2018 Season Review Archives - River Avenue Blues

Dingers, Bad Weather, and that Terrible New Score Bug [2018 Season Review]

December 7, 2018 by Mike

Too many homers? Not enough, I say. (Getty)

After seven weeks and 38 posts, our 2018 Season Review series finally comes to an end today. It was a good run. Time to put 2018 in the rear-view mirror and look ahead to 2019 and beyond. If you missed any of the season review posts, or simply want to check them out again, there’s a link in the sidebar.

Anyway, there are still a few stray miscellaneous 2018 items I want to cover as part of the season review series, so we’re going to lump them together in this smorgasbord post. Here’s the last little bit of “what you need to know” from this past season.

Dingers. So many dingers.

If you’re a fan of home runs — I sure am! — this was the season for you. The Yankees set a new Major League record with 267 home runs this season, three more than the 1997 Mariners. They did that even though Aaron Judge missed seven weeks, Gary Sanchez missed two months (and was pretty bad when healthy), and Giancarlo Stanton had a down year. With a healthy Judge and a typical Stanton season, the Yankees might’ve hit 300 homers in 2018. Golly.

The raw home run total is impressive. How the Yankees did it is downright staggering. Prior to 2018 only five teams in baseball history hit at least 250 homers in a season, and all five had at least one 40-homer guy plus another 30-homer guy. The list:

1997 Mariners (264): Ken Griffey Jr. (56), Jay Buhner (40), Paul Sorrento (31)
2005 Rangers (260): Mark Teixeira (43), Alfonso Soriano (36)
1996 Orioles (257): Brady Anderson (50), Rafael Palmeiro (39)
2010 Blue Jays (257): Jose Bautista (54), Vernon Wells (31)
2016 Orioles (253): Mark Trumbo (47), Chris Davis (38), Manny Machado (37)

The Yankees had neither a 40-homer guy nor multiple 30-homer guys. Stanton led the team with 38 homers. Judge, Miguel Andujar, Aaron Hicks, and Didi Gregorius all tied for second with 27 apiece. The Yankees did have 12 different players hit at least ten homers this year though. That’s a record. Also, 24 times a Yankee hit multiple home runs in a game in 2018. That ties the record.

Perhaps most amazingly, the Yankees received at least 25 homers from eight of the nine positions — they received at least 30 homers from six positions — and at least 20 homers from all nine lineup spots. Check it out:

Homers by Position
Catcher: 30
First Base: 34
Second Base: 25
Shortstop: 33
Third Base: 26
Left Field: 19
Center Field: 30
Right Field: 38
Designated Hitter: 31
(Plus one as a pinch-hitter)

Homers by Lineup Spot
1. 27
2. 39
3. 27
4. 44
5. 35
6. 26
7. 23
8. 26
9. 20

Twenty homers from each lineup spot is insane. Absolutely insane. That’s the attack the Yankees had this season. They didn’t have that one guy who had a monster season. They had a lot of guys who had really good seasons. I mean, 20 homers from each lineup spot? Twenty-five homers from each position? A dozen different players with double-digit homers? This was the Year of the Dinger and it was glorious.

Bad Weather & Bad Travel

The Yankees had a rough weather year this season, starting with a home opener snowout. Second time in three years the home opener had to be postponed. And with the home opener scheduled for March 28th next year, it might be three postponements in four years. Anyway, the Yankees had nine games postponed this year plus another game suspended. The list:

April 2nd vs. Rays: Made up the next day (home opener).
April 14th at Tigers: Made up during a June 4th doubleheader.
April 15th at Tigers: Made up during a June 4th doubleheader.
May 15th at Nationals: Suspended after five innings and completed June 18th.
May 16th at Nationals: Made up during the June 18th one-and-a-half-header.
May 31st at Orioles: Made up during a July 9th doubleheader.
June 3rd at Orioles: Made up during an August 25th doubleheader.
July 22nd vs. Mets: Made up on August 13th.
July 27th vs. Royals: Made up during a doubleheader the next day.
September 18th vs. Red Sox: Game “postponed” from 1pm ET to 7pm ET.

The September 18th game was officially “postponed” rather than “delayed” because a postponement allowed fans to exchange their tickets for the Yom Kippur game. Anyway, that is nine postponements (eight if you don’t count September 18th) plus one suspended game. This season the Yankees played four doubleheaders and one one-and-a-half-header to complete the suspended game, and they gave up four off-days to makeup dates. The Yankees went 5-5 in the nine makeup games plus the suspended game, by the way.

Furthermore, the Yankees had to threaten to boycott ESPN to make their travel less hectic. ESPN flexed the July 8th game between the Yankees and Blue Jays into their 8pm ET Sunday Night Baseball slot. So the Yankees would’ve had to play in Toronto on Sunday night, then play a doubleheader in Baltimore on Monday. The doubleheader was scheduled long before ESPN flexed the game too. They knew about the doubleheader and tried to get the Yankees to play Sunday Night Baseball anyway. The Yankees said move the game or we’ll ignore your reporters and refuse to cut promos, and that took care of that. The fact they had to do that to get the game moved was ridiculous.

The Yankees had some travel problems in addition to all the postponements this season too. After that May 16th rainout, the Yankees spent the night at Dulles International Airport due to the bad weather and a mechanical issue with the plane. They didn’t leave for Kansas City until the following morning. On May 23rd the Yankees left Dallas after a game with the Rangers but had to return to the airport shortly after takeoff due to mechanical problems. They didn’t takeoff for home until six hours later. And finally, on June 3rd, the Yankees were stuck on the tarmac for a while because of a radar issue. Sheesh.

Back In The Attendance Lead

It takes some time for team performance to result in noticeable attendance and ratings changes. Those changes usually don’t show up until the next season, in fact. People aren’t out there saying “hey, the Yankees went 20-10 this month, let’s go buy a bunch of tickets” or anything like that. I mean, that does happen a little bit, but it takes some time to see a meaningful change in attendance and ratings.

In 2016 the Yankees went 84-78 and missed the postseason. They sold at the trade deadline, in fact. In 2017 the Yankees went 91-71 and fielded a young up-and-coming team that went to Game Seven of the ALCS. In 2018 the Yankees went 100-62 and lost the ALDS in four games. A very good but ultimately disappointing season relative to expectations. Now, the attendance numbers:

2016: 3,063,405 (37,820 per game)
2017: 3,154,938 (38,950 per game)
2018: 3,482,855 (42,998 per game)

Last season’s winning and general excitement helped the Yankees increase attendance roughly 10% and draw more than 4,000 more fans per game in 2018 than 2017. It was their best attendance season since 2012 (3,542,406 total and 43,733 per game). The Yankees led the AL in attendance this year — they led the league in attendance every year from 2003-15 before slipping behind the Blue Jays in 2016-17 — and were second in MLB behind the Dodgers (3,875,500 total and 47,043 per game).

As for primetime ratings, Maury Brown passed along Nielsen numbers, which show the Yankees were again the most watched team in baseball. By a mile too. Ratings for Yankees games were 57% higher than Red Sox games, the second most watched team. YES Network ratings were the highest since 2012. Primetime Yankees games on YES outdrew the eleven highest rated primetime entertainment shows combined in the New York market. Attendance and ratings went up this year. Big time. (Wouldn’t it be cool if some of that extra revenue was put into the roster?)

The New Score Bug

The worst part of the 2018 season was not watching the Red Sox win the World Series, or Judge getting hurt, or Sanchez forgetting how to hit, or Luis Severino going all Sonny Gray in the second half. No, the worst part of the 2018 season was the YES Network changing their score bug in the middle of the season (I may be exaggerating). This is the old score bug:

Nice and concise. Tells me all the essentials in one easy to read box. The score, the baserunners, the inning (top or bottom!), the count, the outs, and the pitcher’s pitch count all clear and easy to see. The pitch velocity showed up in the pitch count box after each pitch and was easy to read. It was beautiful in a way only baseball score bugs can be beautiful. Then this monstrosity showed up on August 30th:

What in the world is that? I kept looking at the outs box to see the pitcher’s pitch count. I’m a simple man. I have a 36-inch television and a cramped New York apartment. My couch isn’t that far from the television, but I constantly had to squint and strain my eyes to see the pitcher’s pitch count in that little box under the score bug. Oh, and that line with the pitch count? That’s where the pitch velocity shows up, so you have to strain your eyes to see that too.

And what’s up with the batting average? I don’t need to see that. You showed it to me before the at-bat! I don’t need the constant reminder. To be fair, the batting average is replaced by the player’s game performance in subsequent at-bats. It’ll say he’s 1-for-1 or 0-for-4 or whatever, which is nice, but there’s no additional information (homer? walk? etc.), and it’s still clutter. There’s too much to look at there.

I’m not normally someone who complains about change. I am embrace change. New and interesting things happen all the time and I want to know all about them. This new score bug though? No. No no no. I applaud the folks at the YES Network for trying to improve the viewer’s experience. There’s just too much going on here and important information like the pitch count and velocity — stuff I look at after literally every pitch — is too difficult to read. The old score bug was fantastic. Simple, easy to read, didn’t take up much real estate. I miss it.

A New Era in the Farm System [2018 Season Review]

December 6, 2018 by Mike

It has been a crazy few years in the farm system. The Yankees had a middle of the pack system on Opening Day 2016. By the end of that season it was arguably the best farm system in the game, mostly because of the team’s trade deadline sell-off, but also because several guys who were already in the system broke out. Since the end of the 2016 season, that strong farm system has provided a steady pipeline of talent to the Bronx.

The farm system now is not what the farm system was then because of graduations and trades (and injuries and poor performances), which is what we all expected. If you have great prospects, you want them to become great big leaguers and leave the farm system behind. That is exactly what’s happened for the Yankees. The system is back to being middle of the pack now, maybe even worse, and for all the right reasons. Let’s review the year that was down in the minors.

The Graduates

The last two seasons (two and a half, really) have been incredible in terms of graduating prospects from the farm system to the big leagues. Gary Sanchez arrived in 2016. Last year it was Aaron Judge, Jordan Montgomery, and Chad Green. This season the Yankees graduated 3B Miguel Andujar (season review) and IF Gleyber Torres (season review) to the big leagues, and they finished second and third in the AL Rookie of the Year voting, respectively. They came into the season as the top two position player prospects in the farm system.

Also graduating to MLB this year were RHP Jonathan Holder (season review), RHP Domingo German (season review), and IF Tyler Wade (season review). Wade actually exhausted his rookie eligibility last season through service time, but it wasn’t until this year that he exceeded the 130 at-bat rookie limit. Four of my preseason top 30 Yankees prospects joined the Yankees and exhausted their rookie eligibility this season. (Five of the top ten and six of the top 13 on my 2017 list have since graduated to the Yankees.) As a result, the Yankees had the fourth highest rookie WAR in baseball in 2018.

The New Top Prospect

Up until two and a half weeks ago, the Yankees’ top prospect was LHP Justus Sheffield (season review), who pitched well with Triple-A Scranton this season and struggled during his brief MLB cameo. The Yankees cashed him in as a trade chip last month to land James Paxton, who is essentially what we all hoped Sheffield would one day become. Sheffield still has work to do with his command and that made it unlikely he would contribute to the Yankees as a starter in a significant way in 2019. It also made it easier for the win now Yankees to trade him.

With Sheffield traded the new top prospect in the organization is OF Estevan Florial and almost by default too. All those graduations and trades the last two years have thinned the farm system considerably. That is the cost of doing business. You can either have a great farm system or a great big league team. Having both at the same time is damn near impossible nowadays with the draft and international free agency spending restrictions. I will happily live with a thinned out farm system while the Yankees field a 100-win team in the Bronx.

Anyway, Florial had a difficult season in 2018. He started the year with High-A Tampa, hit .246/.353/.343 (107 wRC+) with one home run in his first 36 games, then went down with wrist surgery. Hamate bone removal sidelined him for seven weeks. Florial wrecked the rookie Gulf Coast League during his rehab assignment (.548/.600/1.000 in nine games), then managed a .263/.355/.375 (112 wRC+) line with two homers in his final 39 games with Tampa. Florial hit a weak .178/.294/.260 in 21 Arizona Fall League games after the season.

The bad news? Well, pretty much all of it. Florial needed wrist surgery and he didn’t perform all that well this season, though it is entirely possible (if not likely) the wrist injury contributed to that. He could’ve been (likely was) playing hurt before surgery, and it usually takes some time to get back to normal after wrist surgery, so yeah. The good news? Florial’s contact numbers improved:

2017 in Low-A: 31.9% strikeouts and 15.2% swings and misses
2018 in High-A: 25.7% strikeouts and 13.1% swings and misses

Florial also improved his walk rate as well, going from 10.5% walks in 2017 to 13.0% walks in 2018, but that doesn’t do much for me. Minor league walk rates are fickle, especially in Single-A ball, where most pitchers are control-challenged. Moving up a level and shaving more than six percentage points off your strikeout rate is not nothing though. Contact is Florial’s biggest weakness — he is a four-tool player and the one tool he lacks is the hit tool, and that is a tantalizing profile with a high bust rate — and hopefully those contact gains this year are real.

The Breakout Prospects

King. (Jason Farmer/Scranton Times-Tribune)

It was a good year for pitching prospects in the farm system. The Yankees don’t have a future ace in the system — there are only a handful of those guys in the minors — but they are loaded with potential starters and depth arms, among them RHP Jonathan Loaisiga (season review). Many of those pitching prospects took a step forward this season and cemented themselves as legitimate big league prospects who may not be more than a year or two away from the show.

Statistically, the biggest breakout prospect in the system this year was RHP Mike King, who came over from the Marlins in last winter’s Caleb Smith/Garrett Cooper roster shuffle trade. King rose three levels this season and finished the year with Triple-A Scranton, posting a 1.79 ERA (2.76 FIP) with 24.4% strikeouts and 4.7% walks in a whopping 161.1 innings. King is a fastball command guy whose secondary stuff is good but not great, so he’s a stats before scouting report prospect. Still, have that much success and reach Triple-A, and you’re on the big league radar.

To me, the biggest breakout prospect in the farm system this year was RHP Deivi Garcia. The 19-year-old came into the season as a classic live arm/bad control prospect and suddenly he started throwing strikes. In 14 starts and 74 innings, mostly in Single-A but also one Double-A spot start, Garcia pitched to a 2.55 ERA (2.60 FIP) with 35.5% strikeouts and 6.8% walks. That is the fifth highest strikeout rate and fourth highest K-BB% rate among the 902 pitchers to throw at least 70 innings in the minors this year, and the best marks among teenagers.

Garcia is not the biggest guy at 5-foot-10 and 163 lbs., though he still has room to grow, and even if he can’t handle a starter’s workload long-term, his fastball/curveball combination is plenty good enough for the bullpen. He’s a high spin rate guy — the curveball has reportedly been clocked at 3,000+ rpm and that is super duper elite — and his changeup is better than you’d think. Garcia figuring out how to throw strikes this season is really exciting. This was his breakout year in the organization. Next season might be his breakout year on the global prospect map.

One of my favorite prospects in the system is RHP Roansy Contreras, a just turned 19-year-old kid who more than held his own when pushed to Low-A Charleston late in the season. Contreras had a 2.42 ERA (3.70 FIP) with 24.0% strikeouts and 8.4% walks in 12 starts and 63.1 innings this season, mostly with the RiverDogs but also some with Short Season Staten Island. A teenager with three quality pitches (fastball, curveball, changeup) and command and pitching know-how deserves more prospect love. Roansy has a chance to be awfully good.

RHP Trevor Stephan and RHP Garrett Whitlock, two 2017 draftees, carved up Single-A hitters this summer and reached Double-A. Stephan had a 3.69 ERA (3.60 FIP) with 26.8% strikeouts and 7.3% walks in 124.1 total innings this year. He’s a stuff guy with mid-90s gas and a hard slider. Whitlock is more of a pitchability guy with four pitches (four-seamer, sinker, slider, changeup). He had a 1.86 ERA (3.01 FIP) with 24.9% strikeouts and 8.4% walks in 120.2 innings this year. King and Whitlock had the second lowest and fourth lowest ERAs, respectively, among the 510 pitchers to throw at least 100 innings in the minors this year.

Thanks to some mechanical tweaks IF Brandon Wagner swatted 21 home runs this season after hitting 19 total from 2015-17. His ground ball rates the last four years: 51.4%, 46.5%, 45.5%, 35.6%. Hmmm. Wagner was far better with High-A Tampa (.270/.376/.510 and 154 wRC+) than Double-A Trenton (.262/.290/.346 and 116 wRC+) this year, but he’s a left-handed hitter with some thump who can play first, third, and a little second. The Yankees rolled the dice and left him unprotected in the Rule 5 Draft, which I don’t think is a big deal. Even if he gets picked, he’ll probably come back. I’m curious to see whether the power and air ball tendencies stick this year.

The International Arrivals

The Yankees spent a lot of money during the 2017-18 international signing period — they had some cash to spend after getting spurned by Shohei Ohtani — and they brought many of those 2017-18 international signees stateside this past season. Usually these kids spend a year cutting their teeth in the Dominican Summer League, even the high-profile ones, but not this year. The Yankees had many of them make their pro debuts in the rookie Gulf Coast and Appalachian Leagues. That’s quite a jump.

OF Everson Pereira received a $1.5M bonus last July and the Yankees sent him right to Rookie Pulaski, where he hit .263/.322/.389 (88 wRC+) with three homers and a 32.8% strikeout rate in 41 games. The numbers are not good, obviously, but he was essentially a high school junior playing against college kids fresh out of the draft. “He doesn’t have any 70- or 80-grade tools, but some scouts were confident enough to put future plus grades on his hit, run and raw power already. They also saw a (plus) defender in center field,” said a recent Baseball America scouting report. Periera may be a year way from top 100 prospect status.

The Yankees gave OF Antonio Cabello a $1.35M bonus with their leftover Ohtani money and they immediately moved him from catcher to center field. He’s a very good runner and a good athlete, and he was rough behind the plate defensively, so it made sense to move him to center. He can be an asset out there and the bat will be ready long before his defense at catcher. Cabello hit .308/.427/.522 (168 wRC+) with five homers, a 20.8% strikeout rate, and a 14.8% walk rate in 46 GCL games, and his hitting acumen has drawn Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Juan Soto comparisons. Huh. Cabello dislocated his non-throwing shoulder diving for a ball late in the season and needed surgery, but he’s expected back early next year. Bummer, but the tools are incredibly exciting.

OF Raimfer Salinas received $1.85M in leftover Ohtani money last year and he’s more tooled up than Cabello. He’s a standout defensive center fielder with excellent bat speed and power potential from the right side. Salinas played only eleven GCL games this year because he damaged a finger ligament on a slide, but he’ll be ready to go next year. 2B Ezequiel Duran signed for a mere $10,000 last July and he stunk with Pulaski this year, hitting .201/.251/.311 (48 wRC+) with a 27.7% strikeout rate in 53 games, but he’s an exit velocity monster who’s been praised for his innate hitting ability. Duran wouldn’t be the first guy to figure it out after a poor pro debut.

OF Anthony Garcia ($500,000 bonus) is built like a tank (6-foot-5 and 204 lbs.) and he led the GCL with ten homers in only 44 games this summer. He also struck out in 40.6% (!) of his plate appearances, but a switch-hitter with this kind of power? That’s worth a $500,000 roll of the dice all day, every day. SS Roberto Chirinos ($900,000) is a slick-fielding shortstop with good bat-to-ball skills. He got the bat knocked out of his hands a bit in the GCL though (.238/.289/.337 and 79 wRC+). Pereira and Salinas are 17. Cabello, Garcia, and Chirinos all recently turned 18. Duran is 19. These dudes are the next wave of top prospects, especially Pereira, Cabello, and Salinas.

The Trade Chips

The Yankees had an active trade deadline this year and, more recently, they used Sheffield as the headliner in the Paxton trade. Also sent to Seattle were RHP Erik Swanson and OF Dom Thompson-Williams. Swanson had a 3.86 ERA (3.64 FIP) with 26.8% strikeouts and 4.8% walks in 72.1 Triple-A innings this year and he has a classic back-end starter profile as a fastball/slider/changeup guy. Thompson-Williams became a launch angle guy this year and hit .299/.363/.546 (157 wRC+) with 22 homers in 100 Single-A games. He hit six homers from 2016-17. Swanson’s a nice depth arm. I’m curious to see how the launch angle thing works for Thompson-Williams in Double-A this year. Both guys are nice prospects who were expendable to the Yankees.

At the actual trade deadline, the Yankees shipped three pitching prospects to the Orioles for Zach Britton: RHP Cody Carroll, LHP Josh Rogers, and RHP Dillon Tate (season reviews). Tate is easily the best prospect of the three and he still has work to do to refine his command. He had a 3.38 ERA (3.78 FIP) before the trade and a 5.75 ERA (4.14 FIP) after the trade, all in the Double-A Eastern League. Being a pitcher in need of development in the Orioles system is a bad place to be. Poor Dillon. OF Billy McKinney (season review) was sent to the Blue Jays in the J.A. Happ trade along with Brandon Drury. He hit .226/.299/.495 (120 wRC+) with Triple-A Scranton before the trade while repeating the level. Eh.

In late August the Yankees used IF Abi Avelino and RHP Juan De Paula to get Andrew McCutchen from the Giants. Avelino bounced between Double-A and Triple-A for the second straight season and hit .287/.333/.446 (117 wRC+) with 15 homers in 123 games before the trade, which represents the best season of his career. Avelino is a classic utility type who went 3-for-11 (.273) as a September call-up with San Francisco. De Paula had a 1.71 ERA (3.46 FIP) with 23.4% strikeouts in 47.1 innings before the trade. He repeated Short Season Staten Island as a 21-year-old, which was kinda weird to me. I get the feeling the Yankees were down on the kid, which probably led to the trade.

The Yankees turned longtime organizational arm LHP Caleb Frare into international bonus money in a trade with the White Sox in July. The 25-year-old had a 0.81 ERA (2.23 FIP) with 33.3% strikeouts and 8.6% walks in 44.2 relief innings, almost all at Double-A before the trade, then he struck out nine in seven innings as a September call-up with Chicago. Good for him. Oft-injured RHP Drew Finley went to the Dodgers for Tim Locastro a few weeks ago. Finley’s father works in Los Angeles’ front office, so the trade is something of a homecoming for him.

Aside from Tate, the best prospect the Yankees traded at the deadline this year is little known RHP Luis Rijo. He went to the Twins in the Lance Lynn trade with Tyler Austin. The 20-year-old had a 2.77 ERA (2.50 FIP) with 19.5% strikeouts and 1.5% walks in 39 innings before the trade and a 1.27 ERA (3.85 FIP) with 20.5% strikeouts and 4.8% walks in 21.1 innings after the trade, all in short season leagues. Rijo is a fastball/curveball/changeup guy and Baseball America recently said “his tremendous feel for locating the baseball should give him a chance to become a backend starter.” Having a multitude of Luis Rijos in the system to use as trade deadline fodder is an underrated strength of the farm system. The Yankees are loaded with these guys.

The Busted Prospects

“Busted” is probably too harsh here, but, as always, several prospects in the system had tough 2018 seasons. There are always going to be injuries and poor performances. That’s baseball. RHP Freicer Perez struggled in six starts with High-A Tampa (21 runs and 19 walks in 25 innings) before having season-ending surgery to remove bone spurs from his shoulder. The good news is his rotator cuff and labrum (and capsule) were not damaged. The bad news is 2018 was a lost season for Perez, one of the better pitching prospects in the system.

RHP Albert Abreu, the best right-handed pitching prospect in the system coming into the season, missed more time with elbow problems and posted a 5.20 ERA (4.75 FIP) with 22.7% strikeouts and 9.8% walks in 72.2 innings at mostly High-A. Abreu has really good stuff — it’s an upper-90s fastball with a knockout curveball — but he’s thrown only 126 innings in two years since coming over in the Brian McCann trade, and we’ve yet to see him truly dominant for an extended period of time. Abreu has ability but he’s just kinda spinning his wheels right now.

RHP Luis Medina stayed healthy all season but lordy was it bad. The 19-year-old threw 36 innings with Rookie Pulaski and pitched to a 6.25 ERA (6.46 FIP) with 25.5% strikeouts and 25.0% walks. That is 47 strikeouts and 46 walks in 36 innings. Yuuup. Medina’s stuff is electric — it’s a Dellin Betances caliber fastball and breaking ball — and he has the highest ceiling of any pitcher in the organization. But the poor kid has no idea where the ball is going right now. Like Dellin, he’s gonna be a long-term project.

The two best middle infield prospects in the organization, SS Thairo Estrada and SS Kyle Holder, had brutal seasons. Estrada got shot during a robbery in January and also battled wrist and back trouble during the season. He was limited to 18 regular season games and had the bullet removed from his hip in June. Thairo did heal up in time to play in the Arizona Fall League. Holder fractured a vertebrae in Spring Training and missed two months, and then missed three weeks with a concussion later in the season. He also went home for two weeks at midseason after his brother passed away. Holder played 48 games this year.

3B Dermis Garcia continued to flash big power (15 homers in 88 Low-A games) and big swing-and-miss issues (30.6% strikeouts), and the Yankees had him throw some bullpen sessions to see how he looked on the mound. Dermis never did appear in a game as a pitcher though. SS Hoy Jun Park had a much better season that you may realize — he hit .258/.387/.349 (122 wRC+) with 18 steals and nearly as many walks (16.2%) as strikeouts (16.4%) in 103 High-A games — but the Yankees are still waiting for the $1.2M bonus kid to take that big step forward developmentally.

RHP Chance Adams (season review) underwhelmed while repeating Triple-A (4.78 ERA and 4.87 FIP) and is at something of a career crossroads. Early next season might be his last chance to prove he can hack it as a starter. The Yankees have kept him at arm’s length thus far — his lone big league start was an emergency spot start when Happ went down with hand, foot, and mouth disease. RHP Domingo Acevedo (season review) again battled injuries and was limited to 69.1 innings.

Other Notable Prospects

Almost exactly one year to the day after being selected in the first round of the 2017 draft, RHP Clarke Schmidt completed his Tommy John surgery rehab and made his pro debut. He managed a 3.09 ERA (2.61 FIP) with 33.0% strikeouts and 6.6% walks in 23.1 closely monitored innings in his return, and by all accounts his stuff looked pretty good. Like his pre-Tommy John surgery stuff, basically. Schmidt’s season came to an end in late August with what has been reported as a non-arm injury. Not sure what’s going on there.

RHP Matt Sauer, last year’s second round pick, had a weird season with Short Season Staten Island, statistically. He threw more strikes than I expected (6.4% walks) and missed way fewer bats than I expected (15.9% strikeouts and 7.1% swings and misses). The Yankees helped Sauer improve his delivery and tempo and it’s possible this year’s statistical weirdness can be attributed to him adjusting to his new mechanics. I dunno. We’ll see what happens next year.

RHP Nick Green is one of my favorite prospects in the system. I find him fascinating. He has this funky cutter/sinker hybrid fastball that helped him lead the minors with a 66.4% ground ball rate (min. 130 IP) by nearly five percentage points this season. Green doesn’t have much else to work with aside from the, uh, cut-sinker (?), but if you’re only going to have one pitch, a dominant ground ball (cut-)sinker is a good pitch to have. Green threw 132.2 innings with a 3.32 ERA (4.28 FIP) with 17.7% strikeouts and 11.1% walks this season, with most of that coming with High-A Tampa.

Easy to overlook in the pitching ranks is RHP Nick Nelson, who quietly sits in the mid-to-upper-90s with his fastball and features a hammer power curveball. This season he threw 121.1 innings, mostly at High-A Tampa, with a 3.55 ERA (3.12 FIP) and high walk (12.1%) and strikeout (27.5%) rates. Nelson had the 37th most strikeouts (144) and also the 27th most walks (63) in the minors this year. I’m not sure the control or third pitch will ever be there for him to start long-term. I sure am interested to see what Nelson can do in short one-inning relief bursts though.

OF Isiah Gilliam might belong in the “Busted Prospects” section — again, “busted” may be too harsh — after hitting .256/.313/.397 (103 wRC+) with 13 homers in 125 High-A games this year. He had a 137 wRC+ with 21.7% strikeouts and 10.8% walks in Low-A last season. This season it was a 103 wRC+ with 29.0% strikeouts and 6.9% walks in High-A. SS Diego Castillo didn’t hit much with High-A Tampa (.260/.307/.324 and 83 wRC+) but he makes a ton of contact (9.1% strikeouts and 6.1% swings and misses) and can play the hell out of shortstop. I hope the bat catches up to the glove soon.

RHP Luis Gil and RHP Juan Then are on opposite ends of the pitching prospect spectrum in terms of style. Gil is a straight grip it and rip it guy who touched 101 mph this season and registers strong spin rates on his curveball. The 20-year-old struck out 68 batters in 46 short season innings this year. He also walked 31. Then, 18, already has three good pitches (fastball, curveball, changeup) and a plan on the mound. The kid is 6-foot-1 and 155 lbs. right now and the Yankees are hoping his low-90s heater becomes a mid-to-upper-90s heater as he matures. Then had a 2.70 ERA (3.22 FIP) with 21.5% strikeouts and 5.6% walks in 50 GCL innings in 2018.

RHP Stephen Tarpley (season review) led the minors with a 68.1% ground ball rate (min. 65 IP) this season and earned himself both a September call-up and a spot on the ALDS roster. RHP Joe Harvey was untouchable as Triple-A Scranton’s closer this year, pitching to a 1.66 ERA (2.49 FIP) with 28.5% strikeouts and 9.8% walks in 54.1 innings for the RailRiders. The Yankees added him to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft last month. We’re going to see these two dudes in the big league bullpen next year, even if they’re only shuttle guys.

The 2018 Draft

Last season’s 91-71 record gave the Yankees the 23rd overall pick in the 2018 draft, which they used on C Anthony Seigler (prospect profile). He’s the best prospect the Yankees drafted this year (duh) followed by second rounder C Josh Breaux (prospect profile) and fourth rounder RHP Frank German (prospect profile). Here are my Day One, Day Two, and Day Three draft recaps.

Among the late round picks, RHP Rodney Hutchison (sixth round) created some buzz right before the draft because his fastball ticked up and he showed an improved slider. He had a 1.97 ERA (3.02 FIP) with very good strikeout (24.4%), walk (4.7%), and ground ball (64.4%) rates in 32 innings with Short Season Staten Island in his pro debut. RHP Tanner Myatt (11th round) opened some eyes with his 97-99 mph heater and hard slider after turning pro. He struck out 22 in 18.1 mostly rookie ball innings.

While the high picks like Seigler and Breaux get all the attention and understandably so — my money is on Seigler being the consensus No. 1 prospect in the system at this time next year — the late rounds are where the Yankees have built their farm system depth. Guys like Rogers (11th), Whitlock (18th round), and Carroll (22nd round) were all unheralded Day Three picks in recent years who developed into solid prospects and, in Rogers’ and Carroll’s case, trade chips. A year from now we might be talking about Hutchison and Myatt as the next late round success stories.

The Best of the Rest

The Yankees have more minor leaguers under contract that any other team. That doesn’t necessarily mean they have more prospects. It just means they have more minor leaguers. As J.J. Cooper explained in August, the Yankees have nine minor league affiliates and thus can have roughly 340 players under contract. Most other organizations only have six or seven minor league affiliates, and can carry around 290 contracts. Those extra 50 (!) roster spots mean the Yankees have more innings and at-bats to play with, and more spots for lottery tickets.

Although the farm system isn’t nearly as robust now as it was a year or two ago, the Yankees do still have a pretty deep system, especially in arms. Here are the last few notables worth mentioning as part of our farm system review:

OF Trey Amburgey: Righty hitter and thrower has some pop and authored an underwhelming .258/.300/.418 (97 wRC+) line with Double-A Trenton this year.
SS Oswaldo Cabrera: The tools are all there but the production is not. Cabrera hit .229/.273/.320 (70 wRC+) with a 12.5% strikeout rate with Low-A Charleston this year.
RHP Rony Garcia: Cutter specialist reached High-A at age 20 this year and posted solid strikeout (21.0%) and walk (5.5%) rates in 119 innings. Deivi pulled away as the system’s best Garcia though.
RHP Yoendrys Gomez: Mid-90s fastball and a rainbow curveball produced a 2.08 ERA (3.57 FIP) and 25.8% strikeouts in 47.2 rookie ball innings this summer. Someone to watch.
RHP Nolan Martinez: Finally stayed healthy and threw 61.2 innings with 3.36 ERA (4.19 FIP) this year. He threw 20.2 innings total from 2016-17. Next year will be a big one.
OF Pablo Olivares: Personal favorite hit .322/.391/.442 (142 wRC+) in 70 Single-A games before an unknown injury ended his season in July. That’s too bad.
RHP Glenn Otto: Last year’s fifth rounder showed a dynamite fastball/curveball combination in his two starts before needing season-ending surgery to treat a blood clot in his shoulder.
OF Alex Palma: Built on last year’s breakout with a .299/.348/.459 (132 wRC+) line in 52 High-A games. He suffered a season-ending injury in an outfield collision in July.

I’m looking forward to full seasons of Gomez and Martinez next year and I want to see how Olivares, Otto, and Palma rebound from their injuries. Especially Otto and especially especially Olivares. He’s not a star prospect like the stat line would lead you to believe, but he can do everything well. Just a solid all-around ballplayer. Had he not gotten hurt, the 20-year-old Olivares might’ve finished the season in Double-A and been added to the 40-man roster after the season. Instead, the Yankees are gambling no team will take an injured Single-A outfielder in the Rule 5 Draft.

What’s Next?

As was the case last year, the farm system now is worse than it was in March, and for good reason. The Yankees graduated two high-end prospects to the big leagues in Torres and Andujar, and they used several others in trades, most notably Sheffield and Tate. If the farm system is going to take a hit, you want it to take a hit because guys are graduating and being traded for MLB help, and that’s what happened with the Yankees.

Barring a fire sale — the Yankees might get prospects for Sonny Gray but otherwise they aren’t selling veterans anytime soon — it is awfully tough for the Yankees to build a farm system now. They have back of the first round draft picks (30th overall in 2019) and the draft and international spending restrictions level the playing field. The Yankees added some very exciting international kids (Pereira, Cabello) and new draftees (Seigler) to the system this year. It’ll take a year or two before they develop into foundational prospects, however. Fortunately the farm system has already done its part strengthening the MLB team.

The Coaching Staff [2018 Season Review]

December 5, 2018 by Mike

Mike Harkey won Players Weekend. (Presswire)

Along with a new manager came a (mostly) new coaching staff in 2018. And similar to their new manager, the Yankees went young and inexperienced with their coaching staff. Veterans Tony Pena and Alan Cockrell were let go and Yankees lifer Rob Thomson was allowed to join the Phillies after being passed over for the manager’s gig. Five of the seven coaching positions were turned over — the five new coaches combined for six years of prior MLB coaching experience — and an eighth was added.

Evaluating coaches is almost impossible from the outside. Generally speaking, all we do is project player performance onto the coach. So much of a coach’s work — all of the coach’s work, really — takes place behind the scenes. With the manager, we look at lineups and bullpen moves. With coaches we look at, uh, player performance? That’s really it. And coaches are coaches, not miracle workers. They can do all the teaching in the world. Ultimately, it’s up to the player to listen and execute. So, with that in mind, let’s review the year in the coaching ranks.

The Holdovers: Larry Rothschild & Mike Harkey

Pitching coach Larry Rothschild and bullpen coach Mike Harkey were the only holdovers from Joe Girardi’s staff. The only holdovers who remained in the same role, I should say. I thought Harkey was a goner for sure. He and Girardi have been extremely close dating back to their days as players with the Cubs. They’re tight and I assumed — incorrectly — that Harkey would be shown the door once Girardi was cut loose. Instead, Harkey remained.

There was never any talk about replacing Rothschild. In fact, it was made clear Rothschild would remain pitching coach no matter who the Yankees hired as manager. The Yankees love the way he blends hands-on instruction with analytics. Rothschild has been the pitching coach since 2011 and, since then, the Yankees lead all teams in pitching WAR (+167.1) and they’re third in park adjusted ERA (93 ERA-). This season’s ranks:

ERA: 3.78 (10th in MLB)
FIP: 3.63 (3rd)
ERA-: 87 (4th)
FIP-: 82 (2nd)
K/BB: 3.31 (5th)
WAR: +26.6 (3rd)

Yankee Stadium is very hitter friendly — very home run friendly, more accurately — and that inevitably skews numbers. Adjust for the ballpark and the Yankees were again among the top run prevention teams in the game in 2018. They allowed the fifth fewest run in the American League this past season. Every year, without fail, the narrative is the Yankees need pitching. And, also every year, they manage to finish with some of the best run prevention numbers in the game.

Rothschild and Harkey are a team. The bullpen coach does a lot more than answer the phone. They both have a role implementing strategies — the anti-fastball plan is one of the most extreme pitching philosophy shifts in recent memory — and helping pitchers through inevitable bumps. Some struggles are uglier than others. Getting Luis Severino on track is a top priority going into next season. By and large, the Yankees get good work on the mound, yet much of the time all the talk is about the Yankees needing pitching.

The Promoted Coaches: Marcus Thames & P.J. Pilittere

The Yankees have been grooming Thames for their big league hitting coach job for years now. His playing career ended in 2011 and he joined the Yankees as a coach in 2013. His roles over the years:

2013: High-A Tampa hitting coach
2014: Double-A Trenton hitting coach
2015: Triple-A Scranton hitting coach
2016-17: Yankees assistant hitting coach
2018: Yankees hitting coach

Thames worked his way up the coaching ladder and along the way he worked with the organization’s top young players, from Aaron Judge to Gary Sanchez to Greg Bird. The same is true with Pilittere, who joined the Yankees as a coach after his playing career ended. He was the hitting coach one level below Thames these last few seasons and followed him up the ladder:

2012: Gulf Coast League hitting coach
2013: Low-A Charleston hitting coach
2014: High-A Tampa hitting coach
2015-16: Double-A Trenton hitting coach
2017: Triple-A Scranton hitting coach
2018: Yankees assistant hitting coach

The Yankees were second in baseball with 851 runs scored this season and they almost certainly would’ve been first (the Red Sox scored 876 runs) had Judge and Sanchez not missed so much time. The team’s park adjusted 111 wRC+ tied the Dodgers for the best in baseball. The Yankees combined baseball’s second highest walk rate (10.0%) with a league average strikeout rate (22.7%) and absurd power numbers this year. Why? Because of the players. Not so much the coaches. Thames and Pilittere have extensive experience with the team’s core young players and that’s an obvious plus.

The New Bench Coach: Josh Bard

The Yankees hired Bard away from the Dodgers to be Boone’s right-hand man and he checked all the boxes. He’s a former player, he has front office experience (special assistant with the Dodgers from 2013-15), and he has coaching experience (Dodgers bullpen coach from 2016-17), so he’s done a little of everything. He can relate to players and fellow coaches on several different levels. Bard is seen as a rising star in the coaching and managerial ranks.

His first season as bench coach went … okay? I guess? How could anyone tell? There was some thought Boone would benefit from an having experienced bench coach, but if the Yankees wanted someone experienced pulling the strings, they would’ve hiring an experienced manager. The information that flows from the front office to the coaching staff has to be dissected and disseminated to the players. Some players like data. Some hate it. Bard helps provide that personal touch to get through to everyone. How’d his season go? Seemed okay to me. Shrug.

The New Third Base: Phil Nevin

Finally, a coaching performance we can kinda evaluate statistically. Nevin and Boone grew up together but this wasn’t a case of the Yankees hiring the manager’s buddy. Nevin managed several years in the minors and was the Giants third base coach last season. He’d interviewed for several managerial jobs in the past too. Nevin was more than qualified for the job.

So anyway, what does the third base coach do? He sends or holds runners rounding third, for the most part. There are some other job requirements but that’s the most visible one. The Yankees had 19 runners thrown out at the plate this past season and that was right in the middle of the pack. Fifteenth most in baseball. What about his holds and sends though? Some numbers:

	Yankees	MLB Average
Runner on second stops at third on a single	39.0%	37.3%
Runner on second scores on a single	57.3%	58.9%
Runner on second thrown out at home on a single	3.7%	3.8%

Runner on first stops at third on a double	53.3%	54.8%
Runner on first scores on a double	44.1%	42.5%
Runner on first thrown out at home in a double	2.6%	2.7%

Average across the board. A percentage point or two away from average in either direction equals average to me. It’s not a big difference. So, on one hand, Nevin did a good job not getting Yankees thrown out at home more than they should’ve. On the other hand, Nevin didn’t really get the Yankees any extra runs with his sends. He was, well, average.

A case could be made Nevin should be more conservative going forward, meaning he should hold runners at third at a higher rate than the league average because the Yankees sock so many dingers that it’s not worth the risk of having a runner potentially thrown out at the plate. Personnel obviously matters (Brett Gardner has a better chance to score from first on a double than Gary Sanchez, for example) but that’s the idea. Play it safe and let ’em swing away.

That said, we’re only talking a handful of baserunners here. Again, the Yankees had 19 runners thrown out the plate this past season. That’s not many in the grand scheme of things. Holding five or six of them might lead to a few extra runs over the course of a season, but probably not. Point is, the Yankees did not have an exorbitant number of runners thrown out at the plate in Nevin’s first season as third base coach. They were as average as can be.

Personally, my favorite Nevin moment came in April after the Joe Kelly-Tyler Austin brawl at Fenway Park. When asked about the brawl, Nevin said “I’m going to wear less layers tomorrow because geez I look fat with my sweatshirt, my jersey, and all that” after the game (video link). Love it. Others enjoyed Nevin laying into the team in the dugout for sloppy play in an August game. It didn’t do anything — the Yankees lost that game and the next four — but it was the thought that counts.

Nevin is an old school baseball dude. He is the ying to Boone’s and Bard’s yang. They’re the new age analytic types. Nevin is the opposite. It’s good to have that balance on the coaching staff, I think.

The New First Base Coach: Reggie Willits

Willits spent several years in the farm system as an outfield and baserunning instructor and the Yankees elevated him to the big league staff this year. The first base coach times the battery for basestealing purposes. He literally times the pitcher’s delivery. That combined with the catcher’s pop time tell you whether attempting to steal with a certain runner makes sense. The Yankees went 63-for-21 (75%) stealing bases this year. The league average stolen base success rate was 72.1%. So I guess Willits did a good job there.

Moreso than the stolen bases as first base coach, Willits had two big projects as the outfield instructor this year. One, he had to prepare Giancarlo Stanton to play left field. Stanton had some noticeable blunders early, thankfully all in meaningless Spring Training games, but by midseason he looked comfortable out there. I didn’t think it would take Stanton long to adjust and it didn’t. I’m sure Willits helped with that adjustment to some degree.

And two, Willits had to give Neil Walker a crash course in the outfield. Judge and Clint Frazier were hurt in August and Stanton was nursing his hamstring injury, plus Shane Robinson wasn’t cutting it, so the Yankees threw Walker into the fire in right field. He had 14 career games worth of outfield experience at the time, all in Triple-A in 2010. Walker did about as well as the Yankees could’ve hoped. He caught the balls he was supposed to catch and not much else. Willits was in charge of making it happen.

The New Quality Control Coach: Carlos Mendoza

The Yankees added a new coaching position this season. Officially, the title is Quality Control Coach/Infield Instructor. A few teams these days have a Quality Control Coach, whatever that is. The Yankees promoted Mendoza, their longtime minor league infield coordinator, into that role. Similar to Willits and Mendoza and Pilittere, Mendoza had been in a farm system for a few years and had worked with many young Yankees.

His primary focus this season was working with Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar on their defense. Gleyber was still relatively new to second base when he was called up and, well, Andujar needs a lot of help. Mendoza was out on the field every single afternoon working with Andujar. In my limited time as a BBWAA dude, I’ve never seen a player take that many ground balls before games. Mendoza was very persistent, if nothing else.

What’s Next?

The entire coaching staff is coming back next season. Brian Cashman confirmed that a few weeks ago. Well, the Orioles still don’t have a manager or coaching staff (for real), so I suppose Baltimore could pry one the Yankees’ coaches loose, but it seems unlikely. Not much more to say than that, really. The Yankees were quite good this season and, as far as I can tell, the coaches did fine work.

The Rookie Manager [2018 Season Review]

December 4, 2018 by Mike

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.”

Long Relievers, Traded Prospects and Phantom Pitchers [2018 Season Review]

December 3, 2018 by Steven Tydings

If he doesn’t use ABBA for his entrance music, our money back. (Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)

While there are some other topics to cover, we’ve come to the end of the player portion of our 2018 Season Reviews. Therefore, we’ve covered all of the important players (and plenty of replacement level ones as well). That leaves the miscellaneous relievers that racked up innings as the last guys in the bullpen or received a spot start and little else. Let’s get to them!

Giovanny Gallegos

After debuting over 16 games in 2017, Gio Gallegos’s sophomore campaign was both brief and mostly irrelevant. He made four appearances for the Yankees, coming up as the eighth or ninth guy in the bullpen and the average leverage index was 0.23.

He would throw two innings in May and then came back up as an extra arm for the Phillies/Red Sox series in late June. The game against Philly was his best in New York as he tossed three shutout innings of relief, striking out six batters. He’d come up as the 26th man for the July 9 doubleheader in Baltimore and got a save with three innings of OK pitching.

On July 29, he was dealt along with Chasen Shreve for international money and Luke Voit, ending his Yankee tenure. He would throw two games for the Cardinals after helping their Triple-A team to the National title with a walk-off hit. Yes, you read that right: a base hit.

David Hale

David Hale signed with the Yankees three separate times in 2018 and made one appearance per signing. The Princeton University product tossed two scoreless innings in the April 23 blowout of the Twins and was subsequently designated for assignment. The Twins picked him up and he gave them one bad outing before yet another DFA.

His last two outings, May 11 and July 6, came in relief of Sonny Gray after Gray was shelled by the Athletics and Blue Jays, respectively. He saved his best for last up in Toronto when he gave the Bombers 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball, keeping them in the game even if they would eventually lose.

A week after his last Yankee appearance, he signed with the KBO’s Hanwha Eagles and made 12 starts with them to end the season.

Chance Adams

Take a chance, take a chance, take a chance? After J.A. Happ was stricken with hand, foot and mouth disease shortly after his New York debut, the team needed another starter. Domingo German and Jonathan Loaisiga were both hurt and Chance Adams was on turn, so the Arizona native got the call. His task? Face the eventual World Series champion Red Sox.

Adams held his own in Boston. He allowed a pair of homers and three runs over five innings, holding the Sox to just three hits and a walk. Considering his struggles in Triple-A, it was better than expected. However, he got just one run of support in a loss.

The 24-year-old made just two more relief appearances in the majors the rest of the year. He gave up four runs to the Marlins and threw a scoreless inning on the last day of the season, again in Boston.

He pitched to a 4.78 ERA while repeating Triple-A, taking plenty of shine off his prospect status. However, with both his age and previous success, there’s still something to hope for with Adams. He’s on the 40-man roster now and should get another chance, perhaps in relief.

Stephen Tarpley

We detailed Stephen Tarpley’s LOOGY status late in the season, so I’ll spare you most of the details. He struck out 13 over nine innings in the Bronx after receiving a September call-up and worked around some control issues to hold opponents to three runs. Not bad for one’s first taste of the majors.

Left-handed batters faced Tarpley 18 times and reached base just four times, three via walks. Eight struck out and none got extra bases. That’s pretty superb in an extremely small sample size.

After being groomed for a 25th-man/LOOGY role for the postseason, he was tagged for three runs in the Yankees’ 16-1 Game 3 loss to Boston. The team likely wanted him to take the final two innings but gave the ninth inning to Austin Romine instead.

Tarpley will now ride the shuttle between the Major Leagues and Scranton as a matchup lefty and long reliever. His two-seamer and sinker make him worth the 40-man roster spot and a longer look in the majors. I’m a big fan and think he could stick, though perhaps not in the Bronx.

Justus Sheffield

Justus no longer rules in the Bronx after just three appearances. His September debut came with a nine-run lead, yet he loaded the bases and narrowly escaped unscathed. Sheffield allowed an inherited runner to score in Tampa Bay a week later and was beat up by the Red Sox on the season’s final day.

The 22-year-old starter’s control issues made him unlikely to claim a Major League spot to begin 2019 and cast doubt on his future as a starter. Therefore, he was expendable as the headlining piece of the James Paxton trade, the Yankees’ first big move of the offseason. In Seattle, he’ll get a bigger ballpark and a longer leash to develop. Hope to see him back in the Bronx as an opponent soon!

George Kontos

Forget about George Kontos’ role for the 2018 Yankees? Me too. With the Yankees looking for a depth arm in early August, they purchased Kontos’ contract from the Indians. That brought Kontos’ career full circle after he was drafted by the Yankees and came up with them in late 2011 before being traded for Chris Stewart.

In his only game, he took over for an ineffective A.J. Cole and delivered 1 2/3 scoreless innings during an 8-5 loss to the Mets. If the game had any historical significance, it was as one of Jacob deGrom’s 10 wins of the year. Other than that, just makes Kontos a good name for the end-of-the-year Sporcle quiz.

Ryan Bollinger and Domingo Acevedo

The phantom ballplayers! Ryan Bollinger and Domingo Acevedo didn’t actually pitch for the Yankees in 2018, but they both spent brief moments on the 25-man roster. The team gave them call-ups when they were short on arms and sent them down immediately afterwards.

It was particularly frustrating to see Bollinger not get a chance. The 27-year-old southpaw is a former 47th round pick and worked for years in the independent leagues to return to affiliated ball. He even pitched in Australia (and has gone back there this offseason). The Yankees gave him 20 starts in 2018, most of which came in Double-A Trenton’s employ. Ultimately, he was called up twice., but he ever got into a game. Hopefully next year is the year.

As for Acevedo, the 24-year-old received a similar fate. He was added to the 40-man roster before the season and was called up straight from Trenton in July. Perhaps he would have gotten a September cup of coffee, but injuries kept him away, plus the team had plenty of arms. He was fine in Double-A and unlike Bollinger, he’s still on the 40-man roster. His debut could be in the cards next season.

The Other Other Guys [2018 Season Review]

November 30, 2018 by Domenic Lanza

Twenty-three different position players came to the plate at least once for the Yankees this year, and we here at River Avenue Blues endeavor to give you a little something about each and every one of them in this series of reviews. These are the guys that opened the season in the organization and, for a variety of reasons, ended up playing relatively minor roles.

Brandon Drury

The Yankees have acquired quite a bit of talent from the Diamondbacks over the last five years; so much so that a deal between the two teams feels like an automatic win for the good guys. They’ve made five deals in that span, with the Yankees acquiring Brandon McCarthy, Martin Prado, Didi Gregorius, Tyler Clippard, and Drury, and giving up Vidal Nuno, Peter O’Brien, Shane Greene, Vicente Campos, Taylor Widener, and Nick Solak (the last two in the deal for Drury). That’s 17.3 WAR in, and 3.4 WAR out, for those of you scoring at home.

But I digress.

Drury was acquired by the Yankees in February as a part of a three-team trade with the Rays and Diamondbacks. The aforementioned Solak went to Tampa, and Widener went to the desert; and both spent the entirety of 2018 at Double-A in their respective organizations. It’s worth noting that both performed well in Double-A, to be sure, but neither is a standout prospect.

For his part, Drury opened the season as the Yankees third baseman, starting seven of the team’s first eight games and pinch-hitting in the other. He hit a more than serviceable .217/.333/.391 (101 wRC+) in that span, and it seemed as though the team had found a perfectly adequate infielder. And when he was placed on the disabled list with migraines on April 7, he was expected back in relatively short order.

It didn’t work out that way, of course. Miguel Andujar took over at the hot corner in Drury’s absence, and hit the ground running. And when Drury’s stint on the disabled list was over on May 14, he was optioned to Triple-A Scranton, where he would spend the next six-plus weeks tearing the cover off of the ball. It was clear that he didn’t belong there, but it was also clear that they didn’t have room for him on the big club.

Drury was called back up on June 29, and bounced around the infield for ten days before being sent back down. He only hit .136/.174/.182 in that stretch, so it was difficult to fault the Yankees. He came back up on July 20, and was essentially done as a Yankee on July 24, when he exited the game after being hit in the hand with a pitch. Drury was dealt to the Blue Jays (along with Billy McKinney) for J.A. Happ a couple of days later.

All told, Drury hit .176/.263/.275 (49 wRC+) in 57 PA in pinstripes. Injuries and superior options at second and third base hindered his chances of finding a role with the team before he really had a chance, and his bags were packed at the deadline. He followed that up by hitting .154/.241/.231 (33 wRC+) with the Blue Jays, albeit in just 29 PA as his season ended early due to a fracture in his left hand.

Clint Frazier

The 2017-18 off-season could not have been much fun for Frazier, who spent his time seeing his name in trade rumors, recovering from an oblique injury, and getting a much-publicized haircut. And seeing the Yankees add Giancarlo Stanton to an already crowded outfield picture was probably a bit disconcerting, as well. I don’t want to editorialize too much, but I can’t help but feel that he was relieved to start playing baseball again when February rolled around.

Unfortunately, Spring Training wasn’t any better, as Frazier suffered a concussion after crashing into the outfield wall, and missed the first several weeks of the season as a result. He was activated from the disabled list on May 1 and optioned to Triple-A, where he hit .362/.423/.702 in 52 PA before being called-up for a double-header on May 19. He started one game, going 1-for-2 with two walks, and was sent back down to Triple-A.

Frazier spent the next two months bouncing between Triple-A and the show; he obliterated the minor leagues, posting a .311/.389/.574 slash line in 216 PA, and was adequate in 41 big league PA, posting a 113 wRC+. Unfortunately, the lingering post-concussion effects never really let up, and his season was over in August. And given how mightily the Yankees struggled to fill the void left by Aaron Judge’s injury, Frazier missed a big opportunity, to boot.

Frazier’s status is one of the low-key but still important storylines of this off-season. He’s still only 24 with oodles of talent, but he hasn’t been able to stay healthy over the last two years, and concussions are tricky at best. Moreover, the Yankees still have a crowded outfield, even if Brett Gardner hadn’t re-signed. Frazier is ostensibly healthy and resting now, but this may well be another winter of trade rumors.

Kyle Higashioka

Higashioka entered the 2018 season as the team’s third-string catcher, and the expectation that he wouldn’t have much of anything to do in the majors this year barring some calamity. There was a calamity, of sorts, in Gary Sanchez’s injury-riddled and disappointing season, which resulted in Higashioka spending about three months on the Yankees roster. Unfortunately for him, that meant a lot of sitting on the bench if deference to Austin Romine.

The 28-year-old backstop spent most of the first three months of the season in Triple-A, where he struggled mightily. He slashed just .196/.272/.337 through 52 games, which was a far cry from his strong performances there in 2016 (131 wRC+) and 2017 (113 wRC+). There was no clear path to playing time for Higashioka for most of this time, and he certainly wasn’t forcing the issue.

When Sanchez hit the disabled list with a groin injury on June 25, Higashioka was called-up. He served in a timeshare with Romine, starting nine of the team’s nineteen games in this stretch, and he slashed an intriguing .167/.242/.500 in 33 PA. Higashioka had the first three hits of his major-league career during this stint … all of which were home runs.

Higashioka was sent back down when Sanchez returned from the DL, and was recalled when Sanchez aggravated the groin injury a few days later. He’d go on to spend the rest of the season with the team, picking up eleven more starts along the way. Higashioka finished the season hitting .167/.241/.319 (51 wRC+) in 79 PA.

There were some reasons to be excited about Higashioka after his dominance of Triple-A in 2016, but that ship has likely sailed at this point. He’ll be 29 in April, and the team clearly prefers Romine off of the bench. That doesn’t mean that he can’t be a useful bench piece – it just might not be for the Yankees.

Billy McKinney

McKinney was acquired alongside Gleyber Torres way back in 2016, and was poised for a real opportunity with the Yankees when Frazier, Aaron Hicks, and Jacoby Ellsbury went down with injuries. He earned his first big league start (and hit) on March 30 … and was placed on the DL with a left shoulder strain after crashing into the wall on March 31.

By the time McKinney was activated on May 24, the Yankees outfield rotation was set, and he headed to Triple-A. He flashed some power there, slashing .226/.299/.495 (120 wRC+) with 13 HR in 234 PA, but his tenure with the team ended before he could claw his way back to the majors when he was sent to Toronto in the Happ trade.

McKinney spent his first month with his new organization in the minors, but he was called-up on August 18 (against the Yankees), and spent the rest of the year starting for the Blue Jays. He hit .252/.320/.470 (114 wRC+) in 128 PA down the stretch, and should have one of the corner outfield spots locked-up for 2019.

Jace Peterson

Not-so-great baserunning, Jace. (Jim McIsaac/Getty)

Peterson spent a whopping 112 days in the Yankees organization, a tenure that included one game in Triple-A and three at the highest level. That was long enough to have a play for the team’s highlight reels, though, in the form of this excellent catch against the Orioles:

Peterson was claimed off of waivers by those same Orioles on April 24, and his Yankees career was over. He did hit .300 with the team, though (in 11 PA), so he has something to tell his grandchildren one day.

The 28-year-old utility player did find a good home in Baltimore, though, playing all over the field and appearing in 93 games. He hit just .195/.308/.325, but he stole 13 bases in 15 attempts … so, there’s that.

Shane Robinson

The aforementioned injuries to Clint Frazier, Ellsbury, and Judge as well as the trade of McKinney paved the way for Robinson to make 17 starts for the Yankees this year. That in and of itself is a fine argument both for how necessary depth is, and how quickly it can disappear. And it haunts me to this day.

Robinson was signed by the Yankees way back in February to serve as Triple-A depth. When he was signed, he was something like ninth or tenth on the organization’s outfield depth chart, and for good reason. The now-34-year-old was a Quadruple-A player, having spent the previous eight years as an up-and-down guy for the Cardinals, Twins, and Angels, racking up a .226/.294/.297 line in 795 PA along the way. He’s the sort of player every organization needs, but doesn’t really want to see at the highest level.

He was called-up in early April for a two-game cup of coffee, going 1-for-3 with two walks in two games before being sent back down. He spent the rest of April through late-July in Triple-A (and missing all of June), posting a .628 OPS in 192 PA. But Judge’s injury and McKinney’s trade mere days beforehand forced the Yankees hand, and Robinson was recalled on July 28.

Robinson played in 23 of the team’s Judge-less games, starting sixteen. He hit .130/.167/.217 in that time, which thankfully (mercifully?) came to an end when Andrew McCutchen was acquired on August 31. Robinson spent the rest of the season in purgatory, and became a free agent on October 10.

The Backup Infielders [2018 Season Review]

November 29, 2018 by Steven Tydings

While we’ve gone through the Yankees’ key offensive and defensive contributors this season, they had plenty of part-time players that made smaller but memorable impacts. Here’s a look at the 2018 season for Tyler Austin, Ronald Torreyes, Tyler Wade and Adeiny Hechavarria, the primary backup infielders.

Tyler Austin

It’s easy to forget, but Tyler Austin was the Yankees’ Opening Day first baseman. Look it up! He batted ninth and struck out once. However, thanks to the constant injuries to Greg Bird and the early-season struggles of Neil Walker, Austin earned himself a long look at first base.

Beginning with the third game of the year, where Austin slugged a pair of homers off Marco Estrada, the right-handed first baseman tore up April. He hit five home runs and had seven multi-hit games, slugging .629 for the month.

However, Austin went 0-for-3 on April 26 and had to serve a four-game suspension. Why? Because of the epic brawl started with his fight against Joe Kelly on April 11. Austin’s hard slide into second base caused a fracas earlier in the game and Joe Kelly throwing at him had tension boil over.

Starting with his final at-bat on April 25 and ending on May 15, Austin went 0-for-23 with one walk and 12 strikeouts, cooling off significantly. He recovered with three straight two-hit games, including a two-homer game against the Royals, but he was demoted soon after thanks to Bird’s return.

While Austin finally achieved a healthy season in pinstripes, he would only play four more games after May. He would be traded along with MiLBer Luis Rio for Lance Lynn on July 30 after the Yankees acquired Luke Voit. Austin would go 1-for-4 with a walk in lone game vs. Yankees after the trade.

In all, Austin hit a respectable .223/.280/.471 (98 OPS+) with the Yankees in 2018, though his on-base percentage and 40 percent strikeout rate wouldn’t be palatable long-term. Joe Mauer’s retirement in Minnesota gives him a chance to play more first base, particularly after he had another home run binge after the trade. However, C.J. Cron’s acquisition makes it harder to find playing time.

Ronald Torreyes

Like Austin and Wade, Torreyes found himself the recipient of some early starts in the Bronx in 2018. Toe earned the chance to take over second base with Wade struggling early. He put up three three-hit games in April, including one against the Orioles on April 7.

However, Torreyes’ playing time quickly dried up once Gleyber Torres was called up. This happened despite Torreyes having a nine-game hitting streak and batting .410 until his last game in April.

Once Torres and Miguel Andujar took off by the end of April, it was all but over for Torreyes in the Bronx. With those two young players surrounding Didi Gregorius, the Yankees had three guys playing practically every day at Torreyes’ three positions. Toe would start just six times in May before he was sent down.

He came up for two games in June and then didn’t get significant playing time until Didi went on the shelf in August. In the game Didi was injured at first base, Torreyes had a three-hit game off the bench.

Torreyes had just 102 plate appearances in 41 games this year, batting .280/.294/.370 in sporadic playing appearances. That led to his designation for assignment this week to make room for Parker Bridwell. Hopefully, Toe will find a new start in Chicago after being dealt to the Cubs.

Tyler Wade

It was a real bummer of a season for Wade, who had a prime opportunity at second base before Torres’ call-up. In his age-23 season, Wade couldn’t crack a .500 OPS. over 70 plate appearances, batting just .167/.214/.273 (31 OPS+), which was actually an improvement over his cameo in 2017.

In nine April starts, Wade hit in just three games. He came through with big hits in the second game of the year, knocking in the game-winning runs in the middle innings. However, his inability to get the ball out of the infield led to his demotion once Torres came up.

Wade wasn’t back up until July. He had his first career homer against the Orioles while notching his first three-hit game. He had five hits over consecutive starts with two-hit game vs. Indians. Those games knocked his line from .103/.167/.154 to .188/.235/.333. giving him a season-best .569 OPS.

He was only a pinch runner or defensive replacement in September, scoring two runs and stealing one base in only his attempt.

Wade also took a step back in hitting at Triple-A in 2018, so confidence in the former prospect has to be at a low. He’s still just 24, but the idea that he can be the Yankees’ Ben Zobrist or Marwin Gonzalez seems out the window until proven otherwise.

Adeiny Hechavarria

Shortly after the Andrew McCutchen trade, the Yankees acquired Hechavarria from the Pirates just in time to get him eligible for the postseason. The Bombers were Hech’s third team of 2018 (Rays) and fourth team in two years.

Hechavarria was essentially acquired just for defensive replacement value. He had exclusively played shortstop since his rookie season and was thrust into that role initially as the Yankees waited for Didi to get healthy. However, Hechavarria was brought in to take over as a defensive replacement for Andujar on a regular basis down the stretch.

Though he hit just .194 with a .216 OBP in the Bronx, he had a couple signature offensive moments. He hit an insurance run homer against the Athletics just after Labor Day and a go-ahead homer against the Rays on Sept. 25th.

Still, he had a 51 wRC+ in 37 PAs and 18 games. He made one throwing error in the regular season and a couple misplays, but he was a clear step up from Andujar with his smooth glove in the field.

Hechavarria played in four playoff games, relieving Andujar in the sixth inning (!) of the Wild Card Game. He made a dazzling leaping catch as the Yankees pulled away.

He also replaced Andujar in the sixth inning of ALDS Game 2. While he can certainly field, it said more about Andujar’s ineptitude than Hechavarria’s talent.

Now a free agent, he’ll likely be elsewhere next year, though Didi’s injury creates an opening at short. He can’t hit well enough to deserve that spot on a regular basis to begin the year but could be good insurance in the minors.