April 22nd, 2022: Cabrera, Cole, Schmidt, Holmes, Gallo, Mailbag

The Yankees will make their first trip to Toronto the week after next, and earlier this week Aaron Boone said “my understanding is that we’re going to be okay” when asked whether the Yankees will have all their players for that trip. That came five days after Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman reported the Yankees still had “two starting players” who are unvaccinated. I don’t think Boone would say the Yankees are “going to be okay” in Toronto only for a regular(s) to not make the trip. I guess we’ll find out in a week and a half. Here are today’s thoughts.

1. Weekday observations. Congrats to the history-making 2022 Yankees. They are the first Yankees team ever – ever! – to get shut out three times in their first 13 games. It happened back in 1912, when they were still the Highlanders, but the Yankees had never done it until this year. They’re averaging 3.00 runs per game, fourth fewest in baseball. Even if you remove the three shutouts, they’re averaging 3.90 runs per game. That would still be only 16th in baseball. This offense, it is bad. It won’t be this bad all year, but it ain’t good. Some thoughts on the last few games.

Walking Miggy

I’m not gonna lie, I’m kinda bummed we didn’t get to see Miguel Cabrera record his 3,000th hit this week. It’s significant history and it’ll be a while until we get a chance to see it again. Unless Robbie Cano (2,629 hits at age 39) gets there, the next best candidates are probably Jose Altuve (1,783 at 32) and Freddie Freeman (1,720 at 32). Manny Machado has a good pace going (1,444 at 29) and might be the guy. Either way, it’ll be a while until someone does it after Miggy.

I believe two things about Thursday’s intentional walk. First, it was a perfectly reasonable baseball move. We can argue whether it was the “right” move until we’re blue in the face, but it’s not hard to see the logic. Just to lay it all out:

• The Yankees were down 1-0 in the eighth inning, and the Tigers had runners on second and third with two outs. The Yankees had to hold it right there.
• Austin Meadows has hit southpaws very poorly the last few years: .195/.271/.276 (58 wRC+) with a 25.0% strikeout rate since 2020.
• Lucas Luetge has held lefties to a .184/.192/.296 line since reemerging last season. Righties have hit .265/.324/.385 against him.
• Luetge had to stay in the game because of the three-batter minimum.

The Yankees had to stop the Tigers from adding on (which the Tigers did anyway) and it boiled down to Miggy’s ability to get a hit vs. Meadows’ ability to reach base. Luetge gives you a very favorable left-on-left matchup. Strategically, it made sense. And if you want to say Meadows getting a hit was karma for the decision, then the Yankees got what they deserved.

Aaron Boone has a deep appreciation for baseball history and I think that was a gut-wrenching decision for him. He doesn’t owe the fans in attendance anything though. His obligation is to the Yankees, and he has to put the team in the best position to win the ballgame. He doesn’t always do that (why did Miguel Castro throw a second inning?), but in this case, I thought it was pretty cut and dried. I understand it, baseball-wise.

And second, it was a lame decision. I’d be pretty upset if I were in attendance – do you know how expensive it is to go to games these days? then you have a chance to potentially see history taken away like that? rough – and I think the Tigers fans at Comerica Park had every right to be upset and boo the Yankees into next week. I’d let Boone and the Yankees hear it too.

You can understand the logic and also feel robbed of a chance to see history. It doesn’t have to be one or the other. But the Yankees made the postseason by one game last year. Every game matters and it wasn't a blowout. I wish I could’ve seen Cabrera get his 3,000th hit. It would’ve been cool. He had his chances earlier in the game though, and the Yankees and Boone have to look out for themselves and no one else. It is what it is.

Cole’s clunker

You know, when you’re coming out of a disastrous series in Baltimore and the opposing defense spots you three early runs, you expect your ace to do better than five walks and five outs. By the power vested in me by RAB readers, I hereby remove the “Yankees ace” label from Gerrit Cole until he gets it together. Nestor Cortes is the ace until further notice.

“I’ve certainly never had anything like that in my career before. But it’s not something we can’t get through,” Cole told Dan Martin after Tuesday’s game. “... When I needed to make (a pitch), I didn’t make it. I was trying to be too perfect.”

I was willing to chalk up Opening Day to Rafael Devers being really good and the Blue Jays start to Vlad Guerrero Jr. being really good, but five walks and five outs against the Tigers? I know they improved their lineup (Javy Baez is hurt and missed the series though), but it’s still not good. Cole walked the 7-8-9 hitters consecutively! He got ahead in the count 1-2 on No. 9 hitter Willi Castro, and it turned into an 11-pitch walk with the bases loaded. What the hell? Some factoids:

• First bases loaded walk of Cole’s career.
• Five walks tie his career high.
• Four walks in a single inning are a new career high.
• 1.2 innings is the shortest start of Cole’s career.
• 68 pitches in the first two innings are the most in a start in his career (by nine! and he didn't even complete the inning!).

Full pitch-tracking data goes back to 2008. In that time only one Yankee has thrown more pitches in an inning than the 46 pitches Cole threw in the second inning Tuesday: Ivan Nova had a 47-pitch third inning against the Red Sox on Sept. 5th, 2013. (Luis Severino ties Cole with a 46-pitch third inning against the Twins on Sept. 20th, 2017.)

Three starts in the season, Cole has allowed eight runs in 11.1 innings, and opponents are hitting .220/.340/.512 against him. I’m annoyed more than worried. His stuff is lively and he pitched well enough outside one Devers swing and one Vlad Jr. swing in his first two starts. We can’t take those swings away, but it’s not like Cole has been searching for it in every inning this year.

At some point though, the excuses need to stop, and we’re at that point now. Great hitters taking good swings, Billy Crystal taking too long to throw the first pitch, cold weather, whatever. I am no longer interested in any of it. Cole’s next three starts will be against the Guardians, Royals, and Rangers. The schedule gets no more favorable. The rest of the pitching staff has been amazing and Cole has to start holding up his end of the bargain.

“I really believe he’s poised for a big year for us and will carry us for a long stretch. It just hasn’t gone his way so far,” Boone told Martin. “I get it, the results aren’t there. And we’re talking about Gerrit Cole. I feel he’s a lot closer to popping than his lines (indicate).”

Schmidt bails out Cole

I’m not ready to say Clarke Schmidt is a certified dude just yet, but that was an impressive long relief outing Tuesday. Cole didn’t make it out of the second inning and Schmidt soaked up 3.1 innings to spare the rest of the bullpen. He threw 54 pitches to 14 batters in the cold, struck out six, allowed two ground ball singles (one didn’t leave the infield), and did not allow a run.

“It means the world to me. A lot of work has gone into this. To be able to get my first career win here is a very, very special moment. Something I don’t take lightly. It’s a big blessing for me,” Schmidt told Bryan Hoch. “Like I said, a lot of work has gone into it, and you’ve seen the injuries and stuff like that. To be able to come back from that and feel as good as I do right now, being able to string together some good outings early on in the season and have some success and hopefully continue to keep that going throughout the season is a blessing. So I’m just very thankful to be able to do that tonight.”

Schmidt also turned in that performance three days after throwing 1.1 innings and 26 pitches in extra innings (i.e. high stress innings with the automatic runner) in Baltimore. Tuesday was only the second time Schmidt pitched on fewer than four days of rest in his career (he had 32-pitch and 23-pitch relief outings three days apart in Sept. 2020). He’s been handled carefully because of all the injuries and he answered the bell on short rest (for him) Tuesday. Props.

In his extremely limited MLB time (20 innings spread across three seasons), Schmidt has shown a knack for limiting hard contact and keeping the ball on the ground. He’s also walked too many and not missed as many bats as you’d expect given the quality of his stuff. Weak contact on the ground is good. Marry that with fewer walks and ideally more strikeouts, and the Yankees will really have something.

Rosters go back to 26 players one week from Monday and there’s a 13-pitcher/13-position player mandate. The Yankees have to send down two pitchers. Schmidt and the seldom-used Ron Marinaccio are the two obvious candidates to go down because everyone else in the bullpen is a veteran, but a lot can happen in 10 days. Let’s see where the Yankees are on May 2nd.

Sending Schmidt to Triple-A when rosters shrink makes sense. I worry about his health and am tempted to say the Yankees should find a way to keep him on the roster so they can get as much out of him before he breaks down, but I’d understand sending him down. Schmidt’s talented. He was a first rounder for a reason. He just hasn’t stayed on the field. You can’t help but dream on the kid when you see outings like Tuesday. Schmidt just needs to solve the injury problem.

Holmes the Fireman

The bullpen has been the Yankees MVP in the early going this season. The entire pitching staff, really, but especially the bullpen. Going into yesterday’s game the bullpen had a 1.98 ERA (third in MLB), a 3.06 FIP (seventh), and a .256 wOBA allowed (fourth). The bullpen hasn’t been perfect (the eighth inning Sunday stands out), but it’s been excellent overall.

Other than Aroldis Chapman being locked in as closer, the bullpen lacks defined roles, at least in the traditional sense. Some guys see higher leverage work than others, but the Yankees do not have a set Eighth Inning Guy or anything like that. The days of Joe Girardi’s paint by numbers “this guy pitches this inning no matter what” bullpen management are long gone.

What is clear in the early going is Clay Holmes is the reliever the Yankees want facing the other team’s best hitters. His “lane” is the middle of the other team’s lineup. Here are the lineup spots he’s faced in his seven appearances:

• April 8th vs. Red Sox: 3-4-5-6-7
• April 9th vs. Red Sox: 3-4-5-6
• April 12th vs. Blue Jays: 8-9-1-2-3 (spanning two separate innings)
• April 14th vs. Blue Jays: 2-3-4 (spanning two separate innings)
• April 16th at Orioles: 7-8-9-1 (spanning two separate innings)
• April 19th at Tigers: 2-3-4-5
• April 20th at Tigers: 5-6-7

Lineup spot is a decent proxy for hitter quality (we can count on teams building sensible lineups these days) and Holmes has consistently been used against the other team’s best hitters. The Yankees matched him up with Xander Bogaerts and JD Martinez in the Red Sox series, and Bo Bichette and Vlad Guerrero Jr. (look at this) in the Blue Jays series. It’s not a coincidence.

In previous seasons Chad Green was that middle of the order guy, though he’s been bumped down the depth chart and now sees the bottom half of the lineup in most outings (he’s faced the 3-4 hitters once in his six appearances). The same applies to Castro. Jonathan Loaisiga has faced the other team’s best hitters like Holmes. Those two are the go-to relievers against the middle of the opposing lineup. Castro and Green get the softer part of the order.

So, the Yankees don’t have traditional roles with their bullpen, but they do have roles. Holmes is the reliever they want on the mound to face the best the other team has to offer. Not too long ago this guy had a 4.93 ERA (4.07 FIP) for the rebuilding Pirates. Now he’s basically the most trusted high leverage reliever the Yankees have, and he’s earned it. Pretty crazy. And pretty awesome.

Gallo’s struggles

Earlier in the season Joey Gallo was smashing line drives at people and not getting results. He was still taking walks and in control of his at-bats. Now Gallo is clearly pressing and all out of sorts at the plate. Tuesday night Gallo went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts, and in his fourth at-bat he let a 94 mph 3-1 fastball go by …

… and folks, passing up that pitch is no way to hit. You gotta take a hack at that and Gallo knows it. From 2019-21, he hit .284 with a .716 SLG on fastballs in the bottom third of the zone (like that one). That’s pretty much his wheelhouse. Gallo is on the defensive and unsure of himself at the plate right now.

“I’m not playing well enough right now to be in the starting lineup everyday. I understand that,” Gallo told Brendan Kuty about being benched Wednesday. “… There’s guys playing a lot better than me. So, I think it’s part of it, and you put the best lineup at the time out there and try to win games.”

In the first week of the season Gallo had a 20.9% chase rate, which is excellent and better than his career rate (23.8%). In the second week, it jumped to 38.2%. That’s decent evidence Gallo is pressing. He is 5-for-37 (.135) with five singles. He’s not the only big name player without an extra-base hit (Jesse Winker was extra-base hitless going into last night’s game, among others), but I don’t really care about what players on other teams are doing.

On one hand, it’s been two weeks. The Yankees still have another 149 games to play! On the other hand, Gallo is closing in on 300 plate appearances with a .154/.296/.362 (85 wRC+) batting line as a Yankee. That unequivocally sucks. Don’t care how good he is defensively (of course he fumbled that ball Thursday, which led to a run) and on the bases. A corner outfielder with an 85 wRC+ is straight up bad.

Jon Heyman says the Yankees discussed a Gallo trade with the Padres in Spring Training, and I assume it was a “San Diego approached us about Gallo, there wasn’t a match, so they moved onto Luke Voit” thing. April trades are rare (especially impactful April trades) and Gallo’s market will be limited because he’s a rental. Only contenders will want him, not rebuilders. Trading him will be a tough needle to thread.

The Yankees have to stick with Gallo at this point because a) it has only been two weeks, and b) the alternatives aren’t appealing. Tim Locastro? Marwin Gonzalez? Putting Giancarlo Stanton in the outfield full-time isn’t going to happen, but even if it did, that means Gleyber Torres at DH. Or maybe Miguel Andujar? How quickly can Brett Gardner get in shape?

Right now the Yankees have little choice but to stick with Gallo and hope he gets it together. That makes watching him no less frustrating, and let's not kid ourselves, he is trending toward being one of the worst trade additions in recent Yankees history. It’ll be years before we know what the prospects they gave up become, but just in terms of expected results vs. actual results, this is a disaster unless things change and quick.

(The Yankees have been saying Gallo has hit into a lot of loud outs, which is true, but all the guy makes is loud contact. Loud outs come with the territory with this profile. Defensive positioning is so good these days that well-struck balls are going to find gloves more often than you’d like. It’s just the way the sport is now.)

Miscellany

Isiah Kiner-Falefa is hot! Red hot, really. He is 10-for-22 (.455) since tweaking his mechanics. It won’t last forever but at least we’re seeing the other side of the coin now. When he’s going bad, Kiner-Falefa will hit like two balls out of the infield in a week. When he’s going well, he’ll spray the ball all around. The track record says we’re not going to see this Kiner-Falefa that often, but the Yankees need him to be more than a zero. Hopefully he can settle into the sweet spot between his terrible first week and too good to continue second week … So much for that home run in Baltimore getting Josh Donaldson going, huh? He is 1-for-11 since that game and was 0-for-10 prior to the pinch-hit double Thursday. Donaldson has played consecutive days in the field only once in the early going (Saturday and Sunday in Baltimore, right before Monday’s off-day), so maybe he’s nursing something? Or maybe he’s having a hard time settling in because he’s bouncing between third base and DH so much? Or maybe it’s just a two week blip we’d accept as part of the long season if it happened in July rather than right out of the gate? Whatever it is, the Yankees need Donaldson to get on track soon. Scoring runs is a chore … And finally, last year Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton were a two-man army that carried the Yankees offensively, especially in August and September. They are 14-for-72 (.194) with one homer since the Red Sox series. Much like last season, the lineup just isn’t good enough to pick up the slack when those two aren’t at their best. “Wait for them to get hot” is an unsatisfying solution, but what else are the Yankees supposed to do? They will go only as far as Judge and Stanton take them.

2. 2022 draft prospect: Alabama LHP Connor Prielipp. The 2022 MLB Draft will take place during the All-Star break and the Yankees hold the No. 25 pick. Here are the draft prospects we’ve already profiled. Some will be players the Yankees are reported to have interest in, some are players who fit the team’s M.O., and some are players I happen to like.

A 37th round pick out of high school by the Red Sox in 2019, Prielipp immediately took over as Alabama’s ace as a freshman, and his numbers were insane in four starts before the pandemic cut the 2020 season short: 21 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 6 BB, 35 K. As a freshman in college baseball’s toughest conference, that’s as good as it gets right there.

Prielipp pitched well in his first start last spring (5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K), then was shut down with a “medical condition.” He returned to make an ineffective one-inning start in mid April and another in mid May. Prielipp had Tommy John surgery at the end of May and has not pitched since. Here are his current draft rankings:

• Baseball America (subs. req’d): No. 22
• FanGraphs: No. 48
• Keith Law (subs. req’d): No. 25
• MLB.com: No. 17

Prior to last year’s injuries Prielipp was an early candidate to be the No. 1 pick this year. He may make it back in time to showcase himself in a summer league or at the draft combine, but right now no one has seen the kid pitch healthy since his 2021 debut last February. Here’s video and here’s a snippet of MLB.com’s free scouting report:

Prielipp's slider is one of the most devastating pitches in the college class, sitting in the mid-80s and touching 90 with two-plane break that has it drop off the table as it approaches the plate. He also can elicit swings and misses with a low-90s fastball that peaks at 95 mph with run and downhill plane. He has a quick arm and could add more velocity after completing his rehabilitation from elbow reconstruction.

Prielipp hasn't used his changeup much but shows feel for an 82-85 mph offering with some sink. He pitches with confidence and while he doesn't have the smoothest delivery, he's athletic and locates his pitches where he wants. Assuming a return to full health, he has all the ingredients to become a frontline starter.

Injured pitchers are drafted in the first round all the time. Last year it was Gunnar Hoglund, a projected top 10 pick who had Tommy John surgery and fell to the Blue Jays with the No. 19 pick (and was then traded for Matt Chapman). The Yankees have done this with Andrew Brackman in 2007 and Clarke Schmidt in 2017 (and to a lesser extent with Mark Melancon in 2006).

Brackman is a more comparable situation to Prielipp than Schmidt. Schmidt was a weird one because he was a projected middle of the first round talent before having Tommy John surgery. The Yankees took injured Schmidt where healthy Schmidt was expected to go. It wasn’t like they nabbed a top talent. Brackman was a potential top 3-5 pick before getting hurt, like Prielipp.

Since 2018 the Yankees have selected only seven pitchers in the top five rounds (19 total picks) and none in the first round. They’ve leaned toward taking position players early and trusting their player development folks to develop later round arms, and it’s worked pretty well. We’re in the build-a-pitcher era and the Yankees have gotten pretty good at building pitchers. Why assume the injury risk in the first round when you can get quality pitching later in the draft?

Prielipp might be a special case because he showed top of the draft potential before getting hurt, albeit in very limited time (only five healthy starts in college). The Yankees basically never get a chance to select top of the draft talent. An injured Prielipp could fall to them. My guess is the Yankees would play it safe with a position player, though the Yankees drafting an injured pitcher is not unprecedented. Depends who else is available, really.

3. Rapid fire thoughts. Earlier this week the Padres became the first team to announce their jersey ad patch sponsor (Motorola) for 2023. They released a hype video (?) and here’s what the patches will look like:

Pretty big! Four inches by four inches, to be exact. Looks bigger to me, but 4x4 is supposed to be the standard size for these things. Teams can also have an ad patch on their batting helmets, though I’m not sure if that’s a different sponsor or the same sponsor as the jersey patch. Probably two different sponsors, right? Either way, that’s what the ad patches will look like … And finally, earlier this week the Dodgers announced they’ve hired a firm to help them find a “field presenting partner to iconic Dodger Stadium and the first-of-its-kind jersey partnership in Major League Baseball.” I read that as a plan to go with “[company name] Field at Dodger Stadium.” If the Dodgers can do it with their iconic ballpark name, the Yankees can do it with Yankee Stadium. Don’t be surprised if Hal Steinbrenner & Co. follow suit and we see “[company name] Field at Yankee Stadium” at some point (or “Yankee Stadium, presented by [company name],” similar to ”Madison Square Garden, presented by Chase”). The sponsor isn’t gonna pay us. Fans can call the building whatever we want. Only the Yankees and their broadcast people and business partners will have to call it by its sponsored name. It will remain just “Yankee Stadium” to everyone else. If the Dodgers go through with it, the Yankees won’t be able to resist. It is an untapped revenue stream.

Mailbag Questions of the Week

Brian asks: With Tony Womack struggling and an inept offense/10-14 start, the Yankees called up Cano on May 3, 2005. If IKF continues more or less at his current pace, would setting the over/under for Peraza call up as Memorial Day be too aggressive?

Brian sent this question in before Isiah Kiner-Falefa went on this recent 10-for-22 (.455) tear, raising his season batting line to .282/.333/.359 (110 wRC+). So blame me for the lack of timeliness. (Wait, is .282/.333/.359 really 10% better than league average? Bring back the rocket ball, stat.)

Anyway, this will depend on Oswald Peraza as much as (and maybe more than) Kiner-Falefa. Womack was dreadful, the second worst Yankees position player ever by WAR, and Robinson Cano was hitting .333/.368/.574 in Triple-A when he got called up. Cano was forcing the issue and made it easy to make a change. Peraza is 7-for-39 (.179) through 10 Triple-A games.

I thought Cano was a better prospect then than Peraza is now – I never understood why Cano was never a top 100 prospect, he was a hitting machine middle infielder who was always several years young for his level – and I think the Yankees are much more invested in Kiner-Fafela’s success than they were Womack’s. I think Kiner-Falefa has a very, very long leash.

Also, the 2005 Yankees were coming off the humiliating ALCS loss to the Red Sox (and a World Series loss the year before that) and were desperately trying to erase that memory. The 2022 Yankees don’t seem to have that sense of urgency. These Yankees seem to want to do nothing more than get to the postseason each year. If they run into a title somewhere along the way, it will be a happy coincidence.

Peraza is just about the same age Cano was entering 2005, though Cano didn’t lose a season to a pandemic, so the Yankees might take it a little slower with Peraza. But, if he gets hot and we’re looking at something like a .290/.340/.475 line on Memorial Day, and Kiner-Falefa stops hitting, then yeah, a change could be made. Peraza has to start hitting before the Yankees seriously consider a change. He has to do his part, first and foremost.

(Keep in mind the minor leagues are about development and everyone is working on something down there. The big leagues are about winning, and opponents will shove your weakness down your throat. Peraza has some questions to answer about his approach against/ability to hit breaking balls. That is the kind of development you can’t see in a Triple-A box score.)

Steve asks: What do you think about moving Mike King back to the rotation if someone gets injured as opposed to calling up one of the kids? He's been absolutely disgusting and his slider/sinker combo is absolutely unhittable. I don't think I'm being too reactionary, but is there a more unhittable two pitch combo on the Yankees staff? Severino, maybe, but his FB is too straight. I guess Chapman when he throws strikes. Maybe I'm being a homer, but as long as he only loses a tick or two on his fastball going back to the rotation, I think he could be a #3 starter, with upside for more. Maybe he can be Jameson Taillon's replacement in 2022.

The most unhittable two-pitch combo on the Yankees? With Gerrit Cole not being very Gerrit Cole-like in the early going, I’ll go with Jonathan Loaisiga’s upper-90s sinker/upper-80s sweeper. Luis Severino’s in that mix with his fastball and slider, and Clay Holmes too. King being in the conversation isn’t crazy, though I don’t think I’d go with him. Hard to beat Johnny Lasagna.

Anyway, I think King is right where he belongs, but I understand the temptation. Unlike Chad Green, who is a one-pitch pitcher, King has a starter’s arsenal. He doesn’t use his changeup much now (or his curveball) but he has one. The sinker/sweeper is a strong foundation. All he needs is a usable (not even dominant) third pitch, and he should be able to turn a lineup over twice.

King’s velocity jumped when he moved into the bullpen and that’s the great unknown. If he goes back to 92-94 mph rather than the 96-97 mph he’s sitting now, well that’s a much different guy. It doesn’t mean he can’t be effective. Just that he might not ever dominate, and instead be a starter who gives you five solid innings every fifth day. Is that better than a top notch reliever?

Back in the day, the answer was yes. Now though? Eh, it’s not so clear because the game is so bullpen-centric. Steve mentioned King as a possible Jameson Taillon replacement and Taillon had a 4.30 ERA (100 ERA+) in 144.1 innings last year. Would you rather have King do that, or throw something like 70 innings as a multi-inning high leverage reliever?

Teams these days would rather have 70 great innings over 140 good innings because pitching development is so advanced that they can drum up a second guy to give them 70 great innings to bridge the gap. That’s what the Rays do. They’ve had only three pitchers throw at least 135 innings in the last three 162-game seasons. They take fewer elite innings from more pitchers rather than more good innings from fewer pitchers, if that makes sense.

At some point the Yankees will need a sixth starter this season. It’s inevitable. King might prove too important in the bullpen to consider stretching him out, but, if the Yankees want to try it, I’d understand. He has a starter’s arsenal and he’s learned how to get outs at the MLB level. I’d keep King right where he is. Wanting him to start again isn’t crazy though.

Bill asks: When the Yankees got rid of Girardi it was because they didn't think he would be good long term with the younger players, notably he was very hard on Gary. However since he's left it's no secret how the young guys (outside of Judge) have regressed, is it possible the more stern coach is what these players needed and Boone's laid back approach has done more harm than good for these young players?

I don’t know whether “stern” coaches are what they needed. The tough on players football coach mentality doesn’t really work. Athletes just tune those coaches out now. But at this point, yes, it is fair to say Aaron Boone has failed to develop the young players he was provided. I will remind you of what Brian Cashman said after hiring Boone (via Billy Witz):

Girardi’s inability to communicate well with an increasingly young  clubhouse was the primary factor that led to his dismissal, General  Manager Brian Cashman said Monday.

The main area of concern was “the ability to fully engage, communicate and connect with the playing personnel,” Cashman said. “And in saying that, there might be a tough hurdle for someone that’s been in that particular position as a manager for 10 years.”

Cashman pretty clearly stated he did not believe Joe Girardi was the best manager to develop young players (Girardi hasn’t exactly excelled in that department with the Phillies). By hiring Boone, the Yankees told us they believed he was the guy to do it even though he had no prior coaching or managerial experience, and no demonstrated ability to develop players.

It was a leap of faith and it’s been a disaster. Pretty much the worst case scenario, right? Every young position player except Aaron Judge had an impressive debut, then went backwards. Gary Sanchez has been shipped out, Miguel Andujar is buried in Triple-A, and Gleyber Torres does not belong in the lineup of a team that is averaging 3.00 runs per game. This is brutal.

The Yankees placed the blame on hitting coach Marcus Thames and assistant hitting coach P.J. Pilittere because when hitters don’t hit, the hitting coaches get canned. It is the way of the world. The offense isn’t doing anything now and that reflects poorly on the new hitting coaches (all three of them), but you can’t expect things to click overnight. It took Matt Blake a year to get the pitching staff on track (it was a weird pandemic year though).

I don’t think it’s as simple as the Yankees needing coaches who were more forceful than the guys they had. It likely has more to do with communication and the ability to take the information provided by the front office, and put it into practice. It’s sorta amazing Boone hung around even though the player development at the MLB level has been this bad. If I give you talents like Gary and Gleyber and others and they turn into this, heads would roll.

Christopher asks: Your tweet about Gleyber being the backup SS got me thinking, do you think Gleyber is in their long term plans? With the current roster construction it suddenly feels like he's going to be trade bait and IKF will become the utility man once Pereza or Volpe catch on. Thoughts?

I don’t think so. Not anymore. I think the Yankees are at the point now where Gleyber Torres has to prove to them he belongs in their long-term plans. The fact he’s started only 10 of their 13 games (and one of the last three) is pretty telling. That’s the fewest starts among the non-catcher regulars and not something we would have seen in previous years. Gleyber was in the lineup no questions asked.

Torres could be trade bait, but what’s his trade value? Basically zero, right? He has two years of control remaining beyond this season and he’s not cheap ($6.25M salary). Seems like the best case is my change of scenery candidate for your change of scenery candidate. Here are a few change of scenery candidates with the same team control as Torres:

• DH Willie Calhoun, Rangers
• C Danny Jansen, Blue Jays (depending how much Toronto likes Alejandro Kirk)
• CF Victor Robles, Nationals
• 1B Dominic Smith, Mets

Robles was the starting center fielder for the 2019 World Series champion Nationals and he has not hit at all since, but he’s a top notch defensive center fielder. Smith would make more sense in a world without Anthony Rizzo, plus a crosstown trade of that magnitude feels unlikely. Jansen is a good defender who isn’t a zero at the plate, though I would strongly bet against the Yankees trading Gleyber within the AL East. Calhoun is meh.

Do the Yankees trade Torres for prospects? Hope he can headline a package for an above average big leaguer? I don’t know what the Yankees do with Gleyber at this point. I’m not sure a Triple-A stint will help (those pitchers won’t challenge him), but it’s maybe worth a shot? It’s a shame, man. Torres should have been a star here. Instead he’s another failed young Yankee.

Alex asks: Hi Mike, I recently learned that Thairo Estrada is the starting 2B for the Giants (good for him!) and has “20-30 HR potential” — where did that power come from?

I’m not sure where the 20-30 homer power thing comes from. I’ve never seen or heard that said about Estrada. He is San Francisco’s starting second baseman because Tommy La Stella is hurt, and he’s 11–for-47 (.234)  with two doubles and two home runs in the early going. The second homer was a wall scraper. The first was a legit bomb (107.2 mph off the bat).

The Yankees designated Estrada for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot for Rougned Odor last April, then traded him to the Giants for cash. When a really smart team wants the player you just dropped from the roster, you should ask yourself what they see that you don’t, because it’s something. The Giants have been great at unearthing hidden gems.

I know he’s a righty hitter and he counted more than $0 against the luxury tax payroll, but I would have rather had Estrada over Odor last year. Things got so bleak last year that a not insignificant number of Yankees fans convinced themselves Odor was solid, if not actually good. Dark times, man. Here’s what I wrote in the Odor trade post:

To clear 40-man roster space for Odor, the Yankees designated Thairo Estrada for assignment, and I’d rather have Estrada (optionable, can play shortstop, small chance to be good?) over Odor (not optionable, can’t play shortstop, not good). I don’t think the Yankees dump Estrada without Kyle Holder being returned as a Rule 5 Draft pick. Holder is now third on the shortstop depth chart behind Gleyber Torres and Wade. Oy.

Estrada, now 26, went up and down last year and was great in Triple-A (134 wRC+) and in MLB (119 wRC+). Even if La Stella was healthy and even if Thairo wasn’t out of minor league options, he would have been on the Opening Day roster this year. The Giants see him as their Donovan Solano replacement as that righty hitting do-it-all infielder (and sometimes outfielder).

The Yankees already have two righty hitting second basemen, so maybe Estrada was just never going to have a role here. That said, they’ve rostered Rangers rejects on the infield the last two years while Thairo contributes to a team that won 107 games last year. He’s not great, but he’s a useful complementary player. Dumping Estrada for Odor won't cost the Yankees a World Series or anything, but it wasn't the best move.

(Send your requests for Tuesday's random Yankee series and questions for Friday's mailbag to RABmailbag at gmail dot com.)