make another run next year and try to end the postseason drought. The Mariners have no pitching at all. Wade LeBlanc is in their rotation at the moment. For real. I’m not eager to unload Walker or McKinney (or Tyler Wade). The Yankees have players the Mariners could use. Aside from Paxton, who I have no reason to believe is actually available, the Mariners have nothing worthwhile to offer the Yankees. Things can change in the weeks leading up to the trade deadline, for sure. Right now, I don’t see a match between these two clubs.

6. It’s May 24th and MLB has not yet released the All-Star ballot. That’s weird. Last year the ballot was released on May 2nd. The year before it was released April 24th! The ballot is usually released super early and we all make fun of it for coming out so early. It hasn’t been released yet this year for whatever reason. This is something we’ll explore again in a few weeks, but right now, I think the Yankees are on track to have four All-Stars: Judge, Aroldis Chapman, Luis Severino, and Gary Sanchez. Gregorius played himself out of an All-Star Game spot with his slump this month — Carlos Correa, Francisco Lindor, and Andrelton Simmons have been so good too, it’d be tough to beat them out — and Stanton’s slow start might cost him a spot too. He’s been really good this month though and could still play his way into an All-Star Game berth. We’ll see. For now Severino, Judge, Chapman, and Sanchez — Gary is so far and away the best catcher in the AL it’s not even funny — are the obvious All-Stars to me. Maybe Torres will get a spot too. That’d be cool. Cody Bellinger came up a few weeks into the season and made the All-Star Game last year. It’s not impossible to come up in late April and make it. Gleyber in the All-Star Game would be a hell of a thing.

Once again, the Yankees have an off-day today. They had an off-day Monday and a rainout Wednesday, and on Tuesday they played only five and a half innings before rain suspended the game. The Yankees will play about two hours of baseball from Monday through Thursday this week. At least everyone will be fresh for Friday’s series opener against the Royals. Anyway, I have some thoughts, so let’s get to ’em.

1. Tuesday night Masahiro Tanaka struggled through the first two innings, allowing three runs and getting away with several hangers, then he settled down and retired the final eleven batters he faced. After that second inning Tanaka pitched exclusively from the stretch, and I can’t remember him ever doing that before. Going to stretch is a classic “my mechanics are bad right now and I need to simplify things” adjustment. I’m curious to see whether he sticks with it going forward. Stephen Strasburg has been pitching from the stretch last year. Yu Darvish and Shohei Ohtani pitch from the stretch full-time as well. There are a bunch of others out there. Tanaka is not a power pitcher. He needs his mechanics to be locked in and his command to be precise to succeed, and if pitching from the stretch helps him do that, I say go for it. Do what works. That said, when it comes to making adjustments and figuring out what works and what doesn’t work on the fly, I trust Tanaka more than anyone on the pitching staff. I just thought it was interesting he went to the stretch in the middle of the start and started racking up outs. I can’t remember seeing Tanaka pitch from the stretch full-time at any point in the past.

2. The Yankees activated Brandon Drury off the disabled list and optioned him to Triple-A earlier this week. They’ll probably do the same with Billy McKinney when he’s healthy. Greg Bird is nearing a return, and once he’s back, it’s possible if not likely Tyler Austin will be sent down. Tommy Kahnle and Adam Warren are due to return before the end of the month and they’ll push more players off the roster. Clint Frazier could be returning to Triple-A soon. Adam Lind is sitting in Triple-A. Point is, the Yankees have several legitimate MLB caliber players stashed in Triple-A, or will soon. There are not 30 better third basemen in the league than Drury. There are not 90 better outfielders than Frazier and McKinney. The Yankees have dealt with a lot of injuries early this year — they’ve had a large volume of injuries, though fortunately most of their core players have stayed healthy — and they’ve thrived anyway because they have high-caliber depth. It starts with a strong farm system. Can’t say enough about it. Producing stars like Aaron Judge and Luis Severino gets all the attention and deservedly so, but there’s also something to be said for having quality depth (Austin when Bird gets hurt, Miguel Andujar when Drury gets hurt, Domingo German when Jordan Montgomery gets hurt, etc.) and being able to fill in the gaps with guys who are better than replacement level and have upside. I’ve said this before and it’s worth repeating: The Yankees have a higher internal replacement level than most teams. By the end of the month, they could have Drury, Frazier, Wade, Austin, Lind, and Jonathan Holder (and Tyler Wade!) sitting in Triple-A. That’s real nice depth.

3. It has only been two outings — two outings two weeks apart, at that — but, as expected, the Yankees are doing the anti-fastball thing with A.J. Cole. Here are his game-by-game pitch usage rates over the years. He threw his slider at a higher rate during his two appearances with the Yankees than he did in any of his 26 games with the Nationals from 2015-17:

Not a coincidence. Cole has a pretty good slider and the Yankees are all about emphasizing secondary pitches. I’m glad the Yankees stuck with the 26-year-old Cole over the 30-year-old David Hale when it came time to drop the eighth reliever, and while I have no illusions of Cole sticking long-term, maybe the Yankees can squeeze a few good long relief appearances out of him by emphasizing that slider. He’s already given them one good game, those two scoreless innings in Saturday’s extra-innings win over the Athletics. That alone made the cash trade worth it. Cole probably is what he is at this point — he’s a former top 100 prospect who got a lot less interesting when his fastball went from 95-96 mph to 91-92 mph a few years ago — though if the anti-fastball thing helps him stick around in the big leagues, great. And if he does it with the Yankees, even better.

4. The Yankees got literally nothing in return — Jabari Blash was gone before the Grapefruit League season started — but wow has the Chase Headley/Bryan Mitchell trade worked out well. The Padres essentially bought Mitchell by absorbing Headley and his $13M salary, and going into last night’s game Mitchell had a 6.21 ERA (6.66 FIP) with way more walks (29) than strikeouts (18) in 37.2 innings — among the 130 pitchers with at least 30 innings pitched, Mitchell has the lowest strikeout rate and the third highest walk rate — while Headley hit .115/.233/.135 (15 wRC+) as a part-time player before being designated for assignment a few days ago. Yeesh. Mitchell is out of minor league options and he was probably going to be a 40-man roster casualty over the winter. Instead, the Yankees were able to use him to unload Headley’s salary and make getting under the $197M luxury tax salary easier. It’s hard to get nothing in return and still come out ahead, but the Yankees certainly have with this trade. Maybe, once Headley becomes a free agent, the Yankees will bring him back at the pro-rated portion of the league minimum if Andujar stops hitting or Bird suffers a setback? Doubt it, though it would make this trade all the more ridiculous.

5. Aaron Boone’s first 40 (and a half) games as a big league manager have gone pretty well, I’d say. Granted, he has a great team and the players have made life easy on him, but there have been no egregious mistakes. Look at some of the mistakes the other rookie skippers have made already:

• Mickey Callaway, Mets: Gave the umpires the wrong lineup card.
• Gabe Kapler, Phillies: Forgot to warm up a reliever before taking out the starter.
• Dave Martinez, Nationals: Made a pitching change before the pinch-hitter was announced.

That’s Managing 101 stuff right here. Boone’s only managerial blunder to date was the “no one told Adam Warren to warm up” thing in Spring Training, which thankfully happened during Spring Training and not during the regular season. We could nitpick individual bullpen moves and lineup decisions and whatnot until we’re blue in the face, but overall, things have run smoothly so far this year, and the players seem happy. Once we get into the dog days of summer, when the grind really begins, we’ll see how well Boone’s clubhouse skills translate on the field. Right now, all is well with the new skipper.

6. Really weird schedule this year, huh? The Yankees are going to play two series against the Angels and two series against the Astros before making their first trip to Camden Yards. Their first game in Tropicana Field will be their 75th game of the season. Really weird. It’s not just the Yankees either. At one point earlier this season the Dodgers had played 12 games against the Diamondbacks, ten games against the Giants, and 14 games against everyone else. I mean, what? I guess having so many games against the Orioles and Rays later in the season — 28 of the Yankees’ final 95 games are against the O’s and Rays, so basically three out of every ten — is a good thing because those teams are not very good, and bad teams tend to get worse as the season progresses, not better. It’s just very odd that the Yankees have so few games against two division rivals early in the season. They’re going to get the bulk of their AL Central and AL West games out of the way before really diving into AL East games. I know building the schedule isn’t easy. Can’t they build a more balanced schedule than this though?

7. We’ve been running our weekly Fan Confidence Poll since Spring Training 2009, and I don’t know how often any of you check the graph, but last week’s score (8.71) was the highest since April 2010 (8.93 on April 19th, 2010). There’s a lot of recency bias in the Fan Confidence Poll — when the Yankees have a good week it skyrockets and when they have a bad week it plummets, etc. — though look at the graph and the overall trend is obvious. No one felt good about the state of the Yankees from 2013-16, but, since the start of last season, fan confidence has been steadily climbing, and now it’s higher than it’s been at any point in the last eight years. Eight years! That’s pretty wild. And fans should feel great about the Yankees right now. They’re winning, the Major League team is loaded with high-end young talent, and there’s more help on the way in the farm system. The Yankees haven’t been this healthy as an organization probably since the late-1990s. Even the 2009 team needed an infusion of big money free agents to contend because there wasn’t much in the farm system. The Yankees right now have a much better chance at sustained success, and that’s exciting.

With 17 wins in their last 18 games, the Yankees are currently in the middle of their greatest hot streak since 1953. They’re beating good teams and coming back against great closers. Yeah, there’s been some luck involved (remember Francisco Lindor’s errors?), but good teams capitalize on those situations and the Yankees certainly have.

There is no shortage of on-the-field reasons for this recent 17-1 hot streak. The Yankees are very talented, and guys like Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Luis Severino, Gary Sanchez, and Didi Gregorius have all carried them to victory at some point during these 18 games. When talent like that performs, you’re going to win a lot of ballgames.

The on-the-field stuff is only part of the equation, however. A large part of the equation, but still only a part. There are off-the-field factors in play as well, the intangible stuff we can’t measure but know exists. We don’t delve into this side of the game often at RAB, but with the Yankees in the middle of this hot streak, it’s worth discussing.

The mental side of going 17-1

Seven times in their last 13 games — seven times! — the Yankees have won despite trailing or being tied in the seventh inning or later. They did it again last night with their go-ahead eighth inning rally. The Yankees have blown leads and answered right back. Last week’s series finale in Houston is the best example but hardly the only example.

As a team, the Yankees appear to be playing with a great deal of confidence right now, and they are winning in many different ways. There’s a different hero every game. The Yankees seem to have that “if I don’t get it done my teammates will pick me up” mentality, which is a wonderful thing. It’s not up to one guy to carry the team. Everyone can relax and do their part.

The only thing better than a talented roster is a talented and confident roster, and that’s what the Yankees have right now. There’s a little chicken or the egg going on here. Are they winning because they’re confident, or are they confident because they’re winning? Whatever it is, the Yankees are never out of a game. They’ve proven that and they know it.

“We have been playing good baseball,” said Brett Gardner following last night’s game. “We have pitched well and come up with the big hits. We have to keep playing well. No matter if we are down four or five runs we are in striking distance.”

How much credit does Boone deserve?

It’s impossible to say. Do the Yankees go 17-1 in these 18 games with Joe Girardi? Almost certainly not, and I say that only because I believe if you change one little thing, the results would be different, and the Yankees have been so good lately that any change would make the results worse almost by default. Had Clint Frazier been on the roster instead of David Hale, the Yankees probably wouldn’t go 17-1.

Remember though, the Yankees hired Aaron Boone because of his communication skills, and because they wanted to create a better clubhouse atmosphere. I don’t think they had a bad clubhouse under Girardi, not at all, but communication was a concern and the Yankees took steps to improve it. Boone seems relaxed — you know as well as I that Girardi would’ve been on edge in the dugout last night — and I think players feed off that. The current manager projects calm.

Ultimately, Boone is the manager and the buck stops with him. When the Yankees got off to a slow start, people were already questioning his hire. Now that they’re kicking butt, he’s getting credit. Boone obviously deserves some credit. How much is up for debate. Talent reigns surprise. You can’t win without talent. But is it possible Boone’s clubhouse skills, the clubhouse skills the Yankees invested in, are taking that talent to another level?

Yankee Stadium feels like Yankee Stadium again

Gosh, how awesome has the crowd been the last two nights? Yankees vs. Red Sox has a different feel, no doubt about it, but these last two games were very different than Yankees vs. Red Sox series in previous years. Yankee Stadium really came to life in the postseason last year. That atmosphere carried over into these games with Boston.

“It got my attention,” said Boone following last night’s game. “I looked around a little bit in the eighth inning and it’s May and it was bedlam. It was fun to be a part of that and fun to watch those guys slow things down when the place is going nuts.”

Several Astros admitted it was intimidating playing in Yankee Stadium during the ALCS — “New York is no joke. Yankee Stadium is a tough place to play,” said Dallas Keuchel to Kristie Ackert following Game Five — and that was something that didn’t really exist prior to last year. I’m not sure the new Yankee Stadium was a tough place to play even in 2009.

The old Yankee Stadium has been romanticized into something it never was — the old Yankee Stadium was great, I grew up in that place, but it was never packed and raucous on a nightly basis like some would lead you to believe — but there’s no doubt the new ballpark lacks the charm and history. It was never going to have that same feel.

Lately though, since last postseason, the new Yankee Stadium has come to life, and it feels like a true home field advantage again, especially in games like these last two nights. The fans are into it, the opponents hate it, and the Yankees seem to feed off the crowd. You can’t convince me the livelier Yankee Stadium crowd doesn’t help the team to some degree. The atmosphere is incredible.