Minor League Report/Problem with Sanchez?/Ex-Yankee Sanderson dies.

The Yankees were off Thursday.

I will not have a report on any of Friday’s action. I’ll be out of town.

AAA: SWB (4-4) won 9-8 in 10 innings. PH Mandy Alvarez GW hit.  LF Trey Amburgey 2 hits. 1B Mike Ford 2 hits, 2 RBI. C Kyle Higashioka 2 RBI, but had to leave the game (see below) .RF/1B Ryan McBroom 2 hits. 3B Gosuke Katoh 2 hits, HR, 3 RBI.

It appears as if Chance Adams, so good a few years ago, has taken a step backwards in his development.

The reason Higashioka was called up was—wait for it—there may be ANOTHER Yankee going on the DL, and that may be Gary Sanchez.

AA Trenton was off.

High A: Tampa (2-6) lost 8-6. SS Oswaldo Cabrera 2 hits, RBI. LF Tyler Hill 2 RBI. 3B David Metzgar HR, 2 RBI. Deivi Garcia 4 IP, 2 unearned runs, 6 K.

Low A: Charleston (4-4) lost 4-0. DH Josh Breaux 2 of the Riverdogs’ 5 hits.

Scott Sanderson, who spent two years with the Yankees in 1991 and 1992, has died at the age of 62. He was an All-Star in 1991. He spent 19 season in the majors, going 163-143, 3.84. His 162 g. average was 13-11, 3.84.

Sanderson was with the Expos (1978-1983), Cubs (1984-1989), A’s (1990), Yankees (1991-1992), Angels (1993), Giants (1993), White Sox (1994) and back with the Angels (1995-1996).

He was with the 1981 Expos that played in the NLCS, the 1984 and 1989 Cubs that played in the NLCS, and the 1990 AL pennant winning A’s. He got into five postseason games, going 0-0, 5.73.

Some of Sanderson’s best seasons:
1980 Expos 16-11, 3.11
1984 Cubs 8-5, 3.14
1989 Cubs 11-9, 3.94
1990 A’s 17-11, 3.88

For the Yankees, he went 16-10, 3.91 in 1991 and 12-11, 4.93 in 1992.

He was the player who wore #21 before Paul O’Neill.

 

 

 

 

 

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Game 11. Bullpen blues. Yanks lose late again, 6-3. Severino shut down for 6 weeks.

The bullpen, supposed to be a strength of this Yankees’ (5-6) team, so far hasn’t been. Leading 3-2 going into the bottom of the seventh, the Yanks’ bullpen gave up four runs after that as the Yanks lost 6-3 to Houston.

Clint Frazier had, let’s say, an interesting night in LF playing defense, and Brett Gardner made a mistake on a bunt attempt in thinking a ball was foul when it was fair. That resulted in bunting into a DP.

Jonathan Loaisiga (who was sent down after the game, what with CC coming back off of the DL) struck out the side in the first, but Houston worked up his pitch count and he was gone after just three innings. He did strike out five in those three innings.

Luke Voit homered (3) for the Yanks in the first, and Gary Sanchez had a two-run double in the sixth.

Loaisiga 3 IP, 2 R, 4 H, 2 W, 5 K. 3.86
Tarpley 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 0 K. 6.75
Cessa 1 2/3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 W, 2 K.  1.29
Holder (BS, 1) 1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 W, 1 K.  5.40
Green (L, 0-2. 9.00) 2/3 IP, 3 R, 2 H, 2 W, 0 K.
Kahnle 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 R, 0 H, 2 K. 0.00

So far this season, we’ve seen Chapman take a loss, Green take two losses, Ottavino one. Not the bullpen that was expected so far.

Luis Severino has a grade 2 lat strain and has been shut down for six weeks. Since he’ll need to build himself back up (basically have to go through a “spring training”), we won’t see him on the mound for the Yanks until late June/early July at the earliest.

Gio Gonzalez (see minor league report) is a possibility. Gio rebounded well last night from two prior poor performances. Gio can opt out if not with the Yanks April 20.

Another possibility could be looking into free agent Dallas Keuchel.

 

Game 9. Yanks blast 7 HR in 15-3 drubbing of Orioles.

The Yankees (5-4) completed a weekend sweep of Baltimore by hitting seven HR in a 15-3 beatdown of the Orioles.

Gary Sanchez had 3, Clint Frazier 2, and Gleyber Torres and Austin Romine hit one each.

Lost among all the dingers was a superb pitching performance by Domingo German, who retired the first 13 batters he faced and who took a no-hitter into the sixth.

Sanchez 3 HR (6 for the season), 6 RBI
Torres 2 hits, HR (3)
Frazier 4 hits, 2 HR (3), 4 RBI
Urshela 2 hits.
Romine HR (1)

Baltimore scored one run on a PB by Romine and another on a WP by Tarpley.

German (W, 2-0, 1.64) 6+ innings, 2 R, 2 H, 2 W, 3 K.
Tarpley 1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 1 W, 2 K.   10.80
Cessa 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K.  1.69

When I wrote the other day that Gio stinks, it wasn’t an attack or bashing of Gio Gonzalez, just a statement of his pitching performance on Thursday. Gio has been a decent MLB pitcher for a long time, but giving up 8 runs in 4 IP Thursday wasn’t a good outing. The “stinks” wasn’t an attack on Gio, just an analysis of that night’s performance, which wasn’t good. Just clarifying.

Trying to do these reports when I can. Things have been tough lately. My mom fell and broke her wrist in February. Surgery, screws/plate, hospitalization, rehab facility. No sooner does she get the cast off of the wrist then three days later she falls again and breaks her ankle in 3 places. Surgery on that tomorrow. Sigh.  …. the Yanks aren’t the only ones with DL issues.

Game 7. Yanks hit 4 HR (2 by Gleyber) to win 8-4.

After the first inning, it didn’t look good. James Paxton gave up 3 runs in the first, and one run scored on a balk, another via a WP.

Gleyber Torres homered in the third, but after five innings, it was 4-1 Orioles and you feared the worst.

But in the fifth, Sanchez homered (3) to make it 4-2 and later that inning, Torres homered (2) to give the Yanks a 5-4 lead.

Luke Voit, who was slumping, hit a 3-run HR (2) in the top of the ninth for the cushion and the final score of 8-4.

The win puts the Yanks at 3-4 on the season. Tampa Bay is off to a good start, but take a look at Boston, 2-6.

Paxton did settle in after the first inning to get the win.

Torres 4 for 4. Single, double, 2 HR, 4 RBI
Voit HR, 3 RBI
Sanchez HR
Gardner 2 hits

Tough day for Aaron Judge, who may be trying to do too much to carry the team with all the injuries. 0 for 5, 4 strikeouts.

Paxton (W, 1-1, 4.09)  5 1/3 IP, 4 R, 8 H, 2 W, 9 K. Gave up 1 HR.
Kahnle (H, 1) 1 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 1 K. 0.00
Britton (H, 2) 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 1 K. 0.00
Chapman 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K. 4.50.

Greg Booker, a setup man who pitched for the Padres in the 1984 WS, passed away, age 58.  1983-1989 SD, Twins 1989, Giants 1990. 5-7, 3.89 in MLB career, ERA+ 95.

HOF manager Bobby Cox, mostly known for his managerial work for the Braves, but a Yankees’ 3B 1968-1969, is in the hospital after what appears to be a stroke. Prayers go out to him.

The Yanks are off Friday.

The Yanks did make a move, acquiring Jake Barrett from the Pirates and he will go to AAA SWB.

From Pinstripe Alley

In order to make room on the 40-man roster, the Yankees moved pitcher Ben Heller to the 60-day injured list.

Barrett has just 93.1 major-league innings to his name, all out of the bullpen with the Diamondbacks, along with a 4.05 ERA. The 27-year-old posted his best season in 2016, when he ran a 3.49 ERA, good for a 129 ERA+, across 59.1 innings. He’s spent little time in the majors since, making just seven appearances in 2018, allowing four runs in seven innings in the process.

He did play well in the minors last season, maintaining a 2.87 ERA in 53.1 innings for Triple-A Reno. Barrett struck out 11.3 batters per nine, but also ran a 4.9 BB/9 rate. According to Statcast, during Barrett’s brief time in the bigs last year, he relied heavily on his fastball, throwing his four-seamer 60% of the time. His slider made up 35% of his repertoire, while a splitter served as more of a show-me pitch with 5% usage. He averaged just over 94 mph on his fastball.

Now that the minor league season has started, I’ll be posting reports on the Yanks’ farm teams.

Spoiler alert: Gio Gonzalez sucked for SWB in their opener Thursday. Minor league Report coming tomorrow morning.

 

Game 6. Yanks’ offense sets embarrassing all-time team record in 2-1 loss. Now Tulo goes to DL

You have to like the Yanks’ pitching so far, even if the bullpen lost games yesterday and today.

You have to hate the offense. Yes, there are injuries, but that’s no excuse for the all-time team record the Yanks set today by striking out 18x.

The Tigers got just 3 hits, but beat the Yanks 2-1. 3-1 yesterday, 2-1 today. You don’t win many games by scoring just one run.

Forget about the homers. Just concentrate on MAKING CONTACT.

To top it all off, Troy Tulowitzki strained a calf muscle and now HE goes on the DL. So now it looks like Torres will have to be at SS, Wade at 2B, and it looks like Thairo Estrada will be called up.

Estrada, 23, is the guy who missed almost all of last year because of a failed robbery attempt where he was shot in the leg. He has just 8 games of minor league experience above AA.

In 2017, he hit .301 for AA Trenton. In 2016, .290 between low A and high A. He is a righty bat.

The Yanks could also bring up Gio Urshela, but he doesn’t have the middle infield experience that Estrada has. Urshela is mostly a 3B.

I really like Jonathan Loaisiga, and he pitched decently today.

One HUGE problem. Gary Sanchez made his FOURTH throwing error of the season. The season is only six games old (with the Yanks 2-4).

Wade has a shot to prove himself.

I like LeMahieu leading off today. He did so because Gardner got the day off (until pinch-running late in the game and getting caught trying to steal). I think he should continue with Gardner dropped to ninth. LeMahieu is hitting .438 to Gardner’s .143 so far.

The Yanks’ only run came on a double by LeMahieu and an RBI single by Judge.

Newly acquired Mike Tauchman, who played CF today was 0 for 3 with 3 strikeouts.

Loaisiga 4 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 3 W, 4 K. 2.25
Holder 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 2 K. 2.25
Green (L, 0-1, 4.50) 2 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K. Gave up HR in 8th that cost Yanks the game.
Britton 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 0.00

As Joe McCarthy once said, “never fall below .500 if you can help it.” The first order of business is to get back to .500. They need to quit striking out, quit leaving runners on base and concentrate on making contact.

Sanchez has to stop the throwing errors.

They need to get healthy. This injury list is getting ridiculous.

Paxton on the mound tomorrow afternoon in Baltimore.

 

Game 4. Yanks win 3-1 on combined 2-hitter, but Stanton & Andujar go on I.L. Andujar could be lost for the season.

The Yanks evened their record at 2-2 with a 3-1 win over the Tigers, but the injured list grew even bigger when before the game, the Yanks had to put Giancarlo Stanton and Miguel Andujar on the injured list for 10 days each.

Stanton has a strained bicep, suffered on a funky swing he took. Andujar’s injury could, and appears to be more serious, since he (per MLB.com) has a small labrum tear in his right shoulder and the team will handle him conservatively for two weeks, MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch reports. But Andujar could soon undergo season-ending surgery. In any case, he’ll be out much longer than 10 days.

To replace them, the Yanks called up Clint Frazier (for Stanton) and Tyler Wade (for Andujar).

Unfortunately, neither was an “April Fool’s Joke.”

The duo joins an injured list that includes Jordan Montgomery, Luis Severino, CC Sabathia, Dellin Betances, Aaron Hicks (still no where close to returning), Didi Gregorius and Jacoby Ellsbury.

As for the game, the Yanks struck first when Gary Sanchez hit his second HR of the year to make it 1-0 in the second.

With two outs in the third, Luke Voit walked and Greg Bird singled. When OF Christian Stewart made an error on Bird’s single, Voit came all the way around to score while Bird took second. 2-0 Yanks.

With two on in the fourth, a WP by Yankees’ starter Domingo German moved the runners up, and a throwing error by Sanchez enabled the lead runner to score. 2-1, Yanks. It’s Sanchez’ third error of the season already, all throwing, but in seeing the play, it appears that Gleyber Torres needs to make a better play in keeping the ball in front of him. The throw wasn’t too bad. It was a bang-bang play and Torres may have “heard footsteps” or may have been spiked on the play.

Brett Gardner led off the fifth with his first HR of the season, making it 3-1 Yanks, which was the final score. Gardner had two of the Yanks’ five hits.

It almost wasn’t the final score, however. With two on and no one out in the eighth, Aaron Judge made a diving catch to save the day.  It was a play that put your heart in your throat, because it was a play where Judge could have hurt his wrist really bad if he fell on it wrong. Fortunately, nothing happened. The Yanks can’t afford to lose anyone else right now, ESPECIALLY Aaron Judge.

Domingo German was a bit wild, but pitched great and four relievers backed him up.

German (W, 1-0, 0.00) 5 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 5 W, 7 K.
Green (H, 1) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K. 4.50
Britton (H, 1) 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K. 0.00
Ottavino (H, 1) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 W, 0 K. 0.00
Chapman (S, 1) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.

OF Jim Holt, a member of the 1974 WS Champion Oakland A’s, passed away recently.

Game 3. Yanks fall 7-5.

It’s early, but there is no excuse for sloppy play and losing 2 of 3 to the putrid Orioles.

The Yanks fall to 1-2 on the season.

J.A. Happ gave up 2 HR and 4 runs in 4 innings and put the Yanks behind the 8-ball right away by giving up a 3-run HR in the first inning—an inning that began over 3 hours later than expected due to a rain delay.

Things went downhill from there in the Yanks’ 7-5 loss.

Stephen Tarpley gave up a HR.

Tommy Kahnle walked the bases loaded with no out in the ninth but somehow wiggled out of it.

The bad outweighed the good. Aaron Judge had 2 RBI, but struck out 4x, stranding 6.

In the sixth, 1st and 2nd, one out, both Judge and Stanton struck out. First and 2nd, one out in the eighth, down 7-4, Judge struck out again.

Gary Sanchez hit a HR (1), but made his second throwing error of the season, and struck out 3x.
Giancarlo Stanton drew 3 walks, but struck out twice when the Yanks really needed a big blow from him. 4th inning, 1st and 3rd, two out, a strikeout.

 

Luke Voit stranded 7. Down 4-0 in the third, bases loaded, he struck out. Down 7-4 in the eighth, bases loaded, two out, he grounded out.

Greg Bird walked 2x, but was 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts.

The team had two on and the winning run at the plate with two out in the bottom of the ninth, but PH Troy Tulowitzki struck out.

As you can see, chances were there and the Yanks did not capitalize on them.

The team was 2 for 12 with RISP and stranded 14.

Happ (L, 0-1, 9.00) 4 IP, 4 R, 5 H, 1 W, 3 K. Gave up 2 HR
Cessa 3 1/3 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 2 W, 5 K. 2.70
Tarpley 2/3 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 1 W, 1 K.  13.50   Gave up 1 HR
Kahnle 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 3 W, 2 K.  0.00

Gleyber Torres had 2 hits, and D.J. LeMahieu was 2 for 2 with 2 walks and an RBI.

It’s never too soon to right the ship.