April 9th, 2021: Odor, Torres, Cole, Release Points, Mailbag

Six games into the season, the Yankees have a 1.74 ERA (2.91 FIP) with 33.5% strikeouts and 5.0% walks in 57 innings. Last year Trevor Bauer won the NL Cy Young award thanks to a 1.73 ERA (2.88 FIP) with 36.0% strikeouts and 6.1% walks in 73 innings. It’s been nice having Bauer on the mound every inning so far this year without having to actually employ Trevor Bauer. The Yankees are on pace to go 81-81 with 156 games to play. To today’s thoughts.

1. Odor trade. When I said the Yankees need more lefty bats, I didn’t mean Jay Bruce and Rougned Odor. Good grief. Earlier this week the Yankees traded two minor leaguers to the Rangers for Odor, one of the worst players in baseball. This is the sorta move that gets made when profit (staying under the luxury tax) is the priority, not fielding the best roster.

“Hopefully we can help him get that talent out that we’ve seen flashed over the years,” Aaron Boone told Bryan Hoch after the trade. “... He has the ability to really impact the ball from the left side at Yankee Stadium. We feel like that could play up. Hopefully just getting in our environment and our culture will unlock some things for him.”

Odor, 27, did not make the terrible Rangers and they’re paying him $27M to go away. For luxury tax purposes, he’s free. Jon Heyman reports Texas is paying his entire salary* and that means a $0 luxury tax hit. Odor is under contract next year too, though I assume the Yankees view this as a year-to-year thing. They’ll just release him if it doesn’t work out.

* Levi Weaver says the Yankees are responsible for the league minimum. Either way, it’s a $0 luxury tax hit because the Rangers are paying about $12M in salary, and Odor’s contract has an $8.25M average annual value (and thus luxury tax hit). $8.25M minus $12M equals a -$3.75M luxury tax hit, but luxury tax hits can’t be negative, so it’s just $0.

Rangers president of baseball operations Jon Daniels told Kennedi Landry they had another offer for Odor that would’ve saved them more money, but “we prioritized the talent rather than the financial aspect of it,” so congrats to the Yankees for winning a bidding war for Rougned Odor. Hal Steinbrenner must be thrilled the Rangers wanted prospects and not salary relief. Anyway, Odor has been the …

• … 6th worst hitter in baseball over the last year (60 wRC+)
• … 4th worst hitter in baseball the last two years (74 wRC+)
• … 8th worst hitter in baseball the last three years (83 wRC+)
• … 11th worst hitter in baseball the last four years (74 wRC+)

The last time Odor was even a league average hitter was 2016. Other players who were league average hitters that season include Victor Martinez, Michael Saunders, and Jayson Werth. It was so long ago it’s meaningless. The Yankees are taking a shot on Odor because he’s young, he’s a lefty with power, and he has a history of above-average exit velocities. That’s it.

Last week I noted teams seem to prefer players with one standout tool over guys who are okay at a lot of things but great at nothing, and Odor’s standout tool is his power. He’s a lefty pull hitter, which would seem to mix well with the short porch, though Odor has spent his career in a hitter friendly home park, and he’s still been awful. The last four years:

• Odor vs. RHP: .220/.278/.444 (78 wRC+)
• Odor vs. LHP: .204/.281/.361 (64 wRC+)

The Yankees have turned some previously unproductive players into quality MLB hitters the last few years (Aaron Hicks, Gio Urshela, Luke Voit, etc.), though none had nearly 3,500 (!) plate appearances in the big leagues like Odor. Also, Odor is a 30% strikeout rate guy these days, which is about double what Hicks and Urshela ran in their pre-Yankees careers.

Depending on your metric of choice, Odor ranges from bad (DRS) to average-ish (OAA) at second base defensively. He’s never played a position other than second at the big league level, though the Rangers gave him a look at third base in Spring Training in preparation for a possible utility role. Ultimately, they decided they were better off without him.

Assuming Tyler Wade goes down to clear a roster spot for Justin Wilson (Mike King was sent down to clear a spot for Odor*), there will be times the Yankees have an outfielder playing first (Bruce), a third baseman playing short (Urshela), and a second baseman playing third (Odor). I wrote that sentence and it gave me flashbacks to 2013. I am unenthused.

* I’ve seen some confusion about the roster the last few days. Odor is on the 26-man roster but has not yet joined the team because of intake protocols. The Yankees only had 25 players available the last two games, though that was going to be the case anyway because King threw six innings Sunday and wasn’t pitching anytime soon. I assume Odor will join the team this weekend, possibly even today.

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

The two prospects the Yankees sent the Rangers are somewhat notable: Antonio Cabello and Josh Stowers, two outfielders*. I had Cabello as the No. 23 prospect in the system this year and Stowers as the No. 30 prospect last year. Here’s what I wrote about Cabello a few weeks ago:

My Take: It feels like Cabello has been around a long time, but he only recently turned 20, and the physical gifts that landed him a seven-figure bonus are still in there. Maybe dropping him 10 spots from last year is harsh. That said, Cabello is the poster child for the “he had a great pro debut and is now a top prospect!” cautionary tale, and he’s a not great 2021 season away from falling into Leonardo Molina territory. Talented, but it’s just not happening.

Stowers came over in the Sonny Gray trade with the Reds and is a 24-year-old who, because of the lost minor league season last year, has yet to play above Low-A. He and Cabello have been trending down the last few years and the Yankees have to clear an outfield logjam in the lower minors after losing three affiliates to MLB’s contraction plan. For the Yankees, they were easy prospects to give up. For the Rangers, they are worthwhile rolls of the dice.

* Interestingly, the Rangers called Cabello an outfielder/catcher in their press release. He caught as an amateur and the Yankees moved him to center field to better use his athleticism and to get his bat through the system quickly. I guess Texas will try him behind the plate.

If the Yankees are ready to move on from Wade, it’s totally understandable, but they also had an entire offseason and Spring Training to replace him, and they didn’t. Their solution is trading for one of the worst players in the game five days into the season. I am uninspired. The Odor trade is the Yankees acknowledging they didn’t do as much as they should have in the offseason.

Odor’s upside is something like 2015 Stephen Drew minus the defense. He’ll hit just enough random homers to stay on the roster and avoid getting designated for assignment. With any luck, those random homers will come in big spots and make this all worth the headache and make me look dumb. More likely, he’ll be terrible for the fifth consecutive season.

2. Gleyber’s errors. It figures Gleyber Torres would look steady and reliable at shortstop all Spring Training, then come out and throw the ball away game after game once the regular season began. Spring Training, man. It is full of lies.

Gleyber’s error did not directly lead to Wednesday’s loss but it did contribute to it. Two outs, runner on third, tie game in the tenth, and a routine grounder with a catcher (Pedro Severino) running. Should’ve been inning over, but Torres took his time and threw a changeup over to first base, and Jay Bruce couldn’t make the scoop (GIF via Lindsey Adler).

“Made a really tough hop over there for Jay,” Aaron Boone told Adler after the game. “You've got to be more on target in that spot. It turned into a real tough play over there for Jay and ended up allowing them to grab the lead there."

A good first baseman makes the scoop and saves the error. That doesn’t absolve Torres of the bad throw though. One day earlier, Gleyber nonchalantly played a routine grounder that should have ended the game, allowing Ryan Mountcastle to beat out the infield single* (video). The next batter went deep and now poor Lucas Luetge has a 13.50 ERA rather than a 4.50 ERA.

* Mountcastle looked out on the replay, though the call stood and the inning continued, and the homer really drove home the terribleness of the play. Even if the call had been overturned, it was a bad play by Torres. He played it far too casually, even with a seven-run lead.

Torres made two errors on the homestand. One against Baltimore on Wednesday and also this throwing error against the Blue Jays on Sunday. That’s a difficult play and a long throw, but it is a play a Major League shortstop should make. In addition to the errors, Torres also made a poor throw on an infield single (video) and let a ground ball get under his glove (video), both with Teoscar Hernandez at the plate. He was not charged with errors there, but they were makeable plays that weren’t made.

Gleyber’s defense frustrates me so much because his problems are often tied to carelessness. The way he played the Mountcastle infield single and Severino error are the most glaring examples in the early going, but this has been going on a few years now, even when Torres was at second base. I’ve been writing about his propensity to botch routine plays since 2018.

Correcting this seems like it should be easy. Play with more urgency and get the out, the old crank says. This has been going on four years now though (likely longer than that, but we’ve only seen it with our own eyes the last four), and at multiple positions, so either it’s harder to correct than it seems, or Torres and the Yankees aren’t doing enough to correct it. This is not a new problem.

“When you have a high-profile miscue or something, you’ve got to be able to work past that,” Boone said Wednesday (video). ” … To get past that and come out of this on the other side. There’s going to be trials and bumps along the way for all of us in this game. The important thing is he has the confidence to know he has the equipment to get through it.”

The Yankees are not going to pull the plug on Torres at shortstop one week into a new season. Quick, drastic decisions are not their style. And besides, even if the Yankees wanted to make a change at shortstop, they can’t. They’re locked into DJ LeMahieu at second and Gio Urshela at third. I guess they could dump Bruce and put LeMahieu at first and Torres at second, and play Tyler Wade at short? Yuck.

As I wrote all offseason, I want to give Torres a 162-game season at shortstop before making a decision about his long-term position. The only player available this offseason I would’ve been willing to move Torres over to second to accommodate was Francisco Lindor, and the Yankees never seriously pursued him. They committed to Gleyber at short (at least for 2021) when they re-signed LeMahieu.

What happens in 2022 and beyond? We’ll worry about that when the time comes. For better or worse, it will be Torres at shortstop in 2021. It was for worse during the first homestand and the easiest path to improvement the rest of the season is making those routine plays routine. Torres has not done that in his four years as an MLB player and it is looking increasingly likely he will never do that. Either that changes this year, or he’ll change positions next year.

“I think the important thing is to continue to reinforce a lot of the good things, a lot of the progress he has legitimately made,” Boone said (video). “All the reps we saw in Spring Training, the routine, the work he’s doing, you’ve got to continue to lean on that and believe in that and trust it, because he has all the capabilities to be able to go out there and do it"

3. Cole changing it up. Gerrit Cole was masterful Tuesday night, striking out 13 Orioles and retiring the final 12 batters he faced en route to seven scoreless innings. The 13 strikeouts tie his most as a Yankee (he struck out 13 in Wild Card Series Game 1 last year), and it was his best game as a Yankee and one of the 10 best games of his career (by Game Score).

“I certainly think I’m more comfortable,” Cole told Bryan Hoch following the game. “It’s been a lot easier than inserting yourself into a new team in the environment that we had last year. It’s a more normal setting, more normal season, people in the stands. So therefore, I do feel a little more comfortable, for sure.”

Cole got 26 misses on 52 swings Tuesday, exactly 50%, which is bonkers. He got 10 whiffs on 24 swings against his fastball and nine whiffs on 14 swings against his slider. Again, bonkers. Cole also got four whiffs on six swings against his changeup, a changeup he threw 14 times. That is the most changeups he’s thrown as a Yankee, tied with … Opening Day. Hmmm.

When he joined the Astros in 2018, Cole famously overhauled his approach and pitching style, and his career took off. He has made 89 starts since then, postseason included. Here are his biggest changeup games during that time:

Total changeups thrown
1. Sept. 24th, 2019: 17
2. Aug. 28th, 2019: 16
3. April 1st, 2021: 14
4. April 6th, 2021: 14
5. Aug. 31st, 2020: 13

Percent changeups thrown
1. Sept. 24th, 2019: 16.8%
2. April 1st, 2021: 14.4%
3. April 6th, 2021: 14.4%
4. Aug. 28th, 2019: 14.3%
5. Aug. 31st, 2020: 12.6%

Three of Cole’s five most changeup heavy starts since 2018 have come as a Yankee, including his first two starts this year. The changeup is his fourth pitch and he doesn’t need to use it often to dominate, that’s been made clear the last four seasons, but it is a weapon. A good one too. I mean, look at this (video link):

When a guy is throwing 100, 89 looks like it will never get to the plate. There are not many ways a pitcher as good as Cole can improve, but using the changeup more often could be a way to get better. And, even if the changeup “only” helps him maintain his current level of excellence, that’s great too. It seems Cole is changing the scouting report by using his changeup more.

“I think the opportunity is presenting itself,” Cole told Kristie Ackert when asked about throwing so many changeups. “We’re just trying to always evolve and I think last year, when some other pitches weren’t working, we were kind of forced to try to find opportunities to attack the strike zone with it. And I think we just kind of continued that mentality.”

I should note more changeups has not been limited to Cole in the early going. I mentioned Jonathan Loaisiga is throwing more changeups earlier this week. Jordan Montgomery threw 31.4% changeups the other day, the second highest rate in a start in his career. Nick Nelson has been spamming changeups. Slider specialist Luis Cessa has even thrown a few.

The season is six games old. The Yankees have only faced two different opponents and Cole is the only starter to make multiple starts. It’s too early to say anything that has happened is a trend and not just baseball randomness. Early indications are the Yankees as a team are throwing more changeups, not just Cole, and we’ll see whether that is still the case after a few more series.

4. Pitcher variation. Last postseason pitcher release points and arm angles became a popular talking point. Specifically, release point and arm angle variation was a popular talking point. The Rays built a diverse pitching staff with many different looks, and they went to the World Series, so it became a thing. Here are the regular season release points of the 13 pitchers Tampa had on their ALDS roster last October:

“There's no doubt we are convinced that different looks through an order, challenging lineups, gives us a good chance,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said during the 2018 Winter Meetings. “… (Eating innings is) a great mindset to have. But if we can do something better for the team and give different looks on a consistent basis, we found it was more challenging for the opposition, the lineup.”

The Rays had many different looks on their pitching staff last season while the Yankees did not. Here are the regular season release points of the 14 pitchers the Yankees carried on their ALDS roster a year ago. The righties all released the ball from the same general area and the lefties all released the ball from the same general area.

Different looks is one of those things you’d like to have but not is not paramount to success. In the end, talent reigns supreme. I’d rather the Yankees use Zack Britton and Aroldis Chapman with their similar release points in the late innings than, say, Lucas Luetge and Chapman just because Luetge has a lower arm slot than Britton. You know?

The Yankees added a different look this offseason in Darren O’Day and not just with his very low release point. He throws in the mid-80s and has a sweepy breaking ball. On a pitching staff built around power, O’Day is a big time outlier. Luetge is similar in that he doesn’t throw overly hard (around 90-ish), but will give hitters high-spin breaking ball after high-spin breaking ball.

“You can’t really quantify deception, but it’s a valuable tool to have to have different looks,” O’Day told Greg Joyce in Spring Training. “You look at the difference in that velocity, 100-85, 15 mph. To put that in perspective, 15 mph off my velocity, 70 mph, wouldn’t even get you looked at … It’s harder for a hitter to make that timing. That swing speed is usually right in the upper-80s, low-90s. Chappy’s pitching above it, I’m pitching below it.”

Every pitcher on the Opening Day roster has made at least one appearance so far this season, though we’re still waiting on Britton and Justin Wilson (and Luis Severino) to rejoin the team. Here’s what the staff’s release points look like in the early going:

That’s O’Day at the bottom, Jordan Montgomery at the top, Chapman and Luetge bunched together, and the rest of the righties bunched together. As the season progresses, the release points will blend together. There will be a blob of righties, a blob of lefties, and then O’Day on his own little island.

And that’s fine. The 2020 Rays should not be the standard because they had an extreme staff last season. The Rays themselves don’t have as much variation in their release points this year as last year ...

… because they replaced Aaron Loup (low release point) with more conventional lefties (Jeffrey Springs and Cody Reed), and their new righties (Chris Archer, Collin McHugh, Michael Wacha) all have conventional arm slots. Ryan Thompson is their O’Day (submariner) and Tyler Glasnow is their Montgomery (tall with an over-the-top delivery). Otherwise the righties are bunched together and the lefties are bunched together.

Variety is nice and it can be accomplished in different ways. Tampa achieved it last season with different release points. This year the Yankees are doing it (or are attempting to do it) with different styles. There’s the hard-throwers (Green, Gerrit Cole, etc.), the sinker guys (Corey Kluber, Britton), the submariner (O’Day), the breaking ball guy (Luetge), so on and so forth. It is not the key to success, but it can contribute it. There's value in different looks.

“I think everyone’s a little different,” Green told Joyce. “You got a hard-throwing lefty, sidearm righty, then me and Wilson are kind of the same where we’re more fastball-heavy guys. But that has been proven to work in the past. The more diverse you can be as a bullpen, the better. Once hitters feel uncomfortable, it can only help us and be to our advantage.”

5. 2021 draft prospect: LSU RHP Jaden Hill. 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.

Hill, 21, came into the spring as a potential top five pick. He’s had a tough few weeks though (23 runs with a 25/12 K/BB in 29.2 innings), and this past weekend he blew out his elbow. Hill will have Tommy John surgery in the coming days. Prior to the injury MLB.com ranked him the No. 5 prospect in the draft class and Baseball America (subs. req’d) ranked him No. 8.

Here’s video of Hill from last year and here’s a snippet of MLB.com’s scouting report:

Hill operated in the upper 90s as a reliever last season and dealt at 95-97 mph with a peak of 99 as a starter in fall practice. He has possessed a plus changeup since his high school days and the pitch presently arrives in the mid-80s with a lot of tumble. He has transformed what had been a slurvy breaking ball into a nasty mid-80s slider that can give him a third plus offering once it becomes more consistent … Hill is strong, physical and athletic at 6-foot-4 and 233 pounds. He throws strikes but still needs to fine-tune his command and has yet to prove he can maintain premium stuff over a full season of starts.

Hill’s college track record is short. He was a reliever as a freshman and the pandemic cut short his sophomore year, and now the injury ended his junior year prematurely. All told, Hill threw 51.1 innings with LSU and more than half of them came this year, when he wasn’t very good. He’s talented, though teams haven’t seen him at his best (or much at all) the last few years.

Even before the injury, there were questions about Hill’s ability to hold his stuff deep into games (and deep into the season), and whether he’ll have enough command to start. That said, his changeup is arguably the best changeup in the draft class, and I like to bet on guys with an elite pitch (GIF via Rob Friedman):

Tommy John surgery doesn’t scare teams. The Yankees selected Andrew Brackman and Clarke Schmidt in the first round despite their elbow woes (Brackman needed Tommy John surgery and Schmidt had it a few weeks prior to the draft), and others like Walker Buehler, Lucas Giolito, Erick Fedde, and Jeff Hoffman were recent first round picks despite their compromised elbow ligaments.

Brackman didn’t work out and Schmidt is kinda sorta trending that way given his ongoing elbow problems, though the book is far from closed on him. Does that mean the Yankees should steer clear of talented pitchers with elbow issues? I don’t think so. I don’t love the strategy (I’d rather just take a healthy pitcher in the first round), but it’s worth considering on a case-by-case basis.

Hill could represent an opportunity to nab a talented player in the back half of the first round. When right, he’ll flash big velocity with an out-pitch changeup and an improved breaking ball. If starting doesn’t work out, Hill could fall back on being a power reliever. It’s premium stuff. It’s also risky given the injury, but you don’t find an arsenal like this outside the top 10-15 picks often.

The timing of the Tommy John surgery indicates Hill will return to game action either late in 2022 (Arizona Fall League?) or in Spring Training 2023, so best case scenario he’s helping your MLB team in 2024. That’s a long ways away. The Yankees have shown a willingness to be patient with players like this and assume the risk though. Hill’s an potential candidate for the Brackman/Schmidt strategy in 2021.

6. Rapid fire thoughts. Really good, really encouraging Yankees debut for Jameson Taillon. He was a little amped up early on (he missed way above the zone with several fastballs in the first inning, often an indicator the pitcher is overthrowing), but he settled down, and finished with seven strikeouts and zero walks in 4.2 innings while on a strict pitch count (41.2% strikeouts!). The Orioles hit his two biggest mistakes out of the park, which stunk. Everything else was good though. The velocity is creeping up, the curveball and slider look good, and Taillon seems to be adjusting well to the elevated four-seamers approach. Very encouraging. Biggest concern at this point is health, not effectiveness or approach. That stuff looks good … You’re not going to believe this, but the Yankees have been misleading about Aaron Judge’s left side injury. Here’s a recap of Aaron Boone’s claims:

• Monday: Judge came out of the game to get him “off (his) feet” in a blowout.
• Tuesday: Judge is dealing with “nothing specific.”
• Before Wednesday’s game: Judge has soreness and is out of the lineup as a precaution with the off-day Thursday, and he could pinch-hit in a big spot.
• After Wednesday’s game: Judge wasn’t going to pinch-hit and it’s unclear whether he’ll play Friday.

Color me skeptical that Judge missed the final three Grapefruit League games with an illness, as the Yankees claim. The Yankees don’t have to tell us specifics about injuries, I get that, but their injury messaging is horrible and it’s become impossible to trust anything they say. Judge has been really good in the early going (8-for-22 with two homers), so the side injury can’t be that bad. Still it’s something nagging and hopefully he gets over it soon, and hopefully the Yankees are a little more forthright going forward (not holding my breath) … Kyle Higashioka drew a walk! He drew a walk Tuesday and it was his first regular season walk since Aug. 2018 (he did draw a walk in the ALDS last year). Here’s a leaderboard I ran a few times over the winter. The most regular season plate appearances without a walk from 2019-20:

1. Kyle Higashioka: 105
2. Luis Castillo: 66 (pitcher)
3. Jose Quintana: 63 (pitcher)
4. Miles Mikolas: 62 (pitcher)
5. Kenta Maeda, Steven Matz, Max Scherzer: 61 (pitchers)

The next position player on the list is Isaac Galloway at 54 plate appearances. I’m not asking Higashioka to turn into Joey Votto or anything, but there are walks out there to be had. Take ‘em, Higgy … Shi Davidi reports the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons are finalizing plans to play at Arm & Hammer Park in Trenton this summer (home of the Trenton Thunder). That paves the way for the Blue Jays to return to Buffalo. They’re playing home games at their Spring Training park through May, but the Florida weather (heat, humidity, rain, etc.) is going to become an issue before long. Canada recently reduced their mandatory quarantine period from 14 days to seven days for international travelers. Could be a while before they allow constant ins and outs for pro sports teams though (the NBA’s Toronto Raptors are playing in Tampa this season). The Yankees will play the Blue Jays at their Spring Training park next week. Their other two road series against the Blue Jays are June 15th to 17th, and Sept. 28th to 30th. Wouldn’t it be something if the first series is in Florida, the second in Buffalo, and the third in Toronto? … And finally, the Yankees have been vaccinated. Their Tier 1 personnel (players, coaches, trainers, etc.) got their shots Wednesday (before the off-day to deal with any side effects) and they got the one-and-done Johnson & Johnson shot, so they don’t have to do this again in three weeks. They cleared the 85% vaccination threshold and will enjoy relaxed protocols beginning in two weeks. Everyone in New York age 16+ is eligible to be vaccinated now. Here’s where you can find an appointment.

Mailbag Questions of the Week

Andrew asks: Is there an example of a recent WS champion, or even WS loser, that was heavily tilted RH or LH? It seems like such an obvious flaw despite the Yankees Right Handed Hitters strong numbers against RHP. Batting against the Orioles 5th starter is not the same as facing a brigade of flame-throwing RHP relievers.

The Astros are the best example. Their lineup has leaned righty the last few years thanks to Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa, Yuli Gurriel, and George Springer. Here are their percentages of plate appearances with the platoon advantage over the years:

• 2016: 48.4% (21st in MLB)
• 2017: 50.6% (18th in MLB)
• 2018: 45.4% (27th in MLB)
• 2019: 42.9% (28th in MLB)
• 2020: 43.2% (30th in MLB)

Houston has consistently ranked in the bottom half of the league in plate appearances with the platoon advantage and they’ve been bottom four the last three years. They’ve made it work because their righties are really good, because they’ve sprinkled in enough good lefties (Yordan Alvarez, Michael Brantley, etc.), and because they’re cheaters who knew what was coming.

Cleveland had the highest percentage of plate appearances with the platoon advantage every year from 2016-20 (around 70% each year) because they had so many switch-hitters (Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez, Carlos Santana, etc.). Other teams that consistently ranked high the last few years include the Twins (okay), the Orioles (hmmm), the Pirates (huh), and Phillies (well).

The MLB average platoon rate sits right around 53% each year. Here are the last few World Series matchups and the Yankees:

• 2016: Cubs (57.4%) over Cleveland (70.0%) (Yankees: 68.1%)
• 2017: Astros (50.6%) over Dodgers (58.0%) (Yankees: 51.2%)
• 2018: Red Sox (52.4%) over Dodgers (57.3%) (Yankees: 51.5%)
• 2019: Nationals (44.9%) over Astros (42.9%) (Yankees: 42.9%)
• 2020: Dodgers (49.7%) over Rays (59.2%) (Yankees: 44.0%)

In the early going this year the Yankees are at 41.2% of plate appearances with the platoon advantage, fifth fewest in baseball and down slightly from last year. Clint Frazier replacing Brett Gardner in left field chips away at the platoon rate, as does lefty Robbie Ray getting hurt and the Yankees instead seeing righty Ross Stripling last week. That matters in a sample this small.

The platoon thing is about more than simple platoon rates though. The regular lineup features eight righties, four of whom are similar as power guys who will strike out a fair amount (Frazier, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gary Sanchez, and eventually Luke Voit will be the fifth). Aaron Boone likes to talk about “lanes” for his relievers and those similar righties create lanes for the other team.

I don’t want the Yankees to stick a lefty in the lineup just for the sake of having a lefty. Give me Voit over Jay Bruce, Frazier over Mike Tauchman, etc. I thought there was a clear need for a middle of the lineup lefty bat over the winter though. It would’ve required tough decisions, like letting DJ LeMahieu walk or trading Voit or Gio Urshela, but that’s life. As good as the offense is (and it is very good), it has an exploitable weakness.

Geoffrey asks (short version): Obviously a super small sample, but what do you think is up with the Blue Jays and Orioles bringing in lefties to face Jay Bruce? I feel like as an opposing manager, I'd much rather have Generic Righty face Bruce and Urshela, Sanchez, Frazier, LeMahieu, whoever instead of Generic Lefty. Think this could somehow continue, or is this just an aberration? Do you think giving a couple more guys the platoon advantage every once in a while might be Bruce's biggest addition to the lineup when all is said and done? Not really sure if that second one is a joke or not....

As noted last week, Bruce hit .212/.268/.398 (77 wRC+) against lefties from 2014-20, so going to a lefty reliever makes sense. The three-batter minimum does complicate things for the other team though. Six games into the new season, Bruce has seen a true matchup lefty two times. A quick recap.

April 1st vs. Blue Jays: No matchup situation. Bruce faced Hyun-Jin Ryu twice, then two righty relievers.

April 3rd vs. Blue Jays: Toronto brought in lefty Tim Mayza to face Bruce with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth. The score was tied and Bruce dunked a two-run single into shallow left (video). It was a smart move in an obvious matchup situation. Bruce struggles against lefties, and if Mayza gets him out, the inning is over, and the three-batter minimum is irrelevant. The left-on-left matchup is your best chance to get out of that jam. It just didn’t work.

April 4th vs. Blue Jays: Toronto brought in lefty Ryan Borucki to face Bruce with a runner on second and one out in the sixth. The Blue Jays led 3-1 at the time, and Borucki was going to have to stay in to face at least Gary Sanchez after facing Bruce, then potentially Clint Frazier as well if he didn’t get Bruce or Sanchez out. Bruce grounded out and Sanchez popped up to end the inning, so it worked. Borucki is a hard-throwing lefty who had a very big platoon split last year:

• Borucki vs. RHB: .286/.394/.464 (.364 wOBA) with 30.3 K% and 15.2 BB%
• Borucki vs. LHB: .125/.275/.156 (.219 wOBA) with 27.5 K% and 17.5 BB%

My guess is manager Charlie Montoyo felt Borucki was very likely to get Bruce out, and he was willing to take his chances with Borucki against Sanchez with two outs given Gary’s tendency to chase elevated fastballs. The priority was retiring Bruce to avoid making a big mess with one out. It’s harder to build a rally with two outs, and the worst Sanchez could do is tie the game with a homer after Bruce makes an out. Not saying I agree with it. Just trying to rationalize it.

April 5th vs. Orioles: No matchup situation. Baltimore did bring in lefty Paul Fry to face Bruce and several righties in the sixth inning, though the Yankees led 6-0 at the time, so it wasn’t really a matchup situation. It was a mop-up situation.

April 6th vs. Orioles: No matchup situation. The O’s brought in lefty Wade LeBlanc to face Bruce and several righties in the eighth inning, but the Yankees were up 4-0 at the time, so I wouldn’t call it a matchup situation. It was closer to mop-up duty.

April 7th vs. Orioles: No matchup reliever despite several matchup opportunities in the late innings of a close game. Bruce faced lefty John Means twice and three righty relievers. The O’s did use two lefty relievers in the game, but both times they were brought in to match up with Brett Gardner, once with the tying run on second in the sixth and once to start the 11th inning with the tying run at second and a one-run lead.

The April 3rd matchup is easy to understand, I think. The April 4th matchup is definitely a “pick your poison because of the three-batter minimum rule” situation, and Toronto preferred to match up with Bruce rather than Sanchez. Can’t say I agree with that, though I understand it. Plus I’m just a dumb blogger. Who am I to argue with the pros?

I imagine this will continue as long as Bruce is in the lineup. The Yankees don’t have anyone to platoon at first base, so you’re inviting lefties to face Bruce in tough spots. We’ll just have to hope it happens in situations where the lefty will be forced to stay in to face righties (like April 4th), and that those righties make the lefty pay (unlike April 4th). Either that, or we’ll have to hope Bruce can work some small sample size magic against southpaws.

Anonymous asks: Is there a reason why the Yankees have never tried Stanton at first base especially with Voit out. Seems like a good athlete as he was always a decent outfielder. Nice large target at first base and relatively safe as far as leg injuries compared to running around the outfield.

I’m guessing the reason is health and trying to keep Giancarlo Stanton on the field. That seems to be the priority over getting him on the field defensively, and I get that. First base is a logical long-term landing spot for Stanton should the Yankees decide playing the outfield is too detrimental to his health. That’s where many guys wind up late in their career anyway.

I think the Yankees are focused on just keeping Stanton healthy this year. Once they get him through a season healthy, then I think they’ll begin to think more seriously about putting him back in the outfield on occasion, or moving him to first base. Stanton doesn’t have to be able to play first base everyday, but once in a while would be cool. Every little bit of versatility helps.

Daniel asks: How does Domingo German's suspension affect his time under team-control? Did German still accrue service-time while suspended or did he not accrue service-time?

Players do not accrue service time while suspended under the domestic violence policy. Even with a normal 162-game season in 2020, the suspension was long enough that German’s free agency would’ve been pushed back from the 2023-24 offseason to the 2024-25 offseason. He was out the entire shortened 2020 season, so the Yankees have him through 2024.

The suspension was going to delay German’s free agency one way or the other. What the short season did was (likely) cost him a shot at Super Two status. The Super Two cutoff is set at the top 22% of players with 2-3 years of service time. Here are the last few cutoffs:

• 2020-21: 2 years, 122 days in a weird season with prorated service time
• 2019-20: 2 years, 115 days
• 2018-19: 2 years, 134 days
• 2017-18: 2 years, 123 days
• 2016-17: 2 years, 131 days

With a normal season, German would’ve been eligible to return for the team’s 64th game, and assuming he spent the rest of the season on the MLB roster, he would’ve finished 2020 with two years and 132 days of service time. German would’ve been just over the Super Two cutoff and thus arbitration-eligible four times instead of the usual three.

Instead, the season was shortened because of the pandemic, and German missed the entire year and accrued zero service time. He came into this season with two years and 17 days of service time and is making something close to the league minimum as a pre-arbitration-eligible player. The suspension delayed his free agency and cost him Super Two status.

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