August 13th, 2024: White Sox, Cole, Weaver, Bullpen, August Trade & Waiver Targets

It’s kinda remarkable there are no powerhouse teams this year, isn’t it? No team is on pace to win more than 96 games. Excluding 2020, there have been at least three 100-win teams every year since 2016, and at least one 98-win team every year since 2013. Call it parity, call it mediocrity, call it whatever you want. Whatever it is, it’s widespread. I remind myself of this whenever I get frustrated by the 2024 Yankees, which happens often these days. Anyway, here is today’s post.

1. Weekend thoughts. Easy part of the schedule, huh? For who, the Yankees, or their opponents? Every win is a high wire act, every loss is a beatdown. The Yankees are 20-28 since June 14th, the second worst record in the AL and fifth worst record in baseball. This has gone on for two months now, and whenever you think they’re about to climb out of it, they do that. A few thoughts on the last few games. 

Inexcusable

The Yankees have suffered worse losses this year – the ninth inning meltdown in Baltimore the day before the All-Star break is the current leader in the clubhouse for worst loss of the season – but Monday was the worst loss of the season, if you know what I mean. It was an inexplicable, inexcusable, inexwhatever performance. A flat out embarrassment, period. And of course the manager thinks everything was fine.

"Just not able to break through. That wasn't the issue. We couldn't keep them off the board,” Aaron Boone told Max Goodman after Monday's loss. “Offensively, we had the right at-bats. Put pressure. Could have been one of those nights where we threw a lot of crooked numbers up there. Just couldn't get that hit obviously, and they kept us in the yard. But offensively, the at-bats were fine."

The White Sox might be the worst team of all-time. Even if they’re not, they’re in the conversation, and that alone is bad enough. And yet they scored a season high 12 runs, had a season high 18 hits, and had their largest lead of the season Monday night. The Yankees stranding a small village in the first few innings was bad, but 12 runs? To the White Sox? Chicago went into that game averaging 3.08 runs per game.

In the last six games the Yankees have allowed 8, 9, 0, 9, 7, and 12 runs. All against below average to historically terrible offenses (Angels, Rangers, White Sox). Over the last calendar month the Yankees have allowed 5.58 runs per game. It’s 6.10 runs per game in August. With the exception of a few individuals, the pitching staff is in complete free fall. Starters, relievers, shuttle guys, they're all falling apart.

The White Sox sent 43 batters to plate Monday and four – four! – struck out. Luis Gil struggled with everything for the second straight start, and because he’s already over his previous career high in innings, it’s fair to wonder if he’s gassed. And if he is, what do the Yankees do? Will Warren is the only alternative right now and that ain’t great. Clarke Schmidt (and Cody Poteet) is still weeks away.

Enyel De Los Santos threw 48 pitches Monday, allowed seven runs in 1.2 innings, and is almost certainly going to get DFAed in favor of a fresh arm later today. It wasn’t a big trade and I don’t think anyone expected De Los Santos to be a difference-maker, but still, we can add this one to the trade deadline loss pile. It’s gotten pretty big the last few years. This trade turned sour in record time.

The Yankees had 20 baserunners (nine hits and 11 walks) and scored only two runs for the second time in franchise history. They also did it on Sept. 12th, 1912, per Katie Sharp, and they weren’t even the Yankees then. They were still the Highlanders. There are going to be nights with massive RISPFAIL, it happens, but things like Alex Verdugo's idiotic bunt attempt (video) and DJ LeMahieu facing a righty reliever while representing the tying run chap me. Those are dumb, unforced errors. They are a Yankees specialty.

Even if the Yankees rebound to win the final two games of the series, it’s like, so what? You didn’t just lose to a team on pace for 123 losses, you got boat-raced. You had a chance to come out, put the game to bed early, take control of the series and move back into sole possession of first place, and instead you got run out of the building. Just a disgusting game. The Yankees are 5-5 and have been outscored by 11 runs 10 games into their supposedly easy August schedule. This team excels at playing down to its opponent.

On pulling Cole and Weaver’s meltdown

While I understand the complaints, I’m okay with the Yankees pulling Gerrit Cole after only 90 pitches on Saturday. They were 90 really good pitches – 5.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 10 K (video) – and yeah, it did seem like Cole had more left in the tank, but he had to push a start back just last week because he was feeling “very fatigued” (Cole’s words). I’m not sure Aug. 10th is the time to push your $36M a year ace.

"We were going to be pretty strict at 90 today,” Boone said after pulling Cole (video). “With what he has been through, it is just encouraging to see him go out and throw the ball the way he did today again. He has to just go on and get through this. Just making sure that we are in a good spot with him. Obviously, I thought he threw the ball outstandingly again. So I feel like we are building some steam here going forward.”

The Yankees had Cole on a 90-pitch limit Saturday and stuck to it, and I’m okay with not having the pedal on the floor given Cole’s injury/fatigue issues this year. There will be a time to push him hard. I don’t think Saturday was it. Not with a rested bullpen ready to go behind him. All things considered, Cole looking as good as he did was the most important thing to happen Saturday. It’s mid August. We need to start seeing on-his-game Gerrit more consistently, and we saw it Saturday.

Cole being pulled at 90 pitches was second-guessed mostly because Luke Weaver had a disaster outing. Jazz Chisholm Jr. not stepping on third base to get the force out after Juan Soto’s missed diving catch didn’t help matters (video) – "I thought they called it a catch, so I was really looking for the double play right there,” Chisholm told Gary Phillips – but Weaver faced six batters and retired one. He walked No. 9 hitter Carson Kelly on four pitches to walk in the go-ahead run. This is not a competitive performance:

“It was one of those days. It happens,” Boone told Bill Ladson about Weaver’s outing. “He has been so good for us obviously. It wasn’t his day. I don’t think he had the right feel for the changeup. It was just one of those days where they got him. What he has meant to our pen, it’s going to happen at different times over the course of the year.”

Weaver was charged with five earned runs in one-third of an inning Saturday and went from a 2.81 ERA (3.64 FIP) to a 3.50 ERA (3.89 FIP) with that performance. He’s been really good overall this year. Not quite as automatic the last few weeks, but really good overall. For all the bellyaching about Cole coming out after 90 pitches, that loss is on Weaver, not Boone (and I have no trouble blaming Boone for things). Weaver just needs to be better. That one is on the player, not the manager. Bad job, Luke.

“It’s just one that you write up and you wish it went differently, but this game finds a way to humble you sometimes,” Weaver told Ladson. “Gerrit did such a great job. It hurts, and you feel a little shell-shocked from it. You have to keep pushing forward knowing there is another game tomorrow.”

The bullpen of my discontent

The Yankees need to give Soto $500M this offseason and then spend another $500M on relievers. No mas with building bullpens with other teams’ scraps. Go be the Yankees, spend some money, and bring in some premier relievers, okay? I know relievers are risky and usually poor investments, but just let me vent. These reclamation project relievers are wearing me thin. You’re the Yankees. Stop trying to be the Rays.

Eight relievers have made 12 relief appearances in the last four games. In only one of the 12 – Tommy Kahnle in the ninth inning of Saturday night’s loss – did the reliever not allow a baserunner. Kahnle had a 1-2-3 inning in garbage time in that blowout loss and every other relief appearance these last four days had at least one runner on base. Each of the last six relievers used (spanning Sunday and Monday) allowed at least one run. There’s never an easy inning.

Mark Leiter Jr. allowed two home runs Sunday – he allowed two homers all year prior to that – and Clay Holmes needed 45 pitches to get four outs. He’d never thrown more than 34 pitches as a Yankee, and the 45 pitches were his most since throwing 64 pitches on Aug. 20th, 2019, when he was a long reliever for the Pirates. And apparently the plan was to stick with Holmes as long as possible? If he didn’t get Leody Taveras to ground out to end the game, there was no righty ready to face Kelly. Seems crazy.

“I felt like he still had it,” Boone told Dan Martin. “His stuff was real sharp. They were putting up tough at-bats and I was uncomfortable with it, without a doubt, but I also felt we had to ride it out.”

Weaver gave up the yams Saturday and has a 5.30 ERA (5.05 FIP) and a 1.93 HR/9 since July 1st. Michael Tonkin has been scored upon in seven of his last eight appearances, during which opponents have hit .321/.400/.509 against him. Leiter’s been good more often than not, but he melted down Sunday, and has only been a Yankee for two weeks. Who’s the reliable shutdown reliever right now? There isn’t one.

Beyond the recent ineffectiveness, the one thing I don’t like about this bullpen is no one can throw a fastball by a hitter. Holmes needs you to pound a sinker into the ground or swing through a breaking ball. Kahnle and Weaver need you to swing over their changeups. Leiter needs you to swing over a splitter. Tim Hill wants you to put a sinker on the ground. Jake Cousins needs you to chase a slider in the other batter’s box. De Los Santos doesn’t seem to do much of anything.

I’m not asking for Mason Miller and 104 mph fastballs, though I would happily take someone like that in my bullpen. I mean a standard issue 98 mph four-seamer up in the zone. Cole has it, Gil has it, Carlos Rodón has it, but the bullpen doesn’t and it is a problem. There’s something to be said for being able to reach back and throw a fastball by a hitter in a big spot. Instead, everyone in the bullpen relies on fooling the hitter or on the defense to make plays. Got one or two or even three relievers like that? That’s fine. But all of them? It’s bad bullpen construction.

A bad regular season bullpen does not automatically equal a bad postseason bullpen. The personnel changes and the usage changes in October because a starter(s) moves to the bullpen, built-in off-days allow you to lean on your top guys more heavily, etc. Scott Effross has not been good in Triple-A (4.86 ERA and 4.17 FIP), but he’s been better the last few times out, and his velocity is returning:

Effross is not going to solve the bullpen’s fastball problem, but maybe he can help in general. Lou Trivino (remember him?) will start a rehab assignment soon, Brian Cashman said. Maybe he helps at some point. Schmidt is going to push a starter into the bullpen (likely Nestor Cortes, though that’s not certain), giving the Yankees another bullpen option. The Aug. 13th bullpen is not going to be the Game 1 bullpen.

More than a few recent pennant winners and World Series winners figured out the bullpen on the fly in the postseason. The 2023 Rangers had more blown saves (33) than saves (30) during the regular season! The Diamondbacks rebuilt their bullpen late last season too. The 2022 Phillies, 2020 Dodgers, 2019 Astros and Nationals, 2018 Red Sox, 2017 Astros, so on and so forth. They all had shaky relief crews during the regular season, then figured it out when it mattered most.

A bad bullpen coming together in the postseason is absolutely doable. It happens almost every year. It’s a lot to ask though, and for every team that figures out a bullpen on the fly in October, there are several that don’t figure it out, and go home early. I think the bullpen’s talent level is greater than its recent performance. Eventually though, these guys need to perform. These last few weeks have been really bad, and they're somehow getting worse.

“I still think we have a chance to have an excellent bullpen,” Boone told Goodman on Monday. “I feel good about the guys we have down there. I really do … I feel like we have the makings to be really really good down there. But we’ve gotta go out and do it.”

Miscellany

Rodón was really good again Saturday: 5.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 6 K (video). Too many walks, though that’s out of character for him. The five walks are a season high, and 18 times in 24 starts he’s walked two or fewer. Only twice has he walked more than three. I was down on Rodón coming into the season (how could you not be after last year?), and he had an ugly rough patch in late June/early July, but he’s been really good the last month or so … Giancarlo Stanton hit one of those “only Stanton can do that” home runs Sunday. He damn near dropped to a knee to hit a ball 114.9 mph (video). Look how low he was when he connected:

Giancarlo is 6-for-21 (.286) with two doubles and two homers in his last five games. His at-bats have looked good since he came back (15.0 K%!), and now the production is starting to arrive (yes, I know he didn't come through with RISP a few times Monday) … Since July 1st, Austin Wells has a 16.8 K% and 13.4 BB%. His at-bats and contact rates have been so good! Better than I expected just because he’s a rookie and the big leagues are hard, not because I didn’t believe in him. Here is the catcher FanGraphs WAR leaderboard heading into Monday (fWAR includes framing):

1. Cal Raleigh: +3.6 fWAR
2. Patrick Bailey: +3.5 fWAR
3. William Contreras: +3.2 fWAR
4. Austin Wells: +2.7 fWAR
5. Adley Rutschman: +2.7 fWAR

Wells emerging as a bona fide No. 1 catcher, one who’s good at the plate and behind it, has been one of my favorite parts of the 2024 season … Marcus Stroman’s first start since being pushed back so he could work on his mechanics: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 1 K on 89 pitches (only one swing and miss). He settled down the last few innings and got some weak grounders, which is his M.O. It felt like one of Stroman’s early season starts, where he was surviving more than dominating. That said, sign me up for one run in five innings every time out from now through the end of the season … Chisholm’s third base inexperience really showed up over the weekend (multiple times), and that was bound to happen at some point. Play guys out of position and you have to live with the learning curve. Overall, I’ve been pleasantly surprised with Jazz’s defense at third. Hopefully the mistakes fade as he gets more acclimated. At the plate, he is 8-for-19 (.421) with three homers in five games since the six-strikeout doubleheader … And finally, Soto’s homer Sunday gives him a home run against all 30 franchises. Reminder: Soto is 25. Globe Life Field, Guaranteed Rate Field, and T-Mobile Park are the only ballparks he’s yet to go deep in. The Yankees have two more games in Chicago this week, and they’ll go to Texas and Seattle in September. Juan has a chance to complete the set this season. Ridiculous.

Injury updates and roster moves

Chisholm (elbow) will have tests Tuesday after getting hurt on that play at the plate Monday (video). X-rays came back negative and Jazz told Phillips he’s “not super concerned,” but I’ll feel better when I see him back on the field and performing, and not a second sooner … Trent Grisham (hand) escaped Saturday’s HBP with a bruise and some swelling. X-rays and a CT scan came back clean. “We dodged a bullet there,” Boone told Mark Sanchez. Grisham hasn’t played since the HBP in the first game of the doubleheader, though spending a few games on the bench isn’t unusual for him … Schmidt (lat) threw 25 pitches in live BP on Saturday. He’ll do it again Wednesday, and will possibly start a rehab assignment after that. Schmidt told Phillips he’s looking at 2-3 rehab starts and hopes to be back before the end of the month. I hope so too, Clarke … Poteet (triceps) is on the same schedule as Schmidt. He threw a 25-pitch live BP this past Saturday, will do it again Wednesday, and he could start a rehab assignment after that … Jose Trevino (quad) started a rehab assignment Sunday. He went 0-for-1 with a walk and caught five innings with Double-A Somerset. Seems like things are lined up for Trevino to return for the start of the homestand next Tuesday? Maybe even sooner than that … Ian Hamilton (lat) threw a bullpen Friday and has two live BPs scheduled for this week … And finally, the Yankees picked up outfielder Cam Eden in a cash trade with the Blue Jays last Friday. This is the annual “possible postseason pinch-runner if the Yankees decide to carry one” move. Eden, 26, is hitting .206/.304/.338 (67 wRC+) with 26 steals in Triple-A this year. He is 79-for-90 (88%) stealing bases at Triple-A the last two years. Even if the Yankees don’t use Eden, who went 1-for-6 in limited big league time last September and is not on the 40-man roster, as a pinch-runner, he is an extra body for a RailRiders team that has been short on bodies the last two weeks.

Up next

The final two games of the White Sox series, an off-day, then a weekend in Detroit. Here are the pitching matchups between now and Friday’s post:

• Tuesday at White Sox: LHP Nestor Cortes vs. RHP Jonathan Cannon (8pm ET on YES)

• Wednesday at White Sox: TBA vs. RHP Davis Martin (8pm ET on Amazon, MLBN)

• Thursday: off-day

The Yankees need a spot starter Wednesday because of Saturday’s doubleheader. Warren can not come up to make that start because he’s still in the 15-day waiting period. Yoendrys Gómez can, though he hasn’t thrown more than 43 pitches in a game since July 14th. He’s not stretched out. Unless the bullpen gets wrecked Tuesday, the Yankees might just go with a bullpen game Wednesday since there is an off-day coming Thursday. We’ll see.

2. Scouting the Market: August possibilities. The trade deadline has come and gone and so has the time to make meaningful additions. There are still ways to add players though, and as long as that player is in your organization before 11:59pm ET on Saturday, Aug. 31st, he’s postseason-eligible. If he joins your organization after that date, no dice. Can’t be on the postseason roster, period. There are no loopholes.

The three ways to add players after the deadline are the same as the rest of the year: trades, free agency, and waivers. Free agency is business as usual, though in mid August, you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel. August waiver claims are sometimes coordinated to serve as salary dump “trades” – you put this guy on waivers and we’ll take his salary, etc. – with the Angels taking it to the extreme last year.

Trades are still possible after the deadline – the Yankees picked up Cam Eden in a cash trade with the Blue Jays last Friday – but they are very restricted. The players eligible to be traded after the deadline:

• Signed to a minor league contract.

• Has not been on a 40-man roster at any point this season.

• Has not been on the MLB injured list at any point this season.

Last year Kole Calhoun, Tyler Naquin, and Sean Newcomb were the recognizable names traded in August. There are better players available on waivers than in trades this time of year. The Yankees salary dumped Harrison Bader last August, you may remember. Ramón Laureano and Jacob Webb were waiver claims last August in addition to all those Angels guys (Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo López, Matt Moore, etc.).

The Yankees have not been especially active the last few Augusts. They claimed Cory Gearrin from the Mariners in 2019 – that was the first year without the old August waiver trade system – dumped Bader last year, and also claimed Luke Weaver from Seattle last September. Weaver made three meaningless starts, but the claim allowed them to build a relationship, and that led to his re-signing this past offseason.

Will the Yankees be more active this August? Probably not, but that won’t stop me from looking at potential August targets. They got the infield bat (Jazz Chisholm Jr.) and swing-and-miss reliever (Mark Leiter Jr.) they needed at the trade deadline. Those were the most pressing needs. The roster still has room for improvement though, and I’d rank their needs like so:

1. Starting pitcher
2. Righty bat
3. Lefty reliever

The starters had a 2.71 ERA (3.80 FIP) in the first 60 games and it’s a 5.29 ERA (4.89 FIP) in the last 60 games. Nestor Cortes and Marcus Stroman are down bad, Gerrit Cole isn’t yet the Cy Young version of himself, Luis Gil has already thrown a career high in innings, and we just don’t know what Clarke Schmidt will look like when he returns. Jack Flaherty would’ve been nice, back issue and all. Too late now though.

The Yankees went into Monday’s game hitting .235/.331/.385 (106 wRC+) against lefties even after beating up on Andrew Heaney on Sunday. They don’t have a viable pinch-hitter for Alex Verdugo and they’ve been waiting all season for Giancarlo Stanton, et al to start hitting southpaws. The Yankees crush righties (.260/.337/.461 and 125 wRC+). They’re set there. Southpaws can give them fits though.

I don’t think a lefty reliever is a top priority – Leiter and Tommy Kahnle are effective against lefties and Tim Hill is a left-on-left ground ball monster – but a true swing-and-miss lefty would be nice. Someone who can match up with Yordan Alvarez, Rafael Devers, Gunnar Henderson, etc. in October and reduce the chances of a ball in play, because when those guys put the ball in play, bad things happen.

Anyway, that intro was longer than I planned. Here are a few players who could become available this month and could interest the Yankees.

Starting pitchers

RHP Chris Flexen, White Sox: The Yankees will miss Flexen, who has a 5.34 ERA (5.17 FIP) in 118 innings this year, during this week’s ChiSox series. The 30-year-old is what he is: Back-end cannon fodder. He gives innings and that’s it. Not good innings, but innings. He is someone you bring in when you don’t care too much about results and simply need help covering 162 games worth of innings. The Yankees are not this desperate, right? (I would have written this blurb word-for-word about Weaver last August, so who knows.)

LHP Rich Hill, free agent: Hill, now 44, threw for interested teams Friday. Since the offseason he’s said his plan is to stay in shape and sign with a contender down the stretch, and it’s getting to be time to sign with a contender. The Yankees were rumored to have interest in him last month. A year ago Hill threw 146.1 innings with a 5.41 ERA (4.87 FIP) for the Pirates and Padres, and between his age and recent performance, it seems unlikely he can contribute anything more than spare innings. That said, Hill’s done some incredibly unexpected things in his career, and it’s possible taking a few months off will result in a fresh and productive pitcher for the stretch run. I guess we should consider Hill both a possible starting pitcher and lefty reliever target.

LHP Dallas Keuchel, free agent: Keuchel is still going at age 36. He started the season in Triple-A with the Mariners, the Brewers got him in a cash trade in late June and had him make four ineffective spot starts (10 runs in 16.2 innings), then released him on July 18th. Since 2021, Keuchel has thrown 277 big league innings with a 6.24 ERA (5.22 FIP) for five different teams. That is who he is now. His advantage is being readily available as a free agent and already having a good innings base underneath him this year. You could probably ask him to give you 70-80 pitches tomorrow, if necessary.

RHP Charlie Morton, Braves: This is admittedly a long shot. The Braves are 2-7 in their last nine games and 11-17 in their last 28 games, and they’re barely hanging onto a Wild Card spot. Between long-term injuries (Ronald Acuña, Ozzie Albies, Michael Harris II, Spencer Strider) and underperformers (wtf Matt Olson?), it looks like it’s just not their year. Turns out losing one of the five best position players in the world and one of the five best pitchers in the world to season-ending injuries less than two months into the season is hard to overcome.

I think there’s only one possible scenario in which Morton becomes available this month: Atlanta continues to fall out of the race, he tells the Braves he’s planning to retire after the season (he turns 41 in November and has been year-to-year for a few years now), and he wants another shot at a World Series ring. In that case, I could see the Braves doing Morton a solid and putting him on waivers, and given his $20M salary, it’s a very safe bet non-contenders won’t claim him. Only big market teams in the race would claim him.

Of course, Morton is one of those underperforming Braves, posting a 4.47 ERA (4.75 FIP) in 114.2 innings with strikeout (23.0%) and ground ball (46.8%) rates south of his norms. He’s made 21 starts and in 10 of them he’s allowed two runs or fewer. Six times he’s allowed five runs or more. Look at Morton’s last three starts:

• July 26th at Mets: 2.2 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 3 HR

• Aug. 1st vs. Marlins: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 K, 0 HR

• Aug. 8th vs. Brewers: 2.2 IP, 9 H, 8 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 4 HR

Against a bad and stripped down post-deadline Marlins team, Morton pitched well. Against the contending Brewers and Mets, two teams with good offenses, he got rocked. Morton is losing his battle with Father Time. At the same time, he is the only starter mentioned here who at least has a chance to be considered for a postseason start. The rest of these guys are just filler.

I don’t expect Morton to become available this month – even if he does, there’s no guarantee he gets to the Yankees on waivers – but you can see the path to it happening, right? About five things need to happen first and even then you have to squint your eyes, but it’s not impossible. Is Morton someone to want at this point in his career? I dunno. But in terms of August waiver possibilities, this is about as good as it gets.

RHP Ross Stripling, Athletics: The good news: Stripling has gone at least 5.1 innings in each of his three starts since returning from an elbow sprain. Yankees starters aren’t a lock for five innings these days. The bad news: Stripling has a 5.40 ERA (4.08 FIP) in those three starts and that’s even while keeping the ball in the park (one homer in 16.2 innings), which usually isn’t his thing. This is a guy who had 1.64 HR/9 (15.5% HR/FB) in almost 400 innings from 2020-23.

The Giants are paying $9M of Stripling’s $12.5M salary, and my quick math says his new team would be on the hook for less than $870,000 if they claim him on Aug. 15th. There’s nothing special about Aug. 15th, I just picked a random date, but it shows how relatively little money you’d be taking on. The A’s have some young pitchers they may want to get a look at these last few weeks. Waiving Stripling seems likely. It frees up innings for the A’s, saves them money, and his new team gets a cheap veteran swingman.

RHP Trevor Williams, Nationals: Williams is currently injured, which makes him a perfect Yankees target nyuck nyuck nyuck. He’s been out with a flexor strain since late May and is playing catch. Andrew Golden says he could throw a bullpen this week. That means Williams is still several weeks away. It also means a team could claim him, rehab him, see how things go, then add him to their active roster if they deem him able to contribute. All it would cost is whatever remains of his $7M salary (he can go directly on the 60-day injured list too, so no 40-man roster move would be required). Williams was really good before the injury (2.22 ERA and 2.82 FIP in 56.2 innings), though that was pretty far out of line with his last five years. I bet Washington puts him on waivers just to see if they can unload the salary. Williams is not gonna throw meaningful innings for them. Might as well save the cash.

Righty bats

OF Miguel Andujar, Athletics: I answered a mailbag question about Miggy Missiles two weeks ago and said I would like the Yankees to aim higher at the deadline. They didn’t, so here we are talking about Andujar again. He’s hitting .287/.318/.388 (103 wRC+) overall and that’s split into …

• vs. RHP: .265/.293/.358 (87 wRC+)

• vs. LHP: .395/.435/.535 (181 wRC+)

… and the Yankees sure could use a 181 wRC+ vs. LHP bat! Except it’s only 46 plate appearances and there’s no way Andujar keeps that up. He’s a prime “hits .395 vs. LHP with the A’s and .200 vs. LHP with his new team” candidate. The rest of Andujar’s $1.7M salary is not onerous and Oakland is short on outfielders. They might just hang onto him since they’ll have him as an arbitration-eligible player next year.

1B/LF Mark Canha, Giants: San Francisco salary dumped Jorge Soler on the Braves and backfilled his at-bats against lefties with Canha, and you know what? The Giants are 12-5 in their last 17 games and are only 2.5 games out of a Wild Card spot. They gave up a Double-A reliever to get Canha from the Tigers, so it’s not like they have a ton invested in the guy. I wrote up Canha before the deadline and liked him as a platoon option. Now we just need the Giants to crash and burn these next three weeks, and put Canha and the rest of his $11.5M salary on waivers.

UTIL Amed Rosario, Dodgers: Acquired at the trade deadline for a fringe prospect, the Dodgers DFAed Rosario on Monday when Mookie Betts came off the injured list. He’s having a good season overall (.305/.331/.415 and 114 wRC+) and is crushing lefties: .327/.355/.462 (133 wRC+) with a 15.5 K%. It's almost all BABIP though. He's always been a poor exit velocity guy.

Tampa played Rosario in right field some, plus he can play second, short, and third. Not well, but he can play them. The Yankees pursued Rosario over the winter and he's dirt cheap ($1.5M salary), so a claim wouldn't surprise me. It has to be a claim too. Rosario is not tradeable in August. I'd like someone who could do more than slap singles against lefties, but the market is the market this time of year. (Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s elbow injury may make a Rosario claim more likely. He feels like a Royal to me though.)

UTIL Nick Solak, Mariners: Once upon a time the Yankees selected Solak in the second round (No. 62 pick in 2016), then traded him to the Rays as part of the three-team Brandon Drury deal. A year and a half later Tampa flipped him to the Rangers for Pete Fairbanks. Now 29, Solak is having a nice season in Triple-A (.325/.415/.482 and 127 wRC+) while showing good under-the-hood numbers:

• Exit velocity: 89.4 mph (Triple-A average: 87.1 mph)

• Barrel rate: 16.8% (Triple-A average: 16.9%)

• Hard-hit rate: 42.9% (Triple-A average: 35.7%)

• Swinging strike rate: 9.4% (Triple-A average: 12.3%)

That has always been Solak’s thing. Enough hard contact (90/90 club a few years ago!) to believe there’s more offense in the tank, but his swing decisions are poor (20th percentile SEAGER in Triple-A), so he doesn’t turn the hard-hit ability into consistent production. Solak is a career .283/.363/.428 (117 wRC+) hitter against lefties at the MLB level. You can talk yourself into him as a platoon option.

Solak has been with the Mariners on a minor league contract all year. He’s one of those tradeable Triple-A players. Those guys have been traded for cash or a fringe prospect. The contending Mariners may not want to trade Solak given their injuries (J.P. Crawford, Sam Haggerty, etc.) and their own need for depth, but he is tradeable, and he might fill the platoon bat need.

1B/3B/COF Patrick Wisdom, Cubs: I wrote up Wisdom when I wrote up Canha last month. The Isaac Paredes trade and Michael Busch’s emergence leaves Wisdom without a role, and a soon-to-be 33-year-old with a limited role, a limited skill set, and a $2.725M salary is firmly in the non-tender crosshairs. This is exactly the kinda player who gets put on waivers for salary dump purposes in August. Against lefties, Wisdom is gonna strike out once every three plate appearances and hit a home run every 15 plate appearances, and that’s about all he offers.

Lefty relievers

LHP Scott Alexander and LHP T.J. McFarland, Athletics: Two rental relievers on a bad team who are prime waiver fodder. The problem is neither Alexander (16.5 K% and 58.1 GB%) nor McFarland (17.5 K% and 61.5 GB%) is a bat-misser. They’re Tim Hill clones, and the Yankees already have Tim Hill. Injuries could always change roster needs, but, right now, Alexander and McFarland don’t solve any problems. They're just bodies.

LHP Matt Moore, Angels: The overall numbers are not good (4.96 ERA and 6.02 FIP), though Moore has had two major meltdown stretches this season: six runs in two innings from May 13-17, and eight runs in four innings from July 7-10. That’s 48% of his runs in 13% of his innings. Lefties are hitting .185/.264/.431 (.300 wOBA) with 18.1 K% against him, which is not dominant, but is workable. Add in a $9M salary I’m sure the Angels would love to unload, and yeah, Moore will be on waivers at some point. The Angels waived him last September, the Marlins claimed him, he threw four scoreless innings to help them get a Wild Card spot. They had to leave him off the postseason roster because he joined the team after 11:59pm ET on Aug. 31st, but Moore helped get the Marlins to the postseason. Perhaps he can do the same this year.

LHP Justin Wilson, Reds: With the Reds fading out of the race, Wilson seems like an excellent candidate to finish the season in another uniform. The overall 4.73 ERA (3.77 FIP) isn’t good, but most of the damage came very early in the season, and Wilson has a 29.9 K% and 4.5 BB% against lefties. He’s been better against righties than lefties for four years running too, so you don’t have to shelter him. At the same time, Wilson has given up four homers in 15.1 innings against lefties this year, and those didn’t all happen early this season. He’ll miss bats, but when he doesn’t, the contact will be loud. Wilson turns 37 in a week and he’s owed the remainder of his $1.5M salary, making him very affordable. The Reds have no reason to keep him and surely several contenders (including the Yankees) can use a veteran lefty who punches out close to 30% of the lefties he’s faced. Maybe two-time Yankee Justin Wilson should become three-time Yankee Justin Wilson?

LHP Ryan Yarbrough, Blue Jays: It is unconventional – Yarbrough has not thrown a pitch over 89.8 mph this season – but it is effective. Against lefties, at least. Yarbrough is holding lefties to a .133/.190/.224 (.189 wOBA) line thanks to grounders (51.3%) more than strikeouts (19.1%). The Blue Jays and Dodgers hooked up for a Yarbrough for Kevin Kiermaier trade at the deadline, and for Toronto, that was mostly about clearing an outfield roster spot for the newly acquired Joey Loperfido. Last week Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro told Keegan Matheson they are just under the $237M luxury tax threshold. Putting Yarbrough on waivers and hoping someone takes the balance of his $3.9M salary, and thus giving Toronto a better chance to avoid the luxury tax, seems like a thing that could happen.

Bonus player

RHP Nick Robertson, Cardinals: Over the weekend the Cardinals DFAed Robertson, who went from the Dodgers to the Red Sox in last year’s Enrique Hernández trade, and from the Red Sox to the Cardinals in the offseason’s Tyler O’Neill trade. The recently turned 26-year-old has pitched poorly in Triple-A (7.48 ERA and 5.86 FIP) and unimpressively in MLB (4.38 ERA and 4.56 FIP) this season – if he’d pitched well, he wouldn’t have gotten DFAed – but there is stuff to like beneath the surface:

• Four-seamer that has averaged 95 mph and topped out at 98 mph this year, albeit with less than stellar spin and induced vertical break.

• Two secondary pitches (changeup and slider) with a history of above average whiff rates, including at the big league level this year.

• Over seven feet of extension, which is near the top of the league. The Yankees seemed to prioritize big extension in this year’s draft.

• A minor league option remaining for 2025. He can be stashed in Triple-A.

With half the bullpen due to hit free agency this winter, Robertson seems like a worthwhile waiver claim as a depth reliever who, at minimum, could go up and down next season. And it has to be a waiver claim. He is not tradeable because he has big league time this year. I don’t think Robertson will get all the way to the Yankees on waivers, but, if he does, he’s an easy claim for me. The Yankees have worse on the 40-man roster (Josh Maciejewski, Anthony Misiewicz, etc.).

* * *

You can improve the roster only so much after the trade deadline. Realistically, low-end innings guys like Flexen and Stripling are the best the Yankees will be able to do for the rotation, and getting a quality righty platoon bat like Canha is a long shot. There should be a few decent lefty relievers available in the coming weeks (Hill, Wilson, etc.), but that’s also down a ways on the shopping list. August is for tinkering, not overhauling.

3. Rapid fire thoughts. MLB players are pushing to play in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles and Aaron Judge wants to be there. “I’d love to play … I’m all in on that … There’s very few opportunities to get to do that and especially, hopefully, in the prime of my career where I can still do it and make an impact, I’d love to. I’ve never represented my country before, never got invited to those Team USA (camps as an amateur). Never really made the cut for those. Hopefully now I can make the cut,” Judge told Greg Joyce (subs. req’d). Bryce Harper and Shohei Ohtani have said they want MLB players in the 2028 Olympics, and Rob Manfred said he is “open-minded” to the idea. There will be logistical issues to work through though, like what happens with the regular season? NPB paused its season in 2021 so the league’s best players could go to the Olympics (Japan won gold). Also, insurance. The NHL did not send players to the 2018 and 2022 Olympics because the parties involved couldn’t agree on who was responsible for insurance, travel costs, etc. I can see Manfred drawing a hard line on that. Anyway, Judge will be 36 in 2028 and who knows whether he’ll still be an elite player then. Four years is an eternity in baseball years. The World Baseball Classic is fun, but the Olympics have special appeal. With or without Judge, I hope MLB players go to the 2028 Olympics and we get a midsummer best-on-best tournament (i.e. not when guys are in Spring Training mode like in the WBC) … And finally, undrafted free agent Peter Serruto got his first Triple-A hit Sunday (video). I bring this up because, last week, I mentioned the Triple-A catching tandem is currently Serruto and J.C. Escarra. Escarra caught every inning of every RailRiders game from July 27th to Aug. 10th. That includes catching six straight days from July 30th to Aug. 4th, and both ends of a doubleheader on Aug. 10th. The Yankees rode the 29-year-old journeyman hard. Sunday was Serruto’s first career Triple-A appearance and his fourth pro game. He has six career plate appearances (two in High-A and four in Triple-A). Jose Trevino is getting closer to a return, at which point Carlos Narváez will go back to Scranton and give the RailRiders a better option at catcher, but Serruto and (mostly) Escarra have held things down behind the plate these last two weeks. 

(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.)