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River Ave. Blues » Luis Cessa

Yankees activate Sanchez; call up Cessa, Wade, and Tarpley

September 1, 2018 by Mike Leave a Comment

(Mike Ehrmann/Getty)

September 1st has arrived and that means rosters have expanded. Teams can carry up to 40 players through the end of the season rather than the usual 25. Most teams will wind up carrying 30-35 players this month. Every team will have extra relievers and bench players starting today.

The Yankees announced a series of call-ups and roster moves today. A recap:

  • Andrew McCutchen and Adeiny Hechavarria added to the active roster.
  • Gary Sanchez activated off the 10-day DL.
  • Tyler Wade and Luis Cessa recalled from Triple-A Scranton.
  • Stephen Tarpley added to 40-man roster and promoted to MLB.

Andrew McCutchen! The Yankees acquired McCutchen from the Giants yesterday and he spent the day traveling to New York. He wasn’t put on the active roster yesterday because there was no reason to do so. He wasn’t going to be available and there’s no sense in playing with a 24-man roster. McCutchen is in today’s lineup. Hooray. I’m not sure whether Hechavarria, who came over in a trade late last night, is with the team yet. No harm in adding him to the roster now that rosters have expanded though.

The big news is Sanchez returning from the disabled list. For all intents and purposes, he’s missed the last two months with a groin injury. He went on the disabled list June 25th, returned July 19th, played three games, then returned to the disabled list after reaggravating the groin injury. All told, Gary has missed 54 games with the groin injury and reaggravation of the groin injury.

While Sanchez was out the Austin Romine/Kyle Higashioka catching tandem hit .201/.258/.350 in 231 plate appearances and opponents went 43-for-56 (77%) stealing bases. The overall team ERA also went from 3.43 to 3.72 during Sanchez’s absence. It has not been pretty behind the plate the last few weeks. I’m looking forward to Gary being back and him getting back to being the player he was last year.

The other big news today is Tarpley’s call-up. The left-hander came over as one of the two players to be named later in the Ivan Nova trade with the Pirates, and thanks to a new pitch and a new role, he posted a 1.94 ERA (3.23 FIP) with 25.6% strikeouts, 9.4% walks, and 68.1% grounders in 69.2 innings between Double-A and Triple-A this year. That 68.1% ground ball rate is the highest among the 1,011 minor leagues with at least 65 innings pitched in 2018.

Tarpley will be making his big league debut, and, like most first time September call-ups, I expect him to work in mop-up duty, at least at first. He held left-handed batters to a .148/.219/.193 batting line in the minors this year and could always get the call in low-to-mid-leverage left-on-left spots. Phil Coke quickly worked his way into the Circle of Trust™ in September 2008. Maybe Tarpley can do the same in September 2018. That’d be cool.

The Yankees have not yet announced a 40-man roster move for Tarpley. I wonder if it’ll be Shane Robinson now that McCutchen is with the team and Wade, who can also play the outfield, has been added to the roster. The Yankees might be waiting to make sure no one gets hurt during batting practice today before announcing Robinson has been designated for assignment, assuming he is the move. That’s a fairly common practice.

Update: Yep, Robinson has been designated for assignment, the Yankees announced. That’s the 40-man move for Tarpley.

Cessa and Wade have been up and down a bunch this season and are just extra bodies now that rosters have expanded. Wade is a speedy utility guy who can play pretty much anywhere. With Quintin Berry not being called up (not yet, anyway), I assume Wade takes over as the designated pinch-runner. Cessa is stretched out as a long man, so now the Yankees have him and Sonny Gray available for long relief work for whenever things go haywire.

Notably absent among today’s call-ups: Justus Sheffield. Aaron Boone said yesterday Sheffield would not be called up today, but could be later this month. I think it’ll happen fairly soon. Sheffield moved to the Triple-A bullpen last week in preparation for a call-up, but he missed a few games with an illness earlier this week, and fell behind a bit. I expect him to come up after one or two more relief appearances with the RailRiders.

As always, more call-ups will take place throughout September. Sheffield will be up at some point and I assume Chance Adams will as well. Probably once Triple-A Scranton’s season ends, which could be as soon as Monday. Berry is another call-up candidate. Domingo German and Jonathan Loaisiga will likely return later this month, plus Aroldis Chapman and Didi Gregorius will eventually be activated off the disabled list, hopefully soon.

Filed Under: Transactions Tagged With: Adeiny Hechavarria, Andrew McCutchen, Gary Sanchez, Luis Cessa, Shane Robinson, Stephen Tarpley, Tyler Wade

Game 130: Sevy for the Sweep

August 26, 2018 by Mike Leave a Comment

(Presswire)

After struggling against the Orioles earlier this season, this weekend has gone about as well as we could’ve hoped. The Yankees have three wins since Friday night and tonight they’re going for the four-game sweep. With the Red Sox stumbling a bit — they were swept by the Rays this weekend and have lost six of their last eight games — the top of the AL East standings currently look like this:

  1. Red Sox: 90-42
  2. Yankees: 82-47 (6.5 GB)

The Yankees have gained four games in the standings in the last seven days and a win tonight means they’ll wake up tomorrow morning five games back in the loss column. Five back with six head-to-head games remaining. Still a long climb ahead. A very long climb. But suddenly that climb doesn’t seem as improbable as it did even a week ago. Go beat the Orioles and continue to make things interesting. Here are tonight’s lineups:

New York Yankees
1. CF Brett Gardner
2. RF Giancarlo Stanton
3. DH Aaron Hicks
4. 3B Miguel Andujar
5. 2B Neil Walker
6. SS Gleyber Torres
7. 1B Luke Voit
8. C Austin Romine
9. RF Shane Robinson

RHP Luis Severino

Baltimore Orioles
1. 2B Jonathan Villar
2. CF Craig Gentry
3. DH Trey Mancini
4. RF Adam Jones
5. 1B Chris Davis
6. SS Tim Beckham
7. 3B Renato Nunez
8. 2B Jace Peterson
9. C Caleb Joseph

RHP Dylan Bundy


I thought for sure Gardner would sit tonight after playing both ends of the doubleheader yesterday. Shows what I know. Anyway, it’s another hot and humid day in Baltimore. Probably not the most comfortable night to sit in the stands. At least there’s no rain in the forecast. Tonight’s game will begin at 8:05pm ET and it’ll be on ESPN as the Sunday Night Baseball game. Why? I have no idea. Whatever. Enjoy the game.

Roster Move: As required, 26th man Luis Cessa was sent back to Triple-A following yesterday’s doubleheader. Unless he replaces someone who goes on the disabled list, Cessa has to stay in the minors ten days, which means the earliest he can come back up is Wednesday, September 5th. He can’t come back this coming Saturday, the first day rosters expand.

Injury Updates: Aaron Boone said he is “optimistic” both Gary Sanchez (groin) and Didi Gregorius (heel) will return in time for the upcoming West Coast trip. The Yankees play three games in Oakland and three games in Seattle starting September 3rd … Aaron Judge (wrist) still isn’t ready to swing a bat.

Filed Under: Game Threads Tagged With: Aaron Judge, Didi Gregorius, Gary Sanchez, Luis Cessa

Games 128 & 129: Another Doubleheader

August 25, 2018 by Mike Leave a Comment

(Patrick McDermott/Getty)

For the fifth time this season — and the fourth time in the last two months when you include the suspended game in Washington — the Yankees will play a doubleheader today. The Yankees and Orioles are making up their June 3rd rainout this afternoon. The night game is the regularly scheduled game. The afternoon game is the makeup game.

The Yankees split each of their four previous doubleheaders this season and all four were played against bad to mediocre teams. Split against the Tigers, split against the Nationals, split against the Orioles, split against the Royals. Gross. The Yankees have not swept a doubleheader since sweeping the Cubs at Yankee Stadium in April 2014. Would be nice to see them get that monkey off their back today. Here are the Game One lineups:

New York Yankees
1. LF Brett Gardner
2. DH Giancarlo Stanton
3. CF Aaron Hicks
4. 3B Miguel Andujar
5. 2B Neil Walker
6. SS Gleyber Torres
7. 1B Luke Voit
8. C Kyle Higashioka
9. RF Shane Robinson

LHP J.A. Happ

Baltimore Orioles
1. CF Cedric Mullins
2. 2B Jonathan Villar
3. RF Adam Jones
4. DH Trey Mancini
5. 1B Chris Davis
6. SS Tim Beckham
7. 3B Renato Nunez
8. LF John Andreoli
9. C Austin Wynns

RHP Jimmy Yacabonis


It is a little cloudy with a nice dose of Mid-Atlantic heat and humidity in Baltimore today. There’s no rain in the forecast, thankfully. The weather will be fine for the doubleheader. The first game begins at 1:05pm ET and you can watch on YES locally as well as MLB Network and ESPN+ out-of-market. Enjoy.

Roster Move: Luis Cessa has been called up to serve as the 26th man today, the Yankees announced. I figured that was coming. Sonny Gray is starting tonight’s game, so Cessa is the long man du jour.

Injury Updates: Gary Sanchez (groin) did indeed start his minor league rehab assignment in the rookie Gulf Coast League today. Here’s the box score if you don’t believe me. Sanchez is playing today, he’s going to go through a workout tomorrow, then he’ll join Triple-A Scranton to begin about a “week’s worth” of rehab games Monday.

Update (6:30pm ET): The Yankees blew the Orioles out in the first game of today’s doubleheader, so they’ll go for the sweep tonight. Here are the Game Two lineups:

New York Yankees
1. LF Brett Gardner
2. DH Giancarlo Stanton
3. CF Aaron Hicks
4. 3B Miguel Andujar
5. RF Neil Walker
6. SS Gleyber Torres
7. 1B Greg Bird
8. C Austin Romine
9. 2B Ronald Torreyes

RHP Sonny Gray

Baltimore Orioles
1. CF Cedric Mullins
2. RF Craig Gentry
3. SS Jonathan Villar
4. DH Chris Davis
5. 1B Trey Mancini
6. 3B Renato Nunez
7. LF John Andreoli
8. 2B Jace Peterson
9. C Caleb Joseph

RHP Andrew Cashner


No sudden change in the weather, so they’re good to go tonight. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm ET and WPIX will have the broadcast. Enjoy the ballgame.

Filed Under: Game Threads Tagged With: Gary Sanchez, Luis Cessa

Previewing the Yankees’ crop of potential September call-ups

August 23, 2018 by Mike Leave a Comment

Sheffield. (Times Leader)

In one week and two days all 30 MLB teams will be able to expand their active roster from 25 players to 40 players. Most teams wind up carrying 30-35 players in September. September call-ups have become somewhat controversial but I am 100% for them. I explained why a few years ago. It seems likely the rules will change at some point in the future. Right now, the rules are what they are, and teams can have 40 active players on their roster as of next Saturday.

In recent years the Yankees have been a very aggressive September call-up team. They tend to call up lots of players and they call them up early. Some teams only add a third catcher and an extra reliever on September 1st. Not the Yankees. They go all out. Last year they called up five players on September 1st. The year before it was seven players on September 1st. The year before that? Eight players on September 1st. I expect lots of September 1st call-ups again.

So, with that in mind, let’s take a moment to sort through the team’s September call-up options and figure out where each player fits, if at all. Some call-ups are kept around for emergencies only. Spare long relievers and a third catcher, guys like that. Others are brought up for a specific reason or to fill a specific role. Let’s get to it.

Injured Players

Might as well start here. The Yankees have lots of players on the disabled list right now and sometimes, rather conveniently, players will get healthy on September 1st. That happened with Matt Holliday last year. He was on the disabled list with a back issue and was activated on the first day rosters expanded. Funny how that works.

Aaron Judge (wrist) and Clint Frazier (post-concussion migraines) are both making progress but it seems very unlikely either will be ready to return next Saturday. Gary Sanchez, however, will begin a minor league rehab assignment either today or tomorrow. He’s going to play a few games in the rookie Gulf Coast League before joining Triple-A Scranton for what Aaron Boone called a “week’s worth of games.” Sure seems like Gary will return on September 1st.

Didi Gregorius is eligible to be activated next Thursday and it’s unclear right now whether he’ll be ready to be activated that day. The Yankees said they have to see how his heel responds the next few days before knowing when he’ll return. If Gregorius is ready to go Thursday, would the Yankees give him the proverbial two extra days and wait until Saturday to activate him? I don’t think so, but you never know. It would be quite easy to give Didi those two extra days to make sure he’s 100% ready to go.

Aroldis Chapman landed on the disabled list yesterday and he isn’t even eligible to be activated until next Saturday, so even if he comes back after the minimum ten days, he’ll return with expanded rosters. That makes life easy. Whenever Chapman is healthy, the Yankees will activate him and add him to the roster. They won’t have to send someone else down to accommodate him.

The Up & Down Guys

Okay, let’s get to the minor leaguers. Generally speaking, the first wave of September call-ups — those are the September 1st guys — are players who have been going up and down all year. Many of them are already in the big leagues because of the injuries though. Tommy Kahnle, Ronald Torreyes, Luke Voit … they’re with the Yankees now. If I’d written this post a week ago, those three would’ve been identified as September 1st call-ups.

There are two up-and-down guys in Triple-A right now: Tyler Wade and Luis Cessa. I expect both to come up on September 1st. Wade to give the Yankees another bench player (a four-man bench? madness!) and Cessa to be another long man and occasional spot starter. The only thing with Cessa is that he might come up as the 26th man for Saturday’s doubleheader game in Baltimore. If he does, he has to go back down after the game, then he’ll have to wait ten days to be called back up. The ten-day rules means Cessa won’t be eligible to be called back up until September 4th. Point is, as soon as he’s eligible, I think Cessa comes up.

40-Man Guys Who Might Have To Wait

At the moment the Yankees have five healthy players on the 40-man roster and in the minors: Cessa, Wade, Albert Abreu, Ryan Bollinger, and Chris Rabago. I am fairly certain Chance Adams will be sent down tomorrow when CC Sabathia is activated — Adams threw 46 ineffective pitches last night and I don’t see the Yankees keeping him around when Sabathia returns — so it’s really six healthy players on the 40-man and in the minors.

Abreu is a Single-A pitcher who’s thrown 62.2 innings around injuries this year. There is no reason to call him up in September only to have him sit in the bullpen as the 38th or 39th or 40th guy on the roster. Abreu needs to pitch. He needs to spend September in Instructional League in Tampa. That’s the best thing for his development. Rabago was claimed on waivers yesterday and is a light-hitting Double-A catcher. He’s not a call-up candidate. He’s a guy who gets dropped from the 40-man roster when a spot is needed.

Bollinger has had two one-day stints with the Yankees as an emergency arm this year and I don’t think he’s getting a September call-up. He is much more likely to be dropped from the 40-man roster to clear a spot for someone else. Bollinger is not even in Triple-A. He’s a 27-year-old journeyman with a 4.03 ERA (3.42 FIP) in 91.2 Double-A innings. Those two call-ups were “we need a warm body” call-ups, not “we like this guy” call-ups. Sorry, Ryan.

Adams. (Presswire)

As for Adams, assuming he is sent down for Sabathia, he will be back in September for sure. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Yankees leave him in Triple-A until Scranton’s season is over though. They might not make the postseason, so it might be over soon, but if they do make the postseason, Adams could be part of the rotation. Remember, when the Yankees called Adams up for that spot start a few weeks ago, it was only because Cessa was unavailable. Letting Adams pitch in Triple-A through the end of their season seems like the way to go.

The Yankees have three injured minor league pitchers on the 40-man roster right now: Domingo Acevedo, Domingo German, and Jonathan Loaisiga. All three recently started pitching in rehab games but might not be ready to come up on September 1st. I think German comes up right away, as soon as he’s deemed fit for MLB. Acevedo and Loaisiga need innings and I expect both to stay with Double-A Trenton through the postseason. (Trenton is definitely going to the postseason.) German comes up as soon as he’s healthy. Acevedo and Loaisiga are probably going to have to wait.

Non-40-Man Roster Players

The shift to the bullpen earlier this week all but confirmed Justus Sheffield will be called up in September. The Yankees say they are going to give him 3-4 relief appearances in Triple-A — that suggests he could be a September 1st call-up — to prepare him for bullpen work in the big leagues. A September call-up has felt inevitable for weeks now. Now we know it’ll happen, and we know Sheffield will work out of the bullpen.

“We’re starting to transition him to the bullpen so that hopefully he can get a couple of outings under his belt down there, and then play a part with us in our ‘pen down the stretch,” said Boone after the Sheffield move was announced. “We think there’s some great value he could bring.”

Sheffield is getting called up in September. Stephen Tarpley might as well. Brian Cashman mentioned the southpaw by name last week when discussing call-up candidates. Tarpley has been excellent this year — his 71.0% ground ball rate leads affiliated baseball — and he’ll almost certainly be added to the 40-man roster after the season to avoid Rule 5 Draft exposure. I think he’ll get added to the 40-man in September and called up. Will he pitch? Probably in mop-up duty only, and that’s fine. Countless relievers broke in as September mop-up guys.

There are three other non-40-man players who I think I have a chance to be called up in September: George Kontos, Erik Swanson, and Gio Urshela. I don’t see guys like Mike Ford or Ryan McBroom or Abi Avelino getting called up. Avelino is the only real prospect of the bunch and he’s a fringe guy who might not get a 40-man spot after the season. Injuries could always force a call-up. I just don’t see the Yankees creating 40-man space to call those guys up though.

My hunch is George Kontos will be a September 1st call-up guy. I thought it was pretty weird a guy with his track record and service time accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A when he was designated for assignment last week. Usually a guy in his spot elects free agency and finds a team with a better shot at MLB playing time. Seems like their might’ve been an “accept the outright, go to Triple-A for two weeks, and we’ll call you up on September 1st” conversation at some point.

Urshela. (Jason Farmer/Scranton Times Tribune)

Urshela is an interesting case. The Yankees got him in a cash trade earlier this month and he’s played well with Triple-A Scranton, hitting .310/.333/.483 in 16 games. He’s a fantastic gloveman who would be a great defensive replacement for Miguel Andujar. How many infielders do the Yankees want to carry though? They’ll already have Wade and Ronald Torreyes on the September bench, plus Neil Walker could always play the infield as well. The x-factor here might be whether the Yankees want to keep Urshela for next year. Add him to the 40-man, play him in September, keep him over the winter, then bring him to camp next year? Hmmm.

Swanson? I think he’ll fall victim to the numbers crunch. Cashman did mention him by name along with Tarpley last week, but Swanson has already thrown a career high 109.1 innings this year, and the Yankees are already set to carry several spare September long men (Cessa, German, eventually Loaisiga). Do they need another one? Do they want to clear a 40-man spot to carry another one? I don’t think so. Either way, Swanson figures to stay in Triple-A through the postseason before being called up, if he is called up at all.

As for 40-man space, the Yankees are full after claiming Rabago yesterday. Both he and Bollinger can easily be dropped to open space though. Is Clint Frazier a 60-day DL candidate at this point? The Yankees could call up the injured Thairo Estrada and put him on the 60-day DL to clear another spot. That means giving Thairo a month of big league pay and service time, but that’s not a huge deal. They’ve done it before. Looks to me the Yankees have three easily available 40-man spots (Sheffield, Tarpley, Kontos?), and possibly a fourth if Frazier is indeed a 60-day DL guy.

What About A Designated Pinch-Runner?

Contending teams will often call up a crazy fast guy specifically to pinch-run and sometimes that guy winds up on the postseason roster too. Two years ago the Yankees made a minor trade for Eric Young Jr. to be their designated pinch-runner. Remember Rico Noel in 2015? Heck, Freddy Guzman was on the 2009 postseason roster as the pinch-runner. He pinch-ran twice in the team’s 15 postseason games.

Last year the Yankees did not acquire a designated pinch-runner. Why? Because they had Jacoby Ellsbury on the bench, and also Wade, who is fast as hell. Shane Robinson can also run. I don’t think the Yankees will trade for a Young or Noel or Guzman type this year, even with Ellsbury injured. I think they’ll use Wade as their primary pinch-runner with Robinson the secondary option. Never say never. Trading for a dude to pinch-run just seems so unlikely this year.

What About The Luxury Tax?

September call-ups of course count against the luxury tax payroll. Every player on the active roster or big league disabled list counts. Based on my last estimate, the Yankees have about $3.3M in wiggle room under the $197M luxury tax threshold. That number is probably closer to $2.8M or $2.9M now because the Yankees have had to call up injury replacements the last few weeks, but still, that’s plenty.

Just consider the “worst” case September call-up scenario. Say the Yankees call up the maximum 15 players on September 1st and they’re all making $600,000 at the MLB level. That is $3,225.81 per day per player. Call it $3,300 to make the math easy. Fifteen players times 30 days in September (the season ends September 30th) times $3,300 per day equals $1.485M added to the luxury tax payroll. That fits within the team’s available payroll, and remember, this is a very conservative example. Fifteen players making $600,000? Not happening. The luxury tax won’t be an issue for September call-ups.

* * *

Now that I think about it, I don’t expect Acevedo to get a September call-up. He did spend one day in the big leagues earlier this year, but that was an emergency situation. Injuries have limited Acevedo 63.2 innings this season — he threw a career high 133 innings last year — and the Yankees may rather send him to Instructional League so he can actually pitch. Acevedo would be what, the 15th option out of the bullpen in September? Yeah, I think he gets a call-up.

Okay, so based on all that, here are the call-ups I expect to happen in September:

  • September 1st: Cessa (September 4th?), Kontos, Sheffield, Wade
  • Called up/activated once healthy: Chapman, German, Gregorius, Sanchez
  • Called up after minor league seasons ends: Adams, Loaisiga, Tarpley

Not including the injured big leaguers, that is eight players added to the roster in September. Judge and hopefully Frazier will be activated at some point as well. So that’s eight minor league call-ups (Adams, Cessa, German, Kontos, Loaisiga, Sheffield, Tarpley, Wade) and five injury activations (Chapman, Frazier, Gregorius, Judge, Sanchez), giving the team 13 additional players in September and a 38-man roster.

Urshela is the wildcard here, moreso than Swanson. I don’t expect the Yankees to open up a 40-man spot to carry yet another pitcher in September. (Another pitcher who doesn’t figure to pitch much.) Urshela would be a high-end defensive caddy for Andujar and another warm body for mass substitutions in blowouts. The Yankees will need 40-man spots for Kontos, Sheffield, and Tarpley. If they open another one, I think it goes to Urshela. Another pitcher is overkill, even in September.

Filed Under: Players Tagged With: Albert Abreu, Aroldis Chapman, Chance Adams, Chris Rabago, Didi Gregorius, Domingo Acevedo, Domingo German, Erik Swanson, Gary Sanchez, George Kontos, Gio Urshela, Jonathan Loaisiga, Justus Sheffield, Luis Cessa, Ryan Bollinger, Stephen Tarpley, Tyler Wade

Yankeemetrics: Bronx bummer, bats broken (Aug. 13-16)

August 17, 2018 by Katie Sharp Leave a Comment

(Newsday)

Monday mess
The week got off to a terrible start as the Yankees were embarrassed by their Big Apple rivals in a 8-5 loss on Monday. The Mets punished the Yankees pitchers with five home runs, the most the Yankees have ever surrendered in a Subway Series matchup.

Luis Severino’s slump reached another level as he was blitzed by the weak-hitting Mets, coughing up four runs on seven hits — including two homers — in four innings. #NotFunFact No. 1: The last Yankee starter to allow that many hits and runs against the Mets in an outing as short as Severino’s was Jaret Wright on July 2, 2006.

A.J. Cole entered in the sixth and immediately poured gasoline on the fire as Todd Frazier took him deep to lead off the inning, the first of three solo dingers Cole would give up before getting pulled with one out in the seventh. Thanks to that awful performance, Cole earned our #NotFunFact No. 2: He is the third Yankee reliever to allow at least three homers in a game while getting no more than four outs. The others were Darren Holmes (May 20, 1998) and Tom Ferrick (May 7, 1951).

We’ll end this section on a positive note, with a milestone salute to the Gritty Gutty Brett Gardner, who hit his 200th career double. He is the 30th Yankee to reach that mark, but just the third to combine it with at least 200 career steals and 50 homers. The others: Derek Jeter and Roy White.

(Newsday)

It’s Happ-ening
The Yankees quickly rebounded from Monday’s misery, taking a 1-0 lead on an Aaron Hicks RBI single in the first inning against the Rays en route to a 4-1 win on Tuesday night. The victory made the Yankees an MLB-best 30-4 (.882) when scoring first in the opening frame this season.

J.A. Happ delivered a gem and pitched like an ace, giving up just one hit over seven scoreless innings. After walking four guys in the first four frames, he retired 11 of the final 12 batters he faced, improving to 3-0 with a 1.89 ERA in three starts as a Yankee. Happ and Lance Lynn have rightfully earned their pinstripes since coming over at the deadline:

J.A. Happ and Lance Lynn With Yankees:

35.2 IP
1.26 ERA
0.84 WHIP
37/10 K/BB

— Katie Sharp (@ktsharp) August 15, 2018

This was a notable start for Happ in several ways:

  • It was the first time in his career that he completed at least seven innings and didn’t allow more than one hit.
  • It had been nearly four years since a Yankee pitched seven or more scoreless innings while giving up one hit or fewer in a game. That last guy to do it was Michael Pineda on Sept. 22, 2014 against the Orioles.
  • And you have to go back four more years to find the last time a lefty achieved the feat, when CC Sabathia held the A’s to one hit over eight scoreless innings on Sept. 2, 2010.

Happ was aggressive in pounding the zone with his fastball-heavy arsenal, but the Rays couldn’t square up his pitches as he located them on the edges and changed eye levels while carving thru the lineup multiple times. A ton of four-seamers up and two-seamers down kept the Rays off-balance and helped him get a whopping 30 foul balls, the most in a game by any Yankee pitcher this season.

Austin Romine added a couple insurance runs in the fifth with an opposite-field shot to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead. It was his eighth homer of the season (in 199 plate appearances), one more than he hit in his 611 career major-league plate appearances prior to 2018. The last time he had eight or more longballs in any pro season was when he hit 10 homers at Double-A Trenton in 2010.

RISP-Fail, Part I
The one game win streak came to a screeching halt on Wednesday as the Yankees dropped a very boring game to Rays, 4-1. The bats fell silent in the clutch, going 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position while leaving a small navy of 10 men on base.

Luis Cessa put the Yankees in an early hole as Tampa Bay raced out to a 5-1 lead before he got the hook in the fourth inning. He’s now given up 10 runs and 14 hits in his last two games in a Yankees uniform:

Luis Cessa Last 2 MLB Games

Aug. 15:
3.1 IP, 5 R, 1 HR, 7 H
Aug. 2:
3.2 IP, 5 R, 1 HR, 7 H

— Katie Sharp (@ktsharp) August 16, 2018

Only one other Yankee pitcher in the last 10 seasons allowed at least five runs and seven hits in back-to-back outings of fewer than four innings pitched — Masahiro Tanaka last year on May 14 and May 20.

Miguel Andujar was the lone offensive highlight, going 2-for-4 with a game-tying homer in the second inning and a double; the rest of the lineup was 3-for-28. Nine of his 19 homers (47 percent) this season have either tied the game or given the Yankees the lead. The double and homer were his 54th and 55th extra-base hits of the season, the most by a Yankee rookie age 23 or younger since a 23-year-old Joe Gordon had 56 in 1938.

(Getty)

RISP-Fail, Part II
It was deja vu all over again for the Yankees, who lost 3-1 to the Rays on Thursday as their offensive deep-freeze continued for a second straight day. They have lost 17 of their last 26 games against AL East teams, after starting the season 18-9 within the division.

The loss was even more depressing because the Rays had been a virtual punching bag for the Yankees in the Bronx recently. They had won 12 straight home series against the Rays dating back to September 2014, their longest streak of series wins at the current Yankee Stadium against a single opponent. The last time they lost a series in the Bronx to the Rays was June 30-July 2, 2014 — the starting pitchers for the Yankees in those three games were David Phelps, Hiroki Kuroda and Vidal Nuno.

But perhaps the most miserable stat is the fact that the Yankees couldn’t score more than one run on Wednesday or Thursday. This is the first time ever that the Rays have held the Yankees to one run or fewer in consecutive games within a series at Yankee Stadium (old or new).

The clutch-hitting woes reached a peak in the bottom of the ninth when they loaded the bases with no outs and down by two runs. The Rays called on Adam Kolarek to get the final three outs, rookie who entered with zero career saves and 6.17 ERA in 23 1/3 major-league innings.

The next three at-bats were a microcosm of the Yankees’ season-long performance with the bags full: Greg Bird popout, Brett Gardner strikeout, Austin Romine strikeout. To put that futility into context, this year teams with the bases loaded and no outs scored at least one run 83.5 percent of the time, and the expected number of runs scored in that situation is 2.3, per Baseball Prospectus’ expected runs matrix.

The Yankees are now hitting .213/.263/.361 with the bases loaded this season, ranking 27th in batting average, 26th in on-base percentage, 24th in slugging percentage and 25th in OPS (.624). If you believe in history repeating itself ….

The last time the Yankees finished with a bases-loaded OPS that low was 1991, a year that ended with the fifth-worst win percentage in franchise history; and the last time they finished with a bases-loaded batting average that low in a non-strike season was 1952, a year that ended with a World Series Game 7 victory over the Dodgers.

Filed Under: Analysis Tagged With: A.J. Cole, Austin Romine, J.A. Happ, Luis Cessa, Luis Severino, New York Mets, Tampa Bay Rays, Yankeemetrics

Game 121: Win the Series, Please

August 16, 2018 by Domenic Lanza Leave a Comment

(Jim McIsaac/Getty)

The Yankees lost last night, in one of the more frustrating games in recent memory – though, to be fair, that’s largely due to the fact that the Rays are the most annoying team in Major League Baseball. And the edge in the season series is on the line this afternoon, as they’ve split the first fourteen games thus far. Let’s end the series on a high note, gentlemen.

As an aside, this is the Yankees last series against a team with a winning record until they visit Oakland on September 3. Their next five series are against the Blue Jays (55-65), Marlins (48-75), Orioles (36-85), White Sox (44-76), and Tigers (50-71). This is as good an opportunity as they’re going to have to put some distance between them and the A’s (and maybe even gain ground on the Red Sox) as they’ll have the rest of the way. Winning this series would be an ideal start.

Here are the lineups:

New York Yankees
1. Aaron Hicks, CF
2. Giancarlo Stanton, DH
3. Miguel Andujar, 3B
4. Didi Gregorius, SS
5. Gleyber Torres, 2B
6. Neil Walker, RF
7. Greg Bird, 1B
8. Kyle Higashioka, C
9. Shane Robinson, LF

RHP Masahiro Tanaka

Tampa Bay Rays
1. Mallex Smith, RF
2. Joey Wendle, 3B
3. Jake Bauers, 1B
4. Tommy Pham, LF
5. Ji-Man Choi, DH
6. Kevin Kiermaier, CF
7. Willy Adames, SS
8. Brandon Lowe, 2B
9. Michael Perez, C

LHP Blake Snell


It’s going to be a hot one in the Bronx today, with temperatures slated to hit the 90s by the early afternoon. Thankfully, there’s no rain in the forecast. The first pitch is slated for 1:05 PM EST, and the broadcast will be on YES.

Roster Moves: Luis Cessa was sent back to Scranton following last night’s game. Tommy Kahnle was recalled to take his place on the roster.

Filed Under: Game Threads Tagged With: Luis Cessa, Tommy Kahnle

Game 120: Middle of the Homestand

August 15, 2018 by Mike Leave a Comment

(Presswire)

Somehow there are still five games to go on this homestand. It’s a long one. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. Love me some home games in Yankee Stadium. Just feels like the Yankees have been home all month, yet somehow they have only played one more home game (60) than road games (59) this year. Such a weird schedule this year.

Anyway, the Yankees won last night’s series opener and they are 4-2 six games into this eleven-game homestand. They’re 7-2 in their last nine games overall. The Yankees have been kicking butt at home all season and hopefully it continues tonight. Here are the lineups:

New York Yankees
1. LF Brett Gardner
2. DH Giancarlo Stanton
3. CF Aaron Hicks
4. SS Didi Gregorius
5. 3B Miguel Andujar
6. 1B Greg Bird
7. RF Neil Walker
8. C Austin Romine
9. 2B Ronald Torreyes

RHP Luis Cessa

Tampa Bay Rays
1. RF Mallex Smith
2. 3B Matt Duffy
3. 1B Jake Bauers
4. 2B Joey Wendle
5. DH Ji-Man Choi
6. CF Kevin Kiermaier
7. SS Willy Adames
8. LF Brandon Lowe
9. C Michael Perez

RHP Jake Faria


Clear skies and warm in New York today, and, for the first time in a few days now, there’s no rain in the forecast. Tonight’s game will begin at 7:05pm ET and YES will have the broadcast. Enjoy the game.

Injury Updates: Aaron Judge (wrist) received a cortisone shot. Brian Cashman said they expect Judge back this season, but it is obvious his return is not imminent … Gary Sanchez (groin) is tentatively scheduled to begin a minor league rehab assignment next Friday. That is not set in stone yet. Depends how he progresses between now and then. That’s just their target date … Gleyber Torres is fine. Just a day off. “Pressing a little bit,” said Aaron Boone, stating the obvious.

Roster Move: George Kontos was designated for assignment to clear a roster spot for Cessa, the Yankees announced. They have an open 40-man roster spot now. My guess is Cessa will be sent down tomorrow for another reliever (Tommy Kahnle?) since the Yankees won’t need a fifth starter for a while.

Filed Under: Game Threads Tagged With: Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, George Kontos, Luis Cessa

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