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Yankeemetrics: West Coast nightmare (Sept 3-5)

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(AP)

Ugly homecoming for Sabathia
The Yankees nine-game, 10-day road trip got off to a miserable start in Oakland with a 6-3 loss on Monday afternoon. The three runs masked a lackluster offensive showing, as they were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and managed just four hits while striking out 11 times. The last time the Yankees had four or fewer hits and struck out 11 or more times in a game against the A’s … World War II was still more than one month away from officially ending — July 27, 1945.

(AP)

CC Sabathia had one of his worst outings of the season, lasting just 3 1/3 innings while getting tagged for five runs (four earned) on seven hits and lots of loud contact. Six of the 13 balls in play against him were line drives, a season-high rate of 46.2 percent. The Bay Area native now owns a 5.38 career ERA in 11 starts at Oakland Coliseum, his second-highest mark at any stadium where he’s made more than five starts (5.68 at Rangers Ballpark is his worst).

The most impressive Yankee pitching performance was turned in by Jonathan Loaisiga, who threw two scoreless innings with four strikeouts — each of them swinging — and one hit allowed. He was excellent in pounding the outer edges of the zone against righties with his fastball-slider combo, netting six whiffs and six called strikes on 25 pitches.

[Monday vs A’s]
Although Gleyber Torres was 0-for-3 with a walk, it’s still worth noting that Monday was his 100th career game, giving us a chance for a sweet #FunFact to celebrate his century-game milestone in the big leagues:

Torres is one of five players in AL history age 21 or younger with at least 20 homers, a .350 on-base percentage and a .500 slugging percentage through their first 100 career games. The others: Jose Canseco, Tony Conigliaro, Joe DiMaggio and Hal Trosky. Fun list, eh?

King Louis
Thanks to #toomanyhomers, the Yankees overcame another bout of early-inning dead-bats disease and rallied for a 5-1 win on Tuesday night, snapping their five-game losing streak in Oakland. After getting no-hit through 5 2/3 innings, the offense exploded for seven hits and five runs in the final three innings en route to what turned into an easy victory.

This type of late-inning rally has become commonplace for the Yankees, who improved to an impressive 12-6 when tied at the start of the eighth inning. Last year they were 5-7 in those games, and the 12 wins are their most in a season since going 15-0(!) in 2009.

(AP)

The Yankees tied the game at 1-1 in the seventh after an Aaron Hicks bases-loaded walk — his AL-leading fourth bases-loaded walk of the season — and then pulled ahead in the next frame when Luke Voit led off the eighth with a solo home run. It was Voit’s seventh longball with the Yankees, and fifth that either tied the game or gave the team a lead. Obscure Yankeemetric Alert! The last Yankee with a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning or later in Oakland was Jason Giambi on April 14, 2007, a solo shot in the top of the 13th that propelled the Yankees to a 4-3 comeback win.

J.A. Happ bounced back from his worst start as a Yankee to deliver one of his best starts as a Yankee. He made one mistake in his gem (a solo homer in the second inning), but otherwise turned in a masterful six-inning, two-hit, one-run performance. In two outings against the best teams he’s faced as a Yankee — Tuesday vs the A’s and August 14 vs the Rays — he’s pitched a combined 13 innings, faced 45 batters, allowed three hits and just one run in those games.

(Getty)

Terrible terrible Sevy
The Yankees visit to the Bay Area ended with an disaster-filled dud, getting manhandled by the A’s 8-2 on Wednesday night. The Oakland Coliseum has become of house of horrors for the Bombers recently. They are now 7-18 (.280) at the stadium since the 2012 All-Star break, their worst win percentage at any AL ballpark over the last six and a half seasons, and the second-worst win percentage by any AL team there in that span (Twins are 4-16).

Pitching against the team that the Yankees are most likely to face in the Wild Card Game, Luis Severino had his worst start of the season, a total disaster in which he lasted just 2 2/3 innings and was blasted for six runs on six hits. The A’s rocked Severino from the start, as four of the first five batters pounded him with three scorched doubles and a line-drive single, plating four runs before Severino even recorded the second out of the first inning.

Those hits weren’t cheapies, either, they had exit velocities of 109.6, 106.3, 103.1 and 103.8 mph. Before Wednesday, he’d never allowed more than two 103-plus-mph hits in any single inning in his career. His lack of command was startling as Severino not only served up multiple meatball pitches but also threw two wild pitches and Gary Sanchez was charged with two passed balls. Sanchez has allowed 29 passed balls over the last two seasons, the most of any catcher in MLB in that span.

This game was an absolute debacle, yes, but it did produce a notable Milestone Alert. When Severino struck out Stephen Piscotty for the second out, it was his 200th strikeout of the season, the second straight season he’s reached that mark. Two other pitchers in franchise history have recorded multiple 200-K seasons, but none have done it three times.

Also, the 24-year-old became one of seven pitchers in the last four decades to record back-to-back 200-strikeout seasons before the age of 25. The others: Clayton Kershaw (2010-12), Yovani Gallardo (2009-10), Felix Hernandez (2009-10), Roger Clemens (1986-87), Fernando Valenzuela (1984-85) and Dwight Gooden (1984-86).

Even with rosters expanded, the Yankees lack a quality righty pinch-hitter on the bench

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Adeiny the bench bat. (Presswire)

Five days ago September call-ups arrived and the Yankees and every other team brought up extra player from the minors. The Yankees are carrying 31 players on the active roster (15 position players, 16 pitchers) and it’ll be 32 players once Didi Gregorius returns from the disabled list, which could be as soon as Friday. No more worrying about running out of relievers or playing guys out of position.

Once Gregorius returns the Yankees will have seven players on their bench, and, on any given night, these will be the seven players and their roles:

  • Backup Catcher: Austin Romine
  • Third Catcher: Kyle Higashioka
  • Utility Infielder: Ronald Torreyes
  • Defensive Specialist: Adeiny Hechavarria
  • Designated Speedster: Tyler Wade
  • Pinch-Hitter, Maybe?: Greg Bird
  • Neil Walker: Neil Walker

Walker has somewhat predictably cooled of late as his playing time has decreased, though at this point I think he remains the team’s top pinch-hitting option against right-handed batters. I know Bird almost hit that pinch-hit grand slam the other day, but his bat still looks frighteningly slow, and I’m not really sure how you can send him up to the plate in a big spot as your top pinch-hitting option.

Even if you consider Bird a good pinch-hitting option, the Yankees are still short a right-handed bat on the bench. Walker is a switch-hitter who is hitting .174/.237/.246 (30 wRC+) against lefties this year, and his struggles against southpaws date back several seasons (career 86 wRC+ vs. LHP), so it’s not small sample size noise. He’s a switch-hitter in name only. That leaves, uh, Romine or Torreyes as the top righty bench bat? Yikes.

This isn’t a minor detail either. It has come into play the last two nights. On Monday, with the Yankees down three and two runners on base in the seventh inning, Walker was sent up as a pinch-hitter against a righty, and the A’s countered with lefty Ryan Buchter. Buchter retired Walker and Brett Gardner, a .250/.321/.339 (83 wRC+) hitter against lefties this year, to snuff out the rally.

Last night Buchter was brought in to face Gardner with a runner on base in a one-run game and the Yankees had no countermove. That one actually worked out okay in a weird way. Buchter picked Gleyber Torres off first base to end the inning, then Gardner started the game-tying rally the next inning with an infield single into the 5.5 hole. That doesn’t seem like a sustainable strategy, Gardner beating out infield singles against lefties.

The right-handed pinch-hitter down the stretch was supposed to be Luke Voit, but instead he’s in the starting lineup because he’s mashing dingers (and Bird has been terrible). Having Walker to pinch-hit against righties and Voit to pinch-hit against lefties would be fine. Instead, the Yankees have Walker to pinch-hit against righties, no one obvious to pinch-hit against lefties, and Bird without a clear role.

The Yankees only have one seemingly viable right-handed pinch-hitting option in Triple-A: Ryan McBroom, a first baseman by trade who played some outfield this year, and hit .302/.348/.458 (125 wRC+) with 15 homers between Double-A Trenton and Triple-A Scranton this year. The Yankees got him from the Blue Jays in the Rob Refsnyder trade last year. They could bring McBroom up and let him take his hacks against lefties as a pinch-hitter.

Or maybe this isn’t a big deal at all. Aaron Judge started swinging a bat earlier this week and is inching closer to a return, and once he does get back, the Yankees will have five players (Gardner, Judge, Aaron Hicks, Andrew McCutchen, Giancarlo Stanton) for four lineup spots (three outfield plus DH). If Gardner is in the lineup, that means one of the other four guys will be on the bench and available to pinch-hit against a lefty.

Until Judge returns (if Judge returns?), the Yankees don’t have an obvious pinch-hitting option against a lefty pitcher, and it burned them two nights ago. It nearly burned them last night. Maybe bringing up McBroom as a short-term bench bat until Judge returns makes sense, just to have that power righty bat on the bench. Otherwise the best option is probably sending Torreyes up there, and hoping he contact bombs the pitcher and finds outfield grass.

Who knows how long it will last, but Luke Voit is giving the Yankees exactly what they need right now

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(Presswire)

I’ve been watching baseball long enough to know every great time has surprise contributors. The best teams are the teams that not only go into the season with the best players, but they’re also the teams that have players come out of nowhere to contribute big. Last year it was Marwin Gonzalez for the Astros. The year before it was Kyle Hendricks for the Cubs. Solid contributors became stars.

For the Yankees, their currently big out-of-nowhere contributor is first baseman Luke Voit, who clocked another home run last night. It was a game-winner too. His solo homer against Fernando Rodney gave the Yankees a 2-1 seventh inning lead in the eventual 5-1 win. It was Voit’s third straight game with a homer and his seventh homer in his last 12 games.

As great as last night’s homer was, I thought Monday’s was more impressive. Rodney left an 81 mph changeup out over the plate last night. That thing screamed “hit me!” On Monday night though, Voit belted a 93 mph sinker at the knees over the high wall in right-center field. That ain’t easy.

These out-of-nowhere types can arrive in different ways. Gonzalez was a career utility man who put a together an All-Star season at the plate. Hendricks was a young up-and-coming player who dead fish changeup-ed his way to Cy Young votes. They’d been with their teams for several years and it all came together at the right time.

That is not the case with Voit. At least not the “been with their teams for several years” part. The Yankees got him from the Cardinals on July 28th, so he wasn’t even in the organization six weeks ago, and at the time of the trade he was no better than third on the first base depth chart behind Greg Bird and Tyler Austin. Austin was traded a few days later, but Voit was still behind Bird, so much so that he spent two stints with Triple-A Scranton.

It took Bird not just being awful, but looking absolutely miserable at the plate for Voit to even crack the starting lineup. Let’s be real here, had Bird been hitting into some bad luck or something like that, he was staying in the lineup. Instead, he was swinging through center-cut 90 mph fastballs. There’s no power behind his swing at all. Voit started against the Orioles on August 24th, went deep twice, and has forced his was into everyday duty.

Last night’s game was Voit’s sixth consecutive start and ninth start in the last ten games. Bird has three starts and 12 plate appearances in the last 12 games. A Wally Pipping is in progress. Voit is crushing home runs — he’s crushing them against righties too, only one of his seven dingers with the Yankees has come against a southpaw — and Didi Gregorius has even given him an emoji (an ox). It’s Twitter official now. Voit’s a Yankee.

“We’re all just kind of smiling because we’re waiting to see what antics he might have running around the bases, or if he’s going to leap and fist bump and chest bump and get the crowd going,” said Aaron Boone following last night’s game. In addition to the dingers, Voit is a real high energy player. He’s got that Sammy Sosa hop after home runs, and he points to the dugout and pumps his teammates up as he rounds the bases. It’s great.

Here’s the thing: I have no idea how long this will last. Maybe forever! But there does seem to be a little Shane Spencer magic here, meaning an older rookie (Voit is 27) crushing homers and adding some life to a very good Yankees team that needs a little kick in the pants, and we all know how Spencer turned out. After all, is what Voit’s doing now really all that different than what Austin did earlier this year? Austin his six homers in 14 games at one point, remember, and I was getting mailbag questions about whether he was first baseman of the future. Maybe Voit is the Yankees’ Max Muncy and this is sustainable to a degree.

I do believe Voit is a better hitter than Austin because he doesn’t swing-and-miss nearly as much (14.1% vs. 19.0% whiff rates) and he seems to hang in against offspeed stuff better. Also, Voit is an exit velocity rock star. His average 92.2 mph exit velocity 26th highest among players with 25 batted balls. That’s Mookie Betts (92.3 mph) and Manny Machado (92.2 mph) territory. Austin ranks 161st with an 89.1 mph average exit velocity. That is … meh.

I do think Voit is better than Austin, but that hardly guarantees Voit will have long-term success. Here’s the thing though: Who cares about the long-term? Worry about that another time. Right now, the Yankees need some help offensively, especially with Bird looking lost, and Voit has provided that help. A lot of help too. He’s hitting .322/.385/.678 in 19 games with the Yankees. It happened and it’s in the bank, and the Yankees will ride this production as long as possible the rest of the year.

“I think we’re going to get hot at the right time,” said Voit following last night’s game. “This team is so freaking dangerous. Especially when we get some of these guys back from injuries, the sky is the limit. I’m excited to get deep into the playoffs with this team.”

Yankeemetrics: Gleyber Day Weekend (Aug. 31-Sept. 2)

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(Newsday)

Bad Dellin
Even in a season in which they’re on pace for their best record in a decade, the Yankees continue to find new ways to lose games. On Thursday night they suffered one of the most shocking upsets of the season as they coughed up a two-run cushion in the top of the ninth inning and lost 8-7 to the Tigers.

It was the first time they lost a home game they led by multiple runs at the start of the ninth since August 27, 2012 against the Blue Jays. Every other team had at least one such loss in that span. Going back further, the only other time in the last 15 seasons — since 2004 — that the Yankees lost a game in the Bronx they led by at least two runs entering the ninth was June 28, 2012 vs the White Sox.

J.A. Happ threw his worst start in pinstripes, allowing five runs on 10 hits, including three game-changing homers. It’s hard to do all that while getting no more than 13 outs. The last Yankee to give up at least 10 hits, five runs and three bombs in an outing of 4 1/3 innings or fewer was Carl Pavano on May 11, 2005. Ugh.

Giancarlo Stanton had a historic night as he finally went deep for his 300th career home run, a two-run shot in the third inning that gave the Yankees a brief 2-1 lead. He became the fifth-fastest to reach the mark in terms of games (1,119).

Stanton is also in an exclusive club in terms of his age and power/on-base ability. Among right-handed batters, the only other players to compile at least 300 homers and an OBP of .350 or better through their age-28 season are Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols and Jimmie Foxx.

The goat of the game was Dellin Betances, who surrendered consecutive home runs in the ninth inning as a 7-5 advantage quickly became an 8-7 loss. This was the first time in his career he allowed multiple homers in a game. Obscure Yankeemetric Alert: Since 1925, only one other Yankee pitcher allowed back-to-back game-tying and go-ahead homers in the ninth inning of a game: Catfish Hunter on April 18, 1976 against the Minnesota Twins. Betances had been lights-out over the past three months before Thursday’s implosion:

Dellin Betances Since May 27
IP R HR Batters
Faced
Thursday 1 3 2 6
Previous 35 Games 33.2 2 1 129

Early Gleyber Day Celebration
The Yankees rebounded from Thursday’s crushing loss with another crazy comeback win on Friday. They finished August with a 17-13 (.567) record, which was their worst monthly record of the season — but that still put them in elite company. The last time the Yankees had a win percentage of .567 or better in each of the first five months of the season (combining March/April) was 1998.

Down 3-0 and without a hit through the first 5 1/3 innings, the Yankees exploded for four runs over a four-batter span in the sixth thanks to a trio of homers — a two-run shot by Brett Gardner that cut the deficit to 3-2, a game-tying solo homer by Aaron Hicks and a go-ahead blast from Miguel Andujar. Andujar’s dinger was his fifth that either tied the game or gave the team a lead in the sixth inning or later, which leads all Yankees. Oh and he put himself on this graphic too:

The Yankees would need another rally, however, after Zach Britton suffered a meltdown as he tried to protect the one-run lead, yielding a game-tying single in the seventh and a sac fly in the eighth. It was the first time in his career as a reliever that he surrendered a go-ahead sacrifice fly.

Britton was saved from goat status by the clutch hitting of Gleyber Torres, who delivered a game-winning bases-loaded two-run single in the eighth inning. It was his fifth game-tying/go-ahead hit in the eighth inning or later, the most on the Yankees this season.

(AP)

Two is enough
The comeback mojo continued on Saturday as the Yankees overcame another sluggish start offensively and rallied to win, 2-1, despite getting only two hits. This is the third time in the last three seasons they’ve won a game with no more than two hits; before this stretch, it hadn’t happened since 1994.

Oh, and there’s this stat too: Their three wins with two hits or fewer since the start of 2016 are the most of any team.

But what made this win so unique is the fact that the Yankees also struck out 10 times. Obscure Yankeemetric alert! Saturday was the 18th time since 1908 (as far back as we have complete boxscore data) that they won a game with two or fewer hits, but it was the first time they also had double-digit strikeouts.

For the second straight night their first hit was a game-changing homer, this time it was a two-run blast in the fifth inning by Gleyber Torres. His 22 homers are the most in Major-League history by a second baseman age 21 or younger in a single season.

Masahiro Tanaka battled through a shaky first inning during which he loaded the bases with no outs and escaped with only one run on the scoreboard. His ability to pitch out of tough situations and limit the damage has been an underrated part of Tanaka’s season. He’s held batters to a .100 batting average (4-for-40) with runners in scoring position and two outs, fourth-best among MLB starters (min. 40 batters faced), behind a trio of Cy Young contenders: Blake Snell (.063), Chris Sale (.073) and Aaron Nola (.094).

(Getty)

Not enough muscle
The Yankees finished off their homestand with a dud, an 11-7 loss that featured a bunch of heart-wrenching warning-track outs but ultimately too many big deficits to overcome. The Yankees were 33-13 at home in the first half of the season; since the break, they are just 15-11 in the Bronx, and 23 of the 26 matchups have come against teams that entered gameday with a sub-.500 record.

Lance Lynn was awful again, getting rocked for six runs before he was yanked in the fourth inning. His last four starts have been a disaster, especially when compared to the promise he showed in his first three appearances as a Yankee:

Lance Lynn as a Yankee
IP Runs WHIP
Last 4 Games 18.2 19 1.98
First 3 Games 16.2 1 0.96

Miguel Andujar went 3-for-4 with a double, pushing his batting average up to .301 and his slugging percentage up to .530. The only Yankee rookie in franchise history to finish a season with at least a .300 batting average and a .530 slugging percentage (min. 300 PA) was Joe DiMaggio in 1936 (.323 BA, .576 SLG).

Yankeemetrics: Brooms alive, Yankees sweep O’s (Aug. 24-26)

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(AP)

Luuuuuuuuuuuke!
The Yankees opened the series in Baltimore with a comeback win in 10 innings on Friday night. It was their first extra-inning win at Camden Yards in more than five years — since May 20, 2013 — after losing their previous four matchups there that went to overtime.

The victory improved the Yankees extra-inning record this season to 8-5, their most extra-inning wins since 2001 (8-8). It also was their eighth win when trailing at the start of the eighth inning, matching their win total from last year, and tied for the second-most in MLB this season (only the A’s had more through Friday).

The Yankees clawed back twice from a two-run deficit to win the game. The first rally was capped by a two-run bomb in the fourth inning from Luke Voit, his first homer as a Yankee. Voit boosted his pinstriped legend status with another two-run dinger in the 10th for his first career multi-homer game. Both the homers came off righties — prior to Friday, Voit had just two homers in 102 plate appearances against right-handed pitchers in his big-league career.

After the Orioles re-took the lead in the seventh, Gleyber Torres responded with a clutch, game-tying two-run single in the top of the eighth. It was his second hit this year in the eighth inning or later that tied the game; he is the only Yankee with multiple hits like that this season.

Neil Walker capped the second comeback with a solo homer in the 10th inning, and combined with Voit’s bomb in that same inning, it was the second game this season that the Yankees hit two or more homers in the 10th inning or later (also on June 6 at Toronto). #FunFact: The last time that the Yankees had two different games in a season where they smacked multiple extra-inning homers was 1941.

(Getty)

#TooManyHomers, It’s a Happ-y Day
A winning streak against a bad team? Yes! The Yankees clobbered the Orioles in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, hammering four homers en route to a 10-3 win. It was their MLB-leading 13th game this season with at least four homers; no other team had more than eight such games entering the weekend.

Miguel Andujar kicked off the home run derby with a go-ahead three-run blast in the third inning. It was his 21st of the season and 10th that either tied the game or gave the Yankees the lead. He is the youngest Yankee with at least 10 go-ahead/game-tying homers in a season since a 23-year-old Don Mattingly hit 11 in 1984.

J.A. Happ continued his outstanding run with the Yankees, winning for the fifth time in five starts as he delivered a strong six-inning, two-run effort. He now has a 2.37 in his five starts since joining the team, after posting a 6.65 ERA in his final five starts with the Blue Jays. As we always do, let’s celebrate Happ’s first month in pinstripes with a trio of #FunFacts:

  • First left-hander to win each of his first five games with the Yankees since Babe Ruth, who appeared in five games (four starts) for the franchise from 1920-33 and won all five games … with a 5.52 ERA.
  • First pitcher to both start and earn the win in each of his first five appearances as a Yankee since Bob Turley in 1955.
  • And finally, Happ is the first pitcher in franchise history to start in each of his first five games as Yankee, and get a win in each of those games while allowing no more than three earned runs.

Forever Sonny in Baltimore
The Yankees won 5-1 in the nightcap of Saturday’s twinbill, the first time they took both games of a doubleheader since April 16, 2014 against the Cubs at Yankee Stadium. That snapped a streak of 10 straight doubleheaders either split or lost, their longest drought since 1969-70 (14 straight).

You have to go back seven more years to find the last time the Yankees swept a doubleheader on the road — May 3, 2007 at Texas. And the last time they won both games of a twinbill at Camden Yards? July 13, 1996.

(AP)

Sonny Gray, making his first start since getting demoted to the bullpen, pitched a gem as he threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings while striking out seven and allowing just three hits. If that type of performance by Gray against the Orioles in Baltimore sounds familiar … well, there’s this stat to consider:

That’s four straight starts at Camden Yards with no more than one run allowed, the longest such streak since Pedro Martinez had a similar stretch from 2000-02. And going back further to his last start there with the A’s, it’s five straight starts at Camden Yards with no more than one earned run allowed, the longest streak by any pitcher in the history of the ballpark.

Tommy Kahnle couldn’t close out the game as the Orioles pounded him in the bottom of the ninth, so Dellin Betances came to the rescue and struck out Caleb Joseph for the final out. It was Betances’ 33rd straight game with a strikeout, the longest such streak by a reliever in AL history (previous record of 32 was set by Jeff Montgomery in 1989). The MLB record is 49 by Aroldis Chapman with the Reds from 2013-14.

(Getty)

Louisssssssssssssssss!
The Yankees continued their newfound skill of beating up on bad teams as they finished off the series sweep with a 5-3 win on Sunday night. It’s their first four-game sweep of the Orioles in nearly 13 years — since September 19-22, 2005 (in New York) — and their first four-game sweep of the O’s in Baltimore since August 14-17, 2003. They’ve now won 17 of their last 21 games against sub-.500 teams.

The Yankees again jumped out to an early lead thanks to a two-run homer in the second inning by Luke Voit. It was his third homer in the last three games, after hitting five in his first 77 career major-league games. He added two singles for his second three-hit game of the series. If you’re curious, Greg Bird also has two career three-hit games (none this year) …

The scorching-hot Miguel Andujar made it a 4-0 cushion with a two-RBI double in the third, his 60th extra-base hit of the season. He is the seventh Yankee age 23 or younger with 60 or more extra-base hits in a season. This is a decent list to be on:

  • Miguel Andujar (2018)
  • Don Mattingly (1984)
  • Mickey Mantle (1952, ’55)
  • Joe DiMaggio (1936-38)
  • Ben Chapman (1932)
  • Lou Gehrig (1926)
  • Tony Lazzeri (1926)

Andujar finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs on Sunday night; he now has at least two hits in 45 of his 124 career games. The last Yankee to pile up 45 multi-hit games this early into his major-league career was Phil Rizzuto (48 in 124 games) in 1941.

David Robertson pitched a clean ninth inning for the save, the fourth different pitcher to save a game during the weekend sweep (Luis Cessa, Zach Britton, Dellin Betances are the others). Obscure Stat Alert! Since saves became official in 1969, this is the first time that the Yankees have won four straight games with a different pitcher earning the save in each game.

Yankees place Didi Gregorius on 10-day DL, recall Luke Voit

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(Presswire)

The Yankees will be without another key player for at least ten days. Today the Yankees placed Didi Gregorius on the 10-day DL with a left heel contusion, the team announced. The move is retroactive to yesterday, so Gregorius can return next Thursday. Luke Voit has been called up to fill the roster spot.

Gregorius suffered what Aaron Boone called a “pretty significant” bruise on his left heel following a collision with Kendrys Morales at first base Sunday. Didi went for tests which apparently showed no fracture. It’s just a really bad bruise. Here’s the play.

Gregorius joins Aaron Judge (wrist), Gary Sanchez (groin), and Clint Frazier (post-concussion migraines) on the disabled list, among others. You could easily argue three of the team’s four best position players are on the disabled list right now. Not great, but what can you do? Next man up.

Since the end of his brutal May slump, Gregorius has hit .294/.347/.478 (123 wRC+) in 70 games. He’s also hit .298/.375/.536 (147 wRC+) since Judge went down. Sir Didi is a very important player for the Yankees, both offensively and defensively. They have lots of infield depth, but losing him is a big blow.

Boone has already said he plans to shift Gleyber Torres over to shortstop while Gregorius is sidelined, with either Ronald Torreyes or Neil Walker taking over at second base. Giancarlo Stanton is expected to play right field the next two games, so I’d bet on Walker at second in the NL park the next two days. After that? Not sure. Walker in right and Torreyes at second seems like the best way to go.

I’m not sure I get the Voit call-up. The Yankees are tentatively scheduled to face only one left-handed starter in their next eight games — it could be two depending on what the Orioles do for Saturday’s doubleheader — so he doesn’t figure to play a whole lot. Tyler Wade seems like the more functional short-term bench piece. Well, whatever.

Update: Sabathia placed on 10-day DL with knee inflammation

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(Mike Ehrmann/Getty)

6:05pm ET: Brian Cashman said Sabathia told the Yankees his knee was bothering him following his start yesterday. “Part of the program. No surprises,” said Cashman added. Doesn’t sound like it’ll be a long stint on the disabled list, but we’ll see.

4:59pm ET: The moves have been announced. Sabathia is going on the 10-day DL with right knee inflammation. Also, Luke Voit has been optioned to Triple-A Scranton, and both Kontos and Torreyes have been called up. Jordan Montgomery was transferred to the 60-day DL to clear a 40-man roster spot for Kontos.

4:43pm ET: CC Sabathia is being placed on the disabled list, reports George King. There is no word on the nature or severity of his injury yet. Sabathia does have a degenerative right knee condition, so that’s always a possibility. He missed two weeks with a hip strain back in April. George Kontos has been called up to fill the roster spot.

Sabathia started yesterday and was marvelous, holding the Rangers to one infield single in six shutout innings. If he got hurt during that start, there was no obvious play in which he suffered the injury. Sabathia retired eight of the final nine batters he faced and looked in control all afternoon. Weird.

Depending on the severity of the injury, it is possible Sabathia will miss only one start. The Yankees would need a spot starter for this Friday’s game against the Blue Jays, then, thanks to two off-days next week, they can push Sabathia’s spot all the way back to Tuesday, August 28th. Sonny Gray seems like the obvious rotation fill-in.

Sabathia is no longer the workhorse ace he was in his prime, but he does have a 3.32 ERA (4.38 FIP) in 119.1 innings this season. He is ninth in the AL with a 132 ERA+, tied with Charlie Morton. Sabathia has been awesome all year and he’s a very important part of the rotation. Losing him for more than one start would be quite the blow.

As for Kontos, the Yankees acquired him from the Indians in a cash trade earlier this month. He’s allowed one run in 4.1 innings with Triple-A Scranton since the trade and has a 4.68 ERA (5.92 FIP) in 25 big league innings with the Pirates and Indians this year. Kontos is the new last guy in the bullpen.

Word from Scranton is Ronald Torreyes has been called up as well, which means another move is coming in addition to the Sabathia/Kontos thing. I’m not sure what it is but I really hope Giancarlo Stanton’s hamstring has not gotten worse. That would be devastating. Stay tuned for updates.