The Tyler Clippard Award Goes To...

White Sox 4, Yankees 3...

Luis Severino pitched magnificently, Yankees took the lead, but the bullpen ingredients of Domingo German, Tyler Clippard and Dellin Betances handed the Chicago White Sox the walk-off win.

Severino allowed just one run on six hits over seven innings.  He struck out a career high 12 batters, and issued no walks.  You could not have asked for better, but unfortunately, on the other side, it was a very strong night for White Sox starter, and oft speculated trade target, Jose Quintana as he held the Yankees to only two hits and no runs in 6 1/3 innings.

Credit:  Armando L Sanchez-AP

The White Sox scored the game's first run in the third inning when Jose Abreu laced a run-scoring double to right.  Chicago's 1-0 lead held up until the eighth inning.  Tyler Wade, making his Major League debut, pinch hit for Rob Refsnyder and walked against White Sox reliever Tommy Kahnle.  Jacoby Ellsbury followed with a single as Wade advanced to second.  After Chase Headley struck out, Aaron Judge singled to center, scoring Wade while Ellsbury moved to second.  Game tied.  Gary Sanchez doubled, bringing home both Ellsbury and Judge, as the Yankees took the 3-1 lead.

Credit:  Jonathan Daniel-Getty Images

It felt like it was going to be a magical night for Severino with the stellar pitching and the late runs to potentially give him the win but thanks to the Yankees bullpen, it was not to be.  Manager Joe Girardi brought in Domingo German to pitch the eighth, but he had control problems and was lifted after walking the first two batters.  Tyler Clippard (Egads!) entered the game and was able to get three outs but not before two more walks had pushed another run across for the Sox.  3-2, Yankees.  All things considered, I guess, you'd have to say that this was a better Clippard than we've seen lately.  He escaped a bases-loaded situation with no outs, giving up only one run, so it could have been much worse.

Credit:  Associated Press

The Yankees had runners at second and third with two outs in the top of the 9th following a passed ball by White Sox reliever Dan Jennings, but Chase Headley struck out to leave the runners stranded.  As it turned out, the Yankees could have used those insurance runs.

The Yankees brought in Dellin Betances to pitch the ninth.  He had worked the previous two games but had thrown only a total of 25 pitches.  Aroldis Chapman was not available, having worked the preceding two days combined with his recent activation off the DL.  Betances (3-2) earned the Tyler Clippard Pitching Award of the night when he walked Kevan Smith and Alen Hanson, and hit Yolmer Sanchez with a pitch to load the bases.  He was able to retire former Yankee Melky Cabrera on a fly ball, but Jose Abreu came up and delivered a single to left, scoring the winning runs as the White Sox walked off with the 4-3 victory.

Credit:  Armando L Sanchez-Chicago Tribune

With the loss, the Yankees (41-34) fell one game behind the Boston Red Sox in the AL East.  The Red Sox, looking like a team that wants to win, beat the Minnesota Twins, 9-2.  The Tampa Bay Rays also won (4-2 in extra innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates) so they are just two games behind the Yankees.  I know it's only June and it is just one game, but right now the gulf between the Yankees and the Red Sox seems much, much greater.  The Red Sox are a team ready to kick it into another gear, whereas the Yankees just keep slip, sliding away.  It was difficult to watch a game that was freely given to the White Sox.  The final 3 of their 4 runs were walked batters that came around to score.  It was not pretty and Severino's gem was wasted.

Next up, Masahiro Tanaka.  If he pitches like he did against Yu Darvish, I like our chances.  If he pitches like the guy we saw prior to the All-Japanese confrontation, it is going to be a very long night.  

Trade Speculation Heats Up...

Trade speculation and theories are starting to heat up as the calendar prepares to turn to July.  Between now and the July trading deadline, I am sure that we'll be hearing plenty of possibilities for how the 2017 New York Yankees can make upgrades.

Mark Feinsand of MLB.com posted "3 potential Yanks-Mets trades that make sense" yesterday.  In his column, he proposed the following trades:

1.  Lucas Duda for Austin Romine.

2.  Jerry Blevins and/or Addison Reed for Dustin Fowler.

3.  Curtis Granderson for Tyler Austin.

My immediate reaction was "I wouldn't trade my guys for them".  Later in the day, Feinsand tweeted:  Love the response to my trade column.  Yankees fans:  "I'd never trade those guys for that!", Mets fans:  "I'd never trade those guys for that!".  Seriously, and nothing against Kyle Higashioka, I wouldn't trade Romine for Duda.  With the belief that Greg Bird can still be a solid first baseman of the future, I'd take a less costly route to find an alternative for Tyler Austin if it comes to that.  I certainly wouldn't trade a valuable outfield prospect for a reliever that could have been had on the free agent market last off-season.  Curtis Granderson?  Been there, done that.  

In a column that appeared on NJ.com (written by Joe Giglio), it was reported that MLB Network Radio Host Jim Bowden (former GM of the Cincinnati Reds and one-time Yankees employee during the brief reign of Syd Thrift) floated his idea of how to build a super rotation in the Bronx.  Bowden indicated that he'd trade for Gerrit Cole now and sign Yu Darvish as a free agent in the off-season.  His third and fourth starters would be Luis Severino and Jordan Montgomery, while the fifth spot would go to Yankees prospect Chance Adams.  With this rotation, Bowden believes "In 2018, it's about what kind of champagne we can put on ice".  I can't say that I disagree with this one.  I like both Cole and Darvish.  Severino and Montgomery have both proven they belong in 2018 and the "time is now" is rapidly approaching for Adams.  Sign me up for this possibility...I'm on board.

Odds & Ends...

The Attack of the Tylers.  It's hard to believe but 16% of the Yankees active roster is now loaded with dudes named Tyler.  With Tuesday's call-up of Tylers Webb and Wade, there are four Tyler's with Clippard and Austin already on the roster.  I wanted to name my son Tyler but given my last name ends in "ler", his mother didn't want a kid named "ler-ler" so I had to ditch any ideas of using the name.  I went with Kyle instead (as if there weren't enough Kyle's already in the world).  Making room for the two Tyler W's were the placement of Starlin Castro on the disabled list and the demotion of Jonathan Holder to Triple A.  It kind of feels like all of these Tylers should be using Aerosmith for their walk-up music...

The results of Castro's MRI came back with a Grade 1 strain of the  right hamstring.  He's expecting to be ready when his time on the 10-Day DL is up.  

Have a great Wednesday!  Hopefully Tanaka will help get us over the hump!  Let's Go Yankees!

CC and the Backdoor Slider...

Credit:  Frank Franklin II-Associated Press

Yankees 8, Red Sox 0...

Much better!

When CC Sabathia was named the #2 starter at the beginning of the year, I thought it was comical.  Now, he's probably the ace.  This vintage run of excellent starts by Sabathia has been tremendous and much needed.  I know that he has benefited from his talks with Andy Pettitte about transitioning to an older pitcher but after a few starts to forget earlier this year, I had given him up for dead.  Then, suddenly he has re-emerged as a dominant pitcher.  I am not sure how long this will last, but I'm lovin' the ride.

Credit:  Randy Miller-NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

A night after a disappointing loss, Sabathia (7-2) shut the Red Sox down with eight solid innings.  He held the Sox to 5 hits and struck out 5 in the shutout.  He did not walk anyone.  When he wasn't pitching great, he was making excellent bare-handed defensive plays, like stopping the Jackie Bradley, Jr chopper in the fifth and throwing the runner out at first with a runner at third.  It was a critical play as Josh Rutledge had opened the inning with a triple.  The runner was eventually left stranded, thanks in very large part to CC's great play on JBJ.

All of CC's pitches were working, but it was the deadly slider that left the Sox batters shaking their heads.  It's an interesting stat that it was the first time CC has shutout an opponent with at least eight innings pitched since September 2012.  

I expected Sabathia to tire in the later innings but he was still cruising in the eighth (retiring the final 12 batters he faced).  Manager Joe Girardi made the right decision to pull CC after eight innings and 95 pitches.  Jonathan Holder finished up in relief.  

I wonder if we can get Pettitte to come to New York to talk to Masahiro Tanaka.  I don't know but it's cool to write Pettitte's name in a blog post again.  He would make a good replacement for pitching coach Larry Rothschild one day.  

As for the offense, it came from a very unlikely source.  The forgotten man and the guy on almost everybody's list for roster reduction when Greg Bird returns delivered in a big way.  Chris Carter, who entered the game with a .183 batting average, blasted a three-run homer to left-center in the Yankees' four-run fourth inning that gave the Yankees some breathing room in a game, which up to that point, had been a pitcher's duel.  The Yankees tacked on three more runs late, including a RBI single from Carter in the eighth.  Carter was 3-for-4 on the night, with 4 RBI's.  He raised his batting average by 19 points to .202.  

Credit:  Randy Miller-NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Carter should have had two home runs, but Mookie Betts was aided by a Yankees fan to make a leaping catch to rob Carter in the sixth.  The ball seemingly was over the wall but landed in the fan's hands and rolled back into Betts' glove.  Girardi tried to challenge but the umps ruled that he was outside of the 30-second window to appeal.  I'm glad that play didn't factor into the outcome of the game.

Didi Gregorius got the scoring started in the third with a solo shot off Red Sox starter and AL Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello.  Porcello has not been the same pitcher he was last year (he is now 3-8) but when he started the game strong, I had been concerned that he was finding the success he had enjoyed last year.  Thankfully, it was not meant to be as Carter and Company gave CC an abundance of runs, one night after they fell one short.

With the win, the Yankees (33-23) moved back up to two games ahead of the Red Sox.  The Baltimore Orioles came up with another extra inning win over the Pittsburgh Pirates to remain 2 1/2 games back.

Odds & Ends...

It is being reported that Masahiro Tanaka will make his next start as scheduled.  I think this is a mistake.  Something is clearly wrong and to allow the pitcher to work out his issues in-game is not a smart move in my opinion.  This seems to be psychological as best I can tell.  I think Tanaka needs to get his head straight first, then work on the pitches.  That's why I would give him time away from the rotation.  If I owned the Yankees, I'd send Tanaka back home to Japan for a week or two.  Let him regroup, and then have him try to find what he had during spring training.  Chad Green is capable of a spot start or even Adam Warren.  Luis Cessa and Bryan Mitchell are also available for call-up.  Any of the four are capable of doing better than the recent Tanaka performances.  I'd love a spot start by Chance Adams but I agree that he's not ready and then there's the small issue of finding room on the 40-man roster.  

I was going to rip NESN's Jerry Remy for his comments that Tanaka should not be allowed to have a translator during mound visits, but then he owned up to his mistake and apologized.  

Joe Giglio of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com reported yesterday that an anonymous GM has indicated he would give 2018 free agent-to-be Bryce Harper a 15-year deal for $600 million. If that's the price tag, I have no problem with an outfield of Aaron Judge, Dustin Fowler, Clint Frazier and Aaron Hicks.  

Oddly, the Yankees and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders have identical win-loss records at 33-23.  The RailRiders won their 33rd game with a 5-1 win over the Rochester Red Wings.  Gleyber Torres had the go-ahead two-run double in the 7th inning and scored on a wild pitch in the 9th.  Torres was 2-for-4.  Tyler Austin also had a run-scoring double in the 9th.  

Credit:  MiLB.com

I love Yankees prospects but I saw that the St Louis Cardinals have assigned a young outfielder by the name of Matt Fiedler to the State College Spikes (High A).  A 9th round pick in the 2016 Draft, the 22 year old right-handed leftfielder hit .325 with 4 homers and 31 RBI's last year for Johnson City Cardinals (the 2016 Appalachian League Champions).  I hope the Eagan, MN native continues his upward climb in the Cardinals organization.  I'd buy his jersey if he makes it to the Show.  I haven't been this excited since, well, Jay Fiedler was a Miami Dolphin although Vernon Fiddler in the Stanley Cup Finals for the Nashville Predators is kinda neat...

Credit:  University of Minnesota

Have a great Thursday!  I don't want much today...just a Yankees win!

On second thought, let’s make that Quintana trade…

Credit:  AP Photo/Lynne Sladky

According to Jack Curry on the YES Network, there is “nothing currently happening” between the Chicago White Sox and the Yankees regarding pitcher Jose Quintana.  Quintana was brilliant the other night in the WBC for Columbia in its game against the USA.  He was pitching a no-hitter through 5 1/3 innings and struck out Daniel Murphy twice (a feat turned against Murphy only six times last year).  He gave up a two-out single before departing with 63 pitches thrown (WBC limit on first round pitchers is 65 pitches).  The baserunner scored against a subsequent reliever, charging Quintana for the run.  It was a performance that only rekindles the dreams of how great Quintana would look in any team’s starting rotation.

Joe Giglio of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com cited the following players who should be on the table for a possible trade with the White Sox:  Aaron Judge, Jorge Mateo, Miguel Andujar, Luis Severino, James Kaprielian, and Dillon Tate.  I am not sure that I fully agree with this list.  Maybe I am like the Yankees and their current “prospect-hugging” approach.  The knock against Judge is the strikeouts.  Mateo is a replaceable part in system strong with middle infielders, led by top prospect Gleyber Torres.  Miguel Andujar could be  replaced with the surplus of free agent third basemen in a few years (most notably, Manny Machado).  We love Severino’s potential, but it probably comes down to ‘who would you rather have right now’.  No question that you’d take Quintana over Severino.  I am very high on Kaprielian, but I understand Giglio’s comment that young pitchers with injury history are high risk.  With other strong pitching prospects in the organization like Jordan Montgomery, Chance Adams, Justus Sheffield, and others, I would have no problem including Tate in a trade for a premium starting pitcher.

I have seen a few comments on The Greedy Pinstripes blog that it’s tough to give up great young talent for a pitcher the organization once had in their possession.  I definitely get that argument.  If the team had only evaluated Quintana better at the time he left as a minor league free agent in 2011, we wouldn’t be in a situation that involves giving up multiple top prospects to get him back.  

This morning, Brendan Kuty of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com reported that Yankees scout Matt Daley has been scouting several young 24-year-old right-handers the last couple of days.  The pitchers, Erick Fedde, of the Washington Nationals, and Joe Musgrove, of the Houston Astros, have a similar arsenal of pitches.  Both throw fastballs in the low 90’s, although Musgrove can touch 95 mph.  They feature a slider as a plus offering, and complement the other pitches with average change-ups.  Both pitchers are known for their command and control.

Fedde was taken in the 1st round of the 2014 MLB Draft as the 18th pick for the Nationals.  He would have been a top ten selection but slid in the draft due to Tommy John surgery.  Since the surgery, the Las Vegas native has only improved.  He is currently the #2 top prospect for the Nationals according to MLB.com.  He became the organization’s top pitching prospect following the trade of Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning to the White Sox this winter in the Adam Eaton deal.  

This spring, Fedde has appeared in 3 games with a single start.  He is 1-0, and has not given up any earned runs, 3 hits, and 4 strikeouts in 7 innings.

Fedde profiles to the ceiling of a #2 starter.

Musgove was taken in the first round of the 2011 MLB as a supplemental pick by the Toronto Blue Jays,  The El Cajon, CA native was part of the package sent to the Houston Astros in 2012 for pitcher J.A. Happ.

Like Fedde, Musgrove also had a slow start to his professional career due to injury (with a sprained rotator cuff and elbow ligament).  He made his major league debut for the Astros last summer, and is currently competing for the fifth spot in the Astros starting rotation.  On Baseball America’s 2016 Mid-Season Top 100 Prospects, Musgrove was rated #32.  To give it perspective, then-Cubs prospect Gleyber Torres was #27 and the Yankees’ Gary Sanchez was #36.  

Musgrove profiles to the ceiling of a #3 starter.  

I like this train of thought.  Instead of focusing on the pitcher everybody wants, look to uncover gems hidden in other organizations.  The price will still be high but not as high as it would be for Quintana.  The risk is time.  With Quintana, he’s plug and play.  He would be an immediate addition to the top of the rotation.  Pitchers like Fedde and Musgrove would be works in progress.  Musgrove is closer than Fedde, who is currently at AA, but either one would still be a few years from reaching his respective ceiling.

I am glad that they pay GM Brian Cashman to make these decisions.  It’s a tough call.  I am warming up to the idea of a trade as I feel the Yankees need more than what they currently have for the rotation.  I don’t like the idea of a crap shoot every time the fourth and fifth spots come up on the rotation, or wondering if CC Sabathia’s knee is going to hold out.  So, go ahead and put me down for the Jose Quintana trade.

In Saturday’s play, it was just another day at the office for the Spring’s best team.  Masahiro Tanaka threw four innings of hitless ball and had 7 strikeouts to help the Yankees defeat the Detroit Tigers, 7-1, in Tampa.  Gary Sanchez, Matt Holliday, and Gleyber Torres all homered for the easy win.  I am starting to get excited about having Holliday’s bat in the lineup.  After watching Alex Rodriguez and his cold bat at DH for most of last season, it’s great that power has been restored to the position.  Congrats to Torres for his first home run of the new year.  I think that kid’s got a good future in this game.  LOL!

The Yankees (13-3) play the Atlanta Braves today at Steinbrenner Field.

Have a great Sunday!