From Josh Kirshenbaum:
Five thousand and twenty-five days ago, Ben Rice and Will Warren were both 11 years old. Aaron Boone was working for ESPN, just two years removed from the end of his own playing career. The Yankees beat the Angels, with Mariano Rivera earning his 30th save of the season.
And Paul Goldschmidt, in his rookie season with the D-backs, hit a home run in his first career pinch-hit at-bat — his only pinch-hit home run until the Yankees’ 3-2 win over Seattle on Wednesday.
That was all the way back on Aug. 11, 2011. Wednesday in Seattle, Goldschmidt stepped up to the plate to lead off the top of the seventh, hitting for J.C. Escarra, and launched the first pitch he saw from lefty reliever Gabe Speier a projected 377 feet to left field, tying the game up at 2-2 with his second pinch-hit home run.
“It’s just impressive,” Aaron Judge said. “It shows you the type of player he is and the knowledge he has. His preparation to where he was ready to go from the very first pitch, and he put a great swing on it.”
The gap is the longest between pinch-hit home runs since Todd Helton ended a 14-year drought on April 29, 2012.
The homer brought Goldschmidt’s batting average up to .346 and his OPS up to .901. He’s hitting a league-best .571 against left-handed pitchers, with five doubles and four home runs.
That was a really nice fucking win.
Volpe and Dominguez getting a run on back-to-back doubles after Castillo was cruising (I would have brought in a lefty to neutralize Dominguez, but whatever), then the pinch-hit home run, and then Judge winning it. So cool. Plus great relief pitching from Cruz and Weaver following another outstanding start by Warren.
Warren’s ERA should be even lower than 4.61, as the official scorer bizarrely changed the error in the third to a base hit. Tavares was clearly out if Rice catches that ball normally. What a terrible scoring decision to turn two unearned runs into two earned runs. Blech.
Now we have an offday before the Mets come to town and a certain former Yankee gets to see the fans react to his return. Hopefully Luis Torrens is prepared for the fan reaction.
Featured image is Warren’s fifth K in a row, as he set down the first six batters of the game.
Goldschmidt has been everything we could have hoped for and then some.
That was a great bet by Cash.
Don’t think he’s erased the stink of Gallo and Donaldson. Bellinger TBD. DJ great but stayed too long.
Don’t forget Alex Verdugo
On the other hand Matt Carpenter and going back a ways, David Justice and Glenallen Hill
If we make a list of all the veterans cash bought here I think the bad far outweighs the good.
Youkilis, Hafner, Vernon wells, etc
I think he costs less than anyone mentioned in this thread. The Yankees paid $42m for Vernon Wells and $50m for Donaldson. Let that sink in.
I think Cashman’s love for washed up vets is absurd most times, but Goldschmidt was a steal. He was 2 years removed from an MVP, 1 year from a 120 OPS+ season and his underlying numbers weren’t that far off his career averages.
For a 1 year $12.5m deal, I’m surprised there wasn’t more competition.
My concern with Goldschmidt is that the Yankees will think last year was a fluke and give him a 4 year 120M contract this winter and be regretting it within a year.
Pat him on the back, let Rice/Bellinger play first and sign Tucker.
lol at Torrens
I laughed too but he never played a game on the Yankees.
Bellinger had a bad April but for May hes 286/348/452 which is a bit better than last year and in line with his carreer. If he can do that all year then it’s fine. But wow his April was terrible. 204/281/357. Putrid
Same for Jasson who crushing it in May (273/359/606) vs April (228/317/369).
If he’s as good as May he’s an all star. If he’s as good as April he’s a minor leaguer. Then again most of his May was from one game.
O’s on the verge of being 15-27. How long does Brandon Hyde last? I’d make the move after today if I owned them.
It’s not Hyde’s fault that Mike Elias, despite having the okay from ownership to spend more, won’t
They have a lot of young talent that isn’t showing up this season. Their pitching may not be great, but no excuse for being 15-27. The manager needs to go.
They’re waiting for Jeckyl?
wheelhouse: goldschmidt real? at minimum, seems like he can hang on for a while longer if a team is willing to soft-platoon him against tougher rhp
Dan Szymborski: Eh, there’s a lotta BABIP in there. Even giving him a higher one from his history, there’s a lot of helium