April 27th, 2021: Non-Challenge, Odor, Taillon, Nelson, Garcia, Andujar, Judge, Schmidt

UPDATE: Here's my bi-weekly Yankees post at CBS. Also, I accidentally omitted Dave Winfield from the "WAR for 6-foot-6 players in their 30s" leaderboard in the Aaron Judge section below. Must've run the search wrong or something, but I double-checked it and updated the post. My bad.

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Amazing how quickly the shine of a three-game winning can be wiped away, isn't it? The Yankees fell to 9-13 with their most uninspiring showing of the season last night, one in which they were shut down by the reanimated corpse of Matt Harvey and made unforced error after unforced error. The Yankees are on pace to go 66-96 with 140 games remaining. To today’s thoughts.

1. Weekend observations. How fun was the Gerrit Cole vs. Shane Bieber game Saturday? Both guys had to grind a bit, but it’s always a treat when two elite pitchers go head-to-head and it lives up to the hype. Cole this season: 31.2 IP, 20 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 50 K, 1 HR. He’s the first pitcher in team history with 50 strikeouts and fewer than five walks in any five-game stretch.

Cole is due to give up like three home runs in a start soon (sorry folks, but 0.28 HR/9 and 3.1% HR/FB isn’t sustainable in this era, and especially not in Yankee Stadium), but so far he has been a man on a mission, and it’s been a pleasure to watch. Here are a few scattered thoughts from the weekend’s games.

Still slow to challenge

Longtime RAB readers will know I’ve been complaining about the Yankees being gun-shy with their replay challenges dating back to the Joe Girardi era. I've been writing about it since at least 2015, and things really came to a head in Game 2 of the 2017 ALDS, when Girardi did not challenge the Lonnie Chisenhall hit-by-pitch that preceded Francisco Lindor’s grand slam.

Last night’s non-challenge was not as costly as the Chisenhall hit-by-pitch in the grand scheme of things, but the same issues persist. The Yankees are so caught up in the replay process (i.e. confirming the call with replay guru Brett Weber before actually challenging) that they appear to have completely lost feel for the game. The situation:

• The Yankees were down three runs in the eighth inning and they've been struggling to score all year.
• Aaron Judge was thrown out at third to end the inning on a close play (an inexcusable mistake by Judge, obviously).
• DJ LeMahieu was deemed to have not touched home plate before Judge was tagged out, so the run didn’t count. LeMahieu’s run would’ve cut the deficit to 4-3.

We didn’t get a great replay angle on the YES Network broadcast but the one we had made it look like LeMahieu stepped on the plate just ahead of the tag. With this angle and the tag so far away though, who knows?

The larger issue is the Yankees didn't challenge the play. They didn’t challenge the tag at third (it looked like Judge maybe got around the tag but eh) nor did they challenge LeMahieu stepping on the plate before the tag. Replays showed Aaron Boone in the dugout waiting for the thumbs up from Weber, and he ran out of time to challenge.

"(Crew chief) Greg Gibson came down from first base and then apparently said we did not have any time left when I went to challenge,” Boone said (video link). “Seemed quick and I did not hear him say 'now.'"

Boone admitted their in-house replays indicated the call would have stood and LeMahieu would not have been allowed to score, but still. Why are you even waiting to challenge? That was hands down the biggest moment of the game. We’re talking about the end of the eighth inning down two, or runners on corners and two outs down one. I mean:

• Yankees win probability after third out: 6.0%
• Yankees win probability if call is overturned: 39.0%
  (Yankees win probability if Judge stays at second: 20.6%)

A massive potential swing. You stand to gain so much, why wouldn’t you just take a shot with replay without waiting for the thumbs up? This has been going on for years and with multiple managers, and it irks me to no end. A high replay success rate is meaningless and you can’t bank challenges for the future. With a play that huge, it should be a quick and obvious decision. Just challenge it. If it doesn’t work out, so be it, but at least you tried.

"Very frustrating. That's a play that obviously I'm going to challenge at that point in the game all day long, but I at least want to give them a chance to see both (replays) in case it's a total moot point," Aaron Boone told Bryan Hoch after the game, which makes no sense whatsoever. Are you going to challenge it "all day long" or wait "in case it's a total moot point?"

Anyway, the challenge would not have been necessary had Judge not run into the third out at third base, a catastrophically poor decision that looked to me like a clear example of a guy trying to do too much with his team struggling. The play was right in front of Judge, he saw it the whole way, and he still tried to force the issue and to take the extra 90 feet. Admirable. Very dumb, but admirable.

"I was trying to make something happen," Judge told Hoch. "In that situation, I've got to stay at second base and keep the inning rolling. You don't want to end an inning like that, especially when you've got a team on the ropes and guys are swinging the bat well in that inning. My eyes thought it was 100% that I got in there, but the replay probably says different. I've got to play a little smarter baseball there."

Between Judge running into the third out at third base while representing the tying run, Darren O’Day balking in a run, and Rougned Odor swinging at two pitches in the other batter’s box with the bases loaded, it was a banner night for a dumb team doing dumb loser things that led to a dumb loss. Usually the Yankees are the dog. This year they’ve been the fire hydrant.

Odor’s big hits

The Yankees had their first three-game winning streak of the season in Cleveland and Odor was a major factor in all three wins. He had the go-ahead two-run single Thursday, the game-tying two-run home run Friday, and the go-ahead solo home run Saturday. A damn good weekend, that is. A +0.44 WPA weekend, in fact.

“I kind of feel like the whole time he’s been fairly close. I feel like even though he hasn’t gotten a lot of results, he’s had some competitive at-bats. And we’ve been searching for that big hit for a while now. To deliver it was huge,” Boone told Brendan Kuty following Thursday’s game. “I thought all night long, like the rest of the guys, he was doing a good job of forcing them to come back into the zone a little bit. He was getting himself into good counts all night long.”

Because we like to attach narratives to things, Odor’s energy was cited as a reason for the short-lived winning streak. Team dad Erik Kratz first brought up Odor’s energy on Twitter, then Boone was asked about it.

“I definitely think there’s something to it, to what he brings,” Boone told Dan Martin. “There’s an energy and enthusiasm he plays with. One of the things we try to encourage with our guys is to come in and be yourself. There is a level of professionalism, no question, that goes with playing here and the leaders on our team set that tone, but I think our guys do a good job -- and hopefully we all do a good job -- of allowing people to come in and be who they are. And I think Rougned has come in and brought something to the table besides what he brings between the lines. The energy and joy he plays the game with, I think has rubbed off.”

No one actually believes this, right? The Yankees are 6-8 with Odor on the roster and they were 2-5 in his first seven games on the roster. Where was his energy then? When a guy is socking homers against the reigning Cy Young winner and flipping his bat, yeah, it looks like he’s full of infectious energy. When he swings a strike three two feet off the plate with the bases loaded, not so much.

Players and teams find motivation in all sorts of places and hey, if the Yankees truly believe Odor’s energy helps, good for them. This is a classic case of crafting the narrative around the team's play, not explaining what's actually happening. If Odor was quiet, then his business-like approach was a wake-up call for a team that was playing too loose, etc. It is what it is.

Odor had the sort of weekend that will keep him in the lineup for the foreseeable future. He’s also hitting .159/.229/.364 (69 wRC+), which is objectively bad and in line with his last four years (74 wRC+). That he’s batting cleanup -- cleanup! -- and the Yankees don’t really have a better option is staggering. I’m glad Odor had the big series in Cleveland and I’m glad his energy may be helpful. My gladness ends there.

The power arrives (at least temporarily)

There was basically zero chance the alarming team-wide power outage would (or will) continue, and the home runs finally arrived over the weekend. The Yankees hit nine homers during the four-game series in Cleveland after hitting nine homers in their previous 10 games combined. Yay dingers. Long live dingers.

“Our at-bats are getting better,” Boone told Hoch following Sunday’s game, which included two homers by the good guys. “Cleveland is a team that can really pitch. I felt like we were close today to breaking things open. As far as where we are right now as a club, I feel like we’re in a good spot to go out and continue to play well.”

As a team, the Yankees went into last night’s game slugging an MLB worst .353, though that’s up from .334 seven days ago. Nine homers in four games is a lot but it’s not an insane stretch (remember when the Yankees hit 19 homers in a three-game series against the Blue Jays last year?) yet it improved the team slugging percentage 19 points. Good reminder it’s still pretty early in the season (I know, no one wants to hear it, but it’s true).

The offense is not where it needs to be yet. Not even close and I present to you last night’s starting lineup as evidence:

MLB as a whole is hitting .232 this year -- .232! -- so it’s damn near impossible to string together three or four hits in an inning to scratch out a few runs consistently. Homers are a necessity and the Yankees finally hit a few of them over the weekend. Last night’s loss was a harsh reminder the offense still has a long way to go before we can say they’re on track.

Taillon on normal rest

Three great innings and one terrible inning for Jameson Taillon on Sunday. He went 10 up, nine down on 42 pitches, then allowed four runs on four hits and 36 pitches in the fourth inning. The Cesar Hernandez (67.8 mph exit velocity) and Eddie Rosario (87.7 mph) singles were more well-placed than well-struck, though both times Taillon couldn't put them away with two strikes.

“Those are the tough ones to swallow,” Taillon told Hoch after the game. “I thought I threw the ball really well, but this is a results league. You get to two strikes, and you're giving up two-strike hits, that's all it takes to win a game. Today was a streak of three or four hitters that ruined our chances at a win, so it happens quick.”

The Franmil Reyes three-run homer was the killer and I didn’t like the pitch selection -- Franmil swings and misses at breaking balls nearly 50% of the time and they kept showing him fastballs -- but even if the elevated fastball with two strikes was the “right” pitch, it was executed poorly. Look where Gary Sanchez wanted it and where Taillon threw it:

Yup. Miss out over the plate with a fastball to a man mountain like Reyes and he’ll ruin your pitching line and your day. “I actually thought he finished strong today. I thought the stuff was good throughout. Of the four starts, two have been really strong. Today was a little bit unfortunate, and really one mistake to Reyes that hurt," Boone told Hoch. That about sums it up.

Beyond the on-field performance, I’m curious to know why the Yankees decided to start Taillon on normal rest Sunday. They could have called up and started Deivi Garcia (Garcia would’ve been on an extra day of rest) and pushed Taillon back to Monday, but instead went Taillon on normal rest Sunday and Garcia on two extra days Monday. Hmmm.

Taillon started on normal rest once in Spring Training and it was his second start, which came after his one-inning, seven-pitch Grapefruit League debut. Sunday was his first real start on normal rest since April 25th, 2019, the start before he blew out his elbow and needed Tommy John surgery. Starting on normal rest showed up in Taillon’s velocity too:

• April 7th: 93.3 mph average and 95.0 mph max
• April 13th: 93.7 mph and 95.6 mph
• April 20th: 93.8 mph and 95.6 mph
• April 25th: 93.1 mph and 94.5 mph

Watching the game, I thought Taillon’s velocity dipped during the long fourth inning, though that wasn’t the case. He held his velocity through his 82 pitches and even during that 36-pitch fourth inning. That’s a good sign, no? He didn’t tire as the pitch count increased while on normal rest, or at least he didn’t tire in a way that showed up in his velocity.

Starting Garcia on Sunday and pushing Taillon back to Monday would’ve created minor roster headaches. Today is the first day Mike King can be recalled, so starting Deivi on Sunday would've meant sending him down after the game and calling up someone else for one day (Albert Abreu?), and starting that reliever’s 10-day clock, or playing Monday a reliever short.

That’s only a minor headache though. If you have to call up Abreu for one day to give Taillon extra rest and avoid playing a reliever short, then you do it. It’s not a big deal. There are other relievers who could be called up should a need arise during Abreu’s 10-day wait (Jay Bruce’s retirement opened a 40-man roster spot, remember, so the Yankees can easily call up anyone).

The Yankees are many things but reckless is not usually one of them. If anything, they tend to be overly cautious, especially with their pitchers. They started Taillon on normal rest because they (and he) believe he is ready for it, and he looked ready for it through three innings. Then the wheels came off in the fourth. Taillon is still working on avoiding that One Big Inning.

I think Sunday’s normal rest start was a one-time thing and not something that will happen all the time just yet. Garcia’s spot start last night and upcoming off-days will allow Taillon to make his next three starts with an extra day of rest without the Yankees having to jump through any hoops. It’ll be nice and easy the next few weeks.

I didn’t think the Yankees would start Taillon on normal rest so early in the season, so I was surprised to see him get the ball Sunday when it would’ve been easy to push him back to Monday. The fourth inning went poorly, but by all accounts, Taillon came through the start well physically. It’s good to check off that box early in the year.

Nelson’s undeserved trust

Sunday’s game felt very much like a white flag game, where the Yankees were going to get as many innings out of Nick Nelson as possible to spare their bullpen before sending him down to make room for Deivi. But, Nelson was so bad that they only got two innings out of him, and had to use Luis Cessa for two innings anyway. Blah.

"Spraying the ball. I think a number of non-competitive pitches in there. He clearly has the stuff. The fastball, changeup,” Boone told Scott Thompson about Nelson's outing. “And going back to the end of last year and the start of this year, from a command standpoint, he was much tightened up. Today, still a lot of pitches – it’s a good pitch and then it’s a couple that’s not real close to the zone -- so I think the important thing right now is to get him kinda back on track and making sure the strike-throwing is where it needs to be.”

Nelson put 17 runners on base and allowed 10 runs in 8.1 innings before being sent down. The Yankees clearly like him and that’s fine, but damn yo, make the kid earn important innings rather than hand them to him. Here are the bullpen’s average leverage indexes going into last night (1.00 is average and the higher the number, the higher the leverage):

1. Justin Wilson: 1.92
2. Nick Nelson: 1.91
3. Chad Green: 1.78
4. Aroldis Chapman: 1.57
5. Jonathan Loaisiga: 1.49
6. Darren O’Day: 1.45
7. Lucas Luetge: 0.74
8. Luis Cessa: 0.38

What the hell man? The Yankees have used their bullpen a lot this season (third in reliever innings) and they’ve done a great job spreading the workload around (only Green ranks in the top 50 of games pitched and he’s 19th), but you have to pick your spots with your second (or third) tier guys better than that.

No one player is ever truly responsible for a loss but Nelson’s had a pretty big hand in three losses now (the game he opened, the game he entered with the bases loaded to face Marcell Ozuna, and Sunday’s game), though it’s not his fault his team put him in difficult situations. The Yankees like Nelson but he clearly isn’t as ready as they thought, and it’s cost them.

Deivi’s return

Garcia made his (first) spot start of the season last night. The Yankees let him go through the lineup exactly two times and that was it, even though he threw only 65 pitches. Deivi threw 85 pitches in his last alternate site game according to Conor Foley, so there was still gas in the tank, but no dice on going threw the lineup a third time with the offense struggling.

“He got into some trouble and made some pitches when he had to," Boone told Martin. "He did his job and gave us a chance. We just couldn’t mount enough (offense).”

Garcia gave up two runs on three hits and three walks in four innings. He struck out four. His command wasn’t good -- he missed his spot by the entire width of the plate more than a few times -- but the stuff was lively. His fastball averaged 93.3 mph, nearly a full mile-an-hour better than his previous single-game career high (92.5 mph), and he threw the hardest pitch of his MLB career as well (96.2 mph). The velocity was eye-popping early on.

Deivi also went heavy on offspeed stuff. He threw 38% fastballs and really leaned on the curveball and slider, though it’s too early to know whether that’s a new thing or just the game plan against the Orioles. Overall, Garcia didn’t look much like the guy we saw last year, only because the guy we saw last year sat 91-92 mph, threw 60% fastballs, and located well. Last night he sat 93-96 mph, threw about 40% fastballs, and located poorly.

"It was definitely a learning experience and a competitive one too,"  Garcia told Hoch. "I felt like I had to battle every single pitch. You have to find what kind of mix of pitches is going to  work out."

For one spot start, pulling Garcia after 18 batters is fine. It’s not something the Yankees did last year -- five times in six starts he faced at least 22 batters last year, including facing 29 batters twice -- and I don’t expect it to continue, at least not until Garcia shows definitively he shouldn’t be allowed to go through the lineup a third time. For one game, it’s no big deal.

Unless an injury creates a need, I imagine we’ll next see Garcia about three weeks from now, when the Yankees play another 13 games in 13 days from May 11th to May 23rd. We’ll have a better idea of what Domingo German can do then, and if he’s not hacking it, maybe Deivi steps into the rotation for good. Garcia’s one-game cameo was fine. Hopefully the command he showed last year returns, and he pairs it with this extra velocity.

2. Andujar activated and optioned. Very quietly, the Yankees activated Miguel Andujar off the 10-day injured list over the weekend, and optioned him to the alternate site. He’d been dealing with a wrist injury since winter ball -- the Yankees officially called it ”right wrist carpal tunnel syndrome” when he was placed on the injured list -- and it flared up again in Spring Training.

I’m not sure what has to happen for Andujar to get an MLB roster spot these days, but if it's not “the Yankees are 27th in runs per game and Rougned Odor is hitting cleanup,” then I have no idea what it could be. Some numbers going into last night’s game:

• Yankees first basemen: .139/.218/.241 (34 wRC+)
• Yankees left fielders: .191/.313/.235 (69 wRC+)

The Yankees are getting nothing from two positions with a pretty high offensive bar. Clint Frazier is kinda sorta maybe possibly coming around (1-for-12 with eight walks, a near homer, and a few loud outs in his last six games), so sticking with him is justifiable, but Luke Voit is weeks away from rejoining the team. The first base problem isn’t going away anytime soon.

Including Spring Training, Andujar has 94 career innings in left field and eight at first base, plus whatever work he’s done at the alternate site this year and last. It’s not much, but the Yankees have gotten nothing from those two positions, and they’ve already embraced the YOLO defensive strategy (Jay Bruce at first! Gio Urshela at short!), so Andujar would fit right in.

If Andujar is not ready to face big league pitching because his Spring Training was cut short, that’s totally understandable, but in that case he belongs on the injured list (and collecting MLB pay and service time), not on an optional assignment. This is why rehab assignments exist. So players who are not yet physically able to perform aren’t docked pay and service time.

Activating and optioning Andujar means one of two things. Either he’s completely healthy and the Yankees don’t consider him an upgrade over anyone on the roster, or they’re looking to save a few bucks against the luxury tax while Andujar gets rehab at-bats after an injury. I have a hard time giving any team the benefit of the doubt with money matters, Yankees included.

The roster move would’ve been straightforward (send Mike Ford down) and it wouldn’t have been tough to get Andujar into the lineup 3-4 times a week between first, third, left, and DH. Put him in the lineup, get him his three at-bats, then replace him defensively. We’re not splitting atoms here. This is easy. Andujar was last an above-average hitter more recently than Odor (2018 vs. 2016). You’d think they want to give him a look, but nope. Now he can’t be recalled for at least 10 days.

I have no idea where Andujar fits with the Yankees and the fact they’re unwilling to make room for him right now, with their offense ranked near the bottom of the league and while getting sub-replacement level production from two corner positions, is close to confirmation he’s not in their plans. Maybe Miggy will play his way into some trade value with the Triple-A season begins.

3. On Judge’s future. Over the weekend Buster Olney (subs. req’d) reported the Yankees and Angels briefly discussed an Aaron Judge trade over the winter. Talks obviously went nowhere, and I assume this happened before the Angels picked up Dexter Fowler to play right field, and probably before they spent money on Jose Quintana and Raisel Iglesias.

Here’s what Olney wrote:

The New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Angels very briefly talked about Aaron Judge in offseason trade conversations, but nothing advanced; rather, it was the lightest of flirtations, and perhaps a door-opener for other names. Teams talk all the time about a wide range of players, from their best to their least accomplished.

This is not the first time a team has inquired about Judge (we know the Braves wanted him back in the day) and it won’t be the last. The Yankees are a smart team and smart teams listen on all their players at all times. No harm in listening. I’m not sure what the Angels could’ve offered the Yankees to make it worthwhile (Jo Adell? Jared Walsh? Shohei Ohtani???), but it doesn’t hurt to hear them out.

Anyway, Judge’s future is something the Yankees have to start thinking about, though it’s not an urgent matter because they have him this year and next as an arbitration-eligible player. They can kick the can down the road a bit. Here are the Yankees’ three options with Judge, listed in order of how likely I think they are to happen:

1. Keep him next year as an arbitration-eligible player.
2. Sign him to a long-term extension at some point before free agency.
3. Trade him at this year’s deadline, this offseason, or next year’s deadline.

No. 1 is the safest, most reasonable move. Judge is a great player. No one will argue that. He is prone to visiting the injured list, however, and who knows how he’ll age at that size? Judge is listed at 6-foot-7 and 282 lbs., and he turns 30 next April. Here is the all-time WAR leaderboard among players at least 6-foot-6, from their age 30 season on:

1. Dave Winfield: +29.6 WAR
2. Frank Howard: +21.8 WAR
3. Richie Sexson: +5.4 WAR
4. Tony Clark: +0.1 WAR
5. Damon Minor: +0.1 WAR

No other non-pitcher that tall has played an MLB game after their age 29 season. Judge is a freak athlete for his size and he still has room to move down the defensive spectrum (first base and DH), but geez, the history of players this size isn't good. It’s basically nonexistent. Letting the next two years play out before deciding which way to go is the easiest move.

No. 2 would follow the Yankees’ recent pattern of not signing players until they’re a year away from free agency. They did it with Aaron Hicks, Brett Gardner, Javy Vazquez, and Derek Jeter. There are exceptions (Luis Severino and Robinson Cano signed extensions four years prior to free agency), though they’re rare. The Yankees are extension-averse, for whatever reason.

Historically, there is no discount when a player signs a long-term deal one year prior to free agency. He gets free agent dollars. What is Judge worth on the open market? I think the George Springer contract fits well. Springer signed his contract going into his age 31 season and Judge will turn 31 in April of Year 1 of his free agent contract. A real quick comparison:

• Springer (2017-20): .278/.364/.515 (139 wRC+) and +16.5 WAR (played in 83% of possible games)
• Judge (2018-20): .274/.381/.536 (145 wRC+) and +12.5 WAR (played in 63% of possible games)

We have to see how Judge’s 2021 season plays out, though his last three seasons are already comparable to Springer’s four seasons leading into free agency. Both come with some durability concerns, but Judge’s are more acute, and Springer’s pedigree was heightened by his fantastic postseason performances. Overall though, they’re comparable.

Springer’s six-year, $150M contract set a baseline for a Judge extension. The Yankees already have $73M annually in luxury tax dollars tied up in three players (Gerrit Cole, DJ LeMahieu, and Giancarlo Stanton) through 2026. Do they want to make it $98M for four players? Maybe! You can’t convince me they couldn’t afford it. Affording it is about willingness more than ability.

No. 3 is not impossible, just very unlikely. The World Series window is as open as it’s going to get and the Yankees trading their best player during that window is not a thing I would bet on happening. It’s difficult for me to see how trading Judge improves the team, and trading him to clear money to sign other players (Corey Seager?) would be disgraceful. You’re the Yankees! Pay both!

Judge’s future is not a front-burner issue for the Yankees and I don’t think the Angels talks were anything more than due diligence. The easiest move is playing out the next two years, seeing where Judge stands in terms of health and performance, what the roster looks like, then deciding whether to lock him up or move on. This is not something to worry about yet. There are more pressing issues.

4. 2021 draft prospect: Fordham LHP Matt Mikulski. The 2021 MLB Draft will take place during the All-Star break and J.J. Cooper (subs. req’d) reports MLB has informed teams the draft will be 20 rounds, the minimum number allowed under last year’s March agreement. The Yankees hold the No. 20 pick. Here is our 2021 draft prospect coverage archive.

Mikulski, 22 on draft day, is a local kid from Mohegan Lake, just north of White Plains. He was a projected fourth to sixth round pick last summer but was not selected in the five-round draft, and returned to Fordham for his senior season. Mikulski has a 0.92 ERA with 91 strikeouts and only 18 hits allowed in 48.2 innings this spring.

MLB.com ranks Mikulski as the No. 53 prospect in the draft class while Baseball America (subs. req’d) has him a bit lower at No. 125. Here’s video and here’s a snippet of MLB.com’s scouting report:

The left-hander worked hard to clean up his delivery for the 2021 season, and while it’s not effortless, the results early on were very encouraging. He was throwing harder, up to 98 mph on a regular basis, sitting 94-95 but opening a lot of eyes by spending nine innings in the 95-98 mph range in a two-hit shutout against Seton Hall in early April. He combined it with a plus slider that misses a ton of bats and has even flashed an above-average changeup this season.

In addition to the improved stuff that has led to a lot more missed bats, Mikulski has also cut his walk rate down considerably. While scouts aren’t certain he's a starter at the next level, he’s at least shown it might be worthwhile to send him out as a starter and see what happens.

Baseball America’s scouting report notes Mikulski is a “control-over-command” pitcher, and “his struggles working through a lineup for a second time make some scouts wonder if he’d fit better as a reliever at the next level.” Still, a lefty who is sitting mid-90s and touching 98 mph will get noticed, especially when he pairs that fastball with a “plus slider.”

Mikulski is among the top college seniors in the draft class and college seniors are appealing in the bonus pool era. They have little negotiating leverage and almost always agree to below-slot bonuses, allowing teams to spend the savings on other players. Six college seniors were selected during the five-round draft last year. Here are their bonuses:

1. RHP Landon Knack (2nd round, 60th pick): $712,500 bonus ($1.16M slot)
2. C Matt Dyer (4th round, 120th pick): $350,000 bonus ($478,300 slot)
3. RHP Carson Ragsdale (4th round, 116th pick): $225,000 bonus ($497,500 slot)
4. RHP Jack Hartman (4th round, 108th pick): $60,000 bonus ($538,200 slot)
5. C Brady Lindsly (4th round, 123rd pick): $20,000 bonus ($464,500 slot)
6. RHP Eric Orze (5th round, 150th pick): $20,000 bonus ($357,100 slot)

All six players received below-slot bonuses and they received a combined $1.3875M compared to $3.4956M in slot values, so the total payout was approximately 40% of slot. Knack was the draft’s top ranked college senior by a considerable margin and he was a relatively high pick, yet he still signed for only 60% of his slot value. College seniors are bonus pool savers.

Knack last year is comparable to Mikulski this year as a legitimate top 2-3 rounds prospect who happened to be a college senior. The Dodgers, a really smart team, selected Knack and landed themselves a good prospect and bonus pool savings, which they used to give two other draft picks over-slot bonuses. Mikulski is a candidate for the same move this draft.

In addition to the No. 20 pick, the Yankees hold the No. 55 ($1.307M slot) and No. 92 ($637,600 slot) picks. My guess is Mikulski won’t be around for the No. 92 pick, so he’s a target for the No. 55 pick. Give him a bonus in line with Knack’s and you’re saving about $600,000. That’s a nice chunk of change that could then be used to pay the No. 92 pick a $1.2M bonus or so.

Mikulski is a legitimate second round talent as a lefty with a mid-90s fastball and a good slider. The potential bonus pool flexibility is an added benefit, and would make it more likely you can nab second round talents in the second and third rounds. It’s much easier to convince a second (or first!) round talent who slips into the third round to sign when you can offer more than slot.

The Yankees have done something like this before. They gave Peter O’Brien, a college senior, a below-slot bonus as their second round pick in 2012, and used the savings to give 18th rounder Brady Lail an above-slot deal. More recently, the Yankees leveraged Clarke Schmidt’s Tommy John surgery into a below-slot bonus, and gave the savings to second rounder Matt Sauer.

Almost every team these days uses their seventh through tenth round picks on college seniors (I mean the dirt cheap $10,000 bonus guys) so they can reallocate the bonus pool money, though this is taking it a step further, and doing it with a player who warrants a high selection. It’s a chance to get a good prospect and manipulate the bonus pool.

5. Remembering a random Yankee: Fred Stanley. By request, this week’s random Yankee was one of Phil Rizzuto’s favorite players and also nicknamed “Chicken” for his lanky frame. Here’s the random Yankee archive. You can find links back to everyone we've covered there.

"It started out as 'Chicken Wing,’” Stanley told Anthony McCarron in 2015, explaining his nickname. ”I didn't look like Arnold Schwarzenegger coming out of high school. I was thin and lanky. I couldn't gain weight. Del Unser said I looked like a chicken wing. It just kind of became 'Chicken.' I'd goof around, too, walking around like a chicken. You're 19 years old, it wasn't something profound.”

The Astros selected Stanley out of his San Diego high school in the eighth round of the 1966 draft (the second draft ever). He lost much of the 1967 season to military service, and Houston sent him to the expansion Seattle Pilots in a cash trade in Sept. 1969. The infielder made his MLB debut shortly after the trade and went 12-for-43 (.279) with Seattle down the stretch.

The Pilots relocated to Milwaukee and became the Brewers in 1970. Stanley spent most of the season in the minors (six MLB games and zero at-bats), then was traded to Cleveland in a cash deal in March 1971. He split that season between MLB and Triple-A, authoring a .225/.361/.302 line in 60 games and 160 plate appearances with the big league team.

Stanley again split 1972 between MLB and Triple-A. He appeared in only six games with the big league team before Cleveland traded him to the Padres for lefty Mike Kilkenny that June. With his hometown Padres, Stanley went 17-for-85 (.200) in 30 games as a utility infielder. He hit .196/.304/.227 in 45 big league games total in 1972.

After the season the Yankees acquired Stanley, then 25, from the Padres for minor league righty George Pena (Pena spent eight years in Triple-A but never reached MLB). His first two seasons in pinstripes were forgettable, mostly because he spent the majority of them in Triple-A. Stanley went 21-for-104 (.202) in 59 MLB games from 1973-74 while appearing in 183 Triple-A games.

Stanley’s initial claim to fame came on Sept. 8th, 1973, when he hit the final grand slam in the old pre-renovation Yankee Stadium. It was the third of his 10 career homers and the first of his two career grand slams. Stanley finally stuck with the Yankees for good in 1975, taking over as the utility infielder after Gene Michael moved on to the Tigers.

Jim Mason replaced Michael as the starting shortstop in 1974 and had a miserable season in 1975, taking a .159/.213/.227 batting line into the All-Star break. Stanley was no great shakes either -- he hit .214/.274/.245 in the first half -- but he saw more playing time in the second half because Mason was so bad. Stanley started 52 of the team’s final 64 games.

All told, Stanley put up a .222/.283/.250 line with five doubles and no home runs in 284 plate appearances in 1975. Mason hit .152/.228/.211 and Yankees shortstops hit .183/.248/.229 that season overall, yet they didn’t seek an upgrade over the winter. The righty hitting Stanley and lefty hitting Mason opened 1976 in a shortstop platoon.

Mason’s offensive futility continued and he was sitting on a .177/.208/.237 line on the morning of Aug. 1st. Stanley took over as the starting shortstop down the stretch and put up a .238/.329/.273 batting line with one homer in a career high 306 plate appearances. Up to that point, he was a .225/.311/.269 hitter in more than 1,000 big league plate appearances.

The Yankees went 97-62 and won the AL East in 1976, and Stanley was a pleasant surprise in the ALCS, going 5-for-15 with two doubles in the five-game series win over the Royals. He had three hits in Game 1. The Big Red Machine swept the Yankees in the World Series that year and Stanley went 1-for-9 with two walks in the Fall Classic.

After two seasons of the Mason/Stanley platoon, and with a World Series title within their reach, the Yankees went out and brought in a new shortstop for 1977. Two days before Opening Day, they acquired Bucky Dent, then 25 and still without a contract for the season, from the White Sox for Oscar Gamble, LaMarr Hoyt, a minor leaguer, and cash.

“In obtaining Dent, we feel we've got one of the best young shortstops in baseball,” then-GM Gabe Paul told Michael Strauss following the trade. Dent took over the starting shortstop and Stanley returned to a utility infielder’s role, and he had the best rate stats of his career, hitting .261/.370/.326 in 56 plate appearances spread across 48 games in 1977.

The Yankees won the World Series in 1977 and Stanley appeared in three postseason games, all three times taking over at shortstop after Dent was lifted for a pinch-hitter. In 1978, Stanley was again the seldom used backup infielder behind Dent, second baseman Willie Randolph, and third baseman Graig Nettles. He hit .219/.324/.281 in 189 plate appearances and got another World Series ring out of it.

The Dent-Nettles-Randolph infield remained together through 1981 and Stanley spent 1979-80 as the stalwart utility infielder. He appeared in 106 games those two years, hit .204/.250/.258 in 205 plate appearances, then was traded to the Athletics for a then-22-year-old Mike Morgan on Nov. 3rd, 1980. Stanley spent parts of eight seasons with the Yankees.

In those eight seasons Stanley authored a .222/.299/.266 line in 1,157 plate appearances. Add in his defense and it worked out to +2.9 WAR. 173 non-pitchers have batted at least 1,000 times as a Yankee and only one has a lower slugging percentage than Stanley:

1. Luke Boone (1913-16): .264 SLG in 1,069 PA
2. Fred Stanley (1973-80): .266 SLG in 1,157 PA
3. Red Kleinow (1904-10): .279 SLG in 1,690 PA
4. Ed Sweeney (1908-15): .281 SLG in 2,081 PA
5. Jimmy Austin (1909-10): .281 SLG in 1,014 PA

I wasn’t around in the 1970s but from what I gather the Nichols Law of Catcher Defense also applied to middle infielders those days. The less guys hit, the more they were touted as good defenders. I’m not saying Stanley was a bad defender. I’m just saying I assume his defense was billed as superlative and the reason he remained on the roster given his weak bat.

Stanley spent 1981-82 with the Athletics and was part of the 1981 team that got swept by the Yankees in the ALCS. He hit .193/.280/.239 in two years with Oakland and retired after the 1982 season as a career .216/.301/.263 hitter in 816 games and 1,906 plate appearances. Stanley spent 14 years in the show despite a career 62 OPS+, and won two World Series rings.

Following his playing career Stanley remained in baseball and was a minor league manager with the Giants from 2000-04, and was promoted to their director of player development in 2007. Also, Stanley was the last active player to have played for the Seattle Pilots franchise, and that’s pretty cool.

6. Rapid fire thoughts. Clarke Schmidt (elbow) has resumed throwing. He received a cortisone shot two weeks ago and has played catch a few times. “He’s doing well. He’s thrown now two or three times -- playing catch -- and each time has gone well. So hopefully he’s on his way now and starting to build back up. Obviously it’ll be a while because he’s starting to scratch, essentially again but he’s doing well,” Aaron Boone told Kristie Ackert over the weekend. Schmidt has to go through a Spring Training to get built up, so figure he’s at least six weeks away from becoming a big league option … Jon Heyman reports the Yankees were among the teams to attend Anibal Sanchez’s recent showcase. The Yankees always attend these workouts, so this does not necessarily mean they have interest in signing him. Sanchez, now 37, got hit hard with the Nationals last year, allowing 40 runs and 91 baserunners in 53 innings. He was solid in 2019 (3.85 ERA and 4.44 FIP in 166 innings) and allowed five runs in 18 innings in the postseason, so you needn’t look back far to see the last time Anibal was a useful big leaguer. If he’s willing to sign a minor league deal, by all means, sign him. I would be very surprised if the Yankees jumped in with a guaranteed MLB deal though … And finally, Madison Bumgarner threw a no-hitter during a seven-inning doubleheader game Sunday. It does not go into the record books as a no-hitter because MLB and the Elias Sports Bureau, the league’s official statistician, decided only nine-inning games will be official no-hitters, so let me just say I think that’s dumb. The game was played as scheduled and when it was over, and he gave up no hits. It’s a no-hitter. It really is that simple. Seven-inning games count as wins and losses, and if the games are legitimate enough to count in the standings, then they should count as no-hitters as well. If MLB doesn’t want seven-inning no-hitters to count as no-hitters, then they shouldn’t play seven-inning games. Congrats, MadBum.

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