Clint Frazier Archives - Page 3 of 23

Where does each 2019 Yankee hit the ball the hardest?

March 14, 2019 by Mike

In the year 2019, exit velocity is firmly ingrained in the baseball lexicon. It is inescapable. It’s all over Twitter and game broadcasts, and the Yankees literally show exit velocity on the Yankee Stadium scoreboard. Each time a Yankee puts the ball in play, there’s the exit velocity, right next to the pitch velocity on the center field scoreboard. Get used to it. Exit velocity isn’t going anywhere.

The Yankees have embraced exit velocity as an evaluation tool. It helped them unearth Luke Voit, and I remember former farm system head Gary Denbo mentioning Aaron Judge had premium exit velocity back when he was still a prospect in the minors. Hit the ball hard and good things happen. Here is the 2018 exit velocity leaderboard (min. 200 balls in play):

Aaron Judge: 94.7 mph
Joey Gallo: 93.9 mph
Nelson Cruz: 93.9 mph
Giancarlo Stanton: 93.7 mph
Matt Chapman: 93.1 mph
(MLB average: 87.7 mph)

Hitting the ball hard is a good skill to have. I mean, duh. Hit the ball hard and it’s more likely to go for a hit. Hit the ball hard in the air and it’s more likely to do serious damage, meaning extra-base hits. Last season the league hit .730 with a 1.098 ISO — that’s ISO, not SLG — on fly balls and line drives with an exit velocity of at least 100 mph. For real.

Not surprisingly, the home run record-setting Yankees led MLB with a 93.6 mph average exit velocity on fly balls and line drives last season. With that in mind, let’s look at where each projected member of the 2019 Yankees hit the ball the hardest last year. Specifically, let’s look at where in the strike zone they produce their best contact. Some guys are low ball hitters, others are high ball hitters, etc.

For the purposes of this post, we’re going to consider “best contact” to be fly balls and line drives with an exit velocity of at least 100 mph. Why 100 mph and not, say, 95 mph or 97.6 mph or whatever? No real reason. Round numbers are cool so 100 mph it is. Here is each projected 2019 Yankee, listed alphabetically, and last year’s “best contact” profile.

(All spray chart are shown with Yankee Stadium’s dimensions even though not every batted ball was hit at Yankee Stadium, which is why there appear to be more homers than were actually hit.)

Miguel Andujar

Average FB+LD exit velocity: 92.7 mph
Number of 100+ mph FB+LD: 65 (13.5% of all balls in play)

I am legitimately surprised Andujar’s exit velocity numbers are not better. His average exit velocity on all batted balls was 89.2 mph, which ranked 72nd among the 186 hitters with at least 300 balls in play last year. His average exit velocity on fly balls and line drives ranked 128th (!), right behind Manny Margot and one-tenth of a mile-an-hour better than JaCoby Jones. Huh. Didn’t expect that.

Anyway, the strike zone plot above shows Andujar makes hard contact pretty much everywhere. That makes sense. He seems to get the fat part of the bat on the ball no matter where it’s pitched. Most of his 100 mph or better fly balls and line drives are to the pull field, like most hitters, though Andujar can drive the ball the other way. I’m still a bit surprised his exit velocity are numbers are relatively low (but still better than average). Didn’t see that coming. Maybe that means he’s due for bad regression?

[Read more…]

Yankees sign Aaron Judge, 20 other pre-arbitration-eligible players to one-year contracts for 2019

March 11, 2019 by Mike

Opening Day is less than three weeks away and the Yankees recently wrapped up their final little bit of offseason business. The Yankees have signed their 21 pre-arbitration-eligible players to one-year deals for 2019, reports the Associated Press. That’s everyone. The entire 40-man roster is under contract.

As a reminder, players with less than three years of service time do not have arbitration rights. The team can pay them pretty much whatever they want, though they usually negotiate with the player and agree to a salary to maintain a good relationship. The Yankees agreed to deals with everyone this year and did not unilaterally renew anyone, which they did with Dellin Betances back in the day.

Here, via the Associated Press, are the salary details. Because I like you, I’ve gone through the trouble of including each player’s year-to-year raise in parenthesis, assuming last year’s salary information is available. The Major League minimum rose from $545,000 last season to $555,000 this season.

	Service Time (Years.Days)	MLB Salary	MiLB Salary
Gary Sanchez	2.086	$669,800 ($49,400)	$310,200
Aaron Judge	2.051	$684,300 ($62,000)	$311,150
Chad Green	2.050	$598,650 ($27,850)	$285,400
Jordan Montgomery	1.153	$596,600 ($16,150)	$290,225
Jonathan Holder	1.144	$580,300	$262,947
Luis Cessa	1.131	$578,975 ($10,050)	$210,768
Ben Heller	1.096	$555,000 ($7,525)	$273,738
Clint Frazier	1.057	$563,300 ($4,100)	$222,711
Miguel Andujar	1.020	$617,600 ($71,800)	$269,216
Domingo German	1.017	$577,500 ($29,275)	$190,150
Tyler Wade	1.007	$572,000 ($20,700)	$155,692
Luke Voit	0.169	$573,200 ($27,600)	$145,673
Gleyber Torres	0.162	$605,200 ($60,200)	$240,210
Kyle Higashioka	0.124	$562,900	$160,207
Jonathan Loaisiga	0.047	$560,550 ($15,550)	$92,766
Stephen Tarpley	0.030	$557,250	$90,400
Chance Adams	0.025	$556,725	$90,400
Domingo Acevedo	0.001	$555,000	$90,400
Albert Abreu	0.000	$555,000	$90,400
Thairo Estrada	0.000	$555,000 ($10,000)	$90,400
Joe Harvey	0.000	$555,000	$45,300

Unless the two sides agree to a long-term contract, all pre-arb players sign non-guaranteed one-year split contracts that pay them one salary in the big leagues and another in the minors. Non-guaranteed means the team can release the player in Spring Training and pay him only a fraction of his contract. I don’t expect that to happen with anyone though. I’m just saying.

Most teams, including the Yankees, have a sliding salary scale based on service time for pre-arb players, with escalators for All-Star Games and awards voting, things like that. Minor league salary is determined by big league service time and tenure on the 40-man roster more than anything. This is Harvey’s first year on the 40-man. It’s Abreu’s and Estrada’s second and their minor league salaries are almost exactly double Harvey’s. The math is easy enough.

It goes without saying many pre-arb players are grossly underpaid. Judge at less than $700,000 is one of the best bangs for the buck in baseball. Players make nothing early in their careers, and it used to be that teams made it up on the back end during free agency. That isn’t really the case anymore. The MLBPA should push for increased pay for players with 0-6 years of service time. I’m not sure increased spending on free agency is realistic in the analytics era.

The Yankees have already signed Luis Severino and Aaron Hicks long-term this spring, and reports indicate they’re talking extensions with others as well. Impending free agents Dellin Betances and Didi Gregorius are presumably the top priorities. Judge and Sanchez are in their final dirt cheap pre-arb season, so I’d assume the Yankees will talk to them about an extension at some point. They might enjoy the huge six-figure production in 2019 first.

March 3rd Spring Training Notes: Gardner, Frazier, Betances, Hicks, Sabathia

March 3, 2019 by Mike

The split squad Yankees beat the Tigers at home this afternoon. Brett Gardner had two homers (both against a lefty), Aaron Judge had two homers, and Gary Sanchez and Isiah Gilliam had one homer each. Gilliam’s had the most distance. It went to the opposite field side of dead center and landed at the back of the elevated concourse. Masahiro Tanaka twirled three scoreless innings, Zack Britton and Adam Ottavino each tossed a scoreless inning, and Aroldis Chapman gave up a solo homer in his inning. Here are the box score and video highlights for the home game.

Meanwhile, on the road, the other Yankees lost to the Blue Jays. Luke Voit clubbed a home run and DJ LeMahieu went 1-for-4 with a single. That’s about all there is to see offensively. Domingo German looked really good in his 2.2 scoreless innings. He struck out four. Trevor Stephan got tagged for four runs (three earned) in 1.1 innings. He has a 27.00 ERA this spring. Ouch. Here are the box score and video highlights for the road game, and here are the rest of the day’s notes from Tampa:

Brett Gardner (home game) and Clint Frazier (road game) both exited today’s game after being hit by a pitch. They’re both okay. Gardner got hit by a curveball that spiked in front of the plate, jumped up, and hit him in the wrist. Geez, bad luck. Frazier took a fastball to the left forearm that then grazed his pinky. “I’m fine,” he said. [Lindsey Adler, Erik Boland]
Aaron Hicks had some back stiffness following Friday night’s game, so the Yankees held him out of batting practice and today’s game. Ugh only seven more years of this!!! (I kid, I kid.) Tomorrow’s an off-day, and the Yankees expect to get Hicks back in the lineup Tuesday. [Ken Davidoff]
Dellin Betances will make his Grapefruit League debut Tuesday. He and CC Sabathia are the only members of the projected Opening Day roster who’ve yet to appear in a game this spring. Sabathia’s being brought along slowly and Betances reported to camp a few days late after his wife gave birth to their first child. [George King]
Busy bullpen day today. Sabathia, Luis Severino, James Paxton, Tommy Kahnle, Chad Green, and Jonathan Loaisiga all threw bullpen sessions and Domingo Acevedo was among those to throw a simulated game. This was Sabathia’s second bullpen of the spring. [Randy Miller, Pete Caldera]

Tomorrow is the Yankees’ first off-day of the Grapefruit League season and it’ll be a complete off-day. There are no scheduled workouts. The Yankees will be back at it Tuesday afternoon at home against the Braves. That’ll be Severino’s spring debut. The game will be televised live on YES and MLB.tv.

Feb. 22nd Spring Training Notes: Hicks, LeMahieu, Frazier

February 22, 2019 by Mike

While the Padres were busy introducing Manny Machado at their Spring Training complex in Arizona earlier today, the Yankees held their annual spring team-bonding event in Tampa. Celebrity hypnotist motivational speaker Ricky Kalmon was the guest. Here’s a photo and here are today’s camp notes:

Aaron Hicks confirmed he’s discussed an extension with the Yankees and said “of course” when asked whether the A.J. Pollock deal is a good starting point for contract talks. “When center fielders get contracts, of course I’m going to get excited about that,” he added. Pollock signed a four-year, $60M contract with opt-outs and escalators and all that. [Randy Miller]
Sounds like the Yankees will be a little more aggressive on the bases this year. “I think that’s one of those areas where even with guys that don’t necessarily run a lot, there are a lot of times that come up where there’s some low-hanging fruit there to where you can grab a base,” said Aaron Boone, referring to pitchers with slow deliveries and catchers with weak arms. [Randy Miller]
Not surprisingly, Boone said he envisions DJ LeMahieu being the backup first baseman. That was the plan when they signed him. LeMahieu has played 13 innings at first base in his big league career and none since 2013. This is notable because it indicates the Yankees do not plan to carry both Luke Voit and Greg Bird on the roster. [Bryan Hoch]
There are no restrictions on Clint Frazier this spring following last year’s concussion issues. In fact, Frazier will make both road trips this weekend and is tentatively scheduled to start both games. He’ll be in left field tomorrow and at DH on Sunday. “He’s ready to go,” said Boone. [Coley Harvey]
Nestor Cortes is starting tomorrow’s Grapefruit League opener. Frazier, Hicks, Miguel Andujar, Greg Bird, Phil Diehl, Estevan Florial, Kyle Higashioka, Brady Lail, Gleyber Torres, and Tyler Wade are all making the road trip. [Bryan Hoch]

The Yankees will be on the road to take on the Red Sox in tomorrow’s Grapefruit League opener. It is a 1pm ET start and the game will air live on MLB Network and MLB.tv. MLB Network will show the game in the Yankees’ home market and there are no MLB.tv blackouts in Spring Training.

The timing for Clint Frazier to take over left field

February 12, 2019 by Derek Albin

Left field has been a source of stability for the Yankees ever since Brett Gardner took over in 2010. Yet, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. We started to get an idea of what life would be like without Gardner after last summer’s Andrew McCutchen trade. Obviously, McCutchen departed to Philadelphia, but that doesn’t mean Gardy is without competition this year. Clint Frazier is finally ready to enter the fold.

Frazier struggled with concussion systems throughout last season. Had he been able to return, it might have been him instead of McCutchen taking playing time from Gardner. Nonetheless, Frazier has been cleared for spring training and now has a chance to capitalize on this opportunity. He’s made it crystal clear that he wants Gardner’s job:

“I’ve got to go out there and prove to the guys that I’m healthy, and show that the guy that’s been there for the last 10-plus years is someone that I can compete with,” Frazier said Wednesday. “I want to show that I want to take his spot, whenever the time comes…I’m trying to make sure that the way that I’m going about this goal of mine is in a respectful way to him and everybody else as well.”

I really like hearing that from a young player. Of course he wants to start, that’s the dream. It’s not like he dissed Gardner, quite the opposite in fact. So, what will it take for Frazier to achieve his goal?

Opening Day

Never say never, but I wouldn’t count on Frazier trotting out to left field on March 28th. The Wildling has a lot of rust to shake off. Remember that his season was over after mid-July last year, despite a few attempted comebacks. His 283 plate appearances across the majors and minors were a lot more than I realized he had last season, but still, that’s a lot of missed playing time.

What if Frazier rakes in spring training? It probably doesn’t matter. Gardner is going to get the job as long as he stays healthy. Plus, buying into preseason performance is never a good idea. Getting the 24 year-old through spring training healthy should be the priority, anyway. The safe bet is that Frazier will get an extended opportunity to shake off the cobwebs in Scranton.

The only way I can see Frazier with the Yankees to start the season is if a couple of other outfielders are hurt. I don’t think one injury is enough to get Frazier on the team, as the Yankees could simply shuffle the alignment of Gardner, Aaron Hicks, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton as needed. If two of those guys go down, it’s a different story. As much as I’d like to see Frazier in the big leagues, I’d rather not have it happen because of injuries.

Mid-Season

Frazier might not need too much time in Triple-A if all goes well. He posted a 170 wRC+ in 216 plate appearances with the RailRiders last season, and if he’s anywhere remotely near that stratosphere after a few weeks, why keep him there? A somewhat understandable reason would be that Gardner is playing well. But if that’s not the case, the Yankees’ good faith in monitoring Frazier’s health could actually become their ace in the hole. In a bad faith sort of way.

According to Frazier’s Baseball Reference player page, he has one year and 57 days of major league service time. The regular season is 187 days long, but a player only needs 172 to accrue one full year. That means Frazier needs 115 days on the major league roster to get to up two years of service (#math). My guesstimate is that June 9th would be the day the team is free and clear to promote Frazier for good while obtaining an extra season of control. I absolutely hate that idea, and the Yankees should never operate that way, but I don’t think it can be discounted. The Yankees could easily play it off as ensuring that Frazier is completely back in the swing of things.

We’ll see Frazier this summer, service time manipulation or not. It’s difficult to imagine Gardner bouncing back, or at the minimum, avoiding his annual second half fade. Frazier has the ability and desire to be the starter. It’s just a matter of when, assuming good health.

Wait ’til next year

A few things could go wrong to prevent Frazier from taking over this year. It’s not something anyone wants to think about, but it can’t be disregarded as a possibility.

Setbacks happen. We saw how many Frazier had last summer. Would it be a surprise if any of his concussion symptoms recurred again? The good news is that he’s been cleared for camp, but it’s still such a scary thing to come back from. Granted, it would take a season of misfortune with setbacks for him not to ever get a chance to become the starter. I’d like to think he’s due for some good luck this year.

Another possibility, albeit highly unlikely, is that Gardner hits his 90th percentile projection. That would basically be what he did in 2017, but better, right? I’m thinking .280/.375/.460 with 20-plus homers. It would be pretty hard to replace Gardy if he did that. That scenario is pretty doubtful, though it would be fun to see Gardner come up for one last breath of air.

A new team

Most of the Yankees’ trade pieces are pretty far away from the majors. Frazier isn’t technically a prospect anymore, but he certainly feels like one, and if he re-establishes himself this year he could become the Yankees’ best chip at the deadline. Even if Gardner struggles, the Yankees could shift Stanton into left field regularly, leaving Frazier the odd man out. With Hicks and Judge in the other two outfield spots, Frazier might find a better opportunity elsewhere.

Final thoughts

Frazier is a personal favorite of mine, so I’d like to see him get the job sooner rather than later. That’s nothing against Gardner, who’s been a lot of fun to pull for too, but his time has almost come. Of all the scenarios I laid out, I believe that a June promotion is what we’ll see. There’s always the chance of an injury forcing the team’s hand sooner, but I have a sinking feeling that the team will use his return from the concussion as a reason to get an extra season of control.

The Last Bench Spot

February 10, 2019 by Matt Imbrogno

This coming Wednesday, Feb. 13, the Yankees’ season unofficially kicks off with pitchers and catchers reporting. For a brief time, it’s tremendously exciting, then barely anything happens until Grapefruit League games start, but given a long winter without baseball, we’ll gladly take it. And barring any surprises, the Yankees’ roster is about done, with, as Mike noted here, there are three spots open: two in the bullpen and one on the bench. I agree with him that Tommy Kahnle and Luis Cessa–both out of options–will get those two bullpen spots for convenience’s sake. That bench spot–the last spot–is the one up for discussion. Let’s take a look at some options.

There isn’t necessarily an obvious candidate for this spot, given the way the Yankees already shake out. Their DH–Giancarlo Stanton–is a generally capable outfielder, so playing with him as the de facto fourth outfielder is certainly possible. Additionally, with DJ LeMahieu (apparently) and Gleyber Torres both capable of playing multiple infield positions, and the presence of Troy Tulowitzki, there isn’t a glaring need for an infielder, either. I think, however, we can eliminate two players from consideration almost immediately: Clint Frazier and Greg Bird.

This dual elimination may seem ironic, given that they’re better players than the group of NRIs, but both would be wasted in a bench role. Both need to prove health, first of all, and both need to prepare to possibly take over a starting role deeper into the season. Frazier, in his own estimation, is poised to take the starting left field job from Brett Gardner and if all goes right this year, that’s what should happen. Bird, meanwhile, needs to prove he’s worthy of getting his job back after injuries and poor performance gave the first base position to Luke Voit, who took that bull by the horns. For both Frazier and Bird, everyday reps are more useful than playing irregularly from the bench.

Others we can eliminate for developmental reasons are Estevan Florial, Kyle Holder, and Trey Amburgey. The former is the team’s top prospect and there’s obviously no way they’ll rush him. Holder, though ready defensively, needs some offensive work in a relatively consequence free environment. Amburgey hasn’t played above AA. Despite a good year at AAA last year–15 homers–I don’t see Mike Ford getting an MLB call up, as he only plays first base.

That leaves NRIs Billy Burns, Gio Urshela, and Matt Lipka as the remaining options, as well as 40-man player Tyler Wade, whose presence has been mostly overlooked this whole offseason. Of those four, Tyler Wade makes the most sense.

Urshela has the most recent Major League experience of the other three, but can only play third. Burns hasn’t played in the Majors since 2017 and Lipka never has. There isn’t much from either player that suggests they deserve a shot in the bigs, even as bench players. Moreover, all three of those players would require a roster move; are you gonna cut someone for the sake of Gio Urshela, Billy Burns, or Matt Lipka? Absolutely not.

Tyler Wade has mostly disappointed at the plate in his Major League time. However, there’s still some room to grow. His defense plays well in the infield and the Yankees have experimented with him in the outfield. He may not be the most position flexible player in the world, but he’s more flexible than the other options the Yankees have and he wouldn’t require a roster move. This may be his last, but Wade should get a shot at the last spot.

Sorting out the projected 2019 Triple-A Scranton roster

January 24, 2019 by Mike

In the current age of baseball a 25-man roster is not enough. Teams have an active 25-man roster each night, yes, but there are also a handful of players in Triple-A who shuttle back and forth as needed. New middle relievers are brought in almost daily and teams even swap out bench players for matchup purposes going into a series. There’s the 25-man roster and a Triple-A taxi squad.

Last season 49 different players appeared in a game for the Yankees, and that doesn’t include Ryan Bollinger and Domingo Acevedo, who were called up for a day (twice, in Bollinger’s case) but did not appear in a game. A total of 1,379 players appeared in an MLB game last season, or 46 per team on average. The Blue Jays led the way with 63 different players, three more than any other team. The Rockies and Astros used only 41 players apiece, somehow.

The Yankees no longer have a top notch farm system but they do have a good farm system. So much of their talent is in the lower minors though, and thus is not a realistic option to be called up this year. The Triple-A taxi squad will likely feature many players we’ve seen already, either guys who were up last year in a similar capacity, or filled a similar role with another team. Some young minor leaguers, some veteran journeymen.

Because the Triple-A roster is now an extension of the MLB roster, I think it’s important to look at the projected Triple-A roster to figure out who fits where, and who could be a call-up option. On paper, the big league roster is fairly set. The Yankees don’t have many open spots or undecided roles, which makes this exercise a little easier. There’s not as much guesswork as usual. Let’s start with position players. Here are the Triple-A roster candidates. An asterisk (*) denotes a player on the 40-man roster.

Catchers	Infielders	Outfielders	Utility
Francisco Diaz	Mandy Alvarez	Trey Amburgey	Devyn Bolasky
Kyle Higashioka*	Greg Bird*	Billy Burns	Billy Fleming
Ryan Lavarnway	Thairo Estrada*	Clint Frazier*	L.J. Mazzilli
	Mike Ford	Jeff Hendrix	Ryan McBroom
	Kyle Holder	Matt Lipka
	Gosuke Katoh	Zack Zehner
	Gio Urshela
	Luke Voit*
	Tyler Wade*

At the moment the Yankees have one bench spot unaccounted for at the big league level. That’s it. Assuming another three-man bench/eight-man bullpen, the other eleven position player spots have been accounted for already. Injuries could change things, of course, and they will, but right now all but one of the 12 position player spots are filled. That makes life easy here. Let’s go through the Triple-A position players.

Catcher: Always the easiest position. Gary Sanchez and Austin Romine are locked into big league roster spots, leaving Higashioka (the up-and-down third catcher) and Lavarnway (has MLB time) for Triple-A Scranton. Diaz figures to bounce between Double-A and Triple-A as needed, which he’s done the last few seasons. Higashioka and Lavarnway will be Scranton’s catchers.

Infielders: Earlier this month Brian Cashman said Voit will be the big league starting first baseman “unless Bird beats him out,” and right now my guess is Bird will not beat him out in Spring Training. Voit was the starter to finish last season and I’ll bet on him being the starter to begin this season. We can remove Voit from Triple-A consideration.

That said, I think the chances of Bird getting the final big league bench spot are annoyingly high. He seems immune to being sent down. Even last August, after Voit took the first base job, the Yankees kept Bird on the bench rather than send him down for at-bats. I don’t get it. If he loses the first base job, he should be sent down, but I just can’t shake the feeling he’s going to be the final bench guy.

Because of that I’m going to assume Bird is in the big leagues, meaning Wade and Estrada are definitely in Triple-A, as is Ford. Urshela has big league time and was the RailRiders’ best hitter late last season, so he’ll of course be in Triple-A as well. That’s the starting infield right there. Urshela, Estrada, Wade, and Ford around the horn. Holder’s going to play everyday in Double-A, not sit on the Triple-A bench. That leaves Alvarez and Katoh for possible bench roles. We’ll get to them in a bit.

Outfielders: Bird getting the final MLB bench spot means Frazier goes to Triple-A, which is fine with me. He missed the end of last season with post-concussion symptoms and getting him regular at-bats in the minors wouldn’t be the worst thing. I expect Frazier to be at least platooning with Brett Gardner in left field by the end of the season, if not playing the position on an everyday basis. For now, he’s Scranton bound.

Burns has big league time and is ticketed for Triple-A. Lipka getting an invite to Spring Training leads me to believe the Yankees are not planning to send him down to Double-A, where he played most of last year. If Lipka is ticketed for Triple-A, it leaves Amburgey, Hendrix, and Zehner for the fourth outfielder’s spot. Zehner has spent the last year and a half in Triple-A and Hendrix has spent the last year and a half in Double-A. Hmmm.

Amburgey had a good but not great year in Double-A last season and, if Lipka is going to Triple-A, I think Amburgey goes back to Double-A to play every day. If the Yankees are willing to send Lipka to Double-A, then Amburgey would go to Triple-A. My hunch is Lipka to Triple-A, Zehner as Scranton’s fourth outfielder, and Amburgey and Hendrix to Double-A. Once the inevitable injury or call-up strikes, Amburgey or Hendrix gets moved up.

Utility: We have two catchers (Higashioka, Lavarnway), four infielders (Estrada, Ford, Urshela, Wade), and four outfielders (Burns, Frazier, Lipka, Zehner). That leaves two open position player spots and, honestly, these are easy calls. It should be Mazzilli and McBroom. They have the most Triple-A time among the remaining players and they’d allow Alvarez and Katoh to play everyday in Double-A. Bolasky and Fleming are organizational utility guys who’ve been bouncing from level-to-level the last few years. No reason to think they won’t do it again.

The Triple-A position player side of things was pretty easy this year because the Yankees have all but one of their big league position player spots filled. Last year we were trying to figure out what to do with Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres. That’s not the case now. Anyway, for the heck of it, here’s a potential RailRiders’ lineup based on everything we just talked out:

1. 2B/SS/3B Tyler Wade
2. 2B/SS/3B Thairo Estrada
3. OF Clint Frazier
4. 1B/DH Mike Ford
5. 1B/DH Ryan McBroom
6. 3B/SS Gio Urshela
7. C Kyle Higashioka
8. OF Billy Burns
9. OF Matt Lipka

Bench: C Lavarnway, IF Mazzilli, OF Zehner

The RailRiders had some absurdly strong lineups last year before injuries and the trade deadline thinned out the roster. The projected 2019 lineup I have above is quite strong for Triple-A. Devoid of prospects (Estrada is the only actual prospect in that lineup now that Wade and Frazier have graduated to MLB) but still strong. The RailRiders will score some runs this coming season. Now let’s get to the pitching staff.

Starters	Righty Relievers	Lefty Relievers
Domingo Acevedo*	Cale Coshow	Rex Brothers
Chance Adams*	Raynel Espinal	Danny Coulombe
Luis Cessa*	J.P. Feyereisen	Phil Diehl
Nestor Cortes	Joe Harvey*	Stephen Tarpley*
Domingo German*	Ben Heller*
Drew Hutchison	Tommy Kahnle*
Brian Keller	Brady Lail
Mike King
Jonathan Loaisiga*

The Sonny Gray trade means the Yankees now have two open big league bullpen spots. By no means do I think this is set in stone, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Cessa and Kahnle have a leg up on those two bullpen spots because they are out of minor league options and can’t be sent to Triple-A without passing through waivers. I don’t think either would clear. If A.J. Cole got claimed earlier this month, Cessa and Kahnle would get claimed.

Because of that, I’m going to assume Cessa and Kahnle are getting the final two big league bullpen spots for the purposes of this exercise. I’m also assuming Heller won’t be ready to pitch Opening Day. He had his Tommy John surgery on April 7th last year and is likely looking at a May or June return. We can remove him from consideration for the RailRiders’ pitching staff. There are 20 names in the table. Removing Cessa, Kahnle, and Heller leaves up 17 candidates for the 13-man Triple-A pitching staff.

Starters: Is it me or does this seem completely obvious? Adams, German, Hutchison, King, and Loaisiga should be the Triple-A Scranton starters to begin the season. Keller is a fringe prospect who was just okay with Double-A Trenton last year. Sending him back there is no big deal. Cortes has done the Triple-A swingman thing plenty already and I think he’s headed for that role again.

That leaves Acevedo, who has a strong case to begin the season in Triple-A after throwing 144 very good (2.63 ERA and 3.06 FIP) innings with Double-A Trenton the last two years. There is a numbers crunch here though. Adams, German, King, and Loaisiga are legitimate prospects (German’s exhausted his rookie eligibility but you know what I mean) who need to work on things in Triple-A and also stay ready for a possible call-up. Hutchison didn’t sign with the Yankees to be a Triple-A long man.

Because of that, I think Acevedo is ticketed for a return to Double-A to begin the season, which is not the end of the world. Someone will get hurt or traded or called up before April ends, at which point Acevedo can come up and assume the rotation spot. Besides, after missing so much time last year, I kinda want to see Acevedo miss bats in Double-A again (20.2% strikeouts last year) before moving him up. Adams, German, Hutchison, King, Loaisiga is the tentative Triple-A rotation in whatever order, and I feel pretty good about that.

Relievers: Cortes is likely to again serve as the heavily used swingman — part of me wonders whether the Yankees would use a six-man rotation in Scranton to begin the season (probably not) — and the rest of the bullpen falls into place behind him. Espinal and Harvey were a dynamite setup man/closer combination for the RailRiders last year and they’ll do it again this year. Tarpley will join them as a late-inning option.

Brothers and Coulombe have big league time and are on minor league contracts, so they’re going to Triple-A, not Double-A. Coshow and Feyereisen spent most of last year in Triple-A as well and it’s safe to expect them to return to Scranton to begin the season. That’s eight relievers right there. Here’s our final product pitching staff:

Starters: Adams, German, Hutchison, King, Loaisiga
Relievers: Brothers, Cortes, Coshow, Coulombe, Espinal, Feyereisen, Harvey, Tarpley

That assumes Kahnle and Cessa are in the big leagues and Heller will still be rehabbing come Opening Day. Acevedo, Keller, and Diehl go to Double-A. Diehl threw only 26.2 innings at Double-A last year, so going back there to begin this season is no big deal. Lail draws the short straw and is the odd man out, but he bounced back and forth between Double-A and Triple-A last year, and doing it again wouldn’t surprise me. He’s been passed by several others in the organization, like Harvey and Tarpley.

I should note it is not uncommon for a Triple-A team to carry nine relievers and two bench players at various points throughout the season, especially in April, when young starters are still getting stretched all the way out. Lail’s the obvious candidate to be the ninth reliever and I imagine McBroom would get dropped from the position player group to open a spot. Zehner has more Triple-A time and Mazzilli can play anywhere. McBroom rode the Double-A/Triple-A shuttle last year and he’d do it again this year.

Update: I completely forgot about the recently signed Danny Farquhar. He’s obviously going to Triple-A. I think that would mean Coshow gets pushed down to Double-A since he struggled with the RailRiders last year. My bad.

Wade (infield), Frazier (outfield), and Higashioka (catcher) are poised to be the regular up-and-down position players this season. Estrada lost essentially an entire season to injury last year and figures to stay in Triple-A to make up for that lost time. Pitching staff call-ups are a little more up in the air because they depend as much on who’s available (so and so started yesterday, etc.) as they do who the Yankees want to call up. Because the MLB roster is fairly set right now, piecing together the Triple-A team is fairly straightforward. At least until injuries and call-ups throw a wrench into things.