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Previewing the Yankees’ crop of potential September call-ups

August 23, 2018 by Mike Leave a Comment

In one week and two days all 30 MLB teams will be able to expand their active roster from 25 players to 40 players. Most teams wind up carrying 30-35 players in September. September call-ups have become somewhat controversial but I am 100% for them. I explained why a few years ago. It seems likely the rules will change at some point in the future. Right now, the rules are what they are, and teams can have 40 active players on their roster as of next Saturday.

In recent years the Yankees have been a very aggressive September call-up team. They tend to call up lots of players and they call them up early. Some teams only add a third catcher and an extra reliever on September 1st. Not the Yankees. They go all out. Last year they called up five players on September 1st. The year before it was seven players on September 1st. The year before that? Eight players on September 1st. I expect lots of September 1st call-ups again.

So, with that in mind, let’s take a moment to sort through the team’s September call-up options and figure out where each player fits, if at all. Some call-ups are kept around for emergencies only. Spare long relievers and a third catcher, guys like that. Others are brought up for a specific reason or to fill a specific role. Let’s get to it.

Injured Players

Might as well start here. The Yankees have lots of players on the disabled list right now and sometimes, rather conveniently, players will get healthy on September 1st. That happened with Matt Holliday last year. He was on the disabled list with a back issue and was activated on the first day rosters expanded. Funny how that works.

Aaron Judge (wrist) and Clint Frazier (post-concussion migraines) are both making progress but it seems very unlikely either will be ready to return next Saturday. Gary Sanchez, however, will begin a minor league rehab assignment either today or tomorrow. He’s going to play a few games in the rookie Gulf Coast League before joining Triple-A Scranton for what Aaron Boone called a “week’s worth of games.” Sure seems like Gary will return on September 1st.

Didi Gregorius is eligible to be activated next Thursday and it’s unclear right now whether he’ll be ready to be activated that day. The Yankees said they have to see how his heel responds the next few days before knowing when he’ll return. If Gregorius is ready to go Thursday, would the Yankees give him the proverbial two extra days and wait until Saturday to activate him? I don’t think so, but you never know. It would be quite easy to give Didi those two extra days to make sure he’s 100% ready to go.

Aroldis Chapman landed on the disabled list yesterday and he isn’t even eligible to be activated until next Saturday, so even if he comes back after the minimum ten days, he’ll return with expanded rosters. That makes life easy. Whenever Chapman is healthy, the Yankees will activate him and add him to the roster. They won’t have to send someone else down to accommodate him.

The Up & Down Guys

Okay, let’s get to the minor leaguers. Generally speaking, the first wave of September call-ups — those are the September 1st guys — are players who have been going up and down all year. Many of them are already in the big leagues because of the injuries though. Tommy Kahnle, Ronald Torreyes, Luke Voit … they’re with the Yankees now. If I’d written this post a week ago, those three would’ve been identified as September 1st call-ups.

There are two up-and-down guys in Triple-A right now: Tyler Wade and Luis Cessa. I expect both to come up on September 1st. Wade to give the Yankees another bench player (a four-man bench? madness!) and Cessa to be another long man and occasional spot starter. The only thing with Cessa is that he might come up as the 26th man for Saturday’s doubleheader game in Baltimore. If he does, he has to go back down after the game, then he’ll have to wait ten days to be called back up. The ten-day rules means Cessa won’t be eligible to be called back up until September 4th. Point is, as soon as he’s eligible, I think Cessa comes up.

40-Man Guys Who Might Have To Wait

At the moment the Yankees have five healthy players on the 40-man roster and in the minors: Cessa, Wade, Albert Abreu, Ryan Bollinger, and Chris Rabago. I am fairly certain Chance Adams will be sent down tomorrow when CC Sabathia is activated — Adams threw 46 ineffective pitches last night and I don’t see the Yankees keeping him around when Sabathia returns — so it’s really six healthy players on the 40-man and in the minors.

Abreu is a Single-A pitcher who’s thrown 62.2 innings around injuries this year. There is no reason to call him up in September only to have him sit in the bullpen as the 38th or 39th or 40th guy on the roster. Abreu needs to pitch. He needs to spend September in Instructional League in Tampa. That’s the best thing for his development. Rabago was claimed on waivers yesterday and is a light-hitting Double-A catcher. He’s not a call-up candidate. He’s a guy who gets dropped from the 40-man roster when a spot is needed.

Bollinger has had two one-day stints with the Yankees as an emergency arm this year and I don’t think he’s getting a September call-up. He is much more likely to be dropped from the 40-man roster to clear a spot for someone else. Bollinger is not even in Triple-A. He’s a 27-year-old journeyman with a 4.03 ERA (3.42 FIP) in 91.2 Double-A innings. Those two call-ups were “we need a warm body” call-ups, not “we like this guy” call-ups. Sorry, Ryan.

As for Adams, assuming he is sent down for Sabathia, he will be back in September for sure. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Yankees leave him in Triple-A until Scranton’s season is over though. They might not make the postseason, so it might be over soon, but if they do make the postseason, Adams could be part of the rotation. Remember, when the Yankees called Adams up for that spot start a few weeks ago, it was only because Cessa was unavailable. Letting Adams pitch in Triple-A through the end of their season seems like the way to go.

The Yankees have three injured minor league pitchers on the 40-man roster right now: Domingo Acevedo, Domingo German, and Jonathan Loaisiga. All three recently started pitching in rehab games but might not be ready to come up on September 1st. I think German comes up right away, as soon as he’s deemed fit for MLB. Acevedo and Loaisiga need innings and I expect both to stay with Double-A Trenton through the postseason. (Trenton is definitely going to the postseason.) German comes up as soon as he’s healthy. Acevedo and Loaisiga are probably going to have to wait.

Non-40-Man Roster Players

The shift to the bullpen earlier this week all but confirmed Justus Sheffield will be called up in September. The Yankees say they are going to give him 3-4 relief appearances in Triple-A — that suggests he could be a September 1st call-up — to prepare him for bullpen work in the big leagues. A September call-up has felt inevitable for weeks now. Now we know it’ll happen, and we know Sheffield will work out of the bullpen.

“We’re starting to transition him to the bullpen so that hopefully he can get a couple of outings under his belt down there, and then play a part with us in our ‘pen down the stretch,” said Boone after the Sheffield move was announced. “We think there’s some great value he could bring.”

Sheffield is getting called up in September. Stephen Tarpley might as well. Brian Cashman mentioned the southpaw by name last week when discussing call-up candidates. Tarpley has been excellent this year — his 71.0% ground ball rate leads affiliated baseball — and he’ll almost certainly be added to the 40-man roster after the season to avoid Rule 5 Draft exposure. I think he’ll get added to the 40-man in September and called up. Will he pitch? Probably in mop-up duty only, and that’s fine. Countless relievers broke in as September mop-up guys.

There are three other non-40-man players who I think I have a chance to be called up in September: George Kontos, Erik Swanson, and Gio Urshela. I don’t see guys like Mike Ford or Ryan McBroom or Abi Avelino getting called up. Avelino is the only real prospect of the bunch and he’s a fringe guy who might not get a 40-man spot after the season. Injuries could always force a call-up. I just don’t see the Yankees creating 40-man space to call those guys up though.

My hunch is George Kontos will be a September 1st call-up guy. I thought it was pretty weird a guy with his track record and service time accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A when he was designated for assignment last week. Usually a guy in his spot elects free agency and finds a team with a better shot at MLB playing time. Seems like their might’ve been an “accept the outright, go to Triple-A for two weeks, and we’ll call you up on September 1st” conversation at some point.

Urshela. (Jason Farmer/Scranton Times Tribune)

Urshela is an interesting case. The Yankees got him in a cash trade earlier this month and he’s played well with Triple-A Scranton, hitting .310/.333/.483 in 16 games. He’s a fantastic gloveman who would be a great defensive replacement for Miguel Andujar. How many infielders do the Yankees want to carry though? They’ll already have Wade and Ronald Torreyes on the September bench, plus Neil Walker could always play the infield as well. The x-factor here might be whether the Yankees want to keep Urshela for next year. Add him to the 40-man, play him in September, keep him over the winter, then bring him to camp next year? Hmmm.

Swanson? I think he’ll fall victim to the numbers crunch. Cashman did mention him by name along with Tarpley last week, but Swanson has already thrown a career high 109.1 innings this year, and the Yankees are already set to carry several spare September long men (Cessa, German, eventually Loaisiga). Do they need another one? Do they want to clear a 40-man spot to carry another one? I don’t think so. Either way, Swanson figures to stay in Triple-A through the postseason before being called up, if he is called up at all.

As for 40-man space, the Yankees are full after claiming Rabago yesterday. Both he and Bollinger can easily be dropped to open space though. Is Clint Frazier a 60-day DL candidate at this point? The Yankees could call up the injured Thairo Estrada and put him on the 60-day DL to clear another spot. That means giving Thairo a month of big league pay and service time, but that’s not a huge deal. They’ve done it before. Looks to me the Yankees have three easily available 40-man spots (Sheffield, Tarpley, Kontos?), and possibly a fourth if Frazier is indeed a 60-day DL guy.

What About A Designated Pinch-Runner?

Contending teams will often call up a crazy fast guy specifically to pinch-run and sometimes that guy winds up on the postseason roster too. Two years ago the Yankees made a minor trade for Eric Young Jr. to be their designated pinch-runner. Remember Rico Noel in 2015? Heck, Freddy Guzman was on the 2009 postseason roster as the pinch-runner. He pinch-ran twice in the team’s 15 postseason games.

Last year the Yankees did not acquire a designated pinch-runner. Why? Because they had Jacoby Ellsbury on the bench, and also Wade, who is fast as hell. Shane Robinson can also run. I don’t think the Yankees will trade for a Young or Noel or Guzman type this year, even with Ellsbury injured. I think they’ll use Wade as their primary pinch-runner with Robinson the secondary option. Never say never. Trading for a dude to pinch-run just seems so unlikely this year.

What About The Luxury Tax?

September call-ups of course count against the luxury tax payroll. Every player on the active roster or big league disabled list counts. Based on my last estimate, the Yankees have about $3.3M in wiggle room under the $197M luxury tax threshold. That number is probably closer to $2.8M or $2.9M now because the Yankees have had to call up injury replacements the last few weeks, but still, that’s plenty.

Just consider the “worst” case September call-up scenario. Say the Yankees call up the maximum 15 players on September 1st and they’re all making $600,000 at the MLB level. That is $3,225.81 per day per player. Call it $3,300 to make the math easy. Fifteen players times 30 days in September (the season ends September 30th) times $3,300 per day equals $1.485M added to the luxury tax payroll. That fits within the team’s available payroll, and remember, this is a very conservative example. Fifteen players making $600,000? Not happening. The luxury tax won’t be an issue for September call-ups.

* * *

Now that I think about it, I don’t expect Acevedo to get a September call-up. He did spend one day in the big leagues earlier this year, but that was an emergency situation. Injuries have limited Acevedo 63.2 innings this season — he threw a career high 133 innings last year — and the Yankees may rather send him to Instructional League so he can actually pitch. Acevedo would be what, the 15th option out of the bullpen in September? Yeah, I think he gets a call-up.

Okay, so based on all that, here are the call-ups I expect to happen in September:

September 1st: Cessa (September 4th?), Kontos, Sheffield, Wade
Called up/activated once healthy: Chapman, German, Gregorius, Sanchez
Called up after minor league seasons ends: Adams, Loaisiga, Tarpley

Not including the injured big leaguers, that is eight players added to the roster in September. Judge and hopefully Frazier will be activated at some point as well. So that’s eight minor league call-ups (Adams, Cessa, German, Kontos, Loaisiga, Sheffield, Tarpley, Wade) and five injury activations (Chapman, Frazier, Gregorius, Judge, Sanchez), giving the team 13 additional players in September and a 38-man roster.

Urshela is the wildcard here, moreso than Swanson. I don’t expect the Yankees to open up a 40-man spot to carry yet another pitcher in September. (Another pitcher who doesn’t figure to pitch much.) Urshela would be a high-end defensive caddy for Andujar and another warm body for mass substitutions in blowouts. The Yankees will need 40-man spots for Kontos, Sheffield, and Tarpley. If they open another one, I think it goes to Urshela. Another pitcher is overkill, even in September.

DotF: Sheffield moves to bullpen to prepare for Sept. call-up

August 21, 2018 by Mike Leave a Comment

LHP Justus Sheffield has been removed from the Triple-A Scranton rotation and will instead pitch out of the bullpen, the team announced. Brian Cashman told Jack Curry the plan is to give Sheffield three or four relief appearances with the RailRiders to prepare him to pitch out of the bullpen in September.

The Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders had their game suspended due to rain in the middle of the ninth inning. Here’s the box score. Sheffield did indeed come out of the bullpen tonight. He allowed a run in two innings. The game will be completed tomorrow.

Double-A Trenton Thunder (7-3 loss to Hartford)

1B Brandon Wagner: 0-4, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 K
LF Trey Amburgey: 1-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K
SS Gosuke Katoh: 0-4, 2 K, 1 E (throwing)
RHP Trevor Stephan: 5 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 1 WP, 2/5 GB/FB — 59 of 85 pitches were strikes (69%) … his best start in a while now, he’d been really struggling the last few weeks

[Read more…]

The Yankees have not yet called up Justus Sheffield and there is a very simple explanation

August 16, 2018 by Mike Leave a Comment

Last night, in a spot start replacing the injured CC Sabathia, Luis Cessa was tagged for five runs in 3.2 innings. It was his fourth start this season and his second straight game with five runs allowed in three innings and change. Cessa was sent back to Triple-A Scranton after the game because the Yankees don’t need a fifth starter for a while thanks to two off-days next week.

Sabathia is only expected to miss one start and the Yankees went with Cessa as the spot starter over several internal options. The easy move would’ve been to pull Sonny Gray out of the bullpen. (Sonny wound up pitching a ton in long relief anyway.) They could gone with Chance Adams as well. Another option: Justus Sheffield, the organization’s top pitching prospect and one of the best pitching prospects in baseball.

The Yankees did not go with Sheffield even though he lined up to start, and wow, it’s a good thing they didn’t. He got rocked in Triple-A last night. Five walks and 72 pitches thrown in only 1.2 innings. Egads. Sheffield had been outstanding with Triple-A Scranton prior to yesterday, throwing 79 innings with a 2.16 ERA (2.98 FIP) and a 23.4% strikeout rate while being more than four years younger than the average International League player.

As bad as Cessa was, Sheffield was worse. Twenty-four hours ago going with Sheffield over Cessa would’ve been defensible, if not the “right” move. Instead, the Yankees left Sheffield in Triple-A, and there is a very simple explanation for that: They don’t think he’s ready. It really is that simple. It’s not roster status or anything like that. The Yankees don’t believe Sheffield is ready to get MLB hitters out.

“Obviously everybody we’ve taken so far we’ve taken because we felt they were in a position to help us sooner than Sheff,” said Brian Cashman during a radio interview yesterday. “The people we’ve decided to take we thought were in better position to compete currently as Sheff finishes off some of the things we’ve wanted him to work on, but the stuff’s electric. The ceiling and upside is exciting, and just because it hasn’t happened yet doesn’t diminish what we think of him.”

The Yankees have gotten pretty good at this whole player development thing. They’re not only getting young players to reach their ceiling — I’d argue guys like Aaron Judge and Luis Severino have exceeded their ceilings — but they’re getting their young players to reach their ceiling in a hurry. Guys come up and produce right away. Severino, Greg Bird, Gary Sanchez, Miguel Andujar, Gleyber Torres … they came up and hit the ground running.

Sheffield, even before last night’s clunker, was walking a few too many batters (9.7%) and he averaged 89 pitches and five innings per start with Scranton, so the efficiency is not there yet. And again, that’s before throwing 72 pitches in 1.2 innings yesterday. As good as Sheffield’s raw fastball/slider/changeup arsenal is at the moment, he’s still learning to command it, and learning how best to use it to pitch deep into games. It doesn’t happen overnight.

Could Sheffield get outs at the big league level right now? Yeah, I’m pretty sure of it. Is Sheffield a viable big league starter at the moment? Eh, that’s a bit more debatable. The best case scenario might be a five-and-fly guy, and hey, Cessa’s not much better. But Sheffield is an actual prospect and his development is a priority. Interrupting the plan for a big league spot is not ideal, and when it can be avoided, avoid it. That’s what the Yankees did.

I still believe Sheffield will help the Yankees at some point this year. With J.A. Happ and Lance Lynn coming over at the trade deadline, the need for another starting pitcher has lessened, and that means Sheffield is more likely to make his debut as a reliever. And that is perfectly fine. Countless top pitching prospects got their feet wet as relievers. Let him air it out for an inning or two at a time and give him that taste of the big leagues. A month of bullpen work can be a great learning experience.

“Timing is everything. When do we unwrap and deploy that? Is it going to be before September?” Cashman added. “It just depends on how things shake out, and compared to come of the competition, I think, for the service that’s needed at the time it’s needed … You’ll see him pitching here in New York — whether it’s as a rotation guy or out of the bullpen — at some point I would expect in 2018.”

I’ve pounded the table for certain prospects to be called up for years now, more than I care to count, and at this point I am more than comfortable deferring to the team. When it comes to a prospect’s MLB readiness, the Yankees (and every other team) know better. Calling up Sheffield would be fun and exciting as hell. There’s also a big picture view that has to be taken here, and that’s why Sheffield wasn’t called up for yesterday’s spot. And, not for nothing, yesterday’s results show he probably isn’t ready for a big league start either.

Thoughts on Baseball America’s midseason top 10 Yankees prospects list

July 27, 2018 by Mike Leave a Comment

Late last month Baseball America released their midseason top 100 prospects list — they’ve been updating their top 100 list every other week this year, it seems — and, last week, they released their updated top ten Yankees prospects list. We’ve reached that time of the year when prospect lists get a fresh update.

The midseason top ten Yankees prospects list is behind the paywall so I’m not going to give away too much. There are four Yankees on the midseason top 100 list and they’re the top four players on the top ten list. Duh. Here’s my pre-draft top 30 prospects. Pretty much the same names near the top of the Baseball America list with 2018 first rounder C Anthony Seigler squeezed in.

Anyway, Baseball America’s midseason top ten Yankees prospects list includes a few things that caught my eye, and I want to expand on them a bit here. Here are some thoughts and observations based on the latest top ten Yankees prospects list.

1. The Yankees have Sheffield working on something specific. The Yankees have LHP Justus Sheffield, now clearly their No. 1 prospect with Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar in the big leagues, working on “improving both his offspeed offerings to give them more separation, velocity-wise, from his fastball to help give hitters a different look.” We have very little Statcast data on Sheffield but we do have some. Here are the average velocities:

	Fastball	Slider	Changeup
2017 Arizona Fall League	95.3 mph	85.6 mph	89.2 mph
2018 Futures Game	93.9 mph	84.8 mph	N/A

Statcast says Sheffield did not throw a single changeup in the Futures Game last week but I’m pretty sure that’s wrong. The system picked up two two-seam fastballs at 88.5 mph and 88.7 mph. I’m pretty sure those are changeups that were misclassified as two-seamers based on the movement. Either way, in our limited data sample, Sheffield has about a 9.5 mph separation between his fastball and slider, and a 6.0 mph separation between his fastball and changeup. The MLB averages for starting pitchers this season are 8.9 mph and 9.0 mph, respectively. Sheffield is right there with the slider. His fastball-changeup separation lags quite a bit. Also, players and coaches have long said the ideal fastball-changeup separation is 10-12 mph. The league average is just an average, not the optimal. Sheffield has a ways to go to get there based on that little bit of data. Doesn’t mean the Yankees won’t call him up before he reaches that 10-12 mph separation. It just means this is what they want him to work on.

“I would say Sheff is very much (a call-up candidate),” said Aaron Boone to Brendan Kuty this past weekend. “He’s had another really good year. He’s putting himself in position, probably in the short term, to be in consideration for a spot, whether it be a rotation need, whether we have a bullpen need. He certainly probably knocking on the door and being a guy a lot closer to being an option, absolutely.”

2. Abreu’s elbow is acting up again. RHP Albert Abreu has been on the High-A Tampa disabled list since June 29th and, as usual, the injury was not disclosed. The Baseball America write-up says he has an “inflamed right elbow,” which is never good. Abreu missed Spring Training and the start of the regular season after needing an emergency appendectomy. That’s not big deal. Bad luck. The larger problem is that he missed time with a lat injury and elbow inflammation last year, and now his elbow is acting up again. He’s thrown only 129.1 total innings since the start of last season. Abreu turns 23 in September and he’s missed a lot of development time with injuries the last two years. It’s a bummer. His stuff is so good, maybe the best in the system, but he’s been unable to stay on the field and learn how to harness it. If nothing else, the fact Abreu is on the disabled list again probably takes him out of play as a trade chip prior to the deadline, at least as a headliner.

3. Pereira’s stock is way up. Last summer the Yankees gave OF Everson Pereira a $1.5M signing bonus and since then his stock has climbed in a big way. It’s not that he was an obscure prospect to begin with — teams don’t give $1.5M bonuses to nobodies — it’s that he’s making the jump from good prospect to great prospect. Baseball America had a glowing report on him a few weeks ago, and, in their midseason top ten Yankees prospects write-up, they note Pereira has a “premium tool set that includes advanced hittability and center field defense for someone his age.” The 17-year-old right-handed hitter has a .292/.345/.435 (102 wRC+) batting line in 142 rookie ball plate appearances so far this season, which is outstanding for a 17-year-old kid in advanced rookie ball (Pulaski). Pereira is hitting the ball in the air (35.6% grounders) and he’s going to the opposite field (38.5%) as often as he’s pulling the ball (38.5%). He has a very, very, very long way to go before becoming a factor for the Yankees. But Pereira, who doesn’t turn 18 until April, is developing extremely well and could be a top 100 prospect as soon as next year. Exciting!

4. Sauer has made some real improvement already. Last year the Yankees selected RHP Matt Sauer in the second round and paid him above slot $2.5M bonus even though his delivery and scattershot command had some thinking he would end up in the bullpen long-term. So far this season Sauer has a 2.97 ERA (3.96 FIP) in 36.1 innings with Short Season Staten Island — he is nearly three years younger than the average NY-Penn League player — and, most importantly, his walk rate sits at 6.9%. Here’s video of Sauer from last month and last year, before the draft. Seems like the Yankees have really helped him improve his tempo, and streamline his delivery since the draft last summer. It’s a noticeable difference, I think. “His fastball has sat in the low 90s and has touched as high as 96 mph, and he’s shown improvement in both his command and his changeup,” says the Baseball America write-up. Sauer isn’t racking up strikeouts this season (18.5%) but that doesn’t worry me at this point. Those will come in time. Point is, Sauer has made noticeable improvement with his delivery, which in turn has helped his command. Once he gets more comfortable with his mechanics and repeats them consistently, he and the Yankees can begin to focus on everything else. Sauer’s made promising strides in his limited time as a pro ballplayer.

5. Green is on the rise. RHP Nick Green, who the Yankees landed in the Carlos Beltran trade two years after drafting him and failing to sign him, earned a mention in Baseball America’s write-up as a rising prospect in the system. Statistically, the just turned 23-year-old doesn’t really grab your attention with a 3.39 ERA (4.29 FIP) and a 12.1% walk rate in High-A ball, but he leads the minors with a 66.2% ground ball rate. Baseball America says he does it with a “superb cutter.” I’ve seen his fastball described as a sinker. In this video, it’s described has a fastball that sinks and cuts at the same time, which sounds impossible, but here’s video from earlier this season. There’s definitely cut on the fastball, and it looks like it’s diving out of the zone as well.

Supposedly the Yankees’ internal data — too bad minor league Trackman data is kept secret — says only a handful of pitchers in pro ball can make their fastball move like Green. The Yankees obviously like him. They drafted him back in the day, and after failing to sign him, they got him in a trade. Not a coincidence. Green will be Rule 5 Draft eligible after the season, and even though he’s yet to pitch above High-A ball and still has to figure out how to command that moving fastball, I could see the Yankees adding him to the 40-man roster. The Yankees added Jonathan Loaisiga to the 40-man last offseason despite his injuries and lack of experience because the stuff and underlying data was so promising. Green is healthy, and although his surface numbers aren’t great, the quality of his stuff could land him on the 40-man. We’ll see.

DotF: Domingo German injured in Scranton’s doubleheader

July 26, 2018 by Mike Leave a Comment

MLB.com released their midseason top 100 prospects list and team top 30 prospects lists today. The Yankees have four top 100 prospects: LHP Justus Sheffield (No. 28), OF Estevan Florial (No. 47), RHP Jonathan Loaisiga (No. 77), and RHP Albert Abreu (No. 79). OF Billy McKinney dropped off the list after being traded for J.A. Happ this afternoon. RHP Glenn Otto, who had surgery to remove a blood clot from his shoulder earlier this year, slides onto the list at No. 30 in McKinney’s place.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders Game One (5-4 win over Columbus) completion of the game that was suspended with two outs in the bottom of the third Tuesday, then again after the top of the fifth yesterday

SS Abi Avelino: 1-5, 1 R, 2 K
1B Tyler Austin: 0-4, 2 K
RF Billy McKinney: 0-2, 1 R, 2 BB — he was essentially traded between doubleheader games today
DH Mike Ford: 2-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB — he hit the home run in the original game Tuesday night
CF Shane Robinson: 1-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 SB — he was called up to take Brandon Drury’s spot on the roster, so he was a minor leaguer and a big leaguer in the same day
RHP Chance Adams: 3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 3/2 GB/FB — 31 of 57 pitches were strikes (54%) … he started the original game Tuesday before the rain
RHP Raynel Espinal: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 HR, 0/4 GB/FB — 42 of 63 pitches were strikes (67%) … he pitched yesterday, in the middle portion of this twice suspended game
LHP Stephen Tarpley: 2.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 HR, 6/0 GB/FB — 21 of 31 pitches were strikes (68%) … he “started” the completion of the game today

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Trade Deadline Rumors: Archer, Happ, Pitching Prospects

July 25, 2018 by Mike Leave a Comment

The 2018 non-waiver trade deadline is now six days away and the Yankees made their (first?) big move last night. They acquired Zach Britton for three pitching prospects. The trade became official late last night. No need to worry about those stingy O’s medical reviews. It’s done. Britton is a Yankee. Anyway, here are the latest deadline rumors.

Yankees have checked in on Archer

The Yankees had two scouts on hand for Chris Archer’s most recent start and they have asked about his availability, report Pete Caldera and Jerry Crasnick. Archer faced the Marlins on Sunday and it was the perfect encapsulation of Chris Archer. He struck out 13 and walked zero in six innings … and also allowed four runs on eight hits. Archer has a 4.30 ERA (3.50 FIP) with 25.6% strikeouts and 7.5% walks in 90 innings around an abdominal injury this year. Since Opening Day 2016, he has a 4.09 ERA (99 ERA+) in 492.1 innings.

Truth be told, the Rays missed their opportunity to trade Archer for maximum value a few years ago. He turns 30 in September (no, really), his performance has slipped in recent years, and he comes with three years of control beyond 2018 rather than four or five. That said, Archer can still tantalize with his stuff, and three years of control at $27.7M from 2019-21 is a great price even if he is a true talent league average starter now. The Yankees are doing their due diligence. I still get the sense Tampa will want an ace-caliber package in return for Archer though.

Blue Jays dropping price for Happ

According to Joel Sherman and Andy Martino, the Blue Jays are really pushing to trade their rentals soon — they don’t want to be stuck trying to move everyone on deadline day — and their asking price for J.A. Happ has dropped. They had been seeking a club’s top three-ish prospect in return. The Scott Kazmir trade makes sense to me as a benchmark. Kazmir went from the Athletics to the Astros for two mid-range prospects (Daniel Mengden and Jacob Nottingham) as a rental three years ago.

The Yankees have of course been connected to Happ in recent weeks, so this information is relevant to them. Maybe this’ll start to move things toward the finish line. Happ has a 4.18 ERA (3.84 FIP) in 20 starts and 114 innings this season, though his last six starts have been rough (27 runs in 31.1 innings). Even last time out, he needed 102 pitches to throw five innings of one-run ball against the Manny Machado-less Orioles. Thing is, all the other rentals (Cole Hamels, Tyson Ross, etc.) have stunk recently too. I liked Happ the most among the rentals to start with. Since they’re all struggling, might as well stick with the guy liked most in the first place? I guess?

Teams interested in pitching prospects more than Frazier

According to our Sung-Min Kim, the Yankees have been pushing Clint Frazier in trade talks in recent weeks, but teams are showing more interest in their pitching prospects. The Yankees are loaded with outfielders and pushing Frazier in trade conversations only makes sense. His recent disabled list stint and trip through the concussion protocol really complicates things before the trade deadline, however.

As for trading pitching prospects, man, trade ’em all. Well, no, not all of them, but I think you know what I mean. The Yankees are loaded with pitching prospects — 22 of MLB.com’s top 30 Yankees prospects are pitchers — and the attrition rate is so damn high. Trade some of them before they blow out their arms and whatnot. Justus Sheffield is on another level for me. He’s a stud and he’s so very close to MLB ready. He should only go in a trade for a true difference maker. Chance Adams? Albert Abreu? Pretty much every other pitching prospect in the system? No trouble trading any of them.

Yankees won’t part with top prospects for rentals

In some very unsurprising news, Jack Curry reports the Yankees won’t trade any of their top prospects for a rental before the deadline. Maybe in a better trade market they would, but, with no high-end pitching rentals available, the top prospects are staying. Curry lists Sheffield, Frazier, and Estevan Florial among the “untouchable for a rental” group, which makes sense.

The Yankees did trade three prospects for Britton but only one (Tate) ranked among my most recent top 30 Yankees prospects. He was No. 7. (To be fair, Cody Carroll was No. 31.) The farm system isn’t what it was 18 months ago due to trades and graduations, but the Yankees still have plenty of good trade chips down there, even with Tate gone and the top guys off-limits. There’s an awful lot of pitching down there to peddle.

Yankees pushing Drury, Rule 5 Draft arms in trades

As expected, the Yankees have been pushing Brandon Drury and their various Rule 5 Draft eligible pitching prospects (Adams, Erik Swanson, etc.) in trades, according to Sherman and Martino. Drury and either Adams or Abreu, who is already on the 40-man roster, reportedly made up the bulk of their offer for Manny Machado. The Orioles wanted Florial and that was that. I should note the Yankees agreed to trade three Rule 5 Draft eligible arms (Carroll, Tate, Josh Rogers) for Britton.

As for Drury, Jeff Passan says the Yankees have been pushing him in trades for controllable relievers (in addition to the Machado), and Jon Heyman adds Drury was in the team’s offer for Brad Hand. I assume the Britton trade ends the bullpen search, but who knows? They could add a long-term bullpen piece to help win this year and help replace impending free agents Britton and David Robertson after the season. Could happen! But yeah, I wouldn’t count on it. Point is, the Yankees are pushing Drury and Rule 5 Draft eligible pitchers. Here’s a list of their upcoming Rule 5 Draft eligibles.

DotF: Duran and Pereira stay hot in Pulaski’s win

July 19, 2018 by Mike Leave a Comment

Keith Law (subs. req’d) posted his updated top 50 prospects list today and it included one Yankee: LHP Justus Sheffield, who ranked 12th overall and fourth among pitchers. “He’s very close to major league-ready … and has all the elements of a future No. 2 starter,” says the write-up.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (7-3 win over Columbus)

CF Clint Frazier: 0-1, 1 K — left the game in the second for an unknown reason, though he did dive for a ball in the outfield earlier in the game, so he might be hurt … sure hope not, that would suck … UPDATE: Conor Foley says Frazier was removed as a precaution with possible concussion symptoms following the diving … remember Clint missed all that time with a concussion earlier this year
RF Billy McKinney: 1-5, 2 K
2B Brandon Drury: 2-5, 1 RBI, 3 K, 1 CS — second straight game at second base
DH Tyler Austin: 1-5, 1 R, 2 K
1B Mike Ford: 3-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI — took a rehabbing Andrew Miller deep
SS Abi Avelino: 1-4, 1 R
RHP Erik Swanson: 4.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 HR, 7/2 GB/FB — 43 of 61 pitches were strikes (70%) … still getting stretched back out following the groin injury, hence the short start
RHP Gio Gallegos: 2.2 IP, zeroes, 4 K, 2/2 GB/FB — 21 of 40 pitches were strikes (53%) … 37/7 K/BB in 25.1 Triple-A innings, and two of those walks were intentional
RHP Tommy Kahnle: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 2/0 GB/FB — nine of 17 pitches were strikes
RHP Cody Carroll: 1 IP, zeroes, 3 K — nine pitches, 12 strikes … 54/16 K/BB in 40.2 innings

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