Minor League Report. SWB loses Game 2. International League finals series tied at 1 game apiece.

 

SWB lost Game 2 of the Governor’s Cup, the International League Finals, by a score of 5-2. The series is tied at a game apiece.

3B Gio Urshela 2 doubles.
1B Mike Ford a 2-run HR.

Cortes (L) 6 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 3 W, 6 K. Gave up HR.
It was ex-Yankee Rob Refsnyder with the 2-run HR off of Cortes in the first.

Lail 2 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 0 W, 4 K.
Coshow 1 IP, 2 R, 1 H, 1 W, 1 K. Gave up 1 HR.

 

 

Yanks deal Refsnyder to Toronto for minor league 1B.

You can’t keep everyone and there are only a number of chances you can give someone.

The Yanks, who dfa’d Rob Refsnyder recently, traded him today to the Toronto Blue Jays for minor league 1B Ryan McBroom.

Refsnyder played in 94 games as a Yankee from 2015 to 2017, and hit .241-2-17, OPS+ 72. He is 26, and some other younger players have bypassed him on the depth chart as a prospect.

McBroom, 25, is a 1B/DH. He has played some LF but doesn’t project there. The highest level he has made it to is AA. In 421 minor league games (about 3 seasons worth), he is a .280 hitter with 57 HR and 288 RBI. In 105 games at AA, he is .235-13-56.

2015, Low A: .315-12-90
2016: High A/AA: .266-22-85

At AA this year, 2017: .243-12-54 in 96 games.

BTW, my thoughts on the #21 controversy over Todd Frazier sticking with #29, not getting #21, etc. ….

S**t or get off the pot with the number. Either it’s retired or it’s not. It’s not retired, then  issue it. If you don’t want to issue it, retire it already. O’Neill has a plaque in Monument Park. Personally, I think that is enough.

Gary Sanchez is wearing #24, now is Tino Martinez (who also has a plaque in Monument Park) that far below O’Neill on the pecking order?

As far as retired numbers go, I think there are a couple of numbers the Yanks have already retired that shouldn’t have been retired. There are too many that are. What’s next, decimal points? 7.0? Triple digits? Heck, Frazier and Judge look like football players out there with 77 and 99 (of course, the huge Judge looks like a football player anyway, but that’s because he is huge). Same with tiny little Ronald Torreyes with #74.

Why not retire #11 for Lefty Gomez? #22 for Allie Reynolds? I think they were as important as O’Neill, and that is NOT a slight at O’Neill.

But also, and credit to Mike Vaccaro of the NY Post for this, if Todd Frazier wears #29 this year, and as a free agent signs with the Yankees after the season is over, and the Yanks won the WS this year, then what about #29? After all, Girardi moved from #27 to #28 when the Yanks won it all in 2009 and would move the number up again and then take #29 in 2018 if the Yanks won the WS. Then when Frazier comes back he’d have to switch numbers again.

The numbers thing is getting ridiculous. Either issue the number or retire it. One or the other.

Game 94. Severino outduels King Felix. Yanks beat Mariners 4-1.

Luis Severino bested Seattle’s “King Felix” Hernandez Thursday night as the Yanks beat Seattle 4-1. The win improves the Yanks’ record to 49-45.

It was a scoreless duel into the sixth, when Brett Gardner hit a solo HR (16).

In the eighth, Headley singled, Gardner reached on an error and Sanchez walked to load the bases.   Aaron Judge singled in a run.

In the ninth, Gregorius and Todd Frazier singled and both scored on a throwing error by Cano.

Three of the Yanks’ four runs were unearned.

The shutout was ruined when Aroldis Chapman gave up a run in the bottom of the ninth on a double by Cano.

Severino (w, 6-4, 3.21) 7 IP, 0 r, 8 H, 1 W. 6 K.
Betances (H, 11) 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K. 2.78, 1 HBP
Chapman 1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 1 W, 2 K. 3.65

ICYMI. After the trade of the other day, Rob Refsnyder and Ji-Man Choi were both DFA’d and Chasen Shreve was sent down to SWB.

 

Game 93. Yanks lose 6-1, make moves.

The Yanks made a couple of moves. They DFA’d Rob Refsnyder and Ji-Man Choi. They sent down Chasen Shreve. They announced that Todd Frazier would be at 3B, and they are moving Chase Headley to 1B.

In the meantime, they lost to the Twins 6-1. Jordan Montgomery pitched five good innings but that one bad one was a doozy.

With two out in the second inning, he had men on 2nd and 3rd. He couldn’t get out of the inning, giving up a two-run single, a walk, another single for the third run, then a 3-run HR to Miguel Sano. Six runs.

The Yanks got their only run in the seventh on an RBI single by Gardner.

Gardner 2 hits, RBI.
Castro 2 hits.
C. Frazier 2 hits.

They had six of the Yanks’ seven hits.

Montgomery (L, 6-5, 4.09) 6 Ip, 7 H, 1 W, 3 K. Gavve up 1 HR.
Green 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 2 K.  1.70
Kahnle 1 IP, 0 R 0 H, 0 W, 2 K. 2.43

With the loss, the Yanks are 48-45. A couple of late nights ahead as the Yanks head to Seattle.

Hoping for a trade for a good starting pitcher.

 

Minor League Report.

AAA: SWB (59-34) won 5-0. LF Rob Refsnyder 3 hits, HR< 2 RBI. 3B Miguel Andujar 2 hits, RBI. 2 hits for SS Tyler Wade, CF Jake Cave, and 1B Cito Culver.

Mantiply 4 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 W, 2 K. 3.48
Cortes (W, 1-2, 1.26) 5 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 W, 3 K.

AA: Trenton (61-31) lost 5-4. 1B Billy Fleming 2 hits, solo HR. 2B Vicente Conde 2 RBI. SS Jorge Mateo and LF Rashad Crawford 2 hits.

Koerner (L, 2-1, 2.21) 7 IP, 5 R 7 H, 3 W, 6 K. Gave up 1 HR.
Gomez 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 0.00

Both SWB and Trenton have the best records in their leagues.

High A: Tampa (51-40) won 6-4. Tampa already won the first half (split season) and are assured of a playoff berth.

LF Alexander Palma 3 hits, solo HR. CF Jeff Hendrix 2 hits, RBI.

Clarkin (W, 4-4, 2.61) 7 IP, 2 R, 8 H, 1 W, 7 K.
Foley 2 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 1 W, 4 K. Gave up 1 HR. 2.45

Low A: Charleston (51-42) scored two in the top of the ninth to win 2-1. CF Blake Rutherford (2 hits) with the two-out, two-run HR.  2 hits DH Isiah Gilliam.

Garcia 6 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 3 W, 5 K. 1.69
Morris (W, 4-1, 2.74) 2 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 W, 1 K. Gave up HR.
Sosebee (S, 5) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K. 2.42.

Charleston has the best record in their league so far in the second half (split season) at 17-6. They were only 34-36 in the first half and finished fifth in the first half.

Game 70. Up 5-1, Yanks’ miscues lead to 10-5 loss.

Since I am leaving early Saturday morning for vacation, and will be trying for sleep tomorrow night before my early morning flight, this will be my last post for a while.

Before the game, Refsnyder down, Tyler Webb, lefty reliever, up.

Ouch. Up 5-1, Yankees’ miscues contributed to a 10-5 loss.

Cameron Maybin  homered on the second pitch of the game from Luis Severino to put the Angels up 1-0.

In the bottom of the first, with two out, Judge and Holliday both walked and Castro blooped a single to tie it.

In the second, Carter doubled, Torreyes singled him to third, and Gardner drove him in on a forceout. Hicks singled and Judge hit a 3-run HR (25) to make it 5-1.

After that, it was all downhill.

Severino gave up 2 in the third.

He still had the 5-3 lead entering the seventh.

In the seventh, a leadoff single by the Angels. Then, the play that changed the game. A play that Castro needs to make. Instead of a DP, 1st and 3rd for the Angels, no out. This play was the turning point in the game.

If the Yanks ever make a move, I can see it here, like Torres taking over for Castro and Castro moving to third. There have been a few plays this week alone that Castro needs to make and he hasn’t, costing the Yanks some games. The bat has been great, but he has cost them two games this week because of the glove.

After the crucial Castro error, Betances came in. I was a bit concerned because Betances came in with a 0.40 ERA. A long baseball season is like the stock market. There are “corrections”. A pitcher with that low of an ERA is due for  a bad outing and that is what happened to Betances.

Betances wasn’t helped by an error on Sanchez. Then again, Betances threw a WP.

Domingo German, the rookie, didn’t help himself in the eighth with a WP and an error on a pickoff attempt.

Judge HR, (25) 3 RBI.  Carter had 2 hits.

Severino (L, 5-3, 3.30) 6 +IP, 6 R, 5 ER, 8 H, 2 W, 5 K, Gave up 1 HR.
Shreve (BS,1 ) 1 Ip, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K. 1.80. Should have been out there longer.
Betances 2/3 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 1 W, 2 K. 1.16. Was due for a bad outing.
German 2 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 1 W, 3 K. 1.04

 

Game 50. Tanaka tagged again as Yanks lose 10-4.

Baseball’s funny. If I’d have told you in February that on June 1 Brett Gardner would have 11 HR, Masahiro Tanaka would be the worst of the Yanks’ five starters in a group that included a true rookie in Jordan Montgomery and that the Yanks would be in first place at 30-20 despite getting the worst production in the majors out of first base, you may have been stunned.

But so far, that’s how it’s been.

Tanaka was tagged again last night in the Yankees’ 10-4 loss to Baltimore that reduced their AL East lead to 2 games.

It’s mystifying how bad he’s been. Some games good, like a CG shutout up in Boston or with his last outing before this one. Other times, awful, like last night.

The Orioles got 4 in the third off of him, and a misplay by Aaron Judge cost three runs. Instead of grabbing a liner for the third out of the inning, it went for a 2-run double to make it 3-0 Orioles, and a single later made it 4-0.

In the fourth, the Yanks cut it to 4-1 on an Orioles’ error.

But Tanaka gave up a 3-run HR in the bottom of the fourth to make it 7-1.

The Yanks got two in the fifth on a single by Refsnyder, forceout by Gardner, RBI double by Hicks, and RBI single by Holliday, but Ronald Torreyes bounced into a forceout with the bases loaded to spoil the chance of getting further back into the ballgame. The Yanks had chances, but were 1 for 12 with RISP in the game.

Before the game, Bryan Mitchell was sent down to SWB and Giovanny Gallegos brought up, but Gallegos gave up a 2-run HR in the seventh that made it 9-3 Orioles.

The Yanks got a run in the eighth on an RBI groundout by Gardner, but Gallegos gave up another run in the bottom of the inning for the final score of 10-4.

Starlin Castro, Aaron Judge and Rob Refsnyder had 2 hits apiece.

But as far as Tanaka, if he isn’t hurt, it’s baffling. He’s got to get it together. His ERA is twice what you’d expect it to be.

Maybe the Yanks (and I’ve mentioned this before) should order an MRI just to be sure nothing is wrong.

You have to wonder.

Tanaka (L, 5-5, 6.34) 5 2/3 IP, 7 R, 9 H, 2 W, 4 K. Gave up 1 HR.
Layne 1/3 IP, 0 r, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K. 7.50
Gallegos 1 2/3 IP, 3 R, 3 H, 0 W, 2 K. 7.71 Gave up 1 HR.
Holder 1/3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 W, 0 K. 3.27

Game 45. Yanks waste Tanaka gem, lose 4-1.

The good news is that after a couple of poor performances, the Yanks got Masahiro Tanaka back to being the real Tanaka last night. Better, even.

The bad news is that they didn’t take advantage of it and lost to Oakland, 4-1. The loss drops the Yanks to 27-18 and cut their AL East lead to two (over Boston).

Tanaka took a shutout into the eighth, and wound up pitching 7 1/3 innings, striking out a career-high 13.

But in the eighth, after striking out the first batter he faced, Tanaka gave up a single and was pulled after 111 pitches.

Tyler Clippard committed a two-base throwing error in trying to pick off the runner. On a ground ball by the next hitter, and with the runner going on contact, Chase Headley nailed the runner at the plate.

But Clippard could not finish off the inning. He had problems recently against the Rays giving up a huge walk, and here he did it again, giving up a walk to put two on with two out.

Up to the plate came Jed Lowrie, who is hot right now and who had three hits last night. Manager Joe Girardi stuck with Clippard here and let him face Lowrie, instead of a) bringing in a LOOGY like Shreve or Layne to turn him around after he already had two hits from the left side or b) going right to Betances. Ok, I could see saving Betances, but this was the key batter in the ball game right here, and sticking with Clippard didn’t work out. Lowrie singled in a run. The next hitter reached on an infield single and it was 2-0, A’s.

Jonathan Holder gave up a single and HR to the first two batters he faced in the ninth, 4-0 A’s, and the game was over.

Didi Gregorius got a SF in the bottom of the ninth, and the Yanks got the tying run to the plate, but lost 4-1, getting just five hits, two by Aaron Judge.

Chase Headley is really slumping. He went into April 19th with a .409 average, which you knew he wouldn’t sustain, but he’s down to .228 right now. That’s some drop-off, a .158 average since April 19th.

Tanaka (L, 5-4, 5.86) 7 1/3 IP, 1 R, 5 H, 0 W, 13 K.
Clippard 2/3 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 1 W, 0 K. 1.77
Holder 1 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 0 W, 0 K. 3.60  Gave up 1 HR.

Refsnyder was brought back up to replace Ellsbury, who went on the DL with a concussion and neck sprain after he made that catch Wednesday night.

 

 

 

Yankees/Royals rained out. Ellsbury to DL.

Thursday afternoon’s Yankees/Royals game has been rained out, and is rescheduled for Monday, September 25.

Meanwhile, Jacoby Ellsbury had suffered a concussion and a neck sprain.

According to the NY Post,

Ellsbury will go on the seven-day disabled list for concussions, manager Joe Girardi announced after the game, and it wouldn’t surprise to see him sit out for considerably longer….

Figure on Mason Williams or Rob Refsnyder getting the call for Ellsbury’s roster spot rather than Clint Frazier or Dustin Fowler; the Yankees wouldn’t want their higher-end guys riding the bench, plus neither Frazier nor Fowler is currently on the 40-man roster.

Thankfully Ellsbury wasn’t hurt worse and didn’t have any more plays in the top of the first, when the Yanks misdiagnosed the injury and left him in the game before taking him out between innings.

Today’s rainout gives Masahiro Tanaka another day to figure things out after a couple of bad performances.

Minor League Report. Great pitching.

AAA: SWB (25-18) won 5-0. Maybe Chase Headley should look over his shoulder, for Gleyber Torres, in his 2nd AAA game, once again played 3B tonight.

Tyler Wade, SS, 2 hits, HR, 2 RBI, same with CF Dustin Fowler. Fowler’s performance is important because Jacoby Ellsbury suffered a concussion making a great catch tonight, and if he needs DL time….

2B Rob Refsnyder, LF Clint Frazier (double, solo HR) and RF Mason Williams 2 hits each.

Domingo German awesome tonight.

German (1-0, 3.29) 7 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 2 W, 10 K.
Gallegos 2 iP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 W, 4 K. 3.38

AA: Trenton (28-16) won 1-0. DH Jake Cave 2 doubles, RBI. LF Zack Zehner 2 for 2.

Domingo Acevedo awesome.

Acevedo (w 2-0, 0.00) 7 1/ 3 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 0 W, 9 K. 
Feyereisen (S, 3) 1 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 3 K. 2.55

High A: Tampa rained out.

Low A: Charleston split a DH.

Game 1: Lost 3-0. CF Blake Rutherford and Diego Castillo had all their hits, 2 each.

Keller (L, 3-4, 4.53) 6 IP, 3 R, 7 H, 1 W, 3 K.

Game 2: won 10-5 in 4 1/2 Innings (23-22)

Lf Ben Ruta and CF Estevan Florial 2 hits. 2 RBI each.  C Donny Sands and 1B Brandon Wagner each 3 for 3.  SS Diego Castillo 2 RBI.

Orozco 3 2/3 IP, 5 R, 4 ER, 5 H, 5 W, 4 K. 6.31
Morris (W, 1-1, 2.08) 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 2.08