January 24th, 2023: Arraez, Harrison, Stolen Bases, Duncan, Prospects, King

Baseball things are happening. Erik Boland passes along word that Oswaldo Cabrera, Domingo Germán, Aaron Judge, Mike King, DJ LeMahieu, Ron Marinaccio, Luis Severino, and Gleyber Torres are among the Yankees already working out in Tampa. Bryan Hoch even has video. Three weeks until pitchers and catchers report. Can’t wait. Now let’s get to today’s post. Just FYI, I have an extra post coming later this week,. Look for that Thursday.

1. Latest hot stove news and rumors. Remember when Hal Steinbrenner said “All I can tell you is that we’re not done yet” after the Carlos Rodón signing? Sure feels like the Yankees are done! Maybe they have a surprise left fielder up their sleeves. I hope so. Anyway, here are a few Yankees-related and Yankees-adjacent hot stove nuggets.

The Arraez-López swap

Two weeks ago I mentioned “I heard secondhand the Twins are getting close to a Pablo López trade and all I can add is (Luis) Arraez and 2022 first rounder Brooks Lee are not involved as of right now.” Either I heard wrong or something changed, because Arraez indeed went to the Marlins in a trade for López late last week. Arraez and López for two prospects. Done deal.

"When you have a player of that caliber, you know teams are interested in him," Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey told Do Hyoung-Park after trading Arraez. "And the only way you’re talking about a player of that caliber in a trade is if you’re acquiring a player of Pablo López's caliber. Pablo is somebody that comes incredibly highly recommended. What we’ve learned about him, and even just in the brief conversations we’ve had so far, this guy is a leader, this guy is a worker, this guy is a winning player all the way through."

The Twins needed a starter and Carlos Correa’s return allowed them to trade an infielder. The Marlins have prioritized high contact hitters all offseason, and the Johnny Cueto signing freed them up to trade a starter. It was a match made in trade heaven. Dan Hayes says the Twins wouldn’t do a 1-for-1 trade because Arraez comes with three years of control and López only two, hence the prospects. The Marlins now have …

• … a second baseman playing third base (Jean Segura)
• … a second baseman playing shortstop (Joey Wendle)
• … a first baseman playing second base (Arraez)
• … a second baseman playing center field (Jazz Chisholm)

… so I feel bad for Sandy Alcantara’s ERA. At least the Marlins are making an effort to get better. They’re two years away from not being able to afford Alcantara, Arraez, and Chisholm, so they’re doing what they can to win now. It’ll be tough in that division, but I respect the effort. As for the Twins, it feels like their ceiling is still winning the AL Central and getting swept in the ALDS, even with Correa and López. Maybe the seemingly inevitable Max Kepler trade will net something good.

Anyway, the Yankees talked to the Marlins about López at last year’s trade deadline and Miami wanted Gleyber Torres and Oswald Peraza for López and Miguel Rojas. As far as we know the Yankees never talked to the Twins about Arraez. We only speculated about him as a potential trade target given the need for a lefty bat, preferably one with power and who doesn’t strike out excessively. Arraez doesn’t have power, but he might be the best bat-to-ball guy in the game.

There is no good Yankees’ equivalent for either end of this trade. The Yankees’ equivalent to Arraez is Gleyber with an extra year of control and almost an entirely different skill set. WAR says Torres and Arraez are about equal, though they go about it in very different ways. As for the equivalent of what the Marlins gave up to get Arraez, this is as close as we can get:

• RHP Pablo López: Luis Severino with an extra year of control
• IF Jose Salas: Pre-2021 breakout Oswald Peraza
• OF Byron Chourio: Roderick Arias but as an outfielder

The Rodón signing took the Yankees out of the market for a starting pitcher and I don’t believe the recent Frankie Montas injury news put them back in play for López. The Twins reportedly wanted a controllable high-end starter in any Arraez trade. To make that work, the Yankees would’ve had to engineer a three-team trade, and those are always complicated.

In a way, this trade makes it more likely Arraez winds up in pinstripes. The Twins are good enough and the AL Central is winnable enough that trading Arraez for a straight prospect package wouldn’t have made much sense. You don’t have to try too hard to see Miami getting buried in that division and starting another rebuild though. Maybe they won't do it in 2023, but in 2024 or 2025? Sure. It’s very possible.

Arraez is an unusual player because he can obviously hit, though he provides little power and zero (if not negative) value on the bases and in the field. You can only be so productive with that profile and all it takes is a few weeks of poor BABIP luck to turn Arraez into something close to replacement level. Still, I thought he was a fit for the Yankees, even if he was an imperfect one. We’ll have to wait until the Marlins put him on the trade block in a year or two.

Yankees have checked in on Harrison

According to Jon Heyman, the Yankees have checked in on free agent utility man Josh Harrison. They’ve been connected to him a few times in the past, most notably at the 2021 trade deadline. Harrison, 35, has revived his career the last two years, hitting .269/.331/.387 (101 wRC+) overall and .256/.317/.370 (98 wRC+) with the White Sox in 2022. Nice production for a role player.

The Red Sox have shown interest in Harrison since Trevor Story’s elbow surgery and I suppose the Yankees could be engaging in a low stakes game of “drive up the price for an AL East rival,” but I think their interest is sincere. Harrison may not get the Statcast stamp of approval …

… but his offense is acceptable for a part-time player, he doesn’t strike out much, he’s good defensively and has played every position except first base and catcher the last two years, he’s a good base runner with an elite ability to avoid tags, and he’s regarded as a great clubhouse guy. I’m sure former Pirates teammates Gerrit Cole and Clay Holmes would vouch for him.

Harrison as the everyday left fielder? No, hard pass. He would likely be one of the worst regular left fielders in the game. Harrison is a better and more fun (and non-switch-hitting) version of Marwin Gonzalez, and would fit the Yankees best as a utility guy after they trade Josh Donaldson, Aaron Hicks, and/or Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Like this:

• Trade Donaldson: Harrison or Kiner-Falefa at third, the other as the utility guy
• Trade Hicks: Oswaldo Cabrera in left field full-time, Harrison as the utility guy
• Trade Kiner-Falefa: Harrison as the backup shortstop and utility guy

I suppose the Yankees could also trade Torres, though that would be a much larger move, and Harrison alone wouldn’t replace the offense. Other things would need to happen. Otherwise the only way the Yankees could keep Donaldson, Hicks, and Kiner-Falefa and sign Harrison would be sending Cabrera or Peraza to Triple-A, or losing someone to injury (DJ LeMahieu’s foot?).

Harrison made $4M in 2022, then the White Sox declined his $5.5M club option and paid him a $1.5M buyout, so that was a $4M decision. He won’t get more than that this offseason and could wind up with less, something like the $3.5M the Brewers gave Brian Anderson. Either way, Harrison will get a job soon enough.

Trading Kiner-Falefa for a prospect (here’s more on that) and replacing him with Harrison would save the Yankees money, which would matter if the $293M fourth luxury tax tier is indeed a hard payroll limit, and it creates a more functional roster. Harrison and Kiner-Falefa are similar righty bats, but Harrison is more versatile and a better fit for a pure utility role. I’m intrigued.

2. Defending the stolen base. MLB will introduce a series of rule changes this year designed to improve the pace of play (pitch clock), and also create more action on the bases (larger bases and restrictions on pickoff throws). There were 0.68 stolen base attempts per game in 2022. A decade ago it was 0.89. Stolen bases are cool and MLB wants to bring them back. I’m in favor of it. Station-to-station baseball gets boring.

We’ve spent a little time discussing how the new rules could help the Yankees (more steals for Aaron Hicks, Oswald Peraza, etc.), though there’s another side to this too. The Yankees also have to defend the stolen base, something they emphasized last season and did very well. Here are the numbers:

(A stolen base opportunity is defined as a runner on first or second with the next base unoccupied. Also, pickoff attempts per baserunner does not include home runs. I mean, duh. I would be interested to see a player get picked off on a home run trot though.)

I’m surprised the Yankees didn’t make more pickoff attempts in 2022. It felt like they attempted more pickoffs to me, but apparently not. They definitely did a better job preventing stolen bases though. Significantly fewer attempts and a significantly higher caught stealing rate in 2022 than 2021. To put it another way, the Yankees allowed 49 stolen bases last year. It was 86 the year before. The difference is one every 4.4 games. The Yankees went from middle of the pack to one of the very best teams in the league at controlling the running game.

Ken Rosenthal (subs. req’d) wrote about the Yankees’ stolen base prevention efforts last year. It was something they prioritized and third base coach Luis Rojas spearheaded their efforts, and it worked great. The fact they didn’t attempt more pickoffs tells us they did it by varying times to the plate, stepping off without making a pickoff throw, and catcher pickoff attempts. How many times did we see Jose Trevino make a snap throw to first? It’s a set play with Anthony Rizzo.

The news rules change everything. The bases are slightly larger (18 inches by 18 inches instead of 15 inches by 15 inches) and pitchers only get two disengagements (step offs or pickoff attempts) per plate appearance. If the pitcher disengages a third time, he either must pick the runner off, or the runner is awarded the next base (similar to a balk).

J.J. Cooper found the limit on disengagements increased stolen base attempts from 1.1 per game to 1.4 per game in the minors. I’m not sure it’ll increase that much in the big leagues (minor leaguers typically have younger and fresher legs and steal more frequently), but yeah, stolen base attempts should increase with the new rules. That’s the whole point.

The pitch clock will make it tougher for pitchers to vary their times to the plate, and step offs and pickoff throws are now limited, so catchers will play a bigger role in controlling the running game. The pitcher can only do so much. It’ll be on the catcher to make strong and accurate throws, and the more they do that, the more runners will respect their arm. Just the threat of Yadier Molina’s arm prevented steals. Here are the fewest stolen base attempts against from 2005-22, Molina’s 18 full seasons behind the plate:

1. Cardinals: 1,369
2. Diamondbacks: 1,883
3. Twins: 1,921
4. Astros: 1,926
5. Royals: 1,955

The gap between No. 1 and No. 2 is the same as the gap between No. 28 (!). That is insane. Teams didn’t even bother trying to run against Molina. This is an extreme example (Molina is a Hall of Fame caliber defender with a bit of an outsized reputation) but it shows how much catchers can halt runners. They can do it by actually throwing runners out, and with their reputation. Here are the 2022 numbers on the Yankees’ catchers:

(I used 2021 numbers for Rortvedt because he didn’t play in the big leagues last year.)

Neither Trevino nor Kyle Higashioka is a standout thrower despite the Yankees’ top of the line caught stealing rate last year. Their 90th percentile throw velocities (max effort throws, basically) are below average, and their exchange (how fast they get the ball out of the mitt) and pop times (time from the mitt to second base) are only slightly better than average. Given the catcher arms, the pitchers deserve a lot of credit for preventing stolen bases last year.

Gerrit Cole was the only Yankees pitcher kinda sorta susceptible to stolen bases last season. Runners went 11-for-16 (69%) against Cole, which isn’t that bad. No other Yankees pitcher allowed more than Jameson Taillon’s six stolen bases. Taillon has been replaced by Carlos Rodón, and you know what? Rodón stinks at holding runners. Here’s what runners did against him the last two seasons. I was surprised by this:

• 2021: 11-for-11 (100%) stealing bases and 6.4% attempts per opportunity
• 2022: 18-for-20 (90%) stealing bases and 8.5% attempts per opportunity

Rodón is a lefty, so he has the inherent advantage of looking directly at the runner at first base, yet opponents are 29-for-31 (94%) stealing bases against him the last two years. They’ve attempted a steal in 7.6% of their opportunities, well above the 5% league average. That was with two different teams (White Sox and Giants) and two different sets of catchers. This is likely a Rodón thing more than a catcher thing.

Given how much work they put into controlling the running game, I assume the Yankees will get with Rodón and try to improve this, but of course the new rules limit how much they can help. Hopefully this doesn’t become a Dellin Betances/Adam Ottavino situation and teams run against Rodón at will. That would stink. He’ll have to strike everyone out instead.

Every team has to deal with the new rules, so it’s not like the Yankees are alone in having to find new ways to hold runners. Higashioka and Trevino aren’t really a liability with their arms, it’s more like they aren’t a weapon back there, and Rodón has a clear weakness holding runners. Holding runners will be more challenging and will take some creativity now that there are rules specifically designed to help runners steal bases.

3. Duncan named RailRiders manager. Welcome back, Shelley Duncan. The dinger mashin’, forearm smashin’ former Yankee has been named Triple-A Scranton’s new manager, the Yankees announced last week. He replaces Doug Davis (the former infielder, not the former pitcher), who was either let go or left on his own. Not sure. (Davis landed with the Rangers.)

“It means the world to me to return to the New York Yankees,” Duncan said in a statement. “The way I was taught the game of baseball at the professional level is the Yankee way. The values that have been instilled in me on how to play the game were established pretty much day one after I got drafted. Everywhere I have gone since my time with New York, I have taken those values and details on what makes a winning baseball player with me. I let them shape who I was as a player or who I am as a manager. To be able to come back to the organization is extremely special. Not only do I feel nostalgic about it, but it gives me a good feeling inside to go back to a place that matches all of those values that make me who I am as a baseball person.”

Now 43, Duncan played parts of three seasons with Scranton from 2007-09 and had one of the best seasons in franchise history in 2009, slashing .277/.370/.546 (152 wRC+) with 30 homers en route to being named International League MVP and winning a league championship. Duncan hit .219/.290/.411 (83 wRC+) with eight homers in 68 games with the Yankees from 2007-09, including five homers in his first eight games. He also played for Cleveland and the Rays.

“We are extremely excited to bring Shelley Duncan back to the organization where he began his professional journey – and specifically back to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre where he had tremendous success and was part of the 2009 International League Championship club,” director of player development Kevin Reese said in a statement. “Shelley’s knowledge as well as his experiences growing up in the game, as a player and as a coach will serve our players well.”

This isn’t a token “hire the Triple-A franchise’s popular former star player” move. Duncan will manage basically all the Yankees’ top prospects this year – Clayton Beeter, Jasson Domínguez, Everson Pereira, Trey Sweeney, Will Warren, Austin Wells, Randy Vasquez, and Anthony Volpe should all spend time in Scranton, if not start the season there – and you want the right person leading them. It’s an extremely important job.

Duncan was hired because he’s qualified. He’s spent the last few years coaching and managing at various levels, and he is well-versed in analytics and the modern game. Here’s his resume:

• 2001-14: Playing career
• 2015-16: Short Season Hillsboro manager (Diamondbacks)
• 2017: High-A Visalia manager (D’Backs)
• 2018: Double-A Jackson manager (D’Backs)
• 2019-20: Blue Jays Major League field coordinator
• 2021-22: White Sox analytics coordinator

Last year Duncan spoke to David Laurila about his role with the White Sox and it’s a really great interview. I recommend reading it. Duncan explained his job was to, among other things, serve as a conduit and take all the information provided by the front office (stats, scouting reports, etc.) and convey it to the players and the rest of the coaching staff in a way that’s easy to digest.

The Triple-A manager and MLB manager have different roles. Player development never really stops, but wins are the priority at the MLB level. That isn’t the case in Triple-A. I mean, you want to foster a winning culture, but if the RailRiders lose a game because the team’s fifth best reliever blows a lead on his scheduled day to pitch, no one will hold it against Duncan. His job is to prepare all those prospects to play in the Bronx, something he’s gone through himself.

I wonder whether there’s the potential for upward mobility here. The Yankees will occasionally promote a coach or manager up through the system with certain prospects. Marcus Thames and P.J. Pilittere were made hitting coaches in part because they worked with Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres, and others in the minors. Dave Eiland was named pitching coach after guiding Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, and Ian Kennedy as they climbed the ladder.

Duncan will work with almost all the organization’s top prospects this summer and perhaps that leads to a big league role in the future. I doubt he’ll replace Aaron Boone (we’re gonna be stuck with Boone until the heat death of the universe), but maybe bench coach? Carlos Mendoza has interviewed for multiple managerial jobs (Red Sox, Tigers, White Sox) and could be lost at some point. The Yankees could also just make up a coaching position and add Duncan that way. Have you seen some of the coaching titles out there these days? (Associate manager!)

I can only get so excited about the Triple-A manager, but it’s an important job, and Duncan is so easy to like. And he’s qualified too. He’s managed at several levels, he has four years worth of experience on Major League coaching staffs, he comes from a baseball family, and he knows all about being a Yankee and what that entails. I reserve the right to hate this move if Duncan breaks Volpe’s arm with a forearm smash, but I like it. This is cool and good.

“In the years since I left, the Yankees have evolved at a completely different level than any other team in baseball,” Duncan added in his statement. “In an era where we are being inundated with tons of data and information, where technology is taking over the game with cameras all over the ballpark, being able to measure absolutely everything on the field, the Yankees are leading all of baseball in this evolution. This is something I’m so excited to be a part of; to learn things and see things I haven’t seen before from an organization that is leading the way in innovation.”

4. Rapid fire thoughts. Baseball Prospectus (subs. req’d) published their top 101 prospects list last week and it includes four Yankees: SS Anthony Volpe (No. 7), SS Oswald Peraza (No. 48), OF Spencer Jones (No. 57), and OF Jasson Domínguez (No. 63). RHP Drew Thorpe is listed as a candidate for next year’s top 101 (subs. req’d) predicated on the Yankees helping him add velocity and sharpen his breaking ball a la RHP Will Warren this year. As for Jones, the Yankees took him with the No. 25 pick in the 2022 draft and he’s the seventh highest 2022 draft pick on the top 101. Most notably, he’s ahead of Nationals OF Elijah Green (No. 68 on the top 101 and the No. 5 pick in the 2022 draft). I doubt we’ll see Jones on any other top 100 prospect lists this spring (he’s not on Baseball America’s), but the BP crew loves him … Follow-up on the Rogers Centre renovations: Scott Mitchell says the Blue Jays are bringing the walls in. So much for my theory that adding two top notch defensive outfielders (Kevin Kiermaier and Daulton Varsho) meant there would be more ground to cover. Here are the new dimensions, which have not yet been confirmed by the team:

• Right-center field: 375 feet to 357 feet (!)
• Center field: 400 feet to 397 feet
• Left-center field: 375 feet to 366 feet
• Down both lines: Remains 328 feet

The new wall will have variable height and a Blue Jays official told Mitchell right-center field will have a larger wall so “it's not going to be Yankee Stadium in RF.” No idea how high the wall has to be to prevent a 357-foot gap from playing like a short porch, but I guess we’ll find out soon enough. Until we get official word on the dimensions and the walls, we just don’t know how the new look Rogers Centre will play. Eventually the Blue Jays will get around to giving us all the details … Mike Petriello ran the numbers and found the AL East will benefit from the new, more balanced schedule. The Yankees’ strength of schedule gets “easier” by .015 points of winning percentage. The other four AL East teams get more help (the Orioles lead baseball with a .030 improvement) because the Yankees project to be the division’s best team and they aren’t having games against themselves taken off the schedule. Rob Mains (subs. req’d) dug into it as well and found the new schedule is expected to add two wins to the average AL East’s record in 2023. Generally speaking, the AL projects to be better than the NL in 2023, so the new schedule helps AL teams and hurts NL teams with all the added interleague play. Also, Joe Doyle looked at travel and, compared to last season, the Yankees will travel an additional 1,377 miles in 2023 because of the new schedule. That’s a middle of the pack increase and really not that much spread across a six-month season. The poor Giants have to travel an additional 11,084 miles this year. The Tigers get off easy and have to travel 7,498 fewer miles. All in all, the new schedule figures to make life a little easier for the Yankees. Not much additional travel and fewer of those tough, hard-fought games against AL East rivals … And finally, Brendan Kuty (subs. req’d) provided some insight into Mike King’s injury and why they had to wait nearly four months to determine whether he needed Tommy John surgery. Long story short, King couldn’t fully extend his arm while the elbow fracture healed, so they couldn’t properly evaluate the ligament. Once the fracture healed and he regained full range of motion, they could go in and look at the ligament, which checked out okay. So there you go. That’s why there was the long delay.

5. Remembering a random Yankee: Bronson Sardinha. We are firmly in the dead period of the offseason, and since a request caught my eye a few days ago, let’s bring back the random Yankee series this week. Here’s the random Yankee archive. You can find links back to everyone we've covered there.

Sardinha was born and raised in Honolulu and his full name is Bronson Kiheimahanaomauiakeo Sardinha. His mother named him after Charles Bronson, her favorite actor, and his 20-letter middle name is pronounced KEE-hey-ma-ha-na-mau-ee-AH-kayo, per Ed Price. It means “protector of Kihei, Maui.” The name landed Sardinha in MiLB.com’s short-lived Moniker Madness contest, in which fans vote on the best name in the minors. He lost out to Houston Summers.

The Yankees selected Sardinha out of Kamehameha High School with the No. 34 pick in the 2001 draft and paid him a $1M bonus (David Wright was taken four picks later). It was the compensation pick they received for losing fellow random Yankee Denny Neagle to free agency. Sardinha’s older brothers, Dane and Duke (named after pro surfers Dane Kealoha and Duke Kahanamoku), played pro ball as well. Duke was a 19th round pick by the Rockies in 2002 and reached Triple-A. Dane had big league time with the Reds, Tigers, and Phillies as a depth catcher from 2003-11.

“I remember walking in and getting my first look at the field. It gave me a boost of energy and made me want to work even harder,” Sardinha told Dan Martin about his first trip to Yankee Stadium in 2002. “The whole place was overwhelming. The most overwhelming thing about it was all the banners and signs they had that showed how much they have won. That really hit me. Winning really matters here.”

Sardinha had a strong pro debut in the now defunct rookie Gulf Coast League in 2001 (.303/.398/.473 in 55 games), then he had a breakout season in 2002. That year he slashed .279/.362/.427 with 16 home runs in 129 games split between Low-A Greensboro and Short Season Staten Island. At 19, he was more than two years younger than the average player in each league. Baseball America (subs. req’d) ranked Sardinha the No. 4 prospect in the system after the season. Here’s part of their write-up:

Sardinha has a quiet, professional approach at the plate. He's short to the ball and has learned to stay back and trust his hands. He uses the whole field and hit for surprising power in his first full pro season. He worked hard to make himself an above-average runner, and his arm strength is a plus. Scouts weren't sold on Sardinha's ability to stay at shortstop, so the Yankees sent him back to short-season Staten Island to learn to play left field. Now the question is whether he projects to hit for enough power to man a corner outfield spot. Quiet by nature, Sardinha is a baseball rat who showed tremendous progress in a short period of time.

Sardinha gradually climbed the minor league ladder the next few years and reached Triple-A in 2006 (he played 291 Double-A games before reaching Triple-A). He hit .266/.339/.420 between Double-A and Triple-A in 2006 and .222/.306/.387 in Triple-A in 2007. Despite the poor slash line, the Yankees gave Sardinha a September call up in 2007.

After sitting on the bench for a week, Sardinha finally got into his first big league game on Sept. 15th, at age 24. He replaced Bobby Abreu in the late innings of a blowout loss, and in his first big league at-bat, Sardinha grounded into a game-ending 4-6-3 double play on the first pitch (video). Ouch. The next day he pinch-ran for Jason Giambi and scored a run (on a Derek Jeter homer) in a one-run win. That’s better.

The Yankees were seven games back of the Red Sox on Sept. 4th, though they whittled that down to 1.5 games on Sept. 19th, so Sardinha and the other September call ups didn’t play much. Sardinha got a pinch-hit at-bat (and struck out) in the late innings of a blowout win on Sept. 18th, then he pinch-ran three times in the next eight games (and scored all three times).

It wasn’t until Game 159, after the Red Sox clinched the AL East, that Sardinha saw more action. He made his first start on Sept. 27th and went 1-for-3 with his first big league hit, a left-on-left single against Scott Kazmir. Sardinha started three of the final four games and went 3-for-6 with two walks and one strikeout in September. Andy Phillips got hurt late in the season and Sardinha took his spot on the ALDS roster. He was a pinch-runner and defensive replacement.

The Yankees lost the ALDS to Cleveland in four games and Sardinha appeared in one game: Game 2, the midges game. A walk (Kenny Lofton), a single (Franklin Gutierrez), and a bunt (Casey Blake) put the winning run at third with one out in the bottom of the 11th inning. Following Blake’s bunt, Joe Torre replaced Johnny Damon with Sardinha in left field because Sardinha had a better arm (video), and thus a better chance to throw the runner out at the plate. Alas, Travis Hafner won it with a walk-off single to right.

"Nerve-wracking,” Sardinha told MiLB.com about his postseason experience. “Sitting there for eight or nine innings and then having to get ready, throw like three balls, and then Joe Torre says 'You got to go into left for Damon.' And then the situation was the winning run was on third, and then thinking the ball was going to be hit to me and I'd have to try and throw him out at home, it was very nerve-wracking, especially with the crowd noise. It was a great experience, it makes you grow up pretty fast."

Standing in left field for Hafner’s game-winning single was the last time Sardinha stepped on a Major League field. The Yankees designated him for assignment to clear 40-man roster space when they re-signed Andy Pettitte after the season, and later released him. “They are a great organization. They drafted me and took care of me really well. It was a good place all around. The big league guys always treated me well,” Sardinha told MiLB.com about his time with the Yankees.

Minor league contracts took Sardinha from the Mariners to Cleveland to the Tigers to the Rockies from 2008-11. He was quite good in Colorado’s system from 2010-11, hitting .300/.407/.497 with nearly as many walks (14.8%) as strikeouts (15.5%), though those were his age 27-28 seasons, and he spent them entirely in Double-A. Sardinha has not played since 2011.

Sardinha’s gotten himself into legal trouble the last few years, including arrests for assaulting an officer and driving under the influence. These days he runs Target Hitting, a hitting lab back home in Hawaii, among other things.

(Send your requests for Friday's mailbag to RABmailbag at gmail dot com. The random Yankee series is going back on hiatus, but feel free to send in requests for when it returns.)