Beltran appointed special advisor to GM Cashman

Ok, let’s put some pieces of a puzzle together. Even though the Yanks say that Manny Machado has some explaining to do about his actions and statements in this year’s postseason, the Yanks are still meeting with him tomorrow. Obviously, with Didi out half the season, the Yanks could go with Machado at SS until Didi returns.

What they then do with Miguel Andujar is anybody’s guess. (Trade for a top-notch pitcher? A top-notch 1B if Voit/Bird don’t cut it? Move Andujar to another position? 1B? LF? But of LF, what of Clint Frazier? You get the drift).

But here is the rub. A-Rod, Machado’s idol, is a special advisor to the Yankees. Machado has made it clear he’d love to play in NY (in the case above, regarding Machado’s offseason, some columnists have suggested that maybe Machado needs to sell himself to the Yankees and not the other way around). #13, A-Rod’s number, hasn’t been retired, and wouldn’t Machado like to follow A-Rod by wearing the number Machado wore in Baltimore? (#8, which Machado wore for the Dodgers, is retired by the Yankees for both Yogi Berra and Bill Dickey).

Now today, the day before the Yanks meet with Machado, the Yanks announce that they have hired Carlos Beltran as an advisor to GM Brian Cashman. It just so happens that Beltran’s former agent happens to be Machado’s current agent. Now Machado’s brother-in-law, Alonso, was just traded from Cleveland to the White Sox, and blood may be thicker than water, but with A-Rod and Beltran both now special advisors in the Yanks’ front office, maybe that water is getting mighty thick.

Me? Here is my guess: that Machado does wind up a Yankee (with Harper going to the Phillies). Which could give a lineup of Gardner, Judge, Machado, Stanton, Hicks, Sanchez, Andujar, Voit/Bird and Torres come opening day.

Should Clint Frazier make the team (I doubt it, unless the Yanks can dump Ellsbury—keeping Ellsbury means AAA for Frazier—no room) maybe against lefties Hicks leads off, everyone below Hicks moves up a notch and Frazier bats ninth.

Just saying.

But an interesting move in Beltran (who by the way, interviewed for the Yanks’ managerial job last year….possible managerial material?) being hired by the Yanks the day before the Machado meeting.

Just trying to read the tea leaves here.

Hal Steinbrenner will probably not be at the meeting with Machado. After all, his mom just passed away.

But I keep thinking of Machado as another A-Rod. All that talent, but all that baggage that may be coming with it.

 

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Dodgers go 1 up, Boston 2 up in LCS’s. Didi has successful surgery; Machado

The Dodgers went up 3 games to 2 over Milwaukee and are one game away from returning to the WS with a 5-2 win yesterday in Game 5 on the NLCS. Clayton Kershaw, who has had postseason trouble in the past, pitched like the ace he usually is.

Boston took a 3 games to 1 lead over defending WS champ Houston in the ALCS, beating them 8-6 Wednesday night. Jackie Bradley, who hit a grand slam in Game 3, hit a 2-run HR in Game 4. Closer Craig Kimbrel has been shaky this postseason, but with the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the ninth, LF Andrew Benintendi made a diving catch to save the game for Boston. If the ball drops and gets past him, Houston at least ties, and probably wins, the game. Also, fans interfered earlier with a ball that went for an out instead of a HR, and that too, cost Houston. Was the call correct? Who knows, but there is a good article by Joel Sherman in the NY Post today criticizing MLB for continuing to use overweight, 66-yr. old umpires as the OF umps down the line.

Didi Gregorius of the Yankees had successful Tommy John surgery on his right (throwing) elbow. Once again, he’s expected to miss at least half of the 2019 season.

Meanwhile, one possible replacement for Didi, Manny Machado, isn’t helping his free agent cause. As talented as Machado is, his lack of hustle and sometimes dirty play is turning a lot of people off.

In an interview on the Michael Kay show, Yankees’ GM Brian Cashman states that teams have inquired about Gary Sanchez, but that Sanchez is unavailable, even after his disappointing 2018 season.

 

Games 128/129. Yanks Sweep Orioles, 10-3 and 5-1. Ensure winning record.

The Yankees swept a day/night DH from the Bad News Bears (oops, Baltimore Orioles) on Saturday, moving them to 82-47 on the season and ensuring a winning record for 2018.

The last time time the Yanks did NOT finish at .500 was in 1992. With the DH sweep and a Boston loss, the 82-47 Yanks are 7 back of Boston for the AL East. (Wild card info at the bottom of this report).

Game 1, afternoon: Yanks win 10-3, belting out 4 HR and Stanton was robbed of another (would have been career #300).

You can criticize Cashman for some moves, but the move for J. A. Happ? Give him credit for that. 5 starts, 5-0.

In this game, the Yanks went up 1-0 in the first when Stanton walked, Hicks doubled and Andujar hit a groundout for an RBI.

Happ gave up 2 in the bottom of the second. 2-1 Orioles.

The Yanks got 4 in the third. Robinson singled ,Gardner walked. After an out, Hicks singled in one and Andujar hit a 3-run HR (21) to make it 5-2.

Gardner hit a 2-run HR (11) in the fourth to make it 7-2.

To the fifth. Andujar singles, and one out later, Torres and Voit single to make it 8-2. Bird is really in jeopardy of losing his job to Voit.

Torres homers in the eighth (19) 9-2.

Hicks homers in the ninth, 10-2.

The Orioles score in the bottom of the ninth, but final, 10-3 Yanks.

Gardner HR (11) 2 RBI
Hicks 3 hits, HR (21), 2 RBI
Andujar 2 hits, HR (21) 4 RBI
Torres 2 hits, solo HR (19)
Shane Robinson 2 hits.

Happ (W, 15-6, 3.80 Tor/NYY) 6 IP, 2 R, 5 H, 1 W, 9 K.
Cessa (S, 1) 3 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 1 W, 2 K.  5.34

2nd game, night: Sonny Gray finally pitched great. 6 1/3 shutout innings. Low pitch count. Of course, the fact it was Baltimore has to be taken into consideration.

Other than Luis Severino, guess who is the only other Yankees pitcher with 10 or more wins (not counting J.A. Happ, 10 with Toronto and 5 with the Yankees)? Would you believe….Sonny Gray?

The Yanks scored in the first when Gardner led off the game with a double, Stanton walked and Hicks got an RBI single. Hicks cost the Yanks a run later in the inning when he was picked off of first.

In the second, the Yanks benefited from bad Orioles fielding (there are plenty of reasons they are 37-93).

Torres singled, and after a flyout by the slumping Bird (once again, job very much in jeopardy to Luke Voit), Romine and Torreyes each singled to load the bases. A WP moved everyone up, Yanks up 2-0. Gardner hit a grounder to first, the first baseman came home and it was a bad throw, 3-0. A good throw maybe has him. It was a poor throw.

In the fourth, with one out, Romine singled. Torreyes reached on an error (this is the Orioles, remember?) and Gardner hit into a force. Stanton singled (normally a double, but the ball was hit so hard down the RF line and off the scoreboard that it was just a single) to make it 4-0.

In the ninth, Austin Romine’s 9th HR made it 5-0.

Baltimore scored a run in the bottom of the ninth, final 5-1 Yankees.

Hicks 2 hits, RBI.
Andujar 2 hits.
Torres 2 hits.
Romine 3 hits, solo HR (9).

Gray (W, 10-8,  5.05) 6 1/3 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 1 W, 7 K.
Holder 1 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 2 K.  3.02
Kahnle 2/3 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 0 W, 1 K.  6.43
Betances 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.  2.18

The Yanks are 4 1/2 up on Oakland for the top wild card spot.

 

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.

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)