From Bryan Hoch:
Trent Grisham entered this year understanding his role, which he describes as “being ready every day,” whether he starts or comes off the bench. The Yankees outfielder is benefiting from seeing his name in the lineup more frequently.
Grisham continued his hot start on Saturday, homering twice and driving in four runs in leading the Bombers to a 10-4 victory over the Pirates at PNC Park.
“[This lineup] just seems really tough on opposing guys, when you have one through nine that can hang a really good at-bat on you,” Grisham said.
Anthony Volpe also contributed a three-run double as the Bombers notched their sixth win in eight games. The Yankees have hit 25 home runs, surpassing the 2000 Cardinals (23) for the most in Major League history through a club’s first eight games.
“It’s been relentless; they’ve really started taking tough at-bats,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “For the most part, we’re scoring a lot and a lot of guys are swinging the bat well. You’re going to have nights when you get shut down a little bit, but I feel like there’s been a real consistency to their approach.”
I imagine we’ve at least hit the point where Trent Grisham should at least be allowed to play against lefties for the time being, with sometimes Rice sitting (and Judge DHing) and sometimes Dominguez sitting (and Belli playing left and Grisham center). See if there’s anything there. Obviously, the odds are there is nothing there, and this is just a case of “Enjoy it while it’s there,” but there was a time when Trent Grisham was actually a valuable hitter, putting up 2.5 bWAR with a Gold Glove in the shortened 2020 season (where it seemed like he was going to be a stud) and 3.1 bWar in 2021 (when it seemed like he was going to be an everyday player). Then, despite another Gold Glove in 2022, he just stopped hitting for three seasons. It’s unlikely that he just fixed everything at 28 years old, but it’s not impossible. You probably should at least give him semi-regular playing time until he proves he is NOT for real.
Now, as great as the offense has been (and it’s been everything we could have possibly hoped for with this team), the pitching has some serious issues with Marcus Stroman the #3 starter. He actually pitched well for three of his four innings today, but that fourth inning was just INSANE. The fucker walked THREE DUDES!!! You’re up 2-0, and you walk the first two batters of the inning, and the #2 and #3 hitters in the lineup?! Just insanity. The starting pitching is really sketchy past Fried.
The bullpen was good, at least.
The featured image is Grisham’s second home run.
We should really take a moment to think about what we expected from this offense.
How depressing it seemed, how many of us were less invested in this team than in any in recent memory.
I have no idea where they’ll end up – obviously this start allows some hope that they’ll be better than we feared.
But this is fun, isn’t it?
Grisham is a fantastic 4th OFer because the defense always plays. If he’s hitting then sure get him more PAs. I do think that his PAs shouldn’t come at the expense of Dominguez. He needs MLB experience.
I love seeing him play well, but I wouldn’t even consider playing him at the expense of Rice and Dominguez – unless you desperately need to win these specific 5 games or so, and he’s on fire and they’re ice cold. And then only for those games.
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So much depends upon Rice and Dominguez. And I’ve been meaning to ask you guys – where are the plums I left in the ice box?
oh, uh, were there plums in the icebox? huh
I dunno we’re always on Boone for
not playing the hot hand, I think consistency demands we support playing Grisham more for the time being
Not automatically benching anyone who has a good game does not require playing them over your potential future because they’re in a hot streak.
Nor does not benching them EVERY TIME require slavishly playing them if they have a bit of a hot streak.
Consistency, hobgoblins, you know.