March 2nd, 2021: Sanchez, King, Judge, Warren, Abreu, Andujar, German, Tauchman, Allen, Florial

Shameless self-promotion: I wrote a thing at CBS ranking the 30 teams based on pressure to win the 2021 World Series. With the Dodgers winning last year, I have the Yankees in the No. 1 spot, and I can’t see an argument for any other team. Come to read about the Yankees, stay for the Rays slander. Now here is the updated Spring Training broadcast schedule and here are today’s thoughts.

1. Grapefruit League observations. Baseball is back, so are you ready to read entirely too much into 14 Grapefruit League innings? Of course you are. Let’s get into some general observations following the Yankees’ first two Spring Training games.

Sanchez murdered a fastball

There are many reasons Gary Sanchez had a disaster 2020 season, including his inability to punish hittable fastballs. Some numbers real quick:

2020 vs. fastballs: .173 AVG and .444 SLG
2019 vs. fastballs: .242 AVG and .593 SLG
(MLB averages: .267 AVG and .459 SLG)

2020 vs. fastballs in the zone: .222 AVG and .571 SLG
2019 vs. fastballs in the zone: .303 AVG and .788 SLG
(MLB averages: .291 AVG and .513 SLG)

Everything in this game revolves around the fastball. If you can hit it at the plate and command it on the mound, you have a chance to stick around. Sanchez did not hit fastballs last season, not at all, and it’s a trend he must reverse this year. Gary went to Tampa after the season and then down to winter ball in preparation for a bounceback season this year.

“He told me, ‘I would see a fastball coming down the center (of the plate) and I usually crush those.’ Everything was just too slow,” Theo Aasen, Sanchez’s trainer, told Brendan Kuty. Hitting coach Marcus Thames added: “He looks like an athlete. He doesn’t look robotic. Now, he’s on time, and he doesn’t have to cheat to get to pitches.”

On Monday, Sanchez hit a fastball. He hit the crap out of a fastball. Actual big leaguer Gregory Soto, who I mentioned as a possible trade target last year, left a fastball over the plate and Gary parked it over the batter’s eye in center field. Here’s the video. Anthony Kay blew Sanchez away with a high fastball Sunday. It was good to see him run into one Monday.

“I was just looking for a pitch to hit there,” Sanchez told Bryan Hoch. “I wanted something in the zone that I could put a good swing on, and I did. It felt good to connect and run around the bases. My first homer of Spring Training definitely felt good.”

Of course, one Spring Training home run is meaningless. I’ve been doing this long enough to know that. At this point, we’re just looking for signs things will be better than last year, and in Sanchez’s case, that means crushing a fastball begging to be crushed. I’ll celebrate when he does it in games that count. For now, I’ll enjoy him doing it in games that don’t.

“Usually when you lose control in the box, it’s because you’re out of balance in your lower half,” Sanchez told Hoch. “I’ve used that leg kick for quite some time. Usually that’s where you find trouble because sometimes if you use it too much and you’re too ahead, you’re going to find yourself out of time. If you stay too far back, you also find yourself out of time. For me, it’s finding that balance that works for me.”

King’s changeup

Mike King’s Grapefruit League debut did not go well Sunday: 2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K. Cavan Biggio and Rowdy Tellez, the two legitimate Major League lefty bats in Toronto’s lineup, went 2-for-3 with two doubles against King, and both were roped. Lefties hit .255/.375/.532 (.386 wOBA) against King last year and that’s not gonna play.

To that end, King said he intents to work on his changeup this spring, and incorporate it more into his pitch mix. The changeup was said to be his best secondary pitch coming up through the minors, but he didn’t throw it all that much last year, and it shows in those numbers against lefty hitters. King had nothing to get them out, or even keep them honest.

I counted 10 changeups among King’s 42 pitches Sunday, including nine to righty batters (he threw 14 changeups to righties in 2020). He threw back-to-back changeups to Bo Bichette in the first and struck out Marcus Semien looking on a changeup in the second. King also hit two righty batters with changeups that got away, and nearly hit a third as well. This is the best changeup he threw all afternoon (GIF via Nick Pollack):

"You need a third pitch to pitch in the big leagues, especially if you want to get through the order a second time,” King told Hoch last week, referring to his changeup. He needs something to get lefties off his fastball and the changeup is the obvious weapon there. King threw it a lot Sunday, at least relative to last year, and that’s a good start.

Also, we have Spring Training Statcast now (at least in some parks), and King hit 96.9 mph Sunday. He topped out at 95.9 mph last season. I’m sure there was some “first game of Spring Training” adrenaline there, but this is now a thing to watch. King at, say, 95-97 mph would be a much different animal than the King we saw at 91-94 mph last year.

“He got a lot of work in,” Aaron Boone told Hoch after the game. “I thought his stuff was really good. He was 94-97 with his fastball. He executed some. The command clearly wasn't there. He had some 3-2 counts where he lost guys and didn't make a pitch. He flashed some really good changeups along the way. It was a step for him moving forward.”

Judge’s new-look stance

Aaron Judge has long been a tinkerer (he changed his setup at the plate significantly from 2016 to 2017) and he’s again made changes to his batting stance. Here is 2020 regular season Judge on the left and 2021 Spring Training Judge on the right (GIF link):

Judge is on his toes with his front foot now rather than flat to the ground, and he’s holding his bat a closer to parallel with the ground rather than pointed upward. Also, Judge appears to be a little more open now, though that could be the camera angle.

How does this help? Beats me. The last thing I am is a hitting coach. Judge said he’s made a few changes to his swing this spring -- “There were a couple things with my swing I wanted to change and be a little more consistent,” Judge told Dan Martin over the weekend -- and this is presumably part of that. Maybe he’ll cut his strikeout rate in half. That’d be neat.

Because he’s so big and has so much power, Judge doesn’t get enough credit for being such a good pure hitter and such a smart hitter. He’s been making changes to his swing since college and just about everything he’s done has worked. I trust that these changes will accomplish whatever Judge wants, or at least not hamper him at the plate.

Warren’s return

Welcome back, Adam Warren. Not just to the Yankees, but to the mound in general. His Spring Training debut Sunday was his first game action since June 7th, 2019, when he blew out his elbow and eventually required Tommy John surgery. More than 20 months between games. It was only Spring Training, but still. Sunday’s game had to feel good for Warren.

Anyway, Warren looked like Adam Warren. He topped out at 91.6 mph and averaged 90.0 mph with his fastball, so hopefully he builds arm strength as the spring progresses. Warren threw mostly sliders, as he did during his previous Yankees tenure, and he also flipped in one curveball and one changeup. It was vintage Adam Warren, basically.

I’ve long been a Warren fan but I’m not sure whether he belongs on a contender’s roster at this point in his career. He’s 33 and he was never a guy who overpowered hitters, and now he’s coming back from Tommy John surgery. If 90-92 is the new normal, it might not be good enough, even with his slider and pitching smarts.

That said, it was neat to see Warren in pinstripes again, even if he was wearing an unfamiliar No. 48 (Jonathan Loaisiga has his old No. 43). Maybe Warren’s velocity will tick up as the spring progresses and he pitches his way into the bullpen conversation. It would be pretty cool. I’m not expecting much, but I did enjoy seeing Warren as a Yankee once again.

The new ball

So far the supposedly deadened baseball seems to be playing the same as last year’s ball. Super small sample and it’s only Spring Training, but I have yet to see a hitter really get into a pitch that I thought was gone, only to watch it settle into an outfielder’s glove. I haven’t had to recalibrate like I did in the 2019 postseason, when the ball was obviously deadened.

“It went a little further than I thought. I kind of got underneath it. I knew I missed it. But I saw it was near the track and thought maybe someone snuck in an old baseball for me,” Judge told Martin on Sunday (video of the fly out). “... I noticed a little difference in batting practice. Balls that were turned on didn’t go the same, but in the game, I didn’t notice any difference.”

I have not seen any pitchers talk about the new baseball yet and I’m curious to hear what they say. Is it easier to grip? Lots of guys complained the ball was too slick the last few years (including Masahiro Tanaka with his splitter). After watching a few games (Yankees and others), I haven’t noticed a difference in the way the baseball is playing. We’ll see what happens as the sample grows.

Fans!

Man, it’s so good to hear real live fans again, isn’t it? It’s only Spring Training and it’s only 25% capacity, but fans make a world of difference. Even seeing them chase after foul balls is welcome because it’s a return to normalcy, or at least a step in that direction. Hearing a homer or a foul ball clank off an empty seat last year was unusual and in a way unsettling.

I went to a few games last year and folks, let me tell you, it was weird as hell. The fake crowd noise was surprisingly realistic, so much so that there were a few times I had my head down working on something on my laptop, then I’d almost be startled when I looked up and saw the empty seats because it sounded normal, and you kinda forget the circumstances. I look forward to never experiencing that again.

The (hockey) Rangers hosted fans at Madison Square Garden for the first time last week, and even though it was only 10% capacity, the crowd was loud and it sounded kinda like a playoff game. Huge cheers after a clutch save or a big hit, lots of “Let’s Go Ran-Gers!” chants, giving the other team the business, so on so forth. The 10% sounded damn close to 100%.

I’m happy to see fans in the stands again, though Spring Training games aren’t raucous. Once the regular season begins and fans return to Yankee Stadium, it’s going to be awesome. I have zero doubt. Limited capacity is better than no capacity and I can’t wait to see and hear fans in the Bronx in a few weeks.

"Just having lively people is different,” King told Hoch. “I'm used to the cardboard people. It was a lot more fun than it has been.”

Miscellany

Gerrit Cole’s location was not good in his outing Monday but the stuff was there. Velocity was as good as I’ve ever seen a starter’s velocity on March 1st (averaged 98.2 mph), and the breaking ball was sharp, just poorly located. I couldn’t care less that he gave up a few hits and a run. Cole is literally the last guy on the roster I’m worried about. See you in five days, Gerrit … Only seven pitches in Jameson Taillon’s 1-2-3 inning Monday (he threw another 10 pitches in the bullpen afterward) and he looked pretty good. His five fastballs averaged 93.2 mph and topped out at 93.8 mph, which is better than I expected for a two-time Tommy John surgery guy in his first Grapefruit League game. The one curveball he threw was snappy (GIF via Rob Friedman):

Taillon got through the inning in one piece and that’s all I care about right now. A good first outing for the new guy. “In my head I was like, ‘Man, I wish I could have gotten a little more in-game work there.’ But for the first one, shorter is better. Quick and clean, get in, get out. I’m healthy and I feel great,” Taillon told Hoch … With the caveat that it was his first Spring Training game, Jhoulys Chacin looked pretty crummy Monday. Fastball was mostly 88-90 with one 92 mph -- Wilson Ramos hit a middle-middle 90 mph nothingball off the batter’s eye -- and the slider wasn’t great. Would’ve liked to have seen a little more from a guy who moved up a rung on the rotation depth chart because of Clarke Schmidt’s injury … Mike Ford is noticeably slimmer, so he’s one of the few guys in Spring Training who can say he’s in the best shape of his life and mean it. I’m not sure how much weight he’s lost but it looks like a good 20 lbs. or so. Bottom line with Ford, he has to hit to have any value to his team, and if a trimmer physique gives him a better chance to do damage, great … 2020 first round pick Austin Wells got into Monday’s game and shot a ground ball single back up the middle in his first at-bat (video). Wells definitely does not have a catcher’s body (not yet, anyway). He’s lean and athletic, so you can see why the consensus is he’ll be able to play the outfield should catching not work out. It looks like Wells has room to add muscle, but we’ll see. I hope to see him in a game again soon … And finally, I said I was looking forward to seeing Chris Gittens run into mistake fastballs, didn’t I? He sent a mistake fastball over the scoreboard Monday (video). Gittens is a one-tool player, but if you’re going to be a one-tool player, power is the tool to have. I’ve heard Gittens is an insane exit velocity guy -- I heard he averaged around 96 mph during his 2019 Double-A Eastern League MVP season and had several balls over 120 mph -- and Monday's grand slam left his bat at 114.3 mph. He’s behind Luke Voit and Ford on the first base depth chart, maybe Miguel Andujar too, so I’m not sure we’ll see him in the Bronx anything this year. Hopefully we see Gittens get another cookie this spring though.

2. Players who need a good Spring Training. Spring Training performance is meaningless -- the quality of competition varies so much and you never know who’s working on what* -- but it does matter for some players. Some guys need a good camp to win (or keep) a job. And a good camp may not even win a job. A bad camp will lose some guys a job though.

* I’ll never forget Andy Pettitte getting blasted in a Grapefruit League game one year and saying he threw almost all changeups because he was still trying to get a feel for it. I went back and rewatched the game and yep, almost all changeups. Hitters knew what was coming.

The Yankees have a mostly set 26-man roster. I see only three open spots at the moment (fifth starter, eighth reliever, fourth bench player) and whoever wins those jobs in Spring Training isn’t guaranteed to keep them all season, or even keep them through April. Here are five players, listed alphabetically, who need a good Spring Training these next few weeks.

RHP Albert Abreu

We got the full Albert Abreu experience in his Spring Training debut Monday. He showed big velocity (averaged 99.0 mph and topped out at 100.4 mph) and broke off a few nasty breaking balls (video), but he was all over the place …

… and he got squared up a few times. One run on two hits and no strikeouts against a bunch of minor leaguers in the late innings, and the hardest hit ball Abreu allowed was right at the shortstop. It was only one inning on March 1st, but this is a pitcher who needs as many good innings as possible this spring.

Abreu, 25, joined the Yankees in the Brian McCann trade and he’s entering his fifth season with the organization. In the four prior seasons injuries and the pandemic limited Abreu to only 291 innings, including winter ball. Now he’s out of minor league options, so either he makes the big league roster or he’s out of the organization. There’s basically no middle ground.

Being out of options might tilt the scales toward Abreu in the eighth reliever race, but he’s not going to win that job getting hit around in Grapefruit League play. Also, Abreu is not only pitching for a job with the Yankees this spring. He’s pitching for a big league job in general. If he doesn’t make the Yankees, he wants to show other teams he’s worth a roster spot.

It is not hyperbole to call this the most important Spring Training of Abreu’s career. He pitched well enough in winter ball and should -- should -- be ahead of the other pitchers (and hitters) in camp, ostensibly giving him a leg up. I’m not sure a good camp will guarantee him a bullpen job. I do know a bad camp likely ends his time with the Yankees.

3B Miguel Andujar

Gio Urshela is working his way back from elbow surgery (he’s taking batting practice and making throws, but isn’t ready for games just yet) and that means Andujar will spend time at third base, his most familiar position, early in camp. He started at the hot corner Sunday and went 1-for-2 and wasn’t tested defensively. Still, Urshela’s emergence has turned Andujar into a man without a role.

“When we’re all healthy, sure, you can look at our personnel (and connect the dots), but Miggy is very much in that mix,” Aaron Boone told Dan Martin last week. “He has a proven track record of an elite season under his belt and we understand the talent is still very much in there. We saw it with Clint Frazier. I’m not gonna put anything past Miggy.”

Boone added Andujar is going to “get a lot of opportunities to play here early and get reps and … it’s about capitalizing on those.” As Spring Training progresses, Andujar will presumably see time in the outfield and at first base, and versatility only increases his chances of making the team. He’s gotta hit though. Andujar can’t go 10-for-50 this month and expect to open the year in the Bronx.

The competition for the final bench spot includes two veteran hanger-ons (Jay Bruce and Derek Dietrich) and three incumbents who fell on their faces last season (Thairo Estrada, Mike Ford, and Mike Tauchman). Andujar was among those who fell on his face last year. Bottom line, he needs a good camp to force his way into the bench mix, and even that might not be enough.

“I haven’t forgotten about Andujar and the coaches for sure haven’t forgotten about Miggy. We know what type of player Miggy could be,” bench coach Carlos Mendoza told Martin. “... He had the surgery and last year was up and down. It was difficult. No doubt, it was a hard year for him. The one thing he can control is to go out and play and perform and let the people who make decisions make those decisions. Our job is to stay positive with him.”

RHP Domingo German

The first few days of German’s return to the Yankees have not gone smoothly. Teammates have spoken candidly -- “We have his back, but he's skating on thin ice and he needs to get his life together,” Luke Voit said last week (video link) -- and Boone has come off as wholly unprepared to deal with the situation (that’s a Boone problem though, not a German problem).

For better or worse, the Yankees are sticking with German, so maybe it’s more accurate to say the Yankees need German to have a good Spring Training more than German needs German to have a good Spring Training. If the Yankees cut him loose before Opening Day, he’d hook on with another team. I have no doubt about that. Teams will overlook a lot to add good players.

The Yankees are sticking their neck out with German because they believe he can help them win games, and that’s all there is to it. They’re not doing this because they think they can help him become a better person or anything like that. The second the headache outweighs the production, German will be gone. To date, the Yankees consider him worth the trouble.

German getting rocked in Spring Training and not making the Opening Day roster would make the Yankees look pretty bad (you kept him around for this?) and it would increase the scrutiny on German. I know how this works. Pitching well is German’s quickest path back into baseball's good graces. A good Spring Training would make his life easier.

“He has done enough to earn the opportunity to be here and to compete and to be a part of this team,” Boone told James Wagner. “Now the proof is in the daily life that he leads.”

RHP Mike King

Not the best start to King’s Grapefruit League season Sunday. He allowed three runs in two innings against the Blue Jays, got hit hard by lefties, and struggled to put hitters away in two-strike counts. As noted earlier, King was working on his changeup, but at some point he’ll have to get outs and show he can neutralize lefties to carve out a permanent role.

“It’s not what I wanted but it was good to get out there, good to have fans and everything,” King told Bryan Hoch after Sunday’s game. “I felt like I was super rotational and that led to some bad pitches. Too many freebies. Two walks, two hit-by-pitches. That’s what hurt me. My arm is feeling great and I’ve just got to execute a little better.”

King is one of the few pitchers competing for both the fifth starter’s spot and the eighth reliever’s spot. He’s definitely not the favorite for the former (I’d say it’s a German vs. Deivi Garcia battle) and the latter figures to go to the pitcher best able to chew up innings in long relief, a job King is qualified for, in theory. He held it at times last year and wasn’t very good though.

Unlike Abreu and Andujar, King is certain to see big league action this year, and a lot of it. The Yankees will shuttle pitchers in and out, as always, and my guess is they will ease their starters into action after the short 2020 season. King will get MLB innings, for sure. How he performs in camp may determine whether he gets them out of the gate, or has to begin in Triple-A and await a call-up.

“I’ve been feeling great,” King told Hoch. “I took a little different approach this offseason and threw a lot more live BP. I got down to Tampa earlier than I normally would. I was lucky to have (Aaron) Judge, (Mike) Ford, and (Gary) Sanchez to throw to. Luckily I’m not facing guys like that this season, but it was awesome for me.”

OF Mike Tauchman

Tauchman did something Sunday that he did not do at all last year: he hit a home run. It was a no-doubter too (video). Jacob Waguespack, who is essentially Toronto’s Mike King, left a junky little 86.6 mph sinker up in the zone and Tauchman turned on it. He did exactly what he was supposed to do with that pitch, which is something he didn’t do often enough last year.

“That was pretty impressive,” Judge told Hoch about Tauchman’s homer. “Tauchy put in a lot of hard work this offseason. He’s a guy that comes to play every single day. He brings intensity, he brings that fire. That’s one of the things he told me before the game: ‘Hey, I’m going to be aggressive today, so get ready.’ And he was, turning on that inside pitch.”

Brett Gardner’s return means the Yankees have one open bench spot (assuming they don’t start the season with a nine-man bullpen, which is a distinct possibility) and it doesn’t have to go to a lefty hitting outfielder. That’s bad news for Tauchman. Andujar and non-roster invitees Jay Bruce and Derek Dietrich represent legitimate competition for that final bench spot.

That final bench spot is up for grabs because last year was close to the worst case scenario for Tauchman. Rather than build on his strong 2019, he fell flat in 2020 -- Tauchman went 8-for-53 (.151) in his final 27 games -- and now he has to fight for a job. Such is life for a recently turned 30-year-old bench player. Those guys typically don’t get long leashes.

Bruce as a bench player doesn’t appeal to me -- he’s been pretty bad the last three years and are the Yankees really going to commit roughly 25% of their available payroll space to him? -- and I’m not sure how the Yankees view him internally. Legitimate bench candidate? Or just a guy they signed to a minor league deal because Gardner hadn’t been re-signed yet?

Either way, Tauchman’s roster spot is not secure, and the case can be made he shouldn’t make the team even with a good Spring Training because he and Gardner would be redundant (Bruce can play first base and Dietrich can play all over). A great spring at least keeps Tauchman in the conversation. A bad spring could end his time as a Yankee. Sunday’s homer was a good start.

3. Remembering a random Yankee: Andrew McCutchen. This week’s random Yankee came not by request, but rather is just a player I felt like writing about this week. Keep sending your requests in and I’ll add them to the queue, and I’ll get back on the request horse next week. Here's the random Yankee archive. You can find links back to everyone we've covered there.

The Yankees reemerged as a World Series contender in 2017 and they went into 2018 with what appeared to be a stacked outfield. Incumbents Brett Gardner, Aaron Hicks, and Aaron Judge were joined by offseason addition and reigning NL MVP Giancarlo Stanton, plus the Yankees still had Clint Frazier stashed away in Triple-A. The outfield figured to be a strength.

Sure enough, injuries struck early, so early that Billy McKinney started the second game of the regular season in left field, Jace Peterson started the ninth game in left, and Shane Robinson started the 11th game in center. Frazier crashed into the wall and suffered a concussion in Spring Training, Hicks strained his intercostal on Opening Day, and McKinney hurt his shoulder hitting the wall in the third game of the year. That led to the outfield musical chairs.

“It’s a blow, but one we feel we can handle,” Aaron Boone told Dan Martin when asked about losing Hicks. “We are hoping it’s a short-term kind of thing.”

The injury was a short-term thing (Hicks returned in the 14th game of the season) and the primary outfield was Gardner-Hicks-Judge through the first half, with a few Stanton starts here and there. Everything changed on July 26th, when an errant Jacob Junis fastball caught Judge in the wrist. He suffered a chip fracture and would be sidelined long-term.

"I don't know how much pain he was in. You know, you get hit in the wrist or hand like that, it never feels good whether the result is good or bad,” Boone told Bryan Hoch. Hicks added: “You're looking at a guy that hits 50 home runs for our team and he's a big part of our lineup. We have to figure a way to win games and continue to keep it pushing."

With Judge out, the Yankees recalled Robinson and put Stanton in right field in the short-term. The problem? Stanton was nursing a tight hamstring, and eventually playing the outfield was too much. The Yankees needed Giancarlo’s bat and couldn’t risk him making the hamstring injury worse by letting him play the outfield regularly, so to the DH spot he went.

The Yankees played 27 games from Aug. 3rd to Aug. 30th, and in those 27 games they started Stanton in right field seven times, Robinson eight times, and Neil Walker 12 times. Walker had never played the outfield in his career up to that point, but the Yankees were short on options, so he’d play right field for a few innings, then Robinson would take over defensively.

“It’s certainly something I’m willing to do,” Walker told Howie Kussoy when asked whether he’s willing to play the outfield. “Obviously, anything to help the team, and to be on the field. Whatever they ask me to do is what I’m gonna do. We haven’t quite gone down that road yet, but I’m gonna make sure in the next several days that I’m taking some balls in left and right, just in case.”

On the day Judge got hurt, the Yankees were 65-36 and 4.5 games behind the Red Sox in the AL East, and despite going 16-11 in the 27 games from Aug. 3rd to Aug. 30th, they fell to 8.5 games behind Boston. Their division title hopes slipped away soon after Judge got hurt, and the Yankees turned their attention to securing home field advantage in the Wild Card Game.

Meanwhile, over in San Francisco, the Giants were in the middle of a mediocre season, one that had their record at 55-54 on the day of the trade deadline, and 67-68 on the morning of Aug. 30th. They were seven games out in the NL West and 7.5 games behind the second Wild Card spot. Reality set in and San Francisco put McCutchen, their most notable rental, on the market.

The trade came together quickly. The Yankees were first rumored to have interest in the then-31-year-old McCutchen on the morning of Aug. 30th, and by the end of the night, the deal was done. The full trade (RAB post):

• Yankees get: McCutchen and cash (enough to cover half his $2.4M remaining salary)
• Giants get: IF Abi Avelino and RHP Juan De Paula

“This is a big deal for us. We’re getting a really good player,” Boone told Greg Joyce. “I think his reputation precedes him. This is as high a character person as we have in our game and I know he’ll fit well in our room … I think this is something that just really helps us in the here and now and even when Aaron comes back, it’s another really good player to give us options to match up things how we want to. But we believe Aaron will absolutely be back.”

Ah yes, “Aaron will absolutely be back.” Boone had to clarify that because the Yankees initially said Judge would return in three weeks, a timetable that proved to be wildly optimistic. He ultimately missed seven weeks -- Judge returned in Game 150 -- and the Yankees brought McCutchen in as much to help them secure home field advantage in the Wild Card Game as they did to protect themselves in case Judge didn’t return.

“Being here in New York, maybe it’ll be a little more intensified because of the team and where we are right now as far as positioning, heading towards the playoffs. I guess I love it,” McCutchen told Joyce after the trade. “Am I nervous? Yeah, I’m nervous. I’m on a new team, and we have an opportunity to do big things here. So in a sense, yes, I am nervous, but at the same time, I look at it as a good thing because that means I care about it.”

From 2012-15, McCutchen was a bona fide superstar with the Pirates. He hit .313/.404/.523 those four years, was second only to Mike Trout in WAR, and his 157 wRC+ was fourth highest in the game. McCutchen was named NL MVP in 2013, he finished third in the voting in 2012 and again in 2014, and fifth in the voting in 2015. A superstar of the first order, truly.

McCutchen’s game started to slip in 2016 and the Pirates sent him to the Giants with one year remaining on his contract in Jan 2018. They received prospects Kyle Crick and Bryan Reynolds in the 2-for-1 trade. McCutchen authored a .255/.357/.415 (115 wRC+) line with 15 homers in 130 games with San Francisco, which was good but not truly great. Considering the Yankees gave up basically nothing to get him*, it was a no-brainer move.

* Avelino had cups of coffee with the Giants in 2018 and 2019, going 5-for-18 (.278) in 10 total games. He was released last year and is in camp with the Cubs as a non-roster invitee this spring. De Paula, who the Yankees originally acquired from the Mariners in the Ben Gamel trade, has yet to pitch above Low-A. San Francisco traded him to the Blue Jays in the Kevin Pillar deal two years ago, and as best I can tell, he is still in Toronto’s system.

The Yankees immediately put McCutchen in right field -- his days as a center fielder came to an end with Pittsburgh in 2017 -- and he started slowly in pinstripes: 1-for-16 (.063) with two walks and two hit-by-pitches (.250 OBP) in his first five games. McCutchen went deep in his sixth game as a Yankee (video) and again in his seventh game as a Yankee.

In the final two weeks of the regular season, McCutchen went on a rampage. He went 17-for-54 (.315) with three homers and nearly as many walks (12) as strikeouts (14). McCutchen reached base 48 times in 25 games as a Yankee and hit .253/.421/.471 (150 wRC+) with five home runs (video) in those 25 games. He bat flipped walks and brought swagger to the offense (GIF link).

Judge returned late in the season and Gardner crashed hard down the stretch (.209/.288/.316 and 67 wRC+ in the second half), so McCutchen took over as the regular left fielder and leadoff hitter. He didn’t have a signature moment as a Yankee, though he did start the Wild Card Game with a walk ahead of Judge’s two-run first inning homer, so that’s something.

McCutchen struggled in the postseason overall (2-for-18 with one walk) and was on the bench with the season on the line in ALDS Game 4, though he pinch-hit for Gardner in the late innings. The Yankees were quickly ousted that postseason, and while there were rumblings the Yankees had interest in re-signing McCutchen, it never really made sense, and he eventually signed a three-year deal worth $50M with the Phillies.

“None,” McCutchen told Randy Miller when asked whether the Yankees showed any interest that offseason. “Starting pitching was the Yankees’ priority, and that made sense because that’s what they needed most. Maybe I would have been a priority for the Yankees later, but I wanted to sign pretty quick. I didn’t want to have to wait around because clearly we’ve seen the last two years what happens if you wait.”

McCutchen was having a strong 2019 with Philadelphia (.256/.378/.457 and 121 wRC+) when he tore his ACL avoiding a tag on June 3rd, ending his season. Last year he hit .253/.324/.433 (103 wRC+) during the 60-game season, and McCutchen is slated to be the starting left fielder this season. His most notable act since leaving the Yankees? Criticizing the team’s hair policy.

"I definitely do think it takes away from our individualism as players and as people. We express ourselves in different ways,” McCutchen said last July. “I feel like maybe there should be some change there in the future -- who knows when -- but it’s just one of the many things in this game that I feel that needs to be talked about, and to be addressed.”

I agree! The hair policy is unnecessary and outdated, and I’ve been saying that for years now. McCutchen of course caught grief because thou shall not speak ill of the Yankees, but he has a point. Either way, McCutchen spent six weeks in pinstripes and they were six productive weeks, though the ending was unfortunate. As far as Aug. 30th rentals go, this is as good as it gets.

4. Rapid fire thoughts. Welcome back, Greg Allen. He cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Scranton, the Yankees announced, so he is still with the team as a non-40-man roster player. That’s good. The Yankees get to keep Allen as outfield depth and stash him in Triple-A, which would make parting ways with Mike Tauchman even easier, should it come to that … The YES Network debuted a new scorebug over the weekend and I think it’s pretty sharp. Certainly better than the hard-to-read monstrosity they trotted out late in 2018. Here are a few screen grabs:

You get all the essential information, including pitch count and pitch velocity, during normal gameplay, and mockups indicate the scorebug will flash exit velocity as well as the batter and pitcher lines throughout the game. Real clean look. I’m a fan … And finally, Estevan Florial is not yet in camp because of a visa issue. He’s a long shot to make the Opening Day roster, so he's not missing a chance to make the team, but he is losing at-bats and reps. Injuries and the pandemic have limited Florial to 737 plate appearances in actual games since 2018, and that’s not enough. Not for a guy with extreme pitch recognition issues. Missing a week or two with visa problems isn’t a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, but damn yo, seems like there’s always something keeping Florial off the field.

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