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Game 107: Round One

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Man of the people. (Presswire)

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

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

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

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

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

LHP CC Sabathia

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

LHP Brian Johnson

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

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

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

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

Yankeemetrics: Baltimore Split (July 31-August 1)

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(AP)

Ace Tanaka
Backed by another standout performance from Masahiro Tanaka, the Yankees took the first game of this two-game set with a mostly drama-free 6-3 win. Coupled with their final two wins in the Kansas City series over the weekend, it was the first time they’d won three or more games in a row since a four-game win streak from June 18-21. The Yankees finished July with a .281/.355/.468 batting line, the first time they reached each of those numbers in the month of July since 2009 (.288/.370/.483).

(USA Today)

Tanaka battled through a shaky 31-pitch first inning but then settled down and held the Orioles scoreless over six strong innings. It was his second straight stellar outing, following his three-hit, nine-strikeout shutout of the Rays last week. Those back-to-back gems made Tanaka the second Yankee ever to pitch consecutive games with at least eight strikeouts, no earned runs and three hits or fewer allowed. The other? David Cone on April 6 and 11, 1997.

After a rough first couple months, Tanaka is rounding into ace-like form and has been super-dominant in his last five starts dating back to (and including) the game he injured his hamstrings:

Tanaka went 2-0 with a 1.75 ERA in July, striking out 27 batters in 25 2/3 innings. He’s the first Yankee starter with at least 25 strikeouts and a 1.75 ERA or better in the month of July since CC Sabathia in 2011 (0.92 ERA, 50 strikeouts in 39 innings).

Another dark, cloudy, rainy day in the Bronx
The Yankees mini-streak of beating up on bad teams came to a screeching halt on Wednesday as they lost 7-5 to the lowly Orioles. It is the first time in at least the last 15 seasons that the Yankees lost a game after the All-Star break to a team that entered the day with a win percentage below .300. Welp.

They were playing from behind the entire game — and trailed 7-1 after three innings — thanks to another disaster outing by Sonny Gray. This was the first time the Orioles scored seven or more runs in the first three innings of a game against the Yankees since June 29, 2013. The starting pitcher for the Orioles in that game was Zach Britton.

(Newsday/Jim McIsaac)

He got the hook with two outs in the third after coughing up seven runs on eight hits. It was the first time in his career that he allowed at least seven runs in an outing of fewer than three innings pitched. The Yankees are now 10-11 in games started by Gray and 58-27 in games started by everyone else.

It was the fourth time in 2018 he gave up at least five earned runs and got fewer than 12 outs in a game at Yankee Stadium. No other Yankee has ever pitched four such games like that in the Bronx in a season. It was also his sixth game this season with those numbers at any venue. And — you guessed it! — no other Yankee has ever compiled six games of five-plus earned runs allowed and fewer than four innings pitched in a single season. And August just started.

(AP)

Gleyber Torres — who finished with a career-high four RBI — did his best to keep the Yankees within striking distance, crushing a solo homer in the second inning and a three-run blast in the ninth. Some #FunFacts to celebrate Gleyber and spice up an otherwise miserable loss:

  • His second shot was his seventh home run with two men on base this season, the most of any player in the majors.
  • The only other Yankee second baseman with at least two homers and four RBI in a game against the Orioles/Browns franchise was Joe Gordon on August 25, 1939.
  • This was his second career multi-homer game, and at the age of 21 years and 231 days old, he became the youngest player in franchise history with two multi-homer games in a season.

Yankeemetrics: Taking care of business (July 26-29)

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(AP)

Back to business
The Yankees headed back to the Bronx, and returned to bashing baseballs with a 7-2 victory in the opener over the Royals. Didi Gregorius was swinging the hot bat on Thursday, scoring the Yankees’ first run in the opening frame after belting a one-out double, and then breaking the game open with a three-run homer in the fourth inning.

Those were his 20th double and 18th home run of the season, the third straight year he’s reached those double and homer totals. #FunFact Alert No. 1: Didi and Trevor Story are the only MLB shortstops to put up both those numbers in each of the last three seasons. #FunFact Alert No. 2: Gregorius is the only Yankee shortstop ever with back-to-back-to-back seasons of at least 18 homers and 20 doubles.

(AP)

Sonny Gray continued his dominance of the league’s worst teams but — in a shocking twist — also delivered a solid, homer-free performance in the Bronx. He scattered three hits across five scoreless innings, the first time since joining the Yankees last July that he didn’t allow a run in a start at Yankee Stadium.

This season Gray has made five starts against the AL’s three last-place teams (two vs. Royals, three vs. Orioles, zero vs. Rangers), producing a 1.45 ERA and 0.77 WHIP across 31 innings. Among the 33 players lucky enough to pitch at least 20 innings versus those teams this season (through Thursday), Gray’s ERA ranks fourth-best and his WHIP is second-best.

Zach Britton took the mound in Yankee pinstripes for the first time, needing just 10 pitches to record a perfect inning via two groundouts and a strikeout. After Thursday’s debut outing, his 65.9 percent groundball rate in 2018 was the highest among AL pitchers with at least 15 innings pitched.

(Getty)

Sevy’s slide
Any momentum from the series-opening win was erased after Friday’s rainout, and the Yankees produced an embarrassing and disappointing performance in losing the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader. With the 10-5 loss, the Yankees still haven’t swept a twinbill since April 16, 2014 vs. the Cubs, their longest drought since a 14-doubleheader sweepless stretch spanning the 1969-70 seasons.

The Yankees’ RISP woes were on display again as they went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine men on base. The worst failure came in the second inning when they loaded the bases with no outs and didn’t plate a single run. This season, teams scored at least one run 85 percent of the time in that situation.

The Yankees had another excruciating bases-loaded failure with two outs in the sixth inning when Giancarlo Stanton lined a laser to right field that was caught near the warning track. Based on the combo of exit velocity (102.3 mph) and launch angle (22 degrees), that type of batted ball is a hit 76 percent of the time.

Their terrible clutch hitting was exacerbated by the fact that they were playing from behind the entire game thanks to the continued struggles of Luis Severino. His summer slump extended to four games as the Royals mashed him for six runs on eight hits — including three doubles and a homer — before he was pulled in the fifth inning.

*Hard-hit rate per Fangraphs.com
IP ERA HR GB% K% Hard%*
Last 4 Starts 19.1 8.84 7 32.8% 20.9% 43.3%
First 18 Starts 118.1 1.98 6 45.6% 30.1% 31.8%

This is arguably either the worst or second-worst stretch of his career:

  • Only other time he had four-game span (all starts) with an ERA of at least 8.00 was April 26-May 13, 2016
  • First time allowed at least six runs in back-to-back games
  • First time allowed at least eight hits in three straight games
  • Second time allowed at least four extra-base hits two games in a row (also August 9-14, 2016)

And, sorry, we’ll cap it off with this #NotFunFact: Before Severino, the last Yankee to give up at least six earned runs and eight hits — including at least four for extra bases — in a game was Jeff Weaver in July 2002.

(AP)

Survive and advance
The Yankees avoided what would have been an demoralizing doubleheader sweep thanks to a 5-4 back-and-forth win in the night game of Saturday’s twinbill. There is no doubt that this team has the #FightingSpirit, especially compared to last year’s frustrating late-inning dumpster fire:

Yankees in Games Decided by One Run

  • 2018: Overall 17-11; Home 11-3
  • 2017: Overall 18-26; Home 11-9

Despite a shaky performance by CC Sabathia and a rare implosion from the middle relievers, Yankee pitchers on Saturday night held the Royals to just two hits in 12 at-bats with runners in scoring position while stranding 15 men on base. That’s the most men left on base by a Yankee opponent in a nine-inning game since the Red Sox stranded 16 in a 5-2 loss to the Yankee on August 30, 2011.

And when you factor in that Saturday’s game was a narrow victory, the number of men left on base becomes even more important — and rare. The last time Yankee pitchers stranded at least 15 guys in a nine-inning one-run win was July 25, 1992 against the Mariners. The pitchers in that game: Curt Young, Tim Burke, Rich Monteleone, Greg Cadaret, Steve Farr. (Yes, those guys all pitched for the Yankees in the same game.)

Greg Bird ignited the final rally of the game with a solo shot to lead off the eighth inning that knotted the score at 4-4. It was the first game-tying home run of his career, though he’s had his share of dramatic go-ahead homers in his career.

Aaron Hicks then capped the comeback a few batters later with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly that put the Yankees up 5-4. Hicks earns our Obscure Yankeemetric of the Series for his heroics: he’s the first Yankee with a go-ahead bases-loaded sac fly in the seventh inning or later against the Royals since Bernie Williams on May 1, 1998 (hmmm … another #randominterestingstat).

Happ-y day
The Yankees finally did what they’re supposed to do as the second-best team in baseball — take games and series against bad teams. Sunday’s mostly stress-free 6-3 victory capped off another winning weekend in the Bronx, where they have dropped just one series all season (April 5-8 vs. Orioles).

J.A. Happ etched his name in the franchise record books when he stepped on the mound. He became the first guy to start a game for the Yankees and Blue Jays in same season since David Cone in 1995. Cone’s first start as a Bronx Bomber came exactly 23 years ago, on July 29, 1995 against the Twins.

Happ produced an impressive pinstriped debut, holding the Royals to one run on three hits in six innings. A couple #FunFacts to chew on for Happ:

  • The only other left-hander in the last 15 seasons to allow no more than one run and pitch at least six innings in his first game as a Yankee was Randy Johnson in 2005
  • Happ is the first lefty to pitch at least six innings and give up three hits or fewer in his Yankee debut since Jimmy Key in 1993

Aaron Hicks provided the muscle and sparked the offense with a monster game, going 3-for-3 with a homer, double, walk and two RBI. This was his fourth game in the cleanup spot this season, and in those four games he’s 6-for-11 with two dingers, a double, a triple, six walks and five RBI. We love #SmallSampleSizes.

Oh, and the Yankees are still looking for their first hit with the bases loaded since July 11.

2018 Trade Deadline Rumors: Monday

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Archer. (Presswire)

The 2018 non-waiver trade deadline is one day away. The Yankees have already made several trades, most notably acquiring Zach Britton from the Orioles and J.A. Happ from the Blue Jays. Lot more early trades than usual this year, no? Not just the Yankees, all around baseball. Manny Machado, Brad Hand, Cole Hamels, Nathan Eovaldi, Jeurys Familia, Mike Moustakas … all traded already. Weird.

Anyway, even after adding Britton and Happ, the Yankees could still make some moves prior to tomorrow’s 4pm ET deadline. Aaron Judge will miss at least three weeks with a wrist injury, so the Yankees could look to bring in another bat. Also, another catcher could be in order too. Gary Sanchez might not return until September. Plus pitching depth. I’m sure they’re still open to adding a controllable starter.

“We haven’t peeled the onion enough to tell you exactly what we will do. If something presents itself that allows us flexibility and makes sense, we can evaluate that,” said Brian Cashman to Joel Sherman following the Judge injury. “I’m sure things will be thrown our way (now that Judge is out). We will see if anything makes sense as we navigate the marketplace before it closes.”

We’re going to keep track of all the day’s Yankees-related trade rumors right here. I can’t promise there were will be many of them because the Yankees have already addressed their most pressing needs with Britton and especially Happ, but I’m sure there will be some. Chat about all the day’s trade deadline rumors and activity right here.

  • 4:48pm ET: It is “not likely” the Yankees will acquire Archer, which doesn’t surprise me. Non-rental intra-division trades can be complicated and so many other teams are in the mix that Tampa shouldn’t have trouble getting a strong offer. [Heyman]
  • 12:22pm ET: The Yankees are among the teams to have shown the most interest in Zack Wheeler. The Mets have set a high price because he’s pitched well lately, though his injury history suggests a smaller return is warranted. [Heyman]
  • 11:30am ET: The Yankees are among the main players for Chris Archer, along with the Padres, Dodgers, and Braves. Tampa Bay had scouts watching Justus Sheffield and Triple-A Scranton on Saturday. [Jon Heyman, Ken Rosenthal]
  • 11:30am ET: Not surprisingly, the Yankees have interest in adding a bat in the wake of the Judge injury. Specifically, they’re looking for a right-handed hitter who can play the outfield. They’re looking, but it’s not considered a pressing need. [Heyman]
  • 11:30am ET: The Braves are among the teams scouting Sonny Gray. The Cardinals, Dodgers, Giants, Indians, and Phillies all had scouts at Yankee Stadium over the weekend. [Brendan Kuty, George King]

Reminder: Your trade proposal sucks.

Game 102: Win it for Judge

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(Presswire)

The Yankees lost even though they won last night. Aaron Judge took an errant pitch to the right wrist and suffered a chip fracture that will sideline him at least three weeks. Judge is the best player on the team and one of the very best players in baseball. For all intents and purposes, he is irreplaceable. The Yankees will have to get by without him the next month or so. Sucks, but it is what it is.

The best way for everyone to feel better about Judge’s injury? Another win. The Royals stink. They’ve scored the fewest runs (367) and allowed the most runs (564) in baseball this season, and we saw enough sloppy defense and silly baserunning — I still can’t believe Alex Gordon got thrown out at the plate to end last night’s game — that it’s no mystery why they’re so bad. Treat them accordingly. Go win a game for Judge. Here are tonight’s lineups:

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

LHP CC Sabathia

Kansas City Royals
1. CF Whit Merrifield
2. RF Rosell Herrera
3. 3B Mike Moustakas
4. C Salvador Perez
5. LF Jorge Bonifacio
6. DH Lucas Duda
7. 1B Hunter Dozier
8. SS Alcides Escobar
9. 2B Adalberto Mondesi

RHP Brad Keller

The bad news (aside from Judge’s injury, of course): It is raining in New York. Has been for a while and there are scattered showers in the forecast pretty much all night. Not sure if there’s enough of a window to play a full nine innings, so make sure you have a lead after the top of the fifth, Yankees. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm ET and you can watch on WPIX. Back-to-back WPIX broadcasts? That’s weird. Anyway, enjoy the game.

Injury Updates: Judge (wrist) could begin taking dry swings as soon as next week, and Aaron Boone said it is “pretty realistic” that he’ll return to game action in three weeks. Boone made it sound like Judge could be back with the Yankees in three weeks. That’d be cool … Sonny Gray (hand) is fine after taking that comebacker to the thumb yesterday. X-rays came back negative and he’ll make his next start as scheduled … Clint Frazier (post-concussion migraines) is going to Tampa to continue his rehab. He won’t be cleared to return until he is completely symptom free and the Yankees don’t have a firm timetable for his return … Jacoby Ellsbury (oblique, hip, foot, back) has not yet started baseball activities and there is no timetable for his return. Frazier and Ellsbury won’t be options while Judge is sidelined.

Roster Moves: Tyler Wade was called up to fill Judge’s roster spot. Will he actually play this time around? Who knows … J.A. Happ is not with the Yankees yet because his flight to New York was delayed by the weather. He’s not on the active roster yet. Happ is tentatively scheduled to start Sunday and, if you care about such things, he will wear No. 34.

Update (6:47pm ET): The Yankees say they “do not intend” to start tonight’s game on time. That’s a new way of announcing a delay. No word on a start time yet.

Trade Deadline Rumors: Gausman, Britton, Straily, Gray, Abreu

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Greg Bird’s high school batterymate. (Scott Taetsch/Getty)

The 2018 non-waiver trade deadline is one week and one day away now. Already Manny Machado, Brad Hand, and Jeurys Familia have been moved. More deals are on the way and I am pretty certain the Yankees will trade for a starting pitcher at some point before next Tuesday. Just don’t ask me which starting pitcher. Anyway, here are the latest rumors.

Yankees have checked in on Gausman

The Yankees have checked in on Orioles right-hander Kevin Gausman, reports Roch Kubatko. With Machado gone, the O’s might as well hang a “For Sale” sign on the rest of the roster. No sense in keeping anyone because they probably won’t be around long enough to be part of the next contending Orioles team, including Gausman, who is under team control through 2020. Trade him. Trade them all.

The 27-year-old Gausman is having a very typical Kevin Gausman season, which means a 4.33 ERA (4.48 FIP) with okay-ish enough strikeout (20.0%), walk (5.6%), and grounder (46.7%) rates. We’ve seen enough of Gausman over the years to know that, when he’s on, he can dominate any lineup. A mid-90s fastball that still touches 99 mph combined with a good slider and a nasty splitter is quite the arsenal. I can’t help but feel like Gausman should be so much better than he currently is. Depending on the price, I’m totally on board with him as a change of scenery guy.

Yankees among several teams in on Britton

The Yankees are among several teams with interest in O’s closer Zach Britton, reports Jon Heyman and Jerry Crasnick. Britton is an impending free agent and he’s as good as gone before Tuesday’s deadline. There’s no doubt about that. Did the Familia trade set the market for Britton? Both are impending free agents and Familia has been healthier. The Mets basically salary dumped Familia for two fringe prospects and international bonus money.

Since coming back from his Achilles injury Britton has a 3.45 ERA (4.43 FIP) with a 64.1% ground ball rate in 15.2 innings. He’s been much, much better the last few times out as he continues to shake off the rust following a long layoff. Maybe Aroldis Chapman’s ongoing knee issues and near meltdown Saturday has me spooked, but I am totally cool with going after another high-end reliever. Chasen Shreve is easily replaceable, so even if Chapman stays healthy and effective the rest of the way, there’s still room in the bullpen for a guy like Britton.

Teams scouting Gray

Several teams are scouting — and have interest in — Sonny Gray, and, according to Heyman and Nick Cafardo, there is some belief the Yankees want to move him. Of course, the Yankees still want to add to their rotation, so trading Gray means they’d have to bring in two starters, not just one. Can’t say I’m surprised teams are interested in buying low on Gray, who has a strong track record, is under control next season, and has pitched well outside hitter friendly Yankee Stadium.

So far this season Sonny has a 5.34 ERA (4.41 FIP) and, while he’s pitched better his last two times out, I think we’re still a long way from saying he’s turned the corner. I need to see more. A lot more. If the Yankees can use Gray as part of a package to get a high-end starter with control beyond this season, then by all means do it. I wouldn’t trade him just to trade him though. That’s silly. Getting Sonny to right the ship is probably the single best rotation addition the Yankees can make the rest of the way.

Yankees, Marlins talked Straily

Straily. (Jennifer Stewart/Getty)

According to Heyman, the Yankees briefly spoke to the Marlins about right-hander Dan Straily, though the two sides are not close to a deal. If nothing else, Straily can’t become a free agent until the 2020-21 offseason, so he’s a controllable starter. The Marlins are terrible and presumably willing to trade anyone, including Straily. He’s available. This is a not a “they might not want to move him” situation.

Straily, 29, has a 4.02 ERA (5.27 FIP) with 18.9% strikeouts this season, and he continues to have a skill set poorly suited for Yankee Stadium. That means lots of walks (11.1%) and few ground balls (33.5%). He’s posted a 1.52 HR/9 and 13.5% HR/FB rate the last two seasons despite pitching his home games in spacious Marlins Park. Straily’s worth a phone call because why not? Never hurts to check in. He just seems like a real bad fit for Yankee Stadium and the AL East in general.

Giants have interest in Abreu

The Giants have interest in right-hander Albert Abreu, my No. 4 Yankees prospect, reports Brendan Kuty. Abreu is currently on the High-A Tampa disabled list with an elbow issue but is a midseason top 100 prospect according to MLB.com (60th) and Baseball America (79th). Abreu will be 23 in September and he’s thrown 129.1 total innings since Opening Day 2017 due to a variety of injuries. He is not a prospect worth hugging. Abreu should absolutely be available.

Here’s the thing though: What do the Giants have to offer the Yankees? Forget about Madison Bumgarner. They’re not trading him. It’s not realistic at all. Johnny Cueto? Jeff Samardzija? No and no. Too many injuries and too expensive. Perhaps lefty relievers Tony Watson and Will Smith make sense. The Yankees did try to sign Watson over the winter, remember. Watson and Smith have both been excellent this year and San Francisco needs to dump salary to get under the $197M luxury tax threshold, which is a goal. That’s why Austin Jackson was salary dumped earlier this month. Hmmm. Maybe Abreu for Watson or Smith works?

Yanks offered Drury for Machado; Padres wanted Andujar for Hand

According to Cafardo, the Yankees included Brandon Drury in their offer for Machado before he was traded to the Dodgers. Also, according to Andy Martino, the Padres requested Miguel Andujar during trade talks about Hand. Considering San Diego was able to pry elite prospect Francisco Mejia away from the Indians in the Hand trade, asking for Andujar wasn’t far-fetched at all.

Anyway, the Yankees have two Major League caliber third basemen in Andujar and Drury, so it only makes sense to make at least one of them available. That said, Drury is versatile enough to play elsewhere — the Yankees have started using him at first and second bases recently — so it’s not imperative they clear the logjam. There’s room for both guys on the roster. But, if one can net you a really good pitcher or a dude like Machado, go for it.

Post-All-Star, Pre-Deadline Thoughts

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(Presswire)

Greetings, readers. I hope you’re enjoying our return to baseball as we gear up for the trade deadline and the stretch run. Cliche as it is, I can’t believe we’re here already. It seems like just yesterday we were talking about shaking out a new lineup and anticipating Aaron Boone’s performance as a manager. The years really do seem to go faster and faster, don’t they? Anyway, here are some thoughts I’ve had about baseball and the Yankees, ranging from the All Star Game to the trade deadline, and a few places in between.

All-Star Awesomeness 

The main wish you have for your team’s All-Star participants is for them not to get hurt. Next, it’s for them to play well and have fun. It’s hard to argue with the latter two for the Yankees’ representatives at the ASG. Aaron Judge hit a home run and Luis Severino had a great inning, featuring a nasty strikeout of Bryce Harper. Additionally, Aroldis Chapman snapped a bunch of cool pictures and Gleyber Torres videoed Judge’s homer from the dugout. More stuff like that, please. The ASG is already an exhibition, so just go all out with it. Have bench players video everything. Mic up all the players–pitcher and catcher excluded–and play that audio for an inning. It’s unlikely that MLB switches up to a new format–East v. West; US v. World, etc.–so making the game as engaging as possible is the route to go. Will it attract a bunch of new eyes? Probably not. But it will give current fans a bit of a new look and that’s a welcome thought.

Dissing Mike Trout to Own the….????

I’m obviously last in line for this take, but this is what you get when you write on Sundays and stuff happens mid-week. I’ve been up front with my desire for MLB to do a better job of marketing its stars and young players, Mike Trout chief among them. Clearly, Mike Trout is fine with the exposure he already has and with doing things more behind the scenes. That’s great and good for him. Not everyone has to be outgoing. How bad of a look is it, then, for Rob Manfred to shovel the blame onto Trout? How many times is baseball going to keep shooting itself in the foot publicly? Aside from the NFL and its anthem-centric debacles, how could MLB have worse national PR this year? Between the griping about too many homers and walks and strikeouts and constantly digging up the ‘bad’ parts of the game to now calling out the best player in the game, Manfred is on a real streak here.

Trout is essentially the epitome of the “play the game the ‘right’ way and keep your head down” culture that MLB and its players foster from day one on. If that’s how he is, fine, but that doesn’t mean it should be a one size fits all thing. Baseball is starting to get that idea, but it’s not quite trickling down to the players. Letting players express themselves in-game will only help bring new eyes to the set. Hopefully, the players start to realize they have an interest in this, too, and beaning a guy for being happy about something is not the way to go anymore.

My Kingdom For a Pitcher

Remember all the way back to 2016 when the Yankees had that disaster series against the Rays and it was the impetus for trading away Chapman, Andrew Miller, and Carlos Beltran? Regardless of that series, the Yankees should’ve done it anyway, but the path showed itself there and the Yankees are better for having done it. Similarly, the Yankees have needed and will need to trade for a starting pitcher this year. The moment that made that even more abundantly clear was on Friday night when Domingo German let the Mets hang three on him in the first inning. Undoubtedly, the Yankees have been working on deals for starters behind the scenes before, during, and after that mess of an inning, but that was just a perfect reminder of what the Yankees will need to do to win the division. Sonny Gray has–luckily–had two good starts in a row (albeit against bad teams), so hopefully he’s beginning to build momentum. Even if he is, though, the Yankees still need a starter.