April 28th, 2023: Judge, Volpe, Catchers, Reynolds, Cardinals, Mailbag

On this date in 2017 the Yankees erased a 9-1 deficit and beat the Orioles 14-11 in 10 innings at Yankee Stadium. Here’s the RAB recap. It was one of the most memorable games of the Aaron Judge era, if not the most memorable game of the Aaron Judge era, and I remember thinking afterward that hey, this team might actually be good. Remember, the Yankees openly referred to 2017 as a “transition” year that Spring Training. That team was unexpectedly good and fun. With that happy memory out of the way, let’s get to today’s post.

1. Weekday thoughts. The Yankees have lost a season series to the Twins for the first time since 2001. The last time the Twins clinched a season series against the Yankees, David Ortiz was Minnesota’s DH, the YES Network did not exist, and Anthony Volpe was 10 days old. The game that clinched the 2002 season series, the first of the 20-season series winning streak, was the Jason Giambi grand slam in the rain game. It was a baseball lifetime ago. April 2023 is not one for the franchise highlight reel. Here are a few thoughts on the last few games.

When the season flashes before your eyes

The Yankees have endured lengthy Aaron Judge absences before, though I’m not sure the 2018-20 Yankees relied on Judge as much as the 2023 Yankees. He’s the centerpiece of a top heavy lineup and losing him would be a massive, massive blow. So, when Judge slid into third base like that and immediately went to the clubhouse favoring his right arm, yeah, I was worried.

“I was mad I got thrown out, first off,” Judge told Greg Joyce following Wednesday’s game. “Trying to make something happen and get to third base for (Anthony Rizzo) so he can poke something to the right side. I thought I had a good jump, but getting thrown out is pretty embarrassing, even on your birthday (Judge turned 31 on Wednesday). I was just mad about that.”

Trying to steal a base there is not a good play, right? Or am I crazy? The Yankees were up 5-0 and Judge was already in scoring position. Do you really need to get into even more scoring position, even with the bigger bases and limit on disengagements making it easier to steal bases? Late in a one-run game, sure, I get it. In the second inning of a 5-0 game? Seems unnecessary.

Anyway, Judge said he rolled over on both wrists but the right bothered him more than the left. He was the DH that game, so there were a few innings of suspense as we waited to see whether he’d remain in the game. Even with Judge walking around in the dugout, you never really know. He stayed in the game and lined a single in his next at-bat. Exhale, right?

Unfortunately no. Judge left Thursday’s game with what the Yankees called right hip discomfort. He took a swing in the second inning and flexed his hand, so it looked like an “oh great, the hand doesn't actually feel good” situation, but instead it’s his hip. Aaron Boone said he noticed something in Judge’s second at-bat and decided to pull him from the game.

“After that head-first dive, the whole right side’s been a little locked up,” Judge told Joyce, referring to that train wreck of a slide Wednesday. “It wasn’t until the second-to-last swing that at-bat, I kind of felt something grab. They kind of thought it’d be best to shut it down and see how we feel after a couple days and then get back in there.”

With Judge sidelined the outfield will include three of Oswaldo Cabrera, Franchy Cordero, Aaron Hicks, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and my gosh, that’s awful. I’d call it a 2013 Yankees-esque outfield, but the 2013 Yankees at least had Brett Gardner putting up a .273/.344/.416 (109 wRC+) line and +4.2 WAR in center field. 2013 Gardner would be a godsend for the 2023 Yankees outfield.

It goes without saying losing Judge for any length of time would be devastating to an offense that hasn't been good and a team that is overly reliant on him. As Judge goes, the Yankees go. If he has to sit out a few games, fine. Hopefully this doesn’t turn into one of those “sit out six days and then go on the injured list” situations. Those are the worst. Get well soon, Aaron.

Volpe’s progress

Anthony Volpe is starting to become that dude. He has reached base in 17 of his last 19 games and he’s hitting .258/.378/.419 in those 19 games. Volpe is taking good at-bats, punching singles, drawing walks, and he’s starting to hit the ball harder too:

“He’s been terrific,” Boone told Joyce on Wednesday. “He keeps hitting the ball hard too. I was considering giving him a day off today too. The at-bats, especially as we go through this stretch, have just been really consistent with him. More of that today at the top.”

Volpe made an error in three straight games earlier this week and all three runners later came around to score. That’s obviously not great. I think Volpe’s defense has been quite good overall though, probably even better than I expected. Here are the early season numbers just to have something to balance out the eye test:

• DRS: +1 (9th among shortstops)
• OAA: +0 (10th among shortstops)
• UZR: +0.7 (7th among shortstops)

A top 10ish defender? Sure, I can buy that. Not elite but not bad either. More importantly, Volpe’s slash line is up .229/.354/.349 (107 wRC+) despite his dreadful start. He’s still striking out (29.3%) and swinging and missing (13.1% swinging strikes) a bunch, and that might be the case all year, though I think that’s something Volpe will iron out in time.

For now, the kid looks more comfortable with each passing game. I think it’s fair to say he’s been a positive more than a negative, which is remarkable considering Volpe went 4-for-31 (.129) with 12 strikeouts to begin his career. A little more than two weeks later and he’s sitting on a .354 OBP and 107 wRC+. That is pretty cool.

“I’m just overall feeling pretty comfortable,” Volpe told Joyce. “I feel like I’m seeing the ball well. Just want to put together good at-bats. As long as I feel like I’m doing that, I feel like I’m helping the team out.”

A sluggish start behind the plate

It took 23 games, but the Yankees finally threw out a runner trying to steal a base Monday night. An honest-to-goodness caught stealing*. Max Kepler tried to take second base with two outs in the fourth inning and Jose Trevino nailed him (video). It was the Yankees’ first successful caught stealing in 17 tries. They’re 2-for-17 throwing out runners**.

* Trevino threw George Springer out trying to steal second Saturday, but only because Springer overslid the bag (video). He beat the throw and was safe, then briefly came off the bag. Trevino didn’t really throw Springer out even though it is technically a caught stealing, you know?

** Statcast has a new catcher throwing metric that adjusts for the runner, his lead, how quick the pitcher is to the plate, the location of the pitch, etc. Here are the details. Trevino and Kyle Higashioka are both at -1 runs in the early going.

Anyway, I bring this up because in addition to providing little offense, the catchers have been just okay defensively. A year ago the Yankees led the world in catcher defense according to nearly every available metric. By a lot, in most cases. Four weeks into 2023, it’s a different story. Here are the numbers going into Thursday’s game:

• DRS: +0 (15th in MLB)
• CS%: 12% (28th in MLB, average is 21% with the new rules this year)
• FanGraphs framing: +1.1 runs (7th in MLB)
• Statcast framing: +0 runs (12th in MLB)
• Statcast blocking: +0 runs (18th in MLB)

The season is only a month old and catcher defense stats are imperfect, but damn yo, can’t Higashioka and Trevino at least grade out at top tier defenders if they’re going to hit like this? I don’t mean to sound like they’ve been bad behind the plate. They’ve been fine defensively, and fine isn’t good enough when it comes with a .220/.245/.374 slash line (that includes Trevino’s big game Thursday night).

Trevino’s defensive numbers were far and away the best of his career last season and players can have career years on defense the same way they have career years at the plate. It’s too early to say his glove has slipped to the point where it’s only average or a bit above, but he’s definitely not off to a strong start behind the plate, at least according to the numbers.

I don’t get the sense the Yankees are eager to change things up at catcher. They love Higashioka and Trevino and the pitchers like working with them, so they’ll stick with it. That likely means below-average offense and perhaps now something less than elite defense. We’ll see where these two are at defensively in a few weeks. Early on though, the catcher spot has not provided the same standout glovework as last season, when defense was at the top of the league.

(In the unlikely event the Yankees decide to make a change at catcher, Yasmani Grandal would be a potential trade target. He’s a rental and the White Sox look every bit as bad as their 7-19 record.)

Miscellany

Two home runs in the last two games for Gleyber Torres, including a 443-foot bomb Thursday that was the second longest home run of his career. The start of his recent slump coincides perfectly with him leaving that game in Cleveland after tweaking his hip (he didn’t start the next game). I thought the hip might’ve had something to do with the slump, and maybe it did, but it looks like Gleyber is coming out of it. He’s put some good swings on the ball the last few days … The Yankees used a two-man outfield shift against Nick Gordon on Wednesday. A handful of teams have done it this year, most notably the Royals. Here’s the alignment:

That’s left fielder Oswaldo Cabrera in shallow right, center fielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa in left, and right fielder Franchy Cordero in right-center. Franchy wound up having to go a long way to make the catch (video). The Yankees tried this alignment a few times in Spring Training and as far as I can tell this is the first time they did it in a regular season game. They did it with two outs in the ninth inning with a 12-6 lead, so about as low leverage as it gets. We’ll see whether the Yankees break this out in a more high stakes situation. If nothing else, it’s still on their mind. They haven’t shelved it entirely … In an effort to kick-start the offense Boone hit Rizzo second and Judge third Tuesday, and although it helped score a first inning run, that was pretty much it that night. The experiment lasted one game and it’s been Judge second and Rizzo third in the two games since. This is definitely one of those things that would have stuck had the Yankees scored like 10 runs that night, but they didn’t, so it’s been abandoned already … I wonder what pitching coach Matt Blake told Domingo Germán during that mound visit Wednesday. It was a weird time for a visit (Germán was ahead in the count 0-2 on Gordon with two outs in the second inning) and whatever Blake said, he was emphatic. Germán allowed six runs and three homers in six innings in that game. He has a 5.54 ERA (5.45 FIP) with a 2.42 HR/9 through five starts … And finally, Boone was asked about Jake Bauers earlier this week. “He’s definitely caught our eye. Certainly got a lot of us paying attention to that. We’ll see what happens,” Boone told Gary Phillips. That is Boone’s standard answer when he’s asked about a player the Yankees aren’t planning to call up. Bauers went into Thursday’s game with a .328/.476/.859 (224 wRC+) line and more walks (22.0%) than strikeouts (18.3%) with Triple-A Scranton.

2. Mining the news. Got a couple pieces of Yankees-related and Yankees-adjacent news I want to touch on, so let’s do that now.

Reynolds signs extension

We can officially forget about Bryan Reynolds as a trade target. Reynolds signed an eight-year extension worth $106.75M earlier this week. It covers 2023-30 and does not include the opt out he was said to want, though he gets some no-trade protection instead. How often does a player request a trade and then sign a long-extension a few months later? This might be a first.

“I’ve been saying it since spring,” Reynolds told Justice delos Santos. “The talent we've got, the young talent that’s still coming, and just talking about the culture that we’ve been building, all those things combined – and that combined too with the city, the fans, everything – it's just something that, since I’ve gotten here, it’s what I’ve wanted to be a part of for a long time.”

Reynolds was the ideal outfield target as a switch-hitter with power and plate discipline, several years of team control, etc. It never felt like the Pirates were serious about moving him though. The asking price has been very high (they asked the Mariners for Julio Rodríguez) and they essentially called his bluff with the trade request. Reynolds may have never been truly available.

With Reynolds and Ian Happ extended, the best outfield trade candidates are Michael Conforto and Joc Pederson, I guess? The Giants are mediocre, though they’re mediocre enough to hang around the postseason race, plus they have basically no history of selling. Conforto’s opt out and the fact Joc is now a full-time DH (zero outfield action this year!) complicates things too.

Cody Bellinger is another possibility. His underlying numbers are less impressive than the slash line and I have a hunch the Cubs would extend him before trading him, but you never know. It’s still April. We’ll more seriously examine trade candidates when we get closer to trade season. For now, the most obvious trade target is off the board. Reynolds is staying in Pittsburgh.

(The $106.75M deal is the largest contract in Pirates history. The Athletics, Royals, and White Sox are now the only teams in baseball to never hand out a $100M contract. The White Sox, eh? Tough times in small market Chicago.)

Cardinals demote Walker

Anthony Volpe was not the only top tier prospect to make his team out of Spring Training. Jordan Walker lit up the Grapefruit League and earned a spot on the Cardinals’ Opening Day roster, and he began his career with a record-tying hitting streak. That wasn’t enough to keep him around though. St. Louis demoted Walker to Triple-A earlier this week.

“(The move was made) because of Jordan’s talent and what we think he’s capable of doing,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol told John Denton. “We think this is the best way in a shorter amount of time to get the at-bats needed to make the adjustments. But you’re crazy if you think this kid isn’t going to be back up here.”

Walker, 21 next month, went 15-for-47 (.319) during his career-opening 12-game hitting streak but only 5-for-26 (.192) thereafter. Also, he’s a natural third baseman the Cardinals had to stick in right field because of Nolan Arenado, and Walker’s defense has been understandably rough. He has some things to work on (defense, plate discipline, etc.), though he’s a very talented kid.

I bring this up because, even with Walker going to Triple-A, the Cardinals have four outfielders for three outfield spots: Alec Burleson, Dylan Carlson, Tyler O’Neill, and Lars Nootbaar. With Nolan Gorman breaking out, the DH spot is occupied, so one of those four outfielders has to sit each game. It’s been Carlson and his .234/.294/.298 (70 wRC+) slash line more often than not.

Dayn Perry, my colleague at CBS, has an excellent Cardinals Substack that I highly recommend if you care about the Cardinals or know someone who does. Here’s a snippet of what he wrote about Walker’s demotion and the outfield situation:

It’s commonplace to dismiss such situations as “a good problem to have.” But is it? A surfeit of depth is certainly a good problem to have within a pitching staff, where starters-in-waiting can see their stuff play up in relief and injuries and prolonged bouts of ineffectiveness are norms of the guild. With hitters, though, inactivity is poison, and succeeding against the best pitching in the world requires chronic exposure to it. It’s hard to get that when most nights not one but two core outfielders are on the bench. Sure, one way to get some of these guys more regular opportunities is to make one of them go away, which the Cardinals have “succeeded” in doing. There is, of course, another way to achieve that.

It doesn’t take convenient hindsight to say this was a problem team planners should have anticipated and should have addressed before Opening Day via trade. Maybe dealing one or two of those surplus fly-catchers doesn’t net you the rotation stabilizer you sorely need (and refused to sign), but it does address some kind of need and gives Marmol a more workable roster. It also means Walker is probably still in St. Louis for now. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Walker were to need that first taste of Triple-A at some point this season on the merits of his performance, particularly to address his excessive ground-ball tendencies. This, however, is not what that is. This is a roster crunch that’s the result of front-office stasis.

The Cardinals are 10-16, it is their worst 26-game start since 2007, and they have a roster full of poorly fitting puzzle pieces. At some point they will trade an outfielder. My sense is they see Burleson, Nootbaar, and Walker as the outfield of the future, leaving Carlson (fallen out of favor the last two years) and O’Neill (free agent after next season) as the most likely trade candidates.

Our boys in pinstripes badly need a left fielder, both short and long-term, so St. Louis stands out as a potential trade partner. The only question is do the Yankees have what the Cardinals want in return? Their greatest need is starting pitching under control beyond 2023. I don’t think Domingo Germán will tickle their fancy. So … Nestor Cortes?

I know the Trade Values site says it’s even but I have a real hard time believing the Yankees would trade 2.5 years of Nestor for 1.5 years of O’Neill. The Cardinals are deep in outfielders but the Yankees aren’t especially deep with starters given Carlos Rodón’s and Luis Severino’s injuries. They need Cortes more than the Cardinals need O’Neill. By a lot too.

A year ago these teams hooked up for the Jordan Montgomery for Harrison Bader trade and there’s definitely room for another “Cardinals outfielder to the Yankees” trade, though I’m not sure the Yankees have what the Cardinals want. So maybe that means a three-team trade? I dunno. Point is, the Cardinals have outfielders and the Yankees need an outfielder, so expect to see these teams linked in the coming weeks.

Yankees have $4.65M international bonus pool for 2024

The Yankees have a $4,652,200 bonus pool for the 2024 international signing period, according to Carlos Collazo. They forfeited $1M in bonus pool money to sign Rodón and are tied with the Padres (signed Xander Bogaerts), Phillies (Trea Turner), and Rangers (Jacob deGrom) for the smallest bonus pool. The signing period opens next January 15th and the bonus pool is a hard cap. No excess spending allowed.

Unlike the last two years, when it was reported well ahead of time the Yankees had agreements in place with SS Roderick Arias and OF Brandon Mayea, things are quiet this time around. Ben Badler (subs. req’d) previewed the top 10 international prospects last week and none are tied to the Yankees. FanGraphs doesn’t have anyone connected to the Yankees either.

The Yankees have spent the majority of their bonus pool on one player three times in the last four signing periods (Arias, Mayea, Jasson Domínguez) and that’s just the way it is when you sign a top prospect. They’ll cost you $4M+. Next year might be a year the Yankees spread the money around a bit. We’ll find out when the contract agreements begin trickling in later this year.

(Bonuses of $10,000 or less do not count against the bonus pool. Ezequiel Duran and Randy Vásquez are the Yankees’ two most notable $10,000 signings in recent years.)

3. Rapid fire thoughts. Quick follow-up to Tuesday’s post, when I noted OF Jasson Domínguez and OF Spencer Jones have scuffled lately. Domínguez went 2-for-4 with a double and a homer Tuesday (video) and is 3-for-7 with a double, a triple, and a homer since my post. Jones went 4-for-5 with a double and two triples Tuesday (video) and is 5-for-10 with the double and two triples since my post. Good to know I can still use my jinxing powers for good … And finally, Marc Topkin reports the Rays will open parts of the upper deck at Tropicana Field when the Yankees visit next weekend. Given the way things usually go when the Yankees visit Tampa, a whole lot of those tickets will be sold to Yankees fans. Anyway, I only bring this up because Topkin says the Rays have tarped the upper deck since 2018. 2018? I would have guessed the upper deck has been closed for like 20 years. I don’t doubt Topkin at all, he’s covered the (Devil) Rays since before the team even played its first game, I’m just surprised the upper deck has only been closed since 2018. I have no sense of time anymore.

Mailbag Questions of the Week

Eric asks: If the Yankees crash and burn this season, any chance they replace both Cashman and Boone?

As bad as the offense has been these first four weeks, I just can’t see the Yankees crashing to the point where they are compelled to overhaul the front office and coaching staff. They’re still a good team (see: 15-11 record despite the lack of offense) and there are six postseason spots per league. The Yankees would have to have their worst season in three decades (by a lot) to miss the postseason and spur the kind of change Eric is talking about. I mean, look at how badly they limped to the finish last season, and then got pantsed by the Astros in the ALCS. This team is good enough to do that again, and that’s apparently good enough for ownership.

Rob asks: I know his health is a problem but would you consider trading for Tyler Stephenson?

Yes, absolutely. Stephenson’s injuries all stem from the dangers of catching. Last season foul tips broke his thumb and collarbone, and he suffered a concussion when Luke Voit ran him over at the plate. Maybe he is more prone to those injuries than other players, I dunno, but this isn’t a guy with a history of knee trouble or a pitcher with a balky elbow, something like that.

Stephenson is a 26-year-old bat-first catcher and the bat is good: .295/.370/.430 (116 wRC+) with a league average 22.4% strikeout rate in parts of four big league seasons. He passes the Statcast test too (exit velocity, etc.). The downside is his glove is average at best. Here are the numbers in his 1,057 career innings behind the plate:

• DRS: -2
• CS%: 22%
• FanGraphs framing: -3.7 runs
• Statcast framing: -4 runs
• Statcast blocking: -6 runs

Stephenson started using the one-knee catching stance this year, which helps most with framing pitches at the bottom of the zone, an area he has historically struggled. Give him some time to get comfortable with the one-knee stance and Stephenson could turn into an average (or better) framer. The one-knee stance has turned lots of guys into quality framers.

The Reds are bad, though they’ve started extending their young players, and I gotta think they’ll try to lock up Stephenson at some point. Catchers in their mid-20s who can hit and aren’t a disaster defensively are incredibly valuable. Stephenson won’t be a free agent until after 2026, so it’s not a pressing issue, but the sooner Cincinnati locks him up, the bigger the discount.

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing people catchers don’t have to hit, that whatever offense they give you is a nice little treat. No! They get 3-4 at-bats a game. Offense matters. Maybe not as much as defense at that position, but offense absolutely matters, and Stephenson is way better than most catchers. If the Reds make him available, the Yankees should be all over him.

What will 3.5 years of an above-average catcher cost you in a trade? The Athletics wound up with five players for three years of Sean Murphy, though Murphy was a way better defender than Stephenson, and Oakland didn’t get any top tier prospects. I’m gonna plug names into the Trade Values site just to get a ballpark idea of the possible prospect cost:

Yep, I’d do that in a cocaine heartbeat. I think the site underrates Stephenson’s trade value and I would throw the Reds someone like Clayton Beeter or Richard Fitts too if that’s what it takes to get the deal done. Catchers who can hit are rare and there’s reason to believe Stephenson can improve his framing as he gets more familiar with the one-knee stance. There are no indications Stephenson is available, but, if he is, the Yankees should pursue him aggressively.

Bruno asks: Could the Yankees give Peraza a shot in the outfield in the near future? Considering that Volpe will be the SS for the foreseeable future, and Bader impeding FA this offseason, should the Yankees give Peraza a shot in the outfield? LF is a major need this year, but he probably would not be able to make the transition during the year. But maybe an option for the next few years.

Generally speaking, the infielders who move to the outfield are error prone guys with speed, like Jazz Chisholm, Fernando Tatis Jr., and B.J. Upton back in the day (and Isiah Kiner-Falefa). They can use their speed to track balls down in the outfield without having to worry so much about bobbling a grounder or making an errant throw to first base.

Peraza doesn’t fit the profile. He’s a reliable and gifted defender at short. That said, I don’t think putting him in center is a bad idea (the bat will likely be light for left). Peraza’s speedy and has good instincts. I bet he would play a very good and possibly even great center field once he gets familiar with the position. Doing this in-season is a recipe for disaster though. Gotta give Peraza an offseason and a Spring Training to work on it at least.

I know Anthony Volpe made an error in three straight games recently, but he’s looked good at shortstop overall, and the Yankees seem committed to him at the position. DJ LeMahieu will be around another few years and Trey Sweeney is coming, so the Yankees are in decent shape on the infield even with Gleyber Torres seemingly not part of the long-term future. Peraza in center isn’t crazy.

Quality center fielders are in short supply these days and the Yankees, at least on paper, have some infield depth. You build your farm system around shortstops because they tend to be the best athletes and are best able to move elsewhere, so taking one shortstop and moving him to center field is an option. I don’t think the Yankees will do this, they seem dead set on Peraza and Volpe as the middle infield of the future, but I’m open to Peraza in center. Sure.

(Peraza in center field is yet another thing the Yankees could have more seriously entertained had they bothered to sign one of the great free agent shortstops the last two years. Now there’s enough need on the infield that moving him to center is not especially realistic.)

Pier asks: How much do you think Bauers and Chaparro would be upgrades over Cordero and Calhoun at this point? The offense has been struggling and I can't see help coming from out of the organization any time soon.

I’m not convinced they would be upgrades. Franchy Cordero hit .307/.398/.550 (151 wRC+) in nearly 500 Triple-A plate appearances the last two seasons. Hitting well in Triple-A does not always translate to MLB success, and we’ve got over 1,100 big league plate appearances telling us Bauers can’t hit in the big leagues. Andrés Chaparro’s running a 30.0% strikeout rate and 33.0% chase rate at the moment. That is decidedly not great.

At the same time, Cordero and Willie Calhoun have been so bad that why not, give Bauers and Chaparro a try and maybe you run into some unexpected success. Bauers and Chaparro aren’t a solution for a struggling offense, they’re a band-aid. Swapping out Quad-A types will only take you so far. Try ‘em and maybe the Yankees get lucky. I don’t think any of these four guys are good options though, and talking about Bauers and Chaparro as possible MLB fixes before the end of April is bleak.

Michael asks: Should the Yankees bring Justus Sheffield back for rotation depth?

The Yankees sent Sheffield to the Mariners in the James Paxton trade and Seattle released him earlier this week. He cleared waivers and was dropped from the 40-man roster in January, and his Triple-A numbers were hideous before getting released: 8.1 IP, 16 H, 17 R, 11 BB, 4 K. If the Yankees want to sign Sheffield and see whether their pitching folks can get him on track, sure, go for it. There’s no way he can be considered big league depth right now though. Sheffield is a lottery ticket and a reclamation projection until further notice.

Dan asks: What do you think is more valuable: an elite hitter or an elite pitcher?

Elite hitter. The elite hitter plays every day and comes with much less inherent injury risk. An elite pitcher like Gerrit Cole spares the bullpen and helps his team on more than the days he pitches, but an elite hitter has a more direct daily impact. And there’s the injury thing too. It’s a big deal. Cole has been supremely durable over the years but you never really know, you know? Guys like Jacob deGrom and Corey Kluber and Justin Verlander were durable until they weren’t. If they are equal WAR players, I’d take the hitter over the pitcher, and build around him.

(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.)