April 19th, 2022: Offense, LeMahieu, Donaldson, Gallo, Kiner-Falefa

I know I said today’s post would be later than usual because I had family stuff to do Monday, but the Yankees annoyed me enough Sunday that I hate-typed most of the post out that night. Gosh, what a terrible weekend. The Yankees had one good offensive inning in the three-game series (which included an 11-inning game) against a terrible Orioles team. I really hate this team sometimes. Let’s get to today’s post.

1. Weekend observations. Can’t say I’m a fan of the new left field at Camden Yards. It looks gimmicky. Camden Yards is a spectacular ballpark and it feels like they took away some of the charm. As for the on-field impact, Trey Mancini has already lost a homer to the new dimensions (this one) and we’re going to see more singles drop in front of the left fielder now because he has to play back a bit more (like this). Maybe the new left field will grow on me, but I dunno, it feels forced. Whatever. Some thoughts on the last few games.

On the Offense

The season is only 10 games old and I’m not sure I can sit through 152 more games of this. The Yankees have scored 30 runs in 10 games, their fewest through 10 games to begin a season since 1977, and they needed the automatic runner in extra innings to score two of those 30 runs. They rank 28th in runs per game, ahead of only the Diamondbacks and Orioles.

"I am confident in this offense that we'll be what we should be,” Aaron Boone said after Sunday’s loss (video). Boone has been saying that for two years now. From last May 30th: “I’m incredibly confident in this group that we are going to hit.” This is me after listening to Boone stick to the script the last four years and 10 games:

I’m not mad Boone keeps saying that – what’s the manager supposed to say? we suck and it’s fair to question our commitment to excellence? – I’m mad he has to keep saying it. Since Opening Day 2021, the Yankees have been outscored by 20 of the 30 teams. The New York Yankees, with their World Series window as open as it’s going to get, rank 21st in runs per game since last Opening Day. I don’t even know what to say.

And you know what the worst part is? This is playing out exactly like I feared. The Yankees were tenth in the American League in runs last year even though Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton stayed healthy and mashed. In response to that output, the Yankees punted offense at catcher and shortstop in the offseason. The Yankees asked to have an underwhelming offense and they sure are getting it.

The no-hit shortstop and no-hit catcher aren’t hitting, Judge and Stanton have been good more than great, and the rest of the lineup isn’t doing enough to pick up the slack. It is completely predictable. Rather than evaluate things objectively, the Yankees seemingly assumed they would have a great offense again this year because hey, they usually have great offenses.

The Yankees give their players no chance to get comfortable and settle into a routine. Everyone is in a different lineup spot every game and sitting every third day it seems. The Yankees open a three-game series in Detroit on Tuesday. How about this for three straight games:

1. CF Aaron Hicks
2. RF Aaron Judge
3. 1B Anthony Rizzo
4. DH Giancarlo Stanton
5. 2B DJ LeMahieu
6. 3B Josh Donaldson
7. LF Joey Gallo
8. SS Isiah Kiner-Falefa
9. C Jose Trevino

It was a short Spring Training. Can we give these guys three straight days* to get their feet under them and settle into a routine? It won’t happen, of course. Kyle Higashioka will be behind the plate tonight because Gerrit Cole needs his hand held, and the Yankees will force Gleyber Torres into the lineup at some point even though he is wholly undeserving of playing time.

* The Yankees are so committed to resting their players and yet the bench is not a priority at all. They didn’t sign Marwin Gonzalez until after Spring Training began and last year they traded for Rougned Odor after the regular season began. If you’re going to rest your players this much, shouldn’t the bench be a little more of a priority?

Speaking of Gleyber, do the Yankees have a plan with him? I don’t see one. They took the rather drastic step of changing his position in-season last September and said “Gleyber is best served at second base, in reality” at the outset of the offseason. Yet there he is playing shortstop twice in the first 10 games this season, and his confidence is so broken that he bunted a runner up for Higashioka and Kiner-Falefa on Sunday. He is a mess.

Every single young hitter the Yankees have brought to the big leagues the last few years has had immediate success, then gone backward. Everyone except Judge, who was so good he forced the Yankees to stay out of his way. The talent that has gone to waste here is incredible. Gleyber badly needs a change of scenery. The Yankees have no discernible plan with him and seemingly no idea how to help him. He’s pretty much on his own.

The Yankees are averaging 2.80 runs per game in the first nine innings this year. They’re hitting .190/.283/.329 (80 wRC+) with runners in scoring position. That won’t continue. The offense isn’t that bad. But there are (and will continue to be) two dead spots in the lineup, and a few others who are too up and down to contribute consistently. It is a boom or bust offense. And it was built this way on purpose.

The bullpen can not be perfect every game. The pitching staff can not continue to have this little margin of error. The Yankees are going to burn those guys out at this rate. Eventually the offense will be better because it almost can’t be worse, and hopefully that begins tonight. Make no mistake though, this is a flawed offense, and one that is prone to extreme valleys.

As noted, 30 runs in the first 10 games is the Yankees’ fewest since 1977. The Yankees won the World Series that year! I’d rather not plan the parade and pretend a statistical coincidence is meaningful. The floodgates will open at some point and runs will be scored. But is this truly a championship caliber offense? I’m not sold on the ceiling being that high, and nothing I’ve seen in the first 10 games is making me reconsider my position.

LeMahieu’s revival

I won’t go so far as to say 2019-20 LeMahieu is back, but I think he looks better this season than he did at any point last season. It’s most notable in the field. Does LeMahieu make this play last year? I don’t think so. He wasn’t moving well enough. LeMahieu is 9-for-28 (.321) with two doubles and a homer in the early going. This seems encouraging:

We’re not even two weeks into the season, so don’t get too excited, but LeMahieu’s exit velocity this month is higher than it was in any single month last year. That’s better than the alternative. He’s moving well, he’s hitting well, and he’s striking the ball well. I’m not sure those three things were true at the same time at any point last season.

It’s tempting to say LeMahieu should go back to the leadoff spot (I’m sure the Yankees would love to use the switch-hitting Hicks to break up the righties lower in the order), but I like him in the middle of the lineup. Let Hicks lead off, and use LeMahieu and his contact bat to drive in runs and break up the high strikeout hitters. I think the contact breaking up the strikeouts is more important than the switch-hitting breaking up the righties.

The early signs from LeMahieu are encouraging. He’s not back to his 2019-20 level and he may never get back there. LeMahieu was on the short list of the game’s best hitters those seasons. As long as he can be an above-average hitter, the Yankees will take it, and he’s that guy now. Two thumbs up for the non-hernia-ed version of LeMahieu so far.

Donaldson awakens? (and can Gallo please be next?)

Opening Day walk-off aside, Donaldson’s first week with the Yankees did not go well at all. He went 6-for-36 (.188) with one extra-base hit (a double that stayed just fair) in the team’s first eight games, and the underlying numbers going into Saturday night’s game were ghastly:

• Strikeout rate: 38.2% (20.1% career)
• Walk rate: 5.9% (12.6% career)
• Swinging strike rate: 16.2% (10.8% career)
• Chase rate: 46.6% (22.9% career)

It was only a week’s worth of games, but given his age (36), a slow start will create questions about whether Donaldson is slumping or actually washed up. That’s just the way it is. To me, it looks like Donaldson is pressing more than anything. He’s hitting the ball hard when he does hit it. He's just been taking a lot of wild, undisciplined swings, and that’s not Donaldson.

Saturday night Travis Lakins caught too much of the plate with a 92 mph cutter and Donaldson drove it to right-center for a two-run homer. He pulled a double down the left field line later in the game. I’m hopeful the dinger got the monkey off Donaldson’s back, allows him to settle in and get comfortable, and get back to being Josh Donaldson.

“Maybe it was a little bit of frustration, but it was a good feeling,” Donaldson told Bryan Hoch about the emphatic bat drop on the homer. “I knew as soon as I hit it, it was going. I just kind of let go.”

With Donaldson kinda sorta maybe possibly getting on track, the next order of business is getting Gallo going. He is 4-for-25 (.160) so far. Here’s the thing though: Gallo is a true talent .200 hitter. His career average is .206 in over 2,400 plate appearances. To have a .200 AVG right now, Gallo would have needed to go … 5-for-25 (.200). The sample, it is small.

The larger issue is the lack of home runs. Gallo’s walk (17.1%), strikeout (31.4%), and chase (27.3%) rates are in line with his career norms (36.8 K%, 15.1 BB%, and 23.8% chases). He just hasn’t dingered yet. Gallo is a streaky home run hitter. He tends to hit seven in a week rather than sprinkle them in consistently throughout the season. A homer binge would be welcome.

If you believe in such things, Statcast puts Gallo’s expected slugging percentage at .612 based on the quality of his contact. He’s crushed the ball (how did this just die?). Gallo can be a real slog to watch when he’s not hitting homers (or even when he is hitting homers), but he’s doing what he usually does at the plate. It’s been a week. A homer binge is coming.

Kiner-Falefa’s un-adjustments

In Spring Training, I noted Kiner-Falefa changed his hitting mechanics after working with Justin Turner during the offseason. Specifically, he brought back the big leg kick he used earlier in his career and also lowered his hands. Kiner-Falefa looked almost identical to Turner at the plate. Here’s this again:

Those adjustments are already being rolled back. Kiner-Falefa is still using that big ol’ leg kick, otherwise he’s a) changed the position of his hands, b) started using a bat waggle, c) closed his stance slightly, and d) gone flat with his front foot rather than up on his toes. April 14th is the day he made the changes. Here are the requisite before and after GIFs (full-size image):

Kiner-Falefa went 1-for-17 to begin the season, made those tweaks, went 3-for-3 that night (one of the three was a bunt single, which is not something we should chalk up to the adjustments), and he’s stuck with them since. Kiner-Falefa is 5-for-11 since changing things up and he’s hitting .214/.267/.286 (64 wRC+) overall this season. Progress? How about we check back in a week.

My guess is we’re going to be looking for silver linings and signs of progress with Kiner-Falefa all season when, in reality, he’s a dude with a history of tinkering with his swing and nearly 1,500 big league plate appearances telling us he’s going to hit about .265 with no walks and no power. If he can unlock something, great. I’m not expecting a productive hitter. Surprise me, Isiah.

“Having only 14 or 15 at-bats right now, it’s not the way I wanted to start here, for sure,” Kiner-Falefa told Peter Botte last week. “… It’s the adversity that comes with New York and I know I’ve gotta play better. It’s coming, I don’t know when, but hopefully soon. I’m gonna keep working and stick to what I’m doing and hopefully those multi-hit games start piling up.”

Miscellany

I knew I was going to pay for giving Boone credit for pulling Aroldis Chapman when he did last week. Jonathan Loaisiga was laboring Sunday and Lucas Luetge was ready in the bullpen, and guess which one faced Rougned Odor? You don’t have to guess. You saw it. Boone saw Odor up close last year and still let him face the struggling righty over the lefty who throws nothing but bendy pitches. The problem with Boone is there’s like 10 of these bad decisions for every one good decision (like pulling Chapman) … Congrats on your first MLB win, JP Sears. Your reward is a trip to Scranton. Tough business. The Yankees cut down to 10 relievers a day earlier than I hoped. Sears was sent down following Saturday’s game and I assumed the Yankees were replacing him with a fresh arm (David McKay was the only available 40-man roster guy, everyone else had pitched recently), but nope, Tim Locastro got the call instead. Sunday was the first day players optioned down in Spring Training could be recalled (because of the 10-day rule), so they went to a four-man bench on the first day possible. Locastro’s not someone the Yankees can use to pinch-hit for Kiner-Falefa or the catcher, but he is a pinch-running option and a legitimate backup center fielder. Now that the starters are getting stretched out, Locastro is better use of the 28th roster spot than Sears … And finally, Cameron Maybin’s first series as a YES Network analyst is in the books and I think he’s great. Funny and insightful, and that’s really all I want from my broadcasters. My only critique is Maybin is a little too positive. I’m not saying he needs to trash the Yankees non-stop, but sometimes you have to call a spade a spade, otherwise people won’t take you seriously (Maybin may have liked the aggressiveness, but Hicks getting thrown out trying to steal third for the first out of the first inning is undeniably terrible). With all due respect to David Cone, Paul O’Neill, and everyone else on the YES roster, I found it refreshing to have someone young and recently removed from his playing days in the booth. Maybin can speak to the modern game better than anyone else with YES. I believe he said he’s doing this week’s Detroit series with Ryan Ruocco. I hope we hear him even more after that.

2. On the home run rate. Remember when the ball was flying in Spring Training? It definitely has not flown the same way during the regular season. We all thought Giancarlo Stanton hit that ball to 164th Street last week, but no, caught on the track (poor John Sterling). Jeremy Frank pointed out only 15 home runs were hit in the 14 games Sunday. That’s the fewest in a day with at least 14 games since Sept. 2014, and the fewest in a day in April since 1993.

Here are the homer per ball in play rates over the last few seasons (ignoring the shortened pandemic season):

Short spring, yeah, but look at that drop! The April home run rate is down 1.6 percentage points from Spring Training. The largest change from Spring Training to April the previous four years (ignoring 2020) was +0.5 percentage points in 2017 and 2019. There’s still 11 more days to go in April, so maybe the homer rate will creep up closer to 5.5%. It would require a huge spike at this point though.

Jason Collette ran the numbers last week and found that barrels, the batted balls with the ideal combination of exit velocity and launch angle, are traveling six fewer feet on average this year compared to the same point last year. There are three possible explanations: it’s a blip, it’s the baseball, or it’s the league-wide use of humidors. Maybe some combination of all three.

A small sample blip is possible, though we’re up over 10,000 plate appearances and 7,000 balls in play already. Home run rates tend to stabilize quickly. They peak in the summer months when the weather warms up, but you’re not going to see a lot of wild swings up and down early in the season. The league-wide home run rate usually is what it is early on.

I don’t know enough about the humidor to say anything definitively, but I would be surprised if the home run rate drop is the humidor’s fault. That would indicate a disproportionate number of MLB games have been played in dry climates over the years, and we know that’s not the case. I can’t imagine the humidor is the driving force behind the reduction in home run rate.

The simplest explanation is the baseball itself. MLB said it would use a deadened baseball last season and the batch codes* tell us Rawlings, which is owned by MLB, manufactured both the deadened ball and the rocket ball last year, and both were used in games. MLB claims it used leftover rocket ball stock to cover for production gaps, but the batch codes tell us no, they made the rocket ball last season. They weren’t leftovers.

* The batch code is essentially a serial number printed on the core of the baseball that tells us when it was manufactured. If MLB used leftover inventory last season to fill in the gaps because COVID slowed down production, I think we all would have been perfectly fine with it. Whatever it takes to get through the season. But no, they manufactured the rocket ball and didn’t tell anyone.

MLB said the “2022 season will be played with only balls manufactured after the production change,” and based on the April homer rate, it looks like they were referring to the deadened ball we were supposed to get last year. Maybe the spring homer rate was the result of teams having an older batch of baseballs at their Spring Training facilities, and the new batch at their home parks? Seems plausible.

Whatever the reason, the home run rate this month is way down from Spring Training, and also down relative to previous Aprils. That Stanton fly ball stands out, but Aaron Judge had two balls caught right at the top of the wall last week (this one and this one), and the baseball may have been the difference between a dinger and an out. We’ll see how the ball plays as the sample grows. Right now, it’s dead as hell. Not flying at all.

3. 2022 draft prospect: Campbell SS Zach Neto. The 2022 MLB Draft will take place during the All-Star break and the Yankees hold the No. 25 pick. We’re going to profile select draft prospects between now and then. Some are players the Yankees are reported to have interest in, some are players who fit the team’s M.O., and some are players I happen to like.

Neto, 21, is a performer, first and foremost. He owns a .361/.467/.691 batting line with six homers and more walks (14) than strikeouts (13) in 27 games this spring. Against top tier competition in the wood bat Cape Cod League last summer, he hit .304/.439/.587 with three homers, eight walks, and eight strikeouts in 16 games. Here are Neto’s current draft rankings:

• Baseball America (subs. req’d): No. 42
• FanGraphs: No. 34
• Keith Law (subs. req’d): No. 20
• MLB.com: No. 74

The numbers are great even though nothing about Neto looks natural at the plate. He has a very big leg kick and an exaggerated weight transfer, and he almost lunges at the ball. Here’s video and here's a snippet of MLB.com’s free scouting report:

He's not only one of the better hitters in the college class, but he also could have at least average tools across the board … Neto has an unconventional setup with a huge leg kick that includes a pause and an uphill right-handed swing, but he has the exceptional hand-eye coordination to make it work. He looks to drive balls in the air to his pull side yet makes consistent contact despite his approach. He has at least solid bat speed and constantly gets into good position to do damage … Neto enhances his average speed by running the bases aggressively. He has quick hands and feet and his instincts may help him be an average defender at shortstop, though his range may be better suited for second base at the next level. His arm isn't a question -- he has hit 93 mph as a reliever for the Fighting Camels -- and he started games at all four infield positions last season.

Is Campbell’s team nickname really the Fighting Camels? I had no idea. Neat. Anyway, not too long ago I was talking to someone who brought up Neto unprompted and dropped a Yuli Gurriel comp on his hitting style because nothing about it looks right, but it works and he barrels up all kinds of pitches in all different locations.

Neto’s on-paper evaluation (contact rates, exit velocities, etc.) is better than the eye test and the Yankees lean on the analytics during the draft evaluation process. They weren’t scared away by Trey Sweeney’s unorthodox swing, for example. Neto is a similar prospect, though he’s a righty hitter and it sounds like a lesser defender. Still, the on-paper data is there, so he fits.

4. Remembering a random Yankee: Jerry Hairston Jr. By request, this week’s random Yankee is a player who joined the 2009 World Series championship team at the trade deadline. Here’s the random Yankee archive. You can find links back to everyone we've covered there.

Hairston grew up in Chicago and he comes from a baseball family. His grandfather, Sam, played in the Negro Leagues in the 1940s and for the White Sox in 1951. His father, Jerry Sr., played parts of 14 big league seasons from 1973-89, mostly with the White Sox. His uncle, John, had a cup of coffee with the 1969 Cubs, and his brother, Scott, played 11 years in the show with six teams from 2004-14. The Hairstons are one of four three-generation baseball families.

The Orioles selected Hairston out of Southern Illinois in the 11th round of the 1997 draft and he zoomed up the minor league ladder. He made his MLB debut as a Sept. call up in 1998, was an up and down guy in 1999 and 2000, and took over as the full-time second baseman by 2001. Hairston put up a serviceable .243/.323/.361 line from 2001-03.

Baltimore had two young second basemen in the early 2000s: Hairston and Brian Roberts, who made his MLB debut in 2001. Roberts ripped 50 doubles in 2004 and Hairston moved into a super utility role, where he put up a .303/.378/.397 line in over 300 plate appearances. Eventually the time came to pick between the two. On Feb. 2nd, 2005, the Orioles traded Hairston to the Cubs in the Sammy Sosa deal. They kept the younger player in Roberts, which proved to be a smart decision.

"(The trade) could be great for both teams," Hairston told Roch Kubatko. "Obviously, the Orioles are searching for a power hitter. This will help the offense. And it benefits me greatly because I've been looking to play second base. I know the Cubs have Todd Walker, but regardless."

Hairston’s return home to Chicago lasted a season and a half, during which he hit .241/.322/.346 in over 500 plate appearances as a utility guy. In May 2006, the Cubs traded Hairston to the Rangers for former Yankees third base coach Phil Nevin. After a season and a half with Texas, Hairston had to settle for a minor league deal with the Reds in 2008. He was called up that May.

"I got a chance to play and play healthy," Hairston told ESPN after being called up. "The most important thing was to go down and make sure my back was okay. It feels great."

Hairston wound up having the best season of his career with Cincinnati in 2008, authoring a .326/.384/.487 line in close to 300 plate appearances while playing six positions. That earned him a new one-year, $2M contract after the season. Things didn't go as well in 2009. Hairston hit .254/.305/.397 in over 300 plate appearances for a Reds team that went on to finish 78-84.

The 2009 Yankees began to hit their stride in mid May and they emerged as a powerhouse in late June. They won 65 of their final 92 games. Only the Angels (60) had more than 55 wins during that time. The Yankees were great but the bench was lacking. Cody Ransom, Angel Berroa, and random Yankee Ramiro Pena handled backup infielder duties in the first half.

The bench overhaul began on June 30th, when the Yankees acquired random Yankee Eric Hinske from the Pirates. It continued on the day of the trade deadline, when they acquired Hairston from the Reds for minor league catcher Chase Weems. (Weems, a sixth round pick in 2007, never made it out of Single-A and has been out of baseball since 2013.)

"He is a guy that can play pretty much anywhere," Joe Girardi told the Associated Press after the trade. "Probably the only place I wouldn't put him is behind the dish. He gives us a lot of flexibility, a right-handed hitter for days that we can give a lefty off."

Hairston, then 33, appealed to the Yankees because he could play almost anywhere, and he did play almost anywhere with the Yankees. He played the three non-first base infield positions and all three outfield positions after the trade. Also, Hairston could hold his own against lefties. He hit .242/.319/.422 with more walks (14) than strikeouts (12) against southpaws in 2009.

"Whatever they ask me to do, I'll do it. I can play anywhere,” Hairston told the Associated Press after the trade. “… I'm a little shocked right now. I feel a closeness with these guys (on the Reds). At the same time, I'm going to New York where we have a chance to win."

Hairston made a good first impression with the Yankees, going 3-for-6 and driving in two runs in his first two games. He started the first game in left field and the second at third base. Hairston played in each of the first 15 games after the trade, making nine starts and coming off the bench to pinch-run or play defense in the other six. He played quite a bit.

I remember only one thing about Hairston’s regular season stint with the Yankees. On Aug. 31st, he started at third base in Baltimore, and booted a routine Adam Jones ground ball to end Andy Pettitte’s perfect game bid with two outs in the seventh inning. Here’s the video. The next batter, Nick Markakis, followed with a single to end the no-hitter. Pettitte finished with one run allowed on two hits in eight innings in the win.

“Nobody feels worse than I do. It’s kind of tough to swallow. I really wanted him to do it. All of us did,” Hairston told Tyler Kepner after the game. Kepner’s account says Hairston was upset in the clubhouse after the game, and Pettitte found him and joked he didn’t want to pitch the full nine innings anyway (Pettitte hadn’t thrown a complete game in over three years).

Hairston was on the roster for 61 games and he appeared in 45 of them (21 starts). He played six positions and hit .237/.352/.382 with two homers and more walks (11) than strikeouts (eight) in 93 plate appearances. Great? Nah, but by bench player standards, Hairston was solid. He was the perfect versatile veteran to fill out the roster of a team with championship aspirations.

It was not until he joined the Yankees that Hairston played in the postseason – “Get me off that list. That’s not a list you want to be on,” he jokingly told David Waldstein when informed he was one of the 14 active players with 1,000 career games played and zero postseason appearances – and he made his postseason debut in Game 3 of the ALDS against the Twins, when he pinch-ran for Hideki Matsui in the top of the ninth inning (he was stranded).

In Game 2 of the ALCS against the Angels, Hairston took his first postseason at-bat leading off the 13th inning. Pinch-runner extraordinaire Freddy Guzman pinch-ran for Matsui earlier in the game, and Hairston pinch-hit for him. He singled to center, moved up to second on a Brett Gardner bunt, then scored the winning run on a Maicer Izturis walk-off error. Here’s the video and here is the very cool photo of Hairston crossing the plate:

“I came up with the Orioles and I saw those great Yankee teams,” Hairston told Kepner about his role with the team after the game. “They obviously had superstars, but the Scott Brosiuses, the Jim Leyritzes, the Luis Sojos, those are all guys who made positive contributions.”

Hairston did make a start in the 2009 postseason. He started Game 2 of the World Series in right field because a) he had good career numbers against Pedro Martinez (10-for-27), and b) Nick Swisher was 4-for-35 in the postseason up to that point. Hairston went 1-for-3 against Pedro in Game 2, then was removed so Gardner could pinch-run/play defense.

“It’s a team thing,” Swisher told Kepner about Hairston getting the Game 2 start. “Jerry’s got great numbers off him. Hey, let him go out there and do his thing. Obviously you’re frustrated and upset, but it’s a team game. We got here by playing everybody we have, and Jerry’s going to do a great job.”

Melky Cabrera went down with a hamstring injury in Game 5 and was replaced on the roster by Pena. In the third inning of Game 6, Johnny Damon scored from second on a Matsui single and felt a tug in his calf as he rounded third base. Damon left the game with the injury, Hairston came off the bench to replace him, and went 0-for-2 with a sac bunt. When the final out of the World Series was recorded, the outfield from left to right was Hairston (replacing Damon), a rookie Gardner (replacing Melky), and Swisher.

Hairston signed with the Padres after the season and, when the Yankees had their World Series ring ceremony prior to the home opener on April 13th, 2010, Hairston was in attendance. The Padres had an off-day, so Hairston took a red-eye flight from San Diego, got his ring, then flew back to San Diego and played Tuesday. He paid for the trip out of his own pocket.

“It’s all worth it, trust me. When I open up that box, it’s going to be worth it,” Hairston told Ben Shpigel about his trip. “... I don’t mind paying. I don’t know how much the ticket was. I didn’t really look at it. I don’t care. When I look at that ring, it’s going to be worth it.”

Hairston bounced from the Padres to the Nationals to the Brewers to the Dodgers from 2010-13 before calling it a career. He retired as a .257/.324/.368 (85 OPS+) hitter with over 100 games started at five different positions (second, short, third, left, and center). Hairston made a little more than $21M in his career and he got to 10 years of service time, locking in the full pension.

These days Hairston covers the Dodgers as a studio analyst for SportsNet LA. I forgot about this until digging through the RAB archives, but the Yankees considered Hairston for their managerial vacancy during the 2017-18 offseason. They never did interview him. At some point he was on their list of candidates though. The Yankees thought about pursuing Hairston as a manager. Huh.

5. Rapid fire thoughts. Welcome back, Derek Dietrich. The Yankees have signed the lefty hitting utility guy to a minor league deal, according to Chris Hilburn-Trenkle. Dietrich was in camp as a non-roster invitee last spring and he spent a few months with Triple-A Scranton before being released in July. He hooked with the Nationals after that, but did not play in the big leagues last season. Dietrich, now 32, hit .163/.338/.293 (84 wRC+) in 303 Triple-A plate appearances last year. I don’t think he’s an MLB roster option anymore. Just a warm body for the RailRiders.

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