From Henry Palattella:
In the end, Fernando Cruz stood alone in the Yankees’ bullpen.
As compatriot after compatriot was pulled into action in the Yankees’ eventual 7-5, 10-inning win over the Guardians at Progressive field, Cruz remained in the ‘pen. Some of his fellow relievers were called in to put out fires. Some were asked to eat innings. But all of that usage ended with closer David Bednar slapping his glove in celebration on the infield after getting Brayan Rocchio to ground out to end the game.
In the words of manager Aaron Boone:
“It wasn’t pretty, but it was gritty.”
How gritty?
Well, Boone was forced to use his whole bench and seven of his eight relievers. Not every move worked, but the right buttons were pushed at the right time.
From the moment Aaron Judge was held out of the Yankees’ lineup a week ago due to a stress fracture in his right rib, the biggest question on everyone’s mind around the team was how it was going to make up for the loss of Judge’s offensive production.
The Yankees were able to answer that for at least one night, as Monday’s win came with seven runs on nine hits and six walks.
The biggest hit of the night came in the 10th inning, when Cody Bellinger recorded a two-run single off Guardians reliever Shawn Armstrong.
Okay, here’s the problem in a nutshell, broken into three parts.
1. The Yankee starters throw way too many pitches. Will Warren was AWFUL tonight, and he is EXTREMELY lucky to only have allowed two earned runs. He was trash, throwing over 90 pitches and couldn’t even get through five innings. That’s just TERRIBLE.
2. Because the Yankees starters throw too many pitches, the Yankee starters can’t go deep in games, so Boone has to use relievers a lot.
3. Boone has one reliever who is a walking dumpster fire in Camilo Doval, and he has TWO FUCKING LONG MEN.
And there you go, that’s the problem. You have a good closer in Bednar, and you have three pretty reliable arms in Brent Headrick, Fernando Cruz, and Tim Hill. Those guys are being used CONSTANTLY. Headrick is in a four-way tie for fourth in the league in games played, and Hill and Cruz are in a seven-way tie for 8th in the league in games played, but the difference is literally just a game.
The most games pitched is 34. Headrick is at 32, and Cruz and Hill are at 31.
That’s WAY TOO MANY.
And that’s because Boone knows he can only use those three guys in any close game. You have Jake Bird, who is not TOTAL trash, and whatever, he’s fine as a middle inning guy, but then you have TWO LONG MEN, and Boone won’t use either as short men if he can avoid it (and he mostly avoids it), and you have Doval, who Boone rightly doesn’t want to use.
That’s a recipe for disaster, and it is what led to Paul Blackburn pitching as a true short man for the first time all season (May 18th is the last time Boone used him in anything RESEMBLING a short man situation, but I think a true short man situation is coming in in the 6th inning or later to protect a lead. He almost only uses Blackburn when the Yankees are trailing. May 18th against the Blue Jays it was only 4-3 when he came in, so it was still pretty much a short man situation), and Blackburn gave up a home run to blow the lead. I’m not going to knock Blackburn too much, as it was just his second home run allowed all season (2 in 28 and 2/3 innings pitched), but if Boone doesn’t trust him as a true short man, and if he doesn’t trust Ryan Yarbrough as a short man, and if he doesn’t trust Camilo Doval as a short man, then YOU HAVE TO MAKE A MOVE. You cannot keep forcing your three reliable arms to pitch every fucking game. You NEED other reliable short men in the pen. Doval needs to be sent to the minors. He’s controllable through next season, let him work on his shit, and see if he can actually learn to locate a fucking splitter. Call up Yovanny Cruz. Then, when Lagrange is ready, DFA Blackburn or Yarbrough. I know that that means that they will be picked up by, like, the Blue Jays, and pitch a shutout against the Yankees the next time they face them, but that’s just what you’ll have to deal with.
The bullpen, in general, pitched well, and Bednar, in particular, was pretty darn good, throwing less than 30 pitches in 1 2/3 innings to first get the game to extras, and then to hold the lead. A well-deserved win for him.
As for the offense, they were okay, honestly. Trent Grisham continues to hit, and Paul Goldschmidt looks oddly good. Max Schuemann had a huge walk when they intentionally walked Ben Rice to face him, and that set up Belli’s heroics. Schuemann already looks more competent at the plate than Volpe. So just send Volpe down when Dominguez is healthy.
Belli gets the featured image for the second game in a row. Boy, has he been great this season (Schuemann thrown out at third on the hit. What is up with Yankees getting thrown out at bases on big late game hits this season?).
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If they used their 2 long men like long men maybe the bullpen can be saved. If you bring out Blackburn or Yarby to start the 6th inning and let them throw 2-3 innings maybe you won’t have Headrick throwing so often?
Nice lead after 6 let Yarby finish the game.
Fair, but the trick is that the offense hasn’t been scoring as many runs lately, so they haven’t had leads where you’d be willing to send Yarbrough out there for three innings.
Having just a SINGLE long man would still allow those outings to exist, they’d just also be balanced with games where the Yankees could turn to Short Man 1, Short Man 2 and, like, ONE of Hill, Cruz, and Headrick, and then the next game could have the other two guys pitch.
It can’t be Cruz, Headrick, and Hill pitching THIS much.
Insanity, thy name is Boone. Cabby to sit tonight, Volpe to start at shortstop.
Volpe needs to be demoted just to prevent Boone from starting him every night!
100%
When he came out swinging and they didn’t immediately turn him into a minor league arm there was a problem. He just doesn’t hit well enough to keep the spot because Cabby has been a sparkplug and there are other options.
I always liked Peraza and that was rough watching him struggle but even he is putting up a 116+ given regular playing time. Just let Volpe figure it out in the minors and see what happens.
needs to be traded
He’s a utility guy, he needs to start getting reps at 2B and 3b. He’s figured it out. He’s been the same for 3 years plus.
You think Cashman cares?
Find someone that believes in you like Cashman believes in Volpe.
My wife does. Not sure what that says about my performance.
“[You’re] a very young man that has had a lot of success and it is easy to forget that. I believe in the person, his will and his ability.”
– Aaron Boone
“ I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!”
Stuart Smalley.
I mean, Cashman literally demoted him to the minors just THIS season. I don’t think there’s any reason for Volpe to NOT be on the roster right now. It’s when they send down Jones or Schuemann instead of him is when the problem comes.
With two automatic outs at catcher right now, they REALLY need to keep Jones on the team so that he can pinch hit for the catcher late in the game.
He needs to be in the minors until he can figure out how to put the bat on the ball. And play 2nd, since he has a noodle arm.
There is literally no other position player on the 40 man. So, as long as Dominguez is out, Volpe pretty much HAS to be on the roster.
Jonathan Ornelas has 427 games at ss, 119 at 3b and 106 games at 2b and is hitting .314 .378 .487 .865 at Scranton. It’s buoyed by a babip 50 points over his career avg, but why not give him a shot?
Because you’d be wasting a 40-man spot on a guy who would be sent down in a week.
But every at bat that Volpe gets is a waste. He got two last night and will start tonight. Keeping him on the roster costs the team wins.
If they lost him for nothing the only thing they would lose would be face anyway.
You simply tell your manager not to start him. You don’t add guys you don’t need to the 40 man just because your manager is stubbornly playing a guy over a better player.
although if we don’t think Boone gets to write out the lineup, it goes back to Cashman, as it always does
Can we write Boone out of the lineup?
My new game to distract myself from doing work is picking a team at random and naming ten players off of the top of my head who played for that team and the Yankees.
https://pickerwheel.com/tools/random-mlb-team-generator/
Here’s who I came up with for the Astros:
1 Carlos Beltran
2 Brian McCann
3 Jose Cruz
4 Gerrit Cole
5 Joe Niekro
6 Andy Pettitte
7 Roger Clemens
8 Dwight Gooden
9 Octavio Dotel
10 Lance Berkman
Dodgers
1 Yoendrys Gomez
2 Raul Mondesi
3 Russell Martin
4 Tommy John
5 Mariano Duncan
6 Ben Rortvedt
7 Nathan Eovaldi
8 Gary Sheffield
9 Steve Sax
10 Willie Randolph
I double-checked to make sure I was right about Randolph, and it is crazy that 36-year-old Willie Randolph had over 4 bWAR for Milwaukee in 1991!!
Volpe HAS been a really excellent fielder, no long ago.
I’d like him to go find serious coaches to help him hit, I think he’s capable of it.
But it’s not going to happen by leaving him on the roster and hoping at him.
Athletics
1 Randy Velarde
2 Jose Canseco
3 Ruben Sierra
4 Reggie Jackson
5 Catfish Hunter
6 Luis Severino
7 Sonny Gray
8 Frankie Montas
9 JP Sears
10 Jason Giambi
https://i.imgflip.com/atxb5m.jpg
When’s the next Knicks watch party at Bryant Park? Gotta be fun, eh? 😏
Spence numero uno. I felt it.
443 feet. A line drive. 112 MPH. BIG BOY SHOT.