S.T. Game 25. Donaldson homers twice in Yanks’ 6-3 win.

Josh Donaldson homered twice and drove in four runs in the Yanks (10-14-1 in spring training) 6-3 win over Detroit on Tuesday.

Now is the time to start seeing results, with Opening Day 9 days away. You want to hit the ground running.

Luis Severino has not had a good spring before today, even though everyone says he is healthy. The day didn’t start out well, as he gave up a HR to the leadoff hitter and 2 runs in the first inning, but he settled in after that. His performance this spring has been concerning so far.

Torres 1 for 3, RBI.
Donaldson 2 for 3, 2 HR 4 RBI
Volpe 1 for 2. Double, walk, SB. #1 prospect. I think he should be starting SS.
Kiner-Falefa 1 for 3, was in LF
Alexander Vargas 1 for 1 double
Mickey Gasper 1 for 1
Ortega 1 for 3, SB

Severino 4 IP, 2 R, 4 H, 1 W, 9 K. Gave up 1 HR.
Holmes 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K
Loaisiga (Winner) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 3 K.
Peralta 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 1 K.
Norwood 2 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 2 W, 3 K. 1 WP

S.T. Game 21. Schmidt perfect, bullpen not in Yanks 9-6 loss.

Clarke Schmidt was perfect in his five innings of work, but the bullpen wasn’t as the Yankees (9-11-1 in spring training) lost to Pittsburgh Thursday night, 9-6.

15 up, 15 down with 7 K’s for Schmidt. Jasson Dominguez continued his hot spring with a double.

LeMahieu 2 for 4
Judge 1 for 4, double, RBI.
Stanton 2 RBI
Dominguez 1 for 1, double. #2 prospect
Donaldson 1 for 3, RBI double.
Peraza 1 for 2, walk. #3 prospect

Schmidt 5 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 7 K. 15 up, 15 down.
Cordero 1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 W, 1 K.
Peralta 0 IP, 3 R, 3 H, 0 W, 0 K. gave up HR.
Abreu (BS) 1 1/3 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 W, 1 K
Evans (L) 1/3 IP, 4 R, 5 H, 0 W, 1 K.
Norwood 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 2 K.

S.T. Game 19. Yanks hit 5 HR in 10-3 win.

The Yankees (9-9-1 in spring training) hit 5 HR, 3 in the first inning, in beating Toronto 10-3 Tuesday night.

Andres Chaparro is having a heck of a spring, and it makes me wonder. I’m not too sure about his defense at 3B, but could he be putting himself in the mix to be the 3B in 2024? Josh Donaldson is 37 and I don’t see the Yanks picking up his option for 2024. Of course the Yanks could go with LeMahieu or Cabrera at 3B in 2024, but what if they want them both in a super-utility role? What if they don’t want to move Torres or Volpe to 3B? In any case, Chaparro is making the Yanks take notice.

D.J. LeMahieu, Donaldson and Estevan Florial all homered in the first inning, and Oswald Peraza added one later on.

LeMahieu 2 for 4, solo HR leading off bottom of first.
Chaparro 3-run HR.
Donaldson 3-run HR.
Peraza solo HR.
Florial 2-run HR.

Cole (Winner) 4 2/3 IP, 3 R, 6 H, 0 W, 6 K. Gave up 1 HR.
King 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K.
Peralta 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 2 K.
Hamilton 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 0 K.
Danish 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K

In order to get more versatility out of their players (and be better prepared for injuries) the Yanks will try out IKF in CF in an upcoming spring training game. IKF already is a C (bet you didn’t know that), SS, 3B, 2B … so ….

S.T. Game 15 & 16. The Martian homers again, but Yanks lose both split squad games

You have to remember that Jasson Dominguez, aka as “The Martian”, is only 20 years old and has only played a handful of games in AA, where he will probably start out at in 2023.

But it is ok to dream of him being in the Bronx soon. He homered yet again today in one of the Yankees (8-8 in spring training) split squad games. He played in the home game, in which they lost to the Phillies, 6-3.

The Yanks only had four hits in this game.

LeMahieu 1 for 2 with a walk
Judge 0 for 2 with a walk.
Stanton 2 for 3, single and double.
Dominguez 1 for 3, 2-run HR #2 prospect
Volpe 0 for 1 with a walk, also was HBP #1 prospect

German 2 1/3 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 0 W, 3 K
M. Gomez 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 0 K.
Peralta 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 1 K
Holmes 1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 W, 0 K 1 HBP
King 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 1 K.
Krook (L) 2 2/3 IP, 3 R, 5 H, 1 W, 3 K. 2 WP has shot at bullpen spot.
Keating 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 1 WP

They lost the away game, 3-0 to the Pirates, getting just 5 hits.

Peraza 0 for 3 #3 prospect
Kiner-Falefa 1 for 3
Florial 0 for 2, 2 strikeouts. I expect him to be DFA’d soon.
Donaldson 0 for 3
McKinney 2 for 3
Jones 0 for 2, 2 strikeouts #5 prospect.

Weber (L) 2 2/3 IP, 3 R, 5 H, 2 W, 1 K. Gave up 2 HR 1 balk
Hamilton 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 W, 1 K.
Ramirez 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K. Has shot at bullpen spot.
Santos 3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 3 W, 1 K.

S.T. Game 12. Cole sharp but Yanks lose 4-0.

It’s one thing to give these Yankees reports, another to follow the World Baseball Classic. So unless I hear something specific about Kyle Higashioka (USA), Gleyber Torres (Venezuela) or Jonathan Loaisiga (Nicaraugua) and how they are doing in the WBC, I won’t say anything about that.

With three catchers injured, the Yanks signed a catcher to a minor league deal. Nick Ciuffo has played in 21 MLB games and is regarded as a fine defensive catcher. He has just gone 9 for 48, .188 as a hitter, though.

Aaron Judge got the start in LF today and Giancarlo Stanton was in RF.

Gerrit Cole looked sharp, but Wandy Peralta ran into problems, giving up a 3-run HR. The Yanks (7-5 in spring training) got only 4 hits in losing to St. Louis 4-0. The starting lineup today was very “Opening Day-ish”.

Cole 3 1/3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 W, 7 K
Weissert (L) 1 1/3 IP, 1 R, 0 H, 2 W, 3 K.
McGarity 1/3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 W, 1 K
Holmes 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K.
Peralta 1 IP, 3 R, 3 H, 0 W, 2 K. Gave up a 3-run HR
Tully 2 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 W, 0 K.

S.T. Game 7. Yanks hit 3 HR in 9-1 win over Pirates.

Two players with fair to decent shots of maybe making the team homered, and the first eight of the nine pitchers the Yankees used gave up no hits as the Yanks (5-2 in spring training) beat Pittsburgh 9-1 on Thursday.

#1 prospect Anthony Volpe, fighting for the SS job, led off the game with a HR, and Rafael Ortega, fighting for the LF job, hit a 2-run HR in the third. Andres Chaparro hit a grand slam in the ninth.

Gleyber Torres had a tooth extraction, so he was out of service for today,

Volpe 2 for 3, solo HR and also a walk. Fighting for SS job
Chaparro 1 for 2, grand slam
Oswald Peraza 0 for 1, walked, scored 2 runs (#3 prospect) also fighting for SS job.
Jasson Dominguez 0 for 2 (#2 prospect)
Ortega 2 for 3, 3 RBI. 2-run HR and RBI triple.
Jake Bauers 2 for 2
Estevan Florial 1 for 2, RBI double battling for LF job. Out of options
Everson Pereira 1 for 2, double (#6 prospect)

Pitching:

Trivino 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 2 K
Peralta 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 3 K.
Holmes 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 1 HBP
Abreu 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K battling for bullpen job. out of options.
Cordero 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K. trying for a bullpen job.
Chase Hampton 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K. #26 prospect.
Norwood 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 0 K.
Santos 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K.
Bowman 1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 1 W, 1 K. Gave up HR. Rough S.T. for him so far.

S.T. Game 4. Yanks beat Tigers, 8-5.

The Yankees beat the Tigers 8-5 Monday night to go to 3-1 in spring training.

Some boxscore highlights:

Jesus Bastidas 2 RBI
Willie Calhoun 1 for 2, walk (trying to grab LF job)
Spencer Jones 0 for 1 struck out #7 prospect
Oswaldo Cabrera 1 for 3, RBI. Nice D play at 3B, but also an error.
Harrison Bader 1 for 1, RBI on SF
Anthony Volpe 0 for 2, GIDP both times #1 prospect
Jasson Dominguez “The Martian” 1 for 1, also walked, SB, scored 2 runs. #2 prospect.
Tayler Aguilar 2 RBI and threw a runner out at home from RF.

Luis Severino struggled in the first, giving up 3 runs, 2 on a HR.

Severino 2+ IP, 4 R, 3 H, 1 W, 1 K. Gave up 1 HR.
McGarity 1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 W, 2 K. Gave up 1 HR.
Peralta 1 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 W, 1 K.
Cordero 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H. 0 W, 0 K. trying to get bullpen job.
Hamilton 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K.
Norwood (Winner) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K.
Tully (H) 1 IP, 1 H, 0 W, 0 K.
Hampton (S) 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 0 K.

LF option. David Peralta?

With Michael Brantley going back to Houston, another LF option is off the board.

Besides the LF options I wrote about before (Reynolds, Kepler, Varsho, McCarthy, even having Cabrera as full time LF (and please, no Hicks!)) I ran across a few other options. Some, like Tommy Pham or Andrew McCutchen, I disregard because the Yankees need a lefty or switch-hitter to balance out the lineup and Pham and McCutchen (who was briefly a Yankee before) don’t fit that qualification.

One name I didn’t mention before is David Peralta. He is a free agent, and a lefty bat that could help. Peralta is 35, a LF and a former Gold Glove winner. At 35, Peralta would not demand a long-term deal. Good. He made $7.5MM last year, so he wouldn’t be as expensive as Benintendi, who got $15MM/yr for five years from the White Sox, would have been.

While Peralta did hit 30 HR in 2018, that is an outlier. He has a 162-game average of .281-18-78 but given his age and what he has done in the past few seasons, .255-.260, 10-15 HR and about 55 to 65 RBI is what you can reasonably expect. If a lefty pitches, maybe that is the time to sit Peralta and play Stanton in LF. You don’t want Stanton in the OF often, but this could keep Stanton fresh.

I don’t know if Peralta could be an answer or if the Yanks have him on their radar. One thing is for sure. The free agent LF are coming off the board. If not Peralta, then a trade may have to be made. Apparently, it would take a lot to pry Reynolds away from Pittsburgh. I am not sold on Kepler from the Twins. What it would take to get say Varsho or McCarthy from Arizona, I don’t know.

But the Yanks should add Peralta to the mix of LF to target if they haven’t already. Think of him as a little older, and slightly less (not by much, the stats are very similar) version of Benintendi.

ALCS Game 4. Houston sends Yanks home (again) 6-5 to sweep series.

The Yankees played 11 games vs. Houston this year. They won two, both in walk off fashion, and none in Houston. It was apparent Houston had the Yanks’ number. They Yanks hardly led at all in all 11 games.

That carried over to the ALCS, in which the Astros swept the Yanks out of, winning Game 4 6-5. I didn’t think the Yanks would beat Houston, although I was hoping. You have to separate your head from your heart. You think with your brain, not with your heart. But I didn’t think they would get swept. Ouch.

And what REALLY hurts? Of that 2-9 record (including the ALCS) this year, 4 of the losses were by 1 run, and another 3 by 2 runs. As if losing itself didn’t hurt, that was just twisting the knife.

It marked the fifth straight time the Yanks lost in the ALCS since last going to (and winning) the WS in 2009 (2010, 2012, 2017, 2019, 2022). The last three ALCS losses were all to the Astros.

There needs to be change, from the top down, within the Yankees’ organization. Otherwise, it’ll be the same old same old next year too. They have to break this pattern in order to advance further.

Many are calling for Derek Jeter to be the new GM and Don Mattingly to be his manager. Although I love both Yankees legends, and that would be the popular move, let’s step back and take a look at that. First off, with Jeter as CEO and Mattingly manager of the Marlins, the Marlins didn’t exactly do well, did they? Granted they didn’t have the talent or financial resources the Yankees do, but you didn’t even see year to year gradual improvement, did you? Here are the win totals, not counting 2020 (the 60 game Covid season) under Mattingly. 79-77-63-57-67-69. I would be more interested if they were on a gradual uphill climb, like 60-65-73-77-85 something like that. You didn’t see that. When Donnie managed the talented and much more financially stable Dodgers, he was ok (82-86-92-94-92), but he couldn’t get them in to the WS. His overall winning percentage, Dodgers and Marlins, is under .500. And as for Jeter, do you really think he would take a position (GM) in which he could be fired? Jeter doesn’t want to work for a boss, he wants to BE the boss. CEO or owner. If he was going to come back to the Yankees, it would be as an adviser, not GM. Much like Reggie Jackson was. Oh yeah, guess who Reggie is advising now. Ugh. The Astros.

The Astros are now unbeaten (7-0) in the postseason. They will face the Phillies in the WS. The Phils got lucky and hot. As the #6 seed in the NL, they never would have made the playoffs before this year. But with MLB changing the playoff structure, they snuck in and got hot at the right time. Dave Dombrowski, the Phillies’ President of Baseball Operations, is going to the HOF one day. This is the fourth team he has run that is going to the WS. Their manager, Rob Thomson, hitting coach Kevin Long and reliever David Robertson were all part of the last Yankees team to win a WS back in 2009.

The game started out good for the Yanks. They scored twice in the bottom of the first. Harrison Bader singled, and with one out, Anthony Rizzo was HBP. Giancarlo Stanton and Gleyber Torres followed with singles and the Yanks were up 2-0.

In the bottom of the second, the Yanks made it 3-0. Isiah Kiner-Falefa (IF) led off with a double, and two outs later, Aaron Judge walked. A double by Rizzo plated IKF.

But Nestor Cortes, who pitched two scoreless innings, was pitching through a groin injury that caught up to him in the third inning. Two walks and a 3-run HR to start the inning, and Cortes was removed. Wandy Peralta relieved Cortes, and Houston got another run off him. 4-3.

The Yanks tied it in the bottom of the fourth. With one out, Bader singled, and with two out, moved to second on a passed ball. Rizzo singled to tie the game at four.

Bader, who had an incredible postseason, hit his FIFTH HR of the postseason to put the Yanks up 5-4 in the sixth.

But with one out in the seventh, it came undone. Jose Altuve got an infield hit, just beating Yankees’ pitcher Jonathan Loaisiga to first on a bang-bang play. Then came a ball that should have been a DP, but the exchange, Torres to IKF, went awry and everyone was safe. The error was charged to Torres, but I think IKF should have at least caught the ball for a force. Whatever, both at fault. Two consecutive singles, off Loaisiga and then Clay Holmes, followed to tie the game and then to give Houston the lead, which they held on to.

The Yanks hit .182 vs. Cleveland in the ALDS. They hit .162 in the ALCS vs. Houston. .173 for the postseason. Aaron Judge, the face of the Yanks, will get criticized (5 for 36, 2 HR, 15 K) but it wasn’t only him (And Judge, although he won’t admit it, was probably gassed from carrying the team the last two months and from the HR chase to 62).

Some other numbers:
Jose Trevino was 1 for 22 in the postseason. 6 K.
Kyle Higashioka 0 for 6, 5 K. So, neither catcher did anything.
Oswaldo Cabrera 2 for 28, with 12 K. Benintendi missed. Tough postseason for the rookie.
Stanton 6 for 36, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 9 K.
Torres 6 for 34, 10 K.
Josh Donaldson 5 for 29, 16 K. No LeMahieu.
Matt Carpenter 1 for 12, 9 K.

The only bright spots:
Bader,10 for 30 with 5 HR.
Rizzo 8 for 29, 2 HR.
Kiner-Falefa was 5 for 18, but the shaky fielding…

Game 4 recap:

Bader 3 hits, solo HR
Rizzo 2 hits, 2 RBI
Torres 2 hits, RBI but critical error

Cortes 2+ IP, 3 R, 2 H, 3 W, 2 K. Gave up 1 HR.
Peralta 2 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 1 W, 1 K.
Loaisiga (LOSS) 2 1/3 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 W, 1 K.
Holmes 2 2/3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 W, 2 K.

Waiting for changes. Hoping they are MASSIVE Changes, from the top down.

ALCS Game 2. One bad pitch, couple of feet cost Yanks in 3-2 loss.

One bad pitch and a couple of feet cost the Yanks in a 3-2 loss to Houston last night. The Yanks are now down 0-2 in the best-of-7 ALCS.

There are certain things you can blame a manager for, and certain things you can’t. In some games, Aaron Boone’s bullpen management has been questionable, as have his lineups.

You can’t blame him for anything last night, though. Last night was just some bad luck. He also can’t swing the bat for some guys who aren’t putting the ball in play. 17 strikeouts in Game 1, 13 more in Game 2. Even some much needed and correct lineup changes didn’t work. The Yankees have played 16 postseason games against Houston, starting in 2015. They have scored 47 runs. Do the math. That is a little less than 3 runs per game. It seems like the Yanks keep losing to Houston 2-0, 4-0, 3-2, 4-2, 4-1, etc.

Harrison Bader, with his 4 postseason HR was moved to leadoff. He got a hit, drew a walk. Jose Trevino, 1 for 15, was benched for Kyle Higashioka. But Higashioka went 0 for 3 with 3 strikeouts. What can you do when NEITHER catcher hits?

Rookie Oswald Peraza started at SS. Peraza played a great defensive game, making a couple great plays, just missing out on a few more, and teaming up with Gleyber Torres for a remarkable DP. It already looks like Peraza will be next year’s starting SS. He looks that smooth. As long as he hits. At the plate last night, Peraza was 0 for 3 with two strikeouts, however. With Peraza, it will be interesting to see what the Yanks do with Anthony Volpe. With Josh Donaldson turning 37 and showing signs of age, does someone like Volpe or Oswaldo Cabrera move to 3B? Of course, you have D.J. for 3B but I’m thinking long-term.

Boone can’t do anything about the injuries. It is very apparent that the losses of D.J. LeMahieu and Andrew Benintendi have hurt the Yanks considerably. Both are contact hitters. Neither strikeout much. 30 strikeouts in two games. Ugh. Put the ball in play. You never know. It might fall in (See Cleveland last series) or someone could make an error—-which is how the Yanks scored their two runs last night.

Who would have thought in a postseason game that the Yanks would be forced to start two rookies?

Anyway, two things about roster construction for the playoffs. Here is where the Yanks could be held at fault a little. Once again, nothing you can do about injuries. Besides D.J. and Benintendi, the losses of bullpen stalwarts King, Green, Marinaccio and Effross hurt as well (we won’t discuss malcontent Chapman). But you have to go with and put HEALTHY people on the roster. It’s apparent Matt Carpenter isn’t ready. Cheers to him for trying. But he had no minor league rehab games to help him work his way back. He is 0 for 7 in the postseason and all 7 at bats are strikeouts. It is apparent he should not be on the team. But if not him, who? D.J. is hurt (and there was thought about having him on the roster. I think the results would be the same as with Carpenter. The rust and injury would limit him the same way and hurt the team the same way Carpenter is hurting them now). Benintendi is hurt. Hicks, who didn’t contribute much anyway, is hurt. You could have kept Gonzalez on the team for this round, but he wasn’t doing much even though healthy.

Secondly, and here is where the Yanks are at fault a little, although bullpen injuries have played a part as far as this year goes. Don’t force guys into situations they are not comfortable with. Bullpen guys are bullpen guys. Starters are starters. Putting a starter in the bullpen for the playoffs usually backfires. There are exceptions, but too often I see it backfire. Montas HR in Game 1. Schmidt, not a closer but a spot starter/middle relief guy, closing. J.A. Happ coming out of the bullpen to blow games in 2019 and 2020 (remember the Deivi Garcia as opener game?). Jack McDowell coming out of the bullpen in 1995. Heck, Jeff Weaver in 2003. Learn from history. Don’t repeat the same mistakes. Taking your #5 starter (granted, McDowell was higher than #5) and throwing him into the bullpen for the postseason usually backfires.

To the game. How many times this season have we seen the Yankees’ pitchers give up runs when they are ONE STRIKE away from getting out of an inning? Two out, two strikes and Boom. Gives up runs. In the bottom of the third, that is what happened to Luis Severino. I am a little concerned about Severino in the postseason, because in 11 postseason games, Sevy is 1-4, 5.15. Great stuff, but his postseason numbers aren’t too good. He was good last night except for that one pitch, which was with two outs and two strikes and hit for a 3-run HR.

The Yanks came back with two runs in the top of the fourth, helped by an error. Aaron Judge singled, and a double error (fielding and throwing) on a ball hit back to Astro’s pitcher Framber Valdez put runners on second and third with no one out. Anthony Rizzo moved the runners up, scoring Judge with a groundout. An infield single by Torres scored Stanton.

In the top of the eighth, the Yanks came oh-so-close. Harrison Bader walked with one out. Judge hit a ball deep to right field that was caught at the top of the fence. Three feet or so higher and it would have been a two-run HR that would have given the Yanks a 4-3 lead and possibly a victory. Yankee Stadium is the only park in which it WOULD have been a HR. Houston rarely plays with the roof open. It was open and there was a significant wind that may have held the ball up. The Yanks got unlucky.

Only 4 hits. 13 strikeouts. Put the ball in play.

Severino (LOSS) 5 1/3 IP, 3 R, 5 H, 1 W, 6 K. 1 HBP. Gave up 1 HR.
Loaisiga 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 0 K.
Peralta 2/3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 W, 0 K.

Gold Glove nominations came out yesterday, with three nominations for each position plus one for utility players. Five Yankees got nominations: Taillon, Trevino, Rizzo, Benintendi (KC/NYY) and LeMahieu. Lemahieu’s was for the utility category. Two that should have gotten nominations but didn’t were Donaldson and Judge.