April 26th, 2024: Stanton, Rizzo, Bullpen, LeMahieu, Catchers, Schmidt, Mailbag

Cool thing alert: The Yankees now play John Sterling’s “Thuuuuu Yankees win!” call before “New York, New York” after the final out. You can hear it in the background here. Nice touch. They gotta break out the full “Ballgame over! World Series over! Yankees win! Thuuuuu Yankees win!” call when the Yankees win No. 28 this November. Let’s now get to today’s post.

1. Weekday thoughts. The Yankees had scored six runs in the first inning all season prior to hanging a four spot on Paul Blackburn in the first inning Tuesday. They scored in only four of 43 innings in the first five games of the homestand, then they scored in five different innings Wednesday. Then, to keep us honest, they brought a Super Soaker to a gunfight Thursday. Can’t have us getting too hopeful about the offense! Here are a few thoughts on the last three games of the Athletics series.

The new cleanup hitter

Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton have switched lineup spots. Stanton has hit cleanup in each of the last five games, and three of the five have come against right-handed starters (Blackburn, Aaron Civale, Joe Boyle). Considering how Stanton and Rizzo had swung the bat going into the A’s series, I can’t argue with the switch, though I can’t say I had “Stanton regularly hitting cleanup against righties in April” on my 2024 Yankees bingo card.

Coincidentally (or perhaps not?), Rizzo went deep Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday’s home went 385 feet. It was the farthest Rizzo has hit a ball since last June 18th. Wednesday’s homer traveled 417 feet. It was the farthest he’s hit a ball since last May 19th. A sign Rizzo is coming around? I hope so. The fact he is starting to hit balls farther than he did while concussed last year is a good sign, I’d sign.

Remember a few weeks ago when I mentioned the Yankees had already used their “A” lineup four times this season, and it was the first time in however many years they had used a specific lineup that many times? That lineup, which had Gleyber Torres leading off, isn’t even their most used lineup anymore. The Yankees have used Thursday’s lineup …

1. SS Anthony Volpe
2. RF Juan Soto
3. CF Aaron Judge
4. DH Giancarlo Stanton
5. 1B Anthony Rizzo
6. 2B Gleyber Torres
7. LF Alex Verdugo
8. C Jose Trevino
9. 3B Oswaldo Cabrera

… six times this season. This is the first time since 2018 the Yankees have used a specific lineup as many as six times in a season, and this is the first time in the Aaron Boone era they have used two different lineups at least four times in one season. It’s still April! I know the bench is weak, but since when has that stopped the Yankees from resting their regulars? Day after day, it’s the same lineup. It’s refreshing in a way.

The biggest offensive issue right now continues to be the lack of slug. The Yankees have hit eight home runs in their last 10 games and 27 homers in 26 games overall. Too many nights they’re trying to string together 3-4 singles in an inning multiple times. Thursday night the Yankees outhit the Athletics 11-6! But they only led in total bases 15-13 because the A’s banged while the Yankees dinked and dunked.

I don’t have much more to add here. I just wanted to note the lineup change – Stanton cleanup and Rizzo fifth, even against righties – and Rizzo hitting two dingers this week. Judge looks like he’s starting to swing the bat better too. The lineup’s looking a little deeper and more fearsome, but it’s not all the way there yet. Gleyber has to get the monkey off his back next. He needs a dinger in the worst way.

The evolving bullpen

Given the state of the bullpen, there is opportunity abound, and Ron Marinaccio kinda sorta maybe started to wiggle his way into the Circle of Trust™ earlier this week. He struck out two in a perfect ninth inning with the Yankees down two runs Monday, then entered with the tying run on base and one out in the sixth inning Tuesday. He retired three of the four batters he faced. Good two days for Ron from Toms River.

As you know, the Yankees need more swing-and-miss in their bullpen, and maybe Marinaccio can be that guy. Not even for the rest of the season. Even just temporarily until the Yankees find more permanent solutions. In 2022, the year he was a bullpen mainstay, Marinaccio had a 30.9% strikeout rate and a 40.9% whiff rate on his changeup. Can he come close to that for a few weeks? That would be nice.

Relievers are fickle. They can be great one year, earn a demotion to Triple-A the next, great the year after that, so on and so forth. Marinaccio crashed hard last summer (eight runs in 7.1 innings before being sent to Triple-A) and it took a few injuries to get back into the bullpen this year, but he is back, and all you have to do is string a few good outings together to earn more time. Marinaccio’s starting to do that.

Also, hello Luke Weaver. Weaver is also working his way into the Circle of Trust™, and he may even be in it already. His last three appearances have all been reasonably high leverage …

• Saturday: Entered with the score tied in the eighth.

• Sunday: Entered with two on and the tying run on deck in the sixth.

• Wednesday: Entered with the Yankees up two in the sixth.

… and he retired 15 of 16 batters in those three games (the baserunner was his own error when he dropped the feed from Rizzo at first base Sunday). Five strikeouts too. The 4.04 ERA (4.24 FIP) is not great and none of the peripherals stand out, but Weaver is trending in the right direction. If nothing else, he seems to have graduated from “low leverage long guy” to “1-3 innings in close games.”

In other bullpen news, the Yankees claimed righty Michael Tonkin off waivers from the Mets earlier this week. Tonkin wasn’t with the Yankees on Thursday, though they sent Cody Morris down after the game to open a 26-man roster spot, so Tonkin will be with the Yankees in Milwaukee. Morris spent six days with the Yankees and warmed up once, but never did get into a game.

McKinley Moore, who walked six of the nine batters he faced in his lone appearance for Triple-A Scranton, was DFAed to clear a 40-man roster spot for Tonkin. I bet he clears waivers and hangs around as a non-40-man guy. Tonkin has already bounced around a bunch this year. He started the season with the Mets. Here are the poor guy’s last few weeks:

• April 5th: DFAed by Mets after three appearances.

• April 9th: Traded to Twins for cash.

• April 13th: DFAed by Twins after one appearance.

• April 17th: Claimed off waivers by Mets.

• April 22nd: DFAed by Mets after two more appearances.

• April 25th: Claimed by Yankees.

Tim Healey had a quick story on Tonkin’s travels and all the logistical headaches with his family, his stuff, and things like that. The 34-year-old is a sinker/slider guy who had a 4.28 ERA (4.43 FIP) in 80 innings across 45 appearances with the Braves last year, which is an old school long man's workload. Tonkin is built up to 50 or so pitches, so he can give the Yankees some length, if needed.

I don’t want to spend too much time digging into the guy because I’m not sure Tonkin, who is out of options, will be around all that long, but he’s here now. Tonkin is the new low leverage guy and Marinaccio and Weaver are possibly working their way into the Circle of Trust™. The bullpen is evolving.

Miscellany

The balk that turned Judge’s season around? He struck out looking in the first inning Wednesday, though the pitch did not count because third base umpire John Tumpane called a balk on Joe Boyle. Judge took advantage and sent a pitch into the short porch later in the at-bat (video). He’s not back to being AARON JUDGE yet, but the at-bats are getting better and the contact is getting louder, even the outs … I was at Tuesday’s game and I’m not sure if they showed this on YES, but during a mid-inning pitching change, the outfielders got together and had a little “cheer off” with the bleachers. Verdugo pumped up the left field bleachers, Soto pumped up the right field bleachers, and then they threw some balls into the stands. You can see part of it here, though there was more to it than that. That was pretty cool. The vibes have been really great all season … A 5-0 lead against a bad team in April is the perfect time to push Clarke Schmidt into the sixth inning and the third time through the order. Four hitters later he gave up a moonshot to Brent Rooker and it was a 5-3 game. Schmidt’s never going to pitch deeper into games if the Yankees don’t let him try to navigate the third time through the lineup every now and then, but come on man. Can’t you get through the sixth inning once in a while when they give you the opportunity? Clarke was really good for five innings and then bad for four batters Wednesday … I know there’s a method to the madness, but some of the lefties Oswaldo Cabrera hits left-handed against are the kinda guys you’d think you never want to face left-handed. Josh Hader stands out most, but he also did it against Alex Wood and his herky-jerky delivery. Cabrera did get a hit against Wood though. He is 2-for-8 with four strikeouts hitting left-on-left and 5-for-17 (.294) with two strikeouts hitting left-on-right … And finally, the other day Boone confirmed he will not be fined for Monday’s fan-related ejection. Ejections come with an automatic fine, and MLB waiving it is about as close as the league will come to admitting umpire Hunter Wendelstedt screwed up. Whatever. At least I got a good laugh out of it.

Up next

A grueling seven-game road trip through Milwaukee and Baltimore. Eyeballing the schedule, I think this is their toughest road trip of the year in terms of opponent quality? There’s a Rays-Orioles trip in July and a Rangers-Cubs trip in September that could be a bear, but yeah, this is about as tough a road trip (on paper) as the Yankees will see all season. Here’s the schedule between now and the next post:

• Friday at Brewers: RHP Luis Gil vs. RHP Colin Rea (8pm ET)

• Saturday at Brewers: LHP Carlos Rodón vs. RHP Joe Ross (7pm ET)

• Sunday at Brewers: RHP Marcus Stroman vs. RHP Tobias Myers (2pm ET)

• Monday at Orioles: RHP Clarke Schmidt vs. RHP Grayson Rodriguez (6:30pm ET)

The Yankees caught a break and will not face Brewers ace Freddy Peralta this weekend. He’s been great this season (3.18 ERA and 3.01 FIP with 33.3% strikeouts), but he started Thursday afternoon, so the Yankees will avoid him. Myers is the pitcher the Rays traded to the Guardians for top prospect Junior Caminero a few years ago. Bad, bad whiff by Cleveland there.

I thought the Yankees might call up a spot starter this weekend to a) give everyone an extra day of rest during his stretch of 17 games in 17 days, and b) push Stroman into the O’s series, but nope. Cody Poteet last pitched Saturday and would’ve been available this weekend. DFA Tonkin and call up Poteet on Sunday, start him, then send down Poteet and call up a reliever for Monday. I guess it could still happen, but the Yankees have Stroman listed as Sunday’s starter.

It’s only April, but that Orioles series is important. Four games in Camden Yards, and with the new more balanced schedule, you only get so many cracks at division rivals. Head-to-head games are the best way to gain ground/create breathing room. The more wins you can rack up head-to-head, the easier life is later. Splitting those four games is the bare minimum. Taking three of four would be appreciated. 

2. LeMahieu’s setback. In the least surprising news ever, DJ LeMahieu’s foot did not fully heal in the five days between his last scan showing “healing, but not quite (as much as) they were hoping for” and the start of his rehab assignment. LeMahieu left his first rehab game Tuesday night after one at-bat and one defensive inning with soreness in his foot. He will be shut down for at least a week.

"We'll keep reevaluating week by week,” Boone told Jorge Castillo. Best case scenario is LeMahieu can resume baseball activities in a week, start a rehab assignment a week after that, and rejoin the Yankees a week after that? Sounds in the right ballpark. Point is, LeMahieu ain’t coming back anytime soon.

Boone confirmed LeMahieu did not have follow up tests to check his foot was fully healed before sending him out on a rehab assignment, which is impossibly stupid, but this is the same team that let Anthony Rizzo play two months with mashed potatoes for brains, so I can’t say I’m surprised. Is it really this difficult to manage injuries? Or are the Yankees just really bad at it? Maybe both?

I don’t know how much to expect from LeMahieu, who turns 36 this summer and is coming off a major foot injury, but the bench right now is a second baseman (Jahmai Jones) and two left-handed hitting outfielders (Trent Grisham and Taylor Trammell). Not particularly utile, that is. At worst, LeMahieu would have been a platoon option at the two corner infield spots. Best case he’s an everyday guy somewhere on the infield.

There’s also the leadoff problem. Gleyber Torres hit .200/.281/.240 (60 wRC+) in 12 games as the leadoff hitter, got moved down in the lineup, and, entering Thursday, Anthony Volpe was hitting .231/.310/.288 (82 wRC+) in the 13 games since moving up. The Yankees should probably do this against righties …

1. Alex Verdugo
2. Aaron Judge
3. Juan Soto
4-9. Everyone else

… and stack their best hitters together instead of spacing them out, though there are no indications they’re planning to make another change at leadoff. Again, I don’t know how much to expect from LeMahieu at this point in his career. It would have been nice to have him as a leadoff option though. The Yankees are short on good hitters, or, more accurately, they're short on hitters performing good. Maybe LeMahieu could have been one.

I saw Jon Berti running and taking ground balls earlier this week, so it seems he’s getting close to suffering a setback I mean starting a rehab assignment. Boone said Gerrit Cole could throw off a mound next week, so the race is on to see which injury the Yankees mismanage next. That’s not even a joke at this point. The Yankees just failed the “make sure the player is healthy before starting a rehab assignment” test.

Brian Cashman admitted the Yankees are thin on the infield – “We’re a little vulnerable right now because (Berti, LeMahieu, and Oswald Peraza are hurt),” he told Mark Sanchez earlier this week – though this is not an unforeseen problem. We spent all offseason and all spring wondering how the Yankees would add depth. This didn’t exactly come out of nowhere, you know? Get well soon, DJ. You too, Berti.

(RE: Leadoff. I really do think Volpe is just in a slump – a slump he looks to be coming out of – and not that he’s regressing to 2023 form, or the league is figuring him out. He wasn't gonna hit .350/.450/.600 or whatever it was all season)

3. Four things you may or may not know about the 2024 Yankees. The season is four weeks old and that means we’re entering prime “did you know about this thing?” territory. For example, did you know Clay Holmes and Caleb Ferguson rank 1-2 in leverage index? Not just on the Yankees, among all relievers. They’ve worked the most pressure packed situations.

This was originally going to be five things you may or may not know about the 2024 Yankees, but then Anthony Volpe had to go and hit a triple* Wednesday night (video). It was their first triple of the season and I had a thing written about the Yankees not yet having a triple. Figures. Anyway, the triples blurb is in the Content Graveyard. Here now are four things you may or may not know about the 2024 Yankees.

* That’s a single and a two-base error to me, not a triple.

The catchers are elite framers

Pick your framing stat and the Yankees are at the top of the league. FanGraphs had them at +3.4 framing runs entering Thursday, tied with the Guardians for the best in baseball. Statcast has them atop the league at +3 framing runs, and they are first in strike rate. By a lot too:

1. Yankees: 53.4%
2. Guardians: 51.2%
3. Blue Jays: 50.7%
4. Twins: 48.7%
5. Tigers: 48.2%

Great, so Jose Trevino is propping up the team-wide framing stats, right? Well, yes. He leads baseball with +2 framing runs (Statcast) and his 55.2% strike rate is well ahead of second place Bo Naylor (53.4%). But! Austin Wells is not just tagging along for the ride. Here is a conveniently cropped leaderboard:

Okay, so there are nine other guys tied with Wells at +1 framing runs, but he’s in the red. His strike rate is identical to old pal Kyle Higashioka’s. Considering his reputation is “he can’t catch,” Wells being a positive framer even just one month into the season is a pleasant surprise. Framing is pretty sticky. If you’re good at it, you’re good at it. There aren’t big ups and downs like hitting.

The Yankees employ the one-knee down catching style and, like almost all one-knee down catchers, Wells frames very well at the bottom of the zone. Not so much up high. He’s so-so on the corners, though that’s not specific to the one-knee down stance. One-knee down helps at the bottom of the zone and that’s where Wells does his best framing work. The next step for him as a framer is improving on the corners.

I am focusing on the positive here and will not bring up the catchers’ arms (eek!). As far as framing goes, the Trevino and Wells tandem is elite. Framing is something the Yankees have prioritized the last few years – I mean really, really prioritized – and it’s never been more important than it is now, with a pitching staff that doesn’t miss a whole lot of bats. They need all the strikes they can get.

Schmidt and Stanton have reserved their platoon splits

This has to be small sample size weirdness, but so far this season, Clarke Schmidt and Giancarlo Stanton have completely reversed their platoon splits from last season. Schmidt’s dominating lefties and Stanton’s crushing righties. Let’s start with Schmidt. Here are his numbers:

2023 vs. RHB: .237/.277/.405 (.282 wOBA) with 24.9 K% and 4.9 BB%
2024 vs. RHB: .340/.390/.547 (.407 wOBA) with 18.6 K% and 8.5 BB%

2023 vs. LHB: .303/.375/.500 (.376 wOBA) with 18.0 K% and 8.4 BB%
2024 vs. LHB: .214/.327/.333 (.307 wOBA) with 36.7 K% and 10.2 BB%

Schmidt getting back to his 2023 form against righties while maintaining that 2024 performance against lefties would be amazing. He’d become a legitimate No. 3 in that case. The .390 BABIP against righties this year will come down eventually (right?). More than anything, Schmidt has to rediscover his bat-missing ability against same-side hitters. He has the stuff to do it (in theory).

As for Stanton, he’s hit all five home runs against righties, and his platoon split is lopsided (I assume this was a factor in flipping him and Anthony Rizzo in the lineup). Here are Stanton’s platoon splits heading into Thursday night:

• vs. RHP: .208/.283/.563 (142 wRC+) with 30.2 K% and 8.2 BB%

• vs. LHP: .276/.300/.345 (89 wRC+) with 30.0 K% and 3.2 BB%

Those numbers are the exact opposite of the last few seasons. Stanton hit lefties pretty hard as recently as last year. Righties though? They ate him up. He slashed .175/.264/.376 (75 wRC+) with 32.6% strikeouts against righties last year. It was .265/.324/.618 (152 wRC+) with 17.6% strikeouts against lefties. Four weeks into 2024, things have reversed. Stanton punishes righties and gets silenced by lefties.

I have to think things will get back to normal the next few weeks and Stanton will hammer lefties and not fare well against righties. I’d like the reverse split to stick though! I would absolutely trade Giancarlo stinking it up against lefties to get him hitting righties. Righties throw about three times as many innings as lefties each year. Give me Giancarlo the righty masher over Giancarlo the lefty masher eight days a week.

They don’t swing all that much

The Yankees have been much more patient and count work-y this season, especially compared to last year. They lead the league in pitches seen per plate appearance (4.14, the Mariners are second at 4.08), and they also have the lowest chase rate in baseball. And one of the lowest in-zone swing rates. And the lowest overall swing rate. These Yankees, they don’t swing often:

• Chase rate: 23.6% (lowest in baseball; MLB average: 27.6%)

• In-zone swing rate: 62.0% (second lowest; MLB average: 65.1%)

• Overall swing rate: 42.4% (lowest; MLB average: 46.8%)

Juan Soto has the third lowest chase rate in baseball at 15.4%. Only Anthony Rendon and Jonathan India (both 14.6%) are lower. Aaron Judge (19.2%) and Gleyber Torres (20.8%) are top 25 in chase rate as well. Or bottom 25, I guess. As bad as he’s been this year, Torres is not expanding the zone.

In terms of overall swing rate though, the Yankees have two of the bottom 10 in Soto (36.8%) and Alex Verdugo (38.3%), and two others in the bottom 50 in Judge (41.9%) and Volpe (42.6%). As a team, the Yankees swing at two out of every five pitches, give or take. The Marlins, the most swing-happy team, swing at 51.3% of pitches, for comparison.

Not chasing is obviously good. Keep up that 23.6% chase rate, Yankees. There is room to improve that in-zone swing rate though. The Braves have the highest in-zone swing rate at 71.4% and that offense is incredible. The Orioles are at 67.0%. So are the Dodgers. The Rangers are at 66.6%. Those are four very good offenses and, not coincidentally, they’re all top 10 in in-zone swing rate.

It’s easy to say the Yankees should be more aggressive in the zone but it’s much more difficult to put into practice. The chase rate will go up as a result. It’s inevitable. You’re going to read fastball out of the hand, start your swing, then surprise, it’s a sweeper that winds up six inches off the plate. Upping the in-zone swing rate means upping the chase rate too. It's all connected.

I do think there’s room for the Yankees to be more aggressive in the strike zone, even if it means sacrificing some chase rate in the process. For now, I just want to note no offense in baseball swings less than the Yankees. They are very disciplined in waiting for their pitch, perhaps to a fault.

They haven’t improved against velocity

Potentially serious issue here. The Yankees had trouble with velocity last season, some players more than others, but collectively they were a pretty mediocre fastball hitting team. That is still true in the early going this year. Here are the numbers against fastballs entering play Thursday:

The huge decline in SLG has more to do with the dead ball than the Yankees themselves. Last season the league slugged .446 against heaters and this year it’s down to .408. The Yankees’ decline is more or less consistent with the league-wide decline. Point is, the 2023 Yankees were roughly league average against fastballs. The 2024 Yankees are too. We’ve yet to see improvement in this department.

The best hitting fastball teams are the best offensive teams, period. The Braves, Dodgers, Orioles, etc. And the worst hitting fastball teams are the worst offensive teams. The Marlins, White Sox, etc. There is a pretty strong correlation between hitting fastballs and being a good offense overall. The Yankees are middle of the pack against heaters and middle of the pack in runs scored per game. Not a coincidence.

In terms of wOBA and xwOBA, Soto is the best fastball hitter on the team (duh), and by a large margin too. Then it’s Verdugo and Volpe. Then it’s Judge. Then it’s the aging Rizzo and Stanton (and Torres, who has been lost at the plate). With the exception of Gleyber, the youngest players on the roster have been the best fastballs hitters, and the oldest players have been the worst fastball hitters. News at 11.

I’m not sure whether the Yankees can improve their numbers against fastballs without personnel changes. Maybe once Judge fully comes around and Torres wakes up those team-wide numbers will perk up? I hope so. As it stands, the Yankees are just an average-ish fastball hitting team, much like they were a year ago. I was hoping to see immediate improvement in this area. No luck though.

4. Rapid fire thoughts. I’m planning a prospect update next week but I did want to quickly mention that Jorbit Vivas is back. My No. 9 prospect suffered a broken orbital bone at the end of Spring Training, and not even a month later he’s back on the field. How about that? Vivas made his season debut Tuesday night and is 1-for-7 with four strikeouts through two games with Triple-A Scranton. He played second base Tuesday and Wednesday, and sat Thursday. Two days on and one day off is a typical workload for a player coming off an injury. Vivas will play every game soon enough. Good news that he's back so quickly. No word when Oscar Gonzalez, who suffered an orbital fracture on the Mexico City trip, will be back … And finally, Players’ Weekend is coming back. Remember Players’ Weekend? It was a fun thing that broke up the monotony of the long season from 2017-19 before it went away during of the pandemic. There will not be special uniforms or nicknames on jerseys this year, however, which means bullpen coach Mike Harkey won’t get to bring back his nickname:

MLB says Players’ Weekend will highlight player interests and their charitable causes during each game. Translation: We’re going to get bombarded with in-game interviews and social media posts and all that. Players’ Weekend is scheduled for Aug. 16-18. The Yankees will play the Tigers in Detroit that Friday and Saturday, then Sunday they’ll play the Little League Classic in Williamsport. That ESPN Sunday Night Baseball broadcast is going to be 90% interviews and 10% baseball, if we’re lucky. 

Mailbag Questions of the Week

Neil asks: This is a short and simple thought: say it's after the All-Star break and the Astros still haven't found form and decide to sell. I have no doubt the Yankees will still have a black hole at third. Would they or could they swing a trade for Bregman as a pure rental?

The Astros lost again Thursday and are 7-19 with a -36 run differential. They have the fourth worst record and fifth worst run differential in baseball. The 7-19 start is their worst record through 26 games since the 1969 team started 6-20. Not even during their hard tanking years in the early 2010s did the Astros start a season this poorly. The AL is pretty wide open this year. The Yankees have to take advantage.

As for Alex Bregman, he went 2-for-4 on Thursday and raised his batting line to, uh, .216/.293/.273 (70 wRC+). The plate discipline remains great (12.1% strikeouts and 10.1% walks) and he’s still a very good defensive third baseman. Everything else is bad though:

Bregman will play the entire season at age 30 and he’s had slow starts before, so check back in a few weeks and I’m sure his numbers will look better. That said, he has been merely good these last few years, not great, and the MVP caliber numbers he put up from 2018-19 were clearly aided by the juiced ball and Houston's cheating scandal. Bregman hit .262/.363/.441 (125 wRC+) in 2023.

The Yankees have been so outspoken about the cheating scandal (Brian Cashman, Aaron Judge, etc.) that I don’t think they would touch Bregman. They wouldn’t consider Carlos Correa and he only would have cost money. We can never truly know because we're not in the clubhouse, but the vibes have been excellent this year, and I don’t think the Yankees would risk upsetting anything by bringing in Bregman.

Not only that, but the Yankees would have to give up prospects to get Bregman (unlike Correa), and he is making $28.5M this year. Trade for him at the deadline and the Yankees are taking on about $9.5M in salary, and then paying an additional $10.45M in luxury tax on top of that. Either that, or you have to give the Astros more/better prospects to get them to eat money. Can you see Hal Steinbrenner okaying that?

I can’t see this happening for clubhouse, financial, and prospect cost reasons. The fact Bregman has been so bad to start the season makes it easier to say “they should look somewhere else.” I will note Bregman has the traits the Yankees seek in rental bats – plate discipline, good defense, big game and postseason experience, etc. (think Anthony Rizzo) – but eh, I can’t see it. The Yankees need a third baseman, though I would be stunned if that player came from Houston.

Jack asks: A two-part question on Big G. First, is Stanton the greatest power hitter of all-time? I'm not saying "home run hitter," but rather "power hitter," as in the person who hit the ball harder than anyone who ever played the game. Secondly, if Stanton hits 30 homers a year for the next 3 seasons, he'll reach 500 HR. While a bit of a long shot, perhaps, certainly a possible outcome (can't you see him hitting .220 with 30 HR a few more years?). Would that make him a Hall of Famer? As I was looking up his stats to form my own opinion, I saw an interesting stat. How many times has Stanton hit 40 or more HR's in his career? (take a second to come up with your own answer)

I did know Giancarlo Stanton has just one 40-homer season (59 in 2017) before Jack asked the question. Stanton also has a 38 (2018) and two 37 (2012 and 2014) home run seasons under his belt. It’s funny too, because he’s averaged 42 homers per 162 games in his career. He just hasn’t played many full seasons. Excluding 2020 and his partial rookie season in 2010, he averaged 118 games a year from 2011-23.

As for the Hall of Fame question, I think no, even if he gets to 500 home runs. Stanton’s probably going to finish his career with something like a .250/.340/.520 (~130 OPS+) line and that OPS+ puts him in the same range as Nelson Cruz, Adrián González, and J.D. Martinez. Carlos Delgado retired as a .280/.383/.546 (138 OPS+) hitter with 479 homers, and he fell off the Hall of Fame ballot in his first year.

If he gets to 500 homers, Stanton will be a fascinating Hall of Fame case. He was a really good defender earlier in his career, but by and large, he’s been a power-only player. Not counting the guys connected to PEDs, Stanton figures to be the first 500-homer guy who is not a slam dunk Hall of Famer. I don’t think the current voters see 500 home runs as automatic entry. If gets in, he won’t get in with ease.

As for the “power hitter” question, I think yes? Stanton is the exit velocity king in an era in which players are bigger and stronger and hit the ball harder than ever. Statcast launched in 2015. Look at this:

• 120 mph batted balls: Stanton 14, Rest of MLB: 4

• 119 mph batted balls: Stanton 32, Rest of MLB: 14

• 118 mph batted balls: Stanton 54, Rest of MLB: 50

• 117 mph batted balls: Stanton 87, Rest of MLB: 122

I would have loved to have seen what Statcast said about Gary Sheffield, but I don’t think it’s crazy to say Stanton hits the ball harder than anyone in history. The same way pitchers are throwing harder than ever, hitters are hitting the ball harder than ever, and Stanton has hit the ball harder than anyone in this era for a very long time. Calling him the best hard-hit guy in history doesn’t seem insane to me.

Vincent asks: Never thought I'd actually WANT Boone to pick days to rest the regulars based on the past few years, but with there not being any built in off-days for a while, how do you see rest days shaking out for the guys who look like they could use one, considering the lack of bench depth? Judge and Torres look like they could use a reset to clear their minds, and Rizzo could definitely use a day off considering he's played every game (including both games of the doubleheader). This will be easier to do when DJ and Berti get back, obviously.

Only two Yankees have played every inning of every game this season: Anthony Rizzo and Alex Verdugo. Juan Soto has played every inning but one. He got the ninth inning off in the blowout win in the second game of the doubleheader in Cleveland (The Cody Poteet Game). Anthony Volpe missed a game with an illness, Gleyber Torres sat out a game earlier this week, and Aaron Judge has DHed a bunch.

Earlier this week Aaron Boone said he plans to give “most of the guys” a day off at some point during this 17 games in 17 days stretch (this is Day 8 of 17). Here’s what Boone said before Tuesday’s game:

“This is our first stretch of obviously a long – 17 in a row. I would imagine most of the guys I would probably get at least a day in this 17 in a row of the guys you’re speaking of that have pretty much played every day. Maybe a couple exceptions. With Aaron, I’ve been conscious of using the DH with him. I think I’ve DHed him five or so times. Trying to be mindful of that. But probably in this 17 with most of the guys that have gone every day, probably get them one (day off) at some point.”

I have to think Rizzo will sit out a game soon. Probably in Milwaukee? It’s only April, but the Yankees should put their best lineup on the field all four games against the Orioles next week. They’re important games. Rest guys against the Brewers. (Jahmai Jones will have to play third base for the first time ever in an MLB game when Rizzo sits, with Oswaldo Cabrera at first.)

I could see Soto, Verdugo, and Volpe playing all 17 games in 17 days. Maybe they’ll give Soto a DH day at some point. He played all 162 games last year (160 starts and two pinch-hitting appearances) and he is only 25. Unless he’s beat up and could really use a day off his feet, I say play the guy every single game. No need to load manage him. This is your one guaranteed year with Soto. Get the most out of it.

As far as sitting players to give them a mental break, players usually don’t want them. They want to work through their struggles. Fans talk about mental breaks because they’re tangible. We don’t see the work that goes on behind the scenes – Torres was on the field taking extra batting practice with the hitting coaches when I got to Yankee Stadium at 2:30-ish on Tuesday – but we do see them not in the lineup. If they need a mental break day, they’ll get it, but rarely do players think they need them.

Steve asks: What do you think the Yankees do with Luis Gil? Is he the swing and miss reliever when Cole comes back, or do you try to keep him stretched as a starter? If he’s the future reliever, does it help them to put him there before Cole gets back and use Poteet/Beeter/Warren as fifth starters? What’s more valuable, the 5 innings per week as a starter, or 3-4 innings per week as a high leverage reliever?

The boring answer is the Yankees will cross this bridge when they come to it. Gerrit Cole will not be back until at least May 27th, and it’ll probably be later than that. Who knows what the rotation and bullpen will look like then? Gil certainly has a chance to be the swing-and-miss reliever the Yankees lack, but they kinda need him in the rotation right now. Other than the seven-walk start in Toronto, Gil’s been pretty darn good, and if you have a young arm who is kinda sorta starting to figure things out as a starter, I think you owe it to yourself to stick with it and see things through. Eventually the Yankees will have to cut back on Gil’s workload. At that point they can put him in the bullpen and let him air it out. Doing it when Cole comes back is probably a little too early to put Gil in the bullpen for workload reasons. I wouldn’t take Gil out of the rotation and replace him with Cody Poteet or whoever just for the sake of having a bat-missing reliever.

Adam asks: If you had your choice of adding one of prime Betances, Miller and Chapman to this year’s bullpen (off-field issues aside) who would you choose? I think I’d have to go with Betances. At his best, he felt damn near unhittable and I thoroughly enjoyed watching him make even the best hitters look like little leaguers.

My first instinct was prime Dellin Betances because he could go multiple innings. Dellin going 2.1 innings and striking out six straight Mets (video) on May 15th, 2014 (Jacob deGrom’s MLB debut!) is one of those relief appearances that stuck with me, and not many relief appearances stick with me. Peak Betances was as dominant as any reliever ever, really.

We are talking about three of the best relievers of the last 10-15 years here though, and peak Andrew Miller was out of this world good. So was peak Aroldis Chapman, but peak Miller was at another level. He could get you 4-5 outs if needed too. Here are their career years:

That’s 123 strikeouts and nine walks for Miller. Betances has the edge in making hitters look silly – that guy jelly-legged more hitters than any pitcher I can remember – but I think peak Miller is the call here. Love Dellin, that guy’s forever cool with me, but peak Miller was ruthless. 

Dave asks: Find it hard to believe I’ll never again be able to ask what the Sterling call was for the new guy’s first dinger as a Yankee. Going to miss him. Did he have a call for Jeter before he was captain? Or was it always el capitan!

“It’s a Jeter jolt!” I think? That sounds familiar. I looked around and couldn’t find any audio or video. Going to open this one up to the floor. Does anyone remember John Sterling’s home run call for Derek Jeter before the Yankees named him captain in June 2003?

(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.)