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Game 141: A New Series

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(Presswire)

I don’t know about you, but that series against the Athletics irked me all through the off-day. Pretty crummy series all the way around. At least it’s over. The Yankees are now in Seattle for a three-game series against a Mariners team that managed to go from seven games up on a postseason spot to 5.5 games back of a postseason spot the last two and a half months. Ouch. Seattle is nine games behind the Yankees at the moment.

Masahiro Tanaka is on the mound and, at this point, the Yankees are basically holding open auditions for the Wild Card Game starter. On any given day the Wild Card Game starter will be the last guy who pitched well. Right now, it’s J.A. Happ. With a strong start tonight, everyone will say it’s Tanaka. I hope that is the case in a few hours. Here are tonight’s lineups:

New York Yankees
1. RF Andrew McCutchen
2. DH Giancarlo Stanton
3. CF Aaron Hicks
4. C Gary Sanchez
5. 3B Miguel Andujar
6. 1B Luke Voit
7. 2B Gleyber Torres
8. SS Adeiny Hechavarria
9. LF Brett Gardner

RHP Masahiro Tanaka

Seattle Mariners
1. RF Mitch Haniger
2. SS Jean Segura
3. 2B Robinson Cano
4. DH Nelson Cruz
5. LF Denard Span
6. 1B Ryon Healy
7. 3B Kyle Seager
8. C Mike Zunino
9. CF Dee Gordon

LHP James Paxton

Chilly evening in Seattle and there are some showers in the forecast later on, so the Safeco Field roof is probably going to close at some point, if not before the game. First pitch is scheduled for 10:10pm ET and YES will have the broadcast. Enjoy the ballgame.

Injury Updates: In case you missed it earlier, Didi Gregorius (heel) has been activated off the disabled list, and the hope is he’ll play tonight. Aaron Boone said they want to ease Didi back into things since he hasn’t played any rehab games, and it sounds like the plan is to have him come off the bench once the tough lefty (Paxton) is out of the game. Gregorius will play tomorrow, but likely not the entire game. It’s a rehab assignment at the big league level, basically … Aaron Judge (wrist) took another step forward in his rehab today. He hit off a tee and soft toss on the field today, and again everything went well. The wrist is essentially pain-free. “This is kind of what we’ve been waiting for the whole time,” said Boone.

Roster Note: Sonny Gray has rejoined the Yankees. He missed the A’s series because he was home with his wife, who gave birth to their second child earlier this week. Congrats to them.

Game 138: Wild Card Game Preview

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(Presswire)

In all likelihood, the Yankees and Athletics will meet in the AL Wild Card Game four weeks from Wednesday. The Yankees have gained some ground on the Red Sox recently but not enough to make the AL East interesting. The Astros have righted the ship after a midseason skid and are starting to separate themselves from the A’s in the AL West. Here are the current wild card standings:

  1. Yankees: 86-51
  2. Athletics: 82-56 (4.5 GB)
    ——————————
  3. Mariners: 76-61 (10 GB)
  4. Rays: 73-63 (12.5 GB)

Last season the Twins won the second wild card spot almost by default. All those second wild card contenders stunk. The A’s are a legit threat this year. They’d be in a virtual tie with the Cubs for the best record in the NL. Remember, whatever happens this series tells you everything you need to know about the forthcoming AL Wild Card Game, unless the Yankees win, in which case it’s meaningless. Here are today’s lineups.

New York Yankees
1. RF Andrew McCutchen
2. DH Giancarlo Stanton
3. CF Aaron Hicks
4. 3B Miguel Andujar
5. C Gary Sanchez
6. 2B Gleyber Torres
7. 1B Luke Voit
8. SS Adeiny Hechavarria
9. LF Brett Gardner

LHP CC Sabathia

Oakland Athletics
1. SS Marcus Semien
2. 3B Matt Chapman
3. 2B Jed Lowrie
4. DH Khris Davis
5. RF Stephen Piscotty
6. 1B Matt Olson
7. LF Chad Pinder
8. CF Mark Canha
9. C Jonathan Lucroy

RHP Trevor Cahill

It is a nice and sunny day in the Bay Area. Seems like a fantastic afternoon to spend at the ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 4:05pm ET and you can watch on YES locally and ESPN nationally. Enjoy.

Injury Update: Big news: Aaron Judge (wrist) swung a bat today. He took 25 dry swings and 25 off a tee, all at 100% effort, and didn’t feel anything other than normal soreness. “It was a good sign … definitely a big step,” he said. There’s still no firm timetable for his return, but this is a major step forward. Yay.

Roster Moves: Both outfielder Shane Robinson and lefty Ryan Bollinger were outrighted to Triple-A Scranton, the Yankees announced. They remain in the organization as non-40-man roster players and will join the RailRiders for the postseason this week. Robinson and Bollinger were both designated for assignment in recent days.

Roster Note: Sonny Gray is not with the Yankees. He’s home with his wife, who is due to give birth to their second child soon. Congrats to them. Sonny will rejoin the team later this week. He threw 62 pitches yesterday and wasn’t going to be available for a few days anyway, plus rosters have expanded, so there are plenty of relievers available.

Awards!: For the second time this season, Gleyber Torres has been named the AL Player of the Week. He won the award the week of May 27th as well. The Gley-Hey Kid went 11-for-23 (.478) with three homers last week. Slump’s over.

September call-ups are right around the corner, so it’s time to talk about a six-man rotation again

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(Jim McIsaac/Getty)

Starting tomorrow the 30 MLB teams will be allowed to expand their active roster from 25 players to as many as 40 players. No more worrying about running out of relievers or using an emergency catcher or anything like that. Reinforcements are on the way. The Yankees have called up lots of players on September 1st in recent years and I have no reason to think this year will be any different.

Expanded rosters create flexibility and a chance for creativity, and, with the Yankees, the talk always seems to center around a six-man rotation. They’ve made it clear they value giving their starters extra rest whenever possible. A six-man rotation is tough to do from April through August — a six-man rotation means a seven-man bullpen and a three-man bench, or an eight-man bullpen or a two-man bench — but September? Piece of cake.

The Yankees, perhaps moreso than at any point in the last four or five years, are well-positioned to use a six-man rotation in September. That’s because they actually have six viable big league starters, or thereabouts. It can be a challenge finding five big leaguer starters sometimes. Right now, the rotation depth chart looks something like this:

  1. Luis Severino
  2. Masahiro Tanaka
  3. CC Sabathia
  4. J.A. Happ
  5. Lance Lynn
  6. Sonny Gray
  7. Luis Cessa
  8. Domingo German
  9. Jonathan Loaisiga

Don’t get too caught up in the 1-5 order. Those guys are the top five starters. The order doesn’t really matter. Gray is the obvious sixth man, Cessa has been the primary spot starter, then German and Loaisiga fall into place at the end there. Aside from Cessa, who’s been up-and-down all year, the other three guys all held down a rotation spot at some point earlier season.

Gray pitched very well last weekend, but it was against the Orioles, and they stink. Maybe he truly has turned a corner. I’m not falling for it again though. He’s going to have to do it again (and again and again) for me to buy in. The Yankees could go with Sonny as a sixth starter in September though. It is an option. If not him, German and Loaisiga could be options, ditto Cessa. That’s a pretty good crop of sixth starter candidates, I’d say.

The No. 1 benefit of the six-man rotation is extra rest. Sabathia, Tanaka, Happ, and especially Severino all get a little late season breather heading into the postseason. Improved performance is part of it as well, though that can sometimes be more theoretical than reality. The 2018 numbers real quick:

Regular Rest Extra Rest
Gray (as SP) 50.1 IP, 3.40 ERA, .634 OPS 59.2 IP, 6.79 ERA, .868 OPS
Happ 51.2 IP, 2.79 ERA, .672 OPS 92.2 IP, 4.37 ERA, .646 OPS
Lynn 54 IP, 5.83 ERA, .814 OPS 75.2 IP, 4.40 ERA, .711 OPS
Sabathia 67.2 IP, 3.46 ERA, .674 OPS 57.2 IP, 3.12 ERA, .734 OPS
Severino 81.2 IP, 3.20 ERA, .664 OPS 83.3 IP, 3.33 ERA, .661 OPS
Tanaka 34 IP, 3.71 ERA, .689 OPS 93 IP, 4.06 ERA, .744 OPS

There’s no pattern there. It’s almost like weird and different things can happen in relatively small sample sizes. Extra rest improves performance on a league average level — the league average is a 4.41 ERA on normal rest and a 4.25 ERA with extra rest — but, individually, who knows? Every pitcher is different. Some guys benefit (Lynn, Sabathia), some guys don’t (Gray, Happ, Tanaka), and for some guys it doesn’t mater at all (Severino).

Going to a six-man rotation and expecting better performance is kind of a fool’s errand. The extra rest does equal less wear and tear though, that is undeniable — throw fewer pitches and there’s less fatigue — it’s just a question of whether the extra rest now equals improved performance down the road, specifically in the postseason. Every player is beat up and running on fumes in September. Anything to give your horses a little breather seems worthwhile.

The upside here is more rest for the regular starters late in the season. The downside is more starts for your sixth starter and fewer starts for your top starters, which could hurt the team overall. Then again, we’re only talking about three or four starters here, so it might not be a huge deal. My guess is the Yankees will stick with a five-man rotation for at least a few weeks. They haven’t clinched anything yet and it’s too soon to go into cruise control.

In mid-to-late September though, once the postseason races really start to firm up, the Yankees could go to a six-man rotation for a turn or two, just for that little extra rest before October. The Yankees have used spot sixth starters and manipulated off-days to give their starters extra rest enough times these last few years to tell us they value that extra rest. With expanded rosters coming tomorrow, giving the starters that extra rest is about to get much easier.

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.

Yankeemetrics: Windy City Sweep (August 6-8)

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(Getty)

Lynn FTW
The Yankees snapped out of their offensive funk and bounced back from their worst loss of the season with a drama-free 7-0 blanking of the White Sox in the series opener. It was their ninth shutout of the season, two more than they had all of last year. The last time the Yankees compiled at least nine shutouts, including two by individual pitchers, at this point in the season (111th game)? 1998, of course.

The offense was powered by some timely hitting in the early innings and a couple late homers from Gleyber Torres and Neil Walker. For Torres it was his 18th dinger of the season, tied for the third-most by an American League rookie second baseman all-time.

Most HR by AL Rookie 2nd Baseman
Year HR
Joe Gordon 1938 25
Alexei Ramirez 2008 21
Gleyber Torres 2018 18
Alfonso Soriano 2001 18
Tony Lazzeri 1926 18

Yes, four of the five on that list wore Yankee pinstripes in their rookie campaigns.

Lance Lynn helped to stop the bleeding as he produced a historic outing in his first career start for the Bombers, allowing zero runs over 7 1/3 innings. Lynn is the third Yankee in the last 25 seasons to throw at least seven scoreless innings in his starting debut for the team, joining Jose Contreras (2003) and Mike Mussina (2001).

But Lynn was even more dominant, giving up just two hits and one, and earns our #FunFact of the game: He is the only pitcher in franchise history to pitch at least seven innings, allow zero earned runs and no more than three baserunners in his first start as a Yankee.

Plus, combined with his clean 4 1/3 inning relief appearance last week, he is the second pitcher in the last 100 years to start his Yankee career with consecutive games of four-or-more scoreless innings pitched. The other was Allie Reynolds, who threw back-to-back shutouts in his first two games as a Yankee in April 1947.

(USA Today)

Miggy, Sonny to the rescue
The Yankees avoided what would have been their second demoralizing and disastrous loss in three nights by surviving a 13-inning, crazy 4-3 win on Tuesday. They improved to 18-12 in games decided by one run this season, matching their win total from all of last year (18-26).

The game started as an unlikely pitchers duel between CC Sabathia and Reynaldo Lopez, and ended with an even more unlikely pitching hero on the mound, relief ace Sonny Gray.

Sabathia was in vintage form, using his changeup/slider/cutter mix to get a whopping 22 whiffs, his most in any start since June 7, 2012. Thirteen of those 22 came via his signature cutter, easily the most swings-and-misses he’s ever gotten with that pitch in a game since he added it to his arsenal a couple years ago. He was pulled at a season-high-tying 103 pitches after striking out 12 batters in 5 2/3 innings pitched:

And let’s celebrate Sabathia’s tremendous outing with some #FunFacts:

  • Second-oldest Yankee (38 years, 17 days) to strike out at least 12 guys in a game, behind only Roger Clemens, who had two 13-K games at the age of 39 in 2002.
  • Last lefty as old Sabathia on any team to have 12 strikeouts in a game was a 44-year-old Randy Johnson for the Diamondbacks in 2008.
  • Last southpaw age 38 or older with a 12-plus-strikeout game in the American League was Thornton Lee, who had 13 strikeouts for the White Sox on June 12, 1945 against the Indians.

The offensive hero of the game was Miguel Andujar who made sure the fans got free baseball when he crushed a game-tying solo home run in the seventh inning. Andujar (15) and Gleyber Torres (18 homers) are the first set of Yankee rookie teammates ever to hit at least 15 homers in the same season.

(USA Today)

Giancarlo Stanton gave the Yankees a brief 3-1 lead with a two-run homer in the top of the 10th. But that advantage soon vanished in the bottom of the frame when Zach Britton picked the absolute worst time to give up his first career extra-inning home run, a game-tying two-out, two-run shot by Jose Abreu (who enjoyed rounding the bases after his first career extra-inning blast).

Britton’s meltdown earns him our Obscure Yankeemetric of the Series: he is the first Yankee to cough up a game-tying home run in extra innings since Bud Daley on June 10, 1964 against the Red Sox.

(AP)

Andujar rescued Britton from being the goat with his go-ahead RBI single in the top of the 13th, his first career RBI and fourth hit in extra innings. His four extra-inning hits are the most in a season by a Yankee age 23 or younger since Derek Jeter (5) in 1997. Following Tuesday’s game, Andujar was hitting .406/.429/.563 in high-leverage plate appearances per Fangraphs, compared to the league-average line of .242/.323/.385.

Finally, the unlikely pitching savior was Gray, who took over in the 11th and threw three scoreless innings with one walk and one hit for the win. And one more #FunFact to praise Mr. Gray: the last Yankee pitcher to earn a win on the road by getting at least nine outs in extras while allowing no more than two baserunners was Mariano Rivera on May 20, 2006 in Detroit.

Return of Sevy Strong
Thanks to a solid, bounceback effort from Luis Severino and a game-changing bases-loaded bomb from Giancarlo Stanton, the Yankees finished off the three-game sweep with an easy 7-3 victory. They are now 19-5 (.792) vs the AL Central this season, the best record by any AL team against an AL division and any NL team against an NL division.

Severino — who entered with the worst ERA in the majors over the last 30 days (9.00) among players with at least 20 innings pitched — had a rocky first inning, allowing two runs on three hits. That followed a concerning trend for Sevy over the past month:

But he locked in and flipped the script after the rough opening frame, retiring 11 in a row at one point. He finished with three runs allowed, eight strikeouts and no walks in seven innings, his his best outing since July 1. Severino’s slider was filthy, falling off the table and out of the zone, generating a bunch of silly swings:

He threw 45 sliders and matched a season-best with 11 whiffs via the pitch, one more than he had in his previous two starts combined.

Giancarlo delivered the big blow in the second inning, snapping a 2-2 tie with his first grand slam as a Yankee. Before Wednesday, his last homer with bases loaded was April 18, 2014, a walk-off slam against the Mariners. He’s the first Yankee with a tie-breaking grand slam against the White Sox since Tino Martinez on July 16, 1997. Hooray.

The Brewers and a solution to the Sonny Gray problem

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(Elsa/Getty)

Six days ago the Yankees moved Sonny Gray to the bullpen following a disaster start against the lowly Orioles, a disaster start in which he allowed seven runs in only 2.2 innings. Gray has not pitched since that game — to be fair, he wasn’t available until Saturday — and, frankly, I have no idea when the Yankees could use him. Has to be mop-up duty in a loss — I’m not sure I even trust Sonny in a blowout win — or extra innings only, right?

Anyway, Gray remains on the roster as a break glass in case of emergency reliever even though Brian Cashman did have a chance to move Gray at the trade deadline. During a radio interview last week Cashman explained he didn’t want to trade Gray just for the sake of trading him. A partial transcript:

“I think teams look at (Gray) and say, ‘alright, we have somebody who’s struggling in this environment, in New York — which has happened — and they have gone on elsewhere to pitch effectively or return to form. We understand and see that time and time again. So I had definitely teams that were in contention and teams that were not in contention because of his control year next year that asked about Sonny Gray because they know what his capabilities are and that his stuff is still the same. But the approached it in a buy-low situation where it did not make any sense … I was not presented with anything that would make me feel like I missed an opportunity or I should have done something.”

At this point it is very tough to see Gray remaining with the Yankees next season, or even possibly through the end of this season. You hate to trade away pitching depth, but Sonny has pitched so poorly that I’m not sure the Yankees can rely on him as depth anyway. Lance Lynn is in the rotation now and J.A. Happ is coming back soon, plus Chance Adams showed enough over the weekend to get another spot start should one be needed.

Trades are still possible in August, they just require trade waivers, which complicate things slightly. Long story short, players who clear trade waivers can be traded anywhere at any time. Players who are claimed on trade waivers can only be traded to the claiming team within 48 hours. Gray is making $6.5M this season, of which roughly $2.1M is still owed to him, and I think that’s enough to get him through waivers unclaimed. The overwhelming majority of players clear trade waivers anyway.

Clearly, Gray has fallen out of favor with the Yankees, and truth be told he would almost certainly benefit from a change of scenery as well. I’m not a big believer in the whole “he can’t handle New York” stuff, but, at this point, Sonny could probably use a change. A fresh start with a new team, etc. etc. I’m going to do something now I rarely do around here: Propose a trade. My proposal:

  • Brewers get: Sonny Gray
  • Yankees get: Keon Broxton and pitching prospect Zack Brown

My trade proposal sucks. I am fully aware of that and I welcome the ridicule and the overwhelming potential to look dumb. I don’t do the whole “here’s a very specific trade” idea thing often though, and I figured I’d indulge myself. Gray to the Brewers for Broxton and Brown. Two-for-one. Let’s talk it out.

Why the Brewers?

At 65-50, the Brewers have the third best record in the National League and they’re 1.5 games behind the Cubs in the NL Central. They have a need in their rotation with Jimmy Nelson (shoulder surgery), Zach Davies (back), and Brent Suter (Tommy John surgery) all on the disabled list and not due back anytime soon, and they’re loaded with outfielders. They traded top 100-ish prospect Brett Phillips for Mike Moustakas and still have this outfield depth chart:

  1. Christian Yelich
  2. Lorenzo Cain
  3. Eric Thames
  4. Ryan Braun
  5. Domingo Santana (in Triple-A)
  6. Keon Broxton (in Triple-A)

The Brewers had interest in Gray last season. I didn’t randomly pick them as a trade partner. There’s been interest here in the not-too-distant past. The Yankees and Brewers were the two teams vying for Sonny at the deadline last year. The A’s wanted a close-to-MLB center fielder in the trade package and the Yankees made Dustin Fowler available while the Brewers reportedly said no to Lewis Brinson, and that was that. (Brinson went to the Marlins in the Yelich trade over the winter.)

Furthermore, Brewers pitching coach Derek Johnson was Gray’s pitching coach at Vanderbilt back in the day and the two are very close. “He’s a pretty special person to me. He was one of those father-figure types you hear people talk about — especially at an important part of my life,” said Gray to Mark Chiarelli in 2016. The Brewers need a starter, they have outfield depth to spare, they had interest in Gray last year, and he’s close with their pitching coach. And he’ll remain under team control as an arbitration-eligible player last year. It fits.

Why Broxton?

Broxton. (Stacy Revere/Getty)

The Yankees went from having plenty of outfield depth to starting Shane Robinson in five of their last ten games in a hurry. Aaron Judge is injured and it doesn’t seem he’ll return in the original three-week time frame. Clint Frazier is out with post-concussion migraines and there’s no telling when he’ll return. Giancarlo Stanton is nursing a tight hamstring. Billy McKinney was traded away. Jacoby Ellsbury? Hah.

The Yankees really need another outfielder and Broxton, while flawed, is an upgrade over Robinson. The 28-year-old is a very good defensive center fielder and he’s a right-handed hitter with a history of punishing left-handed pitchers. The career big league numbers:

PA AVG/OBP/SLG wRC+ HR BB% K%
vs. RHP 529 .215/.297/.404 82 22 9.1% 36.9%
vs. LHP 245 .242/.362/.449 115 9 15.9% 35.4%
Total 774 .223/.317/.418 93 31 11.2% 36.4%

Yeah, Broxton strikes out a ton and the Yankees don’t really need more strikeouts to the lineup, but they also don’t need more Shane Robinson in the lineup either. Robinson, despite hitting the home run last week and having that tough sac bunt attempt turned walk Sunday night, can’t hit. Broxton will at least draw walks and hit lefties, on top of the defensive upgrade.

The Brewers have no spot for Broxton on their roster and he’s spent pretty much the entire season in Triple-A, where he’s hitting .260/.329/.422 (95 wRC+) in 310 plate appearances. This is his final minor league option year as well, and it’s hard to see where he fits on next year’s roster. The guy is already 28 and he’ll be out of options next year. Chances are the Brewers will be looking to trade him over the winter or next spring before losing him on waivers.

The Yankees could replace Robinson with Broxton right away and, at the very least, platoon him with Brett Gardner. The Judge injury and Stanton’s lingering hamstring issue means he’d probably get a fair amount of playing time the next few weeks. The Brewers don’t have a spot for him and it is unlikely he’s in their long-term plans. Broxton is an expendable piece for Milwaukee and an upgrade over Robinson for the Yankees.

Why Brown?

The 23-year-old Brown was a fifth round pick in 2016 and he is currently in Double-A, where he has a 2.34 ERA (3.40 FIP) with 24.4% strikeouts, 7.2% walks, and 56.4% grounders. Great numbers! Baseball America (subs. req’d) did not rank Brown among Milwaukee’s top ten prospects in their recent update though, and MLB.com ranks him as the 12th best prospect in the system. Their scouting report:

He pitches with a 92-95 mph fastball to both sides of the plate … He’s adept at manipulating the pitch, too, as he’ll turn it over to create sinking action at times while reaching back for extra velo with his four-seamer as dictated by the situation. His curveball, though currently underused, is a plus pitch, and he also has feel for a promising changeup that contrasts nicely against his heater … Brown’s detractors believe that he’ll end up in the bullpen on account of his high-effort delivery.

Brown fits the mold of a quality ‘tweener pitching prospect. Can he master a changeup? Will the delivery hold up as a starter? If not, he’ll end up a reliever, potentially a very good one. Brown’s a notch below where Dillon Tate was before the Yankees traded him, and he’s about two notches below where Chance Adams was in 2016, just for reference. The results are better than the scouting report, but the scouting report is still pretty good. Here’s some video:

The trade boils down to Gray for a fourth outfielder and a second tier pitching prospect. Considering what the Yankees gave up to get Gray, it’s a big net loss. Sonny is a sunk cost though. The Yankees made the trade and he’s pitched terribly. They can either stick it out and try to make it work — that wouldn’t be crazy, in my opinion — or cut their losses and turn him into usable pieces. Broxton helps now and Brown could help later.

For all intents and purposes, the trade is Gray for Brown. Broxton is a spare part without a ton of trade value. He’s closer to 30 than 25 and he’ll be out of options next year, and he’s been unable to carve out a big league role despite extending playing time in 2016 and 2017. Guys like that don’t fetch much on the trade market, even a reclamation project starter like Gray. Sonny’s track record and extra year of control have real value.

The Brewers get a starter with a strong track record and get to reunite him with his college pitching coach, and they give up an extraneous outfielder and a good pitching prospect from a deep farm system. The Yankees give up an out-of-favor pitcher, upgrade their short-term outfield situation, and add a pitching prospect who could help as soon as next year. Also, trading Gray opens a bullpen spot for Tommy Kahnle. It all makes sense to me, but, then again, my trade proposal sucks.

Game 107: Round One

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Man of the people. (Presswire)

The biggest series of the season? The biggest series of the season. Certainly the biggest series of the season to date, at least. There’s still 50-something games to play after this weekend. Anyway, the Yankees and Red Sox open a four-game series at Fenway Park tonight, and here are the AL East standings at the moment:

  1. Red Sox: 75-34
  2. Yankees: 68-38 (5.5 GB)
  3. Rays: 56-53 (19 GB)
  4. Blue Jays: 48-59 (26 GB)
  5. Orioles: 33-75 (41.5 GB)

A two-team race. The Yankees and Red Sox have the two best records in baseball, and this is the first time they’ve met this late in a season with the game’s two best records since the Game 163 tiebreaker in 1978, if you can believe that. The Yankees are trying to gain ground to make the division race an actual race. The BoSox are looking to bury the Yankees and run away with this thing.

Obvious statement is obvious: A split is the absolute bare minimum this weekend. Winning three of four would be swell. A sweep would be incredible. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. The Yankees seemed to do that yesterday against the Orioles. Felt like they got caught looking ahead to this series. Worry about tonight’s game and tonight’s game only. Gotta win one before you can think about winning two or three or four. Here are the lineups:

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

LHP CC Sabathia

Boston Red Sox
1. RF Mookie Betts
2. LF Andrew Benintendi
3. 1B Steve Pearce
4. DH J.D. Martinez
5. 2B Ian Kinsler
6. 3B Eduardo Nunez
7. C Blake Swihart
8. SS Brock Holt
9. CF Jackie Bradley Jr.

LHP Brian Johnson

It is cloudy, warm, and windy in Boston this evening. Not ideal baseball weather but it’ll do. Tonight’s game will begin at 7:10pm ET and you can watch on YES locally and MLB Network out of market. Enjoy the ballgame.

Rotation Update: Sonny Gray has been moved to the bullpen, mercifully. He’ll be available starting Saturday. “I’ve struggled and they’ve given me ample opportunity to figure it out … I don’t think my days as a starting pitcher in this league are over, but right now it’s all about winning and doing my part, and my role right now is in the bullpen,” he said. Lance Lynn will take Gray’s rotation spot.

Injury Update: J.A. Happ has been placed on the 10-day DL with his hand, foot, and mouth disease. Crazy. The move is retroactive to Monday, so he can return as soon as next Thursday. He’ll miss just one start. Sucks he had to miss a start this series though. What can you do? … Aaron Judge (wrist) has been running and going through agility drills and all that. He is inching closer to swinging a bat.

Roster Moves: Both Luis Cessa and Luke Voit have been called up, the Yankees announced. Voit is wearing No. 45. Something tells me he won’t fit into Chasen Shreve’s jersey. Voit’s up as an extra right-handed bat for the weekend. As for Cessa, he replaces Happ — they had to use Happ’s disabled list stint to bring Cessa back because it hasn’t been ten days since he was sent down — and right now Saturday’s starter is TBA, but it’ll be Cessa unless he’s needed out of the bullpen tonight or tomorrow. Tyler Wade was sent down to make room for Voit. Shane Robinson remains on the roster and Neil Walker is now de facto the backup infielder. My guess is Voit will go back to Triple-A after this series and Ronald Torreyes will return.