April 12th, 2022: Cole, King, Kiner-Falefa, Judge, Chapman

Four games into the new season the Yankees have held a lead after four of 38 innings. There’s still A LOT of season to play, but the 2022 Yankees are giving off 2020-21 Yankees vibes so far, only with a worse bottom of the lineup. They’ve scored 13 runs in four games. It's the first time they've scored no more than 13 runs in their first four games since 2015. Yeesh. Let’s get to today’s post.

1. Weekend thoughts. For the first time in Yankees history, two players each went deep in the first two games of the season. Plenty of Yankees have gone deep in the first two games of a season, including Gary Sanchez just last year, but Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton are the first two to do it together. Pretty cool. Rizzo and Stanton carried the Yankees offensively the first two games, and everyone’s fallen flat since. Blah. A few thoughts on the first few games.

A rough start to Cole’s start

Four batters into the new season, the Yankees were down 3-0, and Gerrit Cole had yet to record an out. He settled down after that and retired 11 of the final 13 batters he faced before hitting his pitch limit. As annoying as it was, I think the Rafael Devers two-run homer was mostly the result of Devers being really good, not Cole screwing up. I mean, the pitch was at the letters …

… at 98.6 mph. Few hitters can get the bat on the ball up there, and even fewer can drive it out of the ballpark. I’m cool tipping my cap to Devers. Cole settled down, pounded the bottom of the zone the rest of the way, and kept the Yankees in the game. A lesser pitcher might have bowed out in the first inning. Still, three runs in four innings isn’t good. He’ll be better next time.

Moreso than the game itself, I just wanna make sure I note Cole’s comments about Billy Crystal, because lol come on man. Cole was mad – visibly angry! – the pregame festivities took longer than expected (as if pregame ceremonies are known for their punctuality). I haven’t confirmed this myself but I saw someone say Crystal threw out the first pitch four minutes later than scheduled, and that sounds about right.

Here’s what Cole said after the game, via Greg Joyce. You must see the video to understand how serious he was when he said it (0:55 mark):

“That was an unforeseen challenge,” Cole said. “Festivities got a little away from the schedule.

“It’s like you expect something and then you don’t get it.”

Cole had a tough start and I’m sure it left a sour taste in his mouth the next four days, but the Yankees won! Can’t you laugh it off? I know pitchers are creatures of habit and Cole’s pretty high maintenance (he likes his every fifth day schedule, his personal catcher, etc.), but he’s venturing into manbaby territory here. My dude, don’t take life too seriously. You’ll never make it out alive.

King’s kluball

Mike King is a legit dude now. He was great down the stretch this year and he was – and looked – fantastic on Opening Day. Pretty good Monday night too, though the Blue Jays did touch him up for a run. These days King uses a mid-90s four-seamer up in the zone, a mid-90s two-seamer down in the zone, and his slider is a low-80s “kluball.” This is vicious (GIF via Rob Friedman):

The Yankees and other smart teams are teaching their guys to throw that big sweepy slider (the Yankees call it the whirly), though King’s is slightly different from everyone else’s. He learned his current slider from Corey Kluber. More accurately, Kluber helped King refine his slider. It’s not like King never had a slider and added a new pitch. Kluber just helped him take it to another level.

“Having a guy like Kluber say that he has confidence in me and thought we were similar pitchers, that gave me the confidence to say, 'This could be an easy pitch to learn,'” King told Bryan Hoch in Spring Training. “I’ve gone through six different slider grips and thrown it since I was in college. It’s never been a good pitch for me until Kluber.”

King’s current slider has about eight more inches of break than his old slider. Here’s what that looks like in graph form (this is vertical movement vs. horizontal movement):

Hitters have to respect fastballs with good velocity up, fastballs with good velocity and movement down, and now this big slider that darts across the plate. King did not begin throwing the kluball until the middle of last season, just before he went on the injured list for two months with his finger injury. This wasn’t something he learned in Spring Training. It happened during the season.

When King returned in September, he had this big new slider, and his velocity also jumped while pitching in relief. Some guys are just made for the bullpen. Wade Davis is a great example. He was okay as a starter. Serviceable. As a reliever, he basically had a Hall of Fame peak. I don’t think King is that good, though he certainly seems like a “made for the bullpen” guy.

There figures to be a mass bullpen exodus after the season (Zack Britton, Miguel Castro, Aroldis Chapman, and Chad Green will all be free agents), so King emerging as a high leverage option would be welcome. The Yankees could move forward with King and Jonathan Loaisiga as their two key bullpen guys. For now, King looks like he’s become a real weapon. The stuff is lively and he’s found a home in relief. After his issues as a starter last year, this is a fun development.

WhyKF

It is a long season, and I’m not sure whether that’s a reason to be patient with Isiah Kiner-Falefa or dread having to watch him for another 158 games. His first few days as a Yankee have gone about as poorly as possible. Kiner-Falefa has twice as many defensive misplays (this one, this one, this one, and this one) as balls hit out of the infield (this one and this one). He is 1-for-11.

Those defensive screw ups are the kinda screw ups that led to 1,500-word think pieces about Gleyber Torres not being an MLB shortstop last year. I didn’t expect much when the Yankees got Kiner-Falefa, but I did expect to feel confident he’d make the routine play, and I don’t. I’m back to holding my breath on every ground ball hit to short. It ain’t great.

“I’ve just got to slow things down a little bit,” Kiner-Falefa told Dan Martin over the weekend. “I’m comfortable at short, especially after just playing there all of last year and this spring. I should be able to make the plays I’ve not made so far. It’s just about adjusting to the field and to these surroundings.”

Kiner-Falefa seems like a nice guy and it isn’t his fault the Yankees made the obviously dumb decision to pass on the greatest free agent shortstop class ever. I do not say that in hindsight. We knew it was a dumb decision while watching it play out in real time. These shortstops all changed teams within the last 16 months and none are wearing pinstripes:

Javy Baez (twice)
Carlos Correa
Francisco Lindor
Corey Seager
Marcus Semien (twice)
Trevor Story
Trea Turner

Didi Gregorius struggled similarly early in his Yankees tenure, and the similarities end there. Sir Didi’s first year with the Yankees was his first full MLB season. The Yankees at the time were building up to their next championship window, not trying to extend their current window. And the best free agent shortstops on the market that winter were Hanley Ramirez and Jed Lowrie. None of that applies to Kiner-Falefa.

I hope Kiner-Falefa starts hitting and defending soon. Either way, I’m already wondering whether Oswald Peraza is ready. I didn’t expect to be here four games into the season.

So many pitchers, yet still not enough

I’m pretty sure the rainout screwed up the Yankees’ opening weekend pitching plans. Nestor Cortes was lined up to pitch last Thursday, and I think he was going to piggyback with Gerrit Cole. The off-day Friday would have then allowed Cortes to make his first start on normal rest. With no off-day because of the rainout, it would have been short rest, so no Cortes on Opening Day.

The Yankees predictably leaned on their bullpen a ton in the first four games – they’re carrying 11 relievers and have needed every last one of ‘em – and by Monday, they were looking at possibly using their top guys three times in four days. Nestor piggybacking with Cole would have spared a few relievers on Opening Day. Instead, seven relievers pitched that day (thanks in part to the extra innings), and four of the seven pitched the next day too.

“We obviously can’t use eight relievers a night, but for now, those guys are doing everything we could ask for,’’ Aaron Boone told Martin on Monday. “They’re all able to do different things, which gives us more options.”

I don’t envy Boone. It’s not easy to stretch out your starters while trying to win games. I have complained about going batter-to-batter for as long as I’ve been writing on the internet, but I understand sending Severino out for the fourth inning Saturday (he allowed a single to the leadoff hitter, then was pulled). He still had a few pitches to give and you’re not going to stretch him out by pulling him before he gets to his pitch limit.

Through four games Yankees starters have thrown 68, 65, 58, and 72 pitches. Cole had a long 27-pitch first inning and Jordan Montgomery took a line drive to the leg, though I was still hoping these guys would be closer to 75 pitches to start the season. The Yankees were the last team in baseball to get a 70-pitch outing. I get being careful, but is it possible they’re being too careful?

At the current pace, the Yankees will have to go through the rotation at least two more times to get their guys stretched out to 100 pitches, maybe even three times. The Yankees didn’t get their first 100-pitch game until Cole’s fourth start last year, though he threw 97, 97, and 98 pitches in his first three starts. Feels like we’re a long ways away from someone making three straight 90+ pitch starts. Point is, these (necessary) short starts and heavy bullpen usage is for the birds. Feels like Spring Training baseball.

Miscellany

Not sure why Josh Donaldson didn’t pinch-hit for Kyle Higashioka in the seventh inning Monday night. The Yankees were down three runs and there were two on with no outs, plus the pitcher (Trevor Richards) was laboring. He would have had to stay in because of the three-batter rule, so it would have been Donaldson representing the tying run against a struggling pitcher. Instead, Higashioka hit and flew out, then Donaldson pinch-hit for Marwin Gonzalez and had to face a good and funky righty (Adam Cimber). He banged into a double play. As an added bonus, Higashioka made the final out of the game with Donaldson on deck. The Yankees have to strategically pinch-hit now (that has rarely been the case the last few seasons) and Boone doesn’t have the tactical chops to make best use of his roster … Luis Severino looked pretty good in his first start since 2019. Made one bad pitch to Alex Verdugo and had one long at-bat against Christian Vazquez, but otherwise he looked good. He held his velocity throughout his start, his slider was good, and he threw a bunch of changeups. Severino will have to be handled carefully, especially these next few weeks, but there are indications a very good starting pitcher is still in there … Near disaster there with Montgomery, eh? The Yankees have enough injury risk in their rotation with Severino and Jameson Taillon. Losing Montgomery to a liner to the leg would’ve stunk. He came back and pitched really well after that too. I was fully expecting another long bullpen game after he crumbled to the field the way he did … The No. 8 and 9 lineup spots are a combined 3-for-28 (.107) with a double and two walks to begin the season. Higashioka did hit a few balls hard over the weekend that were turned into outs by nice catches, but outs are outs. Right now, it feels like the Yankees have a National League lineup. A National League lineup before the universal DH. The bottom of the order is a pillow soft landing spot for opposing pitchers … And finally, it is deeply weird the Yankees still are not using ball boys down the foul lines. Ball boys went away during the pandemic season and they started to return last season. There hasn’t been a game in every park yet this season, but the games I’ve seen had ball boys. All except games at Yankee Stadium. I don’t understand. Making the corner outfielders retrieve balls in foul territory is Little League stuff.

2. More on Judge’s non-extension. The Yankees and Aaron Judge were unable to agree to a contract extension prior to Opening Day, so Judge will play out the season and test free agency. Brian Cashman said the team is open to talking about an extension during the season. Judge shot that down. He’s done talking about a long-term deal until the offseason.

"I'm just disappointed because I've been vocal about wanting to be a Yankee for life. I want to bring a championship back to New York. I want to do it for the fans here. They're family,” Judge said following Friday’s game. “... I don't mind going to free agency. It is what it is. At the end of the year, I'm a free agent. I'll talk to 30 teams and the Yankees will be one of those 30 teams."

The Yankees are now in the awkward spot where they need Judge to perform to have their best chance at a World Series title, but the more he performs, the more expensive he gets. Anyway, now that I’ve had a few days to wrap my head around everything, I have a few more thoughts on the failed extension talks and what lies ahead for Judge and the Yankees.

First, the Yankees made a really good offer. They didn’t lowball Judge or insult him or anything like that. Had you told me in Spring Training the Yankees would offer eight years and $235M, I would have assumed it was a done deal. A few weeks back I noted the George Springer and Marcus Semien contracts (and since then the Kris Bryant contract) indicated $200M was a reasonable target for Judge. The Yankees met it and then some. It was a good offer.

Second, we know the Yankees offered a seven-year extension at $30.5M per year (on top of a 2022 arbitration contract) because Cashman told us (Jon Heyman says the total package was eight years and $235M, with some wiggle room). Over the last few days, we’ve gotten reports on what Judge is seeking:

• Jon Heyman: 10 years and $36M per year (he adds someone with Judge denied that)
• Buster Olney (subs. req’d): 9-10 years at $36M per year
• Ken Rosenthal (subs. req’d): 8 years at $36M per year

10 years and $36M is the extension Mike Trout signed a few years ago, when he still had two years remaining on his previous extension. Trout’s total package was 12 years and $426.5M. I can buy 10 years and $360M as an opening ask (you’ll never get Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano if you don’t ask) but I can’t imagine Judge’s camp was unwilling to come down.

Gerrit Cole will make $36M a year through his age 37 season. An eight-year deal at $36M a year would lock Judge up through his age 37 season. I assume that’s where his number comes from. He wants to be paid like Cole, who had the highest average annual salary in history prior to Max Scherzer’s deal. This is what the Yankees are willing to pay a star, so pay me like that. I get it.

Third, Cashman knew exactly what he was doing when he publicly announced the terms of the rejected extension. He wasn’t throwing anything out there to make the Yankees look bad. He did it so the Yankees could say "look, we tried!" after an(other) offseason in which they were criticized for not spending to their capabilities. Judge, for what it’s worth, did not appreciate it.

"I don't like talking numbers. I like to keep that private. That's something I felt like was private between my team and the Yankees," Judge said Friday. "... I can't control what happens on the other side."

All this tells me is ownership is sensitive to being called cheap (which they are, relative to their revenues). How many times did Cashman say the Yankees have their highest payroll ever this spring? Do you think he did that on his own? Ownership would rather risk alienating their best and most popular player than be called cheap (even though they’ll still be called cheap). Fans are smarter and more informed than ever. I think most see right through it.

Also, is this how the Yankees operate now? If I’m another Yankee discussing an extension, or a free agent, should I assume the Yankees will go public with an offer I don’t take? Cashman is not stupid. I’m sure he considered the potential reputational damage before announcing the terms of the rejected extension, but there’s risk here. I can’t imagine airing dirty contract laundry with a player of Judge’s stature will reflect well on the Yankees among players and agents.

Fourth, Judge is making an all-time bet on himself. I respect it. I’ve mentioned this a few times, but by the end of the season, Judge will have made over $32M in salary (even after proration in 2020) plus he has all those endorsements (he just got another one). He could bet on himself in a way many players can’t five years into their careers, so I’m not surprised he’s pushing it. This is likely Judge’s only chance at a massive payday.

Fifth, Judge took part in the MLBPA meetings in Florida during the lockout (not the bargaining sessions with MLB, the players-only meetings) and it could be he's a big union guy who feels a duty to get the best possible deal. Trout holds the annual salary record for an outfielder at $35.54M. Trout’s awesome, but he signed that deal a few years ago, and it’s time for someone to raise the salary bar. Who better than Judge? Then in a few years Juan Soto can raise it even higher. Judge’s motivations may not be entirely selfish here.

Sixth, there is more downside than upside for Judge, I think. Worst case is he gets hurt or has a down season, and has to settle for a one-year prove yourself contract that sends him back out onto the market at age 32. Not many players get paid big at that age. With a very good but not quite MVP caliber season, Judge may have to settle (“settle”) for a Springer contract. Six years and $150M (plus his 2022 salary) is a lot of money, but it’s not eight years and $235M.

The upside is what, Judge repeats 2017? He will turn 31 a few weeks into the first season of his next contract and the best recent examples of a 31-year-old getting paid big are, well, Springer and Semien. There’s a reason we keep going back to those examples. Repeating 2017 is very unlikely. Repeating 2021 feels like the bare minimum to get the same offer after the season.

That said, Judge is excellent and he was healthy last season. I know he has an injury history, but some of his injuries were fluky (broken wrist on a hit by pitch, broken rib on a diving catch, etc.) and the most recent data is a full, healthy season and MVP caliber play. No reason he can’t do it again in 2022. Still, it feels like a lot to ask. There’s much more room for Judge to get worse than get better, or even just stay where he’s at. Such is life when you set the bar high.

Seventh, Judge is the Yankees’ most popular player since Derek Jeter and his value to the team transcends his on-field performance. The Yankees are willing to pay him what they’re willing to pay him because he makes them multitudes more in revenue. To fans, Judge is a great player who helps the Yankees win games. To the bean counters, Judge is an investment opportunity.

The Yankees need Judge more than Judge needs the Yankees. They have no one who is nearly as marketable as him. Cole and Giancarlo Stanton aren’t selling tickets or ad space like Judge. He's proven himself in the New York market too. That’s always a concern when the Yankees bring in a player from outside the organization. I also think Judge knows staying with the Yankees is the best thing for him. Being a popular Yankee is better than being a popular anything else.

Jeter’s extension negotiations with the Yankees back in the day didn’t go smoothly and he milked them for every last penny. The Yankees badly needed him for on-field and off-the field reasons. Jeter also needed the Yankees to maximize his profile. Judge is in the same boat. He could pull a Robbie Cano and sign a big deal elsewhere, but you can be sure he’d rather sign that deal with the Yankees, and enjoy all that comes with being a great and popular Yankee.

Eighth, Cashman and Judge were asked point blank whether his vaccination status came up during talks. Cashman declined to say and Judge said no. That feels like a no-win situation. MLB and the MLBPA agreed to a solution here. The Yankees can put Judge on the restricted list if he misses games due to a vaccine mandate, and he will not be paid or accrue service time. He knows and accepts that. I’d stick to the collectively bargained solution and not make his vaccination status a bigger issue. It would only complicate an already complicated negotiation.

And ninth, there are reasons to be wary of signing Judge deep into his 30s. He is literally the largest everyday player in baseball history and who knows how he’ll age at that size? I mean, he could age like Dave Winfield. Or he could age like Mike Morse. That all gets baked into the cake. The Yankees have already considered that and they’re comfortable signing Judge at $30.5M per year through his age 37 season. They’ve told us they are willing to accept that risk.

Is the difference between the $36M per year Judge reportedly wants and $30.5M per year we know the Yankees offered really enough to derail a deal? Ad patches on jerseys are coming next season. Did you notice the auxiliary scoreboards in the Yankee Stadium outfield wall have been replaced with screens and digital ads? MLB’s new national television contracts kick in this year and put around $60M in each team’s pocket annually. The revenue machine is going brrrr. I have a hard time believing letting Judge walk over $5.5M per year is worth it to the Yankees. The gap isn't that big.

Judge is 4-for-16 (.250) with a double to begin the season and no matter what, his performance will be tied to his upcoming free agency the rest of the year. Either he’s struggling because his contract status is weighing on him or he’s doing well because he’s playing for a contract. It’s an easy narrative to build. Judge is nothing if not confident. I don’t think the contract stuff will weigh on him this year, but what do I know?

How Judge finishes the season will matter more than how he starts it. Three years ago Stephen Strasburg had an unremarkable 3.82 ERA through 25 starts, and it looked unlikely he would opt out of the four years and $100M remaining on his contract. A few weeks later he had a dominant postseason run and won World Series MVP, then opted out and signed a seven-year contract worth $245M. It is a long, long season, folks.

In the end, the Yankees made a good offer. Jose Ramirez, a comparable player to Judge, just signed a five-year extension worth $124M. Cleveland is not New York though. The Yankees acknowledged that with their offer. I also understand Judge holding out for more. He already has financial security, so he can bet on himself, and he has a strong case that he is worth more to the franchise (on and off the field) than their current highest paid player. I get it.

I am 2-for-2 with my bold predictions so far, but I’m not happy about this one. I would have much rather been wrong about Judge not signing an extension. As we saw with Cano, it only takes one desperate team to blow Judge away with an offer and make a mess of things for the Yankees. Once he hits free agency, the chances he returns to the Yankees go down, but I think Judge and the Yankees know it is mutually beneficial to stay together. I also think Judge is so valuable to the team’s bottom line that they won’t let him get away.

3. Remembering a random Yankee: Caleb Smith. The streak of 2017 Yankees continues this week with another requested player. Here’s the random Yankee archive. You can find links back to everyone we've covered there.

Smith grew up not far outside Houston in Huntsville, Texas. He wasn’t drafted out of high school and then spent three years at Sam Houston State. The lefty threw 89 innings with a 3.44 ERA as a junior, though he walked nearly as many batters as he struck out (68 to 60). The Yankees saw enough to make Smith their 14th round pick in 2013, and give him a $100,000 bonus.

By 2016, Smith reached Double-A, though he wasn’t wowing evaluators with his stuff, so the Yankees moved him into a relief role. That season he had a 3.96 ERA with 70 strikeouts and 20 walks in 63.2 innings with Trenton. Baseball America never did rank Smith among their top 30 Yankees prospects, and the club left him exposed to the Rule 5 Draft after that 2016 season.

The Cubs, fresh off their first World Series title in 108 years, saw enough in 2016 to grab Smith in the Rule 5 Draft. Technically the Brewers selected Smith, then immediately traded him to the Cubs for cash. Those trades are common. A team wants a player and is worried he won’t get to them, so they find a team that isn’t planning to make a Rule 5 Draft pick, and send them a few bucks to take the player they want and trade him to them. It’s easy money.

Smith pitched pretty well in Spring Training in 2017 (6.1 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 7 K), though not well enough to get a spot on the Opening Day roster. Chicago returned Smith to the Yankees at the end of camp. Before they did, Baseball America (subs. req’d) ranked Smith the No. 31 in the Cubs’ system. A snippet of their scouting report:

He generally sat in the upper-80s with his fastball as a starter and relied heavily on his changeup which earned plus grades. The move to the pen, however, coaxed more out of his fastball. While his change remains an out pitch, his fastball now has bumped 96 mph and sits in the 91-93 mph range. Scouts like how he competes with or without his best stuff. His fringy cutter-type slider makes it hard for him to combat lefthanded hitters

Then 25, the Yankees had Smith make what amounted to a tune-up start with Double-A Trenton to begin 2017, then they moved him up to Triple-A Scranton. He was excellent too. The Yankees put Smith back in the rotation and he had a 2.07 ERA with 86 strikeouts in 24 walks in 16 starts and 87 innings. Smith was called to the big leagues for the first time in mid July to give the Yankees a fresh long reliever.

Smith made his MLB debut in Minnesota on July 17th, 2017. Bryan Mitchell started, gave up two runs in five innings, then Smith took over in relief. He allowed two runs in three innings to give the rest of the bullpen a breather, and the RAB season review post says “Smith’s first big league outing went better than the line score indicates … He retired the first six men he faced before things unraveled when some ground balls found holes in his third inning of work.”

“I thought it was two pitches I didn’t execute, and they cost me,” Smith told Pat Borzi after the game. Here’s his first strikeout.

The Yankees announced Michael Pineda needed Tommy John surgery the same day Smith made his MLB debut. They also had to ease up on Jordan Montgomery’s workload and give CC Sabathia’s knee a breather, so Smith moved into the rotation until reinforcements could be brought in at the trade deadline. His first two MLB starts were, uh, short:

• July 23rd at Mariners: 3.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB 2 K on 56 pitches
• July 29th vs. Rays: 3.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K on 71 pitches

“I knew I had a loaded bullpen is what I did, so I took advantage of it,” Joe Girardi told Seth Berkman following the July 29th game, which the Yankees won. “I figured we were going to score more than one run and our bullpen could do a really good job. And they did.”

The Yankees added Sonny Gray and random Yankee Jaime Garcia at the trade deadline and Smith was a roster casualty. He was returned to Triple-A, made two starts, then was called back up to the Yankees in mid August to be a mop up reliever. Smith allowed no runs in his first three appearances, then three runs in 3.2 innings in his fourth appearance back.

On Sept. 8th, the Yankees were in Texas and they took a 5-1 lead in the third inning. They then allowed 10 unanswered runs. The game really spun out of control in the seventh, when Girardi brought in Smith to face the middle of the Rangers lineup with the Yankees down 7-5. Smith gave up a single to Shin-Soo Choo, walked Elvis Andrus, then gave up a single to Nomar Mazara. He did not retire a batter and all three eventually came around to score.

That outing bumped Smith to the very back of the bullpen. He threw the ninth inning (and gave up a run) in a 16-7 win two days after that Texas game, and he did not pitch again that season. Smith sat in the bullpen unused for a week, then was placed on the injured list with what proved to be a season-ending viral infection. Smith allowed 16 runs in 18.2 big league innings with 10 walks and 18 strikeouts in 2017.

After the season the Yankees sent Smith and random Yankee Garrett Cooper to the Marlins in a 40-man roster cleanup trade at the Rule 5 Draft protection deadline. Mike King and $250,000 in international bonus money was the return. King is quite good now, and the $250,000 maxed out their international bonus pool in advance of Shohei Ohtani’s free agency.

Smith had a breakout year with the Marlins in 2018, at least until tearing his lat in June, ending his season. He had a 4.19 ERA (3.96 FIP) in 16 starts and 77.1 innings. We got lots of “how could the Yankees trade this guy?” questions into the old RAB mailbag inbox. Smith struggled in 2019 (4.52 ERA and 5.11 FIP in 153.1 innings), went to the Diamondbacks in the Starling Marte trade in 2020, and had a 4.83 ERA (5.10 FIP) in 113.2 innings in 2021.

Last August Smith got busted with a foreign substance and became the second player to be suspended as a result of the crackdown (Mariners lefty Hector Santiago was the first). Here’s the video. "It’s dirt. The inside of my glove is baby blue, where my hand goes in is blue. Last time I checked, we play baseball and you get dirty in baseball. You sweat a lot. I touch the dirt a lot. There’s not a foreign substance on there. There’s not pine tar. There’s nothing on there. I don’t use that. I was very surprised,” Smith told Jake Rill after he was suspended.

I thought Arizona might non-tender Smith this past offseason, especially since he’d been moved into the bullpen last year but had a starter’s arbitration number, but they kept him, and he won a rotation spot in Spring Training. Smith, now 30, gave up five runs in one inning in his first start of the season over the weekend. By the end of the year he’ll have made over $5M in salary at the MLB level. Not bad for a 14th round pick.

4. Rapid fire thoughts. Aroldis Chapman told Brendan Kuty the Yankees have not approached him about an extension, and he hopes to return next season. “If tomorrow comes and the opportunity is there, and I have a chance to sign back with the team, of course I would like that,” Chapman said, adding he would be willing to change roles. Chapman will be 35 on Opening Day 2023 and he’d have to take a big discount to return, I think. The Yankees have an assembly line of power arms in the minors and spending big on a reliever in his mid-30s doesn’t seem like a thing they’ll do. Chapman ($17.46M) and Zack Britton ($14M) come off the books after the season and I think the Yankees are looking forward to using that money on other players … As expected, Jeisson Rosario cleared waivers and was outrighted to Double-A Somerset. He was designated for assignment to clear a 40-man roster spot for Marwin Gonzalez last week, and he remains with the Yankees as a non-40-man player. Rosario isn’t much of a prospect, though his tools are better than the typical Double-A outfield fodder, so it’s nice he cleared waivers and will stick around … And finally, the YES Network had a special YES app only broadcast of High-A Tampa’s season opener for Rachel Balkovec’s managerial debut. Here’s a story on that. I bring this up because I’ve watched Anthony Garcia’s grand slam about 50 times since Friday. Very fun dinger. Also, Garcia’s so big! He’s listed at 6-foot-5 and 204 lbs., but he looks even bigger. The numbers on the back of his jersey look kid-sized:

Statcast had the grand slam at 111.2 mph off the bat. Not a huge number by Yankees standards but still impressive. Garcia, my No. 24 prospect, hit .306/.444/.678 (187 wRC+) with 14 home runs in only 39 games in the low minors last season. Those poor High-A pitchers must be terrified when they see that dude step in the box. He’s a monster.

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