From Bryan Hoch:
What exactly happened during the 35 minutes the tarp covered the Yankee Stadium infield Tuesday night? Not much, Austin Wells said — just “some time to relax.” But when the skies cleared, the Yankees’ bats finally woke up. Bad weather didn’t mean bad news.
Held to just a Cody Bellinger single through the first four innings by a sharp Logan Gilbert, the Yankees erupted once play resumed, thumping the Mariners, 10-3, in the opener of a three-game series in the Bronx.
“We were just getting balls more in the middle of the plate,” said Giancarlo Stanton, who broke the game open with a three-run blast off Gilbert in the sixth inning. “Just being on time with balls in the zone. I think the third time through [the order] helps, too.”
Well, that was nice.
Will Warren is such a talented pitcher, but boy, what a fucking headcase. Seven runs in one inning against Toronto, and then he does really well against Seattle even with a 35-minute rain delay in the middle of everything. Just crazy.
I am irked that Boone didn’t use Luke Weaver in this one once it was 10-0. I wanted to see how he could do in a low leverage situation. I get that the bullpen is so fucked up that turning to Weaver in a high leverage spot is probably still better than some of the other options, so I get why Boone DIDN’T do it, but I would still have just done it if I were him.
Let’s look at what the state of the bullpen is right now.
1. Williams is the only guy you feel good about right now, and even he blew the game against Toronto last week, but otherwise, he’s been quite good for almost two months now.
2. Tim Hill has been good
3. I think Jonathan Loaisiga has mostly been unlucky. I still trust him.
Then you get 4. Luke Weaver, who has given up a home run in his last THREE appearances. I don’t know how you can use the guy in a high leverage spot during all of this nonsense. But otherwise, the options are…
5. Ian Hamilton, who I don’t even know if he should be in the Majors right now
6. Scott Effross, who is obviously washed due to injuries
7. JT Brubaker, who is a long man only, and
8 Clayton Beeter, who was good in the minors, but awful in the Majors in his one shot last week against Toronto,
Geoff Hartlieb (and his 40.50 ERA) will likely be DFAed to make room for Cam Schlitter on the 40-man AND the active roster.
I guess you try to acquire two relievers and send down Effross and Beeter.
By the way, Mark Leiter has been bad lately, and it turns out he was hurt in FUCKING JUNE, PEOPLE! He had been pitching well before that point, but then got hurt in JUNE, during a stretch where Boone had him throw something like 1,356 pitches in back-to-back games, and shockingly, he’s been bad since. This training staff is terrible.
Meanwhile, Oswald Peraza is now the starting third baseman, as DJ LeMahieu apparently cannot physically play third base, which is why they’ve kept Jazz at third. I noted earlier in the year that it seemed awfully suspicious that they wouldn’t let Lemahieu play third even when the other option was Jorbit Vivas (who is way too short to play third), and there ya go, they do not believe LeMahieu physically can play third anymore. Annoyingly, LeMahieu has actually been hitting fine recently, but if he can’t play third, then he’s a mediocre bench bet that can only play second base? So I guess when you pinch hit for Peraza late, you have to slide Jazz over to third still to let LeMahieu play second? It’s amazing to me that LeMahieu legit can’t play third base. Craziness.
Anyhow, the Yankees now have a 1.5 lead on the second Wild Card, which is something.
The featured image is Will Warren celebrating getting out of a jam in the fifth inning.
From Yankees.com;
There is NO fucking way he’s coming back in fucking August. Mid-September if you’re LUCKY.
“Maybe DJ can DH.”
You know…. he may be 51, but I think that really might be the best route for this team to go.
Please tell me everyone got this (but didn’t think it was funny enough)!
It’s nice Boonie finally figured out he should play his good defenders where they defend good just as soon as that Athletic article came out ripping him to pieces over it.
Five days and 3 Jazz bad throws later
Is LeMahieu’s arm just a noodle now? Maybe that’s why he can’t physically play third.
Spencer Jones 2-4 with a home run, 385/1315
Spencer Jones smokes this one 110 mph and 418-feet for his fifth homer in 10 games!
https://x.com/swbrailriders/status/1943018601197220232
Too bad he’s not a 3B
He can probably play 3b as well as DJ.
I legit wonder whether we’ll see Escarra get a start at third. His bat is pretty decent (91 OPS+ in a small sample size), and with Rice in the mix behind the plate, Escarra’s role is a bit ill-defined at the moment.
He’s only played two innings at the hot corner (one in two different games), but it might be worth a shot.
Joe Torre, Todd Zeile, IKF, and even Josh Donaldson, a number of players have moved from catcher to third.
Russell Martin was also used at third a number of times for the Dodgers.
Brandon Inge was a catcher early in his career before he became a full-time third baseman.
Try it, you cowards!
Actually, I think IKF was an infielder who tried catching to break into the Majors, so he doesn’t count, but the others do!
Yankees DFA LeMahieu.
It was only a matter of time once they determined he couldn’t play third base, and wouldn’t be playing second. If he’s only available to play second base, and he won’t be playing that, what are you even doing?
The annoying thing is that I think he could stick somewhere else as a second baseman. That will piss the shit out of me if he ends up in, like, fucking Toronto or some shit.
I though they’d wait until they called up Candelario (or acquired another third baseman).
DJ DFA
DFAJ
Jays lose.
DJ will probably go somewhere and hit .300 for a month just like Hicks, who they’re still paying, right?
Yep, this is their last year paying Hicks.
One million next year
Any self-respecting ownership group would rather be on the hook for Bobby Bonilla’s contract. It’s better value going forward than Hicks or LeMahieu. And it’s a drop in the bucket compared to what can be made investing with Bernie Madoff.