June 14, 2026

45 thoughts on “Yankees (39-26) @ Guardians (37-31), Tuesday, June 9, 2026, 6:40 PM EDT”

    1. As long as either his BA is above 200 or OPS over 600, the job is his.

      I assume it’s between phenom and Schumann and phenom better long 2B and/or 3b

  12. The simple fact of the matter is that the only teams with catchers who can hit are in playoff contention (or are the Red Sox). There is no one out there that Cashman can even acquire to improve the offense at the position except a dude with a broken hamate bone.

    1. But there’s a middle ground between being a good hitter and being absolutely hopeless, say 215/600.
      .

    2. The big thing there is that obviously no one, us included, thought Wells would ever suck THIS much.

      Escarra, sure, I could believe he might just be a AAAA hitter, but Wells should not be THIS bad. So I don’t think it was unreasonable of them to think that Wells would have been a .700 OPS guy this season, and thus one of the ten or so best catchers in baseball.

      Instead, he just sucked SO bad.

      So what do you do? There was no one out there to acquire to be a backup who would rarely play.

  13. JC 167/464. I was serious about trying to bunt Jones in. You need to treat JC like it’s the pitcher’s spot and JC needs to learn to bunt.

  15. When the Martian gets here he’ll be taking ABs mostly from Jones or PGold, not a catcher or phenom or McMahon. Who goes down Jones, phenom, or Schumann?

    1. with rigorous coaching in the minors maybe he can make an adjustment, but it isn’t going to happen in the bronx

    1. Cruz caught a break on that check swing. How long before that’s computerized?

  29. Is Dominguez a worse fielding SS than
    Volpe? All kidding aside I have been a fan since 1971 and I have never seen a bad player given this much rope. There have been terrible players but they didn’t get starting jobs for 3 years into a 4th. Stephen Drew was bad but was gone after 600 at bats. Vernon Wells was bad at baseball but less than 500 ABs. This Volpe thing is insane.

    1. there has to be a guy in AA/AAA for most teams that can come up and field and put up an 80, no?

  30. Now that he can also throw his splitter for strikes he’s really dangerous.

    Katie S Fernando Cruz Last 14 Games:

    15.1 IP
    1 R
    17 K
    0.59 ERA
    0.72 WHIP

  31. Agree with everyone (except Boone and Cashman) that there is no place for Volpe on this team. A few other thoughts:
    – Rice should start at catcher, rather than having the catcher function as the pitcher’s spot.
    – Judge should not play the field when he comes back. Stanton, even less so.
    – Jones and Dominguez should play every inning. One of them probably gets traded for bullpen arms, but maybe not, and meanwhile you’ve got two young players who will get better with the reps.
    – Grisham and Stanton could be tremendous assets off the bench.
    – Bellinger can play 1B in a pinch.

    Here are a couple lineups that could be relatively intimidating in October:

    versus LHP starter:
    1) Goldschmidt 1B (may PH Grisham vs RHP reliever; then move Bellinger to 1B)
    2) Rice C (move to 1B if Stanton PH’s for Grisham, then moving Bellinger back to LF)
    3) Judge DH
    4) Bellinger LF
    5) Rosario 3B (may PH McMahon vs RHP reliever, or just for defense if a significant lead)
    6) Chisholm 2B
    7) Dominguez RF
    8) Jones CF
    9) Caballero SS

    Bench:
    Stanton (save for late inning PH spot)
    Grisham
    McMahon (hitting for Rosario vs RHP reliever)
    Schuemann
    BUC (Escarra, Sanchez, or Wells; if they come in, it’s because Goldy has come out and Rice has moved to 1B)

    versus RHP starter:
    1) Dominguez RF
    2) Rice C
    3) Judge DH
    4) Bellinger 1B (move to CF when Goldy comes in)
    5) Jones CF
    6) Grisham LF
    7) Caballero SS
    8) Chisholm 2B
    9) McMahon 3B

    Bench vs RHP starter:
    Stanton
    Rosario
    Goldschmidt
    Schuemann
    BUC (Escarra, Sanchez, or Wells)

    1. I think Stanton is too streaky and strikes out too much to be effective as a PH. And when he’s on one of his tears you really need him in the lineup every day. Plus he can’t take over a spot on the field.

      And I think the team feels making Rice catch will compromise him offensively.

      But given the shitty roster construction we’re dealing with, I wouldn’t hate this approach.

    2. I absolutely believe Stanton can play the field some. I think it’s probably BETTER for him to be moving more.
      I kind of trust Cone on the Rice question – in terms of day-to-day value, you want him behind the plate – maybe do it for a month, or for a month and a half every other day, to ease the pain of Judge’s absence while you find a real solution for catcher? If Wells is treatable and comes back even at last year’s performance leve, that’s a pretty significant improvement in and of itself.

    3. Agree with Cabby at SS. I like Jones and Dominguez playing every day, but I’m actually coming around to Brian’s position – if last year is Grisham’s norm, then damn, it’s hard not to play the guy. And it’s looking l like the first 2 months were just plain dumb bad luck.

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