The Yankees and White Sox are halfway through their four-game series. They continue the set with the third game later this afternoon. Here are some links to help you pass the time.
Wildcard games start times announced
Earlier this week, MLB announced the start times for the two wildcard games. The AL game will be played at 8:08pm ET on Tuesday, October 6th, while the NL game will be played at 8:08pm ET on Wednesday, October 7th. Standard postseason start times. The AL game will be broadcast on ESPN and the NL game on TBS. Those are the only games scheduled those days. The full postseason schedule can be found right here.
The Yankees come into today four games back of the Blue Jays in the AL East and 4.5 games up on the Astros for the first wildcard spot. They’re five games up on the Angels for a wildcard spot in general. The magic number to clinch the team’s first postseason berth since 2012 is a mere five, as Joe DiMaggio tells you in the sidebar. It’s unlikely the Yankees will catch and pass the Blue Jays to win the AL East, so they figure to be playing in that wildcard game one week from Tuesday. They’ll host the game at Yankee Stadium if they hold onto their lead for the first wildcard spot.
Q&A with Marcus Thames
Brendan Kuty recently posted a short-ish interview with Triple-A Scranton hitting coach Marcus Thames, who was with the Yankees during their recent trip to Toronto. Thames discussed his philosophy as a hitting coach and some players we’ve seen come up from the minors this year. He also spoke about top prospect OF Aaron Judge at length after Judge hit .224/.308/.373 (98 wRC+) with a 28.5% strikeout rate in 61 games for the RailRiders.
“If you come to a game and watch, everybody’s trying to make him expand (the strike zone). So if he expands, he’s going to get himself out. So he’s going to have to have discipline to know what he does well, and that’s swing at strikes. If he does that, he’s going to be fine,” said Thames. Judge is always going to strike out a bunch — he’s 6-foot-7 remember, that’s a lot of strike zone to cover — but another few hundred at bats in Triple-A next season is best for him. Triple-A is the place to learn how to not expand the zone, not the big leagues.
Korean OF Ah-Seop Son plans to come to MLB
Korean outfielder Ah-Seop Son plans to come over to MLB this offseason, reports Jeff Passan. Son will not be a free agent this winter, so his team, the Lotte Giants, will have to make him available through the posting system. Once he is posted, teams will be able to place a blind bid, and high bidder gets a 30-day window to negotiate a contract with Son. Here are his career stats, via Baseball Reference:
| Year | Age | AgeDif | Tm | Lg | G | PA | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 19 | -9.5 | Lotte | KBO | 4 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .167 | .167 | .333 | .500 |
| 2008 | 20 | -8.2 | Lotte | KBO | 80 | 250 | 31 | 66 | 11 | 1 | 3 | 17 | 2 | 3 | 28 | 35 | .303 | .387 | .404 | .791 |
| 2009 | 21 | -7.3 | Lotte | KBO | 34 | 96 | 11 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 16 | .186 | .263 | .337 | .600 |
| 2010 | 22 | -6.0 | Lotte | KBO | 121 | 487 | 85 | 129 | 23 | 0 | 11 | 47 | 6 | 2 | 50 | 82 | .306 | .377 | .438 | .815 |
| 2011 | 23 | -5.4 | Lotte | KBO | 116 | 492 | 79 | 144 | 25 | 5 | 15 | 83 | 13 | 4 | 43 | 80 | .326 | .385 | .507 | .892 |
| 2012 | 24 | -4.3 | Lotte | KBO | 132 | 556 | 61 | 158 | 26 | 0 | 5 | 58 | 10 | 5 | 41 | 79 | .314 | .370 | .396 | .766 |
| 2013 | 25 | -3.5 | Lotte | KBO | 128 | 568 | 83 | 172 | 23 | 4 | 11 | 69 | 36 | 7 | 64 | 88 | .345 | .421 | .474 | .895 |
| 2014 | 26 | -2.9 | Lotte | KBO | 122 | 570 | 105 | 175 | 25 | 3 | 18 | 80 | 10 | 3 | 80 | 78 | .362 | .456 | .538 | .994 |
| 2015 | 27 | Lotte | KBO | 108 | 480 | 82 | 133 | 26 | 0 | 12 | 52 | 11 | 6 | 62 | 95 | .321 | .408 | .471 | .879 | |
| All Levels (9 Seasons) | 845 | 3505 | 539 | 994 | 164 | 13 | 78 | 411 | 89 | 31 | 377 | 554 | .324 | .399 | .462 | .860 | ||||
Son, who turns 28 in March, is described as a player “whose forte is more hitting for a high average and getting on base” rather than hitting for power. Passan notes Son will qualify for free agency next year, so if he gets lowballed during contract talks this winter, he could simply return to Korea for another season, then try again as a true free agent with more negotiating leverage next offseason.
The Yankees have a full and rather pricey big league outfield as well as a bevy of lefty hitting outfielders in the upper minors — Son is a left-handed hitter as well — so I’m not sure he makes sense for them. (For what it’s worth, the Yankees are reportedly scouting Korean first baseman Byung-Ho Park.) That said, you can be sure teams will take a much harder look at Korean players going forward following the success of Jung-Ho Kang with the Pirates.
Yogi’s funeral will be an “intimate private memorial”
According to Priscella DeGregory, the funeral for the late Yogi Berra will be an “intimate private memorial” next week, likely near his home in Montclair, New Jersey. It’ll be a small service for his family according to officials for Berra’s museum. “The outpouring of emotion that we have witnessed is a testimonial to how significant an impact he had not just as an athlete but as a human being,” said museum CEO Kevin Peters to DeGregory. Yogi passed away at age 90 late Tuesday night. We all miss him.