September 7, 2024

139 thoughts on “Yankees (54-36) vs. Red Sox (48-39) Saturday, July 6, 2024, 1:05 PM EDT”

  1. What will tell Boone/Cash that DJ is done? Or is DJ the man until his contract is up because Hal paid for him so dammit they’ll use him. This infield DJ, Gleyber, Volpe, Waldo pretty, pretty bad. Our 4th outfielder pretty, pretty bad. Our cleanup hitter is a 6 or 7 hitter.

    1. I’d trade him, but only for a haul. Given how young he is, we’re light years away from giving up on the potential for him to master the strike zone.

    2. The thing is he’s not that young and he came from a major college baseball program as opposed to Rice who went to Dartmouth and missed two years of college baseball. I would’ve expected Jones to be more advanced by now. I hope our evaluators know what they’re doing.

  3. Waldo looked great for the first month. The way this season is going, I no longer know how to judge any of the players.
    Volpe had two stretches of being GREAT. At the end of both, his stats looked GREAT. He followed each with a stretch of absolutely, queasy-looking-into-the-void-where-there-isn’t-even-nothing nothing. At the end of each, his stats looked lousy. Is he really good, but having slumps? Does he such, but had two (already!) anomalous hot streaks?
    Is JDLM done, or is he adjusting? If he DID start hitting, would that just be an anomalous and deceptive hot streak (a la Volpe), but he’s really done? If he had a slump after hitting… and Gil was fantastic, and he was fantastic against good teams, and he was fantastic in some difficult situations.
    How can we come to any understanding of the players or the team with this kind of inconsistency? If neither good nor bad performance has any predictive value, it’s like watching white noise.
    Very frustrating.

  5. With no Weaver and Cole still on a pitch limit who pitches the 6th? The bottom 4 in the lineup today OPS+ 80, 94 and dropping fast, 71, and 36! for the guy signed thru 2026.

    1. Let’s say, SOMEHOW, Cole has a lead when he leaves after five (maybe even into the 6th). I probably go Tonkin for an inning and whatever left from Cole’s inning (like let’s say Cole goes 5 1/3, then Tonkin goes 1 and 2/3. If Cole gets through 5 2/3 then Tonkin goes 1 1/3. So for the 7th and 8th innings…fuck, I have no idea. I guess Josh Maciejewski for the 7th, then Hill for the 8th, and Holmes to blow the save in the ninth.

      Boone being Boone, though, it’ll probably be Jake Cousins in for relief of Cole, then Ferguson, then Hill, then Tonkin in the 8th. By then, though, they’ll have given up eight runs in relief.

    2. Didn’t Cole throw over 90 pitches last time? How strict could his pitch limit be?

  6. Gary Phillips: Baghdad Aaron:” Boone rewatched the DJ LeMahieu hustle play. He felt he was trying get down the line but had a hard time getting into gear before pushing at the end, “which wasn’t the most efficient way of doing it.”

    “I did see a guy that was battling to get into a good running form.”

  7. The Athletic: Since Anthony Volpe moved to the leadoff spot on April 10, he has had the worst on-base percentage among every New York Yankees player with at least 250 plate appearances. He ranks as the third-worst leadoff hitter with his 87 wRC+. No leadoff hitter is generating more soft contact than Volpe. Volpe has led off for 76 games. It raises the question: Why?

    Boone or Cash? Which idiot decided to stick with him through half a season. The same one who will play DJ almost daily?

    1. Yeah, I never wanted him in the leadoff spot period, but I was stunned they just WOULDN’T REMOVE HIM.

      The issue with DJ is that A. He is still an excellent defender, and B. There is at least a chance he figures his shit out, I don’t think that chance exists for Waldo, and there isn’t another third baseman on the roster.

    2. Waldo’s also the backup SS. Waldo’s less bad right now and younger but DJ’s too expensive to cut loose. They seem to think when 34yo league average Berti is back things will be better. As if.

    3. Nobody’s too expensive to not play if they’re hurting the team. Either you think DJLM’s about to turn the corner, or you don’t play him.
      What’s worse than both paying AND playing him to the team’s detriment? Paying him gets you the OPTION of playing him, not the obligation to play him.
      Yes, I know, they’ll never, ever be able to act like they understand that.

      And in response to Brian: they should GET a better third baseman on the roster. That’s what they’re paid the ludicrous bucks for.

    4. I think they would be willing to get a replacement third baseman, and have DJ go back to being a super sub (he’s even better defensively at second than third), but there really aren’t any worthwhile third baseman available.

  8. Rice!

    But I can’t help thinking he’ll kick ass and then suddenly be wretched for no reason and we won’t know which is meaningful.

  9. Parboiled that one. If Rizzo weren’t hurt and he was OPSing like 80 Rice would still be at Scranton.

    Vivas last 21 days 356/493/644 and he’ll be at Scranton unless DJ or Gleyber gets hurt AND Berti isn’t ready.

    1. I don’t know but I really think the Yankees need a high OBP guy to lead off.

    2. I’m becoming more willing to support a Soto/Judge 1/2, with Rice batting third. As DJ just doesn’t seem like he’ll ever be able to get back to being a good leadoff hitter.

    3. Back in the days when this was a statistics blog, the consensus was that the only real effect of batting order was to distribute ABs. That logic would strongly support your idea.

  12. Come on.
    And now Cole will need at least one really economical inning, preferably two.
    But first, get out of this unscathed.

  18. Yankees are 18th in OPS with the bases loaded. I’m sure it’s much worse the last 30 days. I know they are first in bases loaded GIDPs with the bases loaded.

    1. Even Devers who doesn’t seem like a speed merchant. OTOH he’s OPSing 410 last 14 days.

  31. Volpe batting 5th 179/448 last 28 days, last 7 077/227. He makes DJ look like Mike Schmidt. And Grisham a 156 hitter batting 6th. It’s never been this bad before Cash. Best young hitters recently Sanchez, Bird and Volpe. Ref left NY and learned how to hit.

    1. Even as pathetic as DJ has been, that groundout shocked me (because it was on a ball. DJ’s batting eye has been his best attribute for years, so for him to expand the zone to hit the ball on the ground?!? Are you INSANE?!). But yes, bunting ahead of DJ was just ludicrous. The odds of Trevy getting a single HAVE to be better than DJ getting a hit or sac fly, right?

  35. See, that’s managing. All you had was a man on 2nd and no outs. He was able to turn that into a man on third and two outs!

  36. And DJ hits a weak ground ball-OF course. Look Vivas is probably a AAAA hitter but the Yankees need to roll the device with this pathetic hitting group of DJ, Volpe, Gleyber, Waldo and Jones who never plays the infield.

  38. How long can they stick with DJ? Volpe’s no better now. Waldo is less bad but still terrible. And Gleyber is the least bad but still bad.
    As I said if Rizzo weren’t hurt, but terrible, Rice would still be in Scranton.

  41. Aaron as long as you were going to take out Cole, just FYI Devers OPS is 300 points HIGHER against RHPs than LHPs so maybe, just maybe, not to question your impeccable judgement you might have brought in Hill to face Devers. And I won’t even mention Devers incredible success against Cole.

  45. The issue with DJ is … and B. There is at least a chance he figures his shit out …

    Then they should hit him in front of Soto or Judge.

    2. Remember who you root for and don’t get greedy. Can you lose one?

    1. Well, you’ve felt from the start, I think, that this is one of those “who can be more incompetent” kind of games.

  60. Can you imagine what Rice must be feeling? Awesome.

    And what the hell was that first pitch to Soto? It was at least a foot over the strike zone.

    1. Brian, I admire you for keeping your expectations high through this unimaginable slog.
      They’ve already surpassed mine, and then some.

  63. How can we ruin Rice? He was my last year crush. Doing better than most of my crushes like Trey Amburgey. Only one service had Ricein the top 100. MLB had him the 12th best Yankees prospect.

  64. I can’t believe they called that. In the middle of an AB? okay.
    But to end an AB – and the inning! – against Soto, of all people?!

  66. How can you POSSIBLY give Volpe an error on that? The throw was right at first, and got there well before the runner. That’s NUTS.

    I’m sure that’ll be changed.

  67. When Rizzo was struggling some of us were screaming that Rice should play only first but the brain trust insisted that he catch also.

  70. Man, firing Girardi for Boone really was such a dick move, and all because of Cashman’s ego. I was willing to give it to him at the time, because obviously Cashman was so important to the team, but geez louise, it was such a dick move.

    1. We wouldn’t be worried about it, though, had Boone not turned out to be a historically bad manager.

    4. He wasn’t fired, they didn’t offer him a new contract. And he was burned out, like, to a crisp.

  72. I have to note: the minute it was hit, Volpe broke out in a big smile. I really hope that guy makes it.

    But back to business:
    Chances Rice sits tomorrow?

    1. Don’t you worry. After a game like this, Boone’s just licking his chops, with a spot all warmed up and waiting for Rice on the bench.

  83. Comment #4 on SOSH “I have never heard of Ben Rice and he’s leading off for the MFYs,” three home runs later they’re making fun of his teeth.

  86. The fascinating thing is that even as the Yankees utterly collapsed this past month, it’s not like the Orioles have been blowing past them. They’re only two games up on the Yankees despite the Yankees having lost 14 of their past 19 games. It’s kind of crazy. It’s the Red Sox who have really made the most of the Yankees’ (and Orioles) recent poor play.

    1. I think he know he’s gone after this season either way, so I don’t think he’ll be too upset one way or the other, especially as they could always DH Rice and have Rizzo play first base.

    2. The rumors of Rizzo’s death are premature. Remember Kevin Maas and Greg Bird and factor in who our manager is.

      Didn’t we hav e a SS earlier this year who was a borderline all star. Is he hurt?

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