Yanks deal Austin and a minor leaguer to Twins for Lance Lynn

Cashmoney is busy. Just after trading Adam Warren to Seattle for international bonus $$$, he has, per MLB Trade Rumors:

6:16pm: New York will acquire righty Lance Lynn in the deal, Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets. Minor-league right-hander Luis Rijo also goes to Minnesota, Heyman tweets.

6:14pm: The Twins and Yankees have agreed to a trade that will send first baseman/outfielder Tyler Austin to Minnesota, per Jon Heyman of Fancred (Twitter link). Other elements of the agreement remain unreported at this time.

Austin has split the 2018 season between the majors and Triple-A. He produced at about a league-average clip in the majors.

Austin hit .223-8-23, OPS+ 98 for the Yanks this year, basically helping to fill in while Greg Bird was on the DL. In 85 MLB games, he has hit .230-15-43, OPS+ 96. His BB/K ratio isn’t too hot, though. 19 walks, 106 strikeouts. In 25 games for SWB, he was hitting .247-5-11. He’ll be 27 in early September.

Lynn, 31, was 7-8, 5.10 for the Twins this season, ERA+ 85. He got a WS ring with the 2011 Cardinals and was an All-Star in 2012 when he won 18 games. He missed all of the 2016 season with an injury, but from 2012-2017 he averaged 14-9, 3.39, ERA+ 114 with the Cardinals. He has 24 games of postseason experience, 7 starts, and is 5-4, 4.50.

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Game 100. Yanks fall 3-2. Sanchez out 1 month.

The Yanks avoided Nathan Eovaldi, who the Rays traded to Boston before the game, but still fell to Tampa Bay Wednesday afternoon by the score of 3-2.

In talking about Gary Sanchez before the game, GM Brian Cashman said he expects Sanchez to be out a month. He doesn’t expect a catcher to be available and is comfortable going with Austin Romine and Kyle Higashioka until Sanchez is available in late August/early September.

Maybe he is comfortable, but I’m not comfortable with Higashioka backing up Romine. Higashioka is now 5 for 33 this season, and 5 for 51 in his MLB career. Granted 3 hits are HR, but 5 for 51 is less than .100. Ugh.

As for the game, the Yanks lost 3-2. They scored in the second when Gleyber Torres, just off the DL (and I didn’t see the corresponding moves, but I would guess Drury to DL? and Gallegos down for Cessa?) walked. Greg Bird singled Torres to second, and a couple of fly outs plated Torres, with Neil Walker getting the SF.

UPDATE: Drury sore but fine after the HBP. No DL. Wade sent down instead.

Luis Cessa was good. He shutout the Rays for five innings, but in the sixth, gave up a single and HR. Jonathan Holder came in and later that inning gave up a HR. 3-1 Rays.

The Yanks narrowed it to 3-2 in the eighth. Gardner walked, and with one out, Didi singled Gardner to third. Giancarlo Stanton hit a SF.

The Yanks had first and second, one out in the ninth, but Austin Romine, PH for Higashioka, popped up, and Brett Gardner struck out.

The Yanks entered the game five behind Boston, but Boston has the Bad News Bears (oops, Baltimore Orioles) tonight. Ugh.

The Yanks hit the 100 game mark at 64-36, .640, a 104 win pace for the season.

Andujar 2 hits.
Walker 1 for 1, SF, 1 RBI.

Cessa (L, 1-2, 3.10) 5 1/3 IP, 2 R, 4 H, 0 W, 3 K.  Gave up 1 HR.
Holder 2/3 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 W, 1 K.  1.94  Gave up 1 HR.
Cole 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K.  4.78 (Wash/NYY combined ERA)
Betances 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 2 K.  2.49

Yoenis Cespedes of Mets out for rest of year, needs surgery on heels. Toronto’s J.A. Happ appears on the verge of being dealt (per mlb.com), and rumors are that the Yankees are “heavy in the mix.”

 

Game 80. Ugly loss. Boston 11, Yanks 0.

The Yanks ran up against their nemesis, Chris Sale, last night and lost to Boston 11-0. Sale has the lowest ERA against the Yanks of any pitcher in the past 100 years.

The loss drops the 53-27 Yanks one game behind 56-28 Boston. Tonight is game 81, meaning the last game of the first half of the season.

Since the Yanks only got two hits in the game, one against Sale and one against a reliever, it probably would not have mattered if the Yanks threw Ford, Gomez, Ruffing, Guidry, or Pettitte on the mound against Sale. It probably wouldn’t have mattered because Sale was that dominant.

But it wasn’t any of those Yankees legends on the mound. It was Sonny Gray. And Gray’s struggles against Boston (and not just as a Yankee) continued.

I give Gray a lot of credit for standing up to the interviewers after the game and in answering all their questions honestly instead of cowering in the trainer’s room. But in watching that interview on the post game YES show, I also had the feeling I was listening to a lost soul who had that deer in the headlights look.

Gray is 1-6, 6.98 in his career vs. Boston. When you feel more confident in maybe starting Jonathan Loaisiga, in what would have been his fourth MLB start, against Boston than Gray, well ….  at least Boston hasn’t seen Loaisiga and maybe you catch lightning in a bottle. And remember, “Johnny Lasagna” had only as 45 IP above Low A before pitching in the majors.

But in watching body language, doesn’t it seem like Loaisiga is more calm and collected and that Gray is scared to throw a pitch?

Gray got the first two hitters out, then gave up a single, walk, single, and with two strikes, a grand slam. The Yanks didn’t even come up to bat yet, and were down 4-0 to Sale. Game effectively over at that point. Then Gray gave up two more runs in the second and was knocked out in the third.

Gray is 5-6, 5.44. Here is a damning stat. Of all pitchers with a dozen or more starts as a Yankee at Yankee Stadium, Gray has the worst ERA, 7.10. That’s worse than Pavano, Jeff Johnson, Tim Leary, Scott Sanderson…. worse than anyone, even Ed Whitson. In 14 starts at Yankee Stadium, including as a member of the Oakland A’s facing the Yankees, Gray is 4-6, 6.78.

He’s getting booed, and as long as he is pitching like this, the boos will get more merciless.

We have a problem.

One reporter from Newsday suggested Cashman “work his magic” and trade Gray. Of course, the Yanks have to get a starter first, then trade Gray, and right now, you are trading low on Gray.

I hope he can get straightened out. But it could be that Gray is better suited for a small market team like Oakland and that he can’t handle NY. We’ve seen it before. One scout a few weeks ago suggested that that wasn’t going to be the case, and said the Yanks have and will continue to have a problem with Gray.

One thing we do know. This isn’t good with Gray. It has to improve or Gray and the Yankees would be better suited if he pitches elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Austin Romine, with a tight hamstring, was removed early from last night’s game for precautionary reasons. Hopefully it’s just a day-to-day thing and Romine doesn’t have to go on the DL. But Gary Sanchez already is on the DL and won’t be back for a month. Losing Romine would be a crippling blow. The lack of Yankees’ catching depth was proven in this year’s MLB draft when they took catchers in BOTH the first and second rounds.

The Yanks sent Giovanny Gallegos down to AAA and haven’t made a move yet, pending Romine’s leg. Kyle Higashioka is Romine’s backup right now, and Higashioka is 0 for 21 now in his MLB career. If Romine has to go down, Wilkin Castillo would be coming up from SWB. Castillo, 34, last played in the majors in 2009, and has just 22 games of MLB experience. A switch-hitter, he was an OF/IF back then before being converted to a catcher. He started this year in independent league baseball. He only hit .218 last year for SWB, .244 now.

One guy the Yanks did have was 38 year old Erik Kratz, but they traded him to Milwaukee a few weeks ago when they re-signed Castillo. In 14 games for the Brewers, Kratz has hit 3 HR. Go figure. In his brief Yankees’ career, Kratz was 2 for 2 last year.

Not much to say about last night’s game. As mentioned, Gray put the Yanks into an early 6-0 hole, they couldn’t do anything against Sale, and Boston dominated.

With the ace, Severino, on the mound tonight, let’s hope Seve is as dominant tonight against Boston as Sale was against the Yanks last night.

The offense has been sluggish lately as well, with a couple of shutouts. Let’s hope they awaken.

Gleyber Torres hit cleanup last night, the youngest Yankee to do so since Mickey Mantle in 1953.

Brandon Drury was called up and played 1b last night.

Gray (5-6, 5.44) 2 1/3 IP, 6 R, 7 H, 2 W, 0 K. Gave up Grand Slam.
Warren 2 2/3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 W, 4 K.  1.35
Gallegos 2 IP, 3 R, 4 H, 1 W, 3 K.  3.86    Gave up 1 HR. Sent down to AAA
Holder 1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 W, 0 K.  2.01
Shreve 1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 W, 2 K.  4.97

 

Game 48. Bird back, Toe sent down, Gray bombed in Yanks’ 11-4 loss.

Sonny Gray was bombed, and there were surprising and questionable decisions made yesterday before and during the Yanks’ 11-4 loss to the Angels Saturday night.

Greg Bird came off the DL and made his season debut, going 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts. But the expected move, sending Tyler Austin down to AAA, didn’t happen. Instead, it was Ronald Torreyes, the supersub who was hitting .339, who went down to AAA. It was a tough, difficult decision to make, and one that shook up the team. Manager Aaron Boone even said it was undeserved, but the Yanks have a numbers crunch. You can only have so many players on a team, and as a result, some deserving players who could be starting for other teams are playing for SWB right now.

Which means, as an article in the NY Post states, that the Yanks really need to establish their identity. What is the roster of this team? And as for the guys at AAA who could be starting elsewhere, maybe the Yanks should look into dealing these guys. Especially for starting pitching help. And maybe include Sonny Gray in the deal for other starting pitchers.

In order to catch Boston in the AL East (the Yanks are now 32-16 and two games back. Still a great record but we are thinking ahead here) and/or to deal with Boston and Houston and maybe others in the postseason, the Yanks will need for Tanaka (5-2, but with a 4.95 ERA, ERA+ 88) and Gray (3-4, 5.98, ERA+ 73) to step it up or they need to trade for someone to bolster the rotation. CC turns 38 in July. Montgomery is on the DL. Maybe Justus Sheffield in the future comes up, but he isn’t ready yet and just came off the DL himself. The Yanks need another starter (Severino can’t do it himself) and they have the prospects to get one. Especially with guys like Torreyes, Drury and Clint Frazier. Also with guys like Estrada, Avelino and Tyler Wade, all infielders who are stuck behind Didi and Gleyber Torres.

They also, surprisingly, could use bullpen help. The bullpen, hyped as maybe the best ever, right now has guys with ERAs of 4.76 (Robertson), 4.71 (Betances), 4.82 (Shreve) and 7.88 (Kahnle).

How soon will Cashman pull the trigger?

As for Sonny Gray, he was bad again, getting knocked out in the fourth, and failing to hold a 4-1 lead. After Gray gave up a run in the top of the first, courtesy of a Mike Trout RBI double (Trout went 5 for 5, HR, 3 doubles, scored 3 runs and had 4 RBI), the Yanks took the lead back on back-to-back homers by Gardner (2) and Judge (14). For Gardner, it was his first HR since Opening Day.

Austin Romine sliced a 2-run HR (3) off the right-field foul pole in the bottom of the second to put the Yanks up 4-1. Then the roof fell in.

Gray gave up two runs in the third as the Angels cut the Yanks’ lead to 4-3.

In the fourth, Boone made a decision that I disagreed with. With two out and a man on third, he elected to pitch to Trout, who already had two doubles. You don’t let the big guy beat you. I was mentioning to a friend that I’d walk him. Now Boone did say that Trout would probably have stolen second anyway, taking the force away, and that you weren’t throwing through with the runner on third, and he didn’t want to put the go-ahead run on second. Fair enough. But Trout already had two doubles, and was the go-ahead run in the batter’s box. You guessed it. 2-run HR to give the Angels a 5-4 lead.

The Angels got four runs, two of them unearned, in the sixth off of Tommy Kahnle, and here I wonder about Kahnle being back with the team off of the DL. I don’t know if he had more time to be on the DL, but it seemed as if he was rushed back. (You wonder that about Bird, too). Kahnle had a couple of rehab stints before being reactivated on Friday, but he didn’t exactly put up impressive numbers in those rehab minor league games and he didn’t look good last night.

Chasen Shreve gave up a 2-run HR in the seventh to close out the scoring.

Judge 2 for 2 with 2 walks, solo HR.
Didi’s slump continues. Down to .234. We need him to snap out of it.
Andujar 2 hits.
Romine 2 hits, a 2-run HR

Gray (L, 3-4, 5.98) 3 2/3 IP, 5 R, 7 H, 3 W, 7 K. Gave up 1 HR.
Holder 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 3 K. 3.31
Kahnle 2/3 IP, 4 R, 2 ER, 2 H, 2 W, 0 K. 7.88
Shreve 1 1/3 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 1 W, 0 K. 4.82 Gave up 1 HR.
Cole 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K. 7.11 (but 0.00 as a Yankee)

Yanks’ game suspended, meanwhile, Seattle’s Cano suspended, too.

The Yankees game vs. the Nationals was suspended after 5 1/2 innings with the score tied at 3. The game will be resumed Wednesday at 5 PM, before the regularly scheduled game.

I hate inter-league games at NL parks where the Yanks lose the DH. Masahiro Tanaka started tonight and batted 8th in the lineup.

My grammy beating a rug had a better swing than most pitchers. I am a traditionalist when it comes to baseball except for the DH. Watching a pitcher hit is like enduring Chinese water torture.

Because of inter-league, and the possible need for another PH on the bench, Clint Frazier was called up from SWB and David Hale was DFA’d (again… the Yanks DFA’d him earlier this year, he went to the Twins, THEY DFA’d him and he came back to the Yanks. Some spring for Hale). How long Frazier’s call up lasts, who knows. It could be just for these 2 inter-league games vs. the Nationals.

Robbie Cano was suspended for 80 games by MLB. A couple things about this. When asked if he knew about PED use by Cano, and if that was why the Yanks didn’t re-sign Cano when Robbie became a free agent, Yankees’ GM Brian Cashman stated that he had no knowledge, because knowledge requires you to report it and if not reported, it is a $1MM fine. But, Cashman stated, knowledge is one thing and suspicions another. A very telling line by Cashman.

Maybe there were suspicions. The Yanks did offer 7 years and $180MM, but were blown away by Seattle’s $240MM, 10 yr offer.

Maybe the suspicions made the Yanks low-ball Cano.

The suspicions would be this: Cano’s two best friends on the Yankees were A-Rod and Melky, both of whom were busted. His charity was run by someone whose name became linked to Biogenesis. It could be Robbie was getting away with it for years but finally was caught.

What he was caught for was furosemide, the generic of Lasix, a diuretic. Furosemide in and of itself is not a PED, or steroid. But it can be used as a masking agent to hide steroids. Cano denies that it was used for that purpose, but MLB apparently had evidence that it was.

So Cano is suspended for 80 games, and is ineligible for the postseason should Seattle make it.

But here is the rub. The suspension begins immediately. Cano was appealing the suspension until he had his hand broken while hit by a pitch the other day. So he’d have been out 6-8 weeks anyway because of the break. So the suspension runs concurrently with his time on the DL.

This is wrong. MLB should change the rules so that any suspension like this starts AFTER THE PLAYER COMES OFF THE DL. That is why Cano dropped the appeal, because he knew that because of the broken finger, he would miss only a few weeks of REAL time.

Cano is listed as one of the top 10 2B of ALL TIME. His HOF credentials just took a serious hit today. Because of this, he may never make the HOF.

S.T. Games 29 and 30. Yanks take both Split-Squad games, but Bird hurt.

Here we go again…. we hope not. Greg Bird was pulled before his game today, complaining of a sore foot. It is the same foot that had the ankle problem last year. Did one thing lead to another? He had a CT scan and an MRI and will be seeing a specialist. GM Brian Cashman is concerned.

The Yanks announced, as I hoped they would, that Jonathan Holder is the 13th pitcher on the team and that Domingo German will be sent to AAA to stretch out and get ready to be an emergency starter should they need one.

A couple of Rule 5 picks were returned to the Yankees—P Anyelo Gomez and 1B Mike Ford. Ford will go to AAA and he and Billy McKinney could now come into play if Bird’s situation is serious. Miguel Andujar is also working out at 1B. You also have Neil Walker and Tyler Austin in case Bird has to be DL’d. As one person wrote or said, maybe Adam Lind left too soon.

As for today’s games, the Yanks had a split squad and won both games. 13-6 over Toronto at home and 8-3 over the Braves on the road. I’ll try to be brief.

The home game:

The Yanks got three two-run homers in the game, and they were hit by Didi, Stanton, and minor leaguer Zach Zehner. Rashad Crawford and Erik Kratz each had 2 hits, Kratz driving in 3 runs.

Hale 3 IP, 3 R, 7 H, 0 W, 3 K. Gave up HR.
Gallegos 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K.
Feyereisen (H) 1 2/3 IP, 3 R, 4 H, 1 W, 0 K. Gave up HR.
Rogers (S) 2 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K.

In the road game, the Yanks scored six in the top of the ninth to win. Their spring training record is 17-12-1.

Aaron Hicks had 2 hits, inc. a HR. Ryan McBroom had two hits, 2 RBI and homered. Gleyber Torres had two hits and an RBI.

Luis Severino pitched well in his last tuneup before Opening day.

Severino 5 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 2 W, 7 K. Gave up HR.
Green 1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 W, 1 K.
Warren 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 3 K.
Heller 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K.
Carroll 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.

 

Is Torres ready? and thoughts on the Red Sox’ pickup…

From MLB Trade Rumors:

The Yankees would buy themselves an extra year of control by having infield prospect Gleyber Torres spend at least 16 days in the minors this year, but that’s not going to factor into whether he earns a roster spot, according to GM Brian Cashman (via David Lennon of Newsday). “It’s not part of my evaluation process,” Cashman told Lennon. “We’re trying to win. If we feel that somebody could benefit from more time in the minors, we’ll make that decision at the end of camp. But I’ll take all the information from what I see and factor that into the evaluation. Every win for us is valuable.”

Meanwhile some thoughts on the Red Sox’ expected, just completed, (and long drawn out) signing of J.D. Martinez to a 5 yr. $110MM deal. It does have two opt-out opportunities after the second and third years of the deal. But where does he play?

Martinez is not a good defensive OF, and Boston already has Benintendi, Bradley and Betts in the OF. Hanley Ramirez was the DH last year, and the Red Sox re-signed 1B Mitch Moreland. They also re-signed Eduardo Nunez (Noon-E, because is D isn’t too hot, either) because Dustin Pedroia will miss the beginning of the season. So it appears like there are square pegs for round holes, that in order to fill some spots, some pieces don’t fit defensively. Offensively, ok, an upgrade, esp. in power, which the Red Sox needed, but …

Once again, according to MLBTR:

His (Martinez’) addition calls the role of Hanley Ramirez with the Red Sox into question, as Ramirez now appears to be, at best, a backup DH and a part-time first baseman that is on the short side of the platoon.

Therefore, I expect the Red Sox to make another move. We Yankees fans will have to see what it is and how it may affect the Yanks. By the way, guess who has the highest payroll in MLB? According to spotrac, it’s Boston. The Yanks are eighth, and Stanton, the Yanks’ highest paid player, is #13 in MLB.

Lastly, a new rule to speed up the game. Teams will be allowed just six non-pitching-change visits to the mound over the first nine innings of a game, one per inning in extra innings.