June 23rd, 2023: Cole, RailRiders, Kiner-Falefa, Cabrera, LeMahieu, Kahnle, Germán, Stanton, Donaldson, Mailbag

Did you know the Cardinals and Cubs are playing in London this weekend? I like to think I have my finger on the pulse of the league, but this trip snuck on me. This is the first London Series since the Yankees and Red Sox played arena baseball in 2019. They reconfigured the seating at London Stadium and pushed the walls back a bit, so Cubs-Cardinals probably won’t be as chaotic as Yankees-Red Sox. Too bad. That was fun (because the Yankees swept the two games). Anyway, let’s get to today’s post.

1. Weekday thoughts. Are the Mariners the new Twins? Granted, there will never be another Yankees patsy quite like the Twins, but the Yankees are 38-19 against the Mariners since 2014, and 29-12 against them since the cherry-picked date of Aug. 23rd, 2016. That 38-19 record since 2014 is a 108-win pace. Winning two of three is good, albeit less so when your starter gives up 10 runs in the third game.  Here are a few thoughts on the last few days.

Cole the Stopper

There are days a struggling baseball team needs its ace to just go out and win a game, and Tuesday was one of those days. Gerrit Cole delivered, as he has all season when the Yankees are reeling, and held the Mariners to one run in 7.1 innings. He struck out eight. Seven times Cole has started following a Yankees loss this year. The Yankees are 7-0 in those games and Cole has a 1.87 ERA while averaging 6.1 innings per start. That there is an ace.

“It’s definitely nice to hand the ball to him,” Aaron Boone told Bryan Hoch after the game. “To have Gerrit go out there, there’s definitely comfort in that, knowing we really want to get a win and stop the bleeding. He went out there and was in complete control.”

There was a little feistiness Tuesday too. José Caballero, who is known to push the limits of the pitch clock*, got on Cole’s nerves, so Cole threw a pitch over his head to the backstop. It wasn’t at Caballero’s head, it was well over his head, but it got his attention, and Mariners manager Scott Servais didn’t like it. He wagged his finger and said something to Cole as he walked off the field. It led to a wonderful meme. This is the nerdy version of “that’s for you, bitch.”

“Sometimes a high fastball can be a really effective pitch. Gotta change eye levels,” Cole deadpanned to Hoch about the pitch over Caballero's head. “... Their manager had some choice words for me coming off the field and he was wagging his finger at me. So I wagged my finger at him. I didn't say anything to him either. I just saw him wag his fingers. That's the first time an opposing manager has ever wagged their finger at me.”

* A Mariners fan pal of mine told me “Caballero has been pulling this kind of shit for about the last month and for whatever reason no umpire has challenged him on it. I think it's something to do with foul balls but it's very weird.”

More importantly, Cole had an excellent start Tuesday, and his location has been much better the last few times out. He ran into a little rut last month when his fastball command wasn’t there and he wasn’t executing his slider well. Tuesday he dotted the corners with his heater, powered the fastball by hitters in the zone when necessary, and lived in the shadows of the zone with the slider. It was art.

Tuesday was one of those days Cole was going to have to win the game by himself. He couldn’t expect much run support given the state of the offense and the middle of the bullpen has worked hard lately. Cole was dominant and he pitched deep into the game (7.1 innings is his second longest start of the season), and handed the ball directly to Clay Holmes for a five-out save. Couldn’t have asked for anything more. Cole has been the stopper all season.

The New York RailRiders

Who needs to trade top prospects for Luis Castillo when you have Jhony Brito? That was some outing for Brito, who threw a lot of breaking balls early in the game and saved his changeup for important moments and the second time through the lineup. The scouting report on Brito said fastball/changeup. He switched it up to fastball/breaking ball plus a few changeups.

“It was a great opportunity to face a guy like that,” Brito told Hoch about going up against Castillo. “He’s one of the stars of this game. At the same time, I’ve got to go out there and do a job and pitch. It was a good experience.”

As good as Brito was Wednesday, the story lately has been Jake Bauers and Billy McKinney (and to a lesser extent Willie Calhoun), who carried the Yankees offensively against the Mariners. The Yankees scored nine runs in the series. The scoring in chronological order:

• Anthony Rizzo RBI double
• Billy McKinney two-run homer
• Jake Bauers two-run homer
• Billy McKinney solo homer
• Anthony Volpe solo homer
• Isiah Kiner-Falefa two-run homer

Bauers and McKinney went 5-for-15 (.333) with three homers and 5 RBI against Seattle. The rest of the Yankees went 13-for-75 (.181) with two doubles, two homers, and 4 RBI. I asked this in the last post: what happens when Bauers and McKinney cool off? The answer is the Yankees score zero runs, or close to it. Those two have been the offense lately.

“I’m glad we were able to contribute tonight and help the team. Jake’s a great player and he’s been doing it for a while now. It’s fun to watch and I’m happy for him,” McKinney told Hoch after Wednesday’s game. Bauers added: “I love to see my guy Billy swinging it well. He’s come up and done a great job for us.”

Bauers is 7-for-26 (.269) with two walks (.321 OBP) since moving into the leadoff spot and he’s seen 132 pitches in 28 plate appearances, or 4.71 per plate appearance. That’s really good. Excellent, really. Bauers has had very good at-bats overall and has fit well in the leadoff spot. McKinney has reached base in all 13 games with the Yankees and has a hit in 12 of them. Every game he puts good swings on the ball, and he’s being rewarded for it more often than not.

For as much as the Yankees miss Aaron Judge, McKinney has hit .318/.348/.636 (169 wRC+) since coming up when Judge was placed on the injured list, and that’s more or less what I’d expect from Judge. The Yankees replaced Judge with a fellow 2013 first rounder and haven’t missed a beat! Which is … not good. The RailRiders picked the Yankees up big time in the Mariners series. The actual Yankees are the problem.

Isiah Kiner-Ohtani

Thursday night Kiner-Falefa became the first Yankees position player to pitch three times in a single season. History with an exclamation point. He has pitched three times and only once played shortstop, the position he was acquired to play last year. Carlos Rodón should catch Kiner-Falefa in pitching appearances by when you think? Early August?

Also, Kiner-Falefa hit a home run! He was technically the pitcher when he went deep in the ninth inning, making him the first Yankees pitcher to hit a home run since Lindy McDaniel on Sept. 28th, 1972. That was Game 150 of a strike-shortened 155-game season and the year before the AL adopted the DH. Neat! IKF the starting shortstop: not so good. IKF the utility guy: surprisingly likable. Now I hope we don’t have to see him pitch again this season.

Miscellany

Another one bites the dust: Calhoun was placed on the 10-day injured list Thursday with a quad strain. He hurt himself running out a ground ball Wednesday and is expected to miss 3-4 weeks. Calhoun hasn’t played much lately (two starts in the seven games prior to the injury) and he wasn’t going to start much moving forward with Bauers and McKinney hitting and Harrison Bader back. Oswaldo Cabrera was called up to replace him. This is the second time Cabrera was sent down only to be called right back up because of injury. He’s played two Triple-A games this year. I wish they’d leave him in Triple-A to get consistent at-bats and call up someone else to sit on the bench (Franchy Cordero is injured, so it can’t be him). Whatever … DJ LeMahieu did not play the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader, Monday (off-day), Tuesday, or Wednesday. Usually that means he’s banged up. In this case, LeMahieu was working on a few things behind the scenes, Boone told Hoch. LeMahieu returned to the lineup Thursday, went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, a weak grounder (69.5 mph exit velocity), and a weak pop (73.6 mph). He looked as bad as he has the last six weeks or so. There is way, way, way too much “the Yankees need this guy in his mid-30s to start hitting again” going on right now … Tommy Kahnle has been fantastic since coming off the injured list: 7.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K. The changeup has looked quite good too. Tommy Tightpants has given the bullpen a nice boost at a time when Mike King is struggling and Wandy Peralta is having issues with righties … The clock might be striking midnight on Domingo Germán. That’s two duds in a row and he faded around this time of year in 2019 and 2021, the two other times he began the season in the rotation. Rodón came through his first rehab start well earlier this week (video), but yeah, the Yankees should bring in another starter at the deadline. There are red flags aplenty (Germán and Luis Severino struggling, Clarke Schmidt on pace to shatter his previous career high in innings, etc.) … Giancarlo Stanton returned to the outfield Thursday and looked like a guy who hasn’t played the outfield in two months. If he can play out there once or twice a week, great. But above all he has to get right in the batter’s box. Whatever he can do in the outfield is secondary. Stanton's down to .190/.250/.410 (77 wRC+) … And finally, Josh Donaldson is down to .127/.200/.413 (62 wRC+) after an 0-for-10 series against the Mariners, and he’s starting to botch the kinda plays on defense we usually see him make with ease. I heard a “D! F! A!” chant Wednesday. Earlier this week Brian Cashman told Max Goodman the Yankees want to “get him some runway” after Donaldson missed close to two months, which can be translated to “we’re willing to let him continue to hurt us in a tight postseason race before we admit we’re wrong.” He’s gotta go. Gotta go gotta go gotta go.

2. 2023 draft prospect: New York HS RHP Josh Knoth. The 2023 MLB Draft will take place during the All-Star break and the Yankees hold the No. 26 pick. Here are the 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 happen to like.

This draft class features several highly regarded local prospects – the Yankees continue to be connected to New York HS SS Sammy Stafura more than any other player – and Knoth is one of the draft’s biggest risers. The Medford kid had a 19-strikeout perfect game a few weeks ago and he won't turn 18 until August, making him one of the youngest players in the draft class. Here are Knoth’s current rankings:

• Baseball America (subs. req’d): No. 42
• ESPN (subs. req’d): No. 37
• FanGraphs: No. 25
• Keith Law (subs. req’d): No. 59
• MLB.com: No. 109

Carlos Collazo (subs. req’d) recently wrote evaluators rushed out to Long Island to get additional eyes on Knoth this spring because the reviews were so good, and because his high school’s season is so short. There was a limited window to see him. Here’s video and here’s a chunk of Baseball America’s scouting report (subs. req’d) since it’s the most recent:

He's an athletic 6-foot-1, 190 pounds with a simple, efficient delivery and arm action that he repeats well to fill the strike zone with a fastball that sits at 92-96 mph and reaches 98. That's an uptick from where his fastball was last summer, giving him a power fastball and a pair of sharp breaking pitches. Knoth has long separated himself for his innate feel to spin the ball, with a sharp, two-plane slider that flashes plus in the low-to-mid 80s. It's a swing-and-miss pitch for Knoth that he can spin north of 3,000 rpm and could develop into a 70 pitch on the 20-80 scouting scale. His power curveball is another pitch flashing plus with tight rotation that he can spin above 3,000 rpm. His curveball and slider can blend into each other at times, but he throws his curveball with power at 79-82 mph and good depth when it's at its best. Knoth shows feel for a changeup with fade, though it's a firm pitch that he doesn't use much.

FanGraphs says Knoth is a “superlative on-mound athlete with mechanics that are as repeatable as they are electric,” and adds he may just be scratching the surface of his ability because he’s so young and a cold weather prospect without many innings under his belt. The Perfect Game pitch data on Knoth last summer was top of the line. Model-driven teams will love this kid.

The Yankees have not taken a high school pitcher with their first pick since Ty Hensley in 2012 and they’ve taken just one high school pitcher in the top five rounds since 2018: LHP Brock Selvidge (third round in 2021). High school pitchers are risky and many teams, including the Yankees, are looking in other directions a little more with each passing year.

That said, I think we’ve reached a point where pitchers are undervalued on draft day, particularly high schoolers. There are never as many top tier bats available as the people making the picks seem to believe and there have been some really good high school arms available toward the end of the first round in recent years, simply because of the injury risk and historic bust rate.

Knoth sounds very exciting with a lot of room to grow, and if you’re sitting there at the end of the first round and you’re looking at a high school arm like that or, say, a Trey Sweeney type bat, I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the pitcher just because of the injury risk. Sweeney’s good! But there’s only so much upside there. I think pitchers are becoming a market inefficiency in the first round.

Mailbag Questions of the Week

Dan asks: The Bader/Monty trade fascinates me. Both teams are probably happy with what they’ve gotten so far. But with SP and OF being areas of need, which player would be more valuable to the Yankees for the rest of the year (and possible postseason)?

Jordan Montgomery has a 3.69 ERA (3.49 FIP) in 85.1 innings for the Cardinals this season. He’s been their best starter, though because of park factors and whatnot, it comes out to +1.5 WAR, which is good more than excellent. Bader, in barely a month’s worth of playing time, is at +1.1 WAR, mostly because his defense is so good.

I think it would be harder to find a center fielder like Bader, who is elite on one side of the ball and solid on the other, than a starter like Montgomery at the trade deadline, so I’ll say Bader would be more valuable to the Yankees the rest of 2023. The Yankees could get a rental starter like, say, Lucas Giolito without giving up a ton. Who could they get to play center? The pickings are slim.

The x-factor here is Bader’s health. He’s no good to the Yankees if he’s not on the field and he has infrequently been on the field as a Yankee. Pitchers have a ton of injury risk too, though Montgomery hasn’t missed a start for anything other than COVID since returning from Tommy John surgery. He’s as good a bet as anyone to take the ball every five days the rest of 2023.

The Yankees are really short on bats. The pitching has been solid overall and there are a few arms on the way, most notably Carlos Rodón (fingers crossed). Bader’s injury risk gives me pause, but the Yankees already need one outfielder at the deadline. Two would be a huge ask. Montgomery’s very good. Ultimately, I think Bader fills a more pressing need.

Vinny asks: Long way to go until Nestor and Rodon are both back, but with Clarke’s recent improvements, which one of Schmidt or German would you keep in the rotation when (if) the rotation gets back to full health?

Vinny sent this question in before Domingo Germán's stinker Thursday. Even before that, it has to be Clarke Schmidt, right? He’s trending up while Germán is trending down, and Germán has a history of fading in late June/early July. He did it the last two times he opened the season in the rotation (2019 and 2021).

Here are the head-to-head numbers, and I’m doing Germán a favor by leaving out Thursday’s start:

• Germán: 4.30 ERA (4.64 FIP), 23.0 K%, 8.2 BB%, 39.2 GB%, 1.43 HR/9 in 69 IP
• Schmidt: 4.65 ERA (4.28 FIP), 23.3 K%, 7.8 BB%, 44.4 GB%, 1.38 HR/9 in 71.2 IP

Also, Germán turns 31 in August and he’ll be a free agent after next season. He doesn’t have much of a future with the Yankees. Schmidt might. He’s younger, he’s under control longer, and he’s pitching better right now. The Yankees are gonna need both guys in the second half, we all know this, but if it’s one or the other, Schmidt is an easy call for me.

Anthony asks: How do you feel about Dominic Canzone as a target for LF? He bats lefty and is raking in AAA. Plus he is already 25, a well-regarded but not top-tier prospect (19th in Arizona's system per MLB.com), and does not have a clear path in Arizona, which has a crowded outfield and Druw Jones on the way, so the cost should not be excessive. The Yankees could offer a swap for one of their many lower-level pitching prospects (Serna, Fitts, Beeter, Gomez, etc.).

I mentioned Canzone as a possible trade target over the winter. Even after the Daulton Varsho trade, the Diamondbacks are deep in outfielders, particularly left-handed hitters, and Canzone is buried. He was also passed over in the Rule 5 Draft this past offseason, so the entire league had a chance to get the guy for nothing but a roster spot, and passed. He’s not that hot a commodity.

Canzone is hitting .347/.428/.653 (148 wRC+) with as many walks as strikeouts (13.2% each) in Triple-A this season, though he’s repeating the level (plus the automatic strike zone is boosting offense), and his contact quality is just average. Here’s what Eric Longenhagen wrote in March:

Canzone has above-average pop from the left side and has kept his strikeout rates hovering around the 20% mark as he’s hit for power at Arizona’s upper-level affiliates. His hard-hit rate (40%) is a shade above the big league average, which is true of most of Canzone’s power-measuring underlying metrics, but his contact rates tend to be shade below (he’s a bit of a bucket strider and can open up too soon on stuff breaking away from him) and he’s a corner-only defender. The defensive component likely played a role in Arizona leaving Canzone off of their 40-man roster while they added (Jorge) Barrosa and (Dominic) Fletcher, as Canzone’s offensive ability is about the same as the latter’s. He still projects as an above-replacement corner platoon bat, probably one of relatively low impact because the power isn’t monstrous.

Canzone won’t fix the offense, but a corner outfielder on the heavy side of the platoon with all three minor league options remaining is a useful piece. Sometimes guys like that can carve out a 14-year career like Matt Joyce. I wouldn’t want Canzone to be The Guy the Yankees bring in at the trade deadline. They need to aim higher. There’s a role for him here though, for sure.

The D’Backs are in first place and have a comfortable lead on a postseason spot. I’m sure they will be open to trading Canzone at the deadline, and probably want to trade him for immediate or imminent MLB help. Flipping him for a prospect who’s further away from the big leagues doesn’t make too much sense. Arizona’s an injury or two away from needing this guy in the show.

We’re talking about a platoon corner outfielder who was passed over in the Rule 5 Draft. That asking price can’t be too high. Would a depth arm like Matt Krook or Greg Weissert do the trick? Yoendrys Gómez feels very trade bait-y and I’d trade him for Canzone, sure. Clayton Beeter is at the upper limit of what I’d be willing to give up for Canzone, who’s a nice depth guy more than an everyday option (until he proves otherwise).

Greg asks: Early in the season it seemed like the biggest need was a lefty hitting outfielder. Now it appears the biggest need is a bat for 3rd base. Ideally a lefty. Thoughts on Ryan mcmahon? Seems like he can't hit lefties but our current options at 3rd can't hit anyone....

Yeah, third base is a problem. Going into Thursday’s game Yankees’ third basemen were hitting .193/.266/.358 (72 wRC+) this season. They ranked 28th in AVG, 28th in OBP, 23rd in SLG, and 26th in wRC+. They’re also 25th with +0.2 WAR. The defense, no matter who is playing third, has been good enough to prop up a 72 wRC+ and get the Yankees to replacement level.

I think the time to try Oswald Peraza at third has come and gone. The month-ish between now and the trade deadline won’t be enough for Peraza to show he belongs at the position full-time. The Yankees should have played him more when Josh Donaldson was on the injured list, but they didn’t, and as a result they still don’t really know what they have in Peraza. Sucks.

McMahon, 28, is having his best offensive season, hitting .269/.352/.498 (115 wRC+) with 12 home runs in 307 plate appearances. He does strike out a lot (30.6%) and he struggles against lefties (70 wRC+), but you’re also getting lefty power and very good defense. McMahon’s a Statcast star:

Nolan Arenado and DJ LeMahieu have shown good Rockies hitters can remain good hitters once they leave Coors Field (and, in LeMahieu’s case, get better outside Coors). There is swing and miss in McMahon’s game and you don't want him facing a lefty in a big spot, but he takes walks, he hits the ball very hard, and he’s a gifted defender. That’s the kinda stuff that will serve him well anywhere.

Would the Rockies actually trade McMahon, who is now their best player? Beats me. They gave him a six-year, $70M extension just last year, so I don’t think they would be ready to cut bait. That said, the Rockies are 29-48. They’re awful. Perhaps the front office will come to its senses (lol) and move McMahon now, while his value is at its highest, to begin a proper rebuild? I dunno.

McMahon would certainly make sense for the Yankees, who need a third baseman now and for the future, and could use lefty bats with power. If the Rockies make him available, the Yankees should absolutely make a run at him. Other possible third base trade deadline targets include, uh, Yoán Moncada? Jeimer Candelario? Jace Peterson? Maybe the Yankees should just give the job to Peraza and hope for the best.

C.J. asks: Going into Tuesday's game, the Yankees have a .262 BABIP, which is worst in the league. I'm wondering if this means we can expect some regression to the mean, or if the Yankees have earned this BABIP based on poor contact quality and a lack of team speed. Anecdotally, they don't seem to hit many line drives.

I’ve had this on my list of things to write about for a few weeks. Offensively, the Yankees have the lowest BABIP on ground balls in baseball, and they’re toward the bottom of the league on line drives and fly balls despite being average or better in exit velocity on each (say what you want about the Yankees, but they don’t lack the ability to hit the ball hard). Here are the numbers:

• Ground balls: .198 BABIP (30th, MLB average: .242)
• Fly balls: .104 BABIP (25th, MLB average: .119)
• Line drives: .687 BABIP (20th, MLB average: .700)

The Yankees have a 42.3% ground ball rate this season, which is almost exactly league average (42.5%), though they hit fewer line drives than average (18.5% vs. 20.2%) and more fly balls (39.2% vs. 37.3%). The two percentage point difference between the Yankees and the league average is significant on a team level. Fewer line drives and more fly balls would certainly help explain the low team BABIP.

The Brewers are the next worst on ground balls with a .205 BABIP and only four other teams are under a .220 BABIP. I mean, there’s a 44-point gap between the Yankees and the league average on ground balls. 44 points! The Yankees are a very slow team overall, so that’s part of it, but that alone can’t possibly explain the 44-point gap, can it? Twenty Yankees have hit a ground ball this season and only six have at least a league average BABIP on grounders:

1. Greg Allen: .333 BABIP (on three ground balls)
2. Aaron Judge: .294 BABIP (because he hits the ball so hard)
3. Kyle Higashioka: .281 BABIP (huh)
4. Harrison Bader: .276 BABIP (fast)
5. Isiah Kiner-Falefa: .250 BABIP (fast)
6. Gleyber Torres: .244 BABIP

Anthony Volpe is speedy and runs everything out, yet he has a .186 BABIP on ground balls. Ditto Oswaldo Cabrera. He has a .129 BABIP (!) on ground balls because he rolls over on so many weak grounders to second base. Giancarlo Stanton (.161), Anthony Rizzo (.203), Jose Trevino (.135) … okay, I understand why have low BABIPs on ground balls. They don’t run well. But everyone else? Why has an entire team so bad for so long at turning ground balls into hits?

A year ago the Yankees had a .231 BABIP on grounders against a .235 league average, and that was with the shift. The shift went away, the league BABIP on ground balls shot up, and yet the Yankees are somehow on pace for the lowest BABIP on grounders in a 162-game season since 2003, when bunts were more prevalent and dragged down BABIP. What the hell?

It’s possible some positive regression is coming and the Yankees will finish the season with, say, a .220 BABIP on ground balls. A few more line drives would help the team BABIP as well, though the Yankees don’t have many line drive hitters. Their guys typically aim to get the ball high in the air and let their natural power take it a long way. We’re almost halfway into the season. This just might be who the Yankees are given the way they hit the ball.

Paul asks: Are Trevino and Higgy doing a more even split of playing time now? Any idea why?

They have been, yes. Since Jose Trevino returned from his minor hamstring injury, he’s started 10 of 19 games, or 53%. Only twice during that time did he start back-to-back games. Prior to the hamstring issue Trevino started 28 of 45 games, or 62%. He frequently started 2-3 games in a row as well. As recently as May 7-12, Trevino started five times in a six-game span.

When Trevino first returned from the injured list, I figured the Yankees were just taking it easy on him and managing the injury. It’s gone on long enough now that’s probably more to it. Here's who each starting pitcher has been paired with since Trevino came off the injured list:

• Gerrit Cole: 4 starts (all with Trevino)
• Domingo Germán: 4 starts (all with Kyle Higashioka)
• Clarke Schmidt: 4 starts (2 with Higashioka and 2 with Trevino)
• Luis Severino: 4 starts (3 with Higashioka and 1 with Trevino)
• Nestor Cortes: 1 start (with Trevino)
• Jhony Brito: 1 start (with Higashioka)
• Randy Vásquez: 1 start (with Trevino)

Looks like there’s some personal catcher stuff going on with Cole and Germán. It’s also possible Trevino is losing playing time because he hasn’t hit much. He’s a great defender and very likable, but a .220/.261/.315 (59 wRC+) line is a .220/.261/.315 (59 wRC+) line. At some point that will cost you playing time.

Higashioka isn’t tearing the cover off the ball either – he took a .229/.276/.367 (77 wRC+) line into Thursday’s game – but it’s more than Trevino has provided, and the Yankees badly need offense right now. I think the shift toward more of a 50/50 catching split is 85% personal catchers on overdrive, 10% Trevino not hitting, and 5% managing Trevino’s hamstring.

Jonas asks (short version): It seems that the Yankees are at a unique disadvantage compared to other teams. Playing in New York and frequently promoted on the national and global stage, do you think other team’s players get more amped up to face the Yanks compared to other teams? I can’t imagine facing the Royals on a weekday afternoon brings the same adrenaline compared to a weekend nationally televised game in New York. They also seem to elicit more hate from other players (ie. Vlad Jr) which may give a competitive edge. There doesn’t seem to be another team in baseball that is treated this way.

Yes, I believe this, and I don’t see it as a disadvantage as much as I see it as something that just comes with the territory. These are the Yankees. They get the benefit of having more resources than every other team, and the flip side is everyone’s going to hate them and every opposing player is going to be a little more amped up when they take the field at Yankee Stadium.

I can’t find it now but a few years ago someone crunched the numbers and found Bryce Harper saw the biggest velocity increases in baseball, meaning pitchers threw harder against him than they did against other hitters. The implication was pitchers reach back for a little more and try harder to get Harper out because he’s so good and so famous and so hyped. I could see that applying to the Yankees on a larger scale. Players want to beat the Yankees more.

Like I said though, I see this as part of being the Yankees, and I think any disadvantage that comes with it is small compared to the advantage that should (but hasn’t this year) come with the team’s resources. Reggie Jackson said they don’t boo nobodies. Well, opposing players don’t perk up and try harder against nobodies either.

(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.)