From Bryan Hoch:
Juan Soto seemed lost. Unable to swing a bat as he deals with inflammation in his left forearm, the slugger occupied his time with a variety of tasks in the dugout on Saturday evening, refreshing Gerrit Cole’s cup of Gatorade during a television interview and counseling Anthony Volpe ahead of a bases-loaded at-bat.
Nothing against those well-intentioned contributions, but the Yankees cannot wait until they can have the superstar back at home plate. For a second consecutive night, Soto’s absence was felt as the offense scuffled in an 11-3 loss to the Dodgers at Yankee Stadium.
Boy, this lineup sure went to shit in a hurry without Juan Soto, huh?
Obviously, the pitching was also terrible (probably the worst day of pitching for the team all season), but the pitching was a bit fluky, and the biggest blow happened after Gleyber Torres made another one of his routine errors (it is crazy how many players are trying to make it so easy on us to never miss them when they’re gone), but this offense is kind of crazy. The back of the lineup is just filled with dudes with crazy low OPSes, and while Gleyber and LeMahieu seem like they have some chance of raising them (LeMahieu you can tell is starting to get back into form, going 2-3 with a walk, and the hits actually being line drives, which, of course, just raises the question of, “Why didn’t they just make the guy spend more time in the Minors getting ready instead of having him work through his shit in the Majors?” and Gleyber has showed some signs). Wells is young enough that you hope HE improves, too (how is he THIS bad of a hitter in the Majors? His whole deal was that he was a bad defender, but he could hit, and he hasn’t hit for shit), but the main thing is that Rizzo is absolutely washed, and Grisham is a waste of space.
Nestor gets the featured image for coming up really small.
can’t have a win without a loss.
oh shit, Thorpe being promoted to the show. hope he crushes it.
He’s crushing the minors and the white Sox stink, so why not?
Of course if Soto is really hurt and then leaves at the end of the season and Thorpe becomes a big winner the calls for Cashmans head will increase.
eh, same ppl clamoring for outside IF help (no not withstanding). the Soto move has already paid off big and what I believe is a ws appearance and victory, in part, on his back.
I’m upset about the last two games, but am confident gil will right the ship.
we, also, have only seen trickles (pen) of the Spector of the 40 man and org depth. tomorrow will be grand.
Yeah, I don’t think anyone will begrudge the Soto trade, even if Thorpe becomes a stud.
That said, they really DO need to resign Soto.
Yes as noted you gotta give something go get something and if he’s a good pitcher other teams might be more willing to trade with you…,
If Soto gets them one WS win the trade will be worth it even if he walks.
He’s 23 and never pitched in AAA. What hurts is that both Hampton and Lalane have been on the shelf all year for us.
honestly though, we are awash with talent. hitter and pitcher alike
@milb .@Yankees ace Gerrit Cole spins another solid rehab start for the @SOMPatriots:
4.2 IP
2 H
1 R
0 BB
4 K
57 pitches; 44 strikes
Marinaccio up, Santana DFA-no surprise.
How much do you have to suck for Blake to not even be able to turn you around?
nach is back. adios Dennis.
The Martian is 3/3 with a home run this afternoon. He’s now hitting 500/1500 in his 5th AAA game and 19th rehab game. But seriously, what if he’s more than just good but truly Martiantonian Good?
still only 5 games. let’s see how he is at game 30, not as a measure of performance but, rather, grind
110 MPH, 430 feet, that’s Soto, Judge, Stanton serious. Is there a good fit for Verdugo somewhere?
https://x.com/milb/status/1799873154396873041?s=61&t=fhOaqwtc8q2TMSXUDRjPeg
He was that good when he was with the major league team. The evidence is building.
I’d rather not repeat volpe v1 or Jesus Montero v2. keep him down for a little longer
Well, it’s an argument to have. I’d say his first stint in the majors shows he’s not inclined to have Volpe v1 first season. I’d certainly give him a chance to prove that.
in this case I’d prefer to cook a little longer. make the kid earn it. there’s benefit of seeing lesser specimens on the farm grind the fuck out. possibly (and probably) an indelible lesson
i couldn’t disagree more. he has already forced their hand.
i have no doubt he’d outperform verdugo, forget grisham or some of the other guys taking up space.
unfortunately it’s not their biggest need – but he would still help on offense and defense.
eh, verdugos on pace for a 3 war season bolstered by above avg offense and defense. most importantly, he walks and doesn’t strike out much. Dominguez will yield a 25% k rate+. if we’re talking a Stanton replacement, sure, but verdugo is one of the best contributors. ffs, he’s hitting 2nd tonight
Dominguez is better than Verdugo, I don’t think that’s a serious argument. But I agree, he shouldn’t come up to replace Verdugo, they should make it a way to replace, say, Rizzo with Dominguez. That’s an enormous jump. They need to find a place for him. Clay thinks its unrealistic someone – say, Verdugo – can take over first, I’m not so sure we haven’t seen that kind of thing happen successfully in the past.
I call bs on the dominguez > verdugo in 2024. I think verdugos skillet also lends itself better for playoff baseball. for reg season dominguez ‘might’ have the advantage
Call what you want. Jasson had almost a 1000 ops in his short stint – yes, it was short. He’s hitting better than that now – yes, it’s in the minors. But it was impressive.
Verdugo last OPSed 800 in 2020. Yes, it was a full season.
But I really don’t think we’re talking about comparable talent levels.
I’m only talking about this season, verdugo is career/fa yearing it from what it appears. his skill set also plays better in the playoffs. Dominguez was also awful defensively in the same limited stretch which is more reliable than hitting a few bombs over a handful of games
I am not saying they should jettison Verdugo, obviously, but that Dominguez would be the third best hitter on the team.
All that guy does is hit.
The construction of the team sucks though.
also possible Soto (and his team) doesnt want red ink on his 2024 resume. minor inconvenience for Yankees, larger convenience for Soto et al
Not sure what this means.
il stint = bad for fa
ah
Holy shit, Boone is a madman. Rizzo gets the game off, but GRISHAM gets the #5 spot!!
The bottom of the lineup has been so bad that maybe it makes no difference? Or Boone being Boone.
I find it hard to believe that there’s no difference between Gleyber and Grisham.
082/432
The only amazing thing here is that Boone can reach levels of stupidity that amaze even those of us who have watched him ruin line-ups and games for years.
But yes, that’s insane.
boonacy
go gil go
a cy young is won tonight.
also, should dominguez win the roy next year aren’t the benefits pretty significant, especially for a team like the Yankees?
Re Volpe vs Dominguez, Volpe wasn’t particularly good his last season at AAA, he won the job in ST.
And Cashman was very un-Cashman like and had him start nearly every game even when Volpe sucked at the plat for weeks at a time.
Rays narrowed the O’s lead to 3-2, but O’s get the 2 runs right back and lead 5-2.
Jasson ads his 4th hit of the game.
‘Adds’.
A 2-run double (103.8 MPH) for Ben Rice.
I wonder how his 1b D is
“Players who win Rookie of the Year earn their team an amateur draft pick “after the first round,” and second- or third-place finishers earn an international pick.”
this has Yankees (and dodgers) written all over it
Jasson’s HR earlier in the game, 429 feet/109.8 MPH.
Anthony Seigler with 6 HR’s in his last 8 games.
Get the benefit of Jasson while he’s as young as possible – and already good. And not hurt.
too, purely, frenetic for me. a little bit of angling is fine w me.
“It certainly had nothing to do with the slugger’s on-field performance. Beckwith was a career .349/.403/.584 hitter in the Negro Leagues, with 75 home runs and 403 RBIs in just 483 games — numbers that are remarkably similar to Hall of Famer Willie Wells. Using Seamheads’ similarity scores (their career stats for Beckwith differ from MLB’s), he lines up neatly with three more baseball immortals in Rogers Hornsby, Joe DiMaggio and Alex Rodriguez.”
It’s just so utterly ridiculous that they’re making things look even worse than they really are. I’m sure he was awesome, but no calculation is going to make 483 games and 75 home runs comparable to the careers of Hornsby, DiMaggio and Rodriguez. I mean, just stop with the nonsense, already. You’re trying way too hard and it’s embarrassing.
It is so stupid. It has been known for decades that the Negro Leagues were pitching poor. The best study estimates say AA+, sometimes AAA.
Jackie Robinson played no organized ball, outside of some college ball a few years prior, dropped into the NeL and put up a 205 OPS+ in his season there. Easily the best he would ever do professionally.
This is just awful virtue signaling and an embarrassment as you say.
Gotta give it up to the Orioles. The Yankees took the slightest mis-step, and they’ve pounced.
personally, I blame rortvedt
Sure, but they’re still behind. And if the Yankees play well, I’m not worried about any team over the long haul. (A short series you always worry about, of course.)
Jayson werth’s pony won the Belmont.
This is the day Gil comes crashing down to Earth I feel
why must you upset me
Gary Phillips Aaron Boone thinks Juan Soto is going to go through his normal routine today. He might be an option today and could be back in the lineup in KC. #Yankees
Weird timing, that’s all.
Yeah, it could just be awful, awful timing, just like Verdugo’s paternity leave happening to be during the Orioles series.
The Devil Rays’ fall to genuine badness was stunningly rapid, wasn’t it?
They did that thing where they kept trading away their good players without it affecting them that when they did it again, we all figured it wouldn’t hurt them, and it very much has.
Not only that, but last year’s team was buoyed by all of their hitters having abnormally good seasons, and now those same hitters, well, you know, AREN’T having abnormally good seasons.
and their cornerstone ss went very astray