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River Ave. Blues » Aaron Boone

The Rookie Manager [2018 Season Review]

December 4, 2018 by Mike

(David Maxwell/Getty)

Following a wildly enjoyable 2017 season, the Yankees took a leap of faith. They parted ways with longtime manager Joe Girardi, a proven and successful big league skipper, and opted to replace him with a rookie. We just didn’t know which rookie. The Yankees interviewed six managerial candidates and only one, Eric Wedge, had prior experience as a big league manager.

The six managerial candidates: Wedge, Carlos Beltran, Aaron Boone, Hensley Meulens, Rob Thomson, and Chris Woodward. The original plan was a first round of interviews with the front office, then bringing two or three finalists to Tampa to interview with ownership. The second part never happened. The Yankees were so blown away by Boone that they skipped the second round of interviews entirely.

“When we had the opportunity to speak with Aaron and share concepts and ideas, he was able to showcase a variety of traits that we believe will strongly benefit this franchise as we move forward, including an astute mind for the game and a progressive approach to evolving strategies,” said Brian Cashman. “We also believe Aaron’s interpersonal skills and baseball pedigree will allow him to blend well with the systems we have in place, our baseball operations staff and the 25-man roster.”

Boone added: “Words cannot express how humbled I am to wear the pinstripes again as the manager of the Yankees. I want to thank the Steinbrenner family and Brian Cashman for entrusting me with this tremendous honor and responsibility. I believe we are entering into a special time in New York Yankees history, and I am so excited to be a part of it. I can’t wait to get to work – and that work starts now.”

Boone’s first season as a big league manager was a success, generally speaking. The Yankees went 100-62 despite losing Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez for long stretches of time, which essentially matched their 99-63 expected record based on run differential. The Yankees exceeded expectations last season under Girardi but they did underperform. They went 91-71 while their run differential pegged them as a true talent 100-62 team.

En route to winning those 100 ballgames, Boone showed his inexperience at times, especially in the postseason. The Yankees won the AL Wild Card Game before being bounced in the ALDS in four games. No loss is ever fully on the manager — the players play, after all — but Boone made life unnecessarily difficult along the way. Let’s review his first season as an MLB manager.

Different Manager, Same Strategies

If nothing else, Boone indicated a willingness to be creative in Spring Training. He talked about using his setup relievers interchangeably. He toyed with batting Judge leadoff against left-handed pitchers. He expressed a dislike for personal catchers. It was music to my ears. Boone’s words made him seem like the platonic ideal of a modern manager. Finally, some creativity would come from the dugout.

Instead, none of that happened. During the regular season the 2017 Yankees and 2018 Yankees were virtually identical in terms of on-field strategy. Consider:

1. Boone had an Eighth Inning Guy. Dellin Betances, specifically. Girardi loved his defined bullpen roles. He had a set Eighth Inning Guy and, whenever possible, a set Seventh Inning Guy as well. Boone talked about using his guys interchangeably. Instead, Betances was the Eighth Inning Guy and David Robertson was the primary Seventh Inning Guy until Zach Britton came along. Chad Green doubled as the Fifth & Sixth Inning Guy. Those same bullpen roles that existed under Girardi existed under Boone.

2. Splitting up same-side hitters was important. So important that Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, two of the most fearsome hitters on the planet, batted back-to-back only 35 times in the 113 games Judge was healthy. (I would’ve guessed it was fewer than that.) Most of the time Boone squeezed Didi Gregorius between Judge and Stanton to break up the righties. Aaron Hicks hit third a bunch of times as well. Girardi always sought to split up his left-handed bats in the lineup, even if it meant squeezing an inferior hitter between two lefties. Boone did the same thing, only he had to split up righties because his roster is right-handed heavy.

3. About those personal catchers. “We’ve got an elite level catcher. We’re not going to sit down and get into the personal (catcher) stuff,” Boone said in Spring Training. Five starts into his season — five! — Sonny Gray had a personal catcher in Austin Romine. Gray had terrible numbers with Sanchez, so the Yankees paired him with Romine, and wouldn’t you know it? Sonny was pretty terrible with Romine too. Sanchez missing time contributed to this to some degree, but, even when he was healthy, it was Romine paired with Gray. Girardi had an affinity for personal catchers and I always assumed it was an ex-catcher thing. This year, it happened again, even when it shouldn’t have.

4. Rest. Rest rest rest. About three hours before every game, without fail, is lineup complaining o’clock. The lineup comes out and the same refrains pop up on social media. Why is this guy sitting? Why is that guy playing? Why is he batting so low? Day after day after day. I admire the folks who have the energy to complain about the lineup every single day. I really do. Complaining about the lineup is a baseball fan birthright. Everyone does it. Some more than others.

Like Girardi, Boone gave fans plenty of reasons to complain about his lineups. He rested his regular players often — the only notable exception was Stanton, who started 85 straight games at one point this past season — and those rest days were usually predetermined. I specifically remember Greg Bird hitting two home runs on June 29th and sitting on June 30th as a day with louder than usual lineup complaints. The rest plan doesn’t change.

Also, the rest thing applies to the bullpen as well. Only 75 times this season did Boone use a reliever on zero days rest, the fourth lowest total in baseball. Last season Girardi used a reliever on zero days rest only 79 times, the third fewest in baseball. The year before that it was 99 times, the 12th fewest in baseball, but they were only a handful of games away from being bottom five again.

Point is, the Yankees don’t use their relievers on back-to-back days often. That was true under Girardi and it was true again under Boone this year. The Yankees prioritize rest. Also, under Boone, the Yankees employed the same old assigned inning bullpen roles and made sure to split up same-side hitters in the lineup. They also used a personal catcher when deemed necessary. Different managers, same strategies. From my thoughts post on the Boone hiring:

I don’t think there will be a meaningful difference between Girardi and Boone in terms of on-field strategy. The lineup kinda writes itself, at least through the top six spots or so, and the bullpen is deep enough to survive the rookie manager’s learning curve. The front office has a lot of input into that stuff anyway.

And wouldn’t you know it? There wasn’t a meaningful difference in strategies between Girardi and Boone, at least during the regular season. Everything the Yankees did under Girardi, from the rest to the bullpen roles to the lineup construction, was the same under Boone. That strongly suggests — but does not confirm — the front office has a huge role in the day-to-day operations. I’m not saying the front office dictates moves. But I am certain they help set strategies and lay out guidelines.

Why make the managerial change then if the strategy was going to remain the same? Communication, presumably. That was the buzzword when Girardi was let go and Boone was hired. The Yankees wanted a better communicator to connect with their young team and, by all accounts, they got it. We’ll never know what goes on behind the scenes, but Boone is much more personable than Girardi and easier to talk to. That’s what the Yankees wanted. Improved communication. The on-field strategy was never going to change all that much.

Postseason Buffoonery

The Yankee manager and the next Yankee manager. (Getty)

We’ll always be able to quibble with individual moves but the big picture strategy was the same under Boone this year as it had been under Girardi the last few years. The difference between the two really showed up in the postseason, where Boone’s inexperience was on full display. He was not the reason the Yankees were knocked out in the ALDS — it was a team effort — but Boone was certainly a factor.

To me, Boone made three glaring mistakes in the postseason, one of which he repeated multiple times. I’m going to rank those mistakes and not in terms of how much they hurt the Yankees. I’m going to rank them according to the logic behind the move, or lack thereof. In baseball, you can do everything right and still lose. Or you can do everything wrong and still win. In the postseason, Boone did a lot of things wrong and lost.

1. Lance Lynn with the bases loaded? Seriously? Good gravy was this bad. With the bases loaded and no outs in the fourth inning of ALDS Game Three, and the Yankees already down three, Boone went to Lynn to escape the jam. Not a high strikeout reliever like Robertson or Betances or Green, or even a ground baller like Britton. He went to Lynn, a fastball only pitcher against a lineup that hammered fastballs. Predictably, Lynn allowed all three inherited runners to score and then some.

Going to Lynn in that spot showed a basic lack of understanding of the available personnel. We hear and talk about matchups a lot in baseball and it all boils down to matching up skill sets. Other relievers in the bullpen had the skill set more likely to escape a bases loaded, no outs situation, specifically the ability to miss bats and avoid balls in play. Lynn has bullpen experience but he has been a starter primarily throughout his career. Boone went to him in an unfamiliar situation rather than a reliever who could get a strikeout. It was bad. Bad bad bad.

2. Too long a leash. This happened three times in five postseason games. The first time Boone got away with out. He sent a laboring Luis Severino back out for the fourth inning in the Wild Card Game — Severino had not yet allowed a hit, but he was walking people and running deep counts — and he quickly allowed two hits. The Yankees were up 2-0 at the time and suddenly the go-ahead run was at the plate. Betances bailed Boone (and Severino) out there. I thought Severino should’ve been done after the third. I said it at the time.

In ALDS Game Three, Boone again left Severino in far too long. Severino allowed three runs in the first three innings and was sent back out in the fourth, which led to the bases loaded jam Lynn inherited. One day later, in Game Four, Boone stuck with CC Sabathia in the third inning even though the Red Sox were putting good swings on him and Sabathia generally wasn’t sharp. Four of the seven men Sabathia faced that inning reached base with several loud outs mixed in. The Red Sox took a 3-0 lead.

“You always kind of work through things or play out things differently, because a lot of times decisions you make are not just black and white,” Boone said prior to Game Four. “So you kind of evaluate those and think about those and hopefully analyze always and kind of sharpening the process as far as those decisions are made.”

“Sharpening the process” did not happen. Boone repeated the same mistake — sticking with his starter beyond the point where it was clear he was not the best option — on back-to-back days. After Game Four he said the plan was to stick with Sabathia through Jackie Bradley Jr., the final batter in that third inning, to get the left-on-left matchup. The plan was to get the Sabathia vs. Bradley matchup no matter what happened before that. Things were not going according to plan and Boone failed to adjust. He failed to see what was happening right in front of him. For the second day in a row.

3. Andujar stays on the bench in Game Four. This really bugged me even though it wasn’t as egregious as the Lynn fiasco or the long leashes. As the Yankees rallied in the ninth inning of ALDS Game Four, extra-base hit machine Miguel Andujar stayed on the bench. Luke Voit and Neil Walker were both allowed to hit that inning and hey, both reached base, but I saw those as prime pinch-hitting opportunities. The Red Sox pounded Voit with high velocity right-handed fastballs and Craig Kimbrel was on the mound. Walker simply is not as good a hitter as Andujar at this point of his career. Andujar instead stayed on the bench and the AL Rookie of the Year runner-up never played in the game that sent the Yankees home for the offseason. Argh.

In the most basic terms, a manager’s job is to put his team in the best position to win. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. That’s baseball. In the postseason, it’s awfully hard for me to see how Boone put the Yankees in the best possible position to win. He was far too patient with his starters, the Lynn decision was inexplicable, and leaving a hitter like Andujar on the bench as the team attempts a last gasp comeback was a blunder. There was a decided lack of urgency on Boone’s part. A lack of urgency and the inability or unwillingness to adjust on the fly. The regular season was more of the same. In the postseason, Boone’s inexperience was very costly and impossible to ignore.

What’s Next?

“I thought he did a great job. He’s a special person,” said Cashman when asked about Boone’s performance during a radio interview soon after the Yankees were eliminated from the postseason. “Dropping him into the middle of this environment and doing the job he did was remarkable, so I would give him A’s across the board.”

That’s a general manager sticking up for his guy. Nothing more. Boone doesn’t deserve an A for his performance, especially not during the postseason, and frankly grading a manager isn’t easy anyway. All we see are the on-field decisions. The lineups and bullpen moves, etc. We don’t see what happens behind closed doors in the clubhouse, on the team plane, and at the hotel. That is just as important as the on-field stuff, if not more.

The Yankees were never going to fire Boone after one season and, even if they were, they would’ve done it already. We’re in December now. Boone will be back next season and, if I had to put money on it right now, I’d bet on him being back in 2020 as well. The Yankees love Boone and they knew they were getting an inexperienced manager. They’re going to give him a chance to grow.

Should a team that is ready to win now be willing to wait for an inexperience manager to learn the ropes? It is a fair question. Windows can close quickly in this game. You don’t want to waste time grooming a manager when you have guys like Judge, Stanton, Severino, Sanchez, Hicks, and Gregorius in their primes. The Yankees determined Boone was worth the wait. That he showed the underlying skills to become a top notch manager. Not a whole lot has to change in regular season, if anything. The Yankees must hope Boone learns from his postseason mistakes though.

“I know any manager we’ve had — whether it’s in the postseason or not — is gonna be subjected to second-guessing,” added Cashman. “That comes with the job and the territory, especially when you don’t win. But I feel like, given the circumstances, we were very lucky to run into him. I (worked) with (Joe) Torre for ten years, Girardi for ten years. I’m hoping I’ll be here for ten (more) years, but I’m hoping (Boone) has a good ten-year run for the Yankees.”

Filed Under: Coaching Staff Tagged With: 2018 Season Review, Aaron Boone

Aaron Boone finishes fifth in AL Manager of the Year voting

November 13, 2018 by Mike

(Mike Stobe/Getty)

In his first season as a manager or coach at any level, Aaron Boone finished fifth in the AL Manager of the Year voting. MLB and the BBWAA announced earlier tonight that A’s skipper Bob Melvin has been named the 2018 AL Manager of the Year. Not a surprise given their improvement from 75-87 last year to 97-65 this year. Red Sox manager Alex Cora finished second in the voting and Rays skipper Kevin Cash was third.

For all intents and purposes, the Manager of the Year award is the “manager of the team that most exceeded expectations” award, and that doesn’t fit Boone or the Yankees at all. The Yankees came into the season as World Series contenders and they were very good, going 100-62 and finishing with the third best record in baseball. Generally speaking, they met expectations, and meeting expectations doesn’t win this award.

Boone received received two third place votes and finished behind Melvin, Cora, Cash, and Astros manager A.J. Hinch. This is the tenth straight season the Yankees’ manager received Manager of the Year votes. Joe Girardi did not receive any votes in 2008, his first season with the team, but he received votes every year from 2009-17. Girardi won the NL award with the 2006 Marlins and topped out with a third place finish in 2009 with the Yankees.

The full voting results are available at the BBWAA’s site. As a reminder, these are regular season awards only. Ballots are cast before the postseason. No one asked me, but I would’ve voted for Cash. Cash got his team to buy into the “opener” strategy and it was a big reason they won 90 games. The opener machinations are one of the few tangible pieces of evidence we have of a manager making a difference on the field. Shrug.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Aaron Boone, Awards

Game 159: Escape from Tropicana Field

September 27, 2018 by Mike

(Getty)

All things considered, this series is going well for the Yankees. They’ve won two of the first three games and, even in the loss yesterday, they showed some serious ninth inning fight and simply ran out of outs. This afternoon the Yankees will look to earn their first series win in Tropicana Field since, well, last September. Surprised it was that recent. Then again, the Yankees are 2-5 in their last seven series at the Trop, so yeah.

(Update: I was just reminded that last September’s series win was the alternate site series at Citi Field, so the Yankees haven’t won a series in Tropicana Field since September 2016.)

Anyway, the magic number for homefield advantage in the Wild Card Game is two, but the Athletics have an off-day today, which means the Yankees can not clinch until tomorrow at the earliest. Sucks. I was hoping they’d go to Boston and play three meaningless games this weekend. That won’t be the case. Just worry about today though. Win today, win the series, knock the magic number down to one. Here are this afternoon’s lineups:

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

LHP CC Sabathia

Tampa Bay Rays
1. CF Mallex Smith
2. LF Tommy Pham
3. 3B Joey Wendle
4. DH C.J. Cron
5. 2B Brandon Lowe
6. SS Willy Adames
7. 1B Jake Bauers
8. RF Carlos Gomez
9. C Jesus Sucre

RHP Jaime Schultz


It is nice and sunny in St. Petersburg today and dark and gloomy in Tropicana Field. Good day to play baseball outside. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10pm ET and you can watch on YES locally and MLB Network out-of-market. You can also watch on Twitter. Twitter? Twitter. Enjoy the game.

Injury Updates: Aaron Hicks (hamstring) is tentatively scheduled to return to the lineup tomorrow, Aaron Boone said … Didi Gregorius (wrist) took batting practice on the field, though Boone cautioned they’re not out of the woods yet. Gregorius remains day-to-day and there is no firm timetable for his return to the lineup … Walker (shin) went for x-rays after the hit-by-pitch last night. They came back negative and he’s fine, hence his presence in the lineup.

Rotation Update: J.A. Happ starts Friday, Lance Lynn starts Saturday, and Luis Severino starts Sunday. That presumably takes Severino out of the running for the Wild Card Game start, though Sunday could be a short “throw day” outing rather than a full blown start. Right now, Happ lines up to start the Wild Card Game on normal rest with Masahiro Tanaka lined up on two extra days rest.

Filed Under: Game Threads Tagged With: Aaron Boone, Didi Gregorius, Neil Walker

The Yankees and 2018’s major awards

September 26, 2018 by Mike

(Mike Stobe/Getty)

There are five days to go in the regular season and, at some point in the next seven days, the various voting members of the BBWAA will have to submit their ballots for the major awards. Ballots are submitted after the regular season but before the postseason. MVP and Cy Young and all that are regular season awards. The postseason is not a factor.

In recent years the voting body has done a better job handing out the awards, and by that I mean the voting results have aligned closely with my hypothetical ballot. The Yankees have several awards candidates this year — not as many as last year, but definitely a few — and could have someone walk away with some hardware. Let’s break down the awards races with only a handful of regular season games remaining.

Most Valuable Player

Aaron Judge’s wrist injury removed him from the MVP conversation. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him get some eighth or ninth or tenth place votes, but, as far as being a true MVP candidate, missing two months put an end to that. The AL MVP award will likely go to Mookie Betts, Mike Trout, Jose Ramirez, Alex Bregman, or J.D. Martinez. Khris Davis and Matt Chapman will get some love as well. Those are the top MVP candidates at the moment.

With Judge out of he mix, the Yankees don’t have a bona fide MVP candidate, which is kinda weird for a team with a chance to win 100+ games. Giancarlo Stanton’s had a good but not great year, Didi Gregorius had a brutal May and has missed time with injuries, Aaron Hicks doesn’t seem high-profile enough, and Luis Severino slumped terribly in the second half. Miguel Andujar or Gleyber Torres? I bet they get some down ballot votes., especially Andujar.

Unlike last season, when Judge was right there with Jose Altuve, the Yankees don’t have a legitimate MVP candidate this year. They might not even have anyone finish in the top ten of the voting. The last time that happened was 2016. The last time it happened in a year the Yankees made the postseason was … 2015. I would’ve guessed the last time that happened was much further back. Apparently not.

Cy Young

Man, Severino was so good in the first half. He went into the All-Star break ranked fifth in the AL in ERA (2.31), third in FIP (2.74), seventh in strikeout rate (28.7%), sixth in K/BB ratio (4.50), and fourth in WAR (+4.1). The second half slump knocked him down a peg:

  • ERA: 3.39 (9th in AL)
  • FIP: 2.95 (4th)
  • Strikeout rate: 28.2% (8th)
  • K/BB ratio: 4.78 (4th)
  • WAR: +5.7 (5th)

The second half skid doomed Severino’s Cy Young chances. Others like Blake Snell, Chris Sale, Corey Kluber, Justin Verlander, and Gerrit Cole have been so good that Severino might not even get a fifth place vote. (The Cy Young ballot runs five names deep.) Lame, but when you pitch as poorly as Severino did for as long as Severino did, you can’t expect Cy Young votes.

Aside from Severino, I think the only pitcher on the staff with a chance to get a Cy Young vote is Dellin Betances. Masahiro Tanaka labored in the first half, Aroldis Chapman has been hurt and ineffective in the second half, and David Robertson hasn’t had a “reliever who deserves Cy Young attention” season. Betances might’ve. He has received Cy Young votes before — one fifth place vote in 2015, to be precise — and it could happen again. I’d bet against it. Decent chance the Yankees are completely shut out of the Cy Young voting this year.

Rookie of the Year

(Jim McIsaac/Getty)

Now we’re talking. The Yankees had the Rookie of the Year runner-up two years ago (Gary Sanchez) and the unanimous Rookie of the Year last year (Judge). They could have the Rookie of the Year winner and runner-up this year thanks to Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres. The last team with the first and second place finishers in the Rookie of the Year voting is the 2011 Braves with Craig Kimbrel and Freddie Freeman. The last AL team to do it is the 1984 Mariners with Alvin Davis and Mark Langston.

Now here’s where I be a jerk and say Shohei Ohtani is almost certainly going to win Rookie of the Year. And he wouldn’t be an unreasonable pick! Ohtani is hitting .280/.360/.559 (151 wRC+) with 21 homers in 351 plate appearances, and, before his elbow injury, he threw 51.2 innings with a 3.31 ERA (3.56 FIP) and 63 strikeouts. That is ridiculously good! The AL rookie WAR leaderboard:

FanGraphs WAR
1. Shohei Ohtani: +3.6
2. Joey Wendle: +3.6
3. Miguel Andujar: +2.6
4. Brad Keller: +2.5
5. Shane Bieber: +2.4
6. Gleyber Torres: +2.1

Baseball Reference WAR
1. Joey Wendle: +4.4
2. Shohei Ohtani: +3.8
3. Brad Keller: +3.6
4. Gleyber Torres: +2.9
5. Jaime Barria: +2.4
6. Miguel Andujar: +2.1


Wendle ain’t winning Rookie of the Year. You have a few weeks to prepare yourself to be angry when Wendle gets a handful of third place votes instead of Andujar or Gleyber, but he’s not winning. Fair or not, there is a narrative component to these awards, and Wendle has zero narrative going for him. He’s a 28-year-old rookie who was designated for assignment over the winter and is getting a WAR boost because the defensive stats still don’t handle multi-position guys well.

Anyway, Ohtani has the numbers and the narrative. He’s been incredible. He’s a top ten hitter on a rate basis and he was very good when on the mound. Doing one thing well is hard. Ohtani is doing both well. Can he overcome the lack of playing time? Andujar has 583 plate appearances. Torres has 465 plate appearances. Ohtani is at 351 plate appearances as a hitter plus 211 batters faced as a pitcher (562 combined). The offensive numbers side-by-side:

  • Ohtani: .280/.360/.559 (151 wRC+) and 21 homers
  • Andujar: .298/.329/.525 (128 wRC+) and 26 homers
  • Torres: .276/.345/.484 (122 wRC+) and 23 homers

Even with the injury, Ohtani has more than lived up to the hype, and it’s an incredible story. I fully expect him to win Rookie of the Year and I don’t think it would be undeserved. And I expect Andujar and Torres to finish second and third in the voting, in either order. That’s still really cool. I mean, you could rank these three guys in any order and I’m not sure it’d be “wrong.”

There is no shame in finishing behind Ohtani. The Yankees will be the first AL team with two top three finishers in the Rookie of the Year voting since the 2013 Rays (Wil Myers and Chris Archer).

Manager of the Year

Last season only four AL managers received Manager of the Year votes. Two years ago it was six. The year before that it was seven and the year before that it was seven as well. Nearly half the league! This year the Manager of the Year award figures to go one of three managers: Kevin Cash, Alex Cora, or Bob Melvin. The Red Sox are having a historic year and that’ll undoubtedly get Cora votes. The A’s are a surprise contender and that usually equals Manager of the Year votes. The same applies to the Rays and Cash.

As for Aaron Boone, everyone expected the Yankees to be good this season and the Yankees have been good this season, if not underwhelming in the second half. A team expected to be good having a good year — and not a historically great year like the Red Sox — usually doesn’t earn a skipper many Manager of the Year votes. There are 30 Manager of the Year ballots and three spots per ballot. How many of those 90 spots go to Boone? Three or four, tops? I’m not sure he even gets that many. The last Yankees manager to win Manager of the Year was Joe Torre in 1998. That won’t change this year.

Comeback Player of the Year

The Yankees don’t have a Comeback Player of the Year candidate. This usually goes to a guy who missed most (or all) of the previous season with an injury and the Yankees don’t have anyone like that. Maybe Betances would get some Comeback Player of the Year attention? I doubt it. As bad as he was down the stretch last year, he had a 2.64 ERA (3.23 FIP) and was an All-Star last season. My guess is Matt Duffy will be named Comeback Player of the Year considering he’s hitting .294/.360/.366 (106 wRC+) at the moment and played 91 total games from 2016-17 (zero in 2017) due to an Achilles injury.

Gold Gloves

The Gold Glove selection process has improved in recent years — there’s a statistical component now and there doesn’t seem to be as much reliance on reputation — and I’m not sure the Yankees have a Gold Glove candidate. Judge missed too much time and he wouldn’t beat out Betts anyway. Hicks is a good defensive center fielder but also probably no better than the fourth best defensive center fielder in his own division. Gregorius has to contend with Andrelton Simmons and Francisco Lindor. Gardner? Meh. The Yankees’ best hope for a Gold Glove is probably Tanaka. He’s an excellent fielder. But yeah, bot seeing a Gold Glove in the 2018 Yankees’ future.

* * *

As far as the Yankees are concerned, all the intrigue this award season will revolve around Rookie of the Year. They don’t have a serious MVP or Cy Young candidate, but Andujar and Torres are right in the Rookie of the Year mix. Beating out Ohtani won’t be easy. Maybe even impossible! But I do expect those two to finish in the top three of the voting somewhere. Three straight seasons with top Rookie of the Year candidates is pretty cool. Hopefully Justus Sheffield makes it four straight next year.

Filed Under: Players Tagged With: Aaron Boone, Aaron Hicks, Aaron Judge, Awards, Brett Gardner, Dellin Betances, Didi Gregorius, Giancarlo Stanton, Gleyber Torres, Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, Miguel Andujar

Game 157: Six Games to Go

September 25, 2018 by Mike

(Joseph Garnett Jr./Getty)

Good win last night. The Yankees beat the Rays at their own game with the bullpen and knocked them out of postseason contention in the process. That was satisfying. That doesn’t mean the Rays will lay down these next three days, of course. It doesn’t work like that. They still want to win and make life miserable for the Yankees. The magic number for homefield advantage in the Wild Card Game is four.

On the mound tonight is Luis Severino, who is potentially making his final start of the regular season. He lines up to pitch tonight and on the season’s final day. My guess is Severino will only start the final game if it’s a must-win for homefield advantage. Otherwise he’ll be held back for the Wild Card Game, even if he’s only on the roster as a reliever. If this is his final regular season start, I hope Severino dominates, and goes into the postseason confident. Here are tonight’s lineups:

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

RHP Luis Severino

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

RHP Jake Faria


It is it hot, humid, and rainy in St. Petersburg today. Good day to play indoors. Tonight’s game will begin at 7:10pm ET and you can watch on YES locally and ESPN out-of-market. Enjoy the ballgame.

Injury Updates: Aaron Hicks (hamstring) went for an MRI today and it brought back good news. There’s no tear. The hamstring is still tight and Hicks is day-to-day. Best case scenario, basically. “We feel like we dodged a bullet,” said Aaron Boone … Didi Gregorius (wrist) took ground balls today without throwing. He is still receiving treatment and said he feels better than he did yesterday, when he felt better than he did Sunday. Gregorius will see the doctor for a check-up tomorrow … Gleyber Torres was scratched from tonight’s lineup with tightness in his groin/hip. He spent a few weeks on the disabled list with a hip problem earlier this year, remember. Torres was scratched as a precaution and is available off the bench.

Filed Under: Game Threads Tagged With: Aaron Boone, Didi Gregorius, Gleyber Torres

Game 140: Sevy For The Series Win

September 5, 2018 by Mike

(Presswire)

Pretty big win last night. The Athletics are coming after the Yankees for homefield advantage in the wildcard game and, after getting shut down for five innings, the Yankees rallied late against a good bullpen. Good response after Monday’s loss. Here are the current wildcard standings:

  1. Yankees: 87-52
  2. Athletics: 83-57 (4.5 GB)
    ——————————
  3. Mariners: 77-62 (10 GB)
  4. Rays: 75-63 (11.5 GB)

The same as two days ago, basically. Which is good for the Yankees because there are two fewer games on the schedule now. The series ain’t over yet though, and tonight’s game will determine whether the Yankees go into tomorrow’s off-day with a 3.5-game lead or a 5.5-game lead. Go win the series. Here are tonight’s lineups:

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

RHP Luis Severino

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

RHP Mike Fiers


Another chilly evening with clear skies in the Bay Area. Great night to spend at the ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 10:05pm ET and you can watch on YES locally or MLB Network out-of-market. Enjoy the game, folks.

Injury Update: Didi Gregorius (heel) went through another full day of workouts and will “probably” be activated Friday, according to Aaron Boone … Aaron Judge (wrist) hit off a tee for the third straight day and again reported no issues. His rehab plan is still being mapped out, but he’s making progress … Clint Frazier (post-concussion migraines) suffered a setback and is unlikely to return this season. Poor kid. He was preparing to join Double-A Trenton for the postseason when his symptoms flared up again. Get healthy, Clint. See you in Tampa in a few months.

Filed Under: Game Threads Tagged With: Aaron Boone, Clint Frazier, Didi Gregorius

The Yankees are built around their bullpen, and Aaron Boone’s bullpen management must improve

September 4, 2018 by Mike Leave a Comment

(Presswire)

Yesterday afternoon, for the fifth time in their last eight games, the Yankees lost a game to a team they really need to beat. The first four of those five losses came at home against the White Sox and Tigers — the White Sox and Tigers! — two teams flirting with 100-loss seasons. Yesterday’s loss came against an upstart Athletics team that is trying to chase down the Yankees for the top wildcard spot. Oakland is now 3.5 games back (four in the loss column).

The Yankees lost yesterday because CC Sabathia stunk, first and foremost. He didn’t make it out of the fourth inning. The offense didn’t help matters either. Three runs on four hits, including no hits after the fifth inning, isn’t good enough to beat a team like the A’s. The Yankees had two runners on base with no outs in the seventh inning and couldn’t get a run home. They had two on with two outs in the eighth and couldn’t get a run home either.

The game started to slip away from the Yankees in the middle innings, when A.J. Cole allowed an inherited runner to score in the fourth and then served up a solo homer in the fifth, turning a one-run deficit into a three-run deficit. Cole was brought in with a runner on base to face the middle of the lineup. After the deficit grew, Chad Green pitched the sixth and Jonathan Loaisiga pitched the seventh and eighth, all scoreless. Gah.

Boone said he would not have an issue using Green in the 4th when he went to Cole. Cited matchup. Knew that Green would be used in some form. Kinda thought it would have made sense to use Green, especially if he was gonna be used today one way or another.

— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) September 4, 2018

It would be easy to chalk up yesterday’s bullpen machinations to one of those moves that just didn’t work out — every manager makes seemingly silly bullpen decisions from time to time — if it wasn’t something that has happened multiple times now. Consider Cole’s last seven appearances:

  • August 13th: Entered down one in the sixth, exited down four in the seventh.
  • August 18th: Entered up six in the ninth, finished the game up five.
  • August 21st: Entered a tie game in the 11th, created a bases loaded jam with no outs, and escaped.
  • August 22nd: Entered down six in the eighth, finished down six in the ninth.
  • August 27th: Entered down two in the ninth, finished down four in the ninth.
  • August 29th: Entered down three in the eighth, finished down three in the ninth.
  • September 3rd: Entered down one in the fourth, exited down three in the sixth.

Three times in his last seven appearances (August 13th, August 27th, September 3rd) we’ve seen Cole enter a game with the Yankees down no more than two runs, and let it slip away. Twice in those three games one of the usual late inning guys pitched later in the game. On August 13th it was Zach Britton, who entered with the Yankees down two in the ninth. Yesterday it was Green in the sixth inning.

Beyond the Cole infatuation, we’ve also seen Green transition from multi-inning guy to one-inning guy, something he doesn’t seem to like. Boone said he wanted to get Britton regular work to help him get back up to speed following the Achilles injury and long layoff, and he’s pitched 13 times in the last 35 games, a 60-appearance pace that would be considered on the low side for a full-time reliever. There were Chasen Shreve issues earlier this year.

You can’t manage every game like Game Seven of the World Series, and of course there are often days certain relievers are not available for whatever reason, and we just don’t know about it. But something like yesterday — using Cole in a one-run game and Green in a three-run game — stands out as a strategic mistake, especially given the explanation. And the fact something like this has happened multiple times is especially bothersome.

This is where I have to acknowledged Joe Girardi’s best trait as a manager, at least on the field, was his bullpen management. He wasn’t flawless — remember when he liked Anthony Swarzak’s slider? or Andrew Miller said he could be “wasteful?” — but, by and large, he used his relievers well. A guy like Cole, who was buried in mop-up duty most of the summer, probably would be persona non grata in a close late season game under Girardi. Or maybe not. Who knows?

It’s easy to obsess about bullpen management because, aside from the batting order, it is the most visible part of the manager’s job. With the Yankees, bullpen management takes on added importance because this team is built around the bullpen, especially when it comes to the postseason. The plan is three or four innings from the starter, maybe five, then turn it over to the relief crew and smother the other team in October. That’s how the Yankees are built.

Expecting Boone to manage a regular season game like he would a postseason game is silly — would Girardi ever bring Green into a regular season game with one out in the first like he did the Wild Card Game last year? no way — but there is still room for improvement. The Cole obsession needs to stop. Britton needs more action to get himself right. Using Green in a way he feels most comfortable seems worthwhile. Settling on a set closer with Aroldis Chapman sidelined is probably a good idea.

I expected worse bullpen management under Boone this season but I didn’t think it would be this much worse. This was the risk the Yankees took when they hired a rookie manager straight out of the broadcast booth. He’d have to learn things on the job and he’d have to do it with a team with World Series aspirations. And look, the Yankees are really good. They’re 86-52 overall and they went 17-13 in August even though like half the team was on the disabled list. The Yankees are really good. But bullpen management has been an issue, and since the Yankees are built around their bullpen, it’s something Boone has to improve.

Filed Under: Death by Bullpen Tagged With: Aaron Boone

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