February 23rd, 2021: Schmidt, Spring Training, German, Sleeper Prospects

Real live baseball is less than one week away, people. The Yankees begin Grapefruit League play with a home game against the Blue Jays this coming Sunday. I can’t wait. Here’s what I wrote about the Brett Gardner re-signing over the weekend and here are today’s thoughts as we await official word on the Gardner and Justin Wilson signings.

1. Schmidt shut down. Ah, the first injury of Spring Training. It always comes sooner than you hope. Clarke Schmidt has been shut down 3-4 few weeks with a common extensor tendon strain in his elbow, Aaron Boone announced yesterday (the tendon itself is called the "common extensor," it's not common in that it happens often). Schmidt felt something following his first bullpen session last week and had an MRI over the weekend.

“It's kind of an uncommon injury. Usually you don't hear pitchers getting that,” Boone told Bryan Hoch. “I think it's a little akin to a tennis elbow. We’ll get the range of motion going, get the swelling out of there, and have him symptom-free. Then he can start throwing again, and they think that's probably a 3-4 week shutdown.”

Schmidt told Lindsey Adler he believes he developed the injury while working on a new four-seam fastball grip, and added he was throwing with full effort in his first bullpen session because he was trying to impress and wants to make the Opening Day roster. Yep, that’ll do it.

The Yankees say Schmidt’s ulnar collateral ligament is intact, which is good, but he’s not out of the woods yet. Everything is connected to everything else in there, and the stresses need to go somewhere with the tendon compromised. That’s how flexor strains often turn into Tommy John surgery. This is not a flexor strain, but something in Schmidt’s elbow isn’t right.

The only silver lining is Schmidt suffered the injury early in Spring Training, so he’s not going to miss any meaningful games these next five weeks. Fingers crossed, because that’s the only "positive" here. A pitcher with a history of elbow problems having another elbow problem ain’t good. A timeline:

• May 2017: Schmidt undergoes Tommy John surgery.
• May and June 2019: Misses six weeks total with two bouts of elbow inflammation.
• February 2021: Shut down 3-4 weeks with a tendon strain in his elbow.

Not good! Past injury is the best predictor of future injury and we now have three instances in five years of Schmidt’s elbow saying nope, I don’t like this. The Yankees will be careful with him and bring him along slowly during his rehab, blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda, but they were cautious with him every year from 2018-20, and his elbow is still acting up.

Given the Yankees’ recent track record with injuries, we have to assume Schmidt will miss more time than expected. He turned 25 over the weekend and has thrown only 120 innings in actual games since completing his Tommy John surgery rehab in 2018, and this injury reduces the chances he throws even 120 innings this year. How long until Schmidt is a 160-inning starter for the Yankees, if ever?

At best, Schmidt was seventh on the rotation depth chart coming into Spring Training. Figure the in-house rotation depth chart looks like this until Schmidt and/or Luis Severino return:

1. RHP Gerrit Cole
2. RHP Corey Kluber
3. RHP Jameson Taillon
4. LHP Jordan Montgomery
5. RHP Domingo German
6. RHP Deivi Garcia
7. RHP Jhoulys Chacin
8. RHP Mike King
9. RHP Asher Wojciechowski

Is it too late to re-sign Masahiro Tanaka? In all seriousness, that’s probably enough rotation depth. The Yankees opted to throw numbers at their pitching this offseason rather than bring in one or two sure things, so they have rotation options. Are they great options after Deivi? Not really, but it’s what they have. No team has great Nos. 7-9 starters anyway (except the Dodgers and Padres this year, I guess).

Once Schmidt’s shutdown ends, he’s essentially going to have to go through a Spring Training to get ready for the season, so figure a 3-4 week shutdown plus another 3-4 weeks to get ready*. That puts him on track to return in late April or early May in the best case scenario, and with the Yankees, bet against the best case rehab scenario. Schmidt hurting his elbow again this early in camp is a major bummer and it takes a bite out of the pitching depth, but no team gets through Spring Training perfectly healthy. So it goes.

* This could make Schmidt a 60-day injured list candidate, allowing the Yankees to keep Greg Allen and Mike Tauchman a little longer even after Brett Gardner's deal is official. The longer you can hang onto depth at any position, the better.

2. Early Spring Training thoughts. Position players reported to Spring Training yesterday -- Clint Frazier strolled in wearing a 1996 World Series champs shirt -- and the first full squad workout is scheduled for today. I have a few quick thoughts on the early days of camp, so let’s get to ‘em.

Early pitching assignments

Live batting practice started over the weekend and the first few days of live BP are usually a pretty good indication of who we’ll see on the mound in the first couple of Grapefruit League games. Here are the recent live BP assignments:

• Sunday: Albert Abreu, Yoendrys Gomez, Nick Goody, Mike King, Corey Kluber, Adam Warren, Asher Wojciechowski
• Monday: Kyle Barraclough, Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes, Brooks Kriske, Lucas Luetge, Tyler Lyons, Jordan Montgomery, Nick Nelson

The live BP schedule does not automatically mean we’ll see Kluber in the Grapefruit League opener Sunday and Cole and/or Montgomery in the second game Monday. It’s more relevant for the non-MLB roster locks. Chances are we’ll see Abreu, King, Kriske, Nelson, and Warren at some point this coming weekend. Those guys are more likely to get into a game soon.

Cole is super into his routine and he likes to start every five days, and add an inning each time out in Spring Training. Before the shutdown last year, the plan was to get Cole built up to six innings in his final spring start. I assume the same is true this year, in which case look for him to make his spring debut no later than March 7th. That lines him up for Opening Day and to go from two to three to four to five to six innings in five Grapefruit League starts on normal rest.

The Gas Station

The Yankees built a new pitching lab at the minor league complex in Tampa and they’re calling it the Gas Station. “I thought it was the dumbest name in the world when it first was named the ‘Gas Station.’ But being in there, it's the coolest place. I live in there,” Mike King told Bryan Hoch over the weekend.

Here’s a look at the Gas Station and what the Yankees have inside (photo via Barton Smith, annotations are mine):

(1) is a portable Trackman unit (the monitor that comes with the unit, to be more exact). (2) is a high-speed Edgertronic camera, which is used to break down grips and releases, and help make adjustments. (3) is a Rapsodo unit to capture spin rate and other pitch characteristics. It’s that little thing on the ground in front of the catcher. (4) is the mound(s) at the very back, facing sideways. That plus the padding on the wall indicates it’s for throwing weighted balls, which are increasingly popular and presumably central to the team’s “we make everyone throw harder” development success.

All in all, a standard pitching lab setup. In the year 2021, it’s not notable when a team is using a Rapsodo or Edgertronic. Every team is and has been for years now. It is notable that the Yankees now have this dedicated, covered facility at their player development headquarters though. Unless another team built a similar pitching lab over the winter, the Yankees are the first team with a facility like this. Everyone else drags the units out onto the field during workouts.

Wells learning the one-knee catching stance

Not surprisingly, 2020 first round pick Austin Wells is learning catching coordinator Tanner Swanson’s one-knee catching technique this spring. It seems the Yankees consider it a one size fits all technique, and are teaching it to everyone. Here’s what Wells told Bryan Hoch:

“The main focus is really just getting comfortable with a one-knee-down stance and working underneath the ball,” Wells said. “It’s really just trying to keep strikes and make those balls that are borderline into strikes. It’s been good to get feedback on that through video with the player development staff, working on receiving and the new positioning of my body when I’m behind the plate.”

This is the surest sign the Yankees will continue developing Wells as a catcher. There’s some thought he could zoom to the big leagues quickly as an outfielder or first baseman, and with the championship window wide open, moving him out from behind the plate would be justifiable. If there’s a chance he can help you win this year or next, you at least have to consider it, no?

“I am a catcher and I want to be a catcher, and I know I am willing to do whatever it takes to get to the big leagues,” Wells told Dan Martin recently. “So if that is at another position, then I will hit home runs at Yankee Stadium and play wherever they need me to. Being a catcher is what I want to do, but wherever my bat gets me to the big leagues the quickest for sure.”

Wells is a bat-first prospect -- Baseball America (subs. req’d) wrote he has "trouble blocking pitches and isn’t particularly mobile behind the plate” -- and fortunately it’s a very good bat. Keith Law (subs. req’d) recently wrote “if scouts thought he had even a 20 percent chance to catch, I would have put him (in my top 100 prospects).”

At some point in the not-too-distant future the automated strike zone will eliminate pitch-framing as a skill, and I wonder what happens with the one-knee catching stance at that point? I guess it’s still far enough away that we shouldn’t waste time thinking about it. Until it does arrive, Wells and the Yankees are working on his framing and catching in general.

No guest instructors

Because of the pandemic, there will be no guest instructors in Spring Training. Every team brings former players to camp as guest instructors but no team can match the Yankees when it comes to star power. Ron Guidry, Reggie Jackson, Andy Pettitte, and Mariano Rivera are among the big name regulars. Tino Martinez, Hideki Matsui, Lee Mazzilli, Stump Merrill, Willie Randolph, and Bernie Williams also show up each year. Not this year though.

“What are we going to do? We’ve never been home this time of year before,” Guidry told Brendan Kuty. “I think if we were invited to go and something happened on their watch, I don’t think that they would feel great about that. I would hate to go and have something happen to me and they think it’s their fault.”

COVID-19 protocols limit teams to 75 non-players in Spring Training, and that covers everyone from coaches to front office people to the grounds crew. Spots are limited, plus it’s just not safe. Most guest instructors are up there in age and at risk of serious complications from the virus. I’m sure they miss being there and I’m sure the Yankees miss having them around, but this is the smart thing to do, 75-person limit or no 75-person limit.

3. The German situation. The first few days of Domingo German’s reintegration into the organization have gone pretty poorly for the Yankees. Here’s a quick day-by-day recap:

• Tuesday: Aaron Boone says the Yankees have met with German and adds there are “no plans to have him in a group setting” to address his teammates.
• Wednesday: German makes some cryptic (and since deleted) posts on Instagram that said, “Everything is over.”
• Thursday: Zack Britton was asked how he’ll receive German. “Sometimes you don’t get to control who your teammates are,” he replied.
• Friday: Boone says Britton’s comments “put a little strength in my antenna as far as something that I’m looking at more closely.”
• Sunday: German cancels his scheduled conference call with reporters so he can address his teammates.

Lindsey Adler (subs. req’d) reported the details of German’s domestic violence incident over the weekend, which were unconfirmed up to this point. Long story short, German slapped his girlfriend at a charity event attended by teammates and at least one MLB official in Sept. 2019, then later that night his girlfriend locked herself in a room at home because he became violent. She called another player’s wife and they came over to intervene. In a word: YIKES.

At best, it looks like Boone and the Yankees were caught off-guard by how German would be received by his teammates, which is pretty bad seeing how the Yankees have touted Boone as a master communicator since the day he was hired. How does Britton, a prominent Yankee and your team’s union representative, not being happy with German fly under the radar? What are the odds Britton is the only player who feels that way?

At worst, Boone and the Yankees knew how Britton and other players felt and either didn’t care, or hoped they wouldn’t speak up (or both). Sadly, I believe this is the most likely scenario given the way teams and teammates have behaved in similar situations in the past. Then again, this is the first known incident in the domestic violence policy era in which a player struck his significant other in front of his teammates. Either way, the Yankees look incredibly unprepared. Like this all snuck up on them.

It is insane to me that German hit his girlfriend in front of his teammates and a league official, and the Yankees did not release him the second it is allowed under the domestic violence policy (after the suspension is served, I believe). Hal Steinbrenner called the incident “horrific” in October. Adler says German’s girlfriend did not contact the authorities, so there is no police report, but the Yankees very clearly knew what happened, and they’ve stuck with him.

I know how this works. By and large, fans don’t care what players do off-the-field as long as they perform on the field -- with my own eyes I saw the Citi Field crowd do the “Jose! JoseJoseJose!” chant when Jose Reyes made his return in 2016, after he choked his wife and threw her into a sliding glass door -- and teams behave the same way. If you’re productive, they’re willing to overlook domestic violence and steroids and all sorts of stuff. It is the way of the world.

German’s incident was next level awful though -- again, he hit his girlfriend in front of his teammates (if he’s willing to do that, what happens behind closed doors?) -- and this dude is not worth the trouble. His social media behavior remains erratic and he’s dominated the first week of camp. Not Corey Kluber or Jameson Taillon or the pursuit of a championship. Domingo German has been the No. 1 topic in Tampa and the reason ain’t good.

Given what we know now, I fail to see how the Yankees would come to regret releasing German. He goes somewhere else and pitches well? I’m willing to live with that. You can still sleep at night knowing that guy isn’t representing your organization. The Yankees preach a strong clubhouse, and here they have a player teammates do not want around, and for good reason. Let some other team give German a second chance. The Yankees have botched this badly up to this point, but it’s never too late to do the right thing.

4. Sleeper power arms in the minors. I posted my annual Top 30 Prospects List as well as the Not Top 30 Prospects companion piece two weeks ago, and there are a few other prospects in the system I want to highlight. They may not have made my Top 30 (or Not Top 30), but they’re still worth knowing going into 2021.

Here are four pitchers I’m planning to keep an eye on this season. The common thread: they’re all mid-to-late round draft picks who are throwing harder now than they were in college (none were at the alternate site in 2020). The four players are listed alphabetically.

RHP Daniel Bies

Drafted: 2018 seventh round out of Gonzaga ($147,500 bonus)
2019 Stats: 3.33 ERA (2.83 FIP) with 27.0 K% and 8.5 BB% (92 IP at Lo-A and Hi-A)
Rule 5 Draft eligibility: 2021-22 offseason

Bies, 25 in April, is a massive human. He’s listed at 6-foot-9 and 245 lbs., and after sitting 90-93 mph in college, he’s been up to 100 mph in short relief bursts as a pro. His slider and changeup are just okay, but Bies throws lots of strikes for a guy his size. He’s an arm strength prospect who misses bats because he throws hard, and because he releases the ball that much closer to the plate than normal-sized pitchers. Here’s video.

I’m guessing Bies will open the season with Double-A Somerset, maybe even Triple-A Scranton, and he strikes me as trade bait. Someone who can be the second or third piece in a significant trade come July, or the headliner in a minor deal for a rental reliever or bench player or something. The Yankees may not have room for Bies on their roster, but some team will.

RHP Mitch Spence

Drafted: 2019 tenth round out of South Carolina-Aiken ($122,500 bonus)
2019 Stats: 3.54 ERA (2.60 FIP) with 28.2 K% and 3.9 BB% (28 IP at Pulaski)
Rule 5 Draft eligibility: 2022-23 offseason

Spence doesn’t turn 23 until May and is the youngest of the four pitchers in this post. He was a starter in college and the Yankees put him in the bullpen after the 2019 draft, and his fastball sat mid-90s more than low-90s. Spence has a cutter and a slurvy breaking ball and is more slider than curveball. He fills up the zone and is fearless on the mound.

Baseball America ranked Spence the team’s No. 37 prospect in their 2021 Prospect Handbook and noted the Yankees are “intrigued by the way Spence’s fastball moves, and compare it to the one thrown by Chad Green.” He’s a reliever all the way and close to a fastball-only pitcher, but it’s a great fastball, and Spence could climb the ladder in a hurry. I think he’s going to High-A Hudson Valley to begin 2021.

LHP Ken Waldichuk

Drafted: 2019 fifth round out of St. Mary’s ($307,000 bonus)
2019 Stats: 3.68 ERA (2.14 FIP) with 42.6 K% and 6.1 BB% (29.1 IP at Pulaski)
Rule 5 Draft eligibility: 2022-23 offseason

This is what they look like. Waldichuk turned 23 last month and he’s right out of pitching central casting as a 6-foot-4 and 220 lb. lefty. He has three pitches (fastball, curveball, changeup), and after sitting in the low-90s in college, he’s now closer to 98 mph, even as a starter. Here’s what Eric Longenhagen wrote recently:

Waldichuk is a loose, lanky lefty who gets way down the mound (he generates nearly seven feet of extension) and has big carry on his fastball. He might be able to add strength and velocity, at which point he could break out. Until then, Waldichuk’s three-pitch mix fits in a swingman or long relief role.

Keith Law (subs. req’d) recently ranked Waldichuk the No. 16 prospect in the system, and said “he already had a solid-average curveball and above-average control” and “should at least go out as a starter and see if he can sustain (the velocity spike in 2021).”

T.J. Sikkema is far and away the best lefty pitching prospect in the system and Waldichuk is far and away the second best. Squint your eyes and you can see some Jordan Montgomery here as a big college lefty with good secondary pitches who added velocity as a pro. Montgomery’s secondaries were more advanced out of college, but the similarities exist.

I’m guessing Waldichuk will go to High-A Hudson Valley to begin the season. If the velocity spike sticks and the curveball and changeup get better, Waldichuk will be a Top 30 lock next year. He’s one of the top sleepers in the system.

RHP Hayden Wesneski

Drafted: 2019 sixth round out of Sam Houston State ($217,500 bonus)
2019 Stats: 4.76 ERA (2.86 FIP) with 24.0 K% and 4.8 BB% (28.1 IP at Pulaski)
Rule 5 Draft eligibility: 2022-23 offseason

Waldichuk and Wesneski were closest to making my Top 30 among the four pitchers in this post. Wesneski was a workhorse in college, where he sat 90-93 mph and also worked with a slider and a changeup. The Yankees moved him to the bullpen after the draft and now he’s 96-98 mph, and he added a cutter too. Here’s video from earlier this month. Give it a watch.

Wesneski has a starter’s arsenal but a reliever’s delivery. I think the Yankees will give him a chance to start this season (might as well, right?) knowing they can always put him back in the bullpen if it doesn’t work. He turned 23 in December and is ticketed for High-A Hudson Valley. Wesneski as a starter could be really interesting. If he settles in as a bullpen option, that’d be cool too.

5. Remembering a random Yankee: Cory Wade. By request, this week’s random Yankee is a pitcher who came out of nowhere to be a key contributor one year, then disappeared just as quickly the next. Here's the random Yankee archive. You can find links back to everyone we've covered there.

Wade was a two-way player in college and a tenth round pick by the Dodgers in 2004. Once he focused on pitching full-time, he started to move up the minor league ladder, and he made his MLB debut in April 2008. By the end of the season Wade was then-manager Joe Torre’s top setup man, and he appeared in seven of the team’s eight postseason games.

Torre, as he was known to do, worked Wade hard -- “He was Proctor West with the Dodgers,” one team official John Harper -- and Wade paid the price in 2009 (17 runs in 27.2 innings before a demotion to Triple-A) and again in 2010 (shoulder surgery). The Dodgers released Wade in Nov. 2010 and he signed with the Rays a few days later.

"I'm sure there was some correlation (between the workload and the injury),” Wade told Harper. “Looking back, I know now there are times you can't be a hero. If you're tired, that one extra day might be better for the team and for yourself. By always saying okay when you might not be, all of a sudden something can become a major issue, and you're looking at two weeks, a month, or even a year, like it cost me.”

Wade was dynamite with Tampa’s Triple-A affiliate in 2011: 1.23 ERA (3.37 FIP) with 34 strikeouts and six walks in 36.2 innings. They never did give him a look though, so he used an opt out in his contract in June. The Yankees signed Wade to a minor league deal two days later because Tim Norton, a righty bullpen prospect, blew out his shoulder. As the story goes, the Yankees were preparing to call Norton up when he got hurt, and signed Wade to replenish their depth.

The week of June 10th, 2011, was hectic for Wade. Look at this:

• June 10th: 1.2 scoreless innings with Tampa’s Triple-A affiliate
• June 11th: Exercised opt out clause and became a free agent
• June 13th: Signed with Yankees and threw 1.2 scoreless innings with Triple-A Scranton
• June 15th: Called up and threw a scoreless inning in a blowout win
• June 16th: Threw two scoreless innings in an 11-inning win (video)

Seven days, three cities, three teams, two organizations, 6.1 scoreless innings, 16 outs among 21 batters faced. Hopefully Wade squeezed in a few hours of sleep somewhere.

“It’s been a whirlwind. I’ve been on three teams in the last five days. I’m still trying to soak it all in,” Wade told Brian Lewis following the June 16th game. “I’m just grateful for the opportunity to come over here and pitch and try to help the team win.”

Wade started his Yankees career with eight scoreless innings, retiring 23 of 28 batters faced. The middle of the bullpen was unsettled at the time -- Mariano Rivera had the ninth inning locked down and David Robertson had taken over the eighth inning in his breakout year, but the rest of the bullpen was shaky -- and it wasn’t long until then-manager Joe Girardi gave Wade some real responsibility.

“They had confidence in me that I can pitch in key games. I thought I was going to get back (after shoulder surgery),” Wade told David Driver. “It is nice to get a chance to shoot for the playoffs. A lot of guys play for a lot of years and never get the chance.”

By mid July, Wade was regularly pitching in close games, and sometimes throwing multiple innings. From July 19th to August 7th, Wade appeared in seven of 19 team games and five of those games were separated by one run when he entered. He was Girardi’s secret weapon, and he allowed only three runs (all solo homers) in his final 20 appearances of the year.

The Yankees covet hard-throwers and Wade was an outlier in the 2011 bullpen. His fastball sat 89.3 mph that season, and he relied on a slow changeup (averaged 81.5 mph) and an even slower curveball (average 74.1 mph), two pitches he threw more than 50% of the time combined. I’m guessing Wade would’ve been near the top of the lowest exit velocity allowed leaderboard that year, had exit velocity been a thing.

“He's back, probably even better than the last time I saw him,” Russell Martin, who caught Wade with the Dodgers and again with the Yankees, told Driver. “He looks like he's got his good stuff. He's got command of his changeup, his fastball. He's the type of guy that can throw any pitch, any count, and that's why he's tough to hit.”

As well as he pitched in 2011 (2.04 ERA and 3.76 FIP in 39.1 innings), Wade’s signature moment as a Yankee came in a loss. The Yankees had clinched everything they could possibly clinch going into Game 162 in Tampa, so Girardi removed all his regulars in the middle innings and stayed away from his top relievers that day. They were getting ready for October.

The Rays were playing for a postseason spot, however. The Red Sox were in the middle of their epic collapse, and with the Yankees up 7-6 in the ninth inning, Girardi went to Wade to close out the game. Wade got Ben Zobrist to fly out and Casey Kotchman to ground out. He then left a 2-2 changeup up to Dan Johnson, who socked a game-tying homer with Tampa down to their final strike of the season. Here’s the video.

The game went 12 innings -- is there anything worse than Game 162 going to extra innings when you’re not playing for anything? -- and the Rays eventually won on Evan Longoria’s walk-off homer. Up in Baltimore, Jonathan Papelbon blew the save and sent the Rays to the postseason and the Red Sox home for October. It was an incredible baseball night.

“I haven’t wrapped my mind around it,” Rays then-manager Joe Maddon told David Waldstein following the game. “We’ve been too busy trying to do this. I haven’t grasped it at all yet. I will at some point. I’m aware. I’m totally aware of the circumstances and our place in baseball history.”

Wade pitched once in the 2011 ALDS loss to the Tigers, throwing two innings with the Yankees down four in Game 2. His performance in 2011 earned him a spot in the 2012 bullpen and he again pitched very well, at least early in the season. On June 11th, Wade was sitting on a 2.63 ERA in 27.1 innings, and he held opponents to a .206/.248/.363 batting line. He was great!

The downfall was quick. Wade allowed a solo home run on June 16th, starting a stretch in which he was scored upon in six of his next seven appearances. He gave up four runs in 0.2 innings on June 26th, six runs in 2.1 innings on June 29th, and three runs in 0.2 innings on July 7th. 13 runs in 3.2 innings spanning three appearances. That 2.63 ERA ballooned to a 6.48 ERA.

“He was disappointed,” Girardi told Waldstein after announcing Wade had been sent to Triple-A in July. “It’s what everyone’s reaction is when they get sent down. We talked about going down and getting his stuff right.”

Wade pitched well with Triple-A Scranton in July and August, allowing 12 runs (eight earned) in 28.2 innings. He returned as a Sept. call-up and was essentially the last guy in the bullpen. Four times in his five appearances the score was separated by at least five runs, and in the other game, Wade entered in the 14th inning. He went from trusted late-inning reliever in Sept. 2011 to far outside the Circle of Trust™ in Sept. 2012.

The Yankees did not carry Wade on the postseason roster that year (duh) and his time with the organization came to end following the ALCS exit. Wade was put on waivers in a 40-man roster cleanup move in October and was claimed by the Blue Jays, though he refused an outright assignment to Triple-A, and became a free agent.

In his two years as a Yankee, Wade had a 4.23 ERA (4.13 FIP) in 78.2 innings. In the first 69.1 innings, it was a 2.60 ERA (3.68 FIP). In the last 9.1 innings, it was a 16.39 ERA (7.49 FIP). Wade allowed 44% of his runs and 36% of his baserunners as a Yankee in the final 12% of his innings as a Yankee. His crash in June 2012 is one of the hardest we’ve seen in recent memory.

After electing free agency in Oct. 2012, Wade bounced from the Cubs to the Rays to the Mets to the Royals, and spent 2013-14 in Triple-A. He never returned to the big leagues, and he finished his career as a starter with the independent Lancaster Barnstormers in 2014, pitching to a 5.45 ERA in 72.2 innings. Wade has been out of baseball since 2015.

6. Rapid fire thoughts. Reggie Jackson, 75 in May, is no longer with the Yankees as a special advisor, report Ken Davidoff and Oli Coleman. It was an amicable split. “I would say I’ve stepped back a little bit, taken my retirement, really. I just think it’s time … I’ll never have anything bad to say about George (Steinbrenner). It’s just time to step back,” he said. Reggie was very active in his special advisor role, often mentoring minor leaguers. I’m sure we’ll see him at Old Timers’ Day in the future and I look forward to it. Spending 55 years in professional baseball is a hell of a thing. Reggie’s had quite a life … And finally, so long, Ben Heller. He signed a minor league contract with the Diamondbacks over the weekend. The middle of Arizona’s bullpen is muddled and Heller will have a chance to win a spot this spring, or at least a better opportunity to shuttle in and out throughout the season than he would have with the Yankees. I’ve been hoping to see more of Heller for years, but injuries and other circumstances always got in the way. So it goes. See you in the World Series, Ben.

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