June 6th, 2025: Chisholm, Rodón, Goldschmidt, Mailbag

Aaron Judge is 2-for-2 in AL Player of the Months this year. He won it for April, and earlier this week, it was announced he won it for May as well. I thought the May award would go to Cal Raleigh, but Judge it is. The captain hit .364/.453/.798 (236 wRC+) with 11 homers last month. Some Player of the Month facts:

• Judge has won five of the last seven and nine of the last 19 AL Player of the Months.

• He’s won Player of the Month 11 times in his career. Only Barry Bonds (13) has more.

• Shohei Ohtani has the second most Player of the Months since Judge’s MLB debut. He has five.

There’s the in-your-face greatness. The 62-homer season, multiple 200 wRC+ seasons, the MVPs, etc. Then there’s the obscure stuff, like Judge possibly retiring with more Player of the Month awards than anyone ever. Potentially way more. It’s funny too, because Judge is not locked in right now. He’s swung through a lot of pitches in the zone lately, and yet he’s hitting .333/.462/.723 (223 wRC+) the last two weeks. His slumps are hot streaks for other players. What a player. Let’s get to today’s post.

1. Weekday thoughts. The Yankees have won eight of their last nine series and 19 of their last 26 games, and it doesn’t feel like they’re firing on all cylinders right now. The offense definitely isn’t. They let a few too many rallies die on the vine against the Guardians. Good series though. Keep winning series and everything will work out. Here are a few thoughts on the last few games.

Jazz returns

It did not take long for Jazz Chisholm Jr. to remind everyone what he brings to the table. Activated off the injured list Tuesday, Chisholm showed off his quickness and arm strength at third base in his third inning back at the position (video), then he launched a go-ahead short porch solo home run later in the game (video). It was only the fourth homer by a Yankees’ third baseman this season.

“Every day, sitting on that bench, you’re thinking about coming back and just starting strong,” Chisholm told Bryan Hoch after Tuesday’s win. “I didn’t have the best start, so starting the season over, you don’t focus on what happened before. So yeah, this is how I wanted to start my comeback.”

Chisholm is playing third and DJ LeMahieu is staying at second because he can’t really throw anymore, and it bit the Yankees a few times Tuesday. LeMahieu did not get to a few balls (specifically this one) that a younger and more athletic second baseman might’ve reeled in. A second baseman like Jazz, basically. (Or Oswald Peraza, who had a nice game at second base Thursday.)

The funny thing is Chisholm doesn’t want to play third. It’s pretty clear, no? He’s playing third because he’s a good teammate and it’s the best thing for the Yankees (or the Yankees think it’s the best thing for the Yankees), but does he want to play third? Nah. I don't get that sense. To be clear, this isn’t a problem. Guys do things they don’t want to do all the time because it’s best for the team. That’s what Jazz is doing at third base. 

“I really thought I was done at third base. I’m not going to lie to you. I thought I left my career over there with a good stamp, but I guess we’re back again,” Jazz said Tuesday (video). “… I just want to win. I want a ring. We have a lot of great guys in here and I’ve really valued teamwork my whole career. All I think about is being a team guy. I did it in Miami, where I moved from second base and went and played center field. Came over here, didn’t play second base, played third base, and started off the season this year at second base, went back to third base again. So for me, it’s just I want to win. I want to help my team win.”

Chisholm is 5-for-11 with the homer in three games back and that’s with an 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in the middle game of the series Wednesday. Five hits was two good weeks for the guys who filled in while Chisholm was hurt. I’m very glad he’s back. Second base, third base, whatever. Jazz brings power, speed, defense, lineup length, and good vibes. The infield without him was not pretty.

The best Rodón has ever been

Another gem for Carlos Rodón Tuesday: 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 8 K (video) on 93 pitches. In his last nine starts he’s given up zero runs four times, one run three times, two runs once, and four runs once. That’s nine runs allowed in his last nine starts and three of them came on one Brent Rooker swing. Through 13 starts, Rodón has a 2.49 ERA (2.93 FIP and 2.71 xERA) with 31.6 K% and 8.7 BB%.

“Just the many ways that he can now beat you,” Aaron Boone said when asked what most impressed him about Rodón’s start Tuesday (video). “He was getting a ton of swing and miss. I thought the changeup was really good, then getting the fastball to places he wanted to. The slider was excellent. Both back door, swinging over the top of it. I thought he was – for punching out a lot of guys too – he was real efficient. It was seven pretty dominant innings.”

Katie Sharp notes Rodón’s 1.27 ERA in his last nine starts is the best nine-start stretch of his career. By ERA, it’s the best nine-start stretch by a Yankee since, well, Max Fried earlier this year. Before Fried, it was Luis Gil last May/June, and before Gil it was Phil Niekro (!) in 1984. This run of dominance doesn’t happen very often even though Fried and Gil did it within the last calendar year. What a run of pitching.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I was way down on Rodón two years ago. I know I wasn’t alone, and even after last season, it was like, he’s fine. Rodón was solid overall and didn’t miss a start, but we all still had that bad taste from 2023 left in our mouths. This year, he’s been an ace, and he’s been an ace because he reinvented himself and went from a fastball/slider pitcher to a legit five-pitch guy.

Five pitches and they’re all good pitches too. Four of the five have at least a 100 Stuff+ and the fifth is at 97, which is pretty good for a fifth pitch. That’s how you get a whiff on four different pitch types 11 times in 13 starts this season. Rodón did that 26 times in 101 starts from 2021-24, and 17 of the 26 came after the reinvention began last summer. Overall, he’s top 20 in Stuff+, essentially tied with Jacob deGrom.

On top of that, Rodón has been so much better at just staying locked in, and not letting bad situations snowball. He’s an emotional pitcher and more than a few times we saw things spiral out of control last year when one or two things didn’t go Rodón’s way. This year, I’m not sure it’s happened once. There’s a hit or an error or a bad call or whatever, and Rodón stamps it out. He’s so much more in control now.

I can’t give Rodón enough credit. He took his lumps, took the (not undeserved) criticism, then made the changes he needed to make, and now he’s thriving. This is the greatest redemption arc by a Yankee since … I don’t even know when. In a long ass time. I know that much. Rodón’s had some really great years in the past. Right now, he’s better than he’s ever been. He deserves all the praise after taking so much shit.

Goldy vs. RHP

Paul Goldschmidt was out of the lineup Thursday, presumably just for a rest day, and it’s getting to be time to sit him against righties. If not all the time, then at least somewhat frequently. He’s been excellent overall (.323/.380/.471 and 141 wRC+), though that production is heavily skewed toward lefties …

• vs. RHP: .267/.302/.349 (84 wRC+)

• vs. LHP: .510/.603/.882 (313 wRC+)

… and the last few weeks have been especially bad against righties. Since the admittedly arbitrary date of May 12th (first game of the Seattle series), Goldschmidt is hitting .222/.250/.315 (57 wRC+) with one walk and 11 strikeouts in 56 plate appearances against righties. His contact is trending down too, both in terms of quantity and quality. It’s been tough sledding against same-side pitchers lately.

Normally I would say Goldschmidt has been so good overall that he’s earned a chance to work through this and show it’s just a slump, but we’re talking about a 37-year-old who a) wasn’t good against righties even before this recent skid, and b) hit .230/.280/.395 (88 wRC+) against righties last season. An older player losing effectiveness against same-side pitchers and becoming a platoon guy is hardly unheard of.

Jasson Domínguez returned from his jammed thumb Thursday night, so the Yankees are back to having more good players than lineup spots. They could essentially platoon Domínguez and Goldschmidt:

vs. RHP
1B Ben Rice (replaced by Goldschmidt for defense late)
LF Cody Bellinger
CF Trent Grisham
RF Aaron Judge
DH Jasson Dominguez

vs. LHP
1B Paul Goldschmidt
LF Cody Bellinger
CF Trent Grisham
RF Aaron Judge
DH Ben Rice

The positions are not as important as the names. The Yankees could put Domínguez in left, Bellinger in right, and Judge at DH against righties. Where they play isn’t as important as who plays. Goldschmidt has been bad against righties, Domínguez has been bad against lefties, so platoon them. The Yankees have the flexibility to do that. (Giancarlo Stanton’s return, whenever that is, will gum up the works.)

If the Yankees don’t want to relegate Domínguez to platoon duty yet, fine, they can sit Grisham instead. The larger point is Goldschmidt was not good against righties earlier this year and he’s gradually getting worse, so cut back on his playing time against them. The added benefit would be more rest for an older player. The Yankees hope to have another five months of baseball ahead of them, you know?

Goldschmidt took Tony Gonsolin deep in the first game of the Dodgers series and is 1-for-17 with a single, a walk, five strikeouts, and three balls hit out of the infield against righties since the homer. I don’t expect the Yankees to cut Goldschmidt's playing time to a straight platoon, but some reduction is in order. The fewer righties he sees moving forward, the better it is for him and the better it is for the Yankees.

Miscellany

Not much to say about Wednesday’s loss. That one had major “it’s just not their night” vibes. Clarke Schmidt settled down and pitched into the sixth, but the three-run first was the ballgame. And every time the Yankees got something going offensively, they hit into a double play. Anthony Volpe made five outs in three plate appearances. He had 2 GIDP all season going into the game, then hit into 2 GIDP that night. Forget that game ever happened … It’s time to get Grisham out of the leadoff spot. I am very appreciative of his early season tater-mashing, but he’s in a 10-for-67 (.149) with 22 strikeouts skid dating back to the Seattle series, and he’s getting the most at-bats on the team. Start the lineup like this …

1. Ben Rice
2. Aaron Judge (please stop hitting him third)
3. Cody Bellinger
4. Paul Goldschmidt

… and go from there. If Grisham starts hitting again, the Yankees can move him back to the leadoff spot. For now, bump him down, please … I wasn’t surprised the Yankees optioned Jorbit Vivas to make room for Chisholm and kept Pablo Reyes. Vivas is redundant with Jazz and they might as well let him play everyday in Scranton while Reyes sits on the bench as the seldom-used 13th position player. Neither guy is any good. I wouldn’t waste any brain power getting up in arms over this … After the Guardians went 3-for-3 Tuesday, runners are 17-for-17 stealing bases against J.C. Escarra this year. That’s in 16 games (15 starts) at catcher. 17-for-17 is, not by a little, the most stolen bases allowed without a caught stealing this year. Next worst is Iván Herrera. Runners are 11-for-11 against him. Jose Trevino was traded away, yet the backup’s inability to throw out runners remains … And finally, Judge had a double, a hit-by-pitch, and two intentional walks Thursday. It was the ninth time he reached base four times in a game this season. Only one player, A’s rookie Jacob Wilson, has more than five such games, and Wilson has six. Judge is up to 135 times on base this year. Rafael Devers is a distant second at 119, and no other player is at even 110. Don’t take this for granted. The greatest offensive force many of us will ever see.

Injury updates

Luke Weaver (hamstring) could get a PRP shot soon (he might have gotten it already). The Yankees have not given a timetable for his return. Jeff Passan reported 4-6 weeks. The Yankees didn’t say that publicly. So, we wait … Giancarlo Stanton (elbows) is still in Tampa taking live at-bats. He could begin a rehab assignment next week. How does Stanton fit when he returns? Worry about it when he’s ready to return and not a moment sooner … Jake Cousins (flexor) started a rehab assignment with High-A Hudson Valley Tuesday: 0.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 1 K on 16 pitches. His 30-day rehab window expires July 4th. That’s the latest he can be activated. The Yankees could always bring him back sooner … Marcus Stroman (knee) threw live BP again Thursday. It was his second time doing so. Usually a rehab assignment follows the second live BP, so we’ll see what happens next … JT Brubaker (ribs) moved his rehab up to Triple-A Scranton Tuesday: 3 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 2 K, 2 HR on 62 pitches. Statcast says his sinker sat 92.3 mph and topped out at 93.6 mph, which is down a tick from his last healthy season (2022), and about what you’d expect in a fourth rehab start. Brubaker’s 30-day rehab window expires June 17th, giving him enough time for two more rehab starts … And finally, a prospect non-injury of note: Bryce Cunningham, last year’s second round pick, is back already. He missed a week with an unknown injury. Whatever it was, it was minor. Cunningham threw 4.2 scoreless innings in his first start back Wednesday. He threw only 67 pitches, so he must’ve been on a pitch limit. At least he’s healthy though.

Up next

The first Red Sox series of 2025. The Yankees played the entire NL West before they played their most historic rival. Yankees vs. Red Sox this weekend in the Bronx, next weekend in Boston, then not again until August. Here is the weekend schedule:

• Friday vs. Red Sox: RHP Will Warren vs. RHP Walker Buehler (7pm ET on YES, MLBN)

• Saturday vs. Red Sox: LHP Ryan Yarbrough vs. LHP Garrett Crochet (7:30pm ET on FOX)

• Sunday vs. Red Sox: LHP Carlos Rodón vs. RHP Hunter Dobbins (7pm ET on ESPN)

• Monday: off-day

Good news: Sunday is the Yankees’ last Sunday Night Baseball broadcast this season*, and maybe ever. MLB and ESPN opted out of their deal earlier this year and MLB on ESPN might not be a thing after this season. They could work out a new deal, sure, but MLB will go with whatever network makes the best offer. Rob Manfred would put games on the Hallmark Channel as long as the check clears.

* Unless MLB and ESPN flex a game into the Sunday Night Baseball slot later this year, which happens now and then. Right now though, no more Sunday night games on the schedule.

The Red Sox are in bad shape right now. They’ve lost eight of their last 11 games and 14 of their last 22 games. They have seven (!) walk-off losses this season and they’re 6-17 in one-run games. 17 one-run losses already! That’s almost a full season’s worth. (Last year the average team lost 22 one-run games.) Boston’s pitching is weak and their lineup is shockingly thin with Alex Bregman hurt. 

I’m sure this will be a tough series, Yankees vs. Red Sox games are always a grind, but that Red Sox team is really underperforming. Bregman and Garrett Crochet have been the difference-makers they were brought in to be, Devers has been on the warpath since the first week of the season, and yet they’re 30-34 and four games out of a Wild Card spot. At some point Alex Cora will get some heat for Boston’s annual underperformance, no?

2. 2025 draft prospect: Louisville RHP Patrick Forbes. The 2025 MLB Draft will take place during the All-Star break and the Yankees hold the No. 39 pick. Here are the draft prospects I’ve already profiled. Some are players the Yankees are reported to have interest in, some are players who fit the team’s M.O., and some are players I like for whatever reason. We’re covering a little of everything.

Forbes, 21 next month, was a potential top five rounds pick as an infielder out of high school, though he went undrafted because he made it clear he was going to college and not sign. He hit .258/.358/.409 with three home runs as a freshman while also throwing 9.1 mop up innings. An errant pitch broke his left hand in his first at-bat his sophomore season, and that was that. Forbes moved to the mound full-time right after that.

After blowing hitters away in the Cape Cod League last summer (22 strikeouts in 13.2 innings), Forbes has a 4.62 ERA (3.25 FIP) with 36.7 K% and 10.9 BB% in 60.1 innings this season. He suffered a flexor strain in early April and missed three weeks, but hasn’t had any issues since. Last weekend Forbes set a Louisville postseason record with 13 strikeouts in six innings in Game 1 of the Regionals. Here’s where he slots into the latest draft prospect rankings:

• Baseball America (subs. req’d): No. 46

• ESPN (subs. req’d): No. 43

• FanGraphs: Honorable mention

• MLB Pipeline: No. 36

• Keith Law (subs. req’d): No. 32

Usually I scour the player’s college page for any relevant nuggets, and hey, Forbes’ Louisville player page says his favorite team is the Yankees. Not sure how a kid from Bowling Green winds up a Yankees fan, but Forbes is one. Anyway, here’s video and here’s a snippet of MLB Pipeline’s free scouting report:

Forbes has explosive carry on his high-spin fastball, which averaged 94 mph last spring, ticked up with Team USA and in the Cape Cod League and now sits at 94-96 with a peak of 100. He also has added more power to his slider, which now runs from 81-85 mph and can be a plus pitch at its best, and he'll occasionally turn it into an upper-80s cutter. He hasn't had much time to refine an upper-80s changeup that features plenty of fade when it's on but also can get too firm … (Forbes) he could fit in the front half of a big league rotation.

The public scouting reports indicate Forbes was one of the spring’s top risers and had put himself in position to be a middle of the first round pick, then the flexor strain happened, and things chilled. The Yankees are willing to accept injury risk to get premium stuff early in the draft. Ben Hess, last year’s first rounder, had injuries in college, and Clarke Schmidt had Tommy John surgery a few weeks before the Yankees took him in the first round in 2017.

The Yankees do not pick until No. 39 overall. Forbes has arm talent and upside, and accepting that injury risk might be their best way to outkick their draft slot, so to speak. Also, this year is his first as a full-time pitcher. Forbes prepared to hit and pitch last year, then he broke his hand. He’s still relatively new to this. Get him with a good pitcher development team (which the Yankees are) and Forbes could really take off.

3. Rapid fire thoughts. All-Star Game voting opened Wednesday. Yep, it’s that time of year already. Here’s the ballot. DJ LeMahieu is listed at third base for some reason, and Jasson Domínguez is not among the outfielders. The three Yankees’ outfielders are Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham, and Aaron Judge. Someone was gonna get left out and it’s El Marciano. I’ll have a Futures Games/Home Run Derby/All-Star Game candidates thing in a few weeks. Judge and Max Fried are All-Star locks. I’d put Paul Goldschmidt and Carlos Rodón in the “they deserve it but I’m not 100% sure they’ll make it” group right now. Grisham might have the next best shot at an All-Star Game berth given the state of center field in the AL (i.e. not great). We’ll dig into this more in a few weeks. All-Star voting is open though.

Mailbag Questions of the Week

Brandon asks: Does Devin Williams have a lefty problem? Anecdotally, it seems like he has issues locating and putting away lefties. Was wondering if there is any data to back that up?

Williams does have a lefty problem. You could see it Tuesday when he couldn’t put the switch-hitting Carlos Santana away (nine-pitch at-bat, then a double) and the lefty hitting Daniel Schneemann pulled a slightly elevated changeup to right for a single. Devin’s lefty issues really show up in the strikeouts and walks: 20/4 K/BB vs. RHB and 9/8 K/BB (plus 2 HBP) vs. LHB. Here are the numbers:

We’re talking about 50-ish plate appearances against righties and lefties, so it’s not a big sample, but such is life with one-inning relievers. Clearly, Williams has not been as effective against lefties this season. His changeup, his signature pitch, is not missing bats against lefties at all. Williams is a strikeout guy, that’s his thing, but he’s had a real hard time getting lefties to swing over the Airbender.

Williams has always been a bit better against righties than lefties. This year’s platoon split is pretty large for him though, and he’s missed many more bats against lefties than this in the past. His overall location has not been good this year, especially with the fastball. This is it right here:

Williams has always pitched away with his fastball. Fastballs away, changeups down. That’s his thing. He has not been able to command his fastball against lefties though. Against righties, it’s been consistently away. Against lefties, it’s all over the place. The changeup is Williams’ moneymaker, but everything in this game starts with the fastball. A well-located heater opens up so much.

We’re in June now. It’s time for Williams to get it together and be the dominant closer he’s been his entire career, and the dominant closer the Yankees traded for. He’s been much better the last few weeks, but he still has not been that shutdown late-inning guy. With Luke Weaver hurt, it pretty much has to happen now, because the Yankees are gonna give Williams the ninth inning no matter what. The stuff is fine (at least based on the numbers). Williams just isn’t putting the ball where he needs to.

Jason asks: Do you think there is a chance that Jesus Rodriguez will get a chance at 3B? He's been fairly consistent with the bat, but I have no idea how he looks at 3B. They could use a RH hitter, and he's had great K and BB rates to go with his solid avg and OBP (good for 149 wRC+ at AAA this year). 

I don’t know if the Yankees will give Rodriguez a chance at third base, but they’re definitely preparing him for the possibility. Rodriguez has started 11 of his last 24 games at third (plus 10 at catcher and three at DH), and he’s about two weeks away from starting as many games at third base this year (currently 14) as all of last year (22). Triple-A Scranton’s other two catchers are journeymen Ronaldo Hernández and Alex Jackson. If the Yankees wanted Rodriguez to focus on his catching, he’d be catching, not splitting his time at catcher and third base. He’s hitting well too: .356/.441/.456 (147 wRC+) with almost as many walks (13.6%) as strikeouts (14.7%) in 39 Triple-A games. My preference is getting an actual Major League third baseman and not turning the position over to Rodriguez, a non-elite prospect with 69 career games above Single-A. The AL East stinks and the AL in general is very winnable. Aaron Judge ain’t getting any younger. The Yankees should put themselves in the best possible position this year, and not bet on a kid making an immediate impact. Also, there’s room on the roster for Rodriguez and a new infielder, right? Rodriguez could replace Pablo Reyes and be that extra righty bat on the bench. To answer the question, I think the Yankees are leaving the door open for Rodriguez to play third base at some point this year. I don’t think it is their Plan A, but it is something they are preparing him for, just in case.

George asks: I'm intrigued by prospect Jesus Rodriguez. Looking over his minor career stats, his OBP and OPS numbers stand out. Does he fit in as a possible backup? Escarra is fine defensively, but his bat seems weak.

I don’t think J.C. Escarra is a long-term solution at backup catcher. He’s a stopgap, and you can see how Rodriguez, a right-handed hitter, could step into that role in the future and pair with Austin Wells. Is that future later this year? Next year? I dunno, but at some point not too far away. Defensively, Rodriguez was described to me as “capable” before the season, whatever that means. Basically every catcher to come through the system the last, I dunno, 5-6 years has been way better defensively than advertised. The Yankees have earned the benefit of the doubt with catchers, so I assume Rodriguez’s defense will be Major League quality, if it isn’t already. Rodriguez has played a bunch of third base this year and in the past too. With him and Ben Rice, maybe the Yankees operate with co-backup catchers? Wells is the starter, and they can put Rice and/or Rodriguez in the lineup at another position without worrying about having a backup that night. I thought Carlos Narváez was the heir apparent to Jose Trevino as the righty hitting backup. Now it looks like that job will fall to Rodriguez (or Rafael Flores?).

El asks: Seems like Eugenio Suarez would be the ideal trade pickup for the Yanks to man 3B (righty bat, move Jazz to 2B, get DJ on the bench, Suarez is in his walk year, Dbacks are in 4th place and below .500, Jordan Lawlar could play 3B). Should he be our top trade target? What would a package look like? 

I would not go as far as to call Suárez the “ideal” trade pickup. He’s a below average defender and a slow/bad baserunner, so he’d chip away at the well-roundedness the Yankees built this year, but he’s likely going to be the best second/third baseman with a realistic chance to be available at the deadline. The Diamondbacks have won four straight to get back to .500, and they’re close enough in the Wild Card race to stick with it, but their pitching is a complete mess. A few bad weeks and they could sell, and as a rental with a young player ready to replace him (Jordan Lawlar), Suárez figures to be the first to go.

Now 33, Suárez is hitting .232/.311/.504 (123 wRC+) with 16 home runs and manageable strikeout (24.4%) and walk (7.9%) rates. He’s had a huge reverse split (62 wRC+ vs. LHP and 139 wRC+ vs. RHP) that is completely out of line with the last few years. Suárez’s split has slightly favored lefties the last few years but is pretty small overall. He’s been close to neutral. Good against both lefties and righties. I assume this year’s reverse split is a sample size thing. His righty power bat would lengthen the middle of the lineup and also help when opposing teams run a parade of lefty relievers against the Yankees.

Trade for Suárez right at the deadline and you’re taking on about $5M in salary, or $10.5M total for the Yankees once you factor in the 110% luxury tax rate. Will Hal Steinbrenner okay that? Probably not, but that’s a question for another time. Here are some recent veteran rental bat trades that could give us an idea of what it’ll take to get Suárez at the deadline:

• Jeimer Candelario (Nationals to Cubs): Traded for two team top 20 prospects (LHP DJ Herz, SS Kevin Made).

• Danny Jansen (Red Sox to Blue Jays): Traded for three non-top 30 lottery ticket prospects (RHP Gilberto Batista, IF Cutter Coffey, SS Eddinson Paulino).

• Justin Turner (Blue Jays to Mariners): Traded for a team top 20 prospect (OF RJ Schreck).

• Jesse Winker (Nationals to Mets): Traded for a team top 15 prospect (RHP Tyler Stuart).

Candelario and Jansen seem most relevant. Winker’s basically a DH whereas Suárez can play a position. Not well, but he can play it, and third base is not an easy position to fill. Turner is nowhere close to the hitter he was in his prime and again, he was basically a DH. Candelario and Jansen were rental bats with good bats for their positions and enough defensive chops to say in the field, like Suárez.

Trading 2-3 top 20-ish prospects for Suárez is totally cool with me. Is that what the D’Backs will want in a trade? I could see them pushing for MLB-ready pieces given the makeup of their roster. They don’t need to rebuild. They need to get help for Ketel Marte, Gabriel Moreno, Geraldo Perdomo, and the Corbins (Burnes and Carroll). There’s no reason Arizona can’t contend for a Wild Card spot next year.

The bullpen has been so bad that I wonder if the D’Backs would target multiple relief pieces in a Suárez trade. Would they want some combination of, say, Clayton Beeter, Eric Reyzelman, and Ian Hamilton? Guys who could step into the big league bullpen right away (well, maybe not Reyzelman) and at least raise the floor of the bullpen? Or do they prefer that to 2-3 kids in Single-A who are a year or two away?

The Cubs, Brewers, Mariners, and Mets stand out as potential competition for Suárez (the Mariners have been there, done that though). The defense and baserunning are not great, but I don’t see a second or third baseman who has a chance to hit the market and contribute as much as Suárez at the plate. We can quibble over the definition of “ideal.” I think Suárez will be the best option likely to hit the market.

Ray asks: Who says no to this trade: Dominguez and Warren to Cleveland for Steven Kwan and Luis Ortiz. Yanks get a leadoff hitter and SP depth, Cleveland gets two promising players for more years (and helps their budget)

The Guardians say no. I don’t think they would do Jasson Domínguez and Will Warren for Kwan alone, let alone with Ortiz included (this question was sent in before Ortiz shut the Yankees down Wednesday). They value Kwan that much and I don’t think all the extra years of control would be enough to move the need for them, especially since Kwan has said several times he’s open to an extension. Unless he changes his mind and says he’ll test the market after 2027, I expect Cleveland to extend him, and not look to trade him. Kwan right now is a better player than Domínguez, and the Ortiz/Warren aspect is a bit of a wash, so this trade would be a win for the Yankees even while giving up those extra years of control. Kwan would make the Yankees quite a bit better this year and probably over the next two years too. I think the Yankees would get a polite “thanks but no thanks” and Cleveland quickly hangs up.

Max asks: LaMonte Wade Jr. I loved your idea to get him in the offseason, but the Giants just designated him for assignment. Aside from his walk rate, chase rate, and K rate, his statcast sliders have plummeted. Too much so for the Yankees to platoon him with Goldschmidt? He's even fielding and running worse, so maybe he's hurt.

Exhibit 19,478,908 as to why I write a blog and don’t do anything of real importance. Wade was my first base pickup as part of last winter’s Offseason Plan, and I traded Caleb Durbin and Ben Hess (last year’s first rounder!) to get him. Wade then hit .167/.275/.271 (59 wRC+) with hideous underlying numbers. The Giants DFAed him earlier this week and signed Dom Smith to replace him (baseball is a flat circle). The Yankees don’t need another first base/DH type. If Wade is willing to go to Triple-A, then sure, give him a minor league deal, but he doesn’t make sense for the MLB roster. Ben Rice can (and should) platoon with Paul Goldschmidt once Giancarlo Stanton returns and starts taking DH at-bats. The Red Sox need a first baseman with Triston Casas out for the season. Maybe Wade ends up in Boston?

Joshua asks: We talk big moves often. Let’s go with a tiny one. Can we give Scott Effross another try? I think he’s finally healthy.

This question came in before Luke Weaver’s injury. Honestly, I think Effross is closer to a DFA than he is to helping the Yankees as anything more than an up/down guy. He’s given up eight runs and put 11 guys on base in three Triple-A innings, his fastball is sitting 88-89 mph (down from 90-91 mph in 2022), and his sweeper has almost half as much horizontal break as it did in 2022. Maybe that last part is intentional, the Yankees might’ve tweaked his slider, but everything else is pretty bad. There’s no need to move on from Effross yet. The Yankees have plenty of 40-man roster flexibility (two open spots plus Oswaldo Cabrera as a 60-day injured list candidate). He doesn’t look a whole lot like the guy who was so good in 2022 though. Hopefully Effross gets it together once he gets further away from (his latest) injury and gets more innings under his belt in Scranton. For now, I don’t see him helping the Yankees in a meaningful way anytime soon.

Pete asks: I’ve been trying to figure out why Max Fried was charged with 6 ER last night against the Dodgers. The last batter he put on was Freeman who was thrown out at the plate. The 6th run was Pages (who singled off Loaisiga). Why was that run charged to Fried?

There's a weird rule about inherited runners and fielder's choices. This is Rule 9.16(g) (emphasis mine):

(g) When pitchers are changed during an inning, the Official Scorer shall not charge the relief pitcher with any run (earned or unearned) scored by a runner who was on base at the time such relief pitcher entered the game, nor for runs scored by any runner who reaches base on a fielder’s choice that puts out a runner left on base by any preceding pitcher.

Rule 9.16(g) Comment: It is the intent of Rule 9.16(g) to charge each pitcher with the number of runners he put on base, rather than with the individual runners. When a pitcher puts runners on base and is relieved, such pitcher shall be charged with all runs subsequently scored up to and including the number of runners such pitcher left on base when such pitcher left the game, unless such runners are put out without action by the batter (i.e., caught stealing, picked off base or called out for interference when a batter-runner does not reach first base on the play).

Fried exited with Freddie Freeman at second, Will Smith at third, and no outs. Andy Pages then drove in Smith with a single off Jonathan Loáisiga, and Freeman moved to third. The next batter, Tommy Edman, hit a chopper to first. Paul Goldschmidt threw home and Freeman was out on the rundown. Pages scored later in the inning when Tim Hill walked Michael Conforto with the bases loaded.

Fried was responsible for two runners: Smith and Freeman. Smith scored on Pages’ single. Once Freeman was erased on the fielder’s choice, Fried’s second runner became Pages even though he wasn’t the runner who reached on the fielder’s choice (that was Edman). The fielder’s choice kicks the previous pitcher’s responsibility to the new lead runner (Pages). Basically, Fried left two guys on base, and once the fielder’s choice happened, he was in line to be charged with the next two runs (Smith and then Pages replacing Freeman) no matter who actually put those runners on base. Weird, I know.

Brad asks: Key moment in the game, runner in scoring position and your batter was injured so you have to send up a pinch hitter. You're looking at the bottom of the Yankees bench. Is there any pitcher on the team that you would rather send up to bat before you send up your worst hitter (Pablo Reyes?) to pinch hit?

No, come on. Max Fried is the last pitcher ever to win a Silver Slugger and he’s a career .214/.272/.270 (46 wRC+) hitter. He also hasn’t picked up a bat in four years. Reyes has been really bad (5-for-26) this year, and he’s had only 10 at-bats in the last 36 days, but he is an actual hitter who takes BP every day and spends his offseasons training to hit. Give me the worst hitting position player over the best hitting pitcher eight days a week and twice on Sundays.

Brian asks: Apropos of nothing, should MLB get rid of AL/NL end of season awards? Made sense prior to inter league play, but now I fail to see the point. No other league does this and it waters down the prestige of the awards.

Allow me to be an annoying baseball media person: MLB’s awards are not MLB’s. They are the BBWAA’s. MLB did not create the awards, nor do they pick the winners or present the trophies. They are the BBWAA’s awards and MLB just piggybacks. It would be the BBWAA’s decision to stop with the AL/NL split, not MLB’s.

Interleague play has definitely blurred the lines between leagues. Rob Manfred has said he would like to put the expansion wheels in motion before he retires in 2029, and once MLB goes to 32 teams (probably in the 2030s), they could split the league into eight four-team divisions that are aligned geographically, not by tradition. AL/NL could go away in favor of Eastern and Western conferences. 

At that point you don’t need AL/NL awards, and could have one MVP, one Cy Young, etc. East/West awards would be kinda weird, no? No other sport has them. I don’t think the BBWAA needs to change the awards right now. Stick with AL/NL for tradition’s sake. Once expansion happens though, and the math necessitates some level of realignment, it’ll be time to revisit the awards. 

(Send your requests for Friday's mailbag to RABmailbag at gmail dot com. The random Yankee series is on hiatus, but feel free to send in requests for when it returns.)