May 2nd, 2023: Boone, Bauers, Cordero, Shakeup, Judge, Severino, Rodón, Loaisiga

The Yankees were in last place on May 1st for the first time since 2016 and eight games back on May 1st for the first time since 1984, when the Tigers were in the AL East and started the season 35-5. The Yankees went the entire month of April without winning more than two games in a row (first time since 2016). Going on an extended run with this offense and three-fifths of the rotation being what it is will be a challenge. Even a simple little three-game winning streak has proved elusive. The vibes, they’re not great. Let’s get to today’s post as the Knicks (?!?) take over as the best team in New York.

1. Weekend thoughts. Those camera angles at Globe Life Field gave me airplane sickness. Why are they so high up? I’ve never been there but I’ve heard the stadium is nicer in person than on television, and I’ll have to take everyone’s word for it. The at-home viewing experience leaves a lot to be desired, especially when the Yankees drop three of four and get blown out in the finale like they did Sunday. Here are a few thoughts on the last few games.

L: Boone

Remember when Aaron Boone said the “league closed the gap on us?” If the league had only closed the gap on the Yankees back then, then it’s surely lapped the Yankees by now. How a guy from a three-generation baseball family and with over 700 games of managerial experience can have so little feel for the game, I do not know, but Boone does. It’s remarkable, really.

Domingo Germán was fantastic Monday night, holding the Guardians to two singles and a walk in 8.1 shutout innings. His curveball was really sharp, probably the best he’s had all season. Jose Trevino went deep – a career-long 425-footer – and DJ LeMahieu singled in a run to give the Yankees a 2-0 run, which felt like a 20-0 lead with the way the Yankees have been going.

If you’ve been reading me long enough, you know going batter-to-batter is my least favorite managerial move, and of course it burned the Boone and the Yankees. Germán started the ninth inning with 82 pitches (!), got a quick strikeout, then gave up a single to Steven Kwan. Boone came out of the dugout – and got booed – and that was it for Germán. In came Clay Holmes.

“I just thought it was the right decision to do that there,” Boone said after the game (video). “Obviously it didn’t work, so ultimately that falls on me. Domingo was great, but I wasn’t gonna let him go back around there (against the middle of the order) with the tying run coming to the plate.”

A few things. One, why even send Germán out if the leash is one baserunner? He’s very homer prone (career 1.66 HR/9 and 1.83 HR/9 in 2023 even after Monday) and that one baserunner leash could have easily meant a 2-1 game. Just let the reliever start the inning clean if the leash is that short. The manager’s job is to put his players in position to succeed and I swear, it feels like Boone goes out of his way to make life more difficult on his team. The game is hard enough, Aaron.

Two, why Holmes? Well, because he’s the capital-C Closer, that’s why. But Cleveland had three switch-hitters and one lefty coming up among the next five batters. Here’s where I remind you of Holmes’ splits:

2022 vs. RHB: .159/.237/.210 (.210 wOBA) with 29.4 K% and 5.2 BB%
2022 vs. LHB: .250/.355/.337 (.309 wOBA) with 18.7 K% and 11.2 BB%

2023 vs. RHB: .136/.240/.227 (.222 wOBA) with 40.0 K% and 8.0 BB%
2023 vs. LHB: .308/.471/.385 (.398 wOBA) with 11.8 K% and 17.6 BB%

Boone has spent the last five years talking about finding the proper lanes for his relievers. What about three switch-hitters and one lefty in the next five batters – with the tying run at the plate! – says “this is the right lane for Holmes?” Nothing. This was a “Holmes is the closer and this is a save situation, so he’s pitching” decision. Can’t convince me otherwise.

And the thing is, Holmes got his ground balls. The first was hit weakly and he muffed it, and the second skipped through the right side for a game tying two-run single. Sometimes the ground balls turn into double plays and sometimes they turn into two-run singles. That’s why strikeouts are preferred in the late innings. They can’t turn into anything bad.

“Bottom line, I need to be better,” Holmes said after the loss (video). “It’s a situation there where I need to get a ground ball and make a pitch, and I just didn’t get the job done.”

Holmes coughed up the lead and was out after facing the minimum three batters. Wandy Peralta then came in and walked in the go-ahead run, and really, it might as well have been a grand slam. The Yankees were not scoring the third run they needed to win the game. Did you know they swung and missed once in the first eight innings? One whiff, yet only two runs. Amazing.

And third, what’s the point of warming up Mike King (he was up in the seventh and eighth) only to go with Holmes in the ninth? King’s already up and warm. Just use him! Boone obviously trusts King to close (he had a seven-out save last Thursday). Why warm him up only to sit him down and then warm up an entirely different pitcher for the save? There’s an easier way to do this!

(I’ll never find the RAB recap but there was a game in 2016 where the starter was cruising and Joe Girardi warmed up Dellin Betances in the seventh because it was his inning, but the starter got through it. Girardi then warmed up Andrew Miller in the eighth because it was his inning, but the starter got through it. Then Aroldis Chapman came in for the save. Girardi was like a kid on Christmas morning. He didn’t know which toy to play with.)

If it were me, I would have had King start the ninth inning. As good as Germán was – and he was great – I don’t trust him, and I would have been fine pulling him at 82 pitches. I’m trying to win, not make sure everyone meets their pitch quota. King was warmed up and I’d want him to have a clean slate to begin the ninth inning with a slim lead. I know this is easy to say in hindsight, but I think we all first guessed the ninth inning as it happened.

Boone still manages like a rookie manager in Year 6. He has demonstrated no ability to read the game in front of him and adjust. There’s just no way he’s one of the 30 best managerial minds in the game. He is eminently replaceable as an in-game strategist, and if his clubhouse skills are as good as the Yankees say, they’re not translating to wins on the field.

Monday's loss combined with the Red Sox’s walk-off win over the Blue Jays put the Yankees in sole possession of last place and you’d can’t say it’s undeserved. The offense is the biggest culprit by a mile, and yeah, Holmes should just get the outs, but the manager does his team no favors. Boone has lowered this team’s ceiling for five years now. Why would that change in Year 6?

Dominated by Eovaldi

The Yankees have scored no more than three runs in 14 of their last 18 games and old buddy Nate Eovaldi threw the first nine-inning shutout of his career Saturday. He is the first pitcher to throw a nine-inning shutout against the Yankees since Dallas Keuchel on June 25th, 2015. The lineup that day:

1. CF Chris Young
2. 3B Chase Headley
3. DH Alex Rodriguez
4. 1B Mark Teixeira
5. RF Carlos Beltrán
6. LF Jose Pirela
7. C John Ryan Murphy
8. SS Stephen Drew
9. 2B Gregorio Petit

Adam Warren started and Chris Capuano came out of the bullpen, which seems backwards, but that’s what happened. Pirela is currently hitting .253/.317/.400 with the Samsung Lions in Korea. Petit has been out of baseball since 2019 and Murphy has been out of baseball since 2020. 2015 feels like a lifetime ago and somehow also like last week.

Anyway, Eovaldi has pitched well against the Yankees in his career though probably not as well as you think. He went into Saturday’s start with a career 3.74 ERA against the Yankees, which is obviously very good, but not truly elite. What stood out Saturday was how easy Eovaldi made it look. Look at his pitch locations:

Eovaldi is an extreme strike-thrower (4.4% walk rate from 2020-22) and he just pounded the zone with fastballs. Didn’t even elevate to change eye levels. It was fastballs in the middle of the strike zone all night and the Yankees did nothing with them. They had three hits in the game and two were infield singles. To paraphrase Alex Bregman, Eovaldi shoved it up their ass.

“He kind of bullied us,” Boone told Greg Joyce after the game. “Used both sides of the plate, was a little bit unpredictable. He was slowing us down a little bit with the curveball, but obviously the cutter and the split and stuff-wise, he was throwing hard. We’ve seen him like that before. We’ve had a little bit of success from time to time, but he’s had a lot of really good performances against us and I would put that one up there.”

Bullied is a good way to put it. Lots of pitchers have bullied the Yankees lately. Already eight times this season the opposing starter has completed at least seven innings, including Cal Quantrill and his one whiff Monday. It happened only 18 times all last year, and remember, teams typically keep their starters on a short leash in April as they finish the build up process. The Yankees are getting bullied often.

I know Josh Donaldson and Harrison Bader and Giancarlo Stanton and now Aaron Judge are all hurt, but the injury excuse only goes so far. Seven of the nine starting position players against Eovaldi were on the Opening Day roster, and it was more like eight of nine because Aaron Hicks replaced Jake Bauers before he even took an at-bat. This is who the Yankees brought to the dance. When healthy, roster spots 1-18 or so are really good. Roster spots 19+? Yikes.

Eovaldi was excellent Saturday and credit to him. As far as the Yankees are concerned, it was just another night in which they made it easy for the opposing starter. They’re missing some big bats, no doubt, but when you have a quiet offseason on the position player side and then sign Franchy Cordero off the scrap heap the day before Opening Day to round out the bench, it’s time to look in the mirror. The Yankees are right where they belong in the standings.

“Tough trip. Tough league,” Boone told Dave Sessions after Sunday’s game. “Adversity is coming for us, we know it, and we will get through it. The league waits for no one, and no one is going to feel sorry for us for what we’re going through. We’ve got to find a way right now. We’re capable of it right now. Even though we are beat up a little bit, we’re still capable of going out there and winning ballgames, and that’s what we’ve got to find a way to do right now.”

Bauers arrives, immediately gets hurt

Looks like we may get to play the “he hasn’t been able to get on track since the injury” game with Bauers. The Yankees sent Franchy down following Friday’s game, called up Bauers to replace him, then Bauers crashed into the wall and hurt his knee making a spectacular catch (video) in his first inning as a Yankee. He pulled a less catastrophic Dustin Fowler.

“He’s good. Knee is clean, so he’s not going to have to go on the IL,” Boone told Randy Miller about the tests on Bauers’ knee Sunday. “He’s just got that swelling in there. So get that out of there and hopefully get him in the mix.”

Cordero was sent down following a dreadful game in which he went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and misplayed two balls in right field. That home run binge the first full week of the season was nice, but Franchy is 1-for-28 with 13 strikeouts since, and his whiff rate against breaking balls has climbed to 70.4% (!). Cordero is unplayable, premium exit velocity be damned.

“Been a struggle since really having some impactful games for us early,” Boone told Joyce a few hours before Cordero was optioned. “Probably chasing a little bit. Little in between on breaking ball and fastball. Comes down to getting that timing. We know he can impact the ball, but he’s gotta do it more frequently.”

(Cordero flew to Boston to meet Triple-A Scranton in Worcester on Saturday, then turned right around and flew back to Dallas to rejoin the Yankees on Sunday morning in case Bauers had to go on the injured list. He then flew to New York with the team after the game. I hope he and his family take a nice vacation with the frequent flier miles he racked up this weekend.)

It’s a bit of a down year for left fielders league-wide, yet Yankees left fielders still rank among the least productive in baseball. Here are the team’s left field ranks heading into Monday’s game:

• AVG: .216 (20th in MLB; MLB average: .238)
• OBP: .273 (26th in MLB; MLB average: .321)
• SLG: .314 (23rd in MLB; MLB average: .381)
• wRC+: 62 (26th in MLB; MLB average: 95)

The left field situation is so bad it’s appalling, especially since Brian Cashman said adding a lefty hitting outfielder was a priority in the offseason. In a roundabout way, yeah, Bauers was called up due to injury. But he was really called up because the first layer of depth (Cordero) was so bad. Calling up Bauers and hoping he can be the solution before the end of April is bleak, man.

For now, Bauers is day-to-day, and I imagine the Yankees will throw him in left field once he’s ready to go. Against righties, at least. Hopefully that .304/.448/.797 (202 wRC+) slash line in Triple-A is a sign he’s had a breakthrough and can be an impact big leaguer. Getting even a league average performance out of Bauers would be a significant upgrade in left.

“What he’s doing at Triple-A right now has been phenomenal,” Boone told Joyce. “He’s earned that opportunity to at least be in this position to be truly considered and he’s done that with his performance.”

Jimmy tops Cordero power rankings

This is a Jimmy Cordero fan blog now. Jimmy Biceps is climbing the bullpen depth chart thanks to strong results, first and foremost, and also thanks to power stuff that has allowed him to both miss bats and get ground balls in the early going. His season pitching line: 10.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 13 K, 1 HR, and a 56.5% ground ball rate. That works.

“Jimmy, we were excited about him in Spring Training,” Boone told Max Goodman recently. “I feel like he’s come out and really, really thrown the ball well, and had a little bit of a presence to him.”

Prior to his 2021 Tommy John surgery, Cordero was a pretty standard hard-thrower who didn’t miss as many bats as you’d expect and would fight occasional command issues. The Yankees have done two things with him. First, they shifted him to the middle of the rubber. He was on the extreme third base side previously. I did my best given the available camera angles:

Cordero’s release point has shifted about 11 inches to his left, getting him more on line with home plate. His zone rate with all his pitches has jumped from 49.8% from 2018-20 to 62.1% in 2023. With his sinker specifically, it has jumped from 48.8% in 2020 (his last MLB action prior to this year) to 63.0% in 2023. Cordero is really hammering the zone with that upper-90s sinker.

And second, the Yankees have helped Cordero add a bit more movement to his slider. It’s not a true sweeper, though it has more sweep than it did earlier in his career. This looks like a fairly new development too. Cordero had his old slider at the start of Spring Training. Then, in the middle of March, the pitch added about three inches of movement.

So, in the admittedly small sample of 10.1 innings with the Yankees, Cordero has shifted places on the rubber, which has led to more strikes with his sinker, and he’s added a little more break to his slider. I doubt Cordero can marry a 34.2% strikeout rate with a 2.6% walk rate and a 56.5% ground ball rate all year, that’s bonkers, but there are tangible reasons to believe he is an improved pitcher. How improved, exactly? We’ll find out.

The Yankees don’t do the “sign an injured pitcher and rehab him” thing with Major League contracts. They will sign those guys to minor league deals though (they do it quite often, in fact), and they did it last offseason with Cordero. He was still rehabbing from Tommy John surgery at the time. They rehabbed him, changed a few things, and now it looks like the Yankees have a nice power bullpen arm. If nothing else, I’ve enjoyed the Jimmy Biceps experience thus far.

“Injuries are so hard. You need to be mentally strong. Nobody wants to be injured,” Cordero told Goodman. “So I feel so glad the Yankees gave me an opportunity to be here after I got Tommy John. I’m just keeping my mind strong and keep going.”

Miscellany

You know things are going poorly when the Yankees lose a Nestor Cortes start by 13 runs. Nestor’s location was not good at all Sunday – he issued a career-high-tying four walks and went to three 3-1 counts to the first six batters, plus he missed above the zone with his fastball all afternoon – and then he got whacked with the home run ball when he went out for the fifth inning. Homers were always the obvious regression point for Cortes. He had a 0.91 HR/9 (8.2% HR/FB) last year and that’s hard to sustain in Yankee Stadium. This year he’s at 1.64 HR/9 (10.2% HR/FB). That’s probably closer to Nestor’s true talent level, though I hope he can cut it down to 1.20 HR/9 or so … This probably warrants a deeper investigation, but DJ LeMahieu’s 28.2% strikeout rate is concerning. He turns 35 in July and it would be concerning if he were normally a 22% strikeout guy, but LeMahieu’s typically a 14% strikeout guy. He’s hitting the ball hard, which he did not do once the toe became an issue last year, but a sharp increase in strikeouts is pretty common when a player ages and his bat slows … And finally, MLB.com’s box score says Isiah Kiner-Falefa got hit with a pitch clock violation Thursday. I went back and watched his at-bats and didn’t see it. Kiner-Falefa led off the seventh inning and the only thing I can think of is the broadcast came back from commercial late and missed the violation, so his fly out in a 0-1 count was really a fly out in an 0-2 count. I bring this up because that’s the only batter violation of the season for the Yankees, and I was rooting for them to be the last team without one. Every team has a batter violation now after the Tigers got dinged for the first time this past weekend, assuming this Kiner-Falefa phantom violation actually happened. Hmmm.

2. Three outside the box ways to shake things up. It’s that time of year. The Yankees are struggling early in the season and we must discuss ways they can Shake Things Up, and try to replicate the spark Robinson Canó and Chien-Ming Wang provided in 2005. There’s a reason we keep referring back to Canó and Wang though. These shakeups rarely happen.

Truth be told, there’s not much the Yankees can do to shake things up. They’re not firing anyone in-season, their top MLB-ready prospects are in the big leagues, and they already fired the “Quad-A guy off to a hot start” bullet with Jake Bauers. I guess Aaron Boone could pick the lineup out of the hat. Legend has it that’s been done around these parts.

The Yankees could sign Madison Bumgarner, who has way more name value than on-field value, though I’m not sure he’d sign in New York anyway. Doesn’t seem like the type. Realistically, the path forward is hoping the guys who are injured get healthy and the guys who are healthy play better. Not sure what more the Yankees can do on May 2nd.

Waiting for the guys who are injured to get healthy and the guys who are healthy to play better is quite boring (see: the last 18 games) and very unsatisfying. So, with the caveat that none of these things will happen, here are three outside the box ways the Yankees could shake things up and possibly put themselves in better position to win ballgames.

Put King in the rotation

Clarke Schmidt is blowing the opportunity of a lifetime. Injuries created a need in the rotation and Schmidt was gifted an extended chance to be a starting pitcher for the New York Yankees. In his six starts he has a 6.84 ERA (5.52 FIP) and lefties are hitting .396/.448/.811 (.527 wOBA) against him. In only one of his six starts did Schmidt give the Yankees a legitimate chance to win.

“It still comes down to execution. I know there’s a lot of talk about that pitch or certain pitches, execution’s the key. You see it in flashes every time out there, but you gotta stay away from damage,” Aaron Boone told Greg Joyce in Texas. “... Some mistakes in some damage zones is what’s getting him still. When you miss, you gotta miss to spots where you’re not going to get hurt. That’s the next level and next step for him.”

Because of those injuries, the Yankees don’t have any alternatives to Schmidt. A few folks have asked me where the rotation depth is and the answer is it’s in the rotation. Who do you think has been starting with Frankie Montas, Carlos Rodón, and Luis Severino hurt? Jhony Brito entered the season as No. 8 on the depth chart, yet he’s been in the rotation since Opening Day.

The Yankees don’t have an alternative to Schmidt, except they do: Mike King. The club’s ace multi-inning reliever came up through the minors as a starter and he started six games for the Yankees as recently as 2021. Those six starts didn’t go well (5.47 ERA and 4.95 FIP), but there is something to be said for learning how to get outs in the bullpen and taking that experience into the rotation. King now isn’t the same pitcher as King in 2021.

King has thrown as many as 2.2 innings and 44 pitches in an outing this year, so you’re looking at pretty standard build up from 45 pitches to 60 to 75 to 90, and by time that happens Rodón and/or Severino could be back. It might be a waste of time! Or King could be better than Brito, Schmidt, and Domingo Germán and remain in the rotation long-term. That would be cool.

The bullpen would undoubtedly take a hit without King, though Jimmy Cordero and Ian Hamilton have been pleasant surprises, and Schmidt could be a pretty nasty right-on-right matchup guy. I mean, the bullpen has been pretty excellent overall. The numbers going into Monday’s game:

• Starters: 4.40 ERA (4.24 FIP) with .314 wOBA against (147.1 IP)
• Relievers: 2.93 ERA (3.90 FIP) with .288 wOBA against (107.2 IP)

Move King into the rotation and the risk is two losses each turn through the rotation because someone(s) other than King blows late leads rather than one loss each turn through the rotation because Schmidt has a bad start. I guess I have more faith in the bullpen than I do in Schmidt. If the Yankees want to make a change in the rotation, King is about their only option at this point.

A more realistic solution: Give Schmidt an opener, I guess. Keeping him away from the top of the order once per start may be the best way to maximize his effectiveness/limit the damage if he must remain in the rotation.

Put Gleyber in the field

With Aaron Judge banged up, the Yankees’ five best players are infielders: DJ LeMahieu, Oswald Peraza, Anthony Rizzo, Gleyber Torres, and Anthony Volpe. Peraza hasn’t hit yet, so maybe it’s premature to say he’s among the team’s five best non-Judge players, but I think his glove alone makes him a better player than the tomato cans the Yankees are running out there in the outfield.

Five infielders for four infield spots is workable because Giancarlo Stanton is hurt and the DH spot is available. Bauers and Willie Calhoun are probably going to play a lot, though neither is much of a defender (Bauers’ great catch notwithstanding), so putting them in outfield full-time isn’t the best idea. That leaves the Yankees with three options:

• Put Bauers/Calhoun in the outfield anyway.
• Put Bauers/Calhoun at DH and sit an infielder.
• Put Bauers/Calhoun at DH and put an infielder in the outfield.

Incredibly, the last one is most preferable. LeMahieu and Rizzo don’t run well enough to play the outfield. That ain't happening. Peraza or Volpe? They might be the best outfield candidates given their speed and athleticism, though they’re still trying to figure things out at the MLB level. Asking them to move to the outfield puts a lot on their plate.

That leaves Torres, who the Yankees stuck in both corner outfield spots a few times in four-man outfield alignments last season (video). That, plus the process of elimination, makes Gleyber the best candidate to move from the infield to the outfield. Take a gander at the spray heat map of the fly balls and line drives allowed by the five Yankees starters this season:

Left field has seen more fly balls and line drives than right field, which surprised me because four of the five starters are righties. I assumed that meant more lefty batters faced and thus more balls pulled in the air to right. I guess not. In that case, the Yankees could stick Gleyber in Yankee Stadium’s tiny right field, much like they hide Stanton out there.

Torres in right field (or left field, whatever) allows the Yankees to keep Bauers/Calhoun at DH and play all five infielders, and they can always replace Gleyber for defense late. Right now, the best possible lineup includes Bauers/Calhoun and all five infielders. Figure something like this when Judge and Harrison Bader return within the next week or so (fingers crossed):

1. SS Anthony Volpe
2. LF Aaron Judge (played there in Spring Training)
3. 1B Anthony Rizzo
4. 2B DJ LeMahieu
5. RF Gleyber Torres
6. DH Jake Bauers or Willie Calhoun
7. CF Harrison Bader
8. C Jose Trevino
9. 3B Oswald Peraza

It could be Bader sixth and Bauers/Calhoun seventh, or Peraza eighth and Trevino ninth. Whatever. Those are the nine names though. With Stanton out, that’s the best starting nine the Yankees can field, and unless the Yankees play an infielder or Bauer/Calhoun in the outfield, there’s no way to get all nine of those players in the lineup together. So, Gleyber to right field. Problem solved.

A more realistic solution: Just hold your nose and put Bauers/Calhoun in the outfield, replace him for defense late, and use the DH spot for the fifth infielder. I’d rather the Yankees take Bauers/Calhoun’s bat out of the lineup for a defensive replacement than Gleyber’s anyway.

Tell Hicks to stop switch-hitting

The Yankees need a major vibes change and releasing Aaron Hicks is probably the best single-move vibes change they can make. He looks miserable, he plays like he’s miserable, and I’m miserable watching him. The relationship with fans seems beyond repair too. Why the Yankees are stringing Hicks along like this, I do not know. (I do know, they don’t want to eat the money.)

“I need results,” Hicks told Joyce in Texas. “I’m chasing hits right now. Yes, I do want to hit the ball hard and stuff like that, but I also want to come up with big opportunities for my team.”

Assuming the Yankees do not bite the bullet and release Hicks, the next best thing may be giving up switch-hitting. Hicks has historically been better as a righty than as a lefty, though he’s been bad from both sides the last two years. I’m not here to pick a side. Tell Hicks to hit exclusively from whichever side feels more comfortable. Right, left, I don’t really care.

• 2021-22 vs. RHP: .202/.326/.295 (85 wRC+) with 22.3 K% and 14.7 BB% (421 PA)
• 2021-22 vs. LHP: .236/.310/.371 (93 wRC+) with 28.5 K% and 8.1 BB% (158 PA)

Bobby Kielty and Shane Victorino gave up switch-hitting late in their careers. More recently, Cedric Mullins abandoned switch-hitting after the 2020 season, which led to his 2021 breakout. Mullins was so bad in 2019 the Orioles demoted him to Triple-A, then had to demote him to Double-A because he was so bad in Triple-A. Giving up switch-hitting changed everything.

Giving up switch-hitting is not easy. Hicks has switch-hit his entire life. He’s never seen a slider break away from him or had a fastball from a same-side pitcher run back in on his hands. That doesn’t mean he can’t do it. Only that it’s not as easy an adjustment as it may seem. It was a career-saver for Mullins. Maybe it can help Hicks get back to being productive?

A more realistic solution: Uh, I don’t have one. I’d say stop playing Hicks, but the alternatives are Oswaldo Cabrera (on the short list of the biggest disappointments of 2023) and either Bauers, Calhoun, or Franchy Cordero. Not great!

* * *

Do I expect the Yankees to put King in the rotation or Torres in the outfield? Heavens no. The larger point is the Yankees have few avenues to shake things up, so we’re stuck looking at outside the box ideas. What you see is what you’re gonna get from the Yankees for the foreseeable future. They have some guys coming off the injured list soon (maybe), and that’s about it until the trade market picks up in a few weeks. Like it or not, these are the Yankees.

3. Injury updates. The Yankees are in such bad shape injury-wise that even the YES Network is putting people on the injured list. Jeff Nelson lost his voice and had to sit out Saturday’s game. Meredith Marakovits filled in and I thought she was great in the booth. We’ve spent some time talking about potential new analysts and maybe the next one was hiding in plain sight. Anyway, here is the latest on the injury front.

Judge lands on the injured list

The Yankees waited as long as possible (i.e. the last day they could backdate it all the way to the last day he played), but Aaron Judge has indeed landed on the injured list. The Yankees called it a minor right hip strain. He suffered the injury on that scorpion slide in Minnesota. Judge is eligible to be activated next Monday. He will miss this weekend’s very important series with the Rays.

“I think we’ve known that it’s a minor thing, but the risk which we’re weighing is we don’t want to put him in a position where he goes out and compromises somewhere else, and the injury becomes something else or worse. That’s the biggest thing,” Aaron Boone told Bryan Hoch. “He’s feeling pretty good, and his recovery has been good each and every day. The injury is minor, but we’re playing the long game here. At the same time, we don’t want to just say, ‘Oh, you’re on the IL.’ We want to make an honest assessment of where he’s at.”

Judge went through a lighter version of his usual pregame routine Monday and there was some thought he would take batting practice, though that didn’t happen. He tried, but he apparently did not feel up to it, so the Yankees put him on the injured list. The absolute last thing the Yankees need is Judge pushing it and making the injury worse. Especially a hip injury.

The Yankees have a knack for playing shorthanded for a few days rather than putting a player on the injured list. It’s annoying. But I think Judge is a special case, and I was okay with the Yankees waiting it out. Even if the difference is only like two games, it’s two games of Aaron Judge. They waited three days to see whether he felt better, and when he didn’t, they ILed him. It’s fine.

You know what the worst part is though? Judge got hurt on a completely unnecessary play. Why try to steal third with a 5-0 lead? I know the Yankees have struggled to score, but still, why is the franchise player trying to steal third base with a 5-0 lead? It’s such a low upside play, and, well, this is the downside. The Yankees will be without their best player for at least 10 days now.

In addition to Judge, the Yankees are without their starting center fielder, their starting third baseman, their primary DH, their Nos. 2 and 3 and 5 starters, and a small army of relievers. Some of those injuries were known coming into Spring Training (Scott Effross, Luis Gil, Frankie Montas, etc.), but still, it’s a lot. The Yankees withstood an injury barrage in 2019, though that seems like a one-off more than a repeatable skill*, especially based on these last few weeks.

* It also seems like a rocket ball fluke. Gio Urshela was the only one of those 2019 replacement dudes to have success in subsequent years, and he made real swing changes in Triple-A before the Yankees called him up. The other guys just kinda came out of nowhere, then went back to nowhere.

So, we wait and hope Judge gets better quickly and can return when eligible next Monday. In the meantime we’ll sit through an outfield that includes some combination of Jake Bauers, Oswaldo Cabrera, Willie Calhoun, Franchy Cordero, Aaron Hicks, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa each day. If there is a worse outfield in the big leagues, I challenge you to find out.

Severino set to begin rehab assignment

Back in Tampa, Luis Severino threw 40 pitches in a three-inning live batting practice session Friday, and things went well enough that he will begin a minor league rehab assignment with Low-A Tampa on Wednesday. “Sevy’s doing well,” Boone told Greg Joyce over the weekend. How’s this schedule look?

• Wednesday, May 3rd: Rehab game (normal rest after Friday’s session)
• Tuesday, May 9th: Rehab game (extra day of rest because Monday is the universal off-day in the minors)
• Sunday, May 14th: Rehab game (normal rest)
• Friday, May 20th: MLB start with Yankees (extra day of rest in Cincinnati)

Severino might only need two rehab games since he’s already built up to 40 pitches. Figure 50 pitches in his first rehab game and 65-70 in his second rehab game, then 80-85 in his first MLB game? Seems doable. In that case Severino could join the Yankees on or about May 14th, which is the finale of a four-game home series with the Rays.

Who loses his rotation spot when Severino returns? Not great that there are multiple options! I think the Yankees will send Jhony Brito to Triple-A so he can remain stretched out as their No. 6 starter, though Clarke Schmidt is making a good case to … do something. Go to Triple-A, go to the bullpen, I dunno. This feels like one of those questions that will answer itself when the time comes, either through injury or poor performance. Fingers crossed Severino’s rehab goes well.

Rodón returns to the mound

Remember when the Yankees expected Carlos Rodón to only miss a few starts and return in the middle of April? Good times. It is now May and he’s yet to face hitters. Rodón threw 22 pitches in a bullpen session last Friday. No word on what’s next, though at least he’s back up on a mound following his most recent back trouble and subsequent tests.

“I think (his back) has been slow-healing this week, but getting steadily better,” Boone told Joyce over the weekend.

A few more bullpen sessions, a few live batting practice sessions, then 3-4 rehab games puts Rodón on track to return sometime in June, probably closer to the middle of the month than the beginning. It’ll be like making a trade at the deadline! Groan. Get well soon, Carlos. Please no more delays. I want to watch you mow hitters down already.

Loáisiga to have elbow surgery

It’s not the worst case scenario but it’s not good either. Jonathan Loáisiga felt soreness in his elbow following last Wednesday’s throwing session and went for tests. They revealed “nothing structurally alarming,” Boone told Joyce, though Loáisiga will have surgery to remove a bone spur. He will be shut down 3-6 weeks and the Yankees are targeting August for his return.

“After a few days of throwing – it wasn’t bothering him throwing – he came in one day and had the swelling, which they think is related to that spur,” Boone told the Associated Press. “So they got to get it out of there.”

Unfortunately, Loáisiga’s injured list stints typically aren’t short, and this one will be no different. He missed close to two months with a shoulder issue last year, three months with a different shoulder issue in 2019, and two months with yet another shoulder issue in 2018. Loáisiga has been out since April 8th, so we’re coming up on a month already.

Zack Britton had a bone spur removed two years ago and that turned into Tommy John surgery, though that was an unusual situation. Britton’s bone spur was up against the ligament. I don’t think that’s a worry here. Bone spurs can hide in your elbow or hip or shoulder for years without acting up. Surgery to remove them is pretty common. It just takes time to recover. See you in the second half, Johnny.

Miscellany

Harrison Bader (oblique) is 3-for-25 (.120) in seven rehab games and he played a full nine innings in center field for the first time Saturday. Boone said Bader could be activated before the end of the Guardians series. That would be nice … Josh Donaldson (hamstring) and Giancarlo Stanton (hamstring) have resumed baseball activities. “I would say they’re both definitely making progress,” Boone told Joyce over the weekend. Given the state of the bottom of the lineup, Donaldson might actually help the offense at this point. Sheesh … The only update on Lou Trivino (elbow) since his renewed discomfort is that he’s going for a second opinion. Seeing the doctor for a ligament injury, then going for a second opinion, is usually a pretty good indication the player was told he needs Tommy John surgery, and he just wants to make sure before going under the knife. The Yankees transferred Trivino to the 60-day injured list to clear a 40-man roster spot for Bauers. He’s eligible to return May 29th, though signs point to an extended absence … Ben Rortvedt (aneurysm) is 4-for-12 (.333) with three doubles in four rehab games and he moved up to Double-A Somerset over the weekend. He’s no longer in Tampa. Position players get a 20-day rehab window, so Rortvedt has to be activated by next Wednesday. The Yankees will option him to Triple-A Scranton once his rehab is over … Austin Wells (rib), my No. 6 prospect, began playing rehab games with Low-A Tampa last week. He is 3-for-17 (.177) with a homer through five games and he’s caught three times and DHed twice. Wells missed all of Spring Training. I assume he’ll join Double-A Somerset within a week, though maybe the Yankees will send him directly to Triple-A Scranton … And finally, LHP Matt Krook was placed on Triple-A Scranton’s injured list last Thursday. I don’t know what’s wrong with him. Before the injury Krook pitched to a 1.54 ERA (1.74 FIP) with a 46.9% strikeout rate (!) and top of the line ground ball and exit velocity rates in 11.2 innings in his new multi-inning relief role. At worst, Krook was a shuttle option. At best, he was a potential weapon out of the bullpen. Hopefully the injury is minor and he returns soon, just so the Yankees have that extra layer of depth.

4. Rapid fire thoughts. The Giants and Padres played the two-game Mexico City Series over the weekend and they combined for 37 runs and 15 homers in the two games. Not quite as chaotic as the London Series (50 runs and 10 homers combined in the two games) but chaotic enough. Alfredo Harp Helú Stadium is roughly 7,200 feet above sea level, or nearly half a mile above Coors Field. MLB can’t put an expansion team there and expect them to play in those conditions all the time, but a two-game jaunt? Sure. Fun weekend, especially since I had no rooting interest and could just sit back and enjoy carnage … And finally, the NBA’s Phoenix Suns announced they are ditching cable and will broadcast games on over-the-air television and a direct-to-consumer streaming service. Their television revenue is projected to fall from $35M a year to $8M a year, though the number of households with access to their games will increase from 800,000 to about 2.8 million. "We're not focusing on money. We're focusing on winning, success and taking care of fans, taking care of the community. What happens is you always end up making money. It always works out,” owner Mat Ishbia said in a statement. The Suns are just one team, though it is a stark contrast to the way MLB operates. MLB’s new thing is peeling games away from one subscription service and putting them behind another paywall, like taking games off the YES Network and putting them on Peacock or Apple TV+. For the sake of sports fans everywhere, I hope the Suns model is a massive success and other teams and leagues follow their lead.

(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.)