River Avenue Blues

DotF: Sanchez plays rehab game; Dermis Garcia continues hot start in Tampa’s win

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According to Joe Dixon, RHP Matt Sauer will have Tommy John surgery this week. Bummer. He was placed on the Low-A Charleston injured list last week and it has since been determined he needs ligament reconstruction. The Yankees have not confirmed the news, though that’s not unusual for a non-40-man roster minor leaguer. Sauer, 20, allowed three runs in 8.2 innings with the RiverDogs before the injury. The Yankees gave him $2.5M as their second round pick in 2017.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (8-6 loss to Rochester)

  • LF Trey Amburgey: 1-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 K — now hitting .288/.323/.441 with Scranton after hitting .258/.300/.418 in Trenton last year
  • 1B Ryan McBroom: 1-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB
  • 2B Gosuke Katoh: 2-4, 1 K — multiple hits in five of 12 games this year
  • RHP Drew Hutchison: 4.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 5 BB, 2 K, 3 HB, 5/2 GB/FB — 52 of 96 pitches were strikes (54%) … five walks and three hit batsmen in 4.1 innings? not even mad, that’s an impressive number of free baserunners
  • LHP Stephen Tarpley: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 1/0 GB/FB — 13 of 23 pitches were strikes (57%) … 7/4 K/BB in six total innings this year

[Read more…]

Game 22: West Coastin’

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(Presswire)

The homestand is over and the Yankees will spend RAB’s final week out on the West Coast. Rude! Well, anyway, the Yankees have won three straight games and five of their last six games, so I hereby deem them: On a roll. They’re on a roll. Now they have to keep it going out on the other side of the country.

“We’ve lost a couple of guys who are irreplaceable here, but we’ve got to find a way to do it,” Austin Romine said to Dan Martin following yesterday’s walk-off win. “Guys are hitting pretty high in the lineup that wouldn’t necessarily be there … We’ve got to scrape and claw for wins, whenever they come.”

Once upon a time Anaheim was a house of horrors for the Yankees. Those were the Joe Torre era Yankees though. The Yankees have won seven of their last ten games in LAnaheim now. Free advice: Don’t pitch to that Mike Trout guy. Make it so the other Angels have to beat you. Here are the lineups:

New York Yankees
1. CF Brett Gardner
2. 1B Luke Voit
3. SS Gleyber Torres
4. LF Clint Frazier
5. RF Mike Tauchman
6. DH Mike Ford
7. 3B Gio Urshela
8. C Kyle Higashioka
9. 2B Tyler Wade

LHP J.A. Happ

Los Angeles Angels
1. 2B David Fletcher
2. CF Mike Trout
3. SS Andrelton Simmons
4. 1B Albert Pujols
5. DH Kevan Smith
6. C Jonathan Lucroy
7. RF Kole Calhoun
8. 3B Zack Cozart
9. LF Brian Goodwin

RHP Matt Harvey

I’m not even going to bother to check the weather. Safe to assume it is a lovely night in Orange Country. Tonight’s game is scheduled to begin at 10:07pm ET and you can watch on the YES Network locally and MLB Network nationally. Enjoy the game.

Rotation Update: Jonathan Loaisiga is being called up to make a spot start tomorrow, Aaron Boone announced. No one’s hurt or being skipped. The Yankees are just giving their five regular starters an extra day. It’ll be Loaisiga on Tuesday, Domingo German on Wednesday, and CC Sabathia on Thursday. Going with Loaisiga tells you all you need to know about how little bang for the buck they thought they’d get from Gio Gonzalez.

4/22 to 4/25 Series Preview: Los Angeles Angels

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Trout. (Getty Images)

Let’s hope the west coast is the best coast for the Yankees’ purposes as they begin a nine-game trip in Anaheim.

Their Story So Far

The Angels sit in the cellar of the American League West with a 9-13 record and -11 run differential. Their offense has been sluggish with a slightly below-average wRC+ despite having the literal best player in baseball, Mike Trout. Their pitching staff has been middling to below-average as well, though they’ve outperformed their peripherals.

As a staff, they allow 1.81 homers per nine, fourth-worst in baseball. Their bullpen has actually settled in with the fourth-best ERA in the AL, but their rotation has been a mess due to just about everyone calling the injured list their home, putting together a collective 6.13 ERA.

Injury Report

The Angels have similar injury issues to the Yankees but on the pitching side. Justin Upton (turf toe) is out until June while pitchers Andrew Heaney (elbow), JC Ramirez (Tommy John), Keynan Middleton (Tommy John), Nick Tropeano (shoulder strain) and Tyler Skaggs (ankle sprain) are all out with only Skaggs potentially returning this month.

Their biggest name on the IL is, of course, Shohei Ohtani, both a hitter and a pitcher. He should be back early next month as a hitter only while recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Player Spotlight: Mike Trout

If you don’t want to marvel about Mike Trout, skip two paragraphs down. Trout doesn’t have the best wRC+ in baseball, but his 221 mark is right near the top. He tops the American League in fWAR and bWAR, has an unreal .333/.524/.719 batting line and walks more than he strikes out.

In fact, Trout walks in nearly a fourth of his plate appearances, 24.4 percent to be exact. He’s cut down on his stolen base attempts this season — though he is 1-for-1 in steals — while remaining a force in center field. There isn’t a player right now that hits as well as he does, and it’s a credit to the New Jersey product that he maintains his excellence in the field.

Milestone Watch

Albert Pujols is the active leader in home runs, RBI and GIDP, among other categories, and he may move up the all-time RBI list this series. According to Baseball Reference, he is seventh with 1,993 RBI. Lou Gehrig had 1,995 in his career while Barry Bonds is in fifth place with 1,996. The Yankees obviously would like to delay his passing of the Iron Horse or all-time home run champ, but be on the lookout for Pujols this week.

Potential Lineup

The Yankees are starting two lefties this series, so here’s the lineup for LHPs. Kole Calhoun leads off against righties while backup catcher Kevan Smith (126 wRC+) started at DH against LHP Yusei Kikuchi on Saturday. LHB Brian Goodwin (180 wRC+) also gets time in LF against RHPs, as does 2B Tommy La Stella (148 wRC+).

  1. David Fletcher, 2B (.299/.347/.403, 104 wRC+)
  2. Mike Trout, CF (.333/.524/.719, 221 wRC+)
  3. Andrelton Simmons, SS (.273/.281/.398, 81 wRC+)
  4. Albert Pujols, DH (.238/.351/.429, 114 wRC+)
  5. Justin Bour, 1B (.203/.319/.305, 79 wRC+)
  6. Jonathan Lucroy, C (.297/.328/.328, 82 wRC+)
  7. Kole Calhoun, RF (.184/.271/.395, 80 wRC+)
  8. Peter Bourjos, LF (.103/.122/.128, -40 wRC+)
  9. Zack Cozart, 3B (.102/.141/.119, -33 wRC+)
Cahill. (Getty Images)

Pitching Matchups

Monday (10:07 PM ET): LHP J.A. Happ (vs. Angels) vs. RHP Matt Harvey (vs. Yankees)

Harvey got a fresh start with the team of his choosing this offseason, but his troubles on the mound followed him across the country. Through four starts, the former ace has allowed 21 runs (20 earned) in 18 2/3 innings. His WHIP is a hair under 2.00 and he’s surrendered four home runs. he hasn’t made it through five innings since his first start.

The former future Yankee averages 94 mph on his fastball, down about two mph from its 2015 peak. His slider, which he throws 30 percent of the time, sits in the mid-to-high 80s with a changeup and curveball mixed in.

If you’re looking for a silver lining for Harvey, his FIP is 5.99, a good 3.65 runs lower than his ERA. Furthermore, he’s had to face the Athletics, Rangers and Brewers thus far, each sporting a much better offense than the one he’ll see tonight.

Harvey. (Baseball Savant)

Tuesday (10:07 PM ET): RHP Domingo German (vs. Angels) vs. RHP Chris Stratton (vs. Yankees)

Stratton hasn’t had a much better go of it than Harvey in his new digs after a few seasons with the Giants. The right-hander has allowed 14 runs over 18 innings in four starts while walking more (13) than he’s struck out (11). Unlike Harvey, his WHIP is exactly 2.00.

Though Stratton had some walk issues in the past, they weren’t this extreme. Either his control is gone or there’s a semi-return to form coming. When the ball has been put in play, he’s been able to avoid hard contact this season, even if that wasn’t the case last year.

The 28-year-old has cut back on his low-90s fastball usage, relying more on his slider and curveball with the Angels. He also uses a changeup, though his high-spin fastball is his calling card.

Stratton. (Baseball Savant)

Wednesday (10:07 PM ET): LHP CC Sabathia (vs. Angels) vs. RHP Felix Pena (vs. Yankees)

Pena has been the Angels’ best healthy starter, sporting a 4.15 ERA through four starts, though he’s also only accumulated 17 1/3 innings. His control has been more suspect than last year, leading baseball with three HBPs while his walk rate has climbed by 2.4 percent in a small sample.

He’s actually outperformed his peripherals. He allows plenty of hard contact and has an FIP of 6.21 thanks to more than two homers per nine and just 14 strikeouts this season.

Pena attacks with a low-90s fastball half the time and then uses his low-80s curve another 40 percent of the time, using his changeup the rest of the way.

Pena. (Baseball Savant)

Thursday (9:07 PM ET) RHP Masahiro Tanaka (vs. Angels) vs. RHP Trevor Cahill (vs. Yankees)

Cahill finally did it last season: He beat the Yankees. After six disastrous outings previously, he allowed just three runs over five innings to top the Bombers last Labor Day. That lowered his ERA against the Bombers to … 10.09. Yikes.

However, much of his history with the Yankees came against players long gone or off the roster. Luke Voit homered in one of two ABs against him last year while Brett Gardner has reached seven times.

Maybe this Yankee lineup can shake him out of an early-season malaise. Cahill has allowed a league-high eight home runs while otherwise looking like the successful starter from a year ago. Primarily a groundball pitcher, he’s allowed more flyballs than grounders this year. The right-hander has gone to his offspeed stuff more often than ever, using his fastball just 40 percent of the time.

Cahill. (Baseball Savant)

Bullpen Status

Anaheim carries eight relievers with former Indians reliever Cody Allen taking closing duties. Like in Cleveland, he’s been shaky with walks but remains the closer for now. That role could change after he allowed a homer to his only batter Sunday.

The Angels have only righties in their pen. Cam Bedrosian, Hansel Robles, Luis Garcia and Ty Buttrey work in middle relief with Buttrey and Garcia combining to allow just one run in 18 2/3 innings. Noe Ramirez had been going well until allowing four runs in 1 2/3 innings yesterday.

Luke Bard (yes, Daniel’s brother) and Taylor Cole are lower leverage relievers for the club

Keys for the series

Starting off strong

With a full lineup worth of hitters on the injured list, the Yankees are reliant on their starting pitching. Luckily, based on the last week, that is starting to round into shape. They need to stay strong in Angel Stadium and deal with …

Trout

This is obvious, but you can’t let Trout beat you. Add to his league-leading walk total if you must, but don’t let him beat you. Force Simmons, Pujols and Bour to knock you out. This is so much easier said than done.

Health

Can we go one series without another major injury? Is that too much to ask?

Yankees sign Brad Miller to minor league contract

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(Duane Burleson/Getty)

The Yankees have signed infielder Brad Miller to a minor league contract, the team announced. They did not say where he’s been assigned, but I assume it is Triple-A Scranton. Steven wrote about Miller as a potential target after he was designated for assignment Indians last week.

Miller, 29, was in Spring Training with the Dodgers this year, and when he didn’t make their Opening Day roster, he hooked on with Cleveland. He hit .250/.325/.417 (96 wRC+) with one home run in 40 plate appearances before Jason Kipnis returned from the injured list to reclaim the second base job. Miller ripped the Indians after being let go.

Once a stathead fave and an overrated Mariners prospect …

… Miller has suited up for three different teams in the last 12 months, and he’s a career .240/.313/.409 (99 wRC+) hitter in over 2,500 big league plate appearances. He even had a 30-homer season with the Rays in 2016. Brutal defense all around the field (career -51 DRS) makes him a replacement level player at this point at this point in his career.

The Yankees have been hammered by injures this season and Miller can play all four infield spots as well as some outfield, so he’ll help replenish depth. It is possible he will be called up to replace Thairo Estrada on the bench at some point, maybe after some tune-up at-bats with the RailRiders. We’ll see.

Update: Gio Gonzalez opts out of minor league contract

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(Presswire)

Monday: The Yankees declined to add Gonzalez to their 25-man MLB roster and instead granted him his release, the team announced. He’s now a free agent. Kinda figured this was where this was heading.

Sunday: Gonzalez did indeed exercise his opt-out clause prior to yesterday’s deadline, reports Dan Martin. The Yankees have until tomorrow to release him or add him to the big league roster. I’d bet on the former, but what do I know. We’ll see.

Friday: According to Mark Feinsand, veteran lefty Gio Gonzalez is planning to opt out of his minor league contract with the Yankees this weekend. His opt-out date is Saturday, and once he triggers the opt-out clause, the Yankees will have 48 hours to release him or add him to their 25-man roster.

Gonzalez, 33, signed with the Yankees on March 19th. His contract includes a $3M base salary at the MLB level plus an additional $300,000 per start. Add in the luxury tax and it’s $396,000 per start. Yeesh. Last season Gonzalez threw 171 innings with a 4.21 ERA (4.16 FIP) with the Nationals and Brewers.

Weather permitting, Gonzalez will make one final start with Triple-A Scranton tonight. He has a 6.00 ERA (3.22 FIP) in three starts and 15 innings with the RailRiders, though one terrible start is skewing the numbers. Gonzalez has been solid the last two times out, plus he has tonight’s start as well.

The Yankees will be without Luis Severino until June, maybe July, though Domingo German has looked pretty good as the fill-in starter. That said, there’s no such thing as too much pitching depth. James Paxton, CC Sabathia, and Masahiro Tanaka are no strangers to the injured list, after all.

My guess — and this is just a guess — is the Yankees will let Gonzalez go. German looks good, they’re obviously comfortable with Jonathan Loaisiga as depth, and Gonzalez is pretty pricey. I suppose they could put him in long relief to avoid the starts bonuses, but I dunno. I guess we’ll see.

Feinsand says Gonzalez has fired Scott Boras, indicating he isn’t happy with how the offseason played out. Plenty of teams could use another starter, though that was true in March as well, and Gio said the Yankees were the only team to approach him. He only needs one team to have interest now though.

Thoughts after the Yankees lose Aaron Judge to a “pretty significant” oblique strain

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Judge   :(   (Jim McIsaac/Getty)

Okay, this injury business has jumped the shark. Every team deals with injuries, so when the Yankees got hit in Spring Training, it was frustrating but also understood to be part of baseball. Now? Now it’s getting ridiculous. Aaron Judge became the latest injured Yankee over the weekend. He has a “pretty significant” oblique strain, which undoubtedly means weeks on the shelf, if not months. Baseball can be a real jerk sometimes. Here are some thoughts on where the Yankees go from here.

1. I’m going to start with a little reality check because I feel like we could all use one. The Yankees have 13 players on the injured list, including six starting position players and their best starting pitcher (and no worse than their second best reliever), plus their supposed Super Bullpen has been largely a disappointment and they’ve shot themselves in the foot with careless mistakes more times than I care to count. And yet, the Yankees have won five of their last six games and are only 2.5 games behind the Rays, a team that was gloating on Twitter about their amazing start as recently as three days ago. Also, the Yankees have the third best run differential in the American League and the fourth best run differential in baseball. For a team with so much going wrong and so much adversity, the Yankees aren’t in a terrible spot right now. Granted, there’s a lot of baseball still to be played this year and I’m not sure how much longer they can survive with so many key players on the injured list, but, three and a half weeks into the season, the Yankees have kept their head above water. They’ve avoided sinking in the standings despite all those injuries and all that sloppy play. As has often been the case with the Yankees the last 20-25 years or so, if this is what ugly looks like, it ain’t so bad.

2. It goes without saying there is no replacing Aaron Judge. He is one of the ten best players in the world and that makes him as close to irreplaceable as it gets. Realistically, there’s no one the Yankees could trot out there who isn’t a huge downgrade in right field and in the lineup. I mean, did it feel like Judge was truly locked in at the plate before the injury? Not really. I don’t think so. It felt like we were all waiting for that big hot streak. And yet, Judge is hitting .288/.404/.521 (147 wRC+) on the season. He hadn’t found his groove at the plate and he still did that. Even with a perfectly healthy roster, losing Judge for any length of time would be devastating, and it sure sounds like this is a long-term injury. Even relatively minor oblique strains can take weeks to heal. Aaron Boone described Judge’s injury as “pretty significant” and both the team and player declined to give a timetable for his return — after the whole “three weeks” fiasco with the wrist last year, I’m not at all surprised the Yankees are keeping his timetable a secret — and just based on what I’ve picked up watching baseball all these years, significant oblique strains can take two or three (or four) months to heal. Judge might not be back until the All-Star break or even later. It is a distinct possibility. Losing Judge would hurt even with a healthy roster and the rest of the roster sure as heck isn’t healthy right now. I don’t want to call this the straw that breaks the camel’s back, but the Judge injury is bad news. It’ll be a challenge to overcome this one.

3. According to MLBTR, there are six unsigned outfielders sitting in free agency: Jose Bautista, Matt Holliday, Austin Jackson, Denard Span, Danny Valencia, and Chris Young. Bautista and Holliday are toast and Valencia is no outfielder despite having played out there occasionally. Span is the best free agent outfielder in my opinion and I don’t think it’s all that close either — he hit .261/.341/.419 (112 wRC+) last season! — though Jackson and Young would be worthwhile depth adds on minor league deals. The thing is, none of these guys are MLB ready. I don’t care how much cage work and how much live batting practice they’re taking on their own. There’s no substitute for game action at the highest level. If the Yankees sign Span or Jackson or whoever, he’ll have to play in some minor league tune-up games before stepping into the lineup. And you know what? At this point, that’s fine. It does not sound like Judge is coming back anytime soon, so while a free agent signing wouldn’t help right away, he could help in May and June, and however long Judge is out. An outfield version of the Gio Gonzalez signing would be ideal. Sign an outfielder, give him maybe two weeks in Triple-A, then give him an opt-out. It takes two to tango (how many free agents are up for that?) but I think that would be the best case scenario for the Yankees. At the very least, the Yankees should check in on the few viable free agent outfielders (Jackson, Span, and Young specifically) and see whether something can be worked out.

4. As for the trade market, I have to think the Yankees will search for two types of players: rentals and optionable depth guys. Aaron Hicks and Giancarlo Stanton are signed long-term, and Judge (and Clint Frazier!) both have several years of control remaining, so I don’t think the Yankees would pursue an outfielder with multiple years remaining on his contract. The Mariners would probably give Jay Bruce away and even eat money to do it, but he is signed through next season and that just doesn’t make sense for the Yankees given their roster. Not right now. Same deal with a guy like David Peralta. Yeah, he’d undoubtedly help the Yankees right now, but the big picture has to be considered. I think it’s lower cost rentals and optionable depth guys. Some possible rental trade targets:

  • Jarrod Dyson, Diamondbacks
  • Alex Gordon, Royals
  • Curtis Granderson, Marlins
  • Adam Jones, Diamondbacks
  • Matt Kemp, Reds
  • Yasiel Puig, Reds

Granderson and Jones are recently signed free agents and therefore they can not be traded until June 16th without their consent, and, even if they do consent, they can not be traded for contracts totaling more than $50,000 in value. (That is MLB’s way of preventing those “sign a free agent and immediately trade him” video game moves.) They are not really options right now. The Reds have struggled so far this season, but would they really cut bait on Kemp or Puig so soon after their high profile offseason? I don’t think so. I am a Dyson fan and he can really go get the ball in center field and create havoc on the bases. History suggests his early season .295/.385/.523 (137 wRC+) batting line won’t last, but hey, stranger things have happened. Gordon is a career Royal who grew up a Royals fan in nearby Lincoln, Nebraska, and he has full no-trade protection through his 10-and-5 rights. Even if you buy into his resurgence, and even if the Yankees and Royals could work around the $21M or so he still has coming to him this year, Gordon may not want to leave Kansas City. Trading for an established MLB outfielder to help cover for all these injuries doesn’t seem so easy at the moment.

Fowler. (Thearon W. Henderson/Getty)

5. Digging through Triple-A rosters, non-40-man roster journeymen like Alex Dickerson (Padres), Mikie Mahtook (Tigers), Charlie Tilson (White Sox), Preston Tucker (White Sox), Mason Williams (Orioles), and Mac Williamson (Giants) could be options for the Yankees as Triple-A depth guys. Dickerson was kinda sorta breaking out in 2016 before back trouble and Tommy John surgery sabotaged his 2017-18 seasons. He’s healthy now though. Williamson was an interesting launch angle guy before suffering a concussion last season. He cleared waivers in Spring Training. Joey Rickard (Orioles) and Zack Granite (Rangers) are defense-first fourth or fifth outfielder types with options who can be shuttled back and forth between Triple-A and MLB. The O’s could move Rickard and call up an actual prospect like Austin Hays and D.J. Stewart. In the past the Yankees have had interest in Hunter Renfroe, who still has options remaining, plus the Padres are very deep in outfielders. They’re likely willing to move someone. Is that someone Renfroe? Not sure, but someone. The Astros might be open to trading Derek Fisher, a former big name prospect, in the right deal since they have Kyle Tucker and Myles Straw on the 40-man roster and in Triple-A. What about Dustin Fowler? The Athletics have no room for him in their outfield right now — Ramon Laureano has taken their center field job and run with it — so Fowler is back in Triple-A for the third straight season, doing what he always does in Triple-A (.271/.354/.514 and 109 wRC+). The A’s desperately need rotation help and the Yankees aren’t really in position to give starters away, plus Oakland needs their cheap young players to survive, and they’re one injury away from Fowler playing everyday in the big leagues. Fowler might not be realistic. I totally understand why we’re going to hear about Alex Gordon and Yasiel Puig and Jay Bruce and guys like that in the coming days and weeks. I think the Yankees are more likely to look for another Mike Tauchman type. An undervalued guy with options. Good luck figuring out who that might be.

6. This oblique injury has financial ramifications. Judge can almost certainly forget about a record first year arbitration salary after the season. Kris Bryant currently holds the record at $10.85M (Mookie Betts and Francisco Lindor are right behind him in the $10.5M range) and, with an MVP caliber 2019 season, Judge could’ve topped Bryant. He had a chance to go into arbitration with 100+ career homers and hey, he still might (88 right now), plus he’d have at least two All-Star Game selections, a Rookie of the Year award, and a second place finish in the MVP voting to his name. Adding a third All-Star Game selection and another high finish in the MVP voting probably won’t happen now, which will hurt his arbitration case. Don’t get me wrong, Judge is still going to do very well as a first year arbitration-eligible player no matter what happens the rest of the season. But a record-setting first year salary? Seems unlikely now. That means less money next year and less money down the road because arbitration raises are based on the player’s salary in the previous year. There’s a carryover effect. That is bad news for Judge and good news for the Yankees, who are so worried about locking up their core that they eschewed the top of the free agent market entirely over the winter (wanking motion).

7. There was a sliver of good injury news this weekend: Gary Sanchez will play a minor league rehab game with Low-A Charleston today, and as long as everything goes well, he’ll be activated Wednesday. I saw some folks suggest the Yankees should’ve activated Sanchez yesterday — “How’s one rehab game going to help?” was the general sentiment — and, uh, no. Rushing a player back from injury because another player got hurt is a terrible idea, especially when you’re talking about a prized young catcher with a leg injury. Sanchez is playing a rehab game because the Yankees want to make sure he is game ready. Activate him and he’s turns out to be not 100% ready, then he probably has to go back on the injured list. If Sanchez comes through the game tonight and he and the Yankees believe he needs another rehab game or three to get right — my guess is catching is more of a concern than hitting right now —  he can get those extra rehab games and come back later this week. Hopefully everything goes well today and Sanchez returns Wednesday to add some punch to the lineup, and hopefully Stanton continues to progress well and returns a few days after Sanchez. The Yankees would not be back to full strength, but getting those two back sure would be a big help. Getting healthy has to start somewhere.

8. And finally, consider this the obligatory reminder that success can be fleeting in this game, and championship windows can close much quicker than you expect. The Yankees reported to Spring Training this year with as good a chance to win the World Series as any team in baseball. Now those World Series chances have been severely compromised by injuries. The excuse is built-in. If the Yankees don’t win the World Series this season — not winning the World Series is always the most likely outcome for every team every season — they’ll blame the injuries and trudge forward. You can take that to the bank. Another year with this core in its collective prime will have ticked off the calendar though. The Yankees could’ve added elite prime-aged talent over the winter that would’ve put them in better position to win the World Series with a healthy roster and weather the storm through a freakish injury-plagued season, like the one they’re having now. Instead, they opted to add lower cost, lower impact players and hope they could stave off decline long enough to help the young core get over the top. I know I’m beating a dead horse here but I can’t think of a dead horse that deserves to be beaten longer than this one. The sport’s biggest market and most high profile team cut corners and did not even attempt to assemble the best possible roster over the winter. It is aggravating and the injuries do not make it okay.

Yankeemetrics: Vets, replacements to the rescue (April 18-21)

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(New York Post)

April 18: WTF cold bats
All of the momentum from the sweep of the Red Sox was quickly erased in a boring 6-1 loss to Kansas City on Thursday night. Four singles. The only run was scored on an out (sac fly). Gross.

Domingo German was hit hard in the first few innings, before he settled down and ultimately gave the Yankees a “quality start” (six innings, three runs). German had allowed just three singles to the 50 batters he faced in his first three outings… And then the regression-dragon smacked him right in the face, as two of the first three batters he faced on Thursday hit doubles and two more guys later added solo homers. Before Thursday, German was the only pitcher in the majors that had faced at least 50 batters and not allowed an extra-base hit.

The game was still winnable when German departed after the sixth inning, trailing 3-1. But Jonathan Holder effectively torched any chance of a comeback when he coughed up two runs on three hits while getting just one out in the seventh. This is not the first time Aaron Boone has called on Holder in a tight game and he’s imploded.

Prior to Thursday, Holder had the highest average Leverage Index (when entering a game) on the team — basically Boone called on him in the most-pressured situations on average this season — and yet his 7.00 ERA following Thursday’s implosion was the second-highest among Yankee relievers. Hmmm …

(USA Today)

April 19: Let the old guys play
The Yankees bounced back from Thursday’s loss as the old guys sparked a 6-2 win on Friday night. Brett Gardner delivered an early game-changing homer and CC Sabathia turned back the clock in another vintage performance.

Gardner’s two-run shot in the third inning quickly flipped a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead that the Yankees wouldn’t relinquish. It was his fifth of the season, and through Friday, the only player in MLB with more homers as a centerfielder was Mike Trout (6).

CC Sabathia continued his incredible late-career resurgence with another strong outing, holding the Royals to just one unearned run in five innings. It was his 247th career win, tying Bartolo Colon and Jack Quinn on the all-time list. But more important is this note on CC The Stoppah:

Sabathia showed why he is the king of soft contact, generating a bunch of easy grounders and lazy flyouts. Only one of the 12 balls in play was “hard-hit” (95-plus mph), averaging just 77.5 mph off the bat. Through Friday, that was the sixth-lowest average exit velocity in a game for any starting pitcher this season (min. 10 balls in play).

April 20: Injury gods hate the Yankees
The Yankees crushed the Royals, 9-2, on Saturday, but it was a win only on the scoreboard. They added another player to their M.A.S.H. unit when Aaron Judge left the game with an oblique injury in the sixth inning. With Judge added to the IL on Sunday, the Yankees now have an MLB-high 13 players on the injured list and those 13 players, based on preseason ZIPS projections, account for a combined 32.7 Wins Above Replacement (WAR). That’s more projected WAR than 17 teams this season.

Clint Frazier’s scorching-hot bat sparked the offense again, as he went 3-for-4 with a homer, double and a single while driving in two runs. He finished the night with a .351 batting average and five dingers on the season. That seems good:

April 21: Romine to the rescue
The Yankees capped off a second straight series win at the Stadium in thrilling fashion, riding a rollercoaster of blown leads and late-game rallies to beat the Royals on a 10th inning walk-off hit by Austin Romine. Believe it or not, but their 11-10 record is just one game back of their mark through 21 games last year (12-9).

Romine, who also tied the game in the eighth with a run-scoring single, saved the Yankees from arguably their most awful and crushing loss in nearly a decade. The last time the Yankees lost a game when leading by at least five runs entering the eighth inning was September 28, 2011 vs Rays (click at your own risk). Instead, Romine joined some Yankee legends with his clutch hitting and first career walk-off RBI.

He is the third Yankee in the last 30 years with an extra-inning walk-off hit against the Royals, along with Brett Gardner (August 16, 2008) and Don Mattingly (May 19, 1990). And most impressively, produced our #FunFact of the game, becoming the second Yankee catcher since 1925 with a game-tying hit in the eighth inning or later and then a walk-off hit in the same game. The other? Yogi Berra on July 2, 1954.

(AP)

James Paxton would have been the star of the highlights if not for an epic eighth-inning bullpen meltdown that robbed him of the win and made the walk-off heroics necessary. Paxton pitched his second straight gem, striking out 12 in six scoreless innings. Let’s recap this historic two-start stretch:

  • Joined David Cone (1998) as the only Yankees with at least a dozen strikeouts in back-to-back games.
  • Sixth lefthander in MLB history with two games in a row of at least 12 punchouts and no earned runs. The rest of the list: Clayton Kershaw (2015), Chris Sale (2015), Randy Johnson (2001), Sandy Koufax (1965), Karl Spooner (1954).
  • Second major-league pitcher (since 1908) to strike out at least 12 batters, while allowing zero runs and fewer than five baserunners, in consecutive games. Some dude named Randy Johnson is the other.

And, finally, Paxton now has his own page in the franchise record book: