October 2, 2026

38 thoughts on “Yankees.com: Judge to face live pitching Monday, setting up long-awaited return”

  1. It’s fascinating how Spencer has been psychologically capable of sacrificing power to change his profile – and as a result has become an increasingly valuable player.
    Power is such a point of pride, it’s what most often makes hitters famous, it must be such a hard thing for for an athlete to abandon.
    Obviously, we’d like to see more power, but I find this genuinely impressive.

    1. Interestingly, Savant suggests a lot more room for sacrifice – they measure great bat speed and barrel rate (with excellent hard-hit rate and launch angles), but a poor squared-up rate as well as high whiff and chase rates that correlate with his still high K rate. Will be nifty to see how much more he can adjust.

  3. Random thought of the day – assuming I read the stats correctly, the Yankees have the fewest runners left on base in the AL.

    Which makes sense for a low OBP high HR hitting team.

  4. Do they have a plan? Typically when someone is rehabbing they a day of DH, then a day in the field, then a day off. Maybe 6/7 innings for the first few days.

    1. And to prevent a season-ending re-injury, why not limit Judge to DH for the whole year? Sure, they haven’t wanted Rice to catch, but he’d surely do better than Wells at the plate and better than Ali Sanchez at everything.

  6. How would we formulate a stat called “Preparedness” that measures things like how well a team bunts, runs the bases (counting not speed, but decisions – when to steal and when not to), throws to the right base, etc.?

  7. How would we formulate a stat called “Preparedness” that measures things like how well a team bunts, runs the bases (counting not speed, but decisions – when to steal and when not to), throws to the right base, etc.? What would go into it and how could we measure it?

    1. Very interesting. Preparedness, or maybe execution?
      Might consider an approach based in win probability. The difference of the expected WPA of an event versus the actual WPA.
      If you want to make it independent of the players’ “tools” – speed, arm, etc – you’d also have to normalize for the “tools” of the individual player involved.

    2. I like this idea alot, but what if we rolled up if further and had comprehensive analysis rooted in categories about organizational philosophy? It would not be unlike how much expenditure goes into each facet, results over a period of time, etc etc

    3. On further thought, it would also be reasonable to track this by creating new counting stats that could be called, say, “Team W-L” or “World Series Championships”.

    6. To be crystal clear, the reason I wasn’t trying make this measure TOO global is that my actual goal is to damningly quantify my scorn for Boone.

    9. Still want one that would be more of a True Outcome on Boone.
      And it’s still an interesting idea. The things a manager and coaching staff are supposed to drill. Throws to the right base, when NOT to steal – what else would be on that list? The ability to bunt. What else?
      Not sure we should include fouling off close pitches with two strikes, although GODDAMMIT JEZUS H F*ING CHRIST ON A STICK!!!…

    10. Regardless of your inputs, I think (and I think you’ll like this one) measuring how a player performs once in Boone’s hands is the best determinant. Via the farm, trade, or FA. That’d be the death knell.

  8. Yup I’m with Jeff L on this one. Watching one young player after another having their best years in Year 1-2 and then get worse is both infuriating to me and damning of Boone and his coaching staff.

    1. Yes. It’s happened twice with catchers and shortstops. Sanchez and Torres started off at all-star level and dropped off to average. Volpe and Wells started off at league average and dropped off to replacement level.

    2. Obviously.
      I’m with you all on this.
      But there’s also the Dodgers laughing at how fundamentally unsound the team is.
      Admitting one of Boone’s failings doesn’t mean denying Boone’s other failings!

    3. The Dodgers are crooks. The Yankees, as far as I can tell, are not. So, is it better to win and go broke and go to jail, or to lose in, frequently, new, outlandish, and hilarious ways – dropping a flyball in the WS leading to ton of runs scoring.

  9. RF batting 3rd
    NYY Lineup
    TBD
    B Rice (L) DH
    C Bellinger (L) LF
    A Judge (R) RF
    L García Jr. (L) 1B
    S Jones (L) CF
    J Chisholm Jr. (L) 2B
    G Lombard Jr. (R) SS
    R McMahon (L) 3B
    A Wells (L) C

    2. Someone call Jimmy and Jake and let them know they’re doing it wrong, they should have Rice behind the plate and Judge at DH.

    1. If that’s the Hughes we all think it is, we’re going to need photographic verification.

  14. Schlittler is basically the only starter who has consistently gone 6+ innings. The other likely playoff starters generally are throwing well (Cole’s first inning Sunday aside) but sometimes not going even 5 innings.
    That seems like a formula for depleting the bullpen. So why not have the older starters piggyback? In the wild card series and ALDS, you’d only need three starters, so could do: Schlittler (with normal bullpen use), then Cole+Fried piggyback, then Rodon+Warren piggyback.
    Then, in the ALCS and World Series, the fourth slot could be a bullpen game. Depending on how well Weathers and Schmidt are stretched out, they might even be able to go through the full lineup once each.

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