The trade deadline is somehow only three days away (6pm ET on Tuesday) and the Yankees, clearly, need help. They need pitching help, they need lineup help, they need general depth, they need all of it. Their shopping list is longer than most World Series hopefuls. It is what it is. I don’t expect them to address every single need at the deadline, but hopefully they can cover most of them.
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2024-07-27 14:55:31 +0000 UTC View PostThe Old Timers’ Game will not return this season. Dan Martin says the Yankees will instead hold an event for the 15th anniversary of the 2009 World Series team. There has not been an Old Timers’ Game since 2019. There was no Old Timers’ Day period from 2020-21 because of the pandemic, and the Yankees cited the health of several Old Timers as the reason for no ga...
2024-07-26 10:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostTen years ago yesterday the Yankees traded for Chase Headley. He got to Yankee Stadium in the middle of that night’s game (video), then looped a walk-off single to shallow left in the 14 inning (video). Talk about an unusually memorable debut. Headley hit .262/.371/.393 (123 wRC+) in 58 games after the trade. I hope the Yanke...
2024-07-23 10:00:09 +0000 UTC View PostUPDATE: I've been told some folks did not receive today's post email, so I'm resending it. There is no update to the post below. Just sending out another email.
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ORIGINAL POST: The All-Star break is over and the Yankees open the second half Friday night against the Rays at Yankee Stadium. Calling it the “second half” feels extra silly this year. The Yankees have played 98 games! More than 60% of their schedule! Their 81st game w...
2024-07-19 10:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post
Gotta call him Hess Truck at 6-foot-5 and 255 lbs., right?
The 2024 MLB Draft is complete and 615 picks were made across 20 rounds. The Yankees neither gained nor lost picks via free agent compensation last offseason, so they had their full allotment of 20 picks. One per round. No more, no less. The Yankees selected 19 college players before taking a high schooler in the 20th round. 2024-07-18 10:00:11 +0000 UTC View Post
At 58-40, the Yankees entered the All-Star one game back in the AL East, 5.5 games up on a Wild Card spot, and with baseball’s fourth best record and second best run differential (+106). Improbable, really. The Yankees went 4-14 from June 19th to July 9th, literally the worst record in baseball during that time, yet they’re still very much in the division race. Shoutout to the Orioles for not tak...
2024-07-16 10:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostThe 2024 draft began Sunday night and the Yankees used their first round pick (No. 26) on Alabama RHP Ben Hess, who I did not write up. They used their second pick (No. 53) on Vanderbilt RHP Bryce Cunningham. I didn't write him up either. So it goes. Hess and Cunningham are both build-a-pitcher/pitch dat...
2024-07-15 10:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostWe’ve made it. The final post of the first half. The Yankees have three games in Baltimore this weekend, the draft begins Sunday night, the All-Star break is next week, and then the second half begins next Friday in the Bronx. As for the blog, this is what I’m thinking next week:
Monday: Midseason grades as their own post (here are last year’s)
UPDATE: It has been brought to my attention that some folks did not receive today's email, so I'm sending it again. There are no updates to the post below, just another email.
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ORIGINAL POST: Terrible news: ESPN picked up Yankees vs. Red Sox at Fenway Park on July 28th for Sunday Night Baseball. That will make it three Sunday night Yankees vs. Red Sox games in a seven-week span. Awful. Also, the Saturday game that series is a FOX ga...
2024-07-09 10:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostAs expected, Aaron Judge was named AL Player of the Month for June, which usually happens when you slash .409/.514/.864 (277 wRC+) with 11 homers in said month. He’s currently on pace for 102 extra-base hits (101 if we assume he won’t hit another triple). Judge gave the rest of the league a head start in April and he’s still the best hitter in the sport. A few Player of the Month nuggets:
Aaron Judge is officially an All-Star. He led all players in votes in Phase 1 and that got him an automatic starting spot (Bryce Harper got the NL’s automatic spot). This is Judge’s sixth All-Star Game selection and the sixth time he was voted in as a starter in his eight full seasons. He was not an All-Star in 2019 because he got hurt in late April, and he was not an All-Star in 2020 ...
2024-07-02 10:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostYou gotta hand it to the 2024 Yankees. They’ve managed to (temporarily, I hope) suck the fun out of baseball despite having Juan Soto and Aaron Judge. I didn’t think such a thing was possible. Gleyber Torres is all of us watching this team right now:
Extremely relatable. Let he who has not made that exact face at work cast the first stone. The Yankees are 1-6 in their last seven games and t...
2024-06-27 17:24:50 +0000 UTC View PostWatching the College World Series over the weekend made me wonder how we ever had baseball without a pitch clock. Oh there is a pitch clock in college, but it’s 20 seconds with or without runners on base, and it feels like an eternity. I can’t imagine anyone truly misses getting to the sixth inning at the three-hour mark. Rob Manfred has my Hall of Fame vote for the pitch clock alone (kidding! the BBWAA doesn’t vote on non-players anyway). 2024-06-25 10:00:12 +0000 UTC View Post
UPDATE: Forget Garrett Cooper. The Yankees acquired the recently DFAed J.D. Davis and cash from the Athletics for minor league infielder Jordan Groshans, the team announced. Davis will presumably take Peraza's roster spot Tuesday. Davis hit only .236/.304/.366 (98 wRC+) with the A's this year, though he's a year removed from a .248/.325/.413 (104 wRC+) line and 18 homers. He can...
2024-06-23 16:29:34 +0000 UTC View PostThe great Willie Mays passed away earlier this week. He was 93. The list of ballplayers I wish I could have seen play is long and Mays is at the top. My grandfather was a die-hard Yankees fan and his favorite player was Joe DiMaggio, but he said Mays was the greatest player he’d ever seen. 2024-06-21 10:00:14 +0000 UTC View Post
UPDATE: The Yankees are indeed calling up Ben Rice to replace Anthony Rizzo, according to Joel Sherman. Rice, my No. 11 prospect, is hitting .275/.393/.532 (155 wRC+) with 15 homers and good strikeout (20.9%) and walk (14.9%) rates between Double-A and Triple-A this year. I don't ...
2024-06-18 10:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post
Turns out the new road jerseys were Aaron Judge’s idea. Well, not entirely. Judge liked the throwback uniforms the Yankees wore in the Field of Dreams Game a few years ago and mentioned it to clubhouse manager Rob Cucuzza, who ran it up the flagpole. That put the wheels in motion and now ...
2024-06-14 10:00:16 +0000 UTC View PostI don’t know how many of you made it out to Yankee Stadium this weekend, but my goodness, what an atmosphere. It was postseason-like between the crowd, the hordes of media, every pitcher throwing 1-2 mph harder than usual, and the way the Yankees played (kidding!). There were two home teams. When a Yankee hit a home run, the crowd cheered. When a Yankee struck out, the crowd cheered. Dodgers fans really showed up and there are a lot of them in New York. A lot of people here are Dodgers fans...
2024-06-10 10:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostAll-Star Game voting opened earlier this week, if you’re into that. It’s two phases again. Phase 1 runs through June 27th, and the top three vote-getters at each position advance to Phase 2. A fresh round of voting then decides the All-Star Game starter. MLB releases a voting update every Monday I think? Maybe every Wednesday? I forget. Anyway, that’s there. Let’s get to today’s post before this weekend...
2024-06-07 10:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostUPDATE: My bad, folks. Anthony Volpe's triple did not tie the game Sunday. It merely drove in a run and put the tying run at third. Doesn't make Volpe's triple any less impressive, of course. I've corrected the post below (the Soto section).
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ORIGINAL POST: That first home run Juan Soto hit Sunday (2024-06-04 10:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post
I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for this West Coast trip to be over. Not for baseball reasons. For sleep reasons. Once upon a time West Coast trips were light work. Stay up late, watch the Yankees, then wake up bright and early the next day feeling like a million bucks. These late night games wear me down a little more with each passing year. Three more games on the West Coast, then the Yankees will play 14 of their next 21 games in New York. Let’s get to today’s post.
Between now and next Monday, the Yankees have a decision to make with Jasson Domínguez. Today is Day 15 of El Marciano’s 20-day rehab assignment, so, come Monday, he has to come off the injured list. At that point the Yankees can either carry him on their MLB roster or option him to the minors. There is a deadline though. Domínguez must be activated no later than Monday.
“Hopefully it is ...
2024-05-28 10:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostIt hadn’t occurred to me that Petco Park was the Yankees’ longest ballpark “drought” until Michael Kay mentioned it during Friday’s broadcast. Before this weekend the Yankees had not played in Petco Park since 2016 (not counting the 2020 pandemic postseason). They had played in each of the other 29 stadiums since then. The new longest ballpark drought: Wrigley Field. The Yankees haven’t played on Chicago’s north side since 2024-05-27 10:00:11 +0000 UTC View Post
I’m not sure when exactly it happened, but at some point during the homestand Aaron Judge moved into the franchise’s top 24 in WAR. He bumped Jorge Posada out. Open up the Yankees’ franchise page at Baseball Reference and there’s Judge among Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Derek Jeter, and all the other all-time great Yankees:
2024-05-24 10:00:16 +0000 UTC
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The Yankees had their first seven-game winning streak since Sept. 2022 snapped in rather brutal fashion Monday, though they are 12-2-1 in their 15 series this season. James Smyth says it’s the first time they’ve won 12 of their first 15 series since 2002 – they went 11-2-2 in their first 15 series in 2022 – and the sixth time they’ve done it overall (also 1928, 1932, 1939, and 1...
2024-05-21 10:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostI get a kick out of the “these Twins are different! they’re not a pushover anymore!” takes we see each year, only for the Yankees vs. Twins series to play out like a bug hitting a windshield. Minnesota had lost only three times in the 20 games prior to this week’s series, then they lost three times in three games to the Yankees. Postseason included, the Yankees are 120-44 against the Twins since the Ron Gardenhire era began in 2002. If you assume every game is 50/50 (not realistic but...
2024-05-17 10:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostPaul Skenes, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft, made his MLB debut Saturday and struck out seven Cubs in four innings. To clear roster space for Skenes, the Pirates DFAed Roansy Contreras, who was the most highly regarded of the four prospects the Yankees sent them in the Jameson Taillon trade. One of the four, Ma...
2024-05-13 10:00:10 +0000 UTC View PostFun fact: Wednesday and Thursday were only the third time this season the Yankees allowed at least four runs in back-to-back games (they also did it in Arizona and Toronto). They’re the only team to not allow at least four runs in three straight games at any point this year. Every other team other than the Cubs, Dodgers, Guardians, and Reds has had at least a four-game streak of at least four runs allowed. The run prevention has been so, so good this season. May it continue this weekend. Le...
2024-05-10 10:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostDoes it feel like the Yankees play an inordinate amount of close games? Well, you’re not wrong. Sunday’s win was their 24th game decided by two or fewer runs (they're 15-9 in those games). The Cubs are a distant second with 20 such games. The Yankees have the baseball's best record in one-run games (9-3). I’m glad the Yankees have been able to dig deep and win so many close games. I wouldn’t mind a few more stress-free blowout wins though. Let’s get to today’s post.
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2024-05-07 10:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostNot sure about you, but I love Joe Girardi in the YES booth. He can be funny and he has good stories, two important broadcaster qualities for me, and he knows the modern game. With all due respect to David Cone, Paul O’Neill, and the other former players on the YES roster, they haven’t played in 20-something years. Girardi was a manager as recently as June 2022. He’s much more knowledgeable about today’s game than anyone else YES employs. If anything, he’s overprepared. I enjoyed Gi...
2024-05-03 10:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post