In January 2017, the Yankees were doing the “Winter Warm-Up” series to introduce newer players to the fanbase through sandwich workshops, surprising ticketholders, going to museums, etc. At one point, they also had a presser at the Yankee Stadium. I was informed of the opportunity to cover it for River Avenue Blues and simply took it. I had dreamed of being a part of the press corp at the Yankee Stadium someday and it was happening.

While I was soaking it all in in the Yankee Stadium hallways, all by myself, I saw Brian Cashman walking from a distance. I would recognize that face from just about anywhere. I was wearing a University of Maryland jacket at the time. Cashman, who also went to a school in Washington, DC area (Catholic University of America), saw that. He said, “Maryland, huh?” We had a little conversation about DC area, the winter weather, the Yankees, etc. At some point, he looked at the credential card hanging below my neck and said this:

“River Avenue Blues! Love the website. I read it all the time.”

I’m not going to sugarcoat that comment too much. It’s obviously a weighty praise especially given the context. What I want to emphasize here more is how a website created by fan bloggers – out of labor of love, nonetheless – became so developed and established enough to get first-hand praise from the general manager of the New York Yankees, earn a commercial spot at the YES Network, get funding to pay the writers, etc. It just goes to show us, while it may be daunting to start something from scratch, the persistence and the love for it can lead it to something so impactful. This not only goes for baseball blogs but also for pretty much everything in our lifetime.

It’s been awhile since I wrote on this website. A lot of things have happened to me for the past half a year or so. I got hired by FanGraphs, I joined Baseball Prospectus to occasionally write about Korean baseball, I contributed for The Athletic, etc. It’s not easy to openly admit this but things shifted a bit for me in terms of my career opportunity and priority – but I always had River Avenue Blues in the back of my mind, because for me, this is where it all started.

Truth be told, this website is the foundation for all of what I’ve been able to do in the baseball media. As it is the case for many that are trying to find a footing in an industry they’re trying to enter, there was a time where I couldn’t get any publication’s attention to save my life. I was contacting basically every blog’s emails to give them my hand. At some point, I got Jay Gordon’s attention and wrote about a few Korean players for River Avenue Blues. Jay and Mike got back to me a few months later and asked me if I wanted to be a contributor for the site starting the 2015 season. As someone who was trying to find a footing somewhere writing about something I love, it was an offer I couldn’t pass.

I was a reader before I was a writer. I can’t exactly pinpoint when I started to read RAB, but it was around 2007 or 2008. River Avenue Blues was my main reading spot for Yankees information along with LoHud Yankees Blog. I was in high school at the time and had no idea what I was going to do with my life, so I never really saw myself ever writing for the site. Flashforward to junior year in college, I declared journalism and *kind of* saw myself writing about baseball in future. I tried taking essential reporting and journalistic writing classes and it turned out I was pretty trash at that (at least back then). I ended up switching to broadcast journalism and took up internships in sports radio and television. I thought my future was in working the radio control board, editing soundbytes on Adobe Audition, cutting video files and putting captions, etc. It wasn’t glamorous, but I would have been more than okay going that path.

Even doing all that, there was always a thing in back of my mind that I yelled at me about baseball writing. I took one sports writing class – and I did pretty okay in it – but my connection to the industry was pretty lacking. I had no sports writing internship, my school newspaper’s sports section was quite filled up, etc. yes, these are bunch of excuses, but having been in the industry for a bit by now, I learned that these things matter. I got my foundation of all these through River Avenue Blues.

Writing for RAB was a trip – I got a lot of the “real life work experience” moments through my first several blog posts. I was sloppy, lacked attention to detail, attracted some critical comments, etc. I felt like a pitcher who just got called up from minors who was too amped up to find a strike zone. Usually, writers get yelled at by editors or other higher-ups for such mistakes. But RAB people have been very gracious – they always had my back, they allowed me to improve by my own and most importantly, they never hesitated to give me a confidence boost. So many times, I’ve seen a lot of my peers from school get burnt out in writing industry for various reasons. For me, however, it was all joy. The more I wrote for RAB, the more I was enthralled with baseball writing.

I know I talked a lot about myself and my experience of the website but it’s much moreso about guys like Mike, Ben, Joe, Jay, Betsy and others who have laid the foundation for River Avenue Blues to be such a big part of many Yankee fans’ online fandom. It’s also about people like Derek, Steven, Matt, Bobby, Katie, Domenic and Ashley who contributed their time and effort to also make this blog much moreso than just a blog. This site was a community: where anyone could come in and get their daily dose of the New York Yankees.

Yankee fans are lucky that there isn’t exactly a shortage of Yankees contents around the web, but I can’t help but feel like it will leave a huge void in my mind knowing that there won’t be any newer RAB posts starting April 30. At the same time, it is what it is. As Mike said, River Avenue Blues lived about a billion years old for blog standards, and it would not have been possible without the love of everyone – especially you, the readers – involved. Whoever you are, thank you for reading this blog post and this website. I hope you are having a nice day.

I don’t remember exactly when I first discovered River Avenue Blues. I’m pretty sure it was during my junior year of college, either in fall 2007 or early 2008. And I’m pretty sure I came to it via sidebar link from the Pete Abraham incarnation of the LoHud Yankees Blog. Once I started reading it, then commenting, then moving to Twitter “with” many of the people in the comments section back then, then still continuing to read, up until the moment I was asked to, I never thought I’d be writing for it, let alone doing so for over four years. But even before April 12, 2015, I knew that RAB was a special place for Yankee fans and for me personally.

Being a Yankee fan of a millennial age meant that my formative baseball years were spent online, seeking connections to other fans, and that’s what I found here. In an approachable, casual way, Mike, Joe, and Ben wrote about wide-ranging topics that were lacking in most Yankee outlets, from prospects to analysis. Like with my first reading of the site, I don’t remember the first time I waded into the comments section. But once I did so, I was hooked. Here was a place for–most of the time–reasonable, rational discussion about all things Yankees. Every day or night, no matter the team’s state or mine, I could count on the people here for consistency of connection. When I watched a game–even if I was home alone or the only one around watching it–I had hundreds of fellow fans “with” me as the game went on.

More than any other place, RAB’s comments also inspired me to do my own writing, which led me all over the baseball internet. From my own blogspot site to Bronx Baseball Daily, to The Yankee Analysts/IIATMS, and finally to here, I was able to share my thoughts with you and so many others, thanks to this website. Writing on the internet, about my favorite team, for over ten years has been a source of joy and pride, however small. In life terms, that’s a long time on its own; in baseball terms, that’s even longer.

The day of my first post at RAB–5/12/15–the Yankees beat the Red Sox 14-4. Of the Yankees who appeared in that game, only Brett Gardner, Masahiro Tanaka, Didi Gregorius, and (technically) Jacoby Ellsbury are still on the team. To include anyone on the 2015 roster adds CC Sabathia, Greg Bird, Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino, Dellin Betances, and Austin Romine. Just like the team has changed, I have changed over time. Almost nothing from my 2015 self is the same for my 2019 self.

This is all to say that my life would not be the same without RAB exactly when and how and why I found it. Reading this website made me join its comments section. Joining that comment section made me write on my own and join Twitter. Writing on my own and joining Twitter allowed me to meet my wife, which eventually led to the birth of our son. In a very meaningful way, River Avenue Blues is responsible for the life I lead now, for the family I have now. It is not a stretch to say that this is the most important website of my life. Thank you to Mike, Joe, Ben, Jay, and the myriad other writers who’ve penned words for this site and the countless others who’ve read faithfully for so long. You have made my life as a baseball fan, a writer, and a person all the richer for it.

The Yankees are three games into their nine-game West Coast trip and there are only five more days to go in the RAB era, including today. Barring a surprise development (with the Yankees, not RAB), this is probably the last thoughts post. It was a good run. Let’s get to it.

1. I don’t have much to say about Chad Green being demoted to Triple-A. His performance had become untenable and something had to be done. I don’t think it was odd Aaron Boone said the Yankees weren’t planning to send Green down following Tuesday’s game either. That was minutes after the game and he has to back his player. The actual conversations about sending Green down happened later. I thought Green would land on the injured list because how could a healthy Chad Green possibly be this bad? Instead, he’ll go to Triple-A Scranton and try to figure out what’s wrong. The Yankees can get him lots of work down there — there’s no need to wait for a low-leverage spot to pop up every few days, he can pitch and pitch and pitch with the RailRiders — and that’s what Green needs more than anything right now. To pitch. To pitch and not be worried about being sent down because, well, he’s already been sent down. Green’s fastball velocity is down a tick but his spin rate is fine, so the underlying numbers look okay. Clearly though, he’s not okay. This is one of those situations where the minor league numbers might not tell us much, because Chad Green with his C+ fastball instead of his A+ fastball can still dominate Triple-A hitters. Hopefully this is a quick fix and Green returns soon. The Yankees are at their best with a productive Green in their bullpen, not with Stephen Tarpley or Joe Harvey to Domingo Acevedo or whichever minor league reliever happens to have shiny stats at the time. (Using Clint Frazier’s injured list stint to recall Joe Harvey before his ten days in the minors were up rather than Green tells you the Yankees don’t believe this is something he can fix at the MLB level.)

2. A few years back, when David Price was on the trade block, I wrote that he was the platonic ideal of a Yankees pitcher. Lefty, durable, succeeded with a high velocity fastball he could command to both sides of the plate. If you could build a pitcher in a lab, the Yankees would’ve built 2010-15 David Price. In 2019, I’m pretty sure the Yankees would build James Paxton in that lab. They are a velocity and spin rate organization and Paxton offers both. He’s left-handed, he racks up strikeouts, and his secondaries are good enough to get outs and make hitters respect the fastball. Paxton doesn’t have peak Price’s command or durability, so 2019 Paxton is more like a poor man’s 2010-15 Price, but 2019 Paxton is really good. So it took him three starts to settle in this year. Big deal. He’s been lights out his last two starts. That’s a guy the Yankees can send out there in Game One of a postseason series and expect dominance. Paxton checks all the boxes analytically and the results on the field have been very good overall, especially lately. The question is health. As long as Paxton stays healthy, he’s going to be very good, and he’s healthy right now. He has been as advertised one month into his Yankees career.

3. I was planning to write something on Aaron Judge’s relative power outage before he had a homer and a double over the weekend, then landed on the injured list. Judge is hitting .288/.404/.521 (145 wRC+) on the year, so he was awesome before getting hurt, though it never did feel like he was truly locked in at the plate. Am I wrong? That’s what it felt like to me. To me, it seemed like Judge was really focusing in going the other way to right field, possibly because he is one of the few right-handed hitters who sees the infield shift regular. The numbers back up that opposite field approach:

Judge was still smashing the ball, but yes, his pull rate was down and his opposite field rate was up. Quite a bit too. Was this a conscious thing or just small sample size noise? We won’t know the answer to that for a while now that he’s injured. As good as he’s been, Judge has been unlucky to some degree this year. His .394 wOBA is quite a bit below his .442 xwOBA, and he lost base hits to great plays like this 111.2 mph rocket and this 110.4 mph scorcher. I reckon Judge wasn’t far away from a monster hot streak prior to the injury. Anyway, it did seem to me that Judge was focusing on the opposite a bit early this season, and the numbers do back it up. Was it a small sample fluke? Maybe. If it was a conscious decision, I don’t like it. Like the big man eat. Aaron Judge shouldn’t focus on serving the ball to the opposite field. Focus on maximum damage, and he does the most damage when he pulls the ball.

4. The more I watch him, the more I think the Yankees should leave Gleyber Torres at shortstop long-term. He looks so much more comfortable and natural at short than he does at second, and that makes sense, because he didn’t start playing second base full-time until last year. Torres has played only 136 career games at second base between the minors and the big leagues. Not even a full season. Of course he doesn’t look as comfortable there as he does at shortstop. Everything at shortstop looks easy. Actions are clean, arm is accurate, and his clock is great. Never rushed or too lackadaisical. In a vacuum, keeping Torres at shortstop long-term is an easy call. This isn’t a vacuum though. Didi Gregorius exists, and the best possible Yankees roster moving forward has Torres and Gregorius on the middle infield, not Torres and DJ LeMahieu or Tyler Wade or Thairo Estrada. It is really hard to acquire above-average two-way middle infielders and a Gleyber-Didi double play combo gives the Yankees two players like that. Do the Yankees re-sign Gregorius and move Torres back to second? I think that is the most likely outcome right now. What about re-signing Gregorius and moving him to second base though? Sir Didi turns 30 in February and eventually he’ll lose a step in the field, and there’s always a chance his arm won’t come all the way back following Tommy John surgery. It is not far-fetched to think the best defensive alignment going forward is Gleyber at short and Gregorius at second. Would the Yankees actually do it? I don’t think so, not unless Gregorius struggles in the field after elbow reconstruction. Torres definitely seems more comfortable at short than he does at second though. It is his natural position and it shows.

5. Both teams were hit hard by injuries, but there are two key differences between the 2013 Yankees and the 2019 Yankees. One, the 2019 Yankees started with a much higher talent baseline, and two, the quality of the replacements. The 2013 Yankees did not have a Clint Frazier to call up. Tyler Wade may never hit, but he can play the hell out of the middle infield, far better than dudes like Luis Cruz and Brent Lillibridge and Chris Nelson. The 2013 Yankees didn’t even have a Gio Urshela type, that 20-something (Urshela is 27) who isn’t too far removed from prospect status and could be counted on for above-average production on one side of the ball (defense) while offering a little upside on the other (offense). We could even drop Mike Tauchman in that bucket as well. It is so much easier to buy into Domingo German as a viable big league starter than it was David Phelps or Vidal Nuno. Also, the 2019 Yankees are way better at player development than the 2013 Yankees. It’s not just that they have more young talent than the 2013 Yankees — the 2013 team relied on waiver claims and veteran castoffs — it’s that they know what to do with it too. The injury situation is comical. It really is. Thirteen guys on the injury list, including six starting position players as well as the staff ace, yet the Yankees have won six straight and eight of nine. Sure, the Yankees have more resources than any other team, but Urshela and Tauchman and guys like that were not “the Yankees outspent everyone to get them” pickups. It is crazy impressive the Yankees are still racking up wins with their roster this depleted. These last few weeks could’ve sunk their season. Instead, the replacements are keeping them afloat.

6. This sorta ties into that last point, but, for as long as I can remember, the Yankees have had the ability to overcome adversity and survive crisis. There has always been this “they’ll figure out a way” trait to the Yankees. I’ve joked about the Fighting Spirit for years now but tell me it’s not true. Even their lean years haven’t been all that lean recently. The absolute worst Yankees team we’ve seen in the last quarter-century still won 84 games. That’s been the worst case scenario, 84 wins, and that ain’t so bad. The payroll excuse? The money helps, no doubt, but the Red Sox have finished in last place multiple times with sky high payrolls in recent years. The Phillies bottomed out. The Giants are doing it right now with a high payroll. Money helps but it doesn’t guarantee success. Besides, how many high-priced players are on the active roster right now? Masahiro Tanaka, Aroldis Chapman, and J.A. Happ are the only active roster players making more than $13M. Zack Britton and DJ LeMahieu are the only other active Yankees making more than $9M. My quick math puts the current active roster payroll at $125.8M. (According to Ron Blum, the average Opening Day roster payroll was $135.7M this year.) Figure out a way to stay competitive during tough times once or twice, and it may only be luck or that proverbial one good year. Do it consistently across 25 years, no matter whether we’re talking about a rash of injuries like this year or losing Derek Jeter for six weeks on Opening Day 2003 or Aaron Judge for seven weeks last year, and it makes me think there’s something in the water, so to speak. The Yankees have always found a way to keep themselves from completely collapsing. There is an organizational sticktoitiveness that helps them get through bad situations, no matter the personnel on the field. I can’t define it or quantify it, but it exists, and we’re seeing it again this year.

7. Despite all the injuries and all the call-ups and replacement players, the Yankees have received tremendous production from the bottom of the lineup this season. Their 7-8-9 hitters have arguably been the best in baseball. The 7-8-9 numbers going into yesterday’s late night West Coast game:

• AVG: .292 (first — Twins are second at .283)
• OBP: .357 (first — Twins are second at .351)
• SLG: .496 (third — Mariners are at .505 and Twins are at .498)
• wRC+: 125 (second — Mariners are at 129)

Gio Urshela has been way better than anyone could’ve reasonably expected him to be thus far, Mike Tauchman’s had his moments, and Austin Romine has had his moments too. When all these injuries struck and guys like Gleyber Torres and Clint Frazier had to move into the middle of the lineup, it was reasonable to expect the production at the bottom of the order to sag. Instead, those dudes have been crushing the ball. Timely hits, the occasional #SurpriseDinger, and quality at-bats. I don’t know how much longer the Yankees can count on Urshela, Tauchman et al performing like this, but they’re doing it now, and they’ve helped the Yankees avoid sinking in the standings. Eventually the injured guys will come back and bolster the lineup. We shouldn’t forget what the fill-ins are doing now. They’re coming up big. Real big.

8. I’m not too surprised the Yankees let Gio Gonzalez walk. It always seemed like they signed him more as an emergency option than a clear-cut “we’re going to put this guy in our rotation once he’s ready to go” player. Gonzalez was sitting out there in free agency and he was willing to take a minor league contract, so why not sign him? It was a no risk move, and if more injuries struck the rotation, the Yankees had a capable veteran fill-in already in the organization. No one else got hurt and Domingo German has thrown the ball well, so Gonzalez wasn’t needed. Here’s what Brian Cashman said about the Gio situation during a recent radio interview (transcript via George King):

“He has no interest in being a reliever, and so now we’re staring at this opt-out, where he’s pitched well his last two outings, and I don’t have a starting spot for him. So it’s that or throw him in the bullpen and say hang with him. For an athlete that’s historically, outside of I think twice last year in the postseason run pitching out of the pen for Milwaukee, the dialogue I’ve had directly with him, as well as our own assessments, is it worth it to throw $3M into the bullpen and hope it works out? The contract was kind of prohibitive in that it had so many incentives geared up towards starting, so it wouldn’t have been a tradeable thing for any of these teams that are gonna sign him now as a starter. They’ll repackage or make a new deal, whatever that’s gonna be, but we had to ultimately honor the fact that he was a starter insurance arm for us, and when that insurance policy was expiring, we couldn’t cash in on it because I didn’t have a starting spot for him.”

The Yankees could have added Gonzalez to the roster and said too bad, you signed a contract and we’re going to use you as a reliever whether you like it or not, but that’s not how the real world works. It sounds like it was made clear to the Yankees that Gonzalez only wanted to start, and they entered into the contract with that understanding. When the opt-out arrived, they could’ve reneged on that understanding and put him in the bullpen, though that would’ve damaged their relationship with his representatives (Scott Boras). I have been doing this long enough to know there will be a time later this season when the Yankees need a starting pitcher, and a time when Gonzalez has a nice two or three start stretch (he signed with the Brewers yesterday), and the “should’ve kept Gio!” crowd will come out of the woodwork. They say you can’t predict baseball, but trust me, this is as predictable as it gets. The thing is, the Yankees could not keep Gonzalez around until they need a starter later in the season, whenever that is. The opt-out was this past weekend. That’s when the decision had to be made. With every starter except Severino healthy and German pitching well — there is definitely something to be said for retaining as much pitching depth as possible, but bumping 26-year-old German from the rotation when he’s pitching like this to make room for 33-year-old Gonzalez makes zero sense — plus Jonathan Loaisiga available as the sixth starter (don’t sleep on David Hale as a depth option either, I’ve heard through the grapevine he’s taken well to adjustments suggested by the analytics group and has upped his velocity and spin rates this year), the Yankees did not need another starter, so they let Gonzalez go per the terms of their agreement. There’s not much more to it than that.

9. CC Sabathia is one of my all-time favorite players — seriously, how can anyone not love that guy? — and watching his resurgence these last few years has been a joy. He looked done from 2013-15. Like done done. Then he reinvented himself as a cutter pitcher and went into last night’s start with a 3.68 ERA (119 ERA+) in 491.1 innings since Opening Day 2016. Roughly 20% better than league average from ages 35-38. That is bonkers. During Sabathia’s start last weekend, Lindsey Adler wondered aloud how many veteran pitchers will get a chance to reinvent themselves in a similar manner, and the answer is not many. The free agent market is brutal right now, especially for 30-somethings who have shown signs of decline. 2013-15 Sabathia doesn’t get a chance to reinvent himself in 2019. That said, 2013-15 Sabathia probably only received a chance to reinvent himself in 2013-15 because he was already under contract. It’s not like the Yankees re-signed him and gave him a chance. They didn’t have much choice. The point stands though. Veterans no longer get that last chance to adjust like Sabathia did. That’s why guys like James Shields and Yovani Gallardo remain unsigned. No team will give them a chance to figure it out. I’m curious to see what happens with Felix Hernandez. He’s an impending free agent and is clearly no longer the pitcher he was in his prime. He turned only 33 earlier this week though, so he’s not completely over the hill, plus he possesses an elite combination of natural talent and pitchability. Do the Mariners (or another team) give Felix a chance to reinvent himself and carve out a second phase of his career in his mid-to-late-30s, or is this it? That’d be a bummer. Credit Sabathia for reinventing himself the way he did. Not many guys will get the same opportunity.

Good series? Good series. The Yankees swept two games from the Red Sox this week — do the Red Sox look awful or what? geez — and will open a four-game series against the Royals tonight. Please please please mop the floor with them this weekend. Here are a some assorted thoughts.

1. We’re finally starting to see the Clint Frazier who topped prospect lists and was the fifth overall pick in the 2013 draft. Maybe it’s not fair to say “finally.” He is only 24 and he was essentially a Double-A player when the Yankees acquired him. Injuries got in the way and sometimes there are bumps in the road before a young player establishes himself in the big leagues. Frazier had three hits last night and is hitting .333/.347/.622 (153 wRC+) in an admittedly small 49 plate appearance sample, plus he’s having quality at-bats and showing great overall confidence at the plate. He’s dangerous and he knows it. His 22.0% chase rate is quite a bit better than the 29.1% league average, and while it hasn’t led to walks yet (4.1%), he’s swinging at the right pitches. That’s the most important thing. Frazier isn’t chasing pitcher’s pitches out of the zone and he’s taking good aggressive swings at pitches over the plate. No, he (probably) won’t hit .333 all season and yes, he’ll (probably) slip into an ugly slump at some point, but that’s part of baseball. Right now, Frazier is taking advantage of the opportunity given to him when Giancarlo Stanton landed on the injured list. Once guys start getting healthy (man I hope that’s soon), there’s no way Clint can be dropped into a part-time role or even sent back to Triple-A. He is coming into his own and the Yankees owe it to themselves to keep running him out there, and I fully expect them to do exactly that. (Add in Justus Sheffield being traded for James Paxton, and the Andrew Miller trade had a real big impact in the Red Sox series.)

2. This Luis Severino injury stuff is downright Metsian. Long story short: Brian Cashman said last week the lat strain is a new injury Severino suffered while going through his rehab work for the shoulder inflammation, yet yesterday Severino said he first felt the lat pain and shoulder pain simultaneously back in Spring Training. Cashman told James Wagner that Severino said he had discomfort in his lat when he first complained about his shoulder, though the MRI at the time showed only the shoulder inflammation and no lat strain. It wasn’t until last week that tests showed the lat strain, indicating it is a new injury. Who knows what really happened, but how could anyone believe anything the Yankees say about injuries right now? They miss constantly on return timetables. There are communication issues here, if not between the player and the team, that at least between the team and the fan base. Fairly or unfairly, there are questions about the training staff right now given all the injuries, and this Severino nonsense sure as heck won’t make them look any better. The injuries are bad enough. The botched timetables and conflicting messages make it all worse. It’s hard to believe there’s a situation like this involving the staff ace. There should never be even the slightest hint of miscommunication between the team and a player as important as Severino. Ridiculous.

3. This has to be it for Greg Bird, right? This is now four straight seasons with poor performance and/or significant injury. Bird has been healthy and productive for maybe six weeks total in the last four years (September and October 2017) and what’s the upside, exactly? He is a bat-only first baseman who, fortunately for him, is on the heavy side of the platoon. What are the odds Bird gets healthy and becomes, say, Matt Adams? I don’t think they’re very good at this point, and if the upside is Matt Adams, then I don’t see enough of a reason to keep trying to make this work. There’s no need to dump Bird right now — the Yankees can stash him on the injured list this year and even hang on to him through the offseason because his arbitration raise doen’t figure to be all that large — but eventually the Yankees will run out of 60-day injured list candidates and 40-man roster space will be tight, and Bird should not be safe when that time comes. You can’t say the Yankees haven’t given him opportunities. They have given him plenty of chances to become the first baseman of the future and it just hasn’t happened. No matter how much you like a player — the Yankees love Bird — at some point you have to admit it’s just not working, and move on. After a four major injuries (and three surgeries) and a .194/.287/.388 (80 wRC+) batting line in over 500 plate appearances the last four years, the time to admit it’s not working with Bird has arrived. Forget about him as a potential long-term piece — Bird will be only two years away from free agency after the season, so I’m not sure it would be fair to call him a long-term piece anyway — and move on when 40-man space is required. If he goes somewhere else and lives up to his potential, so be it. The Yankees tried and tried and tried. It’s hard to believe Bird’s leash was this long, really.

4. I don’t have a preference about how the Yankees replace Bird in the lineup. They’re so decimated by injuries right now that there is no good or obvious solution. Play Mike Ford? Fine. Stick with Mike Tauchman and see what he does with regular at-bats? Works for me too. I mean, what are the other options at this point? Force me to pick one and I’d go with Tauchman. He’s a year and a half older than Ford, sure, but he can actually play the field and I’m not convinced Ford is the superior hitter. I know he got off to a great start this year, but Ford hit .253/.327/.433 (114 wRC+) while repeating Triple-A last season. That kinda stinks. Tauchman hit .323/.408/.571 (153 wRC+) while repeating Triple-A last year. Are we sure Ford is a better hitter? I mean really sure? I don’t think it’s so clear that Ford should go into the lineup no questions asked. Given the state of the roster, I think giving Tauchman an extended look is completely justifiable. I don’t expect much either way. If the Yankees want to go with Ford, fine. If they want to go with Tauchman, that’s fine too. With any luck one of these guys will force the issue and run away with a lineup spot. (Or the Yankees could just trade for Justin Smoak.)

5. Gio Gonzalez will make his fourth and likely final start with Triple-A Scranton tomorrow — an ugly first start skewed his numbers (15 IP, 19 H, 10 R, 10 ER, 6 BB, 19 K), though he’s been fine the last two times out — and he can opt out the following day. Brendan Kuty says Gonzalez bought all his teammates sneakers and an arcade game for the clubhouse, plus he’s taken the team out to dinner several times, so that’s cool. He hasn’t been sulking in Scranton. I honestly have no idea what the Yankees will do though. On one hand, the Yankees are in no position to give up pitching depth. You’d think they could find room for him as at least a sixth starter/swingman type. On the other hand, Gonzalez’s contract will pay him $300,000 per start (!). That is bonkers. Add in the luxury tax and this is a $396,000 per start pitcher, and I’m not sure the Yankees could expect him to be even league average in the AL East. The Yankees print money and increasing payroll shouldn’t stand in the way of adding anyone to the roster, but we know it does sometimes. Last year the Yankees traded Erik Kratz prior to his opt-out date and I suppose they could do the same with Gonzalez, but is there even a market for him? He was unsigned into late March and had to take a minor league deal. Any team could’ve had him then. I’m not sure a team is giving up something of value for him now. My guess — and this is a complete guess — is the Yankees and Gonzalez will mutually agree to push the opt-out back to April 30th. That equals another two Triple-A starts, giving the Yankees more time to evaluate him and Gonzalez more time to showcase himself. That said, only one other team has to show interest in Gonzalez for him to use the opt-out. I really have no idea what’ll happen. Nothing would surprise me. Opting out, keeping him, pushing the opt-out back. We’ll find out soon enough.

6. I’m going to let you in on a little blog secret: We recycle content. Like, all the time. Shocking, I know. Chances are any feature you see on the site now was run in a similar form in previous years. For example, I’ve previewed potential non-roster Spring Training invitees each of the last three years (2017, 2018, 2019). Whenever the Yankees struggle like they’ve struggling early this season, I usually run a “easy moves the Yankees can make to improve” post. Here’s one from 2015. (Still can’t believe they didn’t use David Carpenter in high-leverage situations, you guys.) I mention this because, earlier this week, I was thinking about a similar post for the 2019 Yankees, then I realized there are no moves to make! The Yankees have been so decimated by injuries that they’ve already made pretty much all the moves they can make. Replacing Brett Gardner with Frazier would’ve been prime “easy move to improve the Yankees” fodder and that’s not possible now. Injuries have pushed both guys into the lineup. I suppose the Yankees could give Joe Harvey some higher leverage (but not high leverage) innings until Chad Green straightens himself out? Maybe keep running Tauchman out there and see what happens when he gets regular at-bats? Heck, Ford has even been called up to replace Bird. The Yankees are pretty much at their limit with internal moves that could make them a better team. Even if they wanted to make some changes, I’m not sure they can. They’re already scraping the bottom of the barrel internally. I’m not sure how this team could survive another injury given their current situation.

7. Non-Yankees thought: Wow do the Red Sox look terrible. Last year they found ways to win games day after day after day. This year they’re finding ways to lose them. The rotation has been generally terrible and Chris Sale looks nothing like the guy we’ve seen the last few years. Mookie Betts looks all out of sorts. He’s hitting .200/.305/.371 (78 wRC+) and that seems impossible even in a small sample. Last year, any time a team got Betts out, it felt like luck. He’s impossible to pitch to when he’s right. My Red Sox fan friends tell me they mismanaged some injuries, specifically rushing Steve Pearce and Dustin Pedroia back from rehab, and designating Blake Swihart for assignment screams panic move. Boston is 6-13 and already nine games back in the loss column. FanGraphs says their postseason odds slipped from 90.3% on Opening Day to 51.0% after last night’s game. That is an enormous drop in three weeks time. By no means am I counting the Red Sox out in the AL East race. Not a chance. I’m just saying things are going real bad for them right now. That golden touch from last season is long gone.

The first road trip of the 2019 season is in the books and the Yankees are heading home for a nine-game homestand against the Royals and various shades of Sox. But first, the Yankees have an off-day today. Here are some assorted thoughts.

1. The latest Luis Severino injury is real bad news. Lat strains can be season killers — Johnny Cueto (2013) and Noah Syndergaard (2017) recently had seasons derailed by lat issues — because they are real easy to reaggravate. It’s similar to an oblique injury in that the recovery and rehab can be going well, then one sudden movement and bam, there’s a setback and you’re right back to square one. I suppose the good news is Cueto and Syndergaard showed no long-term effects and were excellent (and healthy) the very next season. The bad news is Severino getting back to normal next season doesn’t help the Yankees this season. Also, Severino has the rotator cuff inflammation on top of the lat strain, though being shut down these next six weeks will help clear that up. The Yankees are going to be without their best starting pitcher for at least another two months now between the six-week shutdown period and getting back into game shape, and that’s the best case scenario. These are two “be overly cautious because you don’t want any long-term problems” type of injuries too, so Severino could be out even longer. At this point, the Yankees should just not expect to get anything from Severino this season. Don’t count on him returning and treat anything he gives the team as a bonus. (I can already hear Aaron Boone, Brian Cashman, Hal Steinbrenner and whoever else saying that getting Severino back at midseason will be like making a trade and I am preemptively Mad Online.)

2. In the practical sense, what do I mean when I say the Yankees should “not expect to get anything from Severino this season?” I mean they should approach the trade deadline with the intention of adding another starting pitcher, and a good one too. The Yankees half-measured a little too much this past offseason — they reset their luxury tax rate last year and managed to spend right up to the $226M second luxury tax threshold this year while adding one difference-making free agent (Adam Ottavino), and I’m glad we’re shutting down RAB because I have no idea what to say about that — and they are very much a win-now team. When you’re trying to win a World Series, at some point you have to go get the best players and not worry about the best bang for the buck. Here are some starters who could potentially be available at the trade deadline:

• Madison Bumgarner, Giants
• Mike Minor, Rangers
• Ivan Nova, White Sox
• Aaron Sanchez, Blue Jays
• Marcus Stroman, Blue Jays

Bumgarner hasn’t looked all that good in his three starts thus far — I watched his outing against the Padres the other day and nothing was coming easy, every at-bat was a grind (there’s also this) — but obviously he’s the big name there. Who knows how the Yankees view him. Personally, I want to see Bumgarner look closer to vintage Bumgarner before considering a trade. The name value outweighs the actual value quite a bit at the moment. Sanchez is the guy who interests me the most. Rather, I should say he’s the one I’ll be following most closely the next few weeks. I’m not sold on giving up a big package to get him yet. He’s battled finger injuries the last two seasons (last year he hurt himself on his suitcase) and he’s looked okay in his first two starts. The velocity and movement are there. Sanchez is somehow still only 26 and before the finger issues he was a strikeout/ground ball monster who posted a 3.00 ERA (3.55 FIP) in 192 innings in 2016. If we start to see that guy again this summer, he’s the starter I want at the trade deadline. Under control next year, has had success in the AL East, misses bats and gets grounders. Sanchez checks quite a few boxes. We’ll see how the next few weeks play out. Right now, given Severino’s situation, I think the Yankees should be looking hard at the starting pitcher trade market and be prepared to act when the time comes — and as soon as possible — and I’m not talking about a back-end innings dude either.

3. I know it’s still very early and he’ll probably be fine over the long haul, but man, I’m not feeling too good about Zack Britton right now. The results haven’t been good (5.2 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 4 K), and we’re seeing the same exact problems that plagued him last year. Specifically, he’s struggling to command his sinker and he’s falling behind in the count a ton. I don’t think he’s nibbling. I think he straight up can’t throw strikes. Also, Britton’s trademark sinker velocity is right where it was last year, not where it was during his monster years with the Orioles. Look:

Britton added velocity to his sinker as the season progressed last year and he got further away from the Achilles injury, and I was hopeful that would carry over to this season. It hasn’t happened. Maybe the sinker velocity will bounce back once the weather warms up and he gets into midseason form, but this is year one of what is effectively a three-year contract (because of the player option), and we’re already hoping the velocity ticks up in the summer months. Not great! Waiting around for the 31-year-old two years removed from arm problems to regain velocity is not a good place to be. The thing is, Britton can still be effective at this velocity. Very effective, in fact. He just needs better command than what he has right now (i.e. none), and a better infield defense too. I’m not declaring it a bad signing yet. It’s early and Britton’s track record carries weight, plus the Yankees deserve the benefit of the doubt. I’m just saying I’m not overly encouraged at the moment. I was hoping to see vintage Britton — or at least something close to it — following his first fully healthy offseason in several years. That has not been the case. The whole Super Bullpen thing only works when guys are pitching as expected and Britton most certainly is not, and it’s been a few years and several injuries since he’s been the pitcher the Yankees seem to expect him to be (given his contract).

4. The Xander Bogaerts extension (six years and $120M from 2020-25) isn’t all that relevant to Didi Gregorius. There are very few similarities between the two other than position and division. Bogaerts is nearly three years younger, he was a bit better last season (133 wRC+ and +4.9 WAR vs. 121 wRC+ and +4.6 WAR), and he’s healthier. Age and health are the two key differences here. I can’t imagine Sir Didi gets six years or $20M per year at this point. Not so soon after Tommy John surgery and not in this market. That Bogaerts deal is ridiculously cheap. I thought he had a pretty good chance at a $200M contract after the season as a prime-aged impact shortstop. (I’d thought about the Yankees signing him more than once over the winter, possibly even as a third baseman with Gregorius staying at short.) The Alex Bregman extension helped set the market for a potential Aaron Judge extension. The Eloy Jimenez deal shook up the market for a potential Gleyber Torres extension. The Bogaerts extension? I don’t think that has any relevance to Gregorius at all. They are at very different points in their careers — Bogaerts turns only 27 (!) in October — and the Tommy John surgery thing is a complicating factor. Love Didi. He is forever cool with me. He just doesn’t have much of a case for a Bogaerts level deal, even simply in terms of annual salary.

5. There is definitely a “you have to watch him every day to see how good he is” quality to DJ LeMahieu. He’s not going to run a .471 BABIP or hit .533 (!) on ground balls forever, but he grinds out at-bats, he hits the ball hard to all fields, and he’s excellent with the glove. Even at third base, where he had close to zero experience, he played very well defensively. Mixing in a home run every once in a while would be nice, though I’m sure he’ll hit the ball over the fence eventually. Besides, the Yankees have power to spare anyway. When the Yankees are at full strength (if they’re ever at full strength), LeMahieu would be the perfect No. 8 or No. 9 hitter. Pesky hitter near the bottom of the order who can cash in on run-scoring opportunities and also set the table for the top of the order once the lineup tuns over. The injuries have forced the Yankees to use LeMahieu closer to the middle of the lineup in the early going, but what can you do? Injuries force roster and lineup shuffles. Point is, this are going well in LeMahieu’s early days as a Yankee, and I suspect there is a not insignificant number of Yankees fans out there who disliked the signing but like him now after seeing his all-around game these last two weeks. LeMahieu’s not a star or anything. He can help his team win in several different ways though.

6. I already have Troy Tulowitzki in Jacoby Ellsbury territory. Yes, he could fill a role right now, and yeah, healthy players are better than injured players, but he’s a non-factor. The Yankees don’t really miss him and I’m not all that eager to see him back on the field either. Tulowitzki didn’t show much these last six weeks or so to suggest he can be anything more than a bottom of the lineup guy who doesn’t kill his team defensively. Gio Urshela and Tyler Wade are also bottom of the lineup guys, except they’re both legitimately above-average in the field, and they don’t need to be coddled with playing time. (Two weeks ago Boone said the Yankees didn’t want to play Tulowitzki more than two days in a row early in the season.) The idea that Tulowitzki offers upside never made sense to me — it is very weird to me “upside” was used to describe a 34-year-old who hadn’t played in 18 months and hasn’t been good in three years (why are there no anonymously sourced reports saying Craig Kimbrel has upside? oh right because he’ll cost real money) — and I don’t think he’s any better than the guys the Yankees have on the roster right now. Depth is good and important. Tulowitzki and Ellsbury on the MLB roster with Urshela/Wade and Mike Tauchman in Triple-A is preferable to Tulowitzki and Ellsbury on the injured list. It doesn’t seem like the Yankees are missing out on much right now though. Tulowitzki doesn’t move the needle much, if he moves it at all.

7. Speaking of the infield, I don’t get why Urshela is starting over Wade. This one doesn’t make sense to me. (Yes, I know Wade started last night.) Neither guy is going to hit much but they’re going to play comfortably above-average defense. Wade is a way better runner though, and there’s very little chance Urshela will have a long-term role with the Yankees. In all likelihood he’ll be lost on waivers or elect free agency when the Yankees drop him from the roster later this year. Wade is three years younger and there’s at least a chance — a small one, but a chance nonetheless — he can have a long-term role with the Yankees. I dunno. They’re both going to play great defense and not hit much. Wade will add more value on the bases and he’s quite a bit younger. The Yankees would not be sacrificing anything on the field in the short-term and they might be gaining something in the long-term. Wade at second with LeMahieu at third would be my preferred alignment, not Urshela at third and LeMahieu at second. When the difference in expected production is tiny (and effectively zero), relegating the young guy to a bench role so the journeyman can play everyday is backwards to me. Shrug.